Photoshop Friday! Templates+

So, TODAY we announced the grand opening of the Shop at the Spraground. We’re so excited about this! I will be offering digital templates, and my dear friend Liv will be offering kits and other digital Bits & Pieces for your scrapping delight and enjoyment. :)

For today’s tutorial (which I must admit has been a long time coming) I wanted to share with you a very cool secret for taking advantage of my Templates “Plus”! What is the plus, you might ask?

Each of my templates has two pluses (wow, that looks like a weird word - is that even right?).

1. The first is a great time-saver. Each clippable layer in the template has a little + right in front of the layer name in the Layers palette. This helps distinguish it from layers that make up the framework of the page, rather than the areas that are designed for papers and photos. You’ll be amazed at what a difference this makes when you’re managing all those template layers. I actually hope this trend catches on among template designers, and everyone starts offering a + before clippable layers. Seriously.
2. The second is a stash-builder. Each of my templates comes with several embellishments that complete the page, including journaling blocks, brads, ribbons, alphabets, tags, overlays, photo mats, all kinds of stuff. Each template has a unique set of them, and while they look AWESOME on that single page, the BEST PART is that you can re-use those embellishments over and over again on tons of different pages.

Today’s tutorial helps with #2. The best way to actually guarantee that you’ll USE the embellishments I include in the templates is to pull them out into their own .png files and save them off, tag them in your organization software, and simply add them in to your stash like any other file. You’ll find yourself using the journaling blocks, alphabets, and embellishments in ALL KINDS of places like never before.

Ready to get started? This is a cool trick! ;)

Adding Plus-es from Templates to your Scrapping Stash!

 1. First, let’s get a template open. I’ll be using Template #6 for this. You can also find a FREE template AND a free video tutorial for how to use them right over here in my FAQ section.

2. Locate the layer for the embellishment you would like to save off to its own file for using in other pages. Click on it. I clicked on the Heart Embellishment layer here to target it:

3. Now hold down your Ctrl key (Cmd on Mac) while you click on the THUMBNAIL of the layer (not the name). This loads in a selection around the border of that layer, so you should see marching ants going around the embellishment now.

4. Now type Ctrl-c (Cmd-c on Mac) to copy this selection to your computer’s clipboard. This is an important step.

5. Go to File > New > Blank File. You’ll notice that the Preset dropdown is set to Clipboard, and that there are numbers filled in for the height and width of the document. Now you can see why step 4, copying to clipboard was important - you’ll actually create a brand new document of the EXACT size of the embellishment you selected and copied.

6. Before you go ahead and click OK, set the Background dropdown to Transparent. This way you won’t create a white background that you have to either hide or extract later. :)

7. Now click OK to create a new document.

8. With your new document open, now type Ctrl-v (Cmd-v on Mac) to paste your selected embellishment in to this new, perfectly sized document. Now do a little aaaaaahhhh-yeahhhhhh because how much did that rock? :)

9. Now you’re ready to save this file off as a .png file, so you can preserve that lovely transparent background. Go to File > Save As.

10. In the dialog box that comes up, change the Format dropdown to .png. In the File Name dropdown, name the file. I would name this thing after whoever it is that designed the template, so you can provide credits. Click Save.

Now you have a beautiful heart embellishment that you can use on TONS of different pages, that isn’t buried in a template that is somewhere and you can’t remember which one. ;) Don’t ask me how I know this.

I hope this tutorial helps you to take full advantage of all the beautiful EXTRAS that come in my templates, so you can pull them out for adding to your digital stash, and reusing on lots of future pages!

Check out the rest of my Templates+ right here!

Comments

[schmoo]

This is super exciting news. I love the template that you have as a freebie (I got it before) and I modified it to use as my desktop. Totally love your templates. Thanks

[mer/marie]

Thanks for always asking us what we want on your site!! I love that you listen to us!! This tut is great and I so love that you are reminding us to do this and telling us how to do it right, now, before we buy months worth of your templates and have lost all the goodies. Glad you will be adding more each week. I love what you all do for us. Thanks!

