What Happened to Inspired to Scrap?

Issue 20 of Inspired to Scrap was due out this week, but I'm running late. Look for it sometime next week and I'll post an announcement here on the blog once I've sent it out. Sorry about the delay. Here's a sneak peak:



My Brown-Eyed (Baby) Boy
I was rummaging through my file of unscrapped photos yesterday and came across this one of my son at about 10 months. Geeez I miss those chubby, squeezable baby cheeks. I used a beautiful kit from Manu called Wonderful Life and a template from Shelleyrae Cusbert that makes me look link a scrapping pro, although she already did all the work.



Creating Paper Folds and Creases
A fellow member of the NorthwestDigiScrappers directed me to this tutorial for creating realistic papers folds. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks really great and with the screen shots should be fairly easy to follow.

Creating Brushes

Released by special request, this is a set of 26 4x6 layered templates for creating your own brag book. These are nearly identical formats to the ones I used to create the "That's My Boy Brag Book" recently released at Scrapbook-Elements. However, with the layered .psd files you can create a customized brag book using any papers and elements in your collection.



Today's tutorial is on how to create your own brushes in Photoshop. If you've never used brushes in Photoshop before, I recommend reviewing one of SBE's Tutorials on How to Install and Use Brushes (or one of the other many tutorials out there). Scrapbook-Bytes also has several tutorials on brushes available, but I am having trouble getting on the site as I write this. Otherwise I'd link to you those too.

In this tutorial I will show you how to make you own brush. You can create a brush using any black/white or grayscale image. This tutorial should work in Photoshop, PSE3 and PSE4. I don't have PSE2 or PSE5 so I don't know about those verison. Screen shots are from PSCS2

Create a new document with dimensions 2500x2500 pixels. The reason for working with a canvas this size is Photoshop only supports brushes of this size and smaller. Working on a 2500px square canvas assures your image won't be too big.



Use your text tool to type a word on your canvas.



Now select the custom shape tool in your tools palette. Click on the small arrow to the right of the word "Shape" in the options toolbar at the top of your workspace and select a shape from the drop down menu.



Create a new empty layer, keystroke Shift+Ctrl+N. In your layers palette, drag the new, empty layer below the text layer. Make sure your custom shape tool is still selected and click and drag on your canvas to draw your shape.



With your shape layer active, click on the small arrow to the right of the word "Opacity" in the layers palette and move the slider left to about 50%.



Go to Edit -> Define Brush Preset (Define Brush in PSE) and type in a name for your brush in the pop-up dialogue box.



Now it's time to play with your brush. Open a new canvas. Select your brush tool. Click on the small arrow to the right of the word "Brush:" in your options toolbar at the top of your workspace. Scroll down and your should see your new brush at the bottom of the available brush tips. Click on it to select it.


Set your foreground to your desire brush color and click once on your canvas. Your brush image should appear.



Now experiment with your brush using different sizes, colors, etc.



If you want to use the brush again during another Photoshop session, you need to save it. To do so, click on the small down arrow next to the word 'Brush:' in the options toolbar at the top of your workspace. Then click on the small arrow pointing right in the upper right hand corner of the drop down menu. Select "Save Brushes" from the drop down menu, give your brush set a name and save in the location of your choice.



This is just a small introduction to what you can do with brushes. Remember you can create a brush with any black/white or grayscale image. You can use texture photographs to create grungy brushes, turn doodles into brushes, even make a brush of your own image from a photograph.

No longer available. Here is a free set of two 4x6 quick pages I made using the brag book template set above. Enjoy!

My Comments on Your Comments

I love reading the comments many of you leave on the blog each day, particularly those of you who have mentioned the tutorials are helping you get into digital scrapping. I'm so thrilled people find them helpful. BTW, I'll be posting a new tutorial tomorrow. Today, I want to reply to a few of the comments that have been left by readers.

Digigal wrote: Hi Misty, beautiful new kit! Just LOVE the 4 x 6! Do you sell this in a template PLEASE? I'd like the ability to change papers and LOVE the shape and size of this. It is so versatile in the square/rect. shapes and I would like to make one for my DD for graduation if possible. Thanks! :)

Digigal, I actually do have the brag book as a set of templates. I'll work on packaging them up and putting the templates for sale at Scrapbook-Bytes this week. I'll post an announcement here on the blog when it is available.

Fortlady wrote: How do you like the (Tempurpedic) mattress? I've wondered if they are as comfortable as advertized?

