Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Photos, Photos, Photos!

Who, like me, takes a ton of photos on their phone? Well, I really want to scrap those photos that I take! So, with this post, I am hoping to share a few tips and tricks I have learned that help me get those pics edited, printed, and put in my albums...all right from my phone!








Step 1:
Take pics with your phone!  The best camera is the one near you. So use it!


I keep a shortcut on my iPhone so I can get the camera opened quickly. I slide my screen up from the bottom and  have my camera accessible instantly (see it on the bottom right?) When I get back from a trip, or hit 500 photos on my camera roll, I force myself to upload the photos to a hard drive and then delete as many as possible off my phone. 

Confession time: I always keep about 100 pics on my phone of my handsome hubby, cute kids, and adorable granddaughters, for, you know, BRAGGING purposes! But I delete the rest once they are backed up or my phone fills up quickly. :)

These are pics I took on a recent trip to Paris and Rome. 


Step 2:
Edit pics as you take them. I usually do this after a day of teaching or sightseeing when I'm curled up in bed and letting my achy feet rest!  It's fun to put your faves together in collages for Instagram or Facebook (like those shown above), or add fun filters and text on top of them (like the one shown below.) Save those edited pics to your camera roll so you can print them out later. So...how do you edit pics?



Photo & Editing Apps:
This article has an amazing run-down on their favorite photo apps for taking photos and editing. They include popular apps like Snapseed, procamera7, and pic, tap, go.  Of course if you ask 100 people what the best apps are you are going to get 100 different answers. (I just found another app that I HAVE to get-TimerCam! It's a timer for better selfies or group shots when you ALL want to be in the pic! And it's FREE!)



Now here are the ones I use! Haha. I love editing single pics with Rhonna Design or Design Studio. These give me a choice of adding text, frames, filters, etc. Rhonna is a fellow scrapper who does shabby-chic designs like no one else!

It allows the lazy side of me to "remix" other brilliant designs and apply them to my photos if I do not want to make my own! (Reminder-Save all edited photos to your camera roll so you can print them later!) I also LOVE Instagram's filters for photos! I haven't found a filter set I like better than theirs so help me out if there is one you like!



To keep photo editing easy I put all my photography apps in one file on my phone. Once I have edited my pics I use either PicStitch or PhotoCollage to put pics together so I can print them out and add them to my Insta-Scrap album. I like both, but they are different so use the one YOU like! Both are free. 

Tip: I'll show how to put a collage together in my class...so come watch it! 


When I need to print photos I pull out the page I am scrapping and look at the page configuration to see what size photos it requires: 4x4, 3x3, 2x2, 3x4, etc. I pick the pics for that page and use PicStitch to put them together in the correct sizes so I waste less photo paper. I find this the most logical way to print what I want and need!

Printing Tips:

Now that I have my pics edited and put together in nice formats I need to print them out.  I open my Canon Selphy app on my phone and send the edited pics straight to my Selphy CP900 printer using wifi. It is so SIMPLE! It takes about 40 seconds to print a 4x6 out. I only print what I want, when I want. The printer is about $80 and the paper/ink packs can be found for about $12.99 for 36 shots.  I think it's a great price for the comfort of printing at home.

Tip: you can also connect your camera directly to a Selphy and print from it...no need for a phone!

Don't want to print your pics at home? You can also upload your phone pics to Snapfish (my fave),  Walgreens, Adorama, Persnickety Prints (my other fave), Wal-Mart, and other photo-printing sites! They now have options for square pics, etc. See how everyone is adopting to the social media trends?

Other Tips:
What about scrapping pics not on your phone? I have found two easy ways to do this!



1. I email myself lower res shots (500 kb) of my fave photos from my Mac, or hard drives, so I can save them to my iphone and print out when I want. It is also a FAB back-up method for my pics! Just save those photo emails into their own folder so you don't delete them when you are cleaning out your email.



