SMJ Scraplift Challenge

*Click Here for Credits*

I had so much fun lifting this awesome page by Juliet, called Rest, for the challenge going on at the SMJ team blog. I hope you join in the challenge too - SMJ has a freebie for everyone who participates, and there will be TWO winners who will each receive $50 gift cards to Shabby Miss Jenn designs :)!!! Look here for more details.

This is the first of many scrapbook pages about our recent vacation! I posted more photos and journaling about this evening in Cape Cod right here if you want to go check them out .

Challenge at SMJ Team Blog

So, do you like the snow that has been falling here at Scrapbook Ideas? It’s a cool little extra that wordpress added (only until January 2nd) for those of us who don’t have REAL snow where we live ! I think it’s very pretty and it doesn’t have all the negatives associated with real snow, like the freezing cold, the wet socks, runny nose and aching back from digging your car out… LOL!  

Did you hear about the challenge at the Shabby Miss Jenn Team Blog? All you have to do is scraplift the page by MandaKay, using at least two SMJ items, and you could be randomly chosen to win a $25 gift card to SMJ Designs!!! Plus there will be three winners who get to pick free kits!! Yippee!! Here is my scraplift (click here for credits):

So fun ! Oh, and did you see SMJ’s latest????? I think I’m going to have to go get a pony now, so I can use this adorable kit! Ok, maybe just some pony pictures !!!

Selective Color and Photo Tinting Techniques

I’m on a roll lately with digital scrapbooking! It’s just too easy to make lots of pages with all of the gorgeous designs the Weeds and Wildflowers ladies have been producing . The following page is a scraplift of a layout called Be Me by another Weeds and Wildflowers creative team member, Dawn (createwings). Check out her gallery, it is just FULL of inspiration!

For Credits, Click *HERE* (includes Weeds and Wildflowers freebie link)

Photoshop Tips & Tricks

• I sometimes find it helpful to use keyboard shortcuts to arrange layers on my page. Typing ctrl+[ sends the active layer back one layer and ctrl+] brings the layer forward one. So if you drag and drop an element onto your page and it disappears behind a paper, just type ctrl+] several times until it appears again ! 
• I used the shape tool to cut the red paper into a flower shape that mimics the flower shaped buttons.
• The ric-rac I used is extra thick, so I doubled up on the stitches and recolored them to match my page. I also recolored the circled doodle. Recoloring solid colored items, like doodles,  is as simple as using the paint bucket tool. This makes them great elements for adding an extra punch of color to the page.
• I used the edit>transform>flip horizontal command on the main photo, because I wanted the image to pop out of the frame on the left, like in the inspiration page. 

The original photos I wanted to use are some of my favorites and I love their colors. They are pretty, but the bright colors didn’t match the theme or colors of the page, so I used two simple photo editing techniques to get a unique, dreamy look that I think compliments the page perfectly ! 

NOTE: I used Photoshop CS for this technique, earlier or later versions of PS might have slightly different steps.

Technique: Selective Color Using a Layer Mask

If you add small areas of color back into a black and white image, you are using a selective coloring technique. When I first started experimenting with this technique, my method was to simply create a new layer, remove the color, and erase the areas that I wanted to color to show through. That works, but it doesn’t give you much control, and makes it it difficult to correct mistakes. Using a layer mask is a simple, and gives you much more control over the effect. Step 1 This is the image I started with, I had already done my basic editing and cropping.

Step 2 Next, I duplicated the layer and ran a Virtual Photographer filter called “Hard Steel” on the duplicated layer. You don’t have to use a Virtual Photographer filter, you could just remove the color (desaturate) from the duplicated layer and make your own adjustments until you find a look you like. I love the virtual photographer filters because they are fast and easy (not to mention free!). If you run a filter and it looks too harsh, you can always use edit>fade (shift+ctrl+f) to tone it down a bit.

Step 3 With the duplicated layer still active, I clicked the “add layer mask’ icon at the bottom of the layers palette, that looks like a square with a circle in the middle.

Step 4 When the mask is turned on, there will be a white square next to the layer’s thumbnail in the layer palette. Using a small, soft edged brush, I painted with black over the areas of the image that I wanted to bring color back to. You can see in the layer mask thumbnail the areas that have been painted over. For the purposes of this tutorial, I used a brush set at 100% opacity so that you can see the effect clearly. For the actual images on my page, I used a brush set somewhere between 70-80 % opacity, so that the color would be somewhat muted. If you make a mistake or change your mind about something in a layer mask, you can always go back by painting back over it with white. This makes the layer mask very versatile and easy to use.

