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Creating a Photo Card In Adobe Elements

Posted by Kate | | 2:03 PM
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This lovely image was done in Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 using their pre- set templates. Today I'm going to walk you through how to make your own image to use on personalized note cards or greeting cards.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 is a neat, easy to use imaging software that has many of the features of the more complex Adobe Photoshop without the hassles of a high learning curve.
The latest version Elements 7 has even more bells and whistles but we've stuck with our version 5 here at the studio. You can check out the program and download a free 30 day trial here: http://tryit.adobe.com/us/photoshopelements/?sdid=DKJFF

To begin choose the image you want to use in your note card or greeting card, we used some stock images of Native Americans for our example. Be sure your image is clear, we'll prepare it during this tutorial. Let's begin

Open Photoshop Elements. From the Welcome Splash select "edit and enhance photos"





From the main screen select "File" and "Open" and navigate to the location of your image. Once open the image will appear in the main workspace and at the bottom in the preview pane.

On the left sidebar are the image editing tools that you can select to edit your image. If your image has a lot of space around the main subject I suggest you crop your picture so that the main subject is centered in the photograph. Once you have finished editing save the file under a new name so you will have the edited image for future use. We name our edits by their original file name adding a number or letter to the end of the name. Hence a file named "dog face" would become "dog face1" or "dog face A" on it's first edit. I've discovered that by saving each edit of an image I can go back in and pick and choose when to create a new edit without redoing some of the base steps.

Now that your image is ready lets get started on making the final image for your card. The steps described here are the ones I took for the image in this post. Elements has many special effects, frames, backgrounds and text options included, so be creative and choose your own.

Step one - with the image open in the work space select the "Apply Effects, Filters and Layer Styles Icon from the top of the right side tool panel. A number of special effects will appear in the window.

From the drop-down menu bar I selected "Photo Effects" and "Image Effects", the chose "Tint Sepia" to add the antique coloring to the photo. Once selected your image will change to "sepia" and have an antique or aged appearance. Save your file.

Now select "File" from the top menu bar and select "New" then "Blank File". Your images moves to the bottom preview pane and a new dialog box opens in the work space. You can name your new file in the top box - we called our new file Family ..

Other settings in this dialog box are as follows:
Preset = 5"x7" which sets the size of your new image perfectly to fit a full size card. You may select a different size if you would like.
Resolution = 300 dpi
Color Mode = RGB Color
Background Contents = Transparent.
The new image is now open and ready in the work space.

Going back to the menu tabs on the right select and the "Apply New Theme" button( second button from the left).

Select "Greeting Card Large" from the drop down menu.

For our example we selected the "Simple Brown Paper" option. Double click on that and a box appears on your new image in the workspace. Note the shape of the dialog box - it is ready to accommodate a landscape photo. If the photo you are working with is portrait you will need to re size that dialog box.

First drag the box up toward the top of your background. Placing your mouse cursor on any of the "handle" box will let you either rotate or re size. Circular icon is the rotate , arrow icon is the re size. Re size the box if you need to. Go ahead and play around with different sizes and angles. When you find one you like click the green check mark to continue.

Next, using your mouse drag your photo from the bottom preview pane into the frame. Elements will do the work for you of merging and softening the edges. Check to make sure that the main subject of your photo appears correctly within the frame. Once satisfied click the green check mark to continue.

To add text select the "T" from the buttons on the left menu bar. This opens the text dialog box. From here you can select the font, color and size of the font you want to use. We used "Amaze" as our font, at a 110 size but Elements has a wonderful selection of fonts for you to choose from.

Type your text then select the "T" button from the panel on the right. We used "Emboss" on our image.. experiment with the various styles to get the right look for your project.

When your finished with your font select "Layer" from the top menu bar and select "Merge".

You can now save your image or set up to print your card on card stock. Remember to set your printer to a "photo" setting to obtain the best result with this image.

Photoshop Elements is a fun, fast and relatively easy program to create projects for your cards. Enjoy learning it's many features and options and most of all HAVE FUN!!

Until next time.. Happy Crafting!

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Tools of The Trade

Posted by Kate | | 2:14 PM
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Regardless of whether you're an occasional crafter, a weekend craft junkie, or like us craft for a business you will need some "tools of the trade".

I thought I'd take the opportunity to review some basic tools.. and some of the tools that we use here in our studio.

Some of the basics for card making are apparent. You'll need a clean table with good lighting. Avoid room type lighting that may taint or change colors. Florescent light is the best, if possible invest in a clamp on work light or a florescent bench or shop light.

You will also need a few basic tools. Good craft scissors with sharp points are essential. We use the Cutter Bee Craft Scissors shown below. They are VERY sharp, comfortable to use and stand up well in the day to day use they get.

A good ruler is also important. A flexible clear ruler is a good choice. You can see through it when measuring score lines, yet it produces a sharp clean edge. Regardless of the ruler you choose be sure to USE THE SAME RULER all the time. I know it sounds silly, but changing rulers will change your measurements.

Other basic tools include card stock, a craft knife, glue dots, a glue runner tape, craft glue such as Elmers, tape and a hole punch. You can buy your embellishments in kits at craft stores or make your own. We make 90 percent of all we use, including our own die cuts, letters, etc. But for the casual crafter there are some awesome kits available that will "bling" out your cards with out the investment of machines.