No sure how to answer this one. We got the mattress in November and my husband instantly fell in love with it. He used to have problems sleeping through the night and the mattress has really helped with it. I've had trouble with back pain and the first few weeks with the mattress, my pain was actually worse, but now its almost gone away completely. I guess it just took some time for my body to adjust to the mattress. I've found it provides better support than our previous traditional box-spring mattress. It's sort of like sleeping on wet sand, it molds around you and gives great support, but it doesn't feel all soft and plush which I kind of miss. Overall I very happy we got it, since my back pain is gone, but I'm not sure it's for everyone. How's that for a mixed review?

Anonymous wrote: I don't suppose you would consider making a metal pet element pack to match your tarnished essentials would you?

I have plans to make a Metal Essentials II with some other metal elements (metal rimmed tags and such), I'll try to do up some pet ones at the same time. It will likely be a few weeks, but I'll make an announcement here when I get them done.

On the subject of a torn paper tutorial -

I have yet to come across a torn paper technique or tutorial that produces a result I am completely happy with. If I ever figure it out, I will definately post about it. There are several paper tear products on the market and I can do an overview of what's available, but for now I don't have a do-it-yourself tutorial on the subject.

For those of you who have asked about my creative team -

I tried to respond to each of these inquiries individually, but a couple of you left inquires without an email. Right now my CT is quite full and I am not taking on new members, but when I do have openings the blog will be the first place I announce it. Thanks to each of you who expressed interest, I am flattered you like my designs enough to want to work with them on a regular basis.

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments, I really reading them each day.

No longer available. Here's a little something for you. Enjoy!

That's My Boy

I am very excited about my latest release at Scrapbook-Elements, because I made it in honor of my little man. Thus the name, That's My Boy. I wanted something boyish, but still fun and happy, so here is what I came up with.







Here is a sampling of the 26-page brag book I'm putting together in honor of his 2 year old birthday (February 8th). These will be gifts for the grandparents, which will now no longer be a surprise since my mom reads here (hi Mom!).




No longer available. Here's a little something I put together by way of a sample. Enjoy!

SBE Mid-Winter Sale

SBE's Mid-Winter sale is on and you can pick up these products from me at 25% savings through January 31st.



No Longer Available. I'm bringing back the Metal Essentials freebie tag as a sample of what you can do with my Metal Essentials Bundle, so if you missed it the first time, here is your chance to pick it up.

Snow and mattress

We were hit with unexpected snow in November and I took my son out thinking he would have a great time. Boy was I wrong. Within seconds he was in tears. So what did I do? Well FIRST I took this photo before taking him inside for snuggles.


Credits: All papers from Alexander by Janel K, SBB; Frame from Jen Wilson, JWD; Swirls from Brushware by Tracy Ann, SBB; Snowflake overlay by Misty Cato from Winter Morning, SBE

Another set of photos from November (trying to get caught up on the scrapping). DH and I got ourselves a Temperpedic mattress for our anniversary. We were told to walk on it for about 20 minutes to break it in. Jamin had to join in the fun.


Credits: Splendiferous by Tracy Rivera, SBB; flower brushes from Brushware by Tracy Ann, SBB

Fry Guys

Well now that I got my Fry Guys photos fixed up (they are still not great, but they are better). I had to scrap them. This is Jamin and his little buddy Eli. They are about the same age (two months difference) and have been together since babies as Eli's mom and I are friends who went through our pregnancies together. Anyway these two are together all the time, but this outing to McDonalds was the first time I really noticed them goofing off together and interacting as opposed to just playing with toys in the same room.


Credits: Papers and swirls from Hairy by Rowena Grall (swirls recolored; kit not currently available); Paint strokes from DaniB, SBB, Border from an overlay by Kris Myers, Fonts: Anhedonia and Century Gothic

No Longer Available. Here is a template based on the design. Enjoy!

Color Correcting Photos

I recently came across a tutorial from Layers Magazine on using the curve tool in Photoshop to color correct photos. I've read several articles on using curves and this is the simplest and easiest to use tutorial I've found yet.

I tried the color correction technique on a couple of my own photos and was relatively pleased with the result.

This first photo comes from a series of photos I took of my son and his little buddy sharing some fries. The photos are adorable, but the lighting was so bad and I am such a complete amateur when it comes to photography that the photos were really underexposed and grainy. I had tried several commercial actions on the photos, but the two boys have such different skin tones that the end results always looked 'not quite right'. In this case the result isn't perfect, but it is a definate improvement.


By way of experimenting I also tried the process on a photo that was already pretty decent and the color correction was still a marked improvement. The results don't show well on the web, but the colors are much more vivid in the corrected photo and it really brings out details (you can see this best by comparing the apple crate in each photo).



