Scrapbooking With Photoshop CS3

Photoshop allows you to digitally embellish and edit your photographs. They can then be printed out to use in your scrapbooking project. Several images can be combined or digital clip art can be added to the original photograph. Text can be added to photographs as well as mask borders The following steps will show how to add a mask border, text and clip art, similar to the houseboat image displayed.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with Photoshop software

Instructions

Add a Mask Border

1. Open the digital photo you would like to embellish. Assuming the digital photo is saved on your computer’s hard drive, click on “File” in the upper left hand corner of the Photoshop menu, then click on “Open” in the File dropdown menu. Find the image on your hard drive, and click to open it in Photoshop.

2. Choose the color for your mask by clicking on the color picker located in the left vertical menu bar, which looks like two color squares. After you choose the color, click OK. One of the two squares will be the color you chose. You want that color to be the bottom square, and not on top. To move the positions, click on the double sided arrow.

3. Go to elliptical marquee tool located on the upper left hand side of the vertical menu, and choose it. It will look like a dotted circle.

4. Move the cursor to the upper left hand corner of the image (where you want the mask to begin) click and then drag your cursor to the lower right corner.

5. Go to “Select” in the upper menu bar, then choose “inverse” then hit the delete key. The mask should appear around your pictures, in the color you chose. Go again to “Select” and choose “deselect” and the dotted line will disappear.

Add Text

1. Choose the “Type Tool” located in the vertical menu bar to the left of the window. It will look like a capital T. By right clicking with your mouse on the T, you will have several choices, such as vertical or horizontal letters. Choose one of those.

2. Choose the style and size of the font by using the horizontal menu bar at the top center of the screen.

3. Choose the color of the font by clicking on the color square located in the horizontal menu bar at the top center of the screen. A menu will open up, click on the desired color then “OK” to close the menu.

4. Move your cursor over your photo and decide where you would like to begin adding your text. With the cursor hovering over the image, left click the mouse at your desired location.

5. Type the text. If you are unhappy with the color, size or font style, you can use your cursor to highlight the text and make the changes using the menu bar at the top center of your screen.

6. To move your line of text to another position on your photo, click on the “Move Tool” located in the upper right hand corner of the vertical menu bar to the left of your screen. This will enable you to take your cursor and move the line of text.

Add Clip Art to Your Photograph

1. Keep your original photo open, while retrieving and editing the clipart you will be adding.

2. Add clipart to your photo, such as the cowboy boots in the photograph displayed. The cowboy boot image is a .gif format, with a transparent background. Open the image you plan to add to your original picture and adjust its size by going to “Image,” “Image Size” and then selecting the size in proportion to the image size of your original photograph.

3. Go to “Select” and then “all” while working on the clipart image, after you have adjusted its size. Once it is selected, go to “Edit” then “Copy.”

4. Minimize your clip art image, by clicking on the minus sign in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

5. Add your clipart to your original image by clicking on “Edit” and then “Paste.” Since you have minimized your clipart image, your main picture (with the mask and text) should be on your screen. After you click the “Paste” the clipart will be added to your primary photo.

6. Move the clipart around by clicking on the “Move Tool” located in the upper right hand corner of the vertical menu bar to the left of your screen. This will enable you to take your cursor and move the artwork.

7. To save your image, go to the “File” tab at the upper left hand corner of the top menu bar, and choose “Save As,” to save as a new .JPG file, rather than saving over the existing file.