Lovely Spiral Embellishment FREE Download!

A scrapbooker or someone who likes to decorate their blog never has enough embellishments! Here is a beautiful, textured spiral which you can use in many ways to pretty-up a digi scrapping page or to draw attention to a little spot on your blog. You can download it FREE from the link below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4YQuDjnqxugREl2cXVjNEVVbzA/edit?usp=sharing

This is an example of how you could use this pretty embellishment:

Happy scrapping!


The Power to Win

Red and Gold Decorative Photo Corner for Your Scrapbooking

Let's make a pretty photo corner to embellish a photo on a digi scrapping project! One of the things that gives a finished touch to your scrapbooking are the details that you use to give them a finished touch. Something as simple as photo corners can make a world of difference when it comes to giving a page a lovely, polished look. In this tutorial, we'll learn how to easily make some of those corners using Gimp.

This tutorial assumes that you have Gimp (a free software) installed on your computer.
►Fire up Gimp.
►Go to File, New and create a new image of whatever size you like. I made mine 600 x 400 pxl.
►Click on Advanced options, and choose transparency. Click OK.
►Click on the Rectangle Select Tool and make a rectangle with the following settings (type them on your Toolbox):
Position: 90 x 58 pxl
Size: 309 x 65 pxl
►Go to Layer, New Layer, and then, change the Foreground color to White and using the Bucket Tool, fill your selection with the color.
►Then, go to Edit, Copy, Paste. Then, click on the Move tool (tool #12 on the first row of tools on your Toolbox) and move the new copy down to separate the two pieces of your photo corner.
select the Rotate tool from the Toolbox (the first tool of the second row) and when the menu opens, just click on your new selection and rotate it into a vertical position, then click Rotate in the little menu. It will become a vertical bar. Now, on the Toolbox, pick the Move Selection and position it so that they meet and form the picture corner that you want. Make sure that the new bar's edges fall inside the top bar, in other words, that the edges are even. Click anywhere inside the horizontal bar to anchor the new joint.
►Now go to the Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo -Brushes, Patterns, Gradients Menu and click on the layer that has your corner on it to select it (it should be the top one) to select it, now right click,
and when the drop down menu opens, click on Alpha to Selection. Marching ants will appear that will indicate your selection is active.
►Make sure to reset your Foreground and Background colors to Black and White, Black the Foreground and White the Background.
►Go to Filters, Render, Clouds, Difference Clouds, and click OK. Now Go to Filters, Noise, RGB Noise, click OK. Now go to Colors, Desaturate. (Make sure Lightness is selected) and click OK.
►Go to Colors, Colorize, and move the levers to the following settings: Hue: 47, Saturation: 50 Lightness: 23 and click OK.
Go to Select, Shrink, and shrink by 10 pxls. Go to Layer, New Layer.
Select the Bucket tool and click on Patterns, scroll down and pick Frosty Crystal. Fill the new selection with it.
►Go to Colors, Colorize and choose the following settings: Hue: 360, Saturation: 55, Lightness: 0 and click Ok

You can leave it as is or you can put a little gem on it.

►Choose the Ellipse Select tool and make a circle that fits inside your corner frame. If it is not perfectly placed. don't worry, just click on the Move tool and Move the layer to position your circle where you need it.
►Click on the Blend or Gradient Tool and select Golden. But before filling your new circle, go to Layer, New Layer. Make sure your gradient is Linear and just make a long stroke with your mouse across your circle to fill it with gold.
►Now Go to Select, Shrink and Shrink it by 8 pxls. Go to Layer, new Layer. Change your Foreground color to this shade of Red: #f32c2c, and using the Bucket tool, fill your new selection with red.
►Change your Foreground color to Yellow. I used #fceb5c, but you can use any yellow you like.  Click on the Bursh tool and scroll down the menu, pick the brush tool and choose the brush Circle Fuzzy 19, move the lever of the Scale to 2.28.
►Click twice on the top side of your "gem" to give it a little light.
►Go to Select, None.
►Save as PNG.

You've got a new decorative corner for your photos!

Abounding in Hope

Nice and Very Easy Digital Scrapbooking Tag on Gimp

This is a very easy but good-looking tag that you can make in a few minutes to embellish any page you want to write something on.
This tutorial assumes that you have Gimp installed on your computer (it is a free software)
Let's get started.
►Fire up Gimp.
►Create a new image by choosing File, New. (Any size will do.)
►Choose any color you like, I happened to choose blue, because that color matched the photo I was going to use with the tag.
For your Foreground color you can choose any color that will look well with your photo or photos. Only choose a shade of that color that you can write against and that will not make your text hard to read.
Make sure you have a contrasting color for your Background color (I chose White, it could also be a much lighter shade of the Foreground color.)
Choose the Bucket tool and fill your New Image with the Foreground color. Now go to Select, All.
Once you have the marching ants going around your image, which means it is selected, go to Select, Border and create a Border around your Image of 10 pxls.
Change your Foreground color to a darker shade of the color you filled with the Image with and using the Bucket tool, fill the Border with the new color.
Go to Filters, Artistic, Cubism. When the little menu opens, choose the following settings:
Tile Size: 9.0
Tile Saturation: 2.0
and click OK. Go to Select, None.

