Need Photoshop Elements Christmas Card help!!! Rashmi? Anyone?

[firsttimemommy]

Ok, I was able to get this far and now I am stuck! Here is what I need:

1. The whole card needs "sprucing" up! Background colors? Clip Art? I just have no idea how to add that! I tried to create a new file, fill with color and text and then select/copy/paste into the collage and I couldn't get it to work!!!!

2. The middle picture of the two of them - love the pic, hate the background! We were actually done with the photosession when I saw them sitting in my bedroom playing with the ornaments! It was so cute and turned out nice - but my darn bedspread is in the back!!! How do I get rid of that?

3. I also need help once it is ALL finished making it into an actual card - do I need to change size, where do I send it, etc - but I guess that really is a whole other post!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I never thought I might be able to get these out for THIS Christmas! But maybe I can???

THANKS!
Ronda
Proud Mommy to Jenna Leigh 1/03 and Jake 4/04

"If you live to be 100, I want to live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live without you" ~ Winnie the Pooh

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/18371.jpg

[Jenn98]

Ronda,
I'm not sure how helpful I'm going to be. I don't have Photoshop Express. I have regular Photoshop - I used to be a newspaper photographer. Anyway, here's what I think. Don't mess with a good thing! What you have so far looks great. The more clipart, graphics, funky fonts, etc. that you use the more you will be distracting from what you really want people to look at, which are those adorable faces. This is what drives me nuts about my mom's scrapbooking (and I say this with love, mom), but what's the point of having pictures that get lost in all the paper, stickers, boarders, etc.? Don't be afraid of a little white space.

As far as the second pic goes, I don't think the background is too bad at all. There are a few tricks you could use, I'm sure, to darken the background so it doesn't show up so much. But again, you don't want to obvioulsy alter the pics so much so that it's distracting.

And there is a company I use to make prints with all the time. It's www.prolabexpress.com You have to set up an account by simply giving yourself a login and password. Then you upload your image and they print it for a rather reasonable price. And the turn around time is usually a day or so. I just did a baby shower invite using the baby's pic (he's a pre-identified baby from Guatemala). I printed it as a 4x6 and then just mounted it in plain white cards I picked up at our local craft store. Of course, I decorated the outside, etc, but you could even buy a couple stamps and let the kids "customize" the front.

Hope I helped, at least a little!

jenn

[papal]

Hey Ronda.. i agree with PP.. the card is GORGEOUS as is.. i think adding clip art and funky fonts will take away and not add to the card. But if you still want to add something, you just have to create a new LAYER and then add the clip art to that layer. You can drag and drop layers so one is below the other.. eg, if you put a snowflake in there, you would put it You can colour the entire background by using the FILL tool.. choose a colour from the colour palette.

Is this the actual size of the card? Or have you re-sized it for your post? If this is the actual size, it will not print very well.. it is of a low-resolution. If you want to print a 5x7 card, your card size in Photoshop should be 2100x1500. You can go lower, but that is what I usually use.

Email me if you need more help.. it is easier to back and forth via emails! :)

PS: About the bedcover.. i did not notice till you mentioned it. lol. But yes, you can darken or erase it if you like. :)

[jec2]

One thing you could do, is rather than white with red, reverse them so that the squares are red with white font.

[firsttimemommy]

Thanks so much all of you - I told Rashmi in an email that I feel kind of silly working on all this and worrying about it (getting it done and out on time) with all the serious stuff going on the board right now - my heart breaks for everyone dealing with heartache right now :(

I cannot figure out how to color the squares in between - I tried to create a new file and fill it in and then insert type, but I think I am messing up somewhere b/c it won't work! I just need more time to play and try to figure out what I am doing wrong and my little ones keep me too busy!

Thanks again everyone so much for your help!
Ronda
Proud Mommy to Jenna Leigh 1/03 and Jake 4/04

"If you live to be 100, I want to live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live without you" ~ Winnie the Pooh