Technique: Tinting Photos to Match Your Page

Now that I had the selective color look I wanted, I just had  to adjust the color of the images so that they would coordinate with my page elements.

Step 5 I added a new layer and using the paint bucket tool, I filled the layer with a red color I had picked up from one of the elements on my page. Then, in the pull-down menu at the top of the layers palette, I changed the blending mode to “hue”. I love how this simple technique made my photos look, and I hope you’ll enjoy using it as well !

There are at least two other techniques I want to show you from this page, but I will have to do it some other time. I’d love to show you how to make your image jump out of the frame, plus an easy way to put your text on journaling strips. So, check back soon for more photoshop fun ! 

Technique: Altering Digital Elements

As much as I enjoyed making this page, I can’t take much credit for it! I created this page for a Weeds & Wildflowers CT challenge: to scraplift one of Dixi’s pages. It was difficult to choose just one to lift, because they are all SO inspiring . But I ended up basing this page on this layout from Dixi’s gallery. And I can’t take credit for the great photos either, they belong to one of my online friends – I couldn’t resist making a page of her and her little cutie! 

I mostly used the Cosmos kit by Patricia (from W&W) for this page. For full credits, click here.

Tips & Tricks:

• I converted the main photo to B&W, so I was able to use colorful papers and elements without trying to match the photo.
• Even though I just used small strips of paper, they still have impact, because I chose ones with bold colors and patterns.
• I turned one of the elements from the kit into a “photo” by placing it over a solid background and framing it.
• In order to make room for a title, I made one of the frames look like a Polaroid by adding a rectangle shape to the bottom that matched the color of the frame. Then I used the clone stamp tool in photoshop to help it blend with the rest of the frame. 

Technique: Altering digital elements:

I really love these little ribbon rose buds in the Cosmos kit! I couldn’t use just one, so I decided to make a little border out of them. But I thought it would look best if some had leaves that were pointing down, and some had leaves that were straight. Since all of the rose buds in the kit come with the leaves pointing down, I altered the leaves on the red rosebud. It was SOOO simple: with the red rosebud layer active, I just drew a selection around one of the leaves (using the lasso tool in photoshop), then I right-clicked inside the selection and chose “layer via cut”. This took the leaf I selected and placed it on its own layer. Then all I had to do was rotate the new layer into the position I wanted it in, by using the move tool! Then I made the rosebud layer active again and did the same thing with the other leaf.  When I was done, I merged the three layers together to create the altered element. If need instructions on how to link and/or merge layers, let me know – I’d be happy to help .

Inspiration: Fashion Color Trends

Credits Circle and flower paper: Anne Langpap (free download from Two Peas in a Bucket); Cardstock: DCWV; ZIG pen by EK Success; Misc: button, ribbon & acrylic jewel.

I got my April 2007 Memory Maker’s magazine this week – Yippee! I am slowly reading through cover to cover and soaking in all kinds of fabulous inspiration. The magazine has undergone some changes lately, and I think they’re really doing a great job.

I haven’t even made it halfway through the magazine yet, but I’ve already been inspired to create!  Starting on page 46, a great article called Color Couture, talks about drawing from the world of fashion to help with color choices for your layouts. I loved the layout “Blowing Berries” by Sharon Laakkonen (see below) so much that I just had to “scraplift” it! Thanks for the great ideas, Sharon! You can check out more of Sharon’s work by visiting her Two Peas in a Bucket gallery.

For my layout (above), I followed the advice given in this article, by Kari Hansen, to use the clothing of the subject in my photo to build my color scheme.  I also tried to keep a playful feel about the page to continue the youthful theme.

Tips & Tricks:

• I created my own flower embellishment by cutting out a flower from patterned paper, and gave it dimension by adding a button.
• I used a ZIG pen to achieve the look of inked edges without the mess and hassle.
• I closely cropped the photo at an angle, which helps draw your eye into the layout. The dark background in my original photo didn’t work with the layout, so I made a cutout of the subject and adhered it to white cardstock.
• I used the ZIG pen to create the look of  zigzag stitching along the edge of the patterned paper.
• I used a decorative corner punch on my cardstock, arranged the shapes it created into a paper-pieced flower, then embellished the flower with a jewel to hide the seams.

There are lots of ways to incorporate current fashion trends in your scrapbook pages.  Be on the look out for fresh inspiration on your next shopping trip or just on the next trip to your closet .

Sharon Laakkonen’s Layout as seen in Memory Makers (April 2007):