Hey everyone!  LuAnn here with your March Getting Hybrid Challenge!

This month we’re going to be decorating candles, votive holders, jar candles and more with beautiful decorative wraps. They are the perfect way to add color or a personal touch to tables, shelves, centerpieces and more.

But most importantly….
**These candles are for decorative purposes only – please do not ever light a candle that has paper and other flammables on/or near it**

Here is my candle sporting a gorgeous new wrap using Jady Day Studio’s collab kit with KimB’s Designs called What Matters Most.

and a close up of the details:

So let’s get started with how to make your own candle wrap!
Supplies:

• Candle

• Epson Matte Presentation Paper

• digital kit of choice

• embellishments of choice – buttons, ribbon, brads, punches, flowers, dies, ink, pop dots, 3D foam squares, etc.

• double sided tape (or other adhesives of choice)

1.  Measure around your candle – allow for an overlap.  Determine how tall you want your candle wrap to be.

(My candle is a 6 inch pillar – my wrap is going to be 9 1/2 inches wide by about 3 1/2 inches tall)

2.  Create your candle wrap using a photo editing program of choice.  I’m using Jady Day Studio’s What Matters Most digital kit.

3.  Determine if you want your candle wrap to be all digital including shadows or if you want to print each layer of your wrap and then assemble true “hybrid” style.
(I decided to print my paper layers separately.)

4.  Determine how you want to decorate your candle wrap – now don’t panic!  Just think of it as a long narrow layout that you will print out and wrap around a candle. 

5.  Print your wrapper and/or the pieces to your wrapper on matte presentation or matte photo paper using your printer’s best print option.

6.  I distressed the edge of my patterned paper and used a lacey border punch on the cream colored plain paper and inked the edges. I adhered the lacey punched papers to the back of the edge of the patterned paper.  After wrapping my papers around my candle, I used double sided tape on the overlapping area to secure the wrap.

7.  To create the flowers, I printed some square blocks of the solid pink and solid cream digital papers in the kit.  Using my Big Shot, I die cut some Cherry Blossom flowers.  I also die cut a butterfly from the solid pink digital paper and added two small crystals to the center of the butterfly.

8.  After inking the edges, I punched two small holes in one petal of each of the pink flowers and two small holes in opposite sides of the cream colored petal.   I used twine to create a cross stitch to attach the flowers together.  Then I added a flat back pearl to the center of each flower.  The pearls were a little too white in the middle so I lightly dabbed the pearl with the same ink that I used on the edges of the flower.

9  The flowers and butterfly are attached to the candle with 3D foam squares.
And there you have it – a beautiful candle perfect to display or give as a gift!

How about some inspiration from the team?

Cathy (Scrappycath) created this beautiful jar candle wrap using Thankful for you by Mye De Leon:

Jewelle (jubeejewels) created this fun candle wrap using So Silly by Amy Stoffel:

Amanda (Abhall76) created this gorgeous wineglass lamp shade which uses a battery operated tea light – she used Zen Garden by Inspirations from Day:

**Again…This candle is for decorative purposes only – please do not ever light a candle that has paper and other flammables on it**

Here are the ScrapMatters challenge guidelines:
- Entries must be posted in the Getting Hybrid challenge gallery HERE and also linked up in the comments section of this post.
- You will have until the end of March to complete your project
- You’ll get 1 point for designing, printing and putting together your project, and then posting the photo of it in the gallery. You will get a bonus point if you use a new release within one week of it’s release to complete your project. You must mention that you used a new product in the comment section of this post to get the bonus point!

I can’t wait to see what you create so be sure to link me up so I can leave you some luvin’!!!

LuAnn

Hi Ladies! Bonnie here with this week’s Saturday Special! This is my first time hosting this challenge, so I hope you all enjoy it! For this week, we’re going to be taking some inspiration from RL crafting & learning how to create a Sprayed Mask effect.

If any of you are also into crafting computer-free like I am, you’ve probably heard of this technique. As I was just doing this the other day, I started thinking how cool it would be to do it on my digital layouts. So I launched Photoshop & started playing. You can use this look for masking elements, alphas, overlays, papers, shapes…pretty much anything you want. As is most everything with PS, this is just one way of creating this effect. In writing this tutorial, it became evident how much different PS & PSE are when attempting this effect. So, for all you PSE users out there, I created a tutorial just for you which you can find if you scroll down.
You’re welcome.

