Week In The Life 2011 | Working With The Layered Template Album (Video Tutorial)

I'm in progress on bringing all my content together for my Week In The Life album.

I'm working at a bit of a different pace since it's summer time and I'm taking advantage of the good weather around here for some quality family time.

Today I put together a video tutorial that shows how I work with the digital layered templates in Photoshop Elements (I use Photoshop CS5 but do my tutorials in Elements). Check that out here:




Week In The Life 2011 | Layered Template Tutorial from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

I'm happy to try to answer any questions you might have about working with the layered templates. Feel free to leave them in the comment section of this post.

Here's some of the things links I mentioned in the video above:

PRODUCT LINKS



ADDITIONAL LINKS



Hope you are having a chance to get started on bringing your content together.

Remember to embrace the photos and stories you have rather than the ones you don't.

Related Posts

Sign in or sign up to comment.

79 thoughts

  1. Nina says…
    08/05/2011

    Hi, Ali! Thanks so much for the wonderful inspiration you always provide. I just wanted to share that I printed out your free daily sheets onto 4 x 6 sized white cardstock and inserted them into the existing diary I already have. I was so happy to capture this week. Thank you.

    Here is the link if you want to see:
    http://pasigmom.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-week-july-25-to-july-31.html

    *hugs*
    Nina

    Reply 2 Replies
    1. Ali says…
      08/05/2011

      I love how you did that Nina - cool!

    2. Nina says…
      08/06/2011

      Thanks, Ali! Thanks for the inspiration. =)

  2. Toni says…
    08/05/2011

    Hi Ali

    Great video and some neat extra ideas - Thank you.

    When resizing the boxes - do you have things 'snapped to grid'? Still learning how that works. Just wondering how you make sure the boxes are a uniform size if you have two or do you always duplicate them? For example if we made one of the long boxes into two or three for photos instead.

    Also I am flipping my templates to landscape and it has worked really well for the daily sheets but I am struggling a little with the 'share your story' templates when I flip them. Because then they are landscape which worked fine for the photos but I quite like the idea of some 'portrait' photos and portrait journalling. So after flipping the template to make a landscape page I am then rotating the boxes but then obviously the fit is different across the page. Seems to fit a 4x2 layout rather than a 3x3. Do you make them a particular standard photo size?

    I have tried selecting the box and tab layers (not the words) and locking them togther and rthen resizing them to fit better across the page but I wondered if there was a quicker way. Or whether I should just stick with the size you have made and leave uneven white spaces top and bottom vs the sides. I'm still fairly new to this and playing around with it all to learn. But I would definitely appreciate shortcuts if there are some :)

    So many questions I hope this made sense.

    Thanks

    Reply 2 Replies
    1. Ali says…
      08/05/2011

      Hi Toni - I like using snap to grid (an easy way to keep things lined up). I also like to just duplicate the box layers if I'm wanting them to the the same size. You can then use snap to grid to get the margins between the boxes to be the same.

      When I'm creating templates I don't usually think about any standard photo size since I have so many options. In the case of the Share Your Story template I did make those boxes a similar to size as if you were going to use divided page protectors (you could put the photos in there, print it out, cut it up and place them inside the pockets).

      If I was doing it the way you are (flipping the whole thing horizontal) I'd probably try to do whatever is the quickest - that might be selecting everything and dragging (without any photos in place) to fit the page. You can then go in and adjust the size of the text and the titles (making them smaller because they will get bigger).

      Is that helpful at all?

    2. Toni says…
      08/07/2011

      Thanks Ali - That's great. Have managed to play around with them toinght and got it working much better. Hope you had a great weekend in the garden. We did :)

  3. HannaP says…
    08/05/2011

    Hi Ali, Thanks for always bringing me inspiration!
    I just bought the layered template 8.5x11 week in the life 2010, and it said on designerdigitals that you should easily be able to change the date, but I can´t seem to understand how to do that...
    I mean for example the little square called "sentiment tab", on one of the pages. I would like to keep it on my layout and maybe have som own text in it but the only thing I understand is how to take it all away by clicking on the "eye", but then it is gone all together and that I dont want...Is it not possible to edit or remove just the text and keep the square?
    Hope you can figure out what I mean despite my not so perfect english...
    Thanks,
    Hanna, Sweden

    Reply 3 Replies
    1. Ali says…
      08/05/2011

      Hi HannaP - there's a couple things you can do with that version. The 2010 piece on the sentiment tabs is flattened - you can either purchase the updated sentiment tabs for 2011 (http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/11677) or you can follow these steps:
      1. Select the sentiment tab layer
      2. Using the marquee tool (with the tolerance set to "0"), select just the date area (draw a rectangle around it) and hit delete. This will remove the date but it will also remove the background of the sentiment tab within that rectangle.
      3. With the eyedropper tool, click on the sentiment tab to make that the foreground color.
      4. Draw a new rectangle shape (should be the same color as the sentiment tab) and place that behind the sentiment tab in the layers palette. You can merge those two layers together or you can just leave it -
      5. Use the Type tool to enter the year. The font I was using is Pica. http://www.searchfreefonts.com/free/pica.htm

      Hope that helps!

