I searched for this wonderful tutorial by Heidi Brand the other day. I love the look of black and white and sepia pictures. I have been unhappy with the short cut options on my photo editing software and remembered the following tutorial:

Black and White Conversion in PSE ~ Heidi Brand

1. Open Image, and using the menu across the top, select IMAGE, this will give you a drop down menu where you will select MODE, that will bring up another drop down menu where you will select GRAYSCALE. It will then ask you if you would like to discard the colour information, hit OKAY. You should now see your image in black and white.

Now go back to IMAGE>MODE>and select RGB and hit okay.
2. This is a little flat, so you can now add some contrast to the picture. ENHANCE>AUTO CONTRAST or ENHANCE>ADJUST BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST, and play around with the brightness and contrast sliders so you see somthing that you like. In my example I have lightened it some and increased the contrast a little.

3. Now this is where it gets a little more complicated. From the menus at the top go to LAYER and select DUPLICATE LAYER from the drop down menu.
Now you need to go into the layers pallete, where you will see a box with a drop down menu. Currently NORMAL should be in the box. Click on the arrow down button beside Normal and the drop down menu will appear.

Now you want to select SCREEN, and adjust the opacity to taste. The box to the right where it says 100%. If you click arrow with the box saying 100, it will give you a slider to move so you can adjust to taste. I did a screen layer at 70%.
When you are happy with that go to LAYERS>FLATTEN IMAGE

4. Now to make the tones in the picture pop a little more, you need to go back to LAYERS>DUPLICATE LAYER and select okay. Now in the layers mode window, which should say normal, click on the arrow for the drop down menu and select the soft light layer, and go to the right and adjust the opacity to your liking. Once you are happy with what you have flatten the image LAYERS>FLATTEN IMAGE I used a soft light layer at 40%.

5. You can repeat the same instructions as in number 4 except using a hard light layer instead of soft light. Remember to adjust opacity to taste. I did a hard light layer at 50%, a little extreme but I wanted you to be able to see a difference.

You can repeat these layers as many times as you like. Just remember to flatten and save the image under a different file name when you are happy with it.
Also if you would like to add a bit of a warm brown tone to the conversion, once you have flattened the image hit CONTROL “U” check the colourize box and play with the hue and saturation sliders till you see something that you like, then hit okay.

^^^ I also wanted to let you know that these different layers, screen, hard light, soft light also work great to lighten and bring out different tones in colour pictures ^^^

I hope you enjoy this wonderful tutorial from CCAS gal Heidi Brand.

~Tara~

It’s time to post another weekly challenge! This one is as all about color…. or lack thereof!!

Yep… it’s about Black and White!! I would like to see you create a layout using only black and white. No color is to be added…. anywhere! It’s easier than you think.

Here is a layout I did of my girls. I converted the photo to a deep black and white and went from there.

Please email your creation to me at: thynner5@yahoo.ca and put “CCAS Blog Challenge” in the subject line. You could also link it to me here on the blog.

All creations will earn you a ballot into the Monthly Blog Draw! Look for a sneak peek at this month’s prize pack later this week! Good Luck.

~Tara~

I love using black and white photos on my layouts.  Since there is no colour to have to match to your paper and embellishments, you can use almost anything with these kind of photos.

Heidi wrote a fabulous tutorial on converting your coloured photos to black and white images in the CCAS Wiki HERE.

Enjoy!

I just fell in love with the following layout by Renee. I love how fresh it is. The colors she chose showcases her wonderful black and white photos. How cute is her little darling?

Thanks Renee for letting me share your lovely layout.

~Tara~

I wanted to share with everyone this great tutorial by Amy Duquette. It is an awesome project and it is really well written too.

CD Memory Magnet by Amy Duquette

This project is perfect for school photos, sports team photos or for a favourite photo that you may have that you want to keep around you so you can see it often. I am using a photo of my grandma and my son that was taken a few days ago. This will become a very special picture for my son as he grows up because my grandma was just diagnosed with lung cancer. He will be able to take this magnet with him in his many journey’s life has for him.

