Designz By Nickie

My big fat Cedar Woman Giveaway!!

2011-08-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to My Big Fat Cedar Woman Give Away!

August 24, 2011 6:06 PM

Posted By Debra Shiveley Welch

The rules are simple.

Buy a copy of Cedar Woman and begin to read. Cedar Woman is available through Amazon and Barns&Noble. Use the comment feature below to register simply by posting somthing like, "I'm in," and emailing me privately with the first sentence of chapter one. You can get my email address at the upper right hand corner where it says "read more."

I will announce a week ahead of when the contest will begin.

There will be a prize for every chapter. Each prize is of the same value, or more, as the book.

A question will be asked from each chapter. Those who answer correctly (through private email to me) will be put into a hat and the winner drawn.

Good luck!

Prizes include authentic Native American jewelry complete with certificates of authenticity

An authentic powwow shawl
Native American hair ornament
A new, never opened Logitech Web Cam

And more.

The prize for chapter one will be a set of Niegellia Lawsons measuring cups. A $35.00 value.

My Sister .. or one of them at least :P

2010-12-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

Ok .. this is totally not designz, tutorial, scrapkit, or anything like that related. But I wanted to share with you my sister Debra. She is an amazing author and is about to release a new book entitled Cedar Woman. I've received a copy of it and am totally loving it!!! Here's the book cover and please I ask that you follow the link below and check out her other books and the story of my nephew Christopher!

From what I've read so far .. this will be a best seller and a must for all to read! So please go to my sister's site and have a look around and if you care to pre-order Cedar Woman today.

Hugz!!!

p.s. I am portrayed in the book in a small way. I thank you Debra for that!!! Mitakuye Oyasin Tanksa!

My Addiction

2010-11-19T00:27:00.000-08:00

This tutorial was written on November 19, 2010 and is of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any other tutorial is pure coincidence. Please do not use the same images/tubes that I have unless you hold the appropriate license to do so.

Supplies Needed:

Treasures by Terry's My Addiction kit which can be purchased here and here. Thank you so much Terry for allowing me to use this awesome and bountiful kit!!! Hugz!

Becky Mask 22

Font of choice.

Ok .. let's get rockin!!

Open a 700x700 blank canvas and flood fill with white if desired.

Open a paper of choice and apply the mask with these settings.

Open one of the glitter dots. Paste as a new layer. Move to the top right of the mask area.

Duplicate/Mirror/Flip.

Open one of the doodles. Move to the right of the canvas a bit. Duplicate/Mirror/Flip.

Open one of the frames. I used frame 8. Paste as a new layer. Grab your rectangle selection tool and make a selection around the frame like so:

Open a paper of choice. Paste as a new layer. Selections/Invert and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections/None. Move this layer down below your frame layer.

Highlight the frame again.

Open another frame of choice. I used frame 11. Paste as a new layer on top of the other frame.

Open all three fans. Paste as new layers. Resize one of them by 80 and the other by 70. Drop shadow the top two fans. Merge down and merge down again. Rotate to the left by 40 degrees and move down to the bottom right corner of the frame.

Open a flower of choice. I used flower 9. Resize down by 80 or so. Rotate to the right by 40 degrees and place on top of the fans.

Open a butterfly of choice. I used butterfly1. Resize down a bit. Rotate to the left by 40 and place on the bottom of the fans.

Open a heart charm of choice. Resize down and paste as a new layer. Move down under your flower layer and place into position. See my tag as a reference.

Open a candle(s) of choice. Paste as a new layer and move to the lower left of your tag.

Open your tube of choice and place into position.

Drop shadow any and all layers that you'd like.

If you are going to resize do so now please.

Add your copyright/license information in a clear and legible font.

Add your text using colors from the tag and in your favorite font. Drop shadow.

That's it! Hope you enjoyed doing this tutorial.

Hugz

Desktop Images Freebie

2010-11-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ok ... how about a freebie!

I've been playing around with some desktop images. And want to share one with you now. It can be downloaded here.

Please .. if you download it be sure to leave some love letting me know.

Here's a preview of it and I hope you enjoy it. It's not much .. just a simple image.

Christmas Past

2010-11-18T19:23:00.001-08:00

This tutorial was written on November 18, 2010 and is of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any other tutorial is pure coincidence. Please do not use the same images/tubes that I have unless you hold the appropriate license to do so.

Supplies Needed:

Kissed By Pix's Christmas Past kit which can be purchased here. Thank you so much for allowing me to use this awesome kit Pix!! Hugz!

Alien Skin Eye Candy Nature Snow Drift

My Snow here.