    2. Ali says…
      08/05/2011

      Also, that 2011 sentiment tab package includes a PSD file that would make it easy for you to enter in your own text (not flattened).

    3. HannaP says…
      08/06/2011

      Thanks so much, will try that!
      Hanna

  4. Kay Gregory-Clark says…
    08/05/2011

    Hi Ali. Thanks for all you do! I have most of the freebies you've so generously offered, but when I tried to use the download links on a couple of the Welcome Page items, they don't work. Wondering if these are permanently down? I didn't think so since you are referencing them now. I'm particularly interested in the Weekend Creative handwritten days.

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      08/05/2011

      Hi Kay - let me take a look. I thought I had updated all those links...

  5. Tawnda Andrews says…
    08/05/2011

    I was wondering how you plan to use the "share the story" template? One for each day or one for the week?

    LOVE this, I've been doing it since 2008 and I love seeing how our life changes from year to year and it's so fun to see what normal is and how much it changes!

    Tawnda

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      08/05/2011

      Right now I'm using it to print out my photos (basically just as a template). I'm not going to be using it in my album - that page for me will be a divided page protector and each day will have one of those.

  6. Roberta says…
    08/05/2011

    LOVED the video Ali and even though I do not have or use photoshop I was still inspired and learned so much about how to assemble my album now. I was a bit overwhelmed come Monday and I had to start editing my photos, etc. But now I've adapted my publisher documents because I know how to use it and did not want to get discouraged and give up. I kept it real simple and I'm really happy with the end result. I blogged about it here if anyone is interested in how a publisher file can work for this album. Fondly, Roberta
    http://con-tain-it.typepad.com/love_shack_studio/2011/08/in-the-studio-summer-travel-journal-week-in-the-life-album.html

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Abby P. says…
    08/05/2011

    I surprised myself by diving into this project and enjoyed every day of it! Thanks for doing it and sharing your process! One question unrelated to the project itself: what lens are you using on your camera these days? I love your photos! Thanks!

    Reply 2 Replies
    1. Ali says…
      08/05/2011

      24-70, 2.8. I love it!

    2. Abby P. says…
      08/08/2011

      I can clearly see WHY you love it...luckily, my birthday's next month....hint, hint to my husband! Thanks for the info.

  8. Michele M. says…
    08/08/2011

    Hi Ali! Thank you for a great tutorial--seriously watching the video and hitting "pause" so I can do the same thing, step-by-step with you as this is my first adventure into digital scrapbooking! I do have a question for you though--I have an older version of PSE (version 5 I think--old, I know!) and the font used for the little date is one I don't have. I have not figured out how to change it or substitute a different one. Right now, nothing shows up in the text box. Any suggestions for how to go about fixing that? Thanks!

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Abby P. says…
    08/08/2011

    Sorry to be a camera equipment pest...I meant to ask you what Canon you're using too these days...

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Week In The Life | Ali Edwards says…
    08/11/2011

    [...] Week In The Life 2011 | Working With The Layered Template Album (Video Tutorial) [...]

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. cars says…
    05/30/2013

    Car shopping is stressful. Now that there are hundreds of
    makes and models to choose from, not to mention promotions and payment options,
    it's easy to become frustrated and stressed out. The information here will help make buying a car as easy and stress-free as possible.

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Katherine says…
    09/18/2013

    The fast food business is a fast growing and very challenging means of entering the
    market. We need to not listen to our doctor who will be very helpful and write a prescription for almost anything to help
    you live with your diabetes. It is necessary for us to figure out effective ways to
    solve this tough trouble.

    Have a look at my blog; papa johns coupons 2013, Katherine,

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. betterware-poland.com.pl says…
    09/18/2013

    It's an amazing article in support of all the online viewers;
    they will get advantage from it I am sure.

    Reply 0 Replies
  14. best chainsaw 2013 says…
    10/17/2013

    You can choose to go for the protective versions of this
    equipment. Electric is often the cheapest and
    can be found almost anywhere. I did a little bit
    of research for tools on the internet which would make it easier to
    cut these branches down, and I came across an
    electric saw, I looked through the reviews of the saw,
    people had nothing but good things to say about it, so I purchased it and waited for delivery.

    Reply 0 Replies

Sign in or sign up to comment.