Real Scrappy - Digital Scrapbooking From Start to Finish

LDS Chorister Activity - Primaryland!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 03:31:00 +0000

Well folks, I know it's been a while since I posted. I started this blog back in 2007, and by far the most popular post I ever did was in 2011, when I introduced my Primary Singing Wheel. This was a game I made for my church calling as the Primary Ward Chorister. Photoshop made it possible for me to create this fun way of picking songs to sing and way to sing them, and in the last seven years, it's been downloaded literally THOUSANDS of times. Ironically, I only had that calling for about four months, when my twin pregnancy made it too difficult to stand and teach.

Well, what goes around comes around. My twins are now 6, and with three kids in Primary, it was time, I suppose, to let me finish what I started! I got the calling again, and I'm more than happy to do it! I have three girls in there now and it makes it so much fun! Since I started, I have done some pretty fun things, but this--THIS GAME is the BEST. I swear I was like a criminal mastermind while I was working on it! And I could never have done it without Photoshop! YAY PHOTOSHOP! (Where would I be without you???)

So, here it is. The Primaryland game. I have made all the files available for it on my TPT site to make it easier to download, but of course all files are free. The file comes with:

12 Sheets to be printed in color, if possible, on white card stock, then sliced into cards
Full step by step directions and a guide to help understand what the games are on each card.
The pattern for the box that holds the cards (totally optional but also awesome)
The pattern for three types of dice. Also optional, but you DO need at least one regular 1-6 dice for some of the games.

In order to create this game, you will also need to make the poster as shown. Pretty simple--just poster board, five different colors of construction paper and some glue and you're good. If you can laminate it, even better.

You can download all the files here:

DOWNLOAD PRIMARYLAND!

I wanted this game to be versatile--I knew it would be a lot of work to create it, so I wanted to be able to play it multiple times. For this reason, I made the board and the cards separate so that the cards can be changed. I also made more cards than needed so that once an activity is done, you can replace it with another one. I wouldn't be surprised if more ideas come to me and I make expansions to this game over time!

The basic game is a bit like Candyland. Divide the class into two groups, making sure that ages are pretty evenly distributed. On their turn, a child rolls the dice (there are three dice to choose from, or you can use a regular dice) and moves their marker (usually a magnet of some kind). There are five different color spaces that do different things:

Red - Get a trivia question

Blue - Do an activity

Green - Movement (go back, start over, go forward, etc)

Orange - Sing a song in an unusual way of some kind

Yellow - Prizes. If a team picks one of these up, they can count for points, a prize, or movement.

The first team to get to the end wins! Or, the team that gets the most points from yellow cards, trivia questions, or challenges. It's up to you!

LDS Girls Camp - CampCon 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 11 May 2017 06:16:00 +0000

***Disclaimer***

This post is directed to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or Mormons) who may be looking for ideas for the annual Girls Camp that we hold. However, if you are not a member of this church but are still looking for ideas, WELCOME! For those who are my regular readers for Digital Scrapbooking--make no mistake. My digital scrapbooking abilities were central in making this awesome camp take shape!

So I've been meaning to write this post since...like...September of 2016. So it's been like 8 months in the making. But here I am at last. I wanted to share what my ward did for Girls Camp in 2016 and how I used Photoshop to achieve some pretty awesome stuff. If you are looking for a great theme and some fun ideas for YOUR ward or stake, this might be the place for you!

A few details:

I was called to be the camp director in mid-June for a camp that was to take place August 8. Thank goodness I'm a teacher and had the summer to prepare! This was my first time ever as camp director and it was awesome!
Our stake alternates each year between individual ward camps and stake camps. As this was a ward camp, I had complete control over the theme, activities, and food. That made me a lot more creative!
As I am a business teacher proficient in Photoshop, and as I have a high quality color printer, I was able to do a lot of things that many others may not be able to do. I also had access to a Silhouette machine that was very useful for the invitations especially. But never fear--much of my hard work is at your fingertips and you will be able to download some of the stuff I created if you want to use it. However, in order to make the files editable, some of them will require access to Photoshop, even if you don't know how to use it very well.

THEME - CAMPCON 2016

Yes, I made a logo. Everything needs a logo! Thank you again, Photoshop!

Our theme was CAMPCON 2016, Adventure Awaits. We chose five different stories, or "fandoms" that we divided our girls into. If I were to do this on a stake level, I would choose a different fandom for each ward, but since it was a ward level, the girls were each divided into one of the five houses.

The five fandoms we chose were deliberate--we specifically chose fandoms that use the "archetypal journey." If you had to choose more than five fandoms, you would need to select carefully a well-known story that follows the path shown here. Our fandoms were:

The Lord of the Rings
Hunger Games
Chronicles of Narnia
Harry Potter
Star Wars.

Each of these stories follows that journey--someone seemingly insignificant that meets a wise mentor who helps him/her leave home and go on a journey that changes the world. This same journey was taken by many characters in scriptures, as well as Joseph Smith. It resonates with us because it is also the journey that Christ took in his earthly ministry.

For our experience, the leaders were all Narnia, and the girls were divided into the other four houses.

THE INVITATION

Anticipation is everything. I wanted it to be really clear that this was going to be an AWESOME camp. We don't have a lot of girls in our ward and I wanted ALL of them to come! So I created a really fun invitation. It's a little much--but I only had to make 9 of them so it wasn't that big of a deal. If you would like an editable copy of this invitation, please email me and I will send it to you. But be warned--you WILL need access to Photoshop and you will also need to install the correct fonts. Contact me for more details.

I took care to include elements of all five fandoms in the in the invitation--the Narnia door with the Hobbit sign on it, the Hogwarts envelope (containing their permission slip) the information text in a Star Wars scroll perspective, and of course the famous line, "May the odds be ever in your favor."

This invitation was, I admit, a ridiculous amount of work. But...I'm a nerd and creating stuff like this is just fun for me, so don't judge. :) But it did get the girls excited and--did I mention I put a magnet on the back? It went very nicely on the fridge!

THE SCHEDULE AND THE MARAUDERS MAP

The next document I created was also a real study nerdiness that makes me good at my job. I made each girl...wait for it...a marauder's map! It included their schedule, rotations, the camp theme song (I'll get to that), scriptures to memorize and a few other goodies. I adapted it from this site, though in the end I kept very little of the original work.

This thing was also a nightmare and a lot of fun to create. It required me to print on the back as well. The scriptures fold up and go on the empty scripture panel, and the center area is the contract that is folded and glued there. Then it folds up and has a little ribbon bringing it together. Super cute, but unfortunately I don't have a good picture of it all together. I just have this shot of me showing it to the girls. You can kind of see how it looked and what the outside looked like from the ones the girls are holding. They really were freaking awesome. Could you do this idea without the map? ABSOLUTELY. I'm just a nerd.

However, here is an up close shot of our schedule:

(please ignore the fact that I put July instead of August...)

SORTING INTO HOUSES

Now, if I lived in a ward with LOTS of girls, I would have had each year be a different house--the first years are Harry Potter, and so forth. And each tent would be to that theme. But as we only had 9 girls, this wasn't going to happen. But it could definitely be done that way!

After tents were set up, we gathered in the pavilion for the "sorting." We had acquired a Harry Potter Sorting Hat. Each girl was called up one by one to be sorted. Prior to putting the sorting hat on their head, I put a colored bandanna with a badge on it that had a symbol for their house inside the hat. (Oh yes, I also have access to a badge machine, MOST useful.) Then we put it on their head and they got to take it off and take out their bandanna. Later, they got a t-shirt in the same color.

Yellow - Hunger Games

Red - Harry Potter

Green - Lord of the Rings

Blue - Star Wars

Purple - Narnia (this was just for the leaders, but we all got them too!)

T-SHIRT CRAFT

Each girl also got a colored shirt. We did a craft where we used a silhouette on paper, pinned it to the shirt, then use bleach in a spray bottle to spray all around it. Then you remove the silhouette. It looked super awesome. I also have the silhouette files if you want them! (cutting them out with my Silhouette machine was MOST useful. I just wish I'd cut out several of them instead of using the same one over and over. It got pretty beat up.)

THE CHALLENGES

Of all the things on this site, this section might be the most use to you if you are going to try and do this theme. This is the heart of the entire theme and IT. WAS. AWESOME. If you look at the schedule, you'll see that we have five challenges scheduled--one for each of the five houses. Four of them were purely for fun, and the fifth one was the spiritual experience.

Challenge #1 - Hunger Games

You could do the challenges in any order, except that it's important that Hunger Games is first and Narnia is last. Hunger Games sets up all the other challenges. It will require a bit of planning before hand but it's none of the items needed are expensive or difficult to obtain.

What You Will Need:

Two items for each house, so eight items. If you have a large group you may want to do more. (Keep in mind that Narnia was the leader house, so I only did this with four houses)

Squirt gun
Spoon (just a regular old spoon)
Plastic shovel (like at the $1 store)
A ball of some kind, medium sized
A gun that shoots projectiles
A sponge
Small bucket
A syringe

You will also need a small table of some kind. I just used a camping fold up one. Find a big open area and place the table in the center with all the items on it. This is your "cornucopia." You will also need to come up before hand and bury an item for each group. I just made a little box with a badge in it--it doesn't really matter what it is. Just something they can dig up. Make sure to mark it with a rock or something to help them find it.

