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!

Day 2 and 3 together

It's now day 3 of Jessica Sprague's class and I thought I'd try batching them together. Brushes, and creating a vintage photo. Since I did mine a little different than she did here goes.

Here is the origional photo of my son:

Now lets do some changing.
First I clicked on the yin-yang circle at the bottom of the layers pallet, then on Hue/Saturation. This created a new layer that we can play with and not change the actual photo. My Hue/Saturation is set to 0 for Hue, -50 for Saturation, and 0 for Light. This is the beginning of the changes. It looked like this:

Next I hit the yin-yang symbol again and created a new hue/saturation layer. This one I set to -25 for Hue, -35 for Saturation, and 0 for Light. I didn't love that, so I opened the Blending mode drop down menu above the layers pallet and set it to Soft Light. It looked like this:

Next she added some cute rosy cheeks to her photo. Since when I followed her instructions, it didn't look as good, I tried something different. Create a new layer and select the Brush tool. It should be a soft round brush. I set mine to about 100 pixels. Next click on the color swatch to select a cute pink color. Now click and paint on one of the cheeks in your photo. It will be very strong, but that's OK because we will change that. It looked like this:

I only did the left cheek, just in case I need to adjust them separately. The Blending mode is set to Overlay. The right cheek looked like this:

Now we are done makeing our vintage photo. Now I added a couple of brushes to the photo. The first is a border brush from Jessica's kit. It looks like this. I chose black for the color.

Next I added a word art brush from Jessica's kit. I chose gray for the color.

Since I don't love this, it's too washed out, I'm going to change it a little. Next Stamp the same brush on another layer in white above the gray one. Now click on the gray brush layer, then hit Control + T to change the size of the brush. I moved it around a little to get an off set gray brush behind the white one. It gave it a grungy look that I liked. Here's the finished photo:


It's fun to play with the settings and all the possiblities Photoshop has. I'm not an expert at photography, but with photoshop, I can enhance my pictures to look like they were professionally taken and re-touched. Plus with scrapbooking, it's like drinking from the firehose. There is so much out there, and everyone is at a different level. But that's OK. That's what life is all about. Learning, and learning again.

Jessica Spragues Frame up class

Today was day 1 of Jessica Spragues Frame-up class. I already knew how to do what she showed us in the tutorials, but if you don't know how to resize an image, and add a transparency overlay to your photo, I highly recommend signing up, (that is if you didn't already, you really missed out because it was free.) and following her tutorials. She is very good! Anyway, I thought I'd try some playing on my own. Here's the origional photo.

It's cute, but not that great. First I created a new document by hitting Control + N. This opens a dialog box to choose the size. I chose 5x7 for my finished size. Next, hit the V key to activate your Move tool. Drag a copy of your origional photo on to the new document mat. You may need to resize this a little. I did. I used the Control + T keys to activate the Transform tool. Click on a corner to change the size. If you want to rotate it a little move your cursor outside the dotted line and move it around until you get a curvy arrow. This will allow you to rotate your picture.

Next I adjusted the levels on my photo because I wanted the colors to pop. To do that, at the top toolbar, click on Image>Ajustments>Levels. This gives you a histogram. Click on the right and left arrows and drag them in a little. This intensifys your colors.
I still wasn't happy with the result so I hit Control + J to make another copy of the origional photo. Then above the layers pallet there is the blending mode dropdown list, it is next to the opacity slider. Normally it is set to normal, pretty ingenious right, but I changed mine to Overlay. That was really strong, so I decreased the opacity to about 55%. Here's what that looks like:

I like the coloring in that much better. Next in Jessica's tutorial, she added a frame overlay. Since I didn't love hers, I went to www.brusheezy.com to find some free ones. I used a lace one and a flower flourish one. Choose what works for you.

Since some of you have never uploaded your brushes yet, or don't know how to, here's how. First open your photoshop program. Next, under the Edit key in the toolbar, there is a Preset Manager in the drop down list. Click on this. It it should open a new dialog box. Make sure it is set for brushes at the drop down menu. Then click on the Load box. This will open a new box with your files. Find your file you saved the brushes into. You also need to make sure they are unziped. To do that click on the zipped file and an extract program should open up. I use extract now that I downloaded for free on the internet. Click and drag the zipped files into the extracting program and click extract. Once the files are unzipped, click on one to open it. There should be a brush icon, if there is not, it will tell you no files available. Click once on it and your brushes are loaded.

Ok back to the photo. I opened a new layer in the layers pallet. Click on the brush tool, then from the drop down menu on the top, select the brush you want. Make sure the color is what you want by checking the color chips on the toolbar. Now stamp your brush where you want it. I put mine along the lower right corner. Be sure you make a new layer for each stamp of the brush, that way if you don't like it or you want to move it or change the size you can. Otherwise they are linked together.

