DigiScrapStation Blog

Tuesday’s Tutorials 4/07

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

Today’s tutorial is not really a tutorial exactly. I would like to post some links to articles about digital cameras. My point and shoot camera still works fine, but it really would have been nice to know some of this stuff before I purchased it!

http://tech.yahoo.com/qg/quick-guide-to-digital-cameras/digital_cameras

This website has several things you should note about digital cameras. It talks about four things to look for in buying a digital camera-resolution, zoom, ease of use and portability.

http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/

This article is not for the faint hearted or to be read real fast. There is a lot there and some of it is pretty technical.

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camera-buying-guide/

This is CNet’s guide to buying digital cameras.

Tuesday’s Tutorials 3/31

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

Tutorials! One of the designers sent to me this awesome site about scrapbooking. It was Gail Cook who sent it. This is an about site and is really cool with lots of links to other things scrapbooking as well.

http://scrapbooking.about.com/

Tuesday Tutorials 3/24

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

Today’s tutorial is for users of Photoshop Elements and is about making realistic shadows. While many of us have come to the realization that putting shadows on our layouts makes them look much better, it becomes tricky at times. I especially wish to mention that if you are going to upload your layout to the gallery here or at another online gallery, you need to be careful about how you go about getting your layout ready for uploading in regards to the shadows. Please flatten your image first before reducing the size of the layout. That way the shadows stay in proportion to your layout. Otherwise, your photos and elements on the layout will look like they are floating six inches off the paper. Of course, you need to be careful to do this to a copy of your layout, not your original as you will need to full size layout for printing.

The tutorial is from Cottage Arts and can be found at:

http://www.cottagearts.net/tutorial_shadows_pse.html

Tuesday Tutorials 3/10/09

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

Today’s Tutorial is by a well known name in the digital scrapbooking world–Bannerwoman. Many of us designers have commercial use product by her to help us in our work.

This tutorial is for PSP users and is on how to colorize your elements to match your layout. You can find it at:

http://www.bannerwoman.com/tutorials/bwcolorize.htm

Enjoy!

Tuesday Tutorial 3/3/2009

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

I really like the worn, cracked, solid-coloured background papers that I’ve seen about. Well they look more like board than paper. Here’s a tutorial I found to make your own by ‘The Scrappin Cop’. On the right hand side you can find links to some fantastic textures. Thanks Scrappin Cop!

All for now, Mina

Tuesday Tutorial 2/24/2009

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

A couple of $1 babies:

I’ve always had a problem with masking. I have my own fandangled, convoluted way of doing it, that involves layers, selections, copying, pasting, deleting. I really must take some time to see how others go about it. Here and here.

All for now, Mina

Tuesday Tutorial 2/17/2009

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

This one is for those that like the art journal style, those who want a more artsy look and those that just want to try something new. There are different ways to turn your photos into sketches, this is one of them. (Photoshop & Corel).  I tried it and loved it. This is what I came up with:

Once you’ve got it to this stage (very easy), print out and colour or paint. Get the kids/grandkids to do it. Just have fun. Cut and paste to your journal/scrapbook/anything. Maybe you like it as is. I played about a bit in Photoshop:

Don’t know what I’ll do with it, but it is definitely a technique I’ll be using in the future. If you try this, please let me know how you went.

All for now, Mina

Tuesday Tutorial 2/10/2009

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

People use many ways to extract things from their photos. Hehe. I started out using the eraser tool, zooming in and using smaller brushes at each stage.

Some programs have an ‘Extract’ function, which requires you to zoom in and draw around the thing it is you want. A brush size of 2 will handle most things.

Other people use the pen tool. It’s a good idea to learn how to use your selection tools. (They’ll be good friends!)

Another way to extract using the lasso tool (Photoshop and Elements).

All for now, Mina

Tuesday Tutorial 2/3/2009

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

Organising scrap files can be a nightmare at the best of times. This is only how I think I should be organising mine. The categories will vary according to what you really like working with. Working folders consisting of folders with the following names:

* papers
* frames
* flowers
* buttons (including brads, rivets and other small doodads)
* elements
* ribbons (including bows,string, yarn etc)
* special (things like illustrations)

You may want to organise according to your specialities:
* vintage/romantic
* doodles
* modern

If you’re anything like me, you have a number of things going on. What works for me is to have folders according to month. In that monthly folder are files related to stores and projects.

All for now, Mina

Tuesday Tutorial 1/27/2009

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 | Tuesdays Tutorials | No Comments

A couple of things from instore: This gorgeous kit with a male aspect (just love the suit!) by Late Night Scraps:

And this ‘Bling Bling’ number by TriFaith:

The secret for great looking stuff is knowing your shadows! Realistic shadowing will enhance your work. Obviously it will be to your benefit to start looking about and observing objects at home. Here’s a bunch of tutorials - among them Realistic Shadows, Parts 1 & 2 by Divian Conner.

All for now, Mina