Digital Scrapbooking 101

Reblog: Flypaper Photo Textures in Photoshop and PSE

This was originally shared on my blog in June of 2010.  After a few emails from readers asking about photo textures, I hope there are many of you that will find it helpful.

The past few days I have been having so much fun playing with the Flypaper Photo Textures I thought I should write another post here and reference my previous tutorial post.  To my dismay, I learned that I hadn't yet moved it to this blog - so today you get both in one post.

My favorite photo transformation from yesterday - here is the before with just the basic edits in Lightroom:

 

And the after with aqua sparkles and leaky garret from the Tex Box One collection:

I love these textures - combine them with blending modes and opacity and you can take a photo to art rather quickly.  I don't want to leave you without the how-to so below is the original post with tutorial in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements - enjoy!  

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I am so excited about today's tutorial! I found these textures a few months ago and I am so excited to show you all how to use them in photos for your layouts. I am sharing not only videos for both Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements, I have also added a 4x6 Photo Overlay Freebie and written instructions that you can download for both CS and PSE!

Video Tutorial for PSE Users:

Download the photo overlay and handout for PSE Here:PSE Handouts

Video Tutorial for CS Users:

Download the photo overlay and handout for CS3 Here: CS3 Handouts

What "Finding Photo Flow" Is

I’ve had a few people ask me what I mean by “photo flow.”  Let me start by sharing what Photo Flow is not: A one-size fits all workflow solution.

Workflow is a term that is used by many when describing working with your photos.  On the professional photography circuit you can find class after class of photographers sharing their personal photo workflow. 

Workflow involves software, it involves steps and process (star ratings, keywords, etc.) and often a “best practice” idea of what works.  Students learn this workflow and then go home and apply it step by step in their workflow with a few tweaks.

While Photo Flow does involve some of these things (i.e. you can choose to use star ratings & keywords in your photo flow), it is very different.  There is no "best practice" involved in Finding Photo Flow.  

Finding Photo Flow is kicking things up a notch to work on a higher level.  It's more about how you feel about your workflow.  It’s about looking at a bucket full of blocks, each block representing a step you could choose to add to your workflow, but don’t necessarily have to.  It's about creativity. It’s about being engaged, happy and excited to work with your photos and building a process for yourself that supports that.

Most photo organization classes focus on how many photos you can keyword, rate, and print during class.  While the end goal of Finding Photo Flow is to help you process images and create amazing results, the four weeks in this class are about thinking, inspiring and creating an amazing workflow that will last long after the initial excitement fades.

After teaching photo organization for years, the one thing that gets to me is students who have followed my work all this time and write to me again and again saying, “This is it. I know what I need to do. This time it is going to stick and I’ll get caught up with my photos.”

Finding Photo Flow  came out of my thoughts of how to help students find something that "sticks."  In my own life there have been times when I have tried to adopt something someone else was doing because it looked amazing, and yet I never could keep it up for the long haul.  The lesson I learned from that was this: When you try to do something over and over again and it doesn’t stick, the reality is you just haven’t yet found flow.

Finding Photo Flow is about looking at your time, the current season of your life and then creating photo flow that supports that.  It’s about letting go and enjoying.  It doesn't matter if your workflow is highly complex or completely simplified, what matters most is that it engages you and supports your creativity.

Finding Photo Flow is about taking the time to absorb different ways of doing things in your workflow.  I want you to think about what is working now with your photos and creating a simple system that is sustainable.  A process that doesn’t overwhelm and at the same time gives you what you want from your photo library.

Quite simply, Finding Photo Flow is about finding joy in your photo library.  It's about inspiring creativity.

I hope to see you in the classroom!  You can learn more about Finding Photo Flow here.

 

 

 

Recoloring in PSE and CS with A Bit of Lightroom Workflow

I’ve had a lot of questions lately about my creative process.  I’ve come to the conclusion that not all layouts are the same for me in artistic process - they each fulfill a different creative need. 

Today’s layout is an artistic layout.  Artistic layouts are created when I want to embellish a photo with colors, texture and elements to dress it up.  Some photos tell a story just in the photo and beauty of an expression.  They don’t always have journaling to say everything that is in your heart - the elements, colors, textures and symbols you use are up to interpretation.  

 The photo in the above layout is of my daughter Emily a few years ago.  When I processed the photo, I knew I wanted a more formal and feminine frame to set off the photo which led me to the kit where I chose soft and feminine colors for the layout.  The soft colors say a lot about Emily.  I have three girls and Emily by far is my “girly girl” she is adorable and we love her.  She loves butterflies (background stamp) and everything about her is just sweet.

