By Hanna Stocksick, creative team member

Kathryn Balint and Velma Balint’s “Stick Together”digital scrapbook kit is very cute and had exactly the playful, kid look I wanted for my layout. However, I wanted to have my son’s and his classmates’ real faces in it. So I decided to crop the stickers’ faces and then add the kids’ faces.  Try it on your layouts. It’s easy and fun!

Here’s how I did it using Adobe Photoshop Elements software:

First, I chose the sticker kids from Stick Together that I wanted to use on my layout. I chose my son’s classmates’ pictures, made a selection of their faces, then copied and pasted them individually into a new transparent document.

Next step was to “separate” the sticker kids heads from their bodies, so I could add the “real” faces to the stickers later. For that, I erased their heads using the selection brush tool (there are different ways of making a selection, this was just my personal choice). For the stickers that have a hat, I erased just the face and not the hat. At this point, it’s a good idea to save the new sticker in case you want to use it in another layout.

I could then add the heads to the stickers, but I wanted the heads to have the same outline as the stickers. So I clicked on the picture that had the face (the real one, not the sticker). Next, while holding down the CTRL key, I clicked on the thumbnail of the picture on the layers pallette (not on the layer’s name!). This makes a tight selection around the face. At this point, I was ready to give the face the same outline as the stickers. So just clicked select>modify>expand (this is what you’ll always need to do in case you want to create your own outline to give embellishments the look of a sticker). I chose 25 pixels for the outline. The outline is transparent, and I needed to give it the same color as the original sticker. But that’s easy! I chose the eyedrop tool and clicked on the outline of the sticker. There, now the foreground color is the same as the sticker. Next, I created a new layer and placed it under the face layer. I then picked the bucket tool and filled it with the color chosen previously with the eyedrop. I saved the new face sticker as a png file. Then I went back to the sticker figure and added the face I just created.

It was necessary to make a few corrections to make the new sticker kid perfect, such as erasing a little bit of the outline around the chin. When I was done, I saved the new kid sticker as a png file and repeated the same process for other stickers I wanted to add a “real” face to. Enjoy your new little “creatures!”

Come celebrate the end of this decade at our New Year sale, on now through Jan. 10, 2010. If you make a purchase of $5 or more, you will receive our new Boughs of Yuletide Pine frames kit for free. If you make a purchase of $10 or more, you’ll receive 35% off your total order, plus you’ll also get the free frames kit. The free kit and discount will automatically be added to your shopping cart.

Boughs of Yuletide Pine: This kit is free when you purchase $5 or more in digital scrapboking products at KB and Friends. Offer ends Jan. 10, 2010.

Check out the new kits in store, perfect for creating shabby chic-style scrapbook pages using your holiday photos.

Shabby Chic Christmas digital scrapbook kit by Kathryn Balint and Velma Balint

Shabby Chic Backgrounds digital scrapbook papers by Kathryn Balint and Velma Balint

This tutorial for making a Halloween mini album out of old, extra-large puzzle pieces was originally intended for users of the online scrapbooking site CropMom. But we’ve adapted the tutorial for fans of KB and Friends digital scrapbooking site. This chipboard puzzle album is spooktacular!

Our hybrid scrapbook mini album features our “Costumed Cutie” over the years in his favorite Halloween costumes. You can create a puzzle-piece album of your own in a day using KB and Friends’ Halloween Fun digital scrapbook kit (and bits and pieces from other kits) to make your scrapbook layouts.