You can find the tutorial on the Layers website here.

Creating a Border Part II - Making Stickers

In this tutorial we will use the stroke commend in Photoshop (and PSE) to create a sticker-style alphabet. This same technique can be applied to clip art and doodles for more sticker fun.

This tutorial is a bit longer than the usual mini-tuts that I post, but hang with me and you'll be able to make a sticker alpha that coordinates with any kit. Screen shots shown are PSCS2.

Open a new 12x12 300ppi canvas and use the text tool to type the alphabet in your font of choice. Use a large size (mine is Times New Roman, 120 pt) Leave a space or two between each letter so there is room for the sticker border you will be adding.



You may want to make your background a color other than white so that you can see the white border we will be adding. It can be any color, since you will eventually delete this layer. Use your color picker to select a color. Then click on the background layer in your layers palette. Select your fill tool (looks like a paint bucket) and click on the canvas to flood the background with the new color.



Create a new empty layer (shift+ctrl+N). Hold down Ctrl and click on your Text layer. You should see 'marching ants around your letters.



Go Select->Modify->Contract and type 2 into the pop-up dialogue box. Click OK. Contracting the selection prevents there from being a slight gap between your letters and the border.



Make sure you new, empty layer is the active layer (if not click on it once in the layers paletter). Go Edit->Stroke (in PSE; Stroke(outline) Selection).



In the pop-up dialogue box set the width as desired. The larger the number, the larger the border. I'm will be using a value of 10. Use the color picker in the dialogue box to select your color. Traditional stickers have a white border, but you can use any color you'd like. I will be using a slightly off-white color. Set the Location to 'Outside" and leave the mode set to the default 'normal' and the Opacity at 100%.



Click OK in the dialogue box and you should now have a border around your text. Right click on the text layer and select "Rasterize Type" (in PSE select "Simplify Layer")



Your basic alpha is done (to stop at this point merge your letter and border layers and discard the background). However, let's continue on to customize the alpha further. Choose a background paper and drag it onto your canvas. Make sure the paper is in a layer directly above your letters. If not, you can click on the layer and drag it in the layers palette to the top spot.



In Photoshop right click on the paper layer in your layers palette and select "Create Clipping Mask"

In Photoshop Elements make sure your paper is the active layer and key 'Ctrl+G'.



Right click on the paper layer and select "Merge Down" to merge your background onto your letters.



Now you can merge your letters and border (right click on the letters layer in the layers palette and select 'merge down'), discard the background layer (drag the background layer in the layers palette to the trash icon at the bottom of the palette) and you are done! You can select individual letters for you layout by using your marquee tool to draw a box around the letter and use your move tool to click and drag the letter onto a layout.

No longer available. Here's the alpha I made available for download. I've added a small bevel to mind to give it a little more depth but otherwise I did it by following the tutorial. Enjoy!

Creating A Border Part I

Today's PS Tip is one way to create a border around your photos using the stroke command in Photoshop (works in PSE as well). Tomorrow I will post a tutorial using a variation of this technique to create sticker-style lettering, so be sure to stop back in.

Open your photo and right click on the photo layer in the layers palette. Select 'save photo as' and then click 'ok'.


Hold down the control key and click on your photo layer in the layers palette. You should now see 'marching ants' around your photo. Go to Edit -> Stroke (Stroke Outline, in PSE).



Set the width and color in the dialogue box. I find a value of 20-30 creates a nice 'snapshot' sort of border. Set the Location to 'Inside'. Leave the mode set to the default 'normal' and the Opacity at 100%. Click 'OK'.



Voila! A border around your photo.



FREEBIE
No Longer Available. Here's a mini-stack of papers I put together a while back for a crop. Enjoy!

Selective Colorization

Someone left a comment on my 1/19 post asking how I got the selective coloring effect on the 'Jamin Shows Mamma His Moves' layout. Here's a quick tutorial on the topic. This should work in all versions of PS and PSE, screen shots shown are PSCS2.

Here is my photo, let's say I want my apples and apple crate in color and the ground black and white.



First step is to duplicate your color photo; Layer-> New -> Layer via Copy (or keystroke Ctrl+J)

Convert your copy (the top photo) to black and white. There are several ways to do this, desaturating the photo being 'quick and dirty' way; keystroke Shift+Ctrl+U. Alternatively I like to use Julian's B&W conversion action (you'll need to scroll down a little to find it, or pick one of the other zillion actions. I haven't tried them all).



