Cottage Arts

Hi...Beth here for some altered art fun! A few months ago Michelle and I created some Nature Sketchbooks for her Digital Workshop article in Somerset Memories. The Feb/Mar 2009 issue shares how Michelle creates a digital nature sketchbook, and the upcoming Apr/May 2009 issue will show her process of making an altered book using digital sketchbook pages and an old book (shown below). Can't wait for this issue!     As a base for my sketchbook below, I used the cardboard envelopes you get your photos in from a photo lab (that would otherwise go in the recycle bin). Cheap! See our Sketchbook gallery...

Lots of inspiration and goodies for you today! To me, recipe books are a perfect fit for digital scrapbooking, as you can create them once and print as many copies as you need! We're hoping to have a regular feature on the blog sharing our team's favorite recipes in digital layouts. Our site's gallery has a recipe category for you to be able to copy the recipes in text form, if desired, as well as get layout details. See end of post for some deliciously tasty inspiration by the team. Two years ago, the St. Cloud Times featured my maternal...

The second in a series of Photo Art Blends is ready in our shop...I think I had even more fun with this set! They are sized at 3888x2592 pixels (about 13x9 at 300dpi - 6x4 aspect ratio). Pak consists of 16 JPG format photo art blends, some in grayscale and some in sepia and cross processing hues. Also included is a link to a new tutorial using blends from this set (in the Tutorial Link and Terms.txt document in the zip file). Five sample images are included in the tutorial with the settings I used to achieve each one's effects....

Thought it was time for a coupon code...for the month of March, get an extra 10% off total purchases in our shop (on sale or regular price) using coupon code, dstds, during checkout. And, below is a new image created with the next set of Photo Art Blends coming in the store Thursday, March 4. As you can see, I'm thinking spring!

Trends in digital scrapbooking change at the speed of light, but some art can handle the test of time...one of our favorite kits that we've had in our shop for a while is Doris Castle's Asian Heritage Pak. Here's what the team recently created with this elegant kit. Click on any of the images below to view them enlarged in lightbox.