Layout Using FREE Wee Three Trees Elements

In my last post I offered a last-minute Christmas freebie, a set of three embossed tree elements.  (You can still download the set at 4shared by clicking here.)

Today I just wanted to share a quick layout I made using the elements.  As you can see I changed the color of the trees to match my background, resized and moved them around until I was happy with the balance of the layout.  I love simple layouts that allow the photo or photos to be the focus.

The background "paper" is actually a texture that I downloaded from the Shadowhouse Creations blog.  The blog creator, skeletalmess, frequently posts textures, tutorials, and brushes which he offers as free downloads under a creative commons license.  I love his stuff!  You can apply the textures to photos, too.  Look through his blog and you'll see some of his own gorgeous artwork.  I think you'll find it very impressive!

How is your scrapbooking coming along?

Wee Three Trees - FREE Digital Elements

 

Wee Three Trees by Webajeb

Christmas is over but my guess is you probably aren't quite finished with your Christmas digital scrapbooking layouts yet.  So I wanted to offer a little last-minute freebie; three little trees perfect for your Christmas layouts.  Here's a larger look at them:

 

 

Download Wee Three Trees FREE from 4shared here.

A Bevel/Emboss style has been applied to each one for dimension and a little shine.  You can easily change the color of these trees, too {and I'll tell you how-below}:

 

Changing the color of these elements is super easy:  select the layer the element is on.  Click on the "Add a Layer Style" icon on your layers palette and choose Color Overlay.  Your element will appear flattened, that's ok, you can easily fix it!  Look at the Layer Style dialog box.  The Blend Mode will have defaulted to "Normal."  Using the dropdown arrow, change it to "Color."  Now, choose whatever color you want your tree to be using either your color chips (your foreground/background colors) or the color picker.

The directions above are included, for easy future reference, when you download the trees!  And, like all my digital scrapbooking products, the elements are copyright-free; see the TOU included in the download for details.

There's a little story behind these trees.  I saw some very similar ones somewhere (now I can't remember where or who the designer was) but I wanted to use them on client layouts, which was against the designer's Terms of Use.  So, rogue scrapbooker that I am, I decided to reverse engineer them and make my own, which I can now use in any way I wish, AND give them to you - FREE.  Next post, I'm going to teach you how to make your own outline-style elements just like these trees, so be sure to follow my blog!

Let me know what you think!  If you have any problems at all using my digital products, please feel free to email me at deborah@webajeb.com.

Happy New Year!

Last-Minute Digi Layout for Christmas

I hurried to get this done for a client so he could have it framed and then give it to his wife for Christmas. I can usually get these collages put together pretty quickly, so that wasn't a problem. We did have to scan the bibs that he and his wife wore in the race, and then getting it printed was a slight problem because he wanted it a larger size than I can print here at home.

So I called my dependable source, Scrapbooks to Share, in Florida. Lise assured me she would get it printed and mailed out that very day, so that it would arrive at least two days before Christmas. Yeah! SBtoShare came through yet again.

Scrapbooks to Share specializes in printing digital scrapbook layouts AND will also scan your paper scrapbooks so that you'll have digital copies of them as backups, or to share. Their prices are very reasonable, their service is fast, and you can get personal service (like I did) when you need something printed in a size that is not "standard" (I needed 10 x 13). Plus, you can get your prints on high-quality photo paper, not the glossy cardstock that Kinko's and so many other services automatically give you if you ask for a print larger than 8.5 x 11.

To all my clients, colleagues, friends, and family - have a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Sneak Peek - Baby Girl Album

I couldn't resist posting this layout. I'm working on a baby girl album for a new client. It's a Christmas gift for her hubby and chronicles the birth of their daughter exactly one year ago (today!). I am having such a wonderful time working with the gorgeous photos she sent to me. I guess I really have a soft spot for baby layouts!

I also just completed a 20-page photobook at KodakGallery.com for another client who requested my photobook-making service (see more details here). It was the first one I'd done at Kodak Gallery and I found their bookmaking process is not as sophiticated (yet) as many others such as Snapfish or Shutterfly. One important thing that's missing is the ability to send people an invitation to view the completed book. What's up with that? I hope the good folks at Kodak Gallery add that particular function. In my opinion, they are missing out on a lot of sales. For example, if my client sent an invitation to relatives and they viewed her book and liked it, they might order their own copy.

Those are just two of the many projects I've been working on over the last couple of weeks. I'm having a wonderful time with it all, and it just adds to the fun knowing that the completed books will be Christmas gifts!