Gadgets and Gizmos

**GailS** · 08-02-2009, 10:01 AM

Free Gadgets and Gizmos

There are a lot of cool, free things on the internet - some can be used to help you scrap some really interesting pages, others are just fun for a brain break. Some are even just cool toys for gizmo geeks like me.

Here's a (growing) list of some cool and/or useful tools that are out there - enjoy and have fun!

Freebie: Free Fonts

Action Fonts
http://www.actionfonts.com/

CK Free Font Friday
http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/issues/FreeFontFriday
Grab a new free font every week from CK!

Online Generators (handy for digiscrappers!)
Blue Ribbon Award Generator
http://tinyurl.com/ykplo45
Add a blue (or red, or yellow...) ribbon to your layouts! Great for pages showing off accomplishments!

Cassette Generator
http://www.says-it.com/cassette/
Remember old cassettes - this fun web site may actually be of some help in your scrapping pages!!!

Christmas Ornament Generator
http://www.dumpr.net/christmas-ornament.php
Create a pretty Christmas ornament using your photo

Color Palette Generator
http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/
Liz found this one! You have to check out this color palette generator very fun and easy to put together color schemes. See it in action here: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...04&postcount=1

Color Palette Generator II
http://bighugelabs.com/colors.php

Color Scheme Designer 3
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
A color wheel type application. Six different schemes including mono, complimentary, triad.

Desktop calendar - Make your own from an image!!
http://bighugelabs.com/wallpaper.php

Dictionary Pictures
http://hetemeel.com/dictionaryform.php
Use your own image and add your own meaning - could have some great uses in your layouts!

Dummies Book Cover Generator
http://www.signgenerator.org/books/dummies/

Framer
http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/frame.php
Add a customized frame to your digital photographs

Gadget Generators
www.makesweet.com
More gadgets than you can shake a stick at! Includes a couple of Christmas ornament generators that you can create with pictures or words, and even an animated one.

Hockneyizer
http://bighugelabs.com/hockney.php
Create a unique collage with your photographs!

Hollywood Star - get your own star at Hollywood Blvd!!
http://www.famousstar.de/?name=My+Name
Come on its fun and quick - type in your name to get your name on Hollywood Blvd!!!!!

Jigsaw Puzzle Generator
http://bighugelabs.com/jigsaw.php
Turn your photo into a jigsaw puzzle!

Magazine Maker
http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/magazine.php

Montage a Google - fun site
About Montage-a-google
Montage-a-google is a simple web-based app that uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Not only an interesting way of browsing the net, it can also be used to create desktop pictures or even posters.

TIP:
If you want to print or save your montage you can take a screen grab of it ('Prt Sc' key on PC) and paste it into you favourite photo or paint application to print or save it from there.

http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google/ (click launch project)

Motivator Generator
http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/motivator.php
Create your own custom poster -- Inspire! Motivate! Mock!

Newspaper clipping generator
http://tools.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
This may be incorporated into scrapping pages

Pop Art Poster Generator
http://bighugelabs.com/popart.php
Turn your photo into a Pop Art poster!

Ribbon generator
http://www.signgenerator.org/ribbons/
Have a cause? Create a ribbon to support it!

Sign Generators List
http://www.customsigngenerator.com/

Sign Generators - The Ultimate List
http://www.signgeneratormaker.com/page/1.htm

Street sign Generator
http://www.streetsigngenerator.com/

Trading Card Maker
http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/deck.php

Vinyl Record Generator
http://www.says-it.com/record/
Again - other fun thing that could be used in your scrapping pages

Windows Error Message Generator
http://atom.smasher.org/error/

Word Cloud Generator
www.wordle.net
Creates word clouds with words you enter - and if you can extract, you can use them in your layouts too!

Photography
Here are some sites you can visit to improve your photography skills:

Take Great Pictures
http://www.takegreatpictures.com/
Take Great Pictures.com offers you Photo Tips and Techniques from Master Photographers, the latest news on new products, events, and artists, photo contests, reviews of photography books for your coffee table, columns on digital photography, taking a digital picture, scrapbooking, a calendar of photogenic events and destinations throughout the world, a place to share your own images with others, and helps you in taking great pictures. Brought to you by the PhotoImaging Information Council, Take Great Pictures aims to inspire, inform, and educate those with an interest of photography regardless of picture taking skill level.

VSO Image Resizer
http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/
This is an amazing piece of software that will resize, convert, add a watermark or a frame...easy to use and fast! I love this for reformatting photos and layouts I want to use on the web, but you can use it to reformat/resize for other purposes too! Check it out! (It is free, you will get a nag screen if you don't purchase it at the shareware price though. Still fully functional.)

Tools and Utilities

Extended Character Map
www.freedownloads.be/downloaddetail/423-Extended-Character-Map
This is like the Windows Character Map utility but uses much bigger, easier-to-see characters. The utility is especially useful for viewing the pictures in a symbol or Dingbat font. (thanks Spotty!)

Font Identifier
http://www.identifont.com/index.html
Ever see a font and were dying to know its name? You might be able to find out here! Give it a try!

FontFrenzy
FontFrenzy
FontFrenzy tames the frenzy of fonts that can clutter and slow down Windows. The DeFrenzy function removes and stores all fonts except those that were present when Windows was first installed. In short, it cleans up your font folder so that Windows boots quicker and runs smoother.
(Thanks LauraLou!)

Virtual Photographer
http://www.optikvervelabs.com/
A favorite of scrappers and photographers alike, this plug in allows you to instantly apply photographic effects to digital images with just one click.
Compatible with Photoshop® CS3 and older, Photoshop® Elements, Paint Shop™ Pro®, Photo-Paint and other popular imaging applications. Install on Vista 32-bit, Windows XP, 2000, ME or '98 operating systems. Be sure to read their help file for installation on 64 bit systems using CS4.