I played with several until I got the look I liked. There are 3 different brushes on this photo. You can also play with the opacity for each one by adjusting the opacity slider. It looked like this:


Next I added some text. Create a new layer. Click on the text tool
which is the capitol T on the tool palette. Play with your fonts. I chose a grungy swirly one. It is called VNI-HLThuphap. I probably got it from Dafont.com. Most of my fonts came from there because it's Free! Now I'm done. Here's what the finished photo looked like:


Have fun playing with your brushes in Photoshop. It definitely adds that little something to your photos!

Happy Summer!

Happy Father's Day

I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by! It's Father's day already! I had some fun ideas for Nath this year so thought I'd share them with you. I had this picture ordered as a puzzle from Shutterfly. It turned out really cute!

Then I took the Kids over to Liz Farnsworth. She is my sister's neighbor and also an amazing photographer! You can check her out at http://redbucketphotography.blogspot.com She took the following pictures for me of the kids dressed up in their dad's work stuff. They turned out super cute.
This is my oldest son.
This boy #2.
This is boy #3.
This is our little girl.
This our baby, boy #4.
I also asked Liz to take one of all the kids. I had this one printed as an 8x10.

Adding Text to a photo is super easy! Just open your picture, and drag it on to a new background the size that you want. Then click on the T icon in your tool bar, or just hit the T key and it will change the tool to type automatically. Then make sure you have a new layer selected, and place your cursor where you want the type to be. Check at the top of your tool bar to make sure the font and the color of the type is what you want, but don't worry, you can always change all of that afterwards. The type what you want. If it doesn't look right, highlight the text and change whatever you want, color, size, or font and it will change everything that is highlighted. You can also move it around by changing the tool to the move tool. To do that, hit the V key or click on the arrow icon that looks like an arrow pointing at a starburst in your tool bar. You can add drop shadows and bevel and emboss the letters by clicking on the circle-f icon at the bottom of the layers pallet. And you are done! There are all kinds of things you can do with text, but that is the simpified easy version. Next is a page I made for my dad with mine and my sister's kids in the picture.
I used several different techniques on this layout. But that tutorial will have to wait for another day.

I hope you all cherish the Father's and Grandfather's in your life. I certainly am blessed to have wonderful men close to me. Happy Father's Day!

Tuesday Tutorial

You mean I can create my own custom patterned paper? And it will look like Bazzill textured cardstock too? SWEET!

Yup! You can make your own custom paper to match your photos, or to match that cute digi paper you downloaded but the kit didn't come with every thing you wanted.

So here goes. There is a little difference between Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop Elements, but since most of you are using PSE, then I'll give the instructions for that program. I made a card as a sample to show you what you can create.

Open a new file in Photoshop by hitting Control + N. Make it the size you want. Usually 12x12. Mine is 5x7. The size doesn't matter. Maybe you want to make an extra kind of patterned paper for your photo mat or whatever. Make it the size you want. Next in PSE hit K to change the tool to the paint bucket tool. On the side is the color paint chip thingy. The one on top will be the color you fill the area with. Usually it is black and white. You can change it by clicking on the top chip. A color box will appear and you choose the color you want and hit OK. Then click somewhere in the middle of your document. It will fill the space with color. I chose blue. Here's mine.


Ok. Now comes the cool part. Did you go to www.brusheezy.com? They have some very cute patterns you can download for free. Once you have chosen some, you need to unzip the files. Now you are ready to go get one for your patterned paper. Hit control + O to open the file. Find your brusheezy file you want. Select it and hit OK. Next drag it on to your main document. I chose a flower swirly one. It looks like this:


The pattern is a little strong for me so I reduced the opacity to about 50%. Play with the slider above the layer's pallet to get the look you want. Another way to change the opacity is to set the blending mode to soft light. It's play time to figure out the look you like. Here's mine.


I like this but we aren't done. Now the Bazzill texture. Create a new adjustment layer>pattern>select dark coarse weave pattern from the Artist Surfaces Library>OK Now it's so dark that it covers everything. You need to reduce the opacity to about 40% and set the blending mode to Soft Light. After that I added text to my card. The font is Texas Hero
that I got free from www.dafont.com. I resized it using Control + T and reduced the opacity to about 75%. Then I added a drop shadow. It looks like this:


We are almost done. For all you scrappers, how many of you ink the edges of everything? I'm sure all of your hands are up, and if they aren't, you aren't being honest with yourself, or all I can say is 'Why not?' But since we are digi now, we can still get the inked edge look. Of course you can but inked edge kits from Scrap Girls, or Designer Digitals that are grungy and cool, but if you don't want to do that, just add a little dimention and color to the edges of your paper you can use the burn tool. It looks like a little hand that would be holding a pencil if there were a pencil in the hand. It might be hidden behind the dodge tool that looks like a lollipop. If you click on the tool, then right click on it, a dropdown menu will appear with all the tools that are "under" that one. Choose the Burn tool. Next you may want to change the brush size. You decide how big you want it to be. Mine is fairly small, less than 100 pixels. Make sure you are on the background layer. Click on a corner of your document. Now hold down the shift key while you click and drag your cursor down or across your document. This will keep a straight line. Release the mouse and start from the next corner holding the shift key down while you click and drag the next side. I think I reduced the opacity a little, but play with it and try to get the inked look you want. If you mess up, my favorite thing is Control+Z. It will undo the last step you just did. If you need to undo more than one step, go to Edit>Step Backward. These two are your digi scrappin' BFF! Here's what my finished card looked like:

Now I can upload it to some online printing company like www.shutterfly.com and they will print my custom cards for cheap. Or I can save this and use it on a layout. I hope you had fun making your own custom paper. My favorite is making the texture like Bazzill paper. Next week we will play with layer masks. Here's a layout I made for my mom for mother's day using a clipping mask and a brush. Super easy!

