How to use a Template.

Since I love templates and that's mostly what I design I decided I would write a tutorial for you all. This will be for Photoshop since that is what I use. Open your template in photoshop and the first thing you need to do is save the template under a new name so that you don't change the original template. Then click on a layer that holds a photo. In my case I'm going to click on the layer named picture 1 (all my templates have easy to recognize layer names). Then I will drag and drop the photo that I want on my template. After I've dragged my photo on top of the layer where I want my photo I'll hit ctrl+alt+g (ctrl+g for elements users). That will clip it to my layer below it. Then I can use my move tool to resize it or move it around to where it fits in the box. (Be sure that when you are resizing your photo you hold down the shift key so that it resizes your photo evenly) Below is an example after I have resized the photo and moved it around a bit to fit the box. Now I'm ready to move onto the next layer. I'm going to move to the picture 2 layer and drag and drop my next photo over that layer. Then I'll hit ctrl+alt+g (ctrl+g for elements) to clip my photo to the layer below. Once I clip it I'll move or resize the photo around to where it fits. (Remember to hold the shift key so that it resizes it evenly).Then I'll do that with the rest of my photo layers. Then I'll add my background and paper layers (do the same thing as the photo layers but just use paper instead) and finish by adding some journaling and some embellishments. You can see in my finished page below that I added some drop shadows to my different layers and changed where I put my title.I just love templates because it takes the guesswork out of lining your photos up and cropping them to the right size, etc..... Plus you can always add more paper or elements to a template to fit your style or the look you are going for. Anyway, I hope this helps. I always try to make my templates very user friendly.

I made my page with a freebie by Mindy Terasawa and some stitching by storeide gunhild.

Combining Number Templates

Okay I've never done a tutorial before but I'm going to attempt to show you all how to combine my number templates so you can make whatever number you would like. I am using Photoshop CS3. First you will open the 2 number templates that you would like to combine. I'm going to make the number 20. So I will open number 2 and 0. In the number 2 template I am going to go to my layers palette and click on the layer titled photo 1 and hold down shift while I scroll up in my layers palette and I will click on the very last layer (all my layers are selected except the background layer). Then I will right click in the layers palette and go to duplicate layers. A screen will pop up and you will want to change the destination to the opposite layer you are on (in my case it will be Document 0drawn.psd) Click OK.

Once you click OK the number that you duplicated will be on your other template. Then you will select that template and the move tool. Adjust your number to the position you would like it.

Then you will have to select all the layers of your other number and adjust them. Then you can resize your numbers by selecting all the layers (except the background layer). Then click on the move tool and resize to whatever size you would like. You can resize your numbers individually but I like to do them together so that they look like they are the same size. But I guess if you wanted one number to be bigger than the other than that would work too.

And you have your number template. Be sure to save it as another PSD template so you don't override your original document. I hope this tutorial helped and wasn't too confusing. I would love to hear your feedback.