Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Layered Template #9


Today is a good day: my husband and son are coming home after a week away! YAY! That said, I'm just going to warn you now that I may not be able to keep up with the 1-a-day pace. My "real life" calls. I'll do as best I can, and will make my goal at least once a week; more if/when possible.

I want to thank you all again for some of the wonderful comments, emails, and layouts I've received. The scrapbooking community is such a warm, friendly, loving place, and I've truly been blessed by some of your wonderful words. Thank you!

Here's a bit of exciting news for you 8.5x11 scrappers. Hummie is going to start converting these into 8.5x11 layered templates and sharing them on her blog. And as you DIP users know, Lisa has been converting them to DIP for your use already. So to steal a bit from Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham," You can get them here, or there. Say! You can get them anywhere! Sorry, bedtime with my daughter flashback....

And without further ado, today's template, brought to you by the letters J, D, and A, can be downloaded HERE.

And the small print, once again: it's in 8x8 at 300dpi, created in PSCS2. Convert to other sizes as you wish, just remember to adjust the dpi. (Let's see how many new ways I can think of to tell you that....) :)

Have a great day!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Layered Template #8


Quick post tonight and I'm off to Bible Study. As a side note, if anyone is looking for a really powerful Bible Study for a ladies group, I highly recommend Beth Moore's "Daniel" study.


Today's LO/layered template features my little boy when he was 4 months old. How fast they grow up! I believe that all the papers and elements are a part of DigiScrap Diva's Mega Kit entitled "Priceless." I've lost my notes on that, however, so if I'm wrong, someone please correct me.


You're probably sick of me repeating myself, but just so you remember: I create at 8x8 at 300dpi, which can be resized up very easily (or even into 8.5x11). I create in Photoshop CS2.


And you can download the layered template HERE.

Lisa will have it for DIP users at her blog as well.


One other totally unrelated side note. I'm a very strict chronological scrapper. I have to have the "perfect" photo to get me to scrap out of order. I'm currently in the middle of April -- just after Easter. Well, Two Peas in a Bucket has a challenge this week. The challenge is for us to use the Curves filter on a photo. I've known about Curves almost as long as I've used Photoshop (over 10 years!), but have never really used it. Wow! I should have been using it. The result of this tutorial is a whole new world opening up, a "must scrap now" photo, and a LO that I'm just really excited about. You can see it here at 2Peas.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Layered Template #7


Here is today's installment. This one didn't cause me quite so much frustration. This LO is one that's close to my heart -- my daughter was a little baldy for almost two years. When her hair finally started coming in, it was soft, curly, and beautiful. So this LO honors her first pigtails.

In the template, I just put squares where my title is. The font that I used is called "2Peas Wild Child," which was a free download. Obviously you can remove the squares to create your own title, use a paper where the dots are, or many other things.

You can download this template here.

Enjoy! :)

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Layered Template #6


Today's layered template is actually a CURRENT layout -- one I just did tonight. I'm on Easter pictures, which means I'm only 3.5 months behind. That's not too terrible -- especially when considering I have 2 kids and work full time! LOL! (I know... excuses, excuses...)

Although, it does come with some sacrifice. For some reasons, I flattened to save as a JPG in a way different than I normally do. I don't know why -- thought it would be faster I guess. I did it the way I had to do it in Photoshop 5.0 -- without the nice upgrades of "Save to Web" in CS2. The upgrade saves a copy and won't let you accidentally save over your file. You guessed it - I saved over my file. Argh!!! So now I've got a layout in need of printing -- but it's 8x8 at 72dpi. So I guess I should be thankful that I've made the template -- because now I need to use it for myself! *sigh*

So without further ado or pity parties...

Credits for my LO:
Striped Paper: Angie Briggs "Tomboy"
Yellow Paper: Anita Designs (Nana's Attic) "Foofaraw"

You may download the layered template HERE.

Per usual, it's 8x8 at 300dpi (I didn't mess that one up -- just my personal layout), but can easily be resized to 12x12.

DIP users check Lisa's blog, as she'll be recreating it for you.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Thank You!

When I started doing freebies, I said that I didn't care whether or not I got comments. I design because I enjoy it or because I need the element/layout for my own pages.

That said...

THANK YOU!!!

I have received some of the most wonderful, kind, and generous comments from some of you. Thank you for the encouragement and kind words.

Layered Template #5



I'm on a roll! Here's another layered template for your use. I actually have 6 more done, too, and about 10 more to do -- so keep coming back. DIP users, keep checking Lisa's Blog, as she'll be recreating them in DIP for you. Mine are all in PSD format for Photoshop.


The original LO for this one has credits as follows:

Angela Minor (brown bkgd, blue polka dots, white/teal/brown)
Amy Teets (yellow polka dots, brown polka dots, flower edge)
Rene Bross (butterfly)
Kim Hill (light yellow)
K Giarrusso (blue ropes)
Atomic Cupcake (torn paper action)


I also want to give Atomic Cupcake credit on this template for her torn paper action. What I did for that is to put the "tear" on one layer, and the paper on another layer and link the two together. After you choose your paper, you can merge the two layers (paper and tear) together to add drop shadows properly.


Download this template HERE.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Layered Template #4

I've got another clustered frame layered template for you. This one I did a little bit different -- instead of merging all the photos together, each of them is their own entity, so you can move them a bit if necessary.

Further details: each photo has 2 layers. The black layer is where you put the photo, the white layer is the frame for it -- take it or leave it. Once you add the photo, you can do a couple different things. (a) You can merge the two layers together, adding a drop shadow to the merged photo. (b) You can emboss the frame or do other treatments to it to give it even great depth... no need to merge. Hopefully this opens it up to a lot of options for you!

