Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus Software Program Tips
for Making Your Digital Scrapbooking Projects
To make an 8 x 8 Storybook from an existing 12 x 12 Storybook:
(Great for giving a gift sized/priced, book without having to re-do the book!)
On the top ribbon, choose the Home tab. Click on the arrow at the bottom of the Save icon. Choose the last choice, Save pages as.
The screen that pops up has defaulted to a JPG, which is what you need. Leave all of the choices the way they are accept: choose a folder to put them into, (I use a folder on my desktop) and you may want to rename the book. Make sure all pages are selected if you want all of the pages transferred. If not, you will need to bring them into the folder one page at a time.
Now, create an 8 x 8 Storybook choose the last template choice, Blank StoryBook.
Next, on the right side of the screen, choose the Photos tab. Click on Get Photos and bring the pages in from your folder.
Right click on the photo (it is a photo of your page!) and choose, Make this photo the background.
Do that on each blank page with each photo and you will now have your 12 x 12 StoryBook in an 8 x 8 storybook! You can now upload it to share and to order!
(One thing to keep in mind is the size type you used in your 12 x 12. Remember, it will be reduced even smaller in the 8 x 8. Check on it in the 8 x 8 book by making the page 100% (bottom left of the screen) and see if you can read it!
PNG FILES
A PNG file is an item that can be used again and again as an embellishment. You can go through CMs templates and collect any embellishment that you may want to use again. (If it is an embellishment that can be made into a PNG file, you will see it in its own box on the LEFT side of the screen.) For instance, I have collected quite a few metal decorations and created a collection of them)
Making a PNG file, and bringing it into StoryBook Creator Plus as an Embellishment:
Right click on the element and choose Save selection. A screen will pop up that defaults to a PNG file. Name the element (ex: Metal X, or White Rose) and choose the folder it will go to. (I use a folder on my desktop. You may want to create a desktop folder called, PNG files).
Now that you have sent that element to a folder let’s get it into your StoryBook Creator Plus to be used as often as you wish!
Click on the right side of the screen on the Embellishments tab. At the bottom of that screen, click on the Organize icon. Then, click on My stuff. Up pops another screen. Now you need to create a file. Click on File, then, Add collection. Name the collection. (My collections are: Metal stuff, Christmas, Sports, Flowers and Greenery, Buttons and Dots, Fabrics and Bows, Misc.) You can make ANY collection that makes sense to you!
After you name the collection, you click on it to highlight it. Now, click on Content. Click on Add embellishment. Your folder will appear. Click on the embellishment(s) you want and get those selected elements. An embellishment can also go in more than one folder. For example, a red button could go into the Christmas collection and the Buttons and Dots collection. Your goal is to organize your items so that you quickly find and decorate your page!
After completing the above steps, your embellishments will now appear under your Embellishments tab as a drop down choice!
To make a PNG File from a photograph:
(Most likely you are creating your own embellishment of some item that you know you will use on a regular basis, OR an embellishment that you’ve envisioned to create that perfect page! I’ve made them from sports balls, mitts, helmets, flowers, fall leaves, an electric guitar, etc).
Take a photo of the item you want to make into a PNG file. Your job will go fastest if you put the item in a PLAIN, contrasting background before you photograph it. (For instance, I set a football on a piece of white butcher paper, and a baseball on a black background.)
Once you get your photo into your StoryBook, create a blank page to work on. Think of it like a digital cutting board. Drag your photo over to the blank page and enlarge it enough that you can see it clearly. Now to erase the background around the item, there are different ways to do different items
For a perfectly round, oval, rectangular or square item, you can go to the Tools tab at the top of the screen and choose the Rectangle or Ellipse. Make a circle around the ball, or a square around the square object in your photo. (You will say, yes, when it asks you if you want to flatten it). You may need to invert the shaded area to get the shaded area OUTSIDE of the object that you are working on. Once you have as much of the outside of the object shaded, click on erase the shaded area.
For an item that is irregular in shape, use the Rectangle tool just like above to get rid of as much of the background as possible. THEN, go to your Wand tool in the Tools Tab and click repeatedly around the outside of your object, trying to get the small black, circulating dots to go around as much of the background as possible. You can repeat this step over and over, using the wand to get rid of the unwanted background. (TIP: I make the background of the page black so that I can see the white little remnants still floating around my object.) Also, you can play with changing the Color sensitivity and the Intensity sensitivity on the Wand tool. Sometimes this will make your job go faster!
One more way to get rid of those little flecks still remaining is to create a small oval, circle or rectangle (from the Rectangle or Ellipse tool on the Tools tab). Use those to carefully get close to the edge of your object and erase any little bits of background that still remain. I think of this process as making a sponge and going around and blotting up the excess. ;-) Keep at it until it is all clean around the object!
Phew! The good news is that once you are done you have a beautiful, personalized object to use anytime you want to! Of course, to get the object into your Embellishment drop down screen, you use the steps written above (Making a PNG file, and bringing it into StoryBook Creator Plus as an Embellishment) .
Creating a Border from your PNG files
You can take a mixture of those PNG files and create a border to be used again and again!
For example three or four different fall leaves OR a baseball glove, bat, ball and helmet could become a border. Anything, you name it, can become a PNG file border!
To do this: arrange the items on the page in design that you like. (You can use the Layout tab at the top of the screen to move an item forward, backward or to the back or to the front!)
Then, on the left side of your screen, under the Elements section LOCK the bottom layer or background of your page. Now, press your Control key and the letter A key on your keyboard. This will highlight every item in your border design. Lastly, you will go to the top of the screen and, under the Layout tab, click on Flatten. The border is now one solid embellishment! You can now use the same steps above (Making a PNG file, and bringing it into StoryBook as an Embellishment) to save your new border as a PNG file and bring it into Storybook Creator Plus!
Sharing your PNG file:
Once you have created the PNG file, and sent it to your desktop folder, you can ALSO share it with others! Just attach the PNG file to an email and the other person who has StoryBook Creator Plus can use the steps above to bring it into THEIR program!
You should definitely give this a try! The sky is the limit.
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