Quick Tip Tuesday – Wanna Quickie?

Ok, Pam asked for it, so here’s your post, Pam!  I asked on Facebook what y’all wanted to know today, and Pam asked how to scrap “supperrrrr fast!”

Since I spent the day at Girl Scout Day Camp, I’m wiped out and still have to post and get ready for another day as the “Crazy Craft Lady”, so I understand the need to scrap quickly and without a huge amount of thought.  So let’s get some ideas:

1. Quick Pages – well duh.  There are lots of wonderful quick pages out there – and lots of freebie sites to find free ones.  But sometimes it’s hard finding something that works with your photos. I find I always wish I could alter them somehow…

2. Templates – I LOVE TEMPLATES!  I’m on a template kick, and am always on the lookout for good templates.  What makes a good template?  Well, something that fits my style (I tend to do multi photo pages, single rather than double pages, and more paper than elements.  A couple of the designers whose templates I love are Doodleboogs and Yin Designs – (there are lots of freebies on her blog, check it out…)  But sometimes I browse my templates and nothing grabs me.  Then what?

3. Repurpose – Take an old layout and redo it!  If you save your layered files, you can just ‘turn off’ the photos, and add in new ones!  Rotate the page maybe, or move some stuff around, take some things off, change the words on the journaling and – ta-da!

4. The KISS method – Keep It Simple Stupid!  When I have a lot of pages to do, such as a teacher gift book, I often make 4 base pages, then keep using them over and over with slightly different embellishments.  That way everything works well together, and I don’t try to start each page (of 20+ pages) from a blank slate.  I have a background, some paper pieces I can move around, and a ribbon and an embellishment, and boom, I’m done.  Next page, slap a new pic in, move stuff around, save.  Super fast!

5. Stack ‘Em Up! – This works well with the KISS method.  I open three or 4 background papers, and stack them up in one file.  Drag in an assortment of paper pieces (torn or whatever) and ribbons/elements, then turn them on and off (in PS and PSE click on the eyeball at the left of the layer in the layers palette) and move them around as you like.  When you get something you like, save it, then turn off the pics and do it again.  This saves you from always opening and closing things, or having a zillion files open all at once to sift through.  And if you get interrupted, instead of having to go pick out all the pieces you liked again, they’re all right there in one .psd file!  I make calendars this way, and it goes very quickly.  Another advantage, the pages all go well together!

How do you scrap “superrrrrr fast”?  Give us some good ideas for those quickies we all want to do!

Other posts you will enjoy:

1. Quick Tip Tuesday – Any One for a Quickie? (Jenn and I are posting some of the best content from Jenn’s Design Blog – scrapkittydesign.com. Here’s one, er, no three we had forgotten about – and all three great tips!) Alright – here’s three tips...
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4. Quick Tip Tuesday – Seeing Little Blue Men? I thought I was seeing things… a whole page of little blue men!  But no, it was just improperly color-balanced photos! But it gave me a chance to give you something JUST FOR PSE USERS!!  (whoohoo...
5. Quick Tip Tuesday – Favorites! (again) We hope you’ve had as busy and fun a holiday weekend as we have!  We are in the throes of the last two days of school here, replete with awards ceremonies, special activities, class parties, and...