Lesson 16: Using Cut & Paste in Digital Scrapbooking

So I was making a new page the other day, and I noticed how often I use cut and paste. I just do it instinctively, but I'm not so sure that new digital scrapbookers would use it like I do. Cut and paste is, of course, a feature seen in a lot of programs. I've been using it since the old blue screen WordPerfect days. And although as a junior high computer teacher it is often the bane of my existence, in digital scrapbooking it can be a real time saver! Cut, paste, and copy are commands that it is well worth learning the shortcut keys for.

• Cut - CTRL+X
• Paste - CTRL + V
• Copy - CTRL + C

Sidenote: You may have noticed that throughout these tutorials I use shortcut keys a lot. It saves SO much time, and I find it a lot easier than going through all the menus. Here's a chart in to remind you of the shortcut keys that you use a lot in Photoshop. You may want to save it somewhere for a quick reference, or even print it. Anyway, you've already seen in Lesson 14 how I use cut and paste for borders. Well, I pretty much use this process for everything. I'll review that a little in my list here of how I use cut, or copy, and paste.

1. Paper on Paper- Most of the time, when I'm creating the background for a page, I pull in the full background. But then I want a strip of another paper to go on top--I don't want to drag the full paper in, so I use my marquee tool to draw a dotted square around the area I want. Then I just do copy, then click on my new page I'm working on, and paste. It's not always exactly the size I want, so I will either use Transpose or just draw a marquee around the area I don't want and press delete.

2. Creating Borders - In Lesson 14, I have a video tutorial of this. It's a great way to create a border. Just CTRL click on the picture part of the layer you want to make a border of. Then create a new layer. Then go to Edit, Stroke, and create your border. Then, copy that border, and paste it onto the paper you wish to use. Highlight the paper layer, while the border you just pasted still has marching ants around it. Copy, and then go back to your original page and paste. You now have a border that is cut from the other paper.

3. For Journaling - On a lot of my pages, I choose a background that is too loud for me to write my journaling on. In that case, I just find a lighter paper, and use my marquee to cut it and paste a small square of it onto my page. Then I can change that square to the proper size, format it how I want (adding shadow, a stroke, maybe using an action) and copy it as many times as I need to for my journaling. Here's an example of a page where I've done this.

As you can see, I have several little white pieces of paper that I put writing on. I just created the first one, then copied and pasted it, changing the size when necessary. This is a great way to get journaling in, but still be able to use those fun, but loud, backgrounds. (Does it bother anyone else that I used the same picture TWICE on this page? Drives me nuts. I was pretty horrified when I got my book printed and saw that. There's one problem with printing books--there's no going back!)

4. For Resizing - Ok, say on your page you have a side bar of paper, and you want a ribbon to run down bottom half. You pull in the ribbon, and it's too long. You could use your marquee to highlight the area of the ribbon you don't want and press delete. OR, you could cut and paste. CTRL click on the side bar, then click on you ribbon layer and copy, then paste it. The ribbon you just pasted is now the exact same width as your side bar.

Alt + Drag

I believe I've shown this in previous videos, but I wanted to point it out again. If you want to copy a layer, you can find the layer on your layer pallete, right click and do copy. OR, you can do it the fast way. Just click on the layer in your actual page, hold down the ALT key, and drag. Instant copy. SO easy. When I found this little tool everything got A LOT easier. Ok, here's a video example of some of the suff I talked about in this lesson--some of it is hard to explain--this calls for a video!

CutPaste2(Click to view)

Free Digital Scrapbooking Class!

Hey everyone. Just a quick note today. Sorry about the long wait for the next lesson--I promise, I am working on it! But school started this week and my focus has shifted a bit. Anyway, for those of you who live in the Salt Lake City area, I am doing a free digital scrapbooking class! It's really for my church group, but I'm sure there will be room for more. So, if you would like to attend this class, just email me at iworshipmrsrees@gmail.com.


Ok, I have to explain that email address. I originally set it up for my 9th graders. I teach them how to email, but I didn't want them emailing my real email address. So I made that one up. It made me laugh. I used it for this blog and--well, sorry. I'm kinda wishing I hadn't, now. But...it's still kinda funny...


Anyway, the scrapbooking class. I have room for only 36 total, so if you want to come, please let me know--don't just show up or I can't guartantee you a seat. The class is on September 7th, and is going to be held at Elk Ridge Middle School in South Jordan from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. In that class, we'll pretty much be covering as much as I can of the first six lessons from this site. It would be great opportunity for you to work on stuff with someone right there to help you if you have questions. My lab is Photoshop 7, so it's an older version. The address is 3659 W. 9800 S. Just come in the front door, and there will be signs to direct you to my classroom.


Here's the invitation that I sent out for it--I thought it turned out cute!

Thank you!

When Skills Pay Off

No new lesson today. But I thought I'd share an experience I had last night, where digital scrapbooking was truly an amazing thing. Not all books we make need to be for our family scrapbooks. Last night, I had the opportunity of using my skills to create something wonderful for a man looking at the end of his life. I was able to say to him, "Your legacy will not be forgotten." And how grateful I am for that chance!

Here's a little backstory: I started ballroom dancing when I was 14. Two of my four older sisters had already taken classes from Dance Dimension, and had toured to England the year before. I was terrified that I wouldn't be as good as they were, and though neither of them were on the team, I felt I had big shoes to fill. The team was run by Paul and Michelle Wilding. Both of them were trained professional ballroom dancers, and in the four years I took dance there, I learned at a level much higher than your average dance class. Paul had the vision--he wanted to affect the lives of young people through dance. He didn't just want to teach you. He wanted to change you. Michelle made his dream happen. She did choreography, designed and made costumes, and ran the business end. We competed and performed all over Utah, and went on tour to Las Vegas. We won trophies and individual events. They made a lot of sacrfices. Their goal wasn't just to give us a great dance education. They created a social, vibrant, and close family. I am still friends with so many of the dancers I knew then.

That was a long time ago. For the last three years I've had my own ballroom dance team at the junior high I teach at. These kids would never have discovered ballroom dancing if it weren't for the instruction I recieved all those years ago. Last year we learned that Paul has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was so upset I just started bawling. This is a cancer pretty impossible to beat--we knew we only had a matter of time. We decided to have a big Dance Dimension reunion in honor of Paul and Michelle, before he passed away.

