Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Scanning from old photo versus negative...

I am working on an anniversary scrapbook and creating layouts for every year we have been married. In December we will celebrate our 32nd anniversary. I had a lot of layouts to do so I decided to work backwards so I could start with my digital photos. After those layouts were done I started scanning in my photos. It actually was going along quite well until I got to 1981. All of my photos (except one*) had faded to a reddish dull color. I edited it in Photoshop but the results were not that great. It occurred to me that  my scanner has the capability of scanning in negatives so I went on a hunt for the negatives. It took me a bit of work but I did find them. I went through all the negatives that were dated 1981 but the photo I wanted wasn't there. My eyes fell on the humongous pile of non-dated negatives! It was a daunting task but I persevered and luckily found the negative for the photo I wanted. I could not believe the difference in scanning from the negative. The color and sharpness was so much better.

Here is the photo from 1981 that I scanned in


Here is the photo after I edited it in Photoshop

Not bad but on the layout it just looked washed out.

Here is a scan from the original negative

Much better!

After a little tweaking in Photoshop here is the final picture


And...here is the layout that I used the photo on


Although scanning from the negative was a little more effort, the results were superior. I have now added organizing my negatives to my long list of things I want to do.

*Do you want ot know the one picture that was not fade?. It was an Instamatic Polaroid picture. Go figure!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Journal in your own font...

I love journaling in my own font. A couple of years ago, Darcy Baldwin, created a font for me that I use all the time. Using my font gives a cohesiveness to my layouts and it is my words in my writing! I love the quality of Darcy's font and recommend her services.

Today, I found out about FontCapture a beta site that will create a font in your handwriting for free. I have no idea as to the quality of the font but for those that may be on a strict budget, this might be a good opportunity to get a font in your very own handwriting! Just click on the thumbnail to go to the site.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Flower page challenge over at ScrappersGuide. Take a photo of flowers and turn it into digital art using filters, opacity, blend modes, etc. Create a page using your flower art as all or part of the background.

 
My layout using my rock cactus photo for the flower page challenge.

Credits:
Gina Miller Cottage kit from the September Premier
Fonts are Papyrus and DJB Canay
The journaling is a bit fuzzy in the web version. It reads:
I've had what I call my "rock cactus" for years. I was so thrilled when it bloomed. I guess it just needed time to get a little root bound. It blooms in the day and closes up at night. It is such a delight to see.
~ May 2008 ~

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Great Escape!

This is contest entry for those crazy folks at TodaysMama and Cricut. Be sure to check out Cricut's cool new cartridges and the chance at $30,000 in travel for you and your friends at the Great Gypsy Escape site! http://bit.ly/FWcud

Great Escape Meme


1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?
I would love to go to Paris


2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?
Anything from The Jersey Boys CD


3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?
Fly to Paris for dinner

4. What is your guilty pleasure?
Glass of red wine and chocolate


5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?
Tahiti

6. Last book that you couldn't put down?
A Thousand Splendid Suns

7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?
10 Things I Hate About You (I love the scene where Heath Ledger sings "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" on the bleachers)

8. What is your favorite local escape?
The outlets


9. How do you escape on a budget?
A picnic on the river


Best food you've ever had while on vacation.
Pismo burgers when we are camping (everything tastes great when you are camping!)