There is ALWAYS something to look forward too. Things we are waiting for:  A baby, a wedding, a birthday.  Recently, my children and I counted down to Daddy coming home from deployment.  Now we are counting down to Halloween.  (We are also counting down to our Return to DisneyWorld–been saving for 3 years.  We are leaving on Nov. 1)  That would be a great idea for countdown blocks!  But what I have to show you are my Countdown to Halloween Blocks!  I used several pieces from the October Mix a Kit.  Here are the main kits I used. This one I loved because it gave more more variety in my numbers.

I loved the Frightful word bits too.

This alpha reminds me of a fat squishy pumpkin.

I used almost every piece that Dream Big Designs created for the Mix A Kit. Here is a look at just the papers, but the super cool alpha that is glittered around the edges is worth checking out too.

Here is another alpha that my son loves and picked out for me to use.

These aren’t even all the goodies I used, you can find all the parts of the ScrapMatters October Mix A Kit here.

Let me show you my finished project.

Yes, these are the cutest little blocks. You maybe have seen them all over.  Usually they are made of little wooden blocks.  But mine are made out of 3 pieces of cardstock and some Glue Dots.  Don’t get me wrong I love the wooden ones, and I think they would last longer.  But if you are anything like me, even if you went through all the trouble to make the wooden kind you wouldn’t be able to find them next year, and would have to make them all over.  I think if I were giving these as a fancy gift I would go the wooden route.  But these have held up great to my 3 elementary kids so far, and since they were so easy I will want to make more next year anyway.

I designed my own template for this little project.  And I will definitely tell you how I did it.  I am not going to go in to full out detail, because when I upload thing that I make for my own use to share I always worry that in all my excitement that I have messed up something.  So I have sent the idea to Krisi’s Kreations, and I think that she is going to fancy it up a bit and quality check it and all that jazz and have it in her store.  (I am thinking Christmas countdown).

Let me go ahead and tell you how I did it for now.  I use a regular printer at home, so I needed to be able to print on regular paper.  To do that safely, I found the blocks could be 1.75 inches.  This isn’t the way I made my template in the beginning but through trial and error this is what worked.  You know it is one of those things that took me all day-but had I known then what I know now it would have been as simple as this.  You need to create a 1.75 x 1.75 inch square in your program.  I use Photoshop Elements 7, but it will be the same idea in any program.  I recommend filling it with color. Then all you have to do is duplicate it five times.  Then line them up like this.  You can draw the flaps on afterward with a pencil.  I have put them on the template to give you an idea-but you won’t see them after they are assembled.

You will need 2 square blocks.  Then for the base you will need a rectangle block.  This was the part that took me so long, but in hindsight it wasn’t hard.  But boy did it elude me at first.  Using the block template layered file, You just turn the middle squares into 1.75 x 3.5 inch rectangles!  Leave everything else the same.  My base looks different because it is rotated, but don’t let that confuse you!  Just remember that you will see the squares too, so decorate them as well.  Here are my flattened square blocks and rectangle base.

Your first block will have 0,1,2,6,7,8 (but you have to use a font that will let the 6 also be used for 9.  Your second block will be 0,1,2,3,4,5.  This will let you count down a full month.  Or hey, you could make this a perpetual calendar too!  I had so much fun with these little countdown blocks. I hope you will too!  I am sure to be back with Christmas Countdowns.  Here is one more picture.  And thanks so much for looking! Tamara.

Welcome to the Hybrid Corner!  Fall is my favorite season of the year – the changing of the leaves, children back to school, the kick-off to the holiday season.  Lets do a quick run through – Thanksgiving in Canada, Halloween, my birthday (yes, everyone should be celebrating that), Thanksgiving in the USA, then the onslaught of Christmas parties.  And no it doesn’t end there – we have New Year’s parties, Chinese Christmas, Ukrainian Christmas – I digress.  With all this parties, festivities and gatherings, that’s a huge opportunity for decorating!  In July, Melanie did a fabulous tutorial on banners; if your party requires a banner (and what party doesn’t) check out this thread.  So lets get creating.

