OBSERVATIONS: I take very few portrait-oriented photos.
This became evident when Aidan said, “Mom! Get a shot of this outfit.” And that’s when I caught myself turning my camera on its side. What? You can do that? Who knew?
Project Life has turned me into a landscape photographer. No, I don’t mean landscape a al the Ansel Adams variety—I mean I take horizontal photos. All the time.
Even the shots I size down for the 3 x 4 pockets are mostly horizontal ones that I crop into a vertical format. This realization isn’t the end of the world, it’s just a real change from photos I used to take, which were mostly vertical in nature.
Because of this, I had to grab one of the different page protectors from my Big Design Pack, specifically the Design D page protector. It’s all going to work out just fine, however, because next week, when Design D is my left facing page, I happen to have vertical Week in Review cards to do my weekly card. Whew. Now that’s lucky!
Here are my pages for the week:
This week, I did a screen shot of my 2012 training record at DailyMile.com and sized it to fit onto a 6 x 4 canvas. Also, see the cards with the Instagram logo? That’s a free download I’m offering today for those of you who want to capture your Instagrams in a nice, square format.
Download CZ_3x4InstagramTemplate
And here’s a very quick video showing you how to use it:
Using my free Instagram 3 x 4 Card Template from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.
Moving right along…
I’m just not used to using the other page protectors, but I really like how this page turned out.
I used some of my templates, and changed up some of the fonts and sizes on the small cards in the center. This is one of my Tiny Text Templates.
And this is one of my Tiny Photo Templates.
I did make the type a little smaller, and moved the text boxes in from the edges a little bit to accommodate for the rounded corners. If you own any of my products, don’t be shy about tweaking them a little here and there to meet your exact needs.
If you missed my post this week, I recorded a video tutorial showing the basics of working with my Week in Review layered journal cards. Find that video here.
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Stefani says
Thanks for the Instagram template. It’s perfect! 🙂
Deonne says
Love your templates so much, but tried to use one of the Tiny Templates this weekend and while it all looked great onscreen, I was very disappointed that when I picked up my photos at Sam’s Club, type was all running off the edge. I think somehow they enlarged the file, but I don’t know why or what to do to geet what I want. Any tips for the rest of us?
Jocelyn Thompson says
Oh I love that Instagram template! Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Pheeebzzz says
Thanks for the instagram template !
Jocelyn Thompson says
…and how do you pronounce Monegot? I printed the recipe because it looked and sounded soooo good. Haven’t tried it yet and am doing The Whole 30 right now. So really want to try this though in the next month.
susan (the other one) :-) says
Awesome template! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Aj says
I love this – Thank you! While I don’t have a smartphone at this point I do love the square photos, so I am sure this will get plenty of use making faux-stagrams for PL
Corey says
Thank you Cathy! I really like that gray striped paper you use….is it available somewhere? Designer Digitals?
Kathy says
Thanks for the free template that will come in handy for my iphone pics for sure. I’m with you on the horizontal vs vertical pics as well. In 2009 I did a photo a day and my plan was at the end of the year to get them printed onto a canvas in thumbnail print which is fantastic and of course they all needed to be the same format (horizontal) so I totally get where you are coming from. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia
cathy says
Deonne, that is probably because they set the file to print full bleed. One thing you could try doing is to put a number of them on a single sheet (8.5 x 11) and then have a sheet printed to see what happens with that. Maybe that would get better results?
cathy says
Mon-uh-got.
cathy says
You can copy it out of the layered PSD files in my free download package:https://www.cathyzielske.com/2013/01/happy-new-year-and-here-are-some-happy-free-project-life-downloads-for-you.html
Karen Freeman says
Thanks for the template it is really cool.
Jo says
I notice most people taking photos these days are taking portrait shots because they use their cellphones. It’s especially so with people who are not very experienced with cameras. (I hate the portrait-oriented videos that so many people take on camera phones, but I have done that myself once or twice by accident!). I have frustrations with a family member taking all portrait-oriented phone photos. I make photo books for her, and so many photos she takes have nothing at the top and bottom but cut people out at the sides, so I wish I could get her to shoot landscape or even square from time to time! I use instagram a lot so orientation is less of an issue, but the iPhone +button shutter helps to remind me to shoot horizontal too. And I sometimes end up cropping photos to fit the space I have for them – sometimes filling the frame isn’t the best idea for scrapbookers. I know some people take photos in both orientations so they can choose which shot works better for PL (but it’s not always the best of the bunch that points in the right direction!)
