Picture This: How to Add Sparkle

Photoshop Tutorial: How to Add Sparkle

1. Open a blank image document in Photoshop and create dimensions between 200-300 pixels. The range you choose will determine the range of your Sparkles Brush.

2. Select the Brush tool on your left Tool bar.

3. Then scroll down the Brush Presets panel on your right toolbar. You’ll find a few varying “star “or “sparkle” brushes.  Select the size 70 brush.

4. Stamp the brush a few times randomly and however you like. Try to limit yourself to 3 or four stamps.

5. Select a soft round brush (we chose the first brush option on the panel) and repeat step 4, randomly stamping. You can adjust the size as well.

6. Select “Edit” then ”Define Brush Preset” from your top Menu bar and name your brush (i.e. Sparkles Brush). Then Click “Ok.”

7. Open the image you’d like to use and create a new Layer so that you won’t affect your original image and can make changes.

8. Then select your Sparkles brush from your Brush Presets panel.

9. Next play around with your brush settings. Try selecting “Shape Dynamics” and “Scattering” to add some variation to your brush. Also play around with the “Size Jitter,” “Minimum Diameter,” and “Angle Jitter.” You can look to the lower box to see what effects all these options will have. Lastly, in your “Control” box, select “Fade.”

10. Begin to Stamp on your new layer and notice how the brush is randomly applied. From here on you can scatter it however you like.

11. You can also delete sparkles from certain areas using the “Eraser” tool. We decided to erase any sparkles on her face. Once you have the effect you want, save and you’re done! Enjoy your new whimsical photo.

xo,
Ruche

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Style File: Casual Inspiration

Tania and Sydney are constant sources of inspiration for us. We hope you'll take a moment to stop by their blogs and fall in love with them too! ♥ Here are two of their recent outfits that are perfect for any casual occasion:

Tania, from What Would a Nerd Wear, in our polka dot dress.

Sydney, from The Daybook, in our knit cardigan.

xo,

Ruche

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Love Stories: Conversation and Adventures

I entered my sophomore year of college with a mindset toward independence. I had never believed in soul mates and didn't consider myself a huge romantic, but after pining away for a relationship that never came to anything, I especially hated the idea of vulnerability. I told myself I would resist the longing for a relationship for at least the first semester. I should have remembered the oft repeated line that you find love when you stop looking for it. 

On one Monday during the second week of classes, I had three meetings to attend back to back. As I entered the conference room where the first was being held, a young man caught my eye. I don't remember what he said, but he immediately started up a conversation with me. After the meeting, we discussed our academic interests, then parted ways. I ran to my friend's room in a nearby dorm and told her I had "made a new best friend!" A half hour later, I walked to the union to attend my next meeting. He was there (!?) I was pleasantly surprised that we had, yet again, run into each other. Without thinking, I blurted out that he should attend my third meeting, too. He said yes. And that's how I ended up driving a man I had just met to a place off campus in the dark without my glasses. I almost ran us into a ditch, but we escaped at the end of the night unscathed. He told me he'd friend me on facebook and he had by the time I got back to my dorm. 

Over the next week, we saw each other almost every day. On the following meeting day, we found a deserted little hill on campus where we began to talk into the early hours of the morning. The month of September was punctuated by three hours conversations with Daniel on the hill. The attraction was not only a physical one, but an intellectual one. From the divorce rate to population control, we agreed on the minutest details. For the first time, I felt this unwavering, calm, certainty that everything would work out. We began dating on September 28, 2008. When I met Daniel, I started to question my distaste for the idea of soulmates.

Three months into our relationship, Daniel sat me down and shyly told me that he had actually seen me on facebook before out first meeting. I had replied favorably to a comment on the note of our mutual friend and he had immediately taken an interest in me. He scoped out my facebook page, read my poetry blog, and checked out the events I was attending so that he could meet me in real life. He couldn't have known, of course, that we would hit it off so well, but I'm glad he took the chance. Maybe the stars hadn't aligned without human intervention, but it still took careful orchestration to get us to where we are. 

Today, we've been married for 1 1/2 years. We're still holding great conversation and going on adventures. Relationships take work and the soulmate model often neglects that fact. Could we have made it work in different relationships? Sure. But I still think we're meant to be.

