Article written using Photoshop CS5 on a Mac
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
– Albert Carnus
The season of brilliant colors, crisp air, pungent aromas, pumpkins, dancing leaves, and glowing trees – inspiration can be found everywhere! To begin with, just take a peek in the Scrap Girls Boutique under Categories > Shop by Theme > Seasons > Fall. The product designers have certainly captured the essence of Fall with an abundant selection of exciting digital scrapbooking products.
In particular, I have found the leaf to be a multi-purpose embellishment. Since I enjoy experimenting, I thought you might benefit from my results as I combined Scrap Girls products to create a variety of styles, shapes, and colors. As a base, I used leaves from three products:
Take a look at the sample leaf designs below. Follow along and I’ll explain how I made these beautiful images come to life!
- For a hint of sparkle:
Use #2 brush from Brush Set: Fall Frenzy. Adjust the size, then press your mouse button while on the document to stamp the image. Press the Ctrl key on PC (or Cmd on Mac) as you click on the thumbnail of the leaf layer in the Layers Palette. This places a selection (marching ants) around the leaf. Create a new layer. Go to Edit > Stroke (about 10 pixels). Disable the marching ants by hitting Ctrl+D (Mac: Cmd+D). Apply ScrapSimple Tools – Styles: Everyday Glitters Neutrals 6401 Biggie to the stroke. Delete leaf layer, leaving only a glittered edge. - For a light and airy leaf:
Try using Brush Set: Fall Flourish brushes. Use a variety of fall colors, overlapping slightly. You can also put each image on a separate layer so that you can move/resize/rotate them independently. - For a dramatic, contemporary effect:
Open a new document and choose a color, paper, or photo for the background. Create a new layer and select a different color or paper. Using Brush Set: Fall Frenzy (#3 brush), select a contrasting color and press your mouse button on the document to stamp the image. Now select the Magic Wand Tool to highlight the stamped leaf and press Delete. This will “cut out” the shape from the top layer. Disable the marching ants (Ctrl+D on PC; Cmd+D on Mac). Apply a shadow to the top layer to give the appearance of depth. - For a rich, textured effect:
Apply ScrapSimple Tools – Styles: Autumn Suede Super Biggie to ScrapSimple Tools – Shapes: Fall 6301 for a beautiful leaf that will add interest to any autumn layout.
Use your personally designed creations to make tags, decorative page borders, accent titles, embellishment clusters, and interesting backgrounds. Be sure to share your results by posting your digital scrapbook layouts in the Scrap Girls Gallery!
Digital scrapbooking products used:
Tutorial written by Joyce Schardt
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