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Club Scrap Blog Hop - June 2014 - Picnic

So I guess we should visit with something that I use a lot in Photoshop.  Blend Modes.  Using blend modes gives us many options for creativity.  Blend modes change how two layers interact with one another.  Results depend on many factors which can make using blend modes somewhat unpredictable.

Let's get started.

First open up some papers, overlays and photos.  For this tutorial I am using papers and overlays from Picnic.

In my version of photoshop which is cc the blend mode is located at the top of the layers panel and to get all the different modes just click the down facing arrow!

You will see that the blend modes are grouped into sections.

I do hope that the following example will tempt you all into playing around a bit with blend modes and how they can be an effective tool for digital scrapbooking.

Taking a look at the Darken blend mode - If the pixels of the selected layer are darker than the ones on the layers below, they are kept in the image.

Above you can see that the photo is "overlaid" onto the striped paper.

If the pixels in the layer are lighter, they are replaced with the tones on the layers below.

OK so here is what I am working with.  I do notice that there is a line across the photo which I just don't like and the pavement needs some work to blend in with the background paper.

At this point I am going to play around with the eraser using a soft fuzzy brush and varying opacities and flows to make this blend better.

Here you can see that I have removed that harsh line and blended better with the background.

At this point you can continue and complete the layout.  I have used some of the elements from this fabulous kit from Club Scrap (if you have not yet got yours you need to go to http://www.clubscrapdigital.com/ and buy yours now.

And now for the final addition.  A stamp from the unmounted sheet.  I love the windows on this background paper.

I do hope you all like my small tutorial on blend modes.  Such a fun tool in the repetoire.

Your next stop on the blog hop is:

http://craftycolonel.blogspot.com/

Club Scrap Blog Hop May 2014 - Dungarees

Hello everyone

I finally got to download, unzip and install this very versatile collection today (8th May) - Yes I am very far behind but I really wanted to make sure I got my blog post of May done in a timely manner.  Reason is it always takes me forever to come up with a good idea.

Anyway here goes.  I think that one of the most underrated tools in photoshop is the stroke tool.

First off find and image and open it up in photoshop.  Since we are working with the Dungarees kit I chose an image which I felt would be complimented by the color palette in this kit.  This one is the base of Ayres Rock in Australia.

I will assume that you have an image open with the Background layer only.  Since we are going to create two layers for the final effect and we need transparency requirement is to have regular layer.  The reason is that the Canvas Size dialog will expand the canvas to transparency when the image does not have a background layer.  Click once on the padlock icon in the background layer in photoshop cc or double click it in earlier versions to unlock the layer.

The next step is to go the Image>Canvas size.  A new dialog box will appear:

Check the relative option in this box and type in the same number for width and height.

In the above shot you can see a border around the photo.  I selected 40 pixes for width and height.  You will now need to create a new layer beneath the layer you are using.  The way I do this is to just click the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette and drag it below the photo layer.

Fill your blank layer with white using the paint bucket tool with the color selection (eye dropper) tool.

What you should now have is a photo on top of a layer with a white fill.  Now go to Layer>layer style>stroke

You will see that I have set the stroke size to 2 and the position to inside.  Color should be set to black.

Once you have those settings click OK.

Now you are going to expand the canvas size again.  Go to Image>canvas size and I am using 160 pixels for width and height.  Hit OK.

You should have something that looks like this:

Add another layer at the bottom of the composition.  Fill your new bottom layer with white and you can now add your stroke effect to the bottom layer as well.

Hit OK .  Then all you need to do is merge visible layers and you will end up with a very elegant double bordered photo which you can use in a layout.

Here is my finished layout!!!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the blog hop.  Your next stop is:

http://craftycolonel.blogspot.com/

Club Scrap Blog Hop April 2014 - Hydrangeas

So it is that time of the month again!  I have to say that I am not totally enamoured of the Hydrangeas kit but here is a little something that I made.

Starting off with a template - this one from Bookshelves.  I absolutely love this template and you can see it has several layers.

Bring in the background paper and the photo!  The photo here is the latest one of Ariauna enjoying Simba.  I have done a little filtering on the photo so you can see the whole of Ariauna's face.  You will see that I have added the photo above the photo mask.  Now I have to resize.

