Sahlin Studio

Thursday, June 30, 2011

BIG SALE COMING.... staring friday!

.
.
.
WHO IS READY to stock up with Sahlin Studio goodies??
Check out what is happening this weekend............ A SALE!!! EEK!!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

sneak peek... and a GIVEAWAY!

.
.
.

A GIVEAWAY?? You heard right!!

I am SO EXCITED about my goodies coming out this Friday...
and YOU could WIN it!

Here's a peek at what's coming:

All you have to do is leave a comment here on the Sahlin Studio blog: http://sahlinstudio.blogspot.com/ by tomorrow, Thursday at Midnight(CST) to be put into a random drawing to get it FREE!

You have (5) FIVE chances to enter.

* If you comment on this post with "what your favorite things about summer"... 1 entry!
* If you comment on my facebook page with "what your favorite things about summer"... 1 entry!
* If you post the teaser ad above on your blog above you get 1 entry! (just right click and save the ad, make sure your facebook post links back to this blog or my facebook page)
* If you facebook the teaser ad you get 1 entry! (make sure your facebook post links back to this blog or my facebook page )
* If you retweet this teaser ad you also get 1 entry!

(feel free to use the easy FB or Twitter share buttons above!)

In your comment on this blog,
you'll need to indicate and link to where and how you entered!

THE DEADLINE TO ENTER IS THURSDAY NIGHT (tomorrow night)
AT 11:59PM CENTRAL TIME!!

I will draw 1 winner, who will win ALL my new products coming out this weekend!!
COOL RIGHT?! Have fun entering the giveaway!

Photobucket

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Recent Layouts

Here are some recent layouts that I've done:

Click Here for Credits

Friday, June 24, 2011

For the time-crunched memory keeper!

.
.
.
Happy Friday!! I hope your June is going well!
Can you believe how fast the summer is flying already??

AND... I thought of a way to get some more of my memories scrapped and fast....
Is your photo library bursting? with thousands of stories sulking on your hard drive? Yep. I do!! So here is a jump start to your scrapping... Templates! Made with the time-crunched memory keeper in mind, these 2 fabulous templates feature room for multiple photos, papers, and as many or little elements as you wish!

paper block and strip templates

(TIFF, PNG, and PSD format)

inspiration

Check out these layouts for a little inspiration!
OR feel free to check out the Sahlin Studio gallery.

kristasahlin

cnscrap

gevisacri

britt

kristasahlin

ana.paula

cnscrap

kimbytx

rebeccah

monsu

** COMING SOON **

Here is just a little peek of what is coming next week.

Check my blog later this week for more of the preview, and a chance to WIN!!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Inspirational Words

One of the fastest growing websites nowadays is Pinterest. Seriously... I can get lost in no time on that site. People find some pretty amazing things on there and it is always interesting to find out what "pinterests" them. One of the things I love about pinterest are all the wonderful inspirational phrases or words that are posted. Who isn't always looking for wonderful quote or phrase to complete their scrapbook page. People used to buy books full of titles and topics and inspirational ideas.

I thought it would be fun to highlight an inspirational word or phrase that I came across in the hopes that it will inspire you in your scrapbooking endeavors and life in general.

Here is an inspiration for today:

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Tutorial: INSTALLING AND USING AN ACTION

Welcome to another Sahlin Studio tutorial! I often get requests for help in digital scrapping, and it is always my privilege to share what I know. Our tutorial topic for today will be focused on actions – how to install and use them!

An action is a recording of a series of commands that you can “play” in your photoshop program. Some of my favorite photoshop actions are those that can be applied in photo editing. In fact there are many free actions out there and I hope to highlight some of my favorites from time to time, so be sure to add my blog to your reader and check back!

Actions might be new to some of you however, and so I thought it would be helpful to give you an explanation on how to install and use them.

First, you need an action to install. Photo actions are some of the easiest to play around with, so we will start with those. Some of my favorite photo actions come from Sarah Cornish of My Four Hens Photography. She sells some really amazing actions, but she also has some freebies that you can try out. Be sure to "like" her facebook page for more freebies that she offers from time to time as well. You can find a collection of her blog freebies here.

The first thing you will want to do once you've downloaded and unzipped your actions is to open up your photoshop program. You can see in my screen shot where you will find the location of the actions in your software.

Your program came with some default actions, but it is very easy to add your own. By clicking the small arrow here,

another flyout box will appear that will give you the option to load new actions into your program.

Click "load actions" and a browser window will pop up.

You will navigate and find where you saved your action. Once you have located it, you will select the action. For instance, in the screen shot above, I would highlight or select that action (atn file) that you see, and the next step is to click "load" at the bottom right hand corner of the browser window. You will now have a new action loaded into your photoshop program! Easy peasy, right?

Using your new action is also very easy. Go ahead and open up a photo that you want to edit. When your photo is opened up, you will click your actions icon again to open the flyout window. You will select the action you want to use and then press the "play" button to run the action on your photo.

Once your action has run your layers palette will look like this.

You will need to flatten your image. To do this go to layer>flatten image. You can now save as a jpeg image.

I just ran a bold action so you could see the difference between the original photo and the new one.

You will want to play with your actions to see which ones look best on your original photos. You can even run duplicate actions that will change the whole look. Some actions, like those that you will buy from Sarah Cornish, duplicate your photo automatically. However not all actions do, so you will want to make it a practice to save your original photo, and work off of a copy.

I hope this has been a help to you! I love actions and they are so fun to play around with. They add some real character to your scrapbook pages! Another benefit to actions, is they can sometimes alter the color of your photos. I find this really helpful when I want to match a photo to a specific kit. You can even see how the photo above is much creamier after the action has been applied.

Again be sure to check out My Four Hens Photography for a freebie actions. Then, have fun and play around with your new actions. And as I mentioned before, be sure to check back. In the future I will be sharing some of my favorite actions and where to find some freebies to add to your new stash!

For those of you who are Photoshop Elements users, feel free to try google for tutorials on loading actions, or here is a place that may get you started.

Photobucket

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Small Blessings ONLY $1

.
.
.
Happy summer everyone! I wanted to send a heart felt thank you to each and every one of my wonderful customers, fans, friends & scrappers! Every single day of my life I think how blessed I am that I get to have my "dream" job! So thank you so very much for all your support!

And now that my kids have summer break... my mind has been thinking of my "blessings" quite a bit. It's very easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of life, work, chores. And I've made it a priority right now to step back a bit and really reflect on my greatest blessings... my children. Time goes so fast with them, and I don't want to miss a moment. So this summer I may be a little quieter, there may not be a new release every Friday, it may take a little longer to respond back to emails... and I've finally realized that it's OK. SO..... (insert grin here) I may be making frozen ice pops, setting up the slip and slide, running to and from T-Ball practice or swimming lessons. I may be reading one of my many books, perhaps out finding a garage sale with my daughter or reading out loud the story of Mouse and the Motorcycle to my son, and I can't forget about having a tea party, baking something scrumptious in the kitchen, or just watch an afternoon movie.

What about you?? What will you be doing this summer?
Don't be afraid to stop and slow down abit....
take time to reflect on a few of your blessings.

"A good memory is one that can remember the day's blessings and forget the day's troubles"

As I'm writing this... I can hear the song, "Count Your Blessings, instead of Sheep" by Bing Crosby in the Christmas movie, White Christmas. Have you heard that song? Perhaps if you haven't you should go over and take a listen. It is just a nice listen.

Which leads me to this weeks journal prompt: "small (or little) blessings".