Tutorials

Easy Photo Grunge Effect
http://www.tutorial9.net/photoshop/e...grunge-effect/
With these techniques, you can bring out the best in an image, or absolutely destroy the graphic, but still keep the original photo intact.

How to Create Grunge Art in Photoshop
http://www.tutorialboard.net/grunge-art-photoshop/
This Photoshop tutorial is based on Grunge form of art with use of vibrant colors.

Grunge Layout Tutorial by Erica
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...47&postcount=1
Erica ran a challenge recently with a downloadable tutorial on creating a grunge layout. You can download it here for as long as it's available.

Just for Fun

Animoto.com
www.animoto.com
Create custom slide shows with music. The most amazing, genius, animated slide show creator on the face of the earth.

Avatar Generators
Bless This Chick Emporium
http://www.blessthischick.com/btcmachine/index.php
Click to create your own chick!

Giveaway of the Day
www.giveawayoftheday.com
Free software - a different title every day. (thanks Spotty!)

Paperclipping Digi Show
http://www.paperclipping.com/category/digishow/
The Paperclipping Digi Show is a light-hearted discussion on digital scrapbooking. Listen for free!

Shape Collage
www.shapecollage.com
Free Automatic Photo Collage Maker
Make picture collages in less than a minute with just a few mouse clicks!

Please enjoy and if you find something that is fun that others may enjoy please pm me!!!!! Please do not post links in the thread - that makes it easier for me to keep it tidy!

The only rules to suggesting links are that you don't suggest a commercial or objectionable site of any kind, and that the gadget or gizmo is free. Easy peasy!

{The Fine Print: Please exercise caution when using or downloading anything that is suggested here - be sure your system requirements are adequate and that you understand what the program will do. (I always read the consumer reviews first, if available - I've often changed my mind based on what they say!)}

= the newest additions

*Kathleen* · 08-03-2009, 02:34 PM

What a cool list, Gail! Thanks for sharing!!

Now if only time was unlimited to try them all!!

*stitchmich* · 09-05-2009, 08:40 AM

what a cool list, Gail! I'm glad you posted here again because I missed it the first time around.

**GailS** · 09-05-2009, 05:59 PM

Here's one that SUVGal submitted! Thank you!

Shape Collage
www.shapecollage.com
Free Automatic Photo Collage Maker
Make picture collages in less than a minute with just a few mouse clicks!

Click here to go straight to the first post for the BIG list!

caraffle · 09-07-2009, 09:53 AM

Gail, this is a fun one to play with. The girls love to use this for school projects and I have used it, taken the file to photoshop, removed the BG and put it on a DSP BG for a custome look the works well when you have 'different' photos to be scrapped. Use the words instead of journalling.....its fun.

http://www.wordle.net/create

**GailS** · 09-07-2009, 09:55 AM

Thanks Caraffle! It's in the list under Generators > Word Cloud Generator. And it IS fun!!!

**GailS** · 09-15-2009, 06:53 AM

Have you seen the cute, girly avatars floating around DSP?

You can make your own here!

Avatar Generators
Bless This Chick Emporium
http://www.blessthischick.com/btcmachine/index.php
Click to create your own chick!

**GailS** · 09-20-2009, 05:18 PM

This one looks like fun!

Hockneyizer
http://bighugelabs.com/hockney.php
Create a unique collage from a single photograph. Choose one of two styles: a joiner style image without frames or an image created from simulated Polaroids. Every generated image is unique. This toy was inspired by the photo collages of the artist David Hockney.

Click here to go straight to the first post for the BIG list!

evergreen100 · 09-20-2009, 08:32 PM

http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

Not too sure if this one has made it inot this thread or not. Jill Greenfingers used it for one of her Sunday Scrappers challenges...I think it makes a fun addition to a LO as I did here:

evergreen100 · 09-20-2009, 09:01 PM

Ahah, I went to the "Big List" and found that this is already there...no matter...ignore above post

**GailS** · 10-18-2009, 06:41 PM

Just added to the big list! (See first post)!

A favorite of many:

Virtual Photographer
http://www.optikvervelabs.com/
A favorite of scrappers and photographers alike, this plug in allows you to instantly apply photographic effects to digital images with just one click.
Compatible with Photoshop® CS3 and older, Photoshop® Elements, Paint Shop™ Pro®, Photo-Paint and other popular imaging applications. Install on Vista 32-bit, Windows XP, 2000, ME or '98 operating systems. Be sure to read their help file for installation on 64 bit systems using CS4.

If you're not familiar with this plug in, give it a whirl. You will love the effects it can produce!!

**Teresa** · 10-26-2009, 03:47 PM

This is a fantastic thread!!!! Great job getting all of these goodies in one place. Thanks Gail for getting it started.

lbjiowa · 10-28-2009, 12:29 PM

Very good idea...putting these all in one place!

MaryElizabeth · 03-07-2010, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GailS

Here's another new grunge layout tutorial by Erica just added:

Grunge Photo Tutorial by Erica
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com...47&postcount=1
Erica ran a challenge recently with a downloadable tutorial on creating a grunge layout. You can download it here for as long as it's available.

Ahh... Gail, I got the "I broke DSP" message. Has Erica removed the link??

*sandygb* · 03-08-2010, 12:56 AM

Wow - what cool stuff you collected Gail. Thanks. I need to check into some of these. FYI. I am running CS2 on 64 bit Windows 7 and have no problems using Virtual Photographer. I didn't "install", I simply copied the files and/or directories to the appropriate Adobe folders.