Quick Christmas Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking can be a time-consuming hobby—even more so when you have very young children, as I do. But thanks to a challenge from a friend, I recently discovered the perfect solution for completing quick, beautiful, and inspiring scrapbook pages—even during these busy holiday months—without all the mess. The solution? Digital scrapbooking templates. And I’m not even a digital scrapbooker! At least I wasn’t before now.

Here are my first three digital scrapbooking pages ever, accompanied by four useful tips that will help beginners (like me) and even seasoned digi divas to create super quick pages this holiday season—or any time of year.

Tip 1: Watch and learn

	How To Tutorials Watch a video or screencast to walk you through the basics, like Crystal Wilkerson's Digital Template Tutorial (top picture) or Ella Publishing Co.'s How to Use Layered Photoshop Templates (bottom photo), which were designed specifically for the Take Twelve photo challenge.
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Before I took the digi plunge, I watched Crystal’s 23-minute video tutorial on how to use a digital template in Photoshop Elements. I highly recommend you do the same. Crystal walks you step-by-step through the process of adding photos, journaling, patterned papers, and accents. She explains the digital tools you’ll use and shares time-saving keystrokes.

After watching the video, I felt confident enough to make a simple page using the digital template that came FREE with the purchase of Crystal Wilkerson's eBook, From Paper to Digi.

	Free Layered Template This layered file (for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements) comes free with the purchase of From Paper to Digi: 12 digital designs inspired by pretty paper pages by Crystal Wilkerson. A free, 30-day trial version of Photoshop Elements can be downloaded here.
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	Christmas Recital Digi Page supplies digital template, labels and button from “Color Combo No. 4” by Crystal Wilkerson • patterned paper from “Santa’s Sleigh” by Carina Gardner • Century Gothic font • 12 x 12 page
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Tip 2: Use the Shortcuts

In digital scrapbooking, many common actions can be executed with quick keystrokes, so there’s no need to open menus. For example, in Photoshop Elements, CTRL/Command + G will make a photo or patterned paper fit into its placeholder (this is called “clipping”). CTRL/Command + +/- will zoom in and out. Take time to learn the shortcuts for your photo-editing program. They are usually listed in the menu to the right of the action.

	2-Page Digi Template This template is based on a paper layout by Jennifer Pebbles that was featured in From Paper to Digi. The layered template itself can be found at crystalwilkerson.com, either sold singly or in a package of all ten templates created from the layouts in the eBook.
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	Christmas Tree Digi Page Supplies: digital template, label from “Color Combo No. 4” by Crystal Wilkerson • silhouette and patterned paper from “Santa’s Sleigh” by Carina Gardner • patterned paper from “Reindeer Games” by The Queen of Quirk • Century Gothic and Edwardian Script fonts • 8½ x 11 spread
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A digital template is just a framework. After you fill in all the placeholders, feel free to change things around or add your own embellishments. This template suggested putting the title above the photo strip, but I moved it down to make room for a Santa silhouette. I also added a little label to the lower-right corner of the right-hand page. Don’t let a template stifle your imagination.

Tip 3: Customize the Look

If you’re a paper scrapbooker who loves texture and dimension, you may miss these qualities on your digital pages. To give a flat title or embellishment added depth, just add a little drop shadow. In Photoshop Elements, simply right-click on the element, select Edit Layer Style, and add a Drop Shadow. Experiment with size, distance, and opacity until you find a balance that appeals to you.

	4-Photo Page Template This template is based on a paper layout by Wendy Sue Anderson that was featured in From Paper to Digi, along with a digital take on that same design created by Crystal Wilkerson. The templates are available at crystalwilkerson.com.
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	Christmas Elves Digi Page Supplies: digital template, label from “Color Combo No. 4” by Crystal Wilkerson • silhouette and patterned paper from “Santa’s Sleigh” by Carina Gardner • patterned paper from “Reindeer Games” by The Queen of Quirk • Century Gothic and Edwardian Script fonts • 8½ x 11 spread
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One advantage of digital scrapbooking is that it’s much easier to get things just right. With paper products, finding the “perfect” accessory can be challenging. I usually have to settle for something “close enough”—letter stickers that are the right font but the wrong color, accents that are the right color but the wrong size. With digital products, you can alter these imperfections with a few clicks of the mouse, achieving perfect results in no time. Here I used the color picker to easily match my title to the green patterned paper.

Bonus Tip: Hide Unnecessary Elements
Some text placeholders are text boxes (e.g., this journaling box). Others are just images that show you where to place something (e.g., this title placeholder). For this second kind, use the Text Tool to type your own title and the Move Tool to position it. Then hide the placeholder in the Layers palette by clicking the eye icon to the left of the layer. This will make the placeholder disappear without deleting it.

Diving Into Digital: A bit of background.

	From Paper to Digi As a longtime paper scrapbooker who has struggled to find the time for my hobby recently, I was inspired to give digital a try thanks to Crystal Wilkerson's eBook and templates.
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I started scrapbooking when I was in junior high (about 15 years ago). Now that I’m a mom, I have more photos, more stories, and more project ideas than ever, but what I don’t have is time—time to get out my supplies, plan pages, resize and print photos, play with products, or pull it all together before my 3-year-old destroys something I need. My biggest barrier to scrapbooking is also the thing I love most: the bits and pieces.

For years, I’ve toyed with the idea of going digital just to escape the mess. Finally, at the beginning of 2011, I added digital scrapbooking to my list of resolutions; I even enrolled in an online class. But I never viewed the curriculum. The learning curve seemed too steep, and I couldn’t spare the time. My world was too full. There was no time to learn something new. I promised myself I’d keep making paper pages until I could dive into digital. But instead, I stopped scrapbooking all together.

When I mentioned my goal of dabbling in digi to Angie Lucas, owner of Ella Publishing Co., she suggested a simple solution: digital templates. Then she challenged me to make three digital pages using templates inspired by the layouts in Crystal Wilkerson’s eBook, From Paper to Digi: 12 digital designs inspired by pretty paper pages.

I accepted Angie’s challenge, and for the first time in three years, I feel like I have time to scrapbook! Why? Because using digital templates is even easier than scraplifting. There’s no measuring, cutting, or pasting. Just open a digital template in your favorite photo-editing program, and fill the placeholders with your photos, words, and favorite digital papers. It’s so easy you can finish your first page in 30 minutes!

Digital templates are a fast, easy way to test the digi waters. Don’t wait until the New Year to take the plunge—dive in today!

Rachel Gainer and her husband, Will, are the parents of three beautiful little girls, Shelby, Daphne, and Phoebe. Rachel has worked as a writer and editor in the scrapbooking industry for six years and is currently the copy editor for Ella Publishing Co. When she isn’t chasing her girls, she enjoys writing, taking pictures, crafting, making cupcakes, and exercising. She blogs at rachelgainer.blogspot.com.