To start out my Tuesday tutorials after the long break, I thought I’d share with you one nifty little tool that I use all the time. It’s the Alignment Tool, which you’ll probably find somewhere at the top of your photoshop screen (if your workspace is in any way similar to mine). The Alignment Tool comes in handy when you need to arrange things, and you want to make sure they’re placed correctly in relation to other elements on your layout. When working with alphas, I use the Alignment Tool all the time. But also when I want to make sure an element is exactly in the center of a specified space. Instead of playing the guessing game (and wasting a lot of time trying to align things manually), I refer to the Alignment Tool. Option 1 | Aligning Elements in Relation to Each Other When aligning elements, all you need to do is select the layers of all elements you want to be in line in the layers panel. As soon as you select …

With the Project Life being such a rage, labels have become really popular over the last couple of months. A lot of designers have picked up on the trend and regularly provide PL-type labels in their kits. Oftentimes, however, I find myself still not having exactly the kind of label I’m looking for on my layout. My answer to this problem: I sometimes create my own labels. It’s quick, it’s easy, all I need is paper (patterned and solids both work), and I’m ready to create my very own label that perfectly suits my needs. Take this layout for example: This kit “Sweet Caroline” by Kristin Cronin-Barrow didn’t include any suitable label that would fit in the little compartment of the tray that I had chosen for my journaling. No problem, I thought, I’m just going to make my own label that will fit just perfectly. Here’s how it works …   In this tutorial, you will learn how to … … create a shape layer, … duplicate the shape layer and erase parts of …

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve already shared various ways of how you can make your journaling shine on patterned papers. Today, I have another installment – I want to focus on the use of labels or journaling mats.   Using Labels to Draw Attention to Your Journaling   Lots of scrapbooking kits already come with pre-made blank labels and journal mats. So all you have to do, really, is just make good use of them. Journal mats are great for focusing attention on your journaling. They give the eye a place to rest on an a page that may be quite busy otherwise. They are great for various different uses. Lists You can use journal mats to create lists. Take the following page, for example: To draw attention to an otherwise boring list, I used lots of various labels to talk about my monthly favorites.   Titles & Word Art Journal mats are also great for creating titles and other word art elements. For this page, I used journal mats for both, my journaling and …

In my little mini-series of working with journaling on patterned papers, I’ve already mentioned a few strategies. But there are even more ways of how you can make your journaling stand out on  patterned papers. Another method I’ll discuss today: Creating Journaling Strips   The magic word for this solution – and one that I’ve started to use over and over on my own pages – is: Journaling Strips. You can have the wildest patterns going on on your pages, but if you use journaling strips, none of that matters. Take a look at some sample pages of mine, where I used journaling strips on patterned background papers: And this, of course, was a more recent P2D feature: The plus side of journaling strips is: They usually are really easy to create, you can use them on all sort of pages, and they usually do a really good job at drawing attention to your journaling (even on solid backgrounds).   How to Create a Journaling Strip   STEP 1 | Use the Shape Tool to …

When working with journaling on patterned papers, one of the things I like to do is adding a slight brush layer, as I recommended in the first part of this tutorial. So, today, I’m going to show you how to do just that: Adding a Brush Layer to Enhance Journaling Take a look at this page: On a slightly striped paper, I wanted to add some journaling. But after I added it, I realized the striped pattern was just to strong -the journaling lost its focus. So, if you look more carefully, you can see how behind the journaling, the stripes are nearly wiped out, and I did it by adding a brush layer. And here’s how it works … (I’m assuming that you already added your journaling to your page, and that you placed it somewhere on top of a patterned background.)   STEP 1 | Add a Layer Above Your Patterned Paper To avoid messing with your patterned paper, simply select that paper layer in your Layers Panel, and add a new layer …

I  love patterned papers. I think it was the pretty papers that actually got me hooked to (digi) scrapping in the first place. So, when creating layouts with some of the beautiful kits the designers create, of course I like to have some of the patterns shine. Often, however, using patterned papers as a background of a layout can be quite distracting, and the journaling at times can become pretty much illegible when we try to write on patterned papers. Throughout the years of my scrapbooking journey, I’ve discovered a few ways of how to find a happy compromise between using patterned background papers and making them work on a layout. One of these little tricks I will share here with you today, and the magic word is … Blending Take this layout, for instance: I used Dani Mogstad’s cute winter kit “Chill Out” for this, which has quite some pretty patterned papers, including the snowflake paper I used for the background. While working on the page, however, I realized that the pattern made the …

Composition and element clusters often make or break a scrapbook layout. With all the templates that are circulating the market these days, clustering has been made a lot easier, and yet, I still hear more than enough comments about how people just don’t know how to create pretty clusters. If you’re one of them, then this tutorial is for you!   In this tutorial you will learn how to … … add elements, and arrange them in such a way that they create clusters.   Here’s how it works … Lets get started. I’m going to take you step by step, as I am creating one of my December Daily pages. STEP 1| Add Elements You Desire to Use on Your Layout I’ve already prepared my page so that I only need to add and arrange the elements. KEY #1: The order of when you add which element doesn’t matter. First, I just go through the element folder of the kit I’m using and pick a couple of the elements I’d like to add. I …