Strokes On Steroids Video Tutorial

Have you ever had trouble with stroke outlines? Sometimes those unusual shapes can be a bit challenging. In this video I'll teach you how to keep the corners sharp and retain the integrity of the shapes. For Photoshop users I also cover how to create a dotted stroke outline on a path. Just click on the blinkie at the top of this blog to join Scrapper's Guide Digital Scrapper Premier to download this and 3 other videos. You'll also receive a full 14 page album with front and back covers and a beautiful kit by Jill Means.  See you there.

Wedding Album

I finally finished Jaime and Fiona's wedding album. We decided to let the photos shine so it has minimal scrapbooking elements. Most of the photos in this book are by "Precious Memories" who did a superb job and worked very hard on the day. The rest were taken by yours truly and other family and friends. Just scroll down to the bottom of this blog to see a link to the book where you can view it online at Shutterfly. I can't wait to see it in the flesh!
Credits: Clean and Serene papers by Jessie Edwards, Brushes by Katie Pertiet, Anna Aspnes of Designer Digitals and Ancient by Green Eyed Butterfly.
Diamonds and Glint Brushes from December issue of Scrapper's Guide Premier for 2008.

November Templates At Scrapper's Guide

It's that time of year again. Getting together with friends and family for the festive season means you'll have dozens of precious photos to scrap. It's photo overload at my place especially when my siblings and I decide to have Christmas together. This month's kit is described as a graphic design style kit. Graphic Design generally means limited or no drop shadows and few, if any, 3D embellishments. That's great news for scrapping large numbers of photos quickly. At Scrapper's Guide we've come up with a fabulous 14 page album for you to scrap all those celebratory photos quickly. This month's kit, by Jill Means, will compliment any photo. Drop by Scrapper's Guide and check out the other Creative Team Album Pages by clicking on the blinkie at the top of this blog. Better still, join Scrapper's Guide and download all the goodies in this month's Premier download. There's so much more to come.

Creative Shape Design Video Tutorial

This is my last video for October and you only have a few days left to download it as part of Digital Scrapper Premier before the November issue is released. After that it will only be available in the store at the normal price. I love playing with vector shapes. In this video you'll learn how to cut a rectangle in half to make way for a circular frame, thread string through a hole and wrap text around a shape. There are two videos, one for Photoshop and one for Photoshop Elements. I've also created a couple of text paths for you to copy and paste to your finished page.
Click on the blinkie at the top of this blog to join Scrapper's Guide Digital Scrapper Premier to get this and three other tutorials along with the kit and album templates.

Corner Page Curl Video Tutorial

Page curls are wonderful for revealing hidden treasures. In my latest video tutorial you can learn the secrets of using the Dodge and Burn Tools to create a 3D effect. Once you have created the perfect shaped curl, you can use it as a clipping mask for other papers. So you only have to create the shape once. Click on the Scrapper' Guide link at the top of my blog to join Premier so you can download this and three other video tutorials.

October Templates At Scrapper's Guide

Although it's now Fall in the USA, in Australia we are celebrating the return of Spring. This is my favourite time of year because I take the opportunity to go out and photograph our beautiful native flowers. On the Central Coast, where I live, we have an abundance of exquisite wildflowers all through the bush, even Waratahs. These photos were taken in a hall at the Mt. Penang Spring Garden show where the light was quite poor. I avoid using the flash because it ruins the natural colours. I use spot metering, an ISO of 1600 and sometimes even increase the exposure to +0.3 or +0.7. You would be amazed at how this lightens a dark photo before you even start working on it in Photoshop. The quick fix in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements is to press Control/Command L to bring up the Levels Dialogue Box and move the right hand slider towards the centre and then the middle slider to the left slightly as well. Instantly your photo will lighten as much as you want.

One of the problems with using an ISO as high as 1600 is that it creates "NOISE". The noise will also be more noticeable when you lighten a dark photo. Noise looks like black specks. To clean up noise, download the free filtering program called "Noiseware". The download is on the right hand side of this blog under the heading "Freeware Programs I Use". You can use it independently of Photoshop or pay $50 and buy it as a plug in that will end up in the Filters menu after it's installed. I used the free version for quite a while but when I upgraded to CS4 I purchased the plugin so I can do everything without leaving Photoshop. It is without doubt the best free program on the web. I use it constantly, even for cleaning up old photos that look grainy. It makes all your old photos look like they were taken with a digital camera.

