Hi everyone… Rachel here this week bringing you another installment of Shoppe Tips & Tricks! This is a pretty simple tip, but it can really make a HUGE impact on your layout when saving for the web… with just a few extra steps!

Okay, let’s get straight into the tutorial…

• Once you are finished with your layout, save it in your .psd or .tiff format in Photoshop.  Duplicate the file so you don’t accidentally save over the original or anything. (Name the duplicate as you wish or leave it as copy.) 

• next, Flatten your image (Layer > Flatten image)

• Reduce your image size to 600 x 600 pixels at a resolution of 72 pixels/inch (Image > Image Size)

• then you will have to duplicate your flattened layer, either by selecting Duplicate Layer (right click on layers palette) or ctrl+J on a PC

• once your layer is duplicated run the High Pass filter on the layer you’ve just duplicated

• I usually use a radius of 0.3, but you can play around with it and go with what you like.

• Change the blending mode to Linear Light. I like to lower the opacity a touch most times as well.

• Flatten your image again, and you are ready to save for the web.

Here is my layout before the sharpening…

…and here it is after. See the difference!

Hopefully this little trick helps somebody!! I know there are a ton of other ways to do this, but it’s just my favorite :) Feel free to share yours by leaving a comment here on this post…we’d love to hear from you!

If you’d like to take this little step-by-step trick to the next level why not make an action out of it. Don’t know how? Beckie created a fantastic Tips and Tricks tutorial all about actions -> HERE! And if you’re after even more information on sharpening your photos, well Beckie has that covered too -> HERE!

Thanks for stopping by the Blog today! Be sure to check in tomorrow…Kylie will be sharing the new project SCRAP templates for July!

rachelTips and Tricks, Uncategorized 11 Comments

Happy Monday, Rachel here with this week’s LAYOUT OF THE WEEK. I had so much fun going through the gallery. It`s always such an inspiration to browse and look at everyone’s creations and have them inspire me!

The layout winner this week is crysowens! She says she was hesitant to post because she is so new to digital scrapbooking. But looking at this page, I know that I cannot tell at all! Her page is amazing! I love the beautiful array of papers which are wonderfully placed . I also love how she fastened them down, the string intertwined in the title work. That gorgeous photo and having it all centered down with the family tag! PERFECT!

Congratulations crysowens!!!  I hope you continue to share your amazing pages with us. Enjoy the $10 Shabby Shoppe gift card that has just been emailed to you (and be sure to check your spam folders)… have fun shoppe-ing!

THANKS for joining us today, we’ll be back on Wednesday to inspire you.  Until then, have a great week!

rachelLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Hi everyone…it’s Kylie and I’m here with a little scrapping inspiration from one of my very favourite people in the whole-wide-world…my six year old niece, Sophie!

Sophie, like many school-age children, is on school holidays right now and I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days with her recently. (Here in Australia, most schools are on a two-week winter break… and for the majority of our reader’s kids – it’s SUMMER VACATION time!!! YAY!) Are you currently on a ‘staycation’? Are the kids getting restless? Are you looking for fun activities for your kids to do in the comfort of your own home? Digital scrapbooking is something we all do and love here; why not share that joy with your kids…any time of year!

Children of all ages can get involved with scrapbooking – digital and/or paper, in some way, shape or form. In the most simple of terms, scrapping starts with a photo, a story and a little imagination! And when it comes to imagination, children never cease to amaze, do they?!! And, what child doesn’t enjoy creating their own work of art – whether that’s a simple drawing, painting or any other craft activity! So, why not let them try something new and steer some of that creative energy and talent into the world of scrapbooking. It is a fun way to spend time together… all the while, sharing one of your favourite hobbies (I’m sure they see you on the computer from time to time and wonder what it’s all about!), providing them with some new skills and, you never know, it may grow into a favourite hobby of their very own one day!

More and more these days, kids are very computer-savvy and generally pick up the basics of digital scrapping with ease… with a little guidance and patience, of course! ;o) Here are a few tips you may like to consider when starting out.

