Father's Day Gift Ideas to Make With Your Kids

Portable Family Album: Hybrid Scrapbooking

Tutorial for You and the Kids

Featuring FxFoto Software by Miss May:

Susan White

Creative Team Guest Member

Here’s a great way to carry photos of your family with your when you travel. It would make a great gift for Father’s Day, especially for a Dad who travels a lot. And kids can help make it too. Depending on their age, they can help you choose the papers, elements or they may be able to do the whole thing themselves.


Here’s what you will need:

Altoids Tin, empty and clean
Digital kit – Trainspotting by Rikki Donovan
1/4 in ribbon, one 12 inch piece
Scissors and sharp craft knife
Cardstock for printing, 67 lb
Adhesive
Photos
Ink pad


1. First make the top and bottom which will cover the top and bottom of the tin. These will be made digitally, printed out and adhered to the tin. The directions are written for the software I use (FxFoto) but you can modify them for your own software.

Begin by clicking on the New button and choosing Card. The size for both the top and bottom are the same. Click on Custom Page Size and enter 3.9 inches for height and 2.5 inches for width and click Continue. Here’s what you will see:



As you see above, check the File box and then choose the folder where you have the Trainspotting kit. Click on Continue and that kit folder will appear. Just choose a background paper and click Open. Now you are all set to add papers and elements as below:

2. Add papers and elements to your layout by clicking on them in the left folder. Move, resize and rotate using the blue grab boxes. Keep elements away from the edges a bit since they may get trimmed off later.

To crop several pieces of paper the same size like the strips of paper, use the Keep Crop Rope feature. First, click on the rectangular shape and pull the box to the desired shape. Now click on the Keep Crop Rope button which is marked below with the red arrow.



The Keep Crop Rope feature means that you can use the same crop rope to cut several papers to they will be exactly the same size. Now cut the paper by clicking on the Crop button. Then the move the paper, click on the Mouse tab and move the cut paper out of the way. Move another paper under the crop rope and go back to the Crop tab and cut that paper. Keep repeating until you have three strips of paper. Here you can see one paper cut and another being moved into position.



When you are done, clear the rope by clicking on the Clear Rope button.

3. Add Text by opening the Text tab and choosing New Text Object. Choose a font – in the example First Grader was used. Don’t forget to spell check! Click on OK and then move text over the title box,

4. Save as a jpeg (Save > Save Image As) and as a collage (Save > Save Collage Wizard). The jpeg is useful for printing and the collage lets you go back and re-edit your layout. Now print out the cover on 67 lb white cardstock. Click on Save and then Print.
At the dialog box below, check the Limit Print Size and type in 3.9 in height and 2.5 in width. Then continue to follow directions.







5. Create the back too. Here I used the same background and changed some elements. Print out back.



6. Cut out front and back by first cutting the rectangular shape. Lay the tin on top of the paper and using the craft knife carefully trim away any excess paper and round the corners. Adhere to top and bottom of tin.

7. Adhere ribbon to the edge of top lid. You may leave the bottom section white or cover it with paper ½ inches wide by 12 inches long. In the example, digital paper from the kit was printed out and used.

8. To make the accordion album, cut cardstock 3 ¼ inch wide by 11 inches long. Fold it into 2 1/8 inch panels . Cut photos 1 ¾ inches wide by 2 ½ inches high. Adhere first panel to the bottom of tin. Adhere photos on to the rest of the segments.

Here’s my Portable Family Album:

Please leave feedback for Susan! Thanks~!

Wednesday's Tutorial

Using Layered Sketch Templates in FxFoto (Part 2 of 2)

By Miss May: Susan White

Layered sketch templates make digital scrapbooking fast and fun. I love how you can use the same template again and again with different papers. And I love adding embellishments to make each page unique.

First you need two things –

A. FxFoto Creative or Media Edition v 5.0 or higher. You can upgrade for free by going to the website at www.FxFoto.com, click on the download and choose Run.

B. Sketch Template that is a jpeg, tff or png sketch template and is FxFoto ready. You can find how to make yours ready to use in the Preparing Templates for FxFoto tutorial on the Everyday Digital Scrapbooking Blog.

1. Start your layout by clicking on the New button in the upper left pane of FxFoto. You will see the choices below. Click on the Quick Sketch Template button.


Now the dialog box below will appear. Navigate to the folder with your FxFoto ready templates. We’ll be using the Kim Hill PDQ Templates Set 1 which I used in the preparation tutorial.





Click Finish and your template is ready to use.




2. I’m using a kit by Rikki Donovan called Bootleg Flowers. Add papers by dragging a paper from the left folder and dropping it onto the colored block of your choice. If you don’t like it there, simply drag another paper and drop it over the first one. Below you can see the paper being dragged over to the medium pink paper.






