Designer Spotlight: May 2023

May 3, 2023 by

Memory Mosaic (aka Joy)

How is it even possible that one third of the year is already behind us? It’s crazy! Our Spotlight Designer for May is someone we’ve already met back when I first started writing the Spotlight posts. Joy is the creative mind also known as Memory Mosaic. We had a little chat so I could catch up with her and what follows is a transcript of that visit. [Click on her designer handle to check out her store!]

O: Joy! It’s good to see you again. What’s new?

J: Well, for years I designed on my lap book, a MacBook, but in the last couple months I have started designing on a 24inch iMac…. That has been a big difference. I had to get a trackpad, because I was used to using that on my laptop, and I just couldn’t get used to using a mouse. But I have to admit that the larger screen is a huge plus. I use Photoshop in making my designs. I have also been using Procreate on my iPad, to create some new elements.

O: Ooh, nice! I’m not an Apple fan – I’ve only had problems with any of their products, but I know a lot of folks who swear by them. I hear you about the trackpad… I use a laptop pretty much exclusively, so when my husband wants me to check something out on his desk top PC, I fumble with the mouse. A LOT. Which is funny to me because when I was still working, I used a mouse to chart, all the time. But then, it’s been almost 4 years since I retired, so I should expect to be rusty, right? When you switched to a desk top system, did you also revamp your workspace?

J: I have just in the last few months turned a small bedroom into my own personal office! It has been so much fun. I created word art for the walls, I have photos of my kids, and some special artwork my daughter made me. I have an antique secretary in there and a new corner desk. Beside my desk is a white board where I try to keep track of what I need to accomplish for the current month. I have a tv, which I often use to stream music, and my essential oil diffuser which I like to use to diffuse oils that help keep me in a positive frame of mind, boost creativity and peace. Having my own space has been a game changer for me.

O: Sounds like heaven! I’m still trying to organize all my non-digital hobby stuff in the room we had purpose-built… been in the house 3 years. Guess I’m just lazy! Or not motivated enough. Probably both. What inspires you when you’re designing?

J: My family and friends are a huge inspiration to me. But also life experiences play a role. I just created a new kit in my Going Places collection, that is focused on NYC, and that was based on the years I lived in NJ while growing up and we would make trips to the City.

O: That’s great! I’ve never been to NYC. I don’t love crowds so it isn’t somewhere I ever consider when I’m planning a trip, but the history would really appeal to me. I’m curious though… what colours do you really love to work with? Which ones do you steer clear of?

J: My favorite colors are blues, with punches of yellow or red added for accents. My least favorites are oranges, although I do love fall landscapes, which are full of oranges… so maybe it is more that I don’t feel I personally look good in oranges, so I stay away from them.

O: I wore a yellow gown at work all the time and look dead in yellow, so it’s not for me. Orange looks hideous on me too. But, as you say, fall colours are so beautiful. Are you a sporty person, or do you prefer to watch others sweat and injure themselves?

J: No, not sporty, But… I love playing card or board games with my grandchildren. Right now our favorites are Ticket To Ride-Europe and Trash.

O: That sounds wonderful. I haven’t seen my grandchildren since the fall of 2018. They’re all pretty physical kids, but are also voracious readers. My granddaughter is fearless and has great potential as a junior Ninja Warrior. It’s her super power. If you could have one, what would it be?

J: Well, as a kid I always enjoyed watching Bewitched… I would love to be able to wiggle my nose and have my house clean and the laundry done! LOL! Not sure that is a “super power”, but wouldn’t it be amazing?!

O: Definitely a super power! With my luck, I’d end up more like Esmeralda than Samantha. And look like Aunt Clara… The actress who played Samantha has the same surname as my mother’s maiden name but I’m absolutely sure we’re not related. Have you ever met a famous person?

J: When we lived in Ecuador, Joni Eareckson Tada came to the school I was teaching at and I got to meet her. I don’t know if she would be considered “famous”, but it felt like it to me. 🙂

O: I’m sure she’s famous in some circles. What did you want to be when you grew up?

J: When I was little I wanted to be a teacher. I actually went to college to do that, and right out of college taught 2 years, before we started our family. Later on, when we were missionaries in Ecuador, I taught in our international school to help cover fees for my girls. Over the years I taught Pre-K4, Kindergarten5, First Grade and Third Grade. Then we adopted 3 children and our family moved to a place that didn’t have good school opportunities for our kids, so I ended up homeschooling the last 3.

O: So you made your childhood dream come true! Awesome!! Having lived in a poorer country, I’m sure you learned how to do more with less. Is there anything now that you couldn’t live without?

J: It would be hard to go without my phone. I didn’t have a “smart phone” for years, but then when we did finally get them, I wondered how we had managed without them! LOL! Some days though, I wonder what life would be like, if we just went back to everyone having landlines, at their house. (Of course that would mean going back to the time of no internet, and that wouldn’t be any fun!

O: Yeah. Dystopia! When we moved into our house, hubby was the one to supervise the service provider who set up our stuff. We have a landline. It never rings. 😉 If you could make a movie about your life, who would you want to portray you?

J: Julia Roberts. LOL! Not sure that it would be a very good fit, but I think she is amazing.