Materials:

Halloween Fun digital scrapbook kit
14  5″ by 7 ” digital scrapbook pages, printed at home on high-quality, matte photo paper or printed by a photo service 
7 extra-large jigsaw puzzle pieces, measuring about 3.5″ by 5″. (We used an old Mattel “My Size Puzzle XL.”)
2 one-inch book rings, silver
Several colorful ribbons, cut in 8″ lengths
Sandpaper
Ric rac and ribbon, cut into 12″ lengths
Hole punch
Scissors and craft knife
Spray adhesive, acid free
Optional: Sculpey clay, green and black
Acid-free glue

Instructions:

Begin making your Halloween puzzle album by creating 14 scrapbook pages, each on a 5″ by 7″ canvas with a portrait orientation. Use photos of your child wearing his or her favorite Halloween costumes over the years. Make sure that you position your photos so that your child’s face is in the middle of the page so that the face does not get cut off when you paste your layout onto a puzzle piece. We used black background paper from the Halloween Fun kit as the backdrop for every page with a photo. We primarily used digital scrapbook graphics from the Halloween Fun kit at CropMom. But we also used a few elements from Bloomin’ Crazy and Signs of Spring. Get creative! Just remember that any text or word art that you use on your page could get cut off when you adhere the page to a puzzle piece.

For the front cover, back cover and three inside pages, we didn’t use any photos on the layouts. We used word art from the Halloween Fun kit to create the title, Costumed Cutie. We also used word art on the back cover and inside pages.

Use your home printer to print your layouts or have a photo service print them. Before printing your layotus, you must resize them so that they measure 5″ by 3.5″  Print them or have them printed on matte photo paper.

Use the adhesive spray to glue the prints onto the puzzle pieces. Use the spray adhesive in a well-ventilated area. Be careful not to get any adhesive on the front of your prints. Take care to keep your layouts in the correct order. Once you’ve glued one size of a puzzle piece, use scissors or a craft knife to carefully cut it out in the shape of the puzzle piece. Then glue the back side of the puzzle piece.

After the adhesive has dried, gently sand the edges of each page in your book. This helps to give the book pages a smoother edge.

Use a hole punch to punch two holes on the left side of your puzzle-piece pages. Make sure that you punch the correct side of each chipboard page. You need a sturdy hole punch and plenty of pressure to punch through the puzzle piece.

Thread the book rings through the punched holes to hold your book together. Dress up your book by folding 12 ” pieces of ribbon and tying them to the book rings.

We finished off our book by making two small witch hats out of Sculpey polymer clay and baking them according to the directions. We made sure that our hats would fit perfectly onto a puzzle-piece page. Once the clay witch hats cooled, we glued one witch hat to the cover and the other to an inside page. This last step is optional.

Let your imagination run wild with KB and Friends’ new Flights of Fancy digital scrapbook kit. This large kit designed by Kathryn Balint and Velma Balint  is full of fanciful scrapbook embellishments that will add a touch of whimsy to your fantasy scrapbook pages. We think you’ll love the whimsical treehouse, the bridge, the floating island and the fun mushrooms, strawberries and flowers.

Flights of Fancy is on sale for 25 percent off, along with some of our other popular, and newer, full-sized scrapbook kits, now through Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. Other kits on sale include: Social Butterfly, Bloomin’ Crazy, Room with a View and Romantically Inclined. Check out our digital scrapbook store for other kits that are on sale.

Flights of Fancy digital scrapbook kit

Digital scrapbook layout by Kathryn Balint using the quick page from Flights of Fancy.

Digital scrapbook layout by Kathryn Balint

We made the cutest little ABC book mini album using KB and Friends’ Animals A to Z Alphabet Book Quick Page Album and 6″ by 6″ chipboard. We made this hybrid scrapbooking project in an afternoon.

We created our album using CropMom’s online scrapbooking software, but digital scrapbookers who have their own graphics software can purchase the quick page album kit here at KB and Friends and make this adorable alphabet book.

Materials:

• Animals A to Z Alphabet Book Quick Page Album
• Animals A to Z digital scrapbook kit
• Staple from Social Butterfly digital scrapbook kit (or staple from other digital scrapbook kit)
• 28 layouts, one for the front cover, one for the back cover, and the rest representing the letters of the alphabet
• 14 pieces of 6″ by 6″ chipboard (we bought ours from CK Resale)
• 3 one-inch book  rings
• Several colorful ribbons, cut in 8″ lengths
• Home printer or professional photo service to print your layouts on 6″ by 6″ matte photo paper
• Sandpaper
• Hole punch
  
• Scissors
• Spray adhesive, acid free
• Optional: chipboard ABC shape and ball chain

Instructions:

Begin making your alphabet book by using the Animals A to Z Alphabet Book Quick Page Album pages to create a page for every letter of the alphabet. We used one black-and-white photo on each page.