And now the paper has dropped in:



Keep dragging and dropping until you are happy. Drag and drop a photo too!

3. Sometimes you may want to adjust the photo to get the subject centered or to crop it. Here I’ve used a stock photo from Stock.chng. You can adjust the photo after it has been dropped by using Frame Adjust. First, click on the photo to select it. Then click on the Frame tab in the upper tool box. Now click on the Adjust button and here is what you will see:




Grab and move the photo using the blue grab boxes. You can pull out on the photo to make it bigger. The red and white dotted line marks the edge of the frame. The parts of the photo outside the frame are partially transparent and will cropped once the frame is applied. Click Apply when you are done. Here it is close up:

[Insert close up of frame adjust step 3 photo 7]

4. Now let’s add some elements. Just click on them in the left folder and then move around and adjust. Add a shadow in the usual way (Info > Image Placement & Shadow > Add shadow and adjust sliders). Add a shadow to the papers in the template by right clicking on them to select them and use the path above.

5. Add your title and journaling. Click on the Text tab and then choose New Text Object. You will see the tool box below:




Use the Font & Size button to choose any font on your computer. Here I used Stamp Act. Choose the color using the Text Color button. Type in your text and then click on Spelling to check it and click on OK. Now grab and move your text box to the place you would like it on your layout. Not happy with it? Click on the text box to select it and click on Edit Existing Text Object. Then you can change text, fonts, colors etc.

So here’s my layout.



6. Save your layout as both a collage file and a jpeg. The collage file means you can go back and re-edit it later. The jpeg is a final copy and cannot be edited but is the format used for printing.

To save as a collage file click on the Save button in the upper left pane and then choose the Save Collage Wizard. Now as in the box below, choose Add as New Collage, then choose the folder and name your collage. I’ve chosen my folder called Pages in Progress and I’ve name it At the Fair. Click on the Finish button.



To save as a jpeg, click on the Save button and choose Save Image As. Just as in the screenshot below, make sure the Entire Collage button is pressed down and then on Next.



Now, as above, add the jpeg as a new picture to your folder. Choose Add as New Picture, select the folder and name the layout if you wish and then click Finish.

That’s it! Happy Scrapping!

You can puchase FxFoto ready templates at The Scrapping Garden www.scrappinggarden.com. These are already colored and ready to use!


Please leave feedback for Susan!

Tuesday's Tutorial

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Preparing Sketch Templates for FxFoto (Part 1 of 2)

By Miss May: Susan White

Layered sketch templates are loads of fun. Not only are they fast but they can be used over and over again with different papers for a whole new page. Plus you can add embellishments to make the page unique.

In FxFoto Creative Edition v 5.0 or higher you will find the new Quick Sketch template tool which lets you drag and drop into a sketch template. You can upgrade your FxFoto Creative for free by using the download on the website at www.FxFoto.com – just click on the download and choose Run and it will install over your old version.

You can puchase FxFoto ready templates at The Scrapping Garden www.scrappinggarden.com. These are already colored and ready to use!

To use a sketch template in FxFoto is will need to be a jpeg, png or tff file so check to make sure the sketch templates you buy come with those formats. You may need to prepare them just a little bit if you want total control over what paper goes where. FxFoto Quick Sketch tool works by using the colors on the template to place and crop papers. That means that if more than one area of the template is colored medium gray, then the same paper will drop in all the medium gray areas. Take a look at Kim Hill’s PDQ template below:



In this template, the three horizontal strips of paper are the same color of grey so paper dropped in one will appear in both strips. If you change the color of the strips before using the template, then you can drop different papers into each strip. When I purchase templates, I take a minute to bring them into my FxFoto, change the colors and then save them so they are all ready to use when I want to scrap.

Changing the Colors

Start by opening your FxFoto and putting the template into the main right pane. Now click on Correct and then chose Color Brush. You will see the tool box below.




Click on the check box marked Flood Color Around Picture Click Point. Set the Transparency slider to 0 and the Color Match Tolerance to about 20. Now click on the area you would like to recolor. Click on the button marked New Color and choose a new color and click on another area. As you can see below I’ve colored a the three strips of paper with three different colors.




Removing Text

I love when designers suggest where the title and journaling should go on the page. But to add my own text I first need to remove their text on the template. I usually save both the original and the FxFoto ready template so I can refer to their design later.

Use the Clone Brush to remove the title and journaling lines. A clone brush is like a paint brush which uses part of the photo as ‘paint’ to cover over another part of the photo. Here you will use the white background color to cover over the words. Click on Correct and then click on the Clone Brush tab. Choose the square brush, set Feather to 0 and the Brush Width to 29. Right click on the white background to set your ‘paint’. Left click and hold and sweep your mouse over the word Title to remove it. I find it easier to zoom into the template as you can see below:

Here is the template now and it’s all set to use! Just save it!