You can click on any of the images below to see full-sized versions.

IF YOU USE PHOTOSHOP:
The first thing you want to do is choose what you want to mask. I used a heart lace doily from Erica Zane’s Love Happens Kit. Open the image in Photoshop or Elements & drag it onto a new page. You may find it easiest to mask over whatever paper you’re planning to use (I used Krafty Papers by Happy Scrap Girl), but you don’t have to.

Next, create a new layer for the spray mask. It doesn’t matter whether it’s above or below your element.

Control/Command + Click the icon of your element to select it (“marching ants” will appear around it). Go to Select > Inverse from the menu (or use the hotkey Shift + Control/Command + i). You can choose to hide the element now if you’d like by clicking the eye next to the element’s icon.

Choose your brush tool from the toolbar (the hotkey is B). The effect will look different depending on what brush tip you choose. Open your brush palette and choose a brush shape. The scatter brushes work the best for this technique. You can select one you already have, or do a search for Photoshop Spray Brushes & download some.

Once you’ve chosen your brush, check the Enable Airbrush Mode in your palette under ‘Brush Tip Shape’ (you should also see it in the Brush Menu along the top of your program). Play with the settings until you get the desired look you want. (See more on that here).

Make sure the new layer you’d created for the spray mask is selected. With quick, short bursts of clicking & dragging your brush, “spray” over the selection (the “marching ants”). I’ve found that the outcome looks much better if you spray from different angles & alter the direction you start your dragging. If you use something open or detailed (like the doily I used) make sure to spritz in the center of the selection to include all the detail.

If you’re not sure how things are turning out, you can hit Control/Command + D to deselect the selection so you can get a clearer picture of how it looks. If you still want to add more spritzing, hit Control/Command + Z to undo the deselecting & continue spraying with your brush.

When you’re finished spraying, deselect your selection. Drag the original element to the trash can to delete it from your layout as you won’t need it anymore. You can now give your mask some varying effects by changing the blend mode, adding a layer style, or changing the opacity.

Try adding a soft Bevel & Emboss style to it to give it a painted look (double click the layer in the layers palette to enable the effect)…

…or change the blend mode to give it a inked or bleached look.

If it’s too dark on your layout, soften it by decreasing the blend opacity or the fill opacity.
If it’s not bold enough, try changing the color of the “ink” or making a duplicate copy of the layer.

IF YOU USE ELEMENTS:
The first thing you want to do is choose what you want to mask. I used a heart lace doily from Erica Zane’s Love Happens Kit. Open the image in Elements & drag it onto a new page. You may find it easiest to mask over whatever paper you’re planning to use (I used Krafty Papers by Happy Scrap Girl), but you don’t have to.

Next, go to Layer > New > Layer to create a new layer for the spray mask (or use the hotkey command Shift + Command + N). It doesn’t matter whether the new layer is above or below your element, but do make it above your paper. LOL.

Control/Command + Click the icon of your element to select it (“marching ants” will appear around it). Go to Select > Inverse from the menu (or use the hotkey Shift + Control/Command + i). You can choose to hide the element now if you’d like by clicking the eye next to the element’s icon.

Choose your brush tool from the toolbar (the hotkey is B). Open your brush palette and choose a brush shape. The scatter brushes work the best for this technique. You can select one you already have, or do a search for Photoshop Spray Brushes & download some.

Once you’ve chosen your brush, check the Set to Enable Airbrush Capabilities button in your brush menu (you should see it along the top of your program). Play with the brush dynamic settings until you get the desired look you want. (See more on that here).

Make sure the new layer you’d created for the spray mask is selected. With quick, short bursts of clicking & dragging your brush, “spray” over the selection (the “marching ants”). I’ve found that the outcome looks much better if you spray from different angles & alter the direction you start your dragging. If you use something open or detailed (like the doily I used) make sure to spritz in the center of the selection to include all the detail.

