Lesson 28: Creating Tags Using Kits

I recently saw a question about how to decorate your own tags, and thought I'd do a quick tutorial on it. Now, if you have been following my blog and have done all the tutorials, this will be a simple review. But I thought it woudl be nice to have it all in one place.

Tag Templates - First, you will need a template for your tag. I have several templates that I got for free way back when I first started digital scrapbooking. Unfortunately, I have NO IDEA who created them or where I got them. I did find a really cute set of tags on Two Peas in a Bucket for $4.00--tag teasers. You can also create your own template by just drawing the shape of what you want your tag to look like. Here's a freebie of tag shapes--these are shapes, which means you will have to unzip and then install them, then upload them as a shape. For the sake of this tutorial, here is a free tag template that I created--you are welcome to download it and use it for this lesson. I created this shape simply by laying several layers of different shapes on top of each other, then merging them together to create one shape.



Pull in elements - I like to use kits for this, so that is how I am going to do it in this tutorial. I am going to use elements from the kit "Pink Icing Cake" by Lindsay Jane.

First, I choose which color paper I want my tag to be, and open that paper in Photoshop. Now I have my tag in one file and my paper in another. Click on the paper and drag it right in to your tag file. It will probably cover up your tag. Make sure that the paper completely covers your tag. I now have two layers--my background paper, and my tag template.

At this point, many people choose to do clipping masks. But I like to use cut and paste because I find it simpler and I have less layers to deal with. This technique, outlined in Lesson 16, can be very convenient and versatile.

On your layers panel, click on the tag template layer so it's highlighted. Hold down the CTRL key and click on the tag template--make sure you click on the mini image of it in the layer menu. You will now see "dancing ants" around the outline of your tag.

Click on the layer of your background paper. The dancing ants should still be visible. Do CTRL+C and then CTRL+V. You now have a new layer--the shape of your tag "cut" out of your background paper.

Either delete your original background paper layer (right click on layer, delete) or click on the eye icon to make it invisible.


Now, use this technique over and over for each element you want to add. For instance, I'll follow the same steps with another color of paper. Then, I'll use my marquee tool to delete the parts of it I don't want to see--as shown below.

Next I'll add some ribbons and some elements from the kit I have chosen. I can either use the marquee tool to highlight and delete the parts I don't want, or I can use the cut and paste technique to make sure the ribbons are the right length. Again--with the ribbon layer highlighted, click on the background tag layer and CTRL+click to get the dancing ants. Then click back on te ribbon layer and copy and paste. Delete the old ribbon, and place the new one--now the perfect size, where you want it.
All there is left to do is finish decorating it, and add any wording you may desire. That's it! Usually I print it, and then use a hole punch to cut out the hole.

All done!

My Style Philosophy

I got an email from someone new to my site this week that really excited me. I'm always happy to hear from readers who enjoy what I am doing and have found my information useful. She mentioned "my style" and how she really likes it, and how it's a lot like her own. It made me so happy to read it!

If you haven't been following my blog, you might not be aware of my philosophy on style. I mean, don't get me wrong--everyone is entitled to their own style and to do it the way they want--that's one thing I love about digital--the individuality of it. But my style includes several things that might be considered unorthodox. Here are a few of them, along with some of my most recently completed pages:

1.  8 1/2 x 11 pages. With the ability to resize pictures, 12x12 pages are not really necessary anymore. I like the slim, easy to carry around look of a regular 8 1/2 x 11 books. And its cheaper.

I love how this page turned out! The Leonardo is a brand new museum in Salt Lake. It's awesome. I loved their very interesting logo, so I tried to copy it a little in my layout design.

2.  Number of Photos- I have to print this sucker. I have to pay for each page I print. I want a lot of bang for my buck! So I squeeze a lot of pictures on almost every page. Occasionally I'll do a page where it's one giant picture, as you'll see below. I DO NOT do pages where there is one tiny picture and tons of froo-froo elements. Total waste of space in my practical world, no matter how cute it might be.

For my First Year baby books, I take a picture of my baby on or close to their one month "birthday" each month. Then I have a cover page of that month with that picture as a full bleed page. I did the same thing in my older daughter Afton's book.

3. Journaling - Isn't this really the whole point of scrapbooking? I want future generations to know what's happening. I don't journal every page, but I always have something. With my twins' books, I take a few minutes each month to jot down what they've achieved and my feelings that month, and then when I scrapbook it, I already have the writing done and its still fresh and chronological.

4. Actions - I have a whole post about this, but I'm realizing that my using actions on every page is actually kind of unusual. Most people who use actions use them for the photography side. I use them for the scrapbooking side. You'll notice that most of my pages have some sort of actions--usually I use them on the borders. Like chalking, tearing, or inking edges.

In this one, I used the Chalk action from Atomic Cupcake to edge the pictures. I used the Inked Edges action in the page below, as well as Chipped Painted Metal on the title below.

5. Purpose - I think what defines my style the most, though, is its practicality. I have this dual nature of creativity and practicality, and when they compete, practicality always wins. In fact, I almost called this blog "practicalscrap" instead of Realscrappy!Although this is definitely a creative outlet for me, it also must have some practical purpose. Therefore, I scrapbook everything chronologically, and divide all my pages into books. I do one book each year as my family "yearbook" printed in a bound book. Sometimes I do other special projects--like my children's "first year" book, as well as other projects I mention on this blog. But to me, if it's just saved and my computer and never printed and put in an organized fashion, it's like I never did it.

Again--I don't claim this is the ONLY way to do it. Its just the way I do it. There are many areas of my life that are lacking, where I wish I were doing a better job or trying harder. (Gym? What's a gym?) But at least in THIS area, I like exactly how I do it and I'm actually CAUGHT UP! (almost...)