However, this week I had the opportunity to work with Becca of Tickled Pink Studio and I LOVE the products we’ve come up with. I think these may be some of my favourite template sets yet. Here’s a little peek for you…

This week I am offering BOTH of my templates sets along with a copy of Becca’s new kit to one lucky winner. To be in with a chance of winning these goodies, just leave me a comment on this blog post. I’ll be back on Friday to reveal all and announce the winner.

Credits: It’s My Party by Traci Reed, Focal Point Template Set by Little Green Frog Designs

Credits: Celebrate Bold by Chelle’s Creations Celebrate Word Art by Chelle’s Creations                                        Endless Days Template Pack by Little Green Frog Designs

The pictures are key!

Birthdays rank pretty high up for me on the scrapping priority list. Every kid loves their birthday and I want them to be able to look back and see how much we love and cherish them, especially on their special day. The photos here are key! As the mom, you’re probably going to be pretty busy managing the party. It might be helpful to hand off the camera to someone else so you can enjoy the party – and then enjoy scrapping the photos afterwards. Here are some ideas of pictures to take:

- Birthday boy or girl with parents

-Birthday boy or girl with siblings

-Birthday boy or girl with special attendees, like grandparents.

-Birthday boy or girl with mom and dad

-Blowing out the candles

-Birthday boy or girl with friends as they open the friend’s present

-Party games and activities

-The cake itself

-The pile of presents, still wrapped

-All the partygoers together

Layout by Jenn. Credits: Perpendicular by Little Green Frog Designs Birthday Blitz by Crossbone Cuts, Down This Road, Meagan’s Creations, and Memory Clips

Credits: Template from Candle Wax by Little Green Frog Designs, Of Wishes, Dreams and Happily Ever After by Stolen Moments

Don’t forget the journaling!

While the pictures are important, the journaling is, too. Don’t forget to write a little about who attended, what they did, what presents were received, and what the child’s favorite part of the party was. Years from now, this will be like a time capsule, a snapshot in time of your child’s life and interests at that moment.

I’ll be working today with the Pop Goes the Weasel Template Set. I am using Photoshop Elements 9 for this tutorial, so you may need to modify the process if you’re using another program. 

I love single-photo templates, but in this case, I want to add another photo spot because I have two pictures that I want to scrap. Here is the original template.

To add a new photo spot, I selected the photo layer in the Layers Palette. Then, I went up to the Layer drop-down menu and chose Duplicate Layer. This creates a new identical layer on top of the one I chose. 

I decided to make my new photo spot smaller and move it away from the first. I also tilted the original photo spot slightly. I made sure that the new photo spot was not underneath any other layers and deleted a few elements that I didn’t want to use.

And this is my layout with the modified template. It’s so easy to modify templates to fit your specific needs, and it’s a great way to reuse templates over and over again and get a fresh look every time.

Credits: Pop Goes the Weasel by Little Green Frog Designs, A Thousand Words by Zoe Pearn

Here we go! This page is called The View, and djp332 scrapped it with one of Andrea’s challenge templates. I love the baseball diamond large photo looking through the netting…it is a perfect way to show the view! Nice use of the baseball diamond paper below the large photo, too. I like the round baseball frames and the perfect uniform as well. Very fun page!

Greenmother scrapped Oh Boy with a Heartwood template and of course this wooden background paper caught my attention right away. It looks amazing! I also really like the contrast between that background and the vivid fun colors of the other papers and elements. The shadows on that top leaf and all the little paper flowers are awesome. The green frame perfectly sets off that photo, and I love how the photo is off center as well.

My Reason was scrapped by Shawnbear with a Chapter One template. When I saw the template I wanted to read more, and when I read her journaling about working the tough third shift I just fell in love with the whole sentiment behind the page. The word tag quote is totally perfect. Lovely scenery in the photo, and I love the banner.

Last up, we have Take it Easy by TeaWithLemon, who used Froggy Freebie Vol. 13. I love the neutral background here with the colorful clusters anchored with that blackish gray. AWESOME perspective on the photo and I love all the relaxing related elements. Paint splatters are the perfect touch, love the bird element and the title font. I feel more relaxed just looking at it!