O: Oh, isn’t she?? One night when it was quiet on the unit, one of my coworkers decided we should write a script and call it PICU: The Movie. He asked each of us who we’d want to be our characters; I couldn’t think of anybody I felt was suitable. He looked at me for a long moment and then said, “I know! Judi Dench!” This was at least 15 years ago, at which time I was about 50 and Judi was… older than my mother. He thought it was a great compliment. “She’s so dignified!” Yeah, well. He redeemed himself. “Oh, wait, I was thinking of Helen Mirren.” Marginally better – she’s only 13 years older than me. James, maybe just stop digging. 🙂 Joy, thanks so much for letting our GingerScrappers get to know you better.

Ladies, before we go, I should remind you all that Joy is providing the Daily Download – found right here on the Blog – this month, as well as hosting the May Designer Spotlight Challenge. That’s in addition to her regular hosting duties for the Inspiration Challenge! She also has a coupon…

 

interNational Scrapbooking Day is upon us, she make sure you visit both the Forum and the Store so you don’t miss out on any of the fun.

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Feature Designer, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

May 2, 2023 by

Buckle Up for [inter]National Scrapbook Day

According to the Master Index, this is my 300th Tutorial Tuesday post! And it’s also the lead-up to [inter]National Scrapbooking Day, which is formally set for Saturday, May 6th. I thought it could be a good time to revisit and update the Tutorial I wrote 5 years ago on how to survive the next week with your sanity intact.

I’ve been seeing a LOT of sneak peeks, ads and excited chatter, and I know there will be an overwhelming number of opportunities to get your scrap on, starting at different times over the coming week.

 

Here at GingerScraps, the people behind the scenes have been very busy organizing a celebration jam-packed with sales, games and a ton of fun. I haven’t seen any insider info on what’s planned for this year, but in the past, we’ve had a store-wide 50% off sale and a gigantic free-with-$20-purchase collab. The scavenger hunt is not only fun, it might show you designers you’re not familiar with and may soon become new favourites. Our designers usually create a fine selection of $5 grab bags – they’re always a great deal. And then there are the chats, speed scraps and games in the Forum. You don’t want to miss them!! And that’s just this one (albeit fantastic!) store!!

Back in 2010 when I was a digiscrapping newbie, iNSD and DSD (Digital Scrapbooking Day, which used to be in November but has been moved ahead to October because with Thanksgiving in the US, November was already too frenetic) were so exciting, but I found that I was a bit scattered in my approach. I ended up confused and bewildered, I overspent, and I wound up with a bunch of freebies I never use. So here are my tips for making iNSD work for YOU instead of the other way around.

A] Don’t dive in head-first! Take some time to look at the stores you frequent to see what their special events look like. Make a list of things that interest you, including dates and times for things like chats or speed scraps. That way you can see conflicts easily and make a decision about which will be more fun for you. Also include deadlines for any contests you may want to enter. Planning right at the beginning will really help.

B] Once your list is compiled and double-checked, create some kind of reminder for things that have a specific time associated with them. This can be as simple as a couple of Post-It notes stuck to the edges of your monitor, or as techie as reminders on your phone, complete with beeps or bells to prod you into action. I don’t know about you, but I’m becoming more forgetful all the time and without the pings on my phone, I’d miss a lot of things! Now I’ve even set certain notifications on my smart watch that are pretty hard to ignore. 😉

C] Set a budget and stick to it. Figure out BEFORE you look at the sales how much you can afford to spend and make sure you don’t go over. Because iNSD is the same week as my birthday, I tend to be a little generous to myself, but I won’t spend more than $20 at any one store, and no more than about $50 for the entire event. Inflation (and lousy exchange rates) notwithstanding. I may have to increase my limits to $25 and $75.

D] There are going to be lots of blog-hops with free collections from various sources out there. Don’t fall into the “but it’s FREE!” trap. Even free is too much if it’s something you don’t love and won’t use. Think of the storage space you’ll waste if you go hog-wild with the freebies. Look at each and every freebie with a discerning eye and only download the ones you know will work for you. Take a look at how much room you have for new files and perhaps move some less-favoured (and therefore less-used) stuff onto a memory stick or external hard drive. Personal note: When I replaced my laptop last year I opted for one with a smaller hard drive, partly to force me to do some decluttering. And while it worked, I’m such a collector… I soon was getting warnings about the lack of capacity. So I bought a SanDisk 512 GB USB drive that is so small and handy, it can stay plugged in all the time. I moved a bunch of files to it, can access them instantly and the nagging stopped. It was a bargain at $60. Might have to buy another!

E] Speaking of blog-hops, if you find one that’s especially fabulous and you HAVE to have it, you might find yourself signing up for newsletters or Facebook pages for designers you may never want to have on your Rolodex (or filling up your inbox). So make a list of ALL the places where you’ve signed up/subscribed/liked/followed so that you can later return and un-do them again. Don’t worry about offending the designer; they’re too busy right now to notice!

F] You might want to give some thought to pre-planning for any speed scraps you might join. Create a folder of possible photos to use. Have some in there that are in landscape format as well as some in portrait format, and some that can be made square or circular without losing anything important. Also have some that will work for multi-photo layouts, just in case. This will save you a lot of time when the speed scrap starts. Make sure you’re unlikely to be disturbed for the 2 hours a speed scrap usually lasts. And have a beverage and a snack ready before you begin.

G] Don’t try to conquer the GS scavenger hunt in a single sitting!! Your eyes will thank you. But by all means, DO play along. This is the exception to my rule about freebies, since the prize is usually a fabulous GingerBread Ladies collab. Who couldn’t use one of those?