That reunion was last night. Thank goodness for Facebook! With that tool, we were able to contact nearly everyone from a decade of teams. We had over 100 people jammed into the Marriott last night. There was a dance floor, and I danced my heart out! Don't get to do that very often!

The big moment for me was presenting the Dance Dimension book I had created using Photoshop and printed through Cherishbound. It was a very simple book--I didn't even use a kit. I just created pages with pictures, and pages with letters submitted from old team members, thanking Paul and Michelle for all they had done.


It only took me a few days to pull this book together. We printed it at Cherishbound and it arrived two weeks after I sent it in. When I handed it to Paul, he was wiping away tears. I watched him tenderly look through it, almost reverently. He kept it close to him all night long. People asked me if they could get a copy, and it was nice knowing that at Cherishbound, they can go to the site's public library (once I've submitted the book there) and search for it, and buy it right there. So easy. It was truly an incredible night. I'm so glad that I had this gift to share with two people who had such an impact on my life. When they saw the cover, Michelle cried out a little. I hadn't realized that the photo I'd used for the cover, which their daughter had sent to me, had actually been the picture on their wedding announcements 40 years ago!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this story. I'm so grateful that I have taken the time to learn these skills. Its amazing how much I use them for other things, and not just for my books. Everything from wedding announcements, baby shower announcements, invitations, handouts for church, and ALL the stuff I've made in my own classroom--it's well worth my time. I hope that as you look at these tutorials and wonder if you really have the time, money, and inclination to really get started, you'll realize that you never know when these talents will be wanted and needed. Get started now! Don't wait!

Have you ever used your digital scrapbooking skills for an outside project? Tell me about it!

Lesson 15: Scanning & Resizing Pictures

Many of the people I talk to about digital scrapbooking are overwhelmed by the sheer number of photos from the past that they need to scan in in order to get caught up with their scrapbooking. Many of them may be unfamiliar with using a scanner, or may not know what to do with the photo once it's scanned in. This post is to take you through the process of scanning your pictures and making them ready to scrapbook.


But before I begin, I did want to say this: Don't let yourself be so overwhelmed by "catching up" that you never get started. You DO NOT need to go in chronilogical order when creating your books. If you are really behind, my advice you to is to begin with this year or last year--something recent. Get your feet wet. Get confident. Take out the extra step and stress of scanning photos until you are more comforatable with making pages. It will not be NEAR as overhwelming to go back once you've already started with today's photos. Old stuff won't be any fresher next year than it is right now, but you will forget THIS YEAR very quickly, so get started on now while it's still NOW!


Ok. Couple of things you need to understand first.

Resolution: Resolution is the number of pixels in a photo. The more pixels, the larger the photo. A pixel is a single dot of the picture. Now, if you take a very small picture and try to make it really large, it's going to look all pixeled and blurry. So it's very important you pay attention to the size of pictures that you use.

Digital pictures are easy--they will always be large. You don't have to worry about the resolution when you pull it into your page, so long as you have made sure that the page you've created is 300 dpi--we talk about that in lesson 2, when creating a new page.

Now, when you SCAN a picture, you won't get as good of resolution. Scanned pictures will never look as good as digital ones. But they are certainly still workable and useable.

Here's another thing about resolution--when you are using a picture for the internet, the demands for good quality aren't as high. A picture that is 400x400 pixels is plenty big for a blog or Facebook or a website. But, if you were to print a 400x400 picture, it wouldn't be very big at all--only about 1 1/2 inches!

Resizing Pictures for Email or Online


When you have a digital picture, it's VERY large. Trying to attach it to an email can be problematic because the file is too big to attach. Also, if you try to upload it to a blog or facebook, it will take a LONG time. And it's not really a good idea to put large photos online. They may look small on the page, but then someone can click on them and save the larger version to their own computer for nefarious purposes. My advice is to keep the photos you upload or email at a much smaller size. How do you do that?

Pull in a digital photo to Photoshop. Go to Image, Image Size. This will tell you how big the picture is. It's probably something like 3872 pixels by 2592 pixels--or about 12x8". That's pretty darn big. If you are using it for a scrapbook page, that's fine. You can resize it on your page. But if you are going to email it or upload it online, you will want to make it smaller. You can change either the pixel size or the inches size--I usually just change the pixels on width to something between 400 and 900. There should be a checkmark already there on "constrain proportions" which will make sure that when you resize, the proprotions remain the same. Then just press ok. (this is in the video at the bottom of this post)

Scanning in Pictures

Ok, usually when you scan in pictures, you want to put several pictures on at the same time. It just saves time. That's fine--just make sure that all the pictures fit within the confines of the scanner and don't get cut off.

1. Once you have scanned the picture, you need to pull up the scanned picture into Photoshop. This might be tricky if you don't know where your scanned pictures go. Usually your scanner will have it's own file in your My Pictures file. Each scanner is different as to what the name of the file is. But you should be able to find it. Pull that picture into Photoshop.
2. Once you've pulled it up, make sure your HISTORY bar is open. (If it's not, go to Window to get it.)
3. Now, use your crop tool to crop your picture the way you want. Just choose ONE of the pictures--you can do the rest later.
4. What if your picture is screwed and not straight? No problem. Use your Marquee tool to draw a square that is roughly larger than your picture. Then press CTRL+T. Then just use the corner arrow to adjust your picture so it's straight. Then you crop it.
5. Now, save the picture. Make sure it's a .jpg.
6. Use your history bar to go back to the very beginning, when you first opened the file. Choose another picture and follow the same steps.
7. You'll notice that in these saved pictures you scanned, if you check the image size, they will NOT be as big as your digital pictures. Yup. That's what sucks about scanned pictures. But trust me, they will still look great on your page.
8. Also--if you need to rotate the picture, go to Image, Image Rotation.
Here's a video showing how to crop scanned pictures. It will also review some of the things I mentioned in lesson 3 about adjusting color.

Lesson 13: Silhoetting a Picture: Magic Wand, Lasso, and Eraser Tool

What would scrapbooking be if you didn't silhoette a picture? I have so many old pages where I've done this technique--sometimes VERY stupidly. I looked through some of my old scrapbooks to find an example, just for fun. There were SO MANY OF THEM. But most were of other people. Here's one of me from 1998--about forty lbs ago, though I think those scissors may have shaved off a few more pounds! Good news--you can still shave off pounds in Photoshop too, so that's good. Here's an example of a silhoette I did in my daughter Afton's book. I thought it turned out very nice!


