Digi Tip October: White Teeth

Happy Halloween!  Can you believe it is the end of October?  Time for trick-or-treaters!  And it's the last Monday of the Month so it's time for a Digi Tip. I've got a trick you can use in Photoshop/Elements that is a real treat!

A quick and easy way to whiten teeth in your photos.  You can do this in any version of Photoshop.

Open the photo that you want to brighten the smile on. Zoom in to the smile so you can see what you are doing.

Choose the "magic wand" selection tool. Be sure the "add to selection" option is chosen.  Click on the teeth to select them. You may need to click in a few spots on your teeth to get the majority of the area selected. It does not have to be perfect.  If you get too wide of an area, reduce the tolerance for the magic wand tool.

Now that you have the teeth selected, we are going to simply adjust the hue. In the full version of Photoshop click Image>Adjustment>Hue/Saturation.  In Elements choose Enhance>Adjust Color>Hue/Saturation.  In the dialog box that opens, next to the word "edit" open the drop down menu and select "yellows".  Slide the Saturation slider to the left. You may also have to slide the Lightness slider to the right a tiny bit.  Don't over whiten the teeth or they won't look natural.

There you have it. A quick and easy way for you to play dentist and apply a whitening treatment to teeth!  Now if it only were that simple on real teeth!

Old Product We Miss.. part 1

Happy Friday!! As Cindy pointed out to the group we have hit over 700 posts, can you believe it?? It is the two year anniversary for the blog as well this month!! YEA!!
Today I am sharing some of the contributors favorite papers, companies, tools, etc that are no longer being made. I am doing this for two reasons.. I am hoping that companies see by bringing back older designs and also I will be suggesting which products to use instead if I can. See, if one of the contributors misses a product, mostly likely a reader does too :(

What I miss...
I have mentioned a bunch of times, but I miss my Coluzzle. Provocraft released this many years ago and then discontinued it. It was the best ways to cut circles exactly where you wanted them because the template was clear. That allowed me to do circle layering. Let me show you an example in this layout here: Finding the Perfect Pumpkin. This allowed me to create that background.
The GOOD news. I just noticed that X-acto has released something very similar! You can see the clear templates and there is an easy to use swivel knife. Check this out! It is under basic shapes and decorative shapes. There is also a healing mat!!
I also miss my Chatterbox!! There was something so wonderful about those patterns!

I have yet to find a paper line that is the same, but I often buy some lines of My Minds Eye and find that some of the papers are similar. Check out My Minds Eye papers. I would link My Minds Eye but there are so many great papers out there you just need to see them all!

***

Here are the items that Heather misses: BasicGrey Color Me Silly Line and Baby Girl Collection especially with the super sweet elephants.

I still haven't seen a collection that quite matched the BG Color Me Silly, so BG please come out with a Color Me Silly version 2!! Same thing goes for the Baby Girl Collection!
Other options fort these two are Tim Holtz Idea-ology (for baby girl) and another BasicGrey collection with lots of bright colors.

Advantus - Tim Holtz - Idea-ology Collection - 12 x 12 Paper Stash - Vintage Shabby
Scrapbook.com

BasicGrey - Hello Luscious Collection - 12 x 12 Collection Pack
Scrapbook.com

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Cindy misses two product lines in particular: Scenic Route Paper Company and Mrs. Grossman's Favorite Albums. Scenic Route is missed by a lot of peeople. I know I miss it a lot when I need that go to paper!!

For the album, I am hoping that Mrs. Grossman sees this and brings back those albums!

When I want to get the scenic Route look, I usually chose paper lines like My Minds Eye, Fancy Pants, and Echo Park. Here are some examples that remind me of Scenic Route (in different paper themes/colors):

Fancy Pants Designs - Off to School Collection - 12 x 12 Paper Kit
Scrapbook.com

My Mind's Eye - 12 Days of Christmas Collection - 6 x 6 Paper Pad
Scrapbook.com

Echo Park - Playground Collection - 12 x 12 Collection Kit
Scrapbook.com

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Lastly for today I am sharing the product that Vicky misses! (Next week I will be sharing more products that we miss, so make sure you come back next week!)

Vicky Misses Cosmo Cricket Be Good line... but she found a great replacement for this.. Pion Designs (listed below).

Pion Designs Waiting for Santa 2 is a great because it has the same color palette idea and distressed look with lots of wind swirls, just in more soft, faded vintage colors rather than the rich rustic.

For my post next Friday I will sharing two more of the contributor's products that they miss! Do you have any products that you miss? Now is your time to share!! Post in the comment section and I may include a few of those in my next post!!

