Project Life

This week’s Project Life covers the week of August 26-September 1.
This was the start of many new things in our home this week— the start of a full week of school, new routines, the start of a long holiday weekend, and the start of a new life for our dear friends.   Lots of good stuff.

I kept it simple, design wise.  I pulled various Elle’s Studio products and matched it with the Seafoam Core kit that I am using.  

I loved stamping the hearts (from our Penelope Stamp, available next Monday!) onto a photo punched in a circle.   That photo melts my heart.


We want to feature your Project Life album!  During the last week of each month we will be featuring a couple Project Life spreads that caught our eye in the Member Gallery.  We will be posting Project Life spreads on our blog tomorrow!   If your spread is featured we will be sending you a $5 gift card to use in our store.   Good Luck!

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life album are created by Becky and can be found here.  You can read of all the Elle’s Studio Project Life posts here.


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Capture Life – 09.23.13

Capture Life – Hello Bokeh
Time to get up close & personal and say hello to the beauty of Bokeh!
Defined by Wikipedia as : the blur or the aesthetic quality of blur, in out of focus areas of an image.
Every once in awhile  I get the chance to take a walk in nature and capture the beauty that is around us. Yesterday I set out to capture the “weeds” that grow on our ground; most of which are starting to turn brown as they gear up for Fall. By getting up close and using a large aperture (lowest f-stop number) I am able to create images that almost become abstract or Fine Art like. Okay, well maybe not that amazing, but we can all dream right? 
I love my 50mm 1.4 the best for capturing Bokeh, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be captured with other lenses as well. 
I was lucky enough to have this adorable little bee land at just the right time for this photo: thank you Mr. Bee
Canon 50mm f1.4 1/1328 ISO160
This photo had beautiful light filtering through the trees right behind it creating those beautiful soft circles.

Canon 50mm f1.4 1/1328 ISO160
I got down on the ground for this shot. It was an open shade area to prevent any harsh shadows.

Canon 50mm f1.4 1/400 ISO 160
This photo is possibly my favorite. I was shooting from below the subject so I could get just a hint of sun flare at the top. 
Canon 50mm f1.4 1/8000 ISO200
This last example was shot with a smaller aperture (larger number) f5.6 rather than f1.4 just to show you that even if your lens doesn’t go to f1.4 or f1.8 or even f2.8 you can still get this look!
I had to turn this one into black and white. I love the way the entire image becomes about texture. 

Canon 50mm f5.6 1/125 ISO200
And if anyone is wondering. I shoot A LOT of photos. That’s the beauty of digital. Don’t be afraid to keep that button clicking!
Now, let’s get those photos on a page and our memories recorded!
I went very simple with this page and did a tiny image to allow the beautiful tags from the September Tag kit shine. LOVE this kit! Have you gotten yours yet?
Here’s a look at the kit: Go get yours HERE!
I hope you are inspired to get up close and capture the tiny details of nature. 
Now go on … Get out and Capture Life!
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Our new collections coming soon!

We are excited to announce that our new collections will be available in our shop on Monday, September 30th at 8:00 am PST! Don’t miss this fun launch of all three of our new collections, along with some new layout kits!

Sign up for our newsletter to receive a reminder when everything is live!

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Guest Designer Spotlight: Becky Novacek

I am pleased to introduce you to our September Guest Designer, Becky Novacek!

There is something so beautiful and charming about Becky’s work.  The details, the vintage touches, and the incredible photography have always left me feeling inspired.  We are just thrilled to have her as our guest designer this month and are excited for you to get to know her a little better (and WOW, check out her studio!).    Be sure to view her full gallery, I know you will love it.   Thanks so much for joining us this month Becky!

name: becky novacek
location: fremont, nebraska
blog: www.beckynovacekphotography.com/blog
twitter: @beckynovacek
your 3 favorite ES products: Saltwater Papers, Saltwater Summer Happiness Stamps, Saltwater Tabs

Why did you start scrapbooking and how did you get started?

I started scrapbooking when I had my first baby.  I didn’t use any particular method, I jut cut images of out magazines that I liked and added them to the baby books.

What are three products you can’t live without?

Tags pattern paper, and vintage papers for layering.

Where do you scrapbook?
My Studio which is an upstairs bedroom.

What do you listen to/watch while scrapbooking?

I have netflix on my iPad running constantly… usually playing a whole season of a TV show at a time.

What is your favorite color combination?

golden yellow and pink currently.

What/who inspires you?

visuals like magazines, window shopping, beautiful websites.

Do you record every moments or just special ones?

mainly everyday happenings.

What is your favorite thing about scrapbooking?

the hands-on creative expression incorporating three of my loves: paper, photos, and writing.

Do you have a scrapbooking goal?

To continue to enjoy it and make things that I like to look at.

What are three facts about you that others might not know?   

1.  I’m really interested in health/fitness/good food
2.  I am outside every possible minute that I can be
3.  If I weren’t a photographer, I would probable be an interior designer.

We are giving away Becky’ s favorite Elle’s Studio items!  Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win!

