The question I get asked the most about here and at SC is how I print onto my Project Life journaling cards. I've been meaning to do a tutorial forever, so I'm finally making time to do so. I love designers who have beautiful handwriting and use it in their PL spreads and layouts. And I don't hate my handwriting, but for some reason I don't like it on my projects. I really prefer the look of typed journaling and it's actually pretty simple to do once you do it a few times and get the hang of it.

I'm using Photoshop for this tutorial, but the directions should be fairly similar for Photoshop Elements as well. To start, we want to open up a blank canvas in Photoshop. I'll be showing you how I created the card at the bottom right in the photo above, so I opened up a Custom document in PS -- go to File>New, change the preset to Custom and then change the width and height to either 6x4 or 3x4 depending on what size card you want to print onto. Make sure that the resolution is set to 300 pixels/inch.

Now that we have the correct size document, we want to add a border around the edges. This will allow us to see exactly where to place the journaling card once we're ready to print. To do this go to Image>Canvas Size.....

Then expand the canvas size to 0.1 for both the height and the width. At the bottom of the pop up window, use the drop down menu to change the canvas extension color to gray.

Now you're ready to type your journaling. Once you do this a few times, you'll get really good at figuring out where to place your journaling. I measure on my journaling card and then eyeball and use the rulers along the top and side edges of my PS window to give me an idea of where my journaling should start and stop. Type your journaling (don't worry we can adjust this later if need be), select the entire document and then go to Edit>Copy Merged.

Now open up a blank 8.5x11 document (make sure the resolution is set again to 300 pixels/inch and paste your journaling card onto the blank document.
Print your document and now you have your journaling ready to be placed onto your journaling card.....

Test out your placement -- place your photos in the correct space and make sure that you won't be typing over anything on the journaling card like a border or any printed text that's already there. I like to double check by holding the journaling card behind my printer paper and holding it up to the light to see exactly where it's going to print. If you need to make any adjustments, go back to your original 4x6 document in PS and move your text left/right or up/down to get the placement correct.

Once you're happy with where it's going to print, adhere your journaling card to the paper right inside that gray frame we created in PS around the edges. I use a scrapbooking tape runner to do this (here is my favorite one to use).

Now, this step is IMPORTANT!! Go back to PS and your 8.5x11 document and use the Paint Bucket tool to color in the gray canvas extension back to white. Select the white square at the bottom of the side toolbar and click on the Paint Bucket tool. With the Paint Bucket tool selected, hover over the gray edging and click to paint the gray area white.

Now you're ready to print directly onto your journaling card! Load the same piece of paper back through your printer the same way it came out, select print and you'll be ready to go. Your journaling will print directly onto your card exactly where you wanted it to go. Remove your journaling card from the printer paper or cut around the edge of the card if you don't want to deal w/the sticky background from the adhesive. This will make the card easy to slide in and out of your PL pockets. Add embellishments and your photos and it's ready to slide into it's pocket! So very simple!
The cards above went into this spread that I created using the October Project Life kit at Studio Calico plus the Baker Street add-on. Baker Street was definitely my favorite of the PL add-ons this month. I loved the rich colors and they matched my photos perfectly. Such a great add-on for boy Mamas! ;)



Thanks for stopping by and happy almost October!! (how can that be?!!)
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