Making a Digital Scrapbook Page for Beginners: Multiple Windows and Using Templates!!!

Multiple Windows and Using Templates!!!

Now that you have gotten acquainted with your program and you know the basics of how to lay papers and elements, wording, drop shadows, and embellishments, I am going to show you something that will make it soo much easier for you to make really awesome pages!!

I only discovered Templates after I got PSE 9. Originally, I was using Gimp and if there was some way to use a template in Gimp, I had no idea how to do it! My wonderful friend Lisa showed me templates, along with pretty much everything else I know about Scrapbooking and Photoshop!

A template is a PSE file that basically is an already built page, but everything is all shaded grays (and sometimes colors) that allow you to “Place” your own papers into the template! I know, I know, it kind of sounds like cheating right? Well, that’s what I thought in the beginning too, but now that I have discovered them, it has given me so much more room to grow as an “artist” of scrapbooking! You may have a page that is already laid out for you, but the art of putting a well scrapped page together isn’t just about the layout. It is about creative thinking: Which papers go together well? How many Elements should I put on a page? Is my page too busy? And then there is the fact that you don’t nessacarilly have to use just one template! You can use several different Templates for One Scrapbook! Often, I will open a few different templates and then pick and choose what I would like to have my page look like, essentially building my own page in the end!

Before we get started with the template, I would first like to show you something you may or may not have discovered on your own. And that is, dragging something from one document and dropping it in to another. Once you have learned this, you will find that you will use it a lot!

I would like you to have the template ready to go so that when we get to that part, it will already be downloaded. Be sure to make a separate folder for your Templates!! :)

Here is the Link: http://freedigitalscrapbooking.com/digital_scrapbooking_scraplifters_challenge.html

You can download what you want, but we will be using the April Challenge Template for this lesson so make sure to grab that one too! It is close to the bottom of the page and looks like this:

Okay, let’s get started! Open up your program, go to your File Menu and go to “Open”. Select one your pictures and open it in PSE. I am going to throw in a little mini lesson here, on enhancing your photos because this is one of the most common reasons you would use this click and drag feature. Say you had a scrapbook page already started and you had a picture that needed to be cropped or enhanced. You will NOT be able to crop a picture that has been placed into your scrapbook without cropping the ENTIRE scrapbook! So, this is what you should have: Well, not exactly…but a picture of your own anyway! ;)

So, before I would put this on my page, I would want to make sure that it looked its best. This picture is a little dark, so we are going to try and enhance the coloring a bit!

In the upper right hand side of your Workspace Screen, there are three tabs, The first is Edit. Now, under Edit, there are three MORE tabs. The first is Full, the second is Quick, and the third is Guided(PSE 9 only). For the purpose of this, we are going to use the Full and Quick Edits.

Go over and click on the tab labeled Quick. This is what your screen will look like:

The easiest way to make sure your pics look good is to use the auto features of PSE. Occasionally you may have to go in and adjust some of the levels manually, but for the most part, the Autos do a pretty darn good job!

You have probably noticed a small window that runs along the bottom directly below your workspace. This is the Project Bin. It will show you a thumbnail for each project that you have opened. Currently, we only have one project open, but that will soon change and you will need to know this window! Okay, directly above the Project window on your left, is a drop down menu that will allow you to change the view of how you are looking at your edit screen. We are going to drop down and choose “Before and After Horizontal”.

There, now you can see what your picture looks like before and after changes! :) Okay, go over to your Edit window on the right side and select the word “Auto” next to “Smart fix” at the very top.

There! Now my picture is quite a bit brighter than before! You can play with the “Fix” slide bar if you want. It will just increase the enhancement, but if you go too far, your photo will just get blown out or look worse than what it started out as!

Now, click back over to the “Full” Option on the Edit Screen. We are going to Crop the Picture (if needed) so that I am “zoomed in” a bit more on the subject.

On your toolbar to your left, find the crop tool (hover over each until you find “crop”)

Now click and drag until you have the desired area selected. After you have let go of your mouse, you can click in the middle of the Crop and click and drag until you have what you want.

When you have your desired area selected, click on the green check mark or press Enter.

Great Job!! Now, let’s figure out this Click and Drag thingy I have been talking about!

Go back to the file menu and click on “Open”. Now, we are going to select a Paper from one of your kits. Any paper will do, this is just for demonstration of clicking and dragging.

Now, you should have a paper in your workspace and TWO thumbnails in your Project Bin at the bottom of your Workspace Screen!