Category Archives: Designs

DIY Facebook Timeline Cover & Facebook Timeline Custom Cover Giveaway

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When FB first came out with the timeline feature in the beginning of this year, I immediately made the switch when it was made an option to FB users and quickly began working on a custom designed cover photo or banner.

It’s really simple if you already know how to use GIMP or photoshop or any photoediting software or site (i.e., picnik, photoshop.com, etc) .  If you have access to these tools, you can create your own custom cover photo and other than knowing how to use some kind of  photoediting software, all you really need to know is that the dimensions must be 850 pixels by 320 pixels.

Here’s a tutorial by Vintage Wanna Bee on how to create your FB TImeline cover using picnik here.

What I’m sharing with you below is a basic summary of what I did using photoshop.

I created a new photoshop canvas by setting my width to 850  pixels, height to 320 pixels and resolution to 300 dpi.  I first tried 72 as suggested by MADBLOG but found that when I uploaded my photo, it didn’t look as sharp as I would like.

By boosting up the resolution to 300, the uploaded photo looked as close to my created cover on photoshop as on my FB page.

So once you have you’re blank canvas…now you can just be creative.

Cover photos can be as simple or creative as you’d like it to be.

I started by adding a background color…

Then used some creative brushes to add to my background. If you google photoshop brushes you should find a number of wonderful brushes that are either free to use ( so long as you aren’t using them for commercial purposes) or brushes that you can purchase for commercial use.

I then added photos I wanted,

some text…and voila!

I had my FB Timeline cover all done!

One other important note on your cover photo design, you will need to leave a little space on the bottom left of your cover photo where your FB profile image is located on your page.

Now if you can’t or don’t want to make your own timeline cover, there are designers that are creating FB cover templates for you to just plop in your photo and upload to your FB page.

You can find a few of those here, here and here.

Now I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in this but I thought I’d go ahead and give it  a shot.

I’ll be giving away a custom designed FB TImeline Cover! I hope you’re jumping up and down with excitement! ;)

Now if you’re asking what it would look like…well, I can’t really say because it depends on who the winner is. As in my photography, I love customizing my sessions to specifically fit the person/family I’m working for. So whether or not you have some ideas as to what you’d like to see,  just not sure how to get it done or don’t have the time to do it…well go ahead and like my FB page and enter to win!

Here’s the Custom Cover Giveaway Rules…

All you have to do is “LIKE” ayphotodesign’s FB page (you can find the link to the right of the blog).

Then come back to this post and leave a comment that you’ve liked my page or have been a “liker”!

The giveaway ends April 1st at 9 p.m.  EST.

After 9 p.m., I will close the comments section of the post and verify that everyone who has left a comment has “liked” my FB page.

Then I will randomly choose a winner using random.org, update the blog post and contact the winner of the giveaway by Monday, April 2nd.

I’m sorry that I didn’t think of this sooner and had the giveaway before the complete FB changeover on the 31st but c’est la vie!  You can always just put up a photo temporarily and be ready to put up an awesome cover photo after you win my giveaway! =)

Good luck!

Until next time…

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UPDATE: (4/2/2012)

I know I said I would choose one (1) Winner but…

Lisa Higgins & Marina Eddings…

You are BOTH winners of my FB TImeline GIVEAWAY!

I will contact you via email!

Thank you for participating!

Until next time… =)

Happy Birthday Brady!

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Thought i’d share the birthday card I created for my friend’s son Brady whose turning 2 this April!  I created this using Illustrator.

Brady’s mommy planned on having a breakfast birthday party and wanted to use bold, primary colors in the invitation.

I came up with this design. This is a 5×7 invitation printed on card stock.

Happy 2nd Birthday Brady!

Fun for the young designer

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Many of you may have little designers running around your home! My kids love to draw, color, paint, and create. Here’s a great find I stumbled upon for the little ones and any kid at any age.

These are art products for kids by Clementine Art that you can definitely feel good about using.  There’s crayons, markers, modeling clay, paint and glue.  Products are natural, certified non-toxic, and environmentally friendly…you’ve gotta love that! I love these and can’t wait to get them home in my kids hands and mine! =)

Also, just in time for Easter…check out these naturally dyed eggs!

from the Darling Clementine blog

Natural colorants like turmeric powder, red cabbage, grape juice, and beets give these eggs a variety of color.  It’s amazing how beautiful these look…and they’re safe too! You wouldn’t have to worry about what gets into your eggs with these dyes. =)

Happy Egg Coloring! Happy Designing!

