MAGGIE HOLMES Photography and Scrapbooking Blog

Our 2012 Christmas Card

I've shared some sneak peeks of our Christmas card on instagram/twitter/facebook that we sent out this year and have had lots of requests to post the full details.... so as promised here it is:

I wanted to do something a little bit different this year and this is what I came up with. Instead of creating a traditional card like I have done in the past I decided to print out 4 separate business card size cards to package up in a little glassine bag.

This is what the "cards" looked like all packaged up. I used three different washi tapes so I have shown all three versions here. 

The cards inside were stacked and tied up with pink and red twine like this so that they looked cute and came out as a complete little bundle in the correct order.

The card on top is pictured below and contained our Christmas greeting. On the back was the rest of the message along with our names.

And here is a complete look at all the cards - fronts and backs. Pictured below is 8 cards but there were really only 4. This was the only way to show all the cards at once in a picture. The first card had the greeting on the front and back. The second card had the family picture on front and Tyler on the back. The third one had Matthew on front and Nathan on back and then the last one had Emily on front and Lizzy on back.

(Also I printed them on the pearly metallic paper which is amazing and I LOVE, but they don't show true to life here. They got really blown out when I took this picture so I darkened it up a bit in order for you to be able to see them. They look much better in real life and the faces aren't really blown out like this. The paper is just so reflective that it doesn't photograph well.) 

And then of course I had to add in some sequins because they are my current favorite obsession! I used a bunch of Christmas colors including some stars!

You can print cards like this anywhere that prints full color business cards. They turned out great and were actually less expensive than the 5x5 tri-fold cards I have done in the past. There was a little more work involved in packaging them all up but I love that kind of thing so it was fun and it also definitely gave it more of that handmade and personal touch!

If you have any questions about our Christmas cards please ask here in the comments. I am happy to share more details about any of it if you need more info!

Photography: How to use Photoshop Actions to Edit Your Photos

I get a lot of emails from people wondering what exactly actions are and how they work.

An action is a preset series of steps that is already recorded in Photoshop that allows you to quickly and easily alter or edit your photos. Not only is it time-saving but it opens up a whole new world of creativity with your photos.

I have Photoshop actions on my website that can be used in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. You can find them here: Maggie Holmes Design Photoshop Actions.

Here are some examples of what my different actions will look like after they are run on your photos.

Original Photo:

Urban Cool Action:

Sun Kissed Action:

It's kind of like an Instagram Filter but you run these in Photoshop on your regular photos! Fun right? But one of the best things about my actions is that you can adjust the amount of the effect so you can keep it really natural and subtle or you can make it really strong and bold. I have adjusted the opacity of the effect on both of the above photos because I like to see the effect but I also like to keep my photos looking nice and natural. You can see all of my actions and examples of each one on my website here.

There's a great tutorial on the Creating Keepsakes Blog using some of my Photoshop actions. Not only does it show you what the actions do but there is also a video tutorial that shows you how to install and run a Photoshop action. If you are new to Photoshop or new to the world of actions, it is definitely worth checking out! 

DIY: Make Your Own Washi Tape

Hi there! I have a fun DIY for you today:

How to make your own washi tape using masking tape and a few other basic crafting supplies!

Here is the scrapbooking layout that I used my custom washi tape on:

You can find all of the steps and instructions in my guest blog post that was featured on the Creating Keepsakes Blog. Here is the link to the full post!

Hope you enjoy it! If you do, come back and let me know what other DIY's you would like to see here on the blog! Have a great day!

Home Decor Project: Making Memories Slice, Fabric and Embroidery Hoops

I have a project featured over on the Making Memories blog today and thought I would share the complete tutorial on making the embroidery hoop bulletin boards here. I have seen these floating around blog land for quite a while now and love how they turned out! They really are such a cute and easy project! I wish I would have done them sooner. Originally I wanted to do them for Emily's room but I don't have the wall space in there so I opted to put them on the wall right inside our front door.

I figure that I will change out the photos every now and then and maybe even change up the little bits and pieces that I have hanging on them over time as well. 

You could easily just do this same project but without the batting but I wanted mine to have a bulletin board functionality so that is why I added it in. I have also seen these done with cork behind the fabric so that is an option as well. I just went with what I already had on hand.