H] And finally, review the tutorial I’ve provided on using a multi-file extractor. Don’t wait to unzip and organize all those amazing kits you’ve gathered, do it while you’re on a roll! You won’t regret taking the time now, but if you leave it, you might never actually look at any of the super-duper kits you just bought. And that would be a terrible shame!!

I’ll see you all again once we emerge from our iNSD-induced fugues with a new tutorial! I’ll be back tomorrow with the Designer Spotlight. Always busy!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, GingerBread Ladies, Lets Celebrate, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

April 25, 2023 by

Quick Trick: No More Blemishes!

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3AA0q81

Have you ever looked at a heritage photo and wanted to display it or create a layout with it, but it has a big fold, crack, scratch or wrinkle you can’t crop out? This tutorial is for you! (Only thing is… you need Elements 14 or more recent.)

This photo of my grandmother’s younger sister Mamie was in the treasure trove my grandmother’s cousin (still alive and well at 90!) has in her archives. It’s in pretty decent condition, considering it was taken in 1915. But it has some scratches, cracks and foxing, all things that happen to old prints. Black and white photo paper has a layer of gelatin emulsion impregnated with silver halide crystals that undergoes a chemical reaction when exposed to light. This emulsion layer is relatively fragile, especially as it ages and becomes more brittle; it’s easily scratched and is prone to cracking when the paper is flexed. This gelatin layer is what causes old photos to curl over time. But enough with the history lesson! How can these precious photos be repaired? With the Content Aware Move Tool!!

I Zoomed in on the area where I want to start my repairs. I also added a new blank layer above my photo. This is the layer I’ll be working on as I do the restoration.

To find the Content Aware Move Tool, look at the Tool Panel along the left side. It’s the one with the criss-crossing arrows icon at the bottom just above the Color Picker. Click on that. Before you use the Tool, make sure the settings are as shown: Mode = Move, Healing = 50%, Sample All Layers = ON and Transform on Drop = OFF. Then drag out a Selection around the spot you want to fix.

Then click and drag the Selection onto an area of the photo that doesn’t need fixing. Elements, using AI technology, cleans up the spot automatically. Be aware though that once you’ve used any “clean” area of the photo, it’s off-limits for reuse. Why? Because when you go to Delete the Selection, it’ll restore any other flaw you may have moved there. I found that out the hard way.

Since we’re FIXING and not just REARRANGING damage, the next step is to Delete what’s inside the Selection. You can do the multi-step Edit>Delete or just hit the Delete key. Elements doesn’t care. [You’ll know if you’ve forgotten to activate the BLANK layer because the area you’re Deleting will turn blue. AHHHH!]

These three steps are all you need to know. You don’t need to Deselect to move on to the next damaged area, just go ahead and Select it. Easy-peasy!

For more complex damage, like this crack/scratch/crease combo, it works best to do it in chunks.

The Tool can make very detailed Selections, which don’t have to be super precise.

And there it was… gone! (My dad says that all the time.)

Once you get to the point where all that’s left to clean up is dust spots and little discoloured areas, Merge the two layers together – Click>SHIFT>click on the layers then right-click and choose Merge Layers or CTRL/CMD>E. Then you can go ahead and use the Spot Healing Brush and/or the Clone Stamp to finish up. The image can be printed and framed, or used in a layout (or both!) as desired. I only have about 40 more photos to do now……

I’m sure there are other ways this Tool can be used. I’ll put my thinking cap on and see what I can come up with!

 

 

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Theres An App For That, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

April 18, 2023 by

Challenge Spotlight: Show Us Your Hobby

Greetings, GingerScrappers! Did you enjoy the March Scrap-a-Thon? The Gallery is brimming with layouts, so I’d say a lot of you got involved. In fact, SEVENTY-SIX people managed to create 20 individual layouts each. Phenomenal!! Today I’m going to show you some layouts created by YOU!! I’m almost at the end of the list of Challenges that lend themselves to this type of analysis, so I’ll soon be starting to revisit Challenges we’ve already covered. But not quite yet… Today our focus is on the April Show Us Your Hobby Challenge, hosted by Trixie Scraps. The only requirement for this Challenge is to create a layout featuring (one of ) your hobbies. Let’s take a look… layouts are presented in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery. Each is linked to the Gallery so you can pop by and offer your praise; just click on the Scrapper‘s user name.

First out of the gate this month is Connie – Gerbera; her hobby is hiking. The colour palette she chose is pulled from her photos, which are ably showcased by a very clean, simple setting.

Next up is jcfdelaware, whose hobby is geocaching. This hobby exercises the entire being. Her layout, with its themed elements and arrowed background, tells the story. Look at her smile!

DianeInOz does escape rooms. Those types of pursuits require a special type of intellect and an ability to think creatively. As her journaling reflects, the first time you do something, you might not get it right.

Whomever dreamt up Little Free Libraries is a genius! I feel like it was a missed opportunity for us, but not for glee! Her layout pops in the Gallery. I particularly love the subtitled banner.

It’s hard to know from msbrad‘s layout which of her many hobbies she’s sharing. Is she writing or illustrating children’s books? Embroidery? We all KNOW she’s a prolific scrapper!

