Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

December 17, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: Daily Download

The Challenge Galleries are just a-hoppin’! I thought everybody would be too busy to get much scrapping done (like me 😉 ) but I was wrong! I have a layout for the Daily Download Challenge, hosted by the lovely CarolW and featuring Twin Mom Scraps‘ Feel Better Soon, so I had a peep at the other layouts, and I’m going to share them with you. But first, let’s preview the DD kit. It’s bright and cheerful, with a smattering of themed elements.

The upcoming layouts are all linked to their spots in the Gallery, so if you choose to take a closer look and leave a comment, you just have to click on the Scrapper’s Forum handle. They’ll appear below in the order they appear in the Gallery, earliest first. Let’s have a look…

First up is trinanne. She has two layouts in the Gallery, so for her entries, they’ll be linked separately HERE and HERE. As you can see, she’s created a double-layout spread, recording the events surrounding her Achilles tendon injury (which is exquisitely painful). I like that she used the solid yellow paper for her backgrounds, which keeps the layouts bright. One page is dedicated to the injury and includes a number of themed elements, the other to how she filled her time while she healed.

It’s clear that people aren’t the only ones who need medical attention. Poor kitty… Alasandra added some text to the ID band and incorporated some themed elements into her cluster. I like how the banner ties the whole layout together.

Windswept‘s layout reminds me of the time my #2 daughter broke her wrist for the first time. It was also in 1992, oddly enough! I like how she’s anchored the photos with bandaids and made mirror images of the clusters.

For her layout, greenfiend27 managed a masculine look by using the plaid paper as a border and keeping the palette to blues with accents of the other colours. The placement of the fluid bag makes it look like it’s actually infusing into her subject. [Editor’s note: those thermal mugs are HORRIBLE!!]

Did your internal monologue just go, “OWIEOWIEOWIE” like mine did? No more tripping over kids’ shoes for Got2Scrap! I like the way she’s framed her photo with clusters to keep the eye moving.

Whew! An off-topic layout!! The palette of the kit coordinates perfectly with the photo kabrak1207 chose and that cluster is perfection. I love the way the rick-rack is anchoring the entire layout.

MarilynZ has used quite an assortment of papers to document her story. I think she changed the Blend Mode to give the red diamond-patterned paper a faded look. She also lightened the frame around her photo.

Here’s another non-themed layout from makeyesup, which is a desktop wallpaper. The little clusters don’t obstruct the calendar’s boxes, but do anchor it to the page. And that cutie-patootie extracted photo would put a smile on any face.

 

 

 

Content Warning! BriannasScrapper‘s photos are a bit gnarly. I like that she masked her large photo then added a photo strip down the side to show the reason for the large photo. The layout is clean and simple.

Here’s another nasty gash from domino44, but the way she cropped her photo blunts its impact a bit.

Is there anything that touches one’s heart more than the look on this little person’s face? The design of dhariana‘s layout makes the photo the focus, from the fade on the patterned paper into the solid to the arrangement of the embellishments. The little pops of red also lead the eye to the photo.

Route66‘s journaling reminds me of #1 daughter’s nose… broken multiple times. The record card is one of those priceless finds that only a documentor-of-life would understand.  I like the way it has been framed with all the themed elements, and the use of the word strips augments her story.

Content warning! More gnarly photos from nimble4u … but I love the ugly Christmas sweater! See how the clusters move the eye around the layout? The bits of black tie the sweater to the rest of the layout.

I think every hospital in the world has the same blue gowns. They’re more flattering than the yellow isolation gowns, but a lot more drafty. 😉 The paper choices pbhill made pick up colour from the photo for a cohesive look.

Content warning! More gnarly fingers. I think we’re pretty lucky if we depart this world with all of them still attached. Jill has built her layout around the photos. keeping the palette on the masculine side. I like the black frames on the photos, they accent them nicely.

The journaling on mom2triplets04‘s layout does a lot of heavy lifting. I’m very relieved for her family that it turned out well.

What a note to end on… my layout hasn’t been posted to the Gallery yet – Christmas time is challenging. We drove up to Kamloops on Sunday to see my mom and deliver their gifts, which turned out to be great timing. Yesterday it snowed ALL day, so I know the drive through the mountains would have been nasty, especially coming back in the dark.

