12/12

Hey Susan… I actually joined in the fun! For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the Twelve-of-Twelve blog. I've only done this once before, and i really think I'm going to change that. My 12th was a pretty average day. Nothing of consequence really happened. But once I saw all the pictures together (half taken with my Nikon D200, half with my Kodak EasyShare) I was reminded why this idea is such a cool one: it's just a slice of life. Wouldn't it be cool if you did this every month for years? And included a lovely self portrait to see how you change?

This design is essentially the same as the last time I did this (you can see that layout by scrolling down a bit here.)

I love having a little photo template in InDesign, that I can just plop images into, and then print them out on my Photosmart 8750, which, with this whole tag book thing, has been seeing a lot of action and performing at fabulous levels. Love that printer.

But I'm guessing a lot of you don't have InDesign, so…I made a simple photo template in Photoshop for this very 8-1/2 x 11 page. Now I know, I know… but what if I don't scrapbook in that size? Well maybe it's time you try it, sisters and brothers! And honestly? You can TOTALLY make a 12 x 12 page with it. You could get all creative with a big, funky mat or something. The other thing you can do? Open the file, and just size it up to 11.5 in width and voila—it should be good to go for your pics.

Also, don't forget when you're printing it from Photoshop to add the Crop Marks option (I find it under the Output drop down menu, which you may have to dig around for. I love crop marks to the point that yes, I would marry them.

Anyhoo…my sweet doggie friend, Kyla, is here for the weekend, keeping me company in the office as I toil away. Enjoy the template. And have a lovely weekend.

Download 12of12template.png

(Mac Users, hold down your control key then choose "Save Link As". PC users, right click and choose "Save Target As".)

[edited to add: if anyone can offer help how to download to a pc? there are a few questions in comments? I have no clue where PCs are concerned! Go ahead and post in comments!]

Layout materials: stickers by Heidi Swapp; blackboard alphas by Cosmo Cricket; stamp by Cat's Life Press

Comments

[Madeline]

Another cool download?! Thanks. I was all set to buy that HP printer, having read more about it. But my sister, a photographer, got me concerned about the need for pigment ink in my printer so the prints are truly archival? What do you think about this? Your's seems better for B&W and for nature shots, which I love.

[Joanne]

Thanks for the download. I have really liked the idea of that idea for a while now. I made sure today that I followed your link for Susan's blog and signed myself up for the assignment. I agree with you that keeping track of who we are and what we look like is a cool idea. I started a blog in January that I really just got to work on following up with. It is called scrapitoff. I wanted to capture pictures of myself as I got motivated to shed the excess me! If I can motivate others to do the same great, if not, well, I love talking to myself and reading what I have posted! Have a great weekend.

[Kelly]

You're awesome, thanks so much for sharing this!!!

[Susan Keuter]

You rock woman. Crac and a self portrait - and we wonder why we love this hobby!

thanks for the template...might have to pinch that...being that my OWN page isn't done yet...GASP!

way to go - go ahead and take the rest of the day off! :)

[Deb]

Cathy, where did you get the cute little easel? I've checked Michaels and Archivers and didn't see any that fun. Loved the 12 x 12, especially the idea of putting a self portrait in there for 12 months straight.

[tara Whitney]

thanks! i was going to ask for it anyway......
;)

[dmatthews]

Cathy, I couldn't download it???? I just doubled clicked and nothing happened. Any ideas?

[dmatthews]

Duh, I re-read the post. I right clicked and "save target as" is not an option?

[AnnieB]

o.k. i have to admit to being photoshop challanged and i need help. After wasting an hour i can't figure out how to get the template into photoshop. instructions would be greatly appreciated.

[brianne sheppard]

its not opening for me either... any tips? I love the page, the tag books everything... but i really think you could use a little more sarcasm, I mean, come on. Its the stuff of life! :)

[O]

Love your 12 of 12, CZ. I signed up today and will try it next month. Thanks for the inspiration. :)

[Lauren Hagerman]

I do not get save target as and when I click on it, only a blank window comes up. :(

[Jess]

Thanks Cathy for the template!

