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Park Adventures And How To Use Fonts As Die Cuts

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Park Adventures

[Fonts: Impact and Adler; Digital Kit: KD Crush by Karla Dudley.]

As a scrapbooker, or a memory archiver, I find myself doing things I would never imagine doing, just for the sake of collecting visual memories.

This layout is a wonderful example of such irrational behavior.

The pictures in the layout were taken with a regular 55mm lens – no tele lens, no zoom – I was standing right in front of the huge bear.

Gladly, I caught Mr. bear on a good day…
(I hope he isn’t traumatized by the insane human who ran after him with a camera)

How To Create Digital Letter Die Cuts

In this layout I used Karla Dudley’s newest digital kit, “KD Crush”, which will be available tomorrow at the Digichic online store. The kit is based on a natural color palette, just in time for fall and includes beautiful papers, brushes and elements (including an alpha set).

However, I used it a bit differently by masking the patterned paper to a regular true type font.

Here is how I made the title for my layout above:

  1. Choose any font, preferably a dominant one, such as “Impact” to give room for the digital patterned paper.
  2. Type down your title, each word separately to allow maximum control over its position.
  3. Decide what is the FINAL position and size of each letter in the title.
  4. Simplify all the title layers (by right clicking on each layer and selecting “simplify”).
  5. Merge the layers together (just select all the relevant layer and then right click on your selection and opt for “merge layers”. To select a couple layers together press the CTR or CMD key while clicking on the layers).
  6. Insert any patterned paper and make sure its layer is directly above the title layer.
  7. Mask the two layers together by pressing “CTR+G” or “CMD+G”.
  8. You may now merge the 2 layers together to add a drop shadow or leave it as is.

Share

Have you ever acted out of character just to take a picture or preserve a memory? Please share your story by leaving a comment here.


Welcome Little One Workshop
Check out Creativity Prompt’s new and unique self paced workshop: “Welcome Little One”. This workshop will provide you with everything you need, and then some, to make a fabulous handmade mini album to record the first moments of a new born baby.



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Posted in Tutorial, creativity prompt | No Comments »

Digital Template – On The Flip Side

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Instant Pretty Page templateOne of my favorite ways to stretch up my digital supply is by flipping the digital elements over.

It’s so easy, I just go to “image”=>”rotate” and flip it either to the left or to the right and sometimes vertically or horizontally, and voilà – I have a whole new product.

I then nudge a few of the images or rotate a few of the text boxes, so the design will make sense on the flip side… and in the end I get a whole new look.

Today Shimelle Laine has released a new digital template: “Instant Pretty Page template” and as soon as I saw it I knew I am going to flip it.

Here are the two layouts I made with it:

Asaf - school is over

[Fonts:Bradley Hand, Pharmacy, Adler; Digital Kits: Instant Pretty Page Template by Shimelle Laine for Two Peas In A Bucket and KD Capture and Record and KD Fly Boy by Karla Dudley.]


Ori - summertime

[Fonts: Adler; Digital Kits: Instant Pretty Page Template by Shimelle Laine for Two Peas In A Bucket and KD For The Boys by Karla Dudley.]

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How do you stretch your scrapbooking supply? Please share an advice by leaving a comment on this post.


Welcome Little One Workshop
Check out Creativity Prompt’s new and unique self paced workshop: “Welcome Little One”. This workshop will provide you with everything you need, and then some, to make a fabulous handmade mini album to record the first moments of a new born baby.



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Posted in Design Team, creativity prompt | 4 Comments »

How To Change the Color of the Journaling Tags

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

I have been posting a lot of free printable journaling tags.

I have been asked several times how can you change the color of these tags with a photo editing software, such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and each time I answered individually.

It took me a while to figure out that my answer may interest many of you too, so here it goes:

  1. Open the pdf file with photoshop.
  2. Open a new layer underneath the file layer.
  3. Make sure your file layer is highlighted and pick the white in the file, using the magic wand tool.
  4. Press delete.
  5. From the menu bar choose “Edit” =>”Fill in layer” => choose “color” and change it to any color you want.
  6. Fill in the “preserve transparency” check box and click “apply” or “ok”.
  7. If the last 2 steps don’t work for you, try to press CTR+U or CMD+U and change the hue and saturation settings.

I hope that helps you guys :)

Have a great day.

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Posted in Tutorial | 4 Comments »

Nip and Tuck Your Digital Brushes

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Celebrate Seven

[Font: Adler; Digital Kits: KD Happy Day & KD Digi Essentials 5 (the number 7) - all by Karla Dudley.]

