The end of the summer is here and that means the end of our Home for the Summer series. Since June 21, 2011, we’ve had one post per day as part of our Home for the Summer series. It was a collection of blog posts focusing on crafts, projects, and creative ideas for keeping busy this summer. We hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you’ll stay tuned for all the great stuff we have coming up for you in the holiday months.
For this Home for the Summer post, I wanted to share something with you that is so easy, and one of my most favorite things to do: create an iPhone wallpaper with digital scrapbooking supplies (which also works for the iPod Touch).
The first step is to create a new document in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. To do this, go to the top of your window and click on File –> New. In the window dialog that opens, you will determine your size. If you have an iPhone 2G, 3G, or 3GS or iPod Touch, create a new document sized 320x480px at 163 ppi. If you have an iPhone 4, you will create a new document sized 640x960px at 326 ppi.
Design your wallpaper in the same manner you would create a scrapbooking layout. You can create a design with a saying, like I have, or you can include photos and embellishments. If you have a favorite digital scrapbooking paper, you could use that alone, if you wish.
Now you are ready to save your wallpaper. If you are on a PC, I recommend creating a new folder in your “My Pictures” area named iPhone-Wallpapers. Save your completed wallpaper as a JPG file in your new iPhone-Wallpapers folder. Open iTunes and connect your iPhone or iPod Touch to prepare it for syncing. On the left, in iTunes, click once on your device in the “device” area. Then, at the top of the new screen that appears, select “Photos”. Check the box for “Sync Photos from” and in the drop-down menu, select “My Pictures”. Toggle “Selected folders” and then check the box next to “iPhone-Wallpapers”. You can now sync your iPhone or iPod Touch and your new wallpaper will be put into your photo album on your device.
NOTE: if you are an experienced user who already has a location on your PC that is regularly synced to your iPhone or iPod Touch, you probably won’t need to create the new folder. Simply save to your usual place that you sync with device. The steps above are more for someone who is completely new to transferring images from their PC to iPone or iPod Touch.
If you are using a Mac with iPhoto, the process is very simple – save your wallpaper to iPhoto and sync it to your iPhone. Your wallpaper will appear in your photo album after syncing.
To start using your new wallpaper, go to the photos on your iPhone or iPod Touch and locate your wallpaper. Click to open it on your device. Click on the arrow at the bottom left of your screen.
Select “Use as Wallpaper”.
If necessary, move and scale your wallpaper with the tip of your finger. When you are happy with the placement (mine did not need moving or scaling), click “Set”.
Your new background is ready to be enjoyed! See how simple that was? You can create new ones as often as you like to match your mood, holidays, seasons…anything.
Digital scrapbooking products used in this tutorial:
About brandie
How fun! This would be a great way to show off your favorite layouts. :D
Thanks Marnie! Yes, it’s perfect for layouts too. It was time for a new iPhone background so I’m glad I did this. I’ve been turning on my phone all day just so I can look at it again (yes, I know I’m a dork).
Awesome series! Now I need an iPhone.
Hey I’m nikita