There are some fabulous templates in the store- my favorite is Lets Party by Krisi’s Kreations.  Lets Party is a fantastic template package because it takes the guess work out of what scale items should be.  Also, Krisi creates complete templates – just by simply clipping your papers to her templates and printing you will end up with a beautiful finished project.  I’ll show you some minor changes that will let you add your personal touch to your parties decorations.  I’ll be using my birthday as a theme for my decorations.

I’m a big fan of napkin rings as they can also double as place cards.  In the kit, there are 2 sizes of napkin rings, but I chose to add a little flair with some ribbon.  Instead of trying to stuff my napkin into the ring, I’m going to center the ribbon on the back of the name tag and tie the loose ends in a bow to affix the napkin ring to the napkin. To stiffen the name tag, I’ve added a small piece of cardboard.  Since it’s on the underside, I didn’t feel the need to embellish is further.

There is nothing worse than grabbing someone else’s drink at a party.  Help your guests avoid that awkward situation by providing them with straw decorators.  These also come in handy to help remember the names of the other guests!

If your party has drinks that don’t require straws, check out the wine glass labels in Label Me Up: Bottles and More.

Finally, when I head to a party, I worry about what food is going to be served – will I recognize the dishes?  Help ease this anxiety for your guests by adding food tags to your dishes.  To make my food labels re-useable, I plan on laminating them.  This way I can make any last minute changes to the menu using a dry erase maker.  How you incorporate the food tags into your menu is dependant on the style of serving dishes you’ll be using.  I’ve taken some tags and punch 2 holes in them and weaved a straw through the holes.  Or you could also punch a hole in the corner and using ribbon tied the food tag to the serving spoon handle.

Thanks for tuning in.  Check out next weeks Getting Hybrid Challenge where we complete our party decorations with party favors.  Today’s projects were made using Celebrate by Elise’s Pieces.

Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s Saturday Special. Have you ever had a picture that you wished was black & white? Maybe you have the perfect kit for your picture but the colors just don’t seem to work together. Or maybe you are looking for the elegant look that black & white pictures give. There are many ways that you can convert your color picture to black & white. One of the most common ways to convert it is to change the color mode to grayscale under the image menu. This tends to leave your picture fairly bland though. Today I’m going to show you a way to convert your picture without losing the contrast and making you picture look flat. (The screenshots and directions are in Photoshop Elements 5.0.) First open up the picture that you want to convert to black & white. Duplicate the picture by right clicking on the thumbnail in the Photo Bin and selecting Duplicate. This is so you are not working on the original and accidently save over top of it. Press D to set your foreground and background to the default black and white. Make sure that the black is in the top box. If it isn’t press X to switch them. Now go to the top of the Layers Palette and choose Levels from the Adjustment Layers menu. When the box pops up don’t change anything on it right now, just click ok. This will add a layer to your Layers palette named Levels 1. Go back to the Layers Adjustment menu and this time chose Gradient Map. Check to make sure the Gradient map is set on black to white. If it is not click on the arrow next to the gradient map and choose the correct gradient from the popup menu. Click ok. This will give you a layer in the Layers Palette named Gradient Map 1. Just going this far will already give you a better black & white picture, but we are not done yet. In the Layers palette, double-click on the Levels thumbnail in the Levels 1 layer. This will popup the Levels box. From here we are going to edit the individual colors, starting with red. So go ahead and choose the Red channel from the drop down menu. Grab the black (shadow) arrow under the Input Levels and slide it right. This will increase the shadows in the red channel. [IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm313/p_a_sandbulte/red.jpg[/IMG] When you think you are satisfied with this edit, go back up to the drop down menu and choose the Green channel. On this one we are going to slide the white (highlights) arrow to the left. Again when you are satisfied with this edit, go back up to the drop down menu. This time we are going to work in the Blue channel. Go ahead and move the highlights arrow to the quite a bit to the left. Move the shadows arrow just a little bit to the right. Not every picture you convert will have the same settings, play around with the sliders a bit until you get the effect you are looking for. When you are happy with how your picture looks go ahead and click OK. One last step and then we are done. Go to the Layers palette, click on More. From that menu choose Flatten Image. This will flatten the adjustment layers into your picture. You can also use ctrl+Shift+E to do this. Check out the pictures side by side. The one on the left I just used the grayscale mode to convert the picture. Look how much of a difference there is in the one on the right. Here is my page with my new black & white picture using LDrag’s Blessings of Life and Stolen Moments & Rosy Posy’s Here and Now. Check out these great pages by the ScrapMatters’ CT. Kayla made this cute page using WM Squared’s Inspired by Fran templates and Full of Joy and Add-on by Band Geek Designs. Here is a sweet one by Chel. This one by Ophelia uses Jennifer Labre’s Full of Life and True Blue Studio’s Summer Garden Templates. Here is one from Tamara using Amy Stoffel’s Make a Move. Challenge reminders: -For the month of September you will receive two points for posting in this thread & in the Saturday Special gallery. You can receive an additional two points 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 September to complete this challenge for September MOS points or wait to post in October for October MOS points! -Remember no double dipping… layout must be unique to this challenge. -You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.

