Let's get blending! Technique Tutorial from CTM Anne!

Hi there! 

CTM Anne here to share the process I went through in creating this layout

which I showed you in yesterday's FB post.

I used Jill's Limited Release Take Me Away which will  be available only until

Sunday, March 19th!  Grab the Bundle for just $8.99 and follow along with me!

(of course this technique can be used with any kit you choose!)

1. I started with the position of the photos on background paper 14.

2. Because I'm a compulsive blender, I placed paper 19 on top and applied a linear dodge blend mode. 

3. Next I wanted to add a bit of shape to the layout, and at the same time create a base for the photos.

I clipped artsy pp 05 to mask 02 and placed them in position.

5. It looked way too busy, and swallowed up the photos, so I shrank the masked paper.

6. Better, but now I didn't have the shape I was after. To rectify that, I added a splatter

(paint splatters 01)

7. Now what?  Another photo and cluster of something down the bottom right for balance.

8. I still wasn't happy with the result, but didn't know why. 

Eventually I tried a large photo between the upper and lower groups.

9. It wasn't bad, but I didn't want the harsh edges.  A clipping mask would help with that. I liked the lines on mask 04.  They'd give a kind of canvas effect to the photo edges.

10. But the mask was the wrong shape.

 11. Simple solution - stretch the mask out so that it covered more of the photo.

12. I placed the mask under the photo and clipped the photo to it.

13. Not bad, but now I'd lost the paint splatter, so moved it up above the photo layer.

14. Then I experimented with blending modes on the photo I clipped to the mask
and liked the result of Hard Light.

15. And just to finish off, I added a couple more elements to the top photos and decided it needed a little contrast.  I placed the blue paper (paper17) behind the background paper, grabbed everything above it (except the paper/mask at the top, the black paper (19) and the stamp at the bottom right, then resized a bit to get the border to show.

And here is the final result!

I hope you enjoyed this technique tutorial and give it a whirl on one of your pages!

Hugs,

Anne

Creating a "Fusion" Layout in Photoshop Using My December Pickle Barrel: Starting Over Collection

Many of you may feel daunted when you see "Fusion" in my Kit and Collection Packs,

but really, there's nothing to fear.  It's my definition of a mish-mash of unrelated embellishments (some vintage, some doodles, some traditional) and different types of papers and backgrounds to give you endless possibilities.

You'll always get your money's worth no matter what style you scrap your pages with because there's always plenty of fun packs to work with!

So...for those of you thinking...maybe I'll give this a whirl...here's how I created this Fusion Page using my December Pickle Barrel: Starting Over Collection

Now on to the tutorial:

1. Open up a 12 x 12, 300 dpi, transparent background and drag cbj_so_artsypp11 on top.

2. Next you'll want to drag cbj_so_pageblendits-1 on top of your background.

3. Clip cbj_so_artsypp02.jpg to the page blendit

(Ctrl+alt +G for Windows or command+option+G for Mac)

Here's where we're at:

 4. Drag cbj_so_fencebit onto your page and position at the top left like so...

I used the following Drop Shadow settings, but you can feel free to use your favorites:

5. Duplicate the fence bit, rotate it to your liking and place it on the right side of your page

Decrease the Fill to 62%

6. Drag cbj_so_artsybits20 onto your page and place it along the right side.

Decrease the fill to 65%

7. Drag cbj_so_artsybits13 onto your page and place over the left fence bit and duplicate

8. Drag cbj_so_artsybits20 onto your page and flip it vertically.  Place it on the left edge.

9. Drag cbj_so_artsybits17 onto your page and position at the top right then duplicate it and position

bottom left.

10. Drag cbj_so_artsybits15 and center on the right edge, duplicate it, flip it horizontally and position on the left edge.

11. Drag cbj_so_artsybits9 onto your page and position at the bottom left then duplicate it, flip it vertically and position at the top right

12. Drag cbj_so_addon_crochlace onto your page ans position to your liking along the right edge

Add the following Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 20%

Angel: 45

Distance: 7

Spread: 0

Size: 9

13

13. Drag cbj_so_def_4 (or a definition of your choosing) onto your page and position near the bottom

(for this page I erased the script writing and just used the bold lettering)

Drop the Fill to 52% and add the following Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Linear Burn

Color: #696258

Opacity 36%

Angel: 45

Distance: 8

Spread: 0

Size: 13

14. Drag cbj_so_burlap onto your page and position at the bottom right corner.

Give it a bit of rotation until you like the result.

Add the following Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Linear Burn

Color: #696258

Opacity 49%

Angel: 45

Distance: 10

Spread: 0

Size: 13

Duplicate it and position at the top left corner of your page.

 15. Drag cbj_so_pageblendits-3 onto your page and clip your photo to it.

Resize to your liking.

Note: the photo I used was from www.pixabay.com.  They have an amazing selection

of stock photos to choose from for FREE!  Check it out!

