Just a short note

Just a quick post from me today to let you know I put set of frame templates in my store at Scrapbook-Bytes.



The frames are 2-layer templates that you can decorate with any of your papers and embellishments. Here are some of the frames made by my creative team.



Laura Kockelkorn put her's to use in a layout using Starting in Style and Intensity (coming this weekend to SBB). I find the quirky style of the layout fitting given her journaling about her 'weird' boy (who sounds like a perfectly normal 3 year old to me).

Apologies, A Fix, Using Frames and Freebie

APOLOGIES and A FIX

Photoshop Element users - my apologies on yesterday's tutorial. As several of you mentioned, you cannot 'see' the eyelets in the Liquify screen which makes pucking your ribbon quite challenging. I thought I had tested it, but I went back and sure enough, there isn't a way to get other layers to show when liquifying in PSE.

However, I think I've come up with a fix for those of you who are willing to give it another shot.

Start just as before by placing two eyelets an inch and a half apart along a stretch of ribbon. With your ribbon as the active layer, use your rectangular selection tool to select a stretch of ribbon that spands the two eyelets. Key Ctrl+J to copy the ribbon section.



You can now trash or hide the bottom layer (full ribbon) as you won't need it for the rest of the tutorial.



If is not already, select your move tool from the tools palette. With the ribbon as the active layer, click on the small box at the center top of the ribbon bounding box and drag downward to make your ribbon thinner (slightly smaller than the width of the 'hole' of your eyelet). Use your move tool to reposition the ribbon so it is centered on the eyelets.



Go to Filter-> Distort -> Liquify



Select the 'Bloat' tool (keystroke B). Use the slider on the right side of the screen to set the brush diameter to 600 and center your brush on the ribbon. Click and hold to 'bloat' the ribbon at the center. Click 'OK' to leave the liquify screen.



Hold down your control key and click on both of the eyelet layers. Right click on either one and select 'merge down' to combine the eyelet layers.



Hold down the control key and click on the icon of the eyelet layer in the layers palette. The 'marching ants' should be around your eyelets. Click once on the ribbon layer to set it as the active layer.

Click on your eraser tool in the tools palette and select a hard round brush of about 20px. Click and drag on the ribbon layers to erase the ribbon portions that overlap the outer edges of the eyelets.



The end result is very similar to that of yesterday's tutorial.



USING FRAMES

Yesterday Sandy wrote, "I recently purchased the two Framed sets and I can't figure out how to cut photos or papers to fit the different frame sizes in one template. Any help (or point me to a tutorial ) would be appreciated."

There are several approaches to this, here is one that works well for me.

Start by opening the frame you want to use and using your move tool to drag it onto your canvas/layout. I am working on a black background so you can see the frame easier.



Open your photo and use you move tool to drag it onto your canvas. In the layers palette, click and drag the photo layer to just below the frame layer.



Use you move tool to resize and position your photo until the portion your want is inside the frame.



Select the Polygonal lasso tool from the tools palette. The Polygonal lasso tool is housed with the lasso tool and the magnetic lasso tool. Click on the lasso tool in the tools palette to bring up a drop down menu from which you can select the Polygonal lasso tool.

With the photo layer as your active layer, click on your canvas on the upper corner of the frame move your cursor to the next corner and click. Continue this process until you have created a shape along the frame.



Go to Layer -> New -> Layer via Copy



You can now delete the large photo by dragging the layer to the trash icon at the bottom of the layers palette (top of the palette in PSE), leaving only your cropped photo. Go Select -> Deselect to get rid of the marching ants.



Repeat for each photo.



Here is a layout I made with the photos. They were taken a couple of weekends ago in Oak Harbor when my dad, Barron, Jamin and I went out walking. Jamin was sitting with me as I was putting the finishing touches on the layout and he was carrying on making animal noises, so I couldn't help but add them to the page.


Credits: Backgrounds, yellow trim, corner element, hearts, stitching and staple from A Breathe of Nature by Verena K, Digital Scrap Spirit; cardboard overlays from Linda GB, ScrapArtist; Frames from Framed by Misty Cato Scrapbook-Bytes; Butterflies by Syrin, blog freebie, word strips from Starting in Style by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Bytes

FREE SAMPLE

No Longer Available. Here is a bead-trimmed alpha for you.

Threading Ribbon

Thanks again everyone for your well wishes. It looks like we are all on our way back to full health here.

Today's tutorial is on threading a ribbon through eyelets in Photoshop. You will need an eyelet and a ribbon. Start by opening your eyelet and ribbon and dragging them onto a common canvas. Duplicate the eyelet by clicking on the eyelet layer in the layers palette and dragging it to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette. The new layer icon looks like a sheet of paper with the bottom corner folded up.



Use your move tool to line up your eyelets about 1 and a half inches apart along a stretch of the ribbon.



Click on the ribbon layer in the layers palette to set it as your active layer.

In Photoshop go to Filter -> Liquify



If your image is less than 100% in size, select the magnifying glass from the tool bar on the left side of the screen and click on your canvas to zoom in.



Keystroke the letter P to select the 'Pucker' tool or click on the icon with arrows pointing inward in the toolbar on the left side of the workspace. Click on the down arrow next the words "Brush size:" on the right side of the work space and move the slider to the far right; brush size 600. Click on the "Brush Rate:" arrow and set the slider to 20.