Select your eraser tool from the toolbox. The size of your eraser brush tip will depend on the size of area you want to colorize. For my project I will be using a 100 pt brush at 90% hardness.
I get these settings in photoshop by using the 'Brush:' drop down menu in the options palette at the top of my workspace, choosing a round tip and adjusting the Master Diameter slide to 100, and Hardness slides to 90%. In PSE, I recommend starting with a soft round brush tip, later you may wish to switch to a hard brush tip depending upon the detail of your area.



Make sure your black and white copy is the active layer and use your eraser brush to erase the portion of the black and white photo where you want the color to 'show' through. This takes some detail work and patience. You will probably want to zoom in quite a bit. You can also vary the size and hardness of your brush as needed. There is no hardness slider in PSE, so you may need to experiment with both the 'hard' and 'soft' brush tips.



Continue erasing until color shows through in all the desired areas. When you are done right click on the black and white layer in the layers palette and select 'Merge Down' and Viola!

Yummy Yogurt

About two months ago my son started insisting on feeding himself AND trying to use utensils (a skill he still has yet to master). It also happens that yogurt is his favorite breakfast fare, so a breakfast always requires a substantial amount of clean up. But really, could you get made at this face...?


CREDITS: Blue background from SBB's Birthday kit, swirl doodles from Ida, Fall Doodles Catscraps, everything else from Beautiful Mess, Lisa Whitney, Scrap Artist

RECENT PURCHASES
When I started designing I thought I would end up saving money on scrapping supplies. Quite the contrary - I've found that I purchase more scrapping supplies since I started designing. There is so much talent out there and its really fun to work with different styles. Plus once I've designed a kit, I've usually looked at it for so long, I don't want to scrap with it. Anyway I thought I'd show off some of my recent purchases.

Lately I've been into scrapping with black and a splash of color so I had to pick up this little number by Amy C. at DigiScrapShak. I love how that orange flower stands out agains the blacks and that cascade of glitter and doo-dads is just wonderful. I don't have a clue what photo I'm going to scrap with it, but I'm sure I can find something.



Just today I picked up Noah's Ark: Two by Two at Kathryn Balint Designs. I love this because it is so totally different from anything I would design and jam packed with stuff that is perfect for young boy pages (282MB's worth). Check out all those boats and animals! I'm seeing playtime pages, zoo layouts... In a time when hearts and flowers seem to be staples in any kit, its nice to have a 'go to' kit for boy elements. My favorite element in this entire kit is this little boat that says "I am a promise". I think I am going to do an entire page for Jamin on the theme - it's just so affirming.



Finally I picked up these adorable felt sets a couple of weeks ago at Digital Scrapbook Place. I have grand plans to make a picture book for Jamin with him as the main character. Let's hope I can turn my plans into reality before he outgrows picture books, lol!

Jamin Gets His Groove On

Do you ever have treasured photos that capture wonderful moments, but just can't figure out how to scrap them? I had that problem with the photos below. My son loves music and the first thing he does when he gets to my parents place is ask them to turn on the music. In these photos Jamin was dancing his best Wiggles moves and my mom was following along - one of those everyday treasured moments. The problem with the photos is they are very busy. Even cropping them is tough. The right and left ends of the photo could be cropped but then the photo would mostly be filled with the 'dead' space between the two dancers. I thought about trying to extract the dancers, but the photos are blurry and well, it just seemed like too much work. So the photos have been sitting in my 'to be scrapped' folder for a month until I dug them out yesterday.


I'm actually pleased with the way it came out. I turned the photos black and white leaving just the dancers in color and used a storyboard style arrangement. The captions above the photos read, "Put your foot up", "Then wave your arms", "Now flap your arms and turn around." The quote below the photos reads, "Nobody can do for little children what Grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over little children. Alex Haley"


Credits: Pine Heart and Music Notes from Painted Pine Elements by Misty Cato, SBB; torn sheet music heart and scrap from Heartsong by Amy C., blog freebie; Real Stampled Alpha by Lisa Whitney, blog freebie; everything else by me and not currently available; Fonts: Ephesis and Pea Elizabeth

DOLLAR DAYS SALE ON MISTY CATO DESIGNS AT SBB
SBB is turning 4 this weekend and there will be lots of activity at the site if you'd like to stop by. I have marked all my alphas and selected element packs to $1.00. Several items will be retired after the sale, so if you see something you like, stop in and pick it up.



NEW RELEASES
Here are a couple of new additions to Scrapbook-Bytes, both priced at $1.00 during the sale.





FREEBIE
No Longer Available. Here is a set of metallic painted buttons for you. Enjoy!

