Five Minute Loopy Flowers

These flowers are so quick and easy, you'll become addicted to making them!

STEP 1: Cut felt into desired width. This sample is about 2.5" wide.

STEP 2: Fold the strip in half length-wise and baste the two edges together using embroidery floss of strong thread.

STEP 3: On the loopy side cut into the strip like you are making fringe. These will be your flower petals. Below is a side view of the loop flower petals you have created so far.

STEP 4: Cut your thread and pull the two ends together, cinching the flower into a circle. Tie a knot with the two loose ends to close.

STEP 5: Cover the center opening with a large button or embellish with other felt layers/flowers/etc. as desired. Your cute flower is ready to use in a project! :D

Cut your strip wider for larger flowers. You can then layer these together to make a fuller looking flower, as shown below.

Another fun option is to use sharp pinking scissors to cut your "fringe" flower petals.

Here is a sample flower with two layers of zig-zagged petals.

I made the one below using crepe paper birthday streamers. Instead of stitching the two edges together, I glued them, cut the fringe, and then attached the strip of loopy fringe to a punched circle cardstock base.
Here is the back of the birthday streamer flower.
For a shabby flower, I used wide grosgrain ribbon. When you cut the fringe into the ribbon the edges fray a bit, giving you this cute look!
Here's another sample. This ribbon had wire in it which I simply removed after stitching the two edges together.

You can layer your different flowers together to create infinite possibilities!

And here is a card I made using one of my flowers. (Card design inspired by Melissa Phillips)

I hope you have fun with this technique!!!! Link us up to your creations! We'd love to see them!

Photoshop Tip

Ever have a picture that would be perfect if it didn't have such and ugly or distracting background? or ever have a picture that you want to highlight something in it while minimizing the view of the rest of the photo? Well here is how you do it.

Now i am using PSE 5 but the instructions should still be pretty much the same.
Now i know it looks like a lot but trust me...this can be done in a matter of 5 minutes. I just did every step to show you without missing anything. it truly is only about 3 major steps. So don't feel overwhelmed.

here we go: **note** you will probably have to click the pics to enlarge it..this was the best i can do. grrrrr!!!!

This is my original pic


Step 1:

Open your photo. And make sure when you hit the edit button you are on full edit see the top left hand corner?



Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color to create your photo overlay.


Click OK to create a new layer titled color Fill 1.


The color picker tool will appear. Select the color you would like your overlay to be and click OK.


Your photo will fill with the foreground color you chose.


Slide the opacity slider at the top of the layers palette (top right hand corner) to about 50% ( i used 70% for this picture) You should see your original image to show up underneath the color overlay. Adjust the opacity to your likings.


Select the Rectangle Marquee tool if you want square or the elliptical if you want oval or round. While holding down the shift key, draw a circle or square (whichever you choose around your photo's focal point. make sure the box in the lower left corner that has a black and a white square that BLACK IS ON TOP..if it is not hit the "d" key to change it.

go to Edit > Fill Selection. in the fill dialog box choose foreground from the dropdown list and click ok. Mine is already done like this so i didn't have to change anything. You should see the overlay within the selection disappear, revealing the photo underneath. DO NOT deactivate this because we will be using it next. Your screen should look like this

now go to Layer > New > Layer

click ok.

Now your forground color should now be White. If it is not white click "X".
Go to Edit > Stroke (outline) selection.

In the Stroke dialog box type 10 pixels for the width.

Click ok and print as you normally would do. You can flatten your image if you want to save a copy of the picture you just created.

This is my final layout i did. What i actual did for this was printed 2 pictures just alike. I cut the box out of one picture and adhered it with pop dots to the other picture for more dimension.


Any questions feel free to shoot me an email (greta(dot)adams@gmail.com and i will try and help you.
have fun and I would love to see what you do using this tip!

Tu- Tu Tulle

I have a new obsession.......tulle! Like I needed another obsession...right? I have found myself grabbing this light airy fabric a lot lately. I have been using it on my LO's as well as my cards. What do you need to attach tulle? Colored floss, fabric glue, or thread. Sometimes a combo of the three. For this first LO, I threaded my button and snowflake with floss, then tied it around the center of my tulle/tinsel combo. Using fabric glue, I glued the snowflake/tulle combo to my page. When it was dry I twisted the tulle a bit and tied buttons threaded with floss to it. Use fabric glue to tack down your ends.

