New to forum and digi scrapbooking

[Carla]

Hi All,

I wanted to introduce myself. I decided to look into digial scrapbooking, did some research and talked to others who do digital scrapbooking. During my reaseach, I found this website and it convinced me to go with PSE instead of Creative Memories. I bought PSE8 that included Linda's "How To" DVD from Costco. I have almost finished watching the entire DVD and am overwhelmed with the seemingly endless ways to be creative. Lots of great advice and numerous tips for the novice, scrapbooker and PSE8er. Way to go Linda. I can't wait to get started. Just one question. I am in search of elements and background paper that have a sports motif, soccer and swimming. Where is the best place to buy things like that or do most folks create their own buy scanning or by using some other method?

Thanks much,
Carla

[AzScrapper]

Welcome to the site Carla. You will find the most concise and easy to understand information here. If you google "digital scrapbooking + sports" (or +swimming) you will get some sites where you can purchase the elements. There are a ton of them around.

Sherill

[Wendy]

Hi Carla ..

... and a big welcome to Scrappers Guide :)

Hope that you manage to find the elements that you are looking for.

Wendy

[dmrdm]

You can create by scanning or you can start collecting brushes (or make your own brushes) or shapes or freestuff and make your own. There are tons of free brushes out there and you can stamp or make patterns from them to make your own paper. I don't know if your new CD gets into making brushes or patterned paper, but it is easy to do. If you have not already read the tip of the week, make sure you go through those also. (go to the home page and you'll see them listed on the left side).

[troush]

Welcome along, Carla! Linda's teaching is the best. Hope you can find the papers you are looking for.

Some other options - take pictures of the sports items you are looking for, and then make background papers from those.

-Trish

[Carla]

Hi All,

Thanks for the advice. I found some paper and elements on Dee Doo's albet a little pricy. Brushes, umm a little advanced for me. I will keep plugging away at things and am hopeful that I will figure it out. I did try to scan but that did not work out the way I had hoped since I like to do 12x12 pages but my scanner only handles a max paper size of 81/2x11. I tried to resize but the images came out a little disorted.

Anyway thanks for everything.

Carla

[krimcg]

Carla, welcome. I hope you find this club as helpful as I do. I was a CM paper scrapper, but like you, also chose adobe elements for digital. Before Scrapper's guide, all I had learned to do on my own was drag photos and elements in and out, outline them, and type. But step by step I am learning more every day. Stick with it, and in a month you will love what you can do! Check your PMs for a link you may find helpful.
Kris

[lachance]

I just bought Elements 8 because I wanted to start doing digital scrapbooking. But I can't figure out how I can get my templets from my files and put together a scrapbook page. If someone can help me I would appreciate it more than you would know.

[Ruth316]

I highly recommend Linda's teaching CDs. You can find them in the Scrapper's Guide store. She can get you up and running really fast.

Otherwise, the first step is to open a blank document in PSE. You'll need to determine the size. Quite often scrapper's design in 12x12; some use 8-1/2 x 11. It all depends on what you are planning. Then you open your template, digital paper, elements and photos and place them. Of course, add in some journaling. That's it in a nutshell. But there are a lot of nuances that practice and experience will enable you to design a great page.

Be sure to subscribe to the weekly e-zine. You'll get tips to help you along the way.

By the way, welcome to Scrapper's Guide! I hope this helped a little. If you have other questions, start a new thread and ask away.

[lachance]

I just wanted to thank you so much. You are the first one to tell me where to begin. Another quick question is: The templets I have I downloaded from the internet, I extracted them so how do I bring all of that into a blank page? I plan on buying the c/d you recommened but spent all the money on PSE for now. Any help is appreciated.

[Ruth316]

Just to make sure we are speaking the same language, what type of file is your template? PSD, PNG, Tiff? If you have a template with any of these extensions, you should be able to go to "file" in the menu; then scroll to the "open" command after which you need to browse to the location where you filed the templates.

At one time, we were all newbies and had lots of questions. Glad I could be of help. Let us know if this works for you.

[lachance]

Yes, that worked thanks. Now how do I get the photo into the templete. Thanks again

[Ruth316]

Hi again,
I've done this many, many times but have never explained it to anyone. So here goes. Do you have your photo in your bin? I assume you've opened the photo(s) you plan to include in the LO. There are usually several ways to put a photo in a LO. I'm going to explain the simplest one. I'm also assuming the template has a shape where you want your photo to show. Drag your photo into your LO. The photo will be on its own layer. You may need to drag the layer below the template so that the photo shows in the shape placeholder. Click on show bounding box if not already selected. Now resize the photo using the corner handle and holding down the shift key (to constrain proportions). When you like what you see, click on the green check mark. You probably will need to move the photo with the "move" tool (shortcut: "v" on your keyboard). Use the "resizing" function and "move" alternately to get the size and placement you need. Good luck.

[lachance]

Again thank you so much. I feel like I can begin now. Your information will really help.

[Carla]

Hi All,

Does anyone know if and which scanners can create .pgn image files with transparency?

Thanks much,
Carla

[Jan]

Hi Carla,
Think of a scanner as basically a flat camera. You can scan anything you like, but it will have a background on it. You can remove the background using selection techniques in Elements or Photoshop.

[Carla]

I was just curious how elements are created and thought they where created using non-digital methods then scanned. I have tried scanning then using photoshop to create a .png file but I did not get the results I hoped to achieve. I guess I just need more practice.

Carla

[troush]

Carla,

Different designers use different methods. Some might photograph something against a neutral background to make it easy to remove the background. Others might scan it in. Some are so good they can "draw" them, or have techniques to make it pretty easy to design in Photoshop.

-Trish

[smileykate]

My name is Katie and I'm from Northern Arkansas. I have been paper scrapping for many years, don't know what made me think I could do this , but I'm gonna give it my best shot.
Wendy I have seen you elsewhere on the web and I am very impressed, if I learn to do a portion of what I've seen from you I will be pleased.
Linda I guess it was your CD that made me think I can do this, it is fantastic! I have been reading,watching and practicing so maybe soon I'll have something I would like to share. Thanks to all as I have been reading the forum for about a week and this seems like a friendly helpful place. Thanks again and I'll probably be back with many questions.:)

[troush]

Welcome along SmileyKate! Looking forward to seeing your creations.

-Trish

[Jan]

Hi Katie,
Welcome to Scrapper's Guide! We're glad you found us, and we're looking forward to getting to know you and seeing what you create. Ask as many questions as you like and we'll be glad to help.

[Wendy]

Hi Katie ..

... and a big welcome to Scrappers Guide :)

You will find everyone here happy to help ... so if you do need any advice then just ask.

Wendy