This month's kit by Susan Bartolini of Sweet Shoppe Designs is gorgeous to work with. I just loved it. We have four exciting new videos for our Digital Scrapper Premier Members to download and the full Quick Page Album for you to get a head start on your October pages.
Just click on the blinkie at the top of this blog to join Scrapper's Guide.

Graphic Design Video Tutorial - Offset Squares

This is the last week of our Scrapper's Guide September Premier issue before it's replaced by October. My last video for this month is a lesson on creating a simple, graphic art style page using the grid.
In this lesson you will learn how to crop and align photos accurately for a storyboard and use patterned paper as a background for an accent. In a few short days you will only be able to purchase this video through the store at the normal price. Premier members save 70%. Click on the blinkie at the top of this blog to join. See you there!

Pen And Wash Video Tutorial

Would you like to learn how to create the look of Pen and Wash in Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements? Sign up for Scrapper's Guide Digital Scrapper Premier by clicking on the blinkie at the top of this blog to download this and three other wonderful tutorials. These cute alphabet cards are just the beginning. Don't miss out on all the fun!

September Templates At Scrapper's Guide.

This month's kit from Gina Miller is so versatile that you'll have trouble deciding what to do with it. No you won't really! Because we do all the hard work for you. So many Quick Page Templates to choose from, not to mention four lovely new video tutorials to get you started on new techniques. If you have ever wondered how to use the Gradient Tool then wonder no more. Linda and I have created two tutorials specializing in creative ways to use Gradient techniques to make accents for your pages. There's also a great tutorial on how to make coloring book drawings from your photos and another on designing a graphic art style page. If you click on the Blinkie at the top of this blog you'll be able to sign up for Premier and get everything right now!

My title, "All Boy" was created using a simple technique I call "Offset Alignment". I've used the free font, Mom's Typewriter. Type the words with a point size of 150 and choose a color that matches your papers. The Hex code for my green is #5c4d00 and I've lowered the opacity of my layer to 55%. Control/Cmd Click on the type layer thumbnail to get a selection outline, create a new layer, then choose Edit, Stroke, choose 5 pixels and black for the color. With the Move Tool selected, nudge the stroke layer down and to the side a few pixels with your arrow keys to that it's offset against the words.

The other Fonts: Karabine and Century Gothic.

White Space Design Video Tutorial.

If you would like to learn how to create this White Space Page Design, you can watch my Video Tutorial on the technique. All you need to do is click on the blinkie at the top of this blog to register for Scrapper's Guide Digital Scrapper Premier. Then you'll be able to download this and three other videos on creating Vintage Photo Frames, A Grid of Nine Template and Do It Yourself School Portraits. Not to mention the fabulous kit and an entire Quick Page Template Album. It's never been easier to get started on scrapping all those photos.

August Templates At Scrapper's Guide

This month's beautiful kit is called Bloomin Beauty by designer, Anja Schernau (Sunflowers).

You can see more of her beautiful work at Pickleberry Pop. It made me feel all summery creating the templates with a garden theme. This month I made my album cover look like a real book with stitched corners. To make my papers look worn and creased, I copied and pasted some creases and marks and blended with the background. So here's how you do it.

Open an old, creased postcard with imperfections. Use the Lasso tool to draw a selection outline around a crease and feather the selection by 5 pixels. Copy the selection to a layer above your paper and change the blend mode to color burn, multiply, linear burn or soft light. The blend mode you need to use will depend on the color and texture of the papers. You can also lower the opacity of the blend mode layer if it's a little too strong. Now the crease or mark will look like it belongs on your background paper. I used Linda's folded paper from the January 2009 Premier Video kit for the large creases.

I am very happy to announce that I have become a video instructor for Scrapper's Guide. My first Design Video is called, "White Space Design". You'll need to join Premier this month to see it though. So click on the blinkie at the top right hand corner of this blog and become a Premier Member.

Fonts: Miss Lankfort, Jellyka St Andrews Queen, fff Tusj, CAC Shishoni Brush, Chocolate Box Decorative and Desdemona.