Use ScrapSimple Tools - Styles To Create Coordinating Accents for Your Digital Scrapbooking Layout or Card

Card Designed by Mandy Steward

A quick and easy way to create coordinating accents on your digital scrapbooking layout or card is to use ScrapSimple Tools - Styles. For this card I used Shalae's ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: News 4901 on three different page accents. I used it on the strips of paper that are under the red brads. I used it on the matte under my flower photo. I also used it on the frames on the back of my card. *Hybrid Tip: You can add a personal sentiment to the back of your card by hand after you print the card out.

If I had been doing this the harder way, I would have had to cut out my three different shapes from another background paper.With the ScrapSimple Tools - Styles, I can get the same effect with one click of my mouse for each layer. In honor of ScrapSimple Thursday, I used a bunch of ScrapSimple products on this card. You can see my supply list below.

Scrap Girls Supplies Used:

ScrapSimple Crafts: Greeting Card Gift Set

ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: News 4901

ScrapSimple Word Art: Simply Sentimental

Cherish Collection

ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Artsy Watercolor 1

ScrapSimple Tools - Custom Shapes: Frames 2102

Assemble Your Own: Collage Art

ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Metal 1801

Watercolor Technique #2

Here is another technique on how to use the ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Artsy - Watercolor 1. This technique is shown here in PSE 3.0, Windows / PC.

Open up the watercolor paper template that you would like to color.

Create a new layer that is directly above your watercolor template.

While the new layer is selected in your layers palette change the blending mode from normal to color burn.

Select a brush from your brush menu. I chose to use Lori Cook's Grunge Brush Set. To be honest this is my favorite set. I use one of these brushes for literally everything - masking, erasing, brushing, etc. I could not live with out this brush.

Once your brush is selected at the top of your program on the options bar you will see the option to change the opacity of your brush. Drop it down to at least 56%. This way you can slowly build up your color by having lighter and darker areas.

Select the color you would like to paint your watercolor paper, and start brushing away on your new layer with the color. Here I chose a green color.

If you want to add a new color you could brush it on the same layer. This creates a problem though if you would like to erase one of the colors. It is best to create a new layer with the blending mode on color burn, so that you can easily erase a layer of a specific color if you decide you do not like it.

When you start overlapping them you start creating the blending effects that would actually happen when you use different hues of watercolor.

Tips: If it seems to have a lot of dark black areas and you don't want that, you can lower the intensity of your color you are brushing on.

You could also change the blending mode of the layer to something other than color burn.

If you want you could paint the whole paper leaving it dark and then at the very end, merge all the layers and adjust the levels to brighten or lighten it up after you are completely finished.

Here I've created a paper with various colors by simply brushing onto the layer.

Note: You will notice that I brushed all these colors on one layer. That is not the best idea. It works better to have each color on it's own layer. Plus you could have all the layers on different blending modes to create some really interesting effects. Have fun painting!


Supplies Used:

Grunge Brush Set

ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Artsy-Watercolor

Watercolor Technique #1

There have been a few inquiries as to how to create a realistic watercolor effect with the ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Artsy - Watercolor 1.

Over the next two days I'll show you 2 different methods on how you can use them, as well as how to use the watercolor styles. This tutorial was created using PSE 3.0 on a Windows / PC.


Open up your water color paper template. For this tutorial I used STI_SS_Paper_Artsy_Watercolor1_lines.

Create a new layer on top of your watercolor paper.


Select the gradient tool option. This can be found by right clicking on the paint bucket in your tools palette.

When the gradient tool is selected it will take the color in your foreground color box and blend it with the color in your background color box. Make sure you have the two colors in your color box you would like to apply to the paper.

You will see this blending in the top of your options bar. If you double click on the colored gradient another drop down list will appear to show you other various gradient options.

Double click on the gradient created from your colors in the very first box.

This will pull up the the Gradient editor where you can make specific changes to your gradient. you can add more colors or adjust how much of one color is shown in the gradient.

We want to add one more color to the middle of our gradient. To do this double click right below the gradient bar at the bottom. You will see a little prompt come up that says click here to add a stop.

It will then create a new little box with a color inside. To change the color simply double click on the new stop and it will pull up the color picker for you to select your new color. You now should see a gradient with 3 colors in it.

Make sure the new layer is selected in your layers palette.

To add the gradient to your new layer you simply drag your mouse in the direction you want the gradient to go across your layer while holding the mouse button down. You will see it draw a line showing you the direction the gradient will be placed.

You can also choose radial gradients, and other gradient options at the top of your screen.

Select the gradient layer in your layers palette and change the blending mode. This is found right below the layers tab in the drop down menu. I selected color burn. This is the option that I use the most with these watercolor templates. Look through all the options though and see what effects can be created.

Merge the two layers together.

Sometimes the option color burn leaves the watercolor looking really dark. To adjust this simply change the levels of your watercolor layer. To get to the levels go to enhance>adjust lighting> levels (for PSE users.) For Photoshop users go to Layer > Adjustments > Levels.