Line the girls all around the table, about 10 feet away in a circle. When you call time, they will all run to the center and grab what they can. Each house gets two items, so you will only want two representatives from each group--or if you have more items, you can add more reps. Now, they have NO IDEA what they will be using their items for. This is why it's hilarious.

Challenge A - Water Torture

Now that they have their items, instruct them in the first challenge. Place four small tubs along a path or a table. Then put a bucket across the way. Tell the girls to choose a tribute to complete the task. Using one of their items, they must move the water from their tub to the bucket.

It's pretty hilarious to watch someone try to empty a tub with only a spoon, or a water gun. The small bucket and the sponge definitely worked best. Note that I also have plastic cups with the bad guy from their house on it--this was just to identify which house was at which station. I used those cups again in a later challenge.

Award points for the one who gets it transferred first.

Challenge B - Shoot It

Next, the girls will need to kill the villain of their story. Using the cups pictured above, place them along a table. The girls, using whatever items they have, have to knock the cup over of their villain. This was also hilarious. The squirt gun worked ok, but actually I think the bucket won in this challenge! Award points to the group that kills their villain first!

Challenge C - Dig It Up

The last challenge, the girls had to dig up a prize in the ground. Using what they have, they need to dig up the prize for their group. I told each group a general direction and that it was marked with a rock. If they struggled I did the hotter/warmer game to help them. Whoever digs it up first is awarded points.

We had a place on their Marauder's map to score points, but do it however you like!

Challenge #2 - The Lord of the Rings

For this one, I combined the challenge with the required hike. When the girls went on their hike, they took with them a small paper bag with a handle that had a list of items they needed to find. Each house had a bag, so they worked in teams. When they came back from the hike, I awarded them points if they got each item. I also allowed them to take pictures of the items with their phones.

Challenge #3 - Star Wars

For Challenge 3, we had a Minute to Win It challenge, with all the challenges themed for Star Wars. This was SO FUN. But it did require quite a bit of prep. Here are the games we played, and if you want it in a file, click here:

1. Game #1 - Like a Trooper

a. Storm troopers are known for two things: shiny white armor, and terrible aim! In this challenge, prove you have what it takes to be a storm trooper by shooting rubber bands at the cards set up on clothes pins. Points for every one that you make—but if you hit it, you are NOT cut out to be a storm trooper!

i. Playing cards

ii. Clothespins

iii. Rubber bands

2. Game #2 – Heart of the Light Saber

a. The heart of any light saber is the Kyber Crystal, a mysterious mineral from outer space that gives the light saber its power and its color. In this challenge you must sort and line up the blue, green, and red Kyber Crystals from the bag of candy so that you can build light sabers in all three colors.

i. Sort Skittles by color into different plates using a straw

ii. Paper Plates, straws, large bag of Skittles

3. Game #3 – Shoot! We’re in the Garbage!

a. You have fallen into the garbage shoot! Using limited materials, you are trying to brace the walls, or keep your bodies higher, as the garbage compactor starts. You are waiting for C3PO to stop the walls, but he’s taking forever. Will you make it? A stack of 30 cups each, plus one C3PO cup on the bottom. Stack the top cup on the bottom until the C3PO cup is at the top.

i. 60 Cups

ii. 2 C3PO Cups

4. Game #4 – Get to the Control Panel!

a. You are racing through the Death Star with a host of storm troopers on your tail! You open a hatch, only to discover that there is a giant cavern below and a narrow bridge running across it. Can you get across the bridge and not fall off? Begin the game by placing the popsicle stick in your mouth. Then start the clock. Using your hands, begin building a tower of dice, one by one, on the end of the stick. To win this game, you must have a vertical stack of six dice on the end of the stick, and it must be freestanding, all within one minute.

i. Dice

ii. Popsicle Sticks

5. Game #5 – Starving in Carbonite

a. You are Han Solo, and have been frozen in carbonite a long time. You are SO hungry. You only have a little bit of movement in your face. Move the cookie from your forehead to your mouth. If you make it, use your hand to start again. See how many times you can get the cookie to your mouth in 30 seconds!

i. Cookies

6. Game #6 – Shoot the Target

a. Luke had to have superior aim to reach the critical weak point in the Death Star. With perfect precision, he shot the target and blew up the giant ship in a matter of seconds. Can you do the same? Aim the marshmallows at the cup on your partner’s head—whoever gets the most in 60 seconds wins!

i. Tupperware (2)

ii. Headbands

iii. Tape

7. Escape the Death Star!

a. You are trying to load the tie-fighters and escape through the narrow opening before it closes! Get as many people out as you can! Place 8 tennis balls in an empty tissue box. Belt it around your waist in the back. In one minute, get as many out as you can without using your hands.

i. Tennis balls

ii. 2 Belts

iii. 2 empty tissue boxes

Challenge #4 - Harry Potter

For Harry Potter, we had a game of charades. We gathered around the camp fire, and each girl was given a magic wand--I got them for like $20 on Etsy--totally worth it. They are also a great craft you can do with the girls, but it required hot glue so you'd have to do it before you go up to camp.

Out of a bag, they drew slips of paper with actual spells from Harry Potter on it. Then they have to act it out for the other teams. The guessing teams don't have to know the name of the spell, but the do need to guess what the spell does.

Challenge #5

This one KILLED me. I can make things fun and exciting--but the spiritual side always scares me to death. I knew I wanted to make the last challenge Narnia, because of all the stories, it is the one most aligned with the story of Christ. I had prepared passages of scripture that go along with passages from the book--I knew many of the girls might not know this story as well--but I honestly did not know what I was going to do other than that. I kept thinking it would come to me and it never did. And then, only about an hour before the Narnia challenge was to begin, the girls all went on a spur of the moment hike. I was left behind with one other leader. And it just CAME to me. We combined the third year challenge of using a compass (thank goodness I had bought one for each of them!) with a scavenger hunt.

The other leader and I frantically made two scavenger hunts, dividing the girls into two teams. They each had a starting point, which was a piece of paper with a scripture (one of the ones I'd previously looked up) and a compass direction. They'd follow that direction until they found their next slip of paper with the direction and the scripture. We made two different routes that both ended at the pavilion. The girls raced to see who could complete the challenge first. This is a challenge that you really can't prepare until you are up there anyway, so I know it was the Lord that lead me to do it! It was awesome!

After they got back, we gathered around the table at the pavilion to read the scriptures, and I read along the same story from Narnia. We discussed each step the Savior took to save each one of us. It was actually really, really amazing.

If you want the scriptures and the passages from the book, you can find them here.

*Note: All but one of the scriptures comes from the Bible. There is one scripture that comes from The Book of Mormon. If you are from another Christian church who does not use the Book of Mormon, you can omit that scripture or find another to replace it.

THE THEME SONG

Ok. Now I'm seeing why I put this off so long. This is SO LONG!!! But just two more sections left! I did actually have an amazing theme song for this camp. I used a song from the obscure but amazing musical of Lord of the Rings. I took the song, called Now and For Always, and I rewrote the words to fit our theme. I found a piano version of it and cut the music so it could have seven verses. You can download the song below--this is the version with me singing it.

*Note: There is one verse that talks about Joseph Smith. If you are from another Christian church, you can omit this verse.

Download the song here.

Here are the words:

THE SONG BOOK

And FINALLY, the song book. I HATED the song book that was leftover from the last camp. I don't think it had been updated in like 20 years. There were songs in there that made NOOO sense. So I made a new one. Now, this thing is big. It's like 70 pages, though that's only 35 pages front and back, right? So it's big. Print it front to back, cut it in half, and bind it. Then use it every year. But I added some new songs to it and took out any songs that I could find no record of anywhere on the internet. I mean, if no one knows the tune, why is it in there?

Download the PDF version HERE.

Well, this has been a NOVEL, let me tell you. Please, if you use any of this, comment below so I know it was worth the hours it took to type! Please contact me if you need files not provided here.

Talent Show Posters - A Look Back

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 22:18:00 +0000

As I finished up the poster for this year's Talent Show at my Middle School, I sat back and thought, "Damn. These people are lucky to have me."

Maybe a little arrogant, but seriously. I love the one I did this year! So I thought I would post it here, with a few tips on how I did it, along with some of the ones I've done in the past. I've been in charge of the talent show at my school for over ten years, so its fun to look at each of them and see how much I have improved in Photoshop!

2016-2017

The challenge of this one was making the text neon. I tried SO MANY THINGS. And finally, I found the simplest solution of all--an AMAZING and FREE action that you can find here:

FREE QUICKNEON ACTION from FreeDesignResources

Here are a few tips and tricks on how I created this:

The brick and the wood floor are separate pictures. I added a gradient to make them black in the center. I also used the transform tool "perspective" to make the floor look like it was heading forward. Finally, I used desaturate on the brick and made it darker than the original image.
I used Filter>Render>Lighting Effects on the microphone to change the light source. It's not perfect but it works.
For the circle, I drew a shape circle that I wanted, then CTRL+Clicked on the that circle (after I rasterized it) and added a new layer. Then I did Edit>Stroke and added a thick stroke. Then I deleted the circle. I then just used the erase tool to cut out the parts of the circle I didn't want, and then used the Neon Action on it.
I used the fonts Warnes and Automotive to do the title
To give the brick a more lighted look, I created a white shape then used Filter>Render>Difference Clouds. Then I changed the style from normal to color dodge. Then I used a thick feathered eraser to get rid of the edges so it was only in a circle behind the sign. Finally, I changed the opacity to make it transparent.