This effect will look different depending on what brush tip you choose. For my example, I used the “Rough Round Bristle” on the left, and the “Dry Brush” on the right. See how different they turn out?

If you’re not sure how things are turning out, you can hit Control/Command + D to deselect the selection so you can get a clearer picture of how it looks. If you still want to add more spritzing, hit Control/Command + Z to undo the deselecting & continue spraying with your brush.

When you’re finished spraying, deselect your selection. Drag the original element to the trash can to delete it from your layout as you won’t need it anymore. You can now give your mask some varying effects by changing the blend mode, adding a layer style, or changing the opacity.

Try adding a soft Bevel style to it to give it a raised, painted look (NOTE: I’ve discovered this effect works much better in PS than PSE, but maybe I’m doing something wrong as I don’t ever use PSE… just in case you want to try it anyway, I’ve included the steps). Go to your effects palette on the right or under Window > Effects. Select the Layer Styles icon & then Bevel from the drop down menu. It appears “Simple Sharp Inner” is the only one that looks decent for this; it’s the fourth from the bottom.

To add an Emboss (which totally altered my color), go to Filter > Stylize > Emboss. This especially looked good on the heavier masked side (the right), only I couldn’t figure out how to get it to use the effect while still keeping my original color…

Double click the FX icon to the right of the layer to change some of the default settings for these effects.

You can also change the blend mode to give it a inked or bleached look.

If it’s too dark on your layout, soften it by decreasing the blend opacity or the fill opacity.
If it’s not bold enough, try changing the color of the “ink” or making a duplicate copy of the layer.
Have fun with this!

Here’s the page I made:
I used the technique on the doily and also on a couple of alpha characters to incorporate it into my title.

((using: Love Happens by Erica Zane; Krafty Papers, & Curvaceous Temples & Text Paths by Happy Scrap Girl))

& here’s some inspiration from our fabulous CT:

Melissa (profiler_mar) made these adorable scalloped hearts:

((using: What’s Cooking? The Whole Batch by Erica Zane))

Liz (mommy22girls) created these fabulous snowflake cutouts & title:

((using: Say It Ain’t Snow! by Erica Zane))

Becca (beca372) made these beautifully subtle florals:

((using: Happy Days Kit, Add-On, & Word Art by LDrag; & Fabulously Negative Vol. 6 Templates by WM[squared]))

Day (day) created All Boy:

((using Alex In Paperland by Erica Zane))

Some Challenge Reminders:
>>This challenge runs through the end of March, you’ll have until then to post your layout.
>>Remember, no double-dipping! Your layout must be unique to this challenge.
>>If you post your completed layout by February 28th, your points will be counted toward your February MOS Points earnings. If you post in March, you’ll have until the end of March for your points to be counted toward your March MOS Points!
>>You will receive one point for uploading your layout to <a href="http://scrapmatters.com/gallery3/showgallery.php/cat/503"]The Saturday Special Gallery & posting it in the forum.
>>You can earn an extra point for using any new ScrapMatters product during the first week of its release. (It too must be unique & only used for this challenge to count as an extra point). Please make a note of what new product(s) you used 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 don’t have to use ScrapMatters products, but we sure do love it when you do!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, & thanks so much for playing along! I can’t wait to see what you create!!
~Bonnie

Happy Saturday to everyone!  Jan (QuiltyMom) here with you for another Saturday Special.  Today we will learn more about creating lovely panoramic photos from multiple pictures.

A while back Mary (Plum Dumpling Designs) hosted a Saturday Special on using panoramic photos in a page. The page I made used a panoramic that I had pieced together from three different photos, and she mentioned that I should host a Saturday Special on how I do it. So, here it is!

Note: When I started this tutorial I had no idea that there were programs that actually merged photos together for you, so this is for those people who would need to do it step-by-step.  I use StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0, which does not have this feature.  Bonnie (cursivesmile) was kind enough to put together a tutorial for Photomerge for you who have that program and still need to figure out how to use it. To keep this post from being longer than it already is, you can find her tutorial here.