Oh yeah. I did finish my recipe card holder last week. I just never got a picture to post. So here it is. I am missing the bottom ring for it, but I got some today so it will be finished all the way today. The stamps came from my favorite stamp company Technique Tuesday.

Thanks for looking. Oh, and tell me if the tutorial was OK, too wordy, not wordy enough, easy to follow, etc. Bye!

Eeezy Peezy

Eeezy Peezy, puddin' and pie
I canned some Apricots
and I didn't cry!

I ordered some apricots this weekend and canned some 12 quarts yesterday. Of all the fruits there are to can, I honestly think apricots are the easiest. Plus the smell and taste of them take me back to my childhood sitting in my aunt's apricot tree in Moccasin, AZ eating the fruit and dropping the pits on the ground. (She probably didn't like that part when it came time to mow.)

Ok here goes with how I did it. First wash the jars in warm soapy water, or run them through the dishwasher.

After the jars are all clean and shiny, they don't have to be dry, set them on your counter to get ready to fill them. Wash your fruit. I put mine in the sink in about 2 inches of water. Now it's time to start filling your jars. Cut each apricot in half, removing the pit and cut of any brown spots in case there are any. Now put each half in the jar face down. This allows you to pack more in than if they just fall in willy nilly. It looks like this when you are done filling them:


Next you need to make the syrup for the apricots. That entirely depends on how heavy you want the syrup. I did about 3-4 cups sugar to 6 cups of water. You can increase or decrease the sugar to your liking. Place the 6 cups of water on the stove in a saucepan. Heat to boiling. Turn down heat to a low simmer and slowly add the sugar stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar in the water. When that is all done, you might want to get a funnel. They sell them really cheap a Walmart. This just helps keep the sides of the jar clean. Add the sugar water to each jar filling up to the bottom of the rings in the jar. About 1 to 3/4 inches from the tippy top of the jar. It looks like this:

Next get your canner ready. I used a steam canner. You can also use a water bath canner. Fill it with water, place it on the stove, and turn the heat on. You want the water boiling, but not necessarily before you put your jars in. You also need another sauce pan with about 1 inch of water. Put the lids in the water on the stove and heat to boiling. Remove from heat and put the lids on the jars, then tighten the rings over the lids. Now you are ready to put your jars on or in your canner.

Yeah, now it's time to let them cook. I have to wait until steam starts shooting out the hole on the side of the canner then set the timer for 30 minutes. It takes a little while to get the steam up and going so be patient. Then when the time is done, turn off the heat and lift the lid off slowly, aiming the steam away from you. Steam burns are no fun! Now lift your jars off or out of the canner onto a towel on your counter. I use a jar lifter, but you can use your hot pads if you need to. You're done! Now you just have to wait 12-24 hours to let the jars finish cooking and seal the lids. Don't touch them! I know it's tempting but don't! Now you get to sit back and listen for that little pop that tells you the jar is sealed.

There are a few non-human made sounds in this world that are the absolute best! One near the very top is that little 'pop' sound the lid makes on your jar. A couple of my other favorites is the sound of Nath's truck engine turning off in the driveway because that means he's home. Another is the sound of the oven telling me my chocolate chip cookies are done. Nath would say the 'click-click' sound of a shotgun reloding is another one. I'm not sure I agree, but it is the absolute best home defence sound. In any language, that sound says "Watch out! I have a gun and things won't be pretty!"

Well that was a fun trip on tangent lane. Back to canning. Just take a look at these beauties!

Yeah! 12 more quarts to add to my pantry. Canning makes me happy!

Yeah! Freebies!

Hey everyone, I found some super cute freebies and thought I'd pass them along. The first is a place I get a ton of fonts and doodlebats. It is actually addictive and I have to control myself before I load up my hardrive with tons of cute fonts. It is at www.dafont.com

The next place is one that has a lot of cute brushes and patterns to use in Photoshop. I'll use one in the Tuesday Tutorial to show you how to use it. It is at a place called www.brusheezy.com

Another place has a lot of free brushes, journaling blocks, and papers is at
www.designerdigitals.com You have to create a user account, which is free too. They have some super cute brush kits and frames for purchase. Look through it. It's definitely worth it.

My super favorite site is www.jessicasprague.com She has free kits, tutorials, and classes. Her site anniversary is next week and she's offering a free photo editing class. Here is the picture from her site:


Her classes are awesome and since it's free that's even better! I'll try to remind you to sign up next monday.

Happy scrapping with all your free stuff!