Suggestions needed for Birthday Poster

[Ruth316]

My hope is to design a really stunning poster for my DSIL's birthday later this year. I'm planning on having it printed at Shutterfly.

Since I don't have lots of creative genes, I'm asking for help. All suggestions are welcome. What can I change (except for the verse)? Font, additional elements, paper, etc., etc. I thought of using a journaling mat, but not certain that is a good idea, at least with the one I tried. Take a look at the poster.

[SharLamb]

Ruth, if you have a picture of Veronica, it might be fun to use it as the background...lowered opacity....blending mode of some kind (instead of the polka dot paper). If not, a birthday cake that takes up the whole page as the background (again, experiment with opacity and blending modes.

[Wendy]

Following on from Shar's idea ... I would try moving the text over towards the right and maybe making it a little smaller. Then have a plainish (maybe cream) background with a photo of your sister blending into it (over on the left hand side)

Wendy

[Ruth316]

Following your suggestions, I've uploaded a new version. I think it's much better, but I'm not sure what to do about the blending that was suggested. I did use the screen blend mode for the photo, but that's about all, except for the light paper background. Any other suggestions? I'm beginning to feel a little more comfortable about this project. You can see the latest version here

[Wendy]

Hi Ruth ...

By Blending I meant putting the whole photograph in there on top of the paper and then lowering its opacity ... also maybe using the Eraser on a low opacity to erase the edges of the photo so that it looks as if the photograph edges just fade out into the paper.

Wendy

[SharLamb]

Ruth, I really like Wendy's idea about using the whole photo instead of an extraction, and blending it by turning down the opacity and using a soft brush to erase around the edges so it blends into the background paper. I'd experiment with a few variations on the color of the background too (from pale cream as you have, to a more golden beige). You might be surprised at what looks best. That's easy to do by just adding new layers in various colors, and using the "eye" to turn layers off and on for comparison. You're making progress!

[connieg]

An extracted photo would work, but you would need to include more of the body. Example: If you had a photo of your sister standing you could have her full body on oneside and your lovely verse on the other.

[Wendy]

Hi Ruth ...

I experimented and came up with this ... I used a photo of a friend of ours and your verse so that you could see what I mean. I also moved the text over to the right a little and made it just slightly smaller.

I left the main figure solid and and just gently lowered the opacity of the rest of the image by erasing it away. Set the eraser to a low setting and erase most of it but just leave enough so that it adds texture and interest to the background.

As it happens our friend was wearing a dress that perfectly matches your text colour ... but you could just change your text colour to match the photo you choose

http://www.scrappersguide.com/forums...69&ppuser=4788

Hope it helps

Wendy

[Ruth316]

Wow! Wendy, you've blown my mind away. This is awesome and now I'll have to look for an appropriate photo. Hope I have one. I only hope I can do something similar. The erasing seems daunting, but maybe I can figure it out. Wish me luck!

[Wendy]

Hi Ruth ...

Erasing can be tricky ... a much easier way is to install Grant's Tools and then use the layer Mask and the paintbrush (with your foreground colour set the Black) to paint away the background.

When you use a layer mask from Grant's Tools then if you paint away a little too much of the background then you can just change your foreground colour to White and paint it back in again.

Wendy