On your canvas line up your brush cross hairs with the center of the eyelet and click and hold to pucker your ribbon inwards until the outer edge of the ribbon is just inside your eyelet. PSE may not show the cross hairs so just center your brush over the eyelet as best you can.



Repeat at the other eyelet. It takes a little practice to get use to using the pucker tool. If you mess up, you can hit 'Restore all' and try again. Once you achieve the desired effect click on 'OK' to close the liquify screen.

Hold down the control key and click on each eyelet layer in the layers palette. Right click on either layer and select 'Merge Down' to combine the eyelet layers into a single layer.



In the layers palette, click and drag the eyelet layer to below the ribbon layer.



Hold down the control key and click on the icon of the eyelet layer in the layers palette. The 'marching ants' should be around your eyelets. Click once on the ribbon layer to set it as the active layer.

Click on your eraser tool in the tools palette and select a hard round brush of about 20px. Click and drag on the ribbon layers to erase the ribbon portions that overlap the outer edges of the eyelets.



At this point you are pretty much done. You can add more realism by selecting your burn tool and using a small, soft brush tip to darken the ribbon just at the point in which it slides 'under' the eyelet.



If you want you can also use your burn (to darken) and dodge (to lighten) tools to shade your ribbon or add wrinkles and puckers, etc.



You can use your ribbon as is or erase the outer parts of the ribbon and duplicate the remaining graphic to make it look like the ribbon has been weaved through a line of eyelets.



If you want to take a close up look at my finished product, you can download it here.

New Release - On the Go

Thanks everyone for your well wishes, hugs and even a card for my little man. He is doing much better today. He's still congested and has a bit of a cough, but his energy and appetite have returned. Yesterday all he wanted to do was curl up in my lap with his beloved blanket. Today he's been running around, playing with his trains and being an energetic little boy again.

And speaking of energetic little boys, this new kit was made with them in mind.



No longer available. And just for you, here is a coordinating alpha. The alpha is not included in the kit, so even if you plan to purchase the kit make sure you pick up the alpha here.

Sick Note

Metal Flowers, Grandpa and Baby Soft

NEW RELEASE - Metal Flowers 2

At a crop a month or so ago, someone requested I do another set of metal flowers. It took me longer than I expected to get to it, but here they are.



JUST LIKE GRANDPA

As I mentioned we spent last weekend at my parents house. Jamin just adores my dad who can be found reading most evenings. At one point during our stay Jamin got a hold of grandpa's reading glasses. Once he had them, he knew just what to do... he went and grabbed grandpa's Economist, climbed into a chair, put on the glasses and studiously began 'reading'.


Credits: Background papers from Letters Home by Donna Miller, journaling strips from Starting in Style Word Strips by Misty Cato, SBB, My Little Man tag from Little Boy Tags by Jen Wilson, “J” monogram from Leather Letters by Shannon Lee, My Digital Muse, Stitching, fabric heart and stapled paper from Adorable Worn by Sausan Designs, RAKScraps Newsletter Freebie, Journaling Mat from Journaling Bundle by Laura Payton, Envelope tie and paper scrap from Star Bazaar by LindaGB, ScrapArtist, Painted Flower from Painted Flowers Sampler by Helena Jole, NDISB, Staple by Jenn Patrick, The DigiShoppe, frames by Misty Cato (not yet available), Pewter Alpha by Doris Castle (recolored)

FREE MINI-KIT

No longer available. This one will only be available for a day, so if you want it grab it now.

Segmented Photo Tutorial

Hi everyone, here is the tutorial I promised on creating the segmented photo effect shown in this layout.



I've posted this layout previously, so you can scroll down to my post from a couple of day ago to get the credits.

The segment photo effect can be done using any shape, but I used Tracy Rivera's Grunge Photo Templates at Scrapbook-Bytes.

Start by opening your photo. Use your move tool to click and drag it onto your canvas.



Next open (or create) the shape you want use to segment the photo.



Using your move tool. Click and drag the shape (in my case the grunge photo mat) onto your canvas. Use the opacity slider in the upper right corner of the layers palette to lower the opacity just enough so that you can see the photo underneath. Rotate and resize the shape to position it to your desired location.



Duplicate the shape layer by clicking on the shape layer in the layers palette and dragging it to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette (looks like a paper with the bottom corner folded up). Repeat until you have the desired number of copies (in my case 3 total).



Use your move tool to reposition each shape as desired.



Click on a shape layer in the layers palette and return the opacity to 100. Repeat for each shape.



Duplicate your photo so that you have one copy for each shape. Click and drag each photo copy in the layers palette such that it is immediately above a shape layer. When you are done, your layers from top to bottom should be photo, shape, photo, shape, photo, shape.



With your top photo layer active, key Ctrl+G (Ctrl+Alt+G in PSCS2). Repeat for each photo layer.



Right click on a photo layer and select "Merge Down" from the drop down menu. Repeat for each photo.



You can further accent the segments by adding a drop shadow. Experiment with setting to achieve your desired effect.



Voila!



Thanks again everyone for all your great comments and questions. I love to get them and they also help me with ideas for things to write about, so keep 'em coming!

