Quick Trick: Guided Edit – Pattern Brush

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Hey, GingerScrappers! Thanks for all the kind thoughts and support for those of us in the fire zone. For me, the crisis is over, at least for the time being. Fire season won’t end until we get some snow, so we can’t really relax. But we didn’t have to evacuate, like so many of our community did. The tally on structures lost is ongoing and most of the people who have lost everything have been notified. They’ll need so much in the coming weeks; I can’t even imagine.

But enough of that. Today I’m building on our paper-making lesson from a couple months back. I’m using a Guided Edit only available to those using Elements 2020 through 2023, so if that’s not you, I apologize.

I’ve created a solid black 12×12 paper on my workspace. Black is a good background for this tutorial since it makes the patterns much more visible in the tiny screenshots I’ve been forced to use.

Click on Guided up at the top of your screen and Elements will take you to this interface.

Click on Fun Edits, then on Pattern Brush as shown.

There are 15 Patterns to choose from in Elements 2020-2022. There were a few more added for Elements 2023. Here, you can see 9 of the Patterns. There are 2 ways to use this Edit and I’ll show you samples of both. If at any time you’re not happy with what you’ve done, you can Undo (CTRL/CMD>Z) back to your background paper, or click the Cancel button at the bottom right. Cancel takes you back to the Guided menu and you can start again.

First, I’m using the Fill edit. I chose the random hearts and clicked Fill. The Pattern is at 100% Opacity against the black. I like it!

In the Fill option, the Opacity slider is active. So here I’ve decreased to 85% just to show you what you can do. I’d probably leave it at full bore.

Oh, and… you can Erase some of the Pattern!! Using the Pattern Eraser Tool, I removed some of the bigger hearts from my sample. There’s also a Blur option that I didn’t play with. You can try it and see what it does. I think it would be perfect with the bokeh Pattern.

I Undid my way back to my plain black and this time I chose Paint using the default settings to Paint a diagonal from the lower right to upper left. See how the positions of the hearts randomly shifts?

I played with the settings, decreasing the Size from 150 pixels to 75, increasing the Scatter from 25% to 50% and dropping the Opacity to 85%. Then I Painted all over the black to create a tiny, overall pattern. There are so many ways this can be customized!

For this sample I used the random stars and Fill. If you don’t like the colour of the Pattern as Elements provided, you can definitely change it once you’re back in Expert mode.

Here’s a glimpse at the other 6 Patterns. I love this confetti cannon look!

Yet another Pattern… but really, who wants red, gold and brown snowflakes? Let’s click Next down at the lower right and move out of Guided mode.

Here, I chose Continue Editing In Expert and clicked Done. If I was happy with my paper at this stage, I could choose to Save it As a .jpeg and use it again and again.

In Expert mode, you can see the new layers Elements has added to the paper. The top and bottom layers are the only ones that matter. You can activate that pattern layer at the top and add a Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid>Clip to change colour, or you can play with the Blend Mode for that layer to see what works best for you.

Here’s a close-up of the pattern so you’ll easily see the Blend Mode change.

Switching to Luminosity took all the colour out of the snowflakes, but not the shadowing! I could increase the Opacity of the pattern layer to 100% to brighten the white. And that’s all there is to it!

Sorry for the formatting glitches. When I mix up my screenshots and have to move them around, WordPress plays with me, hard!

This is a bit of a milestone for me. My very first Tutorial Tuesday Blog post appeared August 30, 2016 – SEVEN years ago!! Today’s Tutorial is #315… that’s a lot of words! No wonder I’m hoarse. (Although that could be the smoke…)

It just started raining here for only the second time since July 24th. Rejoicing!!

Inspiration: Song Lyrics

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When Cindy Ritter said she sometimes takes her inspiration from song lyrics, it really resonated with me. I’ve used lyrics as journaling – a LOT – and song titles too can stimulate my scrapping mojo. So today, I think we should take a deeper dive into that topic. (I’m going to be VERY wordy… so prepare yourself!) I’ve gathered some examples of lyrics that lend themselves well to memory-keeping. Some of them are from 70s pop, some from folk music and some from country because that’s what I listen to; they’re meant to be examples to help you think about YOUR favourite tunes and what they mean to YOU.

My first verse is one that can be adapted to almost any situation. Time in a Bottle was written by James (Jim) Croce. It’s so meaningful on so many levels. It could reflect romantic love, love for a parent or from a parent, and even the relationship between close friends.

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day ’til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you.

Another verse with similar sentiment is from Remember You Young, written by Ashley Glenn Gorley, Thomas Rhett Akins and Jesse Frasure.

And no matter how much time goes by
And no matter how much we grow up
For worse or for better, from now ’til forever
I’ll always remember you young.

For layouts about children and growing up, another song by Ashley Glenn Gorley and Lee Williams comes to mind: You’re Gonna Miss This. Trace Adkins‘ rendition is so moving.

You’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These Are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this

This verse from Light on in the Kitchen is a blueprint for moms and daughters. Written by Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Ashley McBryde, the entire song is full of love and wisdom.

Honey, trust yourself
You better love yourself
‘Cause ’til you do, you ain’t no good
For anybody else
And, honey, boys are dumb
But you gonna find your one
Love him hard and bless your heart
You’ll need someone to listen
That’s why I leave a light on in the kitchen

To carry on with that theme, Mothers and Daughters, by Troy Verges, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and Melvern Rivers Rutherford II, speaks for itself.

Mothers and daughters
Daughters and mothers
For a few years they’re
Like oil and water
Then one day they discover
That they need each other
Mothers and daughters
Daughters and mothers

For those of you who miss your mothers, Theodore Harris has the words your memories may need. My favourite version is by Glen Campbell.

There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas
Creation’s most unique and precious pearls
And heaven help us always to remember
That the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

I’ve always felt this song recorded by Rascal Flatts represents what each parent wants for their children. It was written by Stephen Paul Robson and Jeffrey Allen Steele and is called My Wish.

My wish for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold
And while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to
I hope you know somebody loves you and wants the same things, too
Yeah, this is my wish

This one, Strong Enough to Bend, was recorded by Tanya Tucker; it would be a great way to commemorate a long and enduring marriage. It was penned by Paul Davis and Bobby Emmons.

There’s a tree out in the back yard
That never has been broken by the wind
And the reason it’s still standin’
It was strong enough to bend

For years we have stayed together
As lovers and as friends
What we have will last forever
If we’re strong enough to bend

Another Rascal Flatts song could be an anthem for those who have survived their worst struggles, and an anthem for those still conquering them. It’s called Stand, written by Dan Ernest Orton and Eric Blair Daly.

‘Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you’re made of
You might bend ’til you break
‘Cause it’s all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you’ve had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand, yeah, then you stand

What lyrical lexicon would be complete without something by Carole King to round it out?

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

Let me show you some examples of how I’ve used lyrics to inspire my layouts.

Blue looks good on the sky
Looks good on that neon buzzin’ on the wall
But darling, it don’t match your eyes
I’m tellin’ you
You don’t need that guy
It’s so black and white
He’s stealin’ your thunder
Baby, blue ain’t your color

Hillary Lindsey, Steven Olsen, Clinton Lagerberg