Thanks for the template! I think that will be very useful! 🙂
Jo says
Oh, thank you! I was wondering about that too!
Rebekah says
Thank you for the fun new downloadable card!
Krista Lund says
thank you!!
MarieD says
That’a a great spread ! Thanks so much for the inspiration ! I always love discovering how you put things together for your PL… And I’m never disapointed !
Have a great day !
Christine says
Your daughter is one of those young women who makes cool and fun dressing look effortless. If I was 20 something, I’d have to hate her. Since I’m late 4o something I’ll just give her my mom like admiration and think about hiring her to dress me!
Petra says
Wonderfully done week yet again Cathy.
Always love your pages. So clean. Aaah.
Rachel W says
I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for your ongoing inspiration. I jumped on with Project Life last year (finally decided in late Jan so had to work to catch up right from the start). I am currently assembling the last weeks of 2012 and just ordered my supplies for this year. I worked only with the Design A last year and cut a protector in half for weeks I had too many photos (like when we were travelling) so that it was still a week to a spread. This year I have stuck with Design A but also ordered the Design G for weeks I have a ton of photos so that it also sits within the weeks spread. You also gave me the courage to venture into making my own journalling cards using Elements – I am loving it!
Your clean style really resounds with me – and is the reason I have found PL to be so successful. Thanks so much!!!
cathy says
You are so welcome. Glad you jumped in and are enjoying the process!
Susan says
awesome as usual. i love your clean and simple. i began project life this year and so far so good. this isn’t project life but i started a little 52 scralifts projects this year to get some more pages done of older pictures and stories and i scraplifted a 2004 page of yours i thought i’d share with you. http://susanbowers.typepad.com/in_the_storm/2013/01/52-scraplifts-03-1.html
Ali says
Thanks for the instagram template! love the little transparent icon too! 🙂
Love your spread this week!
marcela says
Thank you for the template and video! It’s fantastic! It use to take me forever to work out how to work with templates, your tips are very much appreciated !
Corey says
oh thank you! that is easy enough! 😀
Chris H says
The beauty of being digital with this, this year….if I want a different template on one page, the back doesn’t have to be the same ! I struggled with this last year.
Great to see some different layouts working well in the standard method!
Your daughter is beautiful.
Chris H.
Sara S says
Thanks Cathy, you’re so generous! I’m going to have to go look that recipe up, your photos make even yucky ol’ mushrooms look good!
Kelly says
thanks for the instagram template – it’s very awesome! I really like your asymmetrical collage you used as well. Is it included in one of your tiny template packs at digital designers??
Andi R says
I love the instagram template! I have been hoping that someone would come up with this. Good job Cathy. Going to start using your Week in Review templates as well. Love that idea.
Sandra L. says
I too want to say Thank You for the Instagram template! I am also very greatful for the free tutorials! I really appreciate it! I’m waiting for a Designer Digital sale so I can pick up some of your other templates 🙂
Elizabeth A says
Thanks for the fun freebie. So fun that you added a mileage card too. I love graphs. Good luck with your target for the year.
Ann C. says
I so badly want to incorporate some portrait-oriented shots into my PL, but the problem with those page protectors is that they have a back side! So that’s double the amount of photos that I’d have to take in portrait, or come up with a way to fill all those pockets. Quite a conundrum.
BTW, Apothic Red is awesome.
dawn says
Another happy and fun week for you and family. My favorite is all the pictures of Aidan and her outfits, LOVE THEM!! She is so beautiful and how awesome that you two spent time together. Thanks for the IG template, LOVE THIS!!
Are you showing your PL posts on Wednesday now?
carlajinar says
love the template! Thanks.
robin says
That Aidan’s got style!
cathy says
oh, its a good one alright. And when you finish cooking the sauce, use an immersion blender… youll never know they are there. Mmmmm.
cathy says
Kelly, no… that is something I made taking photos with my phone and making a collage in an app called Diptic, then importing that file into Instagram.
cathy says
Apothic IS the best.
cathy says
Dawn, I just didnt have much for my blog this week, so I figured Id post today! Still shoot for thursdays!
cathy says
Thats what she keeps telling us! ; )
Kristi B says
Thank you for the template!!!
Lynn Mercurio says
Thanks so much Cathy for the template and the awesome video!