Since next Tuesday is Christmas Eve and the last day before Chanukah, I’ll be giving you all the day off, so to speak. I have one more tutorial request for 2024 and we’ll close out the year with it. I wish you all the best for the holidays. Take care of each other, life is short.

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

December 10, 2024 by 2 Comments

Here’s a Hybrid Gift Card Tag

Today’s tutorial is a big departure from the usual. I’ve created a hybrid project that mashes up a gift tag and a gift card holder, using digital scrapbooking images. I used the GingerBread Ladies Magic of Winter to build the look I wanted.

My brother is a humbug kinda guy when it comes to special occasions. He always says he doesn’t want anything for Christmas, but he’s also relatively impoverished, so I usually get him a gas gift card, something he definitely needs and will use. This year, I plan to give him a gag gift with the gift card inside the tag. Let me show you how I made it.

I started by making a template using the Custom Shape Tool. I measured an old gift card to get the dimensions. The template is the actual size I’ll need.

I Clipped a paper to the template then added a snowy overlay, also Clipped to the template. Then I added some wintery embellishments, the same as I would for a layout. Note that the text (Merry Christmas with love from Jan) is upside down in the image. That’s so that when I fold the cardstock to form the pocket, it will be facing in the right direction.

Before I moved on to printing, I Saved the finished tag by clicking File>Save As>PNG then deciding which folder to stash it in so I can find it later. I gave it a name I would remember then clicked OK. Why a PNG? I want the background to remain transparent.

The dialog box default settings are the ones I typically use so that I have a clean, crisp, solid image.

After I Saved everything, I put a sheet of white 65 lb cardstock in my printer and hit Print.

I used a guillotine paper trimmer to cut away the excess cardstock to make cutting out the tag a bit easier. Scissors work equally well. Rounding the corners takes a bit of finesse though. If you have a Cricut or similar cutting machine, you could do a Print and Cut with it to save yourself some effort.

Well #%@&!***. I used a new scoring board and the stylus that came with it to score the fold lines. But the cardstock I used tore! I’ve had some scoring issues with that particular brand of cardstock before, so I shouldn’t have been surprised… [Note to self: DON’T use the stylus that came with the board, use one with a ball tip!]

Back to the printer. This time I used premium matte photo paper, which gives a somewhat sharper, brighter image. It’s a 61 lb weight, and the finer fibers in it make it very smooth. I know from previous experience it scores nicely.

You can sort of see the horizontal scored line in the photo below. I’ve folded in the flaps and reinforced the folds to make them sharp.

For this step I used narrow double-faced tape. You could use quick setting liquid glue or a glue runner if you have one. Only the two flaps will be stuck down.

I tucked the flaps in as I folded the back up to meet the front. I put a ruler across the tops of the flaps while I did the fold to keep them flat, so I wouldn’t stick them crookedly.

Here’s the back of the tag with a gift card inside. It slid in there easily and there’s a decent amount of room to spare… It could probably hold several cards.

All that was left was to add a twine loop to hang it from the gag gift package.

If you want to give it a try, you can download the template HERE.

Next Tuesday will be Challenge Spotlight Day. Which Challenge will I pick this time? Check back to find out. 🙂

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Creative Style, Let's Get Crafty, Tutorials Tagged With:

Tutorial Tuesday (Fonts)

December 3, 2024 by 1 Comment

Wintery, Christmasy Fonts

I didn’t realize it’s been FOUR YEARS since I last did a winter/Christmas font post! Just what I need… more fonts while I’m trying to move all my Very Important Files to a new laptop (thank you Black Friday sale at Costco!), right? I’m going to have to make a resolution to get MainType properly set up so all my fonts are sortable. Might need y’all to hold my feet to the fire. Anyway, let’s look at some new-ish seasonal fonts and a few related dingbats, shall we? If you see something you like, click on the name, it’s linked for you, and the download is FREE….

Christmas Comeback is what’s known in the industry as a “display font”. It’s a solid font with an assortment of glyphs and ligatures – those extras that really zhuzh up your titles.

