Tips for faster scrapping.....

[littlekiwi]

If there is one thing I’ve learnt by doing MOC, it’s that I’m a very slow scrapper (in my eyes at least) taking up to 3-4 hours per layout especially for my more artsy layouts. When I do clean and simple layouts excluding project life style an hour is roughly how long it takes. How do you speed up your scrapping? I’d like to get in under two hours if I could but tend to take way too much time deciding what to do, use etc even if I’m starting with a template. It’s ok to be slow now while i’m not working but once i’m working i’m only going to have an afternoon a week on the weekend to scrap.

 

[bestcee]

A lot of it for me is practice, basically. You've seen my videos, those are real time. The only thing I don't record is picking my photos, and opening the kit.

MOC pushes me to remember my quicker steps:
1 - just go with it. Yes, sometimes I fiddle longer with my photos, or papers. But over all, it's okay to just pick one and move on.
2 - when it's really not working? Walk away. Trash the layout if there is nothing you like. If there's something you like, save it, and walk away. Make a different page, do a different challenge, or go do something else entirely.
3 - I start with something I'm interested in. For the challenges - if it was a journal challenge, I started with a photo I had a story about. For the triangle challenge - I started with a kit that I loved the colors and word art. I knew it would be artsy for me. For the photo challenges I thought about what would tell the story in the parameters. And if I knew a photo had a long story and it wasn't allowed, I picked a different one.
4. Have fun! At the end of the day, if I spent 2 hours making a page that I loved I was okay with it. And made it a goal to remember the steps that make it quicker for me for the next one.

 

[littlekiwi]

hmm I wonder if part of the reason it takes me so long is i’m not a kit scrapper as such - the bulk might come from one kit but then I add other bits and pieces.

 

[StefanieS]

I seldom take longer than 30 minutes per layout and will usually use one kit. Hunting for special bits and bobs slows me down and is not that much fun for me - neither is tweaking shadows. I use shadow styles and call it done. Starting with a template also speeds things up for me. You need to decide what part of the process gives you the most satisfaction and is enjoyable for you and spend 80 % of your time doing that, and then spend the least time on the rest. If you don't mind spending 3 to 4 hours on a layout as your time, your creative outlet - then just enjoy it. It's supposed to be fun.

 

[Angela Toucan]

hmm I wonder if part of the reason it takes me so long is i’m not a kit scrapper as such - the bulk might come from one kit but then I add other bits and pieces.

I do that, but I have everything tagged to make accessing it quick and easy. Tagging to that level though takes time.

 

[littlekiwi]

I seldom take longer than 30 minutes per layout and will usually use one kit. Hunting for special bits and bobs slows me down and is not that much fun for me - neither is tweaking shadows. I use shadow styles and call it done. Starting with a template also speeds things up for me. You need to decide what part of the process gives you the most satisfaction and is enjoyable for you and spend 80 % of your time doing that, and then spend the least time on the rest. If you don't mind spending 3 to 4 hours on a layout as your time, your creative outlet - then just enjoy it. It's supposed to be fun.

Honestly my fave part is being creative full stop. I use a lot of templates and shadow styles already. It’s not that I don’t want to spend 3-4 hours scrapping, it’s just I’d like to get more than one layout done at a time.

 

[bbymks5]

I have the same problem...so.slow. Some go together a lot quicker than others.

I think I have less than a handful of layouts where I've stuck to one kit, the most resent one was for the FDD challenge and that page went together in about 30 mins. I LOVE to mix and match different kits and designers, but it does take a lot of time, which I don't always mind. Other times I tell myself to pull it together because I'm being ridiculous LOL

 

[Kiana]

I'm usually a kit scrapper, but even for the MOC challenge where we had to pull 6 designers, took me under an hour. Most of pages are 30mins or less. Even my intricate ones. I think a lot is just practice. Knowing your software and what's in your stash. Even when I'm searching for something using the search function of Windows, I have an idea of what I want. So if I know I want to add a butterfly I search for those, instead of going into and out of every kit I have to find one. Seeing all the butterflies for TLP designers is awesome!!! And saves time.

