Good Idea!
Hello Happy Scrappers!
PolLiana here, with some shortcuts that will make your scrapping easier and faster. Are you a bit new to digital scrapbooking? I started about a year-and-a-half ago and along the way, I’ve collected a few really great tips that helped my productivity a great deal. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. When you finish a layout, commit to a workflow to save your image and use it consistently. For me, I use Photoshop and I save a PSD version with layers (in case I want to change something later). Then, I flatten the layout and save a jpg version. Lastly, I resize and sharpen for web and then save a web version. Might create more disk space but then I’ve got all three versions.
2. Program a keyboard shortcut to flatten your layout when you’re done. I use command-F. I find this very helpful if I’m using photography actions in PS, too.
3. One of the very best tips I have ever gotten is that I can right-click on anything in a layout and it I can find that item in the layers list easily. This is a phenomenal tip especially when it comes to templates!!!! No more hunting for the tiny pink rectangle in that long list.
4. Using the “create clipping mask” keyboard shortcut will make your life easier, too– especially when using templates. In my version of Photoshop, it’s command-option-G.
5. You can do some cool things with brush alphas if you layer two papers on top of one another and then use the brush on a layer mask of the top paper. (if the mask is white, then use a black alpha brush). The bottom paper will show through.
My last tip was something I hadn’t even thought of until a wonderful speed scrap here at the Pad more than a year ago. If you can’t think of a topic or journaling, use song lyrics. This has helped me in two ways: sometimes I use the lyrics in place of journaling and other times I will take lyrics that I love and find a photo to coordinate with them. Here are some examples:
I’m sure I’m missing tons of other great ideas so include your favorite tips in the comments. Let’s learn from each other!
Have a terrific start to your week,
