Scrap that Idea!

This month at Scrap that Idea there are two cool collaboration kits. I got a chance to play with both and they were both really versatile. I love the collabs because you get a little sampling of designs from all the designed at Scrap that Idea so you can see if you like their style before you buy a whole kit. I'm actually on the Creative Team for Mel Hains but there are bits and pieces in my layouts from the other designers If you like digital scrapbooking, I definitely recommend checking these ladies out. They are pretty amazing designers check them out :Vicki, Stacey, Laramie and Mel.

Here are the two kits and my pages.
First is a kit called Family Life that is full of pinks, teals and yellows. I like it. It comes with a pretty cool multicolored cursive alpha but I really wanted a more blocky solid colored alpha for my layout so I used a font and clipped one of the papers from the kit to it instead of using the alpha in the kit. I love the versatility clipping masks offer me in my layouts. I took this photo of Brooke and Briana a few weeks ago at my Aunt's house. Love my sweet nieces!

If you like the kit go get it here it's only $4 and look at all the stuff you get!

The second kit is called Good Times and it's bolder colors and actually free with a $5 purchase. I like free! (And I like this kit...there's a really cool star paper in there I plan you use for a page in my scrapbook when I get the right photo to go with it. My favorite peices in this kit are the polka do papers, the star paper...you know me and stars, the orange bulldog clip, the pink ribbon and the green swirly glitter stamp.) If you like it you can get it here.

This is my friend Jackie's family and I had taken their photos the day before the kits came out so I made a sample page for the designers using the photos. If you Scrap 4 Hire or Scrap 4 Others you need to read the TOU's before using the kits for that. Some of the designers allow you to use their kits for that and others don't and I say always follow the TOU because you wouldn't want someone else to steal you stuff would you? But don't get me started on theft. Just because you can screen grab or right click an image on the internet doesn't mean it's yours! There's a reason photographers put their names all over the photos on their bogs and in their stores. Follow the rules and everyone is happy. I don't typically use a kit when I scrapbook for others. This is for my scrapbook though and all digital kits can be used for personal use. 

I also tried using the kit to make a sample birthday card. I've blogged about Red River paper before. I love it and they make pre-scored cards you can print on so I thought why not...instead of a 12x12 page for my scrapbook I'll try making a card with the kit. I think it turned out really good, but I did have to step out of my comfort zone. I had to design the back upside down! 

The paper they sent me to test was 7x10 inches so when the card is printed out it's 3.5x5 inches folded and when you use a kit like this it looks really professional. I don't print a lot of my scrapbook pages, I upload them to my iPhoto and put them on my iTouch or facebook and after printing this out to test the paper I really appreciate the designers talents even more. The paper detailing is amazing the the little heart on the back really looks like felt. Your computer resolution is so much lower than a actual print. When you print it. WOW! The combination of a great high resolution image, a amazing photo paper and a good printer and you have professional results in minutes. I designed this card and printed out in 20 minutes...and it's totally custom. I'd spend that long at the store trying to choose one! Digital scrapbooking kits can be used for so much more than just a scrapbook page. Think about invitations for your kids' birthday party, holiday cards, gift tags, thank you notes, recipe cards, the list is endless!