This is what your tag will now look like:

Save as a PNG to use on your next project.

Your new tag is done! Now you can add it to any of your scrapbooking pages.

In Too Great a Hurry?

Easy Quick Scrapbooking Tag in Gimp

This is a simple tag to make, but one that can become a favorite of yours. I like that it has rounded corners, which gives it a lovelier look. It is also very versatile, as you will soon see!

This tutorial assumes you have Gimp installed on your computer. Let's get started.

☺Fire up Gimp.
To have a working space, go to File, New, choose to make the background Transparent.
Create a selection that is 400 x 600 pxls.
☺Choose the Rectangle tool and draw a selection that almost fills your entire work area (We want a nice-sized tag).
The position should be 13 x 10 pxls. The size 613 x 381 pxls.
☺Now go to the Toolbox and while your selection is active, click on Rounded corners (in the Rectangle Select Menu, and move the Radius lever until the rounded corners' size is 24.0)
Select the Blend Tool, and go through the Menu of the Blend Tool until you find Golden, choose it.
Make sure the Gradient is set to a linear shape. Make a straight gradient by drawing it with your mouse from the top of your rounded box to the bottom of it.
☺Go to Select, None.
Now choose the Rectangle tool again and make a new rounded corners rectangle inside of the one you just made.
The position should be 26 x 28 and the size should be 589 x 334 pxls.
☺Go to Layer, New Layer, and picking the Bucket tool, fill the selection with White.
☺Go to Select, Shrink and shrink the selection by 10 pxls.
☺Go to the Bucket Tool again and choose Pattern fill. You can now fill the new selection with any pattern you like (Gimp brings some but you can download a lot of free patterns from the net.)
I choose a pattern of white polka dots on a gold background. Go to Select, None.
You can use your tag as is.

☺But if you want to write on a solid colored background, simply draw another rectangle with rounded corners inside the pattern fill.
☺Its position should be 58 x 56. Size 526 x 275 pxls.
☺Fill your new selection with White and then go to Filters, Blur, to soften everything up.
☺Save it as a Png and you can start using your tag!

☺You now have an easy but fancy looking tag for your new scrapping project.
This tag will have as many different looks at the patterns you use to fill the background! Experiment, have fun. Donwload some free patterns from the web and adapt them to your next project!

Enjoy!

Don't Remain Down

How to Make a Tag with Distressed Edges in Gimp

There are many fun ways in which you can learn to make your own tags, stretch your scrapbooking budget and also enjoy your creativity. This tag is very easy to make and you can change it in many ways, as you go on to learn the software a lot more.

This tutorial assumes that you have Gimp installed on your computer (a free software that can be downloaded online) and that you can at least understand the basics of how to use it. The tutorial is very simple, but it would be a good idea if you would go back and tied some of our previous tuts on Gimp and Inkscape as well.

►Fire up Gimp.
►Go to File, New and choose the size you want for your tag. For demonstration purposes, I will choose 640 x 400 px.
►Choose the rectangle tool and make a selection that fills your whole working area.
From the toolbox, choose the Bucket Tool, make sure the Foreground color is White and fill your selection with the color.
►Go to Select, Border.
When the little menu opens, make a border selection of 20 pixels and select the Lock selection to image edges, and click OK.
►Now go to Filters, Artistic, Cubism. When the menu opens, choose the following settings: Tile size: 2.0, Tile saturation: 2.5, and click OK.
Go to Filters, Artistic, Clothify and fill the edge with it. Then go to Filters, Decor, Fuzzy Border and choose a border size of 18, leave the rest of the selections as is.
►Now go to Colors, Colorize and give it any hue you like, by playing with the levers until you are happy with the results.
►If you want a transparent background for the edges of your tag so that you can add it to your scrapping projects, simply go to Layer, Transparency, and add an Alpha channel, then click the background with the little wand that is found on the top row of the Toolbox.
Then, when you have a fuzzy selection around your tag's background, hit Ctrl + X on your keyboard to "cut" the background. Then go to Filters, blur, to soften the edges.
Save as a PNG image.

You will now have a tag like this:

That's it!

Now, go ahead and use it for a scrap page like I did here. Enjoy!

Bible Universe: Explore!

Pretty Flower Embellishment in Gimp With Checkerboard and Gemstone Center

This is a tutorial for a pretty flower digi dcrapping embellishment you can make in Gimp with a nicely contrasting checkerboard and gemstone Center.
This tutorial assumes that you have Gimp installed on your computer and that you understand at least the basics of them both. Please refer to previous tutorials on this blog to learn more about these free programs and how to use them for scrapbooking.