And Courtney had great tips. Many of those I follow too.

 

[LeeAndra]

Before MOC started, I pulled all of my TLP kits over onto my computer hard drive (from my EHD) and made sure they were all still being sold in the store. As each day's challenge came up, I would make a folder for that day's challenge, create a Wordpad file with the requirements, and then pull in photos or supplies that would work with that challenge. I am working 4 days a week and have 2 little kids so I need to be as organized as possible before MOC starts to keep up.

For my general scrapping, I have a folder on my hard drive entitled 'Favorites' where I have pulled in my favorite alphas, gesso, paints, etc. I was able to use those pieces a little in MOC and use them a lot in regular scrapping. Sometimes my page needs a little something-something and having all my favorites in one folder means I don't get lost poking around my EHD and use up all of my scrapping time on searching.

I also have a 'To Be Scrapped' folder for my photos and a 'To Be Used' folder for my kits so I know what to scrap and what to scrap it with. There's also a folder where I've combined photos & kits and just need to make the page.

I only have 2 1/2 hours at night between when the kids go to bed and when I do (and that's if I don't have other chores to do first) so I've had to accept that I will only get 1 page done per night during the week and can scrap more on the weekends to 'make up' for it if I want.

 

[Jems]

don't do what i do, procrastinate and go through the forum and look through the gallery

seriously i think the best way to speed scrap for me is to use a temple or sketch and typically i go to file open grab all the papers i might use and then they are already open, i grab all the embellishments and then go through them one by one and use them or close them, and i do this with one or more kits.

 

[Rikki]

I am also a slow scrapper and thoroughly enjoy that. I have everything organized so finding things doesn't take that long but I get distracted often and do other tings in between. A layout under 30 minutes? Hardly ever! But I don't mind even if it takes two evenings to finish a page. I scrap to be creative and to play with nice things so I am getting something out if it no matter if I get a page done tonight or not.

 

[Dalis]

I think I am a faster paper scrapper than a digital scrapper. Once it's down I glue it and don't move it. I try to follow that rule in digital UNLESS it's driving me insane. LOL!!!

 

[bestcee]

the bulk might come from one kit but then I add other bits and pieces.

I'll do this, and when I do, I follow below:

So if I know I want to add a butterfly I search for those, instead of going into and out of every kit I have to find one. Seeing all the butterflies for TLP designers is awesome!!!

Exactly! For the alpha challenge I opened up my top top folder and said : staple. Then picked a few I looked. I also told alpha. I ended up using a bunch from 1 pack in the end, but I glanced through the search results to see what caught my eye.

For the 6 designer challenge I grabbed my photos and knew I wanted sea stuff. So I typed in cruise, opened a few of those kids, went back and typed sea.

Did I get every sea or cruise kit I own? Probably not. But it was quick for me to grab something and go. And I learned how I can better organize myself to multi kit scrap.

I've done the same with color by the way: type blue and see what comes up. A lot!

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I am also a slow scrapper and thoroughly enjoy that. I have everything organized so finding things doesn't take that long but I get distracted often and do other tings in between. A layout under 30 minutes? Hardly ever! But I don't mind even if it takes two evenings to finish a page. I scrap to be creative and to play with nice things so I am getting something out if it no matter if I get a page done tonight or not.

I am too. I enjoy the process. I might try to speed up a tad, but probably won't. I also change my mind a lot.

 

[gonewiththewind]

My biggest tip is to choose and stick with your choice. You can spend a lot of time looking through tons of supplies and then exchanging out papers and embellishments. If you can reduce the amount of time you are doing that, you might find that you are able to complete more pages in your allotted scrap time.

Some pages, though, are just going to be more time intensive - because of technique or journaling or maybe just the emotions that are brought to light by looking at a particular photo - and they will take more time even if you are picking and choosing quickly.

