Back in 2007 I created a Photoshop action to emulate the effects of Holga/toy cameras, and it’s been a permanent fixture in my PS workspace ever since.  For use with B&W and color photos alike, I hope you guys find it as fun and useful as I do!

First step if you’d like to play along, download the PS action here.  It’s been tested and verified to work with CS2+, PS7 and PS6.  If you use it successfully with other versions, please comment so I can update the list. I apologize to those of you who have older versions of PS, or PS Elements … I’d obsess over it to make it work for everyone if I had the time, but alas I do not.  C’est la vie.

For this demo I’m using a portrait of my mother in-law, scanned in at high resolution (300 dpi):

The first thing the action instructs you to do is crop your image to a perfect square in order to create a more authentic Holga effect.  This is usually a simple step, but in the case of the photo I chose, a perfect square would zoom in way too much on the face, which I didn’t care for.  So I paused the action and got to editing.

I increased the canvas size to a perfect square and chose a background texture…

I then cleaned up the blemishes, altered the hue a wee bit and switched the photo layer type to “darken”.  Since she knew back in the 50′s that I’d be facing this dilemma, she was kind enough to wear a black dress so I could easily give her some shoulders, too

Makeup, a little background adjustment and the final crop…

OK now we’re ready to use the action.  Tip: if you’ve still got layers with different blending options, it’s best to flatten your image before resuming.

Next the action guides you through manually adjusting the hue and saturation.  For my photo, I chose to reduce the color saturation by -30.  I didn’t adjust the hue because I had already done a lot of coloration already.  Once you’re done with this step, the action does its thing and gives you something like this:

At this point, you need to select the radial gradient tool.  The gradient tool is located in the toolbar (same tool group as the paint bucket), and you may have to switch the gradient type from linear which is the default.

Now for the fun part!  With the gradient tool selected, click the center of your image and drag the tool to the edge, any edge, and repeat.  You’ll get even crazier results if you play around with switching up the start point of the drag.  Toy cameras are all about inconsistency; no two images will turn out the same.

When you’re done with the gradient tool, click play on the action again.  You’re now given the option to simulate light leaks via the brightness & contrast control, but that won’t be necessary for all photos.  I opted out for this one, again it wasn’t needed since I altered the photo heavily before running the action.

If you enjoyed this walkthrough and freebie, let me know how you’ve used them in the comments.  It’s so encouraging for me, and I really love to see your creations ^_^  Happy crafting everyone!

I began by partially inking with some Ranger Distress Ink (Tattered Rose)…

And since my photo turned out horribly wrong, I’ll just have to explain the next step =)  I filled in the remaining white space with Ranger’s Vintage Linen Distress Ink and blended it all together w/ the Tim Holtz blending tool.  I then rubbed wax over the embossed areas to create a resist, coated the card with a layer of thinned white acrylic paint and buffed with a paper towel:

I used my embossing tool to dry the ink and melt the leftover waxy crumbs gracefully into the design.  Next I gave the whole card a spritz of “Bubbles” Glimmer Mist:

I kept thinking of my victorian Voila patterns while designing the labels, so I definitely wanted to incorporate some into the card:

I topped it off with a baby carriage label and a couple accent rhinestones that play nicely with the shimmer from the Glimmer Mist.

And now I want to share some Voila with you guys!  2 packages of 3 strips each, and I’ll even throw in a sheet of matching Prima flowers ^_^  Simply comment here for a chance to win, and I’ll announce the winner next week.

International entries are welcome ~ good luck!

I tested a few different colorways before choosing this creamy brown, and seriously couldn’t be more … uhh, thrilled (enough with the giddy already)!

They may appear slightly pinkish depending on your monitor, but trust me – once printed they look perfectly tea stained.  I contemplated distressing the type and graphics, but didn’t want to over complicate the fine detail.

You could always add a bit more distressing on your own, if you like.  It’s really easy, I’ll share some of my techniques tomorrow!  Hint hint, subscribe

^^^ FAV!!! ^^^

So check back tomorrow for a tutorial and giveaway that coordinates with these labels!   All these and plenty more print & cut projects can be found in my portfolio ~ enjoy =)

First, I ripped a sheet out of my trusty Goodwill dictionary for the 45 Flowers (I’m only using 4 here but you can never have too many).  I took the cut flowers and another sheet, crumpled them up, and inked the edges to bring out the crinkles.

The “Sunshine” Glimmer Mist helps lay the foundation for a weathered paper look…

accented with some “Chocolate Covered Cherries”.  Blast them with your embossing tool

because who really wants to wait for that to dry??  SNORE.

Next I matted the focus paper from the Parisian page kit on some green patterned paper (Basic Grey), distressed the daylights out of it with sandpaper, and mounted them both on the dictionary paper.

I trimmed the distressed paper down to a square, and stuck some more Basic Grey behind it to fill in the spot I ripped out to mat the photo.  Of course I had to round the corners … I think I use that punch more than any other.

The flowers from the Parisian Page Kit got the same sandpaper treatment.

For the title, I used the Typewriter Alphas.  Now, this isn’t a font for the Silhouette, it’s actually a sheet of alpha shapes all ready to go.  You can even break them apart inside Craft Robo to create your own welded titles!

A little flower tucking here, an obligatory punch label there, one final matting and voila!  I wanted this fun wild west style photo of my mom to have an aged feel with a pop of spunky modern color.  She’s one tough cookie, and I’m pretty happy with the outcome ^_^

… now I just need to find the time to do my nails!  Yikes!!

Here are the Chunky Alphas:

Tall Serif:

Typewriter:

… this one isn’t new, but I didn’t want to leave it out!  =) It’s standard cut with a shadow cut for each letter.

And finally, the messy black and white stamp alphas (print & cut):