• Sit with them to begin with, either beside them, or if they are little have them sit on your lap…it is much easier if you both have easy access to the keyboard and mouse.
• Tailor to age group: Children at different ages have different capabilities. You don’t have to wait until they are ‘old enough’ to involve them in digital scrapbooking. Scrapbooking doesn’t have to be just about navigating the computer alone and creating a layout by themselves – or even a whole album. Break it down and introduce them slowly. If they are very young, just start by letting them pick out a photo that you can scrap… the colour scheme… some elements. You could let them “be the boss” and have them tell you where they want things to go. Let them have a go at clicking the mouse – it makes them feel very important… but pay close attention before your page disappears!! LOL! Talk about the photos, the memories, and the page – use what they tell you as journaling inspiration. Just asking their opinion is a nice little way to get them more involved and see if scrapbooking interests them in the first place.
• To template or not to template? Best to start simple! :o) Ask your child if they would like to start off with a basic template. Templates take the worry out of ‘designing’ a page and that way they can simply concentrate on the papers and elements. Although, you’ll probably find that most kids will want to start their page from scratch… allowing them total creative freedom. Giving them the option is the main thing here!
• One kit: Keeping it simple also means using just the one kit – too many options will often create confusion. As we know, digital kits come with all sorts of goodies – papers, frames, embellishments, wordart, alphas and more! Letting children pick their own items from a kit is all part of the creative process. It helps them own their page and their decisions. But, with young children, you may want to limit the selection to save some time. I asked Sophie what kind of elements she wanted on the page and she was very, very specific… rummaging through kits got tedious and often what she had initially requested didn’t quite match what was actually on offer. So my suggestion is to talk about what type of page they want to create and give them access to a kit that complements that vision. Once they get familiar with the kits they can, and will, start mixing and matching on their own.
• New skills: Start with the basics and teach one new skill at a time – opening a new blank canvas, drag and drop, rotating elements, resizing, reordering the layers palette, changing colours, adding text etc. Coach them through each step and let them practise… and practise they will, so be prepared to see these new skills used over and over again. LOL! Sophie’s favourite new tricks were changing the colour of EVERYTHING, duplicating elements and painting with brushes.  For older children think about adding in a few design principles too! Talk about the importance of journaling, adding a title and shadowing.
• Be patient and willing to let your child express their creativity. You may cringe at the colour combinations, awkward design, the proportions, the skewed shapes… but hey, it’s all about having fun and allowing them to create the page they want to create!! Let your child develop their own sense of style and artistic design. You are there to answer questions, show them the technical stuff and gently guide them if they get a little lost.
• Let them take their own photos to scrap! Kids love playing ‘photographer’ and with a standard digital camera it’s so easy to point & shoot and then upload the pic to the computer ready to scrap.
• Positive recognition: One last thing, and in my opinion the most important thing, tell them what a great job they’ve done! See if they’d like to share their pages and projects with other family members. Email a copy to grandparents, other special relations and friends. Print them and take them for ‘show & tell’ at school. Make up a special album to hold all their pages. :o)

Here’s a look at Sophie’s wonderful digi-creations!

Looking for something that doesn’t have the kids monopolising the computer? Well, here is a quick and easy hybrid scrapbooking activity using your collection of Shabby Shoppe digital kits. For Sophie, I printed out various Hopscotch papers, elements and some doodlebats (found here). She then went to town cutting, colouring, gluing and adding a little bling and other crafty bits & pieces to build up her own ‘favourite things’ scrapbooking page. I think she might take after her aunt… who can’t help but fill the page full of embellishments! ;o) It was lovely crafting and being creative together. I helped her cut and colour a little. And when we got to the ‘sticking’, I glued a few things, but only where she pointed her finger. She knew exactly how she wanted her page to look! A masterpiece… and destined for the ‘craft wall’! It really is a fun, simple and convenient way to introduce kids to paper scrapping and expand the use of your own digital kits! Here’s a peek at what she came up with.

Scrapping with kids is the best fun, for all involved… I do hope you’ll give it a try…maybe over the weekend?! :o) Scrapping or not… have a fantastic weekend and we’ll see you all back here on Monday with Layout of the Week!  Bye for now! :o)

KylieInspiration, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized 7 Comments

Hi there, girls…SP here with the JUNE PROJECT SCRAP check-in post :o) I just finished up my JUNE layouts, and wanted to share and make sure that we are all on track!   We are HALFWAY through with the year, can you believe that?!  And, if you have kept up with your pages…that means that you have HALF of an ALBUM complete…how awesome is that?!  Of course…if you’re a little behind…no worries, you still have time to catch up (just don’t wait too long)!  In the event you missed them – you can find the JUNE layout templates HERE :o)  So, how about some inspiration…not just from me…but from several of our regular gallery posters (and Kylie, too!)!  Honestly – I could have added SOOOOOO many more layouts to this post as there are LOTS of AMAZING June spreads in the project SCRAP gallery…but, I didn’t want this post to be a mile long, lol!  SO, please be sure to visit the GALLERY to see all of the inspiration…I really can’t tell you how much time I spent agonizing over which (and how many) layouts to include in this post…they were all truly FABULOUS (keep up the GREAT work ladies!) :o)

