new today and a quick tutorial

Three new [tiny] kits today...each just 99¢

Date Slims

Journaling Cards

Paper Mask

I'll give all three kits to one of you! Just leave a comment, any comment, and I'll choose a winner Friday!

Now, for the tutorial. I wish I could figure out how to get better at screen capture videos but screenshots will have to suffice. Also, I'm all self taught so I'm adding a disclaimer that my methods may not be the best or most efficient but they get the job done!

I designed those Date Slims because I wanted something that I could staple to the edge of my pl page protectors. Something that would add a little continuity and make it easy to find a specific week. I wanted *mine* to look like white ink on kraft paper though so I'm going to quickly show how I took the file from the Date Slims kit and modified to suit the look I was after. You can download my 8.5x11" kraft paper jpg HERE. Just an FYI that this kit includes a blank label file as well so you can customize the dates if you're working a different format than Sunday - Monday.

Open the date slims file and the kraft paper file.

Activate the Rectangular Marquee Tool (keyboard shortcut M)

Draw a rectangle selection around week 1 and then click Edit>Create Brush from Selection

You can name your brush if you'd like but it's not necessary. If you're creating a lot of brushes at once (and especially if they'll look similar in a thumbnail like these week images will) then naming makes it much easier to identify the brush you want.

Switch to  your kraft paper file, create two new layers, and stamp week one and week two on separate layers.

Rotate one of the layers 180° and position as shown.

Merge both layers together by selecting both (hold the shift key while clicking on both layers) and clicking ctrl+E.

Select your kraft layer and while holding the ctrl key, click on the *thumbnail* image for the label layer (click on the actual picture - not the layer name)

At this point, you'll see the marching ants (animated dashed lines) that indicate you've made a selection. Click ctrl+J to create a copy of the date labels from the kraft paper.

Here you can see the new layer that was created in the previous step.

Drag your kraft layer to a new white canvas to print.

OK, so maybe not such a quick tutorial but I'm not a natural teacher and have a hard time figuring out the best way to demonstrate the steps. If you have questions, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer them!