Restoring a Damaged Photo

Wow, way too long since my last post!  I have been rushing to get client projects done by Christmas and they're done!  Now I'm "off" for the rest of the year.  Whew!

One of my favorite project was this very damaged photo (above).  My client had rolled it up years and years ago and put it into a cardboard tube, thinking that would help keep it safe.  Well, you see the result.  Terrible cracks and bends!

I scanned it, then worked some Photoshop "magic," and here is the end result:

My client was very pleased!  She got 7 prints, one for herself, and 6 to give as gifts.  What a priceless gift for her siblings; the restored portrait of a very special relative.  And when you consider that she spread the cost of this project over SIX gifts, each gift was very reasonable indeed!

I'm hoping to post some new freebies very soon, so check back often!

Two Free Digital Scrapbooking Templates

It's another double-double day!  Here is a double serving of free templates and they each come in both .PSD and .TIF formats!

Download Webajeb-Template-031 free from 4shared here.

 

Download Webajeb-Template-029 free from 4shared here.

As a demonstration of how versatile templates are, here is a 2-page layout I made using these two templates:

As you can see, I modified both templates pretty drastically!  Sometimes I use a template exactly as it comes, other times I modify them to suit what I have in mind for my layout.  It was fun to combine these two unrelated templates, and I love how the 2-page spread turned out.  Here are the individual pages, for a closer look:

 

Enjoy the templates!

If you'd like to see more templates like these click here to visit my online store!

Template Freebie and Converting Rectangular Format to Square

{papers by Catherine Designs; ribbon by Summer Driggs}

Wow, I actually made a layout for my OWN scrapbook, LOL!  I have been so busy with client work that I have not done that in ages.  I used one of my own templates for the page; one that I have not posted yet, or given away as a freebie.  So I am doing that now.  Here it is, in its original 8.5 x 11 format:

{Webajeb-Template-037}

I converted it to 8 x 8, since that is the size I use for my own layouts.  It is not hard.  I simply opened the template and a new 8 x 8 document.  I highlighted all the layers in the template except for the white background, then dragged them into my new document.  Did you know that if you hold down the Shift key while dragging the layer(s) will land smack in the middle of the document?  Try it; it's SO cool!

I then resized the text boxes just a bit, and moved the title to look more balanced.  That's it, really!  You could drag the whole shebang into a 12x12 document, too, and then while the layers are still highlighted, resize to fit.

Going from square format to rectangular is just as easy.  Experiment a little, and see just how versatile templates can be!

I decided to go ahead and include both the rectangular & square formats in the download file.  Be aware that the square one is not my usual 12x12, but 8x8. I also did not include the font names for 2 out of the 3 fonts  because I had created this template before I began doing that, and now I don't remember what the fonts were.

Download the template in PSD format from 4shared here.

Download the templates in TIF format from 4share here.

Double-Double Freebie Day - 2-Page Template AND WordArt!

Yay, it's double-double day!  A FREE double-template (2-page layout) AND a FREE bit of Word Art!  First, the template:

Webajeb-Template-040

This was inspired by a sketch in the may/june 2007 issue of Scrapbooks, Etc., a magazine I still receive even though I'm nearly 100% digital.  I say "nearly" because I still do some hybrid projects, and I still get tons of layout ideas from the paper scrapbooking world which I then convert to digital.

Here are the two individual pages of the template.  {All three are included in the free download links at the end of this post.}

 

{left page}

 {right page}

Here is the layout I made today, using the template:

{background papers by Cottage Arts and Kim's Scrapping}

A closer look at the individual pages:

{left page}

{right page}

I custom-designed the word art for this page because I felt I wanted another circle somewhere, and also needed a title, so this is what I came up with.  I hope you like it because it's today's FREE word art, and it's INCLUDED in the template download!  For you font-collectors, the font I used is Downcome which you can download at dafont {one of my fave font sites}. Here's a closer look at it:

Download the templates (plus word art) in TIF format from 4shared here.  

Download the templates (plus word art) in PSD format from 4shared here.

Of course, as is the norm, these templates include all my Easier-to-Use features! 
Feedback is appreciated so I can continue to improve my digital scrapbooking products, as well as come up with the new stuff you are longing for!