In todays tutorial I share how to change the color of the red flower to match the layout in both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS5 (stay tuned to the end of the video for the CS5 segment). 

Remember, the style of tutorials around here is very informal - much like if you were sitting at my computer with me and I was sharing details and little tips here and there.  In this video we start in Lightroom and along the way I share not only how to recolor elements in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements but also a few things about my scrapbooking workflow.

Hope you enjoy!  As always, please feel free to share your comments and questions here!  Have a wonderful weekend!

A few additional posts you may be interested in:

Understanding Collections, Sorting and More

Sugar Plum Paperie Chocolate Kiss Kit

Combining Two Catalogs in Lightroom

Lightroom Class Questions: Is Bridge Absolutely Necessary? {No!}

I am happy to report that I have found a PNG conversion solution for those of you currently working in Photoshop Elements who want to start organizing in Lightroom.  This means that when you take my class, the only software programs you need are Lightroom and Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Even though it is going to be a lot more work for me to do, the first offering of this class will have videos for both PSE and CS users in the same classroom.  They are similar, and also different processes, so the first group of students in the class will get both processes for the price of one whereas future classes will have to choose between the two.

So there you have it, if you don't have Bridge and you want to use Lightroom, this class is still a GO! :)

 

 

 

Do You Believe in Fairies?

Do you believe in Fairies?  Let me introduce you to a fairy I believe in -

Karen is the type of fairy that should have digital scrapbookers everywhere clapping their hands and jumping for joy.  Every day and sometimes several times a day, Karen releases antique clipart on her blog that crafters and scrapbookers can use in their everyday projects.  The best part is she does it all for free - just sharing - she's a woman I totally identify with and we are so lucky to have her in blogland! 

The Graphics Fairy also runs a site called The Background Fairy where you can download free templates and fun things to prettify your blog.  Now do you see why I believe in Fairies? :)

I am such a huge fan of Karen's that I shared a few blogging tutorials on her site a few months back.  We also recently coordinated on another tutorial for The Graphics Fairy site where I show how to use the graphics from her site and make your own pattern paper and cute Christmas card.  You can see the video tutorial here.  Hope you enjoy!

Reblog: Embellishing a Wordle

In another post I shared how to create your word design in Wordle. Today I am going to share a few quick tips on embellishing those words to create a fun Christmas Card design.

So to start we have Words on a White Background The first thing we need to do is get those words separated from the background. Your image will often import as a locked background layer. To fix this, double click on the layer and click ok to make it a normal layer.

Next, select your Magic Wand Tool,   and click on the white background. If you have words that have inside areas, such as P, A, etc. hold your shift key down while clicking in the interior areas of those letter so that all the white background behind the text is selected. Press your delete key. Press CTRL + D (CMD+D on Mac) to deselect. Go back and delete anything you missed.

Alternatively, if you are working in Photoshop, you can choose Select>Color Range and then use the eyedropper tool to choose your white background. Hit Delete on your keyboard and the CTRL+D or CDM + D on Mac to deselect. This will actually remove all the white, even the areas inside the closed letters like A, P, etc.

 

You should now have text on a transparent background.
In order to see what you are working with, I recommend adding a white fill layer. Choose Layer > New Fill Layer and then use your eyedropper tool to select a white fill layer. Move this layer to the bottom of your layers palette.

Next, find a texture or pattern and move it to your document, with the pattern layer just over the white fill layer. In my example I used Michelle Coleman's Photo Alchemy Pattern #2 (available here). You can play with the blending modes and opacity to achieve the effect you want. In this example the blending mode is normal and the opacity is 31%.

 
To add a finishing touch, add a fun border or brush. I used the Damask Transparency from the collaboration kit, In Good Company by Leora Sanford and Paislee Press. I resized and rotated it using CTRL+T (CMD+T on Mac) and then placed it as a border. Next I duplicated it by pressing CTRL+J (CMD+J on Mac) and moving it up as a border on the top of the card.

 Last but not least, I saved the design as a photo and uploaded it to Shutterfly's website, using it as the focal photo in one of their simple pre-made templates. I added our family vacation photo as the secondary photo inside the card, added a custom message and voila my cards were done! I would share the final card with you, but it would ruin the surprise for friends and family on our Christmas card list who read this blog.

Bottom Line it was Simple and Easy - as all Christmas cards should be. So, please share, what are you doing for YOUR Christmas Cards? We can't wait to hear!

Creative Escape

After writing a recent guest post on my favorite scrapbooking business site, I was a little nervous about how it would all pan out.  I am grateful to say that the comments were so kind I was relieved to find out there are several other women in the industry who also have experienced burnout. :)

I have so many exciting things to share with you all but they are going to have to wait.  I am excitedly preparing for this event and you think Saturday afternoon when I had some time set aside to finalize some preparations for my presentation I would have worked away... I didn't.