Last Christmas is a multilingual script font that would be legible enough for journaling. Now I’ just have to hope I escape Whamaggedon, having just typed out that title..

Home Christmas is another solid display font. It’s an all-caps typeface, but has an upper and lowercase set. It includes punctuation and numerals, but no fancy swashes.

Wonderful Christmas is a multilingual mash-up; it has curly-swirly uppercase characters and formal serif-style lowercase caps. It’s definitely legible, so it’s suitable for titles, subtitles and journaling.

Santa’s Air Mail has a lot of title potential. The snowy tops could be glittered, while the actual characters could be any colour, pattern or texture. It includes numerals and punctuation.

Whoa! Christmas Squad. Are you seeing what I’m seeing? The whole family in matching PJs on Christmas Eve… this title is included in the character map! The basic character set has those swashy caps, and offers multilingual options too.

 

Magic Christmas is an all-caps vintage display font. The character set includes both the version you see in the screenshot and a solid version. They could be layered with a shiny or glittery Style added to create a pretty fabulous title or siggie.

Magical Nordic includes BOTH of these typefaces in your download. Along with multilingual support, the snowflake is in the special character set. Since I’m currently working thrulines on my Swedish family tree, I was very drawn to this one.

Winterlight Season has such whimsy! The multilingual fairytale quality is charming, including punctuation and numerals.

Snowballs has a handwritten look to it, with snowflakes surrounding each character. Some characters have swash versions.

This one, Snowinter, started giving me ideas the second I saw it. The actual letters in white, with maybe a glossy coloured Style, and the crystally bits in matching glitter? Oh, yeah! I’m definitely going to play with it! It’s an all-caps-in-two-sizes multilingual typeset.

St Nicholas is giving me really strong A Christmas Carol or ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas vibe. It’s such an old-timey look; there are numerals and basic punctuation marks in the set.

This one, Mickey’s Merry Christmas, is my segué from font to dingbat. This all-caps set has a Mickey in a Santa hat in all the uppercase characters! Christmas at Disney World, anyone?

I’m really doomed… Last Christmas Symbols is a collection of Christmas and winter images.

If you’d rather have festive outlines, Christmas has got you.

And last, a seasonal but not festive set of mittens! Christmast Gloves could be used in so many ways.

I’ve got an idea for next week’s tutorial that might be a useful one. It’s a hybrid technique. Stay tuned!

 

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

November 26, 2024 by 1 Comment

Quick Trick: Templates Without Drop Shadows

Templates are real time-savers (once you decide which of your hundreds of options you’ll use… speaking for myself) by literally telling you want to do. Many of them have integrated drop shadow Styles, which are super-easy to Copy and Paste onto your papers and elements, no great effort required. But some designers choose not to apply drop shadow Styles to their templates… which makes then less attractive to me, especially for repeat use. But I’ve come up with a bit of a hack for that! It only takes a few minutes and sets me up for even more options. Let’s talk about it.

For this tip to work, I’ll be using commercially-available drop shadow Styles, rather than creating a bunch of custom shadows. I can always change that up as I go along later. I’ll show you some options that are available in the GingerScraps Store:

Aimee Harrison‘s are pretty realistic. [Click on her name to be transported right to the Store!]

Scraps-N-Pieces has a simplified set.

Karen Schulz has LOTS of Styles and Actions in her bag of tricks.

Karen even has an Action that customizes your shadows for you! I haven’t tried it, but it’s been tested with Photoshop Elements 2018, 2019, 2020 using Windows, Photoshop Elements 2018 using a Mac and CC2020 in Windows so I have no doubt it would work for me. [Note to self: TRY THIS!!]

Okay, so now that’s been set up, I open my shadow-less template [Connie Prince Unwind 1]. I’m going to add shadows to ALL the layers, in batches by type. I’ll activate all the paper layers by click>CTRL/CMD>clicking on them one after the other until they’re all lit up. I start at the bottom, background layer and work my way up, but the other direction would also work.

