How to do It

[CWeber2002]

If there is another place to post this, please let me know.

I want to be able to resize a piece of patterned paper to a 12 x 3" strip without changing the look of the pattern, just like if you were cutting a strip from a printed sheet of paper with your papercutter. I use Elements 8 and just haven't been able to figure it out. I have a book, but I totally don't see how to do this. Help!

[iUma]

Hi!! I don't use elements but I am pretty sure there is a Marquee tool in that program. The easy way I do it in PhotoShop is to selected the patterned paper, then select the Marquee tool, making sure it is set for rectangular and not circle shape, then drag the cursor over the part you want to cut out and then command J to make a new copy from the selection. Then just delete the original piece you don't want anymore and move the new piece to where ever you DO want it.

I know this will become something you do without thinking after awhile. I had to THINK to work out the details and someone else will have another way or say this better than I am saying it here....but stick with it and you will be having a blast.

[sarahdg]

Another way to do it is to use your shape tool set to the rectangle shape. Draw out a rectangle the shape that you want. Switch back to the move tool and, in the layers palette, position your shape layer so that it is directly under your paper layer. Now, with the paper later active in the layers palette, press ctrl+g on your keyboard. The paper will now be in the shape of the rectangle that you drew. The advantage of this is that you can use your move tool to move the paper around until it looks just how you want. When you've got it how you want it, link the two layers together by selecting them both and clicking the little link icon in the layers palette.

A great place to find tips is on the designer digitals blog in the "video tutorials" category.
Digital Scrapbooking Blog and Scrapbook Inspiration From DesignerDigitals - C25
I would suggest going waaaay back to the beginning and watching them all. They're great!

[MaggieMae]

I use something so easy, it must be wrong! I just use the crop tool and cut out the rectangle just as if I were using scissors. It seems to work well and the pattern should stay the same. Hope one of these tips works well for you!

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by MaggieMae

I use something so easy, it must be wrong! I just use the crop tool and cut out the rectangle just as if I were using scissors. It seems to work well and the pattern should stay the same. Hope one of these tips works well for you!

Yep, and you can make it even easier by telling the "Crop" what dimensions you want---so you can say 8X3 at 300 PPI and it will crop it to those dimensions. The pattern won't change.

I use the marquee tool and "show gridlines" to help me measure. I drag to select, then CTRL + A, CTRL + C, CTRL + V to copy (all) and paste. I prefer to use non-destructive techniques just in case I forget and accidentally save changes.

[blhdvm]

When I use the crop tool to crop papers I've added to my LO, it crops the ENTIRE LO - not just the layer I am working with?!?!?!!? What am I doing wrong?!?!?

I have always used the marquee tool. But I like the shape method too after playing with it that way.

[JulieSade]

Yeah, the crop tool is to cut down an *entire* layout/file size, not just one layer. For that, you need to use the marquee tool. However, I like to use the shape tool, tell it to go to a specific size (if I need that), make the shape, and then clip the paper to it after simplifying the shape. Then, you can merge the shape and paper layer together.

[lizj]

That's a good tip about using the shape tool so you can move the selected area. You can also set a fixed size using the marquee tool, which I don't think has been mentioned yet. Then you just click on the pp layer and the marching ants will appear, and you can nudge your selection around to the place on the pp you want to cut, then select>inverse>delete and it will delete everything outside of what you want to keep. I like this method b/c I can pre-set the dimensions rather than eye-balling it.

[sarahdg]

Originally Posted by blhdvm

When I use the crop tool to crop papers I've added to my LO, it crops the ENTIRE LO - not just the layer I am working with?!?!?!!? What am I doing wrong?!?!?

I have always used the marquee tool. But I like the shape method too after playing with it that way.

Yes, the crop tool crops the entire document. If you want the same effect applied to just a single layer, use the "cookie cutter" tool. I used to use the cookie cutter all the time, though now i prefer using the shape tool to create a clipping mask.

Sarah

[Bonvoyage4me]

Just to throw this in there. When you are cropping make sure you don't use the original paper or picture. I was taught that in a class and also read it all the time. You don't want to destroy the original pixels. Someone more advanced can explain why, I am just passing it on cuz you are talking about cropping and I believe the shapes and marquee are the better way to go.