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Don't Be Square! - Part Two
Note: Tutorial created using Adobe Photoshop CS4 with Windows 7.
Part One of this series taught you how to create a rectangle digital scrapbooking template from a square by simply resizing the square template and placing it on a rectangle canvas. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for creating rectangles from squares, so on to Part Two!
For this method, you will need to create a new, blank document in the size you'd like your final template to be. I would like to create a letter-sized digital scrapbooking page, so I will create an 8.5x11-inch-sized canvas.
Then, open up the square template you wish to convert to a rectangle. In my case, I'm using the third template from ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Storybook Castle. It's easiest for this step if you can open up a pre-made PSD or layered file, but if you only have PNG files, that's okay, too. Just open those up, and we can work with them!
In your PSD file, go to your Layers Palette. Select all the layers in your document by clicking on the top layer, holding down your Shift key, and then clicking on the bottom layer.
Now, choose the Move Tool, hold down your Shift key again, click and hold on your PSD file, and drag the image to your blank rectangle canvas. Once the blank canvas pops to the front, you may drop the image in the rectangle document by releasing your mouse and Shift keys. You should see your square template image centered in the new rectangle document.
For those template sets that only have PNGs available, you may either: 1) Create a layered file and then follow the previous steps, or 2) Create the layered template right in your rectangle canvas. To do that, simply take each PNG image in order (starting with the bottom layer), hold down the Shift key, and then drag and drop it into the new rectangle canvas.
At this point, you can be finished with your new template! However, you have the option to adjust your template layers up, down, left, or right to fine tune the look you want, since there is extra room on all sides. You may even decide to shrink the template layers a bit to fit more of the original in your new version.
To do that, select all the template layers in your rectangle document by clicking on the top layer in your Layers Palette, holding down your Shift key, and clicking on the bottom template layer (the bottom-most one that has stuff on it). Now, hit Ctrl+T on your keyboard. You should see a dotted box around the area your template layers take up. Holding your Shift key down to maintain proportions, you can drag the corners in to resize the template layers.
Now, you are truly finished with your digital layout template. Make sure to save your file as a PSD or other layered file type so you can access your template again if you'd like.
Finally, add your photos, papers, embellishments, journaling, and whatever else you'd like. And stay tuned for Part Three!
Explore the flexibility of ScrapSimple Templates, plus 50 other digital scrapbooking topics, in Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed and MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed. Drop by the Scrap Girls Boutique now!
Layout by Heidi Dillon
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Tutorial written by Heidi Dillon
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