Back!

December was a busy month, though not as bad as November.
I was in Tokyo for a week for work and after I return, everyone is already in Christmas mood and getting work done is really tough!

Am flying off to Hong Kong on Friday for New Year countdown.
Will also be going to Macau to check out the casinos.

Here's a template which I made quite a while ago.
Totally forgot to post it up!

Have fun and have a great new year!

Click on preview to download.
   

Tokyo

 

November

I have not made date labels for a while.

Today, I'm finishing up my 365-project for November and needed something for the journal page.
So I decided to make some metal bits to share.
Hope that you will find it useful.

Click on preview to download.
 

Skin smoothing on PS

I read and learnt a very useful technique yesterday.
It is for smoothing skin (especially for faces) in PS.

I have a Samsung camera which detects faces when focusing and auto-smooths them when I shoot. However, my iphone's camera application does not do that automatically.
I do have a few other applications that can do it but that will mean switching applications during photo-taking.

So I decide to do some googling and found a useful tutorial here.
If you are interested, read it up!

Here's my result.

Steps are very easy:-
1. duplicate a layer
2. create a quick-mask on the new layer and paint over the area you wish to smooth
3. go back to standard mode and feather selection  (or feather the inverse)
4. add a filter of gussian blur (radius approximately 3 pixel) to the painted area
5. add a little bit of noise (2.5%) so that it is not overly smooth
  

De-stressing time

Too much in my mind but too lazy to write.
So I shall go and do some laundry/cleaning to de-stress a little.

Here's a new template for you.
Not so much photo slots but feel free to add more if you need, by duplicating the photo+mat layers.

Click on preview to download.
 

Simple layouts... too simple...

I bought my Wacom!

Was tempted to get the Ituos4 Wireless but it's so expensive (around S$650).
Since I'm not a designer making money out of this tablet&pen, I decided to get Bamboo fun instead.
It's half the price of the former and is a nicer silver to match my MBP.



And here is a silly layout about photos I accidentally took when using my iphone.
Somehow, I tend to click on the button before/after taking the photo I want to shoot and I end up having odd photos in my camera roll...


 

Need a new Wacom

Sick at home today and decided to surf the net a little.
I need a new Wacom pen and tablet. Am currently using my sister's old Ituos3 (very old version) and it's behaving oddly every now and then.
I saw that Ituos4 now has a wireless version and I wonder if it's good?
Bamboo fun looks nice too, especially "Mango" where there is less/no buttons since I don't use any.
What are you using? Any recommendations?

Here's my latest layout. A bit sad, I know.

 

A sick weekend

Hi all. I know it has been a while since I posted something.
Work has been crazy and I was really overwhelmed.

This weekend was a long weekend as Friday was a holiday here for Deepavali or Diwali (also spelled Devali in certain regions), popularly known as the festival of lights (an important five-day festival in Hinduism).

Sadly last night, I suddenly came down with a sniffy nose.
Could be the weather or it could be my body deciding to protest after all the stress at work.
I don't know but maybe I should just go back to bed now...

Here's a new template for you.
I made a new "logo" and preview as well. *smile*
Enjoy the template!

Click on preview to download.
 

39!

I didn't realise that I haven't posted anything for 2 weeks!
Work was really busy (October is my busiest month at work) and there were many late night dinners/drinking with friends so I guess I was kinda swarmed.

Badly needed retail therapy and a pair of Kenneth Cole caught my eyes.
Too bad the shop didn't have my size so I am buying them online and getting them shipped via vpost.
It retails at S$389 but sells online at US$160. I cannot imagine how brands/shops can still do this kind of rip off when online shopping is so common nowadays.

Here's a peek of the shoes I'm buying.

It has great cushioning inside so the 3.75 inch shouldn't be any problem.

Now, here's a double-page template for you to scrap this weekend.
Hope you will like it!

Click on preview to download.
  

4Shared

Does anyone else have problems with downloading the templates?
   

October

October starts today, so does my work stress.
Not really in my best mood due to various issues at work, in life and all.

But life goes on, I guess.
Without all these downs, I might never appreciate the good times.
At least, it's Friday today and I'd have the weekend to climb up this little uphill of mine.

Thanks for reading.
Have a beautiful Friday and a great weekend.

Click on preview to download.
   

A new week

I bought a few kits over the weekend and regretted as soon as I tried to use them.
They look terrific in the previews but I realised that they are not really my style.
Oh well... another lesson learnt... look at each element instead of the preview.

