Make Cute Vintage Frames for Pictures on your Sidebar, using Photoshop!

I love this technique, because it is so cute, and sooo easy :)   First off, I picked up a FREE vintage frame Clip Art from The Graphics Fairy.  Her site is FABULOUS!

Thanks for the Feature!

I was featured over at 30 Days Handmade today!  Check her out, very fun blog :)

Make a Simple Rotating Header in Photoshop

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to make a header like this one:  **it is the same concept as making a Blinky

It is great for Photography blog designs and just if you want to add a little something different, but it is MUCH easier than doing a flash header.  NOTE: You can only save this as a GIF file, so your quality will not be as high as a JPEG or PNG, so if you need something really high quality, this is not the best tutorial for you :)

Make Your Logo into a Photoshop Brush for an Easy Watermark!

I love using brushes as a watermark, it is much easier that layering another file, and sizing it, then changing the opacity and all that.  If you have a logo, I would recommend this!  I do it for all my clients that purchase a logo.

So first thing you need to do, is make your logo into a simple black and white image (jpeg, png, whatever).  I size mine at 2500px wide, by whatever tall (that is largest you can make a brush).

Once you have your image made, open it in Photoshop, it should look something like this:

Time to Announce our Winners!!

This was so much fun, but it was way hard!  You all did such a great job.  I am so glad that I had 5 other judges to help me, I just couldn't have picked on my own.  So, first, THANK YOU judges!  Second, this was a close pick, there was only 1 point difference between the first and second place!

There were a 125 points possible between all 6 judges.

Our First Place Winner, with 108 points was.....

 
 ....and in 2nd, with 107 points!

..... finally, our 3rd Place winner, with 101 points.....

Please visit our winners, by clicking on the images above, and Congratulate them!  Thank you so much to everyone that entered, I hope you love your new looks!


***Winners, email me and we will talk about your prizes!

It's Photoshop Week!

My husband found this video a few weeks ago, and I knew that I had to share it for Photoshop Week!  It is hilarious! 

Warning:  There is some swearing, I don't want to offend anyone :)

Meet our 6th and Final DIY Custom Blog Design Contest Judge!

Our 6th Guest Judge is Amanda Padgett

from Beautiful Blog Designs!

Where do you live?
Rural South Carolina

Are you Single, Married, have Kids?
Married with four kids ages 12-5

Tell us about your blog.

I have two blogs, Beautiful Blog Designs and Everyday Elements. Beautiful Blog Designs (BBD) is a resource for bloggers to find free, premade or custom designs by various designers, as well as find tips and tutorials on blogging and social media. Everyday Elements is about photography and Photoshop Elements, with free tutorials and actions and also online workshops.

When did you start it? 

I started BBD in January of 2009 and Everyday Elements in May of 2010, although the blog side of it did not start until September, 2010.

Is your blog your job, if so, is it your only job?
Yes, both BBD and Everyday Elements are jobs for me, but I also do the online workshops for Photoshop Elements and photography.


Wild Card Questions:

What was the last movie you went to see?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

What would I find in your refrigerator right now?
A milk carton with no top on it because my 5 yo took it off and lost it.

What is the last book you read?
Read with my eyeballs? LOL Harry Potter book 7. But, I listen to a lot of audio books. Life with four kids, homeschooling and an online business does not leave me a lot of sit down time to read, so I am a member of Audible and get audio books instead.

What is your favorite color? 

Purple

Any advise for the DIY Blog Designer?
Think simple but attractive. Pay attention to load time, use a navigation or menu bar to help your readers find information, create an about page, constantly view your blog as if you’re a new visitor and improve on things you find are confusing or distracting.

.....and the 10 finalists are....

It was SOOO hard to narrow these down!  You all did such a great job!  Here are my picks for the DIY Custom Blog Design Contest, and these are in NO particular order.  Click on the images to visit their sites.


Peace.Love.Mommy

Greenway Stuff & Things

Small Fry & Co.

Lacey Kaye Creations

Yes, Teacher!

My Paper Heart

Eisy Morgan

The Adventures of Mommy B

(un)Deniably Domestic

Brown Bling

Congratulations Finalists! 

Now the Judges will begin Judging and I will announce the winners on Wednesday!

LAST DAY TO ENTER!

Today is the very LAST day to enter the DIY Custom Blog Design Contest and win $100 in my Design and/or Advertising Services! 

ENTER HERE

Meet our 5th DIY Custom Blog Design Contest Judge, Me!

I know that I am not the best about blogging about myself, so I thought that I would take a second to introduce myself, hopefully you guys can get to know me better, and in the future, hopefully I will be better about writing a bit more about myself!

My full name is Carolynn Reynolds.  Design Forte is my main business, I Love My Blog Makeover and Makin' Cute Blogs are my side thing.

Where do you live?
Heber City, Utah (temporarily, my hubby is looking at a few different schools right now, all out of state!  It makes me nervous but excited, I have never lived outside of Utah, how sad right?)

Are you Single, Married, have Kids?
Married for 5 years, holy COW!  Time flies when you are having fun!  I have 2 beautiful kids, a daughter (Kaiya) that is 2 1/2 years, and a son (Bennett) that is 8 months old.  Yes, they are the cuties that appear in all of my tutorials :)  (the pic above is a little outdated, notice that my daughter is only 8-9months there, I just don't like any pics of me since, haha, well I don't like pics of me period)

How long have you been a Blog Designer?

Blog Designer, well since October of 2009.

How did you get into Blog Design? 

I never actually intended to get into blog design at all.  I have been doing graphic design (mainly print work) for about 7 years now, and a few years ago, my sister-in-law wanted me to start a blog so that she could see what my family was up to and how my pregnancy was going (I was prego with my daughter at the time).  So I started a blog, I didn't like how it looked, and I noticed people using "The Cutest Blog on the Block" backgrounds, so I browsed through her stuff, didn't like it (I am just picky, not that her stuff isn't nice), and I wanted something unique.  So I started making my own backgrounds.  My friends and family asked me to start make ones for them, so on my spare time, I started "I Love My Blog Makeover".  (It's a mess right now by the way, it is under major construction)  Anyway, by doing that, a few people just started asking me if I would do custom blogs from seeing my backgrounds (I didn't even advertise custom blog designs at the time).  From there it was history.

Is Designing Blogs your only job?
Full-Time Mom, Part-Time Blog Design, Part-Time Freelance Graphic Design, Part-Time Blogger.  Am I overwhelmed, haha, YES!  But I can't help it, I love it all, so I try to do it all.

What is your designing program of choice?
By FAR Adobe Illustrator, then InDesign (for Freelance print work), then Photoshop, DreamWeaver, and starting to learn Flash a little.

Show off your favorite blog design that you have done, what is the URL?
http://www.paisleyblooms.com/  I LOVED how this one turned out, the custom illustration was oh so fun to make, I wish it were mine!  It makes me want to make me a new illustration.  I also love how clean and simple it turned out.  Here are a few others that I love:  http://www.lifeofthebees.com/     http://sunkissedmama.blogspot.com/      http://www.smallbatchtravel.com/ (love how simple this one was)


Wild Card Questions:

If you were an animal what kind of animal would you be?
Zebra!  Can't help but love the black and white stripes!

What was the last movie you went to see?
Harry Potter 7 (can't help it, I love them!)

What would I find in your refrigerator right now?
LOTS!  We in my parent's basement (Sad I know! Good thing it is very temporary) and my mom has an issue about wasting food, like it is a sin to put spoonful of leftovers in the garbage, unless it has gone bad, so there is always a BUFFET of options in the fridge.

What is the last book you read?
ummmm..... read?  Love reading, but it just doesn't fit in the schedule much.  But the last book, was the Book of Mormon, YES, I am a Mormon, and we aren't crazy :)  Find out more about Mormons HERE.

What is your favorite color? 

Turquoise Blue and Pink and Brown.... together :)

Any advise for the DIY Blog Designer?
Jump in, and don't be afraid of HTML, it won't bite (I used to think it would).  Before blog design, I worked for a Sign Shop, a Magazine, and a large Business, everything NOT web.  I was sooooo scared of anything web, but I am all self-taught.  So if I can do it, anybody can!  Plus, I am here to help!



Our DIY Custom Blog Design Contest is coming up fast, you only have until this Sunday to enter!  CLICK HERE for details and to enter!  **If you aren't done yet, you can still enter now, no Judging will happen until January 10th.