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You Say Opacity, I’ll Say Opacity – PDS022

How can you make amazing drop shadows on your digital scrapbooking layouts? Pick up some great tips this week on the Paperclipping Digi show…

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The Panel

Picks of the Week

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 at 10:46 am and is filed under Digi Show. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://twitter.com/nicoleseitler nicoleseitler

    Great show! Very funny once again! By the way, I pronounce “Gaussian” differently from the way it was pronounced on the show. I say “Gaww-ssian” Blur. LOL!

    I loved listening to everyone talk on the topic of drop shadows. I really liked the tip about changing the angle for staples and stitches. I always have trouble with stitches… so I just don’t use them on my pages. ;)

    I really liked Peppermint’s pick of the week. I’m going to check that book out. I like the sound of it! Awesome thing for a scrapbooker. :)

  • http://mshanhun.blogspot.com Melissa

    PSE has got the smudge tool – it it under the blur tool and you press R to get to itI blogged about a free action to create a shadow on its own layer for PSE users – thanks to Scrapper’s Guide http://mshanhun.blogspot.com/2010/10/quick-shadow-tip.htmlI’m a bit sad I can’t change the blend style on PSE :( – also i have a trial of PSE 9 and can’t see how to sperate the shadow onto a new layer.I love using Flerg’s clustered elements, so I shadow up to the left (120 degrees) so it will fit in with her stuff!

  • Liz

    Loved this show! Lynette and Peppermint are some of favorite scrappers and for the first time ever I shadowed at a 45 degree angle. It took a lot of effort not to go back to my comfortable -44 but I loved the end result. With -44, I was always having to put a shadow on the opposite edge to give definition but I found myself having to do it less with 45. and the 90 degree on stitching is genius. You guys have revolutionized my shadowing. Nicole, I’m with you and and say “gaw-ssian” as well.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_W7XDZCBIGJBWNJRW2RHE6PEQYE Mrs

    Leave it to Peppermint to blow my mind again! First with her dropshadow tutorial and now I find out I can copy/paste a layer style to groups of layers?! AWESOME. Also, to address something mentioned earlier on in the show, I am a scrapbooker who doesn’t have kids :) I’ve been digiscrapping since 2006 and still have a lot of photos I want to scrap and stories to tell. I can’t wait to have kids and document their lives, but for the moment I’m thoroughly enjoying the variety of other photos and events I’m preserving :) I’d love a show that discusses this and other “alternative” subjects to scrap. :) –mrshobbes (Lex)

  • http://mshanhun.blogspot.com Melissa

    oh and Steph I’ve tried Puppet warp with a ribbon on my brother’s PC with CS5 it was good, but I’d only want to make smaller alterations rather than be trying to tie a bow with it or something…

    For the record I say opacity like the computer voice (but Aussie!) and Gaussian like gauze-ien :)

    Peppermint it was cool to hear your voice, you sound just like I imagined

    Lynette – I had to jump over and check out your gallery at Sweet shop – awesome!!

  • http://gracewilson.tumblr.com Grace

    This is definitely a show I’m going to have to listen through again–to take notes! It was SUCH an immediately useful topic, and I have learned so much–I’m not even done listening yet!

    Add me as +1 scrapbooker with no kids at this point. I am loving looking through Lynette’s gallery, and I’d love to hear a show on scrapping when you don’t have kids! We’re not big travellers either, so I don’t really have trips to document. There’s only so many pages you can make with pictures of your dog! :)

    I think I’ve found a solution for me for now, though. I don’t have a ton of time to scrapbook at the moment because I am in grad school and working full time, but I am working on an encyclopedia of everyday life about myself. I’m blogging the journaling + pics on my tumblr (http://gracewilson.tumblr.com), knowing that later I’ll be able to just slurp that up to make my book go quickly. It’s been really meaningful for me to look back at different words that have been important in my life and take a few moments to just sit down and write about them. Plus, I think it would be amazing to have a book like this about my mother or my grandmother when they were my age before having kids, so I think it will be a neat legacy (even if I do feel a bit self-centered droning on and on in a book about myself)!

    My other idea is to scrap pics from my own childhood/growing up that I have collected and scanned in. I just haven’t done as much with this yet!

    Anyway, thanks for the show–LOVED it!

