Photojojo has created a no-nonsense, jargon-free guide to sharpening your photos using Unsharp Mask. It walks you through why digital photos need sharpening, some basic sharpening rules, and what all the sliders mean. They also provide "a good set of starting points for different kinds of pictures", as well as a link to a site with tutorials on smart sharpening, high pass sharpening, and sharpening masks. Sweet.
I spent National Scrapbooking Day cropping with girlfriends at a store crop - had a lovely time. I think it's so important to have that time with other women, not only because we're doing something creative that we enjoy, but also to share general life experiences - those "this worked for me", and "what should I do about this" kind of experiences. Love that.
But on to the fruits of my digital labors. I went digi for this crop - makes it so much easier to pack and prep! Just throw the laptop in the bag! :)
Digi Credits:
Trish H/Templates N More #93
August Designs Scalloped Notepaper
Fonts - Rubber Stamp & Scrap Casual
Foam Stamp Photoshop Action by Atomic Cupcake
Digi Credits:
Chris Greiser 20080229 template
mgl Studio Vividly kit (scraphead.com)
2Ps Proud to be Digi Journaling Circle
Font: free bradbury & Scrap Casual
Atomic Cupcake chipboard action
Digi Credits:
paper, frames, journaling tag, word art from Cinzia Loosemore's That's Amore kit
Digi Credits
TemplateTuesday415 -DigiShopTalk
Papers from 33008 Web Challenge Kit by Jesse Edwards, www.designerdigitals.com
Fonts: Arriere Garde, BlackJack, & Dymo
Foam Stamp Photoshop Action from Atomic Cupcake
Digi Credits:
BrackityTemplate by Beth Long
KMill Lovin Life papers
font: Egg Cream
Chipboard Photoshop Action from Atomic Cupcake
I received my second Shutterfly photobook in the mail yesterday, and dropped it off with my mom (the birthday girl!) today, so I can finally share the book here! I didn't want to share it before I gave it to her, in case she happened to stop by the blog and ruin the birthday surprise! :)
Click here to view this photo book.
The cool thing about this book is that it includes a combination of 100% digi layouts, and scanned paper layouts. I had wondered if that would work - to scan in full-size 12x12 layouts, and resize/tweak them to fit the photobook templates. I am happy to report it does work! Printed beautifully! I will say the scanned pages are not quite as crisp as the digi layouts, especially for journaling, but definitely visible. I would definitely do it again, and would suggest scanned for photobooks as a solution for making multiple copies of albums for friends or relatives.
Digital Credits are many and varied, and included after the "jump"...
Continue reading "Shutterfly Photobook #2: Birthday gift for my mom" »
Yes, another one. These 4x6 recipe cards are just too fun and easy. This one is an adaptation from a recipe I found in Quick Cooking magazine in the late '90s - so I've been making these for about 10 years now. (Sadly that magazine, once published by Reiman Publications, is now defunct.)
The adaptations - the recipe originally called for Hershey's kisses and pretzel rings. For the life of me, I couldn't find pretzel *rings* locally, so I just used mini pretzels - works just fine. Plus the crossed "arms" helps form a base to hold the chocolate - wouldn't want any of that precious chocolate to fall out through the ring! I used to make these with the kisses, but then I was like, why unwrap all those kisses when I can just throw a chocolate star (see right) on there? Plus, the stars have the little groove tips on there that make a nice presentation (of course, these babies go so fast in my house, that I'm pretty sure no one bothers to appreciate the "presentation". So I guess that's just for me.)
These sweet treats are quite popular particularly with men, for some reason. My husband and son frequently request them for LAN parties (video games played across a Local Area Network) and sleepovers (more video games).
These are also fun to bring to potlucks and whatnot because you can usually coordinate the M&Ms to the season or upcoming holiday. Chocolate is even better when it's festive, don't you think? ;)
Without further ado - the recipe!
(Click on the graphic for a full-size image to save for your own recipe collection)
Digi Credits:
Shabby Man Man kit by Tanya Todd Krasen
Curled Edges Embellishments by Jan Hicks, ScrapGirls.com
Fonts: Stamped & Willing Race
Aaaaaaaand another one! W00t! Hamburger Soup with Barley is from the Fix-It & Forget-It Cookbook. I love how this one turned out. And at 4x6, I can print these cards like regular photos!
(Click on the graphic for a full-size image to save for your own recipe collection)
Digi Credits:
Colorful Kids kit by Michelle Underwood
Fonts: Pinky BV and American Writer
Software: Photoshop Elements
Susan is right - digital recipe cards are addictive! Here's a recipe from Simple & Delicious magazine - Mushroom Swiss Burgers. DH*-approved! :)
Digital credits:
My Kitchen kit by Correen Silke
Fonts: Century Gothic & CK Tea Party
Software: FxFoto
*DH = Dear Husband
