the secret

I'm glad you liked my list on Tuesday. Several people commented on the graphic nature of it. I love to make things look cool. This is true in my notebooks too. I'm always looking for the opportunity to make things look more appealing. It's a big part of my creative process in many aspects of my life (presenting, blogging, cooking, scrapbooking, writing).

Many of you wondered how I did it. Thank you for the compliment and for asking.

Usually I use Photoshop Elements 9.0. I've been using PSE for, oh...I don't know, maybe five years and am on my third version. I'm the lucky girl whose parents buy it for her birthday. In order to learn to use the program I took an online course with Jessica Sprague. I would highly recommend taking a course if you are new to PSE and want to learn how it to use it.

For the list last Tuesday I used PSE, however, I could have also used MS Word to create the list. It would have been simple to create, but there would have been a few more steps in getting it to an image file to post to my blog. By using text boxes and a variety of fonts, though, I could have easily created the list.

Like many scrapbookers, I have lots of supplies. Since I am both a traditional paper scrapper and a digital scrapper, I have many digi supplies. So when I make a quick list or image for the blog, I tap into my "stash." These can be found for free (if you have the time to dig around the internet) or purchased in digi stores. Jessica Sprague has a store, as does Designer Digitals. The label and stitching were purchased at Designer Digitals. I could have also added them into a document on Word. (Or into PowerPoint presentations, which I often do to add a more graphic feel to them.)

Finally I love fonts. I'm particular about the fonts I chose to download, but I have hundreds that I've added to my computers. I keep to the free fonts and typically download from Dafont.com. (If you're unsure how to install a font, just do a quick Google search and you'll find easy to follow directions.)

So there are some of my secrets behind the list. If you have more questions, let me know. I'll try to answer them or send you a link of someone who already has shared the answer.