Deena Rutter

New Release: Layered Life Templates - Tutorial and CT Inspiration

Hey There! Happy Friday, It's Tiffany! I'm pretty excited to show you Deena's latest release. It's perfect for your project life, to use on a layout, or even to send as a card. Check it out!

Not quite sure how to use your Layered Life Templates (ON SALE TODAY IN THE SHOP!) Keep reading for a quick and easy tutorial.

 Here is a FANTASTIC quick tutorial from our CT member Arielle!  

Step 1: Open up your file in photoshop. This tutorial is used with Photoshop Elements.

Step 2: You should see all of the elements pictured like this.

Step 3: Add the papers you want to use about the elements that you would like to change.

Step 4: Use a clipping mask first, and then Merge the paper and element together. Do each element/paper selection seperately.

Step 5: Your elements will now be covered with your chosen paper. Clip all of these elements with your background layer and you are good to go!

Step 6:  Now save your card as a .png and you are ready to go!!

 

Thanks Arielle for the fantastic screen shots! 

Check out what our Creative Team has been creating with the  Layered Life Templates! 

Layout by Jenn Summers

Publish

Project life Layout by Jeryn Carlisi

Project Life Layout by Jeryn Carlisi

Hello Grammy! Card by Tiffany Carter

Create your own Alpha Tutorial

Hi everyone, Jenn here with a tutorial on how to create a matching alpha for any kit.

Start out with a new document in photoshop. Type out the wording you would like to use for your title using a font of your choice. In my example below I used LetterOMatic! font in a size 150. I would suggest using a large font size to start out, you can always adjust your letters to a smaller size later.

Next, open the patterned paper you would like to use for your alpha. Copy and paste the patterned paper on to a new layer on top of the title you just created. Right click on the patterned paper layer. You should see the menu in my picture below. Click on 'create clipping mask'.

Youshould then have your patterned paper in the shape of your title. Merge all of your layers together. You can use the alpha as is or I like to add a white stroke to all of my letters which makes them look like stickers. To add astroke go to your 'edit' menu and click stroke. For this example I chose a white stroke, width: 15 px, outside.

Arrange the rest of your title on your layout and add shadows. Voilà, quick and easy way to make an alpha!

Layout made using Deena Rutter's Scoot Collection.

 

Badge Holder Mini Album Tutorial

Hello, Arielle here with a little album I made for my kiddies featuring the exploits of our Elves on the Shelf, Chippy and Lula. I used Deena's Jolly Holiday Collection ~ I love the traditional Christmas hues and fun patterns of the papers!

I wanted this album to be grunge proof, since my children will likely be dragging it everywhere, so I used plastic badge holders for the "pages". Other than the badge holders (available at most office supply stores) you probably have everything you need in your stash for this project.

Supply list:

• Badge holders
• Washi tape, twine, buttons, rhinestones, flair, etc…
• Ribbon to secure the binding
• Adhesive. I used an ATG 
• Scissors, craft knife, or paper trimmer and a ruler
• Your digital kit printouts

  

Start with your digital scrap kit. My badges hold 2.5x3.25" inserts, so I  used Photoshop to layout my "cards". I printed extras that I could use to scrap with. You can see them in the picture above, at the bottom center. Then gather your supplies, also see above. For my pictures, I sized my Instagram prints to 1.75" square, and then set them all up on 4x6" jpgs to send to my local photo place. You can safely fit 4 to a print!

I won't bore you with the details on how to scrap your pages... haha, but below you can see some of mine.

 

You will probably need to put in extra pieces of thin cardboard or thick paper between your badge holders so that you album won't be a huge wedge. Mine measured 2.5x.5". I made the front and the back from my patterned paper to coordinate with the covers. The badge holders have holes in them, so I put a spacer in place and used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes and used it as a template for the rest, as seen below.

Once your pages are done and inserted in the holders, stack them and your spacers. Next you'll get your ribbon (about 6 inches) and trim one end to a point to make it easier to thread through the holes.

   

Now tie off you ribbon binding. I love to make bows, but I decided for the kid's album I would knot it. I used a wide grosgrain ribbon so after I tied it & trimmed the excess, I used a lighter to melt the edges so they wouldn't unravel. Just be careful not to set the whole thing ablaze!

And that's it ~ all done! Now I have a cute little album the kids can take for show and tell and I don't have to worry about smudges! And it's almost Kool-Aid proof, too!

   

If you make one of these I would LOVE to see it... just leave a comment and share it!

DSD at Design House Digital Blog Hop & Tutorial

Time for another amazing blog hop with the designers at Design House Digital. We don't just give digital kits away for free, we give away fun designing advice as well!

 

In this tutorial I will show you how to create outlines for fonts and add embellishments, swirls, and manipulate your lettering.

To get started, open up a new file in Adobe Illustrator and type your wording.  I am adding swirls to my lettering, so I picked a font that is flowy and looks handwritten.  I found a font that is made up of swirls, picked a couple that would go well at the ends of some of my letters.

 

Then select the lettering and the swirls and right click.  Select "create outlines". 

You will notice that it is no longer a font, but a vector object.

 

I wanted my swirl to come naturally out of the "y", so I erased the edge.

I then selected my big swirl and moved it in a natural flowing spot.

For some balance, I selected and moved "girl" down below. 

Also for balance, I wanted to add a bigger swirl onto the edge of the first letter.  I erased it to the thick edge of the letter. In the same way, I erased the smaller swirl so just the right amount of a swirl end was coming off of the "B".

 

Select all and change the color using a color swatch of your choice.

TA-DAH!!!

Now, look what you can get for free just for following along on our blog hop!

DAYDREAM BELIEVER - A collaboration by Design House Digital.

