Sunday, November 22, 2009

How to use a quick page (+ a freebie)

Ok, so it's not my tutorial (and not my freebie), but it's still good to know - esp. for those of you who are just starting digital scrapbooking.

The "quick page" is really simple to do. It's just a pre-designed digital srapbook page that you can plop your photos in.

Paislee Press has put together a detailed tutorial on how it's done. Click the image to see the easy peezy instructions:

Monday, November 9, 2009

Simple white border



After doing a bit of research, I'm happy to say I'm not the only one who has been frustrated by Photoshop's strange lack of options when it comes to creating a simple white border on your elements. I've tried stroke, expand, and even "border", but all of them are either rounded or feathered, and it makes me crazy! Finally, I found something that works (other than layering a disproportionate white rectangle underneathe).

Here's the step by step on how to get a simple square border (at least in PS3).


  1. Activate the layer. (Click the thumbnail in the layers palette while holding the Ctrl key)

  2. Hold down the Shift key and the letter "Q"

  3. From the top menu, select Filter> Other> Maximum

  4. Choose the width of your border

  5. Shift-Q again

  6. Now you'll see an empty marquee around your picture, fill that marquee with whatever color you want for your border.

  7. Now hit Ctrl-D on your keyboard to get rid of the marching ants and there ya go!

It may seem like a lot of steps, but after you've done it a couple of times, it's really quick and easy.