Photoshop Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial: Background Paper

I did this page for my introduction to the Lori Whitlock Creative Team and I wanted to share with you one way to make a background paper with some basic Photoshop techniques.  I start with a new file that is 12 x 12, white and 300 dpi. I'm partial to a very light background because I believe it showcases the photos and elements placed on the page without competing with anything, especially photos. 

Next I chose four neutral colored papers form Lori Whitlock's "For the Record 2 - Tailored" digital collection including Script, Fancy Circles, Market and Cream Ledger. You can find her collections here.

I open all four on my white background.

So, I've randomly layered the four sheet and you can do this step however you like. 

Next, I want to make some Hue/Saturation adjustments to the "Market" paper so that it blends in better with the other papers. You can do this a number of ways I chose to desaturated it almost 80% and adjust the lightness 80% and I adjusted the blending mode to linear light. To find the right blending mode I click in the box and use my down arrow to take a look at how all the different modes effect the paper.

You can see how changing the one paper makes everything more cohesive and unified. and that's pretty much it. If you want to you can save it as a .jpeg and use it again and again.
If you are totally lost don't give up. I suggest taking a class at Jessica Sprague

Up & Running With Photoshop - Beginning Digital Scrapbooking

&

Photoshop Friday 2012: Patterned Paper Overlay

and Jessica has a free one too called 

The Photoshop Top 5: Five Techniques Everyone Should Know

Learning Photoshop is a journey not a destination so....enjoy the journey.
Thanks for stopping by
Lisa