So, how to create a good silhoette in Photoshop? First, I need to introduce you to a few tools in the toolbar--the Lasso tool (top), and the Magic Wand.

The Magic Wand Tool

When I remove a background, the first tool I use is the Magic Wand. What this tool does is select LIKE pixels. So, if you have the magic wand selected, click anywhere on your picture. It will highlight everything in that picture that is similar in color. Notice, though, on your options bar that there is a box marked "Tolerance." This is how you determine how...picky...the magic wand is. If you select 10, for instance, it will only select colors in your page that are VERY close. If you type in, say, 100, then it will do colors that are remotely similar. Then you simply press delete to get rid of what is highlighted

MAKE SURE that on your color picker, the background color is WHITE. Otherwise, when you delete you won't get that color.

The Lasso Tool

After you have used the magic wand tool to get rid of a lot of the background, you'll still need to fine-tune it with the lasso tool. This tool can, of course, be used for a lot of other things rather than silhoetting a picture. By simply clicking along the outline of the picture, you draw the shape you want. You MUST end up where you left off--clicking at the starting point when finished. Then your shape will have marching ants around it, and you are ready to delete it. OR, you can go to Select, and Inverse, and select everything EXCEPT what you outlined. THEN press delete.

Eraser Tool

The Eraser tool is also a very helpful tool. On your options menu, you can select the type of brush you want, and how big. (or you can just right click on your page once you have selected the eraser.) And then you can erase whatever you need. Pay attention to the Opacity on your menu as well--this allows you to fade out the edges of a picture manually. It can be very helpful in a collage. In fact, here's part of a page I did, using the opacity on my eraser:

I just used my eraser to fade out the left side of my picture and have it fade right in with the blue background.

Here's a video to show what I'm talking about--this one, I admit, is pretty hard to describe with words!

Magic_Wand_Lasso_Tool(click to view)

The Magic Eraser Tool

You know what? I love doing this blog. Because it makes me that much more motivated to learn more about this program. Sometimes I find a way of doing something and I always do it that way, and then I find something new and exciting! Like in another post, there was a comment about clipping masks and I'd never tried it--now I used it all the time. I'll do a post about that at a later time. Anyway, this just happened to me! While working on this post, (after I recorded the video) I was messing with the eraser tool, and found the most AMAZING tool, that would have saved me HOURS of time in the past. I wonder if this tool was available in Photoshop 7 or if it's just in CS4? It's the magic eraser tool. It's like a hybrid between the eraser and the magic wand.

First, you need to click on the eraser tool, and on the little arrow that it's the lower right hand corner of that tool. There are three options there--choose the last. Then, pull up the picture you want to silhoette. Click on the back ground, and POOF! It's gone! Now you may have to CTRL Z or use your History bar to go back if it didn't quite go where you wanted, but it's a lot faster than the way I showed you in the video!

Man, I LOVE Photoshop! I want to keep learning more, just like you--that's what realscrappy is all about. I'm not claiming to be the perfect expert--if you ever read something I do and think, "Oh, there's a better/faster way" then PLEASE write it in the comments section! Thanks!

Lesson 14: Picture Borders

So, as you look at my scrapbook pages on the left, you may note that I rarely have a picture without some sort of border. I'm kind of obsessed with borders. Most people seem to be happy with just putting a shadow around a picture and calling it good. But I hardly ever do that. I like to fancy it up, and I have lots of ways of doing that. So I thought I'd do a post today about several ways I do that.


Add a Stroke
First of all, there's the super simple but not as cool way--and that's the way I've already showed you in lesson 6. (demonstrated in full on the video) Adding a stroke is simple and fast, and a lot of times I do it this way for that very reason. My other methods may look cool, but it can time consuming, so I don't always bother. Here's an example of a picture with a stroke border.

1. Double click on the blank area of the layer you want to change--in your layer menu.
2. In the Layer Style menu, check the "stroke" box.
3. Click on the WORD stroke, to get more options.4. Change the color of the stroke by clicking on the black box--remember, if you want to match a color in the picture, as I did here, just click on the color you want on your picture when the color picker is open.
5. Change the width of the stroke, and choose Inside, Outside, or Center. (This one is inside--that's why the corners are so sharp.)

6. Press ok. Remember, you can right click on the layer afterwards and choose "Copy Layer Style" then just click on the layer of any other photos you want the same border on, and right click and choose "Copy Layer Style."
7. I usually add a shadow as well as a stroke to most pictures. It also looks nice if you use a bevel.
Creating a Stroke on a Separate Layer

I learned this little trick in one of the .txt files that came with an action I bought from Atomic Cupcake. I think it was on the small silver action--another one, by the way, that it TOTALLY worth buying. Anyway, I've used this technique like crazy ever since. This can be used to create a stroke, like above, but when you make it on a separate layer, your shadow will go on the inside and the outside and it looks much better. We'll use this technique on the next two types of borders I show you. So learn it!


1. The first step is imperative--and I've shown it before on one of my previous videos. You need to hold down the CTRL key, and then click on the layer you want to border. Now, that's enough in Photoshop 7, but in the later versions, you need to make sure you click on the PICTURE section of the layer, not on the empty area, or it won't work. You know it worked if you can see the "dancing ants" marching around your picture in Photoshop. What you've done is not only select your layer, but selected the SHAPE of your layer.

2. Next you are going to go to Layer, New, Layer. Or you can click on this symbol on the lower right hand corner of your layer menu. Now, it's important you understand what you just did--you just created a new layer in the shape of those marching ants.

3. Now, go to edit, stroke. Choose the color of your stroke. Then if you want it inside, outside, or center. Choose a thickness--try about 30 px. Then press enter.

4. Now, your stroke looks exactly the same as if you had done it the easy way. But remember--it's a different layer than your picture. So double click on the stroke layer you just created and go to your Layer Styles menu. Choose a bevel and a shadow. NOW you should be able to see the difference. Sometimes I'll even go to Pattern Overlay (as discussed in Lesson 6). That's how i got the border to have a bit of a texture to it.
5. Keep in mind, though, that if you want to move the picture, the border won't come with it. So find the layers, highlight them both (hold down the CTRL key and click on one, then the other) and then link them. If you want them to be PERMANENTLY stuck together, press CTRL E. The only way to undo that is to go back in your history.