Here's a new template for you.
Have fun!

Click on preview to download.
  

Warp shadows

There may be many other ways to do this, but here's how I do it.
Of course I don't repeat the same steps whenever I create a template - I simply take a photo+mat set from an existing template and then resize, rotate etc for the new template.

Here's a simple illustration of my method.

1a. create a layer for photo and a layer for the mat (at least 105% of the photo depending on how thick you like the border to be)

1b. add a drop shadow to the mat. Play with the distance and the size of the shadow.
- I use 10-18 for distance, 0 for spread and 4-6 for size (depends on size of the mat)
- For the "colour", I use "black" at 39% with "multiply" effect.
- Try to get a sharper shadow (you will blur it later).



2. Create a layer for the shadow (right click on the "drop shadow" and select "create layer")



3. The new layer will have the characteristic of the settings you have chosen.



4. Select the shadow layer and use the warp function under Edit -> Transform -> Warp



5. After warping, use "Gaussian blur" to unsharpen the shadow for a more realistic feel.



6. Merge Mat layer to Shadow layer and it's done!



It's not so difficult, isn't it?
Hope you'd find this useful and have fun trying it out!
 

Yawn...

It's time to go to bed to end this long weekend and get ready for a new week.

The 3-day weekend was good. There should be more long weekends!
I did some tidying, clearing and sorting and was trying to dream something big.
I hope that the dream will realise soon and along with other dreams.

Here's template 36 for you. I hope I'm not posting them too fast!
Show me some layouts, babes! LOL!

Click on preview to download.
  

Blessings

This is one of my favourite songs.

2 years ago, a day before my birthday, I started my day with a church service.
After the service ended, the choir decided to present a song, not something that they do every week.
As soon as I heard it, I know it was a message for me, a present for my birthday.
I held it closely and deeply to my heart, eversince.

And now, I share it with you.

Click on the layout to hear the song on Youtube.
 

Long weekend! Yay!

It's a national holiday here tomorrow so I will have a long weekend ahead.
I have some things planned, but it's the usual stuff like swimming, cleaning the house, trashing stuff (while reminding myself to stop shopping) and spending time with my parents and sister.

I started making templates for my September's 365-project and here's one to share with you.
Have fun and digi-scrapping!

Click on preview to download.
  

Melbourne - Part 4

And the last layout of Melbourne... beautiful graffiti!!

 

Melbourne - Part 3

 

Sunday!

I hope that I'm on time for Craftcrave to pick this up for its post tonight.
That way, you can use this template to make a layout for Sunday.

Click on preview to download.
  

Template 4 (revised)

The "ungrouped" version of Template 4 can be found here (or click the little cat!).

Click on preview to download.
 

I fell!

Went rollerblading yesterday and I fell cos I don't know how to stop.
Luckily, it's not on my arm or my face. Still, I hope that it will recover fast without a scar.

Here's a new template for the week.
I just realised that it's going to be September soon and I haven't got any idea of what kind of date label to make for the new month. Any special request? Leather, metal, cardboard, brad, paper?

Click on preview to download.
   

Melbourne - Part 2

More to come!
  

Melbourne - Part 1

 

Rainy day

I badly need a hair cut but I still have a shoe cabinet and a store room to clean and tidy up.
Need to work faster!

Here's template 32. Have fun and do share with me your layouts.

Click on preview to download.
  

I'm back!

It was a great trip and I'm busy scrapping the photos, even though I have tons of house work to do. Haha!

Here's one of my latest layout. More to share with you later.

Holiday!

I am so looking forward to my Melbourne trip this Friday!
I have checked the weather forecast and it says 5-15 degree celcius. Wish me luck (and warmth!)

Here's the latest template design.
Have fun with it and the next one is going to be around end of the month when I'm back (and settled back etc).

Click on preview to download.
 

Iphone 4

It launched yesterday here and I decided to get one since my Samsung is dying.
It's my first iphone since the previous models don't have good cameras (and no flash, I think) and that isn't really helpful for my 365 project.

Since this has a 5mp camera with flash, I decided to give it a try.

Turns out, my unit has one of the common problem of iphone 4, and that is, under florescent light, the camera has a blue tint haze in the middle. Hence, indoor photos on very light objects (or white background) will look blue-ish.
The problem isn't obvious when I'm outdoor, so I guess it's fine.
Anyway, many suspect that it might be Apple over-correcting white balance and maybe the next software upgrade will solve it.

