How to Create a Digital Scrapbook Page Using Paint.net
Digital scrapbooking has many advantages, the main one being that you don't have to spend a lot of money on scrapbooking supplies. While there are many fine software packages out there designed to do digital scrapbooking, you can also do digital scrapbooking in any paint or photoediting program. Here are detailed instructions for how to complete your first digital scrapbook page using Paint.net.
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Things You'll Need
- Photographs (scanned into your computer or digital)
- Digital clip art
- Photos of paper or other textures
Instructions
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1
Choose a theme for your digital scrapbook page. It can be a holiday, a trip, back to school or whatever you would like.
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2
Open Paint.net and choose what size you want your scrapbook page to be (see Resources below). You can do this by going to the "Image" drop-down menu and choosing "Image Resize".
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3
From your "Tools" window, select the paint bucket and then from the colors window select whatever color you want the background to be--then paint your square with it.
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4
Find a photo of the type of paper you want your digital scrapbook paper to look like. Open this photo in Paint.net and make it the same size as your digital scrapbook page; save it.
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5
Go back to your digital scrapbook page and add a layer. You do this by selecting the "Layers" drop-down menu and clicking on "Add New Layer".
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6
Copy and paste the photo of your paper into the new layer. Select the "Edit" drop-down menu and "Select All." Then go back to the "Edit" drop-down menu and select "Copy" then "Paste."
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7
Double-click on "New layer" and change the Mode to "multiply" in the "Layers" window At this point you should see that your background looks as though it has the same texture as the photograph of paper that you chose. This will give your digital scrapbook the appearance of being an actual scrapbook page.
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8
Go to the "Image" drop-down menu and select "flatten" to blend your colored layer and paper layer. Be sure both layers are selected in the "Layers" window.
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9
Open a new file and repeat Steps 1 through 6, only make the paper a different but pleasantly contrasting color.
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10
Go to the "Edit" drop-down menu and choose "Select" and then "Copy."
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11
Go back to your original digital scrapbook paper and to the "Tools" window. Select the square with broken lines around it. Go back to your original scrapbook paper and mark out a smaller square on top. Paste the new colored textured paper into that box. Now you will notice that it is not where you want it, but you can move the new digital paper around on top of the first digital paper by using your mouse on the small box icons on each side of the new box. Once you have it where you want it, go to the "Edit" drop-down menu and choose "Deselect."
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12
Open any digital photos or clip art you would like to add to the page.
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13
Copy and paste your digital photos and clip art to the page. Move them around with your mouse as necessary until you have everything set up in a way that is pleasing to the eye.
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14
Save your digital scrapbook page.
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15
Share your digital scrapbook page with friends and family.
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Tips & Warnings
If you know you are going to want to print out your digital scrapbook page, it is a good idea to set the resolution at 150 and make the page size large, such as 12-by-12 or 14-by-14 inch.
Make sure when you are copying and pasting the photo of the paper of your choice into the new layer that you have the new layer selected and the background layer deselected. Otherwise you could copy it over the first layer by accident.
Resources
- Photo Credit (c) 2008 by Regina Paul. All Rights Reserved.
