My Digital Studio Photo Collage

I am loving My Digital Studio! I found this "love" frame in the Christmas section at Michaels and I knew it would be perfect for Valentine's Day as well as Christmas. I played around with My Digital Studio to create a 5x7 collage to add to the frame. I plan on using the template I created to change the photo every month. At the end of the year, I will mount the 5x7's on cardstock and use them to create a calendar for 2011. Maybe that way I'll actually have my calendar finished and ready to use before the end of January (yes, I'm still working on my 2010 calendar - stay tuned for that project!). Here's how to create your own collage using Stampin' UP!'s MDS.

I began by opening a blank 11x8.5 page. Select punches and choose a square punch. I made mine gray and used the ruler to resize it to approximately 7x5".

Next select photos from the design center on the right of the screen. I added a photo box, resizing it to fit along the left side of my rectangle.

Continue adding and resizing photo boxes until the entire rectangle is covered. I used four for my collage.

Click the camera icon on the left side of the screen in the resource palette. Browse until you find the folder with the photos you want to use. Then drag and drop your photos into the photo boxes leaving one open for embellishment. If you need to change the placement of your photo, double click it, or use the nudge photo and zoom in tools in the design center on the right.

Once your photos are added, click on the background paper icon in the Resource Palette. Browse to select the category that contains the paper you'd like to use. Here I used the real red polka dot in the Christmas Jingle section. Drag and drop your paper into your photo box. Before adding my paper, I added a black rectangle and stretched it along the bottom portion of my page and added a couple of stamps in white.

Embellish as desired. I selected punches again and added a whisper white heart. To create more dimension, I also selected a drop shadow from the Design Center.

The last step was to add a final stamp. To add stamps to your page, click on the stamp icon in the Resource Palette and browse until you find the stamp set that you'd like. The color can be changed by selecting choose color in the Resource Palette. You may also add stamps through the Design Center.

The final step is to save your project for professional printing. I was in a hurry, so I had my photo printed in one hour at Costco. To do this, select Share Project and click on Export to jpeg. Follow the instructions to save your image. Make sure to save a copy within your projects as well. That way you can use the same template over and over again.