If you're a bit more serious, you may consider some other investments in your card making studio.

There are a number of great paper cutters available. Provo craft makes a great little cutter that is inexpensive and will produce VERY good results. Check your local craft store, Fisker's also makes an excellent rotary cutter that is reasonably priced and works great. Depending on your personal preferences you may consider a cutter with a larger surface and one that measures 1/16"as well as 1/8" and 1/4" increments.

Stamps - a great enhancement to your card studio. Stamping has been around for years and there are many options and choices today. Almost every image, and occasion you can imagine has either a rubber or acrylic stamp for it. Rubber stamps have been around the longest. You can find some great deals on auction sites such as E Bay for both used and new stamps.

If you buy new rubber stamps you may need to mount them on wood blocks. Be sure to trim the excess rubber away before mounting. The closer the trim the better the stamped image.

Acrylic stamps come in many different styles and are quite inexpensive. If you purchase acrylic stamps you will need an acrylic mounting block as well. I'll be doing a blog soon on how to us a block to create a design using multiple acrylic stamps.

Stamp inks come in many different shades and hues. Invest in good quality stamping pads. Alcohol ink pads are a good investment as ink refill bottles can be purchased. Your stamp pads can be kept fresh for years with the proper care.

Another way to color your stamped images is with watercolor pencils and markers. The great thing about watercolors is that a little goes a long way. If you want to get the most mileage from your watercolor markers or pencils buy a blending pen or set of good brushes. A word of caution.. if you choose to use watercolors with your cards be sure you are using watercolor paper for your card stock. Some other papers will curl and wrinkle when used with this media.

Chalks make a wonderful option for your images. They provide a soft yet vibrant look. A set of chalks will last for years. Don't worry if you break them, they still work just fine.

Paper punches are a must have for the serious card maker. They come in all shapes and sizes and price ranges. We invested in Fiskars punches, but there are many good brands. You don't need every punch out there, but a good set of circle and square punches along with a word window punch can provide you with many design opportunities.

Of all the adhesives available my personal favorite is Tacky Tape!! This wonderful orange looking tape comes in several widths and is SUPER sticky!! If you're working with textured card stock or making motion cards it is a MUST HAVE!. Other then my Tacky tape I also us a good quality glue tape runner. Be sure you buy a brand of glue runner that has a refillable dispenser. Stock at least two sizes of glue dots.. a small flat one and a larger "ZOT" or raised dot. Besides that a bottle of Elmer's craft glue will come in handy. We use a spray adhesive to mount our fabric to cardstock, it's much easier to work with and won't show through the fabric or paper when dry.

For more serious crafters, take a look at Provo Craft Cuttlebug. This strange looking little green machine is a wonder. We use ours for embossing, and a wide variety of embossing folders in many different styles are available. However, the Cuttlebug is also a die cut machine and can cut many die cut shapes. It uses plates from other die cut machines as well. You can find one for around fifty dollars and it is worth every penny. Here's a great demo video.


And I would be totally remiss not to mention the Provo Craft Cricut Expresssion. This is an investment for around 300.00 , plus whatever cartridges you purchase, but for the serious crafter it is more then worth the money.

The Expression is the big brother to the Provo Craft Cricut, because it handles a full 12 x 12 sheet of paper and has a HUGE 12 x 24 inch paper mat option for those larger designs. For making your own alphabets, words and shapes this machine is a MUST have. You can even make your own chip board and save bucks at the craft store!
Take a look at this demo video from Provo Craft, you'll be sold on the Cricut Expression too!


So, if you're a beginner starting out and only invest in the basics or a serious crafter like we are you'll need "tools".. I hope this has shed some light on what is out there.






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Ice Cream Cone Card

Posted by Kate | | 12:17 PM
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Today I'm going to share with you instructions on how to make this delightful Ice Cream Cone card.

You will need the following supplies:
  • Brown or tan card stock for your cone
  • Colored card stock for your ice cream, we used pink and green pastel stock for our scoops but you can use whatever you'd like.
  • Scissors
  • A ruler
  • Brown pencil or marker
  • Glue .. we used a glue runner for our card
  • A stamp or rub on for your sentiment. We used a Happy Birthday stamp for our card with Black ink.

First download the template file from here .

Once you've downloaded the template cut out the three pieces.

Trace the cone onto your brown card stock and cut out.

Using your ruler create the waffle design on your cone with a brown pencil or marker. We used a brown watercolor pencil from Stampin Up and a blender pen on ours.

You can use our template to create your ice cream scoops or a circular 3" punch. If you use the punch be sure to cut the circle to make the "drips" like we have.

We used color pencils to make it appear our ice cream hand chunks of strawberries and pistachios. Be creative and do whatever you'd like.

Glue the two scoops together adjusting so they look "natural". then glue them to your cone making sure they overhang on the the top of the cone.

Stamp your sentiment onto the top scoop of ice cream.

Flip the card over and glue the message circle ( we cut ours from white card stock) to the back between the two scoops. This is the area where the sender can write a personal message.

Your done! Enjoy your ice cream cone card!!

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