Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Tutorial - How to create a mini kit

I've been hosting the DSDI Color Challenge for a couple of months - and one of the most common questions I'm asked is "how do I even create a mini kit?"

It's a very good question!

First of all, what goes in a mini kit. You want to be able to create a layout with what you have in a mini kit. So think about the things you'd need for a layout. Layouts always require papers - patterns and/or solids. And then there are the elements. At the minimum, most mini kit include a frame, a flower, a ribbon/bow, a brad/button (some sort of fastener). Kits (mini and otherwise) can have limitless possibilities! Here's a short list of some of the most common things I put into a kit:

- fasteners
- flowers - doodle, real, fabric, silk - with or without different centers
- fasteners - buttons, brads, staples, hooks, push-pins, etc
- ribbons - folded, straight, with stitching, curled
- bows - simple, mini, big, fabric, etc
- frames - doodled frames, extracted frames, "template" frames (using shapes in your software - like rectangles, circles)
- tags - journal spots, date tags, word tags
- swirls and scatters

Standards:
The standards for element/paper creation are:
- Papers - 12 x 12 @ 300 DPI - 3600 x 3600 papers - saved as JPEGs at either quality 8 or 10
- Elements - saved as PNGs at 300 DPI

What do I need to get started?
Software: Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, GIMP (free!), Paint, etc

Hardware: to create your own elements/papers - you'll need a good scanner and/or a camera. Make sure you scan images/elements at 300 DPI

Supplies:
You can either create your own elements - here are some good resources for element creation:

Or you can download some commercial use resources. There are some great free resource sites - but you'll have to check the terms of use (some require a separate license for commercial use - please keep in mind you cannot use S4H/S4O resources for creating a kit - you definitely need CU resources):

ScrappinCop - license required
Guinhild Storeide - credit required - no license required
Delicious Scraps - see site for TOU
CU Freebies Forum and Blog - different designers have different TOU

**First important note - most/all require that you modify the item in some way before including it in a kit - check TOU for specifics. Items can be recolored (tut on that coming tomorrow! this is where you palette selection comes into play!) or you can create element clusters, etc.

**Last important note - if you're looking to create full size (regular) digi-scrap kits - do not download Tagger size kits/resources - they'll be the wrong size for what you want!

Hope you've found this helpful! Please leave a comment if you did! I'd love to hear your feedback - and suggestions for more things you'd like to learn about!

9 comments:

Bonnie Blou said...

Thanks for the great info Jen!

Bonnie

Dannisa said...

Thanks for the tutorial. This will be very helpful.

Mariana said...

Thanks for the tutorial:)
any other tips and thoughts related to it are welcomed.;)

Jacque said...

Very helpful for someone like me that has been thinking of where to even start to learn some basic aspects of designing. :) Thanks for sharing! I look forward to learning more from you!

Natalie said...

Thanks for all the info! You wouldn't believe the time I spent yesterday evening playing with ribbons and flair!

Pabby said...

What a great tutorial. I appreciate all the info. Thanks!

Lauralee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lauralee said...

Thank you! Your blog post will be shared on
CU Freebies Only Forum

on Friday November 26th 2010, in this topic Learning Center,
Your Place to find Commercial Use Scrap Booking Freebies!
Thanks For Sharing your Time and Talent with us!

Cindy said...

Thank you! CU Freebies Only Forum Sent Me!
Thanks For Sharing your Time and Talent with us!

I really appreciate your tutorial! Thank you!