Welcome to Pinterest: Beginners Guide

I have to confess I am always behind in the greatest, newest internet trends.  Luckily I have Amanda as a friend, because she insists I embrace new technology.  Like Pinterest.

When I first started seeing these little red "Pin It" buttons on people's blogs, I just ignored them.  But after Amanda twisted my arm (figuratively of course) and insisted I would love it, I decided to check it out.  And she is right (of course),  Pinterest is great!

Pinterest is perfect for bookmarking with a picture those sites/tutorials/inspiration pics/craft ideas/etc. that you want to go revisit when you have a free moment.   If you are like me, you bookmark a great article or picture and later can't remember why you ever bookmarked www.iloveshoelaces/19981 and never visit it again.  But Pinterest is brilliant because you can pin a link with a photo on a virtual bulletin board, and share it with others!  Or visit other people's boards for inspiration.

See a great craft idea, just pin the picture to your Craft board and you can easily find it later.  Read a great PSE editing tutorial, pin it to your PSE board.  Plus, people can follow your boards and see what you love and repin it on their boards.  Or even pin something they think you would love on your board (if you set it up that way).

You can see my boards in the image above.  I just started, so expect to see them fill up!  You can follow me at CoffeeShop.  Also, check out Amanda's Pinterest site too!

I wanted to introduce newbies to Pinterest, but please remember I am a newbie myself, so please keep that in mind when you read this tutorial.

Go visit the Pinterest website.  You have to request an invite to start using Pinterest.  I was afraid of rejection, so I went through the second option and emailed Amanda and begged her to add me.  If you have a friend who uses Pinterest they can invite you.  This is a great way to see if your "friend" really cares about you.  ;-)

Once you have an account just Login and then click on Account on the right side and you can start adding boards; like Photo Editing, Crafts,  Design, Favorite Books, etc.  You can also add new boards as you pin new links to your site.

Now how do you start pinning your favorite links?  Easy!  If the post already has a Pin It button, just click on it, select the board where you want to pin it, and if there is not a description, add one.  Click on Pin It and it is instantly on your virtual bulletin board.

But what do you do if you don't see a Pin It Button?  Easy!

Go visit Pinterest Goodies and add a little Pin It button on your browser menubar.

I read this great Editing Teenagers in PSE post at Amanda's site, and I decided to Pin It to my Photoshop board.  So I clicked on the Pin It button on my menubar.

All of the pictures on that post/website will come up, so just click on the one that you want to pin.  I clicked on the one with the before/after of the young man.

I added the pin to my Photoshop Board, and then added a brief description and clicked on Pin It.  If you want to add a new board for this pin, just click on the little upside down triangle by the Board name and scroll down until you see "Add a new Board".

Success!!!!

But how do you add a Pin It button to your own post?

Bookmark Pinterest Goodies and scroll down to "Pin It" Button for Websites.  Add the URL of the post you want pinned, and the URL of the image (if you don't know, just right click on the image in your post you want pinned and then select "copy image address" or something to that effect).

Finally, add a Description of the pin.  Then copy the html code.

Go to your html post editor (Blogger in my screenshot) and then paste the code in your post. I paste it under the image I want my readers to pin.

Easy, right!

I hope this encourages you to check out Pinterest.  It is a great way to organize your favorite links and share them with others. And thanks Amanda, you are the best!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

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{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. 

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Editing 101: Easy Editing with Levels

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If you are new to Photoshop or PSE, you might not be aware of the editing power of the simple Levels adjustment layer.   You can use this one editing layer to brighten, darken, or add contrast to your image; simply by adjusting the blending mode.

CoffeeShop Editing 101:  Easy Editing with Levels

1.  Open your image.  Add a levels adjustment layer and don't touch the sliders or make any adjustments.

2.  Need to brighten/lighten your image?  Just put the levels layer in Screen blending mode.

3.  Too bright?  Just adjust the opacity.

4.  Need to darken your image?  Put the level layer in Multiply mode and adjust the opacity.

5.  Want some contrast?  Put the levels layer in Soft Light and adjust the opacity.

6.  Need more contrast?  Try Overlay blending mode.

Advanced Level Editing with Layer Masks

Add more than one levels adjustment layer to brighten skin, add contrast and even burn in a vignette. You have to be comfortable with using layer masks to follow this tutorial. I have a Editing 101 Layer Mask tutorial for new Photoshop/PSE users.

