Saturday Scrapbooking

Wow, finally a chance to do some of my own scrapbooking!  On Saturday I went to an all-day crafter’s fundraiser.  Everyone brings whatever craft they like to do (most people bring scrapbooking projects although I’m the only one that does it digitally) and we work on our projects, snack, eat lunch and then dinner, and socialize.  It was a very fun day.  Here are a few of the pages that I did: 

For those of you wondering what’s going on with my business, Webajeb Digital Photo Albums & Portfolios, there have been some huge changes in my life; hence, the long silence in this blog, and no newsletter.

Bottom line is: I’ve gone back to work full-time.  The reasons are many but foremost was health & dental insurance.  My little business was barely bringing in enough to pay my taxes, let alone pay my bills AND handle the ever-rising cost of individual health insurance premiums, so the tough decision was made to go back into the corporate world.  I know many, many small businesses are struggling in today’s economy so I will say that I’m extremely grateful to have landed a great job.

Tomorrow will begin my third week at the new job and I’m finally beginning to settle in to the new routine.  It’s been quite an adjustment!  I am not shutting down my business completely, but I will not be taking on any client projects; I will only be creating some digital products and putting them on my website for sale or on my blog as freebies.  I will try to do this at least once a month, but no promises!

I also plan to post many of my own digital pages that I create because, well, I just like to share!  And it’s a good place for my friends and family to see them.  I’ll still send out the email notification whenever I update this blog.  (If you’d like to opt out of those notifications simply use the “Opt In/Out” link on the left-hand side of my blog.)

Keep on scrappin’!

Digital Photo Books – I’ll Make ‘em for you!

 

Photo Book-Making Service by Webajeb

I’m creating a photo book today for a client.  It’s the third in a series, one for each summer, that she and her family spend at her dad’s lakefront home in Canada.

{I can create one for you, too, for a low flat rate for the first 20 pages.  Click here for more info.}

You’ve heard the website names, perhaps visited one or more:

Snapfish, Shutterfly, Smilebooks, KodakGallery, MyPublisher, Lulu, Picasa, Blurb, Photobook Memories, and more every day.

You can go to any one of these websites, upload your digital photos and, using their premade backgrounds and page layouts, make beautiful photo books in a variety of styles and sizes.

Easy and fast, right?

Yes and, well,  no.  It IS pretty easy, once you’ve been through the process a few times, have learned the tricks at the various websites to make the process go faster, are familiar with the photo book tools for editing, adding and spellchecking text, creating the covers and spine designs, etc.  Oh, and resolving any issues that may pop up such as text that’s too large to fit the space allotted, a photo that gets cropped incorrectly or turned on its side, or pages that are out of order.

And the process IS pretty fast, once you’ve been through it a few times.  I will warn you right up front, though, to be prepared for it to seem tedious and tiresome and for it to take far longer than you expect your first time through.  Each time after that will get easier.

I know.  I’ve been ‘round the block with most of them at least once or twice by now!

My current favorite is Shutterfly; I like all the services they offer to digital scrapbookers, and they are the best for when you want to upload your own custom-designed scrapbook pages instead of using their premade stuff.  I like their galleries, too, and how you can set up one of your own and make it invite-only if you want.

I have a gallery there myself which contains some of the photobooks I have made.  Here is the link, but you’ll have to become a member before you can access it.  When you go to the link you’ll be able to choose the option to request being added as a member.  I’ll respond to all requests as quickly as possible.

Take a look at the books I’ve already created.  Perhaps you’d like one, too?

Free Digital Scrapbooking Template Number 043

{Webajeb-Template-043 - 2-page layout!}

It's been awhile since I gave away a freebie, so here's a cool 2-page digital scrapbooking template FREE to my blog readers!  This template was inspired by Sketch #23 in the January 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.

Get it in PSD or TIF format (or download both, if you like).  You'll get the 2-page layout as one file AND as individual right and left pages,so you can work with the template in the way you are most comfortable.

These templates include all of my "Easier-to-Use" features: numbers on each photo spot so that you can quickly locate the layer where you want to drop your photo; a plus sign (+) in front of the layer name for layers that are clippable, AND font names included in the layer names for text in case you want to use the same one.

Download in PSD format here or TIF format here.

Visit my online store for more templates, as well as lots of other fun digital scrapbooking products!!

Enjoy!

Five Ways to Reduce PSD (or TIF) File Sizes

 {8x8 canvas: PSD file size before: 40.98 MB; PSD file size after: 33.02 MB}

What to keep and what to throw out?

Do you save your layered digital scrapbooking files?  Or do you flatten them into JPGs and then delete the original PSD or TIF file to save space on your hard drive?  Or do you keep both?

I used to keep both; in fact, I used to keep THREE versions of every scrapbook layout that I created: the original layered PSD file, a flattened JPG file for printing, and a smaller, low-res version for the web!

It wasn't long before I realized I was quickly filling up my hard drive and I began to wonder - did I really need to keep three versions of every layout?  If not, which ones should I keep, and which should I throw out?

My first thought was to delete the PSDs.  Because of the layers in a PSD file, they are by far the biggest in size and take up the most hard-drive space.  By deleting them I could quickly free up a lot of space.  My reasoning was that once the layouts were finished and printed I certainly wasn't going to go back and make changes, so why keep them in the layered format?

