Okay! Time for Lesson Two!! Since I have written the tutorial on the basics of Making a Scrapbook Page, and for time’s sake, I am not going to go back over what was already discussed in the first Lesson. I assume by now, you have been playing with the PSE enough that you have all of that stuff figured out! If not, please feel free to take a look back at Lesson 1!!
Since I had you save your scrapbook page that we made in the first lesson, I am going to be continuing to work on this page as we go along!
Alright, so, your program is opened up and we left our scrapbook page looking like this:
This page is very, very basic so we need to add some more things to make it a little more interesting! I am going to add some wording to the bottom of the Dotted Paper. We are going to make sure that the top layer is highlighted in our workspace and then on your toolbar menu, on the left of your workspace screen, you are going to click on the icon that is the letter “T”. This is your text tool. It’s going to allow you to make a text box and then type in what you want. So, draw a box, the length of the dotted paper at the bottom, directly under the photo.
After you release your mouse, you should be able to see a flashing line in the middle. Now you can type something here! Your top Tool Bar, directly above the workspace allows you to change your font type and size. Pick something that you like and a size and then begin typing something in this space. I am going to type “Just your smile makes me happy”.
In order to get out of the text box, just click anywhere outside of it and it will create your layer. Now, I don’t know about your wording, but mine is a bit too close to the photo. I am going to move this down by going back to the toolbar on the left and selecting the Move Tool. It should be the first tool on your tool bar. At least it is in PSE 9. If you are unsure of which tool is which, you can always hover over the top of them, and they will tell you what they are.
Okay, Now that you have clicked on the right tool, go to your Layers Window and make sure that your text layer is the one selected. Now, text can be kind of pain to move with your mouse. You have to be directly on part of a letter to get it to move and it can get a little irritating! So, instead, we are going to use our up and down arrows on our keyboard! Using these keys, move your lettering to a more desirable position. Or, if you like it where it is, just give it a try anyway and then put it back!
Click anywhere outside the text box to “set” the layer. Great Job! You have just learned how to use your Text Tool!!
Let’s move on to some Beveling and Shadowing Shall We?
Bevels and Shadows can be used to bring out text or elements (or even papers,) so that they stand out a bit more.
Let’s try some on our Lettering!
This little area right here is where you will find all of your Photo Effects. It is located directly above your windows layer. Make sure that the Tab “EFFECTS” is selected. You will know because the lettering will be white. In that tab will be 4 different icons that you can choose from. Hover over each of them to learn what they are, and then go ahead and click on the one named “Layer Styles”. Now, in the drop down menu find the word Bevels and select it. This Screen Shot Above shows what Bevels look like.
Okay, now that we have found them, we are going to make sure that our Text Layer is selected in our Windows Layer. Go ahead and click on different Bevels, each time you click one, you will need to click Apply in the bottom right hand corner of the little Effects Window(or just double click on the bevel you want). Go ahead and click on several. You can only apply one Bevel to a layer so each time you click on a different one it will change it. The only way I know of to get the Bevel off if you decide you do not want one, is to hit undo in the Edit menu until you no longer have a bevel.
I am going to go ahead and select the third Bevel over on the top row. This one will make my text stand out quite a bit more by darkening and enhancing it.
Great! Now that you have chosen a Bevel, let’s go back to the drop down menu and select “Drop Shadows” . Do the same with the drop shadows as you did with the Bevels. If it makes it easier for you, you can hit “Undo” in the Edit Menu after each Drop Shadow you apply, that way if you decide you do not want one at all, you will not have to hit Undo so many times.
I am going to Choose the Last Drop Shadow, in the last row.
Feel free to go ahead and play with any of the selections in the drop down menu! There are tons of effects in there and as long as you have the layer selected you want to apply it to, you can apply it!
Great! See? This is pretty easy stuff huh?! Try adding some drop Shadowing or Bevels (Or Both!) to some of your other elements on the page. You Dots paper, maybe the bow or the ribbons. I kept this page pretty simple and basic. I really just want you to learn how to use the tools given here. As soon as we get through some of the most common tools, we can go on to make a little bit fancier of a page!
More tutorials coming! Hope this one helped!!
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