I LOVE scallop edges! I use them on almost every page I do. There are many great templates out there with amazing scallop edges but I thought I would show you a simple way to make your own anytime you wish. The cool thing about this technique is you can create it while you are scrapping, it isn’t something you have to do before you start, which I love because sometimes I get into creating a layout and just need a little extra something that a scallop edge can really bring to a layout to make it POP!

Here is an example of a page I am creating and have decided to add a scalloped edge too:

First, I add a new layer where I would like to scalloped edge to be. Next, I need to select a hard-edged round brush. Next, select the brush tool and then you can adjust the shape, size, and spacing. Here are the settings I chose: Hard Round Brush Size 350 and 95% spacing:

The spacing setting is important, because that is what will give you the scallop shape instead of a straight line. You might want to test this out once or twice before finding the settings you like most.

Make sure that your new layer that you just created is selected in the layers pallet. It doesn’t matter what color you use because you are just creating a clipping mask and will be covering it up with paper.

Hold your shift key, click and drag to the bottom of the page or where you would like to scallop edge to start and stop. Holding the shirt key will automatically create a straight line. Here is the scalloped edge I created:

Now select your paper and clip it to your new scalloped edge mask.

Add your drop shadows and you are done. EASY!!!

You can also use different brushes to create different shaped masks. Play around with it and have fun!!

Here is my finished layout using September Mix-a-Kit:

and here is what our outstanding creative team rocked out using this tutorial:

Ophelia using geniaBeana Scraps’ School Rules and LDrag Designs’ All Scribbly Alpha:

Heidi using the new MAK:

Wendy using WM[Squared] Rock Star: The Extras, Rock Star: The Wordart Bits, Rock Star: The Papers and Rock Star: The Alphas

Heidi using My Favorite Valentine, Creatively Inspired Templates Vol. 1, Cut It Out: Carefree Dates, Fair Are the Meadows, Swirl and Twirl, July Birthday: Paint Accents by Andilynn Designs and i scream by Plum Dumpling Designs:

Melissa using Dandelion Dream: Alpha By Dream Big Designs,Dandelion Dream: Elements By Dream Big Designs,Dandelion Dream: Graffiti By Dream Big Designs,Denim & Daisies: Papers By Jennifer Labre,Denim & Daisies: Elements By Jennifer Labre,Purple Dream: Templates By True Blue Studios

Simona using Blessings of Life by LDrag Designs, So Scribbly Alpha by LDrag Designs

Come join us in the forum….can’t wait to see your creation!

Happy Saturday to you all! Becca, aka becca372 here. Whew, I’ve been busy this week with all my back-to-school prep (I teach Kindergarten)! I know many of you have had children go back to school recently, and we’re almost ready to go back here in Michigan. Today, though, I have a lesson just for you!

I love to blend papers for backgrounds, because I L.O.V.E. patterned papers, but sometimes they can overwhelm a page, so I like to subtle them up…and then the reverse can be true-sometimes I love a solid background, but it just needs a little more texture to work for my layout…so, there are a couple of ways to do it-and a step-by-step with screen shots will follow, but the basic process is to layer your papers, and then change the blending mode and/or opacity, OR use a layer mask (if you’ve got them) or an eraser to create the effect you want.

