Holiday Blog Banner

Here's a quick and easy tip for creating a holiday banner for your blog. This one took me only 10 minutes to create using Wordle and Photoshop, but any image editing program will work. How I did it:

1. Create a word cloud at Wordle. The size of the word in the cloud is determined by the number of times you use the word in your text. I made a list of holiday-related words, then duplicated the ones I wanted to have more prominence. My blog's title had the most duplicates.
2. Modify your cloud. I changed the layout to Horizontal so it would be easily readable as a banner. I also modified the color palette. (Hint: Try using a color palette from Kuler or Colourlovers. That's what I did.)
3. Take a screenshot and open it in your image editing program. I adjusted the size of the cloud to match the width and height for my blog.
   
4. This step is optional if you're satisfied with the banner the way it is, but I decided to use the Shape tool to create the little snowflakes, reducing their opacity so they wouldn't overpower the words.
5. Upload your new banner to your blog!

I like this so much that I'm sure I'll do more as the seasons change.

renee

P.S. You can see the lifesize version at my blog.

Digital Greetings

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the greetings we receive from friends and family. This year, one of the most delightful is also a digital greeting. It's by our own Anna Aspnes and I hope this inspires you as you create your own digi cards. How many of you are doing digi-greetings this year? I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks, Anna, for letting me share!
renee

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing our U.S. readers a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Pssst... if you're going shopping for Black Friday deals, check out this site. It shows most of the major ads ahead of time so you can plan your attack. :)

Get crafty for the holidays with Renee Pearson

It's time to deck the halls... digitally! Our own Renee Pearson is teaming up with Adobe for a fun, free class on creating holiday-themed projects using Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 and Photoshop CS3 (though of course, it's OK if you have an older version).

Here are the details:

Fun Holiday Projects with Photoshop Elements 6 and Photoshop CS3
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:00 A.M. PST

See how easy it is to make exciting holiday-themed projects with Renee Pearson, Associate Editor of Digital Scrapbooking magazine. She'll demonstrate time-saving step-by-step editing and design techniques for each project. Have fun and be creative!

You'll need an Adobe ID to register--it takes just a couple of minutes to get one, and then just a second to sign up for the class.

Hope to see you there... I'll be the one in the back humming "Santa Baby."

Feeling creative? Here's a contest for you!

Epson--makers of some of our favorite scrapbooking goodies--has just announced the CreativeZone Holiday Craft Contest, open from now until October 31.

They're looking for entries in the following categories:

• winter holiday greeting cards
• winter holiday scrapbook pages
• holiday paper craft creations

Each entry must include at least one patterned page from the free downloadable content at Epson's CreativeZone Web site. Check out the papers, coordinating accents, word art and more.

Entries will be judged by a team including Rhonna Farrer, Jessica Sprague and Digital Scrapbooking's own Renee Pearson. First prize in each category is an Epson Stylus Photo R1800 printer--the big daddy that can print borderless 12x12 layouts!--and second prize is an Epson PictureMate Dash printer for on-the-go photo projects. All winning entries will also be featured on the CreativeZone site during the holiday season.

Here's how to enter.

Submit an e-mail to EpsonHolidayContest@walt.com and include the following:

• at least one photograph or scan of the completed winter holiday-themed greeting card, scrapbook page or paper craft
• a detailed list of supplies; step-by-step instructions explaining how the project was created (including any specific techniques used)
• project dimensions.

E-mail attachment files must be in JPEG or TIFF format and 300-500KB in size. Entries must also include the contestant’s full name, mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address. All submissions must be received by October 31, 2007.

Contest submissions must not have been previously published or submitted for other contests or publications. Selected finalists will be required to mail Epson their original projects for final judging; submitted projects will become property of Epson and will not be returned to their owners. Contestants may want to consider creating two of each entry: one to keep, and one to send.

Check out complete details and contest rules here (PDF file--requires Acrobat Reader). Good luck, and happy creating!