I hope you liked checking these pages out…make you wanna grab some temps, don’t they???? Congratulations to all our standouts this week. Have a great week and see you next time!

However, for one lucky person, they can just drop me a line and they will receive BOTH of my new packs this week. And that person this week is (64) Fairy White. Congrats – email me at littlegreenfrog@mail.com or use the contact me form here on the blog to claim your coupon ! If you want to be in with a chance of winning my new releases each week, make sure you check out my sneak peek posts each Tuesday here on the blog.

Celebrate the joys of summer and childhood with these multi-photo templates! Sidewalk chalk is all about capturing creativity and playfulness on your digital canvas, highlighting the fun with a big picture and two to five complementary photos.

Check out these great examples from my team :

Eton Mess are absolutely scrumptious templates! Just like the delightful dessert they are named after, these templates are crisp, airy, simple to assemble, and oh so sweet. You can scrap those multi-photo events with a delectable combination of 6-8 photo spaces and plenty of room to whip up some fantastic journaling.

Need some more inspiration ? Check these out ..

by Ellen

by Niki

Don’t forget you can pick up both of these packs at 20% off for one week only. Enjoy the weekend and I’ll be back next week with some more new templates.

Hi everyone. I’m here to announce June’s Froggy Find: Can You Get Any Bigger Picture template set! Can You Get Any Bigger Picture is a template set filled with large photo slots, scallops, banners and circles. And you can score it for a great price, during the month of June, if you read on.

Another installment in the Big Picture series, the Can You Get Any Bigger Picture templates give you four more ways to show off huge photos that deserve the spotlight! I’ve incorporated some circles and angles into this set for some unique looks. You know you love those large photo pages you’ve seen in the galleries, here’s your chance!

Today, we paired the template set with Into the Woodland by Tickled Pink Studio. Into the Woodland is a digital scrapbook kit that is versatile and packed with whimsy. This adorable kit is filled with warm colors with a touch of cool tones that will be perfect for any of your pages and projects. Hand drawn woodland critters and crafty embellishments make this kit a must-have to add to your stash! Pst, I also heard there’s an extra special surprise on her design blog  found here. 

Now onto some inspiring layouts! This one is called Walk into the Woods by Sara. I just love her title work and corner clusters are just perfect!

And here’s one by Christie. I love the bold background she choose and all those patterned papers make this layout extra sweet!

Now finally, the coupon you’ve been waiting for… 50% off the Can You Get Any Bigger Picture template pack, good  through the month of June!

Want to win both of them ?? All you need to do is leave me a comment on this blog post and I’ll be back on Friday to reveal my goodies and announce a winner. Enjoy your week

Father’s Day is right around the corner, are you prepared? While there’s usually lots of hype on Mother’s Day, I think it’s also important to shine a bright light on those fathers and father figures in our lives.  Dads need to know what they do is important and appreciated, sometimes even more so than us moms do. So why not celebrate them by scrapping a layout or two centered all around these special men?! That’s what these ladies did.

I love what Kara did with her layout! The great big title and the tie banner just pop off the background perfectly! She used a Glad You’re My Dad Singles template.

 Ellen made great layout using  a Glad You’re My Dad Singles template, documenting how similar the father and son duo are! I think it turned out great! I love the different angles, use of word art and element placement.

Both of the above layouts used Glad You’re My Dad Singles 

Ellen also worked with the coordinating Glad You’re My Dad Double Template pack to create this beauty! I love the use of word art, buttons and wooden elements throughout. It really is such a special layout.

I also went searching the galleries and found these beauties from our fabulous customers! First, njacobson designed this great layout using a Firethorn Template. I love her use of white space at the bottom, the mix of paper shapes throughout,  and of course her journaling!

Dielle made this with a template from Second Shot Vol. 9 set. I love the large blended photo and how she repeated it in the corner. Her simple paper layering is just perfect here.

