Some time ago I got a coupon from a company producing photo books, calendars and other photo gifts. They are operating in various countries, in Germany and other European countries they are called Cewe Fotobuch, in the US they are Smilebooks. I hadn’t used that company before and was curious to see their product, especially because their rates are quite good and considerably cheaper than some of their competitors’. The coupon was reason enough for me to finally finish my photobook of 2009 (!). The production only took a few days and in Germany you can have it delivered to a retail shop of various partners and so even save postage costs.

I was very pleased with the result, the quality is very good and sturdy (this is the standard kind, not the luxury one), I had it within a few days (upload on the 6th, pick up at shop on the 10th) and the customer service is extremely friendly and speedy. I never use any of the offered designs because I upload complete scrapbook pages, but there are tons of designs, colors and styles to choose from, so there is something for everybody, and creating the book couldn’t be easier.

Here are just a few of the pages:

If you have photos lying around on your HD and are too lazy to print them and stick them into a photo album, either because of the time commitment, the bulk or the mess, you should consider a photobook!

Have you done anything crafty lately? Let me know, I am always looking for inspiration.

 

Disclaimer:

I got the coupon for a photobook from Cewe in exchange for a link to their services on my scrapbooking website and not for a blog post about the photobook. But I was so pleased with the result that I chose to write about them anyway.

In the third week of the class the topic was vignette composition. Actually I think a lot of scrapbookers use that sort of concept, just that they might not even know about it.

I started in a sort of half-assed way, not knowing what to do until I came across this clipped newspaper photo of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley when they met somewhere in Germany. I loved that photo with Bill Haley looking so cool with his cigarette (don’t bash me for saying that!). But by now it was so crumpled and torn that I didn’t want to keep it, but couldn’t throw it away either. So I took a photograph to use it digitally and keep it that way.

The title is self-explanatory. I am a huge Guy Ritchie fan, so it was an obvious choice.

Credits: Background: Christine Newman, grungy frame: Leora Sanford, photo frame: Andrea Rascaglia, all images are from flickr, except for the newspaper photo which I found in our local newspaper. The title is from the movie poster Rock N Rolla.

Claudine pointed us to the artwork of Elly MacKay. I absolutely love the collages she creates, especially the ones with ships. One of them in particular – it’s called “I’ll travel with you”  – made me want to do something with ships as well.

Of course, mine turned out completely different…

All items are from various digital kits that I created in the past.

I am totally made up today. With my collage “First clouds in the skies” I entered the Use color challenge at Big Picture Classes and won!

The prize is a spot in the self paced class Inspired by color by Katie the Scrapbook Lady about creating a mosaic album. I love the idea, so this will be one of my next projects for sure.

I made this as a second piece for the horizon composition practice as well as for another color challenge at Big Picture. We were supposed to start with a color scheme and then pick elements etc. I chose the lilac and green theme from the decor8 blog which suggested something grassy and flowery.

When I saw the happy couple amidst all those flowers I had to think of a line from the Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. “Erste Wolken am Himmel des jungen Glücks” (First clouds in the skies of young happiness). And there they are already!

Credits: Papers: Leah Nicole, Jen Wilson, Flowers: Sara Carling, TADA, KatG, Eve Recinella, Melanie Violet, Luiza Garay, Julia Makotinsky, Gina Cabrera, Glitter heart and edge overlay: Nina, Floral overlay: Gypsy Chick, Clouds: Weeds and Wildflowers, Man&woman stamp: Laura Alpuche

There are just too many good quotes out there…

I should be actually having those inserts printed so I can show you what the bag looks like. So far all I do is show scrapbook pages…:)

Credits: Papers and elements: Jen Wilson, lace border: Emily Farnworth, Stitch circle brush: Jason Gaylor, Font: Arsis, Arial, Exmouth, Quote by Robert Frost

The second week of Claudine’s composition class has begun and we are focusing on a horizon composition. I am determined to make use of the images Claudine provided and this time I went for the boy, the house and the little tag. I started with the “kite” tag and looked around her images to see what would go with a kite. This is what I came up with. No idea what to call it. Normally I use some words on my pages, so for now I am calling it…

…Something kite

Credits: Papers: Jessica Bolton and Jen Wilson, kite shape from Stock Exchange, tree brush: Jason Gaylor

I went to the Big Picture Blog yesterday and discovered they have a color challenge going right now. I haven’t done any challenges in a long time but figured I could give it a go and practice some collage as well while I’m there.

The only rule was to use soft blue as the background, that sounded easy enough. I had planned to use a certain haiku that I found at the Haiku Forge for a long time and this was a good opportunity. If you don’t know the haiku forge, you should definitely check it out. Great haiku to be found and great web design as well.

The image of the girl was so small that I could only create an ATC with it, everything else would have been too big for it. I was looking for a sleeping woman actually, but couldn’t find any cool vintage image of one. If you ever come across one, let me know, please!

Credits: Background: Oscraps collab, Lace: Amy Martin, Moon and stars: Jeannie Papai, Girl image: flickr by chicks57, Moon image: flickr by penguinbush, frame: Audrey Neal, Constellation brush and grunge overlay: Michelle Coleman, Stitching: Syrin

I am on a total roll. My collage class is such fun, I just can’t stop…:).

This is my third piece, I call it “Bovine Jealousy”.

Credits: Background: Dianne Rigdon, green paper and red button: Jen Wilson, red paper: Jackie Eckles, torn heart: Jessica Bolton, animal and farm images: flickr by jerseybarb85,  ribbon: Ronna Penner, Frayed edge: DaniB, RIP Cupid brush: Fly Guy, Stamp sheet: Meredith Fenwick

I am totally excited. I signed up for the “Composition for collage” class at Big Picture Classes. This is an interesting subject to begin with, but the teacher is Claudine Hellmuth, and that just makes it even more fantastic. The participants come from all over the world and are so creative. It’s amazing!

If you don’t know Claudine’s collages, you have to check out her website! We have two pieces of custom art from her and we love them. If you are looking for the perfect artsy gift look no further. Claudine is very easy to work with and creates exactly what you were looking for.

The first week has started a few days ago and we already learned quite a bit. I create two collages and am really happy with them. Claudine provides lots of class material, but everybody can use their own stash as well.

These are the two collages I came up with so far:

 

Music in you

Vintage photograph and “It’s fun” tag provided by Claudine. Brushes: Blinding light. Background paper: Christine Newman. Line grid: Christine Borgfeld. Buttons: Jen Wilson. Font: Typenoksidi

Inappropriately dressed

Vintage photograph provided by Claudine. Papers: Jen Wilson. Brush: FlyGuy. Sun: Weeds & Wildflowers. Paper for cloud and paper strip: Nina. Edge: Catrine. Font: Typenoksidi

 

I have severe problems with my font manager and don’t want to install lots of fonts permanently, so I suppose I will use a lot of “Typenoksidi” in the next future, .