Description:

When it comes to teenage boys it is “All about the Food”. Even a cruise ship can not fill up my 13 year old kid. I think he ate none stop while we were on the boat. He experienced some foods he would normally not have tried. Especially the Escargot- I was impressed when he finished his plate. He made a few strange faces when he was eating it but he seemed to enjoy the appetizer.

My goal of this layout was to focus on the colorful food, my intent was to have pictures of my son in black and white and leave the colorful food alone. I opened up the photos I wanted to use in Photoshop and then clicked on the magnetic lasso tool in the tool bar. I used the Wacom pen to draw around and select the plate of food. I then copied this colored selection to its own layer. I copied the original photo layer (CNTR J) and then with the new copy layer selected I clicked on Image > Black and White. I then selected Image > Contrast and Brightness to add a little pop to my photo.

I flattened the layers of my photo and then cropped it to size and placed it on my layout.

I love how the food really stands out in the finished layout. It was very easy to accomplish this by using the pen tool

Description:

It was so fun to find the hidden Mickey’s throughout the Disney cruise ship. One evening my entire family dressed up for dinner. I handed over the camera to my son to take a photo of my daughter and me. We did not even notice the hidden Mickey in the handrail until we looked at the photo later.

To enhance the layout, I wanted the background shape of the Mickey Mouse to look like it was made with paper pieces. I used the mask tool to create this look. I clicked on the layer of the Mickey shape; I then clicked on the mask tool on the bottom of the layers palette. I selected black as my foreground color in the tools palette. I then selected a round hard edge brush about 40px in size. I opened the brush palette (Window > Brush), changed the spacing to 1%. I held down the shift tool and brushed a straight line across the part of my Mickey I wanted masked away. I continued to do this to all the paper pieces. This gave the illusion of papers cut into strips.

I added a drop shadow and then rotated the Mickey using the free transform tool.

This technique is a very easy way to create paper piecing to enhance my layout.

Description:

This photo of my daughter is my favorite from our Disney Cruise. We stopped on Disney’s private island called Castaway Cay. My daughter spent hours in the ocean water and playing in the sand. I picked a simple white background and a bright colorful accent paper. I wanted my photos to pop from the layout.

I used the pen tool to paint a row of flowers across the bottom of my layout. I selected the flower brush, changed the size using my bracket keys on the key board. Then opened the brush palette (Window > Brush). I clicked on the Brush Tip Shape and changed the spacing to around 140, I then clicked the shape dynamics set my size jitter to 19% and changed to pen pressure using the drop down box. Next I change the scattering to a size jitter of 103% again using pen pressure. I then changed the color to 42% using pen pressure. I change my foreground and background colors in the tools bar to an orange and brown. By turning on the color dynamics my flowers will change in color as I brush them on my layout.

I created a new layer and brushed my flowers on my layout. The harder I pushed on the tablet the larger my flower shape.

I clicked on the pen tool in the tools palette to create a path to type my text on. I set anchor points of my path by clicking my pen on the tablet. I selected my type tool in the tools bar and then clicked on my new path. I typed my text and then adjusted the font and size to fit my path.

I would not have been able to add these fun touches without the use of the Bamboo tablet and pen tool.

Description:

Our kids were so surprised to find out we could see the Pirates of the Caribbean ship while on our Disney Cruise. This ship was used to film the original movie. After the first day at sea we docked at the Disney private Island called Castaway Cay. When the kids woke up they could not wait to get down to the beach and take pictures of the ship.

I used the Bamboo pen tool to enhance my layout by adding a row of circles across the top and bottom of the photo. I selected the brush tool, selected a round brush of around 40, then in the brush palette (Window > Brush) I set the spacing to around 122. I clicked in my foreground color in the tools bar. I then used the eyedropper tool to select a red color that matched the color of the red paper I cut into the shape of Mickey.

I added a new layer in the layers palette. By holding the shift key while dragging across the photo I was able to get a straight line of dots across my photo. I added another new layer and did the same on the bottom of my photo.

I wanted my text to blend into the row of circles, in order to do this I clicked on the layer of dots in the layers palette. Then I clicked on the mask tool on the bottom of the layers palette. I selected the rectangular marquee tool in the tools bar and dragged a rectangle selection over the dots I wanted hidden. I changed my foreground color to black. Click on my paint bucket tool in the tools bar and painted inside the selection.

Using the Bamboo tool created a very interested touch to my layout.