Sweet Madeline

(Please note - I extracted the teddy bears on top of the boxes from an element in the kit.)

Yesterday, I worked with Sweet Madeline, a kit from Wicked Princess that comes in full or tagger. Check out Shani's blog for links to where she sells. I did a layout featuring each one of Shani's precious children, & then made a matching quick page freebie for each layouts - which means this quick page set features 3 pages instead of my usual 2 - bonus!

I also made a very simple tag. As usual I used Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite, with 'show transform controls' activated.

Start with a blank 700 pixel x 700 pixel canvas, use your circular selection tool to create a circle & fill it with your background of choice (paper 2).

I chose a single element, the moped, to copy,paste, resize & position, then applied the bevel & emboss effect. I did the same with my poser of choice from Medievil Creations (medi huggles 4).

I used Campanero font for the main saying, right clicking the text in the layers palette & choosing warp text, arch. Adjust the degree of arch to fit your circle. I then applied a glitter style to the text, & used the same glitter on the name which used a font called Candice. The tag information was entered using Arial3. (Told you it was a very simple tag.)

Enjoy

Irrisistable

Shani aka Wicked Princess is being really productive lately & that means fun for her creative team & goodies for you. Tonight I worked with Irrisistable You.

My care worker was amazed at the different creations I made all from one kit. I had fun with this one. I made you 2 quick pages. And I made 2 tags - the first tag was inspired by the Grant Designs poser I bought today - I took one look & the tag line popped imto my head & this kit had the perfect colour palette. After completing the tag & 2 quick pages, I still wanted to play with this one, so I made a second tag.

I know most tag makers use Paint Shop Pro, but while I love my PSP for creating scrap kits, I really prefer Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 4. I always enable "show transform controls" for easy resizing of elements. I also make frequent use of the one step bevel & emboss feature. For my ease in typing I'm going to use 'b+e' for bevel & emboss & CPRP for copy, paste, resize, & position. I recommend saving your finished tag in both your program's default format & a web friendly format.

tag 1

1. Open a new transparent canvas 700 pixels x 700 pixels. Fill with your background of choice (paper 14).

2. Select your elements (cutain, chaise lounge, champagne bottle) & your poser (GrantDesignsPosers - nana set 2b), CPRP.

3. Enter desired text. I used Havix HMK Bold 10 for the theme text, & Jagger 32 for the name. I then applied an effect called sunspots. I used Arial 4 for the tag information.

4. When you are satisfied with your tag, do a final save.

tag 2

1. Open a transparent canvas 700 pixels x 700 pixels, use your circular selection tool to create a circle, & fill it with your background of choice (paper 2).

2. Select a background element (clock 2) & adjust opacity (50%). Choose other elements (umbrella, camilla, fancy butterfly) & a poser (Wyked Soulz - vanda 3_5), CPRP and b+e all elements & poser.

3. I used a font called Carousel 23 for the name & applied b+e. I then used Arial 4 for the tag information.

4. When you are satisfied with your tag, do a final save.

Enjoy

Almost April

I've been keeping an eye out for a good kit to make my April desktop calendar with & I finally found one - it's by Gina's Gems Scraps & it's called "Orange You Glad It's Easter". I don't celebrate the holiday Easter because the pagan origins conflict with my beliefs (I do observe a celebration of the Lord's Evening Meal, an occasion most of you are probably familiar with as the Last Supper.) I chose this kit, however, because of its cheerful colour palette of oranges & yellows with some greens - springtime colours.

In addition to the April 2011 desktop calendar, I created a quick page for you, & made a simple tag.

I used Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 4 to create the tag, with 'show transform controls' enabled. Enable the equivalent in whatever graphics program you use & you can easily resize elements by simply manipulating the 'box' that forms around the element - I greatly prefer this option to calculating percentages by which to resize, because math has never come easily to me.

1. Open a new transparent canvas 700 pixels x 700 pixels & use your circular selection tool to create a circle. Fill the circle with your background of choice (paper 28).

2. Select the elements you wish to use. I used grassy knoll, baby duck 1 & 2, & daffodil 9. I also used a poser by Medievil Creations (Medi-Easter 4). Copy, paste, resize, & position each element as desired. I also applied a 'bevel & emboss' effect to each element & the poser.

3. Enter the desired text. I used a font called Havix HMK Bold for all the text, including the tag information, simply using a smaller font for the text I wished to be less prominent.

4. When you are satisfied with the tag it is a good idea to save in both your program's default format as well as a web friendly format like png. It makes it easy to make another tag with a different name.

Enjoy

Irish Rose

Yesterday I played with Irish Rose from Honored Scraps. I made 2 quick pages & a tag. The kit includes some lovely posers by Medievil Creations.

The tag is basically simple. I used Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 4. Make sure that "show transform controls" or whatever your software program equivalent may be is enabled so you can adjust the size of elements & text by simply moving the corners of the 'box' that forms around the item. If your program doen't include the one step 'bevel & emboss' effect, experiment to find something to make things stand out a bit from the background.

1. Open a new transparent canvas 700 pixels x 700 pixels, use the circular selection tool to create a circle & fill the circle with your background of choice (paper 7).

2. Choose a pot of gold as your background element (pot of gold 3), copy, paste, resize as needed & position as desired. I applied bevel & emboss & outer glow.

3. Choose your other elements to copy, paste, resize & position. I used St.paddy puppy, 2 copies of blossom, poser medi-erynn 6 & rose 2. I applied bevel & emboss to each element. I erased part of the rose stem to make it appear the poser was holding the rose.

4. Choosing the right font & what text effects, if any, to use is often the area I experiment with most, backtracking & undoing until it is just the way I saw it in my mind. I eventually settled upon GE Signature Script. To curve the text right click on the text layer in your layer palette & choose warp text, then play with the settings to get the right amount of curve for your circle. I applied a default Adobe style called 'sunspot', then added bevel & emboss, as well as inner glow. I also used Arial font in a small size for the tag information.

5. It's a good idea to save your original in your program's default format & save a copy in your choice of web-compatible format.

Enjoy

Steampunk Style

Today I played with the 3rd kit in Wicked Princess' steampunk series called Cornelia Marie Quincy. It comes in both tag & full sizes & includes posers by Lisa of Sophisticated Imaging.

Steampunk kits are great for heritage style pages & I've made a 2 quick page set for you.

I also made a tag - these kits are a chance to play interior decorator. Since I was planning to do a 2-floor view, I made the tag a bit larger than usual, 800 pixels x 800 pixels. I used Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 4 with "show transform controls" enabled. Use different papers to create the illusion of floors & walls (paper 5 floor, paper 19 1st floor, paper 21 2nd floor). There is a large variety of elements to furnish your rooms with. I used grand curtain, staircase, balcony, grandfather clock, table, & rosecandle. I applied the bevel & emboss effect to each element & to the poser (Cornelia standing), but drop shadow will work if you are using a different software. I used Annabel Script 14 for the theme words & name, & Arial 4 for the tag info.

Enjoy