 

Starting with the top left image and working our way across and down, here are the steps:

1. Choose your hoops and fabric. I went with a variety of sizes and picked fabric that I already had on hand. In normal "Maggie" fashion I picked random colors and patterns to mix and match. Also I took my hoops out back and gave them a quick coat of white spray paint first. (A note on the paint - the wood is very porous and so the paint seemed to soak right in and I never could get it to coat very well. It also took a while to dry on this type of wood. You may try painting them with a brush and acrylic paint and see if that works better. In the end mine sort of took on a whitewash finish rather than a super opaque finish but I like it just the same.)

2. Cut a square of batting and a square of fabric to fit each hoop. You want the squares to be a little larger than the hoops like I have shown here. 

3. Layer the batting and fabric over the smaller inside hoop and fit it into the larger hoop (just like you would normally do if you were using the hoops like they were intended.) Be sure to pull the fabric taut and smooth out any wrinkles. You can also loosen and then tighten the metal fastener on the top to help with this step.

4. Turn the whole thing over so it is upside down and trim off some of the batting and fabric. Leave about 1/2 - 1 inch overhang so you have enough to tuck down and glue in place.

5. First use hot glue to glue down the batting to the inside of the hoop. Then use hot glue to glue the fabric down on top of the batting. Be careful with your fingers because it can burn even through the fabric. I used the edge of my scissors to press down the batting and fabric as I was gluing. You can be super neat and tidy or you can just get it glued down and not worry about the look since it will be on the back anyway.

6. This is how the finished bulletin board hoop will look from the back with all the batting and fabric glued down.

 

And now you can have fun arranging them all and hanging them in your home! (Had a hard time getting a decent shot in this spot with the horrible lighting... my wall color is really not 3 different shades like it looks! :) )If you haven't checked out the Making Memories blog you can go there next to see the detail shots of the things I cut with the Slice and the other fun things I added to decorate some of them! 

Have fun!

Scrapbooking Shares

Joy and I hosted the blog over at Studio Calico last week and wanted to share a couple of the layouts I did.

The first is for the challenge that we gave which was to create a page around the theme of gratitude and also to use at least 8 different patterned papers! You know I love mixing lots of different patterns so it was a fun one for me!

Here is my take on the challenge:

 

Quite a few of the Studio Calico gals joined in on the challenge so if you want to see their layouts you can go here. If you scroll down to the comments there are links to the images where you can see all of their layouts! lots of inspiration there especially if you are looking for ideas on using up those scraps and adding lots of patterned paper to your layouts!

I also created a tutorial on painting and misting. You can see the full post here with detailed instructions and photos.

This is the finished layout:

Happy Monday! It is a short work/school week which always means lots of excitement and anticipation for us and the kids! Hopefully I can get lots done in the next couple of days!

Crafting Tutorial - Fabric Flowers

If you want to see how to make these:

.... go to the Studio Calico blog here. 

I just posted a detailed tutorial with all of the pictures and step-by-step instructions.

I will share what I did with them in another post..... that is a whole different ball of cuteness involving my miss emily jane, of course! ;)

filed under: Maggie Holmes, Scrapbooking and Crafting Tutorial, How to make fabric flowers, Craft and Scrapbook inspiration and ideas, Studio Calico - Monthly Scrapbooking Kit Club

Tutorial - Photographing Layouts

A question that I get asked a lot either by email or in my photography workshops is "How do you photograph your scrapbook layouts?" Well, there is no one right or wrong way and there are definitely lots of different ways you can do it. Some people even use cute backgrounds that coordinate with their layouts or cards. But for me, I like to keep it plain and simple. Over the years I have tried lots of different methods of taking pictures of my layouts.... I have used easels, I have hung them on bulletin boards, propped them up against something, etc etc., but the one that I like the best is my current method --- again because it is nice and simple and it keeps the focus on the layout.

Today I posted a complete tutorial on how I photograph my scrapbook pages over on the Studio Calico blog - complete with pictures and everything. If you are interested, just click here and you can see exactly how I do it. 

Sorry for the absence around here this past week.... Nashville was a blast and I have since been busy trying to get caught back up on everything. Sometimes I wish I could just stop time for about 24 hours so I could hurry and complete my mile long to-do list without actually taking up any time.... ahhhhh, if only that were possible.... a girl can wish right? Anyway, I will be back soon to share some photos and some other updates - workshops, mini shoots, etc. Hope you are all having a great week!

filed under: Studio Calico, scrapbooking kit club, scrapbooking inspiration, photography tutorial, maggie holmes photography