A Simple Plaid Paper Video Tutorial

I mentioned in my last post that I would like to try my hand at a tutorial. Since I have never put together a tutorial, I quickly decided that the paper I created in the last post is a bit complex as a topic for my first tutorial (there are multiple stages including brush creation and the use of multiple software applications). Having read/viewed hundreds of tutorials in my quest to learn more about digital design, I have found that a tutorial needs to be simple enough for the novice to understand but not too detailed so as to loose the interest of the reader/viewer. I did not feel that I could do the paper from my last post justice as I am not experienced with writing tutorials, so I will save that paper for a potential future tutorial (or set of tutorials).

Since the paper from my last post was out as a first tutorial topic, I decided that I would do a very simple tutorial to test the waters and yet still offer something that might be of use to others. I have seen this technique discussed in various places but I have not come across a detailed tutorial for this technique nor a tutorial for GIMP (in honesty, I have not specifically searched for either so I wouldn't be surprised if a simple web search came up with both). In my first tutorial I will be demonstrating a technique to create a plaid paper with a color scheme that is matched to a photo. Although this might sound complex, the technique is actually very simple and creates a nice looking paper that is customized to the photo that is used to create it. I am fully aware that the term "plaid" varies in meaning according to where you live, so please forgive my usage of it if it does not have quite the same meaning in your geography. The paper that I will be creating is a horizontal and vertical criss-crossed stripe pattern with a color set that comes from a base photo chosen by the user when creating the paper. I will include a link to the final paper in XCF file format with layers so you save out my flower photo and re-create the tutorial on your own. I am not a photographer and the photo was taken on a pocket point-and-shoot digital camera, so please no comments on the quality of the flower photography.

Once I decided on the tutorial topic, I started to assemble a text tutorial but quickly realized that it was harder than I anticipated to walk through the steps in text and screen shots (I felt like I was leaving a lot out and wanted to create screen shots for everything). Since I didn't want to miss anything and confuse the reader, I opted to attempt a video tutorial instead. Please forgive any newbie mistakes and definitely share your comments as I will take them into consideration in any future tutorial attempts that I make.

Thanks for stopping by My Part of the Page!

Happy scrapping,

Brian

Without further delay, the tutorial:

In case you prefer the YouTube version, you can find it here.

And the download for the tutorial (With a bonus 12x12 gold polka dot png file - why not since I created it and I'm not sure what else to do with it. If you do something creative with this file and don't mind sharing, please return and post a link so that I can see how it's being used.):

Tutorial Files Download

And Now For Some Paper!

As you can probably tell from the lack of posts, the digital scrapbook design progress has been a little slower than I originally thought. The lapse in time was partially due to life and this being a hobby, but it was also due to me scouring the internet and attempting to absorb as many digital design techniques as I can find. I feel that I have come a long way and to celebrate, I have created my first paper.

Download Diamonds and Flowers here.

This paper was created entirely using open source software - the same software used to create my first alphas - namely Inkscape and GIMP. I would love to find time to put together a full tutorial (maybe even with a matching video tutorial) but for now here's a quick summary of the steps I took to create this paper. First I created a vector diamond and tiled it using Inkscape. While I was in Inkscape, I also created a vector flower that I imported into GIMP and saved as a brush (the vector flower design is well beyond the scope of this write-up and is likely beyond the scope of a full paper making tutorial). I used the single diamond vector to create a GIMP brush as well by importing it into GIMP, dirtying it up a little with grunge brushes, and saving the result as a brush (this brush creation was much more friendly for tutorial creation and might appear in the full tutorial if the tutorial ever comes to fruition). Once the brushes were done and the base diamond tile was complete, I imported the vector pattern into GIMP and got to work. I added/blended some noise and stamped the diamond pattern with my new brushes to get the final result. I merged all of the layers and output the paper to PNG, so color will have to be added by the end user using a color layer with some type of blending mode applied. The download should include the gray "template" paper along with a blue and green version that I created for myself. Sorry, no nice design sample from my wife this time.

Thanks for stopping by My Part of the Page!

Happy scrapping,
Brian

Alpha/Baby Blocks Freebie Links Fixed

I apologize to anyone who has visited and found the download links for Alpha Block and Baby Blocks to be dead. I had some issues with the file hosting site where the files were stored and have relocated the files to a new hosting site. Please post a comment if you have any issues with the links so that I can get them working and you can get your freebies.

I have not had a lot of free time to work on scrapbooking freebies (as you can tell from my lack of posting), but I'm leaving my blog active in case I can find or make time to work on something.

Alpha Freebies- A Seemingly Logical Place To Start

Since I'm new to digital design, I've been trying to decide what type of element to take on first. Having gone back and forth between small embellishments and various other starting points, I have decided to start at the beginning (of the Greek alphabet anyway) - the Alpha. Ok, I know this might be a little larger of a task but it's been a lot of fun and I got to learn a lot along the way. This is a 2 piece set - one set of alpha blocks with a "regular" color scheme (red, green, blue, yellow, orange) and another set with a "baby" color scheme (pink and light blue).

Download Alpha Blocks here.

Download Baby Blocks here.

Please let me know what you think (and remember that this is my first attempt at making any elements for digital scrapbooking). Below are layouts that my wife created using these alpha sets.

Template is Circle Meets Square (modified) by Connie Prince/DigiDiva Designs. Kit is Crayon Box by Christie Lemmon Designs.

Template is Add it Up by Designs by Chrissy W. Kit is Baby O Mine Boy by Melissa Bennett.

Thanks for stopping by My Part of the Page!

Happy scrapping,
Brian

Off to find my part of the page...

My wife has been scrapbooking for a long time. She started back in the day of paper scrapbooking and has worked her way into the world of digital scrapbooking. I was never very interested in scrapbooking the old fashion way with paper and embellishments since my desire for perfection was never fully satisified by my imperfect pages. I know that imperfection is sometimes part of the art, but it's hard for me to get past on my own work - maybe it's just the straight-line-loving engineer in me. My wife's finished products have always been something that I really enjoy and made me wish that I could get more involved. Now that the world of scrapbooking has gone digital (at least our world of scrapbooking), I think I might finally have a chance to dabble in the art and share in the fun. Playing around on the computer is something that I really enjoy, so having another excuse to play is just an added benefit.

My goal is to create scrapbooking elements that my wife and I can use in our scrapbooking and then share the elements with you. Positive comments and gentle constructive criticism are always welcome since that is a great way to learn. If you feel the need to make really negative comments then please continue your journey on the web since your comments will simply be ignored.

I know that the art of digital design takes time (probably a long time) to master, but I have to start somewhere and my journey will begin here. This is just a hobby for me so I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to put into it or how often I'll be able to come up with elements that I'm happy posting to the public. If you have any suggestions for elements, please send them my way and I'll see what I can do (please remember I'm a newbie and some ideas might be well out of reach for me).

Thank you for joining me on my journey into digital scrapbooking!

Happy scrapping,

Brian