Last but not least, shunnstergirl made this layout Tickertape template, focusing on one of his favorite hobbies. What a creative way to scrap the special men in our lives. I love all those arrows and the tucked in elements.

Now, it’s your turn to get out there and scrap! We’d love to see what you come up with in the galleries!

Here are my picks for this week’s standouts!

My first pick is by catgoddess, and she scrapped it with Andrea’s June FB freebie. I LOVE the peaceful colors here, and the treatment on that photo is perfectly perfect with the other colors on the page. The large argyle pattern on the background paper really draws your eye around the page, and the perspective of the photo just jumps right out at you. I love the flowers that she made so tiny, and of course the shadows are awesome!

Look at this sweet page called Welcome Home by emileem! She scrapped it with a former FB freebie that is now in the Second Shot Vol. 10 pack . The patterned papers are really fun here, and the colors would be perfect for baby boy or baby girl pages. I like that the bright colors of the baby clothes pop right out against the more muted paper colors. The handprint stamp is so sweet and so are all the pictures! Hi baby girl!! Love that hospital bracelet, too!

Navaja77 scrapped this cheerful springy page with a Garam Masala template. I love the leaves and all the greens. The sweet little bluebird is just too cute, and I really like the ribbon banner and its shadow. The green stitching adds a nice angle across the top and I like the teeny flowers, too.

Last up is this fun page from JZdesigns. She scrapped deal seeker with Andrea’s May FB Freebie temp. This is so cool! She has scrapped her strategies for saving money while she’s shopping, and all the different paper blocks and colors make me feel like I’m looking at a coupon circular! I really like all the tags and patterns and here and there bits. The bar code against the yellow, perfect!

So those are them! Do they stand out to you like they did to me? Go leave ‘em some love! Hope you all have a GREAT week!

Let’s start with my photo.  This is my son Zac.  He had just gotten his hair cut and has a bruise on his forehead from some tumble or other.  And while I love his moles – I think they add character to his face – for purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to cover them and his boyish scratches up.

Step 1:  Open the photo in your editing program.  I’m going to first show you PSE.  In the lower right hand corner, right click on the photo layer and duplicate it.  We’ll then work with the duplicate layer. That will allow us to more easily delete and start over if we don’t like our results.

Step 2:  Select the spot healing brush tool from the menu along the left side.  Set  your size according to the area you are trying to correct.  I tend to do the brush size smaller for my photos and then do multiple spot heals as needed.  I also will frequently modify the brush size to achieve varying effects.  Next, select content aware along the upper panel.  Zoom into the problem areas of your photograph.

Step 3:  Place your spot healing brush tool over the problem area and click.  As you can see from the photo below, I have removed the scratch from near Zac’s bruise above his right eye.  Notice that it did not remove the tracery of veins immediately below or alter his hairline.

Step 4:  Continue spot healing other problem areas in the photo.  As I mentioned I am removing the moles on Zac’s face for purposes of this example.  To do so, I simply continue clicking where there is a problem spot.  I altered the brush size smaller and larger for some areas, continuing to work in my duplicated layer.  Can you see the difference?  Isn’t it natural?  I even lightened the bruise on his forehead!

Here is my final photo:

I promised to give a little more guidance for those using PS. I love that this program has a few more options for cleaning up pictures.  When you click on the spot healing brush tool in PS it brings up this menu:

Notice that you can set the brush size and the mode in addition to selecting content aware.  When you choose the brush size, you can also set the hardness of your brush.  You will receive the following menu:

I prefer to use a 40% hardness in PS to give it a feathery soft effect as it heals my picture. I also will vary the size.  For smaller spots like little moles or acne, 13 px is generally a good size, for larger areas, like emblems and such, I’ll vary up to 40 px or larger.

I hope this tutorial has given you some easy helpful hints for creating the perfect blemish free photo!

And here is a layout I made with the photo (notice that it still has his adorable moles!).  and a Little Green Frog Designs Fab Five template!

Isn’t that Fab Five template the cutest?  You can snag it at Scrap Orchard by clicking HERE!

And that’s all for today!  We’ll see you back here next Sunday with another Sunday School tutorial!