Heidi here with a new Saturday special … shadows.  There are so many different directions I could go, but today I am going to show you how to change the color of your shadow.  If you have questions about shadows, you can always check here and here for a wealth of information. Before I get started, I wanted to highlight an amazing product in our store … Get Real – Realistic Drop Shadow Styles by Jennifer Barrette.  Jennifer had made it simple to apply a shadow to almost any element you can imagine.  With my example below, I have used her shadow styles on my layouts. Simple and easy.  Jennifer was kind enough to offer a coupon if you would like to purchase her style :

$1 off
code – getreal_1off
expires – March 20th 2010

O.k., onto the lesson.  Have you ever had an item that you added a shadow to, but it just doesn’t look right?  Sometimes, having a black shadow isn’t natural.  Look around you right now.  Are the items casting shadows black? Maybe they are a soft shade of gray. Maybe the are reflecting the color of the item as the shadow. Keep this mind as you go to shadow today’s layout.

However you add your shadow, go ahead and add it to your paper/element/etc.  Now, I want you to double click on the “fx” on your layer you shadowed.

It should bring up a box that looks like this:
Make sure you that the  “drop shadow” box is highlighted in blue like the #2 shows. If that is not highlighted, you will not see the screen above.  Next, I want you to click in the black box circled in #3.  It should bring up a new box that looks like this:
Notice that your cursor can now choose a new color if you place it over your layout. Next, I want you to click on your paper.  You color box will change to the color of the paper and this is o.k.  Now you want to start moving down on the color box.  I usually go to the gray side of my color.  Watch how the shadow color changes on your element.  Does it now look a little softer and more natural?  Keep playing with it until you get a shadow that looks like it would if it were sitting in front of you right now.  Or, if you have Jennifer’s style, you can keep the color where it is and just move the sliders as shown by the #4 until you get a color you are happy with.

For my layout above, I had white paper under my pics/elements.  With Jennifer’s shadows, she has a brown color for the shadow which give a nice warm natural shadow.  But for this particular layout, I wanted my shadow a little more on the “cool” side, so I changed the shadow color.  I did not, however, change the shadow color of the white paper resting on the bottom brown paper.  It was the perfect color for that paper.

Here is my layout:

Please note that this was using CS4.  I am not familiar with Elements, but I was told by Denise, who is the queen said that the dialog boxes look different, but the concept still works. This also works in Paint Shop Pro.

Happy Saturday Everyone!! Today I am going to talk about something I do all the time and it is fairly simple!  We are going to hang something on our layout that wasn’t meant to be hung.  So the first thing you need to do is “punch” a hole in it so the string can go through it. 

Once you choose what you are going to hang (I choose my part of my title (an Alpha).)  Position your element over the string in a way that looks appropriate and then reduce the opacity so you can see the string underneath.  Then use your elipitical tool to draw a small circle in a layer above the element you want to punch.  Use the string underneath as a guide for how big you want your hole to be. 

Simplify your shape and make sure your shape layer is highlighted.  Then using the magic wand tool and click on the shape.  You will get the marching ants around your shape.  Then select the element layer and cut (control -X).  Bring the opacity up on your element.  Now you can move your shape out of the way and see the hole has been punched. 

Now we need to “hang” it.  Select the string layer and use your magic wand to get the marching ants around the it.  (You can also select the whole string by selecting the magic wand tool and contol clicking on the string layer)  Select the layer of the element you are hanging.  Using the eraser tool, erase part of the element so it looks like it is hanging.  Now you might notice that the shadows look pretty funky…

To fix this first duplicate the string layer and drag it above the element layer.  Select the element layer again and use the magic wand to get the marching ants around it.  Then erase the part of the string that is under the element. (After you finish with the part of the string on top of the element,  deselect and make sure to erase the rest of the string except the part that is overlapping your hanging element so the shadow is not duplicated.)

Just to give you an idea of what this looks like, here is a screen shot before I erased any of the string and had selected the element.

Ta-da!! Your element is hung!  You can now delete your circle shape (or hole punch..lol).  A few pointers for hanging more than one thing (like a title).  Keep the same shape to punch each hole.  That makes it look more realistic.  And just to make it easier on yourself, “hang” all your elements first and then duplicate your string to fix the shadow problem.
Here is my Final LO using Jenn Barrettes NEW Happy Go Lucky, and Date Swirls and Get Real Shadow Styles, Chelle Creations NEW Lucky Me alpha and Sahilin Studios Sorbet Stamped Alpha clipped to Brittish Designs Glamorama Papers. 