2015-2016

Tips & Tricks

The paper in this is an actual piece of paper that I took a picture of. The brown desk behind it is actually the desk in my classroom! I did add the lines to the paper, however, and made them a pale green with high opacity so they weren't too obvious.
I used my good old Atomic Cupcake actions on these--I'm so sad you can't buy them anymore! The one on "talent" is Rough Lighograph, on of my favs.
The pictures in the background are actually photographs from previous talent shows--I just used a filter on them to make them look like that. First I chose the color green in my foreground palette that I wanted, and the background color was white. Then go to Filter>Filter Gallery, and under artistic, choose Photocopy. Then play with the toggles until you get the look you want.

2014-2015

Tips & Tricks

I created the title with the border and the microphone (from this free photoshop brush kit) and merged it. Then I used an Atomic Cupcake action, Stencil, to make it look...well, stenciled.
The background is actually a bunch of brushes. I made a solid blue background and added a pattern to give it that grainy look. I found some free Photoshop brushes online (can't find them now!) I used a lighter color and lightened the opacity, and just sort of threw it wherever looks good.

2013-2014

To be honest, it's been a few years. So I'm not TOTALLY certain how I did some of this--namely the Elk Ridge title. I know I followed an online tutorial on how to do it but it's gone now!

Tips & Tricks

I used a similar trick in this one as I did above with filters.
I used an Atomic Cupcake action called Gel for the title and the box at the bottom

2012-2013

I feel like there was a giant leap from the previous year to this one. This was the year I really started to go all out on these posters!

Tips & Tricks

I still love this one. All the delios in the background are free brushes I downloaded from Adobe and just sort of went crazy with.
For the star, I had to use a tutorial I found online to get the shading right.
I used an Atomic Cupcake action, "Simple Gloss" to do the title and small star.

2011-2013

Bleh. I hate this one. At the time I thought it was awesome. But now I am NOT a fan. The images are of actual students, so that's cool, but--meh. It does show how much better I have gotten at design work since then! Keep in mind--I am NOT a designer and have no formal training. I am somewhat of an artist (I can basically draw Disney characters and that's pretty much it) but Photoshop is my new art form. I love it! ONE of these days, I might just bother to learn Illustrator, and then I'll be hitting myself for not using it all these years and saving myself a lot of time...one day...

Tear Drop Fascinator DIY - For Costumes!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 21:25:00 +0000

Hello everyone. I know, I know, it's been awhile. Know that I AM still scrapbooking all the time, but I haven't had much new to share in the digital scrapbooking realm. However, I thought I would write a tutorial on a project I've been working on. No, it's not EXACTLY Photoshop, though I did use it in the project, but it's still a fun DIY so I thought I'd share!

As you may know, I have an after school ballroom team at my school. We've been getting our costumes together in preparation for our first performance next month. The dresses are done, but I have a lot of extra fabric and as I was thinking about the hairstyle we could use, it occurred to me that it might be fun to make a little hat--which is, apparently, called a fascinator. Did not know that before yesterday. Anyway, as I was looking online for tutorials, I couldn't find what I was looking for. Many of them required the use of a fascinator base. I, however, have to make 12 of these on a budget, and didn't want that extra expense. As making them waterproof is not a priority, since it's for a costume, I felt that using paper would work just fine. And they turned out great!

Now, I am going to take you through my process--and know that I used Photoshop and my Silhouette machine to do it. But you don't need to take those steps--you can do it by hand. But let me tell you, there are times when my Photoshop skills really do make things easier and more exact, and this is one of them! (If you keep scrolling down you will see the links to the video tutorials on Youtube.)

What You Will Need:

1. A piece of white cardstock paper
2. The fabric you want to use (I used a satin)
3. Tulle fabric
4. Glue gun
5. Needle and thread
6. Thin elastic
6. Photoshop and Silhouette machine OR a marker and cardboard to make a pattern.

Step 1:

First I determined the shape and size of the fascinator I wanted to create. At this point, if you are just going to draw it, do so on a thick piece of cardboard or on cardstock. I suggest you fold it in half and cut one side, so that it's even on both sides.

For me, I opened up Photoshop (Illustrator would be better but I don't know it very well!) and drew the shape I wanted using a circle shape and tear drop shape, then meshing them together. Then I did a CTRL-Click on the layer to highlight the shape and then did edit>stroke and make a 3px black stroke. Then I made the colored layer invisible and saved the file as a .png. If you want the .png file I created, you can get it here.

Step 2:

I pulled the png file into my silhouette machine and traced the shape. I also added a short line at the base where I could over lap it to give the hat a rounded top. Going to this extra effort--instead of just cutting it out--was worth it to me because I had to make 12 of them! It also came in handy cutting out the fabric. I then cut out 12 of the hats on white card stock paper.
If you have a Silhoutte, you can use the file shown left as well. Get it here.

Step 3:

Using a glue gun, I overlapped the cut section to give the hat a popped up look. But I kept it very slight.

Step 4:

Next, I cut out the fabric I needed. I used my Silhouette for this, too! I took the same shape as above and deleted the line for overlapping. Then I made it a little bit smaller and cut 12 of those out of the fabric--this would go on the inside of the hat. I then made the teardrop bigger than it had been originally and cut those out--that would be for the top of the hat. Again, you don't have to have a Silhouette for this, it just makes it easier--especially when you have to make 12 of them! (Remember to use a different blade with fabric than with paper.)

Step 5:

Using a glue gun, I took the larger fabric and glued down the tip of it onto the inside of the hat. Then I pulled in the two sides. I found it was easier to stretch it over the top and glue the back of the hat, so I knew how much I needed to work in. Then, I glued it all around the edges, slowly easing it in with folds until it was even.

Step 6:

Next, I glued around the edges of the smaller fabric, one bit at a time, and glued it to the inside of the hat.

Step 7:

Next I added thin elastic to the sides to help hold it on, though we will also use bobby pins to get it just right. I just hot glued the elastic on.

Step 8:

You could decorate this a million ways, but this is how I did it. I got the tulle (it was a 6" roll) and glued a segment on to the back side of the hat, pressing down against the hat. I left a tail behind big enough to make a loop. Then I pulled it across the front and around the back, and glued it down in the same spot.

Step 9:
I made two loops, and made a third loop with the tail I left behind. Using a needle and thread, I sewed throughout the bottom of the 3 loops to hold them in place, and knotted it. All done! So easy! I made all 12 in only a couple hours--the "extra work" of using my Silhouette was totally worth it and saved me tons of time, plus they were all exactly the same size!

Watch it step by step with my easy Youtube tutorials!

Part 1 - Photoshop and Silhouette Tutorial

Part 2 - Making the Hat Tutorial

2014 Yearbook has Arrived! Another Success from MyPicTales!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 16 May 2015 16:17:00 +0000

So I got my new 2014 Yearbook. One of my favorite days of the year! Once again, I got it printed through the company MyPicTales. You can read my review on last year's book here.

I am thoroughly impressed with this company and their products and price. NO THEY ARE NOT PAYING ME TO SAY THAT!!! I just want to encourage anyone who is looking for a good place to print to consider this company. My 8 1/2 x 11 book is 120 pages. I was able to get a coupon for 30% off, and the entire thing only cost me $75 to print! Unbelievable!

Here is my review--even though it's not that much different from last year's--though it is BETTER.

Price: ★★★★ Being accustomed in the past to paying over $120 for a book with 100 pages, I was once again blown away by the price. The original price was about $90, but I was able to get a 30% discount and got it for $75! When you sign up for their mailing list you get a 25% off coupon anyway--so that alone is worth it!

Ease of Use: ★★★ I love the editor that comes with this site. You download it and upload your stuff to it. Now--I don't use it to DESIGN my pages. I just upload my pages that are already created in Photoshop. You can upload them as a two-page layout, which I really liked. I make my pages in Photoshop as 11x17, and design the entire full page layout. Then I can just upload it a 2-page layout. The best part? Once I upload it, if I make a change to it in Photoshop and then save it--it AUTOMATICALLY changes it in the MyPicTales editor. I don't have to re-upload it. Saves me boatloads of time during my final editing phase. Because my book is so big, I was unable to submit it directly. I had to contact the company, but was able to place it in a shareable Dropbox file and it was super easy.

Shipping: ★★★★ In the past I've had to wait some 2-3 weeks for my book. This one I ordered on the 1st (which was a Friday) and it arrived on the 8th. Not bad! Shipping price was also reasonable.

Cover: ★★★★ The cover is awesome and the wrap-around part is my favorite! It looks so great on my shelf with all my other books! WAY more interesting than the plain one-color option I had with my old company. I will say that designing the cover in Photoshop to fit correctly in the editor took many tries, but I got it eventually.

Binding: ★★★★ Last year I did not give four stars to the binding, but this year it gets full marks! No glue showing, and you can't see the stitching at all when you open the book.

Margins: ★★★★ The margins are great. The inside margins taken are pretty large--but I knew that from last year and prepared for it. One thing I did this year is that before I did my final upload, I change the page size from 11x17 to 11.25x17.25. Then I just made sure that the margins looked alright. This pulled in all my margins quite easily, and I actually had larger margins than I needed. Every page turned out perfect!

Color: ★★★★ The color is dead on. It looks exactly the same as it does on my screen when I open the file in Photoshop.

Thank you so much for a gorgeous book! And stink! It's MAY and I haven't got more than 3 pages done in my 2015 book! The work is never done!

