Tuesday Tutorials : Cathy Zielske : Multi-Photo Grids

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BeautyShot

This week Tuesday Tutorials welcomes Cathy Zielske.

I first met Cathy back in 2003 when I took her Scraphic Design class at Creating Keepsakes University in Vancouver, BC. Known for her awesomely simple, beautifully designed layouts that get to the heart of the matter, she is also one of the best teachers around. Today she's going to walk you through the steps (via video + a pdf download) to create a photo grid in Photoshop Elements.

If you ever have the chance to take a class from Cathy online I highly recommend it.

Here's Cathy:

Consolidation has been a key inspiration for my scrapbook layout design lately, and I know of no better way to consolidate than to get a lot of photos onto a single layout using multi-photo grids. In this video, I’m going to walk you through how to make a 12-photo grid using Photoshop Elements for use on your next scrapbook page or project.

You can also download the PDF step by step tutorial here.




Tuesday Tutorial from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Here's a look at some additional layout samples using the photo grid technique:

1-AprilSnaps

Cover one month at a glance.

I love condensing a whole month into one page. I designed a cool “monthly snaps” date artwork series so I can make a page a month for a full year. (See below for info on how you can download my artwork for free to use on your own pages.)
MATERIALS: Photoshop Elements 6; Avenir and Archer fonts

2-12of12b

Give everyday snapshots an interesting home.

Ali and I once had a conversation where we both decided if photo grid layouts were the only ones you could ever again do, we’d both be just fine with that. Here, I used the grid approach to create a page when I was participating in my friend Susan’s 12 of 12 project. With a handful of photos and a few lines of text, you can capture a nice wide swath of your everyday life on one page.
MATERIALS: Photoshop; stamp (Cat’s Life Press); Times New Roman font

5-tradition

Make a grid strip.

Here one grid row is used to fill in shots taken over the years of me in my fabulous bee costume. (Note: I’ve been wearing it every year since I was in my early 20s.)
MATERIALS: InDesign CS; Amelie, Avenir and Times New Roman fonts

4-Mmmmm

Think grid.

Thinking grid on any design can make page layout a snap. Here, the 12-square grid exists, it’s just filled in differently. One larger photo takes the place of four smaller ones, and a journaling area to fills in the other. Once you divide up the space, you’ll find that grids can be mixed and matched really easily.
MATERIALS: sticker (7gypsies); stamp (Autumn Leaves); Handwriting font.

FREE DOWNLOAD
Cathy is offering a free download of her Monthly Snaps artwork, to use in creating a page like the one above every month for a full year. You can also download the journaling card as well. Visit her blog for the download and while you're there catch some outtakes from her tutorial video.


Cathy Zielske is a graphic designer, author and blogger. She is the former art director for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, where she oversaw the visual direction of all Simple publications and books.

Cathy started scrapbooking in 2001, and found that her background in design and her passion for telling stories made her new hobby as easy as it was fun. As a scrapbooker, Cathy helped to usher in the trend of clean, graphic layout design. She is the author of the best-selling books, Clean&Simple Scrapbooking, and Clean&Simple Scrapbooking: The Sequel. Both books inspire women to take a fun, well-designed and guilt-free approach to telling their stories through scrapbooking.

Cathy is currently developing and teaching online workshops to help scrapbookers write better and take what they've written and make it look fabulous. She's currently teaming with Big Picture Scrapbooking in 2009 to offer her workshops.

Cathy also reaches scrapbookers through her popular blog, Bits&Pieces.

She hopes to develop more online content in 2010 and beyond, to inspire scrapbookers to continue telling their story in an authentic and well-designed way.

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95 thoughts

  1. Sandi Keene says…
    07/14/2009

    Another great tutorial! I love Tuesdays! Thank you, Ali and Cathy for a fun and informative tutorial as well as the downloads. Can you imagine the two of you team-teaching a class? That would be amazing. Sign me up.(I have two kids and glasses - can I join your club?)

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Amy says…
    07/14/2009

    I love Cathy as a teacher, she's awesome! I took her Design your Life class last year and it was so well done. I learned so much. This was great also. I have done these photo groupings before, but since I'm fairly new to a mac, this was great to learn the shortcuts. Thanks Cathy and Ali!