Saving the Template

Here’s a little trick for saving your FxFoto ready templates so they are easy to find. When you are recoloring several templates, first move them into FxFoto so they are in the left pane. The easiest way to do this is to use the Install Zipped Kits feature. Click on the Folder button and choose Folder Order & Set Up. Then click on the Install Zipped Kits button and browse to where you have stored the zipped kit. Click Open and a box will open that lets you rename the kit. Do NOT rename it. That way once you save the fixed template it will go directly in that folder making it much easier to find.

To save your new template, click on the Save button in the upper left pane and choose Save Image As. In the next dialog box which you can see below, make sure the button marked Original Image is pressed down and click Next.



Then final box is below. Choose Save as New Picture and choose the original folder which contains all the templates. Click on Finish and the new template will appear in the left folder. At the same time it will be also saved in a folder in My Pictures which is marked FxFoto_Clips. The FxFoto_Clips folder contains all the kits you have installed using the Install Zipped Kits feature. So your new template will be in a folder marked KHill_PDQ-Templates-Set1 which is the original name of the Kim’s file. And the KHill_PDQ-Templates-Set1 will be in FxFoto_Clips folder and that will be in My Pictures. That will make it easy to find when you want to use the template.



And we will use this template in the next tutorial “Using Sketch Templates”.

Featuring Miss May: Susan White

Teacher Gifts: Customized Postcards

By Susan White, Miss May

Creative Team Guest Member

This tutorial is written for FxFoto software, and you can create your postcards using your own software with adjustments.

Making postcards is a quick and easy digital project! And post cards are a fabulous deal –postage is only 24 cents so they are perfect for quick notes, announcements and invitations. And the front side is free for you to digitally decorate.

Make them to give to your child's teacher as a unique gift!

And yes it is perfectly legal to make and mail your own. They do need to meet the US Postal Service rules which are:
Rectangular One sheet of paper or card stock Minimum size: 3 ½ inches high by 5 inches long and 0.007 inches thick Maximum size: 4 ¼ inches high by 6 inches long and 0.016 inches thick 0.007 inches thick is the thickness of an index card so cardstock works well


Creating a Post Card

1. Start by turning on your FxFoto and clicking on the New button. In the next box, click on the Card button and choose 6x4 inch card, then click Continue.
Now choose your background. Here’s the dialog box you will see:



Click on File and then use the drop menu to choose the kit you want to use. Here I chose
Kim Hill’s Wacky Spring kit. Now click on Continue. Here’s the folder for the Wacky Spring kit by Kim Hill – simply click on the paper you would like to be the background. Don’t worry, it’s easy to change it later (see step #6 below).


2. Now add elements and papers by clicking on them in the left hand folders. They will appear in your work space as you can see below.




Grab the elements to move, rotate and resize. To layer them, right click on the element you want on top and choose Show Image on Top. To delete an element, right click and choose Delete Image from Collage.

3. Add a shadow by clicking on Info and the click on the Image Placement and Shadow tab. Click on the Add Shadow box and then using the sliders, chose the height, darkness and feathered edge for the shadow. Then click Apply. You can apply the same sized shadow to several elements by right clicking on the element and choosing Add Shadow. In FxFoto the shadow rotates and moves with the object so you can apply the shadow anytime.

4. Crop two papers using the Bumps Box crop shape. Here I cropped striped and polka dot papers. Click on the Crop tab and then choose Pull or Adjust Pattern. From the crop menu choose Bumps Box. Then click and drag to create a box. Click on the Crop button and move into place. Do this for both papers. Right click on the cropped purple polka paper and chose Show Image on Top, then move it on top of the striped paper.


5. Let’s add some text. Click on Text and then choose New Text Object.



I used Batik font with a size of 20 and bolded it to make it stand out better. Now type your text and don’t forget to spell check it! When you are done, click OK. Now grab the text box and move it over the purple paper. Make a separate box for the tag.

6. We are just about done but I think I’d like to change the background so the pink tag shows up better. So let’s change it to green. In the upper left pane, click on Settings and then click on Collage Settings. Now click on the tab marked Background and Theme. Here’s the box for changing the background. Click on the box marked Background Image



and then click on the Choose Image File button. Now you can browse to the Wacky Spring file and choose a different paper. Once you have selected it, click open and then OK and you will have a new background.

7. Print it on cardstock and cut out. Turn it over and write the address on the right side and your message on the left. Stick a stamp on it and put it in the mail!



Here are some other examples using our sponsor Kim Hill at CG Essentials :