Ideas on updating your blog - part 1 x

Hello everyone and firstly a BIG thank you for the really helpful and supportive comments you have left me for my new blog design. It's not completely finished because the class is still running but I thought I would share a few snippets to explain how and why I changed.

So firstly, I have had alot of time sitting here feeling ill but when I have had good days or parts of days, I've tried to keep my mind active and ticking over. I have done a few Photoshop classes with Jessica Sprague before and am on her mailing list, so when a class called ''Bloom your blog'' landed in my inbox I thought, ''Oooh that sounds interesting!''.
The lovely thing about Jessica's classes is that everything is explained clearly and simply, you do need to know how to use Photoshop Elements or Photoshop, there is always loads of class downloads and video tutorials as well as handouts, and there is a class forum for this class to share queries and advise. The cost was also very good for a class like this. So I jumped in and joined the class.

Secondly, I have never really used much of myself in my blog design, plenty in blog posts but not what you would call alot of me. I wanted something fresh and simple but with a hint of my personality and interests. One of the first things we had to do was create a colour scheme we like and this was very much based on colours which appealed to us but also, and more importantly, colour linked to our personality. I have always been drawn to pinks, lemon and blue shades  so most of my mood board was in those colours. Jessica also encouraged us to look at colour psychology and I found an excellent graphic design site which explained this very clearly.

Pink is a  feminine, romantic, compassionate, warm and nurturing

 Blue is an intelligent colour, it’s logical, ordered, calm and efficient, coolness, serenity even and trust

 Yellow is an emotional colour, it exudes emotional strength, self esteem and friendliness.

Having read around the subject of colour and psychology I knew I had found the right shades for me and my blog. I want my readers to feel welcomed and have a sense of friendliness when they arrive, and over time I hope that my readers find coming here to be a positive, uplifting and interesting experience. If you want to find out more about colour psychology, then pop over here to read more.

The third part of this process was to find the perfect colours and ideas for the new image. For this I am so grateful I have developed a love of Pinterest. It is the perfect place to look for colour, style and design ideas, plus it can link you to places you never expected to go. I firstly looked at the different colour palettes and made a selections of these which I really liked and was particularly struck by the more chalky colours. They seemed more fresh and muted than the main colours I'd chosen. Once I had pinned down exactly what I was looking for I spent alot of time looking at other blogs. This was great for identifying the style of blog I liked and the extra little pieces I felt I wanted to add to my blog such as a new photo of myself and some linked buttons so my readers could contact and follow me and get to Pinterest easily.

So here are just a few of the things I pinnned....................

No 3 : came a from blog called The Ardent Sparrow
No 1: This card of colours came from The Photo Card Boutique 
No 2: You can also find great colour combinations at Design Seeds
I really loved Kristin's blog design especially here circular photo and the tab top pages. 
I also loved the style and colouring of design guru Will's blog  

You can find my full Pinterest board here
 
I hope this will help other bloggers gain a taste of what we learned and I be back with another part soon.

Prize.

I have just had an email from Ella Publishing who if you remember I won a prize from on their super scapbookers week a couple of weeks ago. I won via Cathy Z...............thanx again Cathy. Anyway this is what I have won,

Photo Editing: Good-to-Great Workflowby Jessica Sprague. I have done a few of her classes and learnt alot of my digital scrapbooking via her site. I am really excited about this class as her teaching videos are excellent and clear. You have permanent access to them and take them at your own pace. Jessica also gives you extra things to try out to improve your skills. Here is how she describes this class.......

''In this self-paced, video-based class, you'll learn how to make edits to your photos that will make your heart sing! Basic, global editing techniques for RAW and JPG photos, plus lots of extras!''

Having completed Shimelle's class in photography I have wanted to learn more about improving my pictures digitally too so this will be the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

Take the Quiz here!

 Oh and apparently I am this Jane Austen character!!!!!!!

I am 200!!!!!!!!

Yes it's true, I have reached the grand old blog number of 200 posts. Now many of u will say that's pitiful but to me that is a cool number. I feel the blog is hanging in their despite the recent Internet problems and I have developed from 0 followers to 28, and had over 1,800 visitors. Very exciting. So what shall we do to celebrate? I have already pampered Curlyscrapbooker with a facial and some Oil of Olay to keep her looking spick and span and I am looking for some new things to do. There might even be some cupcakes and beer later as it is so warm. The bunting and balloons are ready so come on in and take the weight off ur feet for a while.


I am having a hot air balloon look cos being 200 is pretty good these days!!!!!!!!


