My Resources
(inspired/stolen from https://www.dandeliondustdesigns.com/resources/)
There are so many wonderful resources online, whether you are looking for design inspiration, you are running a blog or you are starting a new business venture! Here are some of my favorite resources, that I hope will help you in your journey.
*Anywhere you see an asterisk referenced on this page, it means that the item is using an affiliate link, meaning that Meg Scott Scott receives a commission or a benefit if you choose to use the service or make a purchase through the link. I only make recommendations of companies I have or am currently using and are resources that I trust.
MY GO-TO RESOURCES
BUSINESS TOOLS
Some of the services that I use in my business and I’m more than happy to share them with you.
GoDaddy – This is a great webhosting company and is who I use to host this website. They are very responsive to any request I’ve ever made, from PHP updates, to custom Emails, to WordPress updates and more.
Creative Market* – An amazing website, filled with all things creative. When I work with clients who are interested in professional looking photography or watercolor artwork, this is one of my favorite shops.
Design Bundles/Font Bundles* – An amazing website, filled with all things creative. I have so much fun here because of their Plus Program and I have been able to meet one of the designers that I used her product for a baby shower invite and then found that same product on some storage boxes over at Ross. They are currently looking for designers – so if you create SVGs, background patterns, etc. Sign up and see what can happen for you!
The Hungry Jpeg – An amazing website, filled with all things creative. When I work with clients who are interested in professional looking photography or watercolor artwork, this is one of my favorite shops.
MailChimp* – MailChimp is wonderful to build your email list. It is who I use to send out our monthly email and it is free for up to 2,000 subscribers. They have lots of pre-built templates you can customize, or you can begin from scratch and build your own newsletter exactly how you want it be.
Trello* – I was introduced to this site year ago and recently have come back to it to help me with all the projects I am currently working on. Instead of pen and paper (which I have used many notebooks in the past) here you create boards, and then cards for each board. Think of it like a bulletin board on the wall with index cards in a row. I am setting up for the different sites I am on to help me keep track of where my products are posted, a board for current projects to finish, as well as project ideas.
COLOR INSPIRATION
As a graphic designer, every collection that I design or project that I begin, always starts with a color palette. If I am not creating the color palette in Photoshop from a photo I took, then I am looking elsewhere. Here are some resources that I have used to come up with colors for designs and projects.
Adobe Color CC – Since I mainly work in Photoshop CC, I love Adobe Color CC. It lets you upload an image and in seconds, it creates a color palette for you. It even lets you change the color mood for a variety of color combinations from one photo. You don’t have to upload a photo, you can use their color wheel and create your own as well, it is very responsive.
Colour Lovers – I especially spend a great deal of time in the palettes section of this website. I also upload photos and have created palettes as well. Others can provide feedback and let me know what they think.
Design Seeds – Another website where I find lots of color inspiration and can spend hours perusing the Collections Section. What I love about this site is they provide you with the color codes and break the colors down by seasons!
LOL Colors – Color palettes ready to go in LOL teardrop shapes.
Pinterest – I have my color inspiration board on Pinterest.
Stylify Me – Have you ever run across a website you just love. With Stylify Me, you simply put in the website address, and it pulls the colors being used on that website for an instant color palette.
FREE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY
If you are a creative team member or just scrapping for yourself or friends, creating templates for invitations – you are likely always in search of high quality photos to use in your projects. If you are looking for a specific style or theme of photo, here are some of free stock photography websites. Always check their licensing terms, in case they have change.bed bug
Death To Stock – Just submit your email address and enjoy a new batch of photos delivered to your inbox every month.
Free Range Stock – If you are running a blog or a business website, you will really love this resource. Gorgeous photos to use for blogs, websites, advertising, etc.
Gratisography – If you are looking for some fun, whimsical and a little outside the box photos, Gratisography likely has what you are looking for.
ISO Republic – If you are a blogger or social media marketer, this is a wonderful website for you to visit.
Kaboompics – This is one of my favorite websites. I can and have spent hours there.
Life Of Pix – Amazing photos are available here with more added all the time.
Negative Space – Pages and pages of beautiful photos and all categorized, so it is very easy to find what you are looking for.
New Old Stock – Looking for a vintage feeling photo. New Old Stock is your place.
Pexels – A great website that I frequent at least weekly.
PicJumbo – Another favorite of mine that I visit all the time.
Pikwizard – Is a great resource for free stock photos but that is not all, it is associated with Design Wizard where you can cards, Facebook posts, YouTube channel art, Snapchat geofilters and more.
Pixabay – This is one of my go-to resources almost daily.
SplitShire – Stunning photography for both personal and commercial use. Need a photo to go along with your blog post – you’ll find it here.
Stock Snap – You will find a wide variety of photos to choose from as well as lots of themes.
Unsplash – They have thousands of wonderful photos to choose from.
SCRAPBOOK RESOURCES
Here is some to help you as a digital scrapbooker. I will continue to add more cool tools here for you.
Adobe Photoshop CC – I subscribe to their suite for students which is $25 per month and I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom (for adjusting photos for photo restorations) and Acrobat. I am sure I use more but just don’t remember. When I am done with school, I will end up having to pay a higher cost but I don’t mind it at all. For you, look at all the plans and see what is best for you.
Adobe Photoshop CC Free Online Training – I recently ran across this amazing training that they offer for free. You will find both Beginner and Experienced User tutorials. I highly recommend you take time to go through them, as most are less than 20 minutes, so imagine how your skills will grow if you do just one per day.
FontBase – If you are looking for your first or even a new Font Manager and Organizer, look no further than FontBase. Super easy to use, automatically tracks any font folders you wish, allows you to activate fonts you use all the time and keep less used fonts deactivated, but available with just the click of your mouse and it has a version for both PC and MAC.
Resize For Web Action by Paislee Press – This is a great action for resizing previews and scrapbook pages in 12″ x 12″ or 3600 pixels x 3600 pixels, that size is much too large for the web. With just a few clicks of this magic action, the kit previews and my scrapbook pages, are resized and ready for the web.
PixelScrapper – Elif Sahin – This site is one of my favorite sites to go to for commercial use products. I love the designer Elif Sahin. I was once on her creative team for her kits and just love her aesthetic.
Mommyish – She is one of my favorite Action designers. You can also find Just Jaime at the same store and they do a monthly collaboration.
and my list could go on and on. If you would like me let me know, but at some point, there are some secrets I would like to keep to myself!
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP TUTORIALS
Some of you may be new to Photoshop and so I thought it would be fun to add some places for tutorials. These may be single sites, videos or blog posts.
https://www.pixelscrapper.com/what-is-digital-scrapbooking – A great article full of great information for digital scrapbooking along with some wonderful tutorials!
https://www.avasam.com/learning-to-use-and-get-the-most-from-photoshop/ – this post is from a drop shipping company point but it has some great links to tutorials for many used features in Photoshop and provides information on comparable software if you don’t want to use Photoshop.