Chalkboard Art - The quick way!

My Sweet Sis-In-Law asked me to make some signs for an upcoming Church function.

She wanted some Chalkboard signs 

but I've been super busy and had to put them together quickly.

I have done the whole long process with stroke and noise filter on other projects, 

but for this one I needed to be quick and done.  

I will share the long way another day, but for today, 

let's do the quick way!

First get a pre-done background like this one.

I found it on Pinterest from Big Red Clifford.

She had some fun printables and font ideas.

Since this was for a Church function, 

I needed a font that was more decorative.

I settled on Justice By Dirt which is free over at DaFont.

It already has the effect I was looking for and is fabulous.

I also discovered that if you use the { bracket } keys you get some extra flourishes.

Bonus!

So here's the quick and easy how to:

Open your chalkboard background and size it to the size you want.

The printables I made are 8x10.

The samples are only 4x6.

Type out your words and size them the way you want them.

Now let's add some flourishes.

I added a scroll flourish that I found over at brusheezy.

This one isn't the exact one I used but is a close second.  

I've had mine for years.

It's just not there anymore.

Add one, and make a copy using Control+J or Command+J on Mac.

Control+T makes it so you can resize it. 

I flipped my flourish over to get a mirror image for the other side.

Select those two flourishes and Control+J to make two more copies.

Drag them to the bottom of the page or where you want them.

Then I added two lines using the custom shape tool to make a straight line.

One is slightly shorter than the other.

Do the same for both the top and the bottom flourishes.

Reduce the opacity of the lines and brushes to between 60-75% depending on what look you want.

Save the file and you're done!

These are the Scripture images I made.

Feel free to use them.

Just don't sell them.

That's just not nice.

I will hunt you down!  And if I don't find you "He" knows.

Chalkboard Art.

Easy and quick.

Lovely!

Spook-ify your Photos

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I'd share a quick Photo editing tip for spook-ify-ing your photos.  It's quick and easy and you can do it with any photo editing software.  I use Photoshop CS4, but you can do it in Picasa and iPhoto as well. 

First get your photo.  I really like this one from a park we would frequent in Seattle.  I call it Aspen Path.

Next convert it to grayscale.  Much more spooky.  You can play with the levels to get more or less contrast.  It looks more like a scary path you don't want to travel now.

 Finally I added the text from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven".  You can google the text to find it if you don't have it memorized. I remembered pieces, but not all of it.  Choose a spooky font and place the text over the photo and adjust the opacity.  Perfectly Spooky.

I did the same with this photo from the top of Mt Baker in Washington.  It definitely changes the feel of the photo and would be an easy addition to your Halloween Decor.

 Have fun  Spook-ify-ing your Photos for a little last minute decor for your Halloween.

Quick Christmas Card Tutorial

Ok. I got my Creating Keepsakes magazine in the mail yesterday. I know you probably have had yours for a while and dog-eared a bunch of pages, but I saw a little Christmas tree embellishment on one of the pages and wondered if I could duplicate it in Photoshop. I think mine turned out pretty good. Here's the finished card.

So here is how I did it:

1. Open a new blank document. I made my 4x6 with a white background. Click on your custom shape tool. I chose the arrow shape that kind of looks like a tree. Make sure your color pallet is set to black. Click and drag the shape on your document. Use the Transform tool to resize your 'tree'.

Mine looks like this: Once that is done Left click on the layer and select >Simplify Layer in Elements and >Rasterize Layer in Photoshop CS2,3,4.

2. Open a new blank document, but make sure the background is Transparent. Choose a brush from your brushes pallet. I chose a couple of swirly ones I got from brusheezy. They have a ton and they are Free. Use the Transform tool to resize and rotate the brushes until they look like what you want. Here's mine:Be sure to 'stamp' each brush on it's own layer so you can move them independently. Once you like the shape, hit Control and click on each layer to select all of them. Then Left click and select Merge Layers.

3. Use the paint bucket tool, change the color pallet to white, and click on the shape to fill it with white. Then drag your shape on to the main document with the black tree shape.

4. Now open your cute patterned papers and select a background paper and a paper for the tree. I chose from OScraps Moonrise collection. Sorry but they don't have it on their site right now. But I bet you have a ton of cute paper you are just itching to use. I chose a stripe for the background. Drag it to a layer below the tree layer.

Do the same with your tree paper.

5. Remember when you used the clipping mask? Hover your mouse between the tree shape layer and the tree paper layer, hit the Alt key, and click. This will magically clip the tree paper to the tree shape.

6. Now select the tree shape layer. Go to your Blending Options, or the circle-f key below your layers pallet. Choose Inner Shadow. Play with the settings until you get the look you want. Mind kind of looks like the edges have been inked.

7. Next select the swirly shape layer. Again go to Blending Options. I chose Bevel and Emboss, and Drop Shadow. It looks like this: I also used the clipping mask technique to 'clip' the swirly shape to the tree shape so there wasn't any extra swirls hanging off the edges.

8. Open a new layer and select the custom shape tool again. This time choose a rectangle to make the trunk of your tree. Click and drag your rectangle, making sure the layer is under the tree shape layer. Clip some brown paper to the rectangle using the Alt key again, just like you did with the tree shape. I added the Inner Shadow to the tree trunk shape too.