Once I’ve got them all active, I’ll click on the Styles button at the bottom of the Layers Panel. Then using the Style Set Selector button, I’ll choose the Shadow Styles set I want to use. [Karen Schulz’] Hovering the cursor over the thumbnails, the type of shadow will appear so I can select a Paper Shadow. Then I click on it.

All the paper layers are now shadowed!

Working systematically, I’ll activate all the element types in the same way, adding the most appropriate shadow Style to each of them. For example, I’d activate all the flowers next, then use a flower shadow Style to add shadows to all of them at once. Then I could move on to leaves, flair, whatever layers remain unshadowed, until the whole template has a shadow on every layer. It really only takes a couple of minutes! Once that’s done, I’ll Save the shadowed version of the template in the same folder, with a new name [Connie Prince Unwind 1 shadowed] so I know which is which. Then I can go ahead and create my layout, knowing I can reuse the template later and the shadows will be there for me.

This may not be something you’d ever use, but now you know you have options.

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

November 19, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: Quote Challenge

I hope I’m finding all of you in good health and good spirits! I had a COVID booster yesterday and feel a bit off today – poor sleep, sore arm, shoulder and neck, headache – which I expected. (I’ve had WAY worse reactions before that put me right in bed for a day… this is nothing.) So today is a bit low-key over here. The Challenge I chose, the Quote Challenge, is one I’ve only participated in once or twice. I love using quotes as journal prompts but find I can’t force it. That may be why there are only eight layouts for examination today. I’m showing them in the order they were posted to the Challenge thread. As usual, each layout is linked to its spot in the Gallery, simply click on the Scrapper‘s username and you’ll be whisked right to it.

The quote CathyK chose for this month reads: “We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.” ― Ellen Marie Wiseman  Let’s see how it’s been interpreted.

Up first is alexandergirl68. Her layout is simple, placing the focus on a casual photo of her extended family. The quote forms the entirety of her journaling. I only just noticed she’s matched the plaid shirt of the central figure in her photo with paper. How clever!

Our second layout is by pinklily. She’s diligently catching up with a Project 52 album and for the week of November 28-December 4, 2022, her chronology is so sad! She has used the quote as a sort of mental pep talk.

I love the ombre paper cinna has used for her background. It works beautifully with the other soft colours she chose to accompany her photo. She’s using the quote as her journaling to reflect her gratitude for the people she has in her life.

How beautiful is this layout by lm44west?! That grungy background and elegant cluster that pull colours from her photo creates something very special. Her use of the quote as a caption is quite effective.

For her layout, trinanne made the quote a theme, reflected in the photos of her family she’s used here. The grid style is ideal for this type of layout.

This layout by formbygirl transforms the quote with typography into a word art statement. The emphasis on “together” is reflected in her photos. Her colour choices meld with the photos so beautifully!

I adore the philosophical direction justpennys has taken here. That grungy background makes the cluster pop, and the quote is more of a guide than a statement.

When I look at this layout, I feel the pull of yin and yang… good and not-so-good. I think that’s what yvonne55 is conveying with her use of the quote. Most marriages/relationships have ups and downs, good and not good days, and she’s reminding us that as long as we meet our challenges together, we can do hard things.

Have these ladies given you some inspiration?

 

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

November 12, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Rerun: Raindrops with Photoshop (Elements)

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

I’ve had a lot going on the last couple of weeks, with more yet to come, and I’m mentally exhausted. But rather than making excuses I thought I’d crank up the WayBack Machine and revisit a fun technique from 6 years ago… digital raindrops! (They look a lot like the ones that blasted my windows today.)

I started with a 12×12 blank, transparent canvas. Then I chose the Elliptical Marquee tool to make my droplets.

Water droplets are spherical when they’re suspended in space and have a domed appearance when they’re on a surface. So I set the Tool Options to Fixed Ratio 1:1 to give me a perfect circle. I clicked-and-dragged out my first droplet and filled it with white using the Paint Bucket.

You can click-and-drag out a random (odd) number of drops of varying sizes using that method, or you can just copy that first one then resize them to suit.

I made 5 round drops to start with. Then, because the photo I used in my layout looked stormy, I thought I’d add some falling drops too. The Custom Shape tool has a raindrop in the default shapes, so it was pretty simple to click-and-drag out a raindrop using white again.

