This is a list of the downloadable fonts I use the most often (by downloadable I mean aside from the standards like Century Gothic, Garamond, Myriad). I think you should go pick these up, if you don’t have them already. And I think you should throw away that one you have that has letters shaped like a picket fence. You know the one.

The first 24 are absolutely FREE. The last 3 are a couple bucks each, and I’ve found them to be totally worth it.

Font Download/Install Tutorial

Need some help downloading and installing fonts? Click here for a tutorial.

I hope you enjoy these, and please feel free to add your favorites in the comments!  I would also love to know, how many fonts do you own?

The Fonts!

Ready for the Font-o-licious? Here it is!

 Diesel

You Are Loved

Downcome

Sidewalk

Ginga

Marcelle

 Ma Sexy

 Porcelain

One Fell Swoop

Pushkin

VNI-HLThuphap (scroll down)

Texas Hero

Lainie Day

 Retro Rock Poster

 Georg

 Tallys

Times and Times Again

VT Portable Remington

Fluoxetine

 VTKS No Name

 Steelfish

(pair this one with Steelfish Outline, below)

Steelfish Outline
 

Freebooter Script

 Pea Jay  (among some other very nice free handwriting fonts)

Almost Free!

And here are some fonts that cost a couple bucks each. I have found these to be worth it. :)

SP Purkage

2Peas Tasklist

2peas Stop Sign

How’s that? Pretty awesome, hey? Feel free to add to this list if you’ve got some go-to fonts you’d like to share! Have a super, Phabulous Photoshop Phriday and a great weekend!

Dear Grandpa,

I love you. We watched the Care Bears, and my favorite Care Bear is Cheer Bear. I built a cloud car out of cotton balls and a box. I put a cotton ball in the glue, and sticked it onto the box. Tonight we are gonna - I don’t know what we are gonna do, mama? Mama says we are gonna walk by the lake and ploop rocks in the lake like this! Ploop!

I hope you’ll have good love from ME, and we hope you’ll be a good grandpa forever!

Love,

rowen (she wrote her own name!)

And here we are plooping rocks in the lake. :)

His reply?

Rowen,
Thank you so much, you made Grandpa’s day.
Love,

Grandpa

Here are some awesome ones I am loving! I’m actually thinking of starting a little letterpress collection of my own here. :)

 Linda & Harriett  Is that not the most delicious handwritten letterpressed signature you ever saw? WHOA.

Green Chair Press

Satsuma Lynn

Reinked   (this one actually comes with envelopes made from vintage magazines. :) Love the inkless pressing.

 Night Owl Paper Goods

Egg Press (yes. another green thing. big surprise.) This one is both offset printed (the tree) and letterpressed.

 Papered TogetherI want to put one of these in EVERY book I own. And the child silhouette looks just like Rowen to me. :)

Dee and Lala   I pretty much love every single one of their sweet, whimsical cards, but these elephants just melt my heart. :)

 Messenger Brid Press - one can never have too many coasters. And wouldn’t these rock as gifts?

Smock  I pretty much love every.single.thing from this web site. Oh yes. And I want to touch it, and pet it, and call it George.

Red Tandem Studio - LOVE this ink color.

Megan Creates - And one more sweet lil’ elephant to round out the evening. :)

Yes. Definitely thinking of starting a letterpress collection of my own. :D (Hey, and if I get sets, I can send 5 and keep one, right? ;)

For more reading (for me too!) on letterpress, here are a couple of sites:

• Briar Press
• Five Roses
  
• I Love Letterpress
  

Got any letterpress lovelies you’d like to add to this? Have you ever seen letterpress in action? Are you a letterpresser yourself? A collector? An appreciater? :D

But you know how hard that can be. Scrapbooking is one of those things that kind of takes over your life in some ways. Mostly good ones, though - you find yourself paying attention to details in life, but also paying attention to billboards and magazine ads and saying “wouldn’t that shirt/skirt/cereal box make GREAT patterned paper?”. You’re sketching in your head, and on scraps of paper, or perhaps if you’re extra nerdy (ahem, I mean.. prepared), on that notebook you carry around with you. Your camera is close at hand.

And for me, because I know I’m going to continue having assignments and that there’ll be scheduled demands for layouts in my near future (ahem.. maybe even a LOT of layouts.. and maybe in the NEAR future. ;)) I’m trying to capture great shots when I should just be playin’. You know, playin’ “Spooker” with the kids. Today happened to be one of those successes in this department, I guess.

It started out that I was the Big Spooker. And there aren’t any shots of me, because I was busy Spookin’.

