2013 Holiday Photo Cards + Template Freebie

I made two kinds of holiday cards this year:  4x6 photo cards and also handmade stamped cards.  Today I’ll show you how I created my photo cards.

I wanted to make our photo cards this year in the 4x6 size for two reasons.  One is that they fit into Project Life pockets.  The other is that I ordered 30 prints from Persnickety Prints.  But if I needed more, I could always print more at home onto 4x6 photo paper last minute. 

I picked out the three photos I wanted to use first.  Then I created a 4x6 layered grid template in Photoshop.  I resized my three photos and used the clipping mask function in PS to “clip” the three photos to the upper left, upper right, and lower middle grids.  Then I colored the other grids (layers) red and typed the quote from the Elf movie into the upper middle grid.  Then I typed in the other sentiment into the lower left grid.  For the lower right grid, I used a reindeer graphic from Miss Tiina and then typed the year next to it. 

I kept key parts of the photos and designs 1/4” away from the borders of the layout, because I knew that with bleed, the printing would cut off parts of the edges of the design.  I saved my file as a jpeg and uploaded it to Persnickety Prints.  I printed it at 4x6 with a pearl finish on cardstock.  It is very thick and nice to hold.  Much thicker than regular photo paper.  And the pearl finish really gave it a sparkly touch.

I wanted to add a slightly handmade and dimensional touch to the photo card, so I dug into my box of sparkly sequins.

And found these silver star sequins.

I used some micro Glue Dots to adhere a few stars to each card.  Now they’re ready to be sent out!

I’m pretty happy with the way these photo cards turned out.  Later this week I will blog about my handmade holiday cards!

I actually made a second design that I didn’t end up getting printed, but I think it’s pretty cute too!

Now I have two free downloads for you!  The first is a 3x4 journal card I made using the same Elf quote on my photo card.  You can use it on your digital layouts or print it out and put it in your December Daily or Project Life albums.

Download:  Elf Quote 3x4 journal card

The second download is the 4x6 layered Photoshop/PSE template that I created for my photo card.

Download:  listgirl 4x6 grid holiday card layered template for PS/PSE

A few notes about the PS/PSE layered template:

• I had to switch out some of the graphics by Miss Tiina, because she does not allow the graphics to be given away in a layered file in her Terms of Use.  So instead of the reindeer, this template has a stocking that I drew.  Of course, if you have other digital graphics that you would rather use, you can switch it out.
• The main font I used for all the text is a free font called Amatic.  If you want to include the “From” line on the bottom left, you can download the font for free and install it so that all the text look the same.  The script font in the Elf quote is Janda Stylish Script by one of my favorite font designers Kimberly Geswein.  You can download it here.  
• If you are completely new to using layered Photoshop or Photoshop Elements templates, you can view a video tutorial by Ali Edwards here.  She also has another video tutorial here.   Cathy Zielske also has a tutorial about working with the layered PS templates here. 

Hope you liked seeing my holiday photo card come together.  Enjoy the free Elf Quote 3x4 Journal Card download and the layered PS template download!  If you create something with either one of these, please link me up in the comments, I would love to see it!  I will be back later this week with my handmade holiday cards.  :)

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Five on Friday

One:  What could be construed as “Fall” has arrived in San Diego this week.  This past weekend we had temps in the 90’s with the Santa Ana winds.  But a few days later, “fall” arrived.  The leaves on the trees at work have turned colors and are falling.

And last night was the first night since April that we had to pull out the comforter for the bed.  That’s pretty epic.  Temps inside the house went down to 68.

 

Two:  since it’s finally cooler now, I pulled out the afghan that I’ve been crocheting since… last spring?  (2012)  Time to make some progress again.

 

Three:  I’m totally thinking about signing up for Urban Craft Camp, run by Ana Spick of We Love Citrus and Jen Byard of My Three Songs Designs.  I had a great time at their String Art Workshop this summer.  The new workshop I want to attend is book binding.  It is 11/9 at Pigment in North Park. 

{Photo from the Urban Craft Camp website}

Four:  I am slowly yet surely making progress with my weight-loss goal.  I’m now about 6 lbs from my goal weight.  I started on July 1st, but the last few weeks I haven’t lost as much weight, even though I’m still making small progress.  I’ve started back up with weights and strength training because I want to build more muscles.  Twice in my life in the past, when I’ve lost 10 or more pounds, I had incorporated weight training.  Hopefully it’s the trigger that I need to jump start my weight loss again and get to my goal weight!

Five:  I’m loving One Little Bird’s mobile font Key Notes!  I use the font inside the Phonto or Over app on my iPhone to overlay words over my photos.  (Such as the ones above.)  And this one of Noodle.

There are several different options for purchasing Key Note (png + cut files, ttf font, or both), so please check the One Little Bird blog post and the Lilypad store listing for more info.

Need instructions on how to install any font onto your iOS device so you can use it on photos?  Here’s a handy blog post with instructions at The Lilypad.

Happy Friday!  Have a good weekend everyone!  :-)

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Hello 2013

{Click on photo to see larger.}

Hello 2013. I must admit that this new year rushed in when I wasn’t fully prepared to turn a new leaf. I had felt harried, rushed, overcommitted, and unprepared. But I love the clean slate of a new year. I love that it’s full of possibilities. I love making new goals.

I’m not sure that I want to commit to any full-year goals for projects this year. In 2009 I completed Project 365, in which I took at least one photo per day AND blogged it. (Yes, if you go to the 2009 section in my blog archives on the left, there are 365 blog posts, for real.) In 2011 I created a project called “New 52”, in which I did at least one NEW thing each week and blogged about it. You can read about the intent of the project here, and see a wrap-up post that links to all 52 of my posts here. I loved both of these year-long projects, but they were major commitments that took up a lot of my time and efforts.

In 2013, I think I want to have monthly goals instead of year-long goals. It would allow me to explore more and change course if necessary. One over-reaching goal that I do have though, is to do one thing per day that’s good for me on some level.

These can be:

Physical: eating well, exercising, sleeping, etc
Mental: reading, learning, creating
Emotional: connecting with family & friends
Spiritual: church, Bible-reading, small group Bible study, daily devotions

I think this approach will allow me to have a good balance in my life. The nitty-gritty of implementing it will be the hard part. I have a feeling that a Google calendar will help me with it.

Creatively, I’ll have my hands full with scrapbooking and blogging for The Lilypad, One Little Bird, Write.Click.Scrapbook., and Evalicious. And of course continuing to write and share here at Listgirl.com. I’ve already started a new Google calendar for the editorial content of all the places I blog and do projects for. I hope it will help keep me organized and not over-extended.

One more thing I’ll be doing creatively is start up with Project Life again. I’ve missed it and am excited to get back to it again.

I’m really looking forward to this new year and all that it brings! Wishing you a new year full of possibilities and change! :)


PS – I created the above graphics by placing all my items on a white foam board and taking a photo straight down. Then I used Photoshop to clone the screens on my Kindle and iPad so that it is completely blank. Then I used fonts that I created with my own handwriting to create my “board”. The outline font is called Listgirl Outline.


{Click on sample to see larger.}

If you would like to use this font I made, you can download it here. :)

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