And here is a visual of all the templates that I’ve created for Nicole’s Classes. Head on over to the Nicole’s Classes store to snatch yours up! (Remember, you’ll need to have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to be able to edit these.) Right now, we have a 30% off sale going on, through October 13. Just enter the code “MERRYHAPPY” at checkout!
And tell all your friends, too! I think that this is a great way to save money this Christmas season, so don’t keep it a secret!
I’m so excited to share that I have my own collection of holiday cards available through Nicole’s Classes. Mike and I teach Photoshop and Illustrator classes through Nicole’s Classes, and we all thought it would be great to start adding some product that could benefit our students and others! These templates are available as digital downloads. Upon purchase, you are sent the .PSD file that you can use to put in your own photos and family information. (Photoshop or Photoshop Elements are required to use these templates.)
My main goal in creating these photo cards was to offer customers a more affordable holiday card option. It seems like when you’re shopping for holiday cards, you have to choose between affordability and good design. When you purchase a card template through Nicole’s Classes, you get a good design (if I may say so!) at a good price (all our templates are only $15 each). Once you have edited your template with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you can choose how you will print it, which saves you more money.
(I recommend printing at your local photo lab for maximum savings, or going with overnightprints.com for press printed cards at a very affordable price—look at their 5×7 postcards.)
I have recorded this series of videos to help those less familiar with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to customize their templates. If you want to see the video larger, you can pop it out by entering full screen mode (the icon beside the Vimeo icon) or by viewing it on our Vimeo page by pressing the Vimeo icon.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at alma {at} ollibird.com!
Photoshop:
Photoshop Elements:
Photoshop:
Photoshop Elements:
(currently only applies to one template)
Photoshop:
Photoshop Elements:
(demonstrated in Photoshop, but the concepts are the same for Photoshop Elements):
Photoshop:
Photoshop Elements:
(only demonstrated in Photoshop because the process is very similar in Photoshop Elements)
We’re so excited that our new classes, Illustrator 102 and Photoshop Elements 101 are now available through Nicole’s Classes! These classes are a lot of work to put together, so it’s always such an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment once they’re up and running! Hooray!!
In Illustrator 102, students build upon the fundamental principles taught in 101 and take things a step further. Students will learn my special tips and tricks of doing things better and faster!
In Photoshop Elements 101, students learn to improve their photos digitally. Mike and I know how it is not to get the perfect shot every time (or any time! We’re not the best photographers!) so in this course, we teach the fundamentals of enhancing photographs—from improving the overall look (like exposure and contrast) to fixing your complexion, to combining photographs (like a head swap). Mike has been using Photoshop for well over a decade, but it is an expensive program if you’re just interested in fixing your own photography. Photoshop Elements is a fraction of the cost of Photoshop, and we were blown away with all the features that you get for that price! This was a fun class to do, especially since Mike and I teach it together.
We hope to see you in our classes one day!
I have some more Christmas cards up at Shutterfly! Hooray!
I can’t link to any of these cards, but if you want to find them, you can more easily find them by filtering by designer and choosing Petite Lemon, who I design these cards for!
See more of my designs for Shutterfly here, here, and here.
(When working for clients, a designer doesn’t always get to make all the decisions. So below, where I haven’t loved the color combo that Shutterfly ultimately chose, I have included my own preferences. Because this is my blog and I am allowed to do that :) )
(calligraphy by Melissa Esplin)
(calligraphy by Melissa Esplin)
(not available in these colors)
(not available in these colors)
(not available in these colors)
(calligraphy by Melissa Esplin)
(Also, I have designed personalized growth charts for Petite Lemon. Check out all their options in their store!)
We are still working on our new classes! As of right now, I have 3 of 4 weeks of my Illustrator 102 class recorded. I just wanted to share some bears that I created for the course, because I think they’re really cute. Mike thinks that the bear looks like it’s peeing…
Mike and I are busy working on new classes for Nicole’s Classes. In the next few months we plan on having the following to offer:
Illustrator 102 (4 week course)
Illustrator: Ornaments and Embellishments (2 week course)
Photoshop Elements (4 week course)
Photoshop 102 (4 week course)
Photoshop: Beauty Retouching (2 week course)
In both my 102 class and my Ornaments and Embellishments class, I will be going into more detail on making pattern brushes. We cover the very basics in 101, but designing a full pattern brush requires making a starting tile, an ending tile, and two corner tiles, and it can be a lot of work! I just wanted to share with you an example that I developed last night to use in one of my classes (I haven’t decided yet if this guy is destined for 102 or Ornaments and Embellishments… but I’m leaning towards 102 since the feel of Ornaments and Embellishments should be a little more classy/pretty and a little less snakey). Pattern brushes can be absolutely anything, of course, but I thought that a snake might be especially fun!
At Nicole’s Classes, we teach a variety of courses in Photography, Illustrator, and Photoshop. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to use your SLR camera, or if you’ve ever wanted to learn these complex programs, Nicole’s Classes is a really great option!
Every year I love working with Lime Ricki on their swim suits. Here are some suits with my patterns that they have released this year (visit the site and you can see other styles using the same patterns as well!). I love how these turned out! It’s a tough job for me to pick out which one(s) I want for myself! This year, I couldn’t narrow it down to one, and so I’ll be picking out two suits!
While Mike and I love working together and collaborating on various projects, nothing gives us quite as much joy as our GREATEST collaborations, our children. We are now proud parents of two children; Baby Joan joined our family on April 3rd!
I had some health complications after the baby came (okay, that sounds more ominous and dramatic than it really is… I had to have my gallbladder out) and spent a few days in the hospital, which allowed us the time to actually put together a proper birth announcement (we never sent out a birth announcement for Oliver).
Nicole, of course, photographed our precious baby, so ultimately the announcements didn’t need very much design, since I didn’t want to compete with her beautiful images. Mike and I developed this idea together of a two sided announcement. I love that people have to choose which side to display on their fridges. I’ve had many reports of kids getting ahold of the cards and playing with them, flipping back and forth to show “happy baby, sad baby, happy baby, sad baby.” In fact, we even have a copy that I’ve been keeping in the car for Oliver to play with, because he also loves to flip it back and forth and say, “Awwwwwww, WAAAAA!”
We just discovered we neglected to post about a handmade print we created for Maggie Mason‘s Mighty Summit last year. Maggie writes a great and well read blog called Mighty Girl.
We were asked by her to provide the handmade print that the attendees of the summit received as part of their basket of goodies. And speaking of baskets, a basket of blankets was among the suggested imagery we were given to work from, so that’s what we chose as a subject matter for the print.
This one was a true collaborative effort on our parts. Alma did all the design work for the print, and I did the color work–watercolor rendering. We even got Nicole Gerulat to shoot the process, as well as shots of our studio space which we will eventually submit as a before and after to a site or two. Thanks Nicole! Thanks especially to Maggie for the opportunity. Hopefully it was enjoyed by those who received it!
You can read her post on the giveaway here:
