Cropped Round 5

Yes! I made it to the fifth and final round. There are10 finalists, and only one will be crowned the champion. Yikes. In the last three rounds, statistically, any contestant was more likely to move on than to be cropped, but not this time!!

Here is the prompt: "Round Five is Dessert, and we think it's the perfect way to finish off a great meal, and our contest. This week's challenge is to go all out... Make your "dessert" layout luxe, rich, decadent, sugary sweet, and over the top. Whether that's through your subject, your journaling, your embellishments, your techniques, or all of the above, now is the time to go all-out. Don't forget to include the 4 Mystery Basket Ingredients."

And here is my entry:

Cropped Round 5 Mystery Basket, Cardstock Essentials 3 and Life Story April Glitter + Gloss by Karla Dudley;
Punchfetti No. 1 and No. 5, Twinkles No. 1, Brushies No. 2, Oscar Alpha, iLove Alpha, Hei Hei kit, Head Over
Heels Kit, and Torn Bits 4 by creashens; Gold Foil Text Styles by Mommyish

This one was quite a challenge for me, because of the whole blank canvas/wanting to use a template thing. Once I came up with my idea, I searched and searched for a template at P&Co, but just couldn't find one that seemed perfect for my idea.

I started with a split-page design with one photo on the left and one photo on the right, but I just couldn't get the text to fill in the middle in a way that worked. So I grouped those clusters up and just started moving them around, and I finally decided that placing them toward the middle worked best.

I think I've got the dessert idea covered from a few different angles. I love the story here and how it spans across the years. My journaling refers to a piece of paper that I've saved for about 15 years - a true scrap! I like how that harks back to the more historic roots of scrapbooking, before it was a commercial industry. Part of the message is a little bitter-sweet, with the mother's dilemma, but my son's response ("Mommy, I'll always come back.") keeps it on the sweet side.

And I think I've created a decadent page. All that glitter and sparkle reminds me of sugar, and I think the use of the confetti is a bit "over the top" by using so many of them. Plus, the punchfetti is laid over the top of the photo for a more literal translation. And the bright white background makes me thing of white butter cream frosting.

Some of the mystery basket items I've used in a more straightforward manner, and some I used a little more creatively, by working them into the glitter and gold.

To be honest, even though making a page a week for five weeks straight is "a lot" for me, I'm kind of sad for the contest to end. The winner will be announced soon. Wish me luck?

Cropped Round 4

I made it to Round 4! So I've made it further than last year, yay! Here is the 4th challenge:

"Round Four is Entrée, and many would say this is the most important part of your meal... It's where you get your sustenance, and most of the time, the rest of the courses are planned out just to complement it. So, in the world of Cropped!, that can only mean one thing: JOURNALING! Whatever your subject, we want you to tell us all about it, in all it's glory."

And, of course, to use the mystery basket.

I went with something lighthearted, and my journaling is fantasy based, just for fun. I "discovered" Star Trek in the last couple of years with the new movies. Netflix has the first three seasons from the '60s in their streaming service, and we've been watching that as a family. I had the idea for this page stored away in my "Things to Scrap" folder. I even had a photo collage already picked out.

This is my favorite of the four pages I've made so far. One of the things I like about it its minimal use of scrapping supplies. Besides the four mystery basket ingredients, there is only a single additional paper used for the background. Technically, there is one additional thing - the gold foil effect, but that only changed the look of things, it didn't add any pieces.

I applied a radial blur filter to the starry background paper to give that sense of fast motion, similar to the effect on the TV show. I also applied some kind of warping or pinching (I don't remember exactly what I did) on the brocade overlay. I think it nicely reinforces the "warp" idea, also taken from the show. I applied an angle gradient to its layer mask, which I thought had a retro modern feel.

Normally, when I use full justification on text, I use the "Justify last left" setting. With that setting,  the last line of the paragraph is left alone. On a whim, I tried the "Justify all" setting which caused the words to be spaced out to fill the line. I thought it actually looked good and again contributed to that feeling of movement.

There are great pages in the Cropped gallery. I really hope I make it through to the next round. I feel better about this one than I did last week, but you just never know. It is kind of "out there." Here's hoping.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cropped Round 3

I hung in there another round. If I remember correctly, Round 3 was where I got cropped last year, so .... well, we'll see.