So, here’s how to do it! Here I’ve selected a yellow paper from Jady Day and Kay Miller’s new collab, A Girl’s Life. There is a GREAT yellow paper with white polka dots in the kit, but I didn’t want quite that much yellow for my background. I opened this solid yellow… 

and then I layered this great polka dot paper over it (I’ve moved it over, here, so you can see my layers)

And now I’m going to play with my blending modes….click the little tab above your layers palette that usually reads “normal” and you get lots of other choices to play with. I tried several but settled on Overlay. I then changed the opacity to 72%…just play with yours until you like it! You can also create multiple layers, at multiple blending modes, to create a look you like…

Now, at this point you can either be done and move on with your layout from here, OR you can do a bit more… In the PSCS versions of photoshop, and in PSE9, you can apply a layer mask to your paper layers-put one over your top layer (click the icon under your layers palette that looks like a rectangle with a circle inside), and then select a brush (I used a large, soft brush, and also reduced the opacity of my brush so that the edges of my masking were soft and subtle), and make sure your color selector thingy is set to white (the trick with layer masks is this–white erases, black brings it back–I always remember “white out” and “back in black”, LOL). Anyway, then just erase away what you want. If you DON’T have layer masks as an option, you can TOTALLY do this with your eraser tool (you can reduce the opacity on it, too!), it’s just a little harder to fix if you do something you don’t like!

So, yeah, on my papers, I’ve used that large, soft brush to erase some of the top paper, letting more yellow bleed through. This space is where I will be putting my photo and elements, just giving another layer of oomph to my page.

And here’s my final layout, using Jady Day Studio’s new collab with Kay Miller, It’s A Girl’s Life

If you are really struggling with the layer masking or the erasing, you can always take the short-cut of using a pre-made mask, which many designers have available (there are quite a few in different packs/kits in our shop!) and use those to clip your papers to!

Here are some more fantastic layouts to inspire you from our fab ScrapMatters team!
By Ophelia:

By Day:

and By Sarah:

and just in case you need a bit more inspiration, here are a couple more layouts from my gallery-in this first one, I used two similarly colored papers from Steph.Designs A La Campagne kit (1 craft paper, then a wonderfully textured paper) and used the soft light setting to get that extra texture I was needing.

And on this layout, I used a clipping mask (originally made for photos) to clip one of Erica Zane’s great papers onto my layout.

So, what do you think, a good how-to today? I hope you try it out!

Here are all the details for this challenge, please read carefully!

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 (August) you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points! The same is true for those of you who scrap along with me in September!
- You have until the end of August to complete this challenge for August MOS points, and if you can’t get it done by then, you get the added bonus of having until the end of September to complete this challenge for September 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 remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM products as of July 8, 2011.

Can’t wait to see what you create!

Hello everyone…. This is Cyndi, and I am hosting this next edition of your Saturday Special challenge.  Today we are going to try our hand at a Double Pager… but we’re not going to stop there.  We’ll follow it up by dividing the layout and displaying it in the gallery looking it’s very best!

Let me start by walking you through how I create my double pagers.  I’m using Adobe Photoshop CS3.

For me, it’s easiest to start with one big 12×24 canvas (or template).  You can turn on the Guide to show you the middle of the full layout, and help you not place any important faces or journaling right where the pages will divide.  If you’re using a template, hopefully your template designer already had this in mind with the creation of the template.  You can turn on the Guide feature if you want to be sure, or if you are in the habit of altering templates.

To add the guide, click View > Show Rulers to make the rulers appear.  Then, with the move tool on the left side ruler, click and drag your cursor onto the page.  You should be dragging a teal Guide line into position.  You can place this guide line anywhere on the page.  It’s an invisible line that will not show up on your actual page.  Click View > Show Guides to turn the guides off and on.  Let’s place the guide in the center of our 12×24 layout.

When I’m done scrapping my page, I flatten my image (some scrappers like to keep a layered version of their layout in their files.  For me, when I’m done, I’m done.  I flatten and move on.)  After flattening my full 12×24 layout, I open two separate 12×12 new documents.  I drag my flattened 12X24 into the first of the 12×12 documents so that only the left side is showing.  (This actually makes a copy of the image so that my 12×24 is still intact.)  I merge the layers and save to my Finished Layouts folder.  Then I repeat for the right side in the second of the new 12×12 documents.  Before closing these 12x 12 documents and after I’ve save the full size image, I reduce the images to 600×600 pixels and save for web.  I also make a 700-800 pixel wide version of my full 12×24 layout and “save for web” so that I can add the image to my credits (instructions to follow) and people can see what the two pages look like together.  Now I have 2 beautiful, high resolution images to print for my albums and 2 separate, clear, web images to display in the gallery.