Candy Bar Awards Template--and using Photoshop to Advertise your Program

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 02:21:00 +0000

Today I thought I'd share my experience this year using Photoshop to help advertise the after school ballroom program I started at my school. I also want to include a template to create candy bar awards, which turned out so cute! Continue reading and scroll down to find the template!

Sometimes I wonder how people function without Photoshop. I freaking use it for EVERYTHING. By day I am a business teacher in a junior high. But in my past, I was a big fan of ballroom dancing. I did it all through middle school and high school, and then in college. As my husband is not a dancer, I put the talent away for a long time. But then decided to start an after-school ballroom program at my school back in 2007. It was SO FUN, and for three years I ran the team. Then I took a four-year break while I had kids. This year, I was happy to take up the reigns again, and it has been so fun! For this post, I wanted to talk about how my experience as a business teacher really helps in the arts arena! Some of the stuff I will talk about is in Photoshop, and others in Microsoft Office. But I thought it might be a fun thing to share! Photoshop skills can be used in more than just digital scrapbooking--whatever your occupation, you can find ways to use it to make your experience richer, and make yourself more indispensable. As a teacher, there are MILLIONS of ways to use it in the classroom!

For ballroom this year, I first needed to make sure I had a good advertisement. Advertising is EVERYTHING. Ballroom is dependent on convincing 14-year-old boys that dancing is cool--not an easy thing to do. First, I created these awesome memes. I created them free online, but then I pulled the artwork into Photoshop, where I enlarged it and also added a QR code--though you can't see it in these pictures because I added it after I created this little graphic. Still, it was cool to have the ads up all over the school with the QR code so kids could find my ballroom website and all the needed information.

I also created some other ads in Photoshop--simple ones because I had no real photos to work with, so I went with humor. Very easy to create in Photoshop. I used another program, Print Shop, to print them on 4 to 9 sheets and then taped them together to make a giant poster.

I put these ads all over my school. After three days of signups, I had 78 kids signed up to take the 3-week ballroom workshop, twice a week after school. And yes, half of those WERE boys!

After three weeks we had auditions to choose my team of 20, who would go on to learn the Latin medley I had choreographed over the summer. For three months we worked very hard to learn the new dance. How AMAZING they all are!

Then I got really nerdy. It's quite difficult to choreography a routine for 8 couples in your head and see where each of them will go from formation to formation. So I first used Photoshop to create this page:

This helped me envision each couple, coordinated with a color, and where they would be.

Then...then I got A LOT NERDIER.

I created a PowerPoint and used the animation features to make each dot move as it was supposed to, coordinated with music. It took forever, even though I'm pretty awesome at PowerPoint--I mean, I do get paid to teach it. But it helped me envision the routine, and more--it's helped the students envision it too.

For three months we worked on that routine. It was awesome. The kids worked so hard. And soon it was time to advertise the Talent Show--the performance we would be working for. Here is the ad I created in Photoshop and put up all over the school, to advertise the auditions--I am also in charge of the talent show!

A week after the talent show, we had a Parent Night where we showcased their hard work to friends and family. I invited other ballroom groups from around the area to come, too. Here is the ad I created for that!

And then, of course, I made an awesome program for the evening. As I quipped to the audience that night, "I'm not actually a dance teacher. I'm a business teacher. That's why your programs are so awesome."

And then it was time to create the DVD's for each couple.I know. WHY do I do all of this? I think it's because I'm awesome. Each kid got a DVD with their picture on the cover and DVD, and then also on the inside menu. There were also CD's with pictures on it from the experience, and I made a CD envelope for that using my Silhouette machine and a template purchased from their site. Pain in the butt. But also adorable. Making a DVD cover case, by the way, is not so difficult if you can print onto legal sized paper. It's just a matter of trial and error to get it the right size.

On the night of the show, we had a little party in my room. And this is where I gave out the candy bar awards, mentioned at the top of the post. They were a HUGE success. When I was deciding how to make them, I was looking at all the names of existing candy bars, trying to find a reason to make that bar's name fit the student, and I kept thinking, "if only there were such at thing as a "surprise" bar or a "superstar" bar. That's the one I'd get for so-and-so." And then I was like--hey. I know Photoshop. If I want a superstar bar, THERE WILL BE a Superstar Bar! I designed each bar to fit a standard mid-size Hershey bar. Designing them was SO MUCH FUN. I was up till 1:00 a.m. doing it, and loved every second of it! I also made a certificate in Publisher that went with it, explaining why they got it. When we handed them out, the kids were so excited to get something so personalized.

UPDATE: Here are some Candy bar Awards I did in 2016 and 2017!

If you would like the template to create your own bars in Photoshop, click here:

PHOTOSHOP CANDY BAR AWARD TEMPLATE

Wait...what's that you say? You read this entire post and you are now DYING to actually see my team perform? Well, ok. Here they are at the parent night. The lights randomly stopped working that night, so sorry the lighting is so bad!

Freebie 8 1/2 x 11 Templates - #14 - #16

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 00:33:00 +0000

I think its time for another freebie! I've been scrapping a lot lately--I'm all caught up through April! Yay! Only two months behind for my 2014 book! It makes me happy to be keeping up--every month I get behind, the memories get less and less vivid. Anyway, I chose three of my layouts and made them into templates for you! A couple things to keep in mind about the way I do this:

1. These files are set to 11x17--in other words, one spread of two 8 1/2 x 11 pages.

2. Often I have the borders for pictures as a different layer--that way you can recolor it and add styles to it easily. Use the paint bucket or double click on the layer and go to layer styles to make it look the way you want.

3. Any flowers or silhouettes you see can be removed to add your own elements and silhouetted photos--they are there only to give you an idea of where to put your elements.

4. These templates are designed to flow easily across both pages--pay attention to the guides and choose your pictures carefully for the photos that are near the center or edges so that nothing of importance will be cut off. Some photos are purposely in the margins.

5. The easiest way to use a template is to use clipping masks. Pull the picture or paper that you want to use so that is it is on top of the layer you want to clip it into. Then hold down the ALT key and put your cursor between the two layers. A small triple circle icon will appear. Click, and the the picture will be clipped in.

So, below are three new templates, and following that are some examples of what the templates look like when completed!

Template #14

Template #15

Kit: Blush Beauty by Trixie Scraps

Template #16

Kit: One Year Older by Lindsay Jane

Mypictales.com - My Review, 8 1/2 x 11 Yearbook

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Mon, 19 May 2014 04:06:00 +0000

It's here! I can hardly believe I finally finished my 2013 book! There were months there that I worried I'd stop digital scrapping forever. I was so depressed with my regular publisher, Cherishbound, changed their name, got a new site, and dropped their editor. I was just so upset.

Now, I am SO glad they did.

Because I was totally overpaying for my books.

Now I've found a new company, Mypictales.com. I wanted to write a quick review and show pictures of my book in case there is anyone else out there looking for a place to do an 8 1/2 x 11 size book, or is just looking for a good company.

With my old company, I would pay anywhere from $130 to $150 for a book that was between 100 and 118 pages. The quality was excellent. Glossy pages, beautiful covers, and they didn't cut off huge margins of my work.

I chose Mypictales because another scrapper I know recommended them, and she does the 8 1/2 x 11 size page. A lot of companies don't do that size, including the old standby, Shutterfly, which I have never used but pretty much everyone else in the universe does. I liked Mypictales because their editor allows me to upload a 11x17 page as a double layout. Very easy. I just hoped they didn't take enormous margins.

Price: ★★★★ What blew me away was the price. Used to paying over $120 for my books, I was stunned when my total for a 112 page hard bound book was only $90. THEN, I did a search to see if there were any coupons out there. Unbelievably, I found one that was only for the size of book I was doing, and it expired that very day! AH! So my book--my 112 page hard bound book--only cost me $60! I could hardly believe it!

Ease of Use: ★★★ As I already stated, the editor was very easy to use and navigate. However, I did run into a snag when I went to submit it. It just wouldn't upload my enormous book. I would guess that in a smaller book it might not be a problem. But no matter what I did, I couldn't upload it. I followed all the alternate instructions on the site to no avail. Finally I contacted customer service via email. I got a response very quick, and they were so kind and easy to work with. We were able to work out another solution by uploading my book with a shared link in Dropbox. No problem. So even though I had trouble, I still give them 3 out of 4 stars, because their customer service was so good.

Shipping: ★★★★ This one bowled me over. With my old company, I would have to wait 2-3 weeks for my book. MyPicTales took FIVE days! Seriously--I ordered it on the 25th of April, and it was on my doorstep on May 1st--which was my birthday so it was the perfect gift!

Cover: ★★★ The cover of the book is gorgeous. I LOVE the wrap-around option, which I did not have with my old company. Makes it look so nice on the shelf. The only reason I didn't give it four stars is because, when I compare it with my other books, the cover isn't quite as glossy. But--seriously. It cost half as much and it still looks freaking awesome. I am NOT complaining.

Binding: ★★★ The binding has it's good and bad points. I like how tightly bound it is, it won't come apart. But there is a bit of glue showing on the top. All in all, I'm good with it. Once again, I got it for a GREAT price.

Margins: ★★★★ This was one of my biggest concerns I loaded my 8 1/2 x 11 pages into other editors from other sites, and they didn't even fit. I was worried that the book wouldn't be the size they say it is, or they'd take off huge margins from the sides and the insides. Yes, they took some from the inside, but then--you HAVE to, and so I'm happy. Nothing got cut off. But I think next time I'll be a little more careful with my inside border--the binding took a lot. But that' true of all companies, because that's just the way books are bound. There is a flat binding option, but I didn't do it.