My Comments on Your Comments

I scrapped another page today. I'm on a roll. The journaling is all about cute things Jamin does - singing along to the background music in the supermarket (2 year old style...aaaah...ohhhh), rocking out during worship at church, hitting his head on the couch cushions intentionally and then saying 'ouchie' just so someone will give him cuddles... It goes on and I didn't even cover half of the cute little things I want to remember. Perhaps this should be a two page spread.



Credits: Background from Hors d’oeuvres 1 by Trish Jones, SBB, Newspaper Swirls by Faith True, The DigiShoppe, white note paper and some cardboard pieces from Pam, Scrappers Little Basics set, other cardboard pieces by Rina Kroes, Scrapper’s Toolbox, notepaper, clip, tag, and label all from Scrappers Toolbox by the SBE designers (not currently for sale), Staples by Jenn Patrick, The DigiShoppe, Journaling Highlight Brushes by Amy Wolffe, The Lily Pad, Font – Pea Elizabeth, Stencil

MY COMMENTS ON YOUR COMMENTS

Nancy P wrote, Tell us where you work - what is it like in there - lovely picture window looking out to calm setting kind of place? Just curious where the creative mind thrives!

Ahhh a little artist nook with an oversized picture window overlooking the ocean. It sounds wonderful Nancy.

Here's the reality:


Credits: Background from Sandrine by Tracy Rivera, SBB, words strips and flowers from Serendipity also by Tracy Rivera, SBB, On the Edge Frames by Nancy Comelab, My Digital Muse

The four of us (my husband, son, dog and I) live in a small 3 bedroom condo. The third bedroom functions as small rec room/office. The 'office' consists of an IKEA computer station, 2-drawer filing cabinet and a paper shredder. The rest of the room is full of a book shelf and an eggplant colored captain's chair (I love this chair, its where Jamin and I have story time). Of course it is always littered with Jamin's toys and more often than not a basket full of laundry to be folded.

LOL, I've got to sell a lot more digital scrapping booking products to purchase that beachside studio Nancy. Any patrons of the digital arts out there want to donate to such a cause? No? oh well...

Nancy P also wrote, an I ask another one, too? Could you tell us how you made the beautiful background for this page? I guess you can tell I am rather new to PSE4 and digi scrappin, so if there is a tutorial you can send me to if you don't want to tell us on your blog I would appreciate it.

Sure Nancy - here are the how-to's. This technique is very similar to the texture technique I wrote about yesterday.

Start by opening your background paper or layout and the photograph you want to use.



Use your move tool to drag your photograph onto the background paper. Rotate and resize the photograph so that it is approximately where you want the image (you will be able to adjust it later).



Desaturate the photo; in PS go to Image ->Adjustments -> Desaturate; in PSE go to Enhance -> Adjust Color -> Remove Color.



With your photo layer active, click on the small down arrow to the right of the word 'normal' in the layer palette. Select 'Overlay'.



Choose your eraser tool from the tools palette and then use the options toolbar at the top of your workspace to select a large soft brush tip.



Click and drag with your eraser on the canvas to erase the portions of the photo you don't want.



You can now use your move tool to adjust a resize the photo further if desired.



You can further adjust your image using the brightness/constrast settings.

In Photoshop go to Image->Adjustments->Brightness/Contrast. In PSE go Enhance->Adjust Lighting->Brightness/Contrast. Adjust the slider to desired effect.



You can also adjust the visibility of the image using the opacity slider in the layers palette.

And viola!



BTW, thanks to everyone who sent congrats on my layout of the day pick. It was pretty excited about it.

About the Sweet Dreams layout Rebecca wrote, I had just purchased Melanie's star elements (so sad she's retiring) and I had an unfinished LO that I had returned to sitting in Photoshop waiting for me... and I didn't quite know how to finish it off... until I saw your LO that is!

Yes I agree about Melany Violette retiring. I'd heard of her here and there, but never really checked out her work until recently. She's got some really unique items. In case other readers are interested in checking out her designs, you can find them at Simply Clean DigiScraps. Everything is 50% off and there are several free items too. I recommend the Boy Elements (I'm sure the girl ones are nice too, but I didn't pick them up; alas no girls 'round here). Definately check out the lift a flap templates. They are so original. I picked up a couple of sets and can't wait to find the perfect use for them.

Chere wrote, I too would love to know how you did your layout - both the face as a background, and the picture that you cropped into three - both look so cool!

I will definately put together a little tutorial on how I divided the photo into three parts. I ran out of time today, but look for it in tomorrow's post.

To those of you who left a note that you've purchased one of my products and everyone who's picked up any of my designs. Thank you so much. I am honored to have your business.

Happy Scrapping!

Scrapped the Sleeping Babies

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to use the blog coupon for Starting in Style at Scrapbook-Bytes. Use coupon code SIS30 to save 30% off the purchase of the complete set. Valid through midnight Eastern Wednesday February 21st.

Tomorrow I will be doing a "My Comments on Your Comments" entry, specifically to address NancyP's question about what my work space looks like. If there is anything else in particular you'd like me to comments on just leave a note.

I scrapped the photo I shared yesterday of my 'babies' sleeping on the couch.


