CT Work

Scraps by Andrea has a great new spring kit out that celebrates that one spring thing that we may not like as much as other spring things-rain!  Her new kit is called Splishity Splosh.  You can scrap any picture of your little one puddle stomping or playing in the rain.  But you can also scrap so much more!  Take a look at the kit.

Here's my layout that I made at a speed scrap recently at STS.  I've been doing a lot more speed scraps lately and I love how my layouts turn out!

I made a freebie for you but I want to show you another kit first!  Remember how I told you that Flutterbye Faery Designs is retiring and all her kits are 60% off?  Well I'm scrapping with her kits as much as possible because they are truly awesome!  I just used Smiles Are Free and these colors are just fabulous!  I did add a few elements from Happy As Can Be (which I will make a full page layout with that one soon!)

Here's the layout that I made.  It's made using a template by Gettin Scrappy with Britt for the template challenge this month.

And now onto the freebie.  Here it is!  Click on the image to download.

New Release: Easter Parade

Don't miss the newest B2N2 Scraps kit, Easter Parade!  It releases at Stuff to Scrap today and is super cute!  Grab it while it's on sale as a new release!

Here are some Creative Team layouts for inspiration!

Want a couple of coordinating freebies?

Here is one from me for you guys...

And you can jump over to these other CT member blogs and grab the freebies they have available.

Enjoy!
- ScrapinMama (Kim)

Wednesday Tips

When taking photos do you ever wish that one particuliar photo could be a bit sharper? Well here are a 100 Ways to take sharper photos...

Steady Your Camera

• Use a tripod when it’s practical.
• Use a solid surface to rest your camera when a tripod isn’t practical.

• Use a remote release when it’s practical. (It’s usually not practical for me, so keep on reading.)

Use Good Form

• Steady yourself against a doorway or other solid surface.
• Tuck your arms into your body, steadying them against your chest. TIGHT!
• Press your eye tight against the viewfinder.
• Get a firm grip with both hands.
• Shoot like a sniper. Yes, I said it. I’ll let you google it!
• Breathe out and shoot before you take a breath. (Okay, this is a sniper technique. I like to think of it as a yoga technique though!)

Watch Your Shutter Speed

• Shoot with a shutter speed fast enough to stop motion, at least 1/125th of a second.
• Use a FAST shutter speed for fast moving subjects, between 1/1000 to 1/5000 of a second.
• Shoot with a shutter speed fast enough to avoid camera shake, at least 1/50th of a second with a 50mm lens.
• Read more about shutter speed.

Use The “Right” Aperture

• Watch your depth of field! Use an aperture narrow enough to get your subject in focus, think f/4.0 or f/5.6.
• Avoid the lure of your widest aperture!
• When more than one person is in the photo use a narrow aperture, think f/5.6 to f/11.
• Find the “sweet spot.” Use an aperture one stop narrower than your widest aperture. If your lens is an f/1.8 choose f/2.5. Think of it as three “clicks” from your widest aperture.
• Want to use your widest aperture? Step back from your subject some.
• Read more about aperture.

Know Your ISO

• Keep  your ISO low to get the least noise.
• Learn the limit of your particular camera by shooting through your range of ISOs to learn how high you can push it.
• Read more about ISO.

Look For Light

• Shoot in good light. The better the light, the easier a great, sharp exposure is.
• Read more about light.

Focus-Focus-Focus

• Avoid letting your camera choose the focal point.
• Use your center focal point for the sharpest photos.
• Opt to change your focus point rather than focus and recompose.
• Learn back button focus. (Also known as Focus Lock or AF-On for Canon/AF-C for Nikon)
• Watch your focal distance, leave enough space between the lens and your subject.
• Keep things in the same visual plane to keep them sharp.
• Focus on your subject’s eye that is closest to you.
• Read more about focus.

Choose The “Right” Lens

• Use your lenses’ vibration reduction (VR on Nikon) or image stabilization (IS on Canon).
• Turn it off when your camera is on a tripod.
• Shoot with a prime lens when possible. (Think 50mm, nifty fifty, it’s a bargain!)
• Clean your lens! The more crud on your lens, the more chance it’s going to show up in your image.
• Read more about lenses.

Mind The Odds & Ends

• Shoot more than one photo. Check your drive mode and bump it to continuous shots!
• Roll your finger slowly over the shutter button.
• Slow down! Sometimes you do everything right but add your own movement to your image as you are moving on to the next thing before you click the shutter.

(Info from The Daily Digi)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

$2.00 Tuesday!

It's $2.00 Tuesday at Stuff to Scrap!  Don't miss the great deals in the $2.00 bin.  Including "Shine Down on Me"

Here's some awesome inspiration from the galleries:

by BriannasScrapper

by beljed

by Kortni

by purplesparkly

And don't forget, as always, if you make a LO from the kit and share it on the B2N2 Scraps Facebook page, you will be entered into a drawing for a gift certificate at the end of the month!