There are times when I go places that taking just one photo of a scene just isn’t enough where you can’t fit everything into one photo, so I try my best to take a series of photos along a “horizon like” that I can use to piece and blend together to try and recreate the scene. It’s best if you don’t use a wide angle to snap the photos, because the wider the angle of your lens the more distortion on the edges of the photo there will be. But don’t worry about it too much if you haven’t, or if you forget to do it. You can still work with the photos. Make sure you overlap the edges of the photos so they can be blended in your scrapbooking program later on.

My one disclaimer about this tutorial is this: Don’t worry if your newly created panoramic photo isn’t “perfect.” Sometimes it will happen, other times it won’t. Remember the only person who knows this is YOU, and really, nothing has to match if you don’t want it to, either. Have fun with it and see what you can come up with.

In short, you will 1) choose your photos, 2) place them in order on the page, 3) edit so they match as much as possible, 4) line them up, 5) cut blended edges, 6) flatten together, and 7) trim (optional).

Place your photos on the page in order from left to right, then if necessary, edit the photos so they match as closely as possible in color, size of subject matter, horizon line, etc. This will make the blending much easier. Bring some of the photos to a 50% opacity level and overlap them in a rough panorama. Choose a focal point and/or horizon line to align them as best as possible, something that will matter the most to make the best seamless blend possible.

In my example you’ll see I’ve chosen the mountain edge as my guide for that is the focal point of the scene. On one side I’ve chosen a little dip in the mountain to fine tune the alignment; on the other a crook in the tree. There will be distortion at the edges of the photos, so you will be looking to find the point where you will want to make the blends for the most seamless transition.

When you’re happy with the arrangement, bring all the photos back to 100% opacity, make a copy of the photos, group and hide them just in case you make a mistake later on that can’t be fixed.

(You will only be blending the edge of the top photo. It isn’t necessary to make a blended cut on the bottom photo since it will be hidden.) Find the center point for a blend.

Using the blended edge on the straight edge cutter, place the median line for the blend cut on this center line, widening the blend amount as necessary, and cut. This takes some experimentation, so use your “undo” feature until you’re satisfied. Some photos will take a larger blended edge than others – it all depends upon the visual matter.

(You’ll notice that the tree branches don’t match up. This is when you ask yourself, do you really care? If it doesn’t bother you, then it’s good enough.)

Here is the other blend:

Repeat this for every edge where necessary.

Once you have everything the way you like it, flatten together the photos so they become one piece. Then trim the top and bottom edges – and you’re all done! (ETA: The final trimming of the photo is optional, especially if you would be trimming away important parts of the photo by doing so. Karen’s page, below, shows how she creatively displayed her un-trimmed panoramic photo.)

Here is my page with the final panoramic photo. I used Back to Nature by Mye DeLeon and Curvaceous Templates and Text Paths by Happy Scrap Girl.

And here are the wonderful pages made by our very talented Creative Team:

Karen (bydelstorp) created this lovely page. I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing her secret about her gorgeous photo, either. Since she wouldn’t have been able to crop the panoramic without cutting out important parts of the image, she brilliantly chose to cover the steps created by the photo merge with curved papers. Thanks for the tip, Karen! She used Bedazzled by LDrag Designs and Bend in the Road (altered) by Stolen Moments Designs.

Fiona (canadianmommy) Made a 2pager with hers, combining her photos with photomerge in CS4. She used Ho!Ho!Ho! and Double the Fun Templates by Chelle’s Creations:

Amanda (dznyscrapper) created this getting ready for Disney page with Photomerge, using Stolen Moments Makin’ Me Happy and Happiest Addon:

This darling softball page by Kelli (kellig) is made with Fuss Free Week by Week Set 1 by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs; and Batter Up, Batter Up: Black, and Batter Up: Softball; Kick It (alpha) by Chelle’s Creations:

Bonnie (cursivesmile) made this gorgeous page (check out that view!) using Imagination Creation Mega Collection by Stolen Moments & Studio Flergs:

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 February 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!

