This past Christmas was the slimmest Christmas we’ve had in several years.  Thinking ahead, I knew I really wanted to give my nieces gifts, but just couldn’t foresee having the money so I bought some light-colored composition books from OfficeMax on clearance for .75 a piece right after school started.  My thought was that I could cover them with scrapbook paper and decorate the covers to fit each of my niece’s styles.  I completed this one first:

**Please excuse the coloring – I had issues with getting them to look good in the dull lighting conditions I took the pictures under.**

I was extremely pleased with the outcome, but as the end of November approached I realized that I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to put into the other two if I was going to get them completed by Christmas Eve.  So, I went with a simpler approach and came up with these for the other two girls:

They were a hit at Christmas, with my sister really loving them since she hadn’t seen me paper scrap in quite some time – I’m usually all about digi-scrapping.  I had a blast making these and I hope I get a chance to make them again for someone else.  As a side note, I also covered the back cover and inside covers of the books with coordinating scrap paper.  If you decide to do something like this, I suggest to get a sandpaper sponge and sandpaper up, down, and across each side of the cover to create a better surface for the glue to grip onto the cover.  You can reuse the sponge many times before it needs replaced.  I used Mod Podge to glue the papers down smoothly and to seal the edges of the paper so they wouldn’t peal from being used often.  It worked beautifully for this project and dried very fast!  Oh, and one more tip:  If you want to add a ribbon down the side to cover the paper edge on the front and back sides, put the ribbon on AFTER gluing down the background paper on the front side of the cover and BEFORE gluing down the background paper on the inside part of the cover.  That way, the edges of the ribbon get covered with the paper and it looks more finished.

I will be posting patterns for the paper sizes I used to cover the books as soon as I get a chance.  That will save you a lot of time!

I love it!  I love it!  I love it!  This was a gift to my mom for her 60th birthday and she absolutely adored it.  It’s simply a hinged shadow box with a fabric back.  I used pins to secure the picture and the words.  To make the words and picture “pop”, I used Zots glue dots stacked two-together.  I found some beautiful picture embellishments at Michael’s and added them to the inside of the shadow box and to the outer frame.  It turned out beautiful, if I do say so myself!  I’ll have to make one of these again when the opportunity arises.  The journaling reads:

May the good Lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
Surround you when you’re far from home
And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As you’d have done to you
Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart you’ll always stay
Forever Young

May good fortune be with you
May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
with a prince or a vagabond
And may you never love in vain
and in my heart you will remain
Forever Young

And when you finally fly away
I’ll be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell
But whatever road you choose
I’m right behind you, win or lose
Forever Young

~Rod Stewart

Time…

…with God
…with my husband
…with my mom
…with myself

The following tutorial will show you how to turn a Photoshop Custom Shape into a Pattern or Brush.

Follow these steps:

1. Open a new file (3″ x 3″, 300dpi, transparent background).
2. Choose default colors for color swatches (black and white).
3. In the toolbar, click on the Custom Shape Tool on the indicated flyout menu.
4. In the Options bar, click on the shape you would like to use in the flyout menu.
5. Click and drag the shape across the entire page (use the Shift button to constrain the proportions).  Use Ctrl+T to switch to the Free Transform tool to resize the image if needed.
6. Click on Image, Trim.  Be sure to check the box that says Transparent Pixels, and check all of the boxes under Trim Away.  Press OK.  The image is now trimmed to size.
7. On the Layers Menu, RIGHT CLICK on the layer with the custom shape; it should be your only layer at this point.  Be sure to click on the layer itself, not on either one of the icons on the layer.  When you’ve clicked in the right area, you will see an option to Rasterize Layer.  Click on that option.  Now you will only have one small icon with the shape on the layer.
8. Click on Edit, Define Brush Preset.  Name your new brush and press OK.
9. Click on Edit, Define Pattern.  Name your new pattern and press OK.  You can now close your shape without saving.
10. To try your new brush and pattern, open a new page.  On mine, I opened a page that was 12″ x12″, 300dpi, transparent.  Be sure that the new page is bigger than the shape you just created or you will only see one shape when using the Pattern Stamp Tool.
11. Choose a color for your background if you like.  I chose basic white.  Fill your entire background with your chosen color.
12. To see your new pattern, create two new layers.  Click on Layer 2.  Choose the Pattern Stamp Tool on the flyout menu of your tool chooser.
13. Under the Brush menu, choose a brush you would like to use to spray on your new pattern.  If you want more of a dream look, use a soft brush, if you would like a sharp pattern, use a hard brush, and if you would prefer a grungy looking pattern, choose a specialty brush.
14. Under the Pattern menu, scroll to the new shape you just created.  Stamp all over your new page!  You can play with the brush presets and layer blending modes to give you a variety of options.
15. To use your shape with the Brush Tool, click on the brush tool, choose the color you would like to use for your creation, and click on the page.    You can play with the brush presets and layer blending modes to give you a variety of options.

A tip:  When using your shape as a pattern, you cannot change the color of your pattern later unless you use layer blending modes or experiment with the Variation options under the Image menu.  When using your shape as a brush, you may easily change the color of your image as desired by using the Color Picker.