Creating Digital Paper on the Fly

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My goal for this year is to reduce my dependence on pre-made digital paper and elements.   Instead I want to create a toolbox of skills, or quick procedures, to create paper and elements on the fly, as part of designing a  page layout.

I found a quick and easy method of creating solid colored, textured, digital paper being demonstrated in a video on YouTube by Chris Beasley of DigitalScrapbookingPages.com.

Watch the video (it's nice and short!), learn the technique, then use my cheatsheet notes below to refresh your memory when needed.




Cheatsheet notes:

1.  Open a new 12x12 blank document.
2.  Fill the background layer with the color of your choice.
3.  Create an adjustment layer, select Pattern, and choose "Gouache Light on Watercolor" from the "Artist Surfaces" group of patterns (load these, if needed, as shown in the video). Increase the scale to 1000%, or as desired.
4.  Change the layer's blend mode to Overlay.
5.  Reduce the opacity to 40%, or as desired.
6.  Create another adjustment layer, select Pattern, and this time choose "Dark Coarse Weave." Increase the scale to 125%, or as desired.
7.  Change the layer's blend mode to Soft Light.
8. Reduce the opacity to 30%, or as desired.
9. Save as a .JPG file.

DONE!

I recommend keeping the .PSD file as well as the .JPG.  As CB mentions at the end of the video, if you have the .PSD file (or .TIF, if that's what you prefer), you can open the original file and experiment with different blend modes, scales, and opacity on the adjustment layers.

You could also swap out the Patterns and experiment with those, trying different combinations of patterns for endless possibilities.

One of my favorite things about having the .PSD file handy is that I can use the Paint Bucket and simply fill the background layer with a different color (pull a color from your photo or from a patterned paper that you are using) and instantly have a coordinating paper with the same texture to use in my layout. How about orange?

Or experiment with the Gradient tool:

 

How cool is that????

I'll be collecting more fun techniques for creating digital paper On the Fly, and writing them up in Cheatsheet format.  Feel free to copy and paste to your own blogs, share my Cheatsheets with your friends, print them out for easy reference, they're copyright-free.  (A link back to me is appreciated, but not necessary.)

Put that in your Digital Toolbox and Use It!

Digital Scrapbook Layout - My New Car

I've been scanning negatives and printed photos from 2005 and, in between scans and organizing the digitized versions of the photos, I snuck in a few minutes here and there to create a few simple layouts for my own scrapbook. This one shows me, in January 2005, with my new car, my very beloved Prius. Can't believe I've now had my "new" car for over four years! (Still love it as much as ever, too.)

I hope you are finding time to do something creative today!

Webajeb Word of the Year 2009

(click on the banner to visit Tip Junkie)

Usually I would reserve a topic like New Year's resolutions for my personal blog, but I've come across something along the lines of a resolution that I think also relates to my small business.

At Tip Junkie's blog, this week's "Talk To Me Tuesday" post is about something similar to New Year's resolutions but, I think, powerfully different.

The idea is to choose a single word that represents, or sums up, what you want for yourself for 2009. I participated in the exercise on a personal level, which you can read about here, but I decided to also choose a word to use as a reminder of what I want for my small business in 2009.

Of course, some of the first words to come to mind are Craft, Create, or Imagine, but no one of those words really covers all I hope for with regard to my designs, my services, or my products. Those words float around in my head all the time anyway. Finally, I realized that what I really long to do, and what I believe will be the most productive thing I could do this coming year for the growth of my business, is:

STRETCH

So that's my Word of the Year for Webajeb Digital Photo Albums & Portfolios.

I hope you'll pop over to the Tip Junkie and join in the Word of the Year exercise. Not only will it get you thinking, and get you motivated to figure out a distinct direction that you'd like your life to take, but there's a giveaway, too!! A gorgeous custom-designed pendant inscribed with your chosen word courtesy of Tabetha of Reminisce Heirlooms. It will be given away to randomly chosen participant, so get over there!