Credits: Papers, flourishes, beads, heart, stitching and 'peaceful' coaster from Starting in Style by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Bytes, Staple from Jenn Patrick The DigiShoppe, Star Sprinkles from Melany Violette, Simply Clean DigiScraps, Grunge photo mats by Tracy Rivera, Scrapbook-Bytes

FREE TEMPLATE

No longer available. Here is a little template for creating a patchwork star. There is a layered template with stitching and separate .png files.

Creating Texture from a Photograph

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. We had a nice relaxing weekend in Oak Harbor. Here is a first; my son took at nap ON HIS OWN. He sacked right on out on the couch. That never happens! I had to sneak in and take pic. That's our pug Roscoe, who is always sleeping.



At my crop last night someone asked how I texture my papers. I use several different techiques and usually layer them on the same paper, but this tutorial is on one of my favorite approaches - using a photograph to create texture. The first thing you'll need a a texture photograph. These will work best if you take them on your camera's highest quality photo setting. Just about anything with interesting texture will work, some of my favorites are the sides of painted building where the paint is chipping off, wood, concrete and any tarnished or rusted large metal items.

To start open a new canvas 12 inches by 12 inches and 300ppi. Use your color picker to select a color for your paper (you will be able to change it later if you want). Select the fill tool which looks like a paint bucket and click on your canvas to flood it with your color.



Open your photograph and use your move tool to click and drag it onto your canvas on top of the color layer. Resize if necessary so that it covers the entire space.

I am using a photograph I took of one of our placemats. It has a rippled texture I like. It's dingy and stained too, but for this purpose that is a good thing as it will as slight color variation to the final product.



Desaturate the top layer; in PS go to Image ->Adjustments -> Desaturate; in PSE go to Enhance -> Adjust Color -> Remove Color.



With your top layer active, click on the small down arrow to the right of the word 'normal' in the layer palette. Select 'Overlay'. Later you will want to experiment with different blend modes as many of them will produce interesting results. Soft Light and Linear Light work particularly well.



For the remainder of the tutorial you will need to play with the various adjustments to achieve an effect that suits you. The settings you use will depend upon your photo and how pronounced you would like the texture to be.

In Photoshop go to Image->Adjustments->Brightness/Contrast. In PSE go Enhance->Adjust Lighting->Brightness/Contrast.



Play with the sliders until you like the result. Then click 'OK'.



Finally you may want to lower the opacity slider at the top of the layers palette. Remember textures will appear more predominate printed than on your computer screen, so once you get a texture you like, lower the opacity 10-20% to achieve similar results when printed.

You can change the color by filling the bottom layer with a different color.



This is one of those techniques that requires experimentation. Play with different blending modes, brightness/contrast setting and opacities. You can layer several textures for some really great effects.

FREE QUICK PAGE

No Longer Available. Here is a Dream with your Heart quick page courtesy of creative team member Laura Kockelkorn. You can see more of her work in her SBB Gallery. Thanks so much Laura!

You Gals are Awesome

Wow, a huge thanks to everyone who attended my crop. I was totally blessed and overwhelmed by the number of attendees. I've never hosted a crop near that size. I love crops as it gives me the chance to 'meet' other designers and scrappers but I had trouble keeping up with you all, so if missed your question or comments, please know it wasn't intentional. I so appreciate everyone who stopped in whether you were able to jump in on the conversation or not.

If you weren't there, I debuted my new set 'Starting in Style'. The series was created to provide the new digital scrapper with stylish products that fit together easy and are versatile enough to scrap nearly any occasion. Of course vetern scrappers are also sure to find lots of uses for the unique and stylish items included in the set.

The set is sold all together (best deal) or you can pick up most of the element packs individually. Use coupon code SIS30 to save 30% off the purchase of the complete set. Valid through Wednesday February 21st.



For those of you who missed the crop or had trouble downloading here is the crop goodie. This link will only be active through midnight EST February 19th. ETA - It has now expired.

New Elements Packs at SBE

Thanks for everyone who wished me well on my weekend away. We are made it here and are enjoying a nice, quiet weekend in Oak Harbor. The time I was here I was unable to access my blog, but it seems to be working.

Here are some element packs that debuted at Scrapbook-Elements today.







FREE SAMPLE

If you haven't noticed I've been into stars lately. I figure they are the little boy equivalent of the flowers that fill up little girl pages (although I've been known to sneak a flower or two onto Jamin's pages). It hardly seems fair; little girls get hearts and flowers and boys get stars and ... and...dirt.

No longer available. Anyway here is a starry tag I made with the beaded star elements.

Three Day Weekend!

We will be taking off for Oak Harbor for the long weekend tomorrow, so I may not get to the blog much over the weekend. However I will be at my crop this Sunday at 10:00pm Eastern in the Scrapbook-Bytes Chatroom. I'd love it some of you dropped by. Goodies for all attendees and a discount coupon for my new product hitting the store Sunday.

Here's a sneak peak.



For those on the other side of the world who will be sleeping during the crop (or even if you are on this side of the world and can't make it), be sure to check back here on Monday for a little something just for you.

