Tut: Action 101 and Inking

Two in one tutorial. Since I fail to create one last week, I tried but it just didn’t come out right, here’s a combo video.

Before you create an action, decide what you want to record first and then practice. Write down the exact settings (unlike me who just likes to wing it) and then record your steps/technique. You might find yourself buying less and less actions {::SMILES}.

A little story… yesterday I received a call from the Nielsen ratings folks. I was feeling in the mood for a survey so I went through the process. The first question was:

Nielsen: Have you watched a movie at the movie theatre in the last six months
Savitri: No
N: In the last 12 months?
S: Yes
N: I’m going to go through a list of movies and you say or no on whether or not you’ve seen any of them.
S: Ok
N: Something or something
S: Never heard
N: Something and something again
S: Wow, I don’t know that movie
N: Something, something, and something
S: (thinking: finally a movie I’ve heard of) No
N: Something, something, something, and something
S: N
N: Harry Potter - the last one
S: No
S: Hey look, I’ve only seen one movie in the last 12 months. Can I just give you the title and you look it up and mark it for me?
N: Uhmm, oh yeah, sure

One minute later he came back — wow, must have been a list!

After the call, I think the dude was probably thinking, “Wow, weird family.” We don’t have cable/satellite service, we have no Hi Def anything, we don’t download music/movies, we rarely go to the movies, we mostly rent kids DVDs, and I’m on the Internet A LOT.

Tut: Text in Path

Last tutorial that was similar to this, I used the pen tool. For this one, I use the marquee tools to join, dissect, or remove an area and then creating a path from it so that you can put your text in it. Lots of uses and lots of fun to use.

Here’s a Mother’s Day card that I created last week using digital paper from The DigiChick: Mom’s Collab kit. Isn’t the picture, the moms, cute? I just printed it on card stock paper. Actually everything I used here, pattern paper and the image, were printed the same time as all the other items I used for the gift card holder from last week; printed on an 8.5×11 card stock paper.

To illustrate, check out the image to the left. What I did was created an 8.5×11 page with 300dpi in Photoshop. Then I used my ruler to give me a 1/4″ guideline around my print area to make sure that my images will not be chopped off when I print. Like most printers, my printer will not print to the edges (no bleed printing), it will leave me with a 1/4″ white border around my print area, so the guideline helps me give a visual on how far to the top, bottom, left, and right I can go.

Then I insert the images that I want to use and put them into different layers. I’d adjust the size accordingly (CTRL-T/transform) and then layer the pattern papers on top of each other. After I have everything set up the way I want, I print.

Pretty simple huh?

Some people like to use matte photo paper to print their hybrid elements/paper. I’ve done both and it all depends on the look you want. You do get a better, more crisp print out, with the matte. But, with my cardstock, I’ve been quite happy.

There’s some talk that Stampin’ Up! wants to dip into the digital world but personally, I think they shouldn’t. BUT, if they do, this is one way you can use digital products. There are tons of digital kits, elements, and papers out there that you can buy, like the stuff at The DigiChick’s. But there are many also that you can download for free (check out www.shabbyprincess.com).

Tut: Recoloring

This is one easy way to recolor. You’ll find many other ways but I’m all about quick and easy {::SMILES}.

After watching the tutorial, if you’re interested in some digi or stamp blog giveaways, please keep scrolling down.

Tut: Shoot in RAW and RAW Photo Editing

For the most part I shoot in RAW format. Why? Because of the things I can do to my image. Many pro photographers shoot in RAW. Why? Because it’s the true image, the raw file before it has gone through any sort of compression or sharpening so you’re not loosing any data. Then at your convenience, with your own skills (and the help of Photoshop), you edit the photo to your eyes liking. RAW files are larger, so if you want to do this, make sure that you have a large memory card size or, be prepare to download the photos to a computer or CD every so often (e.g. on trips). There are many technical information on RAW vs JPEG that you can Google or if you want to learn more on what RAW is. It’s quite interesting if you have a minute or two.

After you watch this video and learn more about what RAW is, I hope you try it out and go on to the next level with your digital SLR and Photoshop.

Tut: Kuler’s New Feature

Since Adobe sent me a T, I feel obligated to share with you the “what’s new” in Kuler. So here it is:

If you’re interested in the previous Kuler tutorial, check it out here. Hope you’ll find this info useful!

I also want to share a card that I did at the crop. Again I used Dana Frantz Hippie Couture digital paper that I printed on white card stock (actually this was the left over from the other card) and used another ribbon that I bought at Wally World. The stamp is H&M’s stamp set: Sea Life. Can’t you tell I LOVE this set? {::SMILES}

This is actually a perfect card for a lady at work who lent my committee seashells for our beach them staff luncheon a few weeks ago. The finances is a bit tight for social events so we had to find (free) ideas for decorations. I hope she likes the card - it is a bit in your face in terms of colors.