Tube of choice. I am using the artwork of Marco Guaglione which can be found at MyPSPTubes.

Animation Shop

Font of choice.

Ok ..let's get rockin!!!!

Open a 700x700 blank canvas. Flood fill if you like.

Open a frame of choice and paste as a new layer.

Grab your magic wand and click inside the frame. Selections/Modify/Expand by 5.

Open paper of choice. Paste as a new layer. Selections/Invert and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections/None.

Open one of the trees. Resize as needed. Paste as a new layer. Move to the right side of the frame. Apply the Eye Candy Snow Drift with these settings:

Open your tube of choice. Paste as a new layer and move into position.

Open one of the bows. Resize as needed. Paste and move to your liking.

Open a couple of the beds. Paste as new layers. Move one to the left side of your canvas. Duplicate/Mirror. Repeat with the other set of beads. Move the bead layers down below your paper layer.

Open a ribbon of choice. Resize as needed. Paste as a new layer. Move to the bottom of your canvas. Duplicate/Mirror. Move these to the bottom of your layer palette as well.

Open the sign post. Resize as needed. Paste as a new layer and move into position. I placed my copyright/license information on this layer. Apply the Eye Candy Nature Snow Drift with these settings:

Open the snowman. Resize as needed. Paste as a new layer. Image/Mirror. Move to the right side of your canvas. See my tag as a reference. Apply the Eye Candy Nature Snow Drift with these settings:

Open the elf boy. Resize as needed. Paste as a new layer. Move under your tree layer. Apply Eye Candy Nature Snow Drift with these settings:

Open all the gifts. Resize as needed. Paste as new layers. Move into position.

Drop shadow all your layers that you want to now using your favorite settings.

Add your text with your fave font. Drop shadow.

Ok .. now ... hide your beads, ribbon, and paper layers. Merge visible the rest. Hide that layer and reopen the beads and ribbon layers only. Merge visible.

Reopen the other layers.

Highlight the paper layer. Selections/All/Float/Defloat. Selections/Invert.

Open my Snow file. Highlight the first frame. Copy and paste as a new layer onto your working canvas.

Repeat for each of the snow layers.

Once you've got all the snow layers go back to the first one and hit the delete key on your keyboard. This will remove all of the unnecessary snow from around your frame. Do this with each of the snow layers.

Ok .. Open AS.

Back to PSP. Hide all of the snow layers other than the first one. Copy Merged and paste as a new animation in Animation Shop. Back to PSP.

Hide the first snow layer and open the second. Copy Merged and paste after current frame in AS. Back to PSP.

Repeat for each of the snow layers.

Save as a gif and that's it .. you're all done!

Hope you enjoyed doing this tutorial.

Hugz

Scarlett Rose

2010-11-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

This tutorial was written on November 18, 2010 and is of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any other tutorial is pure coincidence. Please do not use the same images/tubes that I have unless you hold the appropriate license to do so.

Supplies Needed:

Treasures by Terry Gothic Rose kit which can be found here and here. Thank you so much for allowing me to use this awesome kit girlie!!!!! Muahhhh!

Tube of choice. I'm using the artwork of Keith Garvey which can be found at MyPSPTubes.

Alien Skin Eye Candy 5 Nature

Mura Meister Clouds

Font of choice. I'm using Lover's Quarrel.

Ok let's get rockin!!!!!!

Open a 700x700 blank canvas. Flood fill with white if you like. We can crop and resize later.

Open the window from the kit. Paste as a new layer.

Grab your rectangle selection tool and make a selection around the window like so:

Open a paper(s) of choice. I used two different ones, paper 11 and 27. Paste the darker one first then the lighter one. Selections/Invert and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections/Invert again so that the top lighter paper is selected.

Apply Mura Meister Cloud with these settings:

Use Alien Skin Eye Candy Nature Water Drops with these settings:

While still selected go to Effects/Distortion Effects/Wind and use these settings:
Repeat but change the direction to the right. Selections/None. Lower the opacity of this layer to around 75 or so.

Open one of the lounges. Resize as needed and paste to your liking as a new layer. Drop shadow using your favorite settings.

Open an urn of choice. Resize by 50 and paste as a new layer. Move into place. Repeat drop shadow.

Open one of the crows and resize by 50. Paste as a new layer and move into place. Repeat drop shadow.

Open one of the curtains. Resize if needed. Paste as a new layer over the window. Repeat drop shadow.

Open a rose of choice. I used one of the corner ones and resize by 30. Paste as a new layer. Move to the top left corner of the curtain. Repeat the drop shadow. Duplicate/Mirror.

