No tutorials this week - I’ve been planning and updating and creating and … and…

OK, between family events worthy of scrapbook pages (even photobooks) and website creation for my daughter’s business (plus tax day), my granddaughter got a camera for Easter!  She’s not quite 7 - so we (she & I) went on a nature walk and took photos.  I impressed upon her to keep the strap around her arm so she wouldn’t accidentally drop her new prize possession.

We spent today together and took more photos - I’m teaching her with each photo about focus and lighting — then we downloaded the photos and had a look.  What a delightful time for me — sharing these moments, and even shaping her photo-taking experiences.

Anyway, just to show that I have many reasons to appreciate MyPicTales, I am sharing this collage.

As Ever,
Pam

To create a unique background image for a photo, I researched baseball terms and typed them into a Rich Text Document, saving it to “Rich Text Format” — an RTF file.  I opened Taleweaver and selected the 8.5 x 11 portrait size for my book (you can recreate the following example in any size).

Insert > New Caption

Right-Click in the caption box and select “Edit Text”

Find the file you created for your background.

After your text is loaded into the caption box you can stretch the box to fit your page - then highlight the text and select the font you’d like to use and also the size of the font - watching so that your actions will actually fill the page for a background image.

Next, insert a picture frame for your photo, portrait or landscape (depending on your photo)

Import a photo, then drag it into the frame.  There are options to drag the photo to the position you prefer; also you can rotate the photo.  If desired, you could add more photos to the page.

You could use the same background for your entire book, or create different text files for varied backgrounds — or just have one unique page with this treatment.  The choice is yours — and it’s fun creating pages and photobooks using Taleweaver software.  Enjoy!

As Ever,
Pam

There really are times when personal “designed-by-you” can be more special than a brand name!  Begin now to plan for announcements and/or invitations for Graduations, Weddings, Family Reunions — there are so many times a personal touch is a great idea!  MyPicTales Taleweaver software will help you!

Download the software and open it.  For Greeting cards, there is a “New Card Wizard” to guide you.  First you choose the orientation of your card -

Then choose the size you prefer - and choose a frame

There are frames and borders for all occasions -

You can add an image -

and your card text -

The software will then create your card -

You will then have the chance to see your card — to edit and change it.  Experiment - and when you’re ready, simply upload it to MyPicTales.  Enjoy the raves you’ll receive!

As Ever,
Pam

If you’re a digital scrapbooker, you probably have a million layouts in your harddrive already.  You may have created in Photoshop, or CM software, or your software of choice.  It doesn’t matter.  As long as it’s a final jpg file, you can send it up to MyPicTales to have photobooks or prints made!!!  Here are some gorgeous layouts created by Cynthia (aka: mrspeel):

Cynthia created the layout in her program, Serif’s Craft Artist and then brings it into the MPT software Taleweaver to upload it into her book.  She brings it in as a background image and then can add additional elements or journaling to finish it out.  Cynthia prefers doing two pagers simultaneously so as to make it look cohesive.  Here are two more layouts she created:

Doing both pages at the same time, does make it look like it belongs together.  Plus it gives you more room to journal and add photos to.  And, if you don’t have a layout program, why not download Taleweaver and give it a try?  Backgrounds and elements are included in the software and it’s easy to use to create gorgeous photobooks.

What better way to share a day of fun with the friends who experienced it with me than to create a Handy Dandy 5×7 wirebound album for them!  I just know they’ll love it and so will I!  How to begin?

Take photos - all day long - of the scenery and the people!  Open the Taleweaver program and I used each photo as a single page background, then added comments, the date, and fun quips and quotes.  It’s that easy!

The program allows you to choose a font for your journaling - you can choose other page formats that allow more than one photo per page, too.  There are days when many photos are taken and pages with several photos might be the answer instead of a photo per page.

You be the judge of how you’d like to preserve your special day — but DO preserve it!  How special!!

As Ever,
Pam

We are all feeling the crunch of the economy these days and so it helps to make every dollar stretch.  You can do this even with your scrap kits and the TaleWeaver (MyPicTales’ software) program.  TaleWeaver is a free software program you can download in order to develop your photobooks easily and economically.  It includes many backgrounds and elements so you can scrap your pages.  And if you don’t have time, the book templates are easy and completed quick pages where you can drop your photos in and have ready for printing in minutes.

Here’s where you can customize your pages.

As you can see in these layouts, created by Cynthia Taylor (mrspeel), with the Generations kit, she used blocking behind her photos to create extra dimension and layers.  This is easily done by using digital papers you may already have in your stash.

1. Install the papers of your choice within TaleWeaver by clicking the plus sign at the bottom of the screen where it says LOAD IMAGES FOR BOOK HERE.  Direct TaleWeaver to where you have the paper located and open the file.  This will drag your chosen papers into TaleWeaver.

2. After selecting your backgrounds (either from TaleWeaver’s  Page Backgrounds or your own), bring up a Picture Frame by selecting Insert, New Picture, Portrait Picture Frame.  This will put a frame onto the page.

3. Now, grab the side handle and push (or pull) it over until it is the size desired.  Do the same with either the top or bottom handles of the frame.

4. Then, drag your paper up to the picture frame and drop it in.  It’s that easy.

5. You can make more of these blocks and layer them by selecting the block, click LAYOUT, ORDER, and selecting FRONT, BACK, FRONTWARD, BACKWARD.

6. Don’t forget to shadow your blocks to give it dimensionality.

This is a good way to stretch your digital kits to create new elements for your photobooks.  The plus of it is that you get a more personalized layout as well.  These blocks can be used for so many things.  They can be used for journaling spots, a background for an element, or they can even be used to frame your photos.  Just place them behind the images.

Now in Florida, I was on a plane on Monday when this should have been posted.  But it has given me a chance to experiment with both - a slow connection - and a mini laptop!  And it’s all good!

Have you downloaded (or updated) Taleweaver?  If you said “no” - then you should!  Slow connection?  I’m experiencing that right now in a campground sharing DSL!  S-L-O-W connection, yet I was able to get the upgrade and am able to get the graphics for backgrounds and such.

Computer monitors differ in size — I’m using a little laptop with a 5 x 8 screen!  Yet I can use the program!  There are times that I enlarge an area to better see what it looks like, but all-in-all, I’m still able to create.  So those of you with “regular” and better monitor sizes will have no problem at all!

Some pages are simply wonderful as a two page spread.  Experiment.  Click on a background and use it as a one page spread, then try it again as a two page spread!  Keep experimenting — then choose a template, your photos, and some journaling to tell your story!

Your photos are waiting to be exposed in a wonderful calendar or photobook.  Begin today!

As Ever,
Pam

MyPicTales and the Digichicks are teaming up again for some awesome challenges in March.  Head over to the DigiChicks forum and check out the 12 possible ways!  Complete at least FIVE of those challenges for a chance at some awesome MyPicTales prizes.

You can win one of these cool prizes:

$25 gift certificate for photobooks

Free 50 prints of any size on single page prints products

Free 10×10 photobook (standard hard cover, 20 pages)

And, those 12 challenges will help you to complete some layouts!!!  So get cracking to get one of these prizes!!!

One of the projects (or works in progress) for me is a “Book of Me” sharing photos, experiences, and occasional tidbits that describe me.  The February kit at Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild combines pinks and greens, an all-time favorite for me, with delightful elements.  This is a layout I created using that kit.

This is the February 2012 Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild kit (linked).

As Ever,
Pam

This layout is of my daughters 12th birthday, I took her to the local nail salon to have mani and a pedi! She loved it.