Updated Blog Banner and New Logo!

Armed with a bit more knowledge than the last attempt I decided to have a go at re designing my blog banner. I am very pleased with the result, I'm totally in love with grey and pink at the moment although I had envisioned using a bit more red and cream in my design but there you go, I will probably change my mind again in a few weeks. I'm a woman that is my prerogative right!

Following on from that I decided to create myself a little logo. I did this using Adobe Illustrator and decided to run with the lotus theme that I had used in my header. It is such a gorgeous picture, one that my husband took and I managed to put this really cool effect on it in Photoshop so now it has a really glowing ethereal look to it. I still need to make some final tweaks, I need to get my colours sorted, they are slightly different from banner to logo so I will create and save a swatch that I will use across all stationery.

Here is the logo

Time Away!

Where have I been all year? Well, I have had a long break from digital scrapbooking but I have still been dabbling in the digital world, just in other areas. In February I started a Cert III in Graphic Arts, completely online which was fantastic, inspiring, fun and just all things great. I loved every bit of it! 

So now that is over I am left sitting here wondering what to do next. I need something completely online due to the small people in my life but unfortunately TAFE just doesn't offer the course I want to do online. There is obviously the online providers like Open Colleges but I do wonder whether they are as good as TAFE and if the qualification is recognised as so. 

What to do... I now know I love everything to do with Graphic Arts and have to pursue this field. That alone is a real achievement for me. I've been searching for many years for "what I want to do" with my life. 

Anyhow, watch this space for more of my digital work now that I have more time. 

Cherish your family

It is 42 degrees here in Perth today so we are hibernating inside in the airconditioning. Stealing minutes away from the family today I came up with this little creation after watching a video tutorial from www.scrapgirls.com on blending photos into backgrounds using brushes as masks.

Another day dabbling with photoshop and I have learnt a new technique, one that i'm sure will be featuring a lot in my future creations. Being able to put such soft edging on a photo and the ability to really make it part of the background can turn any memory into a real work of art.  I love how my photo appears to be popping out of the frame.

I think it is time to invest in some new brushes for photoshop. Can anyone recommend a good place to get them from?

Papers and elements used in this page are from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Lady in Red - creating a digital page with a template in Photoshop

Look at this beauty! I am so thrilled with this digital scrapbook page I just whipped up last night. I stumbled across a beautiful site www.sweetshoppedesigns.com and they were so kindly offering a lot of free digital scrapbook kits and templates, this was a template created by Cindy Schneider.

Using a template was so simple all I really  needed to do was insert new layers of the papers or patterns I wanted to use and clip them to the template shape. To do this you ensure the paper or pattern you want to use is above the desired image and then do a clipping mask by pressing ctrl, alt and G. The paper is then clipped into the shape and you can move the paper around until you have the desired part of the pattern you wish to use... SO SIMPLE!!

I have now finally created a digital page using lots of layers and embellishments, that is connected and looking totally beautiful. This was such a sinch, I'll be using templates again for sure. I might even have a go at creating my own templates in photoshop.

The stunning papers used in this page are a selection from Sweet Shoppe also.

Funky Baby - Spray painting in Photoshop

I just love this picture of my daughter, she is such a character. I want to start dabbling more in digital scrapbooking techniques within the program that I use, which is photoshop, and my aim with this layout was to recreate the look of glimmer mist that is commonly used in traditional scrapbooking layouts.

I personally don't have any glimmer mist for using in my traditional scraps but it is something I love in other peoples creations and something I always say to myself that I will invest in one day.

So to create that spray paint effect in photoshop I created a new layer, clicked my brush tool and selected a large soft edged brush. The trick is to change the mode to "Dissolve" and turn the opacity down about 50% and away you go, you can spray till your hearts content.

Photoshop, where will you take me next.........

My Daughters Digital Birth Page - finally complete!

My daugher I just might mention, is actually 14 months now so this has been a long time coming. As always I wanted it to be perfect and the page to connect. I love the colour scheme here of lilac and yellow and the kit was one I purchased from www.designhousedigital.com, the gorgeous little teddy bear embellishments and the little paw prints across the page really make it. This is one I am very pleased with. You know how you often see scrapbook pages that have loads and loads of elements to it and the page looks totally full but all completely connected and fitting. I have been trying to create that look recently on some of my pages but it always ends up a busy ole mess. I'm glad I kept this relatively clear and simple. My wee boy, he was so little when my daughter was born. Actually, she is the age now that he was when she was born. Precious!!

Digital scrapbooking where have you been!!

My first ever digital scrap creation, thrown together in no time using a lovely kit from the Shabby Princess. www.shabbyprincess.com

I love the layered, clustered, all elements huddled together look but don't think I really pulled off quite what I was hoping here. I think more white space is needed. Still I am most pleased, no mess to clean up and the fuss free ability to change my mind half way through.