Hello! Hello! Trista here to share with you a fun technique for my very first ever Saturday Special hostessing gig! I hope you all brought snacks!

Soooo, Let’s make some waves.

Adding a wavy edge to a strip of paper is fairly simple. Please note that I use Photoshop 7, so these instructions may take a little tweaking on your part to achieve the same affect with other photo editing software. Here we go!

1. Open a new transparent document in Photoshop. I start with 12inx12in (300dpi) in size.

2. Select the Polygonal Lasso tool from the tools palette.

3. Click the mouse to create a starting point. (Something to note: Clicking beyond the boundary of your open document is best to assure the wave is from one edge of the open document to the other. Continue to click the mouse to draw a wave across the open document. Don’t forget to draw the sides and bottom so that the mouse is back to the starting point. Marching ants appear around the selected area. There is no need to worry that the edges are not smooth. That is next on our to do list.

4. Select “Edit in Quick Mask Mode” on the tools palette or press the shortcut key “Q”. This is the first step in smoothing the rough edge on the wave that was just created.

The non selected part of the document will be pink. This is a mask.

5. Next, from the top menu, select Filter, then Noise, then Median. Reduce the size of the preview image in the popup window so that the curve can be seen. (From what I have read, but have not tested the work around in Photoshop Elements for smoothing the edges is to paint/erase with a soft brush, reduce stroke opacity, or to feather the mask with the Gaussian Blur filter.)

6. Toggle the Radius slider to 93. This will smooth out the edge of the wave. Click OK.

7. Return to regular editing mode by selecting the Edit in Standard Mode icon on the tools palette or by pressing the shortcut key Q again. This action removes the pink mask and returns the marching ants from the previous selection, but now the wave is smooth.

8. Now it’s time to decorate. Fill the wavy border with color or paper and you are on your way to a fabulous layout.

For those that find it difficult to create a smooth wave, there is still another option. You can let our fabulous designers here at ScrapMatters do all of the hard work and use some of the premade curve templates that are in the store. Here are some examples.

Behind Me Curves Template Pack from Graham Like the Cracker.

Wendy of wm[squared] has Got Curves? Templates. There are three versions.

More than Just Curves from Happy Scrap Girl

Happy Scrapping.

My page using Serenity by Andilynn Designs

I gotta show ya what the team did!

Kayla used a wave element from Harbor Bay from Dream Big Designs .

Chel used Up All Night: Boys from Whimpy Chompers

Kairyn used Let Me Be Me from Band Geek Designs and Got Curves? Vol. 1 Templates from wm[squared]

Sharon used Got Curves? Vol. 1 Templates from wm[squared]‘s and Opening Night from Stolen Moments Designs and Britt-ish Designs.

Now on to the details of the challenge. Create a wave using the instructions in the tutorial above (you may use a template). Place the wave somewhere on a layout. That is it! Be sure and upload your finished page to The Saturday Special Challenge gallery and then post in the MOS Challenge forum.

Challenge reminders:

-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Saturday Special gallery. You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products; please make a note of new products in your post. And at the end of the month you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points!

-You have until the end of May to complete this challenge to earn MOS points.

-Remember no double dipping…your photo and/or layout must be unique to this challenge.

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but we love it when you do!

Hi! Krisi here with a little hybrid tutorial for you. Today we are going to create a really simple but impressive and personalized gift. Wedding season (if there is such a thing) is approaching – and this would make the perfect gift item.

Start by getting the picture frame you want to use. The frame I chose is from IKEA and actually was to hold 3 smaller pictures – all matted together. I simply removed the matting for my project.

Image courtesy of IKEA

Now that you have the frame you can start working in the program you use to scrapbook. Measure the frame so can create in your program a work area the same size that you ned. Don’t worry about getting it printed just yet.  My frame would hold something 19.75″x9″ so that is what I created for my workspace. For the background color choose a color you would like to use as the base background color.

Once you have your image to create on you will use various brushes to give the paper a little bit of texture. I used three shades of the blue to create mine.  I brush the different colors on different layers so if necessary you can adjust the opacity to create the look you want.

{NOTE: If your image will be 12×12 or less you can just use an already created paper from a digital scrapbooking kit.}

Next we are going to add the text to the background, again play around with the opacity of the text.  This item is for my daughter’s teacher who was recently married.

Once you have created your masterpeice digitally now you want to create a file that is the same size as getting something printed from Staples or Kinkos (for example I did a 20″x16″).  I had extra room around where the image was and adding some other items waiting to be printed.

I chose to get mine printed at Costco – and it was ready that afternoon!

Once you have your project printed (home or professional lab) simply trim it down to the size she will need.  Then put your image in the frame, tie a big bow around it and let the gift giving begin!

I hope this has inspired you to create a fun, unique and personalized gift for someone you know in the upcoming months.