National Digi-Scrap Day--Let's celebrate!

Happy National Digital Scrapbooking Day!  I have a fun little tutorial for you and a freebie.  Also look for a key word in my posting and you can use it to complete a mystery phrase for the My Memories Suite blog train prize.  Find all the words and you will qualify for a gift at the MMS Store!

I've mentioned more than once on the My Memories Suite facebook page that I really enjoy making boxes and hybrid projects with MMS.  I get inspiration all over the web for this fun little hobby.  Check out this awesome website - Kelleigh Ratzlaff Design.  She's posting 30 days of ornaments made with paper boxes.  How cute is that?  I also love browsing The Hybrid Chick's blog to see her amazing creations with paper box templates.

So  are you interested in trying one?  Let me walk you through the steps.  The first step is to get a box template.  Kelleigh Ratzlaff sells them in her shop, but you  find tons of them on the web for free.  One of the sites I frequent is Belle's Printables.  She offers lots of templates for free.  Her templates are offered in JPEG format, which unfortunately does not allow you to design directly on the templates, but I modify them in Photoshop and remove the background, and then I can play with them in MMS.  If you don't have Photoshop, you can still print your favorite paper and embellishments and then print the template on the back of the paper.  I will show you how to do either method. 

Removing the background in Photoshop Elements 7

If you own PSE, modifying one of Belle's templates to a PNG file is super easy.  Go to Belle's Printables and download the template you want to use.  I am going to use the small handle bag.  Save the image file from Belle's site and open it in PSE.  Your screen will look like this

You need to double click on the Layer box that says background to unlock it.  When you see the box asking for permission to create a Layer 0 - click okay.  Here's what that will look like.

Now choose the magic wand tool.  You will use this to delete the background of this photo.  Click on a white portion of the background.  It will select all potions of the picture that are white.  Then hit delete on your keyboard.  This will delete the white background and make the background transparent.  Here's what your final product will look like.

Save that as a PNG file and you will be able to play with it in MMS as an embellishment, which allows you to layer papers underneath it.

Now to the fun part---Open MMS.  You will want to open an album that is a rectangular shape.  I have one called landscape projects that I use for making boxes and cards.  This saves me from having too many new albums to search when I want to reprint a project.

Once you have your blank page open, click on Embellishments.  In the lower left hand corner is a Browse button.  Click on that button and then find your pgn file of the box template.  Select the template and then click OK.  You will see the template on your screen, but it may be very small. Stretch the size of your template until it covers your entire page.

Now you can select a background and embellishments to make this box super cute.  If you are using a light background I recommend changing the opacity of the template so that the lines are less visable when you are folding it.  If you want to avoid having any lines on the front side of your box, just print your paper without the template and then print the template on the back of your printed paper.  You can also use this method if you do not have PSE and cannot remove the background.

Here's what my box looks like after I have added the background and embellishments to it.   I used StoryRock's Hello Cupcake for this cute little layout. 

Now print this adorable little box and assemble it.  Cut it on the outside line - You will fold it on the other lines.

What do you think of the finished product?  I think these would make cute little party favors:-)

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  If you would like to make this little bag, Belle has graciously allowed me to modify it for you so that you can download it and use it in My Memories Suite!   Here's the link for the freebie - Small Handbag Template.

Don't forget to take a picture of your **MEMORIES**!

Hop on over to Lisa's blog for more blog train fun - http://imsewkrazy.blogspot.com/.