Making the 26 scrapbook pages of your book is a breeze with the quick pages in the Animals A to Z Quick Page Album.. We used the Lindsay Pro font to fill in the blank on each page where it says A is for _________, B is for _________, and so on. We added a backwards staple from the Social Butterfly digital scrapbook kit to the flash card on each page.

Use a quick page background for the cover of the book, then add brown chipboard letters from the Animals A to Z digital scrapbook kit or word art from the Animals A to Z Alphabet Book Quick Page Album kit to create a title for your book. We added the words “an alphabet book” using the Goudy Old Style font below the title.

For the back cover, we used one of the collage background papers from the quick page album kit.

Print your layouts (or have them printed) on matte photo paper.

Use adhesive spray to glue the prints onto the 6″ by 6″ chipboard pieces, making sure that you keep the layouts in the correct order when gluing to the back side of the chipboard. Use the spray adhesive in a well ventilated area. Be careful not to get any adhesive on the front of your prints.

After the adhesive has dried, trim any excess from the prints so that it fits the chipboard. Our chipboard had rounded corners, so we used scissors to round the corners of the prints.

Now, use the sandpaper to gently sand the edges of each page in your book.

Use a hole punch to punch three holes on the left side of your chipboard pages for the binding for your ABC book. Make sure that you punch the correct side of each chipboard page. You need a sturdy hole punch and plenty of pressure to punch through the chipboard.

Thread the book rings through the punch holes to hold your book together.   Dress up your book by tying the 8″ pieces of ribbon to the book rings.

To embellish your book even more, purchase a piece of chipboard in the shape of the letters ABC and a ball chain from a scrapbook store. Now, make an extra print of the back cover of your book on matte photo paper. Glue it to the ABC chipboard letters on both sides and trim. Use the ball chain to attach it to your alphabet book. This last step is optional.

Here are some (but not all) of the pages in our ABC mini album:

Our team has been busy making fun and whimsical digital scrapbook pages using our Animals A to Z scrapbook kit. The tissue-paper animals and flash cards make the kit versatile enough to use on scrapbook pages ranging in theme from visits to the zoo or theme park to swimming. Or use these animal elements and chipboard alphabets (one in red, one in brown) to create your own ABC Book.

Don’t Feed the Animals digital scrapbook page by Lilian Cimesa

Tortoise digital scrapbook page by Katherine Lent

Busch Gardens: Vulture digital scrapbook page by Katherine Lent

Busch Gardens: Hippo digital scrapbook page by Katherine Lent

Giraffe digital scrapbook page by Carol Opalinski

Little Swimmer digital scrapbook page by Kay Eflin

We think you’ll find a lot of uses for the latest digital scrapbook elements packs at KB and Friends. Our bingo, crossword and word search game cards are versatile enough to be used on almost any style of digital scrapbook layout. What’s more, you can print these 5″ by 7″ game cards and use them to create mini scrapbook albums. These game cards are fun and whimsical. We’re sure you’ll find a lot of uses for them in your digital scrapbooking.

Check out our special digital scrapbooking offer: Buy the Play on Words: Bingo digital scrapbook kit and Play on Words: Crosswords digital scrapbook kit, and get the Play on Words: Word Search kit for free. Just add the bingo and crosswords kits to your shopping cart, and word search will automatically be added. Make sure it appears in your shopping cart at no charge before checking out. Offer ends midnight ET Friday, June 26, 2009.

In addition, if you purchase $15 or more worth of digital scrapbooking products from KB and Friends, you’ll get $5 off your order total. This special digital scrapbooking offer expires midnight ET, Tuesday, June 23, 2009. The discount should automatically appear in your shopping cart. Make sure that the discount appears before checking out.

Play on Words: Birthday Games digital scrapbook kit

Play on Words: Halloween Games digital scrapbook kit

Play on Words: Christmas Games digital scrapbook kit

Play on Words: Bingo digital scrapbook kit

Play on Word: Crosswords digital scrapbook kit

Play on Words: Word Search digital scrapbook kit

We’ve been having a lot of fun making bulletin board-style scrapbook pages with the corkboard background papers in the Stick Together stick figure digital scrapbook kit here at KB and Friends. Digital corkboard is versatile enough that you can use it with almost any theme. These bulletin board-style layouts also make it easy to add a lot of photos and scrapbook embellishments to a page.

Our Stick Together digital scrapbook kit includes two corkboard backgrounds: one plain and one with a frame. The Stick Together digital scrapbook kit is also available for use at the online scrapbooking site CropMom.

Here are a few layouts to inspire you in making your own corkboard scrapbook pages. Look for more scrapbook layout ideas in our gallery.

Wrestling Cousins digital scrapbook page by Yolanda Carrasquillo

Congratulations! digital scrapbook page by Carol Opalinski

Dreaming of You digital scrapbook page by Kathryn Balint

Bingo digital scrapbook page by Kathryn Balint

Why I Love You digital scrapbook page by Kathryn Balint

School Bulletin Board digital scrapbook page by Kathryn Balint

There’s nothing more fun than creating a personalized alphabet book or ABC layout for little ones. KB and Friends’ new Animals A to Z digital scrapbooking kit and our Animals A to Z alphabet book quick pages album include adorable animals for every letter of the alphabet.

Use coupon code abcfun to buy both of these kits for just $10 total, a savings of $3 off each kit. You must be registered and logged in to the store at KB and Friends for the coupon code to take effect. Hurry! The coupon code expires June 12, 2009.

The Animals A to Z kit is huge, nearly 200 megabytes in size. It includes a full set of colorful alphabet flash cards, A to Z, with each one depicting an animal whose name begins with that letter. (A is alligator, B is bumblebee, C is camel, D is dragonfly, E is elephant, F is flamingo, G is grasshopper, H is hippotamus, I is iguana, J is jellyfish, K is koala, L is lion, M is monkey, N is narwhal, O is octopus, P is parrot, Q is quail, R is raccoon, S is snake, T is Turtle, U is urchin, V is vulture, W is walrus, X is x-ray fish, Y is yak and Z is zebra). It also features 10 colorful stitched felt animals (monkey, crab, elephant, flamingo, ant, alligator, lion, raccoon and turtle), and 30 animals crafted out of tissue paper. There are two full alphabets with distressed, painted wooden letters, both uppercase and lowercase, and popsicle stick-style frames and a circus train.

The Animals A to Z alphabet book quick pages scrapbook album includes a digital scrapbook page for every letter of the alphabet, plus a cover page, title page and extra background paper. Just add your text, photos and extra elements then print it (or have it printed). Your personalized ABC book will be the cutest around and will be cherished for years to come.

Not all elements are shown in the previews.

We can’t wait to see the alphabet books and ABC scrapbook pages that you create using our whimsical animals.

Take a look at what our creative team members made with our adorable Stick Together digital scrapbook kit full of stick-figure kids. There are dozens of stick figures, including children playing sports, children going to school and children on the playground. Here are a few of our creative team members’ digital scrapbook pages:

Game by Lilian Cimesa

Feeding the Geese by Kay Eflin

Play Ball by Kathryn Balint

Look Out World by Lynn Weber

Howdy by Juliana Gordon

As always, our latest digital scrapbook kits are available for use at CropMom. CropMom is an online scrapbooking site that lets users create digital scrapbook pages online using their photos and CropMom’s scrapbooking software and digital scrapbook graphics.