Launch Party Day 3: Digi Journaling Cards Tutorial with Lisa

Welcome back to another day of our Launch Party week celebrating our new blog here on Typepad!  Today Garden Girl Lisa Truesdell has a helpful tutorial for you that's bound to help you become a little more digi savvy.  Enjoy!

Don't forget the giveaways for Day 1 and Day 2 are still open through Sunday!  Giveaway closed.

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Hi Peas! One of the themes for my 2012 : Captured class in March is going to be digital journaling cards - and I'll be visiting the blog a few times this month to share some tips on using the digital kits found here in the 2peas shop. I love the possibilites that digital journaling cards offer, and can't wait to share more about working with them!

 

The digi designers have done a fabulous job including journaling cards in their recent releases - and I love that many of them have been including printable PDFs in these kits as well.  There have also been freebie PDFs in the 2peas newsletter, as well as on their Facebook page. This is a great way to dip your toes into the digi waters. You don't need to have any software other than Adobe Reader - which is a free download - to be able to work with these files. Here's the basics of how to get from download to printing!

You'll find all of your digi purchases under the "downloads" link on the top right corner of your screen - you'll need to be logged in to access it.

Click on "digital kits" - then find the kit you're looking for. You'll want to click on the kit, and then click on "complete kit" under downloadable parts when the popup window comes up.

Once you've started the download, you may get a popup window asking if you want to open the file or save it to your harddrive. Select save file.

Once your download is complete, find the folder (mine go into a folder called "downloads") and open it. Click where it says "extract all files."

You'll get a popup window that asks where you want to save the extracted files - use the browse button if you have a specific place you'd like to store them.

Wait while it extracts the files, then open the folder with the extracted files.

Most kits come with the items grouped into several folders. This kit by Erica Hernandez has seperate folders for the journaling cards in color, the cards in gray, printable PDFs and .png files for creating your own cards. For now, we're just going to find the PDF folder and open it.

Double click the PDF you want to open.

Once you're in Adobe Reader, click the print icon.

When the print window opens, make sure to set page scaling to none - this will ensure that your file prints at the correct size. I print all of my journaling cards onto 65lb white cardstock from the office supply store. It's inexpensive and runs through my printer easily. Once your cards are printed, just use your trimmer to seperate them and get to work!

There are a lot of digi kits at 2peas that include journaling cards - but they may not be sized perfectly for your page protectors. I'm also going to walk you through the steps of resizing these cards and arranging them on an 8.5x11in document so that you can print them. You'll need Photoshop Elements for this - I'm working with PSE 7.0. It's not the current version, but it's more than enough to get the job done!

Once you've downloaded your kit (the steps are the same as above), open the folder with the digi files in it. Find the journaling cards you want to use.

Highlight those journaling cards, then drag them over to PSE.

These journaling cards are sized at 5x7in - and I'd like to use them in pockets sized at 3x4. You'll find the resize option under the "image" menu in PSE.

This is where you'll enter the new size. I chose to go slightly smaller than my pockets. You'll want to make sure "constrain proportions" is checked - otherwise the design of the card can be stretched or look funny once it's resized.

Once you've resized all of your cards, you'll need to open a blank file. Go to the 'file" menu, then find "blank file" under "new."

Set your new document to be 8.5x11in and 300dpi.

Drag each of your journaling cards onto the blank document. Since many of the journaling cards don't have defined edges, I like to add a thin border to each one. Find "edit stroke selection" under the "edit" menu.

It will prompt you to select the size and color. I choose 1 pixel (VERY thin!) and set the color to black or dark gray.

6 3x4ish journaling cards will fit on an 8.5x11 page. I find it's easiest to cut them out if I take the time to line them up nicely at this point.

We're almost done! You'll find the "print" option under the "file" menu.

In the print menu, make sure to leave "scale to fit media" unchecked - this will keep your print out true to size.

Here are a couple of FREE kits from 2peas - both would be perfect for giving these tips a try!

Colorblast 1 - Celebrate Freebie - by Jen Martakis

Action kit 2012 - by Erica Hernandez

We'll see you tomorrow with another Launch Day post!  :)

Today at Two Peas:

* Happy Wednesday!  Wednesday's mean another video and project in the popular series The Adventures of Glitter Girl.  Check here for when it goes live later today!

* Clearance Sale: Up to 75% off!

* Each day we are getting brand new product in the store!  Keep up on all the new arrivals here.

  

 

Comments

[Alexandra]

Is there any resource you can recommend for creating a watermark signature on images I need to post on my blog?

[CJ Johnson]

Having digital journal cards is so convenient. Don't have to search for them, can adjust the color and size for my needs. It really makes journaling easier.

[Two Peas]

@Alexandra - I would suggest doing a search on our Photography message board forum with the keyword "watermark" as I'm sure this has been discussed and members have a lot of good tips. Here is a thread you may find helpful:

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=3099389

Hope that helps! - Jamie

[Suzanne]

Brilliant step by step. The Two Peas digital designs are so flexible!

[Shilo Miles]

Love that you started a blog!!! so awesome!!

[linda]

great walk through of the process and thanks for the links! yay!

[Debs]

Fantastic step-by-step intro...going to give it a try this evening...and thank you for the freebies :)

[Jean Marmo]

Wow - thanks for such detailed instructions!!

[tammy b]

thanks for the fab tutorial :)

[Kathy R]

Great tutorial and freebies! Thanks.

Miss Kathy

[Jani]

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing. So excited to see that you have a new blog. I am a little confused on how to subscribe to the feed though.

[Anelsie Ramos]

Great tutorial, thanks for sharing!!! Can't wait to see more!!!!
anelsie

[Meredith Kneece]

I love using the peas digi kits and getting free ones makes it so much better. Thanks for the tutorial.

[Jenni Calma]

Easy to follow tutorial...thank you!

[diana thompson]

Thanks for sharing!

[Anissa]

AnissaScraps -- Thanks for the step by step.

[Paper Pile Kitten]

Great tutorial! Thanks!

[Nancy McM]

Great tutorial... I will have to give it a try. Thanks for the freebies :)

[Kimberly K.]

Thanks so much.

[Larissa Heskett =)]

WOW!! This was GREAT!! THANKS for sharing and for the chance to grab some freebies!! =)
Have a FABULOUS WEEK!! =)

[A Facebook User]

I am so scared to go digital. You do, however, make it sound much easier than I am sure it has to be...I will keep watch and maybe get brave....someday.

[Cristina]

I love Erica's Action kit! I've been using it in my Project Life!

[Michele]

thank so much for sharing the step by step. I was trying to figure out how to do this in my older photoshop. thanks again.

[Bonnie Mills]

This is majorly helpful. I bought a lit of digi designs & wasn't exactly sure how to use them. Thanks so much
Username missybl

[gleestormont]

we can always count on 2Peas to give us a helping hand.
2Ps usr: gleestormont

[Alison L]

Great step by step tutorial. Thanks! My 2peas name is scrappyal.

[akaMyran]

Great tutorial! Think I might use more digital stuff when I'm scrapping :)

[melissa h]

Thanks for this tutorial I've been wondering how to do this.

[Janet N.]

Thanks for the tutorial, especially about sizing in PSE.

[Lynda]

Now if only I could save enough $ to buy more print cartridges!