Congratulations to Denise! We are thrilled for you and I am more than just a wee bit jealous...
Welcome back. And congratulations for making it through such a crazy and technical week. Apparently I scared you all into silent mode. Hopefully I didn't scare you away entirely!
Marnie's Homework Completed
Weren't you so glad to have two days to finish this portion? I certainly was. In an effort to let you know that this project really IS doable, I have been building my books in real time. Nothing in advance. I did pick my paper early, but I have been trying to do the prep in the allotted time. And because there are no rules, you may take right until December for your project. Or next year.
No, forget that. :) You can do it before then. I know you can.
By the way, the tedious parts aren't really very fun. And while I think that scrapbooking should be enjoyable, I will be the first to admit that all the sizing and saving and yucky little stuff doesn't make me giggle. But I DO so love the finished project. So be sure to finish, lest you not get your reward.
Me & My Cousins
Having built this one before, I had a pretty good handle on what to do. And by the time I finished the third set, I was cruising! (Though admittedly my hand was completely molded in the form of a mouse. Seriously begged for a hand massage yesterday morning!) So now we have gone from this:
to this:
Here is a screenshot of all the assembled base pages. (Page 2 is missing as it is a photograph.)
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
(Hmm. Guess who just discovered that she is two sets sort? Always wondered if I was playing with a full deck... teehee!)
My Address
After three books with many cuts, this one seemed like cheating. With just one repeating page, it came together in no time. From this sketch,
to this finished page.
I haven't yet decided if I will keep all the pages the same, or if I will reverse (do a mirror reflection) of each second page, thereby keeping the photos on the outer edge. I need to see how the two pages look side by side and with photos before I make that decision.
I Love This
Will you forgive me if I didn't get this one done? (See below)
The Pool: my paradise
Remember how I suggested on Wednesday that you check check and recheck dimensions before building your base pages? Well, in failing to follow my own advice, I had to redo 20 pages. (Hence my not finishing the previous book.) So incredibly frustrating to get to the end and then realize. Sigh sigh double sigh. And no one to blame but me. So after too many hours of redos, we have gone from sketch
to finished base pages (version two...).
If you would like to build a book like this, I have prepared all sorts of checklists and tutorials for you.
- Pool Album Planning Page (getting started list/overview)
- materials' list
- the assembly line
Hopefully seeing it all broken down will help you get a feel for the rhythm of building a book. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment and I will add in whatever information I can. Or remain silent and send me into a panic attack.Your choice. (Choose comments, please. Pretty please.)
Today's Assignment
Today is Friday and I promised you we would be adding photos and embellishing our pages. If we get that done, let's also look to finishing any journaling.Photos
One nice thing with digital books is that you can change the order of the layers at any time. (Meaning, you can put an embellishment on top of your photo or under your photo without having to remove your photo.) So let's add our photos before the embellishments and then we can move them on top later if needed. (I promise to tell you how.)
The most important thing you must do is to make sure that your resolution is the same on your photos as it was on your pages. We have been preparing everything in 300 ppi, so let's keep that resolution. If you forget, when you drag your photo over, it will be lots too big, or lots too small, depending on how you went wrong. It is a super easy fix, so be patient with yourself if you make a mistake.
Instructions for sizing your photos
A - set your width here
B - set your height here
C - set this to 300
D - your crop tool. you must click on this FIRST to get your width/height/ppi to come up.
orange arrow - image button. scroll down and find the image size. click here and it will bring up this drop down menu:
This is another place you can adjust your resolution. You can also change the size of your images here. If you want it to maintain the same proportions, leave the "constrain proportions" button clicked. If you unclick it, then you can skew your image.
Once your photo is properly sized, there are two ways to get it on your page. One is to click and drag it over and then fix the sizing once you are there. The other is to set up a template and then add the photo from behind. Quite honestly, this is more helpful for multiphoto layouts than with what we are doing, and more importantly, it is a bit beyond my ability to explain. So let's go with the former.
When I did my sketches, I had already calculated my photo dimensions, so once I crop them to the correct size (see instructions above) I will drag them onto their appropriate page. Then I will save the page and go on to placing photos on the next one. Once they are all done, saved, and my workspace tidied (all open photos closed), I will move on to the accessorizing.
Embellishments
As you think of what you want to add, remember that we are striving for continuity and cohesion. If you can repeat elements or have a thread that continues from page to page, it will really help the flow.
Tomorrow, to polish the look of your page, we will talk about layer order and depth. For now, get everything where you want it to go and the size you want it to be.