Using Paper on your Separate Layer

Ok, for this one, we're going to do the same thing we just did above, only we're going to add a step. What if you want the border to be made of the paper you are using in a kit? No problem. All you really need is copy and paste. Remember the shorcuts if you don't know them -- CTRL C is copy, CTRL V is paste.

1. So, do all the steps from above, only don't go into the Layer Styles. Just create a border on a separate layer. Color doesn't matter.
2. Now, open up from your kit the paper you would like to use.
3. CTRL click on the PICTURE part of your border layer, and press CTRL C. Or, Copy.
4. Now, go to your paper, and press CTRL V, or paste.
5. Repeat the step where you CTRL click on the PICTURE again, getting those dancing ants. Now on your layer pallette, click on the Background layer, which is the paper you chose. Press CTRL C.

6. Go back to your original picture and press CTRL V. You now have a border that is "cut" from that paper.
7. NOW go into your Layer Style menu (by double clicking on the new layer) and add a shadow or whatever else you want.
8. Keep in mind that your original stroke is still there--you may want to delete it, or at least HIDE it by clicking on the eye icon next to it. That makes it "invisible" but you can always make it visible again by clicking on the empty box where the eye is supposed to be.
9. This process takes only seconds--it may sound confusing, but watch the video and you'll pick it up quick. It's MUCH harder to explain than to do!

Using an Action on a Separate Border Layer

This last one I use a lot--adding an action to a border. Now, hopefully you've already read Lesson 10, which talks about actions. I will demonstrate in the video how to add an action, and I'll use the Sparkle action by Atomic Cupcake.


1. Create a separate stroke layer, just like we learned above.
2. CTRL Click on the stroke layer, so it has dancing ants all around it.
3. Choose your action, and run it.
4. Remember, depending on the action, it may require you to choose the color you want your layer to be in the color picker in your toolbar BEFORE you run it.
5. Pull the finished border back into your document, and place it on top of your picture. You may want to delete the original stroke you made.




**NOTE - I have had a little confusion on using this feature on SHAPES. If you are going to add a border like this to a shape, you have to RASTERIZE it first. So, draw your shape, right click on the shape in your layer panel, and choose "rasterize." Then you can CTRL+click and get the marching ants, and create your new layer.
Ok, now for a video!

Adding_Borders

Lesson 12: Uploading your Book

UPDATE: The Cherishbound site is no longer available. I now use Mypictales.com. However, some of the information in this post is still useful and applicable for other publishing websites.

Ok, yes, this is a shameless plug for my favorite website for digital scrapbooking. But this company has given me so much with my beautiful books, plus I wanted to demonstrate how to upload a page into a book, and this is the only way I've ever done it! Now, usually with Cherishbound, in order to create a book, you have to have a consultant. I've contacted the company, and they have provided me with a special URL--if you click on this link, it will allow you to create a new account and get started right away! I'm not sure how long this will last--so even if you aren't ready to create a book, get a login today.


So, here's a little more about Cherishbound, and then I will have a video for you!

To see pictures of my new 2010 yearbook, click here!

First of all, Cherishbound is NOT a digital scrapbooking site. At least, that is not their focus. They focus on learning to write your story. And they have some fabulous products like Story Starters, that will give you help in writing your story. There are different starters for different subjects, and they are full of questions and ways to format your story that can really help you. My sister (also a digitial scrapbooker--in fact, she got ME started) used them when she created a book to honor my grandmother and her life. The story starter really helped her know what questions to ask and how to organize the book. The way I see it, there are a lot of great stories hidden in your family that you can only bring about by asking the right questions. Story starters help you find those questions. It's pretty amazing. Cherishbound is what helped me switch my style of scrapbooking from a collections of photos, to a journal with photos. I do a lot more writing because of it. If you are creating a book for a special event, that's when story starters can really help. To see some of their story starters, go to http://www.cherishbound.com/products/sscatalog.php?c=53_21.


You'll find that scrapbooking can go a lot faster if you do the writing first. Then it's just copy and paste. Here's an example: My sister has three children. She wants to make a baby book for her third child, just like she did the first two. But--when does a mother of three ever have time to sit down and scrapbook? But then--if she waits, she'll forget all those special moments, the mile markers, when he walked, his first word. So, she writes it first. She just adds to it little by little in a Word document. And then, when she DOES have a few minutes to work on her book, part of it is already done. Just copy and paste what's needed.


Here's another example: A few years ago, a friend of mine wanted to make a book for her adopted daughter. She just wanted it like a little storybook she could read to her, that would tell her the story of her adoption--so she'd grow up knowing all about it. Not being a digital scrapbooker herself, I told her I'd help. So she came over one day, and we got that book done in one afternoon. She'd already done all the writing, typed it up, and emailed it to me. Then I just picked one kit, and quickly put out a good 20 pages, cutting and pasting her text, and adding a few pictures and elements. It was a short book, and a mini one--not a full size 8 1/2 x 11. And it's very much loved. And it was done in ONE DAY. Yes, writing first can be useful!


In Cherishbound, you can also make a book without using Photoshop at all. There are templates that you can use where you choose the location of your text and photos, and then just choose a border for the whole book. And it looks very nice--though I ten times prefer to do it in Photoshop! They also have a new thing called StoryClub. Honestly, I don't know a lot about it, but it's a great way to get discounts and deals when publishing. You may want to look into that when you are on the site. Its still a very new program.


Ok, now for a video that explains

• How to save your files to be ready to upload
• How to create a new book in Cherishbound
• How to upload pages in Cherishbound
• How to use templates
• How to insert your pages
• A quick look at my current book

Using_Cherishbound(click to view)

Lesson 11: Printing Options for Digital Scrapbooking

So--you're making this really great book and then you realize the problem--you gotta print this sucker. How do you do this??


Printing is the price you pay for the ease of making your scrapbook on the computer. And it can be difficult finding an affordable option. My first suggestion to cut down your printing cost is this:

STOP DOING PAGES WITH ONE DINKY PICTURE ON IT SURROUNDED BY A MILLION ELEMENTS!!