Color: ★★★★ The picture above also shows the page as a jpg file, and then the same page in my book. The colors are dead on.

Size: ★★★★ Another reason I insisted on sticking with 8 1/2 x 11 pages was because I wanted all my books to be the same size and fit nicely on my shelf. This book is slightly bigger than the others, but not by much. It looks gorgeous on the shelf--much better than my other books. At my old company, I could only pick the color of the spine and a few fonts with the title. With Mypictales, I could design the entire cover, spine and all. I think it looks fantastic on my shelf!

Overall, I'm very happy to add Year Eight: On Our Way to my collection of yearbooks. It looks great on my shelf, and it's so fun to share! A BIG THANK YOU to Mypictales for doing such a fabulous job! I will definitely order from them from now on!

Binge Scrapping and a New Publisher

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 02:01:00 +0000

Well, I think that last entry was the therapy I needed. Somehow, writing it out made me kick myself in the pants and get started again! I did some more research on publishers, and I think I found one! I will be publishing my 2013 book through MyPicTales. I downloaded their editor, and really liked it. At first, it took huge margins just like I feared. But then, I just uploaded it different. I create all my pages as 11x17 pages, then slice them in half. With this site, I can upload one 11x17 image and a double page layout, and it fits great! Here's a photo of what it looks like with a page uploaded in their editor.

The main complaint I heard about MyPicTales is that its not so suited for people who want to use the editor to do their scrapbooking--it doesn't have a lot of backgrounds and stuff. Not a problem for me! I use Photoshop to do it, so all I need is a place I can upload full bleed pages. Anyway, I hope they turn out as good as they sound!

I have done some research online and found good reviews about their quality, and their prices are great. I think my book will be a lot less expensive with them that it was with Cherishbound. My books are usually about 100 pages long. For an 8 1/2 x 11 hard cover book with a custom photo cover, it's $45.00 for 20 pages and $1 for each additional page. That will cost $125.00. I paid about $140 at Cherishbound, and that was with a discount. MyPicTales also has a discount for your first book. So I'm feeling pretty good! I can actually get this thing published!

So here's what I've been up to--since my last post, I have completed TWELVE 2-page layouts! Wahoo! I am now working on October of 2013, so I'm almost done! Here are a few of the layouts I did--I especially like how the Comic Con ones turned out!

Where have I been?

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:42:00 +0000

So...I haven't updated for a few months. I don't know if anyone has noticed. But the guilt is starting to get to me. Scrapbooking used to be one of those things I could feel good about--like, the thing that others struggle with and feel guilty about, while I am all caught up and so on top of it.

Then, the worst happened. Cherishbound totally failed me. I have published every book through this website, and I have really liked them and their quality. They are one of the only sites I can find that does 8 1/2 x 11 size books, without taking massive margins. In August they took down their site, sending out an email (which I cannot find now) stating that they have changed their company to a new name. I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I didn't realize, then, how much it would derail me.

The new site went up and I remember visiting it long enough to notice that the editor I always used was not there. I figured it would be up eventually. I forgot the name of the new site. I can't find anything about it anywhere. The Cherishbound site just has a link to an email, but no link to their new site (a HUGE oversight, if you ask me!) So...I guess they are just gone. I even sent them an email politely asking them what their plans were for the new site and if the editor would be back, but they didn't bother to respond.

I thought, no problem! I'll find a new company to print my books! But I really want to stick with 8 1/2 x 11--mainly because I have half of 2013 already scrapped to that size, and also because I want all my books to be the same size. But my searches have proved futile. The few I have found that say they do that size take such massive margins that my pages don't fit. I'd have to redo them. And...I just sort of...lost it. I'm so discouraged. I am only caught up through about half of August of last year, and I just keep falling farther and farther behind. I've lost my mojo I guess. If I can't publish it, what's the point? But in the meantime, I'm missing things. Details about my children are not getting recorded. I am forgetting what happened back in October. How can I write about it? I take WAY less pictures now. I am less motivated to take the kids somewhere so I can do a great page on it. (I know it's sad that I won't take the kids somewhere unless I can scrap it, but whatever motivates you works I guess...)

So, if anyone knows of a company that does 8 1/2 x 11, let me know. I've tried Mixbook, and I really like them--I've used them to make calendars. But they are one of the ones that takes huge margins. I guess if I can't find anyone else I go with them. In the meantime, this site is really suffering. I am still using Photoshop every day, though, don't get me wrong. In fact, I DID update the new school play program I did for Aida on this page. I have made more boxes, more tags, more paper dolls--I use it all the time. I just haven't felt inspired to write. I will try to do better!

Introducing My New Paper Doll Website!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 07:06:00 +0000

Hello everyone! I was thinking about what to post next, as I've actually done very little digital scrapbooking lately. But I HAVE been using Photoshop like crazy! I have been making more paper dolls! So, I thought I would create a post about what I've been doing, and also introduce my website:

www.reescraftpaperdolls.weebly.com

Here is a couple of shots to give you an idea of what I have created! It's a set with 20 dolls and 200 outfits!

Two years ago I did a post about a set of paper dolls I was creating for a birthday party. I've been making paper dolls every since I was a little girl. As an adult I rarely do it, but every now and then I get bit by the bug, and this last couple months I've been drawing like crazy! But the fun part is, I draw it, then pull it into Photoshop where I perfect it. And now that I have a Silhouette, it does all the cutting for me. Makes it a LOT easier to cut out the dolls, let me tell you!

So now I've created a set of TWENTY different dolls. There are actually only five different skin tones--when I want to do a new doll I just draw a new head using one of the different skin tones I've already used--then I don't have to draw a new body. But I do use Photoshop to make their underclothes. Here is an image of the faces of all twenty dolls.

I like to do lots of different skin colors, hair and eye colors. Then some dresses look better on some dolls than others. All the dolls are the same size and body, though, so they can all wear the same clothes. I think my personal favorite is Daisy. I just love her freckles.

In the past, I have use Photoshop on the faces of the dolls, but not on the dresses. Since I discovered how to use a surface blur in Photoshop and with the liberal use of the smudge tool, it's really helped me improve the dresses as well and make them look a lot smoother.

Here are some before and after photos that are kinda fun to look at. The more I worked with Photoshop to improve my artwork, the better at it I got. And the more addicted I got!

A lot of the time it was just a matter of perfecting the lines, and sometimes I just recolored the whole thing in Photoshop. Time consuming? Yes. And I loved it. I'm weird that way. I know there are artists out there that use Photoshop far more in-depth than I do. Me, I'm just discovering it. And I'm kind of addicted. It combines two of my favorite things--art and computers!

After I have drawn it, scanned it, and perfected it in Photoshop, I then need to convert it to a Silhouette file so I can cut it out easily.

With the dolls, I use several layers. The first layer is the doll artwork, printed on photopaper. Then another layer of just cardstock, and then a layer of chipboard with each side covered in cardstock. So ultimately, each doll has five layers. They are pretty sturdy--but they are still paper. I don't recommend letting any child under the age of 5 play with these dolls--maybe older depending on their maturity. So yeah, I've got these awesome dolls and none of my daughters are old enough to play with them. But in a few years, they are going to have one heck of a set!

I am planning on doing a free giveaway of a paper doll set to my awesome realscrappy readers--look for a post about it coming soon!

Fashion Flipbook Freebie--for your Busy Bags!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Hey all! I've created a new freebie for you today. Sunday while sitting in church the idea took hold of me and wouldn't let go. I came home and started working on it, and now it's ready for you all today! Its a Fashion Flipbook! Great for your little girls to keep them busy in church, the car, the store, or anywhere else where you need them occupied!

The artwork comes from my paper doll set that I have been working on for a couple years now. I plan to do a big post about that in the near future, but I'm not quite ready for that yet! Anyway, the flipbook comes with eight different heads, and eight different outfits. Kids can flip the pages to create brand new dresses!

To create this you will need:

Access to a color printer
At least one sheet of cardstock, (for the cover) but preferably five sheets, one for each page
Scissors and if possible, a paper slicer
Stapler or a book binder

Directions:

1. Download the PDF file - Fashion Flipbook by Realscrappy
2. Open the file and print all five sheets
3. Slice each sheet down the center. Make sure you cut it PRECICELY at the 5 1/2 mark.
You may also want to trim your edges if you don't want a white border around it.
4. Bind the left side. You can either staple it several times down the side, or take it in to a copier place and get it bound like a book.
5. If your book is stapled, you may want to go through it and bend each paper tightly so it's easier to flip the pages
6. Use scissors to cut on the horizontal lines on each page. If you are binding it by stapling, only cut to the bent edge. If you are spiral binding it, cut all the way through.

Done! Yay! If you like the artwork, keep a lookout for a future post about my paper dolls! You can also download a free set here.

Lesson 31: Creating Simple Actions/Batching

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 03:18:00 +0000

I know, I know, it's been awhile since I posted. I actually have a few ideas cooking in my head for future posts, but they aren't...um...DONE...yet. So more on that later.

Today I wanted to share my experience with creating actions.

Please note that I have created a free action that you can download at the end of this post! YEAH!!

Now--first of all, remember that this blog is not for professionals, neither am I anywhere close to a professional in Photoshop. I'm an every day digital scrapbooker, and I'm here to tell you--YOU can make an action! It's not difficult! It's actually really cool!