MEN AND ELECTRONICS

Men and electronics ... need I say more? And boy does it start young. Jamin loves cell phones and remote controls. He's already ruined two TV remotes by leaving them in the dog's water dish. We don't even let him near our phonoe. However at his birthday party, his grandmother let him play with her phone, which he guarded more closely than any of his new birthday toys.


Everything in the layout is from my new stuff coming Sunday to Scrapbook-Bytes.

SOMETHING FOR YOU

No longer available. Here are some little stars for you - enjoy!

Silly Boy and A Slinky

A few weeks ago I picked up a slinky for Jamin on our way to coffee with a friend (hi Julie). I had hoped it would keep him occupied while Julie and I chatted. It didn't work that day (he spent the time playing with Julie's cell phone), but he has since granted slinky a favorite spot among his toys. Barron and I tried to show him the traditional ways to play with it, but he had his own ideas ...


Credits: Background papers by Vera Lim from her Emotions Collection at SBB, Backward Staples by Jenn Patrick at The Digi Shoppe, Stitched Ribbon Daisies by Willowfaery Designs, Alpha Doodles by Jill DeZines at SOTB, 'goofy' tab from Urban Love by Christina Renee, stars/wire trim by me (not yet available)

I created my own drop shadow in a separate layer and warped it to give the impression the the photos are bent slightly. It doesn't show up too well on the web, but the effect is most visible in the bottom right corner of the first photograph. There is an excellent tutorial on creating this effect on Nancy's blog here.

INSPIRED TO SCRAP

The most recent issue of Inspired to Scrap was sent out Tuesday night. If you didn't get yours, you can download it here.



MARK YOUR CALENDARS

I will be hosting a chat at 10:00pm Eastern on Sunday February 18th in the Scrapbook-Bytes chatroom. I'll provide more details tomorrow, but there will be goodies, coupons and prizes involved.

FREE COMPUTER DESKTOP

One of my creative team members Kori, aka BubblyKori, created this computer desktop using my Sweetie kit.



No longer available. A 'sweetie' herself, Kori has offered to make it available here. The download also includes calendar overlays for February and March 2007 if you'd like to use this as a calendar. Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I'm taking a break from the blog for today - but if you'd like some great scrap-related reading, tips and inspiration; check out Christine Smith's blog carnival. She did all the work finding blogs with interesting digital scrapping entries.

Here's wishing you a day full of love and hugs!

Ooops I almost forgot - a Valentine's Special. I put Classy on sale at 20% off for February 14th and 15th, so if you you've had your eye on it, but haven't picked it up yet, stop by my store at SBB.

Make a Tag

Most kits come with premade tags, but they may not always be the size, shape or color you need. Today's tutorial is how to create a tag using your own template and any background paper. This tutorial will work in both PS and PSE. The screenshots are taken from PSCS2.

Of course you can make a tag any size and shape you want. This tutorial will show you how to create one of the more popular tag forms.

Open a new canvas width 2 inches, hieght 3 inches, 300 dpi. You can set the background to white or transparency. I like to work on white so I can see my edges better.



Select your custom shape tool from your tools palette. In the options bar at the top of your workspace select the rounded rectangle shape. Set the radius to 40px. Create a new, empty layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and click and draw on your canvas to draw rounded rectangle approximately 1 inch wide and 2 inches high.



Create a new, empty layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and select the circle shape from the options toolbar at the top of your workspace. Hold down the shift key and click and drag on your canvas to create a circle approximately .5 inches in diameter.



Select your move tool from the layer's palette and move the circle to the top center of the rectangle to create the shape shown below.

Hold down the control key and click on both the rectangle and circle layers in the layers palette. Right click on either layer in the layers palette and select "Merge Layers" from the drop down menu.



Select your eraser tool from the tools palette and choose a hard, large round brush tip from the options bar at the top of the workspace. Adjust the brush diameter slider to 68px.



Click once at the center of the rounded part of the shape to create a 'hole' for your tag.



This is your basic tag form. At this point you may want to save this as a template for future uses. When saving, turn off the white background layer by clicking on the 'eye' to the left of the layer in the layers palette. Save the files as a .png file to perserve the transparency.

To customize the tag, open up a background paper.



Choose the move tool from the tools palette and click and drag the background paper onto your tag shape canvas.



With the background layer as the active layer hit Ctrl+G (PSE) or Shift+Ctrl+G (PS) to group the background with the tag form.



Right click on the paper layer in the layers palette and select 'merge down' from the drop down menu.



At this point you have finished your basic tag. I'm going to go one-step further and add a simple style layer. The following instructions are for PS only, but the same effect can be accomplished in PSE by brushing the edges of the tag with the burn tool at a lower opacity (for further instructions see the "Burn it" tutorial in my blog post of 1/3/07.

For PS users, click on the layer styles icon at the base of the layers palette. Select 'Inner Shadow' from the pop-up menu.




In the pop up dialogue box set the blend mode to "Color Burn" and the Distance and Spread to zero. Adjust the size and opacity slider until you get the desired effect. The exact setting will depend on the colors in your tag.



Click 'OK' to accept your settings and the tag is done.



You can continue to embellish the tag as desired.

No longer available. You are welcome to download my final product.