I can’t wait to see what you create!  – Jan

Good morning and HAPPY Saturday! I always love trying new ways to add focus to my pictures and found a new one (for me anyway) that I simply love! Blurring the background of your photo…

First open your editing software and the picture you are going to use. Next select the Magnetic Lasso Tool from your toolbar:

Using your magnetic lass tool outline the image you want to focus on (the part that will not be blurred)

When you have you image selected you might need to make a few corrections, so zoom in on your picture and use the Quick Selection Tool:

When you have all of your image selected…

You might want to expand the selection just a little bit so it’s not right on the edge of your image. To do this go to Select>Modify>Expand> I only expanded 1 pixel

Then you will want to invert your selection to create the blur…to invert you need to go to Select>Inverse

Then you can create your blur. On mine I went to Filter>Blur>Gauissan Blur…but you can use any of the blurs you wish. Play around with it!

Here’s my final pic:

Here is my layout created with the picture above using So Silly by Amy Stoffel, BBQ Weather Bonus Alpha by WM[squared] Designs, and Alphlets by Stolen Moments:

and here is what the amazing SM CT girls created using this tut: (please check out the forum to see what each girl did to their picture)

Andrea:

Fiona:

Becky:

Tanya:

Aren’t they all simply AMAZING?!?! Can’t wait to see how this tutorial inspires YOU!

Challenge reminders:
-You will receive one point for posting in Saturday Special 2.12.11 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 February 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!

Now….get scrapping!

Hi everyone, Andilynn here.

I know, I know this isn’t a template!  Sorry we had a little snafu in the scheduling.  I didn’t have a template just hanging around so I thought that I would share this article about monochromatic color theory. I’m not an expert by any means but I have taken quite a few design classes that had some focus on color theory.

Monochromatic color schemes have gotten a reputation for being boring and therefore creating boring layouts, hybrid projects or home decor. I want to show you that monochromatic color schemes can create projects that are anything but boring.  Colors in their pure, pigmented state are very saturated and therefore very strong.  But too much of a super-saturated color and wowsers, you need to look away. It is hard to look at strong, bold colors for a long time, our eyes start to want to find someplace else to look.  That isn’t what you want people doing when you create a layout or project. You want to create something that is pleasing to the eye. So go ahead and use strong colors but try using them as accents.  For the color that makes up the majority of your project add a little (or a lot) of white, gray or black.  By looking at the color lesson examples you will see that monochromatic does not equal monotony!

I think we’ve all heard that color can evoke and convey emotion. Here are some common emotions associated with colors:

Red is associated with heat, energy, passion, danger, excitement and energy.
Orange is associated with warmth, joy, creativity, success and encouragement.
Yellow is associated with the sun, happiness, spontaneity and enthusiasm.
Green is associated with nature, freshness, healing and fertility. Also money!
Blue is associated with the sea and the sky, strength, stability, trust and loyalty.
Purple is associated with royalty, power, luxury and ambition.
White is associated with purity, cleanliness and safety.
Black is associated with power, elegance, evil, mystery, formality.

So when you want your layout, wardrobe or hybrid craft project to speak, using one color is a particularly effective way to get your message across.  Use variations of the same color and you have a layout, home decor or project that can really convey the emotions you want.

The terms hue, tint, shade and tone can have different meanings depending on the context it is used in.  We are concentrating on color theory the definitions of which can be a little different than the common usage–so to make sure we’re all on the same page I’ve provided some definitions for you:

Hue is just another word for color.  Red, yellow and blue are the hues that I am using to demonstrate, but you can tint or shade any hue.

A tint of a color is a color that has had any amount of white added to it.  It can be a little white or a lot of white, they are all called tints.
A shade of a color, likewise is any color that has had any amount of black added to it.  A little bit of black or a lot of black, it is still a shade.

The tone of a color is how dark or how light it is.  The tone is determined by the amount of gray in a color-how much white, gray or black has been used in that color.  So tints are tonally lighter and shades are tonally darker than the pure colors. The amount of white, gray or black (lightness to darkness of a color) is what is really being determined when we talk about tone.

When you take a color and add white you get a tint of that color, for example a tint of red is pink. When you take a color and add black you get a shade of that color. For example burgundy is a shade of red. Where the color falls on the spectrum of white, gray or black determines it’s tone. It’s much easier to see the explanation than to read it so I prepared three examples using the primary colors of red, yellow and blue.  If you take your pure, base color and add the outer color to it you will get a variation of the colors in the middle, depending on how much pure color you have and how much of the white, gray or black you used.  I didn’t add arrows between the hue and the gray, but they would be there too.

