Free Digital Photo Mask and Back-to-School Layouts

My cousin kindly offered me the use of several photos she took of her kids on their first day back to school this year. I immediately noticed, in the above photo, the "dead" space above the little boy's head, not to mention the distracting glare. So I custom-designed a photo mask to deal with that space
It's basically a soft focus with the title cut out in the upper right corner, right where the distracting elements are in the photo. Here is the photo clipped to the mask and then placed on a very simple layout:

Note: I also used the dodge tool in Photoshop CS3 to lighten the area behind the words, to make the glare even less noticeable and to make the words stand out.

The accompanying page:

. . . and the two page layout:

So, cuz, what do you think??

I must apologize to my customers that I was only able to make 3 Back-to-School photo masks. I had intended to make 8 or so, but client orders have been coming in so I've been very busy with photo-book and digital scrapbook projects. Designing my own products has to take a backseat to my custom-designed layout work, since that is really the main focus of my little biz.

I do have some templates already made, just need to finalize them, zip them and upload to 4shared. I'll be working on getting those up over the next couple weeks.

Meanwhile, click here for a FREE download (at 4shared) of the Back-to-School photo mask featured in this post. Enjoy!

Judy, This Template's for You!

First, I want to show off a layout my BFF, Judy, made with one of my Page Heroes:
She did a great job! Judy is a brand-spankin' new digital scrapbooker. She's been learning Photoshop Elements and having some success and some frustration.

I sent her some of my Page Heroes (quick pages) to try, thinking they might be easiest to start with, and she loved them. When she sent me her completed layout she said: "Those are so darn fast and handy! I can't wait to try the other ones. Really nice the way the pictures just slip up underneath. I didn't add any extra embellishments or do anything else - just stuck the pictures in."

Then Judy proceeded to ask if it's possible to change the "color & stuff" of the Page Hero. This made me smile. Well, yes, you COULD change the colors, at least, using some more advanced techniques . . . but pre-made pages like my Page Heroes aren't really meant to be used that way. They are meant to provide a super-fast and easy way to whip up a layout in mere minutes.

I smiled because Judy's question indicates that her skill level & her understanding of layers has already moved beyond Page Heroes which have a single layer with cut-outs for photos. She's already chomping at the bit to change the page elements!

Judy, your next step is TEMPLATES! To make the transition to templates easy for you, I've taken the same Page Hero - Hearts - and turned it into a template. Here it is FREE (for a limited time):

Download from 4shared

or

Download from mediafire

(More templates can be found here)

(More Page Heroes can be found here)

Don't forget - ALL Digital Scrapbooking products by Webajeb are
COPYRIGHT-FREE!!!

The downloadable zipped file contains the same template in two different formats; .PSD for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users, and in .TIF format for users of digital scrapbooking programs that don't work with .PSD files. (Thanks to Grace for the suggestion to include .TIF files!)

Templates have multiple layers with each element on a separate layer. Recolor the elements, clip digital paper to them, re-size, duplicate, or remove them, whatever your little heart desires, Judy! Templates can be thought of almost as a pattern, or guide; something to jump-start your own creativity. The resulting layout can be completely true to the template or have no noticeable resemblance at all. Most are somewhere in-between. Every scrapbooker makes the template his or her own.

Templates give beginning digital scrapbookers the opportunity to learn all kinds of new skills while providing a starting point, or base, for a completed layout. Tutorials abound on the internet, as do online digital scrapbooking classes, both free and paid. Just a few of my favorite places to get help when I was learning are:

Digital Scrapbook Place

Scrap Girls

Photoshop Elements User (this link is specifically for PSE 5, other versions are on other pages of the website).

Blogs have become a fabulous source for tutorials in the past couple of years:

Jessica Sprague has a ton of great info and tutorials.

Kayla Lamoreaux's blog, Digital Scrapbooking 101, is chock-full of great info for both beginners and advanced digi-scrappers.

There are tons more, just do a Google or Yahoo search specifying the particular software package you use (including the version), include the word tutorial as well as the specific task you want to learn such as recolor elements, create text, etc.

