Archive for the ‘Thursday Trends’ Category
Thursday Tidbits: GIMP and Moleskine – Hybrid Projects
Welcome to another Thursday Tidbits with Melissa T.! This week instead of talking explicitly about how to use your digital scrapbooking software, I would like to share with you a way that you can use your “Outside Content” that you have now downloaded and organized on your computer or external hard drive. Like many of you, I am quite creative, so I belong to several online art communities. The one I enjoy the most is Milliande: An Art Community for Women. It is filled with inspired women who love to create art in all forms (and it is free!), share ideas, and swap art. I encourage all of our artsy female readers to take the time to join. It was here that I learned about GIMP, an artsy shareware program that allows you to create all forms of art on your computer. You may find a small user manual under the Help tab if you would like to start there. I chose to dive in and learned the very hard way.
Besides digital scrapbooking, I love to journal. My favorite journal to create art in is called a Moleskine. The journals come in a variety of styles and papers, but I prefer the blank large sketch journal since I keep all of my art, magazine clippings, journal entries,and poetry in one place. Several years ago, while perusing the Moleskine website, I found My MSK. You may register for free (you either think that I am cheap or poor by now), and then you can download a ton of PDFs depending upon your needs and interests. By using the blank journal, you can print off all of the other styles of paper and glue them into your journal to make one big book of ideas. My favorite freebies on this website are the blank Moleskine Sleeves, MUse boxes, and Dice. These allow you to print out designs on the paper of your
choosing (I use cardstock.), cut and glue according to instructions, and decorate as you wish. Don’t worry if you have no idea where to start since learning is the fun part. They offer plenty of samples by renowned artists from which to choose should you prefer that to making your own.
So, recently, I decided to combine my love for scrapbooking and digital art with my love for journaling. First, I opened GIMP 2.0. Then I selected the “File” tab and clicked on “Open” tab. This allows you to select a file on your computer to import into GIMP 2.0. Next, I selected the file in which the blank Moleskine sleeve was saved. Within seconds, you will see the blank Moleskine sleeve inside your GIMP 2.0 software.Now you can begin to paint, create word art, and decorate your sleeve as you see fit. I, however, chose to create a sleeve for notes for my nephew from “In My Pocket” from Missy’s Bits. To create your own sleeve, leave the page open with the Moleskine sleeve on it. Select “File”, “Open”, and then choose the item you wish to import onto the Moleskine sleeve from you “Outside Content” digital scrapbooking file. THis will open a new file which you can then manipulate according to your wishes. Please note: You must think ahead to layer your objects from the bottom up! I selected a paper as my background. Then, I selected the button to adjust the size of the paper. The Moleskine sleeve is about 700×1000 pixels, so you will want to shrink the size of the paper. After that, right-click on the image and select “Edit” then “Cut”. You may now switch screens to the blank Moleskine sleeve and “Paste” the image onto the sleeve image. Adjust the size to fit the outline of the template before double clicking on the image to “Fasten” it to your template. Click on the button with the dotted circle (“Free Select”) to create a shape which you will then “Cut” off your template. You will need to do this by free-hand, so it doesn’t always look perfect, but it works. “Cut” the triangular edges off the fastened paper to match the design of the Moleskine sleeve. You should now have the background of the sleeve in the paper of your choosing with 5 empty areas outside the dotted lines. Now select the “Fill” button. It looks like a paint-can pouring out paint (“Bucket Fill”) and click on the black box at the bottom of the Toolbox. Note: it is easier to keep the Toolbox Window open on top of the image you are manipulating. You will then select the appropriate color you want for the bottom and side of the sleeve and click on all of the empty spaces left on the template. THe hard part is now complete!
To insert scrapbook images, borders, wordart, and clusters, you will have to open each one individually the same way that you did the paper, cut, and paste onto the new template. I suggest shrinking the image before cutting and pasting on the template. Use the blue arrow button (“Move Tool”) to actually move the object to the place you want it on the template, and the blue boxes with curved arrows button (“Rotate Tool”) to rotate the item as you prefer. Use the button with the black “A”(“Text Tool”) to create any word art that you wish to have. The text tool will allow you to choose the font and the colors you wish to use as well.
So, for this week, I have created a PDF using “In My Pocket” as a gift to you. You may print it, cut, fold, and glue to create a cute sleeve that is the perfect size for 3X5 index cards, mini-sized Moleskine journals, or even Artist Trading Cards. Have fun using these two new tools. The possibilities are endless! Go make a memory today, and make sure that you have a camera on hand to capture it!
After printing out your template, you will need scissors, glue, and something to fold the paper with to finish this hybrid project.
Cut out the template along the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines.
Fold along the dotted lines, glue the white spaces where instructed, and press the sides of the paper together firmly so that the blue side in on the outside and the glue on the inside of the folder.
Your finished project will be a 3"x 5" file folder that will hold any little paper items you desire. Enjoy!
Tags: GIMP, Hybrid Projects, Milliande, missy's bits, Moleskine
Thursday Trends: Pinterest
Hi, there all of you readers in Blog Land. My name is Melissa, and I am a new blogger for www.creativeartistry.com. You can eagerly await my posts every Thursday when I will be bringing you tips, trends, tutorials, and even a speed scrap or two. To start, my muse and I would like to send you a little digital inspiration. I don’t know how many of you have viewed your own Facebook profiles or read the feeds of your many friends lately, but www.pinterest.com seems to be the next “Big Thing” when it comes to the world wide web. I have had my own Pinterest page for several months now, but recently, I am finding that all types of companies (even digital scrapbook artists) are using Pinterest as a way of publicizing their own materials, coordinating ideas and color swatches, and determining how many “likes” each “pin” may have before coming out with new products. Unfortunately, not all of us are designers, but I have decided that all of us have a use for www.pinterest.com.
So you may be asking, “Melissa, what does this mean for me?” Well, I will tell you: if you are anything like I am, you probably have Vision Boards, Creativity Shrines, French Memo Boards, or even just a scrapbook of goodies you would like to purchase for yourself filled with the rather unsightly push pins of blue and yellow (or in my case, several cork boards filled with staples.) Pinterest allows you to create numerous digital boards where you can store those ideas/ pictures that you find anywhere on the web all in one place. Your friends or “Followers” can see your pins, comment, like, and repin. Right now, I have 9 boards ranging from clothing I want to own, recipes I wish to try, personal retreats, art I love, and innovative ways to revamp my herb garden. The possibilities are as wide and varied as your imagination allows.
So, for Thursday’s Tip/ Trend, I would like you all to flood the proverbial gates of Pinterest and create at least 3 boards of your own. Be sure to grab the ”Pin It” Button under “Goodies/About” which will allow you to pin any picture on any webpage directly to your own Pinterest boards from your own bookmark toolbar. And who knows, maybe by the end of the week, you will be able to find a link on our own blog to Pinterest.
Tags: Boards, Creativity, facebook, Pinterest, Publicity, Trends