Red monochromes

Yellow Monochromes

Blue monochromes

When creating a monochromatic color palette or layout you’re not limited to just the colors in the little boxes, there is an entire range of tints, shades and tones associated with a single base color as you can see from the following examples using our same primary colors–red, yellow and blue:

I hope this helped explain the difference between the terms hue, tone, tint and shade and gave you some new ideas on how to apply this in your layouts, craft projects, home decor and clothing to convey the message you want to send.  I decided to take a quick peek in the gallery and see if I could find any monochromatic layouts.  This was totally spur of the moment, so please take a minute to give some love to these ladies who weren’t afraid to use primarily one hue in their layouts!

Cheryl (gonewiththewind) created this monochromatic layout that I adore.

by Cheryl

Here’s another one by scrappymelly

template – Fuss Free: Portraits Set One by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs
kit – A Photo a Day by Plum Dumpling Designs
word art – Hidden Messages by Plum Dumpling Designs
font – Slim Sans Serif

Canadianmommy did a layout using all different tones of grayed purple:

by Canadianmommy

Note Card from School Days by WM(squared) Designs

Everything else is from Magic Winterland by the ScrapMatters Design Team

Hello, Cathy here with today’s Hybrid Corner.  It’s a New Year and that means a fresh start.  In my house I’ve been cleaning out, donating unused items and trashing the junk.  What’s left is being re-organized and straightened up!  So today I thought I would share with you how to alter a wooden container.  This way when you get organized, you can put things away in attractive containers.

For this project I used a round wooden chipwood box with a lid.  I found a set of 3 nesting ones at my craft store.  I’m going to use my box to store hot cocoa packets, so the digital kit I used for this is Frosty by WM [squared] Designs. Aren’t the colors great? And those elements are so cute!

This is my finished project

Other items you will need:

• wooden container
• lite sandpaper
• adhesive/sealer
• trimmer, scissors, craft knife
• ink, paint (if desired)
• glitter (if desired)
• edge punch (if desired)
• ribbon (if desired)

Let me start out by apologizing for the messy craft table in the background of my photos. Let’s just say my clean-up efforts have not yet gotten to that area of the house!  OK, Start by lightly sanding and cleaning the surface of the box.  I painted my box with acrylic paint in a light beige shade and allowed it to dry.

Next I applied crackle paint medium.  This stuff is kind of gooey and thick.  The thicker you apply it, the bigger the cracks you get.  I didn’t want too much texture to my surface so I went with a moderate coat.  As it dries, you’ll see the surface start to crack.

When the cracks start to appear, you can hasten the process using your heat embossing tool or a hair dryer.  It’s really cool to watch the cracks form.  Here’s a closer picture of the cracks:

Once the crackle paint was dry, I rubbed some distressing ink into the surface and gave it time to dry.

While it was drying, I created my design in Photoshop. I wanted a nice wintry scene with rolling hills.  I used Bend in the Road Curved Templates by Stolen Moments to create the hills. I printed this out and cut out the shapes.

To add some sparkle to the snowy hills, I painted on a bit of Glossy Accents and coated them with fine glitter.  I also applied the glitter to the snowflakes, snowman and penguin that I cut out.

I used Mod Podge paper adhesive to adhere the scene and snowflakes to the box. Once that was dry, I used Mod Podge Hard Coat to seal the project.  I like to use the hard coat as it dries non-tacky and will eventually become water-resistant. This is really nice for projects that you will want to be able to wipe with a damp cloth to clean.  I apply several coats of the sealant (4 to 5).  Allow plenty of time for drying and sand lightly between coats.

For the lid, I created a decorative edge using an edge punch, then covered the lid in papers.  I then applied the sealant coats of Mod Podge. Then I trimmed it with some ribbon. I used my ATG gun to adhere the ribbon.

Now I’ve got this really darling container for storing our hot cocoa packets.  Hope this inspires you to alter a container for your self or as a gift.  For me, I’d best be getting back to my clean-up!

