Filmstrip Fun

Okay, I am even surprising myself here! I used my filmstrip die twice in one month, WOW. Check out this blog post where I made a homemade embossing plate.

Next I will use it to create an embellishment for layouts 7&8 from the Cinema ALSB.

1. Create an 8.5x11 print using Time of Your Life and Cinema digital kits.

2. Print image onto plain white paper.

3. Trim a 1.75x11" strip and attach to one sticky side of a piece of double sided sticker paper (goodie included in the Fire and Ice kit).

4. Die cut the filmstrip from hybrid paper + sticker sheet.

5. Remove backing paper and attach to your layout. TIP: I reattached my filmstrip "sticker" to the uncut backing sheet and inked the edges to create more dimension.

6. Adhere die cut embellishments to scrapbook pages.

Cinema ALSB layout 7

Cinema ALSB layout 8

7. Add photos to the completed layouts.

Have you ever found die cut shapes that work perfectly with your Club Scrap kits?
Share your favorite pairings in the comments section below.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Julie

Pattern Basics Layouts

Good Monday Morning everyone!

I attended iClassy Girl's (aka Tiare Smith's) online August Pajama Party where she featured this months very cool Tribal Kit in her layout. She provided this sketch and gave us ingredients we would need to participate in a live video tutorial broadcast. I decided to watch and chat this time around, but knew that I wanted to create my own layouts using this great sketch.

Tiare's August PJ Party Sketch

With the sketch in hand, I took out my Pattern Basics Brights papers, 4 photos, two 4.25x4.25" purple & two 4.25x4.25" shimmer blue photo mats from the 2011 Papillon kit and two sheets of 12x12 white textured cardstock from the 2009 Solstice kit.

Here are the 2 layouts that I created.

Sun die cut using Silhouette SD.

Flower die cut using Tim Holtz Tattered florals Sizzix die.
Smallest flower center punched using small sun punch and pearl from stash. 

Special thanks to Tiare for hosting the event and providing this fun sketch!

I used the Sorrento Font Art Stamp set using CS Amethyst Hybrid Ink for both titles. I hand wrote portions of the title and journalling in Distress Marker (Spiced Marmalade and Faded Jeans) using the fine tip end.

Hope you will stop by and watch the taped version of Tiare's broadcast.* It just might inspire you to make some layouts of your own. Or, better yet, join her next month for her September PJ Party. I hope to see you all there.

Hope you have a fantastic week!

Julie











*if you are not a member of SpreeCast it will require you to sign up.

Digital 'Die Cuts'

I love die cuts! I own 1 manual and 3 electronic die cut machines and hundreds of dies & cartridges for those machines! But the truth is that lately, I do more digital crafting than paper crafting. So, I got to thinking, can you mimic the look of die cuts in Photoshop?

Duh! Of course you can! And it’s easy! (no really, it IS easy!)

Lemme show you…

1. Start with a digital stamp image. Bold images tend to work better, but don’t be afraid to experiment - you may be pleasantly surprised with the results. I’m using the ‘Viewmaster’ stamp from the Club Scrap Digital™ 'Get the Picture' Collection.

2. Grab a digital background - this will become your ‘paper’ for the die cut.
3. Place the stamp in a layer above the background.
4. Click on the stamp layer’s thumbnail in the Layers Palette. You’l see ‘marching ants’ around the stamp image.

5. Hide the stamp layer by clicking on that layer’s ‘eye’ icon in the Layers Palette.
6. Click on the background layer to make it active.
7. Choose ‘Inverse’ from the Select menu.
8. Press the ‘Delete’ key. you’re left with a ‘cut out’ of the image.

But, it’s a little flat looking. Let’s apply a bit of digi magic to make it look like a die cut.

1. Choose ‘Deselect’ from the Select menu (Ctrl-D on a PC, Command-D on a Mac); this will get rid of the ‘marching ants.’
2. Click on the ‘Layer Style’ button at the bottom of the Layers Palette (the button has ‘fx’ on it).
3. Choose Inner Shadow from the Style pop-up.
4. Apply these settings:

5. Click on the Bevel & Emboss Style and apple these settings:

6. Click OK.

You’ve now given the cut out an ever so slight ‘thickness’ so that it looks like a piece of die cut card stock. See, that wasn’t hard at all!

You can also add a bit of a drop shadow if you’d like, but not too much, since your ‘die cut’ will probably be sitting rather close to the background.

Here are 2 more examples:

From the Bright Lights, Big City Kit

It works with sentiment stamps, too!

So there you have it - an easy way to mimic die-cuts in your digital crafting! Now off you go - give it a try and create something wonderful with your digital ‘die cut.’

Thanks for stopping by.


-Ron