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I’ve been working on an amazing new set of holiday cards, gift tags, papers, stickers, labels, bookmarks and more for a long time now and am very excited to be releasing them this next week! As a gift to everyone I’ve created a FREE sampler set that coordinates with the Whimsy and Good Cheer Holiday Mega Set releasing this week – featuring everything from holiday greeting cards, gift tags, and labels to digital papers, stickers, bookmarks and business cards. This mega collection is full of different options to fit everyone’s needs and are so flexible they can be used year round for all types of occasions. For Photoshop CS2 and up and Photoshop Elements 6 and up.

In the free sampler you’ll find a number of options for small gift cards or tags. They are very customizable with different decorative text headings to choose from and different styles for each card. One of our favorite things to do with presents in our home is use photos on our gift tags in lieu of simply writing the names. It adds a very personal touch, is fun to do and there are many ways to put a twist on it. Last year we used only baby or toddler photos of everyone on their tags … it was fun watching people trying to figure out who was who. The kids especially seem to love the photo tags, and giving gifts with the recipient’s photo on the tag gives it an extra personal touch. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! And they’ve been designed so they can be used year round for other needs as well.

Included in the download are instructions for use and a print guide with links to a recommended printer … they allow you to have up to fifty different designs in one order (all for a price that will make you say wow!). So, you can easily print a custom label or tag for everyone on your list and never have to choose just one design to have printed. So, be sure to check that out in the download! :)

All I ask in sharing these gifts is that you pretty please spread the word! Thank you so much for your incredible support … the Paint the Moon community‘s kindness, sense of inspiration and positive attitude are such a blessing and I thank each and everyone of you for being a part of it!

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A little personal photo share if you don’t mind! Yesterday was baby Eliza’s first time on the beach and while she was a bit wary of the whole experience at first, by the time we left she was practically rolling in the sand (and doing her share of tasting it as well). I couldn’t get enough of those cute toes covered in sand and had to snap some shots before I got down and dirty with the girls (Addie was knee deep in a hole she dug most of the afternoon). I have a really FUN beach shoot planned this week … even my five year old, Adeline, has been helping create things for it (I just love it when picture time is truly PLAY time – even my husband is excited about this one, ha!). So, stay tuned for more “beachiness” to come!

These were taken with my D700 and 85mm 1.4G lens. Most were shot at f1.6 … I like to break the rules sometimes and was nuts to shoot in mid-day sun (which meant crazy high shutter speeds of 1/5000 most of the time). Really, I just wanted to capture Eliza experiencing the beach for the first time so I wasn’t too concerned about the technicalities. My goal in processing was to keep them very light and airy, matching the fresh and summery summer day. Everything was processed with Flirt and Beloved from Blessings, and the black and whites with Beachcomber from Summer Breeze (I love how soft and faded Beachcomber looks with these images).

Sorry for the photo overload!! ;)

And for those wondering, I do have that promised black and white tutorial/tips on it’s way (and, yes, the sun flare tutorial as well) … this was a spur of the moment vacation (thank you to my mama for hauling herself and her dogs over at 9pm on Sunday night to house sit for us!!), so I’m a little behind schedule this week. This is the first semi-real vacation we’ve had since Eliza was born last summer!

I know … it’s crazy. Another session with the Manning family so soon already? We had so much fun a couple weeks ago that we headed out again for more (okay, maybe I had most of the fun, but if they dig down deep the rest of the family would admit it wasn’t all that bad for them either). My five year old, Adeline, played stylist with me as I let her pick some of the props and session ideas.

The light was glorious and one of our first sunny days we’ve had here in our little rainy Oregon town in many months. I was able to use one of my favorite go to actions again, Pop My Flare! from the Fresh set. For Elements users lusting after this action, look for the upcoming Fresh Wonderland II set which will give PSE users all the actions they’ve been missing out on from the Fresh and Wonderland sets. I also used a good heaping of Picture Perfect with a little Moxie and Coffee House mixed in. So much fun! I’ll be posting some recipes and tips from both this session and the last family session in the coming week … possibly even a video tutorial and tips on sun flare!

I have SO many photos from this shoot, but I didn’t want to bombard everyone with a photo overload. So, look for the second part of this post to be up this weekend with the other half of this session’s photos. For the photographers out there interested, these were taken with a Nikon D700 and either my Nikon 35mm 1.4G lens or my 85mm 1.4G. Most were taken at f1.4, with the exception of a couple family shots at f2.5.

Adeline adores this old Argus of mine and picks it to play with almost every time we go out … so, yes, it’s a little overused in our pictures but she loves it!

My happy little Junebug.

And, can you believe it, yet another photo with me in it! I think I’ve been in more of our family photos this past few weeks than I have in all the past five years combined. I’m rather proud that we were able to get these done since my remote has been broken (and I keep forgetting to replace it) and all these photos with lil’ ol’ me in them were done with the old self timer, tripod and SCRAMBLE method. LOL!

Me (again – gasp!), the Bee and the Bug. Not too easy to capture with a tripod and getting that sun flare just right!! Ha!

Today’s Step by Step uses the sets Moxie, Miracle Makeover and Blessings, available for both Photoshop (click … Moxie and Blessings) AND Elements (click … Moxie and Blessings). This particular processing session took me about 4 minutes to complete. Once you have gotten to know your actions and find what works best for you and which are your favorites, it’s easy to speed through edits in no time at all.

The first action I’ll run is from the Miracle Makeover set). The action is called Matte Powder and is great for dulling down shiny or hot spots (too bright) on the face. Because we had just come from a darker spot in the woods here, my settings still had a lower shutter speed to let in more light … I turned and saw my daughter crouching on the log and snapped, and then remembered my settings – oops! So, you’ll notice her cheeks are a bit blown out or too bright. This is easily corrected (or at least toned down) with the Matte Powder action. I simply click when prompted on a spot on her cheek right on the edge of the too bright area, then paint lightly over the hot spots. Adjust opacity as needed and paint on the Texture layer to restore the skin’s natural texture if needed.

Next, I run the Skin Friendly Color Booster from Blessings to give a little more punch to the image.

To protect the highlights from becoming blown out (or too bright), I use Blow Out Rescue from Blessings.

I then use Heart and Soul from Moxie and adjust it to 50%, and finish off with a little Whimsy Color (also from Moxie) to paint over her clothes and scenery.

And we’re done! From ho hum to wow in less than four minutes. :)

Before:

And after (with a little Heart and Soul and Whimsy added, and a little cloning of the tree that was a bit distracting):

And to take it in another direction, I ran The Candy Shop from Blessings … a wonderfully fun and adjustable action that lets you mix and match color pops, tints, hazes and a pop layer to create you own recipe. I used the Bleach Pop, Vintage Denim and Cassis Pop layers here to give it a fun, kinda vintage look.

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