 

We have made it easy to get this free kit...just collect the coupon code letters as you hop from blog to blog starting at the beginning.

My Letter is:

Now, head over to Erica Coombs blog to get some great info from her as well.

 

 

Good Life Fabric - Young Women Value Tree Pillow + Fabric Giveaway

I am so excited to show you my latest fabric line, GOOD LIFE.  The GOOD LIFE fabric line came from a special collaboration with my fellow GOOD WORKS GIRL, Allison Dayton.  I would love for you to read more about the GOOD WORKS GIRLS as well as the VALUE TREE STORY.

We have created some great tutorials with the GOOD LIFE fabric that are simple, yet with purpose.  I am happy to be featuring the first tutorial Value Tree Pillow. 

I love the detail that the swirl fabric gives to the tree stump and branches.

The hand cut look of the circles out of the GOOD VALUES print is so sweet and simple.

This first tutorial was made by Jessica Taylor.  Thank you Jessica!  The GOOD LIFE panel comes with ready made labels.  I love them all!

Download the tuturial here

Just for stopping by and letting us know (comment here) what you think of the GOOD LIFE line, you will be entered to win a GOOD LIFE rolie polie or 5" stackers.  All enteries must be submitted by July 20th, 2012 at 10am MST.

DHD: Homeward Bound - Pink - hybrid Birthday card

Hi, It's Tiffany. I wanted to show you a quick and beautiful birthday card set using Deena's newest digital kit, Homeward Bound - Pink Collection. The colors are so lovely and spring- like. I started by selecting my papers.

Then I used the D-cut Basic Envelope and Notecards set. I wanted something simple. Did you know that even if you don't have a digital cutting machine (i.e. Cricut, sillhouette, etc) you can still use these D-cut files? When you download the file there are a handfull of different options to use. I used the .png file type and made the notecard and envelope to use as a clipping mask, and then I cut them out by hand. (Sometimes I just go back to my old hybrid scrapbooking days!)

I formatted my page to be an 11x17 page to have a little more print area. It worked out great to get the full sized 4x6 size card and envelope on one sheet of paper.

I wanted a pretty design on the inside of the envelope, so I printed this beauty on the back.

after I had cut it out by hand, it was time to fold it. If you don't have a bone folder, or a scoring tool. Use the side of a countertop or table.

 

It works great.  Last thing, is glue down your edges. to make a cute little envelope with a beautiful lining... not to mention a great little birthday card. I'm so in love with flat cards right now, so the not card was my perfect option.

my Happy birthday and address window are both elements from the Homeward Bound - Pink collection elements availabe at Design House digital.

I hope my birthday girl is as excited about her pretty birthday card as I am about making it for her!! Happy Weekend!!

SCOOT: bean bag game

 

Hi All!!  It's Tiffany. I don't know about you, but I've been DYING to get my hands on the SCOOT fabric- Deena's fabric line with Riley Blake.  Having two little boys at home, we are in need of some cute boy prints, and I think this line has JUST that.  I have a three year old, and he loves little games. It's (almost) getting warmer outside, so I wanted to make a game that was versitile, something we can do both inside and out.  I followed this tutorial for handwarmers. I made my squares 4x4 inches, and call them "beanbags". With little ones in our house, I decided to use rice, just in case one broke open (no choking hazards).

With that being said, today was warm enough to bundle up a little and run outside for a quick game. We drew some circles on the driveway and got to tossing. It doesn't matter what numbers you put in the circles with toddler, he always WINS!

 

 

 Check back next week for some more fun inspiration using Scoot fabric. Happy Friday!!

A Kind Word: Tissue Paper Heart tutorial

Hi There! Tiffany here, with a fun, quick little valentine's gift. I know, it's been ages since I've done a post here. Something about valentines day just makes me happy. 

Items used:

-Red Tissue paper

-computer/printer

-A Kind Word: Love edition part 2

-Sewing machine

-Valentine candy (I used M&Ms)

Today I mad some tissue paper hearts filled with my favorite treat (well, one of them!) Here's how I did it.  I found a great tutorial for printing on tissue paper. I'd seen a few tutorials around the web, but I liked having a video.  I didn't print any photos, but you get the idea.

I decided that I wanted my tissue paper red and the KIND WORD to be grey. I positioned them in photoshop the way I wanted and printed. If I'd known how easy it was to print on tissue paper, I would have done this earlier. Now my head is going crazy with things I can do with all this spare tissue paper.

Once printed, I cut apart my words and cut them into my hear shapes. Make sure to use 2 sheets of paper (one printed, and the other as the backing) so they will be the same size heart.

Once my hearts were the shape I wanted. I went to my sewing machine and stitched around the outside. This isn't the easiest paper to sew, but just go slowly and lift up your presser foot if you need to smooth out the paper.

Be sure to leave a big enough opening for your favorite treats. My first couple I sewed a little smaller that I would have wanted to. It was fine, I just had to fill them one. candy. at a time.

fill as full as you like. I don't get too crazy with this part, so I make sure I have room to sew the opening closed.

 

sew that little opening closed, and there you have it. So easy, and "SEW" cute. (get it?)

Yummy enough for your valentine.

thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a happy Valentines day. Stop by the shop and pick up your KIND WORD - love edition today!!

Owl Treat Box - Free Template

 

Click the picture above for your free template to make your little Valentines really HOOT!  Check out the Design House Digital blog for how I personalized my little owl friend.

FREE MATROYSHKA DOLL PINCUSHION PATTERN

Look what we have been up to over in Riley Blake's Cutting College.  Cute little matryoshka doll pattern made with So Sophie fabric...use as a pincushion or for your decor.