Anyway rather than do a giveaway or anything like that I thought I'd share some new information I have found about some free clesses coming up as pass the parcel pressies, and no you dont have to do any forfeits.
Firstly if you follow Cathy Zielske's blog you will know what an amazing teacher she is and she does digital/hybrid video tutorials. Today she has a fab video showing how to do exactly that with a digi-template and there are downloadable instructions to keep all for ZILCH!!!!
Secondly, Jessica Sprague is 3 years old, well her site is so she is holding a free class on digital development.
What I love about Jessica's classes are that not only is she a g8 teacher and explains everything clearly and simply, she uses videos and also supportive handouts to explain everything. The classes are available after u have finished for life so u can come back and watch the videos over and over. She also has the most amazing digital kits and gives you loads of freebies and wonderful ideas. Give it a go.
As you know Shimelle is doing a new class but she hasnt blogged about it yet today so watch this space. As of 10pm Shimelle has put up details of the new class.........photography at a reduced rate til the end of the week, plus another class for later on.
Abi from Creating Paper Dreams has finished her exams but informs us she needs to do 100 hours of intelligent reading over the hols to get a chance at Oxbridge!!!!!!! Scarey. Do u think crime thrillers count or children's books as I read alot of those.
I actually read Alice in Wonderland the other day in one sitting as I have never read it and wondered what all the fuss is about. I loved the Cheshire Cat.......................isnt he aWESOME! he can disappear, cool.

and the croquet match with flamingos and hedgehogs but most of it I have to admit I found quite silly. Shame on me I suppose. I also have Through the Looking Glass which I will add to the list. There is an awful lot of Alice around at the mo isnt there? Shimelle went to an Alice inspired party if u check out her blog. Are there any books u've wanted to read and then been disappointed? Do tell!

Anyway hope u have found some interesting places to visit and maybe sign up for a new class or just ruminate over one for the future. Thanx for following my blogging so far and please do come back again for more curlyscrapbooker blogs in the future.
Now go home with your party cupcake and enjoy.

How to make background paper out of a Wordle.

Firstly open photoshop and prepare a new document. I have for this tutorial made a background page of 12 x 12 inches with a 300 pixels/inch res. This seems to be the most common for scrapbooking digitally on courses I've taken.

This will bring up a document page like the one in this above picture.
wNext open your background paper sheet ready tp layer onto the background.
Click and use the move tool to move the paper onto the background layer in Photoshop. Your layers palette will now look like this.
Next open your Wordle from it's file and it will come into Photoshop, click and drag it down onto the prepared background layer. You will probably, like me have had to manipulate this file by taking a screenshot of it on the Wordle site. Click and move this layer onto the background.
You should now have a layer palette which looks like this.
My wordle came out small so on the main page it appears like this.
Next click and move the wordle layer down to the righthand corner of the layer, this is so you can enlarge it to the size you want.
Pull from the top lefthand corner, as you face ur screen until the wordle layer covers the background paper completely.
Click OK on the arrow to commit and the page focuses, neat!
Now ur layers palette looks like this
At the top of the layers palette click on the box marked ''normal'', scroll down the list until ''screen'' appears and click on this.
Your page will now look like this as any black is drained from the wordle layer and allows the background paper to shine through. You can also alter the opacity of the layer by using the slider on the opacity tool in the layers palette to make your wordle fade more.
The clever bit is the wordle looks the same in the layers palette. Click ''save as'' and then you can layer up your background paper with photos and embellishments etc. This is a cool way to make your own papers. And a g8 way for Mel to use all her amazing wordles.


I learnt this clever trick on Jessica Sprague's class Type and Writer 2. She is a fab tutor and uses alot of video teaching broken down into easy tasks. Give it a go.

Here's one for Mel

.......................can you all see the words which are quite pale on the background of this LO? It is easier to see at the top, but Jessica S has just shown me how to use my wordles to add into LOs, how cool is that!!!!!

Blog happy.

So I've just come back from watching Dr Who....................best episode all year!!

I have also been on todays blog train and seen some awesome stuff and added some new blogs to my faves and following. There were some amazing LOs out there and some great blogs..........well done everyone. I've also got 2 more followers which considering my terrible blogging is pretty awesome so thanx to you all you've cheered me up no end!!! :))

I think the blog train is a fantastic idea as it has given me a really easy means of checking out some incredibly gifted individuals. I am truly in awe. A common theme seems to be the Scrap your Christmas. Now I did Shimelle's class for the first time last year and I'm sad to say it's still unfinished. HOWEVER, capitols for emphasis, I am planning on keeping up this year. For one I have already got a bag full of bits and pieces ready plus a chipboard album as well which just needs to be christmased up. The new class will start in a couple of weeks. However tomorrow Jessica Sprague's class starts here ...............details here

It's free and I reckon will get my mojo going just in time for the first post of the Shimelle class.

Ne w digital layouts.

I have been doing a couple of online classes recently with Jessica Sprague here www.jessicasprague.com There are loads of classes to follow, some self-paced and some over a few weeks. The one I have just completed in Type and Writer which teachs loads of really helpful tips on typography and journalling for scrapping. Being digital I have not only gained a wealth of new skills for my scrapping but also more elements to use in my digital scrapping. The photo above is a page all about myself. It is a template so really simple to p0ut together and then the main pieces of extra work are the title and quote with the journalling around the little circles. I had to enlarge the specific quote words and learnt how to position them effectively. Also how to scrap in a circle using a template.

This layout was much more simple but no less effective. It taught me how to use brushes to effectively age the letters and numbers and how to move the words around at angles. I have really loved this course. If you get the chance to go over to Jessica's website you definately won't be disapointed.
Also a really nice comment was left on my blog by Humel and she has a fab site of recipes and scrapping. Check her out for g8 inspirations.