Be Inspired - Playing with Printables

I grew up in a generation born without computers.  Heck we didn't even have remotes for TV's when I was a child.  Fax machines didn't come to my work until I was in my mid-twenties.  I was captivated with what technology could bring.  AND then computers!!!!  Oh my Heaven's, they had me at hello.

I am having a ball, everyday, learning something new about playing with art and color and design on the computer.  There is a saying..."Never measure your start by someone else's middle."

I remind myself that every time I get giddy with excitement when I learn something new about Photoshop Elements.  Keep going, you haven't even gotten close to reaching your middle... I keep telling myself.  But I am light years ahead of where I was yesterday.

Creating printables was something I wanted to learn to do.  I love typefaces, I love color, I love art, I love home decor...it only seemed to make sense that I needed to learn to make printables.  Plus, I could play and play with my digital supplies and never have to worry about making a mess on my desk.  A mess on my computer, trying to organize files and keep track of digital files, yes.  But at least my desktop and craft room were none the worse for wear.

I recently went to a fabulous crop with over 200 women present.  The creative juices were flowing like wine.  I was so very blessed to be sitting across from a dear friend and very very gifted artist, Belinda Keller.  She was working on an idea she had for art inspired by the theme of the crop - Willy Wonka.  Belinda decided she  wanted to play up on the Good Egg scene from the movie.

Well, Belinda created this incredible piece of watercolor art in shades of blues and greens.  She shared she wanted to use it as a photo frame for her scrapbook layout.  Amazing!

But she didn't care for the color she had painted the "GOOD" egg.  It was a gorgeous fuchsia that was one of the colors in the eggs and pictures we took.  So lucky lucky me!  She recolored another egg for herself.  Right there...on the spot...made another gorgeous egg.  And I got to use, steal, take the fuchsia one.

Then I asked her if I could play with making myself some digital printables with it.  So I scanned a copy in.  Opened it in Adobe's Photoshop Elements and played with recoloring it to match the title.

On Photoshop Elements it's as easy as:
Hitting the drop down button for "Enhance".
Then select "adjust color".
Then "adjust hue/saturation".  Now just slide the hue bar til you find a color combo you like.

Now the easy peesy printable I made from Belinda's incredible watercolor artwork makes me so proud of how I am learning to play with printables. I have gained courage and artistic inspiration from so many places.

One of the most inspiring blog sites I have ever stumbled upon was
On Sutton Place Printables.

She is an amazing artist. Her site is one of my go-to places to be inspired.  She shares dozens of seasonal and inspirational printables.

How would I ever be able to create anything more beautiful than those?  I may never be, but I can learn to create things I like.  Things that come from me.  And that's the fun of it.  

Photoshop Elements 14 is the software I use to play with.  I find beautiful digital supplies from dozens of sites, free and for purchase on the web. One of my favorites is Scrapgirls.com   It's an online store featuring dozens of talented digital artist.  They have a wonderful offering that fits every taste.  And tutorials that I found immensely helpful in learning how to create on a computer. It turned this hardware into a beautiful palette.  My computer now holds many times more happy scrappy supplies than would ever fit in my scraproom.

Another artist that is so inspiring is Katie Pertiet.  She has an outstanding blog, where she sometimes offers incredible freebies. Her designs are offered for sale at Designer Digitals.

Of course  Pinterest is an unending treasure trove for printables, freebies and for purchase.  And the overwhelming inspiration can be crippling.  I have had to discipline myself to disconnect from Pinterest before I have spent the whole day filling my soul with inspiration.  I want to create.  I want to learn.  And the only way to do that is just to do!

So while I feel like I am approaching the middle...I still take such pleasure from playing with printables and learning something new as often as I can.

Enjoy, play and have fun creating!
hugs,
Molly