Recoloring

It's been awhile since I've written a how-to up.  I work in CS5 and had been disappointed that I couldn't recolor elements as quickly and easily as I did in PSE.  Last month I learned a new method, which is even easier than before!  This works great with line work or more solid elements.  Items with texture will need some tweaking, but it can still be done.

For this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to re-color Kellybell's Mickey Splats.  These can be used in a number of ways and are even more versatile in other colors.  First open you file in Photoshop.

Next you want to Click on Layer--New Fill Layer--and Solid Color

Now you are going to choose the color you want.  This can be from your swatches, a color you have selected from your layout.  However you want to pick your color.  Click OK when you have the look you want.

If the item you are recoloring has any texture, such as this splat, you'll want to play around with your blending modes in order to regain the texture you want.  Here the multiply looked the best, although it did change the color slightly.  It can take some trail and error, but I feel it's so worth the effort to get just the color and look that you want.

If you're using a solid line item, such as some simple word art or text, you would be finished with the previous step and not have to worry about the blend modes.  Since discovering this method I have been recoloring like crazy!  It really is a simple technique and one that I'm sure you'll use often.

Here's a page that I created with the spat, changed to coordinate with Mickey!

Template: Designs By Dawn: Simply Put 3
Backgrounds: Kellybell Deisgns: Essential Disney and Horray for Hollywood
Leaves: Kellybell: Belle of the Ball
Font: Waltograph

Learning All the Time

I'm constantly amazed at how many new techniques I learned this week, or things that I've discovered about computers and my software. First off, we recently got a laptop with Windows 7. I was a bit hesitant at first since I had pretty much just gotten familiar and used to Vista. I have to say though that it wasn't that bad of a transition. One thing I realized last night that I really like is how my font folders show up. Previously, whenever I wanted to check what a font looked like before installing, I had to open the file to see it. Not any more, Windows 7 shows a sample of the font on each file!

Now, in wanting to share this tip, I learned yet something else, the snipping tool. I had never heard of this before, but it's a great way to get screen shots. Do a search on your system for "snipping tool" and it will show up. I now have it as a short cut.

Next, a Photoshop technique for you. I have been using PSCS3 for a couple years now and LOVE it, yet I know there is so much I still have to learn. Thanks to the Saturday Special, over at Scrap Matters, I learned an easier way of importing several files onto my pages--scripts. Who knew. Basically, you want to open File--Scripts--Load Files Into Stack. This not only opens the files into one to make it easier to drag onto your page, but it also leaves the name of the file in your layers making it much easier to locate. You can see a tutorial of this fantastic techinique at the Scrap Matters Blog.