Complimentary Mini Set

No longer available. Just stopping in to leave a little something for you. Have you ever needed a 'plain' white or black background? Here you are, slightly shabby with just enough texture for realism. I threw in a few other elements that seemed to go with 'em. Enjoy!

Hello Pacific Northwest DigiScrappers

Several of you have left me notes and emails mentioning you live in the Pacific Northwest area and wondering where I am located. I now live in Lynnwood, WA with my husband of 8 years, our almost-2 year old son and lazy but lovable pug. I grew up in Oak Harbor and my parents still live there so we are up that way often. My husband and I both went to school and worked for WSU for several years before returning to the west side, so I've been around the state a bit. There are quite a few digital scrappers in the area. We've started a little (well, it's really not so little anymore) yahoo group for area scrappers. We mostly share layouts and area designers show off their products. Last year we went on a couple of outings (Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon and Lavendar Festival in Sequim). Right now the group is planning a retreat in April on the Oregon Coast. If you live in the WA, OR, B.C. area and would like to interact with other area digital scrappers, you can sign up here - Pacific Northwest Digital Scrappers.

NEW RELEASE
I just released a pack of ribbon pieces at Scrapbook-Bytes. These bits of ribbon, with frayed ends, come in handy when you need a piece of ribbon for layering. With 16 colors included, you are sure to find one that will work for any layout.



FREE SAMPLE

No longer available. Here is a flower/ribbon grouping I put together with the ribbon bits. Enjoy!

Text on a Path

Thanks to MsTeddie for her request for a tutorial on creating text on a path. Text paths can be created in Photoshop. They can be used (but not created) in Photoshop Element. In Photoshop you can turn any selection into a text path. For this tutorial, written for PSCS2, we will create a text path using the heart custom shape, but you can easily adapt this technique to create other shapes.

Open a new document in your desired size. My canvas is 12x12 inches, 300dpi. Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N). Click on the Custom Shape tool in your tools palette. In the options bar at the top of your workspace, click on the small arrow next to the shape box and select the heart shape from the custom shapes. Click and drag on your canvas to draw a heart.



Hold down the Control key and click on the heart icon in your layers palette. You should see marching ants around your heart shape.



Create a new, empty layer over your custom shape (Shift+Ctrl+N). You may want to turn off the visibility of you custom shape by clicking on the eye to the left of the heart icon in the layers palette. You should still have the marching ants in a heart shape and your new empty layer should be the active layer.



If your paths palette is not already visible, open it; Windows -> Paths.



Click on the small arrow on the upper right side of the paths palette and select "Make Work Path" from the drop down menu. Click okay to accept the default 2.0 from the pop-up dialogue box.



Click on your text tool and with your empty layer active, click on your canvas on the place along your work path where you want to your text to begin. You can now continue to type in your text as it should follow your path. When you are done, save your file as a .psd file. If you want to use the text path again, open the file, choose your text tool, highlight your text and begin typing to replace the current text with new text. You can change the font, color, etc just like any other text.



No Longer Available. You are welcome to download my heart shaped text path. This path should work in PSE 2.0 and above as well as Photoshop. To replace my text with your own; open the file, choose your text tool, highlight your text and begin typing to replace the current text with new text. You can change the font, color, etc just like any other text.

Trash Bin Alpha

All you freestylers and grunge fans check out my new Trash Bin Alpha just released at Scrapbook-Elements.



No Longer Available. Here is a free sample tag I made with it. Enjoy!

Designer of the Month Final Days

This is a reminder that my 'reign' as designer of the month at Scrapbook-Elements is up when the January newsletter comes out on the 15th and my sale will be coming to an end. Check out my Designer of the Month section at SBE and if you see anything you like, be sure to pick it up this weekend.



While you are at Scrapbook-Elements, be sure to sign up to receive their monthly newsletter. There are always great designer gifts in each issue. Here is a sneak peak at my contribution.



Finally a couple of you have requested a Misty Cato Designs signature tag blinkie. I am so blessed that you are enjoying my designs, blog and ezine enough to want to 'wear' my blinkie. Thanks gals! Here you are. I've also placed it on the sidebar so it is always available for you to come and snag it.

Northwest Casual

I've just released the Northwest Casual Paper and Element Packs at Scrapbook-Bytes. The colors and worn-in feel of the kit are inspired by life here in the Pacific Northwest. I can see this set working well for scrapping outdoor activities and masculine pages, but with one click in Photoshop you can turn these papers into a more feminine color palette (scroll down for Photoshop Tip).





