Wow, Tanya... this is awesome! Thanks for writing such a detailed tutorial.
The screen shots really helped a lot. I learned a few things I didn't know.
- I didn't know that the action I did was called 'Create Clipping Mask'. I didn't know that I could use Ctrl-g to do it, either. I have always held the Alt key down and hovered over the line between the two layers that I wanted to associate (in the layers panel on the right). When you see the little oval/link, you click on it. Ctrl-g is much easier to explain.
- I've never tried 'Merge Down'. Will that essentially crop the rest of the photo/paper that can't be seen out? If it does, maybe that would reduce the size of my psd file and keep me from having to crop before dragging it on the paper.
A couple more tips:
- before you drag items onto your template, select the template layer that you want your new item to be right on top of. This way you won't have to move it to the right position later (which can minimize confusion if you have a ton of layers). i.e. do it right before "Click and drag your paper onto the template."
- if you hold the shift key down before you drag an item onto your page, it will center it. Especially helpful for the paper on your bottom layer.
Thanks again!!
p.s. Love your layout!!