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. Monika says…
    07/14/2009

    I signed up for the class Cathy is teaching at Big Picture Scrapooking and am excited to learn new things. I am so, so glad to be learning how to do a photo grid the right way (not just muddle through like I've done in the past). The Tuesday tutorials are something to look forward to each week...thanks Ali.

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  4. ee k says…
    07/14/2009

    great tutorial. are the steps basically the same for CS3?

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. jennifer says…
    07/14/2009

    so useful! thanks!

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Char Griffith says…
    07/14/2009

    Thanks so much for this tutorial!! I just purchased Photoshop and this was one of the main things I wanted to learn to do! I can't wait to get down to doing some grids!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Paula says…
    07/14/2009

    Absolutely great tutorial!! I'm going to try this as soon as I get home from work. Thanks for bringing this to us Ali - it's very much appreciated!

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Patience says…
    07/14/2009

    Thank you for sharing this! Love Cathy and her sense of humor. This was something I've wanted to learn to do. Thank you for bringing so much inspiration to us each week Ali! I *heart* the scrapbooking community! :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Heather says…
    07/14/2009

    Just when I think that my two favorite scrapladies can't possibly come up with any more bits to change and inspire my life... I'm wrong! THANK YOU for this tutorial. I have been doing photos into grids TOTALLY the long, complicated, and more difficult way. THANK YOU!

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. cathy says…
    07/14/2009

    Cathy here to answer: yep, more or less. I mean, some of the things might be in a different place, but the steps are essentially the same!

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. Jenny Alfonso says…
    07/14/2009

    I LOVE Cathy!!!! Thanks so much for this Tutorial - it's my favorite tutorial to date! I can't wait to try this. I was on the fence about taking her online class (I really really want to but I'm trying to watch my money). But now I'm totally signing up! Thanks again!

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Vera says…
    07/14/2009

    This tutorial is exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. Thanks!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. melissa says…
    07/14/2009

    Ali you are so lucky to have a buddy like Cathy. Her sense of humor just floors me. As for her work -- well what can I say I am a junkie at heart. Thank you so much for putting this grid idea up. I have forever wanted to understand Elements and this just totally made my nightmare simple. THANKS!!!

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  14. Anilu Magloire says…
    07/14/2009

    Duuuuude!!!! This is perfection. It was simple and easy and, I gotta say Cathy Z's a grrrrreat PS teacher.
    Keep em' comin'!!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. sara lambert says…
    07/14/2009

    Wow, I am so new to Photo shop elements and haven't a clue what I am doing so this step by step class was perfect for me - thank you both xxx

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. Irene says…
    07/14/2009

    THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!! Thank you so much.

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. Jill says…
    07/14/2009

    Love that another one of my 'stalkees' is doing the tutorial today. Thanks for inviting her. I'm currently enrolled in a digital freebie and craving more time to accomplish digital techniques. Thanks Cathy!

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Theresa Butler says…
    07/14/2009

    Thanks so much for the great idea. Your site is inspiring me in ways you can't even imagine. I am new top scrapbooking and blogging so any tips are helpful at this point. Take a look at my blog if you would like. There are more post to come!!! http://gwenfanforever.blogspot.com/

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. Amy Tangerine says…
    07/14/2009

    love her simple and authentic style, thanks for sharing!

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. Veronica says…
    07/14/2009

    Great tutorial....would have taken me minutes if i didn't see the massive need to organize all my computer files while I was looking for the photos to drop in!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  21. Veronica says…
    07/14/2009

    darn it...just realized I can't join the club....i had three kids!! :( ... but I have the glasses!! :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. o-girl says…
    07/14/2009

    I don't even have PS or PSE but I had to watch the tutorial because I just love CZ. The outtakes video was priceless..."we're both women and we both have hands!" LOL
    Thanks for another informative & inspiring Tuesday Tutorial!

    Reply 0 Replies
  23. Harwick Family Harwick says…
    07/14/2009

    Great tutorial!~ Thank so much to the both of you!

    Reply 0 Replies
  24. Annette says…
    07/14/2009

    Love , Love , Love this!!!!! Thanks for bringing this to us Cathy and Ali. Can't wait to try this one.

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. jen says…
    07/14/2009

    love this tutorial!!! thanks!!

    Reply 0 Replies

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