I want to be able to resize and alter the shape a little bit, but there’s a raindrop!

To be able to make changes to the image, I Simplified the layer.

Then I could change the angle on the drop to match the direction the rain would be falling from in the photo. I copied (CTRL/CMD>J)the layer a few times and resized them randomly.

After I had a good (odd) number of droplets, I Merged all the layers together. (CTRL/CMD>E) That way I could apply my next few steps to all of them in one click.

We’ve talked about Styles before in several other tutorials. What they are is a group of adjustments that make the layer take on a different look. Way down at the bottom of the list of Styles in PSE’s defaults is one called Wow Plastic. That’s the one I used. The menu looks like this.

One click on that Wow Plastic Aqua Blue turned them all into this.

I felt the blue was too blue, so I double-clicked on the fx icon on the layer in the Layers panel to get into the adjustment menu. I changed the blue on the shadow layer to one much lighter, and I turned off the Outer Glow setting because it made the drops look like they had a wire ring around them. The Bevel went to the max setting to make them look more spherical.

I also made sure the light source was coming from the same direction so there’s no visual conflict.

Below are my final adjustment settings.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a variety of purchased Styles in my stash – including a water set, but I wanted to make sure everybody could accomplish the look without having to buy anything else.

But OH they’re blue!! So I dropped the Opacity to 75%.

Then it was time to see how they all looked on my layout. So I dropped them onto it and moved it into place.

They still looked too blue and obvious so I dropped the Opacity again to 75% and liked it better.

But alas, they’re not very WET. I didn’t want to mess up what I’d already done, so I Duplicated (CTRL/CMD>J)the layer to give me a throw-away if what I wanted to try didn’t work.

Because the two layers are only 75% Opacity, I can see the underlying layer through the top one. That’s helpful; I went into Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation (CTRL/CMD>U) and played with that.

I took the Saturation down to 0 and increased the Lightness to +20. Now it’s got a stormy gray look to the top layer.

Now it’s looking more like a water droplet on the leaf, but not so much on the photo. Hmm.

There has to be a way…

Back I went to the Styles>Wow Plastic menu and this time I chose the Clear style. I’m still on that copy layer on top of my original droplet layer.

A few tweaks of the Style in the fx menu and NOW I’m happy!! For this adjustment I turned off the INNER Glow. You could follow all of these steps on your blank canvas before moving it to your layout now that I’ve done all the experimentation for you. 😉

You can see my entire layout in the Gallery. For the layout I used Ooh La La Scraps‘ Falling Slowly collection (sans Styles) and a photo I found on Pixabay.

Next week is Challenge Spotlight Tuesday. Maybe I’ll have time to actually participate in a Challenge before then. 😉

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

November 5, 2024 by Leave a Comment

History in the Making

Today is Election Day in the United States. I think the whole world is holding our collective breath, waiting to see which direction history will take. As a Canadian, I feel confident in stating that we want the very best for our neighbours to the south, our most improtant trading partner with whom we share the longest undefended border in the world. I have a daughter, a son-in-law and three grandchildren who will be more directly affected by the outcome of this election, and the stakes are ever so much higher for many of you. The stress of it is palpable! To distract myself, I went Windows shopping in the GingerScraps store for coordinating kits. These are the ones I found.

This was the only election-specific kit in the store. But I found some others that could definitely apply…

There’s a decent chance America will elect its first woman President, and how much more appropriate could this kit be? Check out the title word art that is part of the bundle.

I do declare, that silhouette looks remarkably familiar.

Women have only had the right to vote in the US since 1920. Canada wasn’t that far ahead, granting suffrage to women in 1917. France waited until 1944 and Lichtenstein until 1984! Many people are saying it will be women who decide this election. Go get it, girls!!

I feel like this kit ticks a lot of patriotic boxes, as a reminder of how the United States came to be.

And almost every word in this word strip pack has been spoken at campaign rallies over the last few months.

I love this kit, which so ably defines the entire 248-year experiment that is the United States. It also epitomizes what should be the focus of every voter – freedom. Whatever that means to you, I pray you’ll have every opportunity to have the freedoms you deserve.