Today I’d like to talk about how to tone a photo to suit your layout. Sometimes we have awesome photos and we find the perfect kit. Then we get those beautiful color photos on the layout we’re working on and find that it’s all the wrong colors and tones for the kit we just had to have! Well, black and white can be really helpful but what if you really want to keep color?My solution is to tone the colors in my photo softly to fit my layout.

I’m going to start with a SOOC photo taken in RAW (doesn’t have to be RAW). Underexposed a bit but all the basis for a great layout.

Next I do my adjustments in Camera RAW in Adobe Photoshop or PSE. (tip! did you know you can adjust jpeg images in the RAW plugin too?) I make adjustments slightly to the white balance and exposure. I also like to bump up the vibrancy, but that’s a personal choice.

Now the steps are the same for PSE or PS users (all other users I’m sorry I don’t have access to the programs you use. Try to follow along!) Haze intentionally being added to soften the color of a photo is a big popular post-processing trend right now. Here is a simple way to do that.

First I create a levels adjustment layer and the only slider I will move is the black output levels. It’s this little slider under the levels graph on the left.

This level will not be the same based on your image. If you don’t want a haze skip to the next step.

Color tone in PS
I add a color fill layer with a light shade of the tone I want to give to my photo. Then I change the blend mode to soft light and lower the opacity to taste. You can experiment with blend modes to get different effects.

Here is the final toned image with a slight pinkish tint.

For more advanced users of both programs try adjusting the output levels of each color channel (rgb) in the layers adjustment menu. You can adjust the tone this way too!

Here is my layout using Chelle’s Beauty Within kit and Cheryl’s (gonewiththewind)
Fuss Free: Day by Day set 1

And here is the CT girls showing you how easy it is!

LeeAndra using our guest Micheline Martin’s 2011 Grab Bag

Becca using Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs Fuss Free: Week by Week set 1 and Micheline Martin’s 2011 Grab bag

Challenge reminders:

-You will receive one point for posting in Saturday Special 1.15.11 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 January 2011 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 everyone! Melissa (profiler_mar) here for another hybrid corner! With the new year coming up on us, everyone is making resolutions. I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, since I rarely ever keep them. But I do tend to try and make changes in the new year. This year, my boyfriend and I will be on a really tight budget and paying off some debt. So, I plan to become serious about using coupons to save money on groceries and household items. I decided to make some customized envelopes to sort the coupons in, and I have to say, I love how they turned out!

Here are some hybrid products that you can use for this project:

Cover It Up Money by Krisi’s Kreations:

Cover It Up Invitation by Krisi’s Kreations:

Cover It Up Square by Krisi’s Kreations:

For my envelopes I used Cover It Up Money by Krisi’s Kreations and Boho Chic by geniaBeana Scraps.

First, open the envelope template in your scrapbooking software and decorate it to your liking. I used all five envelope templates and separated my coupons into five categories, which I listed on the front of each envelope. Once done, print your envelopes out. I used Epson Premium Presentation Paper Matte for this project.

Next, cut out the envelopes.

To make the envelopes easier to fold, score them along the scoring lines that were marked on the template. I use a bone folder to score my projects.

Next, to assemble the envelopes, you need to be very careful with the adhesive, so that the back of the envelope does not stick to the front when you fold it over. On the templates I used, the back of the envelope does not completely overlap the flaps that fold in on the sides. If you apply adhesive to the front of the flaps, you will have excess adhesive due to the width and length of the flaps. So, I cut two small pieces of adhesive and applied them to the blank side of the back of the envelope, as seen below. I only applied the adhesive up half way, because of how the back of the envelope folds over. I do not want the front and back of the envelope to stick together when I fold the envelope together. I used red line double sided tape, as I want these envelopes to have a strong adhesive, since they will be used multiple times.

You can see how then envelope folds together below:

And you can see, my coupons fit the length of the envelope and just slide right in:

Here are my finished envelopes:

See how simple that is? And now I will be the envy at the grocery store with beautiful custom envelopes. You can use these envelope templates to organize so many different things, so go on and give it a try! I can’t wait to see your beautiful hybrid projects in the gallery!