- - Leah Wise, Someone's Water Lily

♥

See the previous Love Stories here! If you would like to submit your story and join our Ruche Blogger Family, please send an e-mail to blog@shopruche.com. You may attach up to 5 photos. Please try to keep your stories to a 1200 word limit. You will receive an e-mail if your story is selected.

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Project DIY: Heart Cutout Dress

Perfect for Valentine's Day, take a look at this adorable dress tutorial! ♥

Guest post by Stacie

What You'll Need:

- Pins
- Tape
- Marker
- Dress (preferably not jersey knit, stiffer fabrics work best)
- Some sort of ribbon, lace, something to pin around the edges of the cutout heart
- Sewing machine and iron

Total Cost: Dress + Ribbon/lace
Total Time: Approx. 2 hours, shorter if you're a good seamstress.

Instructions:

1: Lay your dress out flat and tape over the chest area where you will be cutting your heart shape.

2. Draw the heart shape on the tape and then cut it out. Do not take off the tape because it helps keep everything in place so the fabric does not shift. 

3. Take your pins and pin the ribbon around the edges of the heart cutout so that the fabric is finished and won't fray.

4. After you have pinned the ribbon or lace all around the heart, stitch carefully to hold the ribbon in place.

5. After you have stitched everything, you can pick off the tape and then iron down the ribbon/lace so that your seams are crisp and flat!

That's it!

--Stacie Grissom, Stars for Streetlights

♥

If you would like to join our Ruche Blogger Family, please send an e-mail to blog@shopruche.com and attach photos. You will receive an e-mail when your post is selected. Thank you!

For more Valentine's Day ideas, view our roundup here!

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Cookbook: Sweet Fondue Recipes

Another round of fondue recipes! Sweet instead of savory, these will cure your sweet tooth. ♥

  

White Chocolate Fondue
via Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

One 11-ounce package white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
1/4 cup milk
Salted pretzel rods, for dipping
Fresh and dried fruit slices, such as pineapple, crystallized ginger and mango slices, for dipping



Directions:

In a double boiler, combine the white chocolate and milk over barely simmering water; stir until melted. Transfer the chocolate to a fondue pot or serving bowl, place on a platter and surround with the pretzel rods and fruit.

Chocolate Mallow Fondue
via Food.com

Ingredients:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 ounce)1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme1/2 cup milk1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan, heat the first five ingredients just until melted.

Whisk until smooth.

Transfer to fondue pot and keep warm.

Serve with fruits and/or cake pieces.

 

Chocolate Orange Fondue
via Food Network

Ingredients:

7 ounces good semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)

Directions:

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the cream, zest, coffee, and liqueur and stir constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a fondue pot and serve warm with pound cake, doughnuts, strawberries, bananas or pretzels.

**For serving: pound cake, doughnuts, long-stemmed strawberries, bananas or pretzels

Chocolate Mint Fondue
via Noble Pig Blog

Ingredients:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk1 cup chocolate chips10 peppermint patties, chopped


Directions:

Combine a can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 cup chocolate chips and 10 chopped peppermint patties.  Cook over low heat until melted.  Serve with apple slices, strawberries, bananas, pound cake, etc.

 

Chocolate Caramel
via food.com

Ingredients:
16 ounces chocolate, broken in pieces -- chocolate chips work fine ( milk, dark or semisweet) 1 cup whipping cream 1/2 cup caramel topping


Directions:
Melt ingredients on stove top over med. heat, stirring until mixture is melted and smooth. Place in fondue pot and watch closely so that it doesn't boil or scorch.

Serve with dippers such as: strawberries, bananas, pretzels, pound cake or angel food cake, marshmallows, dried fruit. etc.

♥♥♥

xo,
Ruche

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Cookbook: Savory Fondue Recipes

 Inspired by Valentine's Day menus, we rounded up some of our favorite savory fondue recipes! ♥

 

Cheese Fondue

via FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

1/2 pound imported Swiss cheese, shredded

1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cherry brandy, such as kirsch

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Pinch nutmeg

Directions:

In a small bowl, coat the cheeses with cornstarch and set aside. Rub the inside of the ceramic fondue pot with the garlic, then discard.