Cyranoscrap says
Cathy, it’s so funny that you mentioned most of your photos are landscape format. I’ve found that I take a lot of portrait format photos, which sometimes makes it hard to crop. 🙂 Thank you for the Instagram template!
GinaT says
Two videos in one day. Awesome! Instagram is on my list of things to try. Blessings!
Elaine says
This template just saved the day 🙂 Thanks so much!
Kyla says
Have I mentioned lately, how much you ROCK?!!! Well . . . you DO! Thanks so much!
Pedroza says
Thank you for the instagram template. Love your videos, I have learned so much from you.
Julie says
Cathy,
I also like the mix of black and white and color shots on one page. Very fun.
I agree about the landscape vs portrait – depends if I’m using my DSLR = landscape shots, if I’m using my canon power shot = portrait shots…So I’ve gotten smart and ordered and am using the Design G sheet. LOVE!
Julie
Karen says
Sorry for the maybe dumb question—I don’t understand…how do I copy it out of the layered PSD files if there isn’t a patterned paper file in there?
cathy says
In the CZ_HelloTwentyThirteen.psd, there is a layer called Paper. You can click on that layer in the Layers palette, do a Command or Control + A to highlight all in the work window, then Command or Control + C to copy. Close this file. Open the Instagram template, and Command or Control + V to paste it in.
anna says
thank you fun girl!
a
Lauren Hershey says
Any chance that that ‘grateful for us’ card will turn up in one of your DD kits? I dig it!
cathy says
Hey Lauren, that word art is from a set (links up in the supplies) and one of my papers. Just make a 3 x 4 PSE doc, copy those things in and voila! : )
Tara says
Aidan, I love your outfits, and I love that you photo them Cathy. I see the world horizontally too, maybe you ARE going to get somewhere with this photography thing.
cathy says
ha! Aidan will PRIZE your compliments. They mean so much more from a young hipster like yourself.
Rhadonda says
Thanks for the freebie. I guess i should start using instagram (: Something else to learn. sigh….
Krissy R says
Thank you so much for the template! I use Instagram all the time, and would love to use more of those photos in my Project Life.
I have one question – how to do you set up your Dropbox to sync your photos to your computer? I’ve been doing by plugging my phone in and copying the pictures, but I always have to actually go physically find my phone to plug it in, which often eats up any free time I had to do any scrapping in the first place. 😉
If my photos would sync automatically, that would rock! Thank you!!
cathy says
Krissy, it doesnt sync automatically. : ) I use my DropBox app on my phone to select photos and then upload to a folder I created on DropBox. : ) Then I can go into that folder from my computer. : )
kris says
oh, CZ, I love you so…..thank you for the rad template!
Janet says
Just catching up o the weekend and missed the template 🙁
Love how you switched up your page protectors, it looks great as usual.
Jennifer M. says
Quick question…how do I change the text from being all caps? I tried changing the font, but no matter what I pick it’s all in caps. Any help you could give is appreciated.
cathy says
Hmm. I guess I set up up that way. Highlight the text and hit Command or Control + K. That should do it. Maybe. : )
Kelly says
Thanks for that…. More apps than i can shake a stick at to learn about! Love continuing education 😀
Jennifer says
I’ll try it. Thanks!
Jenna says
Thank you so much for your video tutorials. I have signed up for classes & tried unsuccessfully to use Photoshop for a few years. (on & off) I watched the videos last week & took notes & completed a page last night complete with pictures, paper, etc. You are a good teacher.
And I am committed to working on Project Life! I am a few weeks behind but I have hope that I can actually do it after creating the page last night. Do you have a solution for vacation weeks? I take a lot of pictures & have a hard time narrowing it down. I would guess using just a few highlight pictures & then creating a separate mini album for the trip?
cathy says
I think that would be a great approach, Jenna. I actually just do small photo albums for trip photos. I make a few scrapbook pages about the trip, and then all those photos go into a smaller photo album. : )
Debra says
Thank you so much for this fabulous template!!
libbywilko says
Thank you Cathy, this is so great.
Sara C. says
Your video is wonderful, explains everything! Good thing I have Elements lol…
Sara C. says
I don’t have Photoshop Elements for my PC (yet). I have owned it before, on my mac. However, I was able to use the template online at Pixlr, with minor changes in technique (i.e. using free-transform because of no option to show boundaries, etc.). Would you allow me to make a tutorial video showing how to use your template with Pixlr and link back to this post?