Monday, July 21, 2008

Playing with Summer Delight

Today I enjoyed working with my new kit, Summer Delight, to create the following layout:

Like Father Like Daughter
Click layout for detailed view and full credits.

At first, I played with the placement of the photos and the sizing of them. At first I considered making one photo quite a bit larger than the other but the photo quality wasn’t that great so I decided against that idea. I did consider doing a blended layout but decided that I wanted to focus on the photos rather than blend either one into the background. Because there were only two photos, for a balanced layout I thought of making them both exactly the same size and positioned in the centre of the page to allow for the title above and below the photos. This didn’t look too bad but then I thought about the idea of hanging each photo on a chain and decided I liked that idea best!

Next, I added a 75 pixel inside stroke to each photo, knowing that when I separated the stroke from the photo layer (only available in Photoshop), the stroke would actually be larger and would result in a good size for a frame for my photo. To do this in Photoshop Elements, I would have selected the photo layer first by Control-clicking the photo’s thumbnail on the Layers Palette and then creating a new layer above the photo on which to place the stroke. I then chose one of the inked kraft papers from the kit and clipped it to the stroke layer. I resized the paper to about 50% and added a slight bevel and a drop shadow.

I placed the branch of yellow flowers at the top of the layout so I would have somewhere in which to hide the chains for the photos. On a separate layer, I used a chain brush to stroke the chain and then applied a metal style to make the chains look realistic. To allow enough room for the title words, I played with the sizing of the photos a bit. I then added the glitter sticker alphas, overlapping the title letters slightly to get them all into the space I had for them. I chose to use the alpha, Talk Dots by Mary Fran, to create the other word in the title and to give a bit more repetition for emphasis. If you have never checked out the Nitwit Collections store, you are in for a treat! I just love how all the products are displayed. This is the preview for the alpha I used. Isn't it the cutest?

Talk Dots

Of course, since the photos are all about big sunglasses, I had to include a pair from the kit! I decided that the best placement would be to hang them over the edge of the bottom photo. I chose to use a yellow pair to form a kind of visual triangle effect on the layout => sunglasses on the bottom => sunglasses on my husband’s photo => and yellow flowers at the top of the layout. You can read about the Visual Triangle on Scraps of Mind.

I used a journaling lines brush that I had created to stamp lines on my page and then journaled on another layer.

I thought I was about finished but the layout still seemed to need something. That's when I decided to used inked edges to mess things up a bit! I tried them in each of the kit colors but what looked best was the neutral tan of the kraft paper.

The last thing to try before finishing was to boost contrast. In Photoshop, I do this with Curves. Even if things seem to look ok, just trying a small shot of contrast can really make a powerful impact on a layout!

What do you think? For those of you who have already bought Summer Delight, I would love to see what you are creating with it!

Now, to add to your pleasure . . . I have created both a Summer Delight Brag Book and some DreamScraps (otherwise known as Quick Pages)!

Summer Delight 4 x 6" Brag Book

The Summer Delight Brag Book, by DreamScrapper, has been designed using the funky and vibrant colors of sunshine yellow, cherry red, luscious lime and totally turquoise from the Summer Delight kit. The ten pages of this brag book will be perfect for displaying all your summer photos. Simply place your photos on a layer below the brag book page and print! All pages are created at 300ppi and saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are applied only where layering of pieces makes shadowing necessary for realism. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product. For even more options for your summer photos, be sure to check out the full Summer Delight Page Kit.

Summer Delight DreamScraps

Designed using the funky and vibrant colors of sunshine yellow, cherry red, luscious lime and totally turquoise from the Summer Delight Page Kit, by Dreamscrapper, these four quick pages will have you displaying your summer photos in no time! Simply place your photos on a layer beneath the quick page. Add titles and journaling, if desired, and print! All pages are created at 300ppi and saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are applied only where layering of pieces makes shadowing necessary for realism. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product. For even more options for your summer photos, be sure to check out the full Summer Delight Page Kit.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Brilliante Weblog Award and Some New Layouts

Karen from Scraps of Mind has awarded me the Brilliante Weblog award. What a surprise this was! Because of this, I get to sport the logo:

brillanteweblogawardbyvcn1

Though I cannot nominate Karen for the award (since she already has it) I can certainly endorse her blog as a good one to read regularly. She often has tutorials for scrapbooking but she also raises some interesting questions from time to time regarding scrapbooking issues. Make sure you pay her a visit on her blog.

