How to: Install Glitter Styles

In this video tutorial I explain how to install glitter styles into Photoshop but really it works for any style! Also check it out to see how every glitter pack in my store includes 12x12 sheets so anyone who knows how to do a clipping mask can use them!

Tutorial: My Secret for making Grunge Papers!

Hey there!! I have often been asked how I make my worn papers. Well, the secret is out! in this my very first video tutorial! Check it out!

Selective Coloring

A fun effect I love to use on layouts is to do selective coloring as in part of the photo is in color while the rest is black and white. This is especially fun for me when those colors do match the kit. It really helps make it pop! Here's a picture I did in a layout recently where I loved the colors in her dress and bows and didn't want them lost with the b&w photo but I knew the background of the photo might be too much for the layout.



So start with the original photo and get out the Quick Selection tool.



Now select the areas you want to be in color and not in b&w. Use a small brush size and slowly select the areas you want.



If you accidentally get an area you don't want, you can select the wand with the (-) sign to de-select areas.



Once you have the area selected, copy-paste the selection on a new layer. Then apply the black and white action on your original photo with the selected area on a layer above it. And you're done!



Really simple! Try it out! I'd love to see what you do with it!

Blending Photos with the Eraser Tool

There's lots of different ways you can blend photos depending on the look you want. Today I am going to show you the most basic way. We will use the eraser tool. Click on the Eraser tool and then find the "Brush" Menu at the top.


Here you can adjust how big the eraser is and then you see that hardness? We want that to be low, around 30%. This means it will kind of fade away from the eraser mark instead of making a big hole. This is what helps make it a gradual blend. I like to use big brushes and very soft and just work my way slowly around the image.

Also, let's adjust the opacity of the eraser.



around 50% is good or even lower. The more gradual the less likely you will have to undo a step.

I like to work around the photo on all the edges so there is no longer a hard edge where the photo ended. And then continue as you want to focus on the main object in your photo.



Here's my finished layout using my kit, Inspired by You. (also a template by Scrapping with Liz).

Tutorial: Layer Previews

The default setting for layers in Photoshop is to show them to the document bounds. This means your little preview shows where they are on the document and that's very tiny! to better be able to see what you are working with on each layer, change this one simple thing.


Go the layers palette and right-click ON the thumbnail preview. Click on the option to "Clip thumbnails to the Layer Bounds"




Now, your layers actually show the elements! Nice!

Fun with Divided Backgrounds

Here's a fun trick for scrappers! I like anything that can add some visual interest to our layouts! One of those is with a divided background. Instead of having a paper edge on top of a paper edge, I sometimes like to hide the paper change behind some elements. If you have a cluster though, this can be difficult. Instead of using the eraser tool, try using the magic wand! Here's how!

Step 1: Duplicate the cluster of elements where the background will change. I want to chance the background in these corners and so will be duplicating all those elements that touch those areas.

Step 2: Clear drop shadows from the duplicated elements and then merge them.

Step 3: Now use the magic wand on that merged layer to select the area where we want a different paper.

Step 4: Expand the selection a little by going to Select--->Modify--->Expand. Choose about 2-3 pixels.

ok so I had to do more than 2-3 because I left the drop shadows on >.< I would clear the drop shadows and then just expand it until it's right under the elements.

Step 5: Use the Add Selection wand to add any areas that were left out. Like here, I have to decide if I want to include that area between the pink string and the pink polka-dot ribbon.

Step 6: Create a new layer under the original elements layers and use the drop bucket to fill it in.

Step 7: You can delete the merged layer of elements now and clip a paper of your choosing to this area!

Here's my finished layout using Wishes and Wings. Have fun with it!

Making a Quick Page

Making a layout was the hard part! Making a quick page is easy!'

1. First make all layers with text, titles and journaling invisible. Anything that would make it hard for others to use it with whatever pictures they want.

2. Now, go to your photo layers and change the layer style to this:

I went under Blending Options, Changed the fill opacity to 0% and the Knockout to "Deep"

3. Last step, go to File---> Save As    and change the file type to a PNG and save! It's that simple!

Photoshop Tool: Clone Stamp

Hi there! There is so much to explore with Photoshop to help our pictures and layouts look better! Today I am going to talk about the Clone Stamp. As my example, I have here my Doctor's Orders layout.



As you can see, while I love that clipboard element for journaling on I found the printed text on the element conflicts with my writing. So I will use the clone stamp to copy a part of the page from another section to the part with the grunge on it.