[JennyR]

PC girls: just click on link, a pop up window should appear and then right click and "save picture as." I then opened PSE and imported the "picture" into it and it shows the template! Hope this helps a few of you! :)

Thanks so much Cathy!

[Colleen]

Cathy - Thanks for the template!

Question about your 8750. I know you're a Mac gal - are you happy with the Mac driver for that printer? Are you running Tiger or Leopard? I have recently upgraded to Leopard, and am in want/need of a new wide format printer, but I am worried about driver support. Sigh. I think it's between the Epson 1400 and the HP 8750 ... can't quite justify the dough for the Epson 1900.

[DonnaC]

Thanks for much for the template Cathy, you have made things simpler, so that I actually might try it!

[Rose]

Totally luv this idea and the template. Thank you Cathy. I ma hoping that I remember on the 12th anyone know of where I can get a buzzer that will go off on the 11th? LOL>
Thanks so much Cathy.
Peace~
Rose

[Merideth]

pc users, i think this might help (in addition to JennyR's tip): RIGHT-click on the link, then choose "save target as" and put it somewhere easy, like your desktop. then right-click on that file on your desktop, go down to "open with" and choose photoshop. alternately, after saving the file to your desktop (or wherever), open photoshop (or the "editor" of ps elements) and ctrl-o (that's "o" like "open" not a zero) and navigate to your desktop to find it.

wordy, i know, but i do what i do when i do what i do . . . :D

[Jenell Stock]

PC Girls - You can also hold your mouse over the link, right click, "save target as" (and save it where you want). Open Photoshop, then open the .png (from wherever you saved it).

Make sense?

[sue Treiber]

very cool idea!
Have fun with your doggie friend :)

[Angie]

Dumb question? I have it saved and can open it in PS, but how do you use it! what size are the pics supposed to be! are you supposed to be able to drag and drop and they will fit right in. I cant figure it out. if someone can email me or leave instructions in the comments I would love that.

[AnnieB]

yeah, I ditto Angie's comment!

[Shauna]

It worked for me when I right clicked (once) then picked save target as. I then opened it with Adobe. It is all there and is all good. Thank you Cathy for the template.

[Abby P.]

OH
MY
GOD! You are psychic! At this VERY moment I have a printout of your 12 on the 12th from Sept. 06 RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, and I just (seconds ago) finished scraplifting it! The reason I just popped on your blog (besides to see what wit and wisdom you were imparting today) was to ask if there was ANY WAY POSSIBLE you might tell me how to MAKE the photo grid in Photoshop! I'm planning to do the tag thing monthly AND the 12 on the 12th! You TOTALLY made my day! Thank you, thank you, thank you! And your newest 12 on the 12th layout is gorgeous! You ARE da bomb, Cathy

[Lisa]

Hi, I couldn't download the template. Any clues? You might have a personal interest..... in my 12 x 12. I got some nice shots of the kids painting. Lisa

[Abby P.]

Abby PC user here - I did exactly what the instructions said: right click on Cathy's link, click "Save Target As," picked what folder I wanted it to go into and voila! There it was. Then I opened Photoshop CS2, clicked "file," "open," and scrolled to the folder I save it and it opened. I resized my photos to appx. 2x2, and dragged each onto and under the template. Then for each photo I wanted to resize, I clicked its layer in the layers palette (each photo is on its own layer!) and pressed Ctrl + T. Click on the points in the corners or on the horizontal or vertical slides, hold down your shift key, click and drag the points in or out to change the size. Hope that helps - it worked for me!

[Alison]

I "third" third Angie's comments. I have no clue how to use the template, lol!

[Alli]

how cool! it took a bit of searching but I found out about the crop marks, can't wait to do a page and see what it does!

[Nicky]

Thanks so much Cathy! You're the best! I really enjoy reading your blog- I LOL a lot here!

[Heidi]

WOW!! I love your templates!! Thank you so much for sharing them with us :) You rock!

Heidi

[Paula Roberts]

Love that round Notes from Today stamp. And thanks for designing the template. I actually do use InDesign and love it!

[Laura Lee]

Gotta LOVE that 8750 printer...I love love love mine...especially the blue photo inks...makes all my pictures from Hawaii the "real blues"

Thanks for all the inspiration!

