Another lovely recipe card! You simply print it out one one sheet of paper, fold it in half, and staple or glue the two sides together! Easy peasy!
Download your printable version here:
Download KAT_SISTv_RECIPECARD_FREEBIE2.pdf
Fruit Snacks!
Downloadable fruit snack circle tags to add a fresh feel to your pages, card, or kitchen!
Download your printable file here (this one has the cutting guides):
Download KAT_SIStv_circletags2_fruit.pdf
Printable Circle Tags! Use them on your scrapbook pages, or as gift tags, buttons, or even to cover up your bingo board later...
Download the printable set here:
Download KAT_SISTV_circletags_1.pdf
Use this 3x5 recipe card to keep your recipes from today's slumber party stylin!
Don't like to cook? Send 'em to your friends who do!
Download the printable version here:
Download KAT_SISTv_RECIPECARD_FREEBIE.pdf
Front:
Back:
Download part one of your printable goodie bag here!
Download KAT_SISTV_3x5_CARDSET_CG_VL1.pdf
Use these 3x5 cards as greeting cards, gift cards, or as accents on your scrapbook page!
Check back throughout the day for additions to the goodie bag!
I take a lot of photos. Sometimes I am quite pleased with capturing the natural color and beauty and other times, I find it fun to tweak and play around with all the different effects that Photoshop and simple editing techniques can bring about.
Sometimes I want a photo to be a bit dreamy...sometimes I want the photo to be soft and light, casting a somewhat subtle and fantastical look. In this tutorial, I will show you a very simple and easy way to create a softness to a subject in your photos. This technique can be kicked up a couple of notches and create the 'dreamy, starry' look that you see so often of celebrities on the top fashion magazines as well.
We begin with the photo. My photo was quite grainy when it came to my son's skin. I really wanted to fix that so the photo when printed would be high quality.
**Click the images to view them at a larger size**
After you have opened the photo, you just need to go the layers panel on the left and right click on the layer, choosing Duplicate.
Now, you have 2 layers in the layer panel.
Now, having the duplicate layer highlighted in the Layer Panel, go to Filter--Noise--Dust & Scratches
This will give you a pop up so that you can adjust the amount of Noise. I use a setting of 5.
After you have that set, you will notice, that the noise has been applied to that top layer of the photo. It looks a bit like this:
Now, that we have the noise, let's bring on the Blur. Go to Filter--Blur--Gaussian Blur
Another pop up and you can make the adjustments to how blurry you would like the photo to be. 5 seems good but anything above 7 would be setting it too high.
Notice how there is now an obvious blur on the photo.
Now, let's hide the blur and noise we added. What we want to do, is hide it so that it is under the original photo. Then we can 'paint' the parts of the photo which we want to be 'soft'.
Layer--Layer Mask--Hide All
Now that all that is out of the way, let's start to have fun.
Choose the Paint Brush tool and make sure the foreground is changed from Black to White. Also, adjust the opacity to about 30-40...the higher the setting, the more softening it will do. For this photo, which was a bit grainy, I just want to slightly soften it, so I choose a lower opacity. For more dramatic results, like getting rid of creases in the skin wrinlkles, blemishes, you can go higher.
Now you can 'paint'. Just go over the face, arms, body and paint. You will notice how the skin will soften and smooth out.
Once you are done, you can see the difference.
Here is my before...
Remember to click the image to view it full sized.
And here is my after...
When viewing them at a larger size, you can noticeably tell the subtle softness and how I have smoothed out some of the grainy look of the original photo.
With a higher opacity it really makes for dramatic photos on adults. I have used it on some of my photos for a 'glamour shot' look and loved the results of that dreamy fantasy feel to the photo.
Here is a better example...notice the obvious grainy-ness.
Here is a light version of using the technique we just learned.
And here is a more dramatic, with higher opacity.
Hope this simple and easy technique helps you to fix up some minor imperfections on your photos, remember you can use it to get rid of blemishes, removed lines, or just like in this photo, get rid of grainy-ness!
Happy editing!
Bump It Up….Thirty Second Photo Fix
So you took a picture and despite your best attempts making sure your settings were correct you ended up with something that looks much different than what the human eye was seeing at the time of the photo was taken.
