A Beautiful Mess Simplicity Challenge

Organize of & Information About the Design Cuts Mini Bundle

NOTE: Only follow these instructions if you purchased the Design Cuts Mini Bundle I used for this class.

NOTE: You do not have to purchase the mini bundle in order to participate in the challenge or enroll in the class.

Step One: Get Ready for Easy Access

• Create a main folder on your desktop or within your scrapbook system. I called mine DS DesignCuts MiniBundle1.
• Unzip all the files you downloaded from the mini bundle purchase.
• Move each unzipped folder into the main folder.

Step Two: Install the Fonts

• Install the Sherilyn Script.otf font (from the Sherilyn folder) on your computer.
• Install the Sherilyn SANS.otf font (from the Sherilyn folder) on your computer.

About the Watercolor Textures from the Design Cuts Mini Bundle

Why the HUGE file size?

First thing I noticed about the Watercolor Textures collection is the MASSIVE size of the files. You might wonder, why is that? The .jpg files in this collection are formatted to be used in very large design projects outside the world of digital scrapbooking. For that reason, each file has a very high resolution and quality setting, much more than what is needed for digital scrapbooking. But don’t let that stop you from utilizing the files.

Why TWO folders inside? Tiles vs Textures

The graphic designer of this package was not focused in on scrapbooking, so to make his package as versatile as possible, he created two polar opposite folders - Tiles and Textures.

What Are the Tiles For?

The folder of Tiles in this package are not for use on your scrapbook page as full sized background papers. The tiles are useful for making your own patterns.

What are the Textures for?

This folder contains background papers you can use on your scrapbook page. But because this graphic designer is not designing specifically for scrapbookers, his papers are very large in actual pixels.

IF you do not want to store all the huge texture files (500+MB worth), you could:

• Delete the Textures folder from your computer.
• Create a pattern from each of the tiles inside the Tiles folder.
• Save the pattern file (.pat file).
• (Optional) Delete the Tiles folder from your computer.

How To Create a Pattern from a Tile

• Open a tile.
• In the Menu Bar, choose Edit > Define Pattern. (PS: Choose Image > Create Pattern.)
• (Optional) Name the pattern with the same name as the tile you used to create it with.
• Click OK.
• Close the tile file without saving.

How To Save a Pattern Set (Photoshop Elements)

• In the Preset Manager (Edit > Preset Manager), set the Preset Type to Patterns.
• Click to activate all the patterns you want to save in a single pattern file. Hold down the Ctrl/Cmd key to activate more than one pattern.
• Click Save Set.
• In the dialog box, give the pattern file a descriptive name, choose an easy to find location, and click Save. I named my file, Watercolor-Textures-BMachina.pat and saved it in my Patterns folder inside my Scrapbook folder.

How To Save a Pattern Set (Adobe Photoshop)

• In the Patterns panel, click to activate all the patterns you want to save in a single pattern file. Hold down the Ctrl/Cmd key to activate more than one pattern.
• Click on the flyout menu and choose Export Selected Patterns.
• In the dialog box, give the pattern file a descriptive name, choose an easy to find location, and click Save. I named my file, Watercolor-Textures-BMachina.pat and saved it in my Patterns folder inside my Scrapbook folder.

NOTE: I will not be showing you how to use patterns in this class.