What is an action? I have a whole blog post about it that I actually updated just recently; Lesson 10: Using Actions. In that post, I explain what an action is, how to install one, how to run one, and just a little about creating your own actions. Today I wanted to go into more detail.

Why would I use an action? An action is really just recording a set of instructions so you don't have to keep doing them over and over again. You can just press "play" and all those instructions just happen on their own. Here are some step by step instructions for an easy action. This is using CS5, but I'm sure it's similar if not exactly the same in other versions. However, I don't think actions are used the same in Photoshop Elements. If you have that version, you may want to search online for instructions on how to use actions for that program.

EXAMPLE - Practice with this simple scenario!

Ok, let's say you have 30 picture files and you need to change them all from the size they are after being uploaded (in my case, 3872 pixels x 2592) to 1200 x 800. I also want them all black and white. All the files are the same size, and need to be changed to the same size. So, I want to create an action that will allow me to do this.

1. In Photoshop, make sure your Actions menu is up. If its not already there, go to Window and select Actions.
3. On the upper right corner click on the options button, shown in the image here.
4. If you have any current actions loaded, select Clear All Actions. Then choose "New Action."
5. It will prompt you to name it--just give it a name. In this case, "Resize B&W" might work.
6. Now, the action will not actually record anything until you press the record button. You can even top recording, and then start again.
EVERYTHING you do once you press record will be repeated in your action, so think carefully what you can do automatically. I do not want opening the file to be part of the action--I want to be able to select the file beforehand. So, choose a photo and pull it into Photoshop to get started. It should be your only layer.
7. Press Record. Then immediately do CTRL+Shift+U to desaturate your picture. You will see that command appear in your actions palette, as shown in the picture.
8. Now go to Image>Size and type 1200 in the width box. Press enter.
9. Stop the action by pressing stop.

Now, you may be done. But, if you want to resave the file and close it as part of the action, you could do that in the action as well. Press record again, and save the document to a new location but with the same name, OR, check the "save as copy" box in the saving menu. Then close the file. Now press stop again. Otherwise, just stop at the end of step 9.

10. Test it. Open a new photo. Go back to the first pull down arrow where your title is (in my example, I just called it Action 1). Press the play button. If it worked, you should see your photo immediately go black and white and resize. If you did the next step, then the photo closes as well and you are ready to bring in another one!

11. Save it. If you don't save this action, you will eventually lose it. If you like it and want to save it, click on "Set 1" part of the action--you can only save a set, not just an individual action. Then pull down your option menu in the Action palette again, and choose "Save Action..." (If its greyed out, that is because you have the action selected and not the set!) Name it and find a good location for it. I put it with all my other actions, in a new folder entitled "My Actions."

Batching Actions

Can I do a mass action? YES YOU CAN!

Like I said at the beginning of the scenario--there are 30 photos. Do I have to pull in each photo one by one and do this action? No. You can run the action as a batch one time and do ALL the photos!

Go to File>Automate>Batch.

Choose the action you want to batch--mine came up automatically because its the only action open in my palette.
Next, choose a source folder--it will do ALL the photos in that folder.
Check the "Suppress file open options dialogs" box and the "Suppress color profile warnings" so that your action runs without unnecessary interruptions.
Then just click OK. Watch as the magic happens!

Now that you have tried a basic action, let look at one that I created today!

I found this AWESOME tutorial by Steve Patterson:

I wanted to write the word "October." It took me several tries going through the tutorial to get it right, and I kept making a mistake halfway through. Finally, I made an action of the first half so I didn't have to keep doing that half over and over before I could do the second half. Once I had it down, I just turned the whole thing into an action! Now, I write the word, press play, and wala!! There it is!

One tip I have for this--if you are pulling in a new layer or picture that has a name, change the name to "original" or something like that as part of the action in the very beginning. Then when you run the same action with a different image or word, it will not get confused by different layer names!

And here is the action I created! You are welcome to download it, but know that the actual hard work came from Steve Patterson who created the tutorial--all I did was turn it into an action!

Light Burst Action

Instructions: Start with a white page and type your text in black. Make sure that the text box is not too big--it should be tight around the wording. (That's what I kept messing up on!) Also make sure there is plenty of white space around your word. It works with pretty much any font.

When you finish the action, do CTRL+D to turn off the selection. If you want different colors, double click on the gradient layer and change the gradient. Then do CTRL+E to group it into one layer for use.

So now my new goal is to find more of these awesome tutorials and turn them into actions! Then I might actually use them--because going through that tutorial every time is exhausting! I hope this lesson on Actions has been useful to you!

Free 8 1/2 x 11 Templates - LOTS of PHOTOS!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 05:02:00 +0000

So I've been doing a lot of spreads lately that have a lot of photos. Like--A LOT. When I search for pages with lots of photos, I can never find anything that looks like what I do. So...either I'm totally out of fashion or I'm just freaking awesome. I choose to believe the latter.

At any rate, I've decided to share a few more of my templates with you. A few things to keep in mind about the way I do this:

1. These files are set to 11x17. This means that when you finish creating your page, you have to divide it into two 8 1/2 x 11 pages. I do this by going to Image>Canvas Size and changing the settings to 8 1/2 x 11. To see how this is done, watch the video I created here, which shows how to turn a template into your own page.

2. Often I have the borders for pictures as a different layer--that way you can recolor it and add styles to it easily. Use the paint bucket or double click on the layer and go to layer styles to make it look the way you want.

3. Any flowers or silhouettes you see can be removed to add your own elements and silhouetted photos--they are there only to give you an idea of where to put your elements.

4. These templates are designed to flow easily across both pages--pay attention to the guides and choose your pictures carefully for the photos that are near the center or edges so that nothing of importance will be cut off. Some photos are purposely in the margins.

So, below are four new templates, and following that are some examples of what the templates look like when completed! Just click on the photos to download.

Template #10

Template #11

Template #12

I love this one--it has 27 photos in it! Perfect for when you have a lot of cute photos that don't need to be very big. I used this to show a ton of pictures of my kids playing in the water all summer.

Kit: Turn up the Heat by Lindsay Jane at Gotta Pixel

Template #13

Organizing Digital Books - Yearbooks and Baby Books

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 22:18:00 +0000

Today I'd like to share some examples of how I have organized my books in the past. I wanted to highlight Yearbooks and Baby books. I think once you have a basic outline like this, it can be a little easier to fill in the blanks and perhaps a little less overwhelming to get started!

Yearbooks
I make a "yearbook" each year that is basically the family book. I use the same kit for the cover, inside cover, Year in Review page and the Conclusion page. For my 2012 book, here are all those pages:

For that year, my subtitle was "Along for the Ride" and I talk about why I chose that phrase in depth on my conclusion page. I really like this layout--I've used it for almost all my yearbooks.

Next, I have a title page for each month where I place all the pictures I want to use for that month but don't want to have a full layout about, and I have a short summary of the month. Here is a year's worth of my monthly pages--although, because of the great hard drive crash of 2012, I only have the last half of last year and the first half of this year!

Baby Books

For my baby books, I still followed a similar format. I chose one kit for entire book. For my oldest child, I created the kit mostly myself by scanning in her blankets, burp cloths, etc. I made a few basic ribbons and other things, and this made a fairly decent sized kit. I also created a really cool inside cover page where I took a picture of her each month so you could see, at a glance, how quickly she grew in one year!

Then, throughout her first year, I made sure to have a little photo shoot on or near her one month birthday. I had a fancy picture of her for each month! I would use this picture as a full-bleed photo and then create a one month cover page on the other side, with more pictures from the photo shoot. After they are a year old it's too hard to do this--they are too mobile!

I hope this is helpful to you as you start or continue your journey into digital scrapbooking! There is of course, no wrong way to do it. I find that my way is a little less...traditional...than the trendy way of scrapping, but it is also a lot more practical to busy moms who don't have the time or money to do millions of pages with few pictures and lots of blank space and elements. I love looking through my children's books and seeing how they've grown. If I was truly ambitious I would do a book for them each year or at least every few years but I just don't have the time for it. I will one day get the family book printed in several copies so that they each have one. In the meantime, this works for me! I hope it can be helpful for you!

My New ABC Book! Free template included!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 03:54:00 +0000

So this summer I've been working on an ABC book project. I did the same project a few years ago--you can read about it here. But that was in 2010 before I was even pregnant with the twins, and our family has changed a lot since then! Time for an update! This one was also done on Blurb, and came to $30 when all finished--that was for 56 pages and shipping, soft cover. Of course, I did two pages for each letter--it would be much cheaper to just do one page per letter, but I wanted to make this something that the girls look at in church and I wanted to put all the family members in it so they can point at each person and say who they are.

To see my book, you can view it on Blurb here:

ABC Book by Realscrappy

And here is a thumbnail of each page!

In this book, I used kits from LOTS of different places! Shops used include: Gotta Pixel, Pickleberry Pop, Scrap Matters, Cherry on Top, and Designs by Krista. My cover page is using a very old kit by Peppermint Creative.

I wanted to do more than just share the work I've done with you all--I wanted to make it something you can do too! So I have included the template that I used when I made my book. I didn't use a template at first, and ended up wasting a lot of time re-doing it later. For a project like this where every page needs to have the same spacing, fonts, etc, a template is ESSENTIAL. I have also included a second template in case you would rather just do one page per letter. It's important you use it because the margins for left and right pages are different. These templates are in .psd format. To download, click on the image below.

**Once you have finished the layout, go to Image>Canvas Size and change it from 14x7 to 7x7. Then choose the left arrow. Save as a jpg. Undo that last action and do the same process again, only click on the right arrow and save.

