Two Digital Advantages

I used to be a paper scrapbooker. I have a lot of friends who are still paper scrapbookers. It is when we get together for a crop that I am vividly reminded why I converted to digital.

To start with, they haul in tub after tub, tote after tote, bag after bag of “stuff.” They spend a lot of time hunting for just the right color of paper. They moan about the photo they cropped too small. And in the end, they have a mess the size of Texas to clean up.

Don’t get me wrong, digital scrapbooking is not the better option for everyone. But it is better for me. And today I’ll share with you two of the many reasons why.

I was wandering around a few online galleries this morning looking for inspiration and page trends, as I like to do from time to time. I noticed a lot of pages with two background papers—one the full size of the page, the other slightly smaller, but still centered. Something like this…

I love this look. When you use contrasting papers, it really frames your page and gives everything a tight-knit feeling. I have used this look for a long time, but in my early digital years the way I achieved it was much more difficult than today.

The way I used to do it involved (promise you won’t laugh) selecting each side of the top paper with the Rectangular Marquee tool and deleting it. Well, that’s how I used to do it as a paper scrapbooker, so that seemed like the natural process to use as a digital scrapbooker.

I won’t even go into all of the crazy things I did to get this job done, making sure each side was “cut” the same amount…until I realized there was a MUCH easier way to accomplish this look.

Advantage 1) Re-sizing from the center

• Start with one paper on your page.
• Drag another paper onto this document, holding down the Shift key as you move it so your paper will be centered on the page. (At this point all you can see is the top paper.)
• Press Ctrl T (Mac: Cmd T) to get the Transform outline.
• Holding down the Alt key (Mac: Opt key), use a corner handle to transform the top paper slightly smaller than the bottom one.
• Double click within the transform outline to accept it.

Wow, not only was that much easier than how I used to do it, but I could always go back and make it bigger or smaller, using the same method. The trick is adding the Alt (Mac: Opt) key, which re-sizes from the center, or all sides proportionately. Without that key, the resizing occurs from just the corner you use. Try both to see the difference.

Here’s the page I created using this method.

If you notice, I actually have 3 layered background papers. After I re-sized the yellow one, I decided to add the dark brown, which is actually a re-colorized version of the yellow one.

You can add as many papers as you wish, easily and quickly.

Advantage 2) Cleaning up the digital “mess”

My second digital advantage addresses the digital “mess” I end up with in the process of creating a page. If you scrapbook like me, by the time you’re done with a page you have quite a few files open.

I don’t like to close the original files of things I have tried on my page until the page is completely done. This helps me document which elements and papers I have used to create the page, so I can give proper credit to the designer(s).

But once the page is done, and my documentation is complete, I need to close all of those files. There are three keyboard shortcuts I use to make quick work of this process.

1) Ctrl Q (Mac: Cmd Q)

I would assume the “Q” stands for Quit, or at least in my mind it does! Pressing Ctrl Q (Mac: Cmd Q) will cause Elements to close all of your open files and then close the program. If you have any files with unsaved changes, it will ask if you want to save those changes first. What a great way to finish up–imagine if paper scrapbookers had this trick!

2) Ctrl Alt W (Mac: Cmd Opt W)

I use this when I want to close all my open files, but don’t want to close the program because I’m starting another project. In that case I would use Ctrl Alt W (Mac: Cmd Opt W) rather than Ctrl Q (Mac: Cmd Q). This command will close every file open on my desktop, but if I have an unsaved file, it will stop and ask me if I want to save it. It’s a very fast way to clean up your desktop!

3) Ctrl W (Mac: Cmd W)

There are times when I want to close some of my open files, but not all of them. In that case I would use Ctrl W (Mac: Cmd W). This command will close just one file at a time, so I can choose not to close the files I will need for my next project. This method takes a little longer than the other, but I’ve found it is still faster than clicking on the “X” for each file.

By the way, if you forget these shortcuts, you can find them listed under the File menu in Windows or under the File and Photoshop Elements menus on a Mac.

For me, there are many advantages to the digital route, and I could probably go on to list at least 100. But give these two a shot today. Just maybe it will give you the extra time you need to create another page or two!

Credits: Tutorial and page by Jenny Binder, www.HeirloomScrapbooks.com. “Autumn Leaves” page credits: All papers and elements from the “Happy Harvest” kit by Susan Bartolini (aka ScrapKitchen Designs). Some items were re-colored. Font is CK Regal.

Download a PDF version of this “Two Digital Advantages” tutorial.

Windows: Right click on the link and choose “Save Target As” or a similar command.
Mac: Click on the link to download the file.

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