Rub a Dub Dub - A Paper to Digital Conversion

It's been a while since I completed a paper-to-app scrapbook page conversion, so here's one I did recently.

Plus this conversion features some NEWLY AVAILABLE FEATURES in the PL app, so keep an eye out for those!

Here's how the page currently sits in a binder on my bookshelf:

Notice anything missing.....like in just about every other paper page in my albums....no journaling! I'm not saying that you need to have a "story" for every page, but at least some names, locations, dates--that sort of thing. But as simply as that would have been for me to add to the page...for some reason I didn't. And now, the kids in those tub pictures are 20 and 15 years old!  Time to make amends!!

The first thing I did was to scan the page and save the photos individually in Google Photos (click for a blog post all about how I use Google Photos), and then from there, save them on my phone's camera roll.

Then I pulled those photos into a PL app template with three photo slots down the middle of the page: Design O.

I added the photos to those middle slots, and then added a journaling card from the Baby Edition for Him card set, that kind of looked like bubbles. I wanted to use this journaling card, because the design element on the card was on the left border, and when I used that same card repeatedly in the slots on the right side of the page, it created kind of a border.

Then I added plain white filler cards from the Neutral Cards kit, and kept the background color white,so that the whole page had a white backdrop. *Note: I always use No Drop Shadows on my pages, so that when I do use the same color background color as my blank filler cards, they blend in seamlessly.

So when I got to this point, I knew that I wanted whatever kind of writing I would add to the page to span across card slot borders, so to do that, I had to save my page as it was, and export it as a 12x12 image to my camera roll...

...and then bring it back into the app as a 12x12 photo using the Collage section of the app.

Tap the orange section of the app to bring up the collage templates.

The first option is the 12x12 square template which will fit your page perfectly.

Then tap the photo icon and bring in your page from your camera roll.

From there, I used the Free Form Text feature to add my journaling. I knew I wanted to have the phrase "Rub-a-dub dub, two boys in a tub!" going up one side of the page and down the other, so I typed that into my Free Form Text box, changed the font color to match my "bubbles", and rotated the text box so my writing was sideways.  I repeated the phrase twice so that it would stretch the entire height of my page, and added a little bathtub emoji in between.

Now here's where a NEW PL APP FEATURE comes into play! I didn't really like the fonts available in the app for my writing, so....I uploaded my OWN FONT! Yep, that's a new feature in the latest update in the Project Life App. You can purchase the ability to add your own fonts to the app (for $4.99)! Mind-blowing, right? (*This feature available for Apple NOW, and coming soon for Android).

I just copied some the fonts I already had on my computer into Dropbox, and then followed the steps within the app to add them to Project Life.

Once my custom fonts were uploaded, I just changed the font on my "Rub-a-dub dub" like usual, and I was all set!.  Then I added a line of dashes (------) in another couple of Free Form Text boxes, and arranged them underneath my writing for an added visual, and then added my names and dates.

Here's how the page looks, all finished up!

Latest Trend: Photo-strip Pages

One of the latest trends that is flying around Project Life groups online is creating pages that look like they incorporate a strip of photos like you'd get at a photo-booth. These pages have a fun look, and it's quite easy to create in the Project Life app, though there are quite a few steps. I'll try to document the steps visually here to give you and idea of how to do it on your own.

There is a disclaimer here at the start so you don't get all the way to the end and can't finish. This process does use some rotation capabilities through Pic Tap Go, which is integrated into the Project Life app, but not available for Android users. So if you are Android....you can still make these kinds of pages, just might not be able to do the rotation part of it.

Let's jump in!

First, you'll want to have a group of at least four photos that you want to incorporate into the "strip". These can be selfies, action shots taken in sequence (that's what I'm going to us), random pictures from a trip, anything really. You'll just need four of them.

Select a page template that has square card slots. It's best if you can use a template with has at least three rows of four square slots. Either the Squared Away 5 or Squared Away 6 templates works great.

Either Squared Away 5 or 6 would work for this first step!

Place your photos in the second row of squares, making sure to leave empty squares all the way around.

Then, place filler cards in all the squares that touch your photos. You can use alternating cards (like I did), or a single card repeated. It all depends on the look you are going for.

One thing to keep in mind. If you have specific cards you know you want to use, just know that because you are filling in square slots, the PL app will only automatically bring up card options that are designed for that square opening.

But there is an easy work around! If the design card you want to use is another orientation, try pulling that card into a non-square card slot in your template. Then simply hold and drag that design card into the square slot. It will probably resize the card, and you may have to rotate it manually to get it to face the direction you want, but it can be done!

For example, this "ACE!" card from the Volleyball Set isn't available in a square size, so I pulled it into the bottom larger slot, then tapped and dragged (drug?) to a square slot. It needs rotated, but at least I can still use it in a square now!

At this point you'll want to be thinking of what you have in mind for the end product. Do you want any particular color for the background. If you do, add that to the page now. Once you've gotten your photos and surrounding squares filled in, and have selected a background color...export the page. You can leave an empty unfilled card slots blank and still export, it will just auto-fill them with your chosen background color.


Now, export the page...

As 12x12....

And save it to your camera roll.

Ok! We're half done! :)

Next you'll select a different template. This one needs to be a template that has a large card slot. Like really large. The Big Shot templates are perfect for this. I'm using Big Shot 13 for this,

Really any of these Big Shot templates could work, depending on which orientation you are going for.

Tap on that largest card slot, and bring in your saved image and enlarge it to the size your want.

Then tap on the editing icon and select Pic Tap Go.

When Pic Tap Go opens, along the top of the screen, near the logo, tap on the Crop symbol.

This will open the Crop screen. Along the bottom click on the Rotation button.

Slide the ruler along the bottom of the screen to get the "tilt" you like. This part is a little finicky, and you may have to pinch and zoom in on your picture a little bit to get it just the way you want it.

Once you like it, tap Apply at the top right corner.

Adjust the size and positioning of the tilted card within the PL app card slot as needed.

Add cards to the other slots with your journaling and you're all done!