KatL has resumed a hobby she’d let lapse – knitting! Her sweater will be beautiful when it’s finished. She pulled colour from her sweater into her layout, and that yellow doodle frame draws the eye right in.

KatherineWoodin‘s hobby is just to enjoy her life!

KAPOH makes pysanky – Ukrainian Easter eggs. She’s made the photo the focus of her layout, which is as it should be! Art like that needs not be distracted from with fripperies.

Thank you Grace. for sharing your reduced-sugar fudge recipe! Candy-making can be a hobby, an art, more than just work.

MarilynZ is a communicator. Her monthly newsletter keeps her community informed and connected. Many years ago I was responsible for a monthly newletter; it’s a LOT of work, but when it’s done with love, it’s worth it. I like how Marilyn has given us a peek into her April letter.

Photography is mkcdaisy‘s hobby. She’s even gotten a degree in it; that’s dedication! She’s included 3 different cameras as elements in her clusters. But I’d wager she has more than 3 cameras in her collection.

Look at the beautiful embroidery shown off in trinanne‘s grid-style layout! She’s cleverly used a canvas-style paper for her background. I used to do cross-stitch before my eyesight betrayed me, so I saw it right away.

Our last layout is from firstoscartgrouch. I’m not up on all the current pop culture – my grandkids living in another country and all – so at first I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. AH!! Pokemon Go!!!!!! I think of it as a variation on geocaching. Am I wrong?

Before I go see what kind of mess my husband is making trying to be a handy guy, I just want to remind you all of the Challenge Reward for April. Every scrapper who reaches 10 Challenges completed since their last Reward will automatically qualify. This is what it looks like. It’s delightful! (And it aptly describes the April we’re having here!)

See you next week when I have a Quick Trick for you!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements 2021+)

April 11, 2023 by

Guided Edit: Perfect Landscape

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3GDI35u

By popular request! Let’s get this one off on the right foot from the start… this Guided Edit wasn’t available until Elements 2021 launched. If you’re using an older version of Elements (2018, 2019 or 2020), you’ll have to use the old-school method I showed you here. Anything older than that and you’ll have to manually extract the sky, find a sky overlay and add it on. Much more work. 🙁

Landscape photos can be stunning, or they can be kinda blah. Uniformly gray skies can provide great saturated colour to objects in the foreground, but overall, they can make for a pretty boring image. Most of the photos I took while in Ireland have a blown-out almost white sky. But now, with the Perfect Landscape Guided Edit, I can do something about that, fairly easily too! I’d already used my usual editing arsenal on this image – there was a car in the original photo! – but that sky drags the whole thing down. Let’s fix it!

You’ll find this marvel on this path: Guided>Special Edits>Perfect Landscape. Elements uses Artificial Intelligence for this Edit. It seems to be fairly competent at it too.

This is what the Perfect Landscape interface looks like. Because I’ve already edited the photo before, I’ll skip over the Crop, Straighten and Remove Haze tools. They’re pretty much self-explanatory and/or have been featured in other tutorials. I’m going right to the Choose a new Sky toolkit. There are 16 different sky options here. Experiment with them to see what will look best with your particular photo. To undo your choice, just CTRL/CMD>Z.

What do you think of this one? I know, right?! [Please ignore the typo in the image. Ta!]

This is the progress bar for the analysis part of the Edit, while AI is working. It’s deciding where the sky is and judging how bright to make the replacement sky.

Here you can see I’ve chosen the very first option from the palette with the Opacity and Brightness at 100%, and the photo looks better. But not quite right. There are a few adjustments that can be made manually, so let’s look at them.

Watch closely when you make adjustments. Every time. You need to see what’s happening so you can decide how much of a change the action is creating and if it actually looks better or worse. Ticking the Auto Match Color Tone box made the entire image darker and the details less visible. It’s a no for me, dawg.

When you hear about how much it rains in Ireland, it’s not an exaggeration. They have a lot of “soft days” – when it’s drizzling. In my photo there’s a muddy area just in front of the opening in the back wall. So maybe I should move the sky around so there are a few more clouds, to give the impression that a storm has blown through and the ground is drying. The Move Tool button activates the layer with the sky on it so I can do that.

That’s better. Because the AI worked flawlessly, I don’t really need to make any more changes to this one. So I’ll click Next down at the lower right corner of the canvas to the next menu.

I’ll Save As this image as an edit of the original, but I’ll do it in the Expert editing area. I might decide I want to use the photo right away on a layout.

I wanted you to see all the steps Elements took in the background. You can see the first thing it did was to isolate the sky area. Then came a gradient layer, the sky image layer, a brightness adjustment layer then a mask that concealed all but the sky area. Last is a composite of all the layers. Because the top layer is a composite, adjusting any of the other layers makes no change to the end result.

So. What happens if part of the photo is mistaken for sky by the AI bot? In this photo, the buildings along the upper right are bright white, just like the sky. So our AI bot was confused and added sky to them. How can that be remedied?

Easy! Use the Refine Edge toolkit. I want to remove the sky from the buildings, so I clicked on Subtract and using a smallish, hard, round brush at 100% Opacity I erased it from view. if you’ve used any other brush just prior to doing this edit, you’ll run into trouble so click through to the Expert Edit, check the brush and then click back to the Guided Edit. I could pretend that I did this on purpose so I could tell you it works, but that would be a fib… I had the arrow brush I use on my screenshots active and it was a MESS!

