Hi everyone! It’s Joyce again to bring you this week picks for GSO and the winner for the month of August. Can you believe it’s the end of August already? Time does fly real fast. And with school starting all over the world it must be pretty busy for all of you guys but still you have managed to inspire us with your wonderful layouts. Thank you so much.

Here’s our pick for this week’s GSO:
Colorful Artist by wendyp

The richness of this page is just perfect. I love the subtle blending and all the colors. Beautiful in every way!

Smile by Libria

It’s always refreshing to see bright colors and this one is no exception. I love the layering of papers and elements. It’s looks well put together and the photo is just so cute!

Congratulations, you were entered into the final drawing
for this month’s prize: a $10 GC to the After Five shoppe.

And our August GSO winner is none other than the talented gonewiththewind. She made this gorgeous layout from the charity collab Hands Across the Gulf.

Congratulations gonewiththewind!! Look for a GC in your pm for $10.00!!
Thank you all for playing in August!! And I am looking forward to seeing all the beautiful layouts
in the A5D gallery this coming week. Don’t forget to put your favorites in the GSO thread in our forum. We all love the inspiration!!! And you never know…you might be next!

Paola

I adore this! Very elegant!

Hi, Chantal here to bring you this month’s Designer Spotlight. I picked Cinnamon Designs!

Nathy’s kits are always so fun to work with. No matter your style is, whether clean lines to whimsical. You can totally use her kits and have fun with it. I always do! I picked few of her kits to showcase for you to see how beautiful they are and a few layouts from our talented creative team members.

Here they are:

Cutie Patootie

Layout by Pride:

by Karen Perry:

and by me:

Warmharted

by Samantha0505

by Jimema

by Mary

Tickle me pink

by milo82

by Cherryberry

by Emmasmom

so go check out Nathys Shoppe now!

Greeting!  Have you ever wanted to use brushes, but just weren’t sure how?  I’d like to shed a little light on how to use brushes!  This tutorial was created using PhotoShop CS3, but works in other versions too.

Once you’ve decided to use a brush, make a new layer.  Adding a brush to an existing layer will limit you flexibility.

Once you have your layer open, you can add brushes to your design, one of two ways.  The first way I’m going to demonstrate is the quickest.  Navigate to your tool bar and select your brush too (shortcut key B).

Next select your brush.  I’ve selected one of Cinnamon Design’s fabulous Brush Circles!  You can adjust the size before you add it to your canvas, if you’d like.  You maintain better quality by adjust the size before you add it to your canvas.

Now “stamp” it onto your page, being careful to ensure it is completely captured within your canvas!  You should see an outline of the brush when you hover over you canvas.   Left click once to add your brush.    Feel free to move it around or apply different layer styles (colors, patterns, gradients, etc) or change the blending options and/or opacity.

If you want to do something advanced, you can add brushes using the brush palette.  To use your brush palette, you can either hit F5 or go to Window -> Brushes.

Once you have your brush palette up, select brush tip shape, you can flip or rotate your brush as desired.  You can also experiment with all of the other features within the palette.

Voile, here is the finished product with two brush layers!

Happy scrapping!
Sheri (SeattleSheri)

For more than 90 days, oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico before the leak was finally “capped” in late July. It is estimated that approximately 4.9 million barrels (or 205.8 million gallons) of oil spilled into the waters. It has been one of the biggest environmental disasters in decades. Hundreds of miles of beaches, wetlands, and estuaries along the northern Gulf Coast have been impacted. The spill, though temporarily “capped”, continues to cause extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. Families are without work and marine and land animals continue to suffer. And there are still many unknowns about the long term effects of the oil and of chemical disbursements used in attempts to curtail the flow and impact upon the regional coastline and waters.

Forty-five designers across the digital scrapbooking community have united with one shared cause: to raise awareness and to support recovery efforts for the environment and those impacted by this tragic disaster.

Participating designers include: Aja Abney, Amy Martin, Biograffiti, Boutique Cute Dolls, Createwings Designs, Deena Rutter, Designs by Cindy Schneider, Designs by Crystal Livesay, Dido Designs, Dunia Designs, Emily Merritt Designs, Fiddle Dee Dee Designs, Fizzy Pop Designs, FruitLoOp Sally Designs, Laurie Ann (Heaven’s Gate Designs), Holliewood Studios, Holly Designs, Holly Spring Designs, Jazzmin Designs, Jennifer Barrette Designs, Jacque Larsen, Juliana Kneipp Designs, Kay Miller Designs, Kaye Winiecki, Kitty Designs, Kristin Aagard Designs, Lauren Grier, Leora Sanford, Loreta Labarca, Micheline Martin, Nikki Beaudreau, Paislee Press, One Little Bird Designs, Sabrina Dupre, Sahlin Studio, Sarah Cornish of My 4 Hens Photography, Shabby Miss Jenn, Studio Basic Designs, Sugarplum Paperie, Tickled Pink Studios, Tiny Toes Designs, Tracie Stroud, Vera Lim, Vinnie Pearce, and zinnias and swallowtails.

Hands Across the Gulf is our heartsong for this cause. This gorgeous kit representing the varied styles of the scrapping community, is positively overflowing with beautiful papers, unique elements, templates and Photoshop actions. All told, designers have contributed more than 100 papers and 200 elements, 2 full alphas, 18 templates, and 4 PS actions to Hands Across the Gulf.

Available for sale for one month only, 100% of the proceeds from this kit will be donated to the National Wildlife Federation and to the United Way’s Gulf Recovery Fund.

Hands Across the Gulf arrives Sunday 15 August 2010 at After Five Designs.

Today, our summer block party comes to an end with a very special collaboration kit. Hands Across the Gulf is our effort to help with the Gulf oil spill. Forty-five designers across the digital scrapbooking community have united with one shared cause: to raise awareness and to support recovery efforts for the environment and those impacted by this tragic disaster.

This gorgeous kit representing the varied styles of the scrapping community is positively overflowing with beautiful papers, unique elements, templates and Photoshop actions. All told, designers have contributed more than 100 papers and 200 elements, 2 full alphas, 20 templates, and 4 PS actions to Hands Across the Gulf.

Available for sale for one month only, 100% of the proceeds from this kit will be donated to the National Wildlife Federation and to the United Way’s Gulf Recovery Fund. Please take the time to read the description of this incredible product and support our cause by purchasing this lovely kit.