New Releases

I just released several new items at Scrapbook-Elements; Sweetie Page Set and Quick Pages, a Sweatshirt Alpha and a set of Number elements. By the way, the colors of Numbered coordinate with the Primary Alpha Frames I released last week for a nice little set (and you'll find coordinating solid papers in your download file as a bonus when you purchase the frames).









No Longer Available. Here is an tag pack that coordinates with the Sweetie products.

Celebrations

Today was all about celebrating Jamin's birthday. It was full of friends and family, food and presents and lots and lots of trains. We had a great time and I spent very little time on the computer.

I do however have a couple of happy/celebration layouts to share.

I saw a page awhile back titled, "There is Nothing Terrible about Two" and it stuck with me. Now I can't think of a more appropriate title for my first scrap of my boy as a two-year old.



Do you see that adorable duck in the bottom corner of the layout? That is the work of Barb Derksen, aka lalalime, who creates these wonderful illustrations and gives them away on her blog. Thanks so much Barb, this little duck was just perfect for my giggly guy. The backgrounds and stitched doodle are from Admiration by SaraAmarie available free in the January RAKScraps newsletter. I believe the newsletter is still available here. The metal swirl comes from Wonderful Life by Manuela Zimmerman and the 'Two' journal stripe is from my newly released accent pack Numbered.

The second layout is one that Lynn, a fellow PNW digiscrapper shared with me. I find it difficult to scrap about myself and when I do, I tend to get too serious and introspective, so I really appreciate Lynn's page

I like how she's used all the garden tools on the page. The 'trespassers' sign cracks me up. There are so many little details here; the smiling face in the wheel barrow, her photo on the seed packet... and that photo of her... well I just have to smile.

My Comments on Your Comments

Thanks so much for all the wonderful birthday wishes everyone left for my son. The internet is such a tricky thing; everyday there are warning about internet scams, viruses, children having access to material they should not, etc. But there are wonderful things about the internet, like when a little two year old boy receives birthday greetings and well wishes from all over the world. Thanks everyone!

Here are a few remarks related to comments and questions that have been left on the blog recently.

Brooke wrote, "I am in the PNW also, I am in Southern Oregon :)"

Hi Brooke, it is always nice to 'meet' a fellow PNW resident. I invite you (and any other readers in the area) to join our PNW Digiscrappers yahoo group. Link: PNW Digiscrappers

Pag wrote, "Thank-you for the template. I'm so glad to find a template for more than one picture!! I've found that to be the only downside to going digital - a lot of layout ideas and templates are for only one picture instead of 3 or four."

I hear you Pag. Although I've never paper scrapped, the trend in digital has been one photo pages for sometime now. The good news is that I think the tide is turning. Notably, a recent issue of Digital Artist Magazine did an article on multiphoto pages that had some great inspiration. I hope to put together a list of multiphoto resources and inspiration for an upcoming blog post.

Kim wrote, "I would just like to encourage you to also offer Sweet Affection for sale without buying ACDSee for those of us who already have it or can't buy it for some other reason! I think this kit is gorgeous - the colors and elements are perfect together!"

Kim, I'm so glad you like the kit. I have an agreement with the site to keep the kit exclusive to the ACDSee bundle for 4 months. After that time I will make it available separately at a discounted price.

Regarding the dotted line tutorial posted on 2/7/07, Jenn wrote, "Thanks so much. I have learned so much from your website! I tried this out on PSE5 and it worked!"

Lynn, a fellow member of the PNW digiscrappers, also emailed me to let me know the tutorial can be done in PSE. For PSE users out there here are her instructions, "After selecting the brush, you go to “more options” in the horizontal tool bar. Toward the bottom is a slider bar that says “spacing.” You slide that to whatever spacing you want. It doesn’t show what you’re going to get, but it will space the circles out and if you don’t like it, you can come back and adjust."

NEW RELEASE

A couple of customers requested more elements like those in my Framed! set, so here you are... Framed! 2 now available at Scrapbook-Bytes.



No longer available. Here is a sample of one of the frames in my Framed 2 element set (little boys sold separately).

My Little Boy is Two

Jamin turned two years old today. I can't believe it. All day I watched him play with his trains, run around the house, climb on everything and kept thinking, "Where is my baby? I know I had one around here somewhere." Anyway, we will be celebrating with family this weekend, so no birthday scraps yet, but I'm sure I'll have lots to scrap next week.

No longer available. Meanwhile here is a little freebie in honor of my son who loves trains. The train itself is about 4 inches long at 300dpi and the numbers are about 1/2 an inch in diameter. The train shown is 'wearing' the number two, since he turned two today, but 0-9 is included in the download so you can number your own train. Enjoy!

Creating A Dotted Line

I know it sounds unimpressive but creating an evenly spaced dotted line in Photoshop comes in handy in scrapping particularly when creating titles and borders. It's very easy to do in Photoshop. (I don't believe this technique will work in PSE). For example, I used this technique when titling this storyboard layout.


With your canvas or layout open. Click on the brush tool in your layers palette and select a brush tip. You can use any size and shape you want. For this tutorial I will use a large round brush tip.



If it is not already visible, open your brushes palette Window->Brushes. Click on the small arrow to the right the of the word 'Brushes' to bring up the brushes palette. Click on the words "Brush Tip Shape" at the top of the menu list. Near the bottom of the palette you'll see a slider titled 'Spacing'; move the slider right until there is a space between the brush shapes in the preview window at the base of the palette.



