SHRINKAGE!! elements and photos shrink when placed on LO PSE5

[marcimedic]

Hello,
I am new to digital scrapbooking and PSE 5 and have been having a problem hopefully someone can help me with. When I slide a downloaded item (background, embellishment, photo) from my photo bin into a 12x12 300dpi LO it shrinks. The backgrounds are 12x12 and 300dpi and they shrink to approx 8x8. This also happens with photos and misc embellishments, anything I drag onto LO. Everything I put on the LO shrinks making me have to click on the corner and enlarge. It wasn't that big of a problem until I attempted to use a template and every layer that I moved onto my LO was smaller and centered instead of in the position it was supposed to be in. Templates are supposed to be easy, pre-made!!

I have checked and double checked my size and dpi and know they are correct. My standard steps for doing a layout could be the problem? I open PSE, click on edit or enhance photos, go to file:new blank, select 12x12 and 300dpi. Then to get my supplies I go to file, open, and select the backgrounds, photos and embellishments I will be using they load into my photo bin. Then with the LO up in the screen I click on the item I need from my photo bin and drag it onto my LO, only to have it shrink. Sometimes the embellishments are so small I can barely find a corner to click and drag!

How can I get an item to drag and be in the same size it is saved on my computer? In the event of a template, how can I get the layers to drag onto my LO and drop where they are supposed to be, not centered?

Sorry this is so wordy but I wanted to answer any possible questions you guys might have. Hope someone can help!:confused:

[PattyD]

I scrapbook a lot and the only time I've had this problem is when the digital scrapbook element is not 300 resolution and my page is 300.

I would check your supplies first. Open your scrapbook digital paper and go to image>resize>images size and see what the resolution is. I'm betting it's probably less than 300.

A lot of the free digital scrapbook stuff out there is not 300 resolution.

Let me know if this doesn't work,

Patty

[PattyD]

I didn't fully explain that if your digital scrapbook paper is 12 x 12 but 200 resolution when you drag it onto your page it will be smaller than 12 x 12.
This happens with free paper from Epson Creative zone, Scrapbook flair and others.
If your paper is 12 x 12 but 200 resolution when it's dragged on your page it will be about 8 x 8. You can drag out the corners and resize it however it might not look that great when it's printed. This goes the same for the embellishments. A good tip to move something small is to zoom in and then grab it. If you have trouble grabbing it turn off "auto select layer" on the move tool options bar.

[marcimedic]

Ok, just tried again and my LO and background are both 300 pixels/inch And it still did it. Should it be pixels/cm?
Could there be some other setting I have messed up? What about the template thing, any suggestions?

[marcimedic]

The embellishments are not 300 so that is the problem for those. The backgrounds should be working though. Is there a way to save the embellishments at a different resolution so they can be used larger?

[PattyD]

did you check the size of the paper before you dragged it on to your new scrapbook page using the image>resize>image size? I'm betting if your embellishments aren't 300 neither is the paper. I tried it and if the digital paper is 12 x 12 200 resolution when you put it on a page that's 12 x 12 300 then it comes in 8 x 8
if you're still stuck send me a private message and you can call me i'll be up for awhile I know what it's like to be stuck when you want to do something!

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

To make the embellishments larger first place them on the layout then:

Make sure that the embellishment layer is active and then select the move tool and click on the image.
A box will appear around object on the layer ... this is called the bounding box. Just click in one corner of the box and you will then be able to adjust the size by dragging out (or in)

You can do the same thing with your background too :)

Wendy