Free 'Whenever' Diary Pages

In Elements 5, there is a new palette, the Artwork and Effects palette. From it, one can apply frames, themes, styles, effects, backgrounds and graphics. You can add your own custom content to the palette. I have made diary pages for you to use via that palette. [Scroll to the bottom of the page to see them.]

If you have ever kept a diary, you will surely have found that there are some days when you have more to say than there is room for, and there are many days when you have nothing at all to say. This makes the pre-printed yearly diaries very frustrating and often depressing to use. All those empty pages...

The diary pages found here can be used whenever you feel the urge, then kept in a three-ring notebook. You can decorate them as you wish with photographs or graphics, and you can mix and match the different designs according to how you feel on the given day.

Elements 6 users only : to add the backgrounds to your Content palette, Close Elements. Take the files out of their unzipped folder (select all/copy) and paste them into the following location:
In Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0\Photo Creations\backgrounds
In VISTA: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0\Photo Creations\backgrounds

When you reopen Editor, you may have to switch menu choices (backgrounds to frames then back to backgrounds) to get the new items to show up.

Elements 5 users: Use the following instructions to install the diary page backgrounds into Elements 5 [text instructions can be downloaded here]:

Unzip the WheneverDiary zip file. Do this by choosing Extract All from your Windows Explorer, or My Computer > File menu or by right-clicking on the zip file itself.

Close Elements 5.

[If (below) you don't see the Application Data folder within the All Users folder, go to the menu at the top of your screen and click on Tools > Folder Options > View (tab) > scroll to find Hidden Files and Folders, and click on the Show Hidden Files and Folders radio button. Click OK.]

Place the WheneverDiary folder (with its contents) here:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Photo Creations\artwork\backgrounds

Go to this location:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0
and DELETE the two files:
MediaDatabase.db3
ThumbDatabase.db3
[Please note: a number of people have emailed me to say that it is not necessary to delete these two files. My instructions are those provided by the Adobe team from beta-testing. Perhaps they changed something...In any event, feel free to try loading my material without deleting the two files listed above. If my stuff does not show up in your Artwork and Effects palette, close Elements, and delete the two files.]

Open Elements 5. It will take a minute or two for the Artwork and Effects palette to generate a new database.

Make a new, blank file by going to File > New > Blank File. In the New dialog, choose Letter or A4 size and make sure resolution is 220 ppi. Click OK.

Go to the Artwork and Effects palette. Click on the Artwork button (left-most at the top of the palette).
From the menu on the left, find the Backgrounds entry. From the menu on the right, find the WheneverDiary entry.
Click on one of the diary background thumbs, then click the Apply button at the bottom of the Artwork and Effects palette.

Go to the Layers palette, and double-click on the background layer.
In the New Layer dialog that will open, name the layer 'Diary Data' and change the Mode to Multiply. You MUST have mode set to Multiply! Click OK.

At the top of the Layers palette, change the Opacity for the Diary Data layer to anything less than 50% (obviously, using 49% will give you the best visibility). You could have done this in the New Layer dialog shown above, but I want you to know where Opacity is set in the Layers palette. Upper right corner.

You can now use the type tool to type in your diary text. You can add frames for pictures at the top or bottom of the page by doing the following:

Go back to the Artwork and Effects palette and find the Frames entry from the menu on the left. Choose any frame and apply it.

Use the move tool to drag the frame above the calendar data.
With the move tool, click in the frame where it says "Click here..." and find one of your own photographs to go in that frame.

If you wish, you can add a different background under/behind the diary data by doing the following:

Go back to the Artwork and Effects palette, backgrounds.
Choose another backgrounds group (other than the WheneverDiary group) and apply another background. It will go under the diary data.

Please note that whether or not you want to add a new background under the diary data, you must turn it into a regular layer (by double-clicking on it and renaming the layer). This is because, if there is only a 'background' layer in the document, any added frame will “eat” the background (take it into the frame) which is not what you want. This only happens if there are no layers other than the backgound in the document.

When you are all done adding any artwork below the Diary Data layer, please be sure to return Opacity for the Diary Data layer to 100%.

If, rather than adding your diary entries with the type tool within Editor, you prefer handwritten entries with an ink pen, you will want to print to a matte photo paper. Glossy photo papers are not very receptive to writing. If you added only a few small graphics, you may be able to get away with printing to plain paper, but this won't work for larger photos.

The zip file contains four different diary page styles. Scroll down to see small screen caps of the four styles, two demonstrated with pictures added (there are no pictures on the download pages).

Download the zipped files here:
Whenever Diary
67 kb
Instructions for the Whenever Diary
2 kb

Let me know if you have any problems with getting things to work. It's really not hard at all.

I also have Free Geometric Backgrounds, Free Graphics Free Animal Backgrounds, Free Grunge Frames, Free Duotone Frames, Free Classic Frames, Free Matted Frames, Free Big Squares Calendars, and Free Woodcut Backgrounds available for download.

If you are a beginning user of Elements 5, you might like my .pdf book, Elementary School. It contains 112 tutorials for new users of Elements 5.

Older Tutorials
Quick Mask
Rubberstamping
More Adjustments
Sharpening
Filters
Color

example of the previous style with a picture added

example of the previous style with pictures added

extreme enlargement of the diary page logo

text box headings (enlarged)

Download the zipped files here:
Whenever Diary
67 kb
Instructions for Whenever Diary
2 kb

I also have Free Geometric Backgrounds, Free Graphics Free Aniimal Backgrounds, Free Grunge Frames, Free Duotone Frames, Free Classic Frames, Free Matted Frames, Free Woodcut Backgrounds, and Free Big Squares Calendars, available for download.

If you are a beginning user of Elements 5, you might like my .pdf book, Elementary School. It contains 112 tutorials for new users of Elements 5.

Copyright © 2006 by Jay Arraich.
All rights reserved.
All photographs copyright ©2006 by Jay Arraich
jay@arraich.com