(Please note that if you're on a Mac, you'll want to hit the Apple key instead of the Control key for the steps below.)

1. Open your photos. Adjust your exposure/settings, if needed.
2. Select your photo with the Marquee tool. Hit Control+C to copy your photo.
3. Drag your frame onto your layout.
4. Use the marquee tool to draw a selection for your photo. Keep your selection inside the edges of the frame.



5. Create a new layer under your frame layer.



6. Go to Edit>Paste Into. (This will paste your photo into your frame.)

7. You must then re-size your photo to fit. Use keyboard shortcut, Control+T to transform/re-size your photo. Hold down the shift button while you drag your photo from one of the four corners. Holding down the shift button keeps your photo from distorting while you re-size.



8. Repeat these steps to fill your frame with photos. When you’re finished, merge your photos and the frame together into one layer by using keyboard shortcut Control+E. This will allow you to move the finished element around your page.




(This digital frame technique, by Michelle Coleman, appeared in the March/April 2008 issue of Memory Makers magazine. Visit our online store to order a copy of the March/April 2008 issue.)

For lots more digital techniques for scrappers, featuring both Photoshop Elements and Word, check out Paper + Pixels here.

Now that 2010 is fully in swing, I have some serious papercrafting catching up to do. My grand plans include diving into some of my favorite products that I’ve seen come across my desk in the past few months. Here are the three projects I can’t wait to start:

Mini Album
My Little Yellow Bicycle's new Album Elements collections are brilliant: the beautifully coordinated collections include chipboard mini albums along with pre-cut papers (pre-cut, people!), journaling tablets and stickers. Themes include faith, friends and pets. With the arrival of my first child expected in June, I plan to take advantage of the perfectly appropriate pregnancy collection to document the months ahead.



Friendship elements shown here


Greeting Cards
My husband’s immediate family includes 20 birthdays, so I plan to stock up on homemade greeting cards. I am loving the newest collection of letter stickers from Sassafras Lass. Brightly colored and simple but full of spunk, they coordinate with all sorts of papers and themes. And Sassafras papers and elements make for great cards, too. The whimsical, retro collections work well for kids and adults alike. 




Cameo brads and Bungle Jungle letters shown here.


Layouts and Home Decor Projects
The gorgeous papers in BasicGrey’s Origins collection make me drool. I plan to create some delightfully delectable layouts and paper projects using every pattern on the list!





And I promise to share my projects as soon as they're complete. What’s on your papercrafting to do list?

Happy Weekend!
Kristin