Ok, I just don't get it. Maybe someone can explain it to me. It just REALLY bugs me. I know, everyone has the right to scrap the way they want. But whenever I go to galleries, it's all the same. Beautiful pages--pages I am not sure I could ever put together so beautifully--but SO impractical!! I have a MILLION pictures and I want to use them. And since I have to print this thing, I can't afford to do a million pages all with one single picture! So, I fill up the space as best I can. I just did 10 pages on my Oregon trip. Yes, ten pages was a lot, but MAN did I fit a ton of pictures in there! Here's a couple of pages from it:





These are actually a spread--two 8 1/2 x 11 pages I combined together so you can see how they will layout on the page. Anyway--do you see how many pictures I stuffed in there? Granted--this is more than I usually do, but I had so many goo dones! And it's still great to look at and you can read it and it's artistic--but it's also practical. Occasionally I'll do a full bleed page of a really great photo--like you see above. That's the only time you'll catch me doing one picture on a page! And it's still not impractical--it looks freaking awesome, thank you very much.


So, my first tip in printing: Remember you will have pay for every page you make. Plan on about $2.00 per page. That can really add up fast.

Now, where do you print? As you read this section, if you have a website or location or any other tips for printing that I haven't mentioned, PLEASE add them in the comments section! My problem is that I found my printing option right off the bat. I've never tried any other way, though I've talked to people who have. The way I see it, you have three basic options:

Print them Yourself


This is for those lucky few out there who can actually afford their own fancy printer and can print at home. The most convenient but undoubtalby the most expensive option. And please, for the love of all that is holy, don't try to print on an inkjet printer! It MUST be a laser printer. If you do this option, plan on spending A LOT of money for ink (my $1,300 laser printer at work costs $800 to replace all four cartridges!) and then of course, you'll have to buy good quality paper. You'll also have to convert to 8 1/2 x 11 pages, unless you happen to have a 12x12 printer. Well, if you've got that, you could probably start your own business! So no, this is not the most practical option, but it sure would be awesome, if you have that choice! I know there are some really high quality photo printers out there that are probably not that expensive, so if you can do that, great! You'll also have to buy an album with page covers to slip your pages into. Those albums can cost anywhere from $20 - $50, depending on where you go.

Print in a Bound Book


This is my option. To me, it's the only option. Because it looks SO GREAT! Now, there are a lot of websites out there that offer this service. There are A LOT of companies out there!

And here's how little room they take up in my shelf:

Man, that's awesome. I can fit them in my purse. Easy to take with me to family gatherings. Not some huge massive album that you chuck on someone's lap and say, "Look at my scrapbook!" in that tone of voice we all dread. They're thinking, "I'm gonna be here a while." But these sleek little things aren't quite so intimidating, and I'm amazed how much people love to look at them!

Mypictales - I just recently switched from Cherishbound (now no longer online) to this company. And I LOVE them. MUCH cheaper than what I was paying before. The blue book above cost $90 (pre-coupon) to print, and it's hard-bound with 112 pages! See more here: Mypictales Review

Blurb.com - I have never printed my big year books or baby books with them, but I have done several smaller projects. Overall, the quality isn't quite as good, but their prices are VERY reasonable and they are especially good if you are printing a very large book--they go up to 400 pages! A lot of people print novels and stuff there. They have a downloadable program that is really user-friendly and easy to work with. You can use templates or upload full-bleed with your pages you've created in Photoshop. Another strength of this site is that you can send links of your finished books to people and share your book online. You can three of my books on this site--one is Afton's ABC book, and another is my Announcing Pregnancy book. That's another thing I love , and then also my second ABC book.

Mixbook - I haven't used this site for digital scrapbooking per se, but it's where I get my calendars printed that I do for my Mother-in-law each year for her birthday. Easy to use, and great if you would rather just use their elements rather than scrapbook it in Photoshop. You could throw a book together pretty easily. I tried to use them for my yearbooks, but my 8 1/2 x 11 size pages I made didn't fit in their book right, even though they listed it at the same size. The print quality of the calendar is great though. I would use them for other projects, but for me personally, the 8 1/2 x 11 size if very important to me so I won't use them for my yearbooks.

Heritage Makers: This site is more expensive, but has a lot more options as far as book size goes. You can choose from A LOT of different sizes, including 12x12. A 12x12 album is $80, for 21 pages. Additional pages are $1.99. Oddly enough, though they had several sizes, I couldn't find an 8 1/2 x 11 size. This site DOES have a lot of other cool things you can make there--but again, they are a little pricier. I've seen a printed book from this site and it was beautiful. Looked like a coffee table book. Expensive, but very impressive!

Shutterfly: This is a very popular site--I saw a REALLY great book from it on a digital site. It was cool--you could tell someone the URL and they could look at your book online. I have to admit, that's pretty awesome. This is also a great site if you don't want to bother to learn Photoshop or any other editing program. You can easily drop your photos in on templates. They also have a lot of choices on the cover, like leatherbound and stuff. Pretty cool. For an 8 1/2 x 11 book, its $29.99 for 20 pages, plus $1.00 for each additional page. The 12x12 is $54.99 plus $1.5o per additonal page after 20. Pretty reasonable, I think! Also, they are always doing promos and you can get great discounts on your books if you look for coupons.

Pros of Printed Books:

• Sleek, beautiful, impressive
• Thin, easy to store
• Easy to replace--you can just order another one!

Cons of Printed Books:

• Cost is all at once--you have to drop $80-$120 at one time
• Can't see it "as you go". You have to wait until it's finished to print
• If you tear a page, you can't replace it. You can only replace the entire book
• Pages CAN tear, since they aren't in sheet protectors

I'm sure there are many other great companies for printing books--please let me know in the comments!


Print Page by Page



The other option is to print your pages through a company, one at a time. I have a good friend who does this, and her book is beautiful. This would require you to buy an album and page protectors like you did with old school paper scrapping. There are many places you can go to print your stuff.


Costco/Sam's Club


Both places will print 12x12's. A friend of mine said it's a good idea to put three 12x12 pages into one--create a new page that is 12x36, and drag three pages in. They will print 12x36, and it's cheaper than printing 3 12x12's separately. Gosh, I hope that made sense...

A 12x12 at costco is $2.99 a page. That's all I could find here--their website doesn't give a whole lot of helpful information here! You may have to call for exact prices.