$2.00 Tuesday Sneak Peak & Freebie

It's Monday again!  Yeah!  Here is your peak at what's in the $2.00 Tuesday bin at Stuff to Scrap from B2N2 Scraps...

Such a sun-shiny and fun kit!  Also I have a new kit coming out on Thursday.  You're going to love this kit!  Here's a sneak peek.  Can you guess the theme?  Post here with your guess and I'll pick one winner to get this kit for free!

Also I wanted to let you know that I'm hosting the quick page exchange at Stuff to Scrap this month.  I made a very fun kit called Interview Me.  It's a neutral kit with pops of bright colors.

All you have to do is purchase this kit (it's on sale for $2.50 all month long!), make a quick page, submit it to me and then get all the other quick pages that participants submit at the end of the month.  I'll be back with CT layouts later!  I made a coordinating alpha that I'm giving away on my Facebook fan page.  Make sure you become a fan of B2N2 Scraps' Fan page and you can snag this freebie!

Here is your coordinating freebie made with Shine Down on Me!

More Creative Team kits

Scraps by Andrea and Queen Wild Scraps teamed up to make a very cute dinosaur kit called Prehistoric Pals.  The dinosaurs are truly adorable!  I wish I could use them in my layout but I had no dinosaur pictures!  Take a look at the kit.

Lest  you think that you cannot use this kit because you have no dinosaur pictures, let me show you what I did with this kit.  Not only did I not use the dinosaurs but I also used this kit to make a girl layout!

I have a freebie for you using Prehistoric Pals but first I want to show you some other kits and tell you some news!  Scraps by Andrea is the featured designer at STS this week so her entire store is 50% off!  Check out the flier for more details.

I love so many of Flutterbye Faery Designs' kits and I'm so sad that they are all retiring. I've been grabbing them and scrapping with them before they are gone!  Evie has made such a cute robot kit with fantastically bright colors.  I knew I needed to scrap with this kit called Beep, Bop, Boop.

Sigh..love the bright colors against the neutral black and white.  I really struggled with this layout but I'm happy with what it ended up as!  I've seen those circles all over the place and I had to try them!

I also grabbed a kit of Flutterbye Faery Designs' a while ago and I don't think I ever showed you my layout.  I was trying to finish up my scrapping books for my kids so I was scrapping in a hurry!  I used Evie's Admit One mini kit.

I used a template by Manda's Scrappin Creations (who is now designing under AK Designs).

And now for your freebie!  I made a tag cluster using Prehistoric Pals.

Click HERE to download.

Weekly News

Here is what's going on this week....

Here is the FREE gift with a $5 purchase at Stuff to Scrap from April 1-15...

And my store at Brownie Scraps will be closing on April 13th and right now until the 13th, my store is 60% off...

And here is the wonderful participation prize being offered at the Speed Scrap...

Creative Team Kits

So I have gotten back into some scrapping and joined another creative team.  I miss scrapping and this forces me to scrap.  I've spent too much time designing and I've forgotten to preserve my memories!  I just recently ordered 2 more books from Winkflash so now I'm only a year behind on my kids' books!  My goal is to be able to order at least one more book by the time they have their flat rate book sale!  I know this is late but I have a great kit to show you from Gettin Scrappy with Britt.  It's called Snowfall and you can get it free with a $5 order at Stuff to Scrap until tomorrow night.  Go shopping!  What are you waiting for???

I made this layout for a speed scrap at STS.

I rejoined Digi Designs by Nicole's CT and she has a fabulous kit out called Sweet Spring.  The colors are so soft and pretty-perfect for all those freshly blooming flowers or Easter pictures.  You could even scrap baby photos with this kit.

Pretty, huh?  I made this layout for a speed scrap at STS as well.

Flutterbye Faery Designs is retiring from designing as of April 13th so her store (as well as the rest of Brownie Scraps) is on sale for 60% off until April 13th.  I got to work with All Girl which is such a pretty kit and very girly but it's not just pinks!  I loved this kit when I saw it but didn't have a chance to work with it so I made sure to grab it before it was gone!

I made a 2 page layout showing my daughter's first tea party.

I'll have more kits to show you soon!

Monkey See, Monkey Do Review

Have you grabbed Monkey See, Monkey Do yet?  I just love the color combinations in this kit and I love all the monkey elements!  Take another look:

Don't forget about all the other goodies with this kit too-there are clusters, paper stacks, QPs and a bundle!  Here's some inspiration using this kit.

by Ann-I love all the circles on this page!

by Brooke-Love that she had a sock monkey photo to go with this kit!

by Steph-Love the photos split on opposite sides of the layout.

previous two by Daphne-love the clustering on both of these.

previous 2 by Laure-love the simplicity of these layouts.

layout by me showing my little monkey!  This layout was made for the scraplift challenge at STS.

Do you want a freebie with this kit????  Kim has made  you a great cluster frame!  Click on the image to download.