jamie pate: food and family traditions

Today I am posting over on HeidiSwapp's blog and am sharing our family's traditional fare of Pumpkin Scones we share on Thanksgiving morning. Hope you will hop over and check out all those details.

But today let's get a little digi with it and talk about creating with digital elements. Digital papers and frames and elements add so much versatility to our creative endeavors. From making cards, to hybrid projects to even the traditional layout. I do not 'scrap' digitally, but I am always creating in some way digitally and am a bit addicted. As I made a little layout for my post over at Heidi's, I wanted to show you how it came together. All elements are from Heidi's Digital Shop. My current software of choice is PhotoshopElements. Brushes can be used in pse, as well as layering. So that is what we are going to do today.

1. Open up a new canvas in your photo software and size it to 6x5 inches. Now open a digital background paper and drop it on top of the 6x5 canvas. (I am using a digital paper that is no longer available in Heidi's shop, but you can use any background you desire.)
This is what you should have so far::

2.Open up your image of choice. Then open up a frame from the Vintage Insta Frames. I used frame number 4. Drag the photo on top of the Insta Frame. Using the move tool, situate the photo so it fits in the frame. Then in your layers palette, move the frame so that it sits on top of the photo.
This is what it will look like in layers::

And this is what your framed photo should look like::

3. Open the SugarChicNoteCards and click on the Remember Card. Drag this on top of the first 6x5 canvas::

4. Now it's time to pretend that it is a flat piece of traditional patterned paper and start playing.
Click on the framed photo and command+shift+e. This will flatten the photo and the frame. Drag and drop photo to the top of above canvas. Use move tool to resize, tilt, and place on top of the canvas::

5. Open the 'little' and the 'heaven' from the Gratitude Brush kit. Change the color by choosing Edit>Fill Layer>and choose which Color preferred. Use the Move tool to drag and drop the words where desired on the canvas. By clicking the square corners that surround the word, you can change the size to what you prefer::

6. Still with me???...

Now click on the text tool. Choose your text. ( I used TravelingTypewriter...on of my favorites.) Click down on the canvas. Add your extra words. Use the Move tool to place them where needed::

7. Lastly drag a LabelSticker and a sentiment/rubon from the ColorfulInstaframes and drag and drop them in place::

8. And that is basically a simple little digital layout ala HeidSwapp Digital products.

One last touch I like to add to my digital projects is a bit of a white vignette on the edges. Flatten the image in Layers first. Click on the Rectangle Marquee tool. Draw a frame just inside the parameters of the canvas.

Click on Select>Feather. Mine is set to 50, click OK. Click Select>Inverse. Then go to Edit>Fill Layer> and select white. Then just click outside the canvas and the image will be deselected. This will add just a touch of soft white around the edges if you wish::