OPENING YOUR PROGRAM AND TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HECK TO DO WITH IT!:

 
Okay, here we go. I am going to run this tutorial as if you have absolutely no clue how to run this program, so feel free to skip where you need to be if you are a little more advanced!
When I first open PSE 9, a screen pops up that looks like this:

Choose the EDIT Option on your left, and then this will pop up:

This is your workspace. This is where you will build all those cool scrapbook pages that you have been dying to make!
BACK UP A BIT!!!:
Up until now, I have assumed that ya’ll know that you need to have kits to be able to make a page….but I guess, if you are beginners, you probably are going to need to know where to get those too! So, quickly, here is a list of sites that offer freebies almost every day!
These websites search for all of the daily freebies and bring them to you in one place:
http://suzee-q-stuff.blogspot.com/
http://handpickedfreebies.blogspot.com/
http://scrapbook.creativebusyhands.com/
http://www.browniescraps.com/
http://www.foreverfreedownloads.com/page/2/
Here are a few places that offer free kits all the time:
http://www.summertimedesigns.blogspot.com (One of my favs!!)
If you prefer to purchase them, I use two sites that are my favorite, but I am sure there are tons and tons and tons of them out there!
http://www.browniescraps.com
http://www.gottapixel.com
*If I could just give one little word of advice: Don’t separate out your kits! It’s very hard to give credits to the designer when you don’t know where you got it from, and also, it is a great big pain to try to find something to match a kit when you have them all compiled together! I made this mistake once and spent hours putting them back. My suggestion is that you Make a folder name, and then three subfolders under that: Papers, Elements, and Alphas. Also, some have Word Arts in the kits and when they do, I also make a Word Art subfolder in that kit.  Just suggestions though; do what ya want! 
Okay, so let’s get started already!!

MAKING YOUR FIRST SCRAPBOOK:
I found the easiest way to learn this, is to just find a tutorial that will show you how to make a scrapbook without getting into too much detail about exactly how or why you have to do things this way or that. So, that’s exactly what we are going to do! If you have any questions at anytime please feel free to email me at liviesmommy2008@yahoo.com and I will try to answer your questions as best as I can!




Step 1:
Open your program already!!
Step 2:
Okay, so you are staring at a blank PSE Screen. The first thing we need to do is make a new Project. Go up to your File Menu and click on “New”. In PSE 9, there will be an arrow when you get to “New”, which will open up a new side window. Click on “Blank File”.

Okay, now you are going to select the size of your project. In PSE 9 there is a drop down menu that allows you to select “Scrapbook”. If you have the latest version, click on that under “Presets”.

If you do not see this, a scrapbook page is usually, 12 inches by 12 inches or 3600 pixels by 3600 pixels. You can enter this manually like this:

MAKE SURE THAT THE “BACKGROUND CONTENTS BOX” READS “TRANSPARENT”. IF NOT, CHANGE IT TO BE TRANSPARENT BY SELECTING THE DROP DOWN MENU!
Now, your Workspace should look like this:

Step 3: Let’s Get Acquainted!
Okay, so, notice that your 12X12 box in the middle looks like a checkered piece of paper. This is just what “transparency” looks like. This means that there will be no color on this layer when you save your file. It is TRANSPARENT!
In the bottom, right hand corner, you will see a small window labeled, LAYERS. This is where your will spend a lot of time! Each Page or Element that you add to your scrapbook page will show up down here. Everything is a Layer. Each layer is separate from the other. I will show you why this is important when we start building your page!
Step 4: Choose a Background Layer
Okay, this is where the fun begins! We are going to put down our first layer! I am going to use a kit that anyone of you can also use. It is from Summer Drigg’s website http://summertimedesigns.com and it is called Limeade. You can find it here: http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-post.html you can also use any kit you have! It just might be easier to follow along if we are all using the same kit! 
We are going to go to the File Menu now and click on the word “PLACE”.

Get very comfortable with this Command! You will be using it A LOT!!! (File + Place)
Now, this will open your documents in your computer. Find the folder that contains your Digiscrap Material. For example, mine is in Documents, Digiscrap, Kit’s to keep together, and then whatever kit I want to use.

Open your folder and choose a Paper. If you are following along with the Limeade Kit, Please choose the paper labeled “Dots” by doubling clicking the paper or clicking on the paper and then selecting place in the bottom right hand corner.

Now, your screen should look like this:

Notice that there is an X through the paper with a green check mark and a red circle in the tab directly below the paper. This is basically asking you if you are happy with your selection. In this case, we are, so hit enter or click on the Green Check Mark. The lines disappear and we have just laid our first paper!! You will see that Layer 1 in your Layer’s Box has now become your Dots page! *Note: if you want to you can click on the name of that layer and change it to something easier to find like: Dots Page.
Step 4: Adding More!
Okay, so we want more than one page on our scrapbook so, now we are going to grab another! Again, File+Place and choose your next page or element. In this case, we are going to choose another paper, I am going to go back to the Limeade Kit and Use the one labeled “FLOWERS”. Now, your screen should look like this:

The paper we just added will be placed on top of the dotted paper. Again (and always), you will have to hit enter to “set” your page. Click Enter. Now, just for fun, and to get you to understand the Layers Window, we are going to switch the papers around so that the dotted paper is on top!
Go over to the layers window in the bottom right hand corner and Select the dotted paper. You will know which layer you have selected by the color. The one that is selected will be highlighted a much darker Gray.

Now, hold down your Left Click and drag the dotted Layer over the top of the Flower Layer.

Release your mouse and now your dotted layer should be the one on the top!