If you want to see more related kits, the search feature in the store will show you ALL the things! Just type in a key word and go.

Tomorrow, while everyone waits for the final word on the future of the nation, my son will be undergoing an urgent procedure related to his transplanted liver, so I’ll be a little distracted. But I’ll be keeping an eye on the outcomes of both!

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

October 29, 2024 by 5 Comments

Quick Trick: About Those Shortcuts…

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

I know I’m always harping on keyboard shortcuts… every tutorial has a bunch of them. They’re really great time-savers once you have them memorized, but they’re not all that intuitive. Some are, but surely not most. There are plenty of spots on the internet where someone has made lists of them, but how well do those lists apply to digital scrapbooking, when Photoshop and Photoshop Elements have such broad graphic design application? Hmm. So I made a list of the ones I use most often and made a little chart you can print and save.

Let’s look at them individually.

B : Activate the Brush Tool – The Brush Picker menu opens so you can choose your Brush, make adjustments to size, angle, roundness and so on.
C : Activate the Crop Tool – The Crop Tool has so many options! You can set a specific size and you can move the overlay around to get it perfect.
E : Activate the Eraser Tool – I don’t use the Eraser that often, but it’s handy for quick tweaks… like if a leaf has a long stem that sticks out oddly.
I : Activate the Color Picker (Eyedropper) – This is such a versatile tool, especially for those artsy layouts.
K : Activate the Fill Tool* – aka the Paint Bucket. I use this one ALL the time for my custom shadows. The process is quick with shortcuts!
M : Activate the Marquee Tool – The default is the rectangle… or whichever one you last used. Click M again to choose the other one.
N : Activate the Pen Tool – Super-useful for those times you want to draw lines.
R : Activate the Smudge Tool* – There are three tools in this set, so make sure you’ve got the Flying Fickle Finger up there so you can adjust your shadows.
T : Activate the Text Tool – I think everybody already knows and uses this one.
V : Activate the Move Tool* – I firmly believe this is what you should select right before you close your software to prevent messing things up with you use it again. I use it automatically when shifting my shadow layers.
X : Toggle the Foreground and Background Colors – I mostly use this one for my tutorial screenshots, but also when customizing text, Styles and oh yeah… when I’m using a Layer Mask to interweave elements seamlessly.

The next batch uses a combination of keystrokes. I provide both the Windows (CTRL and ALT) and Mac (CMD and OPT) versions for accessibility.

CTRL/CMD> + or – : Zoom in or out – get in realllly close to see details, pull waaaay back to see the overall picture.
CTRL/CMD>A : Select All – This snaps the marching ants to the outside edge of the entire project.
CTRL/CMD>C : Copy – So handy for bringing objects from one project onto another, and for importing text from outside documents.
CTRL/CMD>D : Deselect* – This turns the marching ants off, to allow ongoing changes to other parts of the layout. When they’re on, you can’t do much.
CTRL/CMD>E : Merge selected layers – This is useful in so many ways, especially when you’re trying to create titles, word art or decreasing the size of your file.
CTRL/CMD>F : Repeat last Filter* – This goes for ANY Filter; my most used is the Gaussian Blur for my shadows to replicate the softening effect distance creates.
CTRL/CMD>I : Invert – This changes the colour of your object to the OPPOSITE on the colour wheel. Woohoo! More goodies for your stash!
CTRL/CMD>J : Duplicate layer(s) – You’ve seen this one a million times! It also works for multiple layers, so if you wanted to Duplicate a cluster, activate all the layers in that cluster and CTRL/CMD>J BOOM!
CTRL/CMD>L : Adjust Levels – Good for lightening or darkening images.
CTRL/CMD>N : New document – I like to build my titles and word art on their own documents then import them into the layout.
CTRL/CMD>O : Open last folder – I always fill a folder with the things I think I might use for a given layout, but sometimes I need to go back to the kit folder for more paper or whatever. If I’ve opened that kit folder once after starting my process, I can quickly get back to it using just these keystrokes.
CTRL/CMD>P : Print – You probably use this one a lot already.
CTRL/CMD>S : Save – If your computer is misfiring at times, or you need to interrupt your creativity to make supper, you might want to just Save what you’ve already done so it doesn’t vanish when your back is turned.
CTRL/CMD>U : Adjust Hue/Saturation – Very useful for recolouring on the fly.
CTRL/CMD>V : Paste – Whatever you last Copied or Cut will magically appear on your canvas.
CTRL/CMD>Y : Redo – For when you’ve overdone the Undo!
CTRL/CMD>Z : Undo – Undoubtedly my most uses shortcut of all time.
CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>S : Save AS – Elements creates a PhotoShop Document (PSD) so if you want you work Saved As a JPG or PNG, use this.
CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I : Invert Selection – When I’ve Selected the edges of an object and want to alter everything outside of it,  the Selection must be Inverted.
CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>I : Resize document – Quick way to get to the Resize menu so you can Save your layout As a 600×600 Gallery-friendly pixel version.
CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>C : Resize canvas – When you need more room to create your title, word art or cluster than you have, use this.

