A Special Bookmark for Your Weight-Watching Friends

Or Design Your Own Unique Bookmark for Anyone

I made the bookmarks shown here for my Weight Watchers group using Photoshop CS and PrintShop. Photoshop Elements could be used as well.

In Photoshop, open a model’s picture. To create a new layer select Layer> New>Layer.

In the Layers Palette, you will see the photo listed as the background and the new layer will be labeled Layer 1. Have the Foreground Color set to white (default setting). Take the Paintbrush Tool and paint over the model’s face.

Give the picture a nice edge. I used Layer>Style>Inner Glow and chose a color that would coordinate with the picture. To change the color, you can click on the Foreground Color icon (which was white) and play around until you get a color you like; or you can use the Eyedropper Tool to "suck" a color from the picture itself.

The settings I used for the glow are 75 Opacity, 0 Noise, 23 Choke, 66 Size, 50 Range and 0 Jitter. There is no magic formula to this. Just play with the various sliders until you get a look you like.

Click on the Text Tool and type "Your Face Here". Notice that Layer 3 was automatically created for your text. That allows you to move and size it independently. Edit>Transform>Scale lets you size the text to fit the face. When you’ve got the size right, click on the Move Tool (top row, right column) and use your cursor and/or arrow keys to move the text into position.

Save the file as a Photoshop file (.psd or .pdd) to preserve the layers in case you want to edit it further at some later time. Now save the file as a .jpg. This will flatten all the layers and compress the file, as well as allow other programs (like PrintShop) to open it. Most other programs can’t open or insert Photoshop files.

Start up PrintShop. Open a Blank Tall Page. Set vertical guidelines to divide the page into four segments.

Then set a horizontal guideline at 6 inches (for a 6-inch tall bookmark. This leaves you with room at the bottom of the page to create two more bookmarks oriented sideways. Set horizontal guidelines for those.

Insert>Import the .jpg file you created in Photoshop. Click and hold while you drag it to the bottom corner of one of the bookmark spaces.

Click and hold on one of the top corners to stretch the picture to the next vertical guideline. Edit>Copy>Paste to make a copy to use for the bookmark’s frame.

Move the copy to another bookmark space and stretch it (as before) to fill the entire space. Don’t worry that the model is distorted. The only part we will use is the nice soft border you created.

Click on Drawing Tools>Insert a Shape>More; scroll to find the Rounded Rectangle; click OK to select it.

Click on the Fill Color box and choose white. For Outline Width, click the down arrow until it says "None". Click on OK.

Move the rounded white rectangle to the section with the distorted model picture. Since you just created the rectangle, it will be the topmost layer.

Stretch it to proper proportion and center it over the distorted photo. By covering most of the distorted picture with the white rectangle, you’ve created a soft border that matches and blends with the border on the other model picture.

Click on the model picture and drag it to the bottom of the frame you just created. Oops - it disappeared, didn’t it? That’s because you imported it first and put other graphics on top. So it is the bottom layer.

Right Click (on it)>Layer>Bring to Front. Abracadabra - it reappears.

Click on Text Tools>Insert Text Box. Type in the phrase, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!"

If you’re happy with your bookmark, position your cursor outside one of its corners and drag to lasso all the layers. You’ll know you’ve accomplished this when you can see little black blocks indicating the different layers. Right click Group. Right click Copy. Edit>Paste five times. Click on each copy and move it to one of the spaces already defined by your guidelines.

To position the two which will lie horizontally, click on one and click Arrange>Rotate>Left 90 Degrees. Move it into place. Repeat with the last bookmark. Save your file; print onto heavy cardstock and cut the six bookmarks apart.

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