Open a new, empty layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and make sure your brush tool is still selected in the tools palette. Hold down the shift key and click and drag across your canvas. Holding down the shift key assures a straight line.



You can play around with different colors and brush tips for other effects.

Layouts from those Keep Me Inspired

The great thing about having a creative team is seeing all the unique ways people set about using the same kit. Members of my team are always so inspiring to me, usually causing me to look at my work in a different way. The layouts you see in the new product sliders on the right side of the blog come from my creative team members.

For those who are new to scrapping, a creative team is a team of people who create layouts to show off a designer's product. They usually receive free product in return for creating pages and posting them to various galleries. Depending on the designer, creative team members may also help with quality assurance, generating product ideas and/or advertising. If you are interested in joining a creative team, you can find information about open calls in the Calls forum at DigiShopTalk and the Team Call section at Just Digital Calls.

Here are some of my recent favorites from my team.

Shine from Amy using Starlight Whimsey is beautiful, but the best part about the layout design is that it draws the viewer right into those gorgeous eyes.



I created my 'That's My Boy' set in honor of my little boy, but Judy used it to scrap one of her grandbabies. I just love it when a layout causes me to laugh aloud. The journaling tells the story of this mischievious pup eating both his and his brother's meal (notice the red and blue bowls stacked in the main photo).



And here's one that is just plain beautiful by Laura using Sweet Affection with stitching by Sara Carling.



No Longer Available. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for spring. Here are some photo corners in spring colors. Anyone still need to scrap their Easter photos?

Easy Photo Tinting

There are several good actions available for tinting photos. I've played around with some of them with good results, but I find myself often falling back on this little trick. Professional photographers everywhere will probably cringe at this technique, but it works for me with good results for most photographs. Additionally you can use this same technique to tint/recolor background papers from your scrapping collection.

Open your photo (substitute 'background paper' for photo throughout tutorial to apply to backgrounds). Right click on the photo layer in the layers palette and select "Layer from Background" from the drop down menu. Create a new empty layer (keystroke Shift+Ctrl+N). In the layers palette, click and drag the empty layer below your photograph.



Use the color picker in the tools palette to select your tint color. Choose your fill tool from the tools palette (looks like a paint bucket) and click on your canvas to flood your empty layer with the tint color.



Click on the photo layer in your layers palette to activate the photo layer. Click on the little arrow to the right of the word 'Normal' in the layers palette and select 'Luminosity' from the drop down menu.



In Photoshop go to Image->Adjustments->Brightness/Contrast.
In PSE go to Enhance->Adjust Lighting->Brightness/Contrast.



Adjust the Brightness and Contrast sliders until you are happy with the result, click 'OK' and you are done.



No Longer Available. I read somewhere that today is National Pay a Compliment Day, so I thought these little word elements might be fitting. Use them to bring honor to someone you admire. Enjoy!

Pacific Northwest DigiScrappers

I released a set of fun alphabet frames at Scrapbook-Elements today. I think they would make a great starting point for an ABC book. Of course they work for monograms, initials and all sorts of other things too.



I shrunk them down a lot to fit on the main preview. Here they are at full size. Of course you can always size them down if needed.



On Friday several members of the Pacific Northwest Digital Scrappers met in Bellevue for coffee. Many of us were meeting for the first time, but there was no shortage of things to talk about. Three of us mom's brought our two year old tots for a ready-made play date. I'm looking forward to future gatherings with the wonderful (and talented) ladies I've been able to meet through this shared hobby. Here's my scrap of some of the photos taken at the gathering.


Credits: large flower spray from Sparkle Flowers by Carrie Stephens, Papers from Avondale by Carrie Stephens, Butterfly from Mothers and Daughters Mini by Christina Bartholomew, stitching from Young Beauty, Misty Cato, little flower from Phunky Phresh Eve Rincella, envelope tie from Star Bazaar by LindaGB

No longer available. Here is a template based on the layout. Enjoy!

ACDSee

Organizing digital scrapping supplies - what a task! I have each of my kits in a folder with the name of the designer and product. When I am looking for something I just pour through all of the folders via the browser in Windows. It has worked until now, but soon I'm going to reach a point in which attempting to find a specific item in my mess of folders is going to become a daunting task. Luckily there are now two competing products on the market to help people like me; ACDSee Photo Manager and Digital ScrapRoom. Now I haven't tried either one, but I have ACDSee and one of my goals this month is to learn the program and get my digi stash organized.

If you are contemplating purchasing ACDSee, I recommend downloading the 30 day trial to give it a test run. If you like it and decide to purchase the full version, stop by SBB to make your purchase and you'll receive the kit show below from me as a gift with purchase.

Meanwhile, once I've dug into my program I'll write a review here on the blog and let you know how its working for me.



What do you do when your creative juices are in a rut? I browse galleries for inspiration, try to find some good challenges, go to my stash of templates or just pull out a favorite kit that always works for me and scrap with that. Recently several members of my creative team took part in a photoswap and scrapped with one another's photos. The resulting layouts are posted below. If you get stuck in rut, consider swapping a set of photos with a friend for a little change of pace.