**This is set for a 7x7 page, since that's the option on Blurb. If you want an 8x8 instead, just go to Image>Canvas Size and change the canvas to 16x8. Then highlight all layers and re-size to fit.

**Both above instructions are included in the step by step video at the end of this post.

For mine, I used immediate family member as the letters, and then filled in with other words I had pictures for. Some of those letters were a real challenge, and I admit I had to set up a couple of shots to pull it off! Here is a large version of what each page basically looked like.

I picked a different kit for each page. The first page was always a very large picture, and then I added smaller ones on the second page. You could easily use the same kit and the same alpha for every page as well if that's more your style.

For the letters, in most cases I made the letters myself using Atomic Cupcake actions. You can download most of them for free on that link. You can read about using them here. Occasionally I used letters that came with the kits I used, but many kits don't come with them, or the alpha that comes with it just isn't the look I wanted.

I have created a 9-minute video that takes you through the entire process of using this template. I hope it helps! Click on the link below to view. Thank you!

Creating an ABC Book with Templates by Realscrappy.com

And finally, here is the list of the words I used for each letter in my ABC book, excluding family names:

A - All family names! We had a lot!

B - Books, bubbles

C - Cuddle, Church, Cry, Cousins

D - Daddy, Draw

E - Eternity, Eating, Easter Eggs

F - Family, Friends, Fishing, Fireworks

G - Grin, Grandmas & Grandpas

H - Happy, Hat, Horse

I - Ice Cream, iPod, Icky

J - Jesus, Jump

K - Kisses

L - Laugh, Library, Learn

M - Mommy

N - Naked, Nurse

O - Outside, Oatmeal, Oreos

P - Peek-a-boo, Parents

Q - Quilt, Quirky

R - Ride

S - Slide, Sisters

T - Teeth, Twins, Tricycle

U - Underwear, Umbrella

V - Video, Van, Visit

W - Water, Wings, Walk, Wagon

X - Xylophone, eXciting

Y - Yucky, Yawn, Yummy

Z - Z-z-z-z, Zoo, Zebra

MORE free 8 1/2 x 11 Templates by Realscrappy! + How to Use a Template Video

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 03:47:00 +0000

I thought I'd offer a little freebie for you all today in the way of some 8 1/2 x 11 templates. I used to be quite disdainful of templates, but now I have learned they can be a real life-saver when you are either out of ideas or out of time. Today's templates are all based off of pages I have done recently. Below is each template which you can download for free, followed by the page I created that it came from.

These templates are in 11x17 format. You make the template then cut it in half to create two 8 1/2 x 11 pages. You can find templates 1-5 that I made here.

I also have a video for you! If you have ever been confused one how to use a template, I have a step by step video below that will show you the whole process from download to saving your finished file. I will use a different kit and different pictures than the ones I used originally, just to show how versatile a template can be! Enjoy!

Template 6

Template 7

Template 8

Template 9

And here are the pages that these templates were inspired from! Some of them I have posted on this site before.

Template 6

I created this page using the kit Je T'aime by Aimee Harrison at Gotta Pixel. I haven't bought much from her before, but this was on sale and I loved it. I'll have to look at more of her stuff! This page has room for 9 photos.

Template 7

This is my newest page--just finished it today! I used a kit called Sweet as Can Be by Connie Prince. I've actually talked about the same kit elsewhere on this blog. I have used it many times and I still love it! The kit itself is long gone from Connie's store, unfortunately.

Template 8

For this page I used the kit A Spring Day by Lindsay Jane at Gotta Pixel. Love this kit and I love this page--which is saying something because usually I just hate scrapping Easter. I tried a lot of element grouping on this page which I'm not particularly good at. But I still managed to use a lot of elements AND pictures--it is possible, ladies! This has 10 pictures in it!

Template 9

This is another page I just finished yesterday. I used the kit Under Construction by Connie Prince at Gotta Pixel. (The background paper, though, is from another ancient kit, not the Connie Prince one.) I love this page because it fits SEVENTEEN pictures--well, eighteen if you count the one behind the journaling. I had a lot of photos from this project and I wanted to get in as many as I could!

And last but not least, my instruction video. This video will take you through downloading the file to using clipping masks, to saving it properly.

How to Use a Template to Create a Digital Page by Realscrappy

Creating a Digital Scrapbook Page Step by Step

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 05:03:00 +0000

I've been thinking about what I wanted to add today to this site, and I feel that I haven't had enough hands-on video of how to scrap a page step by step. Now that I have new video software, it's much easier to make longer and more intricate videos on this subject. So today I will be sharing with you a 25 minute video in which I create this page:

In this video I start from scratch all the way up to uploading it online to a printing company--in this case, my old standard Cherishbound. I also use a kit by Lindsay Jane called At the Beach, which can be found at Gottapixel.net.

If you ever wanted to see how it REALLY works--the process from start to finish--this might give you a good idea. Everyone has their own style and their own way and none of them are wrong. But this is just mine. Thank you.

Creating a Digital Scrapbook Page from Start to Finish - Video

March Layouts

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Sat, 25 May 2013 16:59:00 +0000

So I'm feeling really guilty that I haven't updated in a while. The end of the school year is a CRAZY time for teachers. Right now I'm very overwhelmed with planning the teacher talent show, (where I will be ballroom dancing! Yay!) doing the end of year slideshow for the 9th graders, finishing up my Badge Builder Simulation with my 7th graders, getting my 9th graders ready for their state test--and that's just at work! I'm also teaching at a conference this summer for business teachers, and I've been asked to do a Digital Scrapbooking class! One problem--I have to teach it ON A MAC! Why don't they ask me to teach a SPANISH class while they are at it? I'm afraid my knowledge of Mac's is very limited, and while everyone says they are better for Photoshop, the one time I DID try it, I felt like my hands were tied behind my back!

Anyway, I digress. I wanted to just do a quick update and post some of the pages I've done recently. I am still working on March stuff, and haven't' hit April yet so I'm a bit behind. But then I figure most people are YEARS behind so I shouldn't feel bad.

Here's a page I did using a kit from Connie Prince called Bee Happy. I don't think you can get the kit anymore--I bought it a long time ago. But I LOVE Connie's stuff. You can find it at Gotta Pixel.

This next page uses Lindsay Jane's kit A Spring Day. I love how it turned out--which is saying something because I actually HATE scrapping Easter. I don't know why--I just hate it. Lindsay Jane and Connie Prince are my two absolute FAVORITE designers, and both their stuff can be found at Gotta Pixel.

This last one I wanted to share is awesome because it uses no kits at all! Well, I did use a few elements from various kits for the staple and the journaling. But I like how it turned out!

Ok, time to go. One of the twins is crying and I have cookies to make for today's barbeque!

Lesson 30: Adding Transparent Backgrounds to Scanned Items

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:11:00 +0000

I was recently asked about how to take regular items--like stickers, di-cuts, buttons, etc--and turn them into an element that can be used in digital scrapbooking. This is not something I have done much of in my own pages, but I DO know how to do it! First of all, this is a tutorial FOR PHOTOSHOP. If you are not using Photoshop or Elements, this tutorial will not help you.

OLD SCHOOL METHOD

1. Scan in your item. Pull that scanned image into Photoshop.
2. Use one of your Lasso tools to cut out the image as carefully as you can.
3. Once it's cut out, do CTRL+J to create its own layer, OR, copy and paste it using CTRL+C, CTRL+V.
4. Save the picture as either a .gif or a .png
**Note: .jpg files cannot have a transparent background. Make sure you file has the grey and white checkerboard background that means "transparent" and then save it as a .gif or .png in order for it to retain a transparent background.

NEWER METHOD

1. Scan in your item. Pull that scanned image into Photoshop

2. Click on the Eraser tool and choose Magic Eraser from the list
3. Click on the background until most of it is gone. It will automatically make a transparent background--no need to create a new layer.
4. Clean it up by using the lasso tool.
5. Save it as either a .gif or a .png
**Note: .jpg files cannot have a transparent background. Make sure you file has the grey and white checkerboard background that means "transparent" and then save it as a .gif or .png in order for it to retain a transparent background.

And now, if you'd rather watch a video that demonstrates this, click below!

Watch the Video! Creating a transparent background in Photoshop

Lesson 29: Using, Creating, and Downloading Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:39:00 +0000

Tonight I was working on a logo for the school I work at, and found the need to create my own pattern. I don't think I've given patterns much attention on this blog, for all they were one of the first things I learned to do when I started digital scrapbooking. Before I knew about kits and used them, I used patterns to give depth to flat surfaces when I created my wedding invitation, and also my wedding book. Patterns are a great way to make something pop a little bit, and they can be used in my diverse ways. These are some pages from my first two books, both of which were done without kits. I used patterns on the all the backgrounds for the pages.

Let's do a quick practice.

1. Open Photoshop and use your shape tool to draw any shape in any color.
2. Double click on your layer to get into the Layer Styles menu. On the list, check the Pattern Overlay box. You will see your shape take on the first pattern that is the default.
3. Click on the word "Overlay" from the list to bring up it's detailed menu.
4. Click on the down arrow and choose a pattern from the list.
5. Play with the different Opacity and Scale options

You have now used a pattern. There are a lot of other patterns to choose from. If you click on the small black arrow, as shown above, it gives you a long list. Here you can load patterns you've downloaded, but you can also add patterns that come with Photoshop but won't show up unless you add them. At the bottom of the menu (it's cut off in the picture) you will see a list of patterns with names like artists surfaces, nature, rock patterns, etc. You may want to click on each one to append them to your list so you can explore those as well.