PHOTOSHOP TIP - Inverting color schemes

Every color has an opposite. Obviously the opposite of black is white, but the other colors have opposites too. Green and purple are opposites as are blue and yellow. Converting an image to it's opposite is often referred to as 'inverting' the image and it is easy to do in most photo editing programs. For the digital scrapper this mean you have potentially two color schemes for each background in your collection (and many more if you get adept at recoloring, but that can be more involved). One side note, sometimes the inversion results in a new harmonious set of backgrounds and sometimes ... well ... the inversion is not so pretty.

On the left side of the image below I've placed 10 of the 12 of my Northwest Casual Papers, on the right are the same papers inverted.



To invert your backgrounds in PSCS2 open the background and go Image -> Adjustments -> Invert Image, or just key Ctrl+I (may work in other version, but I haven't tried it).

To invert your backgrounds in PSE4 key Ctrl+I (may work in other versions, but I haven't tried it).

FREE SAMPLE
No Longer Available. Here is a tag that coordinates with Northwest Casual. Enjoy!

Love this Look!

I love this layout by Lisa Campbell (scoobie). The combination of the dark background, high key photos and minimal, but striking elements creates such a dramatic look.



Credits: Framed! by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Bytes, Dandelion by Tracey Monette, Scrapbook-Elements, font - Mistral

If you like this look check out these other layouts for additional inspiration. I plan to try it myself and will post my take on it soon.

Dog Kisses by cindys732003

Christmas by Nee

When You Wish Upon a Star by 911Mom

Yeah me!

I am so tickled, my Hiding layout was chosen as DigiPick of the Day! This is my son hiding under our living room table. Funny how he cries when I put him in his crib, but crawls under the table (which is smaller) and loves it.



Credits: Everything by Tracy Rivera from Sandrine, Serendipity, Bella and Grunge Frames all at Scrapbook-Bytes, Font - Repressed Capitals Heavy

FREE TEMPLATE
No Longer Available. Here is a template based on the layout above. The flourish is different. The one in the layout is Tracy Rivera's and is in her Bella kit. Also the grunge edging on the photo is not included in the template. I used one of Tracy's products to accomplish the effect. You can pick up her Grunge Frames at Scrapbook-Bytes.

Feathering

At DigishopTalk, August mom asked how she could achieve the effect shown in this header. This is commonly called feathering and is very easily and quickly done in Photoshop. It is slightly trickier but achievable in Photoshop Elements. I'll start with instructions for Photoshop users with screen shots in PSCS2. Below those you'll find instructions for PSE users with screen shots from PSE4. Scroll down to the end to see my finished product.

FEATHERING IN PHOTOSHOP

Open your photograph, right click on the photograph layer in the layers palette and choose 'Layer from Background', now save your file under a new name to avoid overwriting your original photo.

Choose your Marquee selection tool from the tools palette. The tool icon is a dashed line square.



Click and drag your cursor over your photo to select the portion of your photo you want to cut away.



Go to Select -> Feather. Enter a value in the dialog box the higher the number the larger and more spread out the 'feather'. I am working with a 4x6 photo and using a feather radius of 35.



Hit delete to cut away your selection. The remaining photo should have a feathered edge. The image quality of the screen shot below is poor, your photo should have a smoother, gradiated feather. You may want to experiment with different feather radius settings until you achieve the desired effect.




FEATHERING IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Feathering in PSE is trickier than Photoshop, but it can be done. I recommend that you do not crop your photo prior to feathering as you will likely need to do some cropping to get the effect you like, so it is good to have some extra material around the main subject of your photo.

Open your photograph, right click on the photograph layer in the layers palette and choose 'Layer from Background', now save your file under a new name to avoid overwriting your original photo.



Enlarge your canvas so that you have a large empty border around your photo. Go to Image-> Resize -> Canvas size.



In the Canvas Size dialogue box set the height and width somewhere between 3 and 6 inches (the larger the feather effect, the bigger border you'll need).



Choose your Marquee selection tool from the tools palette. The tool icon is a dashed line square.



Enter a value in the "Feather" setting in the options toolbar at the top of your workspace. The larger the number, the larger and more 'spread out' your feather effect will be. I'm using a setting of 35 for my 4x6 inch photo. Click and drag your cursor across your canvas to create a selection that includes the section of your photo you want to cut away. You will also want to include as much of the empty border in your selection as possible.



Make sure your photo is the active layer and hit delete to cut away the selected portion of your photo leaving a feathered edge. The image quality of the screen shot below is poor, your photo should have a smoother, gradiated feather. You may want to experiment with different feather setting until you achieve the desired effect.



