What's that you say?

Using speech bubbles can add an extra twist to otherwise ordinary images. This family album page is a good example. I had the photos of our dog and our son's dog jostling for position of top dog while son's cat watched from a safe distance. The pictures weren't great and I only had a couple. What to do?

The cat on his chair gave me an idea and once he was made Director, I just had to come up with lines for the dogs and turn their images into strips of film by adding holes along the edges. Now the page has a humourous tone and is much more interesting.

I only use this technique occasionally but it is always fun to do. Give it a try!

And which one is our dog? The cutest one of course.

Credits:
Fonts - Tekton Pro; Franklin Gothic Medium; Arial
Overlay on background - thanks to Laitha - Mariella Carugati products, available at PickleBerry Pop

Mobile phone pic too small?

No problem! You can always 'go large' with the design of the page instead.

As so often happens, perfect photo opportunities occur when the good camera is too far away and you know the moment will pass all too quickly. That's when I tend to whip out the mobile phone and snap away with fingers crossed. I know the picture will be low res and if I'm lucky, in focus as well so it can still be used.

This page shows one of those moments. DH had just bought a new iPhone and downloaded an interactive story book for DGS to play with. The looks on the faces show how successful the whole idea was.

I still have to add some story to this page but as you can see, I have lots of room left. Maybe up the top there perhaps?

I used DigiScrap Princess' new kit Annie's Rain for the page. It's available at Sum Scrapper now. The font is PalaceScript MT.

Australiana

I have been having a lot of fun putting together elements and papers with a strong Australian theme that I hope will be used by folks who travel about our great country and then want to put together a travel album with all their pictures. As I have heaps of dusty pics in travel folders myself, I am also designing and developing things for me too. I'm hoping that if it works for me then it'll work for someone else as well.

Here is one of our travel pics taken just out of Kalgoorlie at the old bush two-up ring, now abandoned and falling into ruin. There is corrugated iron everywhere and that inspired me to create a corrugated iron background for my page.

The title, Come in Spinner, comes from the call made at the two-up as the person in the middle tossed the two pennies in the air. Bets were laid on how the coins would fall and fortunes were made and lost at the ring. Conditions there were never luxurious. The little picture at the bottom left is of a semi-circle of corrogated iron painted white with the sign 'LADIES' painted on it.


If you like the background, you can download it here.

Credits:
Fonts - Adler, Arial.
Grunge overlay - Pineapple Plantation Designs

If you do download, a little ‘love’ in the form of a note or comment would be appreciated.

Cake me to your eater

This has little to do with actually making photo albums and more to do with what ends up in them, well end up in mine anyway.

My DD is a CSI, a tough job at the best of times. As a sideline, she does cake decorating and she's darn good at it! I have lots of pages featuring her bent over with a piping bag in hand adding her special touch to yet another great creation.

She calls her business Cake Me To Your Eater and her website has just been updated. Take a look here.


Credits:
Title font: Arruba

Another 12 x 12 page for small images

I’m back at work on MiL’s album and doing another page with small pics from her old home ‘among the gum trees’. All the diamonds and squares are just 2” square.

This is a companion page to one that appeared earlier on… oh my gosh, the 6th of April. I really need to do more work on that book or it won’t get finished!

Credits:
Font: Pristina
Elements: ribbon and gum nuts are my own

Sorry, link has expired but you can access it from the Dusty Digitals website.

If you do download, a little ‘love’ in the form of a note or comment would be appreciated.

Dusty's Website

Thanks to my techy son, I now have a website to go with this blog. The website will have all the downloads and information from here plus some extras all organised into sections. It is very much a work in progress but I hope you will find it useful. Suggestions welcomed!

It’s at: http://dustydigitals.selsmark.com/

Making a string of beads

I use lines a lot on my album pages. They are a quick way to add some design elements and colour and require the minimum of artistic ability. The main trick is in spacing out the brush strokes.

The attached tutorial is for Photoshop Elements and shows you how to create a simple line of dots and gives you some ways to add extra pizzazz with colour and styles.

This tutorial appeared in its original form on the Digital Design Den back when it was a community site. It is now coming back as a Shoppe and will be well worth a visit. YOU'LL FIND THEIR BLOG HERE.

Sorry, link has expired. Check the DustyD website instead.

If you do download, a little ‘love’ in the form of a note or comment would be appreciated.