Hybrid layout project: the Me, Right Now Template

Today I'm going to show you how to make a hybrid scrapbook layout using a layered digital template as your base.

Many of you know I've been using my computer to create pages since my very first page back in 2002.

See that little journaling block and the understated title? Aw yeah. That's called Old School Hybrid. I was old school before hybrid was new school, dawg. Er, right.

Anyhoo, my goal with these hybrid posts is to help those of you who want to get a bit more tech savvy with your scrapbooking, while still preserving that thing you loved about it in the first place, the creative, hands-on process involving paper and glue.

I've recorded a 10-minute video tutorial explaining how I used my newest StoryGuide template as the base for creating my hybrid page.

Here's the page:

Here's the video:

Hybrid Scrapbooking Tutorial: the Me, Right Now layout from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

HYBRID STEP-BY-STEP

Use these instructions as a companion to the video tutorial.

1. Open the template in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop and choose a font you'd like to use for the journaling questions. The template comes with Arial, but I chose Avenir Light and Heavy for my page. You can choose a color for the questions if you like, and apply them to each one. I used orange for mine.

2. Next, choose a color for your title bar to match your chosen background paper. I picked a hot pink color using the Color Picker. (Click on the Set Foreground Color icon in the tool bar to bring up the Color Picker.)

3. Once you have a color chosen, be sure you're on the target layer (Title Bar Background) and go to Edit > Fill Layer and under Contents and Use, make sure it's set to Foreground Color. Also, make sure the Preserve Transparency box is checked as well. When you click OK the color will apply to the bar.

4. Next, choose a color for the "me" in the title. I changed mine to white using the same process in Step 3. However, under Contents and Use, I changed it to "white" as my color. Then I changed the color of "me" to a light pink by using the Opacity Slider in the Layers Palette. I set my Opacity to 60%, and it created the look of a lighter shade of pink.

THE NEXT STEP is to group together the Title Bar Background, the "me" layer and the "right now" layer, and rotate them in order to print out the title bar on the same sheet of cardstock as you're printing your journaling onto. You will need to turn off all three "photo" layers by clicking on the little Eyeball icon next to each layer.

1. Make sure the Title Bar Background layer is directly under the "me" and "right now" layers. You can move it by clicking on it, holding down the mouse, and dragging it up. Hold down your Shift key and select all three layers so they are all highlighted.

2. Go to Image > Rotate > Layer 90 Left, and the three layers will rotate. Using the Move Tool, drag the rotated layers into the open white area of the document.

3. Click on only the Title Bar Background and enlarge its size by clicking and dragging on each of the four center handles. You need to make this a little larger to accommodate for trimming it on all sides.

4. Next, turn off the Date Tab Outline layer, and then on the Date Tab text, enter the date for your page.

5. Send this file to print onto white or other cardstock.

Next, you will trim out the pieces.

Using a paper trimmer or Xacto knife and metal ruler, trim the journaling just inside the dotted lines on each side.

Then trim out the title strip, trimming just inside the edge of the strip.

Next, cut out the date, leaving room to use for an underlapping tab, and round the lower corners if desired.

Trim a piece of background paper to size. For my page, that's 8-1/2 x 11.

Position the tab beneath the title strip before adhering.

Now, simply add your pictures.

I strongly recommend doing three shots of yourself at the time you answer the questions. Now, if this means you need to get dolled up prior to answering the questions, then by all means, do! I conveniently forgot to wear makeup for mine. So be it. It's real life, baby.

To use the template for your photos, simply open the template back up, turn ON all of the photo layers and turn off all the other layers. (You turn layers off by clicking on the Eyeball icon next to each layer.)

Then, you can clip photos into the three photo placeholders and print them onto a sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 photo paper.

TO PLACE PHOTOS into the template, with the three photo layers back on:

1. Open the photo you'd like to use, Select > All (Command or Control+A), Edit > Copy (Command or Control+C) and close the photo.

2. Click on your target layer on the template ("photo") and then Paste the photo into the template via Edit > Paste (Command or Control+V). You will probably have to size your photo down, and you do this by grabbing any one of the four corner handles, clicking, holding down the mouse, and dragging.

3. To pop the photo into the layer mask, go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask (Command or Control+G). Repeat for other photos.

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And that, dear blog readers and story tellers, are the basic steps to putting this bad boy together.

Now, some of you might be thinking, "Yes, that's all well and good, but I'm not going to do a page about myself when I have so many other photos and stories to be scrapbooked," and that's when I reply, and rather loudly: "HELLO? Your story is part of your overall picture!"

(Yes, that's my soapbox rant for the day.)

In short, tell your story. All you have to do is answer a handful of questions. Each template comes with 20 extra questions to get you thinking. In this way, StoryGuides make it fun and painless. Let's hear it for painless journaling solutions about ourselves!

And for Clairol Hair Dye No. 4 Chocolate! (Sorry, I just didn't realize my hair was as grey as it is. For now, I'm keeping it. But never say never.)

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SUPPLIES: Story Guide No. 5a (Cathy Zielske) • patterned paper (BasicGrey) • corner punch (Creative Memories) • font (Avenir)

This template is also available in 12 x 12.