There are still a few things I want to adjust on this image. For example, the water under and in front of the bridge should reflect some blue and cloud, and the area under the arch in the foreground would probably be a bit lighter and brighter with a blue sky. But I think it’s all doable.

My tip for making this easy and quick: Choose a photo with an easily identified sky and let the software do all the work!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Theres An App For That, Tutorials Tagged With:

Designer Spotlight: April 2023

April 5, 2023 by

ScrapChat Designs

Hello again, ladies! Another month has begun and it’s time for the Designer Spotlight once again. This month I’m chatting with Jillian, otherwise known as ScrapChat Designs. A little birdie told me April is her birthday month, so in celebration we visited over bourbon rather than coffee. Let’s get to know her a bit!

 

 

O: We’ll start with the yeahyeahyeah stuff… How long have you been designing?

J: I began designing templates spring of 2021. Kits/collections in Summer of 2021.

O: So you’re pretty much still cutting your designer teeth. Props to you for jumping in and doing a such great job already. What made you decide to design?

J: I was on the creative team for many of the wonderful designers here at Gingerscraps. Several of them encouraged me to start and support me with their moral support and advice to this day. They are not only my mentors but my friends.

O: The community here is really incredible. I arrived here ten years ago as a CT member and have loved every second of those ten years. When I think about how much I’ve grown, both as a digital scrapper and as a person, I can’t regret any of it. What tools do you use when creating your designs?

J: I use Photoshop. Late in 2022 I started to use some basic functions in Illustrator. I switched to Mac at Christmas time.

O: I’m always trying to learn new things. But I draw the line at an entire, new software system. I’ve been organizing my crafting space for months now so that I can accommodate a Cricut. What an enormous job. Do you have a specific place that’s set up specifically for your design work?

J: I don’t have an official work space. I have a Mac Book. I can work any place. I move with the sunshine in my house. I work in the sun room, at the kitchen table and even outside on the porch. I spend a lot of time in airport parking lots waiting to pick up my long time boyfriend who is a pilot. I work there as well. My computer, planner and idea notebook travel with me.

O: Being portable really makes it easier to be productive, doesn’t it? I couldn’t imagine working in my car though. This next question can be hard to answer… Do you have a favourite kit or collection in the GingerScraps Shop?

J: I Have Overcome, the collection I designed for the March Buffet is my favorite. It’s dedicated to the strength of overcoming things. My oldest daughter passed in March of 2019. She had a tattoo that said “I’m not what I have done but what I have overcome.” The photo of her and her tattoo showed on my photo memories on my phone the day I started to work on the Buffet. The collection was one of the prettiest and quickest collections I’ve ever created.

 

O: What an amazing way to remember your daughter, although I’m sure it was a painful process. I’m so sorry for your loss. She sounds like someone I’d like a lot. How do you relax? Describe your perfect vacation.

J: My perfect family vacation would be to take my three children, significant others and grand kids to Walt Disney World. Many of my best memories of my children’s childhoods were created at Disney World. My perfect couple vacation a long cruise with a balcony room starting with coffee in the room each day.

O: How did I know your first thought would be family? Made me think about the Disney cruises I’ve seen on Instagram – you could have a twofer! What would you do if you won the lottery?

J: After the obvious of paying off bills, I have a dream of starting a garage for low income individuals to get their cars repaired at. As a long time single mom, car maintenance was always a struggle. Cars I could afford needed work but the work was expensive. Not having a car was not an option living in southwest Ohio, so I always had to pay for the repairs some how. I dream of helping people by removing the fear of that noise in the back of the car costing them a $1,000.

O: OMG, what a selfless dream! I’ve never been a single parent, but I absolutely have lived the used-car-unexpected-repair-bill-how-do-I-pay-it part. It’s funny that I’m driving an eight-year-old SUV that is still in very good condition and rarely have to spend any money on it, but I can’t explain why that is. I told the salesman it was the last vehicle I intended to buy. He laughed. But it’s hauled me, my family, hundreds of bedding plants, tons of soil and mulch and many other things. Are you a green-thumb kind of person?

J: I cannot grow things in my house. I love, however, caring for our two acre yard. When we moved in almost two years ago, I was overwhelmed by the number of trees and flower beds this house had. I have embraced the care of the yard. I relax and forget time when I am out there.

O: Our old house had a huge yard that eventually had 5 separate flowerbeds. There’s something very soothing about digging and pulling weeds. Now we have a very small yard so most of my planting is in pots. Still satisfying. And as I get older it’s nice to garden standing up. 😉 Okay, I’m trying to decide what to cook for supper_ unsuccessfully, might I add. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

J: Pepperoni and pepperjack cheese. So weird I know! It’s always my go to snack.

O: Ooh. Pass the Pepcid please! I used to have a cast iron stomach, but no more. Thanks, COVID. Anyway, if there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would it be?

J: My anxiety and confidence levels. I stress over every decision I make. I’m the poster child for a mountain out of mole hill. I can overthink everything. If you only knew how long it took me to pick out 10 questions and answer them, you would laugh. [Editor’s note: Designers receive a list of possible questions in advance so they can avoid topics they’d rather not address.]

O: Thank you for being a good sport! Before I let you off the hook, let’s remind our readers about what being the Spotlight Designer means… Obviously, it means she’s hosting the so-named Challenge this month in addition to her usual Year of Blessings Challenge. And she’s providing this month’s Daily Download right here on the Blog. She’s gotta be busy! Make sure you check out her Shop.

