I love the magnetic lasso tool.  It is so smart!  It will trace along an object in your picture so you can cut it out.  It isn't perfect and takes some practice, but it is lots of fun.  Especially if you want to doctor pictures :). This method works best on pictures where there is high contrast between the object and the background (that's how the lasso senses where to trace).  You can always fix errors by closing the loop and pressing ctrl+D to deselect the marching ants to start over.  You can also cover up mistakes by using a layer mask.  I used to erase the extras on my pictures, but if you erase too much, too bad, so sorry, it's gone forever.  With layer masks, that is not the case. Photoshop Elements doesn't come with layer masks, but the Coffeeshop blog has created an action that will make one for you.  You need to download and install the action before doing this tutorial (it's free and easy-she has detailed instructions on her site on how to install them. scroll down to see the download button).  She also has wonderful photo actions that you can apply to your pictures to make them beautiful.

In my opinion, templates are the biggest money waster in all of digital scapbooking. First of all because most of them usually only showcase ONE or two pictures. Seriously? C'mon. (My ghetto students used to pronounce that as "see-mon") Who really only has one picture to scrap? Secondly, because they are so easy to make!  Unless a layout is really fancy and includes shapes or other things I can't make myself, I choose to make my own. I learned that the hard way after doing the layout below.

Hers is cute.  Mine is so ugly that it is cringe-worthy. I hate it. Plus it took me hours and hours and hours to do.  Should have just bought the template.  But remember that this is the exception. In the tutorial below I will show you how I made my own template from the layout on the lower left for my page on the lower right.

Today is not Friday, but it is a very special day.  My mom's birthday!  She the person to whom I credit my love for all things color and design.  She definitely has an eye for both.  And a closet full of red shoes.  What can I say?  Color is our weakness.  This kit is inspired by and dedicated to my wonderful mom.  [. . .]

I seriously did not know how to do this until last year (after scrapbooking for 4 years). It has saved my life.  It is a good way to stretch your stash of scrapbooking supplies and get papers/elements/alphas to be the exact color that you want. And it's super easy.

Open up your paper/alpha/element that you want to recolor. Make sure that it is the only layer open.  I'm using the blue gingham paper from my farm kit. [. . .]

Finally something that the boys can use too!  I only have a girl so I usually create girly things, but most of my friends that scrapbook have boys.  This is for y'all.  All of the animals were hand-drawn by me. So, no making fun of my horse!  I am completely aware of my inability to draw a horse to save my life. Sorry to all of the horse lovers out there.  I hope you enjoy the kit. I may think of doing a coordinating alpha later. If you download, please leave a comment.  Feel free to direct your friends to the link as well! Find the links to the download on the freebies tab.

Here's a two page spread that I did with the kit.  I hate it when I have to scrapbook a page with lots of photos and lots of text.  It is hard to make it not look too busy.