Meeeeeeegan

[BrattyMeg]

How long does it take you to shadow a layout on average? I just love your shadow work!

[cindys732003]

Megan's shadowing is awesome! i wish I had the patience to do it!!!!

[Sarah8914]

I know! I don't have the patience either! I never do anything special because I just want to be done!

[LibbysMommy]

I love her shadowing!!! I wish I had the patience too!! My layouts could look SO much better!! :)

[ColleenSwerb]

Well, I'm not Meeeeeeeeeegan, but it takes me 30-45 minutes to do my shadows. But I'm also a slow scrapper by nature.

[BrattyMeg]

I'm slow too...LOs can take me like 2-3 days to complete..and that's using lmy own shadows that I make a style of and reuse lol...

I'm gonna try a LO Meeeeegan's way once...might be a simple one haha but I want to try it

[ColleenSwerb]

Once you get used to doing a certain way, it gets a lot easier too. It used to take me a good hour and a half to 2 hours to shadow when I first started using Misty's method, lol.

[Mandy]

What's Megan's method?
I have a method that I do as I go and while I really like my own method, I would like to see if I can improve.:thumbup:

[pbumbaca]

I am just amazed by her shadows. I'd love to be in the know on her talent there!

[Sarah8914]

She has posted some tutorials on her blog! I'll find it for you!

Here's one: http://littlebitscrappy.blogspot.com/2008/08/getting-technical.html

I guess I'm fast... I can't imagine spending an additional 30 minutes on a layout that I can get down in less than an hour!

[newfiemountiewife]

I read that, and I am too impatient to do it :D

I wish I could though, perhaps next year when all my kids are in school during the day, I'll have a bit more time to play and not be in such a rush to get stuff done.

[Sarah8914]

It's great and not too hard really... but I still am too impatient! Especially right now I'm really in scrap mode and that means get a lot of layouts done quickly!

But it sure makes her layouts look great!

[gracielou]

She has posted some tutorials on her blog! I'll find it for you!

Here's one: http://littlebitscrappy.blogspot.com/2008/08/getting-technical.html

I guess I'm fast... I can't imagine spending an additional 30 minutes on a layout that I can get down in less than an hour!

Oh your beat me to it. I was just coming here to post the link to her tutorials. She has the best tutorials for those using PSE.

[newfiemountiewife]

I wish I did have patience, the shadows are amazing!

[kscwgirl]

I don't have the patience either. Wish I did. LOL I use Traci Murphy's actions and tweak them.

[AmyM]

She has posted some tutorials on her blog! I'll find it for you!

Here's one: http://littlebitscrappy.blogspot.com/2008/08/getting-technical.html

I guess I'm fast... I can't imagine spending an additional 30 minutes on a layout that I can get down in less than an hour!
Me too! I get distracted too easily. I can't sit at the computer more than 30 mins at a time, I have got to get up and do something different for a while. I am queen fidget-er :)

[lizzyfizzy]

i was just gonna post that tut. i had made a comment on one of her gorgeous lo's before and she pm'd me with the linky to it! she's amazing!

[Megan Turnidge]

Hehhehe! A thread just for me! YAY! :) Well, MOST of my shadows are just using the shadow styles in PSE... but the trick to those is to make them slightly higher and darker than I want to do them... lol... after I made the big newbie mistakes and figured out how to adjust my shadows, I wanted to make all my shadows very small and very light. Now I have to force myself to make them a little more dramatic than I want to and when I print them I'm much happier with them!

For things like strings, bows, hanging tags, and some photos, I do custom shadow layers. Sarah already linked you up to my tut for PSE to shadow bows and strings. It took me a while at first, but now I do it so quickly and it takes about a minute to do one of those custom shadows...

I'm not sure how long it takes me to shadow because I do it as I go along. A page takes me anywhere from 1-2 hours from start to fnish... depending how inspired I am. lol I am a very fast scrapper.

[Megan Turnidge]

Just read the whole thread.... :wub: You gals are the sweetest!