In this tutorial we will take a basic & quick look at what you can do by bumping your Levels in Photoshop CS2 with the help of the Histogram. You can access the Histogram in your image editing software as well as on board your digital Point & Shoot camera as most digital cameras on the market now have built-in Histograms to help you see the Exposure/Tonal Range of the photo as the camera is reading it, thus giving you an edge to make some adjustments to correct for improper exposure before you take the photo. And, fear not if you don’t have PSCS2, pretty much every image editing software package offers the ability to tweak your Levels and access the Histogram for your Post Production Processing. So, let’s get this photo tweaking show on the road.
Saving The Overexposed:
OK, so, for this example you don’t need the Histogram to tell you this shot is Overexposed (OE). So OE there are areas that are “blown” which means the details are lost and can’t be recovered during Post Processing (PP). Luckily for me, the blown area of this shot doesn’t effect the outcome b/c it’s not the focal point of the picture and is just in the reflection of the cellophane wrapper towards the bottom of the photo.
Notice on the Histogram all the information is skewed heavily to the right which indicates OE. Or if you have a lot of whites/lights your Histogram will skew to the left. If the Histogram was in reverse & the info was skewed heavily to the right the photo would be Underexposed (which is sometimes a good thing) or contain a lot of darks or black.
Let’s do some tweaking……
In Photoshop we will be using “Adjustment Layers” so we make all our adjustments to a separate layer above our original & don’t actually damage the original image. In your Layers Palette click on the Half White/Half Black circle to create a new Adjustment Layer. A pop-up menu will appear – click “Levels” and a window will open with a Histogram where we will do our tweaking.
In the Channel Drop Down box you’ll see a list of Options which are: RGB, Red, Green & Blue. First we will tweak our Reds.
Now onto the tweaking of our Green Channel.
Now let’s move to the Blue Channel.
I moved the Blues just a hair to give them a tiny bit more lightness. Also, take notice of the Histogram in the upper right corner and how it is slightly more evened out with each Channel we tweak. It will remain heavy on the right side because of the many light colors in the photo itself. Now we will just finish up with our RGB Channel for one last tweak.
And finally, the RGB Channel Tweak.
So with the above tweaks to Levels, this Overexposed photo has gone from blah to wow in less than 30 seconds thanks to our handy Histogram!
Before:
After:
If you go back and look at each screen shot as we bumped the Levels you will see the main Histogram window changing slightly to represent a more even photo & color information. By this happening our photo looks much better exposed and has much better color distribution through out.
Keep in mind that while my personal preferences lead me to like the end result of this photo tweak, there may be many who say it’s all wrong and not “correct”. Being the project I made at Silver Bella is at my house I know what the true in real life colors are and what the blues should look like to best represent the “real thing”. Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and depending on your personal style & tatstes you may like a very dark photo for added drama or a light photo to convey a happy & light feeling….it’s all up to you and your tastes. Now go get into your image editing software and start bumping those levels…you will be shocked at what you can do in less than a minute.
A little tip for using the Histogram on your camera. Having your photo slightly Underexposed is much better and forgiving than having it Overexposed as once those details are blown out you can not get them back. But, if your photo is Underexposed, more often than not that information & detail can be brought back to life by lightening the photo up a little….
Don’t be afraid of not doing it right, just get out there and create, it should be fun & reflect who you are, not what everyone else is doing.
You can download a PDF of this tutorial for easy reading and future reference right here:
Download jayner_61608sisbump_it_up.pdf .
Have fun and feel free to PM me with any questions you may have.
~jayne
a.k.a. NellieRose
By Cathy Pascual
A big trend in the design of digital scrapbook papers and embellishments is to make things look as “real” and three-dimensional as possible. For example, there are papers that look distressed or folded or inked. Embellishments that pop off the page. There are so many gorgeous digital scrapbook pages out there that could easily be mistaken for physical paper pages. (To see what I mean, check out Fashionista Divv's portfolio! Her pages never fail to astound me with their realism and overall amazing-ness!!)
This trend is a good thing for hybrid scrappers. A very good thing. Especially for those of us who like to print out digital elements to use on our pages. Much of the work to make the digital element realistic looking and dimensional has already been done for us. A perfect example of this is the adorable chipboard couple in Audrey Neal’s digital kit ICONIC (this kits coordinates with the May Style Phyle iCon). I love that it already looks like painted chipboard with distressed edges. One less step that I have to worry about.