1.  Brighten Skin:  Add a levels adjustment layer, put it in screen blending mode, and click on the layer mask and edit, fill with black. Use a soft white brush at 100% and paint over skin.   I put this layer at 46% opacity.

Note:  Alt-shift (Option-shift in Mac) and click on the layer mask to see a red tint where you are painting for accuracy.

2.  Add  Contrast:  Copy the Screen (Brighten) layer (layer, duplicate layer or drag that layer to the "create a new layer" icon on the bottom left of the action pane).  Then put this layer in Soft Light or Overlay blending mode.

Then click on the layer mask and Ctrl-I (Command-I in Mac) to invert it.  This adds contrast to everything but the skin. I put this layer in Overlay, 38% opacity.

3.  Add a Vignette:  Add a new levels adjustment layer in Multiple blending mode.  Then select a soft black brush at 100% opacity, click on the layer mask, and paint over the center of the image.  This will add a darkened vignette around the edges.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. 

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CoffeeShop Snowy Day Action and Texture!!!

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Today I posted on my CoffeeShop Facebook page, asking readers what they wanted to see more of on my blog.  I have had a great response, and it seems that actions, tutorials, and storyboards are big on the list.  So this new year I am going to try to post at least one new action & tutorial a week, and keep on adding storyboards, digital papers, textures and design elements on top of that.  So hopefully I can keep my photographers AND digital scrapbookers happy!!!

Lara specifically requested a snow action, and I thought that was a brilliant idea.  So I googled and found this amazing tutorial and decided to write an action inspired by it.  This action

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CoffeeShop Facebook Timeline Cover 2!

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I had so much fun designing the Facebook Timeline Cover 1, I decided to post a Facebook Timeline Cover 2.  This is the maximum size you can load to Facebook.  You can also use  this as a blog/website header or even a storyboard.

Add your images using the clipping mask layers and add text to the middle piece of paper where it says "add text".  Change the background color by clicking on the Color Fill 1 layer or add your own background.  Note: I used the Pea Marsha font for this ad.

Download the free CoffeeShop Facebook Timeline Cover 2!  You can also download it on MediaFire.

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. 

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Damask Fabric Digital Paper!

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I had a wonderful Christmas with my family and I will post more about it this week, but tonight I wanted to post my newest digital paper set, Damask Fabric.   I used a beautiful pattern from the Renaissance Spring set on Pixels & IceCream and added a linen texture overlay layer.  These are high resolution and can be used on websites or in print.

These papers would be beautiful on storyboards and frames, greeting cards, and blog/website backgrounds. I hope you enjoy using them!

Download the free CoffeeShop Damask Fabric Digital Paper Set.  You can also download it from MediaFire.

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

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CoffeeShop Facebook Timeline Cover 1!!!

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OK, I know I said I wasn't going to post until Monday, but I noticed the new Facebook Timelines were out, and I wanted to design a fun cover.  The CoffeeShop Facebook Timeline Cover 1 is 850 x 315 px (the maximum size) and everything is in layers so it can all be customized.  And this is not just for Facebook. You can use this template as a blog header or even a storyboard for your blog.

Add your image to the clipping mask layers (use my Group It action to make it easy!).  You can click on the color fill adjustment layers on the bottom to change the background and chevron colors, or click on the color fill layers on top to change the bunting and string colors.

You can also add a digital paper or texture as the background, or simply use a simple color.  Select the matching frame and clipping mask and Ctrl-T and move them around if you want.  Turn off the bunting and add your own design elements.  I made this cover storyboard completely adjustable, so have some fun!

And I am really really really going to take a blogging break until Monday.  I need someone to hide my computer.  :-)  I need to start cooking and baking for tomorrow.  Merry Christmas!!!!

Download the free CoffeeShop Facebook Timeline Cover 1! You can also download it on MediaFire.

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

♥ Read more!

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah!

 &&

It is one of my favorite times of year.   Not because of the presents or decorations, but because we get to spend this joyous time relaxing with our friends and family.  My shopping is long finished (thank you so much Amazon), the kids have finished decorating the many trees we have around our house, and we are working on gaining our winter hibernation weight making and eating homemade Christmas cookies and bread.

