Photoshop Elements Technique: Vintage Photo

Have you ever wanted to make a recent photo look like it was from the era of your grandmother? Well now you can! Just follow these quick and easy steps using Photoshop Elements( I use version 8 but it will work with older versions just a few things may be a little different.)

Steps:

Open your photo in Photoshop, raw or jpeg. First you will want to duplicate the background layer, you can do this by right clicking on the background layer and selecting duplicate layer or you can find it under Layer, duplicate layer.

Then you will want to change the photo to Sepia color but make sure before you do this you have the background layer copy selected in the layers box. You can do this by clicking on the adjustments layer icon (this looks like a circle that is half black and half white and is located at the bottom of the layer box) and selecting adjust hue/saturation. Then click the colorize box and adjust the hue and saturation until you reach the desired color of sepia tone. For my photo I went with Hue 29 and Saturation 21.

Then with the background copy selected again go under Filter, Noise, Add Noise. A dialogue box will pop up and allow you to choose a percentage. I went with 25%.

Then select the burn tool which is sometimes hidden under the sponge tool (you can change which tool is selected by clicking on it and holding down to see what the other options are.) After selecting burn adjust the settings to Pixels about 330, Range midtones and 25% exposure. Then to be able to use the burn tool you must flatten your image. You can find this under Layer, Flatten image, then reduplicate the background layer. Go around the edges of the photo until all edges are darkened to your liking going heavy in the very corners. This technique is hard to do so sometimes you may want to just start over and try again. The best way to do this is to just delete the background copy and reduplicate the layer.

Now you have a fun Vintage looking photo. This technique would be fun to try on a photo of you or your children and say it was their grandma or something, lol!

Sketch Idea with sample layout

Hi All,
It's time to share a sketch and a sample layout I did. I hope you like both the sketch and the sample. You don't have to take sketches so literally either. Use it for inspiration in general or even flip the layout around somewhat as I did in this example.

I am not a sketch person so much but I will admit I am inspired by Becky Fleck's PageMaps sketches. I used a sketch from her site for the layout I created.

Sketch from PageMaps:


Jen's layout using sketch for inspiration:


Thanks for looking and happy creating!
Jen

TTT Kit Giveaway!

***UPDATED WITH WINNER***

Congrats to the winner of the Cosmo Cricket kit this weekend!!

The winner is:
Teresa Jaye who said...
wow, so much to choose from, and all beautiful but I am dying to get my hands on some of the Crate Pink Plum for sure!

Congrats!! Please email me with your name and address so I can send your kit out to you!

COSMO CRICKET Blog Giveaway Continuation!!

Welcome to TTT's Blog! If you came here from the COSMO CRICKET blog...you're at the right place for your chance to win another kit from TTT!

As you might already know...TTT is one of the only kit clubs that offers 3 kits each month! Kit #1 is usually a girly kit, kit #2 is usually a boyish kit and kit #3 is usually boy/girl or a seasonal kit. (kit members are allowed to skip up to 2 months if there's a month that you want to pass on)

Click Here for more information about our Monthly Kit Subscriptions 6 Month subscriptions are $27.25 + shipping.

Click Here for to read the FAQ's about our kits

I will be giving away another TTT kit!

There are two easy ways to be entered into the drawing for the free kit.

1) You can receive your first entry into the drawing by signing up for the TTT newsetter...by doing this you will receive emails each month of the kit pictures and other special promotions going on.

CLICK here to sign up for the newsletter

2) You can receive a second entry into the drawing by leaving a comment on this post telling me what your favorite upcoming TTT kit is. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TTT KITS MARCH-AUGUST.

A winner will be drawn Monday (March 22nd) in the morning and then posted on the TTT blog..you have until midnight (PST) the night before that to sign up for the newsletter.

Just a reminder about TTT's kit promotion going on right now for TWO WEEKS ONLY....

New kit customers can sign up for a 6 month kit subscription and receive a fun goodie bag filled with scrapbooking stuff! (Offer for the goodie bag ends April 2nd)

Here are some pictures of TTT kits from the past few months:

If you have any questions....please email me! (info@transparenttouches.com)

PLANNING A VACATION THIS YEAR?? COME ON A CRUISE WITH TTT!
7 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean
October 10, 2010
prices start at $593 per person+taxes

This fabulous cruise is on 10-10-10 leaving from Port Canaveral and sailing to CocoCay, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. It is on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas ship. Bring your family and friends! Non-scrapbooking family and friends will discover many activities to keep them entertained while you scrapbook! Scrapbookers on the cruise will enjoy classes on the days at sea--including a fabulous class designed by Teresa Collins for the TTT cruise (taught by TTT owner), studio/open crop time and you can leave your things in the crop room for the duration of the cruise! Goodie bags, prizes and make 'n' takes will also be part of the cruise.

