How to create a Basic Digital Scrapbook Layout

Supplies Needed:
Gotta Pixel Sampler (Download)
Photoshop Elements 6 or higher. You can use a lower version, however, this tutorial is written for Photoshop Elements 6 and higher.
Zip Program to unzip the Sampler

Step One

It is normal for digital scrapbooking supplies to be designed for a 3600 pixel x 3600 pixel (12"x12"), 300 dpi resolution page. You can create a layout that is a different size, however, this requires resizing many of the elements and papers. For this tutorial we are going to focus on placement rather than resizing.

Unzip the sampler and make a note of where it is on your hard drive and open Photoshop Elements.

On the top toolbar go to File > New > Blank File.
In the File window, change each parameter to the following and click OK.

You will now have a window open that has gray and white boxes. This area is transparent, meaning that there is nothing there, and is referred to as your canvas.

Step Two

On the top toolbar go to File > Open > Find the directory where you unzipped the sampler and choose gottapixel_paper.jpg to open it.

Move the paper window to the right so that you can see your original canvas. You can do this by selecting the Move Tool and clicking on the top of the paper window, left click and hold the mouse and drag. (Notice the new toolbar line that appears when you choose the Move Tool. You will be using this later on.)

Step Three

With the move tool still selected, click the left mouse button and hold it down and drag the paper onto your original canvas.

Step Four

Press Ctrl + A (copy all). On the Move Tool toolbar find Align, click on it and choose Vertical Centers.

Click on Align again and choose Horizontal Centers. The paper will now be perfectly centered on your canvas.

Step Five

On the top toolbar go to File > Open > Find the directory where you unzipped the sampler and choose gottapixel_fabric_strip.png to open it.

Drag and drop the fabric strip onto your canvas just as you did with the paper. Move it about 1/4 of the way down your page.

Step Six

On the top toolbar go to File > Open and find the photo you want to use for this layout.

With the move tool selected, click your left mouse button and hold down and drag your photo onto your original canvas, just as you've done with your paper and fabric strip.

On the top menu choose Select > Deselect (or CTRL+D) to turn off the marquee.

If you need to resize the image, click on the image to select it. Next, click one of the little boxes that appear in any corner of your photo and drag in or out to make the image larger or smaller. If you click on one of the little boxes other than the corner ones, your image will become distorted.

When you let go of the mouse button, a check mark and a stop icon will appear under your photo. Check means "commit" and "stop" means go back to the way it was. Experiment as much as you'd like with re-sizing your photo and click on the checkmark when you're satisfied.

With your Move Tool still selected, drag your photo to where you would like it to be on the layout.

Step Seven

On the top toolbar go to File > Open > Find the directory where you unzipped the sampler and choose gottapixel_journaling.png.

Drag and drop the journaling box on top of your original canvas, to the right of your photo on top of the fabric strip.

Step Eight

On the top toolbar go to File >Open > Find the directory where you unzipped the sampler and choose gottapixel_button.png

Drag and drop the button on top of the journaling box, centering it.

Step Nine

On the top toolbar go to File > Open > Find the directory where you unzipped the sampler and choose gottapixel_frame.png.

Drag and drop the frame on top of your photo on the original canvas. Center it over your photo. Try to never size an element up, as this will degrade the quality of the element. Resize your photo to fit inside the frame instead

Step Ten

On the side toolbar, select the Text tool Again, notice that a new text-specific toolbar appears. On your original canvas, click on the left top portion of your journaling box and drag (still holding down your left mouse button) to the right bottom corner of your journaling box.

Step Eleven

Type in your journaling. You can change the font, color, size, alignment, etc. on the Text Toolbar. If you want to changes after you have started to type, press CTRL + A (select all) and then make your changes.

Step Twelve

On the top toolbar, choose File > Save As. Find the location where you would like to save your files, type a file name, choose the .psd format, and click save.

Thanks for reading