Why have I not blogged in more than 10 years?!  I just noticed the link to this blog in my social media profile and decided to click on it and here I am.  I have loved blogging about parenting and digital scrapbooking and life in general.  But that has not happened for a long time so I wonder if I would still love it if I started back up again.

Today is not the day for an elaborate post, but for now, here is a little blurb so you know I am alive and kicking.  I hope this finds you well and if you are in the US, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. :)

~Jen

My attempt at a regular blog

I'm going to attempt some regularity to my blogging over at myheartbeats4jesus.blogspot.com. It's going to be theme-oriented as so many blogs seem to be now. You know...Monday Menus, Tuesday Trouble, Wednesday Walk-in-the-Park, that kinda thing. I hope you drop by.

Since I've left this blog dormant since May now (!) I will just leave it this way, and if people have questions or what have you, just drop me a comment in one of my posts and I'll be happy to help if I can. I haven't been digi-scrapping in quite a while. Kind of got out of the habit. Maybe I'll do a Scrapping-Sunday, or something like that.

Hope you all are well and enjoying your various pursuits! TTFN ~Jen

My favorite tutorial ever!

I was browsing through the tutorials I have given you all and I realized one very important one is MISSING! I think this is my favorite because of a particular photo I used that I actually framed and gave to my husband.

Here is the photo I will use for the tutorial:




What I am going to do is highlight the colorful tulips in the photo and make the rest of the photo black and white. It really makes for a stunning effect when done with the right photo.

Step 1: Open the photo you want to work with.
Step 2: Make a copy of the photo. You should now have two images.
Step 3: Convert the copy to black and white. (Image-->Mode-->Grayscale)
Step 4: Convert the copy to RGB. (Image-->Mode-->RGB) This gives a richer depth of field for the grayscale.
Step 5: Copy the grayscale image to the original image. This will give your original image a floating selection. Choose "add layer" in your layers dialog box and it will anchor your layer in place. Now your original should look black and white, but that's only because the b/w layer is on top! You can now minimize your b/w image, or close it without saving.
Step 6: Now the FUN part begins! Reduce the opacity of your b/w layer to about 1/2 (this is optional). You image should look a little bit muted, but the colors will show enough.
Step 7: Zoom in to the part of your photo you want to have colored.
Step 8: Choose the eraser tool in the toolbox and decide the size you want to work with (In 4.4 you can adjust the size of your brush/eraser.)
Step 9: Start gently erasing the b/w layer where you want the color to show through. You might have to adjust the size of your brush a few times in order to fine tune your erasing. + will make a straight line from your last erase mark, too, which helps in this tutorial.
Step 10: Now, if you haven't saved your file already, choose "save as" and save it as a GIMP file. Then choose "save as" and save it as a .jpg file so you can print it, or whatever you want to do!

You're done, now here's my results:



Have fun with this, and please post a link to your results in the comments!

Happy Scrapping! ~Jen

PS. Can you tell the boys were THRILLED to have their picture taken? ;)
PPS. I almost forgot! Before you save your file as a .jpg, increase the opacity on your b/w layer to 100% (to regain the b/w once you're done erasing) then save your GIMP file again.

PPPS. I just noticed I missed something in step 10. By pressing the shift key then clicking the eraser, you can make a straight line of erase mark. Sorry that didn't come out right when I posted it. Blogger read it as html by accident.

More GIMP stuff for your surfing pleasure!

Have you ever heard of www.digiscrapinfo.com? It is a search engine just for digital scrapbooking sites! And you can add your own site to the list, too, if you want. Go check it out!

I've also run across some new tutorial sites for the GIMP. This page, in particular, looked interesting, but I have yet to peruse the whole website.

This page and this page are translations which don't come across very well, but I'm going to play with them anyway, and see if I can re-translate it better.

Anyway, things have been busy here and I haven't had much time to scrap, but I'm getting ready to do a photo challenge over at www.scrapbooksgonedigital.com so I'm excited to look at these photo editing tutorials.