Fun and easy!! I can’t wait to see what you hang!!

Here is some more awesome inspiration from our CT:
TanyaH666 used Connie Prince and Bella Gypsy’s I Wuff You.

Becca1976 used Jenn Barrettes NEW Happy go Lucky. (Great minds think alike..lol)

Alansrock used March 2010 templatepalooza by Connie Prince & BellaGypsy and Spring has sprung kit by Jeni Hopewell & MickeyB Designs

Kim21673 used Enjoy by GG Digital Designs and Just Call Me Niki Templates by Stolen Moments

And now for some rules.  No double dipping on challenges. You will not be able to use the same LO for multiple challenges.  You can earn one additional bonus point per challenge when you use a newly released (within the first week/7 days of release) ScrapMatters product. In order to receive the extra point you MUST indicate in your credits that the item you used was a new release.   You will have until the end of March to post your LO and  at the end of the month I will pick a winner and they will get an extra point! 

Have fun using your hole punch!! 

-Amanda (panders77)

Happy early Valentines Day everyone!!  I hope you all are doing something romantic this weekend! For this week’s Saturday Special I am going to talk about rounded corners.  Have you noticed that they have been popping up everywhere lately?  I LOVE the way they look but I have to admit I often used pieces of templates to get the look because I could never get them to look right in my program (I use PSE 6).  Well, now I know and I wanted to share it with you!

There are a few ways to do this – use the rectangular marquee tool or use the shape tool.  Today I am going to talk about using the shape tool.  I like it because the results aren’t permanent and I can change the shape around as I scrap if I want.  (I am a little indecisive!  LOL!)

So first open up the paper or photo you want to crop into a rounded corner shape.  Then..

For the radius setting, feel free to play around with it and see what creates the look you want.  I have it set to 100 here but I ended up wanting my corners more rounded so I settled on 150.

Now you are ready to draw your shape.  Create a new layer by using the menu or holding down Shift-Ctrl-N.   If you want the shape to be square you can hold down the shift key when you draw and it will make it stay symmetrical. 

Next, select and drag your paper layer on top of the shape and reduce the opacity so you can see the shape under the paper.  You can select the shape layer and move it around or even resize it if you want to.  Now we want to group the layers together and “cut” the paper.  You can use the menu (layer-group with previous) or press Ctrl – G. 

Voila!  Now you have your pretty rounded rectangle or square!  You can merge the layers together to make it permanent or if you are like me you can continue with your LO and link them but leave it unmerged so if you decide you want to change the shape again you can!

Here is my LO using lots of rounded corners:

Credits: Yummy Scrummy Love Bundle and Date Go Rounds by Stolen Moments Designs
And here is some awesome inspiration from the CT..
Wendy used “Day By Day – V.3 Templates” by WM[squared] Designs and “Innovation” by Sahlin Studios to create this awesome page!

Amber created this cutie using Underwater Escape by Erica Zane, Vellum Alpha by Sahlin Studio and P365=Everyday Life Template Set 2 by Happy Scrap Girl.

And here’s another cutie from Lori using Connie Prince’s Beary Sweet Boy Kit.

Liz created this LO with Juno’s Dessert, Britt’s White Christmas and In Stitches: Basics, Plum Dumpling’s Alpha-bits, and Jenn Barrette’s Basic Brown Alpha. Check out that fun title!!

Finally, Jenn created this pink beauty with Erica Zane’s Zaney Amy.

I think the Creative Team likes rounded corners as much as I do!!
You have until Feb 28th to complete an LO, upload it in the Saturday Special Gallery and link it back to the forum thread.  You’ll receive an extra point for using a new release in your LO (please remember to put that you used a new release in your post.) I’ll also choose a LO  at the end of the month that will receive one more point!
I can’t wait to see all your creative uses of rounded corners!

-Amanda (panders77)

Hey ladies! I’m continuing on our extraction theme for January and focusing on something I’ve been meaning to try for a long time: silhouettes.  I’ve been meaning to make silhouettes of my kids as a gift for my mom and I got a chance to experiment while working on a project for my kids’ room. I was making a set of alphabet cards and wanted silhouettes of the kids to put on their initial. Here’s the entire set:

And here’s a close-up of my completed silhouette.

