pcLayers just released a beautiful new Valentine's Day Kit by Celeste Rockwood-Jones titled "Rapture." It's chock full of rich, sumptuous, patterns to make your heart go pitter patter. I know mine did! And there's a great add on Quick Page kit on sale now for only $1.95 until the 14th! Ten quick, easy, and gorgeous 8 x 8 inch pages to make a fantastic album in just minutes!
Click on the image below to download your Free Quick Page!
Hi everyone! I'm Molly Newman, associate editor of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, and I'm here to wish you a happy Digital Scrapbooking Day and show you a few cool tricks for working with brushes. Thanks very much to Natalie for inviting us to help you celebrate.
If you're a dedicated digital scrapbooker, you've probably had this problem: You've downloaded tons of brushes, whether as individual items or as part of digital kits. It doesn't take long for the collection to start getting out of hand, and you can't remember what you've acquired, let alone where the files are located, when it's time to use them. And in order to see what the brushes in a set look like, you've first got to load them into your photo editing software: a time-consuming, often frustrating process.
Fortunately, there's a free solution at hand--the open source program abrViewer. This simple but powerful piece of software helps you keep tabs on your brushes simply and easily. I'll walk you through the basics of using the program. When you're ready to get started, download the ZIP file to install and get ready to have quicker, easier access to your brush collection.
To get a better look at any screenshot below, click it to open a full-sized version in a separate window.
1. Start by corralling your brush files in a single location. Use your operating system's built-in search tool to search for all files containing .abr in their names.
2. Sort the resulting list by type. Click and drag to select all brush (.ABR) files. Copy these files and paste them into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements' default brush folder. (For Windows users of Photoshop CS3, this location is C:Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS3/Presets/Brushes. For Photoshop Elements users, this location is C:Program Files/Adobe/Photoshop Elements/Presets/Brushes.)
3. Launch abrViewer. In the Folders tab, click Load Brushes. Select the folder where you've just placed your brush sets and click OK.
4.
To view the brushes contained in a particular set, right-click the set's name (Mac: Option-click) and select Show. A preview of each brush image will appear in the right panel of the window. The default preview size is 80 pixels; I find this size a little too small to be useful. You can change the preview size by increasing or decreasing the Thumbnails size value in the Viewing options panel.
5. After choosing a brush set for your project, right-click its name in the Folders panel and select Install. The next time you launch Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, the brush set will be ready to use.
6. In addition to viewing brushes with abrViewer, you can sort them into themed collections that make it easy to find a brush that suits your needs. Click the Favorites tab to view a list of current collections. Create a new collection by right-clicking (Mac: Option-click) in the Favorites panel and choosing Add New Collection. Right-click the new collection's name and choose Rename Collection to give it a descriptive title. In addition to names of styles (Grunge, Elegant, Cute) or types of elements (Borders, Corners, Frames), consider creating collections for favorite manufacturers or designers as well.
7. To sort brushes into collections, return to the Folders panel. Right-click (Mac: Option-click) on a brush set's name and choose Add to Collection from the pop-up menu. Navigate to the desired collection and click to select it.
Now you're ready to use abrViewer's basic organization and brush viewing functions. You can also use it to create PNG images from existing brushes (perfect for converting Photoshop brushes for use with other photo editing programs such as Paint Shop Pro). You can even create printable previews of your brush collections if you like to have an "offline" reference to flip through.
Want to learn more about keeping your digital kits, elements and photos organized? Check out "The Nitty-Gritty of Organization" in the October/November 2008 issue of Digital Scrapbooking. And have a great Digital Scrapbooking Day!
Hooray for Freebies! And in honor of Digi Scrap Day Jessie whipped up this amazing 4x6 photo album for you. It's a "Year in Review" with 12 pages perfect for putting a photo from each month with a tag on the opposite page with just the right amount of journaling or dating. I especially love this cover made from all digital 7 Gypsies scrapbook products. The cover is available here on the blog for download but the rest of the kit was too large, so you will find it here. Have fun! And remember prepped empty albums make great gifts for friends to fill in with their memories from this past year as well. They would make fun stocking stuffers! All the recipient has to do is add photos and a bit of writing!
Click on this image to be taken to get the rest of the pages from www.pcLayers.com (pictured below!):
This is such a great project for
anyone just beginning digi or scrapbooking in general. You don't even
have to have a fancy program to use them; just print, cut out, bind,
glue and write.
