4 for 4

Do you have a lot of scrapbook supplies?

Are you like me and have so many scrapbook supplies that you don't know where to start?

Are you having a hard time coming up with layout ideas?

Are you new to scrapbooking?

I would recommend watching RTS Scrapbooking YouTube videos. 

I don't binge watch TV shows but I certainly binge watched RTS Scrapbooking.

What does RTS stand for? In Janet's videos, she refers to RTS as:

• Record the Story
• Rearrange the Stuff
• Revamp the Skills

If you are new to the hobby, I would recommend watching Janet's Base Page series - she has 9 videos on how to create base pages.

If you are having troubles getting your pages to the next level like I am with embellishments then watch her Learning Visual Triangles - Clusters 101 video.

And finally, if you are looking for something to spark your mojo, watch her 4 for 4 series. In the series, Janet gets you to limit all your supplies to a simple kit and from that kit you make 4 single layouts and 4 cards. 

I enjoy scrapbooking but I do not have the time, the energy or the experience to come up with my own layouts. I tend to find layouts that I like on Pinterest and replicate them for my albums. I want all my layouts to be WOW layouts. I lack the patience to start simple and step it up as I gain experience. 

RTS 4 for 4 has given me the little nudge that I need to come up with my own layouts. It is fantastic and very rewarding.

I started watching her videos to learn how to create page kits and organize myself for crops. What I got from binge watching RTS Scrapbooking series was so much more.

If you follow my Instagram page Craftycanadianladies, I will post my other layouts as I finish them. 

Hope you have a fabulous weekend.

Embroidered Pumpkin

Good day everyone.

I am sharing with you another project that I finished following OML Embroidery's how to digitize tutorial.

We started with this creepy but beautiful Halloween image and imported it into Embird digitizing software.

Halloween Pumpkin

What I love about these tutorials is that with each one of them I get to learn different elements of digitizing. The elements of Embird that I used in this project were: 

• cutting out sections of the digitized image. I started by digitizing the orange pumpkin and then cut out the eyes, nose and mouth to remove layers and prepare the area to fill with yellow and green thread.
• creating fill from outline. With one click, I was able to fill in the cut areas. Normally, I would have manually outlined the area I wanted filled but the "create fill from outline" option was much quicker and more exact.
• carving. I added details and gave the pumpkin a little shape by adding the curved lines or actually by carving out the curved lines.
• gradient colour. By adding gradient colours to the orange of the pumpkin and the yellow of the pumpkin's features, it provides the illusion of shadows.
• creating outline from fill. Similar to the option of creating fill from outline, with one click the software traced all the elements of the image I had selected.

After digitizing the image on Embird and stitching it out on my embroidery machine, I used the Brother Dream Machine to scan the embroidered image. The scanned image appeared on the Dream Machine's digital screen and with this I was able to program the machine to fill the space around the pumpkin with a stippling stitch. I wanted to test out the machine's ability to create a stippling stitch around an image because I have an appliqué quilt that I would like to add quilting/stippling to the open spaces.

With more practice I hope to get faster, better and more creative with my digitized images. The embroidered pumpkin is not without mistakes but the more I do, the more I learn, the better I will become. 

Pull compensation is one of my biggest challenges. As you can see on the edges of the pumpkin, the black outline did not stitch on the edge of the orange but about an 1/8 of an inch past the image. Eventually it will become second nature but right now, I need more practice. 

Do you embroider by hand or by machine? Do you have any tips to share? We would love to hear from you.