To move your embellishment to your page, click and drag (hold the click button down) into the window that has your paper open. If you want it to go to the center of the open window, hold the shift button down while you drag. Please note it only goes to the center of the page if the whole page is showing in the window.
To resize your embellishment once it is on the other page, press Ctrl-H. This will put gridlines on your image. The red circle is the move tool.
Then make sure you are on the embellishment layer by clicking that line in the layers box.
Each of these rows is a different layer. Right now, the shape is the active layer, so if I tried to adjust the size of the photo right now, I would be unsuccessful. Any resizing would affect the arrow instead. Similarly, if I want to adjust the size of the arrow, I cannot be clicked on the photo.
You should now have little boxes on the corners of the embellishment (see D in photo above). Use them to adjust the width and height. As you bring the mouse toward the box, you will get an up and down arrow, a side to side arrow, a diagonal arrow, or a curved arrow. Those are all the options you have for moving things. If you want them to maintain the images proper proportion then find the diagonal arrow, and press and hold the shift key while you are moving the corner box. If you want to turn your image around a central axis, find the curvy arrow. There will be boxes at the top to help you know what changes you are making. (A tells you the percentage of the original (ie. 50%, or 120%) width. B is similar, but for height. C tells you how many degrees you are off the original.) As a reminder, E is the move tool, and F is where you look to see what layer is active. When you are done making changes, you must click the check or your computer will ding at you and not do anything else. Stubborn thing!
Journaling
Journaling. I am so not even going to rant and rave about how important it is. You know my feeling on that. Instead, let's talk about it in the context of your books.
Remember that sometimes books need no journaling. Sometimes a little will suffice. And sometimes, like the My Address book, something more will be necessary. Journaling should be considered a design element and factored in from the beginning. Not just what you are going to say, but how much space you will use saying it.
One thing I strive to do is to limit my fonts to two per book. One for titles, one for journaling. Unless you are going for text as a design element, more than one font in a little space with many repeated elements looks out of place. Think of it as its own repeating elements.
A couple things to note about fonts and photoshop. If you are trying to cut and paste text from an outside source, you must first open a text box. Otherwise, nothing will happen and you will sit there wondering why.
This font box has lots of nifty features. Try some out. They are fun and make your pages extra special.
A - character tab: where you go to change up the font attributes
B - font name
C - font size
D - use this to increase the spacing (kerning) between two letters (you must have them highlighted to make changes)
E - use this to make your font taller
F - moves your font up a bit (like a superscript) (highlight needed)
G - in order: bold, italics, all caps, small caps, superscript, subscript, underline, strikethrough
H - what style mode your font is in
I - use this to increase spacing between the lines of text (highlight required)
J - use this to increase horizontal spacing between letters (highlight required)
K - use this to make you font wider
L - font color
M - paragraph tab: where you change attributes of your paragraphs
N - justifications
O - indents and blockquotes
If you want to change the color of the text, you do not need to highlight the text. Just be sure you have selected the font layer and then you can change the color in the box. Took me years to learn that one.
Lastly, if you use the move tool to resize your journaling, it will change the dimensions of your font. This is fine unless you wanted consistent sizing. It can easily turn a 15 pt font into a 45 with the drag of the move tool. Small increments will not be too noticeable, but keep try to keep the dimensions as uniform as you can.
Good luck with your journaling. DO NOT LET JOURNALING BE THE REASON YOU DO NOT FINISH YOUR BOOK. Promise?
Today's Eyecandy
When I was archiving photos I realized that I have many many of the girls together. Often dressed alike. Twins in spirit, but not age or genes. I love how sweet they are together right now and how much they love each other still. As I begin to see little spats and squabbles seeping in, I know there will be times when all is not so well. So while the gettin's good, I hurried and compiled a year's worth of love and photos in a book. And had it printed. They love it.
And of course, I sent my mom the Shutterfly link which won me many good daughter points, and of course, resulted in her wanting one. So I waited for a coupon and some free shipping to arrive in my email box, and when they did, I ordered hers. It is shipping as I type. Have I mentioned how I love the reorder button???
Today's Freebie
Why clean house when I can create something for my friends and followers? Especially since I am terrified that I have chased you all away...
Here are some lunch cards for you that I made (with permission) using some goodies from Jessica's store. (Love me my Crystal Wilkerson!)
Download Lunch cards write click scrapbook
And some little taggers for your pages. Nisa Fiins papers. Crystal Wilkerson elements.
Download Nisa + Crystal = lovely tags
See you tomorrow!
