Monday

New Shops = August 1st

and I can't wait. New start + new stuff = good times.

Friday

A moment to brag ...

Like son, like mom. Or is it like mother, like son? Either way, I learn something new from my son every single day. I have to share some of his talent -- he shows me what's he created and I'm seriously shocked and so impressed with his talent. I'm a proud mom!

http://gearketeers.blogspot.com/

And in honor of the Stanley Cup playoffs going on right now, GO BLACKHAWKS!


Thursday

All Things Photo - Tips

Hi all. I thought it might be helpful for me to list a few tips and tricks for ways to best utilize my newest digital kit series, All Things Photo.

First, most of the frames are rectangle or square. So of course, cropping and re-sizing your photos to fit nicely underneath the frames will be the easiest.
For the shaped frames (typography and word frames), there are a few things you can to do change the shape of your photo to fit beneath the frame.

Using Photoshop:
  • Open the photo first and make a copy of the background in a separate layer.
  • Move the frame into it's own layer and move it on top of the photo. Re-size and move the frame as needed.
  • Once you've got the frame where you want it, use the Magic Wand tool on the copied background layer and select everything outside of the frame. 
  • When everything that you want deleted has been chosen, Inverse this (Select tab, Inverse), then Delete. 
  • If you want to get really technical  you can delete parts of the photo that might be visible in the frame shadowing by using the Eraser tool on the copied background layer and just swipe along the shadow. 
  • Crop the frame to the size that you'd like and then Merge the layers. 
  • Save as a .jpeg or .png and move to your digital layout or project.
For PSE, there's some helpful information here and here.

A couple of other things to take note of. 
  • The alphabet set (scheduled for release on April 25th, 2013) does not have a drop shadow on purpose. This is so you can line up the letter frames to create word mats. 
  • These frames and mats are printable and great for other projects or to mat regular, framed pictures to hang on the wall.
I hope this helps. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email me at kristindamon@gmail.com. If I don't have the answer, I'm sure we can figure it out together.  ~Kristin



Sunday

Another first for this girl ...

my first inspirational post on the DHD blog. I had so much fun writing it but I admit that I was side-tracked for over 2 hours reading my "Year in Review" pages that I finally did an eeny, meeny, miny, moe and landed on 1996. Good times back then. Good times.

Wednesday

Ah Yeah! Blog Hop Yeah!

Hi! Welcome to my blog. You've just come from Mary Moseley's blog. I'm sure she didn't disappoint ... I truly enjoy reading her blog. 
I also enjoy Spring. I enjoy the newness, the warmth, and the Rejuvenating feeling I get when I see the sun shining. I love to spring clean ... nothing Rejuvenates me like the scent of cleanliness and a sparkling stove top. 
Having said all that, it's the word Rejuvenate that inspired my blog post today. I was looking at the amazing Sweet As Spring mega kit and wondering what photos I could use to make a few layouts when it hit me. But first, a quick back story. 
In my Senior year of high school, I made my first scrapbook. I used standard white copy paper along with two other solid papers; a cornflower blue color and a peach color. I typed out my journaling on an actual typewriter, and put the whole thing together with a bottle of good ole' rubber cement. 
To this day, I'll look at this book and both laugh and cry. The pages are so plain, but to change them has always felt a little improper, like ... "How could I even think of changing this book? I made it in 1989."
My thoughts changed, however, when I paired the Sweet As Spring collection to the bland pages of my book. I Rejuvenated a few of those pages in honor of this blog hop and of the Rejuvenating qualities of Spring.

Rejuvenation #1: "Summer, 1980"

One the left is the original, on the right is the new and Rejuvenated layout. I didn't move the photos but instead worked to enhance them. I also wanted to keep my mom's handwriting on the label, but as you can see in the original, the label is damaged and fading. Restoring the label was quite tricky. I'll be giving a technical tutorial on March 27th on the DHD Blog to explain how I preserved her handwriting while making it more legible. I'm also going to show how I replicated the typed journaling on the next layout, and also how to restore/Rejuvenate faded, yellowed newspaper articles.




Rejuvenation #2: "Oklahoma!"

I didn't move the photos but I did desaturate the colored photo (bottom right) and warmed it with an 81% photo filter to give this layout some consistency. I added just a bit of journaling, too. 






Rejuvenation #3: "Drill Team"


Again, I didn't move the photos, but I restored the typed journaling in the top left hand corner and tried my very best to work around the bright yellow flower card in the bottom right hand corner of this layout.






Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Rejuvenating these three layouts. I'm going to work on Rejuvenating the entire book now. I encourage you that if you're ever stuck in a rut and need something Rejuvenating to do, grab one of those old scrapbooks off the shelf and Rejuvenate a page or two.
And now, it's time to move onto the next blog. Don't forget to grab your clue here and at the other blogs you visit. You'll need them to get your free mega kit, “Sweet as Spring – a blog hop treasure!
Also, if you download the kit before Wednesday, March 27, you'll be entered into a drawing for a $15 gift certificate to the Design House Digital shop! That's some Rejuvenating fun right there.
And there's a challenge, too! Using just the Sweet as Spring collaboration kit (and your own photos, of course), to create your own project and put it into our Sweet  as Spring Challenge Gallery. Post your project before April 17, and you'll be entered into another drawing for a $15 gift certificate to the Design House Digital shop! 

My letter  for the coupon code is: R


The list below links to all the stops in the blog hop, or you can jump directly to the next blog: my friend Jen at Imaginenation


·        Sarah Sullivan
·        Vanessa Fenton
·        Inkling and Wit
·        Diane Rooney
·        Mary Moseley
·        Kristin Damon
·        Imaginenation
·        Courtney VanSickle
·        Kandy Caballero
·        Krystal Winn
·        Tracey Allen
·        Qadirah Gomez
·        Kelly Birrell
·        Amy Lanham

Thank you so much for stopping by and spending this fun, Rejuvenating time with me! 
Enjoy the rest of the hop, Kristin

Tuesday

TOMORROW.

TOMORROW! What's tomorrow you ask?
Tomorrow is this: A BLOG HOP AND PRIZE. A mega prize. MEGA as in huge and really beautiful.
And ... I'll be posting some older layouts ... from high school ... from the 80s. Aside from the other awesome blog posts by my fellow DHD designers, the coupon for the beautiful MEGA kit, and the fun that will be had over the course of the blog hop, seeing my big 80's hair will be worth participating tomorrow, I promise.

Thursday

Yep, I made this.

From pages from my books. And lots of hot glue. And lots of love. The end. 

Wednesday

My design style ...

I've been asked by a friend to describe my style.
Hmmm, I kind of don't know how to describe my style but here goes my best attempt at it:

- I like fonts and typography. I love love love to play with letters/words. I guess you could say I'm a wee bit trendy in that way.
- I'm addicted to patterns. I love a good patterned paper ... so many things you can do with it.
- I prefer a "clean" look to grunge, distressed, inked, etc. When I designed manufactured scrapbook products, my biggest competitor was Basic Gray, and then, they were all about highly distressing everything. I never understood their design concepts, but I sure loved some of their products.
- I love balance. I like things to be even and complete, unless a visual resting place is needed.
- I'm all about 8.5"X11". Still. This is another reason why a grunged or highly distressed edge around a 12"X12" paper will probably never come out of my studio.
- My color palettes tend to be on the bright and bold side of the spectrum but I'm learning how to use natural and neutral color schemes, too.
- I'm falling in love with three-dimensional stuff. I'm taking an online class to perfect this technique.
- I prefer simple to overwhelming ... except in certain patterns. Houndstooth is a "busier" pattern in my opinion, but I love it! And Argyle, too.
- I adore geometric shapes. I really do. I love squares and dots. See my $1 example of this below.

So, there you have it ... a little blurb about my style. What's yours?






Saturday

$1 Kits everyday in February at DHD ...

These $1 kits are amazing! Isn't February a great month to really get going on our digital scrapbooks?

Here's one of my $1 kits:




Tuesday

I wish ...

I wish I had more time. I wish I didn't need sleep. I wish I could stare at my computer monitor for hours and hours without my eyes stinging. Why? Because I'm seriously in love with this website!

DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL

Inspiration is usually a sporadic,  moment of luck for me ... except for when I'm at DHD. It's chock-full of inspiration, patterns, and happiness. I truly adore it!

Monday

February 12th!




Click on the image for more details or to purchase through Design House Digital. 

Friday

My new gig ...

and I couldn't be more excited. Or busier. Or more in need of a new right wrist. Who cares, right? I get to work with DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL. Can you tell I'm excited?

Check out this amazing one-stop shop for everything you'd ever want or need for your digital scrapbooking projects. The forums are amazing, the gallery is amazing, the contests, tutorials ... all of it just makes me giddy.

Go here: DHD