I want to wish all of you Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah!  I am going to take the  rest of the week off from blogging, but I will be back on Monday with new tutorials, actions, and digital design elements.  May you have a blessed time with your loved ones this holiday season.


Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

♥ Read more!

Check out Rock the Shot!

Have you heard of Rock the Shot Forum? Rock the Shot Forum is a fun and friendly community of photography enthusiasts, ranging from moms wanting to take better pictures of their kids, to seasoned professionals willing to teach you all the tips and tricks of the trade. Have you ever wanted feedback on your images? Rock the Shot members and Mentors are there to offer critique. Need an opinion on a product or vendors? The forum is the perfect place to ask for recommendations and testimonials to make sure your money is well spent. Looking for more intensive or specialized education? Rock the Shot offers amazing workshops to help you achieve your photography goals. Plus, the forum offers exclusive discounts and incredible freebie packets with products from all your favorite vendors.

Remember, you can also sign-up as an affiliate and earn 20% off of each friend you refer to the forum for the lifetime of their membership. This membership pays for itself and then starts to pay you. How can you go wrong? Don’t wait any longer to start enjoying all the benefits of membership at Rock the Shot Forum, click on the ad below to get started!!!

I also wanted to link some great LightRoom tutorials I just read at the Pretty Presets blog.   I learned something completely new in the Correcting Color tutorial, I had never realized it was so easy to selectively correct color casts in LightRoom.

How Lightroom's Spot Healing Tool Changed My Life

Playing Favorites in Lightroom

How to Restore Old Photos in Photoshop and Lightroom

Correcting  Color - Just Where you want it

Reducing Noise in Lightroom

Bokeh Tips and Tricks

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CoffeeShop Christmas Tree Digital Paper

I created some little tree clip-art for a design I was working on, and I decided to put together some 10in by 10in digital Christmas paper.  I will also post the clip-art and layered files on a future post, I just need to get it all together.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy playing with these new digital papers, even though I posted them a little late this year.  That ribbon seen in my ad will be posted for download soon also.  I have so much to get up on my blog - including some new actions, tutorials, papers, digital design elements, you name it.  I just need time to sit down and get the posts written and the freebie uploaded.  :-)

Download the free CoffeeShop Christmas Tree Digital Paper Set.  You can also download it on MediaFire.

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Tutorial: Digital Sticky Tape Kit and Tutorial

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I posted some digital sticky tape for download a week or so ago, and I had some readers ask for me to write a tutorial, so here is how I make my tape.  After you make the tape you can make a tape brush.

If you want to download the Photoshop brush, vintage paper, and the tape I made in this tutorial, the link is at the bottom of this post.  :-)

1.  Make a new document.

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{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Vintage Frames 20!

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I was going through some vintage frame scans that Lori Peterson had sent my way and I found this fun little frame.  I cleaned it up and decided to add two optional vintage texture layers that instantly age any inserted image. In the "after" seen above, I simply added the photo to the frame and did no additional editing.  This frame can be used in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

I made a screenshot so you could see the layers.  Group your image just above the black clipping mask (Layer 1 in the screenshot).  You can use my free Group-It action if you want.  Texture 1 and texture 2 layers instantly age your photo, but they can both be turned off (click on the little eyes on the left).  Once your image is ready to go, merge visible and save as a png if you are posting on a background that is not white, or save as a jpg.

Download the free web-sized CoffeeShop Vintage Frames 20! You can also download the frame on MediaFire.  This is an image file, not an action!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures (including this frame!).

♥ Read more!

Fountain Pen Love

I remember as a child my father penning letters to my grandparents in Germany using a beautiful old fountain pen.  I loved when he rolled a wooden ink blotter over the words to remove any excess ink.

For the longest time I have wanted my own fountain pen and a few weeks ago I started looking on Amazon. I ended up buying a red Lamy Safari pen. It was affordable and it makes my handwriting look so beautiful.

I also purchased the ink converter and Noodler's Black Waterproof ink.  I love the catfish graphic on the ink bottle.  Now I can fill my pen rather than have to purchase the cartridges.  And I love that the fountain pen is made in Germany and the ink is made in the USA.  And no wooden ink blogger necessary with this set-up.

