Our Little Butterfly - A Craft Artist 2 project tutorial

Hi all

Here's another tutorial for you. I have used a digi kit from the Victoria Nelson collection I recently had on Create & Craft TV and it is created with Craft Artist 2 professional. As ever you don't have to use the content I have or indeed follow the design to the letter, I want you to be inspired to create with any of the digi kits you have and make it your own .... unleash your creativity. Maybe you will be inspired to do a real life page using my design for a scrap lift or combine the two and go hybrid.

This is the project I am creating today

Our Little Butterfly

I used the Butterfly meadow digi kit and my page set up is a 12 x 12. I dragged and dropped the background in to place and then added the beautiful tree from the embellishments, dragging out the corners to resize it to the full height of the page.

While the tree was still selected I went to the blend mode tab found just under the colour box on the right and chose colour burn to blend the tree into the background so it added to my design but didn't dominate it. It also fills in the 'white space' that I intended to leave.

After clicking add at the bottom of the photo tab and adding my photograph I dragged it into position on my page, resized it to about 4'' x 3'' and then while it was still selected went to the styles tab on the right. From the drop down menu I selected lines and chose the heavy weight line which applied a line around my photo and then recoloured the line via the colour box. This is a way of framing a photo to make it pop without using an intelligent frame and without having to create a mat for it.

I wanted to maximise the use of the lovely materials in the kit and also add layers behind my photo to lift it. I dragged on some material and while it was selected I picked up the scissor tool on the top tool bar. I then proceeded to cut a random mat of the material (do this behind the photo so you can guage the size, I have it on the grey space in this picture so you can see what I did easier!) You need to cut of the material to off the material and click on the sections to discard. I used quite a raggy free form line to replicate a rip.

Once I had cut the mat and while it was still selected I went to the brushes tab on the right and chose edges from the drop down menu and then selected grunge to make the material look even more distressed. While it is all selected you can go to the line tab at the top on the right and increase or decrease the points value of the line to adjust the effect how you want it.

To further create the illusion of torn paper I then drew a rectangle with the shape tool and filled it with white, I sent it behind the pink material and roughly followed the cut lines again with the scissors. I then went back to the brushes > edges > grunge and increased the line (the shape you have drawn will increase in size when the effect is applied) I then pushed in the side nodes of the white shape so little bits could be seen around the edge of the pink material.

I drew an imaginary box around both layers with my cursor and then grouped the two layers together.

I positioned the pink mat behind the photo using the arrange tab and then repeated the above to create a purple mat behind it.

To create even more layers I roughly cut some more of the materials, adding the grunge edges as before but this time didn't add the white behind as this would have become too dominant in the design. I also at this point used the shadow section in the styles tab to add shadows to my layers to bring it all to life.

I then started to add some of the beautiful flower embellishments, turning them with the ball tool and flipping them with the horizontal and vertical buttons in the arrange tab, placing them around the photo to break up the hard lines.

I used one of the journal card ovals to lift the end of the material strip and recoloured the flourishes which I added behind the top edge of the mats, again to lift the colours.

I twisted and flipped some of the delicate long flower arrangements, putting the bulk of them behind the large rows to lead the eye across the design with the delicate twigs and flowers.

.... and then added ribbon from the Bird Garden kit, resizing it and following the horizontal line of the bottom of the photo, again leading the eye across the design.

I added some extra detail with a pearl and the metal heart and added the pretty tag from the kit to look like it is hanging from the top of the page, this pulls the eye up through the design and balances it out.

And lastly I added a bit of journaling using the text tool, writing it out, clicking edit points on the bottom and then wrapping the text into a line, using the centre button under the text tool to align it.

And that's it a pretty page with lots of layers. I have mentioned a few times about scrap lifting my designs if you want to and even I do that with my designs sometimes ;) These are a couple of alternative layouts I created following the same design.

 



 While you were sleeping is created using the Daisy Trail Butterfly Creations kit 

 

 

Be you is created using the Kreative by Karen Ruth digi kit.