Open both Rose 7 and 8. Resize as needed and paste as new layers. Rotate one 90 to the left and the other 90 to the right. Place under the urn. Repeat drop shadow.

Open a candle of choice. I used candle 2. Resize by 60. Paste as a new layer. Move to one side of the curtain. Repeat the drop shadow. Duplicate/Mirror.

Open your tube of choice. Resize if needed. Paste as a new layer. Move where you like. Repeat drop shadow.

Add your text in your favorite font. Drop shadow.

If you are going to resize/crop please do so now.

Add your copyright/license information in a clear and legible font.

That's it! Hope you enjoyed doing this tutorial.

Hugz

Magic of Christmas

2010-11-11T18:25:00.000-08:00

Supplies Needed:

Kissed by Cari's wonderful Magic of Christmas scrap kit which can be purchased here. Thank you for allowing me to use this awesome kit girlie!!!!!!!

Tube of choice. I am using the wonderful artwork of Renee Biertempfel. You can see more of her work and purchase her tubes at CILM.

Jasc Animation Shop 3

Becky Mask 22

Waterlily font

My Snow here.

Tramages Tow The Line filter here

Alien Skin Eye Candy5 Impact Chrome for your name if you like.
Ok .. let's get rockin'!!!!!

Open a 700x700 blank canvas and flood fill with white if you desire.

Open a couple of ribbons of choice. Paste as new layers and resize as needed. Rotate one 90 degrees. Move one to the top of the canvas and the other to the side. See mine as a reference. We're going to make our frame from these ribbons.

Open a corner ribbon of choice. I used corner1. Resize as needed and paste as a new layer. Move to the top left of your canvas.

Merge the corner ribbon and your two flat ribbons together. Duplicate/Mirror/Flip.

TaDa! lol you have your frame.

Grab your selection tool and make a selection around your frame like so:

Open a paper of choice. I used paper1. Paste as a new layer and apply the mask with these settings:

Merge the group.

Selections/Invert and hit the delete key on your keyboard. DO NOT deselect just yet.

Open another paper of choice. Paste as a new layer. Hit the delete key. Selections/None.

Move this paper down under your masked layer.

Highlight the mask layer in your layer palette. Apply Tramages Tow The Line with these settings:

Open the tree and resize as needed. Paste as a new layer and move to the bottom right of your tag. Move this layer under your frame layer.

Open one of the Ice. Resize if needed. Paste as a new layer.

Open one of the hanging decorations. Resize. Paste as a new layer and move to the left top corner.

Open one of the word arts. Resize as needed. Paste as a new layer and place to your liking.

Open your tube of choice. Paste as a new layer and place where you like.

Drop shadow any and all layers now if you like.

Add your copyright/license information now in a clear and legible font.

Add your name using your favorite font. You can add the chrome effect using thse settings if you like:

I also added an inner bevel to the name with these settings:

Ok .. now .. close off the bottom two paper layers and merge visible the rest.

Reopen the paper layers.

Once again grab your selection tool and make a selection around the frame area of your tag like so:

Selections/Invert

Now comes the hard part :)

Open Animation Shop.

Back to PSP

Open the Snow file that I included above.

Copy frame 1. Back to your working canvas. Paste as a new layer above your paper layers and below your framed tag.

Copy frame 2. Paste as a new layer.

Repeat for the next 8 layers of show.

Once you have all 10 layers pasted onto your working canvas start at the top and work your way down to the first layer of snow. Hit the delete key on your keyboard for each layer.

Selections/None.

Close off snow layers 2-10.

Highlight your framed tag layer. Copy.

Back to AS.

Paste as a new Animation. Back to PSP.

Close off snow 1 and open snow 2. Copy.

Back to AS.

Paste After Current Frame. Back to PSP.

Repeat the above steps for the other 8 layers of snow.

In AS, File/Save As/ and use these settings:

And that's it! Hope you enjoyed doing this tutorial.

Hugz

Autumn Thoughts

2010-11-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

This tutorial was written on November 11, 2010 and is of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any other tutorial is pure coincidence. Please do not use the same images/tubes that I have unless you hold the appropriate license to do so.

Supplies Needed:

Kissed By Pix Autumn Splendor which can be purchsed here. Thank you so much Pixie for allowing me to use this awesome kit.

My film frame here.

Mura Meister Clouds which I uploaded to my 4Shared here.

Becky Mask 22 which you can get here.

Font of choice. I used Rob Leuschke Lavishly Yours.

Here are the colors that I used in this tag.

Ok .. let's get rockin'!!

