Photoshop Tutorial – Design Watercolor Effect

I saw this tutorial while browsing WebDesignerWall’s site. Their site i really good so I wanted to share this tutorial to all those who haven’t seen their blog. Enjoy!

Start it here:

1. Notepaper stock image

First you need to find a notepaper stock image. You can buy stock photo from iStock or scan from a notepad.

Cutout the notepaper and apply 2px drop shadow effect.

2. Watercolor effects

Cmd + click on the notepaper layer to load the selection. Create a new Layer Group and click on the Add Layer Mask mini icon in the Layers palette. This way everything within the Layer Group will be masked.

Create a new layer. Choose a pink color (or any pastel color), select the Pencil tool, set the tool Opacity to 10%, brush size 100px, and drag around the document as you are doing a watercolor painting.

Repeat this step until you get multi layers of watercolor effects.

3. Add details

Find some coffee stain images, paste it in and set the layer blending mode to Multiply.

Dirty and splatter effect: download and use the splatter or watercolor Photoshop brushes from Bittbox.

Add some pencil sketch illustrations. You can either scan your marker sketches or use vector illustration.

Make a triangle selection in the corner, pick a grey color and apply a gradient to make the wrinkle effect.

4. Hand wrting text

If you don’t have any nice hand writing fonts, go to Dafont or Urban Fonts to download them. Create a new Layer Group and enter the navigation text.

Find a different font, enter the menu mouseover text.

5. Washout RSS icon

Use the Eraser tool, choose one of the splatter brushes, set tool Opacity to 10% and randomly erase the edge. Then paint some brown color overlay the icon to give the dirty effect.

6. Sketchy strokes

Sketchy or pencil strokes can be easily created in Adobe Illustrator. Draw a shape or path, open the Brushes palette, click on the charcoal brush and set the Stroke weight to 0.25pt.

7. Final

Here is my final image. If you want to spend more time on the details, you can add paper clips, tapes, post note, pencil sketches, etc.

10 signs your flirting is out of control

I just have to share this one. I know most women have read this one ‘coz this was an article published by Cosmopolitan magazine in 2005 (where the cover was Jessica Biel). It’s funny, ‘coz, yeah, this article is true. Most women who flirt men are sometimes going beyond the borders not realizing that they are just making a fool outta themselves. But, I dunno, maybe some guys do dig it… but I know most guys don’t. Is it really sexy to be a total bitch-flirt or is it skanky? I am a girl, a woman.. and I think, flirting like this really makes you look… plain stupid. ‘Coz I know, women have characteristics, personalities that any man would want without even trying really hard. You just have to be yourself and someday, you’ll find your prince. Well, here goes the list rolling out for you….

Are you this kind of flirt?

1. Your dentist says that your heavy breathing is distracting him from your root canal.

2. You’ve been batting your eyes so intensely, the bartender asks if you’re having a seizure.

3. When the neighbor’s dog humped your leg the other day, you were flattered.

4. On your last date, you ordered chocolate mousse for dinner and proceeded to eat the entire thing with your tongue… just in case he didn’t get that you’re one helluva “sexy” and “experimental” person.

5. You demanded a re-shoot of your driver’s license photo to capture your patented bedroom eyes.

6. Sign on the women’s locker room of your gym reads, Don’t let your husband work out next to [your picture].

7.While chaperoning your niece’s fourth-grade dance, you receive 12 plastic promise rings and an I Wuv You balloon.

8. When the weather forecast says rain, you scrap the bra, grab your thinnest white blouse, and leave the umbrella behind.

9. You’re a sucker for a man in uniform… even a cop uniform. The way his hands were all over you (thinking, yeah right) was hot.

10. You’ve tossed your head back to laugh at unfunny jokes so often that you had to see a chiropractor… whom you asked out.

After reading this one, do you stand in the middle of the average flirts or the total flirts?

The many firsts (incl. 1st wordpress post)

Its my first time here in WordPress. I have heard WordPress a lot of times before having this account. I have tried making a template using WordPress (but, i already forgot how to do it.) Anyway, I was kinda frustrated ‘coz I wanted my own design, my own css, but technically, I had to have credits before doing it. Geez. Anyway, I was happy, when I saw this template, ‘coz I could customize the header. Hehehehehe. Anyway, as part of my first post and first rant, I have decide to show SOME of the firsts in the world…

SOME of the world’s firsts…

1. KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is one of the famous fried chicken fast food chains around the globe. Aside from Colonel Sanders’ chicken recipe, their fixins are also a hot among families during Sunday dinners or Friday night outs. Now, KFC would be known in the whole universe… why? because it was said to be the first brand to be seen in outer space. Colonel Sanders’ face – KFC’s logo was captured via a satellite camera from outer space. Cool? Yeah, of course!

Read the article: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article71168.ece

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2. Ever wonder what was the very first video that MTV ever launched? Here’s the deal, the story goes way back in 1981. Yup, 1981, the year where MTV launched the very first music video entitled “Video killed the radio star” which was sung by the Buggles.

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3. Don’t you just love those banners on different websites? Sometimes they flash is different colors, some are animated and the others just the plain, static ones? Have you ever imagined a site without banners? No advertisements via cyberspace. No clicking on those artsy, flashy banners. Well, thanks to the geeks of HotWired who developed the world’s first banner ad. It was a 468×60 banner placed on the HotWired website sponsored by AT&T.

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4. One of the most famous clowns in history until today is Ronald McDonald. But Ronald was not McDonalds’ first character. It was a bun-head logo named Speedee. Speedee became McDonalds image model until Ronald’s debut in 1966.

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5. It was rock that captured most people during the 1970’s. Many great artists even before the 70’s emerged recorded and performed rock music at concerts and special events. But the very first Platinum Record was given to the Eagles for selling over a million copies of their album “The Eagles:Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975″ in 1976. Whoa! A million copies??! It’s so rockin’ outta this world dude!!!!!

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6. When we were litlle, we dreamed of becomeing a doctor, an artist and even a superhero. When I was little, my favorite superhero was Wonder Woman (not only becuase of the fact that she was a girl, she too was very pretty.) Well, most guys would idolize Superman. Well, Superman, technically was not the world’s first superhero. But he was the world’s first superhero with super powers.

The first superhero was Popeye the Sailorman, who debuted in 1929 but, he did not quite fit in the superher image. He was just a man with super strength when he eats spinach. Then Mandrake the Magician was introduced to the public. He was more accepted to be the world’s first superhero. Well, the first superhero to wear a costume was The Phantom. Mandrake and the Phantom were both created by Lee Falk. Now, that is quite interesting. It’s a good thing that superheroes wear costumes now.

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7. Coffee anyone? The drink that makes you happy, let’s you stay awake for hours and… of course, the drink where you share special moments with a new found friend or a loved one. Starbucks is one of the most popular, or should I say the most popular cafe/coffee store in the world. With over hundreds of stores worldwide, Starbucks did not only make a coffee statement but also a lifestyle in coffee drinking. Their different coffee flavors and blends make them stand out. But where did Starbucks hail? And how long was Starbucks in the business? Well, it started as a small, humble coffee shop in Seattle in April 1971. The founders of Starbucks Coffee, Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl started with a capital of $9,050. Well, all the hard work paid off. Starbucks is a worldwide brand that will be remembered for a long time.

Well, the firsts are finished. I hope you learned something from it. My post for today ends here. But I hope you’ll have time to read my posts in the next days.