This template was created in Photoshop CS2 (PSD file), 8x8 in size at 300dpi. Per usual, you can resize it easily to a 12x12, just make sure to also convert the dpi to 300 again.

Hmmm... I think that about covers it!
Download HERE.

For you DIP users, Lisa was kind enough to recreate this template for you at her blog: http://ronimasil.blogspot.com/2007/07/another-simply-sarah-design-template.html



Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Layered Template 3, Arrow Doodles, Arrow Stickers


I had a few more requests for layered templates, so I went digging through my old LOs to find some inspiration. This is one that I originally scraplifted myself, but I just love the structure of it.

Here are the details/credits for my LO:
Papers & Duct Tape: "Grungy Athlete" by Christine Stone
Stars: Misty Cato
Arrow: Weeds & Wildflowers
Font: Love Ya Like a Sister
Scraplift: "On the Move" by Jen Lessinger, page 10 "Designing with Type" by Autumn Leaves

The zip file includes:
1 - Layered Template - created at 300dpi in 8x8 format. Can easily be resized to 12x12, just remember to change the dpi. This is a Photoshop (PSD) file.
1 - Set of Arrow Doodles (black, but can be recolored). This is a PNG file.
1 - Set of Arrow Stickers (same as the doodles, but with white backgrounds). This is a PNG file.
All are at 300dpi.

Enjoy - you can download here.

If you work in DIP, Lisa's got you covered. She's recreated this for DIP users at her blog: http://ronimasil.blogspot.com/2007/07/sarah-is-at-it-again.html)

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Element: Chrome Alphabet & Numbers

I sat down tonight with good intentions of doing some layouts of my own. However, I was so jazzed by all the comments on my Date Wheel, that my creative juices were flowing. So it's YOUR fault that I'm still behind on my scrapping! When my children are 50 years old, I'll make sure they know that. :)

Anyway, here's the idea that was going through my head. I always am on the search for really good looking chrome/metal objects -- you know -- the realistic looking staples, paperclips, binders, etc. So I sought out to teach myself how to chrome. I don't know if I'm 100% there, but it was a fun journey.

Then I thought about how to make chrome most versatile. I saw these really cool chrome outlined letters. The only "problem" was -- I was limited to the fill choice of the designer. No big deal; I loved her choice. However, it wouldn't match all the layouts I would potentially want it for, and recoloring the background sometimes messes with the color of the chrome as well.

My solution: Chrome Outlines!

These 3 files contain the entire alphabet in Caps and Lower Case, as well as numbers 0-9 and some commonly used symbols. They are just the outlines, however, so you can cut whatever paper you want to fit the inside. (The illustration I've included above is just random colors I've inserted into the outlines.) The result: these outlines match every layout you could dream of creating!

Here's how I use them:
In the letter file, use the MAGIC WAND and select the inside of the letter (the part you want to fill). In the SELECT menu, choose MODIFY, then EXPAND. I expanded it by 15 pixels. Then you fill that space with your paper or a paint bucket.

I'm sure you could also string them on a rope, chain, ribbon, etc. Gosh, the possibilities could be endless. I'd love to see what you think of for them and how you've used them.

As I mentioned, there are 3 files zipped into one. The total zip file is just over 26MB. Inside the zip file are three PNG files - Capitals, Lower Case, and Numbers. Each capital letter is approximately 2 inches square, and the font size was kept the same for each letter and number. They are 300dpi.

DOWNLOAD HERE.

I hope you enjoy this -- now back to my regularly scheduled scrapping. :)
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Sunday, July 1, 2007

Element: Date Wheel


There are so many cute "date wheel" type elements out there. I haven't used one yet myself, but wanted to create one for an upcoming layout. I hope you can enjoy it as well.

This is a layered PSD file (created in Photoshop CS2). You can change any of the circles to be papers of your choice. Then simple "turn" the month, year, and date layers so that the correct ones are inside the star. Add a little element in the center, or a chrome eyelet, and you've got the perfect spinner to incorporate the date.

This date wheel is about 2.5 inches created at 300dpi. There are no drop shadows in the actual file - you can add them yourself so coordinate properly with the rest of the shadows on your design.

Download this element HERE.

Enjoy!
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Layered Template #2

I made a layout the other day about my daughter and her love for Dora. One of the women in my email group said, "You should make a template out of this." So I did!

So this template is especially for Wanda. I hope you all can enjoy it as well.

In the LO that I did, here are the credits:
Polka Dots and Black Paper: Summer Driggs "Inspiration"
Journal Tag: Royanna Fritschmann "Sweet Tulips"
Appliques (Butterflies, Flowers, Love): Amy Martin
Chipboard Action: Atomic Cupcake
Green Ribbon: Fernlili

The layered template was created in Photoshop CS2 (it's a PSD file), 8x8 at 300dpi. Again, if you resize it to 12x12, remember to switch the dpi to 300, and you shouldn't have any quality issues.

You can download HERE.

Enjoy!
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Layered Template #1


As I was flying home from my parents' house, I was browsing through the airline's magazines. There was an advertisement I saw that I thought would make a fun design. Of course, when we landed I forgot to grab the publication for reference, so this is going as best I can from memory.

This template was created using Photoshop CS2. It's in PSD format, 8x8 size at 300dpi. Because it's a layered template, you should easily be able to resize it to 12x12 without losing quality -- just make sure to change the dpi when you upsize it.

You can download HERE.

(If you work in DIP, I've given Lisa permission to recreate this template for you. You can download at Lisa's blog: http://www.ronimasil.blogspot.com/)
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