This week I have been fiddling around with Photoshop Elements, trying to teach myself how to create a photo collage. This involves learning about layers. I found a great video here which shows how to create a simple 4 photo collage template. There is also a downloadable cheat sheet which takes you through the steps in case the video moves along too fast for you. It does for me. I find it much easier to follow written instructions.

One of the reasons I've become interested in photo collage is because in January I found out about the Take 12 Challenge which is being run over at Ella Publishing. The idea is to take 12 photos on the 12th day of each month of this year which is of course 2012. By creating a scrapbook page for each month using each set of 12 photos, a fascinating, personal chronicle of the Year 2012 will be the result.


I can't remember whether I've officially signed up for the challenge, but I did dutifully snap 12 photos on Jan 12th and Feb 12th. and I've marked my calendar to remind me to take a further 12 on 12 March.

Now, the lovely people at Ella Publishing have created a Guided Inspiration Pack, which can be purchased and which looks like great value. However, being the perverse individual that I am, I've decided to try creating my own templates and layouts. I have, however, followed closely the video which shows how to use one of the templates provided in the inspiration kit.

These are 6 of the 12 photos I took on Jan 12 when I was invited to dinner at my next door neighbours' home. The dessert at the bottom left was my contribution. You can see that I still need some practice, because the spaces between the photos are not all the same size. Maybe having no spaces between the photos would have been the easier way to go, but as I've pointed out, I can be quite perverse.

Later in the week I happened across something else which got me even more interested and excited about photo collages. 

The Graphics Fairy is one of my most favourite blogs and I always try to check out her Brag Monday posts, even if I don't quite get there on Monday (which is Tuesday here in Aus.) This week her craft pick was a beautiful Dr Seuss inspired collage by Beth Conklin from Here on Earth . Beth has combined several of the Graphics Fairy's images with photographs of her daughter to create a gorgeous, whimsical image.

Beth's profile states that she is a photographer and a lover of old photographs. In my previous post I mentioned my love of old photographs. Now I actually have a reason to buy old photos ... hurray!  I also love taking photos, so it seems that Beth and I have a couple of things in common. Beth also states that she is a digital artist.  I've fallen deeply and unequivocally in love with Beth's work and I want to ... have to ...  be able to create images, not the same as, you understand, but just as beautiful.  

Yes! That's what I'll be ... a Digital Artist. So here I am ... at the bottom of yet another steep learning curve, and very excited to be here too. Maybe by December my Take Twelve Challenge pages will be displaying images as beautiful as those at Here on Earth