Scrapbook Dimensions

Here are some questions from one of our readers....I'd love to hear from Amy Lemelin and anyone else who has answers for these.

1.  How do you add brushes/masks to 12 x 12 pieces of paper??  Do people just put their projects on a disk and take them someplace to be printed or do they do their own on big printers??  This is my biggest hurdle.  

2.  What about those giant sized photos people are putting on their pages???   How???  

1. When I add brushes, I make sure to put them on their own layers so I can easily add and edit.  I have a printer that prints up to 13x19 :D
2.  I can't go super large with my photos, due to not so great of a camera...but I do have the ability to print on a large scale.

I have a printer that prints 13"x19" also.  Printing your own pages gives you so much flexibility.

I have a tutorial that will  show you how to print and use digital paper for use in scrapbooking size 12x12 for NORMAL SIZE PRINTERS but I'll post the instructions here. You will need white paper that is 12x12. It can be white on both sides or you can print on the white side of printed paper.

I cut the 12x12 paper into two pieces as described below, then hide the seam with accents or a ribbon.

1. Open the paper of your choice from a digital kit. Here I have also opened a digital overlay or transparency. I will drag the overlay onto the striped paper to create a customized look.

Take the actual paper that you will be printing on and crop it to 8.5x12 inches with your trimmer. Bring both this piece and the left over piece that is 3.5x12 inches to your printer.

4. Set the crop tool for 8.5 inches x 12 inches, resolution 300. Drag the crop tool from the upper left corner to the bottom. Click on the check mark to crop.



5. Click on File --> Print. In the preview window, click on Page Setup. With the "Size" drop-down menu, choose "User-Defined." Click ok.

6. Click PRINT. If you get a pop-up that says that some clipping will occur, click ok.
7. Click on Properties in the dialog box. In the Paper Options field, click on the drop-down menu for size and choose here "User-Defined" and you will get a box that alllows you to put in the dimensions. Type 850 for width and 1200 for height. Click OK.

8. Set Quality for Best Photo. Select the Paper Type. My paper is not cardstock so I chose "plain paper." Click ok to print.

9. After the sheet has printed, go to your document in Photoshop. Go to Edit --> Undo Crop. (ctrl-z)

0. Now we will crop for the left-over piece of paper. Set the crop tool at width: 3.5 inches and height: 12 inches, resolution 300 pixels/inch. Click the check mark to crop.


1. Repeat Steps Five and Six.
12. Repeat Step Seven except now we will enter 350 and 1200 as the values for the size of the paper.

13. Repeat Step Eight. Now you have your own customized paper to create a hybrid layout, and if you printed on the back of printed paper you now have awesome two-sided paper! Have fun!

Since my printer does not print all the way to the edges, I will just plan my design to have a cardstock base with these new printed papers.

You can print your photo by buying 12x12 Photo Paper from Epson (it's called PremierArt Matte Scrapbook Photo Paper for Epson).  I would use my regular size printer and cut it down to 8.5x12. Then I would crop my photo for that size. When you go to print, change your print size to custom 8.5x12. 

Another option is to get a large print from wherever you order your digital prints.

Or a third option is to create pages at 8x8 size instead of 12x12 size and make your photos 8" wide.

What a great tutorial! Do you mind if I post it on my site?

for those with regular size printers like me you can print 8x8 or just send em to a print place to get them printed. I love 8x8 when I print mine off.

1)One way to add a digital brush to a regular paper is to print it on the glossy side of a transparency. Then rub it onto your paper (like a rub-on).

2) It's a lot of fun to print your photos at a variety of sizes. I find this to be most easily done on a home color printer. It doesn't have to be large format necessarily. While you're at it.. it's a good time to do any color fixing, retouching or fancy filterwork on the photo before you print! :)

-Doris

For some reason I'm not getting email notificiations of replies. Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I'll PM you about this tutorial.

Another option that wasn't mentioned (unless I overlooked it which is VERY possible) is just to get creative with your standard sized photos. For example, if your printer will print an 8x10 photo, find a good spot along the bottom third to cut it in half -- then fill that open space with a journaling block, patterned paper, embellishments or more. Those things will cover the fact that your photo doesn't actually cover the entire 12 inches of length on the page and viewers will never know the difference.

Good point Audrey!!!