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Quick PhotoShop Tip

Cristy — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:33:15 +0000

There are many ways to make selections in Photoshop. Some are easy, some can get tricky. I find one of the easiest and fastest ways to select text for example, whether it’s been rasterized or not, and as long as it’s in its own layer is by holding down the APPLE (Command) key and clicking on the text layer. This method is more accurate than say using the MagicWand, especially if you’ve added effects or blending options. The same goes for selecting artwork in other layers.

This tip has come in handy many a times.

Try it!

Happy Scrapping!

Blackout SVG Files

Cristy — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:59:18 +0000

Here’s a tip I just learned about and have started incorporating into my paper piecing collections.

Blackout SVG files!

What are they?

A blackout file is an SVG file which contains the outline of an assembled paper piecing pattern.

Genius!!!

This makes it extra easy to assemble the patterns! Plus, makes the whole thing much sturdier!

Here’s a sample of one my latest paper piecing buddies and its blackout file:

So,

Send the pieces including the blackout file to cut and assemble the pattern by laying each piece over the blackout using the outlines as a guide!

Genius!

Happy Scrapping!

Digital Scrapbooking Tip for Illustrator Users

Cristy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:55:35 +0000

New to Illustrator? Here’s a quick tip on how to create a “stitched” look. Make sure you check out my other Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials.

1. Open a new file or a file you’re working on. FILE < NEW or FILE < OPEN…

2. Select the shape tool from the tool palette on the left. I’ll be using the square tool for this tutorial (Figure 1).

3. Drag the cursor to your desired size. If you hold the Shift key while dragging you’ll get a perfect square, otherwise you’ll end up with a rectangle. (Figure 2)

4. By default your square or rectangle is filled-in white and has a black stroke. You can keep these colors or alter them to match your layout or whatever you’re creating. Make sure you keep the square or rectangle selected.

5. Next go the Stroke palette located on the right side of your desktop. You’ll see an option for “Dashed Line”, click the box next to it (Figure 3).

6. By default, the first “dash” box is filled at 12pt, this gives a rather large dash or “stitch” (Figure 4) so to change that click the box and type in 6pt (Figure 5). To open or close the gap between the stitches, click the “gap” box and enter the value of your choice, I typed in 6pt, to keep an even ration between the stitches and gaps. You’ll also notice there are two more sets of dash and gap boxes. Those can be left empty or you can play around with the values there and see the different effects you can get.

7. That’s it! Easier than actually sewing, right? (Figure 6)

Note: Whatever setting you have in the strokes palette will be applied to any other shape you draw using the shapes tool until you change the settings or open a new file.

Happy Scrapping!