Digital Supply List
Reckless Kit and brown tag from Faded Tee kit by Traci Reed available at Scrapbook Graphics
Circle journaling - Daniela Peuss
Font - Digs My Heart

Paper Supply List:
1 CD
1 magnet (I am using an old business card sized magnet)
1 sheet of white cardstock 8 1/2 x 11 (if you don’t have any on hand a good tip is to use the back of a sheet of patterned paper that you don’t like the pattern and won’t use…just make sure its thickness is that of cardstock)
scissors
embellishments
adhesive

Step 1
First thing you need to do is create the basic layout of the magnet in your favourite image editting software. I am using Photoshop CS. I created a 4 3/4 inch circle on a 5×5 inch document and filled it with white. Next I opened up the paper I wanted to use and resized it down to 5×5 and then SELECT>ALL and closed the paper without saving. I went back to my circle layout and with the circle selected I EDIT>PASTE INTO the paper. Another way to get the paper to fit into your circle is to past the paper on a new layer and then group the layers (ctrl + G) and then LAYER>MERGE VISIBLE and voila there is your circle.

Once that step is done you can continue adding your digital elements and even your photo like I did and then print it out on your cardstock. Make sure you use the correct settings on your printer to get the best print out. If you want to add some dimension and texture to the magnet you can print the photo out by itself and glue it on or use pop dots.

Step 2
The Next step is to add whatever extra embellishments you want to your circle. In my case I added 2 blossoms by Prima and a black brad from Hot Off The Press and inked the edge with green fluid chalk from Colorbox. You can add as much as you want or as little as you want, its totally up to your personal taste.

Step 3
Next its time to adhere the magnet to the CD. I used double sided tape to do this to make sure it really sticks!

Step 4
Almost done! All you need to do now is glue the circle to the CD. Again to make sure it stays put I used doublesided tape. Thats all there is to it. Simple, easy and fun and kids will love this project too!

I hope you enjoyed learning something new.

~Tara~

I have decided that since it is Photo Friday on the board that I am going to make it Photo Friday here as well. I also realize that it is time to post a resource article as well. SO…. I was lucky enough to find a great article by Tanya Gibb, a former CT member. The article is about a unique way to alter your photos.

Astonishing Photo Altering Made Easy

By Tanya Gibbs - Design Team Member

 We all have it, and many of us do not know how we will use up such a large bottle of it. What am I talking about, ultra thick embossing enamel, and otherwise known as U.T.E.E. Remember that trend where we “had” to have it, even if we did not know what we would do with it. Well it is time to take it down from its dusty resting place and put it to some good use.The technique I am about to show you is so simple, with tons of “wow” factor. What you will do is create a translucent picture with a patterned paper showing through the back of it. Now let’s get started!First off you will want to choose your photo and print it off onto regular printing paper. *Note: try and pick a photo with a light background so that the pattern paper can show through. Altering the photo to black and white also helps.*Next step will be to completely cover the back of your picture with adhesive (glue stick works well here) and then place over a piece of patterned paper (the worded ones work well) the same size of your photo and adhere in place. Then you will cover your entire photo with a clear embossing ink, and cover with UTEE and sprinkle off the extra.Heat with your embossing gun, melting all the UTEE and making sure it soaks through the paper. You will probably have to do at least 3 layers. Your paper may curl up; all you have to do is press down on the photo to flatten out once your utee is not too hot to the touch. In this layout, I actually adhered my patterned paper and photo to chipboard, which made it not curl.

Now go on, get messy, play and create. 

It is Monday and therefore time for my Layout of the Week. I always have a such a hard time with this task because there are so many talented “Creative Chicks” here at CCAS!!

I am sure everyone will agree with this week’s choice. I was automatically drawn to this layout from the first time I saw it. It is by Jess and it is entitled, “Life is Good”. I love the black and white with the pink details. The splashes of paint really add texture and make this layout pop. The pics are perfect and I adore the Daisy D’s rubon title. Great job Jess!!

When you get some time… pop on over to the gallery and see some of the amazing layouts in there.

~Tara~