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Project Spotlight – September 22nd

Congrats to this week’s Project Spotlight winner, Amelie! Check your email for your $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate to use in our shop! Amelie’s layout features our Saltwater- Summer Happiness stamps! We love the beautiful color palette she used, it makes us wish summer wasn’t ending… But I am excited to see fall layouts in our Member Gallery soon! Head on over to her gallery to check it out and you can even add it to your favorites by logging into your account and clicking on the “I (heart) this!” button. 

You never know when your project will be chosen to be spotlighted! Each week we pick a new project out of our member gallery to spotlight. For your chance to be spotlighted and to win a $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate, just upload your project to our member gallery and tag the Elle’s Studio item(s) used!
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sketch thursday

Inspired by Becky’s lashes layout from this month’s gallery, today’s sketch is sure to get you in the mood to scrap.


Two of our designers created fantastic layouts inspired by the sketch.

Suzanne:


“I was inspired by the stitched trail of hearts in the sketch and decided to make a garland of vellum stars instead of the hearts. I  moved the circle element in the sketch onto the white space in my photo and added a strip of You & Me patterned paper down the right side of my design.”

Stephanie:



“I really love Becky’s style and this beautiful layout is no exception!!  I was inspired by the stitching on her page, as well as the vertical placement of the hearts.  For my layout, I stayed pretty true to the sketch, but added a few of the Elle’s Studio tags down my vertical line.  I finished with a few strips of typed journaling to balance out the bottom half of my page.” Stephanie

Now it’s your turn! For a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the Shop create a project inspired by today’s sketch, upload it to our Member Gallery and post a link here. A random winner will be selected and announced with next week’s sketch.


Last week’s randomly selected winner is… Tricia Romo!


Congratulations!! Please email michelle@shopellesstudio.com the following info:
Name/Address:
Contest: Sketch 09.12
Prize: $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate

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Happy Birthday Elle!!!

We all want to wish Elle a very Happy Birthday today! She is the most hardworking, driven, creative, & fun person we know! We hope you have a special day, you deserve it! Thanks for being the best sister & most amazing auntie, we love you lots 🙂 

XOXO,
Michelle (& Cameron)

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Project Life

This week’s Project Life covers the week of August 19-25.
This is the first week documented in my third album for this year– it’s back to school week!

I used a variety of Elle’s Studio products– various pieces from our Monthly Kits (which are beyond perfect for Project Life), and many items from our new Penelope collection.

Since it was such a big week, I included an insert.  The front part is about my daughter’s first day of kindergarten, and the back side is about my son’s first day of first grade.

It was also a big week for us because my family hosted a huge party which we do every year at the end of August.   There was a magic show, horses, swimming, bounces houses….and a photo booth of course!

I placed my photo booth strips in the 4×6 spot and let it hang over.  (one of these years we will get one of the whole family…. it’s hard to track everyone down for a picture!)


We want to feature your Project Life album!  During the last week of each month we will be featuring a couple Project Life spreads that caught our eye in the Member Gallery.  We will be posting Project Life spreads on our blog tomorrow!   If your spread is featured we will be sending you a $5 gift card to use in our store.   Good Luck!

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life album are created by Becky and can be found here.  You can read of all the Elle’s Studio Project Life posts here.

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We have a winner!

We have a winner to announce from our giveaway with Scrapbook Circle, posted here. The winner of the Photo Goes Here kit is:
 
Gail said Gorgeous kit – oh how fun! Thanks so much for your generosity and an opportunity to win! On September 15, 2013 at 12:15 AM

Congrats, Gail! Please email us the following info to claim your prize:
Name:
Address:
Prize: Scrapbook Circle Photo Goes Here Kit

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our monthly kit + your stash

Welcome back to September’s edition of our monthly kit + your stash! This month we are showing you two ways of mixing Elle’s Studio September 2013 Kit with your stash to create two different projects. 
Annette selected the following supplies…

and created this gorgeous, airy project life spread:


“I love the variety of the Elle’s Studio kits because you can always find several pieces that will work well with other products you are using. For September’s kit, I was inspired by the pinks and blues and and thought they would coordinate well with a Project Life layout I had in mind for my daughter’s album. I wanted to use some of the Studio Calico Marks & Co Project Life kit + the Project Life Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic kit, as well as a few other things including that beautiful Lindsay Letters letterpress card and thickers from Studio Calico, a roller date stamp from Dear Lizzy and some washi tape. 

To create the layout I picked colors that went well with my daughter’s Ariel outfit and also had fun playing with a few of the Kal Barteski stamps from the Studio Calico kit as well as the new Elle’s Studio Penelope line. I embossed the stamps with white Zing embossing powder to help the stamps stand out. I also added a little flip card to add more journaling under one of the filler cards and cut down the smaller tags to add fun accents on my calendar and journaling card. Love how it turned out!” -Annette


 I, on the other hand, went for bolder colors…

and created a layout about back to school:


I love how this kit has many elements that can be used for different themes (back to school, autumn, football, daily life…). This kit matches Elle’s Studio Penelope collection beautifully so I started with that. I then added pieces of Basic Grey’s RSVP collection and a few embellishments from the Studio Calico PL kit. 

For my layout, I wanted to show all the different colors on the kit yet keep it simple so I rolled different patterned papers then layered the picture and tags on top. Finally, i created a little cluster of tags and other embellishments for balance and fun 🙂 -Waleska

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