Scrappingsimply.com - I've just recently discovered this site, and it's really great! You can upload your prints and order what you want, and they ship it to you. Shipping costs $5.00. They charge $1.99 for a 12x12 print, and $1.89 for an 8 1/2 x 11 print. They also print them full bleed--which means no white borders around the edges. That's very important. This site also has freebies every now and then which are great!

Persnickety Prints - I have never used this company myself, but it's name comes up A LOT when people mention where they print. Their prices are quite reasonable--listing $1.99 for 12x12, and they also do 10x10 pages, which is hard to find. AND they do 8 1/2 x 11, so I love them for that. So few places do!
Pros of Printing by the Page

• Overall it's not necessarily cheaper, but it allows you to spread out the cost so you don't have to pay a lot all at once.
• You can have your book as you go--you don't have to wait until the whole thing is printed, so your book is more a work in progress that you can show people
• If a page is damaged, you can easily reprint it
• You can do another print of the same page to go in another book, like one of your kids' book. (though, technically, you can also do this in a printed book)

Cons of Printing by the Page

• You have thicker books, like the old paper scrap books
• They aren't quite as impressive--or maybe that's just my opinion!

So there you have it--a short discussion on printing a scrapbook. Please, leave comments on this one. I know this is an area I am not a huge expert on, and I'd love to hear how other scrapbookers cross the barrier!

Lesson 10: Using Actions

UPDATE: The Atomic Cupcake website, where I get most of my actions, has closed. However, I did find that you can get about 70% of them for free at the following link: FREE ATOMIC CUPCAKE ACTIONS. This is not a link that I have created, but just stumbled across. You MAY have to create a login to get them, but it's worth it. I have downloaded it just fine, and the file includes 109 actions! Unbelievable!

Actions are one of my favorite features in digital scrapbooking. I am very excited to tell you all about them. My favorite site is Atomic Cupcake, which is now closed. But, as I mentioned in the update above, you can download many of their actions for free. There are also many other sites that do actions--there are A LOT of photography actions. I like Atomic Cupcake because her actions are specifically for digital scrapbooking. You can actually create your own elements using them.

What is an action?

Actions are like a macro, if you ever use Microsoft Word. It's basically a set of instructions that are recorded and saved. So you just pull up the action, press play, and wait. You will see Photoshop going through a whole bunch of steps on its own--sometimes it can take quite a while--and then suddenly, your work has all these awesome changes to it.

How do I install an action?

For me, I created a specific folder where I put all the actions that I download. I have a Digital Scrapbooking file, with subfolders like "kits", "templates", "patterns", and "brushes." I also have an actions folder. Once you direct Photoshop to this folder for an action, it will always go there automatically unless you redirect it somewhere else.

So, in order to download it, you may need to unzip the file so that it is an .atn file. Then just place it in a specific place where you need to find it. That's it. We'll go over how to get it from there in a minute.

Where do I get them?

First and foremost, the mother of them all--atomic cupcake. Bless this site. It's changed my world. I have purchased almost every action from this site. As mentioned above, it is now closed. I totally cried. Please go to the link at the top of this post to download 109 actions of hers for free! You will need them in order to do this tutorial.

Another site I go to is Panos FX. (this link will take you right to their free actions) They have some freebies and some for purchase. I have used several and they are really great. They can make some really fun page layouts, though their focus is more on photography than digital scrapbooking itself.

A third place I've gotten actions is thePioneerWoman.com. She's got two great actions for making your photos look FABULOUS.

You can also just do a Google search for actions. My sister is heavily into photography and has purchased some actions from well known photographers. These actions can cost over $40, but I was amazed to see what they could do with a single photo.

How Do I Run an Action?

Below are videos that will show you this entire process, but here are the directions in writing.
In Photoshop, make sure you have the layer you would like to add an action to selected. If it is a shape, you will probably want to rasterize it first. (Just right click on the layer and chose Rasterize). You do not have to rasterize your text, but if you text has a gradient on it or something, its a good idea to rasterize it first.

1. Pull up photoshop and create a new page. Draw a shape and rasterize it.
2. Go to Window and click on Actions to open up your actions toolbar. Mine is usually tabbed with my history bar.
3. On the right of the actions bar, click on the pull down menu button.
4. Select Load Actions, and find where you have saved the action you have.
5. Place your cursor on the second line of the action, where there's a play button. (you may have to pull it down)
6. Press play on the bottom of the action menu and wait!
7. It's also a good idea (and sometimes necessary) to highlight your layer. Do this by holding down the CTRL button, then click on the picture part of the layer. You'll now see dancing ants all around the layer on your page.
8. Depending on the action you are using, you may also need to select the desired color you want in your color picker before starting the action.

Ok--written, it's hard to follow, I know. So I'm doing a video for each of the four types of actions you get from Atomic Cupcake. These are also ones I've personally used a lot, and are all available in the free download.

1. Gold - a total must have! This action doesn't require you to choose a color--whatever you have selected will be turned to gold!
Gold_Action_-_Atomic_Cupcake (click to view)
2. Gemstone- This is an awesome one! Make sure you select the color you want it to be in the color picker before you begin.
Gemstone_Action_-_Atomic_Cupcake (click to view)

3. Torn Paper - The first one I ever bought from this site! I suggest it's your first, too! This is one designed for papers rather than for shapes or text--though it CAN be used that way. There are several others for paper like inked or chalked edges that are really great.
Torn_Action_-_Atomic_Cupcake (click to view)

4. Cast Pewter - There are several actions like this one, that require a black and white image.
Cast_Pewter_Action_-_Atomic_Cupcake (click to view)
Well, that's all for actions. Don't forget to also check the Panos actions and Pioneer Woman actions if you find these are interesting. I use them all!

Can I Make My Own Actions?

Yes you can! I am certainly not capable of making ones like Atomic Cupcake, but the other day I made one because I had a bunch of files that I needed to copy a layer, fill it black, take an outline of the black layer, and then delete the original. So, I opened my Actions panel, clicked "record," named my action, and then just did the steps, pressing the stop button when I was done. Then I could just repeat that action for all the other files. It can be done quite easily!

Lesson 9: Creating Shapes

In today's lesson we'll first learn how to use shapes. In Lesson 10, we'll use some actions on those shapes and also on some text. Let me just say here and now that the use of actions is what defines my style. I use actions on nearly every page. Most scrappers I talk to either don't use them or don't really know what they are. But, you pretty much have to know how to do shapes before you can do an action--so let's get started!