See you next time!

 

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Feature Designer, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

April 4, 2023 by

How Do I Know When to Stop? (Editing)

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3nDFOZc

Last week this comment was left for the tutorial post: “I have trouble judging how far to make these setting changes. Is it simply a bit of practice? Or how can I make better decisions on the settings for these adjustments? Thanks, Lorri” Well, you know my reply would end up taking up the whole page and would end up not meaning much without visuals, so today I’m offering some tips on what too much looks like. Because I’ve definitely gone WAY too far with some of my edits when I was just learning the ropes and made a LOT of mistakes along the way (like saving the edit over the original so I can’t even fix it!). Anything I put particular emphasis on in a tutorial is something I’ve messed up badly at least once… and that answers part of Lorri’s comment. Some of it IS a bit of practice. Prepare for an onslaught of screenshots!

Here’s a photo of the World War II Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia that I snapped when I was there in 2010. I’m going to show you my (new) process for those out-of-the-camera almost-good photos I have and show you one of my serious fails.

The first thing I like to adjust is the lighting. Sometimes that’s all a photo needs. There are a few ways of doing that using the Enhance tab menu, but this one is really simple and seems to give the best results. I’ve shown this before, so let’s review. Make a Copy of the photo layer: right-click>Duplicate Layer>OK or CTRL (Windows)/CMD (Mac)>J. On the Copy layer, change the Blend Mode to Screen then adjust the Opacity until the white balance looks right.

My next step is to use the Shake Reduction… command. This is a newer addition to my workflow; you may remember it from a few tuts back. It was added to the Enhance tab menu with Elements 14, so a lot of you should see it in your tab menu options. (I just ignored it. Sigh.)

Elements decides where on the image it’s going to analyze shake. Most of the time, it seems to just go to the centre of the image. If it chooses an area of the image that isn’t what you’re really hoping to sharpen, you can wait for it to run then choose your own focal area and it’ll run again. Shown also is the default setting for the Sensitivity.

Make use of the sliders to adjust the Sensitivity so the effect doesn’t end up being phony-looking. Don’t rush the adjustment part; it only takes a few seconds most of the time to get the natural-looking sharpness you want. The default Sensitivity setting is where I’ve placed the red bar. Small adjustments can change the way your photo looks quite a lot.

This is an important thing to keep in mind. All of these adjustments are ADDITIVE. Watching your image as it’s affected by your actions is really important to ensure you end up with a result you’re happy with. After adjusting the lighting and the sharpness, I use the Enhance>Haze Removal… (CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>Z) command. Haze Removal also adjusts lighting, sharpness and colour saturation.

Here’s an example of an over-processed image. I think it looks fake. As with the Shake Reduction command, there are sliders to control how sensitive the adjustment and how far the process will go.

Get in the habit of ZOOMing in on areas of your photo so you can see up close what’s happening. It’ll help with restraint. I’ve reduced both the amount of Haze Reduction and the Sensitivity to reach this effect.

The shadows are too intense. I used to use Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Shadows/Highlights but have found I have better control using Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Levels (CTRL/CMD>L).

Noooope!! That’s not what I want to see! I mean, I like that the veins in the marble are more present but the highlights are so blown out it looks awful.

This is better. It’s never going to be perfect, but it’s better than the original, so I’ll Save this as Edit_1… just in case I make more changes later.

What can I do with this one?

The lighting is already okay, so I’ll start with Enhance>Shake Reduction…

Ooh, look at how high the default Sensitivity is! Do you suppose that’s a comment on my photography skills?

Better.

On to Enhance>Haze Removal… (CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>Z)

The feathers on the bird’s neck look 3D almost, with the sliders all the way to the right.

Up close, those filaments are pretty obvious, and the colours are too bright.

I think that’s better. Most of the time, just small adjustments are all that’s needed.

Oh, wait. That’s not what I want to see! Look at how pixellated -and greenish! – those feathers are.

 

I tossed that edit and went back to the original so I can show you another way to sharpen without ruining your image. This time I’ll use a High Pass Filter. This option requires a Copy layer. CTRL/CMD>J.

With the Copy layer active, click Filter>Other>High Pass.

Here’s where it’s clear that less is more. For the best outcome, you don’t want to see any colour coming through the filter.

To see the sharpening effect of the Filter, change the Blend Mode to Overlay. You’ll see what I’m saying about less is more as we look at the next couple of screenshots.

Look how awful the grass is! And the feathers look almost green.

When we look at his head, the fiberoptic filament effect is even more exaggerated, the bill looks jagged and everything is just. Not. Right.

Here’s an unretouched look.

And with the Filter on? Ooh nooo!

So let’s lower the Radius on the Filter way down from 12.5 pixels to 2.0. There’s no colour visible through the Filter.

Mm. Better-ish.

It’s much smoother. It’s a good trade-off.

On to Enhance>Haze Removal… (CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>Z)

Not bad. Actually, it might be a good place to stop.

It’s still a bit soft, but that’s at extreme ZOOM. As a print, or part of a layout, it’ll be just right.

Side-by-side. Looks better, but not phony.

Let’s revisit the World War II Memorial. That middle one is garbage. See what I mean about fake? I tried to add some colour to the sky, and it’s nasty. The actual marble isn’t that pinkish travesty either. The third one has picked out details not seen in the other two and even with the blown-out sky, it’s overall a better image.