I may be prejudiced but I think my niece has the brightest, most beautiful smile I have ever seen.

I’d send some celebrities over for a red carpet seminar if I could. I really would.

Anyways…

This is the third birthday that I have missed and I am forever grateful that my sister takes the time to take the pictures as well as send them my way. I value these pictures so much, in fact, that I always immediately try to put together layouts with the stories behind the photos. As I only live vicariously through these photos, the stories I can tell aren’t so long and detail oriented. I mostly just try to capture the moment visually – as I imagine it had been.

In this layout I used Karla Dudley’s new kit: KD Happy Day, almost exclusively (minus the digit ’7′). On the right corner of my layout you may find a word-art image: “Celebrate today, it’s yours”. If you take a moment and look at the kit, you won’t find this image as it shows on my layout. Why? Because I had engaged myself in a minor digital surgery… Nipping the second part of the sentence and tucking it underneath.

Rearranging a digital image is basically the same as snipping a clear stamp off and repositioning its parts to conform to your design and needs (or inking up a different part of the stamp each time). Here is how to do that:

How To

  1. Open your image on Photoshop Elements. (If you are concerned about writing over your original image, use the ‘open as’ option.)
  2. Pick the rectangle selection tool and by clicking and dragging, choose the part you wish to sever. When you are done you will see the marching ants sign around the outline of the image. Make sure you haven’t accidentally picked any other part of the image. If you did – just choose it, while clicking the ALT/OPT key, to deselect.
  3. Make sure the layer of the image is selected – it will be highlighted if so.
  4. Pick the move tool and click and drag the part you have selected to its new place – it’s that easy. (You may also delete it altogether by clicking the DELETE key while it’s selected).
  5. Be careful not to get addicted and makeover your entire stash of digital images.

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Have you ever tried to alter your digital stash (or your traditional stash…)? Please, do share. Just leave a message and brag.






Make Your Own Planner Workshop
Check out Creativity Prompt’s self paced workshop: “Capture Your Dream”. In this workshop you will capture, follow and make your dream come true as well as document your journey in a fabulous mixed media mini album.



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Posted in Tutorial, creativity prompt | 3 Comments »

Hybrid Card – Using Digital Alpha Sets

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Hybrid Thanks Card

[Supply: You Are Amazing (woodgrain alpha) by Shimelle Laine for Two Peas In A Bucket, Basics + Cappella (patterned paper + small alpha stickers) by Basic Grey, Rhinestones by Kaiser Scrapbooks, Earthtones cardstock by American Crafts, White gel pen by Uniball, Foam dimensionals.]

Step By Step Instructions

Using Digital Alphas

  1. Open a new document in Photoshop Elements: Width: 8.5″ Height: 11″ DPI: 300.
  2. Use the rectangle shape tool and add a rectangle, sized 4.25″ by 5.5″. By doing that you make sure the size of your alphas will be perfect.
  3. Open up all the different letters you need for your greeting from the kit. Use the move tool to drag and drop them on your new document.
  4. Before positioning the letters you need to resize them. To do that, line them all up in one straight line – regardless of the way you want to put them on your card.
  5. Pick all the layers with the letters (Just click on the layer with your CTR/CMD button pressed down) – make sure they are all highlighted.
  6. Pick the move tool ,then press align and opt for the center alignment.
  7. While your layers are still all highlighted – click on one of the edges of the word and drag the cursor towards the center. This way you are resizing the letters proportionally.
  8. After you get to a size you are please with, position the letters the way you want them on the card. The rectangle shape you drew earlier will help you keep the proportions and size right.
  9. Conceal the layer with the rectangle shape by clicking on the eye icon and print your page on a white, smooth cardstock.
  10. The alphas on Shimelle’s new kit have a faint outline that you can use as cutting guidelines.

Assembling The Card

  1. Cut the patterned background paper to 5.25″ by 4″, adhere to your cardstock base.
  2. Cut the accent piece of patterned paper in a curve (using an ellipse cutter – I used Coluzzle) – make sure the base is 4″ wide.
  3. Ink up the top edge of your curved paper and adhere it to the bottom of the patterned paper you adhered before.
  4. Adhere the individual letters with foam dimensional stickers. Cut the foam adhesive down to size if needed.
  5. Add the letter stickers and the rhinestones.
  6. Give the card to a friend to show that you care and to say thank you…

Share

Who would you like to say thanks to? Have you made a hybrid card before? Share by leaving a comment here :)



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Creativity Prompt – Flip Your Template

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Mommy's Girl

[Font: Adler; Digital Kit: Count To Four by Shimelle Laine for Two Peas In A Bucket.]

