L is for Life Layout

This layout was created for the Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Year challenge over at scrapbookgraphics.com. My first challenge entry, (I need to go backwards so I can have A-K layouts, too). When I was trying to think of a word for "L" my kids ( from left to right Taralynn, TJ and Torianne) kept coming to me and complaining of boredom. I then came across this quote by Benjamin Franklin (if I could choose historical figures to know, he would be one, along with Albert Einstein and Leonardo Davinci). Anyway, two and two went together and here is my layout. Advice to my children. I hate to see them "Squander" their time "being bored" when we have a houseful of books, the Internet, arts and crafts supplies, a park nearby, and (cough, cough) plenty of housework.

Credits: The background paper is my own design, all of the brass elements were made using Atomic Cupcake's old brass action. I created the creased paper behind the brass L, and used the torn action from Atomic cupcake on it. I used a tutorial on mistycatodesigns.blogspot.com to create the year tag. I made the cardboard star myself. My cardboard tutorial is listed on this blog if you'd like to create your own. I created the little quote paper. I thought it would make a nice freebie . The "swirls" brushes are from www.graphicsillustrations.com. The pocket watch brush is mine.

Today I made my first blinkie using Photoshop CS3 extended. It was fun to try a feature of photoshop (animated frames), that I haven't used before. You like it?

Hope so. Bye for now.

Photoshop CS3 Tutorial: Corrugated Cardboard

This is my very first tutorial. So please let me know in comments if you have any questions. I'll be happy to answer them. I hope you enjoy using this tutorial as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Tutorial:
Open a new file using the following settings (which are specific to digital scrapbooking)

File>New

3600 px X 3600 px (or 12 in X 12 in)
300 px/inch (For printing purposes, if you intend to use this cardboard for web purposes use 72 px/inch, ppi means pixels per inch, dpi means dots per inch, they are the same.)

RGB 8 Bit

Transparent

Double click on your foreground color.

This will open a pop up box called "Color Picker (foreground color)"

While this is the color I am using for this tutorial, you can choose any color you like. Use your mouse to choose a color. To change the colors you can choose from click on the slider and move it up or down.

Click on your paintbucket tool in your tools pallette (on the left hand side of the page by default), if the paintbucket tool isn't showing click on the tiny arrow next to your gradient tool and it will be nested there.

Click inside your document to "flood" the document with your foreground color.
Duplicate background layer by right clicking inside the empty space beside layer one inside your layers pallette and choosing "duplicate layer" from the drop down menu.

Hit your D key to choose default foreground/background colors. Rename "copy layer 1" in your layers pallette by double clicking on the name of the layer and retyping it. I chose "corrugate" here. Make sure your corrugate layer is "active" by clicking on it. Your active layer will be highlighted in blue.

Click on Filter>Sketch>half tone pattern. If you don't see "sketch" click on "show all menu items" at the bottom of your Filters drop down menu.

Choose the following settings:

Close this window by clicking on OK.

Your results should look like this:

Make sure that your corrugate layer is still active in your layers pallette. If not, click on it to "highlight" it in blue. At the top of your screen choose filters>stylize>emboss. Choose the following settings for emboss.

Now, in your layers pallette, layer one needs to be above the corrugate layer. Click on it and drag it over the corrugate layer. Now click on layer one to make it active. Change the blending mode to overlay and the opacity to 60%, as show below.

Now right click on your bottom layer and choose "flatten image" from the drop down menu.

Your document should now look like this:

This is your standard corrugated paper, or "cardboard". Now let's add some texture and color to it to make it look more realistic. When we flattened the paper it changed the name to Background. Background layers are locked and cannot be edited. To change this, double click on the name of the layer and rename it "cardboard". Now we'll add a pattern overlay to give it some texture. Make sure your layer is selected by clicking on it. Now click on your fx icon at the bottom of your layers pallette and choose "pattern overlay" from the drop down menu.

Choose the following settings: Blend Mode>Overlay, Opacity>70%, Pattern>Buff Textured, Scale>555%

If "Color paper" patterns are not loaded, click on the arrow next to the pattern image, and then click on the small arrow inside a circle that shows in the pattern drop down menu, another drop down menu will appear, choose "Color Paper" from the list. Now click on the first arrow again and choose "Buff Textured" from the list of color paper patterns. Choose OK.
In your layers pallette right click on your pattern, pictured below

Choose "create layer" from the drop down menu. Now your pattern is in it's own layer. Now click on your "cardboard layer" to make it the active layer. Hit CTRL U to bring up your hue/saturation adjuster. Change the lightness slider to a shade that suits your taste. I chose -12. You may also choose to change the saturation. This will lighten and darken your paper. The Hue slider will change the tint. This, of course, is an optional step, but helpful for last minute adjustments.

Once again, flatten your image, and Voila! Corrugated Cardboard.