But the stripe is a little too much for me. I don't love it. So this is the cool part of Digi scrapping. I can just drag the stripe layer into the trash. No fuss, no muss, and I didn't waste any expensive paper. I chose another calmer green paper from the same collection for the background. Drag it under your tree to look like this:

That's better.

9. Now select the tree shape and hit Control+J to create a duplicate layer. I think Elements is a different letter. Check your hot key list to get the right one. Drag it over and resize it using the Transform tool. Do the same thing as with the first tree. Clip a different paper to it with the Alt key. I used Jessica Spragues Home Away From Home collection. It's a great kit and it's also Free! Drag another tree trunk over to the new tree, and follow the same instructions for adding an inner shadow, and clipping paper to the shape.

10. Finally I used the Rectangular Marquee tool to create the text strips at the top of the card. Click and drag your shape, fill it with color, and add a drop shadow. You can separately create 2 of them, or just duplicate the one you created. Then I added 2 lines of text using the Text tool. I use my favorite font: freebooter script. Add a drop shadow or bevel and emboss, and you're done!

Have fun playing with your digi stuff, and the best part is you can use it again, and again, and again, and again, and again INFINITY!

Tuesday Tutorial

I'm sorry I have let life get in the way. Well that and my 2 year old took my camera swimming in a pitcher of Kool-Aid. It would have been fine, had it been my waterproof camera. But it wasn't. So here's a digi tutorial.

So here goes with another installment of the Tuesday Tutorial.

I played with making my own rounded corner template. Here's the pages I made:

Now let me show you how I did it. Templates are Awesome!

First, open your Photoshop program and hit Control + N to open a new document. Size it to the size you want. Mine are 8x8.

Now select your rounded corner shape tool. It might be hidden under the tool that looks like water spilled on the floor. Right click on that to find the rounded corner square. Make sure the top color on your pallet is black. Click and drag a large square to nearly cover your page space. Then when you let go of the mouse it will fill with the black. It looks like this:

Now in CS2 I have to rasturize that layer by right clicking on that layer in the layers pallet and selecting 'rasturize layer'. In Elements, you select 'simplify layer'. Now we are going to cut up that square. Select your Rectangular Marquee tool. Click and drag a long narrow rectangle across one part of your large square. Go to Edit>Cut to delete that selection. It will look like this:


Do that again going the other direction. It will look like this:

Or this:We need to separate these layers so we can clip different elements to them. Use your rectangular marquee tool again and select one of the shapes. Make sure the large shape is hightlighted in your layers pallet. Once one of the smaller shapes has the marching ants around it, hit Control + J to create a new layer with just that shape on it. It should show up in your layers pallet as just that one smaller shape. You won't see it on the main screen, but that's OK. Do the same thing to each of the smaller shapes.

Now drag the large cut up shape into the trash can. You don't need it anymore. Save this image as a .psd file labled template so you can come back to it again.

Let's add some pictures and pretty paper to this template. I chose the tinted vintage picture of my baby that we did a little while ago for the top rectangle. Drag your photo on to your main shape, making sure it is at the top of the layer's pallet over the smaller shape you want it to be in. Hover your mouse over the line between the photo and the shape and hit Alt + Click.

This will 'clip' your photo to that shape. It will look like this:

His photo doesn't exactly fit this frame, so I can use the Move tool to shift the photo around. It's cool how that works. You can also hit Control + T to get the Transform tool to resize your photo. I had to. Here's what it looks like resized:

Next I added some background paper. You may need to drag that layer to the bottom of your layers pallet just above the Background layer.

Rather than adding brushes to my background, I used an overlay I got from http://www.scrapgirls.com/. This is what it looked like:



I like it but it's a little too overwhelming so I reduced the Opacity to about 50%.


Now that's much better. Do the same clipping method to add your patterned paper to the other shapes. Mine looks like this:




Since the circle paper was a little too big for my taste, I used the transform tool to resize the circles. Now let's add some drop shadows to your images. Click on one of the black shapes, not the paper, and then click on the little circle-f icon at the bottom of the layers pallet, or find where it says Layer Styles. This will open up your drop shadow options. I added a drop shadow, bevel and emboss, and a texture to that shape. It will automatically add it to the paper that is clipped to that shape. Once that is done, you can quickly add the same styles to the other shapes by:

1. Right click on the layer you just added the drop shadow to.
2. Select 'Copy Layer Style'
3. Then hit Control while you click on each of the other black shapes in your layers pallet.
( this will select each layer all at the same time. If you hit shift + click on each layer it will select the entire column of layers which you don't want.)
4. Now right click again and select 'Paste Layer Style'.
Amazing! you just added all those layer styles to all those layers in one click! I love it when I can speed scrap!
Here's what mine looks like with the layer styles added:
Now I want to add a text box to my layout. I did this by adding a digital piece of vellum to the striped block. Use your Rectangular Marquee tool and draw a rectangle inside your patterned paper block. Make sure your color is set to white. It will look like this:

Now reduce the opacity to about 75%. I added a stroke outline to the outer edge of mine.