Enjoy! 

FREE Digital Scrapbooking Template by Webajeb

Webajeb-Template-038

Here is one of my latest templates, free to my blog readers; you'll find the download link at the end of this post.  For those of you who are keeping track, yes, the most recent templates have been posted totally out of order.  I have at least a half-dozen that I have not yet posted, but am hoping to get them up very soon.  So keep an eye on this blog!  Subscribe to it, or Opt In to receive e-mail notifications when it's updated; that way you won't miss any!

And, of course, some of them (all?) will be offered FREE here first, then eventually uploaded to my online store.  Right now I'm pretty slow about getting stuff into my online store - I don't know, lately I just haven't felt like doing the techie stuff but I'll get caught up one of these days.  Oh, and don't forget, as of this post, the links to freebies on my blog never expire!  {As I wrote in that earlier post, I haven't had time to go back and re-link all the freebies from all my earlier posts, so if you find a freebie you want and the link has expired, simply email me, tell me which item you'd like, and I'll send you the link.}

Ok, back to today's free template.  It's a double-header!  LOL, I mean a 2-page spread.  I do LOTS of 2-page spreads - I love to have a unified look across both pages, especially in albums of specific events, like weddings.  I use a 24 inch wide by 12 inch high document to create the 2-page spreads.  I did the same for this template.  The template document size is 24x12 and, as you can see, the title runs across the center divider.  The template file includes a layer with a thin divider line - you'll want to hide or delete this layer before you print or publish the layout, the same way you hide or delete the layer with the photo numbers on it.

For those of you who prefer to work with single pages, I'm also including the template as two separate 12x12 documents (with the title moved to one page).  Here they are:

left page

right page

Oh, and something new!  In addition to the Easier-to-Use features I've already added to my templates, I am now also including the name of the font that I've used in any text layers.  I know how frustrated I get when I'm using a template someone else has designed, and they've used a totally cool font for their title and/or journaling and I want to use the same font, but don't know its name.  So from now on in my template files that info will be included in the name of any layers that use fonts.

Here is today's template as I used it for a double-page spread in an album I'm currently working on:

{flame element by Amy Hutchinson}

Isn't that fun?  You can see that I haven't hidden the divider line yet.  I like to wait until the very last minute to do that so I don't inadvertently allow it to run through someone's face, or through some other important element.

Here's a closer look at the pages after separation:

left page

right page

If you've never scrapbooked in the double-page format you're probably wondering how you're gonna print that thing.  Obviously, you've got to split it into two documents first but doing that is a LOT easier than you might think.  Here's how:

First, hide or delete any layers you don't want to print including the divider line and the numbers layer.  Next, flatten the document.  Answer 'yes' if you are asked whether you want to discard any hidden layers.  DO NOT SAVE.

Select your crop tool and set its Width and Height parameters each to 12 inches, type 300 in the Resolution box and select pixels/inch. Hold down the CNTL key (CMD for Macs) and press the hyphen (-) key so that there's some room around the borders of your document.  Position your mouse a little up and to the left of the top-left corner of the document.  Drag it toward and past the center bottom of the document, then release the mouse button.  Double-click inside the selection to accept it.  You will now see ONLY the left page.

Select File, Save AS, and save your layout under a new name (I usually just add an A to the existing filename), and in .JPG format for printing.  Your new file will go into the folder you indicated, and the original .PSD file will remain open.

IMPORTANT STEP!  In the History palette, go back to the step before Crop (keyboard shortcut: CNTL-Z will take you back one step).  Now repeat the cropping process, this time starting with the mouse position a little up and to the right of the top-right corner and dragging, again, toward and past the center bottom.  Select File, Save AS, and save under another name (I usually just add a B to the existing filename), and in .JPG format (with Quality = 10) for printing.

Now you can Close (don't save!) your original double-page file.  When asked if you want to save changes, choose No (else you'll end up saving your .PSD or .TIF file in the flattened format).

Download the double-page template from 4shared here for .PSD and here for .TIF.

{UPDATE: the individual page templates are included in each downloadable .ZIP file; sorry for the confusion!}

Let me know if you have ANY problems; I'm here to help!