ops0603 says

Hi Michaela,

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. I wasn't expecting to hear from you so quickly so that's an unexpected surprise. I do have Photoshop CS5, but I'm a very recent user of this as I have always been using Lightroom to do my post processing, and I thought I would finally move up to Photoshop to get a little more creative.

So, I do understand what you were describing for the fonts (maybe not 100% but you can tell me more when you email me). The rest of your message I'll have to read a little more closely, and do not worry about any language barrier, if you want to add any other details, i'm sure I can eventually figure it out...and perhaps if you don't mind, I can always email you back and ask more questions.

My email address is: mike(dot)perkins(at)rogers(dot)com

Notice that I have removed the usual punctuation in the email address so that it doesn't get picked up by any spam programs. I think you understand that. I guess I'll find out soon enough :)

Can you also tell me what sites you like to surf for fonts - its great to hear that many of the ones you use are also free !!! An extra bonus :)

Looking forward to hearing from you again, and thank you so much in advance.

Cheers,
Mike

posted at 05:42pm Apr 05 PST

mdi5446 says

Hi Mike,
thanks for your compliment on my book. First of all, I did all pages in Photoshop and then placed the finished page as a "one photo page" on the blurb album. This lets me the most possible freedom on my layout.

The fonts: I can tell you tomorrow the font names. I have about 200 fonts in my computer, all free available on the internet ;-), but I have to look in my files which one I used for my Mexico book.

How I did it: Are you familiar with Photoshop? The background font has a lower saturation and some effects like shadow and relief style (I will tell you all details after looking in my files). The white fonte ist set over the background font, also with some effect. I think I created a Photoshop action for that - when you provide me your email, I can send it. This is nothing magical, I would love to share it.

The yellow paper: I'm a fan of digital scrapbooking and therefore I collect those digital things, papers, ... The paper used in the book is a mix of different papers, styles and elements. The double pages are mirrored. The layouts are also created by myself. I used a "frame look" by doubling the background and cut out the photosize and shadowed the lines. Sorry for my bad english, but I don't know how to describe it better in correct Photoshop English words ;-).

Best is you let me know your email, then I can send you some examples. Best Michaela

posted at 02:16am Apr 05 PST

ops0603 says

Hi Michaela,

I hope this message gets through to you. I really liked your Mexico book that you recently published in January 2011. I have never used Blurb previously, but I am about to publish my first attempt, and I found a couple of things on your Mexico book that I wanted to ask you about, and hope you might be willing to share the info with me.

1. I really like how you created the location/name of each place you visited. Can you tell me what is the large font type underneath the white font, and how you created that to appear like it does on the background? Also, what is the white font in the foreground? I'm assuming that one you just overlayed as a text box on top of your background?

2. Is the yellow background you selected created by yourself, or was that one of the themes available from Blurb?? Would you be willing to share how you created that if it is something you made?

I love your work and it is one of the best examples I have seen so I really wanted to reach out to you and ask the questions above. I'm hoping to hear back from you soon.

Cheers,
Mike

Ottawa, ON

posted at 09:48am Apr 04 PST

evilgirl says

Hi Michaela!

Thank you for your comment! I appreciate it very much!

I love your books as well. They are absolutely gorgeous. I'm glad my book inspired you. To answer your question, I made the swirls myself... I didn't have much time on this book, so that's the only part I drew myself. Other things are some stock vectors I had that I put together. :)

Thank you again!
Katerina

posted at 04:55am Jan 07 PST