A Photo Collage Design

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I thought i’d share a collage I created as a surprise gift for my cousin’s son’s baptism.  I put together several photos taken from a shoot during  her pregnancy and the baby at 4 weeks old.  The overall green background with the white tree and leaves is a photo taken from a mural (painted by her brother) in the baby’s room.  I had this collage printed into a 16×20 and we framed this in a beautiful but simple black gallery style frame.

This is a great way to save on the cost of matting and framing. Using Photoshop or GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program), a few related favorite pictures, and some simple editing, cropping, and creating simple borders into your photograph, you can create a similar matting effect without the price of having it custom matted. Of course, some people prefer actual mattes but I think this works just as well especially if you’re on a budget.

My blurb on Blurb and a wedding guestbook!

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This past month, I made my third wedding guestbook using Blurb, an online site to create your own photo books.  If you don’t already know about photo books and/or know sites like this, you’ll be amazed at how fast and easy it is to make your own book.  To me, these books come out just like the coffee table style books you’d find in your local bookstore.  Each time, i’m impressed by the quality of the printed books.  The great thing about this and similar sites is that you can print as little as one to hundreds of books.  Basically buy as needed.

If you’re a novice to the photobook making process, you can simply download their BookSmart program with built in page layouts.  For me, I’ve primarily created my own pages using photoshop and simply downloaded the pages I create into the BookSmart program.  For the expert, Blurb also allows you to use any design program of your choice. Of course, there are page guidelines that must be adhered to by both the novice and expert bookmaker and these are specified in their website.

So over the past year, I have personally loved creating wedding guestbooks that aim to tell the couple’s story.  Whether it’s their love story of how they met, or the things they love to do, I love creating something that is specially made just for them. I thought i’d share the wedding guestbook I created for my cousin’s wedding just this past February. It was created after looking over the couple’s wedding website and learning from the bride that they loved to travel and love traveling together.

I hope you enjoy looking at this and are inspired to make something that’s perfectly you!

click on the badge below to see the book preview…

Our Wedding Guestbook
By Angelica Yim

Combo Design

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I thought i’d share the baptismal invitation/birth announcement  I just finished a few weeks ago.  The initial request was to create a birth announcement followed by a baptismal invitation.  Plans changed and there was a need to do the baptismal announcement sooner than expected.

To help with cost and keep from sending the baptismal invitation before an announcement, we decided to combine the birth announcement with the invitation.  I also decided to use a simple design (believing less is more).

(side 1)

(side 2)

The card was printed on 15 pt. cardstock.

December Greetings!

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I love December! I especially love greeting cards! Here are a few greeting cards I created this month.

This card below was printed as a 4×6 postcard. 15pt cardstock. 2 sided. This card was going to be delivered to friends and family via snail mail. All that was needed was a stamp and address labels on the back.

(front)

(back)

I customized this card design per a client’s request.  I loved this picture she sent in taken by her aunt (I believe). I couldn’t help but smile looking at this photo. You gotta love a baby boy with a red bow tie!

This card is a 5″x7″ 2-sided folded greeting card printed on 10 point cardstock.

Unfolded (10″x7″). (Outside:back, front)

(inside: left side, right side)

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These were photocards sent as jpegs to be printed at each person’s preferred local photocenter.

Print size 5×7.

How far it’s come…

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Life just gets so busy! I was hoping to post at least once a week but that was just the plan…making it happen was another thing. Well, I can’t believe that i’m posting this but I came across this picture of our family’s first Christmas Card. I had several drafts made with slight variations and this one seems like the one I ended up using so I posted it here. I made this using photoshop in 2004. It was printed as a 4×6 print. Wow!!! I hope to think that i’ve come a long way since this design. I guess you’ve got to start somewhere right?
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Save the Date!!! Almost forgot this one…

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Here’s a few drafts of a Save the Date card I found rummaging through my files and almost forgot I did these for my cousin last year.  She ended up with the cream design with the photo from the chocolate brown #3 card.   She had these cards printed in the Philippines.  Her wedding was here in Atlanta but she had quite a few things things done overseas like her wedding dress and her wedding party dresses as well. She had a beautiful wedding trying to keep to some of the Filipino traditions.

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Birth to Birthdays…

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Sharing a few more designs I did since that first birth announcement.  These were so much fun to create and I loved customizing each design.

Birth Announcement

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Baptismal Invitation

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Birthday Invite

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