Collage Tutorial at ScrapTiffany and a Freebie

Today I am hosting the Tuesday Tutorial over at ScrapTiffany. Join me and learn how to make a collage like this one that I now have framed and displayed in my entry way with all my fall decorations, and read below for a freebie download of 2 photo collages you can use today.

In addition to making a picture collage that you can use in lots of ways, I am also talking a bit about using actions, and adding some digital elements to enhance your photos.

And just for fun I am also sharing some digital templates to make the both sides of the 8x8 collages that I used in this layout:

 

Each side gives you 11 photos. That's a lot of photos to pack on a page. The templates are PSD files and can be used in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop.

Photo sizes for each side in inches (width x height):

1 - 4x3

6 - 2x2

2 - 2x3

2 - 4x2

Here are the links for the download:

8x8 Photo Collage Side 1

8x8 Photo Collage Side 2

Each layer is named by the picture size. To use the templates:

1. Select your photos
2. Crop to the size noted in the layer title in the layers palette
3. Drag the photo to the template
4. Move over the photo layer for placement
5. Click both the photo layer box and your added picture to have both selected
6. Right click and merge the two layers. This will allow you to move any photo's around if you want.
7. When all pictures have been added, select all layers and right click to flatten the image
8. Save as a JPEG for printing
9. Have fun.

If you use the template I would love to see what you did. Leave a comment with your link and I will check it out and share it here.

Thanks for stopping by today.

TGIF Friday

Me on Easter in the mid-70's. Maybe about 6?

I stayed up way to late last night trying to finish up slicing and re-touching the scans of my childhood and heritage photos. I had somewhere around 160+ scans that averaged 4-5 pictures per scan.  It has been a huge project, but as I saw that number dwindling down to 15 scans last night I had to crank it out.

My next task will be to try to approximate dates and tag people in the photos. I also need to look into a noise reduction plug-in for PSE. There are some photo's that need some more cleaning up beyond what I am comfortable doing manually.

I still have a lot a work ahead of me, but I have several stories I want to tell.  I it has been so rewarding to see pictures of my brother and me growing up, some I remembered, some I had never seen.  And to find so many hidden treasures of my parents and grandparents in all those photos was incredible.

Of course to be punished for staying up late, Nicholas woke up in the middle of the night, and ended up in our bed again. At least it is Friday.

On the list for this weekend....

• Order Studio Calico goodies for September (woohoo!)
• Finish fall arrangements to get them off the dining room table
• Go to the mall to get the boys some fall/winter clothes before my coupon's expire
• Lunch out with the family
• Scrap, scrap and more scrap (I hope this one isn't wishful thinking)

And here are a couple of layouts to share.  I am finished up through June my Month in Review (Project 12) layouts.

May 2010

May Side 1

May Side 2

June 2010

June 2010 Side 1

June 2010 Side 2

June 2010 Close Up (I love this fun Cosmo Cricket Chipboard)

I love my punches and Studio Calico month stamps for this project.  The photos and journaling are taking up so much of the layout space, just a few paper strips and accents are all I am doing on these pages to keep them similar throughout the year. Now to work on gathering July pictures.

Wednesday Check In & Monthly Highlight Layouts

We're closing in on quarter end at work, so it has been busy. I've been getting home late. I am looking forward to the end of next week when the worst will have past. Everyone in the house is sick except me, and I am really hoping the germs stay away. I have the worst luck for getting sick at quarter end when there is no way I can stay home and rest.

Over the weekend I worked on catching up on my month in review layouts. I finished through June.  Here are March and April using mostly Studio Calico's March 2010 Quilting Bee kit/add-on's, SC month stamps, and some digital stamps and elements to fill in my collages.  These pages for me are much more about the photos and the month's highlights than the product.

March 2010

Side 1

Side 2

April 2010

Side 1

Side 2

Close Up

I have been experimenting with making my own collages in either 8x8 or 8x12 and having them printed at Costco ($1.49 each). I pick out my favorite pictures from my monthly picture highlights (tagged using the system I started with Library of Memories).  Then pick the couple I want to be the featured photos and re-size those to 3X4 or 4x4 or so. Everything else is resized to 2x3 or 2x2, with a 2x4 or 1x4 as needed to fill out the page and work with the pictures.  I mix up vertical and horizontal and then start fitting them on my page.  I add or subtract pictures as necessary to get it filled in and pick my overall size based on the number of pictures. I have done up to 24 in a month.  With re-sizing and a double page spread it captures a whole lot of memories on one layout.

Oh and I finally figured a way to use those Hambly doily rub on's. They have stumped me, but I used up the whole pack on the April layout.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your hump day!

Adventures in Cooking & Project 12 Layout

This past weekend we were busy getting Nicholas ready to go back to school and preparing for Mike to be down from knee surgery.  The surgery was this morning, and he is in recovery now.  It sounds like he should feel a lot better once he heals. Mike still did some cooking, but kept it a little easier.  Saturday night he made steak sliders with grilled onions.  He used a rub spice that he made a little bit ago.  To go with them he also made sweet potato fries.  They weren't really crispy like chips, but they were tasty.  The spice mix was yummy a bit sweet and spicy.

We ordered pizza Sunday night, but Monday he cooked up pork tenderloin tacos in the crock pot and made a mango pico de gallo.  The sauce for the pork included cinnamon sticks.  It added a bit of a sweet flavor to complement a mildly spicy sauce with adobo chile sauce.  The mango salsa is about medium hot.  I love the pico type of salsas, I could eat them with a spoon.

With Mike recovering from surgery, I am on the hook for the meals for the next several days.  So we'll see what kind of adventures I come up with next week.

I decided to do some monthly layouts for 2010, Project 12 style.  I just got started this past week.  I made up some picture collages in PSE with my favorite pictures from the month done through June.  I had them printed up at Costco in 8x12 and 8x8 sizes.  I ended up doing the collages myself.  I looked all over for templates, but didn't like what I found.  Costco has a collage tool, but I wanted more control.  It took a bit longer, but as I worked through each month, I got better at it and was happy with the results.

I finally got to use my Studio Calico month stamps.  I made the flower with Studio Calico Fabrips.

Hope you have a great Wednesday!