it's new header day! it's new header day!

and about time, too, eh?! not that i didn't love my old blog banner, but i do like to change things up once a year or so, just for the variety, and it's been a bit longer than that at this point! usually header-making is something i do on my laptop, on long car trips, but i guess we just haven't been traveling as much with the move, etc?!

digital elements: city maps #1 (manhattan) and lace from collageables #4, both by katie pertiet, designer digitals; multimedia flowers #1 and artplay palette #4 stitching both by anna aspnes, o'scraps; ephemera clusters by juliana kneipp, design house digital; washi love tape pieces by robin meierotto, dhd; antique prints paper by jen allyson, dhd; chunky stitching from spudunkity kit by corina nielsen, funky playground design; fonts: bohemian typewriter, porcelain; software: pse9

anyway, thanks to a longish wait at subaru yesterday, i was able to grab a few of my favorite recent acquisitions and knock this baby out! i figure that the specifics of digi-collage constitute one of those things you either already KNOW how to do, or don't really care about, so i'm going to limit myself to image credits, but as with all the things i make, i'm happy to share whatever minor insights i might have, and will gladly answer questions, if i'm able. in general, my best digi tip is, if you're only going to learn ONE THING in photoshop, it really ought to be layer styles; specifically the application and variation of the drop shadow. because there is no quicker way to elevate a combination of varied elements, and also make them much more dimensional (and thus realistic-looking) than by giving the impression of depth, and it's hard to beat shadows for that, in my opinion. so there. you now know my best digital-collage-making secret! you're welcome, darlings! :) :) :)

eta thursday morning: sorry for the re-post, after seeing the header full-sized on the big monitor i went back and tweaked a few of the background flowers, added some stitching, etc; isn't it funny how things can look totally different, just depending on the format??