Welcome Folk and Fiskafriend Blog Hoppers

The Power of Community Blog Hop

Sorry for the repost. Blogger did not let me edit the prior post, so I deleted and have re-posted.

Hi, everyone! I love my first on-line community of friends and wanted to participate in the Fiskafriends Blog Hop to celebrate our friendship. Although the initial community has ended, a new Facebook community has started "Fiskafriends". This is a private group open to any numbered Fiskateer.

As for my personal story, you may already know that I am one of the hosts of The Digiscrap Geek podcast. Listen here at iTunes.

Some of you also know I'm a disabled retired physician, an avid photographer and scrapbooker and an artist.

I am happy to have you visit me today.

One person who comments on my blog (and leaves an e-mail address or Facebook link or twitter link, so I am able to easily contact you) will be entered in a prize for a 3 month subscription to Get It Scrapped. This prize is separate from the equally fantastic blog hop grand prizes. Get It Scrapped is an on-line community with terrific classes in page design. Paper, hybrid and digi scrappers are all welcome at the GIS site. I'm privileged to be on the creative team there.

I hope you'll take some time to review my blog posts at Karen's Corner of the Web. I have some of my photography, art and scrapbook pages featured here.

I designed two cards for you today. Now, I do not do a lot of cards. Cards have small real estatwhich constrains my love of lots of patterned paper and layered embellishments. Still, I do some and I try to follow Lisa Dickinson's adage for color, pattern, texture, shine, even in a small space. That's one of the many treasures of design information you'll find at Get It Scrapped.

Cards are the perfect way to use little pieces that may have been sitting in your stash forever. Standard letter size cardstock 8.5 in x 11 is easily divided in half to 4.25 x 11 and folded makes a nice A2 standard size card. Envelopes are easy to find. Odd sizes are fun, too. Lots of companies make good boards or templates for designing custom envelopes for your cards.

My pink Easter card is A2 and my turquoise card is 5 x 7 inches.

A white piece of cardstock is very useful when using material that is colorful and hard to stamp. Stamp your sentiment message on the white cardstock and fasten it in the card. It helps if you are prone to making mistakes with your stamping, as I often do. It also helps to use a stamp that is intentionally messy as this alpha stamp from Ki.

Some tips I have include using foam dimensional adhesive when attaching die cuts or chipboard pieces to your card for a little more textural interest. Don't be afraid to mix different lines of materials, just look for similar colors. Lace and ribbon are simple ways to add soft texture to your piece. I like stitching with thread, when I have the time. Don't forget to look at ways that items can be modified. My Easter eggs were actually a balloon dimensional sticker that I cut up.

Do share your card designs if you'd like with a link in the comments.

Don't forget to join the Fiskafriends Blog Hop at http://fiskafriends.blogspot.com/. Start there, if you wish to be eligible for the sponsor prizes. You do not have to be a Fiskafriend to visit the blogs and comment on our bloggers' pages. The hop is open to everyone. International visitors are welcome. A variety of projects and blog pages are featured as our First Fiskafriends Anniversary Theme is Anything Goes! The blog hop begins on March 27th at 6PM (PDT) and will end on March 29th at 11:59 PM PDT. The full contest rules and blog hop list will be revealed on the blog on March 27th. 


The Power of Community, Fiskafriends Blog Hop, http://fiskafriends.blogspot.com/
Jean Bullock, #8889,  http://ez3dpopups.blogspot.com
Susan Slomski, #6150,  http://sueinct.blogspot.com 
Cindy deRosier, #4113,  http://www.cindyderosier.com
Tifany DeGough, #5942,  http://inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com 
Cheryl Waters, #002,  http://blog.artsyfindings.com
Jean Marmo, #7358,  http://pagesintime.blogspot.com/
Teresa Godines #6857  http://purplebunnypapercrafts.blogspot.com/
Michelle O'Driscoll #7586  http://scrapbookingsos.blogspot.ca/
Nancy Carroll  #11488   http://nancecarroll.blogspot.com
Maya Oren-Dahan #351  http://mayadahan.blogspot.com
Amy Martin Jones #8546  http://thetigershaven.blogspot.com/
Karen Poirier-Brode #2858  http://www.karenscorneroftheweb.blogspot.com
Tanya Napier #5407   http://mamabirdy-happinessishomemade.blogspot.com/
Pamela Haskin #8040  http://www.cottagebelow.com
Stasia Sloma #9314 http://www.stampzone.blogspot.com/
Tracy Moloney #6773 http://tracyscraftyadventures.blogspot.com.au/
Kim Chenez #5612 http://scrapbooknstampingfun.blogspot.com/

Photography portfolio Spring 2015

Photography class is done for this semester. I wish I'd learned more about photography when younger, though. Getting into interesting angles is not something this body of mine enjoys. Joe acts as my grip to carry my tripod and fetch things while I'm on location sometimes. He and I are both really cognizant of Paul Estabrook quoting "Photography is a huge waste of time."  Waiting for the perfect light for the library photo involved a lot of boredom and mosquito bites. The photo, the sunset and the frog chorus we heard were pretty cool. I do not think I'd have liked the film processing very much then. I do like Adobe Photoshop.
I struggled a bit with these photos. Fortunately, my family, the local skate park as well as the awesome scenery around here got me what I needed. I ended up liking these photos even though I found a number of assignments took me outside of my comfort zone. I think my style definitely indicates a scrapbook slant. I think you'll see a slightly photojournalistic approach apparent in my collection.
It's definitely not a professional level of photography but I can see improvement in my photos. All it takes is some practice and study to get better. I know it works for my other art and scrapbooking. As one learns, the processes get more automatic and the next step is easier to reach.
I am waiting to see what feedback I get in class on Monday.
I'd love my readers' feedback, too.
All photos are © Karen Poirier-Brode 2014.

intro slide uses Amanda Yi Designs TheDarndestThings alpha and the fonts: Pastiche Brush and Traveling Typewriter

Scrapping

 

Love U by Karen Poirier-Brode | Supplies: Kit is from The Digi Files 72, a collab, LoveLivesHere. Journal card – Becky Higgins, Project Life, Cherry Ed; shadow styles – mommyish and One Little Bird; glitter style – mommyish, fonts – Garamond, Avenir

Do check out the blog at Get It Scrapped with great information on scrapping with clusters. I used a paper page from Nic Howard as my inspiration for my digi page.

I put this together around Valentine's Day so finding a kit about love was easy. I had a lot of fun making an alpha into a puffy sticker. There's a lot going on but the photo still takes center stage.

I had a lot of fun participating last weekend in a crop with my We Want to Scrap buddies at our LSS in Dixon, CA, It's All About the Scrapbook. At Get It Scrapped we are having an on-line crop on Saturday. Join us and hear about the Calvinball scrap game and have fun scrapbooking with us. Go to the forum and the post with a link to the webinar should be up on Saturday. Starts at 10am eastern time. (7am Pacific)

Hope you are all following the podcast at The Digiscrap Geek. It's a lot of fun. Our guests are the best. I love the other co-hosts, too. We'd love to have you listen. We love comments on the blog, too.

Spring is just around the corner. Looking forward to the more consistent warm weather, Hope the rains continue here in the west, though.