But here’s Elliott when he was tagged and became the Spooker:

And Rowen better look out, because he chased her up into the playhouse and then what? Oh yeah, he returned to the table and drank all her juice. Sneaky.

And then he burped really loud and couldn’t stop laughing hysterically. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to put that on a scrapbook page - especially not one that will be published - however much I might talk about our need to record our real lives.. is THIS something that goes out there to the world? But on the other hand, I would hate for this to get recorded as “what a cheerful boy you are, Ele!” without the real life behind it. What do you think?

And then Jared came home, which automatically made him the Spooker (and he may kill me for posting this extra-attractive pic of him..). 

Dinner, hanging out, bathtime, and then just before bed, I was bringing Elliott out of our room (note the rocket pj’s), and Jared wandered in and Elliott said, spontaneously, “I love you guys mommy and daddy.” And so we had a big hug. And my camera happened to be on the dresser. Yeah, one of those times.

(This totally almost made up for the fact that he came out of his room at LEAST a dozen times for various lame reasons, and didn’t fall asleep until almost 9:30. *sigh*) Sweet-and-salty life, right? :)

So where’s the balance? Where’s the I’m-still-a-scrapbooker-in-real-life? Hopefully not gone. Hopefully I can continue to take pictures, at least some of the time, out of a pure desire to record, and not for another ulterior scrapbookish because-I-need-this-pic motive.

I ran across a really cool quote in the July|August issue of Body+Soul:

“What if your current challenge is a call to action, a kind of rallying cry that will prepare you for the next phase?”

And because I’m a sucker for both great quotes AND cool fonts, and I was practicing the art of constructive avoidance, I decided to set it in a great newfound font, Sling,and it looked like this (feel free to download if this rings for you too)::

And then all of a sudden it’s 11:30 and it turns out that turning work off at 4 p.m. meant I didn’t turn it back on again tonight. And that’s ok. See, I need to keep telling myself that. :)

The challenges I’m facing, with balance, with recording, with paying attention and being present and in the moment, are my call to action.

Did you inherit an inability to sit down and watch TV or a movie at home and NOT do something else, too? I know I did. And somehow that has translated into needing to check email and wash dishes and cook dinner and wrangle a kid or two while also doing some shopping online (shall we talk about my total inability to find a really cute pair of sandals?), and making a grocery list, all the while thinking about whatever assignment or work thing is currently sitting undone in the office. Instead, I could just trade these weights in for awhile, for some Spooker.

I do think that one of the great challenges of our plugged-in times - at least for me - is learning to single-task for awhile, and to enjoy it as both a gift to ourselves and our families, and a necessity for our well-being. But somehow nobody gave me permission to just play sometimes. Isn’t it funny that I so often have to re-learn how to just play? (and how it is almost always my kids who remind me?) But when I figure it out again, it is so simple and so full of joy.

Since I have 20 comments per page, way over on page 9, 4th one down is Sandy! 

Congratulations, Sandy!

Send me an email and I’ll put you in touch with Natalie.

Thank you to EVERYONE who played! What an awesome turnout for a really cool technique, huh? :D 

Happy Monday!

Let’s just call it PHOTO ShaZAM. I’m feeling a little retro today. :) But seriously. I took this pic of Ellliott playing in their “Sharkey Pool” today, and made it kinda sing. Like so:

AND, just to up the deliciousness factor a bit, how about we have a little giveaway? My I’m-related-to-her-I-promise relative, Natalie Putnam, is generously giving away one of her sweet handmade Camera Straps to one lucky winner! Keep readin’!

First, though, the tutorial. Learning first. Free stuff later.

Photo ShaZAM. 

My pic looks like this sooc (straight out of camera):

It’s ok, right? He’s a sweet fella, and this pic pretty much puts my heart in my throat. But really DECENT pics are the perfect candidates for just a little extra somethin’ somethin’ - which is why this is the ShaZAM.

Ready to see some shaZAM on your own pics?

Photoshop Friday: Photo ShaZAM

1. Okay, the first step in the Shazam is to open that pic. If you’re shooting in RAW (like I do), go ahead and correct your white balance and make the changes you need to, and then bring it in to Photoshop. If you’re shooting in JPG, just open the file. :)

It should be your background layer. Thusly:

Click for Larger 

2. Now right-click on the photo (Background) layer in the Layers palette, and choose Duplicate Layer from the flyout menu. In the little box that comes up, go ahead and rename this layer to Overlay. Click OK.

 
Click for Larger

3. And now you’ll go ahead and right-click on the Overlay layer and choose Duplicate Layer again from the flyout menu. In THIS little naming box, go ahead and rename this layer to Screen. Click OK.