Judy has suggested that I include with my downloadable Page Heroes some basic instructions on how to use them, and I think it's a great idea! I'll be writing something up soon, and also for my templates, and then including the documents in each downloadable bundle. If they are not needed, the instructions can be ignored, but if they are needed, it could make the difference between a fun experience and a frustrating one.

Feedback like Judy's, and Grace's, is helping me become a better digital designer.

So grab my free template, make it your own, and then send me your feedback, suggestions, and layouts. I'd love to hear from you!

New Digital Template Plus FREE Pre-made Pages

Webajeb-Template-02

The second Webajeb page layout template is here!
$1.49

(If you missed the first one, which is a FREEBIE, you can get it here.)

These are so much fun to use, and easy, too. As mentioned when I posted my first layout template (here), Webajeb templates are layered .PSD files with a "Plus." In Jessica Sprague-style they feature a plus sign on each layer that is clippable, making it super-easy to identify which layers are made especially for clipping digital papers.

I use Photoshop but I know tons of digital scrapbookers use Elements or other programs, some of which may not support the clipping technique. Please know that these layered files are still appropriate for you!

You don't have to use clipping on these layers. You can use any method you like to recolor, select and cut, or apply styles and textures to the layers. These .PSD files work like any other, with each element on its own layer, making it easy for you to add your own papers, elements, titles, and journaling.

Here is the template with photos, digital papers, color added to the fibers, and some text:

Thanks to DigiTreats for the January-themed paper (slightly recolored to match my photos). If you don't already "follow" the DigiTreats blog, you need to jump on that bandwagon right now. There is a freebie nearly every day plus a huge shoppe (currently having a Grand Re-Opening sale) full of great digital, well, TREATS!

I love the DigiTreats flowered paper so much that I also created a version of my finished page without the 5 small photos at the top, so that more of the flowered paper is visible:

Another really great look, don't you think?

Now, for those of you who prefer pre-made pages I am making each of my fully layered templates available in that format as well.

Introducing Tumble Templates by Webajeb!

(no longer available)

(no longer available)

You can be among the first to use one of these templates. Simply click on either of the template images to download it. Download both, if you like!

UPDATE: 03/10/09: I have had to remove the links to these pre-made pages. After letting Pamela of DigiTreats know that I had featured some of her papers here on my blog, she wrote back to say that I could not use them to give away as freebies due to the fact that she uses other designer's products to create her own, and that those other designer's Terms of Use preclude their use in any commercial way, including as freebies. **SIGH** Sorry about that, friends! However, I will (as soon as I have time between all the traveling I'm doing this month) re-create these pre-made pages using my OWN papers and then re-post them, as freebies, of course!

Tumble Templates are delivered as flattened .JPG files. Simply open a new document in your scrapbooking software program and drag in the template. *On the template layer, use your magic wand to select the gray photo areas and delete it. You now have a hole in the template. Add a new layer under the template, "tumble" your photos onto that new layer, and re-size as needed.

(* Of course, this is just one way of adding photos; use any favorite technique.)

Save with a new name, and Done!

Scrapbooker for Hire, Scrapbooking for Others

Ahhh, the magic phrases that seem to bring new customers my way. Gotta love Google!

Lately, I've had some more unconventional requests from people. Several have called wanting advice on starting up their own digi-for-hire business. I'm only too glad to talk to them and share what I have learned as I've organized and built my little business. I believe there is more than enough work out there for lots of scrapbookers for hire.

Another lady has requested tutoring in PhotoShop Elements so that she can do her own digi-scrapping. We will have our first telephone lesson today. I use PhotoShop CS3 so the menus and such are going to be different - I'm hoping that won't be too big an issue. I have used Elements in the past so I hope I can remember enough to make the tutoring worthwhile. This very nice lady from Massachussetts will be in San Francisco next month, accompanying her husband on a business trip. Since I'm only 35 miles from S.F. we are going to take advantage of the close physical proximity to get together in person for hands-on tutoring. It will be great to meet her, too!

I find a lot of inspiration for my page layout designs from magazines. Recently I came across an ad in a women's mag (I think it was Ladies' Home Journal) that I based the following layout on. It's probably not everyone's cup o' tea, but I like it. Now if I could just figure out where to put a title and journaling!