So ready to get to it? First up, take a profile pic of your subject. Be sure to shoot in a well-lit room against a light background. here’s mine:

Next: use your favorite extraction method to cut out your subject’s head. I use the polygonal lasso tool, but you can reference this tutorial from earlier this month for additional instructions. Extracting hair can be tricky, but for this project, you want a simple shape, so I just cut off most of the strays. I did keep my son’s cowlick because I thought it added character to his profile.

Last: Select the layer (in PSE hold down the control button while clicking on the extracted layer thumbnail in the layers pallette). Now that the marching ants are surrounding your photo, go to edit, and then fill selection from the drop-down menu. A pop-up box will appear and if you click okay, it will fill the photo with the foreground color. Ta-da! You’re done! Just drag the silhouette onto your project and you’re done!

And check out this page from Amanda (panders77) using Juno’s One of a Kind, Chelles Creations The Cutting Edge Templates, and Brittish Designs Dated Stamped and Doodlie Doo Borders. I love it!

These look great on scrapping pages, but also make great gifts. Just print out your silhouette, frame it and you’ll have the perfect valentine’s gift. Now on to the fine print: complete an extraction and post your project or LO in the gallery. Link up here in the forum to get one MOS point. Earn an additional point by using a new release. Finally, I’ll award a point to my favorite layout or project. You have until the end of February to turn in your entries. I can’t wait to see your creations!

Hello, it’s Liz and I have decided to do a Saturday Special about patterned papers.  I love patterns I would put every patterned paper in a kit on a single page if I could figure out how to do it, but I have gotten the impression that I am in the minority when it comes to patterns.  So hopefully this will give you some tips and tricks to work with patterns like a pro.

1.  Color is crucial. The color of your patterns will define whether your page ends up looking fabulous or like a hot mess.  One way to ensure harmony is to pick the colors from your picture and find patterns in those colors.  If you are colorphobic (which is nothing to be ashamed of!), you could use black and white or other neutrals.  Regardless of your choice, pick a color palette and stick with it!

2. Know the scale of your patterns. Patterns come in 3 basic scale sizes: small, medium and large.  Know the scale of the pattern will help you use pattern to its best advantage.  All of my examples come from “A Spot of Tea” by Erica Zane and Denise Beatty Originals because it was the kit I used for my page. A small scale pattern looks like this:

It is well small.  I like using tone on tone small patterns as backgrounds alot.  It gives interest without being overwhelming.  Small scales can work great for just about anything and can often be interchanged with solids.

Here is a medium scale:

It is larger than the small scale pattern and can give greater impact to a page.  You could use it as a mat for you picture or stack a solid with it for a background.  This pattern will definitely pop on your page!

Finally a large scale:

his paper says “Look at me!  Look at me!” I would suggest using large scale patterns as accent pieces when first starting out.  They can add alot of punch.  These patterns should complement your smaller scale patterns.

3. Mixing it Up Patterns look great as solo acts but mixing them can add a huge wow factor.  Keep in mind the scale and color when mixing.  A green and red stripe is going to clash with blue and brown dots.  Same color families will go together (e.g. blues, browns, pinks, etc.).  If the thought of multiple patterns scares you start out with some softer patterns (i.e. tone on tone flowers/dots, small polka dots or stripes) and then match a wilder pattern with it!

4. Stick to the Rule of Three When working with pattern less is more.  Stick to 3 patterned papers to avoid overwhelming the page.  You could do 4 if one of your patterns is subtle.  More than 4 and your page may start to look clutter.

5.  Have fun and stick with your style. Go with what works for you and have fun!  Patterns are not supposed to break you down into tears.  If you are a minimalistic scrapper, pick patterns that are more subdued.  If you like going crazy, pick some bright multi-colored patterns and really mix it up.  It is up to you to decide how crazy the page gets.

The challenge is to scrap a layout using 3-4 patterned papers on it.

Here is my page:

Using Spot of Tea by Erica Zane and Denise Beatty Originals

And here is some from the CT ladies:

From Courtney:

Great subtle use of patterns.  Adds a pop of color!

From Jan:

She used on tone on tone patterns that add dimension to her page!

