Happy Saturday! I hope everyone’s had a great week! Day from Inspirations here and today I’m going to share with you one of my favorite tricks for making a quick title to coordinate with any page or kit you are working with!
I’ve worked this in PS CS4 but you should be able to do similar with other programs

1. Choose a chunky font and type out your title in the size you want. Don’t worry about color as that’ll be changing! Once you’ve got it, right click the layer in the layers palette and choose “Rasterize Type” (This is called “Simplify Layer” in PSE)

2. Pick a paper to fill your alphabet with and drag it onto a layer above your title. Right click the paper layer in the layers palette and choose “Create Clipping Mask”. (In PSE group the layers by pressing CTRL+G with the paper layer selected)

3. You should now see your paper in the shape of your title. You can move around the paper layer to get whichever part of the pattern showing that you like. When it looks the way you want it, right click the paper in the layers palette and choose “Merge Down” to make your title all one layer.

4. Now you can use your title as is if you like, but you can also play around with some effects to make it pop a bit more. In the effects menu (the little round f button at the bottom of the layers palette) inner or outer glow or shadow, bevel and emboss and stroke would be my main choices.

5. For this I’m using a stroke to give the alphabet a sticker-like look. Adjust the size of the stroke, the placement (in the letters, out or straddling the border) and the color.

6. Now add your title to your page, give it a drop shadow and finish your LO!

Here’s mine, I used the colab kit Vintage Surf Shop, a few elements from my kit Catchin’ A Break and my Tiny Alphabet

and here’s some inspiration from the SM creative team!

Kayla

Tamara

Ophelia

PRIVET everyone!
This is Maria with this week’s Saturday Special. I have a couple of little tips for you when working with masks, especially resizing using short cut keys in Photoshop CS3.
Hope it’s useful for you!
Here’s what we are going to do:
- clip a photo to a mask (template shape)
- resize and rotate photo (paper)
- resize and rotate mask (template shape)

First of all open up your photo and drag it to you page.

Find a mask you want to use and drag it to your page too, be sure that mask layer is under your photo layer. Now you are ready to clip a photo to a mask. Shortcut in CS3 to do that is CTRL ALT G. You can try to move your photo and only one part of it will show up to you – repeating the mask shape.

Now to resizing. I will start with resizing of the mask, since it’s size of the mask is what matters on the page. Make sure that mask layer is active and hit CTRL T (free transform tool). To save the mask from distortion, hold down SHIFT key when resizing. Or you can push ‘constrain proportions’ button in the upper menu bar (this button looks like a paperclip in PS7). You can also type in the percentage of difference you want as compared to the original.

OK, now I think I have the right size of the mask (you can always adjust it again using the steps above). Now you see that the photo looks too big. Before you start to change it’s size, make sure the photo layer is active.

Don’t forget to hold down SHIFT key to maintain the original proportions! With the free transform tool you can also rotate your photo to fit your mask perfectly. You can also move the photo to find the perfect crop.

Now, if you want to resize both photo and your mask you should make sure you have both layers active. Just click on layers icons in layers menu holding CRTL key. You can also link those layers together. Don’t forget about proportions while resizing and now you can also move the photo and the mask to place it where you want it on your page.

OK, now I’m finished with resizing and will continue to make a page. If you need more adjustments with photo or mask only, remember to unlink the layers. Here’s my final page.

Don’t forget that you can use this tips when working with templates.Hope you’ve learned something new today!
I used Carry My Heart collab by Graham Like the Cracker and Stolen Moments.
I used some wordings from tuts on ehow.com

Here are some examples from ScrapMatters fabulous CT:
This one is by Heidi, she used a template and shrunk the paper down to 6×6 to clip to the template shapes, so the pattern in the paper shows. She used “Making Waves” by Jenn Barrette and Graham like the Cracker and Bella Gypsy’s “Double Dibbed” Template.

Here’s one by Amanda, using a bunch of products by Britt-ish Designs. She clipped her pics to custom shapes and the paper to scallops:

This one is by LeeAndra using Happy To Be kit by Scrapmuss Designs and Masquerade Vol. I by Jenn Barrette.

And another one by Jaime, using Splish Splash by The Design Girl.She clipped her photo to the mask and then added a stroke to give it a “bubble” effect.

Here are the official rules:
You have until the end of the July to complete this challenge.
You will earn 1 point for your LO and a bonus point if you use a new release (within 7 days of release – be sure to mention this in the forum and in your credits).
You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products, but we love it when you do!
No double dipping, your LO must be unique to this challenge.
At the end I will pick a random LO as the winner to receive an extra bonus point.

Stroking. Have you ever used this fun little technique? Stroking a photo gives it the look of a mat. Stroking an element or word art gives it the look of a sticker. I’ve stroked plenty of photos, but when I saw this layout, I wanted to try out stroking a title like Krista did (and she used GG Digital Designs adorable kit, “Ain’t She Sweet)!

Using PSE, this technique is super easy! If you use a different program and are able to do this technique, please share with us how to do it in your program!!

First, select an element. I used the cute little deer from Erica Zane’s kit, Woodland Fantasy.

Now, with the deer layer selected in your layers palette, go to <edit> and select <stroke (outline) selection>.

Here is where you can play around a bit with the stroke. Change its width (I like 20-25 px) and color (I made mine white). I kept the stroke in the center position, but try the other settings to find your preference. You can also play around with the blending modes to add your own flare!

Click <okay> and see what you came up with. If you don’t like it, then <undo> and play around with it some more.

Try it with some text. After you type out the text, simplify your text layer and then follow the above steps.