First, find the clone stamp tool.



Then, you set what size you want the tool. It works like a brush so you have a diameter to set and the hardness and opacity. I like to lower the hardness so that the edges blend a little better and are not harsh. Here are the settings I used:



Then, you have to hold down the ALT key as you click the area you WANT the spaces to look like. I clicked on an area without grunge.

Then I paid attention to where the brush copied and tried to line it up so the lines would meet right on the grunged part. Anytime I had a new section to do, I would do that ALT step again and be sure to line up my new spot with the lines like they were where I picked it up.


And now my text doesn't get that printed part on it!





Try out the clone stamp to fix pictures too!

Saving Dimensions with PS Presets

Last week I talked to you guys about resizing your special digital projects so you could scrap it as big as possible and not have to shrink your kit elements and papers too much and then just resize the whole project at the end. Well I also wanted to show you how you can save all those special sizes right in your Photoshop program! When you first click open you have this window:



As you can see, I am working on a Facebook Cover Photo. So I made my width 851 pixels and height 315 pixels. Now, the third button on the right is "Save Preset". Click that once you have entered your information.



Enter a name for your project dimensions. Like "Facebook Cover". This could be "Desktop", "siggy", "Journal Card", "Avatar", etc!

Click "Ok" and now that option will be available in the Presets menu when you open up PS. Like this:


You see I have one called "Scrapbooking" so I don't have to enter 12x12 and 300dpi every time. Try this out to save you time and have those measurements there for you to use always!

Advanced Recoloring: Using Levels

So this might be more of a tutorial for designers but there might be times as a scrapper where you love an element but want it in a different color and so you can re-color it yourself! Here I have a gorgeous red ribbon (from Dream Big Designs- love her CU ribbons!). You can see though that the background is the color I want it. The tone of the colors look about right but the tint is wrong.


No amount of sliding the hue/saturation sliders are really going to keep the quality of the ribbon. You could always desaturate the ribbon and use overlays to make it the right color but I found this other method that's quicker!

Go to Image---> Adjustments-----> Levels



This window will show up with hills. Move the middle slider (gray) to the left and right and notice how it affects the ribbon. Moving to the left makes it lighter while to the right makes it brighter. This is MUCH better than trying to use the brightness/contrast menu as that decreases the quality of the element.



With just a few slides to the left, I have a ribbon extremely close to my color choice. If it's not the same hue, just save what you did with the levels by clicking OK and open up the hue/saturation menu again and change it to where it needs to be.

Next week I will talk about levels with paper textures!

Filling in Fonts

Hi! I was making some journal cards with a fun font and there's a trend right now to color in the "holes". Like "D", "P" to color those pockets in. So today I thought I would show you how to color those in!

Step 1: Type your word and then in the layers palette, right-click the layer and select "Rasterize". You can't edit the font once you do this so if you change your mind, you have to start over.

I used Century Gothic bold.




Step 2: Now grab the magic wand and select the areas that you want to fill in. Hold down the shift key to select multiple areas.






Step 3: Create a new layer and move it beneath your words layer. Now, go to Select--->Modify--->Expand



Expand the selection by about 3 pixels.

Step 4: Get the drop bucket tool and dump the color in the selections. Now you can merge the text layer and fill layers!



Hope you found this useful! Can't wait to show you the journal card in my release next week!

Resizing with other than Square Dimensions

Sometimes you need to make a small digi item like a signature, blog header or FB cover photo and you can't start with the 12x12. You might just start with the size you need but now you have shrink all of your kit elements to fit on that small shape. There IS a better way! Start with the similar dimensions as big as you can and then create your image there, resizing the final product! Here's what I mean and I use math to figure it out every time!

Say I need a 600px X 300 px image. A regular scrapbooking document is 12" x 12" or 3600px X 3600 px. So I set up this proportion (stay with me here! it's easy!). I wrote 600/300 as a fraction and 3600/x to show the width as 3600 but I need to know what the height should be.



As you can see, to solve this proportion, I multiply the numbers that were diagonal from each other, so 600 times the x and 300 times the 3600. Then to solve for x, I divided both sides by 600. This tells me I can start with a 3600 x 1800 document. Then, when you finish making it, resize the image to 600x300 and it will stay proportional! These dimensions might be easily done mentally but you'll often get different dimensions out there but you can use this to find out what it should be! And if you get a little confused with the numbers, shoot me an email or post on FB and I can help you with the math! ;)  I am a math tutor as well as a designer!