From Jen:

There is alot going on this page but because the patterns are just small pieces it totally works!

From Mary:

So bold and bright!

From Jenn:

She used not only patterned papers but patterned elements as well!  Check out the striped swirl and checked ribbon!

The Rules:
The papers must be visible (no hiding them completely but a hint of sliver is okay, I just need to be able to see them.) Post your LO to the Saturday Special gallery and post it in the thread in the forum before the end of January.  You’ll receive one point towards your January total. If you use a New Release, PLEASE NOTE IT IN BOTH YOUR CREDITS IN THE GALLERY AND YOUR POST TO THE THREAD in order to receive your extra point.  At the end of the month, I will pick a random winner, who will receive a bonus point on February’s total.  Have fun and I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

Happy Saturday everyone! Sarah here with another Saturday Special. This week I want to focus on embossing text. With the holidays coming up, I thought this would be a great tip for those holiday pages and projects. I’m sure there are many ways to do this and today I’m going to show you the way I do it in CS4.

You can emboss just about anything and today I’m going to emboss some text on my one of my paper blocks. I’ve opened the paper I want and in a separate layer, I’m going to type the text I want raised in black. After you type, rasterize the layer. Because I am going for a subtle look, I’m going to change the blending mode of the text to soft light. If I didn’t do this the type would be gray against the paper. After you’ve rasterized and changed the blending mode, go to FILTER –> STYLIZE –> EMBOSS.

You can play around with the angle, height and amount until you get it looking just right. On my example, I’ve used the settings: angle 135, height 20, amount 344%

The possibilities are endless here, not only can you do text, but you can do elements and textures as well. On my page I’ve embossed “December 2007″ and the snowflakes on the background paper. For those, I just changed the threshold of the flake so that it was pure black and played around with the settings until I thought it looked right.

Here is my page using Erica Zane’s A Touch of Winter and EZ templates 10

Here are some more pages showing this technique:

In this page by Jenn (jennamy82) she embossed the names along the picture using the Brightside and Jellies: Blooms both by Britt-ish Designs & Love Me Some White Space Template Vol 2 by Trixie Scraps

Li (Li14) embossed the snowflake and used Happiest Season of All, Pocket full of Templates 4, and Candy Stripped Alpha…. all by Britt-ish Designs.

Your challenge is to create a layout with some embossing. Once you’ve completed your LO, upload it to the Saturday Special Gallery, and be sure to link to the challenge post in the forum.

A few reminders:

* You will receive one point for your entry
* You will receive one extra point for using a NEW product within the first week of its release
* You have until the end of October to complete your layout
* No double dipping – please keep your layouts unique to each challenge
* HAVE FUN!

Hi All!  Melissa (rxdawg97) here to bring you this week’s edition of ScrapMatters Saturday Special. There are often many ways to accomplish the same task when digital scrapbooking.  Today I am going to show you one very simple way to recolor elements and alphabets on your layout.   I am going to be working in Photoshop Elements 5 – but this method should apply for virtually all Photoshop editions.
For my layout-I was searching for the perfect alphabet to match the colors of my page.  I found the perfect one in Andilynn Designs Fun Times Alpha, but it just happened to be the wrong color.  I first tried to change the color by adjusting the hue/saturation-but it only changed the outline of the alpha.  So instead, I tried this technique and the result was exactly the look I was after.
First, open the element that you want to recolor into a new document.  I have created part of my title “HEY NOW” and have merged the visible layers (in the layer palette you need to right click and choose MERGE VISIBLE).  This will allow me to change all of the letters to a different color at the same time.  You can do each letter individually too if you’d prefer.
Here’s how my screen looks:

Okay-now I want to make this part of my title red-so I am going to use one of the papers that came in the kit I am working with (Chelle’s Creations Go!Fight!Win! Red). I am going to drag that paper overtop of my letters.