 

 

Thanks for popping by and I hope you feel inspired to get creative. I will be back soon and hope you are all well and happy, until then, as ever

 

Happy Crafting



Love
MJM x

MJM's FAQ - Importing PDFs into CraftArtist 2 Professional

Hi All

I'm back with part two of the importing files into your CraftArtist 2 Professional tutorial (from now on known as CAP) This time we will look at PDFs (Click here if you missed part one)

There are 3 types of files that can be converted, all easy!

1. An ordinary PDF generated say for a magazine page or a scan that’s been turned into a PDF or sometimes free instruction sheets that are found on the internet can be pulled apart very easily.

 From the start up wizard click open at the bottom of the middle column

When the pop out box appears go to the drop down menu on the bottom right and select PDF files (this box defaults to search for Craft Artist projects) Now you will be able to search your computer files and folders for all the PDF files you have. Select the file you want and click open

this will now import the file into a new work space.

You will now be able to select the different elements of the document and literally pull it apart.

And save elements to your own digi kit (subject to copyright of the material of course!)

 

To create your own digi kit use the digikit creator found in the tools drop down menu, further instructions for this can be found in part one of this post (click here)

 

2. A PDF from a craft CD. These behave slightly differently

As in the first example From the start up wizard click open at the bottom of the middle column, when the pop out box appears go to the drop down menu on the bottom right and select PDF files (this box defaults to search for Craft Artist projects)

Now search your computer for the craft CD location which will be in your DVD drive and should have its name showing. Click to open and then search for the folder(s) that hold the images. (These folders can be called different things and also can be sub folders in other folders all CDs vary so search around for them) Open these when you have found them and then click on the PDF you want to add to your workspace.
Select the file you want and click open, this will now import the file into a new project.

A lot of craft PDF pages have multiple images on them and we want to get to the individual images so we need to do a little extra work.

When the ‘page’ is added to your work space we want to be able to cut out the images so for this we use the cut out studio while the whole page is selected.

If the images are on a white background you can work with a large brush size and 100% grow tolerance and simply drag the brush into the page and you will see a dotted line appear around the images, the background is now cut away. If the images are on a patterned background you may find a smaller brush size easier and the reduction of the grow tolerance – I liken this to fingers that reach out and grab like for like colours to cut away so a smaller grow tolerance means a smaller grab and also click drag and release the brush a little at a time so it doesn’t grab too much at one time, play around with the settings for each individual project and you’ll get the hang of it in no time ;) Once you are happy with the cut out click ok and the images return to your workspace

You will find that the images are still joined. This is simply solved by making sure the images are selected with the blue box around them and then go to the scissor tool

Drag this a little way into the blue box on an empty space (avoiding cutting into images) Unlike usual when you have to cut from outside an object to outside an object to cut it you only need to make a small ‘snip’ in this instance

Click select to de activate the scissors then click on the grey area around the work space to de select the image and now when you click on one of the images you should find that they are all separated. These again can then be saved in the relevant sections of your kit and saved using the digikit creator (again see part one of this tutorial by clicking here)

3. The final PDF type is again from a craft CD and it just involves an extra step!

Import your PDF as above (start up wizard then open then select PDF files etc)

When you run your cursor over the images you will see that it is shredded into bands.

Draw an imaginary box around one of the images to select it and click group at the bottom right corner

then go to Tools on the very top tool bar and from the drop down menu select convert to picture

Accept the default settings in the pop out box and your image will be converted into a picture file on the work space and you will now see the cut out studio button on the tool bar is available which was not there before.

Now proceed as above (cut out image then click ok)

 

and now you have a complete image to use and save as you wish!