[Linda]

I did one 12/12 layout...have been taking pics on the 12ths...need to make pages. I love yours. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Sinead]

To download the template on a PC:

Click on the link. When the file opens, click save as, choose your destination folder, and save it there. I then dragged mine into Photoshop (I'm using CS2)and it opened right up. HTH.

BTW, Cathy, I would like to know more about your printer. Do you like the color? Shadow/highlight detail? I'm looking for a wide format printer for personal use and would welcome your input. Thanks!

[kellyv]

Hi Cathy,
For us, havin'a bit of crac is having fun...having a laugh! You go, girl. If yours comes in a bag, then so be it.
Kelly

[Vicki]

Template download problems with a pc: If you right click and "save target as" make sure you remember which folder you put it in. (And don't open the file first, just RC on the line) I put it in a documents folder that I have designated just for scrapbook stuff. Just so I can remember where it goes. It's a png file - not a jpeg - so it doesn't show up as a photo. When you go to photoshop you should just be able to File>open and then go to the correct document folder. My guess is that you may be looking for jpegs and not seeing png files.

[Nancy]

I think we have the same coffee maker which I have a love-hate relationship with. Do you like it? Do you get periods when the coffee starts leaking and makes a mess on your counter pretty much telling you it's time to clean w/ the whole vinegar and water thing?

[Lisa Jane]

Lovin the 12/12 idea. Congrats on getting your camera back. Thank goodness there are still honest, good people out there.

[Sophie]

Awesome...thank you for the template gift...woo-hoo!...and oh, yes, thank you for the wit and wisdom...that's what keeps us comin' back to check in!

[missy s]

thanks so much for the download. i followed your halloween album and i had the template on my pc, now i don't know how to make it on my new mac. is there anyway you could share that too? i know..we never stop asking for stuff do we!

[Vicki Harvey]

OK, I love you! This was exactly what I was looking for (because I have no clue how to create it myself.) When you do your tags do you just crop it in photoshop? I need to do one that is 4x4 squares. I think I will just crop one row off and add to the whole template.
Thanks Cath!!!
Vicki

[Sharon]

If there are still frustrated PC users out there, it may be the internet browser you are using. If you are using Firefox/Mozilla, it doesn't have the "Save Target As" feature. Open Internet Explorer, come back to Cathy's blog and then do the "Save Target As". Make sure you know where you are saving the file to, so you can open it in Photoshop later. You can resize your photos using the crop tool (eliminates extraneous portions), or by using the transform tool (reduces the whole thing-use the shift key to keep the perspective correct) to get it to the right size. 2" x 2" is the finished size. You can also re-color the white grid Cathy provided to make it any color you'd like. Very flexible. Thanks Cathy!!

[Susan]

loved when you posted this idea awhile back. A group of us decided 12 were too many pics so we changed it to 8...then of course we needed to change the day too.
So 8/8th it is. Taking a step further Im doing mine in an 8X8 album :)
Its a fun project that Im really enjoying. Pics of my album so far are on my blog

[Lietje]

For PC users and using Firefox/Mozilla:

Just click on the link, a new blanc page appear, then right click on that blanc page and save as......

Firefox doesn't show the grid, but it is really there!!!

[Rebecca]

Having never heard of the 'inspired' event I had to go and look. I am jealous. I know I won't be going so I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Helle]

Thanks for the template! It really is a great idea, and I will try it for sure next month! As always, I find so much inspiration from your blog! Thanks!

[Molly I]

I really appreciate the ease of using the same layout again and again. Makes the page/story come together quickly and lends consistency to your albums. thanks for sharing this. The fact that it is some random day of the week is truly a peek at the norm.

[Molly I]

This just occured to me. if your pc readers are having trouble downloading the template, this same mosaic effect can be easily created using bighugelabs.com mosaic maker tool, found here: http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php by uploading their own photos/images and choosing a configuration. Then print and adhere to the top of their layout.

[Susan]

Thank you for the download! I think I can manage to scrap 81/2 x 11 and I think I will definitely use this template in a variety of ways for multiple size pages too.
You've made my life simpler already!

[D]

Cool template. I have a million ideas (ok maybe 3) that I am going to do right NOW! (or maybe after I have some chocolate) ;)