Now you have a stack of three perfectly ordinary layers. And here’s where the shaZAM happens. :)

4. Click on the Screen layer in the Layers palette. In the blending mode dropdown at the top of the Layers palette, set the blending mode of the Screen layer to Screen.

5. Click on the Overlay layer in the Layers palette. In the blending mode dropdown, set the blending mode for the Overlay layer to (wait for it..) Overlay.

Here’s what I get at full strength. Whoa. Talk about overblown.

Click for Larger 

But now! Now come the subtle machinations of a true Photoshop Wizard: playing with the opacity of crazy overblown layers.

6. Play with the opacity of both of these layers until you get a flavor you really like. The interaction between these two blending modes is where the shaZAM happens. The screen layer acts as a brightening agent, and the Overlay layer boosts contrast. Depending on your particular photo and how well it’s exposed, what colors are in it, tonal range, that kind of thing, you’ll need to increase or decrease the blends for both of these.

I ended up with Screen set to 44%, and Overlay set to 65%. And it looks awesome.

Now, one thing I noticed in my particular photo, and something that you might notice in yours as well, is that Overlay tends to boost redness in skintones. So suddenly Elliott looks a bit like he’s been diving in heavily chlorinated water.

A quick fix? Take a soft-edged Eraser tool to the Overlay layer on parts that turn out too red or too contrasty (or if you’re advanced, create a layer mask and mask out these parts). This will show the original photo through.

Click for Larger

After a quick touch on my background layer with the Burn tool to darken up the edges just a hair, and a little Smart Sharpen, I came out with this:

ShaZAM!

This technique will improve almost any photo you work it on, which is pretty amazing, considering the variety of photos it’s possible to take. :)  So the workflow here:

1. Open the photo.
   
2. Duplicate the layer twice.
3. Set the top layer to Screen, and the second layer to Overlay.
4. Adjust the opacity of this two-layer combination.
5. Erase out any too-dark or too-red parts of the Overlay layer.
6. Burn the edges of the background layer just a titch.
7. Resize as needed, and THEN run Smart Sharpen (sharpening should always be done last, and always on the photo when it’s at its final size). I recommend a strength of 85%, and then adjust the radius to taste.

Weekend Assignment: Show me YOUR Photo ShaZAM! :D

Okay, now for your assignment, are you ready?

1. Go take a picture. Or I GUESS you could use one you already have. GOSH. (But seriously. The sun is shining. Go take some pics!)

2. Work some SHAZAM on it, as explained above.

3. Post the shazam, or a layout made with the aforementioned shazam, somewhere online, such as a your favorite gallery, your blog, mayhaps the General gallery at JessicaSprague.com? You know, anywhere. Even Photobucket. Even Flickr. Go for it! :D And mentioning where you learned about the Shazam would be really cool as well, of course.

4. Come back over here, right here to this post, and leave a comment. Perhaps even paste in the link where you posted your shazam.

And the reward! Win a new camera strap!

I’ll draw a random name at 9:00 p.m. on Monday night, July 14, at 9:00 EDT, and the winner will receive a brand-new camera strap created with love by my I’m-related-to-her-somehow relative, Ms. Natalie Putnam! How cute is this?!

You can pick out any of the straps in her store for your very own, IF you practice the ShaZAM, post it, and then comment RIGHT HERE before Monday (oh, and if your post # is drawn, of course).  And the relative part? Okay, we worked this out at one point. Natalie is ny brother’s wife’s sister’s mother-in-law’s daughter. Or my brother’s wife’s sister’s sister-in-law. Right? Right. And get this other craz-i-ness. Natalie is ALSO my mom’s brother’s wife’s sister-in-law’s daughter.. okay, now I’m just making this up. But I’m SERIOUS about the first part.

Okay, friends! Let’s see some ShaZAM!

Can’t wait!

p.s. I’ll only count links in the randomness, so if you have other comments/questions feel free to post ‘em!

Placing  leaves into the miniature river running down the driveway.

I used the Pioneer Woman BW action, and some amazing new texture overlays by Michael Ash.  And I am very tired. My brain needs some mush to mush on. Gonna go see if there’s some mush on TV. :P And perhaps eat a cupcake.

Yes.

Definitely eat a cupcake.

Yay: Elliott slept in his BIG bed for the very first time last night. And he only came out of his room 3 times.