Count To Four Kit Last week I used the Count To Four template and alpha kit as is, just tweaking the colors, adding a background paper and some accent flourishes.

This week I wanted to use the exact same template, which I really like, but to make it look completely different. I also had no more than a few minutes available to make it happen… Busy times.

Well, easy.

All I had to do was to flip the template ["image" => "rotate" => "90 degrees to the right"]. I also moved the text box and title around and ended up with a completely different layout with the same 2 Dollars template… Completed in about 15 minutes.

Does it get any easier than that?

It is really important to get the stories down before they are forgotten, but many times we just do not have the time to reinvent the wheel, come up with a great design and start from scratch. Using a template (or a sketch) is a great way to go about it, but there’s a limit to how many templates we can go out and buy, isn’t it?

So here’s a good way to utilize the template you already have (or the layouts you’ve already designed) – just flip them. Vertically, horizontally, sideways. Tweak them a bit here and there and get a fabulous completely new, well designed layout in a snap.

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Do you reuse loved layout designs? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.



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Posted in creativity prompt | 6 Comments »

My Little Princess Niece Is Seven

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Seven

[Fonts: Adler; Digital Kits: Count To Four (alpha and template) by Shimelle Laine, Color My World by Rhonna Farrer, KD Capture and Record by Karla Dudley.]

Shimelle has released a gorgeous new digital kit which includes a template, on which the layout is based on, and a set of pink alphas. So cute.

A template is just perfect when you have absolutely no time and you want to make a winning page. Just clip your photos in place, resize, perhaps recolor. Add your journaling, title and a couple elements to add a bit of yourself and voilà.

I really love this template because it looks like a layout I would have designed myself. The rectangles, the typewriter font, the accents. I love it. (I admit, if it was my layout it would probably align in a straight line – but that’s the beauty of working with templates. I try something new and fall in love with it).

Can you believe my niece is seven already??? She’s growing fast!

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Have you used a template or made a layout based on a sketch before? Please share by leaving a comment.






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Posted in Personal Notes, creativity prompt | 5 Comments »

Think Outside the Box – Literally + Selective Coloring With Photoshop Elements

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

One way to get out of a creative rut is to use our stash – not as intended…

Use a “girly” collection for a boy’s layout or vice versa [as I did below].
Use a Christmas collection for a 4th of July layout.
Use a travel collection for a wedding.
Use patterned paper as a background and plain cardstock as an accent.
Use paper flowers as journaling blocks.
Use a winter themed paper for a summary layout.

Just ignore what the “box” says and create.
Free your mind.

In this layout I used Karla Dudley’s new kit KD Fly Girl for a manly layout of my husband shooting hoops at the beach:

i Heart you

[Fonts: Marketing Script, VTPortableRemington; Digital Kits: KD Fly Girl by Karla Dudley.]

And in this layout I used Karla’s KD Fly Boy kit to create a girlie-girl layout featuring my princess niece:

Believe

[Font: Rough Typewriter; Digital Kits: KD Fly Boy by Karla Dudley.]

Photoshop Elements Tip – Selective Coloring

On my “I heart You” layout I turned my photos to black and white (by de-saturating them) and kept just the vibrant yellow color of the ball.

The azure sky and turquoise ocean are beautiful, but they are distracting from the story I want to tell.

By removing the color of everything but the ball – I am drawing attention to it and hinting that the focus of my story is there.

There are 3 ways to get that look – choose the one most comfortable to you:

Method 1

  1. Duplicate the photo’s layer (press CTRL+J on a PC or CMD+J on a MAC).
  2. Make sure your upper layer is highlighted and de-saturate the colors all the way to the left (press CTRL+U on a PC or CMD+U on a MAC).
  3. Make sure your upper layer is highlighted and choose the eraser tool (work with the default circular brush). Lightly erase just the object whose color you’d like to retain.
  4. Merge both layers when you’re done.

    5. [P.S. This is also how I "colored" the heart red on the kit's PNG file.]

Method 2

  1. Duplicate the photo’s layer (press CTRL+J on a PC or CMD+J on a MAC).
  2. Make sure your upper layer is highlighted and de-saturate the colors all the way to the left (press CTRL+U on a PC or CMD+U on a MAC).
  3. Make sure your upper layer is highlighted and choose the Quick Selection Tool. Click on the object whose color you wish to retain until it is highlighted completely by the marching ants. If you “slip” just unselect by pressing ALT on a PC or OPT on a MAC while simultaneously clicking on the part you don’t want selected.
  4. Press delete.
  5. Merge both layers together.

