Wow – I go MIA for about a month, and now I have to play catch-up! So, let’s just dive right in shall we?

First up, my good friend and fab-designer, Jodiann Cates is having a TCT (Test/Creative Team) call on her blog – she’s looking for a few talented people to work with her Photoshop styles.  I love them and have had the pleasure of working with several of them.  In fact, I used her Mini Stripe Lite style to create one of my freebies – you can find it here. Check her blog for all of the details and then apply!

Let’s see, what’s next – oh I know, another friend and uber-talented designer, Kristine of Designs by Kristine has just launched her own Newsletter – complete with sales info, coupons, and even exclusive freebies.  You definitely DON’T want to miss out.  You can find all of the deets here or sign up here.

For my crafting friends, as most of you know, I blog-stalk Suzanne Dean – her coloring skills are nothing short of amazing!  When I first heard about Copic markers, I headed to her blog for tutorials and color suggestions since buying all 300+ colors at once just wasn’t and still isn’t going to happen!  Well, now she’s launching Color Me Creative, an online classroom where she’ll teach all things Copic – everything from the basic to advanced mixed-media techniques.  Classes start March 15, but since they are all self-paced, you’ll have an entire year to complete them, plus have PDF and video files that can be downloaded and saved for future reference.  There’s an early-bird discount before March 14 – so be sure to check it out if you’re like me – new to Copics (plus I won’t be attending any of the Copic Certification classes as they are never near here nor are they in my price range) and in love the with the potential these (and all alcohol markers) have!  I can’t wait to get started.  Suzanne is also offering a refer-a-friend discount aka Copic Bucks, so you can earn a little something for spreading the word.

Looking for a challenge to get your creativity off the ground?  Since March as arrived, that means there are new challenges up at the DSO challenge blog – stop by and play awhile!

I guess that’s all from me – oh wait – you wanted a peak at our activities from last month?  Alright – just a peak:

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Nadya enjoying a visit to the park while while in Oklahoma.

Have a great Tuesday!

Welcome to another Lindsay Day – aka Thursday!  Last week I had several people ask how I created the multi-colored or gradient text fills and effects on my Elephant Birthday card.  So, I decided I’d do a quick tutorial for you.  I used a flower and a a sentiment from Lindsay’s Doodle Flowers set for this tutorial.

I launched PSE 6 and opened my two digital-stamps along with a new 6×6 file at 300 PPI.I centered the sentiment on my blank canvas and then added the flower.  I wanted the flower to fit inside the sentiment, so I adjusted its size by to 60% and kept the ratios locked so it wouldn’t be distorted. Now the fun (aka coloring) begins!  I created a new layer ABOVE my sentiment layer by clicking the new layer button (upper left corner of the layers palette) or you can go to Layer—> New—> Layer or Ctrl+Shift+N. Then I select my Gradient Tool (located just under the Paint Bucket on your toolbar) and pattern (this is from the default menu):Next draw a line across your canvas – I used a diagonal from upper left to lower right.  You can redraw them over and over until you get the look you want.Now take your mouse and Alt+Click on the narrow line between the Gradient Fill and your Sentiment layer to create the mask (filled the bottom layer with white so you could see the effect more clearly and to simulate being printed on white paper/cardstock): If you want your flower outline to match your text, you c an duplicate the Gradient layer by Right Clicking on it in the Layers Palette and selecting duplicate; then drag the duplicated layer ABOVE the Flower layer and Alt+Click to create the mask: You could print from here – color as you’d like or merely trim, embellish, and attach to your card. However, I thought I’d take it a step further and add some more color and texture to mine.  I created 4 new layers BELOW my flower stamp and above my Sentiment by selecting the Gradient Layer ABOVE the sentiment and clicking my Add New Layer button 4 times.  Then I double-clicked on the text of each layer and renamed it so I would know what I was working on. In this case my layers are titled, from top to bottom, Flower Outline Gradient, Flower Outline, Center Button, Top Petal, Bottom Petal, Leaves, Sentiment Gradient, Sentiment, and Background.Next, I selected my magic wand tool (7th button from the top on the toolbar). Then in my Layers Palette, I selected my Flower Outline Layer. I clicked inside the button to get “marching ants” or dotted lines around the button.Next I expanded my selection by 1 pixel – to do this go to your Select Menu –> Modify –> Expand          Enter 1 in the pop-up and click OK.Now, on your Layers Palette, select your Button Layer and fill it with color (it doesn’t matter what color you choose as we’ll be adding gradients above it anyway). Instead of the Paint Bucket tool, I used the Edit –> Fill Layer from the drop down menu. I selected Color… from the Contents drop-down and picked a light pink so I could see where my fill was.    Then I removed the marching ants by using Select –> Deselect (or Ctrl+D).I repeated the above steps for the top petal, bottom petal, and leaves to get this: Then I created a new layer above each of my Flower layers so I could add Gradient Fills to them as well. I played with my Gradients (the fill process is the same as above) until I was satisfied and ended up with this: You could save and print from here, but I wanted to add a bit of texture too. So, I simplified my Flower Layers (I selected my Gradient Layer and Ctrl+Clicked the corresponding Flower layer so that both layers were highlighted in my Layers Palette and then right Clicked and selected Merge Layers). My Gradients are no longer editable, but I can easily add texture now. To add Texture, I selected the Texture options from the Effects Palette (located above the Layers Palette)

