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How to Use a Template - Using Photoshop CS2
Created by Deb Ammerman
I will use the Deco-Pages January 2008 Template Challenge Template by Michaele Burkhart of Burkhart Scrapzone Designs for this tutorial. This Template is free until January 31, 2008. Here is a link to the Template Challenge Thread in the forum at Deco-Pages.
http://board.deco-pages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3086
1. Download the zip file, and unzip it.
2. Open the jburkhart_template15.psd file in Photoshop.
3. The very first thing you want to do is save the template as a new file, so that you can come back to it later in its original state. So, choose Save As from the File Menu, and save the file to your hard drive where you want it to be.
4. Open the Paper you want to use for the page. For this tutorial, I will use my new kit, Preskool.
5. Select the Paper, Ctrl + a, (select all), and then Ctrl + c (Copy). Now go back to your template, and select the very last layer in the layers pallet (It will turn blue when selected). (Which is named "Raster 1") and Then Paste the Paper into the template ... Ctrl + p (Paste). In the 2nd Screen Shot you will now see that my background or paper is now bright yellow, and a new layer has been added to the layers pallet (layer 1).
6. Now lets select the Raster 2 Layer in the Layers Pallet. This is the Paper Layer behind the Journaling Layer. (If you turn off the little "eye" in front of layer in the layers pallet, you will see it disappear, and reappear when you click the eye back on.)
7. Open the paper you want to use for that layer in the template. For my example I am using a solid Red Paper. Again I am going to copy the paper and then paste it into the template.
8. Now you will see that you cannot see the Yellow layer or the layer you want this to be... that is ok.
Press your ALT key on your keyboard, and then click between the Layer 2 and the Raster Layer in the Layers Pallet. The cursor will change when you have it direct center between the two layers.
Now you will see that the yellow paper is showing again, and that the Journaling Paper has turned Red. The "Raster 3" Layer is the other Journaling Block on top of the Red Paper I just inserted. Lets do that one next.
9. Select the Raster 3 Layer in the layers pallet.
10. Open the paper you want to use for the journaling block. I am using a Dark Blue Paper for mine. Again, Select all, and copy the paper... then go back to the template, and paste the paper into it.
11. Again, holding down the alt key on your keyboard, click the line between Layer 3 and the Raster 3 Layers in the layers Pallet, and you will see that the block has changed to your paper.
12. If I want to add a little drop shadow to my Blue Journaling Block, I can double click on the "Raster 3" Layer, and the Layer Style Dialog box will appear. I can then click on the Drop Shadow box, and that will add a slight drop shadow on my page.
13. Save your page. :)
14. The Raster 4 Layer of the Template is the Curved cut out paper, for this layer, I am going to use a pattered paper. So I open the Paper file I want to use, and select all, and copy the paper. Then I return to the template, making sure that the Raster 4 layer is selected, I paste my paper into the template.
15. Again, holding down the ALT key on my keyboard, I click the line between the Raster 4 and Layer 4 Layers in the Layers Pallet, and the Masking takes place. Again, I can add a drop shadow to the layer if I want to.
16. The next layer in the template is the mat behind where your photo will appear. For my example I am just going to turn this layer blue. So, going to my color picker in the Tools Menu, I will click on the eye dropper, and then select the blue I want to use on my template.
17. I will then select the Raster 5 layer, (Making sure that I have the Move Tool selected in the Tool box) select all, then press on my down arrow on the key board one time, and then press the up arrow on my key board one time, (this is just a quick trick to select your box) and then I fill the box with blue. (Alt + Backspace) or you can go to the "Edit" menu and select Fill from the drop down menu, make sure that the foreground color is selected from the drop down menu in the dialog box that appears and click ok.) Now the Mat behind the photo area should be the color you selected. Blue in my example.
18. Before I insert my photo, I am going to turn off the Layer where Michaele has put her text information (raster 13 Credits Layer), so it doesn't interfere with my photo. I am simply going to click on the little eye next to the layer in the layers pallet, so that it hides the layer, rather than deletes it, in case I want to look at it again.
19. Now I will open the photo I want to use, select all, and copy the image. Making sure that the Raster 6 layer is selected in the layers pallet, I will then paste the image onto the template.
Now Holding down the ALT key on the keyboard, I will click the line between Layer 5 and the Raster 6 layer in the layers pallet. I can then select the Move Tool in the Tool Bar, and move my image where I want it.
Again, don't forget to save your file.
20. The next layer I will work with is the Photo Corner. Raster 7. So we will select that layer, then open the paper we want to work with, I am going to use a Green paper for this. Select all, and copy the paper file, then go back to the template and paste it in.
21. Again, holding down the ALT key on your keyboard, click between the Layer 6 and the Raster 7 Layers, to mask in your paper.
22. Raster Layer number 8 is a bow, I am going to replace it with an element from my kit. So, first of all, I am going to hide the bow layer in the layers pallet, simply by clicking on the eye next to the layer to turn it off. Then I am going to open the element I want to use from the kit, which for my example is a dump truck.
Select all, and copy the element, and then paste it into the template. Then use the move tool in the tool bar, move the dump truck into place.
23. The Raster Number 9 layer is next in line. I am going to make that red, and I am going to type the date the photo was taken into it. So, I will open, and copy my Red Paper. Making sure that the Raster 9 Layer is selected in the layers pallet, I will paste the paper onto the template, once again, Holding down the ALT Key on the keyboard, I will then click between the Layer 8 and Raster 9 Layers in the Layers Pallet.
24. I will now select the color I want my text to be by clicking on the foreground color chip in the Tool Bar, and then changing the color to white.
25. Now I will select the Text Tool in the Tool Bar, and click the mouse one time just above where I want my text to appear in the template. I will then type the date. I am then going to want to rotate my text just a little bit. So, Making sure that the Move Tool is selected in the Tool Bar, and the Show Transform Controls is activated, I will hover my mouse over the Right top bounding box of the text on the template until the cursor changes to look like two little arrows, then I will click and drag until the text is at the slant that I want. Don't forget to save your work.
26. The next layer in the layers pallet is a staple near the top of the photo. I am going to replace that with an element from my kit, which is a staple with beads on it. So I will hide the layer by clicking on the little eye next to the Raster 10 Layer in the Layers Pallet. Then I will open the element I want to use from my kit, select all, and copy it. I will then go back to the template, and I will paste the element onto the template, and move it into place.
27. To finish off the page, I will add journaling on top of the blue Journaling box. I will change the colors of the two folded ribbons to green, I will add elements from my kit on top of the folded ribbons. I will add some more drop shadows and then this is my finished page.