Now you can crop away the extra empty border leaving only your photo with the edge effect. Remember to change the feather setting back to zero before making your crop selection or the entire perimeter of your photo will be feathered (unless of course that is what you want to do).



FINISHING TOUCHES

The tutorial leaves the background the default white, but you can change to anything you like or even use one of your scrapping backgrounds. Here I've changed the background to black to blend right in with the photo and added song lyrics.

All Aboard

I didn't make Just for Fun with Thomas the Train in mind, but when I went to scrap this photo for my son playing with 3 of his many Thomas's the frames reminded me of train tracks, so I used the circle frames in the kit to make a set of tracks. I'm happy with the way it turned out. I also made a couple of other items for this layout; a journal strip and a set of numbers (the numbers I didn't end up using). You can download these 'extras' below.

BTW does anyone know how Thomas managed to capture the hearts of toddler boys everywhere?

Journaling Reads: When it comes to Jamin’s playthings, Thomas rules the toy box. Jamin has 5 Thomas the trains. He plays with them all and notices right away if any one of them goes missing. Of course he also has Thomas books and dvds. Even his toothpaste has Thomas on it.



Credits: Just for Fun by Misty Cato Scrapbook-Elements (green paper has been recolored, and curved ‘tracks’ were made from circle frames in the kit)
Atomic Cupcake Wild Tear Action
Black Sticker Alpha by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Bytes
Eyelets on journal strip from Metal Essentials by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Elements
Fonts: Pupcat (journaling), Broken 15

Free Set of Extras
No Longer Available. I created these as I was scrapping the layout above. Enjoy!

NEW RELEASE

A quick note to those who mentioned they liked, or were going to go looking for, the eyelet flowers in my Tickle Fight layout below. They haven't been release yet. You'll find them in my Northwest Casual set coming this Friday to Scrapbook-Bytes.

Today I released Just for Fun at Scrapbook-Elements.

No longer available. Here is a free coordinating tag.

Tickle Fight

I was recently playing one of those get-to-know-you-games where we had to list our favorites. At one point we had to list our favorite sound. I'd never really thought about it before. Favorite food? Sure. Favorite color? Yeah, I get asked that a lot, but favorite sound? Luckily it didn't take me too long to identify it ... my favorite sound is my son's laugh and all the giggly joy that comes with it. That's probably why I love tickling him so much - just to hear that wonderful laugh.

Today, I scrapped one of our tickle fights. I use the word 'fight' loosely. Thankfully, he has not yet learned to fight back.


Credits: Fonts: Whiffy (title), Umbrage, Adobe Caslon Pro, Times New Roman
Main background paper from Blossom by Helen O'Daniel, other papers, stamp and hanging heart from Thankful by J.Baechtold, Stitching from Christine Nash, Stick Pin by Rina Kroes, Paint Stroke brushes by Dani B, Fabric mat, eyelet flowers and frames by Misty Cato

Do you speak Toddlerese?

Thanks again to those of you who shared your baby's first words and toddler-speak layouts. I also got several comments from people who were planning on doing a layout on this topic and were also looking for inspiration, so I thought'd I share some of what was shown to me. Follow the links to see the layouts in the DST gallery with credit information.

I love the creativity of Matthew's First Words by Sunshine06. She included photos of each of baby's first words including mom, dad and the cat. Great idea!


For a while I thought of doing a layout titled "Toddlerese" and attempting to model the layout on a translation dictionary (except this one would be a English/Toddlerese book, of course). However I never really got it to work. I still think it is a good idea and if anyone creates such a page, I'd love to see it.

In the end, I decided to scraplift the beautiful Toddler Speak by caridura, sent in by blog reader Kathy (waving 'hi Kathy').



So here is what I finally came up with, a not so beautiful but decidedly more boyish version of caridura's page, complete with all the wonderful toddlerism that we've come to refer to as "Jaminese".


Credits: Backgrounds and elements from Sandrine by Tracy Rivera, Scrapbook-Bytes, Title uses Pewter Alpha from Doris Castle (recolored) and Real Stamped Alpha by Lisa Whitney, Paint brushed by DaniB. Scrapbook-Bytes, Font - Repress Capitals Heavy

FREE SAMPLE
No Longer Available. Here is a Blue Glass Alpha for you. Enjoy!

Up to the Challenge

Today my son decided to be particularly difficult and I spent most of the day dealing with him (and not in the fun, dance-around-the-house, tickle fight, snuggle-fest ways I like to deal with him). I didn't get the camera out, but if I had the photo would surely be of him sitting in time out and me cleaning up messes. So I'm afraid I don't have much to offer today, no freebies, no layouts, no tutorials.