Shapes

Creating shapes is a very basic part of using Photoshop, and incredibly versatile. I use shapes to create my own elements and papers, and a million other things. They are quite easy to do. You will be using the shape tool today, which looks like this:

The shape tool is a box, and when you click on the lower right black arrow on that box, you get this menu.

1. Open Photoshop
2. Open a blank scrapbook page in the size you prefer
3. Click on the shape tool, and choose a shape you want--don't do line or custom just yet.
4. Now, before you draw your shape, choose your color with the color picker--that's the white and black boxes pictured above. The white box is your FOREGROUND, and the black is your background. To change your foreground, just click on that white box. This will give you that same color picker menu you got when you changed your text color. Choose a color and press ok.
5. Draw you shape on your page.


There you go! Now, let's mess with your shape for a moment.


Changing Color

Simply changing the color in your color picker will NOT change the color of your shape, once you've already drawn it. If you want to change the color, go to your layer and double click on the colored box. This will bring up the color picker menu again, and it will change your shape color.

Changing Shape

Just use your CTRL+T command to change the shape of your box, once you have drawn it. You can treat it just like a photo that way.

Custom Shapes

Now, you'll also notice when you pull down the shape menu, that you have the option that looks like this:

You just need to click on the custom shape, then pull down the shape menu and there are several shapes there to choose from. You can also click on the black arrow on the right and find a list of several other shape sets, like Animals, Ornaments, and Symbols. Just click on them and append it to your list, so you can see them all. At one point, I did a search online for "free Photoshop shapes" and got a whole bunch of new ones, complete with directions of how to install. You may want to try that if you find you are using shapes a lot. Once you choose a shape, just click on it and draw it on your page like any other shape. These will be used in lesson 10 when I teach actions.

Layer Styles

All the same layer styles we tried on our photos and text will also work on our layers. Double click on the empty area of your layer to get the menu. Try a shadow, bevel, stroke, etc. Then, let's try two other styles that we haven't covered before--they also work great on text, though I wouldn't use them on photos.

Gradient Overlay

Click on Gradient overlay. Your shape will automatically go to a black and white gradient. The color you originally picked will not show up. Click on the black and white gradient bar on the right to bring up your gradient editor. Now you can create any gradient you want! You can choose from the default options give, or you can create you own gradient by creating new stops on the larger bar. Here's a video of how it's done.
Adding_a_Gradient (click to view)

Pattern Overlay

I love pattern overlays! First, uncheck the gradient overlay box so your shape is back to how you originally had it. Click on the down arrow of the pattern shown, and you will have several more patterns to choose from. Mess with the opacity and scale to get a look you really like.

There are more patterns available as well. When you pull down the menu to get more patterns, you see a small baclk arrow to the left. Click on that, and toward the bottom you'll see "Artist Surfaces" click on that and append it to your list. Do the same with all the other patterns on the list.

Here's a video showing how to use this feature.
Adding_a_Pattern_Overly (click to view)


Opacity


Changing the opacity of a shape is how you can create a vellum look on your shape. It's really quite simple. When you have your shape layer selected, go to your layers menu. Simply click on the opacity arrow and change the level of opacity. That's it. You now have created vellum. In my second book--my wedding book--I did all the captions on vellum. I just drew the shape and size I wanted, changed the opacity, and put my text on top of it. I then drew a little tiny circle, put a bevel on it, and used that as the "pin" that was sticking it in. Like this:

As a little side note--notice how there is vellum on TOP of my wedding picture. Then I just used the marquee tool and drew a little square. Making SURE that my VELLUM layer was selected and NOT my picture, I just pressed delete. That's how I made it look like my picture was behind the vellum.

Rasterizing Shapes

Most of the time, when I work with shapes, I rasterize them as soon as I can. The way you do this is to select the proper layer, then to to Layer, Rasterize, Shape. Shapes that are rasterized are much easier to work with, and they don't have that annoying edge around it. You cannot use an action on a shape unless you have rasterized it. But, after you rasterize a shape, you can't change the color of it the same way. Instead, you have to choose your Paint Bucket tool and fill it in with the color you want. So, don't rasterize until you are sure you have made the shape the way you want.

Lesson 8: Kit Resources

*UPDATED JUNE, 2013*

Ok, let's take a little break from all the tutorials and just talk about kits. In this post I will list some of the sites that I get my kits, and where you can get good freebies. I am sure that I will be going back to this very post as time goes by and adding to it, as I discover more and more good places for kits. Throughout this post I will show some of my favorite kits from my favorite designers--though, I bought some of them a long time ago and they may not be available anymore.

Once again, a kit is a set of files which include papers, elements, tags, ribbons, alpha, and so forth, all of which match with each other. As you can see

from lesson 7, creating a page with a kit is much easier. You just choose what you want. Kits are created by talented designers who sell them online. Some designers are, of course, more talented than others. And some just have a style you might prefer. Kits come with a Terms of Use policy, in which you are reminded that sharing the kit is illegal, that (most likely) the kit is for personal and non-commecial use only, and how you may use the kit. Its important that you read and abide by the use policy--someone put a lot of work into creating these kits! They should be paid for their work.

However, sometimes designers will offer freebies, in order to increase traffic to thier site or blog, or to get their work better known. They also will do sales from time to time--I am always on the lookout for those! When you start, you may want to just get a few freebies until you feel good about your skills. But eventually, you will want to put up the money to buy kits. It's worth it. You were oh so willing to buy all kinds of crap for paper-scrapping, remember? Well, this is no different--except that the kit will never be used up and you can use it over and over again.

Now, there are a MILLION kits out there. And everyone has their own criteria, but this is what I look for in a kit:

• Price. Kits can range from $2.00 to $15.00. I can't believe anyone would pay $15.00 for a kit, no matter how good it is. MAYBE if it were a really, really large kit, but even then--I've gotten mega kits for half that price. So, for me, I won't buy a kit unless it's under $5.00, unless it happens to be exactly what I'm looking for, or it's a really large mega-kit (which is usually a kit where several designers contributed.)
• Content. When you read the description of a kit, it will tell you how many different papers and elements and so forth there is. Pay attention to that--if the price is higher, chances are the kit is larger. Still, I've bought smaller kits for $2.00, and they were perfect for just one layout--which might be all you need.
  
