I'm posting a really quick message cause Momma Bear is sick and I am taking care of her.  I mean, she took care of me when I was little and sick and it is only right that I return the favor. Plus she has pneumonia and nobody should have to take care of themselves when they have that!

It has totally thrown the order of my day off though...oh and the fact that I "forgot" that my grade 5 "Why is Canada Great" project is due tomorrow.  You know, I could have sworn I had completed grade 5 already!!

So my house is a disaster due to homework and a sick momma bear (they haven't made the mess directly but it has evolved from me not following every person in the house around yelling - you should pick that up!)

This of course disqualifies me from offering any organization tips for the day.  BUT I will be back with some hiding the mess secrets tomorrow.  That is, after I get through the million emails that have piled up today (I sound really popular don't I??? LOL)

Hope you are all well out there in cyber world. :)

I may or may not have a 1/4" circle cut into the tip of my thumb.  Well about 3/4 of a circle.  At least I know I am alive - the heartbeat in my thumb lets me know that fully!

Sorry about he fuzzy picture but I had to take it left handed - what do lefties do when they need to take a photo?  The button is on the right. It really is a right-handed world!  I might just have to design the first left handed camera...

If I haven't scared you off with my sillies lately then I am surprised!  A girl has got to celebrate though, right?

After all the emails I got last week from the other messy scrapbookers out there who were so happy to hear I was a messy girl I thought this week I would share some of my organization (ha!) tips.  Well they are really more like - how can I contain this mess just enough so my hubby doesn't throw me out - kind of tips.

As us messy ones know cleaning up is a pain.  So the idea is to make life as simple as possible when it comes to organization.  If it is too much work then after about a week it starts to slide.  You know what I mean?   

So that is the plan for the week.  You are going to see my messy ways and how I combat them - well sort of combat them.  :)  I am not promising magazine gorgeous solutions.  I am talking about reality.  I mean who really has their embellishments color coded and labelled in perfectly matching containers?  I know I don't!

[It seems as if I might loose some tidy, color-coding readers of this blog this week but I promise I am really just jealous of your natural ability to be tidy...:) Seriously.]

I snuggled her in between two Ask the Masters book hoping they would make her feel at home.  It's hard being the new kid on the block. ;)

Ok so here goes. 

Prepare yourself for lots of rambles and extra info that you may not need.  I find that some people learn really quickly and others need more detail.  So skim if you are a quick learner or take your time and hang off my every word if you need to. J  I don’t mind.

Rounding corners in Photoshop is pretty easy.  You just need to know which tools to use.  If you use some other program, well, scram...

OK just kidding.  You can probably transfer the ideas over to whatever program you use.

So to start I will assume you want to round the corners of a photo so you can print it off with this nifty little look.

Oh yes, Magnus is participating in this tutorial.  This is what he thinks of people who don’t scrapbook. ;)

So open your photo in PS.  Make any and all edits you want to make to your photo first.

Just image I am going to print this photo as a standard 4”x6”.  (Really this photo of Magnus deserves an enlargement cause it so funny but we’ll imagine it as a 4x6.)

So crop the image to 4”x6”.

Then you need to add a new layer on top of your photo.  Two ways to do this – click Layer (at the top of your screen) > New> Layer  (or to save time press Shift+Ctrl+N)

This will create a new layer on top of your photo.  Think of it as a clear transparent layer that sits on top of your photo.

So now you need to choose the tool that will give you the rounded corners – called the Rounded Rectangle tool.  Imagine that!  It can sometimes hide behind one of the other tools so click the little arrow in the bottom corner of that tool and it will pop up.

The first thing you need to do is set the radius for your curves.  I like mine at 45px but you can mess around and find out what you like.

Next you need to draw your rectangle.  Just move your cursor over your photo and you will see a little + show up.  To draw you need to just click and drag.  I like to start at the top left and work over to the bottom right but again, your choice! 