[PatchyLou]

Thanks so much for this Jessica and sharing your knowledge! Wow it all seems so easy once you know how to do it. Just love this. Your templates are awesome and thanks for sharing your freebie template.

[latz]

Awesome Jess! I need to go shopping today to get all your new stuff!

[Nilda]

More, more, more! I had been waiting for you to offer kits, templates and such! So happy with the new changes to the site, you did a fantastic job (but of course you would). Can't wait for the new classes and now I am greedy for more...what was that you wrote about balance hmmmm....

[Meg]

Girlfriend - you RAWK!! What an awesome idea. And the "+" thing - pure magic! Hope you have a fabulous week!

[Tanya]

Hi Jessica

thanks so much for the templates- I just checked them out on your site- what a fantastic deal. There is a ton of stuff you get for the price! I am so glad you got on board and are selling your templates. I find a quick page where I just have to drag and drop my photos really helps when I am having scrappers block. The page is done in no time, and my juices are flowing again and I can scrap the night away!
keep them coming!

[Brigid G]

Awesome! Thanks so much -- I'm heading over there right now to check these out!

[Rebecca]

Fabulous! I have a question...you mentioned tag the embellishments in your organization software...I don't have one. (I don't think so anyway! lol!) What do you use? Is there a free program? I like free! ;)

[Laurel]

Thank you so much! This is great. I would love to see 8.5x11 templates, too :)

[Jenni]

This is great Jess! I happened to be doing this yesterday and had a QUESTION FOR YOU... after selecting PNG, I get a dialog box that asks if it should be INTERLACED or NONE..... What is the correct choice there and what does that mean anyway?
Thanks!

[Jennifer]

Thanks for this tutorial and all you do. Love the looks of the new template section. I'll definitely be buying some!

[Kathleen]

Jess, speaking of your templates, I did your template tutorial and made my VERY FIRST DIGI PAGE EVER last night! WOOT! I'm so so excited to start digi scrapping and so thankful for you and your site.

xoxoxo

[Leslie]

Love the look of your templates and the extras... oh very nice. I was wondering though can the other elements to your templates be moved. For instance, the photos can you move them around?
thanks!
Leslie

[Michelle]

Love it. Your tutorials are great and got me started on digiscrapping and I am passing it on to friends. Now whenever I buy templates, I look for ones that are "loaded" with elements or I don't buy them----so your pluses are just what I'm after! (And pretty sure you spelled that right!) Nicely done, Jessica, thanks so much.

[Michelle]

Jessica, I'm commenting again because I've done this and now I'm addicted!!! Going thru all my templates now! Thank you again! =)

[HeatherM.]

Oh my word, you have got to be kidding me. I love, love, love, love, love digital templates. And ones created by you, I am in BIG trouble. They are awesome. Love them. Love the elements that come with them. You are amazing.

[Janet]

I heart templates! Can't wait to check them out. Thanks!

[JeanneD]

This is THE best!!! Thanks so much. Happy, happy.

[Kathy]

I'm so excited to see more Photoshop Fridays!! I'm new to your site, and have been teaching myself Photoshop this year by going back through all of your archived lessons - they're terrific! :) Can't wait for more -- and to get some templates! Thanks!!

[Amy L]

Jessica, I love your little pluses (I agree very weird word, but what are you going to do?). I already purchased the #02 template, scrapped a page, and submitted it to a CK page call! I give it high marks, very easy to use.

[Jana]

Love Photoshop Fridays! Thanks for the tip @ saving embellishments as pngs! Love that!

[Carrie]

Brand new to all of this!! Thank you for helping me get started. I have a question...when I save as a png file I get a pop up dialog box "png options" asking me to choose between none or interlaced. I have no idea what this means. And the tutorial doens't mention it. Could you help?

[scrapinthyme]

Wonderful instructions again Jessica, they are so very easy to follow (gotta love that) love love the templates thats why they are now in my stash :) :) Thank you for all that you share with us xxx

[Kathleen]

"Now do a little aaaaaahhhh-yeahhhhhh because how much did that rock?"

LOL. It TOTALLY rocked. YOU totally rock. Thank you sooooooooooo much!!

xoxoxo

[Shirley]

Thanks a million Jess this ia a fantastic template :o)