Resizing is easy peasy.  Click on the object to be resized and go to edit>transform>scale.  Once there you will find that your photo or object has some "handles".  To resize keeping the same aspect ratio, grab one of the corner handles and hit the shift key at the same time.  Then just drag.  Once you have the desired size let go of the handle and the shift key.  Then all you need to do is go to Layer>create clipping mask and you have your photo attached to the mask.

Here I decided that I did not like the border element in the template so I just turned it off by clicking the eyeball of that layer.

Also you can see that I have added a paper from Hydrangea.

Now I am collecting goodies.  I just love this embellishment cluster that came with the kit and I also love the wording on it.

Now I do not like the wax seal part of the template or the tag so I am just going to turn those off too.

Now for a little magic.  I have some tremendous brushes which I do not think I use enough so I loaded a couple in and used them as erasers to make a little edge contrast on the background paper.

And here is the final layout.  Enjoy.

Your next stop is http://craftycolonel.blogspot.com/

Trees - Club Scrap Blog Hop March 2014

I have to say that the Trees kit is absolutely wonderful.  Major thank you to Club Scrap for providing us with such a glorious kit.  If you have not yet picked up your paper kits go here:

http://www.clubscrapshop.com/

And for your digital kits go here:

http://www.clubscrapdigital.com/

This whole kit is so versatile, the colors are terrific and from a digital standpoint you can do all kinds of wonderful blending.

So here is what I have been doing:

Select a photo.

Select the wonderful Trees mask.

Rotate the mask by 90 degrees and drag the photo on top of the mask.  

Resize the photo to cover the mask and go to Layer>create clipping mask.

Merge the two layers and you are ready to make your page.

Open a new blank file.  The way I do this is file>new and the following dialog box appears.  Note that I work on 12" x 12" at 300 ppi with a transparent background.  Click OK and you have a new document.

At this point you can just drag you masked photo onto the new document.

Now I can select papers, elements, stamps etc to my hearts content.  Here is a quick shot of Bridge which comes with Adobe CC.  It is a wonderful "filing system" and allows me to find any element very quickly.

Here you can see all my Trees backgrounds and overlays.

Anyway I digress, one with the layout.

Select your paper or papers and bring them into your document.

I don't know if you can see it here but I think some of the straight edges of the masked photo are a little harsh so I am will use a very soft fuzzy brush to erase some of those edges.

Now comes the fun part of selecting the goodies you want to use for your layout.

Once you have selected everything you can bring each element in on its own layer to your document.

Here is what I came up with.

I do hope you have all enjoyed the journey.

Your next stop is:

http://craftycolonel.blogspot.com/

Big Deal - Club Scrap Blog Hop Feb 2014

It is that time again.  This month I have spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make my drop box link with my blog and yet again I have failed miserably.  So instead of giving you something I suggestion you join the Club Scrap digital page swap which can be found here:

http://www.clubscrapcommunity.com/main-community/swaps/details/355-big-deal-digital-page-swap-feb-2014-cathyjgray

This is a tremendous swap which Cathy Gray hosts every month.

Now on to what I have decided to do for this month.  Custom drop shadows can be challenging so I thought I would show you quickly how to do one.

First open up a new document with a transparent background and bring in the image you want to give the special shadow to.  In this case I am using a charm from Big Deal.

Next duplicate the layer with the charm and rename it shadow.  Also make a layer with a white fill.  Rearrange your layers so that you have the white fill at the bottom and the shadow layer in the middle of the three layers you have in your layers palette.

Set the foreground color to black and fill the copy of the image layer by pressing ctrl, shift and delete all together.  Go to filters>blur>gaussian blur and set the blur between three to five.

Make sure that the shadow layer is active and hit ctrl T.  That should bring up a bounding box with handles on it.

Now you can start manipulating your custom shadow.  By pressing ctrl and picking up one of the little handles you can move the shadow around.  

Here you can see the shadow really exaggerated.  I think this may actually work for what I have in mind.

At this point the shadow should be on its own layer and you can probably see that I have changed the opacity of the shadow a bit.  Now make a copy of the shadow layer and place it beneath the shadow layer.

Activate the copy of the shadow layer and set the opacity low so you can see the shadow going from black to grey to light grey etc.  Resize the copy of the shadow layer to make it just a tiny bit bigger than the shadow layer.

You can then merge all visible layers and save for use.  Here is something I made with mine!

I do hope you have enjoyed this simple tutorial - your next stop on the hop is:

http://clubscrapcreates.blogspot.com

CS PSL entry