 

I hope all that makes sense and de mystifies importing PDFs into your CAP to work with! (part one involving CD images is here if you missed it)

 

At this point I have to say please use your common sense and adhere to any copyright and angel policies linked to the images you intend to use. They all still stand as stated by each company even though CAP enables you to use them in different ways, it is just a tool and content remains the property of each individual designer but I know you all know that anyway ;)

 

Well that's all from me for this tutorial, I will put some more together soon ;) Thanks for popping by I hope you are well and happy and as ever, until soon

Happy Crafting

Love

MJM x

MJM's FAQ - Importing CD images into CraftArtist2 Professional

Hi All

From doing the shows on Create and Craft TV I get asked a lot of questions about CraftArtist2 Professional and some pop up quite frequently so I thought it was about time I did some posts with answers to those questions in the form of some picture tutorials :)

So first up is how to import images from Craft CDs and image CDs into CraftArtist2 Professional. This tutorial will be in two parts, this first one addressing the importing of image files and the 2nd will address importing PDFs. I will also refer to CraftArtist2 Professional as CAP from now on it's just quicker ;)

Importing any file images (jpeg, png, bitmap etc) from a craft CD or an image CD is super easy with CAP. Some craft CD’s that hold images have a user interface that opens when the CD is loaded, we don’t need this as we just want to access the image files so close down the interface once it has loaded.

Next from CAP we go to the photo tab on the left and at the bottom of this section click add, this takes you to all the files and folders on your computer and where you would normally add your own photos and scans but this time we need to search for the CD location

It will be in your DVD drive and should have its name showing.

 

Click to open and then search for the folder(s) that hold the images. (These folders can be called different things and also can be sub folders in other folders all CDs vary so search around for them) In this instance its not in the images file but found in a file I wouldn't expect!

 

Open these when you have found them and make it easier on yourself by changing the view of the files to large icons!

 

and then click on the images you want to add to your workspace (holding the Ctrl key down while selecting allows you to add multiple images at once)

Now you can work with the images in CAP as you wish and even build your own digi kits by dragging and dropping them into the relevant tabs

 

and then saving your digi kit at the end of your work time. Go to Tools then digikit creator

 

Open the relevant section to check your images are in place then click save digikit

 

This will probably take you to your My Digikit folder in Documents. Name your kit and click Save.

 

So that’s importing just basic image files. Some CD’s, however, have multiple images on a page and we want to get to the individual images so we need to do a little extra work.

 

When the ‘page’ is added to your work space we want to be able to cut out the images so for this we use the cut out studio

If the images are on a white background you can work with a large brush size and 100% grow tolerance.

Simply drag the brush into the page

and you will see a dotted line appear around the images, the background is now cut away. If the images are on a patterned background you may find a smaller brush size easier and the reduction of the grow tolerance – I liken this to fingers that reach out and grab like for like colours to cut away so a smaller grow tolerance means a smaller grab and also click drag and release the brush a little at a time so it doesn’t grab too much at once, play around with the settings for each individual project and you’ll get the hang of it in no time ;)

Once you are happy with the cut out click ok and the images return to your workspace but you will find they are still joined.

This is simply solved by making sure the images are selected with the blue box around them and then go to the scissor tool

drag this a little way into the blue box on an empty space (avoiding cutting into images) Unlike usual when you have to cut from outside an object to outside an object to cut it you only need to make a small ‘snip’ in this instance

Click select to de activate the scissors and then click outside the blue box of the images to de select them all and now when you click back on an individual image you will find that it has been separated from all the others!

Again dragging them into the relevant tab e.g. embellishments allows you to save all your hard work in your own digi kit!

 

As before go to Tools then Digikit Creator. Open the relevant sections to check your images are there and click save digikit. (You must make sure that the digikit you want to save into is added into your workspace already so I have already got my crafty CD kit loaded in when I go to save this part of the kit)

 

This time instead of naming a new kit click on the name of the existing kit that we just made (crafty CD kit)

 

Click yes when this box pops up and it will overwrite the existing kit adding the new bits (NB: this is providing this kit is loaded into your workspace!)

 

When its all saved click done

 

And if you look in your Digikit browser you will find your newly created kit!

 

I hope all that makes sense and de mystifies importing CD images into your CAP to work with!

 

At this point I have to say please use your common sense and adhere to any copyright and angel policies linked to the images you intend to use. They all still stand as stated by each company even though CAP enables you to use them in different ways, it is just a tool and content remains the property of each individual designer but I know you all know that anyway ;)

 

Well I will toddle off now and leave you in peace, I will post part 2 of this tutorial talking about importing PDFs in a day or so. I hope you are well and happy, thanks for popping by and as ever, until soon

Happy Crafting

Love

MJM x