How do you put elements on your pages?

[AmieN1]

I love reading how everyone scraps. It's so interesting!

I am a "drag all the things" into my canvas & work from there. Typically, I do my photos, then my papers & then a few elements. Then I add a few more elements. It just kind of depends on the template or look I'm going for. I like to add all the flowers at once & shadow then I can quickly pick & chose based on size/color. It does get a bit distracting if there are TONS. I also turned off the smart object. If I mess up the sizing, I can alway add one back in. I do usually bring in alphas as smart objects tho for that reason. I also read somewhere that using all smart objects increases the file size & with how many layers I always have, the smaller the size the better!

 

[JillW]

I'm not sure what smart objects are as I've only seen it opening someone else's psd.tiff file. Never on mine.

First, I place all of my papers on my 12x12 layout. Once I know what the layout will "look like", I'll work on my elements.

I open the elements folder and open up everything that I want to work with (ribbons, frames, flowers, paint, confetti, etc).

Once everything is opened, I open up a blank canvas and start dragging things over to cluster. I look back to the paper filled layout to see which directions elements (mostly greenery) need to flow) and I cluster on the blank canvas.

When I like the clusters that I've created, I drag them over to the paper filled layout, filling up the layout. After all of the clusters are in place, I go through my elements again, opening up anything else that I want to use or fill my layout. I place them throughout the clusters.

After papers and clusters are done, I look for my photos to finish the layout. Journaling is last and sometimes a titlework, but titleworks often are created when I'm doing my clusters.

I had never thought about building a cluster on a blank canvas and then moving it to my layout - I'm going to have to try that!

 

[NeverendingJen]

I open them one at a time, haha. I tend to need to fill in as I go and shadow etc. But i always do papers and photos first and then fill in with the "stuff" like that

 

[GraceLee]

I drag elements in as I go... keeping them as a smart object as I resize things often. If I need to do something to it, I rasterize it. I also merge papers down to the shapes I'm clipping them to as I go. When I'm sure that I'm done, I go to the layers panel and filter only for smart objects. Then I select all the smart object layers and rasterize them all at once (I have the rasterize function on a short-cut) to save space!

 

[monia13]

This is a very interesting topic. I would love to watch youtube video on how do a layout with one of the suggestions

 

[LeeAndra]

I drag and drop.

If you drag and drop onto the toolbar at the top (vs. dragging onto the canvas directly), it won't show up as a smart object.

I do them one at a time and then shadow after all of the elements are in place.

 

[Sherly]

If I use template, I'd copy all the layers from the template into a new blank canvas. Otherwise, I'd start with my background paper.

Then, I'll open up the photo(s) I am going to scrap with.
I usually open/drag elements one by one from the folder (finder in Mac) as I scrap. I go bottom up, so most of the time I start with the paints/scribbles/splatters that I want to put on my page first, then I'll keep building up layers that way.
Title is the second last, journaling & date are the last one on.

 

[CarolynK]

I put everything that I think I want to use, into a new subfolder called "to use" and then use the Script>load files into stack option to load it all. Then I move things around hide layers, reorder layers etc - I add shadows during this process as it makes some of the elements easier to see.

 

[Keely~B]

I open the entire kit into a canvas and then do a quick sort of the layers into groups. All my PP in one ( at the very bottom), mixed media( right above my papers), cards, wordy things, flowers(at the very top). I delete anything I know I won't use. I hide all the layers and get to scrapping, showing the layers as I use them. It sounds time consuming when I write it out but I find it much easier and quicker than going back and forth. This way I can easily see everything and if I change my mind ( which happens a lot ) it's all just there. I just delete all my unused bits towards/at the end.