Articles : Tutorials - Digital

Sharing digi with the world

one canvas tote bag at a time

This month marks two years since I started learning Photoshop.  The days of being completely puzzled by the first chapter of a Photoshop Classroom in a Book are far behind me.  In the last two years I've made hundreds of layouts, some pretty cool wall displays for my house, two amazing hardback Shutterfly books, and even dabbled a bit into hybrid projects.  But something was still missing.  Something fun, something cool . . . something as obnoxiously outgoing and "hey look at me!" as I am.

Before Christmas, I heard about "Princess Purses," sold at Paper Princess Events.  I did think they were really cool, and my best friend Priscilla got one.  They're little black purses with front and back openings for your own inserts.  They're cute and classy . . . but a bit small, and impractical for my rough and tumble life.  I break nice things.  I try not to, but I do.  I also have a LOT of stuff to carry around.  I couldn't deal with the pressure of something so beautiful, so I didn't get one.  (But here are some pictures of Priscillla's purse, and the store's product pic.)

Then a few weeks ago, in an e-mail from Polka Dot Potato, I saw it.  The something that had been missing.  The something I needed to make my digi-life complete: a black canvas tote with a plastic pocket to display a 12x12 insert.

*cue angels singing*

Really, that's just beyond awesome.

I promptly placed my order, and sat back with excitement.  I was visualizing myself out and about with my tote: total strangers stopping me and telling me how amazing it is, asking me how I made such a great insert . . . and then I would tell them all about digi-scrapping.  I'd meet new people, make new friends, convince dozens to start digi-scrapping . . .

But then a not-so-exciting thought broke through my glee -- what was I going to PUT in that 12x12 pocket?  I would have 144 square inches with which to display to the world my life, my creativity, and the coolness of digi-scrapping.  That's a lot of pressure for a measly insert.  Suddenly it wasn't so fun anymore.

Instead of obsessing on my own, I turned to the most logical place for a problem this big: an online digi-scrapping message board.

How do I decide? I asked.  Do I pick my favorite square page?  Do I make a new layout, just for the purse?  If so, how do I get over all the pressure and make a decision about photos and style and kits to use?  I have 8x8 albums, it's not like I have any 12x12's sitting around.  No, this will have to be a special print just for the purse.  SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

And then AprilA saved my poor little brain from exploding.  She said, "Jen . . . you don't have to decide on one!!!  You COULD choose 9 layouts and make them 4x4 and put them 3 across and 3 down."

Dude.

HOW had that not already occurred to me?  I could do that.  I could totally do that.  The wheels in my head started turning, and I remembered some news I'd gotten earlier in the week: ScrapbookPictures.com is running a printing special for the month of February. 12x12 prints for $2.49.  That is an amazing deal.  Suddenly I realized what to do.

First, I opened my folder of completed digi layouts.  I scrolled through them and copied all of my favorites to a new folder on my desktop.  It was a fast process; I had no criteria.  I grabbed the layouts I loved, and the layouts that caught my eye.

Once I had a very full folder of favorites, I started thinking about groupings and seasonal possibilities.  When I start a project, I go all out.  I wasn't just trying to find a few layouts for an insert.  No, I was coordinating a year's worth of inserts to change out with the seasons and my moods.  I was building a wardrobe for my awesome new tote.

The first combo that jumped out to me was four layouts, each with a tan/craft paper background.  As a group, the layouts had enough color and variety that I knew the abundance of tan wouldn't feel blah -- especially set on a black background with good borders.

Getting my four layouts on one page for printing was easy.  First I created a new canvas -- 12x12, and black. I opened the layouts in Photoshop, and resized each of them (Image > Image Size) to 5.9 x 5.9 inches.  After dragging them to the black canvas, I created guidelines at exactly the 6 inch marks, horizontally and vertically.  This created four squares;  I put one layout in each square, lined up to the center.  With the Move Tool active, I chose one layout at a time and moved it outward with the arrow keys.  I used the same number of keystrokes for each.  If the top left layout got moved up five and left five, the top bottom layout got moved down five and right five.  I zoomed in and out a lot, always making sure my borders were even, and made small adjustments as I searched for the perfect balance.  When I finished, I selected the black background layer and chose "Image > Canvas Size."  I entered ".5" in the width and the height to enlarge the image .25 all around.  This made the outer black border larger -- both as a buffer for inevitable clipping during the printing process, and so no part of the layouts would be hidden beyond the pocket of the tote.  (Just like putting pictures in a frame, there's a small part of the photo that gets lost behind the frame edge.)

My first attempt at a Christmas insert had four layouts -- but it just didn't look right.  I realized that because the layouts were all from a quick-page album and they coordinated perfectly, a nine page set (three across, three down) would actually look really cool.  There's a unity to the pages, and the black border between all of them keeps it from looking too busy.

The October insert was easy.  The day after Halloween, I had thrown together several square collages of my favorite pictures for my blog, with simple white stitches to separate the images.  I grabbed three of these for the insert, but for it to be complete I still needed to create one layout with some visual interest.  This was easy: I used the 8.5x11 layout I'd already made for Jake's chronological album as inspiration, and threw together a square page.  When it came time to compile these four images on a background, I realized that since all the photos were dark, they needed a white background to make them pop. 

Month by month, my mind walked through the coming year.  Easter and flower pictures for April.  Swimming and sprinkler pictures for June.  Fireworks and cook-out pictures for July.  My tote is going to be very well dressed.

The only insert I had to make from scratch was November's.  I had so many adorable pictures from last year's visit to a local pumpkin farm, it would be a shame not to use them.  This is also the reason I didn't already have layouts to work with -- I couldn't get my mind around SO many cute pictures.  I hadn't used any of them yet!  But I saw some possibility in the huge 12x12 canvas, so I narrowed the 200 images down to my 11 favorites.  I dragged them all onto a blank canvas and started arranging, rearranging, and resizing until I got it right.  I STILL, after two years, smile with delight at my ability to make photos bigger or smaller in the middle of creating a layout.  Digi-scrapping is awesome.

I kept working from my favorites folder, matching and grouping, until I had a year's worth of inserts to print.  Some groupings don't match or have a theme, or really make any sense at all -- except that they are my life.  And that's ok.  I think my new tote and I will be very happy together in the coming year.

P.S.  The bag also looks awesome with any sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper as an insert.  You can quickly make your bag match any mood you're in, according to your scrapbooking stash!
P.P.S. There are a limited number of these 12x12 totes available, and when they're gone, they're gone.  You can find them at Polka Dot Potato, by clicking here for the black, and clicking here for the tan.

About the author ...
Jen Strange is mama to Jake, a full-time secretary, part-time piano teacher, and obsessive scrapbooker (since her son's birth in 2002.) An avid blogger since 2004, her DigiScrappin' with Jen blog serves as an introduction to digital scrapbooking, while her Stop Piracy blog is a centralized spot for learning about and fighting the piracy of digital scrapbook kits and designs. Jen has been digitally scrapbooking since April 2005; find Jen at www.jenstrange.com and Layouts by the Numbers

Submitted by strangejen