How to create a 12-month photo collage

1: Select the 12-Photo Collage Template, either Square (12 X 12, also printable as 8 X 8), or letter-sized (8 ½ X 11), purchase in the Boutique, and download.

2: Hopefully, your photos are organized in simple, chronological files by date and event. If you need photo organization help, check out Quick Tip #3.

3: Create a new folder called “Collage.” Go through a year of your monthly photo files, choosing one photo per month and dragging it to the Collage folder. As you choose your photos, remember that your collage will be a “slice of life” and won’t come close to portraying all your experiences. However, you may want to choose photos that show both milestone events and your “everydays.”

4: Look through the Solid and Linen Digital Paper in the Boutique (or your digital files), and select the background color. A soft neutral, black or white are all good choices.

5: When you’ve downloaded your Photo Collage Template and created a folder with your chosen photos, launch Adobe Photoshop Elements and follow the directions included with the template. The instructions are very specific, and easy even for the beginner. Basically:

a. Open the collage template and resave it with a new name (such as “2009 Collage”).

b. Open your Solid or Linen Digital Paper and drag it to your project (if you leave it white, disregard this step). In the Layers Palette, make sure it is above “Place Background Paper Above This Layer.”

c. Open your January photo and drag to your project. In the Layers Palette, make sure it is directly over “Place Photo 1 Above This Layer.” Click and drag the corners to resize if you need to.

d. Use the Magic Click to trim your photo perfectly! Just hold down the Option key, hover your mouse on the line between the photo and “Place Photo 1 Above This Layer.” When the icon of linked circles appears, click your mouse. DONE!

e. Follow the same process for placing the rest of your photos.

f. Save your project, then resave as a JPEG for printing and/or sharing online.

6. For the captions page:

a: Open the Captions page, resave with a new name, and drag the Solid or Linen Digital Paper to your project.

b: Type in captions for each photo. You can change the font by highlighting the text and selecting the font in the Options Bar, similar to editing text in other programs.

c: Save, then resave as a JPEG for printing and/or sharing online.

This project in my life

I’ve had fun creating and using photo collages in several ways ...

First, my Fusion Album (which combines digital scrapbook pages, snapshots and ephemera in one big binder) has a divider for each month, and I like to slip a photo collage in the front of each divider—that's what you see here.

For Father’s Day last year, my son Mackian and I created a collage of memorable moments of him and his dad. We framed it and gave it to Steve as a gift—it hangs in his office.

I created a Family Yearbook printed by Shutterfly and used a collage as the cover.