Tut: Text in Shape

Well, there are a few reasons I wanted to do this page. First, I got motivated to do a page and I didn’t want to loose it. Second, I am in the SCS 2008 scrapbook challenge. Third, CK had an after Christmas crop last night and extending it to this weekend, so thought I’d join in… or at least lurk, do my thing, and feel like I’m with a bunch of ladies scrapping.

I did this layout on my Mac using Photoshop CS3. The kit is a freebie from Two Peas in a Bucket by Cherie Mask, font is Angelina from ScrapVillage and the brush was downloaded from the Internet, free PS brush but not sure from where.

For those familiar with digiscraping, what I did was pretty simple, not high tech at all. I was going for a flat magazine look with a little sprinkle of fun here and there. I used a lot of text on shape or in a couple instances, text in shape. The text on the bottom of the left page (used the circle under custom shape) and the journaling on the right (used a square under custom shape) I did using this concept. I could have gone low tech and just kept pushing my enter key each time but that’s a hassle, especially if I have to redo/edit the text. This concept can be done using the pen tool too.

Text in round shape:

The wondering, secrets, letters to Santa, wishing, shopping, pondering, traffic, not being able to buy for one self, is finally over. Christmas time is here.

Christmas 2007

Drew, Emma, and Savitri plus the animals: Shady, Max, and Simba

Page two journaling:

This Christmas was a happy one for us . Emma really understood what all the activities were all about and we also tried to give more . From the putting up of the tree to the Christmas shopping, and even the traffic, this season had been quite smooth . For the first time Emma participated in the St. Nick’s Workshop at church . We opted for a small but meaningful Christmas . Emma only wanted three things from Santa, a cash register, a sleeping bag, and a computer. From mom and dad she only asked us to buy toys for other kids who are less fortunate . We adopted three children, one angel tree and two children from a family, to buy gifts for . Emma helped us a lot in picking and choosing the gifts for these children . We went to church at the Episcopal church . Something new for us but we thought why not, they had a wonderful Children’s mass . We all woke up Christmas morning feeling happy . Especially Emma when she knew what day it was . You can see from her face the joy she had when she saw what Santa brought her . Mom and dad were happy with their gifts and how happy Emma looked each time she opened her presents . We couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas. Everything we asked, love, peace, and joy were given to us . We felt blessed.

To help you out, I have created a video for the text inside the shape or the flowing circle text. I used Photoshop CS2 for the video. In one of the step, you have to push the CTRL then click on the mask in the LAYER box to select the circle. This is a very important step since you can’t just use the magic wand to select or any other tool. For the Mac, it’s the same, push command and then click. Enjoy!

Last Christmas Card

Although this isn’t the last card I made this year or the last I sent out, this is the last Christmas card that I will post in my blog for this year. I think I’ve shown you enough Christmas and it’s time to move on. I used the spongy stamps, really popular one or two years ago. Not sure what the status is now. I still love them.

More, from Saturday

This is another card that I made. I got the tree idea from a recent Better Home’s magazine’s holiday craft ideas. They did a pop-up card but I wasn’t too motivated to do that, plus I wanted to make a few of these so it wouldn’t be very practical time-wise.

I used my fancy scissor, Fiskars, to cut the tree. I cut my paper first to the width and height of the tree and without marking where the center is, which I think would have been better, I just started cutting. I got lucky or I’m just a great eye-baller but the tree looks pretty decent. For the star/snowflake top, I just used a snowflake punch and the snowflakes on the background, I use the Merry and Bright stamp from the Winter Mini and embossed it with hologram embossing powder. The paper that I used for the tree is the SU Dashing set. I really love these papers. I have three more packages that I haven’t really messed around with so after Christmas, I’ll be getting my hands on those and try something fun and different hopefully. I’ve been seeing lots of neat projects at my “sisters” blogs that I really want to try out.