2. You can also use your smart phone to take "scans" of old, vintage pics! I didn't have a scanner and needed copies of a photo taken with *gasp* film. I took a shot of it with my phone and LOVED the results. The phone is so fast and easy that you can get copies of all of those old pics in just a short time! Upload them to your computer or hard drive and clean them off your phone. (And throw that scanner away!)



Saturday, May 3, 2014

Happy NSD!!

NSDbloghop
Welcome to the NSD Prima Blog Hop! Scrapbooking is a hobby that caught my eye shortly after I got married in the 80s. (YEAH! That long ago!) I scrapped my wedding photos, cutting many of them out with decorative scissors. OUCH!) Then life swept over me with it's craziness of having six babies in a row and I had to set the hobby aside for a bit. I picked it up again a few years before I had my last baby and couldn't believe how much the product selection had grown. I was a gonner! (Is that even a word? Well, you know what I mean!) I have been immersed in it every since. Isn't it the best hobby ever?

And....I am so thrilled you made it to my blog! You most likely came from Keren Tamir's blog and will be going down the list to Patricia Fernandez's next! I am so very blessed to be working with everyone on Prima's blog hop list today. Prima has a fun-packed day planned with the wonderful Ambassadors, the talented Design Team, and their amazing Educators! I hope the projects inspire you to dig out your crafty supplies and have fun along with me.

I have a sweet, feminine project to show off today, along with a cute prize to give-away. So make sure you scroll ALL the way to the bottom to catch it all! The complete blog hop list is also included for you. Prima will also be giving prizes away on ALL of their social media outlets, along with a stunning main prize hosted on the Prima blog, so make sure you hop around and then comment on Prima's blog!

Prima is offering free classes today as well! Want to learn new techniques? Chat with other scrappers? Join in on the marathon of "Live With Prima" classes filled with gorgeous projects kicking off at 7 am PT! The first class will be taught by ME showing off a few techniques for art journaling! Click here to watch!

Now on to my project for NSD! Each of us created a 6x6 page with an inspirational quote. With Mother's Day coming up I wanted to create something to let moms know how wonderful, important, and unique they are to their children!



I lost my own mom three years ago so Mother's Day is bittersweet now. It's hard to celebrate the day knowing your own mom isn't here, but God always knows my needs. He gave me the most amazing mother-in-law! She has always been there for me. She doesn't pry, or push, or try to have her own way. And she is adventurous! My hubby really respects her, and I agree 100% with him. She's the kindest, most giving person I have ever met. I'm so glad she's a part of my life, and my children's lives. So I made her this piece, as the quote inspires me to be more like her:

"To the world you are a mother, but to your family you are the world!"

.
 The project was simple to put together! I started with a 6x6 paper from the Meadow Lark Collection, added a bit of cheesecloth to it, then added a resin butterfly in the corner.



I printed out my saying (multiple times as I kept printing it slightly TOO large!) Glued it to the back of one of our new resins. And then started decorating the page with flowers and leaves.

 I think it's the perfect way to show her how much we all love her. And her favorite color is purple! (I sure hope some day my children will feel the same way about me!)

And here is my give-away! All you have to do is leave a comment right here and I will pick a winner on May 12th to receive these gorgeous products! Open to all countries! (I would love it if you found me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram as well!)




Now here is the Blog Hop Line-Up! Hop along, be inspired,  and find some give-aways!

Prima Marketing
Olga Vasilieva
Adrienne Ford
Magda Bolinska
Kasia Krzyminska
Kasia Tomaszewska
Felicity Wilson
Delaina Burns
Louise Nelson
Brit Sviggum
Jennifer Snyder

Solange Marques
Kelly Foster
Keren Tamir
Sharon Laakkonen-You are HERE!
Patricia Fernandez
Elena Olinevich
Alberto Juarez
Frank Garcia
Maiko Miwa
Trina McClune
Janine Koczwara
Misty Olsen
Sarinda Jones
Ramona Downing
Candace Hagler
Erin Reed
Sam Ho