Downloading Patterns

Can you get more patterns? I do it all the time! I often do searches for Photoshop .pat files. Here is a site where you can download some basic seamless patterns, to practice this tutorial. Click on the red download button.

When it prompts you where to save it, you will want to be very specific. I have actually created a "patterns" file in my Digital Scrapbooking folder. Any time I download a pattern, I put it there. Once I direct Photoshop to it in my Layer Styles menu, it will always go there automatically unless I change it.

This particular file is a .zip file so you will need to unzip it before you can use it.

Once you have downloaded and unzipped it, go back into Photoshop and into the layer styles menu as we did before. Click on the pull down menu and then the black arrow, as shown in the picture above. Click on "load patterns" and find the file you just saved.

Now when you scroll down, it will show the new patterns you just acquired.

Creating Patterns

Creating your own patterns is actually ridiculously easy. I did this today. I wanted the background to have floating clouds sort of greyed out and hazy, like watermark. So I found a picture of what I wanted and turned it into a pattern. I was then able to put it into my shape and change the opacity and scale as I needed it.

First, pull up the artwork you would like to use. You can create it yourself, or as in my case, just use a photo or a repeating image from online. Any texture file will do.

Go to Edit>Define Pattern. Give it a name.

Now go to you layer styles menu as we already have done and pull down the arrow to show your patterns. At the very bottom you should now have another pattern--the one you just added! It's that easy!

Changing Blending Modes

One little tip as you are playing with patterns is to pay attention to your blending mode. This is especially true if you want to have both a gradient and a pattern on the same shape.

I don't profess to me a master of blending modes, and I only use a few of them for different reasons. But here's just a few tips:

Overlay: If you would like to use both a gradient and a pattern, set the blending mode ON THE GRADIENT to Overlay. This will ensure that you can see both the pattern and your gradient.

Also, if you change the blending mode on your pattern to Overlay, it also changes the look to be more transparent and let the color of your shape shine through better.

The others on the list you will have to test out and see what they do. The only other ones I use a lot are hard light, vivid light, and sometimes multiply. This is not because the others aren't useful, it's just that I have a lot to learn myself!

Here is the finished logo that I created tonight. I ended up using a lot of patterns. The trees have one of the default nature patterns added, the maroon background has a sky pattern that I created, and the wood outer border is from a pattern that I downloaded!

Play Program Examples and Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 23:19:00 +0000

Templates Available for Download below!

In this entry I would like to take you step by step how to make a program. This can be for plays, musical reviews, dance concerts, etc. Below you will find directions on what information to gather, then how to put it together using Photoshop.

NOTE: If you want a tutorial on how to create a program from scratch in Word, I have a video tutorial assignment that I sell on my Teachers Pay Teacher site. Feel free to check it out!

I have also included examples of the nine programs I've made for our own school plays. If you would like to purchase a template for any of these shows, see the links below. You can purchase the template with or without the logo--if you are doing that specific show, then the logo--which is original artwork--is useful. If you plan on altering it for your own needs, there is no need to purchase the logo.

Consider Your Needs

First of all, you must decide several things before you begin:

1. How many pages? Is is 4, 8, or 12? In the beginning I always did 8 page programs (two pages front and back) but lately, with the reputation of how awesome our programs and our plays are, we have easily been able to raise more than enough to pay for printing with ads, so now we do 12 page programs (3 pages front and back.)
2. Will we be getting advertising? If you do advertisements, consider going up to another page to accommodate them. Also, give yourself plenty of time to get them! I don't get a single ad myself--the students bring them in! You can see the sponsorship form we use here.
3. Printing: Before you get too far, get some quotes for printing. I've found that its sometimes the same price to get the whole thing done in full color rather than black and white. We get ours printed through FedEx. For a 12 page program, full color, it cost about $850. It's much cheaper if you do black and white and less pages.
4. Find some artwork. Do we have a logo? While you don't need a lot of artwork, its nice if you at least have a logo or a theme. My good friend Henry Ballesteros did the graphic design for all our logos for years, and they really inspire me as to what direction to take with each program. Now I do the logos myself. You can always find things to add as well--like for the Oklahoma! program I found a great picture of growing wheat to go in the background, and some shots of barbed wire that I could use as well. If you purchase the logo version of the templates, you will get the logo but also the pieces of the logo so they can be used in different ways. If you are doing your own logo, then it shouldn't be too difficult!

Gather Information

Now that you have answered the preliminary questions, you are ready to gather your information. As I am not the director or even really that involved in the play itself, this is the information I collect from those in charge. You will need to collect at least some of these--depending on what you want to include in your program.

1. First and last names of the Leads and the characters they are playing. I like to do headshots of the leads to go in each program, so figure out which are the 6 or 8 or 9 most important leads--whatever number is right for the play. Generally it's from 6-9 headshots, but when our school did Beauty and the Beast and then Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat back to back, we had A LOT of headshots!
2. List of all the chorus members and everyone else actually IN the play. I usually do a mockup of the program and send it around during a rehearsal so kids can mark if their names are spelled correctly.
3. Committee lists--the director, music director, etc. You'll see a sample in the template of what type of people should be listed here.
4. Tech Crew--I swear this is the hardest one to get because tech crew is often not assembled until the very end. SUCH a struggle every time!
5. Musical Numbers (or scenes) - At this point I usually just borrow the book for the musical and go through to enter the scenes as they are written in the book.
6. Pictures--to me, this is challenging but so worth it. It's what makes the program a keepsake for those involved. I usually coordinate with the director to find a date they are doing a hair and makeup rehearsal that is just before my turn-in date with FedEx. Then I take a few (ok a lot) of photos during their rehearsal. You don't need a ton, but enough to get good shots of the leads and as many chorus people as you can.
7. Special Thanks - I usually a Special Thanks section where we put the names of parents who helped, the costume company, whatever.
8. Ads - if you are doing ads, make sure you have the artwork of each ad ready to go in digital form.
9. Copyright information - When you purchase a play, there are certain copyright verbage you must include on the program. Some companies ask that you send them a copy of your program to prove you included it! The verbage required will be in the Director's handbook that came with the purchase of the rights to the play. Make sure you include this information!

Plan Your Layout

Now that you have your information, time to lay it out! I will continue this tutorial for an 8 page program--or, 2 pages front and back in a booklet. Layout for a program of this size should look like this for page numbers. I usually get blank pages out of my printer and mark them up with marker, showing where I want each thing to go, before I even touch Photoshop. This is just a suggestion--I don't always do it exactly like this!

This is assuming you have no ads. If you DO have ads, you can squeeze them in on the back page or below committees, add another page, or don't do as many pictures on page 4 and 5.

Using Dot Leaders in Word

Entering Text Using Word

Because I use Photoshop for this (not being well-versed in InDesign) I have to fudge it a little for some of the Word Processing features. For example, you cannot do dot leader tabs in Photoshop. So I type them up in Word first, then save it as a .pdf file. Pull that pdf file into Photoshop and it will be treated like a picture. You can't make changes to it--if there are changes you will have to make them in Word and then import them again. BUT--Photoshop is not a word processing program. It's not easy to get it to line up in columns and especially to do the dotted lines leading out to each person's name.

How to get dot leaders in Word

How do you do that anyway? Well, I DO teach Word for a living, so here it goes for Word 2010. In Word, type the first title (Director) and then on the Home tab go to the Paragraph section and click on the tiny arrow in the lower right corner, as shown above. When the menu comes up, click on the "Tabs" button in the lower left corner. Then, set a left or a right tab with dot leaders, as shown.I usually set my tabs to 3.5 or 4. Test out what you think looks right for your needs.

Now when you press the tab key, you will have dots leading you out to where you set your tab, and you can enter the names needed. You'll end up with something like this. Note--the first half is a left tab at 3.5 with a dot leader, and the second half is a right tab at 4 inches with a dot leader.

Now when you save it, first save it as a Word doc. Then save it again, but this time, change the file type to .pdf when saving.

Add Your Information

From here on out you can add your information as needed. I try to stuff it full of as many pictures as I can! Below I have pictures of all ten programs that I've done--you can get a lot of ideas of how to lay out your information by looking at those examples.

Saving Your File Correctly

Make sure when you are totally done, that you save this correctly. You do NOT want to give the printer your psd files because A) they can only be opened in Photoshop B) they are huge and C) If they don't have the fonts you've used, you'll lose your fonts!

So, when completed, first go to Layer>Flatten. This will make all your layers into one layer. Then go to Save As and choose PDF from the list. These PDF files are the ones you want to give to your printer.

Purchase Templates!

Below you will find the images for the ten programs I've done over the years at my school. You can see I got more and more detailed each year! You are welcome to use these images to help you plan, or you can purchase the templates from me at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I have them in the Logo and the Non-logo versions. Just clip your pictures in, rearrange if needed, and you are ready to go! I am still in the process of converting them to templates at the moment--if the one you want isn't available, please contact me. If you would like me to customize a program for your event for a fee, I am willing to do that as well. Please contact me.

Available Templates

Bye Bye Birdie

Guys & Dolls

(Template Available)

If you would like to purchase the template for this program, you can find it here

You can also get the NON logo version, which includes the template in a Word document, if you do not have access to or are unable to use Photoshop.

Cinderella

Seussical

(Template Available)