I hope you all are doing well and have some soothing scrap-time. ~Jen

the GIMP for Macs

Here's a website I just found which has the GIMP for Mac. I know there are some Mac users out there who would like some free software for digital scrapbooking... :)

http://darwingimp.sourceforge.net/download.html

"Just Give Me Somethin' to Scrap About"

Are you tired of the same old scrapping ideas that keep floating through your head? Well, here's a "top 10" list for my next scrapbooking slumps. I hope you enjoy them!

10. Laundry (aka. Mt. Washmore)
9. Dishes (Breakfast, Lunch AND dinner--does that count as 3?)
8. Getting the mail (and hoping that our box hasn't been vandalized, again)
7. Morning coffee (and praying that I will get some before the kids wake up)
6. Grocery shopping (on a budget of course!)
5. Garage Sales (wanting to sell all my kids' stuff at one, and wishing I didn't have to do my shopping AT them to GET my kids' stuff)
4. The clock on my living room wall (and it's constant NAGGING! LOL!!)
3. Library books (the one I've lost, and the ones on hold because so many people already want to read them)
2. Google recipes (my favorite "cookbook" in the world!)
1. Toys (stepping on them, tripping over them, skating on them (!), putting them in "time out", throwing the broken ones away, etc, etc, etc....)

Now, if you dare, post your "top 10" in the comments. I'd love to see what is going to motivate you to scrap your next page!

Happy Scrapping!!! ~Jen

GIMPShop

Have you ever looked at GIMPshop? It's a flavor, or variety of the GIMP. Someone decided to doctor up the GIMP to make it look and feel more like Photoshop, especially for digital scrapbooking. It's also free, just like the regular GIMP. I haven't looked at it myself but I'm curious to hear more about it, especially from someone who has used the GIMP as well, to hear a comparison.

Here is a link for more info if you are interested: http://www.gimpshop.com/

Happy Scrapping! ~Jen

I've been sprucing a little bit around here...

Just thought you might want to know I've been sprucing up a bit, making this easier for you (hopefully!) to find what you're looking for.

I've added tags to most of my posts, so you can search for tutorials now--and find them! There are many other tag words that will help you find exactly what you're looking for. I hope they are useful! I try to distinguish between beginner, intermediate and advanced tutorials also--I want to make it EASY for you to scrap with the GIMP! :D I've also added an RSS feed. You'll find it in your address window as a little orange square. Just click on it and then follow the directions. Let me know if you find it useful.

I also added a feature so that I can post here from an alternative id, when I'm logged with my other email address. I hope it's not confusing. I have a team now--but it's "me," and my other "me"! :D I'm posting this entry with my new id.

Well, that's about all for now. I've been starting to download some more kits and scrap a little bit more. Remember--YOU learn when I learn!

Happy Scrapping! ~Jen

Quickmask tutorial

In so many ways I am only a beginner when it comes to what the GIMP can do. I really want to learn more to make my scrapbook projects really look special. So, in my searchings, I have found a tutorial that is really simple and will give your photo a really cool look! The tutorial was written for an older version of the GIMP, so if you have any problems with it, let me know and I'll be happy to help.

Happy Scrapping! ~Jen

Try THIS on for size!

Did you know that you can adjust the size of your draw/erase tool? No, you don't have to CHOOSE a different size. You can actually ADJUST the size of the one you are currently using!

(I was just reading a review of the GIMP vs. Adobe Photoshop and the reviewer was not impressed with the GIMP's capabilities. The reviewer admittedly said that s/he had not tried the newest version (2.4) yet, so s/he will certainly be in for a surprise when they see this! )

It is so freeing! It's the "scale" slider in the toolbox and it is especially nice when you are trying to fade photos into the background for a hazy, misty effect. Check it out! It's in the toolbox when you choose one of the drawing tools or the erase tool. Oh, and try the opacity tool there, too, while you're at it.

Happy scrapping! ~Jen