How to Create A Fabulous Photo-Realistic Flower Button For Digital Scrapbooking

Creating a Realistic Flower Embellishment

from a Photo

by Amy Duquette, Creative Team Member

I took some photos of some flowers from my SIL's garden and I thought it would make a GREAT embellishment. With a little help from Photoshop I was able to turn it into a flower button.

1. Open up the photo in Photoshop (or whatever program you prefer)

2. Delete the background and extract the flower from the photo. (I am not going to go into details on HOW to do this step because that is a whole other tutorial)

3. Crop your photo to get rid of the extra white space.

4. Next go to FILTER>SHARPEN>UNSHARP MASK and adjust the settings to improve the detail in the photo without going overboard.

5. Add a button or center of some kind to the flower.

6. Now all you need to do is save it and then add it to your layout!

Credits:

November Rain Kit - Digi-Mac Designs (Amy Duquette)

Font - You are Loved

Note: If you found interest in any of our recent tutorials, please take a moment to be kind and leave a comment. It really makes our day! Thanks!!!



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How to Make Your Own Flower Accent for Digital and Hybrid Scrapbooking

Creating a Realistic Crochet Flower

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial

by Sarah B. Meyer, Creative Team Member

My girls both have a special sweater with cute little crocheted flowers on the front. I thought these flowers would make a fun layout embellishment! Here's the sweater:
{Note from the Editor: If you knit and crochet, and have made your own crochet flowers - you are free to create and sell them once you make them into digital files. However, if it is a store bought item that is new, you can only use the flower for personal use - not to be sold. The exception is vintage items that are older than 25 years old.}

1. With my camera set to the Macro/closeup setting I took a picture of a single flower, making sure to take the picture from directly above the flower and and the same level.


2. I cropped the image closely in Photoshop and duplicated the layer so I have an unaltered copy of the image handy. I added an extra layer in between the two flower copies and filled it will black (D and Alt+Delete). Add a layer mask to the upper flower layer (button at the bottom of the layer palette with a circle in a rectangle). Click on the layer mask and use a large round brush to roughly mask any area of the photo you don't wish to keep.



3. Using a smaller brush (I used hard round 5px or smaller for really tight corners) carefully continue to mask the extra portions of the photo. Take care to fill in only short segments at a time so if you make a big mistake you won't lose a lot of work by undoing (Ctrl+Alt+Z). For small mistakes, just unmask by switching to white. Continue until only the flower remains.


4. To ensure that I haven't left behind any stray pixels, I apply a bright red outer stroke to the masked layer--this will highlight any areas I missed. As you can see from the second screenshot below, I missed a small area at the top of the image. Using the brush tool again, mask this spot. Once you are satisfied, clear the effect by right clicking on the layer and selecting "clear layer style."



5. Hide the original flower image and the solid background layer. This will leave a transparent background. From the Image menu, select Trim (Based on Transparent Pixels, Trim Away Top, Left, Bottom and Right).



6. Save your new embellishment as a png file to preserve the transparency.


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Did you learn anything today from Sarah's tutorial? I sure did! Please leave our Creative Team a note if you appreciate their hard work and dedication.
Thanks~!
JA

10 Steps to Designer Paper

How to Use Shapes and the Stamp Tool

to Create Floral Paper

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial


by Sarah B. Meyer, Creative Team Member

I use Photoshop CS3, but this same technique can be used in any program. If your software doesn't offer all the brush variations, try using the brush as a stamp and repeating the image randomly over your paper, using several different sizes.

1. Open a new document, 12x12 inches and 300dpi.



2. Choose a background color with the Color Picker (click on the foreground color in the palette). Use the paint bucket tool (shortcut G) to flood fill the background with your new color.




3. Add a new blank layer to the top of your document (Ctrl + Shift + N).

4. Switch to the Brush tool (B) and choose a brush that looks like a flower. For this example I chose one from the Special Effects Group. Now open the Brush Window (F5).



5. By changing the brush presets you can get a completely original paper! To start, UNcheck all the options so we can have a fresh start. (It's ok to leave Smoothing checked.) On the main screen of the Brush Preset Window, change the Diameter to 360 px and the spacing to 125%.