This other card I kind of like because I was trying to do something that I’m not very accustom to, layering and adding elements here and there AND tearing. I’m a very symmetrical person, I can’t stand things that are not often so this is a big thing for me… every time you see something teared up, it’s a big thing, ha ha..

I guess I’m more simplistic, when I was in graphics design class I was taught that less is more, so that thought has always stuck in the many things that I do except for some rare occasion where I was to try something new or just got a sudden burst of inspiration. So here’s what I did (my husband doesn’t quite like it as much… maybe it’s just not my style):

What I Did Saturday

It was a busy Saturday. This morning I volunteered at my church with their children’s arts Christmas program. Each year the talented ladies at our church prepare different craft tables for children 3-12. During this event these children are to go around to their favorite booths to make presents for their loved ones. Each year, for the last 4 or 5 years, I have been volunteering and this year it’s the first time that our daughter got to participate. She loved it of course and she made quite a bit of things. Pictures to come!

After the church event, I went to a friend’s house. She invited me to her home to work on any craft project. She’s a big time paper crafter, mostly scrapbooking I think, but she’ll really do anything {::smiles}. Anyway, I did these while I was at her place. I think I made a total of six cards. The two that I did, and I thought were different than my usual are the following:

Material: Dashing paper, real red, off white, brad, and ribbon
Ink: Black, red, chocolate chip (for the distressed look)

Prop: Very old telegraph machine
Tools: Tab punch, paper cutter, and Creative Memory circle cutting system

I could have used a coluzzle but I don’t have one so I used the CM instead. I got the circle idea somewhere, from an SCS member gallery/sample, but not sure where but after that I”ve seen a few cards like this here and there so thought I’d try too.

What I did first was cut a 5.5×4.25 paper, half a cardstock, then I used the smaller SM circle cutter and flushed it against the top, where the fold is. I used the blue, the biggest cutter, to cut the circle.

For the text, I just stamped it on my cardstock then I use the came circle cutting system and centered the text on it. I cut and I put the text on the card and matched the sides so that it’ll fit just right, on top of each other basically. I did the same for all the layers.

This was quit fun. I loved the different look and it still fits in a regular card size envelope {::happy}. I’ll write about the other projects that I did tomorrow. But if you want to just look, they’re on my Flickr gallery. Just click on the little images on the right. I did that tree — it was fun!

Merry and Bright

Wow, yes, quite bright — between the clean white and the green nobody can say it’s not bright

I did this card for the LSC140 challenge at SplitCoastStamper.com. It’s quite fun and really quick to make. I was surprised. The amazing part is that for me, this is a two part challenge. Trying to follow the direction on the LSC140 itself and trying to use a stamp set that I have never used. I love this set but even after looking at the gallery I was never inspired to do a card with the set. Until now.

So here it is, green paper, ribbon, black ink, and markers (Bold Bright for this purpose).

Holiday Greeting

Since it is December and I’m trying to catch up on card making to send out I came up with this:

I’m not sure if you can see it really well but I sponged sky blue and marigold behind the tree. On the ground, it’s a mix of brown, olive, and moss. I am still not very good at this sponging technique, I have a few dark/think blotches but after a few dabs I think I was feeling better about my sponging technique. I sponge all the time but rarely all over the whole card like this. Usually I’d just sponge the edges for an antique look. I am also not sure whether or not I cased this card or not. I came up with the layout/design myself but the reason how this card came about was because I saw a lot of ladies sponging their card for this particular stamp set and that inspired me to try sponging.

I do love this set. It’s been in the SU catalog for a very long time and I’ve always used this particular stamp for one holiday card at least. Usually though I’d have a dark background and emboss it silver. Pretty

Dashing and da Punch :D

I received my SU order the other day and I just had time to play with it. What did I come up with? After a good 30 minutes (yeah, a long *** time, creative block, really), here’s what I got:

You can’t see the paper piercing on the scalloped paper. But they were pierced. I like how the embossing is making the card sparkle a bit. I think the next card I make I’m going to add some sparkles to it. I’m not big on sparkles but I should try something new.