July 2011 desktop calendar

Monday was the worst day of my life - I took my beloved Smudge to the vet because she hasn't seemed to be feeling well & was bleeding from her tits. I thought she was worrying an allergic reaction to the point of bleeding (happened last year) but instead I got a bombshell - late stage mammory cancer. There was absolutely nothing that could be done, even painkillers would increase the bleeding. I had to make the agonizing decision to euthanize her. I plunged into depression. My brother brought me a new rescue cat Tuesday evening, so I now have a new reason to get out of bed.

I put together a bunch of stuff from my 'assorted' file to create a July 2011 desktop calendar.

Enjoy

DSO colour challenge - Waiting for Warm Weather

It's unseasonably cool here, & it doesn't feel much like summer. I've been sick all month with way too many ambulance rides to ER (I HATE going to the ER). So I managed a kit for the June 2011 colour challenge at DSO, only 5 zips this time - lol. Waiting for Warm Weather is in a folder at my mediafire account.

zip01

zip02

zip03

zip04

zip05

If you download, please leave a comment either with the post or in my shout box - I need cheering up.

Enjoy.

another batch of tags

ok first is a tag made months ago using Wicked Princess Scraps "Sweet Pea"

Second a tag using Shani's (Wicked Princess) Breathless Moments.

A tag for Shani's daughter Otelia using "Bee My Honey" by Gina (KiKeKa).

A tag for Shani's other daughter using Choubinette Designs "A Gentle Sweet Taste"

Last, but far from least, using Shani's Everybody Loves Chris" a tag for her son.

tags are about sharing one's original vision & expressing oneself, or expressing one's impression of a tag recipient - it's fun

Some Forgotten Melody qp set & tag

Ok. Been spending more time in hospital ERs than at home lately, but have managed to get a little bit of work done. Dare's Design has a new heritage type kit available called Some Forgotten Melody.

I've made a set of quick pages & done a tag.

I used Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 4 to make the tag. Make sure "show transform controls" is enabled. Open a new transparent canvas 700 pixels x 700 pixels, use the circular selection tool to create a circle & fill with background of choice (paper2).

Select your elements. I used musical notes (22) & victrola (23). Copy, paste, resize as needed, & position each element as desired. I used 5 copies of the musical notes - 4 copies were placed around the circle with parts overlapping the edges of the circle & then moved to layers below the circle, while 1 copy of the notes was placed on the layer above the victrola. I used a metallic style on these notes so they showed up against the background.

I then added my poser of choice (dnscraps' little lolita doll5) & applied an effect called 'hard edge' which is an exaggerated drop shadow.

I used different fonts on this tag: Bangle for the theme, Baroque Script for the name, & Arial for the tag information. I used an effect called 'groovy' on all the text, which is inner shadow+ outer glow+inner glow.

When I was finshed, I saved the tag in my program's default format (psd) & in a web friendly format (png).

Enjoy.

June 2011 desktop calendars

I have a choice of June 2011 desktop calendars for you. Calendar choice 1 is made using Tamaso Fantasy by Wacky Winnie Designz. Calendar choice 2 is made using Fairyland by Wicked Princess Scraps.

Enjoy

whole buncha tagging goin on

Shani has been busy making kits - I can't keep up! Check out her blog & definitely check out her section at Twilight Scraps right now - she has a BOGO (Buy One Get One) sale in conjunction with the store's anniversary celebration.

So a hacker has sidelined my laptop til I can get it into the shop & my desktop keyboard is still suddenly going into all caps without any move on my part - driving me nuts. In addition, the arthritis in my hands is making typing painful. I hope nobody really minds if I just post a bunch of tags without accompanying tutorials.

My basic tag making is:

1. Set your software program to show a bounding box around an element when hightlighted in the layer palette, so you can resize the element by manipulating the corners of the bounding box (some people refer to these boxes as 'marching ants').

2. Try to start with a mental picture of what you want your tag to look like; choose your papers & elements accordingly. Copy, paste, resize as needed, & position as desired. The visibility toggle can help you decide if an element is working or not without backtracking multiple steps.

3. Never be afraid to play & experiment with things like opacity, effect, styles. I don't like using templates & I have yet to figure out the best way to use masks, but eventually I hope to figure it out.

4. Most important is to have fun & end up with a tag that you like.

So, in this post I will share tags made with 3 of Shani's latest kits - Lil Bo Peepers, Nature's Tea, & Ride a Cowboy.

With Lil Bo Peepers, I made a simple tag for all the girly little girls out there. In childhood, I had both a tomboy side & a girly girl side which some adults found strange. I still love tea parties, playing Barbies. The poser is CIZ-Candy4 by Creative Intentionz.

With Nature's Tea, I made a tag, & then experimented with what I had the poser hold & it made the tag look very different. The poser is Shea 4 by Luscious Digi Dolls, aka Luscious Scraps.

With Ride a cowboy, made a tag & a quick page freebie for you. I couldn't resist sticking a photo of my cousin Mark's baby boy into the quick page - he is so cute! The poser in the tag is cowgirl2-1 by Sinful Mindz.

If any of you have a specific question about how I made a particular tag, leave me a comment.

Enjoy

May DSO colour challenge - Puppy Love

My mojo has not been itself this month. I am struggling creatively. I stared at this month's colour swatch at DSO & nothing really came to mind for a kit, so I settled for a quick page that uses all the colours. I put a picture I took of a friend's puppy into the page.

Enjoy