6. Now, let's play with the Shape Dynamics. Check the box and you should be taken to a different screen in the Brush Window. I set the Size Jitter to 64%, the Minimum Diameter to 19%, the Angle Jitter to 100% and the Roundness Jitter to 0%. All Controls are set to Off and I've checked Flip X Jitter and Flip Y Jitter.



7. Click the Scattering box and you'll see more brush options. I set the Scatter to 210% with the check box for Both Axes selected. I set the count to 2 and the Count Jitter to 50%. Both Controls are set to Off.


8. For some extra interest, let's set the Color Dynamics. I set the Foreground/Background Jitter to 100%, the Control Off, and the Hue, Saturation, Brightness and Purity to 0%.




9. Reset your color palette to Black and White by pressing D. With your blank layer selected, just begin dragging your brush across the paper---don't worry about straight lines, just get a pattern that is pleasing to you.


10. Once you have filled your paper with flowers, change the blending option in the layer palette. I chose Overlay, but you may like another option better. Add another layer with a little grungy/wear brushing and/or an overall texture if desired, and you've created your own custom paper!

Discover How to Create A Desktop Background for Your Computer

Announcement: Would you like to participate in a workshop to get your scrapbook pages published? You are invited to join me, Julie Ann Shahin, as I am the September Guest Publishing Pro at Scrapbook Graphics! Just register for the message board, then meet me here. It's FREE! You can find more information about the Scrapbook Graphics ongoing Submit It Workshops here. It's all FREE so I'll see you there. :)

Creating Your Own Desktop Wallpaper

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial

by Susan Rodriguez, Creative Team Member

Do you like the wallpapers that come with your computer? Have you ever wanted to create a unique one that fits your personality?

• Start by making a mental note of any brushes or any digital kits you would like to use for your wall paper.
• Start by creating a new image with the dimension’s of Width 17, Height 14, resolution 300 (we will reduce the resolution later).
• I picked out some files that had some fun doodled flower files. If you are using black and white png files color them in just for fun.
• Once you have completed your image, go ahead and merge all your layers together (Shift-Ctrl-E). Click on Image – Image size. Here you can now reduce your resolution to 72.
  

Save your image and now it’s ready to be added as your wallpaper.

Here is a screenshot of what my desktop looks like at work. Very fitting for the owl to be pointing at my work files don’t you think?

Tip: Add a calendar to make your wallpaper seasonal!
If you feel inspired, please be kind and let Susan know you appreciated her tutorial!
Thanks!

Discover More Ways to Design Your Own Paper for Scrapbooking

11 Steps to Floral Paper

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial

by Di Hickman, Creative Team Member

Instructions:
1. Open a new document 1” x 1” at 300ppi


2. Select the custom shape tool, and from the box select the flower shape of your choice.


3. Click and drag your mouse to create the flower shape. Holding shift whilst doing this keeps the flower “square”. One done click layer>layer properties (you can right click the object and select layer styles instead). In the pop-up box check the stroke box, and select your color. You can change the size of the stroke too, I left mine at the default of 3 pixels. Remember to click OK!

4.Next, look at your layers, and click the “fill:” slider all the way to zero. This should leave you with the flower stroke only! And the design for our pattern!


5. Now we have to save the pattern so we can use it. To do this, select: Edit>define pattern


6. A pop-up box should appear with space for you to name your pattern, fill in the text of your choice (or leave as default) and click ok.


7. Ok now we need to open a new document for making our paper. File>new make this one 12” x 12” at 300 ppi for a full size paper sheet.


8. Fill with the background color of your choice using the paint bucket fill tool.



9. On a new layer we'll add the flower pattern. To do select the paint bucket tool, then using the drop down box at the top change “foreground” to “Pattern”. The box next to the “pattern” should change. Again using the drop down box, select the pattern you just made. It's usually the last one in that palette.


10. The click on the image to fill with the pattern


11. If you want the flowers a different color, simply create a new layer, fill with a sold color and create a clipping mask (Ctrl G) to link the new solid color and the flower layer together.


From here you can add the texture or overlay of your choice and then your paper is done and ready to use!
If you enjoyed and learned from today's tutorial, please leave a kind comment for Di! Thanks!!