Happy Saturday!  I’m Kat (ktanker) of Kat Designed, a proud member of the ScrapMatters Creative Team and I’m here to give you a tutorial on Fixing Blemishes.  Many times, our photos come out great but there may be that one blemish that we’d like to adjust or remove.  There’s a wide variety of blemishes that qualify for something you might want to remove.  Today I have a video tutorial for you on how to remove a blemish.  I am using Photoshop CS4 but this tutorial may work in other versions of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

{Click here to see the VIDEO TUTORIAL}

Here’s the image I worked with in the video tutorial.  I removed the lip ring.

To fix a blemish/remove unwanted somethings from a photo… follow these steps:

1. Choose your CLONE STAMP TOOL (seen above)
2. This tool works as a brush. Hold down the ALT key to change the circle cursor to a circle with a + in the middle. This is how you choose your clone area. You want to choose an area near your blemish to help the skin tone(s) and/or color(s) match. Play with this some, don’t be afraid to choose different areas to help the tone(s) match.
3. Depending on the area, adjust the brush size and drag or “blot” the area with the blemish. Pay close attention to be sure your tone(s) are matching. If not, click undo and try again.
4. Once you have removed your spot, adjust your color, brightness, contrast etc… or run an action to fix up your photo. Using color correction on your photo helps hide the imperfections of the clone you’ve completed.

Seems easy enough? Any questions?

Here are the before, during and after shots…Special thanks to my younger sister, Jennifer for being a great model for this tutorial.

And here’s my layout using Rejuvenate by Sahlin Studio and matching Nail Polish No. 5 alpha

Check out some other inspiration from our creative team gals…

By Heidi {scrappurple}

Here’s her layout using Be Inspired – Melissa R – Templates by WM [squared] and Go Green by WM [squared] and Sarah Bennett

And one by JenD {jendavey}

And here is her layout using Vintage Vogue (Bundle) by Sahlin Studio

As a reminder here are the MOS Rules:
* Post your layouts to the Saturday Special Gallery & link us up in the forum.
* You will earn one point by participating in this challenge. You can receive an EXTRA point for using a product that has been released in the seven days prior to your post just make sure you make a note of that in your forum post.
* Your layout must be unique to this challenge, NO double dipping.
* You have until the end of the month to complete the challenge Thursday September 30, 2010.
* At the end of the month, I’ll choose one random winner to receive an EXTRA point.

Happy Weekending!

For this week’s Saturday Special, I wanted to share a little trick for using brushes to help add some great detail to your pages.. For this page about our family road trip this summer, I wanted to put dotted lines between each stop to show our route..

But rather than painstakingly brushing each and every circle, or erasing portions of a solid line, I chose to tweak my spacing.. So here goes..

1. First of all, make sure you on are a new layer – otherwise, you won’t be able to edit your brushwork. Now select your brush tool from your palette.
2. From the fly-out box on the right, you can choose the size & shape brush you want. I used a round size 40, but anything will work.. It just depends on what you want. {If you are using PSE, with your brush tool selected, go to the paint brush icon at the top and it will give you most of these options in a more simplified way.}
3. Now go down to the bottom of the box, and check the box next to “Spacing” and then use the slider to decide how far apart you want each brush stroke – my spacing here is 200%. {NOTE: If you want a solid line, be sure to bring your slider all the way down. Otherwise it will default to 25 or so, and although it looks solid when you’re zoomed out, if you zoom in, there will be rugged edges.}
4. You can also play around with the different settings under “Shape Dynamics” to achieve a less uniform look.

   

And one last tip – if you want a stick straight line, hold your shift key down while using your brush.

So your challenge for this week is to use your brush tool to create some sort of line, border or fun doodle to include on your page. Here is my finished page, as well as some from our fabulous creative team.

by Bonnie – check out those awesome stars along the border..

by Jenn – don’t those hearts around the photo and outside edges add just the perfect touch of detail?

Come on over to the forum to play…

A few rules to remember…

-Post your pages in the “Saturday Special” gallery and link it back to the thread in the forum. You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products; please make a note of new products in your post.

-You have until the end of September to play along, then I’ll choose my favorite to receive an extra point.

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

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

Happy Scrapping!