I couldn’t resist just one more tweak on this one. In the Guided Edit>Special Edits menu you’ll find Perfect Landscape. This Edit lets you do a bunch of neat things, including replacing the sky. I’m not sure if this is exactly the right look, but I wanted you to see it. Is this one tut-worthy?

Sorry this was posted a little later than normal. It sort of took on a life of its own!

 

 

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 28, 2023 by

Quick Trick: Select SUBJECT

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3ZGrH2z

Gradually, oh-so-gradually, Adobe is adding more functionality to Photoshop Elements and bringing it closer to Photoshop itself. Today I’ll show you one of these game-changing tools. It’s one that I’ve used a LOT in the last few weeks. For this tutorial I’m going to selectively edit a photo by lightening and brightening the sculpture while making other adjustments to the rest of the image.

Introduced in Elements 2020, there’s now a Select>Subject option! There are two other ways to access this function: CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>S is the keyboard shortcut. I’ll show you the second way in a moment.

Elements uses AI to decide what the subject of the image is, and that takes a few seconds. It’s not always perfect, as you can see here – it missed the lower corner of the sculpture. But that’s easy enough to fix.

Here’s another back door into the function: the Quick Selection (aka the Magic Wand) Tool. See the Select Subject button? This is also where you can add or subtract the parts Elements didn’t get right. There’s a lot of power in these Tool Options, but we don’t need them for today’s purpose.

I’ve discovered it’s a good habit to develop to shift the edge of my Selection by a few pixels to make sure all the tiny details are included and to keep the actual edge of the Selection from being too visible later. Select>Modify>Expand is the choice I make most often. 5 pixels is usually enough.

Here’s and extreme close-up of that 5 pixel shift.

The next few screenshots will show the specific adjustments I made to my image. There are as many other possibilities as there are Edits: blurring the background, changing the background, removing the background, moving objects in the image around, copying the subject onto another image… wherever your imagination takes you. But let’s see if we can bring out the detail in the sculpture a bit using Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Brightness/Contrast…

Oh THERE you are!

Once I had the sculpture looking better, I turned my attention to the background. The tweaks it needs are different from the sculpture. All I needed to do was Select>Inverse (CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I).

This time I used Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Shadows/Highlights…

It really didn’t need much.

Once I was satisfied with the separate adjustments, I hit Select>Deselect (CTRL/CMD>D). I subsequently made a few more slight adjustments using some of the things we’ve talked about previously: Fill Selection>Content Aware to remove the fire hydrant and the light on the wall in the background, Shake Reduction… and Haze Removal…

Here are the Before and After images. Thoughts?

See you in April!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

March 21, 2023 by

Challenge Spotlight: Color

Wow, you ladies are totally rocking the Challenges for the Scrapathon!! Every one of the Challenge Galleries is brimming with new layouts. Incroyable! I’m trying to shine the Spotlight on a different Challenge each month until all of them have been discussed but I also don’t want to keep y’all here all evening so I had to make a decision. Rather than showcasing every layout posted to the Challenge I chose for this month – there are 58 of them – I opted to go with every fourth layout, beginning at the beginning. So the layouts I’m sharing with you today from the Color Challenge Gallery are (sorta) randomly selected. As usual, each layout is linked to itself in the Gallery so you can provide your own feedback to the GingerScrappers; just click on the scrapper’s user name.

First, let’s talk about the Challenge criteria. For the Color Challenge, hosted each month by the inimitable Aimee Harrison, we’re provided with a color or color swatch for the Challenge palette. Because this is also Scrapathon, Aimee added a theme: My Scrapping Friends. So each of the Challenge layouts must have the same palette and the same theme. How did they do?

Our first layout is from pjm117. Full points for the colors, but she seems to have missed the part about the theme. That photo though! So CUTE! I like that she added some dusty mauve and white to the palette, and her clusters are gorgeous!

Next up is this pretty one from pizzaz. She went with a softer, brighter green, and more pastel blues and yellows, Those pops of orange are very eye-catching. But alas, she too missed the theme.

SusanSays has the color, 100%. And her photo is so sweet. The banners really move the eye around the layout. Theme? Um. No.

Here, snickels has also used the palette with an almost perfect tone match. The blue stucco on the house is front-and-centre, contrasting nicely with the palette. Theme?

Tamsin McAtee met the first part of the Challenge quite ably, but again, the theme is missing. (Maybe random selection wasn’t the best way to go?) I do like how she’s tucked her elements behind the photo to anchor them.

Windswept‘s layout is beautifully created. The green is muted so the blues and yellows really pop. Her title is cleverly arranged.

I think Kristi Martin has hit both targets. Somebody in her craft circle has to be a scrapper, right? I like that she’s added some brown to augment the rustic aspect of the retreat’s location.

Now we’re talkin’! Flighty-188 has the theme fully locked down. Her cluster hits just the right notes. And those colors are definitely there.

Lucky lawyerlyn got to meet one of her favourite digiscrap designers. She kept her layout simple so the photo could take centre stage. Palette? Check.

The palette chigirl used is muted but ticks all the boxes. The theme? Maybe. Whatever they were doing, they clearly were having fun!

