Winter Freebies!

Here are some fun little winter embellishments I scanned for a layout last year. Enjoy!

Tutorial -Make your own Date Stamp

For the "love you" layout, I wanted to recreate the date stamp that was used in one of the paper blocks.

There are some stamp fonts that you can download and use, but this is the simple method I use to make any font look like it was stamped.

First, open a new blank file in PSE. Mine was 900 x 900 pixels, or 3 x 3 inches. Make it 300 pixels/inch and select a Transparent background.

Open a dark color background and add it as a new layer. This helps us to see the true look of our stamp, as it won't really show up with a transparent background:

For the font, I selected Arial Black in white at 188 pts. Type in your date number. This will look pretty large:

Grab the handles and stretch it tall and about half the width of the paper. This will leave room for us to put the month abbreviation along the side of the number.

Drop your text size back to 72 pts and type in your month abbreviation. Again, this will look all wrong at first.

Grab the rotation handle and rotate it 270 degrees. Grab the handles and resize until it looks proportionate next to your number. You want it to be the same height as your number:

If you want to reuse this file to create other dates for future projects, at this point I recommend duplicating your layers with the month and date. Then hide the "text" layers. Select both of the new, copied layers, right click and choose "Simplify Layers." This way, you'll remember what font you used and can easily change the date, duplicate the new layers and continue on from here.

Now is when we make it look "stamped." This is simply done by clicking on the eraser tool and selecting a "scratchy type" brush. I used Dry Media Brush 29. Bump up the size a bit - mine is at 67 px.

Now, tap in to your artistic side and, with one of the simplified date layers selected, simply click and erase parts of the letters. Try to go around the edges. Avoid dragging, just click and "tap tap tap." Switch up the brush style for some variety. The Natural brushes also work well for this. Set the Opacity down to 60-70% and have fun!

When you're finished, hide the dark background layer and save your file as a .png. Again, you may want to save the .psd file to use to make more dates in the future.

That's it! Now you make any font look like it was hand-stamped.

Freebie - Mini Tag

This is the mini-tag I created for the "love you" layout. Tags are pretty simple to make, actually. Just draw a rounded rectangle and then a circle shape on a transparent background. Select a circle with the eraser tool and click once to "punch" a hole. Then, merge the layers! Now it is ready to place any paper and clip it to the new shape. For a a little extra flare, use the burn tool to create an inked effect around the edges.

Enjoy!

Freebie - Graph Paper

As promised, here is the graph paper freebie I created for the "love you" layout:

Graph_Paper.png

Love You - Scraplift

My best layouts are always "scrap-lifted" from magazines or from online galleries. I just need a little push to get my creative juices flowing.

But I have not yet paid for any digital scrapbooking supplies, so I've had to become creative in searching for free options or just making them myself!


Here is a wonderful layout by Cathy Zielske:

Here is the digital template I recreated, using all free elements:

First off, the title is Basic Sans Light SF in #234141.

Papers: Graph Paper by me. I will post it as a freebie tomorrow. :), Cardboard and Damask2 and 3 by Gunhild Storeide; Barely There Back Leafy Flower, Shabby Stripe, and Worn Deep Ocean all from the free Spontaneous Delight kit from Shabby Princess by Carrie Stephens. Festival Paper Sack from free Festival kit by Shabby Princess.

Stitches: String Stitches by Gunhild Storeide, String: Pieces of String by Gunhild Storeide

The mini tag and date stamp are also my own creations. I will post those as freebies in the days to come!