Free Photo Collages to Spruce up Your Blog Posts

 Images/Template © EW Couture

For those of you who didn't catch my guest post on Be Creative Mommy, we talked a little about our Exceptional Blogging series. In our last post about building an Exceptional Blog, we talked about the importance of eye-catching photos. One way to do this is by creating collages or story boards. It's your blog, so tell us your story! Collages are not only appealing to the eye, but they help break down some of the "clutter" an over abundance of photos can create in a single post. Sometimes you get lucky, and of those 76 photos you took, a good 20 came out stunning. Of course you want to show off as much of your hard work as possible. Why wouldn't you? You invested your time and effort into capturing great photos. Show off as many of them as possible with photo templates.

I did some of the hard work for you and rounded up 85 FREE blog boards for you to begin telling your stories in various eclectic ways. Each of the attached links are PSD (Photoshop) files. If you read through our original post on Exceptional Blogging, you'll see we talked about investing in your blog and investing in Photoshop. It's not daunting, I promise! You can even follow along with me on the blog and read up on our Photoshop tutorials. I would be happy to share a tutorial, showing you how to do use these. All it takes is the knowledge of layers and clipping masks.

Polished Picture Web Boards || Ginger Pixel Storyboard Templates || Elizabeth Halford Blogit Board

Paint the Moon Vintage Frames || Paint the Moon Storyboard || Kimla Designs & Photography Blog Board Template || 

Fly Design Fly Blog Board || Betty Red Design Mood Boards || EW Couture Storyboards

Pugly Pixel Photo Layouts || Simple As That Collage Templates || Paislee Press Project Life Photo Templates

Simple Scrapper Photo Templates || Persnickety Prints Project Life Photo Templates || Maybemej Photography Tags and Photo Templates

Maybemej Blog Templates || Maybemej Photo Book Template || Silly Grrl Designs Photo Collages

Paislee Press Project Life Photo Templates || Kayla Aimee Digital Scrapbooking Photo Template

XO,
Steph

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Still Being Molly

Gatsby Inspired Gold Foil Printable

I have been experimenting with gold foil text and clipping masks in Photoshop. Combine shiny gold textures with my obsession for new fonts, and here is what you get: 

Free pretty things! 

Hooray! 

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I hope all you lovelies have a dazzling weekend! I'm off to party hardy with my seven-year-old boy. We're having cake from a galaxy far, far away ...

Mucho love!

Steph

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10 DIY Women's Sweaters to Keep you warm this fall

Whether you're a seamstress, a knitter, or a crocheter I've got you covered. I have been sewing for many years now and have recently decided to take up crochet. I'm also a mom on a small budget, so making my own clothes this cold winter season will delight me so!

Aidez Knit Sweater @ Berroco

Lenticel Knit Sweater @ Ravelry

Mmm Soft Sweater @ Pickles

Cozy sweater @ Burdastyle 

Boucle Crewneck Sweater @ Burdastyle 

Shimmer Sweater @ Ravelry

Owl Sweater @ Kate Davies Designs

Sweatshirt Sweater @ Laura's Loop 

Kate Spade-Inspired Fur Pullover @ The Selfish Seamstress

Aztec Cardigan @ Jada Grace

I hope this collection of sweater patterns keeps you warm and creative through the coming cold days. Just looking at many of these makes me want to snuggle up with a book and a hot cup of coffee. I think I need a cozy pair of knit socks too! What is your idea of comfort throughout winter?

XO,

Steph

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Photoshop editing and tutorials

I got a post in! It's terrible this is my only post for this week, but I'm happy I managed to squeeze at least one in. There have been bouts of strep, trips to the emergency room, and sleepless nights. I managed to squeeze in buying a new (used) vehicle, and, oh sweet joy, today is girls day. This momma needs girls day!

In what down time I have had, I've been learning Photoshop. I don't know if many of you follow Alex Beadon, but I adore her. Her site is so informative, her Chatty Tuesday videos exciting. And her dog ...! Oh dear, what a cutie!

If you're not familar with her, you should be. I've following for a number of months now. She recently began a FREE Photoshop workshop, the Express Yourself Collection. She goes through her video tutorials, and provides you with free actions, workbooks and textures to enhance your photography. I have been loving the videos so far. I have begun to learn just how creative I can be in my photo taking. 

I am not a professional photog and won't claim to be one. But I love gorgeous photos and I want to bring you readers the best I can. Not to mention, I'll take any excuse to get to play with my new present.

I took this photo as I was coming back from the bus stop Tuesday morning. What an amazing October sunrise, am I right? The sun rising beyond the trees, beams of lights bursting through. God was certainly making a beautiful sun that day. I thought this would be a great picture to practice on with Alex's latest (3rd) video, incorporating the serenity action and texture layers. I just adore how it came out. It's so cheerful, and that's how I felt when I saw this burst of sunshine behind my apartment building. I was overflowing with joy and awe. 

The editing on this was done with one action and two texture layers. The tree to the right is set at a different opacity than the rest with a slightly higher contrast. I was attempting to create a little depth in doing so. I'm still learning. Thankfully Alex's fourth video will be out soon and I can learn more. I can't wait. I highly recommend signing up. I mean, she was kind enough to offer this for free. And I promise, once you're there, you'll want to stay. She's just sort of one of those bloggers you love to love!

XO,

Steph

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20 favorite free photoshop actions

I have been loving my birthday present, you guys! I have been scrounging the internet for actions and scripts to use in Photoshop. I have several paid-for actions, graphics and other things on my list, but I found some amazing actions that are all free. I assembled 20 of my favorites in a blog post for you. ENJOY!

Color Enhance

Sweet Sunset

Dreamy Light

Hard Light

All Edges

Color

Bella

Black and White

High Key

Vintage Spring

Pastelizer

Beautiful Skin

Dramatic Sepia

Firework

Midnight in Paris

Soft Vintage

Vintage Breeze

Edge Burn

Pink Bubbletea

Action Pack

How to download actions in Photoshop:

Download ATN file(s) to Program Files > Adobe > Presets > Actions

I usually keep my actions folder open on the desktop so I can easily drag and drop the downloaded file.

To use:

Open Adobe Photoshop: Window > Actions (Alt + F9)

Your actions dialogue box will appear; select the drop-down arrow in the top right-hand corner of the box. All of your downloaded actions will appear. Feel free to select between them.

I hope this little bit of what I've learned is helpful to you all. 

Much love!

Steph

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Guest post // Stylings & Stories [FREEBIE]

It's Friday, and my honey's birthday, so we're headed out of town for a fishing trip.

Happy birthday, Snookums!

In the meantime, I asked Stephanie of Stylings and Stories to fill in for me. Stephanie is a writer, editor and designer, and has a cute little blog full of precious smiles.

Image © Stephanie Hall, Stylings & Stories

She was sweet enough to design a desktop wallpaper for you lovelies to enjoy. It comes in various desktop sizes, as well as for your mobile device or tablet.

Desktop 1680x1050 download

 Desktop 2560x1440 download

Desktop 2880x1800 download

 Mobile download

Tablet download

Take a moment and head over to Stephanie's blog, show her a little link love. And I ask that if you download the freebie, please share it. Stephanie put a lot of her time into it.

Have a great weekend!

Steph