Scrapbooked Poems

[ysabetwordsmith]

For those of you wondering what my scrapbooked poetry looks like, here are a few samples.  (Someone tipped me to this page of holiday art pimpage.)  I do these as gifts and for sale, sometimes also as contest prizes. Each page is unique.  Some of the pictures aren't perfect but you should be able to get an idea of what I'm doing.  These papercrafts usually cost $5-10 per page, depending on how expensive the materials are and how long they take to make.
 

This is "Autumn's Daughter" printed on white paper, overlain with translucent parchment paper cut away to show the text.  This would be a $10 piece because of the fancy (and thus expensive) gilded parchment paper and the finicky cutting.  Making a hole without destroying the paper is a challenge, but it looks cool when finished.



This is "Chance Process" printed on yellow paper, overlain onto a starry background.  This would be a typical $5 piece, two layers of fairly ordinary paper.

Comments

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Is the top one basically just the patterened paper on top of the plain sheet? Where the plain sheet obviously has the printed poem and the top has a hole torn out?

Just wondering if there's a layer or element which is not showing up well as a result of being a scan (which I know happens).

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

BTW, they look VERY nice! I think I should keep that sort of thing in mind as gifts.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

There's a section in the Poetry Fishbowl posts that lists scrapbooked poetry as an option. I've sold several so far.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Both of these are two-layer pieces, the top one as you described. It's harder to see in the scans, although the actual piece has a very unified look too. I don't do the 3D stuff that's all the rage in scrapbooking right now.

That top layer is vellum paper with fancy printed designs, some of which are metallic gold.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Yikes, these files are enormous! Can you trim them down a little? O_O

*sigh*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I know. *headdesk*

Last night I set up the post with these two pictures plus several more. I changed the size of the pictures. This normally makes images upload faster, then I have to go into the LJ post and edit the size back down. This time it seems to have left the load time the same, but the picture size was posted small (the original display was several times bigger). I had to leave the stupid thing running overnight, and even then, it crashed on the third picture. So I deleted the rest of the pictures and just tried reposting with these two. That got the post up, but yes, the images take forever to load.

I do not know how to fix this problem. I'm using Semagic and my new computer has Windows 7 and the pictures were originally scanned with my mother's scanner (details unknown) so the files are huge. Any ideas for turning these files into something that will display reasonably on a blog?

Re: *sigh*

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

I would suggest downloading something like Picasa, which allows you to edit images (it also has an export function that lets you resize pieces, plus automatic uploads to place like Blogger).

[valdary.livejournal.com]

too big a file to open at mo, taking 10 mins to get tiny stripe across of pic

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

... that's not what I was trying to do, and I don't know how to fix it. I wanted small images. They look small, but they're loading like they're still huge. Alas, I'm not much of a computer wizard. Sorry for the hassle.

Re: Yes...

[valdary.livejournal.com]

I usually run mine through GIMP

I open the file, right click inside image, select scale image, make sure aspect ratio is linked, and alter longest side to 800 pixels. If you don't usually play with computer images you'll probably find Ellen's method easier, but GIMP is a free download

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

You need this!

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/image-resizer-powertoy-clone-for-windows-7vista/

I have the version for XP, and it is WONDERFUL. All you have to do is right-click the picture, select resize image, pick one of the options (or make your own) and viola! You have manageable pictures. I made everyone at work install this program on their computers so I didn't have to wrestle with oversize pictures.

[stonetalker.livejournal.com]

Does it work the same as irfanview?

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I believe so, but not having Windows 7 or Vista, I haven't tested it.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I like the idea. I had Doug try to install it, but it doesn't seem to be coming through. I have an idea for something to try later, though. Meanwhile Picasa seems to be doing what I need.