Have you ever found yourself wanting to use a specific layout from one of the Simply Digital CDs, but it’s in a different size format than what you need?  I found myself in this situation the other night, while trying to make a layout with some pictures of Devin.  I liked Believe from Simply Fun, but it was 12x12 and I wanted it in 8.5x11. So now, I’m going to show you how I solved my dilemma!

 It’s basically very simple to convert a 12x12 to 8.5x11 using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.1.  I break it down into three steps:

1. Move elements

2. Crop (this keeps shapes from being distorted)

3. Re-size elements

What you’ll need:

• Digital Imaging Software (I used
  Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.10)

• Photographs in digital format

• Simply Digital CD of your choice                   

Open Paint Shop Pro

Open Layout within Paint Shop Pro

1. Choose File > Open and browse your CD drive for the layout of your choice.  I chose Believe from Simply Fun.

2. Choose Open.

(Note: I colorized the papers and elements to my liking at this time, but won’t go into that now.  We have tutorials on our Tutorials page on this topic.)

Move Elements

With the layout template open, use the Move tool to move all the elements inward, so they fit within an 8.5x11 frame.  (Note: if your ruler is in centimeters and you want it in inches, edit your user preferences by choosing File>User Preferences>General>Units> Inches)

For my example, I only had to move the photo mat to the right a bit, and move the journaling mat upward to preserve the lower drop shadow.

Crop Layout

1. Select the Crop tool from the Toolbar.

2. Set the Width to 8.5 inches and the Height to 11 inches in the tool options bar.

3. Move the crop window to a pleasing position on the layout

4. Click the Accept Check mark to crop.

Now we just need to correct the proportions of the elements.  They’re overwhelming the page at this point.  My tool of choice for this is the Deform tool on the Toolbar. 

For this layout, I only needed to re-size the Photo Mat and lower Photo/Journaling Mat, as the tag, marble, and fibers look great.

1. Choose the Deform tool on the Toolbar.

2. Select the Photo Mat in the layer palette.

3. To re-size the photo mat, simply move the mouse to a corner handle, and right click the mouse as you drag inward to keep proportionate, without distortion.

4. I also rotated the mat at this time to my liking.  Click and drag the rotation handle (the square connected by a line to the rotation pivot point) to a new position. Keep adjusting the rotation as needed.

5. Move the Clear Marble upward by making it the active layer and dragging it to a better position on the page.

6. Re-size the lower Journaling/Photo mat by using the Deform tool and dragging the upper handles downward to make it a thinner mat.

Finish Layout

Now, I can get to the fun part of adding my photos, title art, and journaling to make it my own creation!

Save Layout

You’re done!  Save as a .pspimage file to retain layers (choose File > Save > File Type: >PSPIMAGE).  Save as a .jpg to share on the Internet (resize to 72 dpi for this option). 

Keep experimenting, as the more you play, the more you learn!

Supplies for Sharp Dressed Baby:
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.1
Simply Fun Scrapbooking Template CD, CottageArts.net
LumaPix Fotofusion 2 (collage at bottom)
Fonts:
2 Peas Fixin’ To
2 Peas Little Buddy
LD Remington Streamlined

Coming next month: 

Converting 8.5x11 layouts to 12x12!