Method 3

  1. Choose the Quick Selection Tool. Click on the object whose color you wish to retain until it is highlighted completely by the marching ants. If you “slip” just unselect by pressing ALT on a PC or OPT on a MAC while simultaneously clicking on the part you don’t want selected and duplicate your selection (press CTRL+J on a PC or CMD+J on a MAC).
  2. Deselect (press CTRL+D on a PC or CMD+D on a MAC)
  3. Make sure your lower layer is highlighted and de-saturate the colors all the way to the left (press CTRL+U on a PC or CMD+U on a MAC).
  4. Merge both layers together.

Share

Are you using your stash in an untraditional way? Please share your ideas/ projects with us.



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Posted in Tutorial, creativity prompt | 2 Comments »

Picture Imperfect – Creativity Prompt

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Me And My Little Quirks - Picture Imperfect

[Fonts: Urania_Czech; Digital Kits: KD Digi Essentials 5 (alpha brushes and coffee stains), KD Jillian (patterned papers) - all by Karla Dudley.]

In telling your story, the first thing you need to tackle is embracing imperfection.

Our true story, life story, isn’t about all the moments we were meticulously dressed, our make up perfectly applied and our hair glamorously done.
Our true story is about real – day to day – life.

It is the way we are when we wake up in the morning after a sleepless night.
It is the funny faces we allow ourselves to make only when we are surrounded with loved ones.
It is the way we deal with hardships.
It is the things we struggle with and eventually achieve.
It is the glow we have after completing a workout in the early hours of the day.
It is the laughter in our eyes when we make it to the top of the hill or when we meet a long lost friend.
It is about looking in the mirror and smiling because we accept ourselves the way we are.

This is who we truly are!

This picture was taken with Nadav’s cell phone camera.
I was jet lagged after a looooong flight and setting up my laptop at his parents’ guest room.
I was tired, cold, a bit dehydrated and making a goofy face (on purpose).
The picture is far from being perfect but it represents me. It portrays a side of me I want my future kids to see.

So I made a layout out of it.

Go ahead and embrace your imperfect pictures. Let them tell a true story.

Design Drill Down

As both me and the photo’s quality were sub par (hello understatement of the year…) I worked around it, making the photo look more “artistic” and “organic”.

I turned it to black and white, cranked up the levels settings, used funky alpha brushes instead of just a font and blurred and manipulated the background plus i added a touch of color to highlight my “true colors”…

The heart, lips and e-mail symbol make a visual triangle of red and the purple mat against the yellow background helps the photo pop up – as it is the main element.

The embellishment under the photo mat softens the quirky look and the bookplate “grounds” the page and also conveys the theme… Its small size is also purposeful story-wise.

There is also contrast between the soft and traditional look of the background pattern and the embellishment and the modern, funky look of the photo, myself and alphas.

Share

Have you scrapped an imperfect picture that tells a true story lately? share your thoughts with me and leave a comment.



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National Scrapbooking Day Blog Hop

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Biting the Bog Apple layout

[Fonts: Erika Ormig, Marketing Script; Digital Kits: KD Frame Essentials 1, KD Digi Essentials (masking tape), KD For The Boy (background paper), KD Fly Boy (paper airplane), KD Stamp Alphas 1 - all by Karla Dudley.]

Today is National Scrapbooking Day and to jump start the day some creative bloggers and I have gathered together in a special blog hop.

Each of us is sharing a layout with her interpretation to the subject – “Cross Country Road Trip”.

Go on and browse all the blogs to see their amazing layouts, to leave some loving and appreciative words behind and to participate in the drawings (On the table there are a copy of my e-book Unleashing The Creative Child Within You and My Mind’s Eye LUSH minibook with papers and who knows, you may hop and find some more goodies in your way)…

We invite you to join us and create a layout (all paper, all digital, or hybrid) about a trip to anywhere in the 50 United States [or anywhere else if you've never been to the States] and to submit a direct link to your wonderful layout on Rosann’s blog by May 15th at 11:59pm EST for a chance to win the goodies.

If you are new to my blog, make sure to pick up some of the FREE printables I am giving away each Friday. I’m sure you’d love yesterday’s woodgrain journaling labels!

Blog Hop Order

  1. Rosann => Submit your layout here for a chance to win!
  2. Jana
  3. Terri
  4. Kim
  5. Sharon
  6. Lacey
  7. Karen
  8. Avital => YOU ARE HERE

Enjoy!



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Posted in creativity prompt | 29 Comments »

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