[-Tracy-]

 These are all questions that have kept me from digi scrapping.  I might just get up the nerve to give it a try.  Would it be worth it to invest in a 12 x 12 printer?

We just had a chat with My Pic Tales. She has AWESOME pricing on single prints, books, calendars and more. You can get layout singles from 50-75 cents EACH! So...I'm going to say you can do it cheaper by not buying one. But maybe you're like me and are an instant gratification type gal.   Even so, I do not own a 12x12 printer.

Remember, you could always do 8x8 on your home printer too. It's a nice size, not too big and bulky, yet you can still see all the details.

[rica71]

So here's a question for ya...

Do you ever have a problem with the colors printing true to what you actually created?

[allysonc]

 any good sites or something from this site about how to start with photoshop? Wish I could find a good tutorial that is super super easy!

[-Tracy-]

So here's a question for ya...

Do you ever have a problem with the colors printing true to what you actually created?

I've been suprised here and there. But I think that's more the settings of my monitor. If you google Monitor Calibration you should find some sites that will help you calibrate your monitor colors to your printer colors. Also, some printers have the option under Color Management to use mointor colors when printing.

[-Tracy-]

 any good sites or something from this site about how to start with photoshop? Wish I could find a good tutorial that is super super easy!

Ally-If you go to page one of this thread, I gave out some sites with tutorials. I hate to keep hawking my own, but that digi template tutorial is very helpful for the beginner. The first half of that tut is all about PSE and where things are and how they work.

[1luckymama]

 

Tracy,
 I had to show you my first digi LO!! I am so proud!! Thanks for all the help!!! I have a feeling I've got a new addiction.

[-Tracy-]

 You did a GREAT job!!!! Congrats! I'm glad I was able to help!

[-Tracy-]

 10 points each to

Gypsymonkey
Themom



Anyone have a question that hasn't been asked yet?

[PezKat]

 oh thanks tracey that screen shot with all those options has me sold I only have about 15 shapes I can use with the program i have now!

Hee, me too, almost!  I get overwhelmed when I have too many choices.   Silly me... I looooove downloading and looking at digital kits but then when I decide to use some it takes me forever because I feel like I have to look through every. single. option. available!  I do the same thing w/paper.  It's amazing I ever get any pages completed at all, lol!

So would it be ok if I give an additional 'answer' to the software question?  I'm sure PSE is the best choice, but for a beginner &/or someone on a tight budget there are several other options.  My computer came with Microsoft Picture It!, so I would suggest looking through the programs already on your computer to see if you have something like that.  So far with my hybrid scrapping (and one fully digital layout & some cards) that has been sufficient.  Even before that, I experimented with Microsoft Word for doing some title boxes & such w/various fonts. 

Another option is Creative Memories' Storybook Creator which is available for free download here. This comes with preset page layouts that you can just drag your photos into and journal.  It's meant to do digital books but you can also do individual pages and get those printed.  There's a full-blown digital scrapbooking program ("upgrade") called Storybook Creator Plus that you can purchase if you like that style (using templates), though with it you can move & edit all the individual page elements as well, you don't have to use the templates though they are probably faster. 

[Sus79]

 I really love the way you do shadows, and was exstremly impressed by your paper piecing in the last crop, so my question is how do you do that?

[-Tracy-]

 

My computer came with Microsoft Picture It!, so I would suggest looking
through the programs already on your computer to see if you have
something like that.  So far with my hybrid scrapping (and one fully
digital layout & some cards) that has been sufficient.  Even before
that, I experimented with Microsoft Word for doing some title boxes
& such w/various fonts. 

I started out with Picture It (which later became Digital Image Pro) also, but Microsoft has discontinued this product line and that is why I didn't talk about  it.

[-Tracy-]

 I really love the way you do shadows, and was exstremly impressed by your paper piecing in the last crop, so my question is how do you do that?

I learned to do my own shadowing through Kim HIll's tutorial. You will find it here along with her other tutorials for PSE. Digiscrapping Tutorials

Once you learn how to do that, it's just a matter of playing with them until they look how you want by moving the shadow layer further away, or blurring more, or changing the opacity.

Look it over and if you have more questions about it, let me know. 