That was fun! Now, let’s make this page!
Step 5: Scaling Layers
Okay, now we are going to make sure that the dotted paper is the layer highlighted in our layers window (bottom right hand corner) and then we are going to go to the paper in our workspace and make it smaller.
If you notice in the Screen shot above, there are squares at each corner and on the sides and top of the paper. Go to a corner and click and drag to make your page larger are smaller. You can also do this to the top or the sides, but be careful! This could distort your page!

Okay, so now I have made my dotted layer smaller than my flowered layer. Again, you will have to accept the change by pushing enter. Now, we are going to click on the dotted page anywhere in the middle, and click and drag the page to the middle of the flowered paper.
*Note: if you feel like what you are working with is a little too small, you can zoom your page in and out by using Ctrl+ (Bigger) Ctrl- (Smaller)

Now, we have two different Layers and our papers set where we want them. It’s time to add some elements to set off the page.
Step 6: Adding Elements
Okay, you are getting pretty familiar with it now, so think about that next step and see if you can do it by yourself! ;)…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Still need a little Help? That’s Okay! File + Place! 
Time to choose some pretty’s as my two year old would call them! If you are working in this kit, the first element we are going to grab is the black polka dotted ribbon labeled “Black Dotted Ribbon”.

It’s a little big, so we are going to scale it down and move it so that if fits just across the top of your dotted Paper.

Notice that I moved it a bit down the paper so that it is not at the very top of the dotted paper. Okay, let’s add more!! File + Place and then add the ribbon labeled, “Green Ribbon”. This too, will come in a little too big and we will need to scale it down to the same size as the black ribbon. Remember to try to only scale from the sides if you can so that we do not distort the ribbon.
I noticed that I had to grab the ribbons a bit at the end of them to pull it to the edge of the paper. Do this if you need to! Tiny bits will not distort, but try dragging it like that across the entire Scrapbook Page and see what happens!
Okay, so right now, the green ribbon is on top, but we want to move it under the Black Ribbon So, go to layers Window and highlight the Green Ribbon. Click and Drag so that the green Ribbon is under the black ribbon! Don’t go too far or your ribbon will end up under your papers!

Now, it should look like this:

Okay, now you can’t see your green ribbon and that’s a problem. We could have just moved the green ribbon a bit above the black before we moved it down a layer, but since I want you to know how to get out of hard spots like this, we went ahead and did it the hard way! . So, your green ribbon is still selected, if it isn’t, select it now in the layers window. Now, using the arrows on your keyboard, “Nudge” the green ribbon with the up arrow so that you can see it again!

Now we are going to adjust it so that it is part under the black ribbon and rotated a bit. Without Clicking, move your cursor to hover just above the lines that are tracing your green ribbon. (The ones you would use to adjust its size). Your cursor should turn into a curved shape with arrows at both ends….this will allow you to rotate the ribbon. Left click and hold down once your cursor changes and you will be able to rotate!

I rotated the ribbon slightly upward so that one end is under the black and the other end is angled and sticking up towards the corner of the dotted paper. Don’t worry if there is a bit of green showing out the bottom of the black ribbon. If you were not going to add another element (Which we are) then you could scale it down to fit.
Okay, now let’s add one more Element! So, File+Place and select the big green bow.

It again, is a bit big so let’s scale it down. Then, we are going to move it to the ribbons and rotate it a bit so that it is sitting at an angle. It should look like this when you are done:

If you found that your bow went under the black ribbon, Remember! Look in your layers window…you may need to move the bow up to the top so that it is above the black ribbon!

Step 7: Adding your Pictures
Now we are going to insert a photo! After all, isn’t that what a scrapbook is made of?!! 
Again, File+Place
Now, go to your pictures and select a photo of your choice. I am going to use a picture of my daughter Olivia.
Depending your picture size, this could come in fairly large! If it does and you cannot see the edges, use Ctrl – to make your workspace window smaller until you find them. Scale the image and then you can zoom back in with Ctrl+

Right now, my picture is above the Ribbons…I would like it to be below the ribbons, so, I am going to move my picture layer down in the layers window in the bottom right hand corner!
Now it looks like this!

CONGRATS!! YOU JUST MADE YOUR FIRST VERY BASIC PAGE!! WE ARE GOING TO GO UP AND SAVE IT NOW, LATER WE WILL DISCUSS ADDING TITLES AND JOURNALING…ALSO USING DROP SHADOWS AND BEVELS WHICH ARE GREAT ELEMENTS TO ANY PAGE!!
SO, GO UP TO YOUR FILE MENU AND CLICK ON FILE SAVE. MAKE A NEW FOLDER OR IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE, MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN YOUR FOLDER THAT YOU WANT YOUR NEW PAGES TO BE SAVED TO. MY FOLDER IS CALLED PSE PROJECTS. THE FIRST THING WE ARE GOING TO DO IS SAVE IT AS A .PSD FILE. THIS WILL MAKE IT SO YOU CAN COME BACK AND MAKE CHANGES ANYTIME YOU WANT!
GIVE IT NAME WITH .PSD AFTER IT, AND THEN MAKE SURE THAT PHOTOSHOP IS SELECTED IN THE FORMAT BOX.

THEN, IT WILL SAVE IT FOR YOU. AFTER THAT IS FINISHED, GO BACK UP TO FILE AND SELECT SAVE AS. THIS ONE WILL BE THE PICTURE. YOU WILL USE THIS TO PRINT IT OUT AND TO SAVE IT TO THE INTERNET.
NAME YOUR PICTURE THE SAME AS YOUR .PSD DOCUMENT EXCEPT PUT .JPG AFTER THE NAME AND THEN MAKE SURE THAT .JPG IS SELECTED IN THE FORMATE DROP DOWN BOX!!!

There you go! You are done!! Be back soon to give you more fun tutorials!!!