Okay I say this every time but this time was really and truly the hardest! You girls have absolutely filled the gallery standouts thread with amazing layouts and made my job HARD!! So here they are

The first pick is this AMAZING layout by ruthmelody she used Tweetie Pie by Cinnamon Designs

And the next layout is by Tinci using the Happy Spring collab by After Five Designs

I just love this one, fabulous!!

Congratulations to all of you!  You are all entered into the final drawing for this month’s prize: a $10 GC to the After Five shoppe!

We look forward to all the fresh art in the After Five Gallery this week!  We can’t wait to be inspired.  So keep scrapping and keep sharing by posting your favorites in the GSO thread.  Next Tuesday will be a fresh crop of lovelies.

Hi everyone! It’s Sasha here with my first blog post. Tiki talked about sharpening your layouts for web in a previous post and today I would like to focus specifically on sharpening your photos to make them look great on your page. Do you ever look at a layout and think “Wow those photos look so crisp, I wish mine would look like that.” There are many different methods that are used, I will focus on three of them here.

Sharpening with the the unsharp mask filter

Go to Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp mask.

Once you open it you’ll see three sliders.  The amount controls the amount of sharpening of course.  For higher resolution images a value between 150% to 200% is usually enough.  Next you can play with the radius.  Usually a value between 1 and 2 is recommended for high resolution photos.  I used 2 for my photo.  Finally you can adjust the threshhold. When the slider is set at 0 every little part of the image is sharpened and when it’s at its highest value of 255 nothing happens.  Usually a setting between 5-20 is good for a high resolution photo. Here are my final settings.

And here is the before and after picture.  I boosted the brightness and contrast a little at the end too.  This always helps with making the photo look crisper too.

Sharpening with the Smart Sharpen Filter

This is the method I use the most.  Unfortunately this filter is only available in Photoshop CS2 and up. Go to Filter/Sharpen/Smart Sharpen.

Here are the before and after photos:

You can play with the other blending modes to see how your photo will look but this is the one I usually use.  Linear light and Soft light work really nicely too.  You can lower the opacity of that layer if it’s too strong for you.  Here are my before and after high pass sharpening photos.

I hope this was helpful and that you find the sharpening method that best suits you.  Have a wonderful day!

You all really like to make this job hard don’t you!! I mean there is so much awesomeness in the GSO thread from week to week and this past week was no exception.  But two layouts had to be picked so let the fun begin:

In Your Eyes by Jill Brady

and

The Boy is a Boy by Violet

SO NOW for the big drum roll…….and the winner for February is

Sweet Little by ema79

I have been in love with this one since I saw it in the gallery!  Congrats!! Look in your pms for a well deserved prize!

Thank you all for playing along!!  Don’t forget to get into the fun for March.  A new month brings a new chance at a $10 GC to A5Designs!  Post your lovely After5 Layouts in the gallery and play along by posting your favorites in the GSO thread.  Next Tuesday will be a fresh crop of lovelies.

Happy Saturday everyone! Trina here.

More and more people are looking to add watermark to their online photography images due to the sheer volume of (unfortunately) people abusing the internet and your images as their own work.

I have decided to teach a quick and easy way to create a watermark to add to your photography to help prevent your work being used by the abusers.

1^st. You need to open the image you wish to watermark and select the text/font, size and colour you want. See Pic 1 below

Now choose where you want your text/watermark to appear on your picture and type it and then hit enter and the text will appear on your image as shown on pic 2:

Now, this is far too bold so we need to softened it or blend it in your photo. With your text tool still highlighted, click in front of the first letter and drag along until all is highlighted, and then go to the top menu;

Layer/Layer Style/Blending Options and Click

As shown on pic 3:

You can now be as creative as you would like but the more creative the more you take away from your photo. So in general you simply want a basic watermark that will just do the job. All you need to do is click and drag either of the opacity bars to the left. As you do so, you will see the text start to fade as shown on pic 4:

Once you have reached the level of opacity that you think will suffice, just click of and you are left with a watermark on your image as shown in pic 5:

Now you have created a watermark. You can as well create a action if you regularly add a watermark to your image. I hope this has been helpful. Enjoy your weekend!

Awwww! It’s true. I do love you a bot!

Lizzy here, taking it a little old school with the product spotlight this month! Isn’t this fun! Nikki Beaudreau’s kits have not missed a beat and she has been on point since the beginning. It is now my pleasure to present you one of my favorite Nikki kits, Love You A Bot! Maybe this is an old favorite of yours or maybe you never got the chance to see it released in the shoppe. Whatever the case, what’s not to love here?! The colors are brilliant, the theme is brilliant and I can’t get over how darling those robots are!

Here are some layouts by the team and myself to show you how versatile and fun it is! I had a blast with it!

By Jenny

By Ellie

By Me

Now aren’t those fun?!

If you think so and you want to play with all the cool kids, snag this coupon Nikki has so generously offered!

$2 off Love You A Bot

expires: March 3rd

code: BotLove-2off

I hope you will snag it and play with us! Have a fabulous day and thanks for hanging out with me!

xo Lizzy

Happy Wednesday Everyone!  This week’s CT Spotlight shines brightly on Steph.  Pull up a chair and read all about her and browse through her gorgeous gallery while you’re at it.

What program do you use to scrap?

PSE6 but I wish I was using Photoshop.

What is your favorite NSBR thing to do?
I’ve recently gotten back into sewing and also love to do lots of crafty things with my kids.