* : these shortcuts are my go-tos for custom shadows These are the shortcuts I reach for automatically while creating shadows. My fingers just know where to go!

I’m getting a bit closer to that new laptop I mentioned. Hubby was at Costco this morning checking out the options. (As IF he knows what I need…)

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

October 22, 2024 by 6 Comments

What Do I Do With All My Layouts??

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

I know I can’t be the only one who has hundreds of completed digital layouts. I’ve been digiscrapping since October of 2010, after all… and I was late to the party! So that got me thinking about what we do with all the wonderful things we create. I’ve had several 8×8 hard-cover photo books printed, had quite a few layouts printed in both 8×8 and 12×12 format so I could put them in old-school albums or frames, and I’ve done a couple of calendars. With Christmas and Chanukah fast approaching, maybe some of you are planning to give scrapbook-related gifts. Did you know there are lots of options out there for what you can do and where you can do it? Here are a few!

<Editor’s note: where you see bold, coloured, underlined text, there’s a URL link embedded there which will take you directly to the site.>

I’m not going to talk about Kinko, Staples, Vistaprint or any of the more business-oriented print shops. I want to focus on scrapbooking!

I think we all know about Walmart Photo Centers. They’re typically found in the same part of the store as the electronics department. They offer prints, posters, photo books, canvas prints, calendars, plaques, greeting cards and a few other options. Prints-wise, they don’t do 12x12s, but they DO have 12×12 photo books in both soft and hard cover. I believe you can skip their “themes” and just upload your full-sized layouts to fill the pages. If you scrap in 8×10 or 8 1/2×11, you’re in luck – you can get prints at Walmart. You have a choice between going into the store to order, or an online store. Canadians, this is your link. Of course, as Walmart is a budget option, quality may be somewhat diminished.

The next one I think most of us know about is Shutterfly, the OG online photo service. Recently Costco eliminated both their in-warehouse and online photo services, moving their business to Shutterfly. Since this is where I’ve had most of my photo books printed, I wasn’t all that mad; their products run the gamut – anything you want printed on anything is possible here. I’ve uses the Costco service before and was quite annoyed that they ROLLED my 12×12 prints for shipping, so I was a bit trepidatious  of how the 12×12 prints for my dad’s memorial service would arrive. Thankfully they were packaged flat and well-protected. One great thing about Shutterfly is that they run sales all the time! Quality is decent, and sale prices make this a good choice. Canadians, your link is here.

Persnickety Prints is, in my opinion, the BEST option for prints. They’re completely online, based in Utah. They offer a wide variety of print sizes and types, as well as calendars (yes, they DO have 12×12 calendars!) and soft-cover photo books, but only 6×8, 8×8 and 5×5. Best of all, they use a credit system so you can buy an bunch of prints without having those prints ready to go. A couple of times a year (Black Friday, anyone?) they have a sale… I have 127 credits for 12×12 prints just waiting for me to give them the go-ahead. (I plan to print all my Ireland layouts and put them in an album.) As far as quality goes, they use Fuji photo paper, REAL silver halide photo paper, for crisp, clean, vivid prints. Turnaround time is quick, too.