[fong33]

 I blend pictures into the backgound paper often, but I have yet to figure out how to make a picture fade into a paper if that makes sense.  I think they are two different things and there was  a thread on this recently and was not able to figure it out!

[-Tracy-]

 I blen pictures into the backgound paper often, but I have yet to figure out how to make a picture fade into a paper if that makes sense.  I think they are two different things and there was  a thread on this recently and was not able to figure it out!

There was and it was about using gradients I believe. I have a blending mask that I use. Let me see if I can find that other thread for you.


ETA: Here's the thread: LINK

[-Kami-]

Tracy you're da bomb, baby!!! What a cool thread to help newbies!!

[Sus79]

 I really love the way you do shadows, and was exstremly impressed by your paper piecing in the last crop, so my question is how do you do that?

I learned to do my own shadowing through Kim HIll's tutorial. You will find it here along with her other tutorials for PSE. Digiscrapping Tutorials

Once you learn how to do that, it's just a matter of playing with them until they look how you want by moving the shadow layer further away, or blurring more, or changing the opacity.

Look it over and if you have more questions about it, let me know. 

Thanks Tracy. I´ve already tried the tutorial, but can´t seem to get the same awesome result as the two of you gets That must just mean, KEEP TRYING! LOL

[-Tracy-]

 I really love the way you do shadows, and was exstremly impressed by your paper piecing in the last crop, so my question is how do you do that?

I learned to do my own shadowing through Kim HIll's tutorial. You will find it here along with her other tutorials for PSE. Digiscrapping Tutorials

Once you learn how to do that, it's just a matter of playing with them until they look how you want by moving the shadow layer further away, or blurring more, or changing the opacity.

Look it over and if you have more questions about it, let me know. 

Thanks Tracy. I´ve already tried the tutorial, but can´t seem to get the same awesome result as the two of you gets That must just mean, KEEP TRYING! LOL

I will tell you I don't do the dual shadowing thing. My layers get one shadow and that's it. I've noticed that I like to bump up the Gaussian blur a bit and tone down the opacity. Especially when you're going to print--less is always more in shadowing.

Could it be the direction? I don't think I'm using the same one as Kim. I like to nudge my shadow layer up and to the left. (So the light source is the bottom right hand corner of the page). I think this is a more dramatic looking shadow.

[fong33]

 I blen pictures into the backgound paper often, but I have yet to figure out how to make a picture fade into a paper if that makes sense.  I think they are two different things and there was  a thread on this recently and was not able to figure it out!

There was and it was about using gradients I believe. I have a blending mask that I use. Let me see if I can find that other thread for you.


ETA: Here's the thread: LINK

Here's my question as it relates to that link.  When Jenn says to "Select the top photo or paper, set the foreground to black and the background to white"  How, so I do that?  I am not sure how to set the foreground and background colors.

[-Tracy-]

 I blen pictures into the backgound paper often, but I have yet to figure out how to make a picture fade into a paper if that makes sense.  I think they are two different things and there was  a thread on this recently and was not able to figure it out!

There was and it was about using gradients I believe. I have a blending mask that I use. Let me see if I can find that other thread for you.


ETA: Here's the thread: LINK

Here's my question as it relates to that link.  When Jenn says to "Select the top photo or paper, set the foreground to black and the background to white"  How, so I do that?  I am not sure how to set the foreground and background colors.

In the bottom left hand corner you'll see two colored squares. (RED & BLACK in the pic below) The top is the foreground color and the bottom one is the background color. If you click the even smaller ones underneath, it sets the default which is Black on top of white. If you click on the square a pop up box will open with a color picker box.




The box will give you an eyedropper tool, you can use it to choose a color from your layout, or you can just adjust it yourself with the sliders, or if you have the RGB values you can put them in the boxes.

[luboost]

 Ok Here's a question, Usually I have my layouts printed at an outside source as then I know they will last, but say I want to print here at home, in the past photos I have printed here at home have faded etc...what kind of ink do I need to stop that...Does this make sense ...I've really gotten into doing 8 x 8 then putting them on 12 x 12, but have to wait for them to be printed and shipped...TIA

***If you have an HP...The vivera ink along with the Premium plus paper is 'certified' to last 100+ years!

I also have a questionl...What is a printable?  Aren't all digi things printable?

erica