placemat

[midwife52]

I would like to make my mother placemats much like you can buy abraod with various pics on an A3 sheet and laminated. What programme, preferably free, would I use to give the pics interesting borders and embellish with flowers or birds or whatever?

Linda

[Fusion]

Have you considered using Picasa 3 and the -->> Collage feature? <<--

It can produce some great results.

The border feature is limited, but the content of your photos should make up for that.

Here's a couple I have just made as an example 1 and example 2 to have a quick look at.

[Graham1186]

I can only go along with Fusion's recommendation of Picasa 3 The 'collage' function is full of options as his excellent link demonstrates.

In my opinion it does a much better job than Photoshop and more easily. Which isn't bad going for a freebie !

I use it regularly in my blog. If we have been on an outing, the collage allows me to publish 6 pictures for instance, using only the space and resources of one, and they are less boring to look at.

For your Placemat project it would be ideal !

Below is an example from a recent trip to Old Market Square, Nottingham - while The Beach project was going strong.



All the best with your project !

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[Fusion]

Hi Graham

I don't know if your familiar with Photoshop Actions?. . . An Action is a recording of a sequence of events within Adobe Photoshop.
Repeatitive and complexed tasks can be recorded by someone else and saved, or done yourself for further precise control, then 'played-back' at a later point saving time and effort.
They can be loaded on demand or permanently stored in the Actions folder.

It's fair to say, that when you ask Picasa to perform a task, it will do it via pre installed sets of saved instructions. Similar to the Photoshop Action.

Anything picasa can do, Photoshop can do a thousand fold with the ability for the user to add his/her creative touch.

So perhaps it is easier on the face of it to use Picasa for an instant collage, but if you have taken the time (as someone has with Picasa) to have a set of instructions (Actions) with Photoshop, it is just as easy but with much, much more scope for creative brilliance.

[Graham1186]

Thanks for the info Steve. I wasn't aware of it and it sounds good. Ta !
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