Digital + Paper

I'll be honest with you. When I click on a digital layout in the gallery, I get a little disappointed. It is like seeing a cute puppy in the window, but living in a rental with a no-pet policy. Sure, I could buy him if I changed my living arrangement. Well, I have finally figured out that I can use digital elements, and still get my hands on paper and ink just by changing the way I create my paper accents and photos.

There are many ways to use digital elements in paper scrapbooking. The most obvious way is to simply print the background paper or accent you like onto cardstock. You may also use digital scrapbooking kits to edit elements that you will print out on photo paper or cardstock. For this tutorial, I will focus on explaining the brush and text techniques that I used to doodle on my photo. Once you learn these basic steps you will be able to load brushes from digital kits and get a million different looks.

1. Open your photo in Photoshop Elements. Your photo will be the background, and everything you do next will be done in layers.
2. Create a new layer for each accent that you add to your photo. This will give you more control in modifying that accent. To create a new layer, click on the icon in the layers palette.
3. Select the brush tool from your tools menu. You will then see the brush menu and can select which brush you will use, and how the brush will appear.
4. To load and select a brush to use, click on the drop-down menu of brushes. You will see an arrow icon that opints to the left. Click on that icon. One of the selections will be to load brushes. That is what you want so click on that selection.
5. Find the file for the digital brushes you would like to use and click "OK".
6. Next it is time to determine how you wish that brush to appear. In my sample, I changed the size and color of my brushes. The sizing menu is on the brush toolbar. To choose a color, go back to your main tool menu and click on the box for foreground color. Use the color picker to select a color.
7. Move your brush down over your photo, checking to be sure that you have highlighted the new layer and not the background photo.
8. Click your left mouse button. You will now see the brushed image on your photo and can select it to move, rotate, resize, change the opacity and many other edits.
9. Repeat these steps to get the look you want.
10. To add text, click on the text tool; then select your font, font color and font size. Left mouse click onto a new layer and edit as needed.
11. To print brushes onto cardstock, use the brush tool layered on a blank background.

Edited photos may be printed on your own personal printer, or anywhere you normally have your photos printed. Depending on that location, you may need to save your photo file as a jpeg file.

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