[crystalbird]

Just want to agree with everyone else... Megan's shadows are great! :)

[Amber1279]

I don't have the patience either. Wish I did. LOL I use Traci Murphy's actions and tweak them.

Same here. I luv those shadows.

[meems]

Hehhehe! A thread just for me! YAY! :) Well, MOST of my shadows are just using the shadow styles in PSE... but the trick to those is to make them slightly higher and darker than I want to do them... lol... after I made the big newbie mistakes and figured out how to adjust my shadows, I wanted to make all my shadows very small and very light. Now I have to force myself to make them a little more dramatic than I want to and when I print them I'm much happier with them!
i have noticed that the LOs where the shadowing looks really good to me tend to have bigger/dramatic shadows than I normally would do.

I have been trying out your tut on some LOs. :) But I think I'm still too chicken to go really big on my shadows.

[BrattyMeg]

But I think I'm still too chicken to go really big on my shadows.

I am too..the next time I scrap though I'm determined to do some different shadows lol

[junebug]

I do it as i go along; once i have an element where i want it, i shadow it. saves time than going back and doing them all at once i think. and i use the PSE styles and adjust them how i want them depending on the element. custom shadows take me no time; i'm getting very quick!

[SeattleSheri]

Megan you do have great shadows! I think the key to good shadowing is to not have uniform shadows throughout your LOs. The perception of depth is created differently on different objects. Just like you'd expect paper to lay flatter than a ribbon.

[mrs_jb]

I do a really similar method to what Megan describes, but I usually use transform and bend my shadows more than cutting them up into seperate layers. I would say shadowing takes me 20-40 mins, depending on the LO and how intense it is.

Of course, I often get a little lazy and don't really take my shadows as far as I could. LOL

[Brooke W]

I just use Flerg's shadows and tweak them if they need to be,lol.

[kresta]

Great shadows and awesome tutorial! Thanks for posting that!

[lizzyfizzy]

OK! seriously. i am at your blog, megan and learning soooo much!!! ty, ty!!! i will try to comment on most posts, but just know that i am finding all of it so helpful!!!

[Megan Turnidge]

OK! seriously. i am at your blog, megan and learning soooo much!!! ty, ty!!! i will try to comment on most posts, but just know that i am finding all of it so helpful!!!


:wub: Thanks Lizzy!

Jaclyn, I'd love to see how you do your shadows! I could never find a tut on warping shadows... so that's why I started cutting them up. It works really well for me, but I'd be interested in learning a new technique!

[mrs_jb]

:wub: Thanks Lizzy!

Jaclyn, I'd love to see how you do your shadows! I could never find a tut on warping shadows... so that's why I started cutting them up. It works really well for me, but I'd be interested in learning a new technique!

I've never used PSE, so I'm not sure what differences there would be from PSCS3. What i normally do after I have the shadow (on a seperate layer) is to transform (Ctrl+T) and then I hit the warp tool at the top right. That gives you a good amount of control to pull and push as needed. I use this especially for swirls and ribbons... or like the string that you showed on your blog. Sometimes I'll also tranform and turn the whole shadow just a bit and then transform and bend it to get a more dramatic look.

I have to say though, that I tried your cutting technique today, on a ribbon that was threaded through eyelets and it worked really well! YAY!

[Megan Turnidge]

I've never used PSE, so I'm not sure what differences there would be from PSCS3. What i normally do after I have the shadow (on a seperate layer) is to transform (Ctrl+T) and then I hit the warp tool at the top right. That gives you a good amount of control to pull and push as needed. I use this especially for swirls and ribbons... or like the string that you showed on your blog. Sometimes I'll also tranform and turn the whole shadow just a bit and then transform and bend it to get a more dramatic look.

I have to say though, that I tried your cutting technique today, on a ribbon that was threaded through eyelets and it worked really well! YAY!

Let's see... when I am in Transform mode, I can use the rotate, scale, and skew tools. I can't seem to get it exactly the way I want using skew.

[tlcaudle]

I do something similar, except I use the smudge tool in PSE, once I have blurred my shadow layer and adjusted the opacity. If your interested in learning a different shadowing technique check out scrappersguide.com. That is where I learned, :)