The Groove May 2012

MOM by MAKEYESUP

In the Groove

In May, we celebrate spring, beauty, and of course Mother’s Day! We hope you enjoy this inspiring issue packed with gorgeous vintage layouts, Mother’s Day-themed freebies, awesome discounts, recent challenge winners, and more.

The beautiful layout above was shared by makeyesup in the Scrapbook MAX! Gallery – stunning!

Meet Scrapbook MAX! Designer Katherine a.k.a. MagicalReality Designs

Magical Reality Designs

I am Katherine aka MagicalReality Designs. I was born in Warsaw, Poland and moved to Canada at the age of 9. I live in Ontario with my hubby, two kids and a beautiful 1.5 years old German Shepherd named Codey. I have been a digital designer since 2007. I am in love with digital graphics, digital painting, and photography. My designs are known for a mix of magical and realistic elements – I guess that is where my designer name comes from. If I am not designing I enjoy doing hands-on crafts with my kids or anything outdoors, but I always have my camera with me! I also just realized that the first scrapbook software I ever bought was Scrapbook MAX!….haha…and never in my dreams did I think I would be selling my designs here. People always ask me how do you come up with the designs ideas? Honestly… I don’t know! I never know what I will create and usually I work on 3 or 4 different designs at once. I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about me, and please take advantage of my few favorite kits on sale (see below for details)!

The Groove Monthly Freebie Challenge

Mother and Child

Each month a designer shares a freebie with Groove Readers and challenges you do to something fun with it! Find Katherine’s “Mother and Child” freebie and motherhood-themed challenge here!

(Challenge participants will also find a special “bonus gift” from Katherine in the challenge thread in Mid-May – another great reason to take the challenge!)

Psst! Love the “Mother and Child” Freebie? Look for the full versions coming soon in Katherine’s category of the store!

Some of Katherine’s Favourite Designs – Save 10% this month!

Explore Katherine’s designs, and save on a few of her favorites! The four kits below are found in our Featured Content section of the store! You can save 10% off by adding any of these four featured kits to your cart and typing in the coupon code MAY-KAZ at checkout. Offer is valid on new orders only from the Featured Content section – expires May 31, 2012.

Never Forgotten

Paint Me Beautiful

Sea Memories

Spring Magic Part 4

Spotlight on Challenge Winners

Well, everyone’s a winner just for joining a challenge! But we wanted to put the spotlight on two very special layouts from Deanne Gow-Smith’s recent mid-month challenges that sparkled with creativity!

March Mid-Month Challenge – Winning Layout by Cheesepiece
The Challenge: MAKE/SHAPE YOUR OWN EMBELLISHMENTS and MAKE YOUR OWN “BACKGROUND PAPER

On the Beach

From Donna a.k.a. “Cheesepiece”

“I am delighted, flattered and honoured to be chosen as the winner of Moonbeam’s Mid Month Challenge for March….I love joining in the Challenges, and learn so much from them. They have boosted my confidence greatly, not to mention the friends I have made in the Forum.

I am really pleased with how my LO turned out. I chose the shape first, tried out a few different ways to use it. As I played with the shape the idea for the page popped into my head. I messed around with colour and transparency, I used the same shape four times, inverting it and erasing parts of it. I chose my photo and added text. The butterfly was one shape used twice. I added shadow, duplicated it, re-coloured for the top of the butterfly. The result was very pleasing to me and so easy to create.

For all you ladies out there who have yet to join in a Challenge, I say go for it. You can learn so much and have fun at the same time.”

April Mid-Month Challenge – Winning Layout by SBM Diane
The Challenge: TURN THIS “BORING” KIT INTO SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

Twila

From Diane a.k.a. “SBM Diane”

“Thank you for the challenge Deanne! Everyone did such a beautiful job with the layouts and colors that I had no idea what I was going to create. Then, our two year old decided to jump on my lap and take a nap and gave me my color choice. I had a tough time getting the caramel color to match, but I like how it turned out. ”

May 2012 Challenges

There’s always something going on in the Scrapbook MAX! Challenges and Contests Forum! Here’s what to keep your eyes open for:

May Challenge Schedule

May 1-31, 2012 – The Groove Monthly Freebie Challenge (Katherine a.k.a. “Magical Reality Designs”)

May 1-31, 2012 – Designer Monthly Challenge (Fiona Storey)

May 15-31, 2012 – Mid-Month Challenge (Deanne Gow-Smith – approximate start date is the 15th)

A Family Story Goes On…

Last month, Kaye shared some stunning pages inspired by family photos she discovered in her parents’ photo collection. Here is another layout from this collection. Not only are the photos and layouts beautifully arranged, the journalling makes the page a true family keepsake. Get inspired to scrap your family’s story!

Three Girls

Look for the next issue of The Groove on June 1, 2012!

The Groove April 2012

Vintage School Layout

In the Groove

Enjoy the April issue of The Groove jam-packed with scrapper profiles, a tutorial, freebies, store discounts, challenge details, the chance to get a custom kit designed just for you…and more!

Top layout by Kaye.

Meet Scrapbook MAX! Designer Amanda Wittenborn

Welcome, Amanda – a new and already super busy designer!- to the Scrapbook MAX! Design Team. Get to know Amanda in the profile she has shared below (and enjoy some freebies that she’s shared, too!).

