After memorizing last week’s Bible verse, I decided that as wonderful as it was, it just wasn’t the same without the two preceding verses. So this week’s memory verse card has Ephesians 2:8-9, so I can put it on the page opposite last week’s card . Here’s this week’s card using, of course, a quick page from the brag book by SMJ and Dani:

And in case you missed it, here’s last week’s memory verse card, which will go on the next page in the mini book I’m in the process of making:

Last week the scrapbooks at Hobby Lobby were 50% off, so I bought this 5×7 Paper Studio album for about $2.50, I think it will be just the thing to hold these pages!

Photoshop Techniques: Vertical Type Tool 

OK, so let’s talk about the vertical type tool in Photoshop. This is pretty basic info, so advanced users can run along now LOL! But I know that there are many beginner Photoshop users reading, so this one is for you ! As I have mentioned before, I am totally self taught in Photoshop, so it took me a while to figure out certain things. The vertical type tool is one of the things I didn’t notice right away, believe it or not!

Most of the tools in the Photoshop toolbar have tiny arrows to the bottom-left of the tool icon, this means that there are additional tools hidden behind that tool. If you right-click on the tool icon, a fly-out window will appear showing the rest of the tools. So, as you can see in the image to the right, the Vertical Type Tool is hidden behind the default Horizontal Type Tool. Using this tool is different than typing a line of text and rotating it 90 degrees to achieve a vertical line of text, because with this tool, the letters stay vertical instead of being turned on their sides. I used the Vertical Type Tool to type the word “Grace” on today’s memory verse quick page. I like to keep three tips in mind when using the Vertical Type Tool:

• Choose a solid, wide, possibly decorative font  - think about whether each letter can hold it’s own on the page.
• In most cases, use all capital letters, since this will ensure that each letter is the same height.
• Keep in mind that the tools in the character palette still work with the Vertical type Tool (so you can add more space between the letters with the “Set the leading” tool, for example).  

To illustrate these points, here is an example of what the word “Grace” would have looked like if typed with the same font I used for the rest of the card (Book Antiqua), with only the first letter capitalized. Next to that is the word typed in all caps with a font called Extra Ornamental.

Looks better the second way, right? At least I think so .

OK, I’m off to do some scrapping! I want to make a page for Shabby Miss Jenn’s challenge, so I can use the AWESOME freebie she’s offering !!!