Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?

So how is it that you are able to create these cards and backgrounds, etc...is it with digital scrapbooking kits ??

Re: Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?

I was wondering the same thing.

Re: Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?

Not usually, no but they do help on occasion.

I download digital scrapbooking stuff all the time and sometimes I'll use certain elements in my cards or cards I do for others.

But the majority of the time, I start with a blank, white canvas. I look around the internet at other card sites (like Shutterfly, for instance) for inspiration - colors/color palettes I want to use, layout ideas, etc. Once I have an idea of what I want my card to look like, I might download a kit or two that might have something I need like a border, ornament, or a color (I use the ink dropper to steal the exact color).

But I gotta tell you, it's rare that I do that. More often than not I am just working with special brushes, boxes, shapes, and font designs that I come up with myself.

If you look at the card in my profile - there are no scrapbooking materials in that card... I did 'steal' the red color from another card I liked, but that's it. Now, granted, it's not my best work (I was late and rushed this year) but it's what I put together.

A white box, a red box, a background pattern I created myself with a standard PS brush, different fonts, that's it.

Re: Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?

I start out with a whatever base color is most prevalent in the card. Then I add in rectangles, circles if necessary.

If I can find stripes for free I use them, otherwise I make my own (which is very easy to do).

For the harder stuff like, bows, ornaments, ribbon, I mainly download it for free. For example in one of the holiday cards, I had an ornament with a baby's photo in it.

I downloaded a christmas font that had the ornament & changed it to the color I wanted.

I used the bow in the Custom Shapes option (that comes with Photoshop)

added in a circle & a line, then added the baby's photo.

I'm not creative with designs so I look at other sites & find ones I like.

eta.

Another cool option I discovered were using different types of brushes. That's where I got most of the snowflakes. They have cute things like fairies & angels too. If you search for *.abr that's the extension to find brushes. You'll get a ton of sites with freebies.

edited to also add..

if you need help with something specific, I may have it already. Just ask.

Message edited 1/5/2008 2:58:35 PM.

Re: Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?

Okay...these free downloadable kits-where are they?

Also, Barb, if I were to "borrow" one of your cards from last year, would I be able to dissect it and teach myself? Because even the stuff you all wrote-TOTALLY don't get it.

PS-I would LOVE a Valentine's Day one!

Re: Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?

Anyone else have anything that can help the Photoshop clueless?

Re: Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?

I'm gong to do a webinar (online course) for any LIFer that is interested. My guess is it would be at the earliest toward the end of the week. I'm swamped at work & may have jury duty so I'll have some work to do at night.

If you're pressed for time, you can pick out a card & I'll do it for you. Then I can send you the jpg file to use. Photoshop files are pretty large to email but I can upload to a site & then you can download.

Re: Our resident Photoshop Mommies..I have a ?