Duke and Imp love using my new fountain pen, so guess what Santa is going to put in their stocking; their own Pelikano Junior Fountain Pen. Get your hands off my pen, boys!

Bring back the art of handwriting and buy some fountain pens for gifts this year.  They would make perfect stocking stuffers!

I processed the images above using the Pretty Preset's Cupcakes preset on jpgs and I used a vintage frame that was scanned in by Lori Peterson and will be posted for download on this blog this week.  :-)

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Ribbon Trim 1 Digital Design Freebies!

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I had so much fun making digital ric rac that I decided to put together a set of high resolution png digital ribbon trim.  This trim can be used in any editing program and would look great on greeting cards, storyboards, logos, facebook profiles, calendars, blog/websites, or any type of design where you need a little bit of decoration.

Download the free CoffeeShop Trim 1 Set!  If that link does not work you can download the trim on MediaFire.

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures (including this trim!).

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Digital Sticky Tape!

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I love to create digital design elements and I finally decided to  make some digital sticky tape.  It was easier than I imagined once I made a brush to use for the serrated edges.  And then I added texture and did some dodging and burning to give the tape a more realistic appearance.  I will put together a tutorial on making your own tape in a future post.

The CoffeeShop Digital Sticky Tape set has 7 high resolution pngs so they can be used in any editing program.  Just open the tape you want and drag it on your design and free transform (Ctrl-T) to adjust the placement.  Then adjust the opacity of the tape if needed.

Use this tape on storyboards, greeting cards, scrap-booking designs, logos, blog buttons, website design, etc.  And these tapes can be used in your personal or professional work, no attribution necessary.  I hope you enjoy them!

Download the free CoffeeShop Digital Sticky Tape!  If that link does not work you can also download it on MediaFire.

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

♥ Read more!

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Rosy Vintage Action!

I wanted to post a new action, CoffeeShop Rosy Vintage.  This applies a soft peachy-rose B&W effect on your images.  I also wrote a Action UnWrapped Tutorial and instructions on adding back some color on this post.

The image below was editing using this action and following the Rosy Vintage tutorial.

Download the free CoffeeShop Rosy Vintage action!  If that link does not work you can also download it on MediaFire.

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Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Rosy Vintage Tutorial

Today I wanted to post a new Photoshop/PSE vintage editing tutorial.  I have posted the action to go along with this tutorial here.

This is a fun little editing technique to get a high contrast pink-tinted selectively-colored image.

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CoffeeShop WebBoards 5!

I wanted to post another free web storyboard template!  You can see the entire series by clicking here.  This is a layered psd file with spaces for four images (not three as my "ad" mistakenly notes...). You can adjust the frame color, background color, remove the drop-shadows or even add textured paper behind your photos.

And if you are new to clipping masks and using storyboards, you can follow the instructions in this post.

Download the CoffeeShop WebBoards 5!  If that link does not work, you can download it on MediaFire.

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Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

♥ Read more!

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. 

♥ Read more!

CoffeeShop Bunting Flag Set!

Everywhere you look lately you see those little digital bunting flags. One of my blog design clients wanted me to make some bunting flags for a post divider. I used the Pugly Pixel tutorial to make my own set (modified with bunting strings and stripes/polka dots and drop shadows) and I wanted to share them with you.

These are not brushes (if you want brushes you should check out the premium ones at Pugly  Pixel) but layered psd files.  I decided to go this route because I wanted to be able to easily change colors or add digital papers to the bunting to match my designs.

When you open each bunting flag file you will have several layers (see image below, click to make larger).  Click on the color fill layers to customize your colors (use the eyedropper and grab any color) on the bunting and string.  You can adjust or turn off the drop shadow effect.  Once you are satisfied with your bunting, merge visible and drag the bunting on your design.  The reason to merge visible rather than flatten is to keep the background transparent.

On my next post I will show you how to add your favorite texture or digital paper to these flags.

I hope you enjoy playing with these bunting flags.  I know I have.  :-)

Download the free CoffeeShop Bunting Flags Set.  If that link does not work, you can also download them on MediaFire.

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Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures (including these bunting flags!).

♥ Read more!