I look back toward my paper scrapping days as well. I would be happy if I completed a couple of traditional paper layouts in a long Saturday scrap session with my sis-in-law. Now, even if I spend an hour on a page, I've got two layouts done in just two hours! It's so much quicker (for me anyway).

Maybe something in this will help you!

 

[michelepixels]

I rarely spend much more than an hour on a layout. And I almost always mix elements from a variety of kits. The parts that sometimes make it take a lot longer are choosing photos if I'm picking out a lot for the layout and writing out a lot of journaling.

I think the most helpful thing for me is that I use the search function of my files to find what I need. So when I want to add a scatter I search "scatter" and all the elements with "scatter" in their filename show up. (Thanks to designers who name their elements well!!!) I rarely ever tag anything, but sometimes when I buy a new kit I add words to the file names to make them appear in future searches. For example, I always make sure my music-themed elements have "music" in their file names (or the folder name at least), because music is a big part of my life.

And the other thing that makes choosing elements so easy for me is that my folders are the kit previews, not the default blue folder icon. So I can just open my TLP folder and scroll to easily see all my papers, kit color palettes, and larger elements as I scroll. I wrote a blog post about how to change the default folder icon to kit previews.

Thinking further about how I scrap, I wonder if there's something about my routine and desktop set up that helps with speed. I have a habit of having my Photoshop open not quite full screen, with my files window (sometimes two) open on the left edge of my screen and my web browser open behind Photoshop, but peeking above it. All are arranged so I can easily click from one to another.

Maybe the habit I've developed to always scrap every Sunday, the regularity and frequency of my scrapping, has helped me be faster too.

Good luck increasing your speed!

 

[Amson]

I'm a slow scrapper but faster during MOC and will try to continue this momentum from now on. I am never a single kit scrapper. I start with photos and then look for papers then elements and paint. Slow! I use templates occasionally.

 

[amien1]

Other ways to speed up are using shortcuts & actions. Even if you shave a couple clicks off of each thing you do- it'll add up! I've gotten so that I don't even realize the shortcuts I use- they are SUCH a habit- but then when I'm using them in other programs- I realize how much I depend on them! Even learning the hot-key's (B for Brush tool, T for Type tool, etc.) will speed you up!

 

[klee73010]

I haven't read all of these comments yet... I have a couple different ways that I scrap.

For CT, I already know the kit I will use, so I choose photos/story to match, then a template based on the photos and story I chose. I stick primarily with that kit, and I pile things on my page, usually going from bottom layer to top based on the layers of the template.

For non CT scrapping, I typically start with photos/story in mind, choose a template, then search my stash for the main kit or collection I will use. I am more likely to branch out to other kits by the same designer, or other parts of the BYOC or collection I'm using. I would love to say I have an awesome organization to be able to find things like this quickly, but I really just rely on the TLP shop a lot of the time. I glance through the past BYOC or MPM or M3 or story teller collections and can can typically remember buying parts of whichever when it was on sale, so I know which papers/elements I have just by looking in the shop, and I know where they are in my stash because I keep things stored by designer.

In short... knowing how you scrap, or choose to scrap, will help you gain your own efficiencies. I know "practice makes perfect" was essentially noted above, and it's true. When you have your own process down, you're faster at it than others.

If you like to mix and match things, maybe storing things by kit isn't helpful for you... perhaps you break apart your kits and store them by type instead (providing the filenames are enough info for you when marking down credits) - maybe keeping things by designer, but not in specific kit folders... idk, just a thought!

 

[littlekiwi]

If you like to mix and match things, maybe storing things by kit isn't helpful for you... perhaps you break apart your kits and store them by type instead (providing the filenames are enough info for you when marking down credits) - maybe keeping things by designer, but not in specific kit folders... idk, just a thought!

I already split everything up....at least I started to prior to MOC, I’ve now got a massive to sort folder to deal with. Maybe that’s what I need to finish first before scrapping cause i’m sure having an organized stash will make scrapping easier.