Boo: HUGE thunderstorms, with thunder that terrifies both kids, for 3 straight nights. I am normally not opposed to thunder, but somehow Elliott has realized that Jared gets really obsessive about watching the Weather channel when there’s a storm afoot. Two nights ago, when the thunder hit, he started crying and then said, “I WANT TO GO WATCH THE WEATHER!” 

Boo:: Google reads my email.

Yay: This actually turned out to be hilarious just now. I know this because here’s the backstory (another one of those things that ended up being a huge joke for the rest of the weekend)

We all went out to dinner at Foster’s in Chicago last week. Shmancy steak/seafood place. Of course I had a pork chop. MMM. It was delicious. And of course we all perused the dessert menu. Well, the one thing that looked good to me was carrot cake. LOVE carrot cake.

But of all the desserts, this one happened to say, “Carrot Cake for Two”. Hm. Well, I certainly can’t get carrot cake for two, right? If I’m only one? And nobody seemed that interested in sharing it with me. And I had this whole conversation with myself over the carrot cake for two. Liv even snapped a photo, which she just sent me in an email teasing me about the carrot cake::

Her email was titled,”What Indecision Looks like”

“hmmm… should i get the carrot cake for two? why does it say for two? could i order this and eat it all myself? why did they have to write “for two”? do they not think one can finish this on one’s own? where’s the chef? i think i’ll order ten of these!”

I responded, archived the email, and it refreshed, and what do I see at the top of my screen?

Why yes, Gmail. I AM craving carrot cake. Thank you for asking.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up Rowen and Elliott from a half-day daycamp, and Rowen was looking sad. I asked her why she was blue. She just sat in the back of the car, not saying anything. I decided to take them to lunch. :D Nothing like a Firehouse Sub to cheer you, right? Right.

So as we start eating, she starts cheering up, and then says,

“Mama, why is there a color for when you feel sad, but no color for when you feel happy?”

This is an excellent question. I say, “This is an excellent question. What color do you think the happy color should be?”

Without even needing to think about it, she says, “Yellow!”

And now, for weeks, LOTS of things make her feel yellow. 

Of course, this inventiveness cuts both ways. Apparently “blue” is only for when you’re sorta sad, not for when you’re REALLY sad. REALLY sad is purple. I’ve been told that through tears a couple of times since then. 

Every day’s a rainbow here. :D

Here, she’s feeling particularly yellow as we prepare to light fireworks on Friday (note the Wall-E shirt, which I swear I have washed every day since she got it - at least all the days I could peel it off of her…EDITED: I got the shirt from the super-cute Disney Wall-E store here. And, can I just say how much I LOVE that they made girl gear!:

 Happiness is a yellow girl. :)

• Corkboard tiles. I hung them on my wall in a 3x3 grid, gonna put up kid artwork, pics, quotes and visual inspirations.
  
• 1000 Bags, Tags, & Labels. I’ve been known to buy a shirt just so I could have the hang-tag. Or (ahem) a cute box of chocolates because the box was cute (didn’t throw out the chocolates, though - can’t let those go to waste!) Here’s an entire inspirational book with packaging in all its forms. Some VERY cool scrappy inspiration in there! :D
• You know I can’t resist chipboard. They are the easiest way, I think, to add some hybrid dimension to any page. And florals? Flourishes? In finishes I don’t have to paint or cover with paper? Ah. My heart. I picked up some Glimmer Chips (which in this case actually don’t glimmer, but are white embossed shapes), and some BG Chip Stickers in the Sultry line. Delicious. You’ll probably be seeing more of these in a page near you soon. ;)
• Handmade soap. When we were in Asheville a couple of weeks ago, we were walking downtown and saw some soapmakers out selling. They were incredibly good smelling, so we picked up a few. I love the lavender. Jared especially loves the spearmint/sage one. LOVE the feel of these soaps. Any hadndmade soap recommendations? Have you had a good experience with handmade soap?

Cool:

• What if KI Memories (maker of the lace cardstock) made scarves? They’d be like these laser-cut microsuede scarves from Little Factory. So awesome!
• Found a cool article: Ways to hold your Viewer’s attention - 5 suggestions for photographs that translate into scrapbook pages, too!
  
• Some very cool textures. Check out the paper ones, and can we say enough about woodgrain? :D
• For no good reason except that it’s super cute. Whale, and is there something about the woodgrain?
  
• The Mental Floss blog highlights a man who took a photo a day for eighteen years - right up until the day he died. It’s a cool write-up, and the web site is very cool as well.
  
• If you love looking at web pages for the delicious eye candy (I know I do), check out this Flickr set with a collection of almost 500 really good ones. Someone worked really hard. Way harder than I do, or ever will. But I will gladly look at these ones. :)