Digital Scrapbooking - 201

I've already discussed the advantages of digital scrapbooking, the supplies and tools, but today I'm going to show you a step by step tutorial of creating a layout from start to finish. To begin, I prefer to create a pagemap for my layout. For those of you unfamiliar with pagemaps, they are essentially the building plan of your layout. I have found that by first creating a map, you save a ton of time and eliminate waste. If you google pagemaps, you will find several sites that have them already made for you like http://www.pagemaps.com/, or you can create your own.

How to create a pagemap:

I use Illustrator, however Inkscape works fabulously for this as well. In illustrator go to file>new and create a 12" by 12" document or 8.5 " by 11". I'm not as familiar with Inks

I typically start in Illustrator, however <a href="http://inkscape.org/">Inkscape</a> works fabulously for this as well. In Inkscape open a new document: File>new>(then I chose defaut). Using the square tool drag across the page to make a square.

Click on the black arrow at the top of the tool bar on the left to select your square and  then adjust the size at the top of the menu bar so that your square is 12" by 12" or whatever size you want your layout to be. (Make sure your unit is set to inches--see photo below).

I continue to follow the same process to create squares, circles, or shapes to develope my pagemap. (Hint: using some of the basic SVG's or Cut Its like <a href="http://www.letteringdelights.com/clipart:simple_frames-9834.html">Simple Frames</a> work great for page maps. To import an SVG into your document, click file>import> and choose the file you wish to import.

I chose frame 1 from <a href="http://www.letteringdelights.com/clipart:simple_frames-9834.html">Simple Frames</a>, but since I want to use it as template and not a frame, I'm going to go ahead and delete the nodes from the inside of the frame to make it a solid shape. You do this by selecting the Node Tool as shown, then click on the node you wish to delete and hit delete.

When you are done deleting nodes, use the black selection arrow to select your shape and go ahead and drag the arrows to adjust the shape to the size you want. I then will use the rotation tool as shown to flip it 90 degrees.

My page map is almost done...I just need to add my photo spots!

You can rotate you shapes by first using your black selection arrow to select the shape you want to rotate, then click on object (in the top menu bar)>transform>then insert the number of degrees you wish to rotate>apply.

And here is the finished page map!

<Photo 8>