While going through yet more of my files, I came across a layout I made, but, I don’t remember what I made it for.  It seems it may have been a Quote Challenge piece.  If it is, though, I don’t recall which one or where it was for.  LOL  I do know it was around Valentine’s Day, because of the concept I chose and the verse I wrote.  I’ve not had very good luck with exes.  Maybe, I should say that my exes haven’t had very good luck.  Both of my husbands and too many boyfriends to innumerate, have passed away – after we broke up.  Two, died tragically just days before a date with me.  Isn’t that an awful thing to know!  One was in a car wreck, a week before; the other was shot while working at a mini-mart.  The latter happened the day before we were to go out.  Needless to say, it kind of makes me hesitant to know anyone better.  Anyway, that explains the layout:

You might have to click on it to see it in larger size.  I do know that this piece was good practice for working on shadows.  LOL  No disrespect intended to any of the deceased.  I find it kind of strange, that’s all.

I have another link for ya!  This one is for a free Photoshop ‘style’ each and every day.  Who couldn’t handle that?  LOL  The name of the website is, are you ready, “PS STYLE A DAY”.  You can enter your e-mail, if you so desire, and they will be sent to your inbox daily.  As I said, they are free, but, for personal use only.  For commercial use, the styles I looked at were only $2.00 each.  Can’t beat that.  It started up almost a month ago, so, their archives aren’t that many.  The examples in each post are applied to text, so, I’m assuming they are mainly meant for that.  But, I asked about designing styles.  Who knows?  Maybe there will be some.  There were a couple of styles that I really liked and could use.  One is a ‘western-looking wood’ style.  I’ll have to follow them to see what else they offer.  These can be used to enhance smaller elements of scrapbooking stuff.  Often, the style appears too much like a repeated pattern when you try to use one that was meant for text in too large an area.

Next, I found a quick tutorial that turns any photo into a line drawing.  No plug-ins or actions necessary.  It’s quick and the results are cool!

• Open your photo in Photoshop.
• ‘Duplicate’ it twice.
• ‘Desaturate’ both copies.
• ‘Turn off color(bottom-original) layer. 
• ‘Invert’ the top copy.  
• Add a blending mode – ‘Color Dodge’.
• Your image will disappear almost completely.
• Not to worry.
• Go to ‘Filter’>’Other’>’Minimum’ (Still on top copy).
• Tweek the ‘Radius’ to get the image the way you like it.
• You can leave like that.
• Or, you can ‘Merge’ the two desaturated layers, turn the color layer back on and add ‘Blending Mode – Luminosity’.

You’ll have a softly colored sketch when you’re done!

Here are my before and after images.  I didn’t actually use a photo.  I used a vector flower design.  You can see how it took the vector and turned it into what looks like a soft watercolor or pastel painting.

Let me tell you.  What I did was to open a “New Action” from the actions palette after I opened my image.  It gives you the okay to start recording, which is what an action is, really.  I went through the above steps, then, after merging the layers, I stopped the recording.  The only part of it that is adjustable is the ‘Minimum’ feature.  I have mine set at “1” in the action.  That’s fairly general, but, I could change it if need be, by going back in ‘History’.  I now have an action that does all the steps – automatically.  As soon as I figure out how to save the silly thing, I’ll put it on here for anyone who might want it.  LOL  It is so easy to do this.  There is a lot more to making actions, like adding messages, or prompts, and, of course, saving them.  I’ve only just dabbled, so far.  I have made a couple of actions for myself to do some of the more menial, but necessary, tasks.  Image resizing for previews is one.

So, there you have it.  A ‘2 for 1’ tutorial.  How to turn a photo(image) into a sketch/line drawing and recording it as an action.  LOL  Bargain!

It just wouldn’t be the same without a goodie to give away to you.  So, again, from my file reorganization/weed-out, I bring you a set of ‘experimental’ papers.  Over at Patternhead, they offer some really nice repeating pattern ‘templates’ in vector.  Once you create the pattern from it, then, blend it with a color layer and, maybe a texture, or two, you can get some really neat papers/textures.  Here are three that I downloaded from there, then, worked with:

Download Sources @ Patternhead:

 “Twisted Floral Pattern”

“Grungy FleurdeLis Pattern”

“Intricate Lace Pattern”

Can you handle one more quick tut?  To make a pattern out of the above type of vectors:

• Open pattern template in Photoshop.
• Go to ‘Select’>’Select All’.
• Go to ‘Edit’>’Define Pattern’.
• Save it when the box pops up.
• Close template.
• Open image to add pattern to, such as a paper.
• Or, fill a new, blank document with any color.
• Add the pattern to it and adjust to your liking.
• Save as .jpg or .png.
• Re-open, or ‘Flatten Image’ to use for adjustments and blending.

(A newly styled layer is impenetrable.  LOL  It must be saved or flattened before you can do anything to it.)

Have fun.  I did.  Here is what I made.  Click on the image to go to MediaFire for download : 

I left these kind of ‘exaggerated’ in color and pattern/texture for blending purposes.   I just hated to toss them out.

Take care!  And,

WTF!!??!!  LOLOLOL

Hugs,

Su