  • http://gracewilson.tumblr.com Grace

    Also, I would be very interested to find out if PSE9 really does do the shadows differently (and if you can get it for Mac… I haven’t even checked). I’m using PSE6, but that would definitely be something to add to my Christmas list!

  • Pingback: How to get Good Halloween Pictures | Paperclipping

  • Anonymous

    GREAT ideas Grace!! I love that you are still documenting even though you are so busy!!!

  • Anonymous

    I’m still doing some checking, but it doesn’t look like you can :(

  • StudioWendy

    PSE9 is available for the Mac. You might not still have shadows control, but you DO get layer masks, and I’d upgrade for that feature alone! You might want to look into some actions that can shadow on a separate layer for you. Like this one by me: http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/ACTION-Shadow-It.html or this set by Anna Forrest http://www.pickleberrypop.com/shop/product.php?productid=7707&cat=0&page=1 which is really amazing.

  • http://twitter.com/nicoleseitler nicoleseitler

    I’m thinking of trying 45, too. I use -43 and I even use it when I add shadows to flowers and things in my kits… so I’m really debating this one. Tough decision!

  • Chelle

    Hmm…I say it G-ow-ssian. I think changing my shadow angle would be harder than making the switch from PSE on a PC to PSCS4 on a Mac. And I’m trying to find things. LOL!

    GREAT topic!

  • Chelle

    And about commenting on the old shows…

    Following my last comment I received an email asking me to confirm that I was subscribing to the comments here. I don’t think I checked a box…so maybe the default is subscribe. Maybe that’s why listeners are commenting on “old” discussions.

  • Liz

    You should try on a layout at least once. I think that it really adds some realism to my page I don’t think I will turn back. I am using a set of layer styles which is helping.

  • Anonymous

    I am right there with you!!! :) ;)

  • http://common-sense-scrapbooking.blogspot.com/ Lorell

    Another cool show, guys! I, too learned a lot about drop shadows and can’t wait to try out some of the shadowing techniques that the panelists talked about.

    You guys talked about putting info about the show on Twitter, and I was wondering if you had any plans to do a fan page on Facebook? If I said, “Pretty, pretty please,” would you consider it? I’d love to “like” you on Facebook and get updates there.

    Thanks,
    Lorell :)

  • Beth

    Okay, this has nothing to do with drop shadows, but Christmas is coming up, and I’m wondering about those Wacom Bamboo tablets. Anyone have one? How does it work? And how does it feel (i.e., is it authentic to the pen-on-paper feel as they claim?) Does the average scrapbooker get much use out of it? I’m sort of a minimalist when it comes to elements, and this looks like a way I could dress up my page with my own doodles and scripty titles and such. Thanks, digi-friends! :-)

  • Beth

    Okay, this has nothing to do with drop shadows, but Christmas is coming up, and I’m wondering about those Wacom Bamboo tablets. Anyone have one? How does it work? And how does it feel (i.e., is it authentic to the pen-on-paper feel as they claim?) Does the average scrapbooker get much use out of it? I’m sort of a minimalist when it comes to elements, and this looks like a way I could dress up my page with my own doodles and scripty titles and such. Thanks, digi-friends! :-)

  • Mamascrapalota

    I absolutely LOVE mine! I have two. And, there is a great reason for that. I have an Intuos 4 that can do everything! And, when I really working in Photoshop it’s excellent for time saving. But, I also have a small Bamboo that stays in my laptop case that I take with me everywhere. I’ve gotten so use to using this in place of a mouse and it really has saved my arm. I have some problems with my neck, which travels down my arm which causes my arm to decide to sleep (and yes, I’m 95, HA!) But using this is terrific.

    It doesn’t really feel like you are writing on paper, but the tablet surface does have enough “bite” and grab to it that you don’t slip all around. It’s great for doodling and for using your own writing on a page. It can also do advanced things like design in Illustrator, as well as Photoshop. You can use it very easily to do extractions (where you have taken a photo of something, such as a button, and then extract it from it’s background, put it on a transparent background, and then use as an element on your page.)

    Really, a Wacom Tablet is pretty amazing, it just makes it all easier. Of course you can still use your mouse and learn to use that pretty well for what it sounds like you want it for, but a Wacom Bamboo is a pretty inexpensive way to try it out and practice. You’ll really like it! (No, I don’t work for them, and no, I’m not really 95, my neck just acts like it is…)

    If you have anymore questions, just ask away….

