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’ve created two parts to this article – a ‘101’ and a ‘102’ series. Do one or both of them and have fun.

BOOKMARKER PRINTABLES 102:

• Your image will now look like that as in Figure 6. You’ll notice that we still have the holes as in the original. We will want to ‘paint’ them black so we have a workable template to work with.
• Choose the paintbrush tool in your tool palette. Select a hard brush, size it up so you’re not ‘painting’ all day, change the hardness to 100, and use the settings as I’ve illustrated in Figure 7. Make sure your foreground and background color is black and paint over the ‘holes’ in your image. When you are done you’ll end up with a solid black image. This image will serve as your template.
• At this time you should ‘SAVE AS’ a jpg, to a location on your computer, possibly inside a new ‘template’ folder so you can use it for future projects as well.

Next we’re going to add papers and embellishments and turn our template into our own design using another kit.

• Open a paper preferably 12x12 so it’s big enough to use with the template. I’m going to use paper07 from my Rejuvenate kit. I love the bright and fun colors and this paper is perfect for my project.
• Once your paper is open you’re going to want to make your template file the active window.
• When active you’ll click “CTRL + C” (for copy) on your keyboard, then activate your paper window by clicking on its title bar.
• At this time you’ll click “CTRL + E” which is the keyboard shortcut for ‘paste as new selection’. You’ll now be able to ‘move’ your selection over your paper and place it exactly as you want. If you don’t like where you’ve placed it click your undo button until the image goes away, then hit CTRL + E on your keyboard and try again. You’ll have marching ants around your design to show where you’re going to ‘cut’ from your paper.
• When you’re happy with where you’ve placed your template you’ll want to click on your paper layer in the layer palette. This will keep your marching ants around your template but will select your paper. At this point you’ll hit CTRL + C on your keyboard to copy the selected part of your paper. Hit CTRL + V on your keyboard to paste this paper selection as a new image. See Figure 8 to as an example to these steps.

• Now we need to add some elements to our bookmarker. It would be a good time to save the image so we don’t lose our work.
• Once you’ve saved your image you can add some elements by clicking the ‘browse’ button to navigate to the elements that would best complement the paper you’ve chosen as the base for your bookmarker. I’m going to use ‘bookplate01’ and ‘charm02’ from my ‘Rejuvenate’ kit for this example.
• Open your element images, copy them (CTRL + C), and paste them (CTRL + L) onto your bookmarker. Close the element files after you’ve pasted them onto your bookmarker so you don’t accidentally disrupt your originals.
• Using your move tool (M) move your images around until you’ve found the spot you’d like to see them.

• Next you can add drop shadows to your elements as desired for a realistic look when you print them later.  To add a drop shadow click the “Effects” menu, choose “3D Effects”, then “Drop Shadow”. Figure 9 shows the settings I’ve used but you can adjust them as you’d like.

• At this point we can add a photo or some text to our image. What you add or don’t add depends upon what you want your final bookmarker to look like. I’ll show you how to add a photo (and make it realistic) and also how to add text to the bookplate image so it looks realistic.
• Let’s start by adding a photo box above our charm. You’ll want to use your ‘selection’ tool by clicking the ‘S’ button on your keyboard. This will make it active so all you have to do it click and drag the box on your paper layer of your image. Click and drag where you would like your photo to be placed. You’ll get the marching ants where the selection is. Make sure you’re on your paper layer and hit the ‘delete’ key on your keyboard. This will delete that part of your paper allowing you to insert a photo when you’re ready. See Figure 10.

• You’ll now have an image that looks like Figure 11 – complete with an open space, a photo box, on your image.  
• At this point you’ll want to open the photo you want to use on your bookmarker. I’ve opened an image of my daughter and my grandson. I’ve turned the photo image into a grayscale image by choosing “Image  Greyscale”.  It’s important to turn the photo to a greyscale image BEFORE you paste it as a new layer into your bookmaker. If you do it afterwards you’re entire bookmarker image will turn to greyscale and that’s just ‘blah’.
• Once you’ve turned your photo to greyscale (if this is what you want to do), use your keyboard to copy and paste it as a new layer. We do this with the keyboard using “CTRL + C” which copies your photo.
• Now activate the bookmarker image, and choose “CTRL + L” to paste your photo as a new layer on your bookmarker image.
• At this point you’ll want to drag your photo image BELOW your paper layer in your layers palette. This will put your photo below the paper layer and we can then apply the proper drop shadows (if desired) to our paper layer as you did earlier. It’s always a good idea to use the same drop shadow settings for any and all layers EXCEPT when you’re applying a drop shadow to something that is obviously TALLER or HIGHER than the other layers/images in your project. Remember, realism is the key.

• Figure 12 shows you my bookmarker, with my photo, and the drop shadow applied. Yours might look different depending upon the settings you choose.
• Next I’m going to add a white area behind my bookplate so I can ‘type’ on it and have it realistic looking as well. I will do this by choosing my ‘Preset Shape Tool’ in the tool palette as in Figure 13.
• You’ll want to select your paper layer, choose a square shape for your preset shape, and make the color white (or whatever color compliments the colors of your bookmarker), and draw it fitting below the image layer where you want it placed as shown in Figure 14.

• Now we’ve got something to type on. Choosing your type tool (the ‘A’ in your tools palette) you’ll want to choose a font that goes well with your bookmarker project. I’ve gone with ‘LD Remington Portable’. I will type above my white layer and choose the date my grandson was born for the type as shown in Figure 15. I’ve also added some staples to the holes in the bookplate. Use your arsenal of supplies to acquire the same effect such as eyelets or brads. HOWEVER, you could easily add these ‘traditional’ items to your printed project to really give it that super cool 3-D effect which is what hybrid scrappers really go for!
• Once you’ve got the ‘base’ done for your bookmarker, you’ll want to add the hole where your ribbon or fiber will go once you’ve printed your project. We’ll do this by selecting our ‘eraser’ tool in the tool palette, and selecting a size that ‘fits’ our bookmaker.  See my settings in Figure 16. Change your settings to fit your bookmarker.
• This is a good point to save your bookmarker if you haven’t already done so.
• If you’re happy with all the elements, type, and drop shadows on your bookmarker, you should save your final file and print it onto acid free cardstock.
• At that time you could laminate it and distribute to your friends and family, or use it purely for personal purposes.

GREETING CARD PRINTABLES 102: