This week I learnt to digiscrap with Canva

Great post! Very informative!

 

What a great post! I love that you did all the screenshots and explained the things normal digi-scrappers would automatically look for when creating a layout! I also LOL'd at your kids' responses when asked about Canva.

 

Justine... thanks for the great tutorial. That is truly a labor of love! I'm looking forward to trying Canva out!

 

Great Post! I have used Canva's free version. You can download then resized the image on your computer to a higher resolution. As a work around I used the torn paper frames in Canva and lowered the opacity as a replacement to a mask on a template. Not ideal so would love to know if anyone has figured that out. Love the Duotone for changing the color of an element or paper.
Here are the first few layouts I created using Canva...
10.30.23 New Zealand by Laurie Zyskind, on Flickr
11.07.23 NZ 2 by Laurie Zyskind, on Flickr

 

Very interesting! I enjoyed seeing your Canva "journey." I've wondered whether there were viable PS alternatives but not sure I have the patience to learn a whole new program and having to upload everything is probably a deal breaker for me. I don't use the online PS either for the same reason.

 

Glad to hear there is another option to PS, especially if it is free..but for me, I haven't the time or energy to learn a new program but I sure applaud you for diving in and learning this!

 

What great timing that this thread came up again! Last week, I was asked to make an About Me page for my new school where I'll be starting in August and it was suggested that I use Canva. I vaguely thought I'd heard mention of it before, but I couldn't remember where and had no clue what it was. I emailed back, asking about it and still haven't received an answer. So reading this blog post and thread have been very helpful in making me pretty sure that I can just use my Photoshop I'm used to. Thanks everyone!

 

That's so great!! I've been itching to try it out and just haven't had the time. Love it!

 

Those Kea are pretty clever...

The layout with the circles is one of Lynn Grieveson’s, See This No 2. Canva does take PSD files. You have to upload ivs drag and drop. Go to Uploads, Upload files. Note: It will show up under Projects. I created a folder for Templates, etc. You can drag and drop your template onto your canvas from there. It should have layers. I like the image previews under position so I’ve never labeled them. Maybe your thumbnails are smaller? Try playing around with your grid view? You could replace the circles with Canva frames (have the landscape scenery on them) but since the pictures are below the frame it’s not needed. No clipping masks that I know of which is one of the biggest downfalls. However, if you go to Duotone (which is to the right of Shadows) you can pull the photo colors into your elements, papers, etc. A big plus. Have you tried this yet? Just open Duotone, next to Shadows under Edit. Click on Custom. Click on the little circles next to Highlights & Shadows. Use the color picker to select a color in your photos. I’ve just created another page called Christchurch in Canva for Lynn Grieveson’s June 2025 - Nature Challenge. Hope any of this helps. I’ve just recently started using Canva to see if it's a good solution for a family member who doesn’t have PS. Canva has limitations but a good solution for someone who wants to jump into digi scrapbooking to see if they like it. So far, it's a real hit.

 

Is it bad that this made me a little happy? I've stubbornly downloaded both .tiff and .psd versions of my templates since the dawn of time because I thought maybe someday I'd need to switch formats.

 

Hee hee hee... no bunker of canned goods for me. I only hoard invisible things that I can hide on my hard drive. Lol.

 

Call me crazy but I also have been playing with Canva at work bc I figured it’s something easier on IPad rather than laptop but I’ve also wondered about things we drag and drop and AI if we use it, does is stay for others to use? I don’t have a huge amount of understanding on that data part so I didn’t want to insert all new kits if that’s the case. If it doesn’t then I could definitely get layouts done bc I’ve gone from part time to full time at work and it’s so hard to scrap now!