Canvas Transfer

A while back, I did a tutorial where you could use Sticky Back Canvas and patterned paper to do a transfer.  I love the look of the patterns on canvas, but I don't always want to use sticky back canvas. Recently I was watching a Live with Prima episode and found out you can do a similar technique using Multi Medium.

For this technique you will need your canvas (other fabrics will work as well, but I suggest you stick to lighter colors), multi medium, paint brush, patterned paper, and a water bottle.

Begin by placing a layer of multi medium onto the canvas where your paper image will go. Remember, do not use words or numbers.  In the end you will have a reverse image, and unless you want to be reading your project in the mirror..... Then adhere your image over the top. Let dry over night.

The next day, spritz the paper with a bit of water and use your finger to rub off the paper.  Yep, this step can be a bit messy.

When complete you should have something that looks like this.  The image may not be as bright and vibrant as it could be, but don't worry.

 If you would like to brighten it up, a quick coating of Mod Podge should do the trick.

• 

I find that single sided, lighter weight papers are perfect for this technique.

Here is my finished project.

I covered my canvas with some beautiful Prima flowers, many of them brand new from my Your Memories Here grab bag!  I also used some of the new gorgeous Prima resins, leaves, alphas, and buttons also from my grab bag.  A bit of chipboard from 3Tails Craft and some seam binding I dyed with Glimmer Mist finished this project off.  

The new Prima florals are so gorgeous!  I love the rich fall colors.

sugar maple and suede glimmer mist and hay ride glam dyed the seam binding

love that cute little bird house from Prima

I really like this idea for a wall hanging and am thinking I will make another for Christmas soon.

Hugs.



Designer Showcase: Handmade Embellishments

Have we got a treat for you this week.  Todays' Designer Showcase is all about handmade embellies!  Let's jump right in and get things rolling.

Speaking of rolling, check out the wheels on this adorable baby coach made by Vicky.  A few layered flowers, a button and a rose to top it off.  What a great idea!  I'm really liking the idea of presenting the baby's picture in the pram too!  Very sweet!

Vicky has also shared this pretty page with us. Lots of details to take in. Get a "wave" at that fan in the corner.  Made with an accordion pleated paper strip.  Clever!

Looking for the perfect pumpkin?  Cindy made hers for this page. She cut them out free-hand.  But wait, it gets even better. This will "leaf" you in awe.....  she also free-hand cut the tree!  Wow Cindy is brave.  Amazing job on these!

On this page, Cindy created the tissue paper flower accents.  What a great way to re-purpose and "bloom" all at the same time.  Looks like she had a great time celebrating craft month too!

Are you getting over the shock of the incredible free-hand tree that Cindy cut?  Well you'd better sit down!  She made this giraffe using some yellow patterned paper and a brown pen!  Now that's a "tall" order of talent there!

Nancy is sharing this gorgeous project with us.  She took a grapevine pumpkin and added a whole bunch of hand made flowers!  Some rolled roses, some layered punched petals, and I see some cut out leaves.  Let's get a closer look...

Wow!  Now that is what you call a "great pumpkin"!! Somebody should let Charlie Brown know we've found it!

I'm sharing a gift box that I topped off with some glass roses that I made from cardstock.  Well they are not really glass, but they kind of look like it!

I hope you've enjoyed these handmade embellishment ideas!  As always, we enjoy seeing and sharing your creations too. If you'd like to share a project with handmade embellishments, just email it to me at scrappycath at gmail dot com.  We'll feature you on a future Readers Pages post!

Reader's Page

Happy Tuesday! It's Pam here sharing two wonderful reader's page using to different IFS sketches! I really hope this will inspire you to use these neat sketches by Heather and Dolores. :)  I wanted to take this time to thank all of the contributors hard work whether it's templates, tutorials, and other cool ideas they share!!

These two pages are by a scrapbooker named Patricia who we have featured a few times. She always brings a fresh look to her pages while using the sketches or ideas from the blog! Please visit her blog to see what else she is up to scrappy wise :) at http://generationsscrap.canalblog.com/ .

The first page I am sharing is using the sketch created by Heather which you can download to use as a sketch or use a digital template! Click to here to access page with template/sketch!

Here is Patricia's page utilizing Heather's sketch. Look at how totally adorable this page us with the carrots and adorable photos. I love how well she used Heather's sketch the range of color she used her page page! Great page, Patricia!

Patricia's second page utilizes a sketch by Dolores! Here is link to her sketch/template and below a preview.

Patricia did another amazing page sung this sketch! Check out the lilac frame she has on her page and how it utilizes a cool pattern on the outside border! Neat! Patrica also uses a cute fence a light post on her page! She did a great job with Dolores' sketch!

Thanks Patricia for sharing your talent with us!!