Click on this image to download the mini album 7 Gypsies cover image:
We wanted to make sure your trick or treaters were getting their treats in high style, so here are some super fashionable bag toppers made from Celeste Rockwood-Jones' "Jack" kit. They make super cute gifts for neighbors and friends too with fresh baked cookies or other goodies inside (and using a larger sandwich sized bag). Too cute!
Be sure to check by on Saturday November 1st for links to a fun freebie mini album!
If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out Digiscrap 101. Such a super fun site created by Kayla Lamoreaux with all kinds of great features, you can watch great tutorials, chat with friends, set up your own page, and meet some new friends! But be warned.....it's addicting!
It's about that time of year again when the big yellow buses start running around bunches of adorably prepared kids for the first days of school. Boy do I miss back to school shopping! But I do not miss memorizing multiplication tables. One of the many joys of being a "grown up."
And kudos to all of you who conquer finding everything on your shopping lists, and do it so well year after year. We have a new school digital scrapbooking kit up on the pcLayers website for just such an occasion, if you like this freebie be sure to check out "Teacher's Pet." It would be perfect paired up with Aly Dosdall's recently released "School" layered template. So quick and easy!
And here's a word from Jessie about our new challenge on pcLayers:
Hey everybody, we are going to start having digital scrapbooking challenges periodically at the www.pclayers.com community. We would love for you to join us and play along. This is my first time ever hosting a challenge and I really want you all to join me and participate, also any feedback you have for me on how you feel the challenge went is gratefully appreciated! The winner of each challenge will receive a prize. Beginners welcome! Everybody, experienced or not should join the fun and see what you can come up with! Here are the rules…
1. *All entries must include at least 2 pieces of pcLayers artwork in order to be qualified to win (freebies count).
2. *All entries must be named like the following… “pcL_Challenge01_(name of your page)”
*All entries must be uploaded to our gallery by 09/17/2008 (with the correct name scheme) in order to be qualified to win.
3. *Have fun and be creative.
5. *Have questions? Email us at support@pclayers.com.
6. *Winner will be posted on our blog by 6pm MST 09/19/2008 be sure to check back then to see if you won!
Winner of each challenge will get $10.00 in their pcPurse for pcLayers.com (winners for this challenge will be chosen at random)
Now for the challenge. This challenge will be for you to create a digital page (using at least 2 images from pclayers) the theme is “Back to School” you can create anything around this theme, don’t be afraid to be creative! One of our artists Natalie Malan has created 2 great freebie kits to get you all started. One is below, and you'll find the other on her blog. Good luck and have fun!! I can’t wait to see what you create!!
And if you are looking for another cute coordinating freebie, check out this one available on my blog:
Looking for something summery and sweet to scrap your summer photos? Try this new kit by Sara Schmutz: Summer Sorbet! We bet your sweet tooth will like it as much as ours did.
I just wanted to be sure to let you all know we just introduced Aly Dosdall's fabulous layered templates exclusively at pcLayers!!! This first release is of a "School" themed layered Photoshop CS3 or Elements Template. Be sure to check out her great blog too at: http://alydosdall.blogspot.com She's got some wonderful examples of fun pages you can create with this template, and much more!
I am a flag/American/liberty lovin'/freedom/patriotic country girl! {I also love banners} Leere' Aldrich created this beautiful digital scrapbooking kit exclusively for pcLayers.com and I was so inspired by the rich colors that I knew I would use this to do something very special and close to my heart. Download this Freebie and enjoy your LIBERTY this Independence Day...take tons of pictures...run through a sprinkler...put your hand on your heart and celebrate!!! A hug from my heart, Lori G. PS...forgive the photo, yikes!
all terms of use from pcLayers.com apply to this download
If you're like me you can never have too many butterflies. And this spring it seems like butterflies are everywhere in fashion and design, so what better time to offer a butterfly themed digital freebie! These particular butterflies co-ordinate with the new Flutter digital scrapbooking kit available now in the pcLayers shoppe. Spend a few moments perusing Melissa Phillips' fabulous blog and you'll endlessly spot inspirational ways to use butterflies on your projects! Also new this week in the shoppe are some fantastic glitter layer styles by Natalie Malan. what are you waiting for, check them out!
Also be sure to head on over to my blog for another co-ordinating freebie, PLUS a chance to WIN a FREE FLUTTER KIT!! (winner will be announced monday june 23rd)
happy weekend!