• Quality. Not all kits are created equal. A lot of the freebies out there really aren't that great. When I first started, I downloaded anything that was free, whether I liked it or not. I ended up with a lot of large files that took up a lot of space, and that I never used. Pay attention to the quality of work--as you do more scrapbooking, you'll be able to tell the difference.
• Can I Make That? As you get better at digital scrapbooking, you'll learn to make your own elements. Now, I'm not in the business of creating kits--and some of the stuff these designers do it beyond me--truly amazing. But, sometimes I see something in a kit and think, "Yeah, I could make that myself" and then I might think twice about purchasing it.

And here are some of my favorite websites:

Gotta Pixel - This has become my go-to site, the first place I look when I need a new kit. Their prices are reasonable, and they are always having sales. I usually wait until a kit is on sale to buy it, so even though most kits on this site are priced at about $4.00 - $8.00, I usually get them for less than that if I time it right. My favorite designers on the site are Linday Jane, Connie Prince, Trixie Scraps, and Jen C Designs. But there are many others I have bought from.

Lindsay Jane Designs - I discovered Lindsay Jane in the very beginning--she's been with me from the start! I own probably 60% of all the kits she's done. I love her work. And it's also very fair priced. Her kits are about $4-5.50, and she or the site she is featured on often has sales. She also has a blog where she gives away freebies. Lindsay Jane sells her stuff on Pickleberry Pop and Gotta Pixel

Connie Prince - Connie and Lindsay Jane are my two favorite designers, and I own more stuff from them than any other. She's a designer that just fits my style. Her kits are well-priced, big, and absolutely beautiful.  I've also dealt with her personally over email requesting permission to use her kits for this site in my box tutorials. She's very kind and helpful! I just adore her work! She also has her own blog that often has previews and freebies. I highly recommend her! She also sells at Gotta Pixel.
 

Atomic Cupcake - This has been one of my absolute FAVORITE sites for a long time--but it closed down last year. She had some great kits, but the Actions were the best. However, I have recently discovered that you can download her actions off of 4Shared for free! You can find the download here. I don't know how long this link will last, but it DOES work! Yay!

Designs by Krista - I love this woman. She has some of the best stuff on her site. Her kits are high quality, and are a decent size. Not huge--you'll probably use every single embellishment and paper she gives you on one or two layouts, but the cost is just right! Here kits are usually only $2.00 and she even has some $1.00 kits. I just love her work, and you get a lot for what you pay for. Kits are getting more and more expensive all the time--it's nice to find something larger than a mini-kit or a couple of frames for $2.00!

Peppermint Creative

- This is a "tried and true" site where I'm sure many scrappers would point you to. They have a new freebie every month or so--and these are really high quality. Then, in the "coordinated kits" section, you can buy previous freebies for only $3.00. These are really excellent kits. I have all of them from the last few years--I check this site religiously!




Shabby Princess - This site also has some great freebies, though I haven't checked it in awhile. What's great about them is that they have several old freebies on there that you can still get. But they don't update new freebies very often. Still, the ones they have are definately worth your while, and can be a great starting point as you begin didgital scrapbooking.

Scrapping Simply - I'm also new to this site. It's a site I will definately bring up again when we are talking about printing, since that's their main focus. But they also have some great freebies. Just go to the site and click on freebies, and there you are!

Digifree/Craftcrave- When I first started, I went to places like digifree to get free kits. This site, and many others like it, will search other sites for freebies and put them all in one place. On the upside, it's a great way to find freebies! But it's also a great place to find, well, junk. Be careful what you download--look it over and make sure it's high quality. Most of my stuff in my "miscellaneous" file that I really need to clean out and never use, came from this site. Still, it's a great place to start as a beginner. This site has recently been changed to Craftcrave, and I admit I haven't really checked it out in a long time, so it may have improved.

Summertime Designs -I just discovered this site today and thought I'd add it to this post. The author, Summer Driggs, creates some great FREEBIES and put them on her blog. She has a whole list of them on the right that makes it easy to sort to the one you'd like to download. They are all free! The only problem is that they take FOREVER to download from 4Shared. But--it's free so it's worth it, right?

Cherry On Top - I ordered a few kits from this site and I really like them. It's still pretty new for me, but I reccommend them. I liked the feature of shopping by color. I needed a yellow kit for my cover for my 2011 yearbook (for some reason i can never find a yellow kit!) and I found what I wanted on this site. I just checked it today and saw a lot of cute kits on sale for reasonable prices.

Twopeasinabucket - This site recently closed its digital store, but I never bought kits from there anyway because, although they were beautiful, they were WAY pricey. However, I still want to mention it becuase they have a great digital scrapbooking forum with a HUGE amount of traffic-- digital scrapbooking forum--if you have a question, you can create a thread and I guarantee you there will be SOMEBODY who knows the answer! I actually had a really great experience on this website--I needed a kit that matched my nursery for my twins, and on the forum I found a designer willing to help me! Read all about it here.

Now, these are just a few sites. I don't want to overload you with too much! And honestly, in all the years I've done this--these are pretty much the only sites I've bought from. I really need to expand my world, here! So if YOU have a site you love, please list it in the comments section--I'm sure I and other readers would love to know your favorite designers/websites.

Not Using Kits


Now--after all that about kits, I want to remind you that you do not HAVE to use kits to make a great page. My first two books that I digitally scrapbooked I did not use kits. I simply created a a background and used it for each page. I wish I still had the .jpg files for those two books, but as I don't, here's some rather bad pictures of a page spread from each.




My first book, which was my love story, was incredibly simple. I drew shapes (we'll do that in the next lesson) to make a red background, and then a cream colored page on top. Then I saved it. Whenever I started a new page, I pulled up the same background and saved it as a new file when finished. That way, every page looked the same. I'd just add text in the same fonts, and then a few pictures with a stroke and shadow. That's pretty much it. And I still love that book--I'm actually really glad it's simple like that.

My next book was my first year of marriage, including my wedding. I knew a bit more about scrapbooking at this point, but still didn't use a kit. The background was the same on every page, as you see in the example. Then I did all my writing on a vellum I created (again, we'll cover that in the next lesson) and I also created my own eyelets. That's it. Each page was different, but used the same velum and the same eyelets. And it's beautiful. I'm glad I kept my pictures whole, with only a small stroke and shadow.

So there you go! I hope this was helpful!