MDS Monday: Custom Size Projects

Welcome to my first MDS Monday!  Each Monday for the next few months, I will be showcasing some of the amazing new features of My Digital Studio 2.

Did you notice that I changed the background of my blog?  I really struggled to come up with an idea that would work for this.  Then this morning, when I was in that half awake and half asleep phase, this design idea hit me.  I used the Convention 2012 Book Template that is available as a download for $17.95 in the US.

I've used MDS to make blogger backgrounds, headers, and buttons before, but with MDS2 it is even easier.  Before I would have to export the images and then crop and resize them in a photo editing software.  But MDS2 now has a "Custom Size" project option that makes this SOOOOOOOO much easier.  Today I'm going to show you how to make a blog button using this feature. This is the blog button I made this morning:

Created with MDS2 using the Convention 2012 Book Template.

When you open MDS2 you still get the options to create photobooks, calendars, designer templates, cards & tags and journals.  But the last option on the page is Custom.

Click on the custom feature and this window comes up:

You have the option of choosing to size your picture by pixels or by inches.  For blog design work, I generally choose pixels and to make a blog button, I chose 400 wide.  The height will depend on what you are doing.  For my "SHOP NOW" button, I wanted it square so I also put 400 for the height.  Select "create project" and you get a nice canvas to start your creation.

Another really nice feature is the ability to change your project size after you have started it.  To do this, you select the "edit" menu at the top and "Change Project Size/Type" in the drop down menu:

I've used that handy little feature more than once in the past few days.  It does try to resize any element you already have on your page to match the new size of your projects which is also a really nice feature.

Next Monday, I will be talking about how to edit stamp brush images including cropping and adding more than one color to a single image.  But on Wednesday and Friday this week, I'll be back to convention swaps and Holiday Catalog projects.  See you then!