Created for Marie by Angela
Credits: red paper (blog freebie), Frames, Roads Signs, Screw all by Misty Cato, photo corner by Josie Celio, stitched sequins by Mo Jackson, clay heart by Amy Knepper, Doodlebug Alpha by Francesca Capucci, Trim from Urban Holiday by Corina Nielsen & Kimberly Giarrusso, arrow photo turn and stitch from RAD collection by Kim Christensen, orange paper (recolored) from Meredith Fenwick, Font - Rage Italic


Created by Bry for Claudia


Created by Debbie for Misty
Credits: Items from Boyish Mischief and That's My Boy by Misty Cato


Created by Misty for Debbie
Credits: Papers and flourishes from School Girl Crush by Eva Kipler, Tag from Two by Two from Kathryn Balint Designers, heart from Urban Love by Christina Renee, Brush Strokes by DaniB. Fonts - Dirty Headline and Anhedonia; Scraplift of You Rock by AkSheridan


Create for Bry from Claudia
Credits: Framed by Misty Cato, Dreamy Joy by EvaK, Alpha by Dedicated2Digital


Created for Angela by Megan
Credits: Swerve by Carrie Stephens, Terry Maruca Paint (recolored), tape by Penny Springmann, brad by Misty Cato (recolored), Fonts are Besign, The King & Queen Font, & Anastasia; sketch inspiration from Leora at Designer Digitals


Created by Marie for Megan

New Release - Classy

I just released my latest, Classy, at Scrapbook-Bytes. Consider this my Valentine's Day kit. The great thing about digital scrapping is that we can reuse our supplies, so I always try to build versatility into my products. Classy will work for Valentine's, romantic moments, formal photos, weddings and proms, but it also contains many papers and elements that can be used for nearly any topic.





No longer available. Here is an alpha and a few other elements that coordinate with Classy. These items are not found in the kit, so grab these even if you plan to purchase the kit.

Text Effects - Outer Glow

Today's tutorial is on using the outer glow settings in Photoshop CS2 to give your text a ghosted look like the titles in the two layouts show below.



Start by opening the document where the text will be used (likely a layout, but I'll just be using a background paper so you can see the screen shots better). Use your text tool to type your text.



You'll find two sliders in the in the upper left corner of the layers palette. One is labeled Opacity and the other Fill. With your text layer as the active layer, move the Fill slider to zero. Your text should dissappear from view.

A sidenote about the Fill and Opacity sliders: Adjusting the fill slider will change the visibility of the object (in this case the text). The opacity slider will change the visiablity of the object and any layer styles applied to it. For example if an object has a drop shadow, the opacity slider will change the visibility of the object and the drop shadow while the fill slider will change the visibility of the object, but leave the drop shadow unchanged.



Click on the layer styles icon at the bottom of the layers palette (looks like a circle with a 'f' in it) and select "Outer Glow" from the pop-up menu.



The layer styles dialogue box should open. Your settings here will depend upon the effect you want to achieve. I'll walk you through what they do.

Blend Mode: The blend mode affects how the colors in your layer interact with the colors in the layer below. In this case if your outer glow will be a lighter than the background (such as the case in the sample layouts and in the example in this tutorial) leave the blend mode set to the default 'screen'. If your outer glow will be darker than the background change the blend mode to 'multiply'.

Opacity: This opacity slider adjusts the visibility of the glow. Move it right to increase visibility, left to descrease it.

Noise: This applies 'disturbance' to your glow by pixelating it. Again, the more to the right you move the slider, the stronger the effect.

The light yellow box below the noise slider is your color picker. Click on the block to open the color picker if you want to select a color other then the default yellow. For my project I am staying with the yellow, but often I will choose true white.

Technique: In general I find the default 'softer' works best for this effect, but you can experiment with the precise setting if you want.

Spread: This slider effects the density of the glow. When it is all the way to the left (the default setting) the glow is most dense close to the letters and becomes less dense as you move away from the text. If you move the slider all the way to the right the glow is at 100% density around the perimeter; essentially the glow becomes a line around the text. I usually leave my spread set at 0.

Size: This will effect the radius of the glow. The further to the right you move the slider, the further out or 'larger' the glow.

For this particular effect, check the 'anti-alias' box in the Quality settings and leave the rest of the quality setting in their default settings.

Make sure the preview box is checked (the preview box is just below the three buttons in the right side of the layer styles dialogue box) and experiment with the outerglow settings until you achieve the desired effect and then click 'OK'.



That's all there is to the outer glow. If you want you can experiment with some of the other layer styles. Inner glow has similar settings, but places the glow on the inside of the text instead of the outer perimeter. You can also add bevels, texture, patterns, etc. via the layer styles settings. I'll try to cover some of the other style options in future tutorials, but I find experimenting can sometimes be the best teacher. When you are satisfied with the effects on your text, merge it with the rest of your document and you are done.

I added some additional layer styles (a downward outer bevel and inner shadow) and a little embellishment to my creation and you can download it (no longer available) here. By the way, the papers and elements I used to make this tag come from Baby Soft, a little kit I put together for the Febuary SBB newsletter. If you aren't signed up to receive it by email, go sign up to make sure you get the kit. I believe the newsletter goes out mid-month sometime.