This is the image I used: https://pixabay.com/en/pink-hair-hairstyle-women-1450045/

16. Select both the blendit and the photo and while holding the command/crtl key down, left click and drag up so it duplicates.

Lover the Fill on the bottom one to 27% and the copy to 40%.

(you can play with these Fill setting to your liking...these are just the ones that I used)

Erase any bits showing through the photo if you wish.

Here's what we have for our background!

 Pretty awesome right?  Easy peasy?

Now comes the fun part...embellishing!

Now I'm pretty new at all this clustering and stuff so I'll show you what I did.

(lots of embellishments will be below and above your photo so follow along!

17.  Go to  your layers panel and click on the cbj_so_burlap layer.

Drag the cbj_so_addon_chevrons onto your page and position down at the bottom towards the left of center.

 Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 54%

Angel: 45

Distance: 14

Spread: 0

Size: 18

Now drag the cbj_so_addon_beadspill and place on top.

 Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 45

Distance: 14

Spread: 0

Size: 32

Resize both of these to your liking.

18. Duplicate the chevrons (ctrl/command + J) and drag that layer above your burlap copy.

Rotate 90 degrees CCW and position towards the left of the top burlap piece.

19. Drag cbj_so_crochdoily onto your page and position top right.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 120

Distance: 12

Spread: 0

Size: 13

19. Drag cbj_so_addon_bannersh and position at the top right of your page.

Add an extra drop shadow of

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 120

Distance:27

Spread: 0

Size: 21

And here's where we are now...

 Drag cbj_so_addon_ribbon1 onto your page and position vertically along the bottom right edge.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 120

Distance: 50

Spread: 0

Size: 50

20. Duplicate your doily and bring it down to the bottom right corner. 

21. Duplicate your ribbon, drag that layer above the doily and rotate 90 degrees CCW then flip horizontally.

Your page should look like this

(or close if you've made your own tweaking)

22. Click on your top chevrons copy.

Drag cbj_so_addon_leaf and rotate a little more that 45 degrees clockwise.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 120

Distance: 25

Spread: 0

Size: 32

Duplicate and flip horizontally and move to the left

(you'll adjust in a bit)

Drag cbj_so_doodleflower1 and place over the 2 leaves.

Copy the leaves drop shadow and paste on the flower layer.

Resize and position to your liking.

We're looking good now!

 23. Duplicate the doodle flower and drag it down to the bottom right corner over the ribbon.

24. Drag cbj_so_addon_flower4 and position over your top doodle flower

(use the same drop shadow settings as the doodle flower)

25. Drag cbj_so_addon_bow to your page and place over your blue flower.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 60%

Angel: 120

Distance: 25

Spread: 0

Size: 46

Resize and position to your liking.

Here's where we are now!

(if you notice on your layers panel...this has all been done BELOW your blendits and photo layers)

26. Now click on the top photo you selected

(remember you duplicated them)

Drag cbj_so_crochdoily and position on the center left edge.  Copy the shadow settings from one of the previous doilies.

Drag cbj_so_doodleflower1 onto your page and position on top and off right of the doily you just added.  Copy and paste the drop shadow settings from the earlier doodle flower.

Drag cbj_so_addon_ribbon1 onto your page and rotate 90 degrees CW

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 60%

Angel: 120

Distance: 28

Spread: 0

Size: 32

Position along the left edge center.
Duplicate the ribbon, rotate it 90 degrees CW and position at the top above the bow.
(see below!)

 27. Drag cbj_so_addon_flair onto your page and position on top and just to the right of the left edge ribbon, overlapping it a bit.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 60%

Angel: 120

Distance: 17

Spread: 0

Size: 50

28. Drag cbj_so_addon_leaf onto your page and place at he left edge, rotated right just a bit so that it overlaps the flair

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 120

Distance: 25

Spread: 0

Size: 32
Duplicate the leaf and rotate a bit to the left.
Holding your Shift key, click on the two leaf layers, then command/ctrl and left click to drag the two layers above.
Keeping those two layers highlighted (active), rotate them vertically and move down
(you'll re-position these after we add a few more things.)
And here's what you should have so far is you've been following along!

 29. Now drag cbj_so_addon_flower4 and position over the top leaf pair.
Copy and paste the same drop shadow setting of one of the leaves.
Duplicate the flower and position over the bottom leaf pair.
Drag cbj_so_flower3 onto your page and position on top of the 2 blue flowers, slightly off-center and down a bit.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 120

Distance: 50

Spread: 0

Size: 50

30. Duplicate the white flower and position it in the bottom right corner of your page.
31. Drag cbj_so_flower1 onto your page and position slightly above and left of the white flower on the left edge.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 120

Distance: 25

Spread: 0

Size: 32
Duplicate it and bring it down to the bottom right corner.
Your page should now look something like this:

(we're almost done!!!)
32. Duplicate the blue flower (cbj_so_addon_flower4) and position along the bottom right edge.
33. Drag cbj_so_flower4 to your page and position on top and central to the 3 flowers in the bottom corner.  Resize to your liking.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 45

Distance: 25

Spread: 0

Size: 32
Duplicate this flower and position on top of the top edge ribbon, then duplicate again and position on top of the pink flower on the left.