This next LO is quick and easy! Just tie a length of tulle around the page. Cut excess ends off and add a drop of glue to underside of bow. I added some pretty stick pins to center.

For this LO, I tied my flower threaded with floss to center of tulle. (Tulle is a pale yellow here) Again, I twisted tulle and used fabric glue to tack it down. (Just an FYI, the current kit, Nightingale includes this pretty yellow tulle! This LO was created using this awesome kit!)

You can also create "faux" skirts with tulle! For this card I took a rectangular piece of tulle and folded it over several times. (Otherwise tulle it is very transparent). Take a needle and thread, use a straight stitch to go across the "waistband." When done, pull thread to gather the waistband. Knot thread. Again, use fabric glue to position "skirt" where you want it.

I did the same thing for this skirt, but added rhinestones to her waistband.

How about tying a bow with tulle? That's what I did here for this card. I wanted the cherub to look like she was holding it up! Easy right? : ) (Again, used the Nightingale kit for this card!)

Used lot of the black tulle for this one!

I hope I've inspired you to look at tulle a whole new way! It is a fun, light, easily manipulated fabric! : )

Time Saver

I know we all wish we could have plenty of time to scrap -- but usually that is not the case. Here is a tip that can save you a bit of time.

When I started scrapping I picked up this tip and it is one that is super helpful. With cardstock cut the most popular size photos that you tend to use. Cutting more that one of each size is helpful as well. These can help you when you are putting a page together and are not quite sure how big or small you may want the pictures. And even if you don't print at home this can also help you figure out what size photos you may want to order.

I keep these within reach so that if I want to add more photos I can easily decide which size. Hope this was helpful!

Using Brushes in Photoshop (and making your own digi stuff!)

Are you intimidated by digital stuff? Me too, don't worry- I'm right there with you!

I've been picking up things here and there, but I'm definitely not "there" yet... but I wanted to share one of my favorite tricks and give you a little Valentine's treat today!

Below are some journaling cards/embellishments that you can save and print out and use. Just click on the images (it'll open them up big) and then right click and save image.

I don't have a great printer at home, so when I make these, I size them at 4x6", so that whenever I'm printing off photos, I just add them to the cart and presto- a set of printed digital elements the next time I get pics!



These next two I designed specifically to go with the new Nightingale kit- now on sale!



I'm going to teach you today how you can make some of these yourself- or at least, begin experimenting! It's super easy and fast... I made these over the course of a few minutes each!

In order to do this project, you're going to need to open photoshop- I use CS for this tutorial.

Then you need to go to one of these sites and download some brushes; save them and extract them somewhere where you can find them easily.

My Photoshop Brushes

BrushEezy

Next, open a new document in photoshop. You can do these on top of a photo or just on a 4x6 white document.
Click on this little paintbrush tool.
Then click up there on the tool bar on the little "down" arrow and a window will open with your default brushes. Your program will come with a couple loaded. If it looks weird or hard to see them, we can change that in a sec.
Click on the little right hand arrow and a new menu will pop up. Click on the "large thumbnails" thing so that a checkmark shows up next to it- that will make it easier to see your brushes. Then click on "Load Brushes" and you'll be able to go load those brushes you downloaded earlier. It's as easy as clicking on the icon and clicking "load!"
You can then click on the little thumbnail of whatever brush you want to play with, and start clicking away on your document. Think of it as "stamping" digitally. A few tips I've learned:

Change up the colors and layer brushes using different shades. Just click on those double squares I've got circled and select your colors!


Sometimes you'll click on your brush and nothing will show up. It's 'cause it's too big. You can change the size by lowering those numbers I have circled, OR you can use the [ keystroke to make it smaller.

They're fun added to photos too, like this!
Have fun experimenting- you can layer lots of different kinds of brushes and add text to make really unique journaling blocks or pre-made accents for your pages- custom made for you!

Here's a list of direct links to some of the brushes I used on the journaling blocks above:

Fancy Frames

Lace

Hearts

Vintage Hands