You now have a finished watercolor paper ready for you to scrap on.


Here is a layout I created using the watercolor paper.

There will be a specific tutorial in the ScrapGirls newsletter on Friday the 28th of Sept. that will teach you how to apply the watercolor papers to photos. You sign up for the newsletter here.

Supplies Used:

Live Merry Collection

Grunge Brush Set

ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Edgy - Thin

ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Artsy - Watercolor 1

What Products Do I Need In Order to Get Going as a Digital Scrapbooker: Digital Layout Templates

Perhaps you are someone who owns a lot of digital scrapbooking papers, embellishments and alphabets, but you are having trouble actually getting started doing something with those supplies. You need to check out the Scrap Girls ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates.

Read what Laurel has to say:

“I personally use the ScrapSimple Digital Layout templates a bunch. They really help when I'm having a creative block or I just want to get some pages done quickly. You just drag your papers onto the different layer, do a clipping mask (cmd+g on a Mac) and then add your own embellishments or journaling and a title.”

And Rebecca says this about digital layout templates:

“They'll give you a great boost to starting some pages quickly.”

The great thing about digital layout templates is that you can get a lot of use out of the same templates. Just by adding different papers, embellishments or by turning the layout template in 90 degree increments, you can come up with totally different looks. For example, check out these two layouts I did with the exact same digital layout template.

Layout by Mandy Steward

Scrap Girls Supplies Used:

ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Notepaper

Janet Collection

Carnvial Ride Papers

Fireside Papers

Afterglow Embellishments

Slumberella Collection

Altered State Papers

ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Epoxy 1801

Intuition Paper

Layout by Mandy Steward

Scrap Girls Supplies Used:

ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Notepaper

Live Merry Collection

Cherish Collection

Digital Stickers: Summery

Doodlelicious Embellishments

Stamped Dates Brush Set

ScrapSimple: An Easy Way to Use Brushes for a Hybrid Project

Inside of Card by Mandy Steward

Here’s one way you can use the ScrapSimple Brushes for a Hybrid Project. Just print them out. Seriously, that’s all there is to it. To create the inside of this birthday card I opened one of the .PNG files in the Journaling Labels Brush Set, and I made it smaller so it would fit on my card.

To make a .PNG file smaller you just go to Image>Image Size in Photoshop or Image>Resize>Image Size in Photoshop Elements and change the inches to the size you need. In my case, I made the brush about 2.5 inches tall.

Then I printed it out (along with some other embellishments and paper from Alphabet Soup Girl Collection) and just trimmed around the edges and adhered it to the base of my my card. Once I put my card together, I wrote “Love, The Stewards” on the bottom of the journaling block.

Front of Card by Mandy Steward

By the way, I made this card out of 2 chipboard coasters from Chilli's and just hooked them together with ribbon and covered them with digital scrapbooking paper I printed out. Makes for an easy, cheap and unique card.

Scrap Girls Supplies Used:

Journaling Labels Brush Set

Alphabet Soup Girl Collection

What Products Do I Need In Order to Get Going as a Digital Scrapbooker: Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed

If you’re new to your software that you purchased in order to do digital scrapbooking, Scrap Girls can help train you to learn all the helpful tips and secrets. In fact, Scrap Girls CEO, Ro, will train you herself, through her Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed Training Movies. These are available for the most widely used digital scrapbooking software applications, including Paint Shop Pro (PSP), Photoshop Elements (PSE) and Photoshop (PS).

LizzyJ, from the Scrap Girls Message Board says, “…A must have for me was the Scrapbook Secrets Revealed, and then the More Scrapbook Secrets Revealed by Ro (in the boutique). If you've already got supplies then you can start right away and work along with Ro in the videos. It was a jump start for me to work on LO's.”

Personally I love that Ro gets you familiar with your software program at the same time she’s teaching you how to scrapbook digitally. It's a much more fun way to learn.

I created this humorous layout about my lack of cooking skills using a couple of the techniques Ro teaches in her video, including creating a curved paper edge and cropping a photo into a unique shape.

Layout by Mandy Steward
Scrap Girls Supplies Used:

Inked Collection Mini

Pink Ink Collection Mini

Cooking Collection Mini

Sale Going On

Adding Color By Hand to Digital Scrapbooking Brushes

By accident I stumbled across a fun and easy way to add color to ScrapSimple brushes. I was creating this postcard for my mom to thank her for a kind thing she used to say to me and my sister when we were little. I designed the entire postcard, printed it out and then decided the crayon brushes looked a little bare.

Always looking for a way to combine mediums, I got out my colored pencils and added some color, by hand to the pencil doodle brushes in the left-hand corner.


The color layered nicely over the blue background, and I think the scribbled coloring fits nicely with an elementary-themed card. For this technique you can use the brushes like coloring book lines and fill in color with crayon, colored pencil or paint. You can always trace back over the brush in black pen/marker if you cover it up too much. A neat way to add a bit of hybridness (is that a word?) to your otherwise digital creation.