Oh, and remember that 12×24 image we saved for web?  I upload that to an offsite photo hosting site (I use Photobucket) so that I can display the full layout in my credits.  This is what your link should look like in your credits…{IMG}http:// url of hosted photo{/IMG}  but change { to [ and } to ].

And to makes things even better…..   Jen Davey has created a double template just for us!  If you’re a little intimidated by double pagers, this might just be the help you need.

DOWNLOAD

So on with your challenge…  Your job is to create a double page layout, uploading each side individually into the gallery with your full layout preview in your credits.  Be sure to upload to the SATURDAY SPECIAL GALLERY and post back to this SATURDAY SPECIAL THREAD so I know you’re playing and you get your points!
Now check this fabulous Creative Team Inspiration

from Me

left side

right side

from Ophelia

left side

right side

from Kim

left side

right side

from Ami

left side

right side

from Kairyn

left side

right side

from Heidi

left side

right side

Okay!!! Now your turn!
Challenge reminders:
-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Roadmap to Scrap 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 (August) you’ll be entered into a random drawing that could earn you some bonus points!
- You have until the end of August to complete this challenge for August 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 remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM products as of July 8, 2011.

It’s time for another edition of the Saturday Special. Are you a blocking junkie? I certainly am a fan of blocking! Do you ever wonder how to make a row of ellies perfectly line up on a page? Today I am going to show you how to align elements/papers on a page. Let’s get started.

This little trick saves loads of time when used for lining up the alphas in a title.

1. Place all of the elements on the page that you want to align.

2. Link all of the layers together in the layers palette. You can do this by highlighting at least one of the layers to be aligned, then clicking the link button on all of the other layers to be aligned.

3. Next click one of the align buttons from the tool bar. I generally use align bottom edge. This will line up the items that are linked.

There you have it. Perfectly aligned ellies! Note: It is sometimes necessary to unlink the layers to adjust for spacing.

Okay, now it is your turn to give this technique a try. Join us in the forum to play along! I can’t wait to see what you create. Go forth and align!!

Challenge reminders:

-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Saturday Special Gallery. You will 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 August 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 remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.

Hello fellow scrappers,

Kayla aka keepscrappin here with today’s Saturday Special Challenge.  I love to have a title on all of my layouts; however, sometimes coming up with a new title for every layout can get hard.  I like my title to convey a message or reinforce the theme of my page, so when I’m stuck for a title one of the places I turn to for inspiration is word art.  Plus using a piece of word art for my title can be an easy and quick way to finish off my page.

So the challenge for today is to use word art for your title.  You can make your own word art or use a premade word art as is or combine it with a font, alpha, or embellishments.  The choice is yours – just have some fun and make your title really shine on your layout.

Many kits come with word art but if the kit you’re working with doesn’t have the perfect one for you, check out the special section for word art here in the ScrapMatters store.  Below are just a couple of the many word art packs available.

Here’s my layout using a word art (part recolored) from Little Princess Sighs Word Art by Graham Like the Cracker for the title and Fairytale from The Design Girl.

And here’s some inspiration from the Fabulous SM CT.

Becca used the Fresh Fun kit and Word Art from KimB for this understated beauty.

Ophelia used WM[Squared]‘s NEW Great Escape California for this Hollywood Blockbuster.

Kim used For the Love of Girls from Stolen Moments and Jady Day Studio for this sweet page.

Melissa used Mulberry Fields Family Word Art By KimB Designs and Lazy Days-E By Erica Zane for this cute family page.

Heather also used the NEW Great Escape: California Bundle from WM [Squared] for her star-studded page.

and Trista used the Fresh Fun kit and word art from KimB for her playful page.

Challenge reminders:
-You will receive one point for posting in the Saturday Special 8.6.11 forum thread & in the Saturday Special gallery. You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products; [COLOR="Red"]please make a note of new products in your post[/COLOR]. 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 August 2011 to complete this challenge to earn MOS points.

