It’s been a
couple of weeks when DailyCraftTV.com contacted me and asked if I were
interested in watching a video on their site for free and, in turn, write a
review about it on my blog.Of course,
I said yes.
DailyCraftTV.com offers online classes in several different craft areas including quilting, scrapbooking, sewing, crocheting, knitting and paper crafts. I browsed the videos and chose a video with Cathy Zielske – a
scrapbooker who doesn’t need to be introduced anymore – about photo editing
techniques:
I’ve always
admired Cathy Zielske’s style: for me „the“ clean & simple style by
excellence. I remember that the 1st book I’ve bought in 2007 when I discovered
scrapbooking was from her: Clean & Simple Scrapbooking vol. 1. Even if my
style has evolved and is now very different, I still like the pureness of her
creations.
The video
is about 1h20min long and it’s separated in 10 chapters. It’s very clear and
easy to understand, even for non-native English speakers (such as myself).
In chapter
1, we learn how Cathy Zielske started
scrapbooking in 2001. It was interesting to learn that she started
scrapbooking by coincidence when she read an article about a new craft store in
her local newspaper, which was presenting itself as a photo memory store. She
explains that she has always loved to take pictures (photography is her other
passion), to write journals and to tell stories. I loved that she showed us the
first pages she made. When I think about my own first pages… I feel ashamed J. Soon enough, she found her style:
clean – simple title – lot of journaling – use of “white space”. That’s it! That’s
a part of her signature
(chapter 3).
What was also interesting is that her design process (chapter 4) changes. She has 3 different
approaches when she starts a layout. As a scrapbooker, I tend to always start
with my photography. Her approach is different and very interesting and I will
definitely give it a try.
She took
time to list her favorite tools
and the most important tool is her computer. She almost always uses her
computer.
As I am new
with digital photography and want to learn a lot about photo edition, I was
very interested in chapter 5 about editing
techniques. In this chapter, Cathy Zielske shows us how to use actions
on photos with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to improve them (e.g. too dark
or too light photos, black & white conversion and her favorite action in
Word: the reverse white type).
Even if I
found this part interesting and I learned some things, there was not enough
details for my taste: I was expecting more tricks and step-by-step explanations
of photography edition with Photoshop.
The chapter
6 about photography and equipment didn’t bring me much.
On the other hand, I
liked the 7th chapter about her photo organization. Her idea of
organizing them by date is logic and works well for me too. I think I am going
to follow her advice of making a DVD back up at each end of the month to safeguard
my pictures. It is a very good idea.
Then I was
curious about how she would organize her scrapbooking albums and I think she is
right when she encourages us to use coordinated products when making an album:
it’s so much easier and saves lot of time! I use a lot of scrapbooking kits and
coordinated products. I love it. Her organization system is clever: each color
for a different theme or person. I like that too.
In chapter
9, she tells us about her work as an Art Director in Scrapbooks Magazine.
Last but
not least, she shows us her scrap-room and I love seeing other people’s craft
spaces! I spend a lot of time on the Web and on Pinterest looking for scrap-room organization tips and
trying to improve my own organization at home. I really enjoyed this part. Her
craft space is marvelous. I was happy to learn that she is – as me – a stand-up
scrapbooker and always starts a new project with a clean desk. I also have a
basket at one side of my table with the new products I got.
The quality of the video is very good and the cost reasonable ($ 4.99). What is great about this concept is that you can take a class and watch the video from your home, when you want and as many times as you like.
Maybe a few words about the video itself: I found the presentation well done and I think Cathy
Zielske has an agreeable voice and feels comfortable in front of a camera. It
was never boring or too long. I had the impression that I was facing a good
friend. What’s more, each chapter is different and of various lengths, what
breaks the rhythm and avoids becoming monotonous. The class is divided in 10
chapters going from 3 to 20 minutes. Each chapter has a title, which makes very
easy to watch.
I can only
recommend watching a video on DailyCraftTV.com. Their videos are very good and
professional. I’ve learned a couple of things and it gave me a lot of new ideas
for other things than just photo editing, e.g. organization of albums, scrap-room,
etc.
I would
like to conclude by quoting something that Cathy Zielske said: “Keep record of
your life because no one is going to do it for you”. So true!
Thank you
DailyCraftTV.com and Eric for giving me this great opportunity!
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