DIY Leaf Prints

Printing with leaves is easy and fun. You can use almost any kind of leaf or plant but some worked much better than others so be sure to do test prints. The kids went on a scavenger hunt for leaves and grasses to use. 

We used acrylic poster paint on white drawing paper. Other ideas would be using newspaper, cereal boxes, old cloth (substitute fabric paint), paper bags, etc.

• Use a wide brush to paint the leaves with a light coat of paint
• Lay them carefully onto the printing surface, paint side down
• Put a piece of lightweight cardboard or folded newspaper over the top of the leaves
• Apply firm pressure—be careful not to shift the leaves or your image might blur
• Remove the top paper and slowly peel leaves up from the printed surface
• Hang to dry

I loved that we could do this outside on a folding table. Very little mess over all and the kids had a great time making these. 
For the best results I suggest doing a few practice prints before printing on your final print surface and adjusting the amount of paint to your liking. Too much paint will not produce a crisp image. For a much bolder image, use dark paint on light colored paper. Happy printing!

Create a Graphic and Sentimental Piece of Collage Art

I've seen this Helen Keller quote illustrated a lot on Etsy. I decided to do my own version using some of my Alaska papers (guess I hoard paper a bit!) I've got a few Anchorage Weekly's, tourist mags, news articles, etc. etc.
I bought this frame for a poster and it didn't fit so I just used the cardboard backing and placed clippings from some of my fave places while living in Alaska. I used acrylic medium to affix the papers and let dry. I then placed my text and painted it, threw it back in the frame and hung it on the wall. Total time = 2ish hours. It's amazing how much this energized the room. 

Supplies needed:
Acrylic Matte Medium
2 Paint brushes (one for matte medium, one for painting) 
Fun papers, pictures, etc.
Frame
Cardboard
Acrylic Paint

You could also paint a background and cut out letters and paste on. The next one I do will be on canvas. I think the cardboard will hold up for a while but it did warp a little bit, fyi.

Re-Sizing and Saving Your Photos and Files

Today's post is about pixels and printing and photos. Here is a good practice to make sure you never lose a great photo because you re-sized it too small.

How to Save Your Photos When Editing:

1. Open the photo you want to edit.

2. IMMEDIATELY do a SAVE AS. This makes sure you are now editing a new version of the photo and any changes you make will not effect the original. You always want to keep the original as it was. Go to the 'File' menu and select 'Save As' .

3. Choose a name that briefly describes your photo and select where to save it on your computer.

4. Now your original is safe in case there is an "Oh no!" during editing. (Of course you should also back up your photos from time to time!)

Good Info/Rules About Sizing:

1. If you are using your photo on the web or via email the file can be much smaller than if you want to print it. Smaller means less pixels. When I email photos I keep them around 400px (pixels) X 700px, at 72dpi (dots per inch)–100dpi: this gives the viewer a nice size to look at on their computer, it will send quickly, and it won't be high resolution for printing (if you don't want it copied). The file size shouldn't be too big (200KB a little more a little less).

2. If you are going to print the photo then you want a resolution of 300dpi (a lot more pixels!). This is important. Web sized photos are 72dpi, they don't print clear or large. They look nice on the screen but don't be fooled they won't print nice.

3. This is important!!! Once you take out pixels, they can't be replaced! Let me repeat, once you take the pixels out (make the picture smaller in size, like for the web) you can not get those pixels back or put them back into the picture. That is why you ALWAYS do a 'Save As'.

Is this helpful? Let me know, it's the first post like this, of many more to come. Coming up. . . Re-sizing Options. 
Send questions my way too, I'm happy to help!
~Colette

p.s.
Funny (not so funny) story. . . my first digital camera was a whopping 1.3 megapixels! I spent over $400 on it back in 2000-ish. And, of course, I knew nothing of resolution at the time, being a new graphic design student. So at least a couple years worth of photos are only viewable on a computer screen. If I print them they are approximately 1.5 inches in size. Luckily for me, I had a film SLR camera, so not all memories were lost.