-Remember no double dipping…your layout must be unique to this challenge.

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.

Hi everyone and welcome to another “issue” of the Saturday Special. The thing I like most about this challenges is that I often find some tutorials and tips that are new to me and teach me more tricks for learning scrapbook deeper.
This Saturday I also have a small tutorial for you. Some time ago I bended a lace into a circle for a CT layout and some CT member asked me how I did it. So I thought maybe it will be useful to someone out there, too, to see how to do it!

Let’s start with our small tutorial! First pick the lace, ribbon or element you want to bend and drag it into your empty page.

Now you should increase its height a little… well, you will learn it from experience, anyway, I increased my height to 160%.

Now in the top bar look for the Filter Menu –> Distort –> Polar Coordinates

It will open up another little window: Rectangular to Polar (yes, if you have a round object, for example a frame, you can convert it to a straight line with the other option!).

And voilà:

Your nice lace turned into a super cute circle to be used as a frame or a different element of your taste.

Your chance for this Saturday Special challenge is to create a layout using a bended element, so simple!

I hope you enjoyed the small tut!

This is how I used my new circle lace:

Credits: FuchsiaLime : sweet deal by LDrag Designs

And here’s more inspirations from our wonderful CT ladies!
Ophelia (navaja77) picked a scallop and used the technique in GIMP. It created a flower type element:

Credits: In The History of Ever by Amy Stoffel

Melissa (prettypeaches) used the technique on the stitches:

Credits: Lovebirds By Jeanine DeOre

Kayla (keepscrappin) turned a white ribbon into a circle:

Credits: Holly Jolly from Band Geek Designs

Fran (Fran98765) took a straight scallop clip of one of the papers and turned it into a circle for the scallop mat under the journal mat:

Credits: Summertime Fun – At the Zoo by Jady Day Studio

Amanda (dznyscrapper) turned a ribbon into a circle:

Credits: Summertime Fun – At the Zoo by Jady Day Studio, Around the Block Template Pack by Haynay Designs

———

Challenge reminders:

-You will receive one point for posting in this thread & in the Grand Theft Layout Challenge 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 July to complete this challenge to earn MOS points.

-Remember no double dipping… your layout must be unique to this challenge.

-You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM products.

If you’re like me, then you have a lot of old photos that are discolored from age. I see advertisements all the time for photo restoration services. While these experts are awesome for photos that are difficult to recover ( torn, burnt, cracked, etc) they can be a bit pricey for simple color corrections on vintage shots.

This method has worked well for me. It’s not the absolute best method out there and you may not get your photos to the exact color, but you can definitely get rid of the maroon family photo look!

This tutorial works for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I have tested in in PSCS5 and PSE9.

Start with your vintage photo. As you can see mine also has a bit of tearing and some writing transferred to the front of this photo from another photo. I’m going to go ahead and fix those problems. Before you correct the color you might want to fix any issues like mine.

Ahh, this is much better

Now to correct that awesome 1978 magenta!

The first thing I do is use the auto-tone and auto color options. They don’t work miracles on every photo but they do improve your chances a lot.

Next we’re going to adjust the color balance. The menu option is called Color Balance. You are going to adjust the sliders for Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. You will also have to adjust the highlights, shadows, and midtones separately. I usually start with the midtones and then adjust the highlights and shadows. Your photo may still look washed out, but your color should improve. This is going to vary depending on the color issues you have with your photo.

Finally I’m going to adjust the levels to make the overall tones of the light correct to my eye. I could continue making adjustments to the photo until I feel it’s accurate enough, or I could leave it at a level I’m satisfied with even without perfection. As long as the color tones are pleasing I’m ok with them not being completely accurate.

I’d love to see your before photos with your layouts as well. I’m excited to see what you create!

Here are some examples from the awesome creative team!

Here is one from Chel!

Here is Karen’s example

Trista kept some of the vintage feel.

And is is Ophelia’s beautiful work

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 July to complete this challenge to earn MOS points. OR -You have until the end of July to complete this challenge for July MOS points or wait to post in August for August 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 remember your SM gallery must contain at least 50% SM product beginning July 8, 2011.