Have you ever worked with the Mixed Media products at The Lilypad? If so, then you already know how amazing the products are. But, if you haven't, then let me share a little secret with you...they are not just for art journaling, mixed media style of pages. They are for all scrapbooking styles and, even more specifically, for minimalist pages.It doesn't matter where you start, whether you have a photo chosen and want to build your design around that, or if you spotted some product or paper you just can't resist, and you have the urge to use them right away (that happens to me all the time, I spot a little piece of a kit and my heart skips a beat, I need to have it and scrap with it).If you think you might be overwhelmed by the magnitude of products in the monthly mixed media collection and not know where to start or even if it is a collection that you will want to use, try … [Read more...]
Photographing Pets
There's nothing more fun than photographing pets but it can be a bit tricky to capture a good shot. Let me share a few tips with you that have helped me when photographing pets.The two most important tips, in my opinion, are to be prepared and to be patient. Let me explain what I mean.Being Prepared:Look at your surroundings. Do you know what direction you would like your pet to face? Have you figured out where you will be in relation to your pet? Have you thought about the angle or distance between you and your pet? Do you have to adjust any camera settings and if so, take a few test shots beforehand so that when you place your pet into the position you'd like, you'll be ready to take the photo. Have you checked to see if there is any clutter around the area you don't wish to be in the shot? If there is, can you move the clutter out of the framing of your shot?Check … [Read more...]
A Day In The Life Of A Polly
It's always interesting to learn more about our fellow scrappers, isn't it? I'm excited today to share my interview with Jill Williams, a Polly at The Lilypad. We've been online scrappy friends for awhile and I know she is a lovely, sweet woman. It was fun to learn more about her. Here is a pic of Polly Jill and a few of the gorgeous pages she has created for The Lilypad.Jill said, "Thank you Rae for giving me the opportunity to share with fellow scrappers!! "I"m Jill and totally addicted to digital scrapping! I've been married for thirty six years. We have a son, a terrific daughter-in-law and two beautiful grandbabies. I can see the little light at the end of the tunnel called retirement!! I work full time as a Process Improvement Manager for a distribution Center and I do enjoy my job; however, retirement sure sounds delightful! My dream is to retire in three years … [Read more...]
Artsy Masking
Learning how to create a mask is easy. By blending a variety of brushes, overlays, etc you can create your own artsy mask. Let me show you how, using Photoshop.Here's a screen shot of my layout with my layers of brushes which were combined to make a mask for my photo. I've turned off all the other layers except for the background layer so you can see the completed mask with the photo clipped to it before I finished off the page. I used brushes from Tangie Baxter's 2017 Brush Of The Month Club February Brushes and Lynne-Marie's Mixed Media kit.How I start my mask building is to first select the photo I will use so I can get a sense of the shape of mask I want to create. Then I turn down the opacity of the photo layer so that I can see through it to the mask layers below as I create them. This step isn't necessary and by no means do you need to select a photo first, this is just my … [Read more...]
Photographing Food
So many moments of our lives revolve around food such as everyday meals with family, special events, indulgences, weekend take-out, sick bed meals, etc. Food is an integral part of our lives and photographing the food can help tell our stories.Often I will take a few photos before eating; my friends and family are used to me asking that they wait a moment so I can take a few photos. If the background will help to tell my story, I will take a pull-back shot, including some of the surroundings, the decor, the people, anything that is relevant to the food I am photographing. They don't need to be perfectly framed, I don't worry about some of the photography rules such as "rule of thirds", cutting off limbs, etc. I want to frame my photo to include what will help to tell my story, often the photo needs to be taken quickly, so what is important is capturing the moment, not how perfect the … [Read more...]
Warping and Shadowing Leaves
Hi everyone. It's Polly Rae here, aka bcgal00, and today I'm going to share with you some of the ways I like to warp and shadow leaves using Photoshop. Many of my pages include clusters and often that includes leaves. In my opinion, they are the perfect accent to a page, whether they are used singly or in a cluster.Here's a page I am creating with a kit by Amy Wolff Designs Cinnamon Toasted and Bella Gypsy Awesome Autumn. Five leaf/branch layers create the cluster and have been placed onto the right side of my photo mask. The colors and bulk of the cluster draw your eye to that area and down to the word art and bit of journaling (which I will place underneath later). To easily identify the cluster layers, I color coded them in the layers palette (highlight the layers, right click while hovering over the layers and choose a color from the drop-down menu box). I could finish my page … [Read more...]