I absolutely LOVE the papers lilholmes6 has used, and how they showcase her photos. (I also love tulips!) Now, if only the theme was “spring”. <sad trombone>

Yes! This layout from macsandy scored ALL the points! They’re scrapping the old-school paper way and all the elements she used are related to the theme.

AlyciaIN has also ticks all the boxes. Makes me nostalgic for the crops I used to enjoy so much… although I brought my laptop, not a bag full of paper and glue.

Is there anything better than having friends who share your passions? KatherineWoodin is surrounded by them. I see several laptops in her 2011 photo too.

What a clever take!! AJsRandom plays with words, but still hits the mark. Her simple layout really captures the essence of the Challenge.

Hazel’s learning the ropes at day care so she can become honeybee‘s scrappin’ buddy. This layout is simply beautiful. The way the patterned paper is masked behind the photos leads the eye around and the scattered beads accent everything.

Purple71 brought the color, but not the theme. I like the cutouts behind her photo and use of the journal card though!

This layout by hichchei makes me smile, although I’m not fond of Irish stereotypes. She’s got the main color palette nailed, and added a rainbow of other colors to the mix.

The last layout of the day is from digiscrapmomma. Colors? Check. Theme? No check.

Okay, now I have to go back to the Challenge Gallery and take a closer look at the ones that fell in between the every-fourth-layout to see if I could have gone with a different randomizer… I feel like I was scoring a figure skating or gymnastics competition!

I hope you’re seeing signs of spring where you are (northern hemisphere peeps). The golf course behind our house is currently hosting a large flock of cobra chickens and the racket they make is unreal. I think our resident coyote might have fallen into the water hazard trying to catch supper last night.

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Scrap-a-thon, Tutorials Tagged With: ,

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 14, 2023 by

Deckle the Halls

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/40dpsoB

Ellen (gmae) asked for a deckle edge tutorial almost instantly after last week’s tutorial appeared. So I obliged. I’ll show you a couple of ways to do it; the hardest part is the math!

Start off with a new blank canvas. Make it a bit bigger than your desired paper strip/tag/photo mat. Then turn on the Grid. View>Grid.

Let’s review how to set your parameters for the Grid. You can choose the colours for your Grid and Guide lines – helpful for those of us with old eyes – and the details of your Grid. Click on Edit>Preferences>Guides & Grid.

I’ve found that light red works well for my Grid lines, so that’s what I’ve chosen. I’m old enough that I learned feet and inches before Canada went to the metric system and I still think in feet and inches, so my Settings reflect that. There’s a Gridline every inch, with 4 Subdivisions of each large section, or every 1/4 inch. These Settings are completely up to you and how you think, so set them up for success.  Just pick them so that they make the thinking and mathing easier.

Now make a Custom Shape. Straight sides – square or rectangle – will be easier than curves for your first attempts, especially when it comes to mathing.

Make sure you Simplify the Shape Layer. Elements won’t let you do anything with that shape until you do. Right-click>Simplify Layer if your version doesn’t provide a Simplify button.

Because this technique requires uniformity in the size and placement of the bites you take out of the edges, you may benefit from a Guideline of your own. Drag out an internal border using the Rectangular Marquee Tool using the Grid to help you keep it consistent. Alternatively, you can CTRL/CMD>click inside the shape layer thumbnail then Select>Modify>Contract to the distance you want.

Drop a new blank layer onto your layer stack above the shape layer, then Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection. You want it on its own layer so you can make it disappear when you’re finished with it.

Choose a contrasting colour (so you can see it), decide on a Width (I went with 5 pixels) and a Location (I went with Outside).

After you’ve got your personal Guideline in place, turn off the marching ants by Select>Deselect Layers or CTRL/CMD>D. Elements won’t let you do anything else while the ants are marching.

Activate the Eraser Tool. Choose a hard, round brush, and make the diameter something manageable. I’m using 100 pixels. Then, using your personal Guideline and the Subdivisions on the Grid, position the Eraser cursor so the edge of the cursor’s outline is touching the Guideline you created and the crosshairs are centered on the Grid Subdivision line. Click to take a bite, then move on to the next spot as shown.

Here’s a closer look.

Once you’ve gone all around the edges, you’re done and your personal Guideline can be deleted or turned off. If you want to go for a postage stamp look, leave the Guideline there and that layer active. Go back to Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection.

This time you’ll want the Stroke to hang over the edges all the way around. You might have to try a few Widths to get it right. You can’t really make it too big! I ended up at 45 pixels.

There shouldn’t be any little bits of the deckle edge visible.

Again, with the Stroke Layer active, CTRL/CMD>click on the Shape layer thumbnail to Select the deckle edge.

To remove the parts of the Stroke hiding the bites, Select>Inverse or CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I to move the Selected part OUTSIDE the Shape layer’s edges.

Then Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X to make the Stroke layer deckled too.

Here’s another sample for you. I used the same size Eraser, 100 pixels, but instead of using an inner border as a guide, I positioned the cursor’s outline so it intersects the corners of the Subdivision. That positions the Eraser perfectly each time and the bite is quite a lot shallower.

I felt the corners were a little too acute so I nobbled a tiny bit off each one and this is the end result.

There are so many ways this can be customized by varying the Shape used for your Eraser, but that’s a whole other conversation!

I hope if you’re in the part of the country getting blasted with yet another blizzard that you’re safe and warm, and don’t have to leave the house until it blows over. Oh, and Happy Pi Day!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With:
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