Now, since I am not so much about precision with these types of things I don’t measure things.  I just line up my little + sign in the top corner matching up the ends of it with the edges of the photo.  I cannot capture this in a screen shot so imagine my drawing is the way it will look. J

Then click and drag your shape out.  You should get something like this.

Then you need to go over to your layers box and click on the paths box.

At the bottom of that box is the “Load path as a Selection” button (they couldn’t come up with a snappier name??)  Click it.  The solid line that you drew will turn into a dotted line.

Now you need to invert your selection ‘cause right now you have the inside selected.  And we want the outside selected so we can fill it with white.  To do this you click on Select >Inverse (or Shft+Ctrl+I).  This will give you two dotted lines now (your rounded rectangle and the outside perimeter of the photo).

Now all we need to do is paint the area white.  Make sure the foreground color is set to white.  Then choose the paint bucket option (if you can’t see the paint bucket remember that it is hiding – just click the little arrow in the bottom corner of the button and it will pop up.)  (You cannot see my dotted lines in this screen shot cause they disappear in the capturing of it.)

Now take your little paint bucket and click anywhere in the area between the two dotted lines.  You will get this.

Now deselect your dotted lines.  Choose Select > Deselect  (or Ctrl D)

Now all that is left is to flatten your image so you can print (or save).  Either choose Layer > Flatten Image or I like to use Shft+Ctrl+E  (merge visible).

Done!  I know I broke it down into micro steps but if you are not a whiz at PS then I know it gets overwhelming.  And I am not by any means saying I am a whiz at PS – I know how to do a few things but there is still lots (and I do mean lots) that I need to learn.

Have fun and remember to share if you use this.

***

(Oh, just wanted to add that for myself I set up a file so I could just drag this template onto my photos.  The only difference is you start with a new, transparent file (not a photo) but you create it using all the same steps.  You must do a “Merge Visible” at the end so that the middle part stays “clear” so you can drag it over your photo.  If you do this then you only need to do it once and you can use it over and over again.)

I am not very good at organization.  I can admit it.  My mom likes to say an explosion follows me where ever I go.  And she is right.  Even now as a "grown-up" I still struggle with messes.

I am trying to improve this but as any messy person knows it is an ongoing battle!

So how can I possibly offer a simple storage solution? 

Well, I have found a scrappy storage solution that really works for me and I figure that there has got to be other messy people out there who might like it. :)  Plus, since this post, I have had a lot of emails asking how I store my rub-ons all together.

So here goes. (**warning** - photo overload ahead - I got a little crazy with the camera!!)

Open baskets are my friends.  They give me visual reference to my supplies and they contain my messes.  I use these shelves from Ikea (baskets too).  I have two baskets for flat packages and they are divided by - alphas - and - embellishments.  Yup, that is the only classification they receive.

They then get put into the basket with order only being determine by package size.  Small packages at the front - large ones at the back. (If you look at the first photo you will see I also stand a few items on the side that are too big for the baskets.)

Pretty easy.

Then I just flip through them and find what I need. (And I just know you are dying for an action shot so here it is!)

Now the only other thing you need to know is I place a cardboard sheet at the back of the basket to support the packages that are too big to be put in sideways.

This is so they don't flop around and get bent.

There are two things I like best about this system.

1) Easy access to my supplies.  A quick flip refreshes my memory and it is easy to pull out a few packages before deciding what to use on my page.

2)  Clean-up is easy.  Complicated clean-up is the downfall of a messy person.  I know I need clean-up to be easy otherwise after a few times I start to slack.  It just takes a few seconds to pop the packages back in the baskets after I am done a project.

I apply this system to most of my supplies and it really works for me. 

And the last photo from snap-happy photo taking...an aerial shot ('cause I know you need it to understand this super complicated storage method!  LOL)

So that's it folks - for today and until next week actually.  It is a long weekend this weekend in Canada (I think in the USA too) and we are making it an extra long weekend by taking Friday off too.  This means I will be back Tuesday with more ramblings...

Have a great one everyone! :)

(oh - if this posting has even more typos and spelling errors than usual blame the keyboard - a few letters are sticking and it is driving me nuts!!)