Decided to make a layout for my phone. This is greatly inspired by Dodie (her site seems to be down so I can't put a link) 'cos she made a layout when she bought her iphone.

Layout is by Mandagirl.
 

Summer 2010

Singapore is a tropical island city sitting on the equator, so there isn't any "seasons" for us.
Before the global warming thingy, weather here was "not so hot, hot, very hot, super hot".
Recently, it's more like "thunderstorm, cool, sunny, very hot".

Here's an extension of my August label. Manuela has asked if I could make Summer labels and of course I can! I love to get "custom orders"!
Besides the cloud and the heart, I added a flower label as well.
Have fun!

Click on preview to download.

p.s. Craftcrave did not pick up my previous posts, so if you missed out Template 30 and the original August date label, do check them out.
 

New template (#30) and a joke

Joke first.

Some eggs were sitting in the refrigerator and one says to the other:
"Look! There's a hairy guy over there!"
And the other says "Yeah, and he's big!"
And the "hairy" one says "What's your problem! I'm a kiwi!"

Now the template!

Click on preview to download.

August date labels

Wow! I already have 20 followers on this blog!
This may not mean anything to some designers, but it does to me, since I'm just a beginner.
Thank you to you who make my day when you leave a comment or a chat message.
I love love love to read them all, although I don't reply them.
It's said that comments from 4shared can't be port over here nor traced/read easily, but I still appreciate every message left.

Anyway, I did another round of "cleaning up" yesterday and trashed many kits and templates.
Over the past 2 years, I downloaded many stuff just because they are free, or I thought they are nice, or I like only a few stuff out of the entire package.

Then I realised that I don't use them at all. Who needs 5 3X3 of 4X4 templates that are almost the same? And wordarts that will never be used 'cos you now know your styles?
I'm not a clutterer and hoarder, and I love the "tsssssk" sound when my trashbin empties its content.
I think I will "kill" more kits soon. Afterall, there are just so many new ones out there!

Here's something for August. Hope you'll like it.
And if you have any special request for September, do leave a message and let me know.

Click on preview to download.
  

It's been raining everyday...

July is always coming to an end and it means that my shutterfly photobooks should be reaching soon!
This time, I tried printing 2-page layouts so I'm anxious to see how it will turn out.
The results will help me better trim my layouts for future prints.

Here's a new template for you. It's part 1 of a semi-2-page layout.
I call it "semi" because the photos do not cross the centre but they have similar theme.

Click on preview to download.

 

Weekend is a fast runner

I spent the weekend organising my digital scrapbook stash.
I deleted kits/templates that I will never use and rename some files to make them easier to find with spotlight.

And, after applying for my AUS visa, I started making some "quickpages" for the trip (even though it's still 3 weeks away).
12 days with road trips and all should give me lots of photos to scrap!

It's already July and I am amazed that I am still going strong with my 365-project.
Besides scrapping each week into a page, I also do specials (for events, thoughts, movies etc) and a 1-page journal for the month.

Here's a new template to share. It is from my July week 1 layout.
Have fun with it!

Click on preview to download.
  

Template 27

Friday is here! Finally I start to see the corner of the weekend.
I am planning for my 2-week vacation in Melbourne in August and I think I need to get some layouts ready so that I can quickly clip photos when I return.
Lots of scrapping this weekend!

Last week, I re-make a layout which I created when I started digi-scrapbooking.

This is the original ->

Very simple, very sparse and almost no elements.

This is the re-make ->

Bigger photos since I'm not going to add elements.
Title changed into a curve path since I now know how to do it.

Yes, it is not significantly changed because that was not the main idea.
I was trying to see how much I have improved.
And indeed, I like the new version better.

If you like this layout, here's the template to grab.


Click on preview to download.
 

PSE-friendly template (Part 3)

I found 4 more templates which were grouped and have "rectified" them.
There shouldn't be any more old templates that are PSE-unfriendly and I will definitely make sure my future templates are ungrouped.

Links are as follows (same as old version but I have updated the files at 4Shared):-
Template 11
Template 17
Template 23
Template 24

A new template will be posted by Friday. Do drop by!
 

PSE-friendly templates (Part 2)

I've ungrouped these 4 older templates.
In case you have missed them previously, here's a great chance to grab them!

Links are as follows (same as old version but I have updated the files at 4Shared):-
Template 1
Template 2
Template 3
Template 8