For this tutorial I created a hybrid layout featuring the girl chipboard figure from Audrey’s kit. Using Photoshop, I will show you how to customize this digital element to create a unique hybrid embellishment. We will be dressing her up digitally (with photos, digital papers, etc.) and then adding the final touches with real ribbon, alphas and ink. You can add her to your hybrid scrapbook page, card or any other crafty project.
And here's a peek at the hybrid page I created. I will take you step by step on how to create this page as well as a bonus project for the kids!!! All you have to do is click here to download the PDF tutorial.
In addition to Audrey's kit, I used Bre Wiebe's Printable Alpha Bits and Stephanie Wheeler's (aka TheLivingRoomFloor) Woodgrain Love Paper Set to make my hybrid page.
Both of these digi products are so versatile and can be used again and again. Who wouldn't want an endless supply of mini alphas and woodgrain paper? So be to check them out at the SIStv Digital Boutique!
As always I would love to see your work! Please link me up here or PM me at sis (cayla73). And please let me know if you have any questions. I'll do my best to answer them!
Have a great Monday!
Check it out, SIStv now has FONTS!
And super cute new accessories:
Plus some fabulous new printable papers:
Some totally cute alphabets:
And some new digital collections!
Plus we have that awesome Flea Market Studio Collection by Shabby Miss Jenn. Did you know that it comes with three different printable quickpages to make a cool little bracket album?
I have to say, this is all way more fabulous than the fab life of Kimora Lee Simmons. Check it out over in the SIStv Digital Boutique!
Hi everyone, kl here! :D
Today i'm going to show you a quick and simple way to create and use clipping masks with your digital or scanned photos. It's an easy way to use shapes and digital brushes to add some extra dimension and it only takes a few minutes once you learn the basics.
For this tutorial i'll be using photoshop 7.0, a self created clipping mask, a picture of my little girl madison as well as a file folder element from Audrey Neal's file 13 digital kit available {{here}}.
step one : open a new document in photoshop and size accordingly. for this tutorial, i sized mine at 6x4 for a landscape view, but you can size larger or smaller depending on the size of your photo. i also set a resolution of 300 dpi as i prefer working with a larger resolution for photos and digital elements, which is standard for most digital work.
step two : dulpicate layer by right clicking in your layers tab {usually on the right of the ps desktop} and choosing duplicate. you can name this layer if desired, but i usually just click ok. then unclick the eye icon so this duplicate layer is invisible. this will help so you can move your layers around.
step three : fill your canvas with black color using the paint bucket tool.
step four : to create the pattern you can use two different techniques.
technique one : i used a simple dot brush to make a random pattern on my canvas. i used several different sizes so feel free to play and experiment.choose the magic wand tool and erase each dot so it becomes transparent in these areas.
technique two : you could also use your eraser tool when using more complicated brushes, like flourishes and detailed images like the eiffel tower brush i created {{here}}. by layering the brushes you can create some amazing borders and effects.
step five : open your picture and size accordingly, again i'm using a landscape photo at 6x4 with a resolution of 300 dpi.
step six : we're going to drag our photo from it's canvas into our clipping mask canvas. choose the move tool and drag your photo by first left clicking onto the image and then hold the button down as you drag the image across and drop it into the clipping mask canvas. then unclick.
step seven : your canvas should now look similar to the picture below.
step eight : click on the photo and center it into your canvas as seen above. now check your layers palette on the right hand side {on the lower right in my screen shot} and make sure your image is the very top layer and that it is highlighted.
step nine : use the short cut key {{ctrl+g}} to clip the mask onto the image. this will create a cut out with whatever border and/or brushes you have used. you will also notice there is a little arrow pointing down in the highlighted image layer on the right.
step ten : save your image. i always save my clipping mask images as .png files. this allows me to use them on my layouts and projects and keeps the transparent areas clear.
step eleven : your clipped image is complete as seen below.
you can also use a premade image, like this file folder element from audrey neal's file 13 digital kit. simply follow steps 5 - 11.
and again, a fun and simple way to alter your pictures for layouts, hybrid projects and even images you use in your blog posts.
you can also print out the full instructions in a pdf file {{here}}
feel free to post a comment here is you have any additional questions and i'll do my best to email you with any help i can offer.
Happy Monday!
xoxo
kl