This month was a little different than usual for me, as I hardly took ANY pics in June :o(  May was such a SUPER busy month for us…and I took LOTS of pics during that month…and I guess I was just tired when June rolled around, lol!  Sadly, I only took pics on ONE day during June – yep…that’s right – only ONE day!  I know, I know…but I’m only admitting this so you guys will know that it’s OK to ‘mess up’ for a month, lol!  THANK GOODNESS for great quality iphone4 pics :o)  Seriously…I never use cell phone pics on my pages…but, thankfully – it worked well enough this time as the photo spots are pretty small!  Now…I also have to fess up and say that the big pic (on the left page) was technically in July…but VERY CLOSE to June…so i’m going with it, he he!  Actually, I will prolly switch it out with a Father’s Day picture that I didn’t have time to edit :o)  Either way – it’s OK…and I’m happy that I was able to fill everything in, WHEW, lol!  And, also very happy that we tend to take lots of iphone pics when we are out and about (ya just never know when you will need them)!  Good news…I have already taken MORE than enough pics for July…and it’s still early, lol!  Anyhoo…here are my pages!

I worked with SO many kits and products on these page, lol!  To name a few – the free Happy Go Lucky kit, Gabby, Barefoot, HopScotch, Giggle Box and more!

 OK, so it’s time for MORE inspiration – these layouts are SURE to get you EXCITED about working on project SCRAP - they are all simply wonderful!

First…we have this amazing spread from jessg26 :o)  I feel like I share her layouts a lot…and there is a reason for that…they always ROCK, lol!  She blows me away with her pages…and I just LOVE the mix of patterns and colors here…not to mention some seriously ADORABLE photos!  Thanks for always sharing your work with us!

Next…we have sweet Kylie’s pages!  LOOOOOVE the b/w background with pops of sweet color!  And…wow – it looks like June was a LOT of fun, he he!  And, can I just say that her nieces are the cutest ever :o)  AWESOME, as always – thanks for sharing your June with us Kylie!

And, of course…we have one of my all-time favorite scrappers, creativescrapmommy :o)  She can truly do no wrong, lol!  These pages are classic BOY and I couldn’t love them any more!  From the perfectly primary colors…to the sweet photos and the clever addition of the index cards for journaling…genius!  But wow…what a perfect photo moment…waiting on the Thomas train!  Thanks for inspiring us :o)

How FABULOUS are Amber’s layouts?! I really like the simplicity of her pages here, and the focus on the photos and journaling…you really get an idea of how the month went (busy and fun – there was painting and sewing and playing and more, lol)!  But really…that LARGE photo – MELT – it is perfection, lol!

Finally – I just had to share Side by Side’s awesome layouts with you!  I love how she modified the template by turning it to the side, and added extra photos (left page)…and, her journaling placement on the right page!  It really changes it up and just WORKS!  Bravo…and THANK YOU for posting these perfect pages!

 Well, that does it for me today (well, for the blog at least, lol)!  Keep scrapping…and keep posting – let’s continue to inspire (and motivate) each other!

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for an inspiring post from Kylie – YAY :o) Until then – have a BLESSED and WONDERFUL day/night!  xoxo — SP

Shabby Princessproject Scrap 2011, Uncategorized 4 Comments

Hello everyone!  It’s Beckie here, bringing you this week’s Product Spotlight!  Are you up to your ears in summer grillin’, beach, Canada day, or July 4th photos?!  Well, we bring you a super summer spotlight just in the nick of time!  Today I’m so happy to bring you Summer Cottage AND Summer Cottage Seasonal Additions!

Summer Cottage, on SALE for a limited time (until our next Product Spotlight is announced in two weeks) for only $4.95!

and Summer Cottage Seasonal Additions on SALE for a limited time (until our next Product Spotlight is announced in two weeks) for only $2.75!

And as always…we bring you a little inspiration!  Take a look at what the Shabby Artists created for you! You can find these and other inspiring layouts in the Shabby Artist Gallery!

As you can see, these collections are sooo versatile!  I find myself using them over and over again!

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s spotlight, and don’t forget to pick up Summer Cottage and Summer Cottage Seasonal Additions on SALE for a limited time only in the Shoppe!

Join us back here on Thursday as SP brings us the JUNE project SCRAP checki-in!

BeckieProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 7 Comments