M was funny the other night. She told me the other night that she wanted to eat at a restaurant. I asked her what she wanted and she said sushi. She also suggested that we go to the Plaza. Ok, my 4-year-old is getting a bit hoity toity here although sushi is not a bad idea. M even eats the raw fish… she doesn’t know tho. Yeah, yeah… I’m feeding her raw fish. We use to go to the city more often but with global warming and energy consumption, we have lessen our trips. We’ll go once a month now instead of every other week. This is probably why I’m online more often. I figured that the delivery people has to drive around anyways, so a stop at my place isn’t going to add any more pollution than there already is plus I’m helping the American people stay employed. Is this good justification?

Ok, have a great night. More tomorrow…

Tut: Pattern Paper Part 2

Ok, so I’ve shown you how to create pattern papers using ColourLovers pattern swatch and stripe papers. Super easy. Today, we’re adding on and for my example I just used simple circles. But, if you get all creative, you can use your brush or create the shape in Illustrator (maybe you want to draw a bird or your own swirls) and import it into Photoshop as a smart object and then follow this tutorial. Whatever it is you do, here’s how to put it together so that you can easily use this for your digital or hybrid projects. You’ll never run out of paper AND it’s your creation.

The trick is to feel the snap. Once you feel the snap, let go of your object and move on to the next shape.

You can download my pattern on the left if you like it. After the tutorial, I rearranged my circles a little bit and added a filter. Before I added the filter I turned the layers into a smart object. Then I went to the texturized filter and added a burlap texture to it.

Here’s the original Pattern Burlap PSD file just in case you want to see how I have mine set up.

Have fun!!!

Tut: Adobe Bridge 101

If you have Adobe Bridge and you haven’t used it. You should. It has a lot of features but this should get you started. It’s a really nice application to organize your photos. It comes with the Adobe suit, at least I know for sure the newer package… not sure about the older ones. I use it on my Mac and PC. I don’t even bother with iPhoto. I don’t like how iPhoto imports pictures. Also, since Bridge is connected to (I believe all) my other Adobe suit apps I can easily open files with the appropriate application. In general, Bridge has more to offer. Higher learning curve but well worth it. Use the video to guide you through your first step to Bridge.

I’m really bad with keywording my stuff but you can see how handy it can come in. I know people who uses the keywords and yes, it saves them tons of time in the long run. You can, select multiple pictures and give them the same keyword(s), yes, I’m just lazy.

Have a great Monday!!

Tut: Create a Pattern Paper, Part I

I say part I because this is the easiest pattern you can do — stripes. For the second time I’m using ColourLovers for this tutorial. There are so many cool things that you can do on that site. I’ll show you more later if you haven’t figure them out yourselves yet.

Those who has PSE will also be able to go through this tutorial. You have the pattern and fill option. TFW — thanks for watching!

EDIT: If this is your first visit, don’t forget to check out creating pattern using the pattern sample from ColourLovers. Oh, also, don’t think that you can only pick colors from the swatch. You can use whatever color. I just want to show you how you can incorporate color pallets that you find online — in case you’re stumped or need some visual help.

Tut: Using Patterns From ColourLovers.com and Freebies

Before I forget… have you visited Shabby Princess lately? They have a new freebie kit. Check it out, very nice!! Also, Weeds and Wildflowers are having their 1st year anniversary celebration. On their blog they have a mini kit freebie (very nice looking) and it’s only going to be up for 24 hrs. There will be a new giveaway until Sunday, so bookmark them, add them to your rss or subscribe via email. Whatever… but W&W is one of my favorite stores. I’d love to be Gina’s CT/guest {::SMILES}.

Last week I posted some Kuler info and also a one liner on ColourLovers.com. Well, I got to exploring ColourLovers a bit and it’s a really cool place. I found out that it was created way before Kuler and even though Kuler is very nice, CL has a better community and also this thing called patterns. YES, FREE patterns!! This isn’t great new just for digi scrappers, but those who has Photoshop (Elements included), you can create your own background/pattern paper with premade AND free patterns. Once you have your pattern paper, you can either go digital or print it out and use it for your cards, layouts, altered, and more — do whatever you do with pattern paper.

CL isn’t the only place to get patterns. There are many other free ones but this is my newest find and I want to share it with you. Watch the video and see how easy it is to create your own pattern paper from a sample pattern. Keep in mind that if you want bigger patterns, you need a higher ppi pattern sample or in other word a bigger sample. We’ll get to that later. For now, enjoy this.

Tut: Weathering and Antiquing

This is a super easy technique using your eraser and burning tool. Once you’re done with the process, you’ll have something that will look worn. I did this in Photoshop CS3 but I think any software that has an eraser and burning tool will be able to give you the same effect. I haven’t used this technique in a while but I think I’ll try to do something with it this weekend at my crop. If you want to download the image on the left to use in your layout. Please feel free too. Just use the Creative Commons copyright rules when modifying and sharing.

I have nothing new to tell. M was not too happy when I dropped her off at school. She was crying and clinging on to me. Poor baby. Thank goodness it’s Friday.

Happy Friday everybody! Most likely I’ll check back in on Monday. I need to give my family some attention this weekend {::SMILES}.