►Fire up Gimp

►Go to the Toolbox and change the Foreground color to #e9967a (a pretty salmon)

►Now Choose the Ellipse or circle tool create an ellipse, which will form our basic petal in the center top of your image (the size I made it was 102 x 164 px). Select bucket tool and fill the petal with the pretty Salmon color. Copy the petal and paste it, now click on the Move tool, which tool No. 12 at the top of the Toolbox, and move it to the spot directly beneath the first petal vertically. Now Copy, Paste, and select the Rotate tool, which is 3 tools away from the Move tool and by clicking again on your petal, rotate it to be horizontal to the other two petals. Choose the move tool and drag it to be between the two previous petals on a horizontal position. Copy, paste, and drag the copy to the opposite side.
Now we have our basic flower shape. We will now work on the decorative center. Click on the Ellipse tool and make a circle that will cover the center of our flower.
►Go to Layer, New Layer. Change the Foreground color to Black and fill the circle with the color. Go to Blur, Gaussian Blur and blur the Black circle by 10 px.
►Now go to Select, Shrink, and shrink the selection by 4 px. Now go to the Filters menu, choose Render, Pattern, Checkerboard. When the menu opens, set the checkerboard size to 14.
Go to Select, None.
►Then go to File, New. In the new Image, choose a transparent background. Create a circle with the Ellipse Tool. Go to the Blend Tool and from the drop down menu, choose Golden and fill your selection with Gold.
►Go to Select, Shrink and Shrink by 15 px.Add a new Layer. Choose the Bucket Tool and from pick Pattern Fill, from the drop down menu pick Burlwood. Fill your selection with it. Go to Select, Shrink and shrink your selection by 10 px. Add a new Layer.
►Change the Foreground color to #f32c2c and the Background color to #e37e25. In the Blend menu, choose FG to BG (HSV counter-clockwise) Now with the Blend tool, create a Linear gradient from top to bottom across the new selection.
►Change the Foreground color to #fbed05 and choose the brush Circle Fuzzy 19, move the opacity to 51.5 and the Scale 1o 10.00, and make a bright spot of color on the upper left side of your gemstone. Now go to Filters, Light and shadow, Lighting Effects, position the blue dot (the light source) at the left bottom side of the your gemstone, corresponding with the upper shine we just made.
Choose Layer, Merge Down. Then select the current layer where your finish gemstone is and then select merge visible layers.
►Now Choose Scale. When the menu opens scale your gemstone down to a width of 114 and a height of 114 px and click ok. Copy the selection and return to your previous work and click on paste. Select the Move tool to center your gemstone on your flower in the middle of your checkerboard button. Click outside of the selection to anchor your pasted gemstone.

►Go to File and Save as a PNG,

►For some strange reason, I could not make the background transparent without saving the flower first. So Save it. Close it. Then Go to File, Open Recent and open it up again. Go to Layer, Transparency, and then, from the Toolbox, choose the little want tool and click ont he background of the image to select it, then hit Ctrl + X, to delete the background. Go to Filters, Blur, then go to Filters Light and Shadow, Drop Shadow.
Save your flower again.

Done!

Transcendent Love...

Button with Bling for Your Scrapbooking Photos

Skip the usual way of embellishing the corners of a photo and use this button with a little bit of bling to it!

This tutorial assumes that you have Gimp installed on your computer and that you understand at least the basics so that you can follow the directions of the tutorial.
►Fire up Gimp.
Make a New Image going to File, New. Choose the size you want, click on Advanced Options and choose a Transparent Background.
Pick the Ellipse or Circle tool and draw a circle inside your selection. Give it a size of 250 pixels x 256 pixels (you can type those numbers in the toolbox of the Ellipse Select you have currently active.)
Click on the Foreground color and when the menu opens, change it to Black. Using the Bucket Tool, fill your Circle with Black. Go to Select, Shrink, and shrink your selection by 10 pixels (you will have now a circle with a Black Border.)
►Go to Layer, New Layer. Change your Foreground color to White. Fill your new selection with White using the Bucket tool.

While the new White circle is still selected, go to Filters, Artistic, Cubism, and select the following settings:
Tile size: 1.3, and Tile saturation: 2.4, leave rest as is and click OK. Now you have some Bling around your Black edge. Go to Select, Shrink, and shrink the selection by 30 pixels.
►Go to Layer, New Layer. On the Toolbox, Choose the Gradient or Blend tool and make sure it is set to Linear Shape, then, clicking on the Gradient color, scroll down to Golden. Fill your little center with it by making a straight down stroke with your mouse. Now go to Select, Shrink, and shrink the selection by 20 pixels, that is to give a golden border to our gem. Again, go to Layer, New Layer. Then, click on the Foreground color and change it to #f30a0a, a rich red. Then click on the Background and change it to #750001, a deep maroon. Now pick the Gradient or Blend Tool and tick on Adaptive Supersampling and for the Shape, choose Radial.
►In the Gradient color, choose FG to BG (RGB) now, draw the gradient from top to bottom of your circle.
Now Change the Foreground color to #ffffd9, and select the paintbrush tool, from the different brushes, select the brush Fuzzy Select 17, drag the lever of Opacity to 55.0 and the lever of Scale to 5.00 and click twice on the upper left of our gem. Choose Select None. Go to Layer, Merge Down.
Then, File, Save As, and choose Select File Type (By Extension) and save as a PNG.

Abounding in Hope