Instead I took four of my favorite photos and blended them together with one texture each from Michelle Coleman's Photo Alchemy Textures Vol. 1 and Limelight Photo Textures.  I had been wanting to do something like this since I watched this video.  So I did...

Although technically my little creative escape put me behind in my preparations for my presentation and a few other things, it was just what I needed..

What is your latest Creative Escape?  Hopefully something fun that renews the senses and gives you joy. :) 

Video Tutorial: Flypaper Photo Textures in Photoshop and PSE

The past few days I have been having so much fun playing with the Flypaper Photo Textures I thought I should write another post here and reference my previous tutorial post.  To my dismay, I learned that I hadn't yet moved it to this blog - so today you get both in one post.

My favorite photo transformation from yesterday - here is the before with just the basic edits in Lightroom:

 

And the after with aqua sparkles and leaky garret from the Tex Box One collection:

I love these textures - combine them with blending modes and opacity and you can take a photo to art rather quickly.  I don't want to leave you without the how-to so below is the original post with tutorial in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements - enjoy!  

**********************************************************************

I am so excited about today's tutorial! I found these textures a few months ago and I am so excited to show you all how to use them in photos for your layouts. I am sharing not only videos for both Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements, I have also added a 4x6 Photo Overlay Freebie and written instructions that you can download for both CS and PSE!

Video Tutorial for PSE Users:

Download the photo overlay and handout for PSE Here:PSE Handouts

Video Tutorial for CS Users:

Download the photo overlay and handout for CS3 Here: CS3 Handouts

Scanning Images

Another tool in the digital toolbox is scanning.  It is an amazing way to capture memorabilia, old photos, letters, cards, etc.  I thought it would be appropriate to share a few helpful tips for those of you just getting started in scanning.

1. DPI:  Dots per inch.  This is the quality of the scan.  Generally you will want to make sure you are scanning at 300 dpi.  Some people scan in at higher dpi (i.e. 600) thinking it will make it easier to enlarge - there are pros and cons to this.  You can only get the quality of what you scan in - so generally you do not obtain any more detail by scanning in a print at a larger dpi.  If you can scan your negatives over the prints, do so as the film will always give you more detail.  You can find more helpful info on DPI here.
2. Multi-Image Scan:   Many newer flatbed scanners will allow you to place multiple items on the scanner and then scan each item separately in one scan.  This saves a lot of time if you are scanning several items or images.
3. Manual Scan:  Sometimes you can adjust the quality of your scan for each image or item by going into manual mode instead of full auto mode - again you will want to check the settings for your scanner to learn how to get the most out of it.  You can find links to many of the major scanner manufacturers (along with helpful tips) here.
4. Scan Lid Open or Closed:  You may run into a situation where it is actually better to keep the lid of your scanner open when scanning something as the white background of the lid sometimes forces the other side to show through.  Like this image:  

            Here is a scan with the Lid open - the image is darker but much easier to read:

           

            You can also use your photo editing software to brighten the image a bit as shown here:

            

As you scan your images, treat them as you would your photos - meaning that you should be organizing them in your photo organization software with advanced keywording.

When it comes to your originals and whether or not you save them, it is up to you.  Obviously the originals above I am saving.  It is very rare to be able to put your hands on a letter written by your great-great-uncle over 100 years ago.  However, in my own life, unless the item is very important I often will scan and toss.  If I am in doubt, I keep things scanned in a plastic bin for a few years and then go through and see if it is still important enough to keep.

Lastly, back up.  This should be happening automatically but if it isn't, don't throw your originals away!  You want to make sure you have a fail safe backup solution in place not just for your photos, but also for your scanned treasures.  There would be nothing worse than scanning something in only to lose it later and not have it to re-scan.  You can avoid this by simply making sure you have a backup plan.

Adobe Bridge Quick Template Tip

A little obsessed with templates lately - but seriously they are the best way to scrap a lot of images quick. It is almost like channeling your favorite designer to work alongside you - you literally get to apply their design sense (or template) to your photos and layout.

Today's tutorial followed this tip on Julianne Kosts's blog. An amazing resource for finding all those hidden tips you never knew about everything Adobe. Fabulous resource.

Combine that tip with a December Daily template from Ali Edwards, a beautiful background paper from Jen Wilson and you get a quick layout in less than seven minutes.

Enjoy!

PS, if you are into fabulous and free templates, you won't want to miss CK's latest FREE digital template.

Quick tip on loading photos into one layered Photoshop file using Bridge. Working with a digital scrapbooking template and photos.