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to read a lot of blogs like I used to do so I don’t have a list of 7. On top of this, Karen already picked one of the blogs I would have nominated for this award – Hummie’s World.

This leaves me to nominate only Misty Cato Designs. I have been a regular reader of Misty’s for some time now. Not only is she a great designer but she also provides several well written tutorials and freebies on her blog. She is also very good at injecting personal glimpses of her life into her blog posts . . . something that I am NOT good at doing!

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I have been enjoying doing some personal scrapping this summer, using products from some of my favorite designers.

In my layout, Precious Girl, I was drawn to use of one of Miki Ferkul’s kits, Naiads ‘n’ Oceanids, because of its vibrant colors.

Naiads and Oceanids

I always enjoy reading Miki’s product descriptions because she always has a little story to go with each of her kits so it is like getting a mini history lesson to go along with your scrapping!

Precious Girl
Click layout for detailed version and full credits.

In Grade 3 Gal, I used another of Miki’s kits:

Lilla

I was drawn to the fresh, spring-like colors in this kit. I decided they would be the perfect kit to highlight my daughter’s grade 3 photo.

Grade 3 Gal
Click layout for detailed version and full credits.

Lastly, I created the layout, Diggin’ at the Beach. I primarily used Seascape by Lindsay Jane Designs. If you need a kit to scrap beach/ocean shots, this is a fabulous kit!

Seascape

I have been wanting to scrap these shots for some time . . . both my daughter and our dog, Brandy, had a great time digging in the sand the day these were taken! I think the alpha is the crowning touch on this layout . . . it is Beachy Alpha by Monica McClain.

Diggin' at the Beach
Click layout for detailed version and full credits.

I would love to see some of the layouts that you have been creating – leave me a link below!

Monday, July 14, 2008

New and Delightful!

Summer Delight Page Kit

Summer Delight by DreamScrapper, is a funky and vibrant kit, perfect for all your summer layouts! Its colors include sunshine yellow, cherry red, luscious lime and totally turquoise with a touch of tan and white. This kit includes a whopping 14 papers! Four papers are crumpled kraft paper, each with a unique inked edge and four matching solid textured papers. In addition, there are two lovely slightly crumpled papers – one striped, one starburst. Papers are created at 12" by 12" at 300ppi and saved as high-quality jpg files ensuring excellent print quality. Contained in "Summer Delight" you will find sixteen unique elements. Many elements have also been provided in several colors, for your convenience, giving you a total of 40 elements to choose from for use in your layouts. Elements include three pairs of flip flops, two of which are glittered, a pair of sunglasses, a kite with a bow-embellished tail, a butterfly, an umbrella, a deck chair, a thirst-quenching drink in a fancy glass which has been embellished with an orange slice, a double bow, a page-width bow and ribbon combo, a flowered vine, three unique flowers, glossy buttons – both threaded and unthreaded, a button border, button threads, and a journaling spot. All elements do not appear in the preview. Completing this page kit is a glittered alpha in sticker form. Alpha has a complete upper and lowercase set, numerals 0 to 9, as well as 11 other punctuation marks. Alpha is provided as individual letters so you may open only those that you need. If preferred, a single alpha sheet can be provided upon request. All elements are created at 300ppi and saved as png files to preserve transparency. Drop shadows are applied only where layering of pieces makes shadowing necessary for realism. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake. Thank you to Tandika Star and DigiScrapDesigner for items used in the creation of this product. Be sure to check out the other two Summer Delight Alphas.

Buy Summer Delight Page Kit by Midnight on Friday, July 18, 2008 and receive Summer Delight Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 FREE - a $5.00 VALUE! You will receive a separate email with the download links if your order qualifies.

Summer Delight Papers

Summer Delight Elements

Summer Delight Alpha 1

Summer Delight Alpha 2

Summer Delight Alpha 3

I also have a lovely little FREEBIE for you that comes in two sizes:

  1. Layout – add this size as a finishing touch on your summer layouts!
  2. Avatar – perfectly sized and ready to upload for your avatar on forums like DST!

Summer Delight Button Add-on
Link has expired.

Please leave me a comment if you grab this freebie – I’m hoping you like it!