Open a 700x700 blank canvas and flood fill with white if you prefer.
Open a paper of choice. I used paper 3 from the Autumn Splendor kit. Resize as needed. Paste as a new layer.

Apply your mask with these settings:

Merge group. Move to the top right a bit. Image/Duplicate/Mirror/Flip.

Open my film frame. Paste as a new layer. Rotate by 90 degrees.
Selections/Float/Defloat.

Open a paper of choice. I used paper 9a. Paste as a new layer and then hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections/None.

With your selection tool make a selection around the frame like so:

Open another paper of choice. I used paper 7. Selections/Invert and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections/Invert again and apply Mura Meister Clouds with these settings:

Selections/None.

You can delete the original frame layer now.

Open a couple of the leaves. I used Leaves6 and Leaves3. Resize as needed. Paste as new layers. Mirror one of the leaf layers and move to the top right corner of the frame. Resize the other leaf down a bit more and mirror it. Move it on top of the other leaf like so:

Merge down. Duplicate/Mirror/Invert.

Open the tree and resize as needed. Paste as a new layer and move towards the bottom right of the frame. Now I actually duplicated this and moved one copy on top of the frame layer and selected different portions of the tree to erase so that it looked as if the tree was winding through the film sides. This is entirely up to you.

Open your tube of choice. Paste as a new layer and move under your frame layer.

Open a bow of choice. I used Bow2. Resize as needed and paste as a new layer. Move to the top center of the frame.

Open three different flowers of choice. Resize as needed. Paste as new layers and move to the bottom left of the frame. Be sure to resize the middle and top flowers down a bit more so as they stack on top of each other. See my tag as a reference.
Open a brad of choice. Resize. Paste as a new layer and move to the center of the flowers.

Open one of the bags. I used bag3. Resize. Paste as a new layer. Rotate to the right by 25. Move down under your paper layers. See my tag as a reference.

Open ribbon of choice and resize as needed. Paste as a new layer. Move to the top of your layer palette and rotate as needed. See my tag for reference.

Drop shadow any and all layers that you like.

If you're going to resize then do so now please.

Add your copyright/watermark in a clear and legible font.

Add any text that you like now.

And ... that's it! Hope you enjoyed doing this tutorial!

Hugz!

Southwest Longing

2010-10-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

Southwest Longing

This tutorial was written on October 28, 2010 and is of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any other tutorial is pure coincidence. Please do not use the same images/tubes that I have unless you hold the appropriate license to do so.

Supplies Needed:

Tubes of choice. I am using the artwork of J W Baker. I had purchased his work while he was still with CILM.

Native Southwest scrapkit by Cari which can be purchased here. Thank you so much Cari for allowing me to use this awesome kit!!!!!!

Becky Mask 23 which can be downloaded here.

Font of choice. I used Totem.

Ok ... Let's get rockin!!!!!

Open a 700x700 blank canvas and flood fill with white if desired. We can resize later.

Open a frame of choice. I used frame 6. Paste as a new layer. Make a selection around your frame like so:

Open a paper of choice. Paste as a new layer. Selections/Invert and hit the delete key on your keyboard. DO NOT deselect.

Open your first tube of choice. Paste as a new layer. Move into place and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections/None.

Open a second frame of choice. I used frame 1. Paste as a new layer. Resize by 50%. Rotate to the left by 25. Move to the lower left corner of your main frame. Duplicate/Mirror.

With your freehand selection tool make a selection around your frames like so:

Selections Invert.

Open another paper of choice. Paste as a new layer and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections none.

Open your second tube of choice. Resize as needed and rotate to the left 25 degrees.

Make another selection on the left frame. Selections/Invert and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections none.

Repeat the above steps for the other frame.

Open another paper of choice and send to the bottom of your layer palette. Apply the mask with these settings:

Merge group.

Open the flowers. Paste all three as new layers. Resize as needed and rotate to your liking. Merge them together and move then down in the layer palette so that they are just above the mask layer. See my tag as a reference.

Open the beads. Paste as a new layer and move to the top right of the main frame.

Open the feather. Paste as a new layer. Resize by 50 twice. Grab your freehand selection tool and make a small selection on the quill portion like so:

Hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections/None.

Open both of the pots. Paste as new layers. Reize both by 20. Place on the lower right side of the frames. See my tag as a reference.

Open the necklace. Resize as needed. Move over to one of the pots (see my tag). Grab your freehand selection tool and make a selection on the necklace like so:

Hit the delete key on your keyboard. Selections None.