IFS is LOOKING FOR YOU PAGES!! We always love to feature readers pages and honored to share them on the blog. Have you used any idea from the blog, template, tutorial or an example from the designer showcase? Please send me an email at scrappingpam73@yahoo.com and I will feature your page! Have a wonderful day :)

A new template for your fall photos!

I have been enjoying all the Autumn colors and feel like our neighborhood has hit its peak this past week.  Soon the trees will be losing all their leaves--sigh.  I always feel the fall season is too short.  I had the opportunity to take a great walk last week so I am sharing some fall photos with the template I have for you today.  Here's my layout titled "Autumn Gold."

I had some fun with this template.  I wanted to have the fall leaves and flowers setting on a rolling hill.  I think it has a little bit of that effect.  However you could use these wavy shapes for any season!  I created my layout with a beautiful kit called "Harvest" from Jennifer Labre.  Below is the sketch for our paper scrapbookers.

I have also made a template in PhotoShop for our digital scrapbookers.  It is available at either of the two file sharing sites below.

4Shared: ds-template-11.psd

MediaFire:  ds-template-11.psd

Thanks for joining us today!  Hope you enjoy the template.

Getting Out of a Scrap Slump

Hey, it's Pam here talking about something I just went through. It's hard when you are in a scrap slump.. let me say it was quite a number of months since I created a page!! I just couldn't find the motivation and I was getting frustrated.. so I finally decided to do something about it. Before I share with you how I got motivated again, here is one of the layouts I created this week! I will share the other one below the ideas.

1. My first tip on how I got out of my scrap slump is related to this page! Do you use pinterest??? If not you would get so many cool ideas from it. I have a boards (check it out here) and three specific boards I have to inspire me with scrap pages: Design 101, Color Me Pretty, and Crafty Inspiration.  It really helped me get out of my slump!

 2.  Scrap out of order. In the page above these are super new photos and I have older ones that still need to be scrapped, but I thought why not scrap out of order.. what is really stopping me :)

3.  Go the scrap store and just buy a few things that all match rather than just browse shopping. That is what I did. I had a few photos in mind and bought for that. It made it so much easier when I had it right in front of me.

4.Go themeless. Sometimes the pages that don't have a specific theme like birthday, Christmas, fall, etc can be daunting. Try just scrapping some happy photos of you and your family or friends.

5.  Get inspiration from sketches. There are a ton of them out there.. and even here. Just check the right hand side bar and you will see sketch/templates by the contributors and I.

6.  Create a layout with your favorite color scheme. I did that with my "Little Ollie" page below.  I actually chose the colors BEFORE I chose the photos and theme. It made it that much more fun!!

7.  And last but not least, to get out of your slump you might need to step away from the scrap room, magazines, galleries, boards etc. That way you can get a FRESH start! I tried that for a few days and created the layout below!

Happy scrapping and hope this post inspires you!!

Step by Step layout

I am posting a step by step on how I made my "That is Love" layout with my Oct. Scrap That! Bella Rosa kit featuring The Prima Romantique papers. 

Some people find the romantic/vintage style intimidating to create. The key is layers. I like structure and distressing. I do admire all those heavily torn, painted and deeply shabby layouts with masking and all sorts of bits and pieces... but that's not my style. So, I keep the lines a little "cleaner". Let's get started!

1. Cut off 1/2 inch off the patterned paper (save the strips for later), heavily distress the edges (I used my Zutter) and adhere to plain cardstock.

2. Cut a large circle (8-9 inches) out of the coordinating floral paper, a 5.5 x 7.5 rectangle out of the soft yellow paper (you want the floral vine print to be at one narrow end of the rectangle). I rounded the corners.

3. Hand distress everything, including your strips and start layering. Glue the circle first, then the strips (leave the last half inch of these without adhesive) and then the photo mat and your picture.

 4. Slightly roll the strip ends and adhere half of a lace/bling band to the bottom of the picture.

5. Use green chalk ink on your Dusty Attic sweet pea chipboard (also available in my Esy shop) and cut it into 3 pieces to form around the inside of the circle. Bling pearl flourishes would be a good substitute too. 

6. Make some lace flowers using another DT member, Robin Shakoor's awesome video tutorial.

 7. Add a butterfly to the corner.

8. Add your title and you're already done (you can also journal on the back).

Since the main paper has such a pretty border, I accented with more floral paper in the middle but then broke it up with the wide yellow photo mat to give focus to the picture. All the shapes flow and the page looks "filled-in" but there isn't anything truly complicated about this layout. The paper does most of the romantic/vintage "look" for you. Thanks for joining me today and I hope you give my style a go! This layout would look good with so many other papers right now too.