In talking with other digital scrapbookers I found that most were deleting their PSDs (or TIFs) and keeping only the flattened JPGs.  Not yet 100% sure I wouldn't EVER want to go back and change something on one of my personal layouts, I decided I'd start by deleting all the PSDs for my clients.  After all, once I'd delivered their printed layouts, or their completed albums, I could definitely consider those layouts finalized.

The first decision: Get rid of the huge PSDs files.

I deleted about 200 PSDs and freed up a LOT of space on my hard-drive so I was pretty pleased with myself.  Until a few weeks later . . .

 . . . when I realized that a piece of digital paper that I'd created on-the-fly for a client layout would be perfect for the layout I was working on . . .

. . . but that I hadn't saved it off separately.

Well, that PSD file was gone and all I had was the flattened JPG.  I wasn't going to be able to pull the paper out of that!

I was able to recreate the paper, pretty closely anyway, but it took me a lot longer than if I'd had it available, and it was frustrating to have to do that work over again.

Soon after that I realized that many of the layouts I'd done in the past for clients could easily be reused for another client, or for my own personal layouts, and vice versa!  If I had the PSDs all I would have to do is swap out the photos and change titles and journaling.  Argh!

Why I had never thought of that before I'll never know.  I'm usually pretty good at finding the quickest and easiest way to do something {probably because I'm basically a lazy person, lol}.  It's a totally Murphy's Law kinda thing that it wasn't until after I'd deleted hundreds of my PSD files that I recognized their value.  Or should I say, a totally ME kinda thing to do, as is what I did next: which was to totally reverse my standard operating procedure.

The second decision:  KEEP the huge PSD files.

Now I save the PSDs and delete any JPGs!  After all, I can always quickly & easily make a flattened JPG (high or low-res or both) from the PSD anytime I want, but I can't make a PSD from a flattened JPG!
 
Then, because there was still the issue of how big PSD files are, I looked for ways to make them as small as possible, and came up with five quick and easy ways.

Five Ways to Reduce PSD (or TIF) File Sizes:

Before starting a new layout:
1. Choose the correct canvas size.  Don't create layouts at 12x12 if you plan to print at 8x8.  Templates, quick pages, and digital papers delivered at 12x12 can be scaled down as needed.

After your layout is finished:

2. Crop the canvas.  With the marquee tool, start at one corner of your canvas and drag the mouse to the opposite corner to select the entire canvas.  From the menu select Image, Crop.  Press Enter.  This trims any part of digital elements or photos that extend outside the boundaries of your canvas. 

3. Delete any hidden or extra (duplicate) layers.  Turning the eye on and off to make sure the layer is truly extra.

4. Delete that original white background layer, if it's no longer needed.  Most likely it's totally covered by another piece of paper!

5. Merge any clipped layers.  This is a biggie!  You'll shrink your file size by a lot by getting merging the clipped layers together.  If you use template you can easily end up with 6 or 7 extra layers (photos) that are clipped to the template.

Some real-life examples:

The layout at the top of this post was done at 8x8.  Using Tips 2 through 5 I was able to reduce the file size from 40.98 MB to 33.02 MB.  Layouts done as 12x12s can be even more dramatic in the file size change results.  Check these two out:

 

{file size before: 91.85; file size after 65.02}

 

{file size before: 130.12 MB; file size after: 68.23 MB!}

As you can see, even after clean-up a layout done at 12x12 is going to be considerably bigger than one at 8x8.  So always create at 8x8 (or 8.5x11) unless you know for sure you're going to want to print at 12x12 or bigger.

Note: I once sent a friend one of my layouts (created at 8x8) and she printed it at 12x12 and it looked great, so I'm not convinced that it's ever necessary to go with a  larger canvas........but I wouldn't want to stake my reputation {or your prints} on my limited experience.  ;-)

My final decision:

I'm keeping my {cleaned-up} layered PSD files - only.

Simple.  Uncluttered.  I like it.

Gettin' Dotty with LAYERED Digital Paper

{dotted LAYERED digital background paper by Webajeb}

{available now in my online store}

Each of the three papers are delivered in both the usual .JPG flattened format AND in layered .PSD and .TIF formats.  So you can either use the .JPG format, as is, open up the .PSD in Photoshop or, if you use a scrapbooking software other than Photoshop, you can use the layered .TIF file.

Here are some of the modifications you can make to my layered papers {instructions are included in the set of three papers}:

* Change the color of any or all the layers.
* Change the opacity of any or all the layers.
* Remove or hide the Bevel & Emboss style on the two dotted layers.
* Add a different style to any or all the layers.
* Add a texture to any or all of the layers.
* Remove or hide any of the layers.
* Enlarge the dotted layers and move them around.
* Add more layers.

Essentially, you can end up with an entirely new, different, and custom-designed-by-YOU piece of digital paper!

Once you've finished with your changes, and are happy with your new paper, save it as a .JPG.  It is now ready to be dragged onto a layout.  That's really all there is to it.

Of course, if you like the papers just as they are, simply use the .JPG file in the download.

Get this set of three layered digital scrapbooking papers, and see what other cool stuff I have, at my online store here!