Open the arrowhead. Paste as a new layer and resize by 50. Move towards the left of your tag. See mine as a reference.

Add your name using your font of choice.

Drop shadow any and all layers that you like.

If you're going to resize do so now.

Add your copyright/watermark information in a clear and legible font.

And that's it! Hope you liked doing this tutorial.

Hugz

2010-10-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

Totally Garv Christmas

This tutorial was written on October 26, 2010 and is of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any other tutorial is pure coincidence. Please do not use the same images/tubes that I have unless you hold the appropriate license to do so.

Supplies needed:

Tube of choice. I am using the sexy artwork of Keith Garvey. To see more of his work then please stop by My PSP Tubes.

Totally Tiffany scrapkit by ~ Kissed by Pixie which can be purchased here. Thank you so much for allowing me to use this great kit Pixie!!! Much Love!!!!

Eye Candy Nature Fire

Font of choice. I used Mea Culpa

Ok ... let's get rockin!!!!

Open a 700x700 blank canvas and floodfill with white. We can resize later.

Open KBP_TTC_PaperFrame4. Paste as a new layer on your blank canvas. Rotate 45 degrees right or left.

Open KBP_TTC_PaperFrame3. Paste as a new layer. Duplicate. We'll come back to this layer in a moment.

Grab your selection tool and make a selection around your top PaperFrame3 like so:

Selections/Invert

Open a paper of choice. I used KBP_TTC_Paper3. Paste as a new layer. Hit the delete key on your keyboard.

Open another paper of choice, I used KBP_TTC_Paper2 and paste as a new layer. Hit the delete key on your keyboard. Change the Blend Mode to Luminance.

Open your tube of choice. Paste as a new layer and move in between the two PaperFrame3 layers.

Using your eraser tool remove any portions of the top frame layer that you want in order to expose any parts of your tube layer that you want.

Open a tree of choice. I used KBP_TTC_Tree2. Paste as a new layer and resize by 70 twice. Move this layer down below your first (lower) PaperFrame3.

Open the candle and paste as a new layer. Resize as needed and move to the lower right hand corner of the frame. With your freehand selection tool carefully make a selection around the wick like so:

Apply Eye Candy Nature Fire with these settings:

Open KBP_TTC_SilverSpray and paste as new layer. Resize if you like. Rotate to the right 45 degrees and move to the upper right hand corner of the frame. Move this layer to the bottom of your layer palette.

(See my tag as a reference) Duplicate/Mirror/Flip

Open KBP_TTC_LaceHeart3 and Open KBP_TTC_LaceHeart2. Paste LaceHeart3 as a new layer and then paste LaceHeart2 as a new layer. Resize LaceHeart2 by 80%. Paste LaceHeart3 as another layer and resize by 50%. (Can resize as you like if they are still too large) Merge the three layers together. Rotate to the left 45 degrees and move to the top left corner of your frame. Move this layer to the bottom of your layer palette.

Open a doodle of choice. I used KBP_TTC_Doodads1. Paste as a new layer and move to the top right corner of your canvas. Duplicate/Mirror/Flip. Move these layers to the bottom of your layer palette. See my tag as a reference.

Open a DangleBulb of choice. I used KBP_TTC_DangleBulbs2. Paste as a new layer. Resize as needed. Move to the upper right of your frame. See my tag as a reference.

Open a bow of choice. I used KBP_TTC_GiftBow3. Paste as a new layer. Resize as needed. Move to the top right of your frame. See my tag as a reference.

Add your copyright/license information in a clear and legible font.

Pick a couple of colors from your tag to set as fore/background. Grab your text and using your fave font add whichever name you'd like. Add a drop shadow to all layers that you'd like.

That's it! Hope you enjoyed doing this tut!!!

Huggz
Nickie

New Tuts

2010-10-25T11:00:00.001-07:00

If all goes well then I should have a new tut up either Wednesday or Thursday so keep your eyes open.

Hugzz

Saying Thank You

2010-10-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

I wanted to say thank you to Pixie and Cari of Team Kissed for accepting me on to their Creative Team. Hopefully within a week I'll have a couple of new tutorials up.

Also ... keep your eyes open for some of my older tutorials. I will be putting a few of them from time to time along with some of my templates.

Sending an early Happy Halloween to everyone!!!

Luv and Hugz

Making a Comeback

2010-10-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am seriously thinking of making a comeback and writing tutorials again. Just need to get some things re-installed and look around for some really nice kits to use. Hope to see some old faces again and maybe some new ones. For the time being I'll be hosting my tuts here .. if I really get rolling again then I'll create a site for them.

Huggerz
Nickie