What are the top 5 songs on your list right now?
My 11 year old has pretty much taken control of my ipod, so I listen to Taylor Swift, Cold Play and I’m not sure what else.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I would have to say my kids - I can’t believe how fast they are growing up. I want time to stand still!

Are you musically inclined?
You would think so since I took piano lessons for many years as a child, but I finally quit - it just wasn’t one of my talents.

What is a typical day like for you?
I feel like every day has a different deadline but in general my kids are very involved in activites so I feel like if I’m not driving them around I’m doing paperwork or trying to stay organized!

What inspires you?
colors, feelings and a new scrapbooking kit!

What are your top 5 layouts you’ve ever done?

What made you want to apply for your first CT?
I think I was just curious if someone would actually pick me! The best part for me (besides free goodies) is that I have deadlines so I make the time to scrap. Before I was on CTs I had a harder time finding the time to scrap.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I went to college I planned to either major in Accounting or Fashion design. Ultimately I took the safe route, but I always have creative outlets!

How long does it take you to create a layout?
eekkk - way too long! I really envy those who can scrap quickly.

Who are your scrapping/designing heros?
That is really a hard question. There are so many. Two of the first scrappers I admired long before they were designers are Amy Hutchinson and Catherine Paturet.

Do you have a specific style?
Not that I can articulate.  I know I like to use lots of color and try to balance my designs in a messy way!

Do you have a vision of what a layout will look like when you start it?
Sometimes but it’s hit or miss if it actually turns out that way

What would be your dream vacation?
I really love the beach. I guess I’d love to go to a tropical island with clear blue water.

And no After 5 interview would be complete without this question…What is your favorite after hours drink?

I like mudslides at the beach!

Happy Saturday everyone!  Tiki here.

I’ve tried several methods of sharpening my layouts before I upload them to the web.  I thought I would share with you today, my new favorite sharpening method.  It’s simple and I think it’s the perfect amount of sharpening.  Give it a try and see what you think.

Here is the layout I’ll show as an example.  Here it is saved in .psd format with an image size of 12 inches by 12 inches at a resolution of 300 pixels/inch.

The first step is to flatten your image.

The second step is to reduce your image size to 600 pixels by 600 pixels at a resolution of 72 pixels/inch.

The third step is to duplicate your flattened layer.

The fourth step is to run the high pass filter on the top layer you just created.

I like to use a radius setting of 0.3

The fifth step is to change the blending mode of the top layer from normal to Linear Light.  If you find this setting to be too bright, you can try some of the different blending modes for a more subtle effect.

The sixth step is to flatten your image again and add a hue/saturation adjustment layer.

I usually bump up the Saturation to between +8 to +10

The last step is to save your resized layout for the web making sure the size falls below 150K (the average size for most uploads of layouts on digital scrapbooking sites).

Here is my layout before sharpening.

Here is my layout after sharpening with the above method.

I hope you found this little tip helpful.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

This week our CT Spotlight shines brightly on the very talented Karen.  Read all about her below and take a look at her fabulous gallery here.

Give us the Cliff Notes version of you.
I am 36 years old and am a wife to Simon and mom to Rhys who is 8 and Finlay 6,We live in the uk with our gorgeous staffie Ruby,If you dont find me scrapping you will find me with my head in a book i just love to read

How did you get into scrapping?
I first discovered psp and joined many msn groups doing siggys and was then introduced to scrap booking and thought this was worth while and i soon became addicted in scrapping my childrens storys

What program do you use to scrap?
ps3

What is your favorite NSBR thing to do?
I love to chill out with a good book and a brew

What are the top 5 songs on your list right now?
I rarely listen to music anymore just dont find time to but my top band would be Erasure i totally love Erasure and go and see them in concert whenever they play

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
My Family they mean the world to me and i wouldnt be who i am with out them

Are you musically inclined?
Hmmm Nah,i tried the violin at school but i was so bad in the end i kept forgetting to take it on purpose so they booted me out in the end lol

What is a typical day like for you?
My day starts by getting up early getting the boys up and ready for the day,then i will sit with my laptop check emails and ct forums and facebook then basically my day revolves around that,on a few evenings a week i go to work in a supermarket

What inspires you?
Colours,themes,Parks and my family

What are your top 5 layouts you’ve ever done?

How do you start a layout?
I rarely start a page with a photo the photo normally comes last,Ill start with a paper but can gaurantee it will not end with that paper

What made you want to apply for your first CT?
Hmm cause i wanted freebies lol,No not really i liked the designers work that much that thought i could help promote,the hardest part of applying for a ct is waiting for the answer,im on 2 fabulous store cts now and can cope with that just nice

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A nursery nurse but i was bought up to get a job as soon as you left school to support yaself but i dont hold that against my parents because i would of never met my husband and had my children if i hadnt of worked where i did

How long does it take you to create a layout?
Hours,im a slow scrapper and it takes me ages to be completely happy with a page

Who are your scrapping/designing heros?
My four hens has to be my favourite,as for designers i love them all but nikki holds a place in my heart

Do you have a specific style?
White space id love to be able to do whimsical and fantasy but just dont know where to start

Do you have a vision of what a layout will look like when you start it?
No Never!

What would be your dream vacation?
Anywhere hot and with a beach will do me,Im easily pleased you have to be living in cold and rainy Britain

And no After 5 interview would be complete without this question…What is your favorite after hours drink?

Baileys over ice or in coffee or hot chocolate yum yum!