You can use the defaults, or add your own.  I used a Texture from KimB  Designs (available as part of the DSV grab bag this month). Here’s my almost end-result:

Next I added a Scallop shape – I added a new layer BELOW my sentiment and then used my Custom Shape Tool (just below the Gradient button on the toolbar) to draw the Scallop (I also had my Shift button pressed while I was drawing so that my Scallop would be proportional. After I was satisfied with my Shape, I right clicked on the Scallop Layer in the Layers Palette and Simplified my shape. Again, you can print from here or add a bit of shadow to your flower layers to give them a more “pieced” look. To add the shadow, select the layer you want to work with, I selected my button fill first and worked down. Then in your Effects Palette, select Layer Styles (the button that looks like 2 frames), and then select Drop Shadows from the Drop-Down menu. Play with them until you find one you like (Ctrl+Z) will undo anything. My final stamped and colored image is now ready to printed and added to my card.

I hope you found this little tutorial helpful.  If you have questions, leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can do to help. Happy stamping! And, just for playing along, I have to gradient background papers for you (just click the image to download) – they are Fall colors and coordinate well with Lindsay’s Sketchy Leaves digital stamp set or any of her fabulous $1 Leaves and Acorns individual stamps.

Oh, and don’t forget, Lindsay’s DT call is open until November 7th, you can get the details here.  Also, be sure you stop by Lindsay’s blog as she has some fabulous eye-candy up this week and there might be a freebie in it for you as well.  You can visit the rest of the DT from there – the team is so talented and I know they have some amazing projects to showcase this week.

I’d also like to remind everyone of the Spread the Love Blog Hop and my Blog Candy – it’s all up until November 9 and such a great cause to support – why not use some of Lindsay’s digital stamps (where every $5 purchase earns you a FREE $1 stamp) to create a card for Jaimie – then come back here, leave a link, and be entered to win some candy?!?!

In case you didn’t know – today is Thursday – which means it’s time for a new project featuring some of the fun stamps from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff. Lindsay has been really busy this week – she’s released 2 new stamp sets and another Halloween freebie for you!  For those of you getting a jump start on your Holiday party planning, Lindsay has a new set of Christmas Cupcake Wrappers (with included Toppers) – and they are so cute!

As if this fabulous set wasn’t enough, she surprised us with her new All Around Phrases stamp set (I used a couple of the stamps in this set for the Photoshop Elements tutorial yesterday).  So, what did I do this week? Well, started out warping a couple of the Cupcake Wrappers into card fronts, but just wasn’t feeling quite Christmas-y yet, so I opted to create a couple of Halloween themed cards using Lindsay’s Creepy Crow set.  For my projects, I had planned on doing a card set and matching box, but time and my toddler had other plans for me.  The two cards I have for you today double as challenge entries for the Papertake Weekly and Inspirational Card Sketches challenges.

For my Papertake Weekly Challenge card, I printed the Crow Graveyard Scene on Multipurpose photo paper, sprinkled it with Desert Night Embossing Powder by Stamp A Mania (which is produced locally – I LOVE IT) and heat embossed (you have to be really careful when embossing photo paper or vellums as it is very easy to melt the coating or burn the paper – I typically apply the heat to the back of my paper when using these media types – it takes forever, but I don’t usually catch things on fire!).  Then I trimmed the image with my scissors and craft knife.  The card base is textured black CS from Bazzill.  The primary mat is also from Bazzill – a deep purple that seemed to fit so well with the Halloween theme.  The moon is die cut from glitter CS (DCWV glitter  mat stack).  I cut the circle (4.25”) with one of my old wooden Accucut Slimline dies (I’m so bummed they don’t sell them any more) and then cut it in half to create the moon.  The “hillside” is cut from dark grey mulberry paper that I had hiding in my stash.  I printed the sentiment on HP 4×6 photopaper thinking I would emboss it too – NOPE – that stuff came out of the printer dry! Fabulous for printing photos, not so much if you want to emboss! Since I couldn’t emboss easily, I opted for a bit of clear glue and Black Hole ultra fine glitter from The Art Institute around the edges.  The “ribbon” is scrap from cutting out the moon. 

My 2nd card is for this week’s Inspirational Card Sketches challenge.  I used the Crow ATC from Lindsay’s set printed on Multipurpose photopaper and embossed with my fabulous Desert Night powder.  I colored the moon and sky with my Copics – aiming for a stained glass type effect.  I matted the ATC on a scrap of purple textured Bazzill CS and then colored the edges with a Gelly Roll glitter pen.  The card base is the other half of my 12×12 Bazzill black CS.  I had some of the spider web DP leftover from one of my other cards, so I used it as my primary card mat.  I cut the curve from a piece of Black Mulberry paper and then edged the paper with clear glue and this fabulous Orange Twinkle embossing powder (Judikins) that I picked up at Creative Stamp Impressions (my local stamp store). I cut the flowers from black and grey mulberry papers using my Sizzix Daisies #2die. I added the orange button as the center and  covered it with the same embossing powder for added sparkle.

Now that you’re in the Halloween “spirit” – make sure to check Lindsay’s blog – you never know when she’ll have a surprise for you and I know she posted this awesome Halloween freebie during the week!

Stop by the other DT blogs and see what sort of inspiration they have for you!  And, while we’re talking about DT members, Lindsay’s DT call is open until November 7 – don’t miss your chance to apply!

Have a fabulous Thursday!