Huey Lewis claims that it's “hip to be square”, but I’m here to prove that it’s hip to be circular and triangular, even octagonal when necessary.

Most of the time when we see a layout, the pictures are all rectangular, just as they are captured.  The occasional square shows up, too, when it’s beneficial to the layout. 

This month, I’ll show you how to use several Paint Shop Pro tools to create circular, oval, and star shaped frames and photos.

What you’ll need:

• Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 or higher

What I’ll cover:

• Using the magic wand tool to add a photo to a tag or frame
• Using the selection tool to crop a photo into shapes
• Use the selection tool to create a star-shaped photo frame

Magic Wand Tool Selections
Like most parents, I have quite the cache of photographs of my children in every situation imaginable.  I particularly love the pictures I have of Devin taking bubble baths, so I’ve decided to focus on those in my first layout.

I selected the Rainbow Sherbet layout template from Simply Fun.  After making the sample dates and titles invisible, as well as the square brads, I dragged in a photo of Devin in the tub.  Here’s what it looks like at this point:

I have a secondary photo chosen, and I’d like to add it to the White Metal Tag from Simply Fun.  The following method will let you add a photo to the tag without distorting the picture.

1. Open the tag, and duplicate it by pressing the shift key and D together.  Close your original.
2. Choose your  magic wand tool, and using the settings seen to the right, select the white portion of the tag by clicking on the white portion of the tag. Shift click to add to your initial selection if necessary.
3. Cut the white portion from the tag using the scissor or CTRL and X on your keyboard.
4. Next, you’ll want to save your selection.  You can do this one of two ways: Save to Disk or Save to Alpha Channel.  Since I might use this tag in this manner again, I’m going to save to disk.
   1. Choose Selections>Load/Save Selection
   2. Choose Save Selection to Disk
   3. In the pop up dialog box, name your selection.  I called mine tag_sel
   4. Choose Selections>Select None to remove the selection.
5. Copy your secondary photograph, and paste as new layer (or drag using File>Browse function).  Move the layer under the tag layer in the layer palette. You may need to resize your photo so that it fits better using the Deform Tool. Remember to hold the right mouse key while re-sizing to keep in proportion.  Don’t worry about overhanging edges, we’ll get rid of those in a moment.
6. Once your photo is the size you need, you’ll want to load your saved selection.  Choose Selections>Load/Save Selection> Load Selection from Disk (you may have to scroll through the list to find yours).
7. With the selection loaded,  choose Selections> Invert.  Click the scissor to remove the excess of the photo.  At this point, with the selection still there, I chose to add a slight drop shadow to the inside of the tag.
8. Choose Selections>Select None, then merge your layers (choose Layers>Merge Visible)

With the eraser tool, I removed the fibers from the tag, so I could make it look like the tag was attached to the photo mat fibers included with the template.  Here’s what the layout looks like with the tag and title added:

Supplies and Program List

• Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.1

• Rainbow Sherbet template and White Metal Tag: Simply Fun CD
• Eye Candy 4000: Glass and Water Drops filters used on circles on paper

Selection Tool Shapes
My next layout isn’t really a layout at all-it’s the invitation for Devin’s second birthday party!  I cannot believe my baby will be two in just six weeks.

I selected the Blue Watercolor background paper from the Simply Kids CD for this project.  I rotated and resized (to 6” x 8”) the background to fit my needs.

Last month, I took some photos of Devin’s hands and feet, and I absolutely love them!  I’m using one of these photos as the focus of the invitation.  I’d like to give it a softer look than the typical rectangle, so I’m going to crop the picture with my selection tool.  Here’s how I did it.

1. Open photo, hit shift and D to duplicate.  Close your original.
2. Promote your background to a raster layer, if necessary.
3. Select your selection tool , and with the settings as shown above right (or settings of your choice), draw an elliptical selection around the portion of the photo that you want to keep.
4. Press Shift and R to crop the photo to your selection.

Copy and paste the image onto your photo mat or background. Add embellishments from Simply Digital CD line, and personal journaling.

Supply & Program List: 

• Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.1
• Blue Watercolor Paper: Simply Kids CD
• Suede Strip: Simply Vintage CD
• Lime Ribbon Buckle (colorized to copper): Simply Kids CD
• Font: Scrap Caps (title created using text on a path as described in Michelle's book, Scrapbooking the Digital Way)

Advanced Star Frame
The two methods I’ve described above can be used for various projects, such as cutting your photos to fit any shaped mat included in the Simply Digital product line or for making your own shapes. 

I used a more involved technique to create a star-shaped frame for a photo of my friend’s daughter.  This tutorial requires a working knowledge of Paint Shop Pro.

1. Open background paper of your choice: I used the Paper Hearts background from the Kid Valentine downloadable page pak. Shift +D to duplicate, close out your original.
2. Promote your background layer to a raster layer, if necessary (choose Layers>Promote Background Layer).
3. Choose your selection tool , and using the settings shown at above right, draw out your selection to the desired size and location with your mouse (holding the shift key to keep proportional).  I chose the Star 1 selection shape. Choose Edit>Copy, Edit Paste as New Layer to add star shape to layout. Save this selection as described above for later use.
4. To create a layered frame look, create a new raster layer (choose Layers>New Raster Layer) and flood fill the same star selection shape with a color that coordinates with the paper you’ve chosen. I chose a rosy red hue. I added a texture to this layer using Effects>3D effects>Texture effects.
5. Choose SelectionsàModifyàContract. Set number of pixels at about 60, but this is determined by size and resolution of your shape. Click OK.  Choose Edit>Cut to remove selection, leaving an outer rosy red star shape.
6. To add a shadow to the outer frame creating a cutout effect, choose Effectsà3D EffectsàDrop Shadow using default settings, or your own preference.  Move this frame on top of first star shape using Move tool.
7. To create the inner frame cutout, select the first star shape, load original star selection and choose SelectionsàModifyàContract. Set number of pixels at about 120, but, again, this is determined by size and resolution of your shape. Click OK. Choose Edit>Cut to create opening in frame for photo.
8. Choose SelectionsàLoad/Save SelectionàSave Selection to Disk.
9. Choose SelectionsàSelect None to remove selection.
10. Open your photo of choice, shift + D to duplicate, close the original.
11. Choose Edit>Copy, Edit>Paste as New Layer over your star.  Move the photo below both layers in the layer palette.
12. Resize your photo as necessary.
13. To delete excess from photo, choose SelectionsàLoad/Save SelectionàLoad Selection from Disk.
14. Choose SelectionsàInvert.
15. Choose Ctrl+X or the scissor tool to cut the excess portions of your photo.
16. Choose Effectsà3D EffectsàDrop Shadow using Drop Shadow dialog settings at right.
17. Choose SelectionsàSelect None to remove selection.
18. Merge layers by choosing Layers>Merge Visible.
19. Export your image as a PNG file.

If you like, you can stop at step 9 and export as a PNG file, so you can use the frame over.