Here is a run-down of the challenges/events I am involved in. Some of these might be particulary interesting to any of you who made a resolution to get more scrapping done this year.

Template Challenge at Treasures to Scrap - A monthly template challenge. You can see the template and prize below. Check out the forum at Treasures to Scrap for details.



Scrapbook-Bytes 1/07/07 Event - SBB is hosting a 7 hour chat event starting at 7:00pm Eastern and encouraging attendees to scrap 7 pages. Of course you are welcome to stop by any time you'd like and you don't have to stay the whole 7 hours.

Arti's Page a Day Challenge - Arti is hosting a page-a-day challenge in the forums at Scrapbook-Bytes. For each week that you complete 7 layouts you get a prize and if you can manage it for a whole month, there is an additional goodie on top of that. Good luck to anyone who can manage this one! The prize will be coming from me the week of January 8-14. Sneak peak below.

Burn it

Thanks to Rowyn and Sunshine06 for the "first words" layout inspirations. I'm going to have another go at scrapping the topic and hopefully I'll have something to show for it soon. Meanwhile I put together a little mini tutorial on one application of the burn tool in Photoshop (works in PSE too although the screenshots below are taken from PSCS2).

Take a look at this paper from my Warmest Regards Page Set. Notice how the darker edges around the paper add definition and depth.



Suppose you wanted to cut a strip from this paper to use on a layout. You'd lose the edging effect.



You can recreate the effect on the original paper by using your burn tool. The burn tool can be found in the PS/PSE tools palette. The icon is a hand and it is grouped with the Dodge and Sponge tools. If you can't find it, right click on the dodge or sponge tool to bring up a pull down menu from which you can select the burn tool.



In the options bar at the top of your workspace, click the small arrow next to the brush tip and select the Soft Round 300 (Airbrush Soft Round 300 in PSE) from the list of default brushes. Depending upon the size of your paper, you may want to use the size slider to further increase the size of your brush tip. Pick a Range: Highlights if your paper is a very light color, Shadow if it is a dark color and Midtones for anything in between. Set the Exposure fairly low, say 10%. You can always increase it later if you want a more pronounced effect.



Trace the perimeter of your paper with your burn tool. Feel free to experiment with different brush tips and settings as the ones I specified above are just a starting point. As you can see below I've recreated the effect of the original paper on my cut out strip (placed next to the original for comparision).



NEW PRODUCT - FRAMED!
No Longer Available. If you liked yesterday's free sample, you'll want to check out my latest release at Scrapbook-Bytes. Framed! is a set of 13 frames created to make your photo arranging a snap.



FREE SAMPLE
Here is another frame I made using one of the single photo arrangements in Framed! and my Black Sticker Alpha. Enjoy!

In Search of Inspiration

It seems like just a few weeks ago Barron and I were celebrating our son's first words and now Jamin adds a couple of words a day to his vocabulary. Just today we added 'meat' and 'egg nog' (it seems food is his favorite subject). Anyway I've made several attempts at a 'First Words' or 'Look Who's Talking' layout and have never been happy with my results. I really do need to get something scrapped before he is stringing full sentences together. I hoping one of you out there has scrapped a fabulous layout on the topic, or has come across one in the galleries. If you have, could you be so kind as to leave a comment linking me up? Thanks so much!

FREE SAMPLE
No Longer Available. Here is a little something for you. Enjoy!

For those like me who love brushes

When it comes to collecting digisupplies, I'm pretty selective about what I purchase and even freebies that I download. My hard drives fills up too fast to bother with stuff I probably won't use and I quickly found that having too many digisupplies can make finding what I really want frustrating. So I buy stuff only when I know I have a photograph to go with it or am confident I will use it often. I'm pretty self-disciplined about it... except when it comes to brushes. I have a weakness for brushes. I think they are so fun and can be used in so many different ways. I have a huge stash of brushes and I have no clue what most them are. One artist's brushes that I keep close at hand are those from Stephanie Shimerdla at Obsidian Dawn.com. It seems like she makes them with digital scrapping in mind. You'll find everything from paisley and swirls to fairy wings and Christmas images. I use them in my designs and personal scrapping. If you are a brush hoarder... uh...umm... I mean 'collector' like me. I recommend stopping by her site to check them out (oh yeah, and they are free).

She also recently posted an excellent tutorial on adding multiple colors to brushwork.

FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here are a couple of papers and elements for the taking. By the way, if you like the beads in this sampler and use PS, PSE or PSP you can easily make your own in any color using my bead templates available at SBB. Enjoy!