And an Actual Post on Stamping (Don't All Faint, Now!)

Candice of Art Neko has recently acquired some designs from another designer/store who's decided to retire, and asked me to make some samples. There are some quite cute ones in there! Here are a couple with an Asian theme (a lot of these stamps are also non-Asian):



And the second:



On both these I was trying out my new Moonglow Stains and Spritzes, which I got at the stamp show the other weekend, at a booth run by "Lindy's Stamp Gang". While the stains looked good on the samples, I've been really disappointed with them on my samples--the main color, when looked at straight on, is very washed out and actually not super-pleasant. The mica glow when you move the paper side to side is quite nice, but really, who does that except perhaps on a card, the first time you get it? Certainly if it's a piece that hangs on a wall, you're almost never going to benefit from that reflection.

The stains, on the other hand, are super-saturated with color and I adore them. =) They also have a nice little shimmer, too!

The background on the 2nd piece was made according to a technique I recently learned from Ruth C. on the OSA group, called Cheesecloth Backgrounds. I adapted it (not having any cheesecloth) by dabbing the stains over a small piece of burlap which I moved around on the semi-gloss paper until it was covered. Then I also experimented with brayering the saturated burlap, and it left a really nice pattern plus a lot of stray fibers which left cool marks (and which I brushed off when it was dry).

I love that little brazier stamp! You can't see it in the scan too well, but I carefully embossed the brazier itself in black, then the coals in red, and the steam in gold... Fun!

Wherein My Swiss Heritage Is Showing (and a Freebie)

My son, who, since the age of 2, has restricted himself to about 10 foods, has suddenly developed a streak of brashness and has tried... *gasp* chocolate sauce!!! Of course, it can't be put directly on the ice cream, it has to come "on the side" in its own little cup... Anyway, I made a fun little layout from our most recent trip to The Big City, and got inspired by the Ben & Jerry cows. And whaddya know, out popped a mini-kit! And what's this "Swiss heritage" thing, you ask? Well, I grew up in Switzerland, in the French-speaking part, and only emigrated to the States for good after I finished college here. So of course cows and I have an affinity! *lol*

Here's the layout (click for larger photo, as usual):



And here was the freebie mini-kit, called It's the Cow's Moo (the cat's meow, the cow's moo?): 4 papers (including the one with the faded-back cow), 3 ribbons, 2 stickers (it's the same sticker, 1 with shadows and 1 without), a cow brush (also in .png format), and a cow tag. Oh, and I forgot--a cow overlay too! Holy cow that's a lot of free stuff! I just kept having ideas, I guess... =) ETA: This freebie is no longer available. Thanks for looking!

Mod-Pak Papers Freebie

Based these on one of my drawings for the 21-day-challenge... And let it be known that I'd love to find a digi-store to sell from! *lol* Here's the layout I made with it, too:



By the way, check out the sunglasses in the layout (you can get to the larger version by clicking on it): you'll notice that the background is visible through the lenses. All I did was highlight the interior (save for the white reflections) and fill it with a gradient that went from the original lens color to transparent. Kinda nifty, eh? *pats self on back* ;)

And here's a preview of the freebie (started a new account on 4-shared cuz the yousendit was running out of downloads, and I certainly can't afford a commercial account!) ETA: Thanks to those who commented! Freebie is no longer available at this time::

Line Drawing, Part II

Today I created this little airplane graphic following Melissa Clifton's instructions for non-people line art derived from a photograph, and it turned out really well, though I did add a step: once I'd inverted the line drawing, I brought it into Illustrator, did a Live Trace, Expand, Flatten Transparency (then get rid of the white spaces). LOVE that vector art! The dotted line was just a fat little rectangle that I made into a brush -- just drew a path with the pen tool, and stroked it.

Line Drawings and a Freebie

Yikes, that was a long flu! Thank goodness the rest of the family didn't get ill as well--it's hard enough taking care of a well little boy while sick, much less somebody who needs a lot of attention...

This week's challenge @ 2Peas was to do a line drawing of any kind. Being sick, I kind of used the easy route: the photocopy filter (foreground color set to black, background to white). For some reason this picture responded really well to that treatment, and all I had to do was some minor clean-up afterwards, then paint it with a low opacity brush until I liked the results. I chose a thin font (Birch Standard) then stretched it up until it fit the original lines of the photograph--that way, nothing looks cut off. Here's the result:



But there are many other ways to go. This tutorial by Deke McClelland uses the photocopy filter, then enhances the end product with double cross-hatching, which produces a semi-comic book look.

Here's another by John Sweeney that I'll have to try, so this is also a note to myself.

Wow, and here's another by Stanley Ashbrook that uses the Smart Blur filter! (Don't you love Google?)

And finally, this fabulous one by Melissa Clifton (actually, 2 of them: one for inanimate objects, the other for people--the latter involves actually drawing with the pen tool).

Ooh, can't wait to try those!

And finally, a freebie of those frames and doodles that didn't quite make it through the criteria of Little Dreamer Designs (I've fixed the main objections, anyway!):
Boys and Girls Element Pack. ETA: Element pack is no longer available. Thanks for looking!



And here's a layout I made with the little frame:

The Clone Tool

Probably one of the most useful Photoshop tools ever, the clone tool enables you to perform all kinds of magic on photographs. You can enhance skin tone, clone out that freak in the background of all your picnic pictures, or get rid of a color that clashes or a distracting element.

In the following layout, I used the clone tool (as well as some recoloring of the photo, and some different blending modes) to even out my nephew's skin around the eyes and the bridge of the nose, as well as get rid of all that teething drool. =) I find that the easiest way to work with the cloning tool for textured surfaces or non-detail work is to use the clone tool set to NON-aligned. Then, each time you pick up your pen, you go back to the same source point instead of picking up continuous pixels. This adds more randomness and avoids having the texture look fake. In addition, try reducing opacity and using soft, grungy brushes that will also introduce a non-repetitive factor, which is pretty easy for the eye to pick up on. Here's the layout, followed by the pic (please click on layout for materials source (all Designer Digitals):



Original photo:



And here, just for fun, is a quick layout for a great picture of Candice (owner of Art Neko and Kathy (owner of Rubber Stamp Ave.) goofing around before dinner (the best crispy eggplant EVER at Fujin's, in Portland OR). Click on photo for details:

Cut!

Ah well. Disappointment, of course, but at least life will return to normal! I look forward to receiving a private critique and figuring out what I can improve...