Someone asked how to make decorative photo borders on the Creative Dreams Forum. I realized this was a case where a video tutorial would explain it a lot better than me trying to type the explanation.

So here you have it, a tutorial in two parts. The first covers straight and deckle borders:



and the second zig zag and decorative borders:



Enjoy, and be sure to stop by the forum and show us what you make!

Hugs,

I have another tutorial for you, and one more in the works. I guess it's a tutorial celebration this week on Creative dreams! :D

I love torn papers when I'm papercrafting with the real deal, but that look can be difficult to replicate realistically in the digital medium.

Or then again maybe not so much... :D

Try this tutorial and you'll be tearing up all of your elements and papers just for the fun of it!



If you try it, be sure to pop into the forum later today because this technique is going to be the focus of our next Designer Discovery Challenge! There will be a fabulous posting bonus for everyone who participates, so I know you'll want to join in on the fun!!

Happy Friday!

One of my CT members is an extortionist. She made a beautiful banner for me, and then held it hostage until I spilled the secrets of how I made the Butterfly Bling glitter alpha.



Her evil scheming is your gain! I've made a video so you all can learn this fun technique!



Just a quick note, now that you've watched the video. The final glitter fill is optional depending on the size of your font. I didn't need it on the Butterfly Bling alpha because I used a thinner font. You can use your own judgment on if you want to fill your alpha or not.

Have fun and link me up if you give it a try, I'd love to see your creations!


P.S. Totally kidding about the evil schemer thing! :D Rachael waited patiently for about 2 months for me to get around to making her a tut, so she's way sweeter than I would have been. Love you hun!!!

Are you ready for another tutorial?

In our last tutorial we looked at the displacement filter and used it to add realistic texture to a crumpled paper. Today we're going to use the same filter to add depth and texture to a flower element.



If you'd like to play along with this tutorial, I have a freebie flower that you can use to give it a try.



You can download it here:
Tutorial Flower

Be sure to show us what you make at the Creative Dreams forum! You'll receive a free pack of CU overlays for just for using this technique to participate in the Designer Discovery Challenge!

Have fun Creating!

I have a couple of things for you today, so it's a two-fer! :D

I made a tutorial that will show you how to use the displacement filter to add realism to your crumpled papers. Then to help you along, and so that you can create with me during the video, I also have the crumpled overlay that I use in the tutorial as a freebie for you.



It's Commercial Use OK, no credit required!

Download it here:
Crumpled Overlay

Now, try something new!



ETA: There's a new designer challenge happening in the forum using this technique! All participants will receive a coupon to download my new CU fabric overlays (not even in the store yet) for free! So come show us what you've made!

Designer Discovery Challenge #2 - Displacement

Happy Creating!

Man, I have been fighting with my computer over this demo all day! I recorded it at 8 this morning, it's now almost 9pm and I think I've finally figured out a way to make it work.

YouTube has a time limit on uploaded tutorials (file size doesn't really matter which is odd) of 10 minutes. Well after recording this 3 times, I still went over by three minutes which meant I couldn't upload it to YouTube unedited. So I tried editing it down, splitting it in half, but my video editing tools would crash whenever I made significant changes to the file.

I even dug out my CS3 discs and installed Premiere, which didn't help me either.

So, after a day of frustration I decided to forget YouTube and just upload a compressed version of the file to my own server. That way you don't have to go searching for part two, and I can get away from my computer before I do permanent harm to it! LOL

Click for the tutorial:
Easy Plaids and Stripes

I'll cross my fingers that it plays for you, and if it doesn't, just right click this link and click "save as" to save the video to your computer for viewing off-line: Easy Stripes and Plaids Tutorial

Enjoy!

There is a fun color challenge going on over at the Creative Dreams Forum right now, with an awesome bonus for participating (we're all about the freebies here at Creative Dreams).

I know you want to play with us, but it's been said that color challenges can be hard if you're not a designer.

Not anymore!! I've put together a video tutorial that will show you how to use the papers you have in your stash and change them to match any palette! It's so quick and easy to do, you'll be amazed!



No excuses now, come join in the fun!

Hugs,

After fighting with YouTube for a full day, I finally have a brand spankin' new tutorial ready for your viewing pleasure!

In this tutorial we're going to take a pre-made overlay, and turn it into a texture plate. Once you've created a texture plate you can use it to add all sorts of lovely texture and dimension to your designs.

Here's a before:


and after:


You can see how the technique will really make your designs pop!



If you give it a try, be sure and drop into the CD forum to show us what you've made!

Have fun!

I finally figured out how to use YouTube! I know, I know... You'd think someone who's worked in computer related fields for over ten years, and who's married to an IT director for an international company would have a better grasp on something as simple as video sharing.

I'm pretty dense when I want to be though. :D

This is good news for you though because it means I can finally share my tutorials easily! I uploaded one of my older tutorials yesterday as I was learning how to do it, and hopefully I'll have a brand spanking new one for you later today or tomorrow!

This technique is called The 2 Minute Makeover. It's a great way to soften feminine photos with a beautiful airbrushed effect.

From this:


To this:




Have fun!

With all of these glitter tiles I've been sharing lately, I've had several people ask for a tutorial on how to use them. It's so easy and fun, with just a few simple steps you can add some gorgeous bling to your pages. So follow along and you'll be glittering everything in no time!


The first thing you want to do is open your glitter tile in Photoshop and use it to create a pattern. Just click Edit/Define Pattern. A dialog box will pop up, click ok, and you're done!


Now, open a new blank document, and grab your Pattern Stamp tool, located in the same tool bar as the clone tool.


Click the drop down arrow in your Pattern tool options menu, and you should see your glitter tile now available. Select it to be able to paint with it.


Once you have your pattern tool selected, you're going to want to change your pattern brush a bit to make your finished doodle look like specks of glitter. I like to use the Square brushes that came with my photoshop program. Load them into your pattern brush palette, and select a good size for your document. For 12x12 300ppi scrapbook pages, a 24px brush usually works the best.


The default preset for the brush draws a solid line, so we need to change that to make our glitter specks. Open your brush preset menu, and under "Brush Tip Shape" set your spacing to 200%.


Under "Shape Dynamics" set:
Size Jitter to 100%
Minimum Diameter to 50%
Angle Jitter to 100%


Under "Scattering" set:
Scatter to 400%
Count to 2
Count Jitter to 0%


Now, draw on your canvas and you should have some pretty glitter sprinkles!


Our glitter looks good, but it's a little flat so lets add some dimension to it to make it pop off your page!

Open your layer styles palette and click the "Drop Shadow." Set your shadow to:
Opacity 60%
Distance 0
Spread 0
Size 10px


Now go to "Bevel and Emboss" and set it to:
Inner Bevel
Depth 100%
Size 1px
Soften 0px


And here's what your finished glitter doodle will look like:


Using this technique you can glitter the edges of your pages and embellishments, write with glitter, or even fill entire shapes with glitter! Play with different brushes and brush presets to get different looks! Just experiment and have fun!

If you have any questions leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help you out.

Have a great day!


P.S. PSE users, check out this post:
PSE Glitter Brush
for a custom brush that will create your glitter sprinkles!