I'm counting the photo collage I posted in the 100 flowers thread as one project! Since I don't want to double post, I'm just putting up a thumbnail.
Here's how I did it:( A mini tutorial)
I used Microsoft Publisher, set up a new sheet of "paper"-Portrait orientation; sized to 8.5x11". Then I went in and eliminated the margins, then set up a grid, dividing up the pages. Next, I inserted one photo at a time, editing as I went. Each photo was kept at a 3x4" landscape crop, and sized as" Document Large". After positioning photos where I wanted them, I inserted a background.
Here's where the learning curve came in:
I am not experienced with Zip Files. I have lots of digital papers purchased on ETSY, but rarely use them. SO... I figured it out! I EXTRACTED the files, and then was able to use them. They appeared visible in my downloads folder.
THEN, I went back to my publisher project, clicked "Insert Image" from file, grabbed a paper, and dropped it in like a photo. At this point, my project was hidden behind the paper; but, by grabbing the dots on the edge, I brought the paper in to be even with my project outlines.Just like when you crop something. Then, I found the little positioning tool on my toolbar, and clicked "send to back". The paper was now behind my photos.
Finally, I added borders, and picked color for the borders. I could have added text boxes and typed captions, but it was close to dinner time.
So, at that point I had to save it.
This is important-how you save it. Since it was made in Publisher, it was still a word document. I scrolled down the SAVE-As option box, and clicked on "JPG Image"; made sure it went where I could find it again, so I also clicked on "send to desktop". Now, I have a JPG of it on my desktop, that is a photo file format, instead of a word document.
The last step was to resize that to be able to load into a Craftster post, since it was still too large- it took 2 trys. I ended up resizing it to
"web-large" about 600x800 px or so. And there you have it!
Now some of you ask why I didn't use some photoshop program, or something. This is the one that i am most comfortable with at this time, even though I have Photo Draw, and Adobe Illustrator, I am not learned enough with those right now.