Here is the prompt:  "Round Three is Seafood, and similar to last year, this one is open to a little bit of interpretation. For this round, get creative in showing us what you "see". Whether it's a layout about something you see every day, or where you see yourself in ten years, we can't wait to see it, and we want you to be creative in the way you show us! This is also the one round where photography will be heavily judged." And of course, to include the mystery basket items:

I gotta say, this mystery basket was really intimidating. But I basically made the page I wanted, and then figured out how to add the pieces into the page. In the end, it wasn't that bad, and I think that if we all managed to handle this basket, we can handle whatever else they throw at us (if we make it to the next round).  Here is my page:

Zephyr Templates and Solid Papers by Karla Dudley; Autumn Days by Amanda Yi;
Be Kit by creashens; Round 3 Mystery Basket

Going into this, I had two different ideas for a page. My other idea involved a funny octopus video that Miller found online. I thought there were lots of ways that fit in with the prompt, and I even wanted to put in a QR code for the video. It's a page I've been wanting to make for a while, but I had always envisioned using a beautiful creative commons photo of an octopus. Although the Cropped rules did not say you couldn't use a stock photo, I felt it was a little poor form for this particular challenge.

I did, though, try to build my octopus page anyway, but I was getting nowhere with it. So I switched over to the hummingbird idea. I do see hummingbirds every day, and I try to photograph them, as you know if you read my blog. So I still think this is a great page for the challenge, even if the octopus one would have been better.

Anyway, I've got my fingers crossed!

Overlay Tutorial

I made this layout last week with one of the pictures of Miller's Halloween costume in progress. I wrote a tutorial about it called Mini Multi Overlay Tutorial over at the Scrapping with Liz Blog. Head on over there if you want to know all about it.

Punkin Papers and Elements by creashens; Multi Mini Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Thanks for stopping by.

Cropped By The Numbers

I used to be a person who worked with numbers all the time. I thought it would be fun to look at the numbers for the Cropped competition, and compare this year and last year.

First, I compared the number of contestants participating in each round. For 2013, I counted 95 Round 1 entries in the gallery. For 2014, there were 109 entries in the gallery, but a few were play-alongs (I don't know the exact number). I estimated 105 contestants for 2014.  I found the number of contestants graduating to each successive Round on the P&Co blog: here for 2013 and here for 2014. Here is the graph I made:

What interesting things to do we see?

1. 2014 had about 10 more contestants than 2013, but both are right around 100. Over in the P&Co Forum, Gennifer said that there were actually 172 people who registered in 2014. So quite a few registered but weren't able to participate, or maybe they only registered to get the free kit.
2. In 2014, more people get to play in each round. For instance, both years started with about 100 contestants. In 2013 only 32 moved on to Round 2, but in 2014 50 moved on to Round 2. So it's more fun for more people in 2014!

I also considered the percentages of people getting cropped in each round. Since I know the number of people graduating to each round, I can use that to calculate a probability of being cropped.

For example, in 2014, 20 of 50 people from Round 2 will be cropped, so that represents a probability of 0.4 of getting tossed out of the competition. BUT that's assuming the 20 are chosen randomly. In reality, we are being judged based on how we complete the challenges, and that isn't random at all. The probabilities I'm calculating don't factor in the actual challenges, a scrapper's strengths and weaknesses, experience, photography skills, etc. So you could argue that these probabilities are meaningless.

But still, if you go just on the numbers alone, you can get a "baseline" expectation of how likely you are to be cropped in each round. Here is my graph:

What do we see here?

1. In both years, contestants in Round 1 have a relatively high probability (more than 50%) of being cropped because there were a lot of contestants at the beginning and that first round narrows the field a lot.
2. The probability of getting cropped in 2014 is generally lower for most of the Rounds because more people get to stay each time.
3. In 2013, in each of Rounds 2-6, exactly half of the contestants were cropped each time. So based just on numbers alone (not on your actual layout), you would have a 50-50 chance of getting cropped in each of Rounds 2-6 (in 2013).
4. But in 2014, they are keeping more contestants in each round. In Rounds 2, 3, and 4 you have only a 0.4, 0.4 and 0.44 probability of being cropped. That's better than 50-50! That means, in each of those rounds, based only on the numbers, you are actually more likely to stay than to get cropped.
5. BUT then there is Round 5. Round 5 will have 10 contestants, and one of them will be chosen as the winner. That's a 90% chance of getting cropped in Round 5 and a 10% chance of being the winner.

