Scrapbooking Safari
_______________
A Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial
on Using Sketches to Create Layouts
Created by Mrs. Miles
Just as an architect builds from carefully prepared blueprints, or an artist creates a pencil drawing before putting paint to canvas, it is a good idea to lay our ideas out on paper before we assemble our layouts. Scrapbookers call these blueprints “maps” or “sketches.”
Bree, a Scrapbooker from Alberta has taken the time to create a website dedicated to this idea for you to use.
1. Lets go to her website and select a map to work with:
www.scrap-maps.com
We'll work with maps for an 8.5 x 11 page, as this is a common size. You can find this by looking down the left hand side of the webpage. Find where it says 8.5 x 11 layouts--2 photos. Click on this and it will provide you with several layout choices of that particular size.
2. Choose the sketch. I've chosen the first one on the third row down (see image below) Click on it to open it’s window, and either minimize the image or right click to save it in your personal folder.
3. Open Photoshop and create a new document sized 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches high at 150 dpi and then hit OK.
Note: Most scrapbookers create their layouts at 300 dpi, as this is the “industry standard, ” but to suit our purposes today, we our creating this at 150 dpi.
4. Open the sketch file that you saved to your personal folder or maximize it from the bottom of your screen. Select the "Move" tool (looks like an arrow head) from your Photoshop toolbar by either clicking it or pressing the “v” key on your keyboard.
Holding the "Shift" key down, click in the sketch picture and drag it over onto your blank layout and let go of the shift key (dragging with the shift key places the dragged item in the very center of your document).
5. You may now close the sketch that is not in your layout. After doing this we will transform the sketch inside your layout so that it fits to the edges of your canvas, where it will be the ‘map’ for the placement of items. Pay close attention to this step on transforming the size of an image as you will use this a few times throughout this tutorial.
You can size the sketch by going up to the top toolbar and choosing Edit > Free Transform, or by pressing Control + T on your keyboard. In "Transform" mode, you will see “handles” on the four corners and also ½ way on each side. Grab these "Handles" and drag them out to fit to your layout.
6. If you look at the Layers Palette, located on the right hand
side of your screen, you will see that you have two layers--the
background layer and the map layer which is named Layer 1. If you
wish, you may double-click on the words "Layer 1"--a dialogue box
will allow you to rename this layer--you could rename it "map," or
whatever you wish so that it's easier to find later. We want our map to be partly transparent so that we can keep it on top of our other layers and see what is happening with them. To do this, set the Opacity of this layer to 50%. This setting is located at the top of the Layers Palette as shown in this illustration:
7. It is time to add the background papers to your layout. I am using the "Simple Safari Kit" that I created. If you would like to use the same kit, you may download it here and save it to your computer:
 Download - "Simple Safari Kit "
If you have downloaded the kit to your computer, locate it, and choose the dark brown paper. Double click on it to open it up in Photoshop. If it opens up and fills the entire workspace, use the Maximize button, located in the top right of the window pane to make both your paper and the layout visible at the same time. Once you have the paper open, and can see both the paper and layout, use your Move Tool (press "v" on your keyboard to access it), hold down the shift key and drag the brown paper onto the layout with your mouse, then let go. Close the brown paper as you will not need it anymore.
8. Maximize your layout to the full screen. The brown paper is much bigger than your layout because the paper was created at 300 dpi. It is so much bigger in fact, that you need to adjust the size you are viewing your page at to be able to do this. To change the view size, look down on the bottom left of your screen and you will see a little box that says 50% in it. Click on the number and change it to 25% and then hit enter.
9. You will need to resize the brown paper to fit on your layout. To do this, you need to free transform it. You did this in step 5 for your layout, so refer back to step 5 if you need to. Make your brown paper fit the size of your page by adjusting the handles in transform mode.
10. We need to bring our map layer up to the forefront in our Layers Palette. Do this by clicking and dragging your map layer above the brown paper layer in the palette. The layers pallette is normally located on the right hand side of your screen. If you don't see it, click Windows in the top toolbar and make sure that layers is clicked on.
11. Now we will add the lighter parchment paper from the Safari Kit to your layout. Using the file browser, locate the parchment paper and repeat steps 7 to 9, except transform this paper size to fit in the lighter area of the map sketch.
My sketch layer stayed at the top of the Layers Palette. If yours didn't, then drag it to the top now.
12. We will be adding the beaded ribbons now. Locate the beaded ribbon in the Safari Kit, open it, and drag it onto your layout. Repeat steps 7 to 9 and make it fit in one of the places provided in the map sketch. After you have this one done, doing the second one is a snap. You can use a shortcut to do this, using Control + J. This command duplicates the ribbon layer you just made. You may not see the extra ribbon right away because it is exactly on top of the other one. Take your move tool ("v") and drag the other ribbon to it's proper placement …presto!
13. We need to add our photos onto this layout. The photos are from stock.xchng. Use the file browser and open the photograph of the elephants. Drag it onto the layout and place it on the top space provided in the map sketch. Use Free Transform to scale and tilt it (when you are scaling it, hold down the shift key so that it retains the proper sizing) To rotate it slightly, place the cursur just outside of one of the corner handles in transform mode until you see the arrows curve > click the mouse and hold to rotate. It does not have to fit perfectly inside the boxes, the map is there to give you a general idea. It should look similar to this.
14. Repeat the same process, using the hippo picture provided in the kit, placing it in the space provided on your layout.
15. All we need to do is to add a title, in the spot indicated on your map sketch. Use your Text tool (letter T in the Photoshop toolbox) to create a title for your page. I named mine SAFARI and I used Verdana 60 pt. bold type. Be creative in choosing which type and size and color that you prefer. If you are looking for free fonts to enhance your layouts, you may want to try www.1001fonts.com
16. Its time to delete the sketch layer in the Layers Palette to see your finished layout.
In the Layers pallette, cClick on the sketch layer and drag it to the trash can located on the bottom of the Layers Palette.
Your basic layout is complete, but if you are adventurous, try experimenting with drop shadows and other layout effects that Photoshop has to offer. You can find information on Photoshop layer styles and effects in their help menu under the section of Layers Styles.
Give yourself a pat on the back!
Here are two more examples of sketches and the
layouts created by following them:
___________________
________________________________
CWO would like to thank Mrs. Miles for
providing this tutorial.
You can find Mrs. Miles at her website:
Being Mrs. Miles
________________________________
|