  • Elaine

    I love your podcast. I have been a hybrid scrapbooker since day 1, which was when my daughter Carla was born six years ago. Even though I work mostly in paper I love doing the collages and have done some digital layouts which I print at home in my Hp B8550 printer. I also print digital designs in paper, add some digital elements over the base page and then a photocollage in photopaper. I love both worlds. So as you can imagine I hear both podcasts, the paperclipping and the digi show. Also recently subscribed to the Digifiles and love all the beautiful products as well as the playbook. I have one very basic question for you, I tried the ACDSee program to organize my digital supplies and loved it, I can see all my brushes and psd files . I am also tagging the kit page where all elements and papers are shown. But because I do my digital layouts in PSE and my supplies are tagged in ACDSee I noticed I need to go back and forth in both programs vs. before I had them tagged in PSE. Is there some sort of link or process that could help me make this process more eficiently. How do you do it ?

    PD Please say hi to Izzy and tell him we love him even those of us who don’t have an ipad and work in windows.
    Elaine from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico

  • http://common-sense-scrapbooking.blogspot.com/ Lorell

    I have Wacom Bamboo Fun that came out a few years ago. I enjoy using it…:) In terms of what it feels like, to me, I had to get used to it after using a mouse for digital scrapping, but it didn’t take long. I still use my mouse and tablet and go back and forth between them.

    I’m not making a lot of hand drawn doodles, but I do love it for adding my own handwriting and outlining things. For example, when I was paper scrapping, I’d use a black pen (or whatever color pen I was using) to create an outline either around the edge of my paper, or a die cut shape or whatever to give it some definition. That is one thing I really missed from paper scrapping that I could get back using my tablet. You can also do fun things with brushes using the pen, because it has special sensitivity that a mouse doesn’t have. I have a cool leaf brush that I use in PSE, and when I use my tablet with it, I can “scatter” the leaves all across my page using the pen. It’s so fun!

  • http://gracewilson.tumblr.com Grace

    I have things tagged in shoebox, which is a similar idea to ACDSEE but on Mac. I usually choose a group of things I want to use and go ahead and drag and drop them all to PSE to open them, and then I just work from PSE for awhile until I’m ready to bring in another group. If you have a sort of minimal style, you could probably have everything you need for your page open at once without slowing down your program. If there’s a whole lot, I tag them with a temporary tag that ties them together. Then I can keep the group of them open in my organizing program at once and open them in PSE in groups, then I just remove the tag when the layout is done. I’m curious to hear what other people do too!

  • Erikas4228

    Currently listing to show 22 and Izzy is talking about the IPad app for PDF’s. I think we need to have a show dedicted to reviewing what digital scrappers can use the ipad for. There has been discussions about different apps etc with other guest like Ana. I know for christmas this year I’m asking for an ipad and would love to have some guidance on this.

  • Beth

    Thanks for the comment! I think it’s cool that you could use it instead of a mouse; I hadn’t considered that. Sounds like a fun idea!

    And yes, now that I think about it, extractions would be so much easier with a pen-and-tablet (I often find myself thinking that, anyway, as I’m painstakingly brushing over pixels with my mouse).

    Thanks for the advice!

  • Beth

    That sounds like just the kind of thing I would use it for! I love the doodles made by designers, outlining borders and things, but I’d love to create my own rather than find the .png files and try to tweak it to fit what I’m using it for. And I would SO like to have a bit more control when it comes to brushes! Thanks so much for the comment!

  • Mande

    Awesome! I want to get Peppermint’s package of shadows. Is this available on her web site or at the store where she sells her stuff? She is so hilarious…it was great having her on the show. You should do more shows like this…really dig deep into some kind of important technique.

  • Anonymous

    I’m pretty sure they are in her store at Oscraps. :)

  • Anonymous

    I’m pretty sure they are in her store at Oscraps. :)

  • Anonymous

    I just wanted to let you know that we discuss your question on this weeks episode :)

  • Anonymous

    I just wanted to let you know that we discuss your question on this weeks episode :)

  • Anonymous

    We read your question on this weeks show :) we are now on Twitter and Facebook :)