Hi friends, 

Today I've got a special tutorial for you, from someone with incredible talent! The lovely Charla from Charm Box Studios makes photoshop (& Elements) tools to help you make the most of your digital scrapbooking and she's here today to show you how to use a template for a facebook timeline. 

Over to you Charla!

I love the Timelines on Facebook, which probably means they're only a few days from rolling out a completely new look. But for as long as it lasts, I like it. The big problem, though, is the odd dimensions of the cover photo. Most of us don't shoot panoramics on a regular basis. So often, the pictures chosen are cropped oddly, cutting off important things (like heads!). Even when I thought about the dimensions ahead of time, it never seemed quite wide enough to work.

With that in mind, I created two sets of templates to offer 10 possible looks for the cover photo.


If you've never used a template, here's what you do:

1. Choose the photos you want to highlight.

2. Choose a template that best matches your choice of photos. (I chose from the second set, but there are fun ones in the first set too!)

3. Open the pictures and template in your Photo Editing program. Unfortunately, I only know Photoshop and Elements (you can get the newest version for around $70), so this tutorial will be most helpful for those programs. I can't explain Paint Shop Pro or any of the multitude of other options, but I'll explain the two I'm well-versed in. The templates I sell include versions that work for other programs. (all sets have .psd, .tif and .png formats, so at least one of those will work in any of the more well-known programs).

 4. Select the Template file. Click on whichever picture you want to use first, and drag (or duplicate) it into your template (big window).


Look down at the "layers" palette, and drag your picture to be immediately above the layer you want to use as the shape for that picture.


**this is important. If it looks like your picture suddenly disappeared in the main screen, Don't Panic. It's still there; it's just hiding.

 If you wanted it as the first picture, for example, and it's peeking in the third, here's how to change it. Look back at your "layers" window.

You should have the picture you're working with selected right now. (verify that; if you're clicked on a different layer, click on the picture you'd like in a different spot). Now click on that layer, and drag it.

You'll want to put it immediately above the correct layer you want to work with.

5. Now, simply hit control-g for Elements, or control-alt-g in Photoshop.(possibly the command key and g on a Mac? I don't know. My husband said my using a Mac would be grounds for divorce so I'm not sure ;) whatever the Apple equivalent of Control is!).


6. Keep going until all the pictures are where you want them (resizing as necessary). *to resize, click Control-T, hold the shift key, and move the corners of the photo in until it's the size you want. Make sure "constrain proportions" is clicked, or it might get stretched, which is never attractive.


6b. Make sure you hide the "delete this box before you save" layer. You can either hide it (click the "eye" in the layers palette), or actually delete it. It's just to make sure you don't put the best part of your pictures where your Profile Picture will hide it. In some of the templates, there is a shadow under it, that you can leave if you want your profile picture to have a shadow too.


7. Then save (as a new file). [actually, I highly recommend you start saving after the first picture is in place. I'm a compulsive saver. I hate losing my work!

 8. You're done! Not only did you just create a beautiful timeline template the world can't wait to see, you also just dabbled in digital scrapbooking!

If this intrigued you, may I suggest you check out my online home, thedigichick.com? It's the most encouraging, drama-free site, and we offer support, challenges, and an awesome store for digiscrapping supplies!

 If you enjoyed this tutorial and would like to read more photography-related tutorials, check out my site HERE and sign up for my newsletter HERE to get new ones as I write them! (I write about 2 a month). 

To get you started, here's a coupon code for 30% off either (or both!) sets of templates. CODE: CBSSEWFUNFB expires: 2/28/14 one use per customer, on thedigichick or Etsy. Not valid during other sales.

Thanks Charla, it's been great having you!