Here's how I did it: In your layers pallet, point your mouse on the thumnail picture of the layer with the white square on it. Hit Control + click to get the marching ants around the square.


Open a new layer that is above the white rectangle layer. Go to Edit>Stroke, I chose 15 pixels with the color as white, and the placement to Outside. Click OK and you have a white line that outlines your white vellum square.






Next add your text to the vellum square. I used 2peas scrapbook font for mine.





I think this needs just a little more to be finished so I added some digital stitching with a zig-zag brush I got from http://www.brusheezy.com/.


Here is the finished layout.
Have fun with creating your own templates. It definitely makes scrapping quick and easy!
Remember to save your layout as at .jpeg to be printed or sent to an online publisher. They don't accept .psd files. I know, I've tried before.
Stay tuned for a super cute Halloween Advent Calendar that is almost finished. Your are going to love it!

Grungy photo mask

Another day, another fun tutorial.
In Jessica Sprague's class she taught us how to use clipping masks and textures. Since not everyone has access to her class and the free downloads, I thought I'd teach you how to make your own. It's super fun and easy and it is totally your own.

First open a new document, but when you do, make sure that the background is transparent. I saved mine that way, but I'm not sure it will show up here that way. It should look like a gray and white checkerboard.

Now you have the new document with a transparent background. Now, create a new layer, and click on the Rectangular Marquee tool. It should be at the top of your tool bar and it looks like a square in dotted lines. You can change this to a circle by right clicking on it, but for this, I want a rectangle. Draw a rectangle by clicking on the top left corner of your document and dragging it to the right bottom corner to nearly fill the space. You will have the marching ants rectangle. Now find the paint bucket tool. It looks like a paint bucket pouring out. Click on that, then click somewhere inside your rectangle. This will fill the space with whatever your foreground color is. Mine is black. It doesn't matter what the color is, but black makes it easier to see. It looks like this:

Hit Control + D to deselect and get rid of the marching ants.

Now for the fun part. Below your layer's pallet is a square with a circle in it. If you hover over it, it will say Vector Mask. This is what you want. Click on that and another rectangle will appear next to the first rectangle in your layer's pallet. Now make sure the color swatch has black on top. Black erases, White restores. Select your brush tool. Choose a brush that looks like a paintbrush has just dabbed one spot. You should have several in your default brushes. I used 3 different ones and got different effects each time. I set he size to be around 100 pixels to get it big enough for me. Now paint around the edges of your black rectangle. It will erase part of it. If it is too much, either hit Control + Z, or change the foreground color in the color swatch to white and paint again. It will bring back what you erased. I also played with the flow and the opacity sliders that are at the top of the tool bar. Keep playing until you get a look that you like. I made 2. Here they are:


Play with your brushes to get a look that you like. I think I will go with the second one.

Now open a paper or a photo you want to clip to this mask. I opened a blue paper I had to see what the mask would look like. When you open it, use the move tool to drag it on to your mask. It should be on top of the mask so you can't see it. Now move your cursor to the line between the blue paper layer and the photo mask layer and hit Alt + Click. When you hit alt, a double circle will appear. This shows you that a clipping mask will happen. When you alt + click, it should look like this:


Now let's see what the same mask looks like with a photo. To change it, drag the blue paper layer into the trash can icon below the layers pallet. Then open a photo and drag it on to the mask. Again hit Alt + click as you hover your mouse on the line between the photo layer and the mask layer to create the clipping mask. Mine looks like this:


I really like it and would totally use this on a layout, but let's kick it up a notch, well, just because we can. I opened a brown paper because the blue with my photo didn't work. Next, drag the brown paper over to the photo mask document. It's OK if it's on top. We will move it in a minute. Now I like this paper, but lets add a pattern texture to it. With your mouse over the brown paper, right click to open a dialog box. One of the options should say pattern. Click on that and it will open another box with some default patterns in it. Or you may have some from www.brusheezy.com. They have some super cute ones for free. I chose one I got from another class I took. When you have selected the one you want hit OK. It will automatically take you back to your origional document. Don't Freak! I know you can't see anything but the black and white pattern. Go to the opacity slider above the layers pallet. I moved mine down to about 25%. Move it around to get the look you like. Now hover your mouse over the line between the pattern and the paper layer and hit Alt + click That will clip the pattern to only the paper. It will look like this:


I really like this. The paper layer should be highlighted. Hit the shift key while you click on the pattern layer too. This will select both layers. Now click and drag both layers below the photo mask layer to move the paper to the background. It should look like this:


Let's see what the photo will look like with a pattern layer applied to it too. You can do the preceeding steps again to create the pattern layer, or click on the pattern layer you already have, then hit Control + J to create a duplicate layer the pattern layer. Drag that layer above the photo layer and reduce the opacity. Hover on the line between them and hit Alt + click again to clip it to the photo. Now you are done. Here's what mine looks like:


Cool huh! I love playing with brushes and texture! Have fun creating! Plus when you are done creating your own grungy photo masks, save it as a .psd file, name it photo mask, and you can use it over and over again. The best part is that it was FREE! Gotta love it!