Over medium heat, add the wine and lemon juice and bring to a gentle simmer. Gradually stir the cheese into the simmering liquid. Melting the cheese gradually encourages a smooth fondue. Once smooth, stir in cherry brandy, mustard and nutmeg.

Arrange an assortment of bite-sized dipping foods on a lazy Susan around fondue pot. Serve with chunks of French and pumpernickel breads. Some other suggestions are Granny Smith apples and blanched vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and asparagus. Spear with fondue forks or wooden skewers, dip, swirl and enjoy!

Brie and Pesto Fondue 

via GoFondue.com

Ingredients:

1 lb Brie Cheese (cubed with no rind, chilled)

1/4 cup packed coarsely chopped basil leaves

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)

1 clove Garlic (minced)

1 cup Dry White Wine

1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar

2 tbsp Cornstarch

Ground Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Add Basil, Parmesan Cheese and Garlic to blender or food processor

Add 1/4 cup Wine while still running

Set mixture (Pesto) aside

In Fondue Pot or saucepan bring remaining Wine and Vinegar to simmer on medium heat

Toss brie with cornstarch then slowly stir into saucepan

Do not boil, some bubbling is okay

Stir in Pesto

Add Pepper to taste

 

Cheddar, Garlic, and Zinfandel Fondue

via FondueBits.com

Ingredients:

 12 ounces (4 1/2 cups) extra sharp Cheddar cheese (finely grated)

 2 ounces (1/2 cup) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (finely grated)

 1 cup Zinfandel (or another hearty red wine)

 1 tablespoon corn starch

 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

 1/4 cup roasted garlic puree (recipe below)

 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring wine and vinegar to a simmer over medium heat.

Toss the Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and cornstarch in a mixing bowl. Slowly stir in cheese mixture in small handfuls until completely melted. Stir in roasted garlic and season with pepper flakes.

Transfer to a cheese fondue pot and keep warm with burner. Serve right away.

Bonaparte Fondue

via allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 cup boiling water
2/3 ounce dried shiitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 (500 gram) package Bonaparte cheese, chilled
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup apple cider or light white wine
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 pinch white sugar (optional)

Directions:

In a bowl, pour the boiling water over the dried mushrooms, cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid. Chop the rehydrated mushrooms, return to the soaking liquid and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter and sweat the shallots for 5 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms and their liquid. Bring to a boil and reduce until the liquid is almost completely evaporated. Add the cider and bring to a boil.

In a bowl, toss the Bonaparte cheese with the corn starch. Add one third of the cheese to the saucepan and stir gently with a wooden spoon. Repeat with the remaining cheese, one-third at a time.

Heat the mixture to just below boiling. It should be nice and smooth but not too thick. Remove from heat and stir in the minced garlic. Add a little sugar, if desired, to neutralize any bitterness.

Greek Fondue with Red Bell Peppers, Oregano and Feta

via cooking.com

Ingredients:

16 ounces Emmentaler cheese, rind cut off, cheese grated (6 cups packed)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3/4 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon blanc)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons ouzo (unsweetened anise liqueur)
1/2 cup chopped pitted brine-cured black olives, such as Kalamata
1/2 cup finely chopped drained roasted red peppers from jar
3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh oregano
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese


Directions:

Toss Emmentaler cheese and cornstarch in large bowl.

Bring wine, lemon juice and half of garlic to simmer in heavy large saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Add 1 handful of cheese to wine and whisk until almost melted. Repeat with remaining cheese in about 5 more batches. Continue whisking until completely melted and fondue begins to bubble, about 1 minute. Whisk in ouzo.

Mix in olives, bell peppers, 2 teaspoons oregano and remaining minced garlic.

Transfer to fondue pot and keep warm over fondue burner. Sprinkle feta cheese and remaining 1 teaspoon oregano over fondue and serve. Accompany with a platter of assorted dippers, fondue forks and plates.

 
♥♥♥

Enjoy!

xo,
Ruche

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Wedding Wednesday: Ombre Accents

We absolutely adore these Valentine's Day inspired ombre accents for your special day!

(Source: One, two, three, four, and five)

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