Kathy Scraps

Palettes for Inspiration

2010-07-19T22:35:00.000+10:00

Bookworm (by Jane)

Cheer up emo kid

Atomic Cupcake 30% off!

2010-07-17T21:23:00.005+10:00

Guess What?!!!

Atomic Cupcake has 30% off absolutely everything at her store until Sunday!

I've just purchased her 20 credit bundle for US$49, which is normally $70. - I thought it would take me another couple of months to afford it!

So now, I just have to manage to narrow it down to twenty fave actions to download - talk about stress....

I'm going to pace myself, and try to limit it to one or maybe two new actions per month.

Surface effect actions:

Edge actions:

Element actions:

July DSO Colour Challenge

2010-07-03T23:40:00.002+10:00

Not sure whether I'm going to have time to do this one.

The colours don't absolutely grab me, and I have a couple of blog trains I'm already committed to for August & September.

Although, I suppose I could work with the first three colours and make something wintery.
I'll have to think about it...

Use any 3 colours & post your creations here

Images to download

2010-07-02T17:13:00.000+10:00

Upcoming Blog Trains

2010-06-29T11:06:00.003+10:00

Garden Party

Launches July 15th

Through Thick & Thin

Family & friends theme

Launches Aug 1st.

Stuck on Stickers

(palette TBA)

Launches Sep 5th.

Princess Party

(palette TBA)

Launches Sep 15th.

Tip: Catching Stray Pixels

2010-06-26T12:07:00.001+10:00

Apply a stroke style to your layers before finishing up with a file.

It will make it much easier to spot and delete any stray pixels that you might otherwise miss.

List of things scrappers look for in a good kit

2010-06-24T16:19:00.004+10:00

I've been wondering what makes a great digiscrap kit.
What is essential and what is desireable and what do scrappers hate?
So I asked them...

Papers:
a mix of plain & patterned papers that co-ordinate well.
theme-related patterns.
at least one neutral solid.

Theme-related elements
several with real variety (not 4 different versions of the same thing)

Notions:
ribbons, ricrac, string, twine, rope, wire.

Clusterable elements:
flowers, leaves, twigs, branches, ivy, buttons, swirls, glitter, beads, stars, hearts.

Frames
different shapes.

Fasteners:
stitching, prongs, clips, brads, staples.

Wordart

Journaling:
blocks or tags

Alphas:
good, but not essential.

Other important aspects:

Elements should be original and unique (especially flowers).

Flowers should have leaves to go with them.

Realistic sizing between elements. For example, birds should be smaller than trees.

Wordart language - offer US & UK spellings, and tell buyers you will gladly offer translated versions if they ask.

A fantasy theme needs landscape papers and scenery elements.

Taken from this thread at digishoptalk forum

Photoshop flower tutorials

2010-06-23T13:36:00.001+10:00

3d flower

Leaves and flowers

Youtube: flower in PSE

Jane coming on board

2010-06-13T22:40:00.000+10:00

I'm not going to be working alone anymore.

Jane had such a great time, and we worked so well together on Friday that from now on, we'll be working collaboratively on designing for the CU Freebies blog.

Woot!

Note for the future

2010-06-09T10:19:00.006+10:00

Looking for designers
Email for info

Keep this in mind for later...

Also, Digital Scrap Designs is looking.

In love with Fur

2010-06-06T20:36:00.009+10:00

I just wanted to make a note of the fact that I love the fur effect in this kit.

So I've been looking around for fur brushes & tutorials on how to get the effect, and these are the best I've found by far:

Will add new finds if and when...

Work in Progress

2010-06-04T23:35:00.000+10:00

Doodle journal template

dA ScrapbookHub June Challenge

Vintage Rose paper kit

Signing off for the weekend.

deviantArt ScrapbookHub June Challenge

2010-06-04T12:56:00.000+10:00

Here's the palette:

Not sure I'm going to use much of the brown, but the other colours are nice and bright and cheery :)

Textures from flickr (creative commons)

2010-06-02T19:36:00.003+10:00

Flickr creative commons (must attribute)

Writing Textures

2010-06-02T17:09:00.001+10:00

Flickr creative commons (must attribute)

Textures to download

2010-06-01T21:22:00.001+10:00

Select all pixels of same / similar colour in paint.NET

2010-05-27T20:48:00.001+10:00

This might seem a simple thing, but it's taken me six months (and an accident) to figure out that it can be done.

1. Select the Magic Wand from the Tools Menu (see right)

2. Hold down the SHIFT key while you click on one area of the colour you want to select (let's call it black).

3. Voila! All areas of black are selected for you to edit.

If you only want to select some of the black areas, then hold down the CTRL key, instead, and click on the areas you want to include in your selection.

And ifyou accidentally click on an area you don't want included, just click on it again to unselect it.

How to create Felt Shapes in PSE

2010-05-10T12:37:00.001+10:00

1. Choose flat shape & colour with foreground colour (background colour should be slightly lighter tone)

2. Filters ---> Artistic ---> Filmgrain
Grain: 20.

3. Filters ---> Render --->Fibers
Variance: 6.0
Strength: 1.0
Randomise until happy with results

4. Filters ---> Texture ---> Texturiser
Texture: sandstone
Scaling: 52%
Relief: 2
Light: top left

5. Layer Style Settings
Lighting Angle: 135
Drop Shadow: size 8, distance 8, opacity 75
Bevel: size 9, direction up

See also the following tutorial:
{tutorial here}

Transparent Layers in paint.NET

2010-04-14T13:33:00.001+10:00

1. Select or create the layer you wish to make transparent.

2. Press F4 to display the Layer Properties window.

3. From Blending Mode dropdown list, select "Overlay".

4. Set Opacity at 175, and experiment to get the result you want.