 (I like to rotate my flowers so they don't all look the same and resize them differently.  Of course it's totally up to you what you choose to do with them!)
34. Drag cbj_so_addon_dragonfly onto your page, resize, rotate to your liking and position over your bottom right corner cluster.

Drop Shadow settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 40%

Angel: 45

Distance: 25

Spread: 0

Size: 32
Duplicate and move the little guy to the left cluster.
35. Drag cbj_so_flower1 onto your page and position on the top cluster.
apply the same shadow as the pink flower on the left

One more thing before tweaking!
I wanted to add one of the outlined word bits to my title so if you do too...select the one you like and drag it to your page, centering it over the title.
I chose cbj_so_wboutlinesDK_31.
Add a 2-3 px white stroke.
Create a new layer above and merge with the wordbit.
Add the following drop shadow:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color: #000000

Opacity 28%

Angel: 45

Distance: 8

Spread: 0

Size: 8

Now just do a little tweaking to your clusters and you're done!
Mt preference is to have my side cluster a bit smaller so I resize accordingly...but that's me!
So if you've followed along step by step...you now have a gorgeous fusion page!
That wasn't so difficult, was it?

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me HERE
I'm always available to answer question!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and start creating more fusion pages in the future!

Tutorial Time! Getting Artsy with the Simplicity Collection

 Hi everyone!

CTM Alanna here showing you how I created this fun artsy page

using Created by Jill's Simplicity 6 for $6 + FWP

(part of her September Pickle Barrel)

Let's get started!

1.    First up you need to create your background.
Create a new 12 x 12 page at 300 dpi.
Choose one of the artsy papers and drag this paper onto your layout.
For this page I chose cbj_simplicity_artsypp08.

2.    Next choose cbj_simplicity_gesso and place this on the page.
Position the Gesso just off centre keeping in mind this is also where your photo will be positioned.
Duplicate the Gesso, the bottom Gesso layer will be left as is and the top Gesso layer will become a Clipping Mask.

Rename the 2nd gesso layer Clipping Mask.

3.    Choose your photo and place it above the Clipping Mask layer. 

CTRL/Alt+G (win) or Command/alt+G (mac) to clip the photo to the mask.
Resize the Clipping Mask so the photo is about a 3rd of its original size.
You want to see the Gesso around your photo and be able to accent the photo with a few elements.
You can make minor adjustments later once everything is in place.

 4.    Now the fun part. Adding your elements.
First add a lace doily between the background paper and the Gesso Layer.
Position the doily on the left hand side of but central to the Gesso and change the Blending Mode of this layer to Pin Light.

Pin Light changes the colours depending on the blending colours giving the layer a special effect, making the doily translucent in parts.

5.    Add a Smatter above the Clipping Mask Layer. I chose cbj_simplicity_smatters1.

The size of the Smatter should be the horizontal length of the Gesso and be position in the centre of the Gesso.

6.    I added cbj_simplicity_scribbles4 above the doily layer 

(you can only see just the bottom part of it on the finished page)

and cbj_simplicity_scribbles8 above the Smatter Layer.

The size of the Scribble should be the same size horizontally as the Smatter and be positioned on a slight upward angle following the movement of the Gesso.

7.    Add cbj_simplicity_frame2 above the Scribble Layer and position this slightly off centre to the Gesso being careful not to cover your photo completely.

Here are my Drop Shadow settings for the frame:

8.    Add cbj_simplicity_butterfly above the Frame Layer and position this on a slight angle with the tip of the wing over the frame.
The butterfly is the focal point of your page, delicately balancing on the frame ready to take flight at the slightest movement.

These are my Drop Shadow settings for the butterfly:

9. Add cbj_simplicity_starbrad below and off to the right of the frame to draw the eye down for a minute to the bottom half of the layout and to balance the layout nicely.

10.    It’s now time to adjust the blending modes and opacity of your photo.
Your photo needs to portray what your layout is about and there are many photo treatments, textures, overlays and blending modes you can use to achieve the desired effect.
In this layout I chose a photo to compliment the focal point of the layout, the butterfly.
A woman staring beyond also poised to take flight from something unknown, the swirling Gesso giving the effect of not being able to quite see so I have used the Luminosity Blending Mode on the Photo Layer which creates a colour depending on the hue and saturation of the background and the luminescence of the photo in this case a grey tone. 

I thought the grey was slightly too dark so I lowered the Opacity of the photo to 78 percent to lighten it slightly.

11.    The final step is the most important. 

Sit back and look at your layout!  Adjust and tweak as desired until
you are happy with the result.

Add more embellishments or keep it simple but profound as it is!

Most of all...have fun!