Scrapbook & Cards Today Blog

SCT Summer Photo Challenge!

Hello SCT friends! We've got our July challenge and this time, not a sketch, not a scraplift and not a card. This one is a photo challenge! We've created a fun list for you and we want you to check off as many as you can. Each week over the summer we are going to choose one of the subjects and ask you to share them with us. And guess what? Each week someone is going to win a fun surprise from us! Here's the list and below is the challenge...

You're first challenge, should you choose to accept (lol!), is to capture some pictures of your friends! And yes, you can look in your camera roll for pictures you may have captured over the past week on Canada Day, Independence Day or any other recent gathering! Submit one photo in a .jpg not more than 2mb to us at [email protected] and put "SCT photo challenge" in your reference line by July 14. If you're posting any photos online as part of this challenge, be sure to tag us on Instagram @sctmagazine with this hashtag #sctphotochallenge."

Let's see who can check many of these boxes before Labour Day!

NEWS ALERT! Scrapbook.com unveils readable museum on the history of scrapbooking!

Huck Finn and scrapbooking? What do these two have in common…? Read the unknown history of scrapbooking in an amazing readable museum on the history of scrapbooking. We're so thankful to Scrapbook.com who put this rich research together for us to see and we just had to share!

Link to article here: https://www.scrapbook.com/articles/history-of-scrapbooking

 

 

100 days of Summer with SCT!

Did you see in our latest summer issue that we are hosting our 3rd annual Summer Photo Contest?  We are calling all shutterbugs to share their summer memories with us and one lucky winner will receive a secretly stowed away Crop & Create Delivered (and sold out!) Summer Fun kit!  All the details are here. We want you to send us your favourite picture you captured this summer ~ kids, adults, furry friends, places you've travelled to, the beach, the pool, ANYTHING!!!  Entries are due August 15th so start sending!

We can't wait to enjoy your summer memories too!

~  Catherine

A great read SCT friends...you'll be glad you did!

Sometimes you come across some words that just mean so much.  The blog post below is one of those that just said all the right things.  A must read, in fact. I don't personally know Teresa Porter who wrote it but I am sending her a big THANK YOU for a new perspective. 

http://myfriendteresablog.com/so-youre-feeling-too-fat-to-be-photographed/

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought SCT friends.  I hope these words cause us all to pause for just a moment and then JUMP in front of that camera next time we see it!  Thank you Beth Kingston for sharing this post when you found it.

~  Catherine

Project Life tips from Kelly Purkey!

Good morning SCT friends!  A few weekends ago when Kelly Purkey was in town to teach at Crop & Create Markham, I had the pleasure of looking at her Project Life album for 2013 one afternoon.  If ever there was a moment I knew I wanted to start a Project Life album it was then.  As someone who was not even a part of what was in the album I was entertained by all that it contained and the month she had documented before leaving New York City.  I could only imagine looking back at this album in years to come and the pleasure it will bring.  Of course, I not only HAD to share this album with you, BUT I asked Kelly to give us some of her favourite "tips" that I could share too!

Here is a look at some of her pages (more on her blog here)...

There are notes, messages, pictures, menus, pockets, and so much more packed into these pages! 

Here's some of Kelly's tips:

Make it playtime!  I try to make it really enjoyable to work on by using favorite supplies that I'm excited about, like sequins and gold ink.  That way I don't feel like I'm limited myself to certain products and waste time trying to make them fit in the right way.  And when you look back at the album, you'll enjoy it even more because you've used supplies that you love as well.

Document little things and big things.  Important events go into the album but so do little things like text messages and weather.  Whatever made me smile or pause to really think about during the day is going to be something I want to remember.  Into the album it goes!

Don't limit yourself to a timeframe.  This is the biggest change I made with my album this year and it has made all the difference.  Last year I documented in weekly spreads and I would get hung up - sometimes my week just didn't fit "right" into the number of pockets I had designated.  With this album I let myself fill the pockets as I go, dating thing here and there.  Exactly when it happened isn't so important as getting it into the album.  That way I can include as much as I want about a week or day or month.  It's really given me the freedom to add things to my album without so much pressure. 

Great tips and suggestions!  Thanks so much for sharing your album and your month with us Kelly! 

If you are considering starting a Project Life album, be sure to check out American Crafts, Studio Calico's monthly kit, We R Memory Keepers, Doodlebug and Simple Stories.  All have some amazing new products to get your started!

~  Catherine

Low Light Photography Tips - Part 2!

On Monday, we discussed what you can do with your camera to ensure the best possible results in low light situations.  Today, we will cover what you can do to support that technical information:

1. If you’re at home, turn on all the lights if possible.  Move lamps into the room where you will be shooting, if you can.  If you’re not at home, speak with your host/hostess and explain what you’re doing and ask for their help – chances are they don’t have a whole lot of great low-light shots of gatherings in their home either and will be more than willing to help.
2. Use a tripod or a monopod.  What’s that? You don’t walk around with a tripod?? Me neither.  That’s ok, just find something to brace yourself against.  Doorways work beautifully, as do solid pieces of furniture.  Nothing to brace yourself against? Use your own body.  Tuck those arms in and be still.
3. Move your body and change your angle.  Can you prop your camera up on the back of a sofa or chair?  Get down on your knees, have a peak through your camera and see if you have possibly discovered a great shooting angle.  A lower vantage point is often wonderful when shooting children, as well as gatherings where everyone is sitting down.

 

 

 

4.    Try to make sure that your subjects’ faces have some light on them. Again, this might mean moving around your subject and changing where you’re shooting from:

 

Low light photography often has a different feel to it.  Your photos may not have the clear, sharp look to them that we’ve all come to equate with good photography, but in cases like this, maybe that’s not the end goal.  Maybe the end goal is capturing that feeling when friends and family come together during the holidays, or when your nervous 3^rd grader makes eye contact with you from the stage and you give him a reassuring nod and he starts singing his little heart out.

Photography is many things, and often we have to work with what we’ve got at that moment, so my challenge to you is to prepare yourself before these situations are upon you and the moments is gone!

 ~ Kathy Thompson

Just a note, join us tomorrow as we announce the details of Crop & Create Winnipeg and Crop & Create Moncton!  Can't wait!