Amanda

My name is Amanda Wittenborn and I have been designing digital scrapbook kits since January of 2011. I have been crafty and creative my whole life, and knew that “someday” I wanted to design my own papers and elements to meet the needs I had as a scrapper. So I decided to give it a try, and I am hooked! I tend to design kits that go with what is going on in my kids lives at the moment. So you will see a new movie kit coming out from me, since we just took my youngest to see his first movie! Many of my kits are kid themed since my kids are my favorite subject to scrap! I have 2 little boys, age 6 and 2 and a wonderful hubby I have been married to for almost 10 years. Besides designing digital scrapbook kits I also teach private piano lessons.

Some of Amanda’s favorite kits:

Timeless


Timeless Kit
– I was actually inspired by the floral patterns in the paper, and put together this amazing color scheme to go with them perfectly. I packed this kit with tons of texture and beautiful floral pieces. It has a vintage/heritage feel to it, I have been told the papers look like vintage wall paper. I just love how this kit blossomed and turned out!

Woodland Winter


Woodland Winter Kit
- This is one of my most favorite kits I have made. I just had this fun idea to use woodland animals, but in a winter setting. Think of winter getaways and how quiet it can be during a snowfall, that’s what this kit make me think of.

Thanks for sharing, Amanda! For those of you looking for more creations by Amanda, check out her category in the Scrapbook MAX! Store. PLUS! Find a freebie from Amanda and discount on her featured kits just a little further on in this issue of The Groove!

Scrapbook Tutorial with Carena Scott: Linking Frames

Below is a wonderful tutorial on how to link frames in Scrapbook MAX!, generously shared by creative Scrapbook MAX! Designer Carena Scott. You’re sure to use this useful technique over and over again in your pages!

Hint: To view the steps at a larger size, just click on them – and flip through them by clicking on the “next” arrows that appear when you mouse over the right side of the image.

STEP #1

STEP #2

STEP #3

STEP #4

STEP #5

STEP #6

For more scrapbook tutorials and freebie kits that are Scrapbook MAX! compatible, check out Carena’s blog.

To see Carena’s beautiful selection of kits, see Carena’s category in the store.

Heritage Layout Inspiration

Heritage pages are not only beautiful, they tell such a rich story. Get inspired by Scrapbook MAX! community member Kaye’s lovely scrapbook pages (the first one is the layout featured at the top of this issue) and her story below!

From Kaye:

Don’t you agree that there is a certain charm about old black and white, and sepia photos? I look at them and my imagination takes me to all sorts of places, and I wonder what the story behind the picture is.

Letha, another Scrapbook MAX! community member, has showcased lots of beautiful scrap pages using her family’s dated photos here on the forums. It inspired me to go through my parents old photos to see what gems I could find. There were so many! I decided then and there that I was going to restore what I could and make photo books for any of the family that wanted them so that these wonderful old photos could be seen.

Dad and Brothers

A layout from Kaye’s heritage project.

Oliver Boothe

A layout by Letha that helped inspire Kaye’s ongoing heritage project.

The Groove Monthly Freebie Challenge

Movie Night Freebie

Each month a designer shares a freebie with Groove Readers and challenges you do to something fun with it! Find Amanda Wittenborn’s “Movie Night” freebie and fun movie-themed challenge here!

April 2012 Featured Kits

Are you loving Amanda’s Groove Challenge Freebie? Looking for kits with her signature style? Here’s a few for your list, all found in our Featured Content section of the store! You can save 10% off by adding any of these four featured kits to your cart and typing in the coupon code APR-AMW at checkout. Offer is valid on new orders only from the Featured Content section – expires April 30, 2012.

Puddle Jumper

Bunny Business

Happy Camper

Purple Petals

April 2012 Challenges

There’s always something going on in the Scrapbook MAX! Challenges and Contests Forum! Here’s what to keep your eyes open for:

April Challenge Schedule

April 1-31, 2012 – The Groove Monthly Freebie Challenge (Amanda Wittenborn)

April 1-31, 2012 – Designer Monthly Challenge (KapiColors)

April 15-31, 2012 – Mid-Month Challenge “From Boring To Beautiful” (Deanne Gow-Smith – approximate start date is the 15th)
From Deanne - Participants will get a bland “boring” one-color kit to work with. The goal is to transform it into “beautiful” using JUST ONE additional color. Any embies may be added but 1 color only to be added…

Have Deanne Turn Your Idea Into a Custom Kit!

Ayers Rock Australia

Last month’s ‘Custom Kit’ by Deanne Gow-Smith

From Deanne:

If you have an idea for a kit that you would like me to consider designing, all you have to do is email me at emaildeanne@gmail.com by April 10, 2012 with your request for a specific KIT theme. Add lots of details of what you would like to see in it: colours, type of embellishments, wordart, etc. I will select one of suggestions I receive, and create a custom designed KIT and a TEMPLATE for the winner.

Just for participating and emailing me your request and suggestions, you will receive 1 x FREE KIT valued around $5.00.

Note: THE WINNER of the custom-designed kit is invited to post a layout that they make with this kit in the Scrapbook MAX! gallery. We’d love to feature it and the story behind your request in an upcoming issue of The Groove!

Look for the next issue of The Groove on May 1, 2012!