Making Photoshop Brushes.

There are hundreds of free sources that you can use to make Photoshop brushes. My favorite is FONTS. You guessed it. Those type faces that have pictures like Minipics.

Adobe fonts: Adobe Type Ornaments, AstrologyPi, Caravan Borders, Carta (road signs), Cheq (chess & checkers), Decorations, Greymantle, Holiday, Rusticana borders, Wiesbaden dingbats, Wingdings and others.

Letraset fonts: (this also comes with CorelDraw under symbols) DF Calligraphic Ornaments, Diversions, Diversities.

Using Photoshop, create a new white page. Make the image 300 dpi and set the size 4”x4” . Next, select an ornament font that you would like to use as a brush stamp. Change the type size to about 120 points. It doesn’t matter what color you choose. Stamps are black & white anyway. Select your art and then choose define brush and save your stamp. Then have fun with stamping!

What to do with patterns.

There are lots of patterns on this site. They are great for backgrounds, wrapping paper and wallpaper stencils. To use the patterns you open them in Photoshop and select the whole image Control A on the PC, Command A on the Mac. Then select define pattern and save the pattern. To use the patterns once they are saved, open and existing 12x12 background or make something to the size that you need. Select Layers and unlock it by clicking on the background layer and it will now say Layer 0. Now you can apply a layer style. Select patterns and adjust the size, opacity and whatever brings out the pattern the best. Have Fun!

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9 Tips for a Vacation Scrapbook

1. Take a journal with you. This can be a notebook with your itinerary and maps. Write down all the places that you visit and what you like or didn’t like about the place or service. This information is really useful and when you add this to your scrapbook it’s a good way to share your experiences with other people so they will know good places to visit or eat. You can also take a tape recorder to help remember the highligts.

2. Keep your pictures in chronological order. Whether using a 35mm or a digital camera there’s nothing worse than trying to remember what day you saw the sun set over the bay. If using a digital camera, take the time to set the date and time correctly. Once you’re able to download them to your computer don’t edit any of them, just burn them off on a CD or duplicate them so that you have a timeline. With 35mm mark each roll with a date and ask for a contact sheet with all the photos in order. I don’t know about you, but digital cameras set to autonumber with a date stamped on each picture really ruins a beautiful photo and I recommend turning it off. Also keep the lens covered when not in use and check the lens periodically to make sure it’s free of dust and smudges.

3. Stop at a Chamber of Commerce or Welcome Center and pick up brochures. There’s a lot of neat spots that you can miss if you’re looking on the web for places. These brochures are great for adding information to your vacation scrapbook and you can cut the pictures and logos out to help enhance the page.

4. Take photos of the places you visit like inside and outside of restaurants, nightclubs, baseball games and the food that you enjoyed. I’m amazed at how many people will comment on a plate full of nachos in my scrap book and not even notice the beach.

5. Pick up leaves, pine needles, feathers, shells, and small objects that you found in the area you visited. These welcome additions make an outdoor trip look more outdoors when you add them to your scrapbook.

6. When taking pictures of people get as close to them as possible. When photographing people with places like the Grand Canyon you can’t miss the background but placing the kids in front of a tall statue and then backing up far enough to get the whole statue in the picture will make the kids so small that you’ll hardly see them in the photo. With digital technology, you can take a photo of the statue and another picture of your kids and using a photo editing program place the kids bigger in front of the statue and have both.

7. Give your children a disposable camera or a digital camera if they are old enough and have them take pictures of animals, plants, places, friends and family.

8. Bring along plain paper, pencils and crayons and have your children draw what they’ve seen like animals or grandma’s house and have them tell you what they thought was the most fun or interesting and why and write this into your journal.

9. Hold on to the maps that you used to get to the places you visited. You can add them or parts of them to your scrapbook. Purchase post cards of things that you saw like jack rabbits or roadrunners. Keep ticket stubs from the train ride.