Have a great weekend!
Monica

Title Technique

Do you ever get the urge to create a double layer title but you can't create it because of the dimension of the letters. Well, here is a great technique for layering your title with a transparency using dimensional letters.

First, lay down the large part of your title on your layout.
Second, place the small part of your title on a transparency and cut around it.

Third, use glue dots to adhere the small title to the bottom edge or top of your large title.

The smooth surface of the transparency allows your small title to sit nicely on top of your large title while using dimensional letters such as the thickers I used.

Transparent Tuesday

Well it's Tuesday so how about we share some of the layouts made by the design team using TTT transparencies. Check them out!

By Carrie and Jen:


By Chrystal:


By Nathalie and Chrissy:

TTT APRIL MONTHLY KITS!

TTT APRIL 2010 kits are up!
Each kit features *NEW* papers from CHA!!

(You do not have to be a TTT kit member to purchase kits and sale items)

If you haven't already emailed me to let me know which kit(s) you'd like for APRIL...please do so. If you would like to order an extra kit, just let me know which ones you'd like and I will put you down for those. I try to keep up with the kit emails as they come in so I know when a kit is sold out...but you may not get an email response from me confirming your choice for a few days. It takes me quite a while to go through them individually. Thanks for your patience! If you have a question in your email, I do try to answer those quickly.

~TTT KIT CLUB SPECIAL PROMOTION GOING ON NOW~

Sign up for a 6 month kit subscription or renew your subscription for 6 months, OR refer a friend to TTT for 6 months and receive a FREE GIFT! (must mention the special to receive the gift)

There are3 great kits offered for the month of APRIL...plus some great add ons and extra things available!


CLICK HERE for more information about TTT kit subscriptions.

CLICK HERE to read the FAQ's about TTT's kits.


SAVE THE DATE:
1) April 8-11 with be our next cyber crop!! We will have lots of games, challenges and prizes. We hope you will join us!! Lots of details to come.

2) Scrapbook Fun Fest is an all day scrap event (10am-10pm) on May 29th in southern Oregon at 7 Feathers Casino. I will be a vendor at this event! If you want more information and to buy a ticket, just go here for more info: SCRAPBOOK FUN FEST


Also...Just a reminder that there is a new Monthy Contest with a prize this month using ANY of your TTT kits!!

Click here for details. Entries are due at the end of March.

There's also a sketch challenge contest with prize this month... details are here!

Have you seen the upcoming paper companies I'm using for upcoming TTT kits???

TAKE A LOOK HERE TO SEE WHAT'S COMING UP THROUGH AUGUST!!!




To see full list of each kit description, click on the kit picture below

APRIL #1: Little Yellow Bicycle: Clothesline











APRIL #2: Little Yellow Bicycle: Lucky Me (NOW SOLD OUT) (email me if you'd like to be on the waiting list for this kit)










APRIL #3: Crate Paper: Brooke mixed with My Mind's Eye: Little Boy Blue

You don't have to be a kit member to purchase these items. You can send me an email letting me know what you'd like to order. Thanks!

I have a couple of monthly kits available from past months (prices vary) (Click on the name of the kit to see a picture of it)


August #2: $24

September #3: $24 (I have two left)

November #1 $25

December #2 $27

January #2: $27

February #3: $27

March #1: $27.25

March #3: $27.25

PLANNING A VACATION THIS YEAR?? COME ON A CRUISE WITH TTT!
7 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean
October 10, 2010
prices start at $593 per person+taxes

March Kit #1 Layouts

It's time to reveal the pages and projects created by the TTT design team using all three March kits. Here are the awesome pages completed by design team member Carrie.

Carrie's Designs:

March Kit #2 Layouts

Take a look at the pages created by design team members Chrissy and Jen using March's kit #2.

Chrissy's Designs:



Jen's Designs:

March Kit #3 Layouts

Take a look at the wonderful designs by TTT designers Nathlie and Chrystal. They used the March 2010 kit to create all these wonderful goodies.

Nathalie's Designs:




Chrystal's Designs: