Using Templates in PSE

For this tutorial I will be using a template from Designs by Sine from her SO Spacious collection and the page kit Giggles from Pineapple Plantation Designs. Both are available at Scrap Orchard (www.scraporchard.com). I will also assume that you have a basic working knowledge of PSE 6.

Open your template in PSE and decide which photos and kit you want to use. I’m writing this as I would complete the LO, so you should of course feel free to change things up to suit your style and needs.

Ok, let’s get started!
The first thing I do is hide any title or journaling layers on my template. I save these for last.

On your template, select your background layer.

Choose your background paper and open it in PSE. Using your move tool, drag your paper into your template and arrange it so that it covers the background layer.

Holding down your control key, click on the background layer from your template. This will put the marching ants around the layer.

With the marching ants still around your background layer, and your new paper layer active (highlighted), hit “cntrl g.” This will clip the paper to your background layer. In this step, you won’t see much of a change in your paper, but later you will. Your layer palette will look something like this

Hit “cntrl e” to merge the two layers. Go up to the Select drop down menu at the top of PSE and choose “deselect” to get rid of the marching ants.

At this point, while I am working on all of the background stuff, I will usually hide the photos on the template, by clicking on the eyeball next to each layer labled “photo” or “mat.”

On your layer palette, move back down to the bottom element. Now it’s time to add the decorative papers, ribbons, etc. This is similar to the background layer, but I will show you on one of the strips on my template to show you what you can do with the clipping masks in PSE.

Make sure your element layer is active (highlighted) and open whichever paper or ribbon you would like to use.

Using your move tool, drag your new paper or ribbon into the template, and arrange it so that it is covering your element layer. Your new layer will be active (highlighted). Keeping that layer active, hold down your cntrl key and click in the element layer. This will give you the marching ants around the element.

Hit “cntrl g” to clip the paper to the element. Go to the Select drop down menu, and choose “deselect.” Now, at this point, you can use your move tool to move the paper around over the element until you are satisfied with how it looks. When you are happy with it, hit “cntrl e” to merge the layers.

Follow this step for each element layer on the template. If your template has elements that don’t work well with the clipping mask, such as stars or flowers that you want to use an actual element from the kit on your page, then simply select the element layer on your template, and hide it, then add in your element. This is an example of a template with elements that you might want to do this with. This template is also from Designs by Sine and the flower is from Alice by Ziggle Designs.

When all of your element layers are completed, unhide your photo(s) and mat(s). If you want to use a paper for the mat, simply use the same procedure for clipping and merging as for the elements. If you want to fill the mats with a solid color, cntrl select on the mat layer and use your flood fill tool. This is what my screen looks like so far

Open the photo(s) that you have chosen to use. On your layer palette, make sure the photo layer is active, and drag your photo onto your template. Using your move tool, drag the corners of your photo down until the size of the photo is close to the size of the layer on the template. Your screen should look something like this

Using your move tool again, rotate your photo until it’s on approximately the same angle as your photo layer on the template, and covering the template layer.
Cntrl click on the template photo layer, and then hit “cntrl g.” Deselect. Now move your photo around until you are satisfied with it’s placement on the layer. Hit “cntrl e.” Repeat this step for any other photos on your template. Here is my layout so far

Now that your photos and elements are in place, go to your layer palette and find any journaling or title layers. Unhide them. Double click on the white box with the “T” in it. This will highlight the current text and allow you to edit what text is there. You can change the font, color, etc as well.

If you want to add in any additional elements, now is when I do that, however with this template and LO, I’m choosing to leave it as it is. Though I did add a date on one of the paper strips. Now is when I go back and add in all my drop shadows. Note that some templates come with the shadows already on the layers. In this particular template, the photo mats are already shadowed, so I won’t shadow them again, but I will add a shadow to my paper and ribbon strips.

Save your file and you’re done! Here is my completed layout.

I hope this tutorial was helpful to anyone needing some help on how to use templates.

Tutorial and screen shots are ©RainbowSkyDesigns 2009.