So that last Round will really be the nail biter. But I think it is nice that it isn't just a one-on-one thing there at the end. It will still be a group of scrappers having fun, competing, winning prizes, scrapping layouts, learning new things, and supporting each other.

Cropped Round 2

Well, I passed Round 1, and was happy to move on to Round 2. The challenge was based on Appetizers and how "their entire purpose is to whet our appetite, and visual appeal is key. For this round, focus on the use of typography/word art to convey the message of your layout, as well as add to the visual design." And also to use the four mystery basket ingredients.

When I read "typography/word art" I immediately thought Karla Dudley and dug into my stash. Here is what I created.

Cropped Round 2 Mystery Basket; Wired Number Essentials and Cardstock Essentials 3 by Karla Dudley;
Love Actually by P&Co Designers

I've used those wire numbers in several layouts over the past year or so, and they are definitely one of my most favorite digital possessions. Here I have used the accompanying clipping masks as well. The numbers sort of count out the "little moments" referenced in the title. I was also going for a "2-4-6-8. Who do we appreciate?" kind of rhyme. My journaling about needing to head in to make dinner reinforces the idea that these pictures, and the act of taking them, are just one of the many moments that make up the day.

I thought I remembered that the prompt said appetizers are meant to leave us wanting more. But now that I look back, I actually can't find that wording anywhere in the prompt. I guess I made it up in my mind. But it does make sense that an appetizer should get you looking forward to more food. I think a layout with a stark white background and very minimal embellishment would definitely leave the typical scrapbooker "wanting more."  Ha ha ha. I always err on the too little side. Let's see if I move on to Round 3. (I hope I do.)

Better Bird Photography Part 2

A while back I wrote that I might get better pictures of the hummingbirds if I took down that hanging planter that was fooling my camera into focusing on IT instead of the birds. Here is that planter in the background.

And here are some pictures I got after I took down the planter. I definitely was able to get better pictures with less trouble. I'd never been able to get pictures with those tail feathers spread out before.

Now, I have to admit, I think part of the reason the birds were flashing those tail feathers was because they were a little distressed by what was happening on my side of the sliding glass door, which was this:

But I'm learning that a photographer has lots of tricks like that. Thanks for stopping by.

Cropped Round 1

I entered the Cropped competition again at Pixels and Company. There are some changes this year that seem really exciting. Only 5 rounds instead of 6. That's nice. And it looks like the final (5th) round will have ten participants (only 2 last year), so more people get to go further into the competition. And if you want to play along for fun, or after you have been eliminated, you can win random prizes. Oh, and everyone who registered received an amazing collab kit (which was awesome, considering the requirements of the first challenge).

Here is my Round 1 entry. The challenge was to use the 4 mystery basket items, and also to "mix things up, and include items from at least ten (10) different P&Co designers."

I have to say that I really struggled with this one. I LOVE Scrapping with Liz templates and use them for most of my pages. But I can't use her templates in this contest. Boy did I flounder around. I really prefer using templates! Of course I could use templates from Pixels and Company, but it's usually only Liz's templates that I really want.

Cropped Round 1 Mystery Ingredients; Heart Art: Whitewashed by Sugarplum Paperie; Neutral Basics by
Robyn Meierotto; Bermuda Triangle by P&Co Designers; Something Wonderful by Wishing Well Creations and Mari Koegelenberg; Collaborate by P&Co Designers; Everyday Storytellers No. 3 by Karla Dudley; Pocket Journal Card
Templates - Framed and Shapely by Simply Tiffany Studios; Krafternoon Delight Add-On by creashens; Wildwood
by Celeste Knight; In Good Company by P&Co Designers

I decided to "mix things up" by using different concepts to hold my photos. Specifically, I mixed up the plastic pocket with a more traditional paper-type pocket. I also mixed color photos with black and white. And I "mixed up" my journaling by using the present tense voice, which is something I rarely do.

I feel like round one is very intense because there were no specific "design" type instructions. Using 10 items is a very loose basis for judging each layout against the next. It feels like each person's natural style is being judged. I'll know if I made it to Round 2 in a couple of days.