First of all you want to figure out what the heck you want your page to look like.
That is usually the hardest part for me. If you aren't sure, you can look at other pages
and see if there is something there you like and you can change it to meet your needs.
Or... you can make a bunch of shapes and arrange them to your liking for your page and
go from there. What ever works for you at the time.
Now, I usually make my pages 8 1/2" x 11" so I can print them. I also
try to make them at 300 dpi so they print out nicely. Sometimes I can't because the picture
isn't a very high resolution so I will do it at 200 dpi or even 150 dpi.
Remember to save often, and save in .ufo format. I found a cute page I liked and I did
something similar to it, so that is the one we're going to do. Ok... are you ready? Good,
cause here we go.
| Open a new image screen 8 1/2" x 11" at 300 dpi. Right click and choose
All, Right click and choose Convert to Object. Now you have your background click 'n' fill
object already. Just so I don't forget at the final save (as .psd file so others can use
it if you would like them to be able to), click on View on your tool bar, click on
Show Base Image to make the eye closed. Now if you moved your background to see if it
really happened, right click it, choose Align, Center Both. :) Press your Enter key to
deselect all objects. |
 |
| Now choose the Path Drawing Tool, Rectangle, 2D, color a light grey, draw a
rectangle that comes nearly to the edges of your background paper. Right Click, Align,
Center Both. Deselect any objects if they are highlighted. |
 |
| Again using the Path Drawing Tool, Rectangle, 2D, with the color being a darker
grey, draw a rectangle the length of the first rectangle and but make it a strip that
measures 2 1/2" to 3" in width and place it towards the left edge of the page.
| |
| Now duplicate your strip, choose the Transform Tool, Rotate and Flip, and turn it
either clockwise or counter clockwise; transform tool, resize the length to match the
width of the of the first grey object. Darken the turned strip and duplicate. Now using
the Transform Tool again, make the strip narrower than the one duplicated from and
lighten the grey color a little. Click on both; align/center both. Arrange them towards
the bottom of the page. |
|
| Ok, click on the Layer Manager and lock down the white background and the large
grey object by clicking on the square next to the open eye next to the thumbnail in
the layer manager. A lock will appear to show they are locked. Now using the Path Drawing
Tool, rectangle, 2D, dark grey, draw a fairly large rectangle. Duplicate it and lighten
the grey coloring. Select the darker grey rectangle, Transform Tool, Rotate Method-Free
Rotate and turn the dark grey rectangle counter clockwise a little bit. Unlock the two
locked layers by clicking on the locks in the Layer Manager.
After it is all completed, you can save the file as .psd to share with others who don't
use PhotoImpact if you choose to. When you open the file in PI, it will give you the option
of opening each layer as an object or as a composite image, choose the layers. But you will
still have your .ufo file, too.
|
|
| Congratulations! You have a template you can use over and over again with any color or tile or
texture you choose! You can do this with any layout you like and use it over and over and
it will always look different. |
|
Thank you for trying my tutorial and I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, any suggestions,
please feel free to contact me at scrappygranny@gmail.com
copyright November 2006, Cindy Piper
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