Now I am going to create a mask overtop of the letters-so I will hit Ctrl-G on my keyboard

I could stop here-but then I would lose all of the small details of this totally cool alpha.  If I were recoloring an element-there would be no details showing either-just a colored version of the item.  So now I will experiment with the different blending modes in Photoshop.  First, I will select COLOR as my blend mode (found in the layer palette)

I like that effect-but I really want my alpha to be predominantly red-so I will try some more options.  Now I have selected LINEAR DODGE as my blend mode here

Okay, now we’re almost there!  This is perfect and just the look I was going after.  Now, I will merge the mask layer down by right clicking and selecting MERGE DOWN (or CTRL-E on my keyboard as a shortcut).
You can also repeat what I have just shown you and pick a different blending mode for even more options.  I have found that the OVERLAY, COLOR, LINEAR DODGE, and HUE Effects work the best.  The possibilities are endless!
Here’s my finished layout (I used Scraps by Number: Just Call Me “Y” Templates by Stolen Moments, Go!Fight!Win! Red by Chelle’s Creations, Happy Scrap Girl’s Basic Black Pack, Andilynn Designs Fun Times Alpha (Recolored), and Britt-ish Designs A Kid Again Alpha, Glam-o-Rama Paper Pack, and My Ribbon Jar)

Here are some more examples from the AWESOME ScrapMatters Creative Team

Heather (snowdrop) recolored the date (it was originally black with green writing) for her fun LO.  She  used the NEWLY RELEASED Hot For Teacher by Trixie Scraps and simply.scraps designs, Just Saying – Halloween by WM[squared] Designs, and Layers of Love Templates by Denise Beatty Originals.

Jenn (jennamy82) scrapped this adorable LO using Plum Dumpling Designs Adventures in Reading Kit & Add On and Date Bits.  She recolored the black and green alpha to orange and pink.

Amanda (panders77) created this merry and bright LO using the ScrapMatters November Newsletter Kit, Visions of Sugarplums by Haynay Designs and Andilynn Designs, In Stitches by Brittish Designs, Brownie Alpha by Chelle’s Creations (recolored), Holiday Cheer by WM Squared (recolored) and  Hustle and Bustle Add-On by Brittish Designs.  She recolored the word strips and the alpha.

Now for the details- you have until the rest of the month of November to complete the challenge. Upload it to the Saturday Special Gallery and leave your LO image and link in the Saturday Special Challenge thread HERE in the forum.  Please indicate what you recolored in your credits and in your forum post.
You will receive one point for completing the challenge .  You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products-but we sure love it when you do!  You can earn an additional point for using any NEWLY RELEASED product from the SM store! (Please indicate that you used something new with your LO/link in the forum.)  And, one lucky winner (random) will receive an ADDITIONAL point at the end of the month!

Remember no double dipping…your layout must be unique to this challenge.  I hope you have fun with this technique and can’t wait to see what you have recolored on your layouts!

Hello Ladies! Wendy here again, this time with the Saturday Special Challenge! I’ve been wanting to do a layout of how my astrological sign describes me for a while now, and figured that this would be the perfect time! Now, I don’t know about you all, but when I read up on what a Gemini is…it usually describes me to a “T”! Do I follow my horoscope? No. But it’s fun to see all the Gemini traits, the good and bad.

There is a wikipedia page –> here, that lists all the astrological signs, if you scroll down, you can find your sign and click on that to learn more about it.

Now the rules of the challenge:

*You must include a picture of yourself.

*I’d also like to see a couple of descriptions about your sign and what you think about how your sign describes you.

Here is *my* LO!

I am including the 12 Zodiac signs as “rub-on” freebies.

The freebie can be downloaded –> HERE!

Here are a few LO’s the wonderful CT made:

There will be two $5.00 gift certificates given away, one to my favorite LO and one will be a random drawing.

I can’t wait to see what y’all come up with! You have until midnight MST Thursday, June 26th, to complete your LO. Please post your LO in the gallery and link it to the forum!

Hiya ladies! Bev here to bring you this week’s Saturday Special challenge!

I love love love journaling on layouts, so for today’s Saturday Special challenge I would like you to choose “10 Things About You” as your theme.

We’ve all got a special someone or something (perhaps a pet) that we can’t live without. It doesn’t have to be you personally, it could be one of your children’s friendships, or friends relationships. Whatever you decide, think about the strong bonds that connect them and then journal about 10 things that make that friendship/relationship special.

Here’s a few layouts the team have made, don’t you agree they have done a fantastic job?

P.S. Everyone who participates will receive a goodie bag and I’ll pick two winners to receive a $5.00 coupon to spend in the ScrapMatters shop.

Hope you’ll find time to join in on the callenge, have fun and happy scrapping!!!!