Now all you have to do is include some stroking in your layout. Can’t wait to see what you’ve done.

Here’s what some of the Scrap Matters CT came up with…

I used Erica Zane’s Woodland Fantasy

Monique used Flirt Mini Kit, Stitches from Kelly’s Apple Farm, WaterColour Doodles and Paint strokes (all by Happy Scrap Girl)

Melanie used Jeepers Creepers by Jeni Hopewell

And for a recap…You have until the end of the month to complete the challenge. You receive one point for participating in the challenge (don’t forget to link up your layout in this forum here). If you use a newly released Scrap Matters product in you layout and mention that in the forum, you will receive another point. And because you all make it so hard for me with your awesome layouts, I’ll chose one random winner at the end of the month to receive an additional point. All of the nitty-gritty, fine details on the Matter of Scrap challenges can be found here.

Have fun with this one!! Can’t wait to see your layouts!

Andrea (a.k.a chia)

I know, a little cheesy, but SOOOOO true!  Haven’t you every gotten lost in your spouse’s eyes or seen that mischievous glint in your child’s?  I know I have -  I see that glint EVERYDAY in my oldest son!  LOL!  Have you ever wanted to capture that “window to the soul light” in a photo only to have your hopes smashed to smithereens after seeing the final picture?  Me too!  Well, here’s a little tip I learned from Jessica Sprague (aka The Photoshop Queen, in my opinion!) with a little addition of my own.

This technique works best on a photo where the catchlights.  What are catchlights you ask?  Well, a catchlight is simply the highlight of a light source reflected off the surface of the eye. This highlight adds depth and dimension to the eye, and gives the eyes life in a portrait or snapshot.  So now that we know what it is here is how we give them a little boost and really show off those “windows.”

1.  Find a photo that shows that catchlights fairly well.  Duplicate your photo so that you’re not working on the original.  I chose this photo I took of my daughter on her 7th birthday.  She wanted to have a supermodel photo shoot!  Is she gorgeous, or is it just me?  I guess I could be a little biased, but I’m definitely proud of my contribution to this little cutie! ; )

It’s a pretty good photo, but I want her eyes to show more of what I see in them all the time.

2.  Find your dodge tool in PS or PSE.  It’s in the same spot as your burn and sponge tool in your toolbar.  It looks like a stick with a round thing on top of it.  The burn tool looks like a hand and the sponge tool looks like a sponge (how clever!)  If you can’t find the dodge tool right click on the hand or the sponge, whichever one is shown in your toolbar and the dodge tool should show up in the fly out menu.  Okay, now that we’ve all found our dodge tool. . . .

3.  Zoom WAAAAAYYYY in on your photo – so you have a good view of the catchlights in the eyes.  Set your dodge tool to “Highlight” and 100%.  Choose a small round brush – mine was set to 7.  Click a FEW times directly on the catchlights and you should see them brighten.  DO NOT click all over them.  Just do it in the lightest spots of the catchlights and you only need to click a FEW times – I probably did it 4-5 times.

4.  Zoom back to see what it looks like.  If you need to, add some more.  You might try lowering the exposure to 50% and seeing what effect that gives you.  Play around!  That’s why you are working on a duplicate of your original – you CAN’T mess it up!  See how much brighter the catchlights are now?  Gorgeous. . . but I think we could do a couple more things.

5.  Grab your elliptical marquee tool and select just the irises of the the eyes. If you hold down the shift button while you are selecting you can add to the selection.  It was pretty easy to select just the irises but if you need to make more than one circle to do it just hold down the shift key (add to selection) until everything you want is selected.  Now do the other eye too, while holding down the shift key.  Hint:  If you make a mistake and want to deselect a portion use the Alt button instead of the shift key.  With the selection active (ants marching) I hit Ctrl+J to make my selection a new layer of it’s own.

6.  Now with your new layer active in the layers palette click on Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp mask.  In the new window Jessica Sprague recommends entering:  Amount 85%, Radius 1, Threshold 4, but that really didn’t look too different to me so I entered:  Amount 85%, Radius 9.8, Threshold 4.  Just play around with the sliders and see what looks best.  Don’t go overboard though – you don’t want it too sharp! I really just wanted to bring out the different colors in her irises.  See the difference?  It’s subtle, but it’s there.

7.  Merge the two layers back into one layer.  That’s as far as Jessica’s tutorial takes us, but I like to do one more little thing.  Grab your elliptical marquee tool again and this time select the entire eyeball (whites and irises).  Try not to get get the eyelids and eyelashes but it doesn’t have to be perfect.  I just kept making little circle and oval selections (while holding down the shift key) until the entire eye was selected.  Then I did the same thing with the other eye (still holding the shift key.)  With the selection active hit Ctrl+J again to make a new layer.

8.  Ctrl+click on the thumbnail of your new entire eye layer.  Ants should be marching around the eyes now, and click on the half-black/half-white circle in your layers palette to create a new adjustment layer.  From the fly out menu choose brightness/contrast.  Another window will open.  Adjust the brightness slider until you get that “window to the soul” look you want on your photo.  Mine was about +15.  Again, don’t go crazy here.  A little goes a long way – you don’t want alien eyes!!  Click OK and merge the layers back into one again if you’re satisfied with the final outcome.

It doesn’t look like a HUGE change but it definitely makes a difference in the whiteness of the whites.  Look at my before and after shots side by side.

Such a difference when you look at them all together, huh?  *patting myself on the back*  Now it’s your turn!  Go and practice so we can all see those gorgeous eyes and catchlights in your next LO’s!  Have a great weekend–Jeni!