Scrap Girls Supplies Used:

School Time Collection

School Time Doodle Brush Set

Art Journal Collection

ScrapSimple Card Templates: Remember Postcards

What Products Do I Need In Order to Get Going as a Digital Scrapbooker: One Good, Solid Collection

If you're new to digital scrapbooking, Carla, a customer at Scrap Girls, suggests Erica Hite’s Bookworm Collection.

At Scrap Girls, a Collection (sometimes referred to as "kit") includes digital scrapbooking papers sized to 12x12 inches, some sheets of embellishments and some sheets of alphabets and/or word art. In order to begin digital scrapbooking, buying a collection is the perfect way to get a little bit of everything in one purchase. Bookworm is a solid, beautiful and versatile collection that can be used in many different ways, and Carla says she "always turns to it." In other words, you’ll use it time and time again.

To show you this I’ve completed three very different projects using this collection:

FOR BABY: I created a baby gift using a paper I printed out from Bookworm for the matting of my painting. I also used embellishments from Bookworm as accents. I left the label blank so the mommy could fill in the time and date and other important info from her baby’s birth.

Picture by Mandy Steward

FOR BIRTHDAY (MALE AND FEMALE): I created birthday cards for my mom (left) and my dad (right). The purplish-pink paper gave a nice feminine touch to the card for my mom and the marbled blue and brown paper was great for a more masculine card.

Cards by Mandy Steward

FOR A BOOK-THEMED LAYOUT: I created a 12x12 digital scrapbooking page about my daughter and some schoolbooks she got for her birthday. The title of the layout is “Learn” and Bookworm was the perfect themed collection for a layout about books and learning.

Layout by Mandy Steward
Scrap Girls Products Used:

Bookworm Collection Biggie

ScrapSimple: How to color a digital scrapbooking embellishment template with color and pattern.

*Check out the Scrap Girls Blog on Thursdays for tips, how-tos and inspiration on using ScrapSimple Products.

(Screenshots from PSE4 on a Mac)

First I open my ScrapSimple Embellishment Template: Curled Edges Shapely, and I’m using number 4.

To add color to a grayscale template: The easiest way to do this is by adding a new color fill layer.
Once you have this layer above the template make sure it is the active layer in your Layers Palette and then do cntrl g (command g on a mac). This will mask the 2 layers, now play around with the mode for that layer. Some good ones to try is "screen" or "multiply." I’ve used overlay here.


Notice the difference in my curled embellishment. The top image is before the color fill mask was added and the bottom image is after it was added.


Now to add a pattern:

I opened up the ScrapSimple Paper Template: Diamonds and pulled it over top of my embellishment template.


I pulled in a background paper and hit control g ( command g on a mac) to mask it to the diamond shapes.

Then I right clicked on the paper layer and chose Merge Down.


Then I made the colored diamonds my active layer and hit control g (command g on a mac) to mask it over the curled template.


I changed the diamond layer to a Blend Mode of Color Burn and this is the resulting curled embellishment.


Here is a layout I created using it:

Layout by Mandy Steward uses the following Scrap Girls Products:

ScrapSimple Layer Your Own Garden Stone Brush Set

ScrapSimpleEmbellishment Template: Curled Edges Shapely

ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Diamonds

Boysenberry Embellishments

Mixed Media Collection

Journey Embellishments

What Products Do I Need In Order to Get Going as a Digital Scrapbooker: Free eBooklet

FYI - On Mondays on the Scrap Girls Blog we're going to focus on beginners. If you're new to digital scrapbooking you'll want to check out our blog every Monday for tips, how-tos and inspiration.

Recently this question was posed on the Scrap Girls Message Board. It is a question that I see often from people new to digital scrapbooking. If you’re new to the hobby, it’s hard to know how exactly to jump in first. What should be your first digital scrapbooking purchase? Over the next few Mondays, I’m going to share with you answers to this question, along with a sample of what you can do with the products. These solutions all come from Scrap Girls customers.

Probably our number one suggested product for beginners is a FREE eBook available at Scrap Girls called 15 Things You Need to Know to Become a Great Digital Scrapbooker.

In this eBook, Ro, the CEO of Scrap Girls, answers the top 15 questions that are asked again and again by newcomers to digital scrapbooking. It is also packed full of inspirational layout samples as well as showing you a broad selection of the various types of products we offer at Scrap Girls. If you are totally new and are still scratching your head at the term digital scrapbooking this is the perfect way to get a lot of your questions answered.

Here is one of my favorite layouts featured in the eBook. You'll find within its pages many more layouts equally as inspiring.

Layout By Shalae Tippetts
Scrap Girls Supplies Used:

Aged Frames Embellishments

A Mom 2 Be Collection

Faithful Collection

Art Journal Collection

Curled Edges Embellishment

Love Always Collection

SS Paper Templates: Edgy-THIN

SS Embellishment Templates: Extra - Ribbon Toppers