Presto Photo is entirely devoted to scrapbooking. They offer prints and photo books in a variety of sizes, calendars (yes to 12×12) and gift options. Although they’re based in the US, their site supports currency from multiple countries. I did note some negative feedback in their comments section. so proceed at your own risk.

For non-US readers, I have a PSA for you. If one of the shipping options on your chosen site is UPS, choose any other mode! UPS charges a brokerage fee that often is more than the value of the contents of your package, and will harass you if you refuse delivery. This is on top of any duty you may be required to pay. I’ve never had to pay duty on any of the prints or books I’ve ordered, but I HAVE been harassed by UPS over another type of shipment I refused at the door.

Okay, back to our regularly-scheduled programming… you may have heard of Blurb, which is based mainly in Canada, but has a US site as well. Their focus is self-publishing, so for the family historian they’re a great choice. They have a variety of sizes, covers, paper choices and even magazines! They have a few wall art options, but they don’t do just prints, or any of the tchotchkes. I have a book that was produced by Blurb and the quality is very good. I think I might use them for the children’s book my brother wants me to illustrate.

Milkbooks is another printer that only provides books. They have a selection of sizes and options, including magazine format. And they’re pricey! But on the plus side, their site supports multiple currencies.

The last site I’ll mention is Treasure Books. I left them until last because they require the use of proprietary software. Their website refers to some issue with creating on Windows-based systems necessitating a call to their toll-free number. That by itself would make me leery, although they say they don’t use an automated call-answering system so you’d speak to a human right off the bat. Based in Canada, they also have a support number in the US. Their basic books are 20 pages, but can go as high as 200.

I hope you’re not disappointed that I have no screenshots for you this week. 😉

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

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

October 15, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: DSD Brush Challenge

This month has been a bonanza of Challenges! Rather than choose one of the usual 37 (!) monthly Challenges, I looked at the Digital Scrapbooking Day Challenges and opted for the Brush Challenge hosted by CarolW. I decided that I’d show you all the odd-numbered layouts this time. As usual, wherever you see bold, underlined, coloured text, I’ve linked that text to something, either a thread, the Gallery or a specific URL. Each layout is linked to the Gallery via the Scrapper‘s user name so you can pop in and take a closer look, and of course, leave some praise for the Scrapper. But first, let’s have a look at the brush Carol has created and provided free, no-pennies.

Isn’t it gorgeous?? Now let’s see how our Scrappers have used it… starting with this one by demma_b13. She’s done a tone-on-tone blended paper with it, combined with some other brushes, and it’s perfect. I’m also a sucker for a cute blue-winged kookaburra.

For her layout, andastra has gone with one of the grays from her photos and with the bird peeking out from behind the large cluster, it echoes the leaves. Very artsy!

At first glance, I thought dhariana had designed a mutant half-rabbit-half-bird! She has created a landing space for her beautifully simple white-space layout with the Challenge brush and some others.

Branma went for a paint look as part of her mixed-media background paper. The green she used is a close match for the leaf embellishments you chose.

Here, echoes77 went for a high-contrast look, layering the Challenge brush over another botanical brush, and if I’m seeing it clearly, she changed the Blend Mode to Multiply. It has the effect of mimicking the bark on the tree in her large photo and it’s stunning!

I’m hoping jenasz will see this and tell us how she used the Challenge brush, because my eyes are failing me! I see lots of brushes, just not that specific one.

To ground her masked photo, glee went with a taupe colour and has the bird looking in the opposite direction, providing some visual tension.

DebraB made the brush the star of her show!

Windswept has kept her layout very simple, using mostly brushes to achieve a pretty, monochromatic, white-space layout.

And last, we have this artsy, mixed-media masterpiece by biche57. The bird section Challenge brush fades into the paint, while part of the text area is tack-sharp. It’s an interesting look I may have to try and dupe!!

Since October has 5 Tuesdays, next week I’ll have a regular tut for you, and will save the Quick Trick for the last one. Now to come up with a topic……

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Day, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Tutorials Tagged With:
Next Page »