Quick Trick: About Those Shortcuts…

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I know I’m always harping on keyboard shortcuts… every tutorial has a bunch of them. They’re really great time-savers once you have them memorized, but they’re not all that intuitive. Some are, but surely not most. There are plenty of spots on the internet where someone has made lists of them, but how well do those lists apply to digital scrapbooking, when Photoshop and Photoshop Elements have such broad graphic design application? Hmm. So I made a list of the ones I use most often and made a little chart you can print and save.

Let’s look at them individually.

B : Activate the Brush Tool – The Brush Picker menu opens so you can choose your Brush, make adjustments to size, angle, roundness and so on.
C : Activate the Crop Tool – The Crop Tool has so many options! You can set a specific size and you can move the overlay around to get it perfect.
E : Activate the Eraser Tool – I don’t use the Eraser that often, but it’s handy for quick tweaks… like if a leaf has a long stem that sticks out oddly.
I : Activate the Color Picker (Eyedropper) – This is such a versatile tool, especially for those artsy layouts.
K : Activate the Fill Tool* – aka the Paint Bucket. I use this one ALL the time for my custom shadows. The process is quick with shortcuts!
M : Activate the Marquee Tool – The default is the rectangle… or whichever one you last used. Click M again to choose the other one.
N : Activate the Pen Tool – Super-useful for those times you want to draw lines.
R : Activate the Smudge Tool* – There are three tools in this set, so make sure you’ve got the Flying Fickle Finger up there so you can adjust your shadows.
T : Activate the Text Tool – I think everybody already knows and uses this one.
V : Activate the Move Tool* – I firmly believe this is what you should select right before you close your software to prevent messing things up with you use it again. I use it automatically when shifting my shadow layers.
X : Toggle the Foreground and Background Colors – I mostly use this one for my tutorial screenshots, but also when customizing text, Styles and oh yeah… when I’m using a Layer Mask to interweave elements seamlessly.

The next batch uses a combination of keystrokes. I provide both the Windows (CTRL and ALT) and Mac (CMD and OPT) versions for accessibility.

CTRL/CMD> + or – : Zoom in or out – get in realllly close to see details, pull waaaay back to see the overall picture.
CTRL/CMD>A : Select All – This snaps the marching ants to the outside edge of the entire project.
CTRL/CMD>C : Copy – So handy for bringing objects from one project onto another, and for importing text from outside documents.
CTRL/CMD>D : Deselect* – This turns the marching ants off, to allow ongoing changes to other parts of the layout. When they’re on, you can’t do much.
CTRL/CMD>E : Merge selected layers – This is useful in so many ways, especially when you’re trying to create titles, word art or decreasing the size of your file.
CTRL/CMD>F : Repeat last Filter* – This goes for ANY Filter; my most used is the Gaussian Blur for my shadows to replicate the softening effect distance creates.
CTRL/CMD>I : Invert – This changes the colour of your object to the OPPOSITE on the colour wheel. Woohoo! More goodies for your stash!
CTRL/CMD>J : Duplicate layer(s) – You’ve seen this one a million times! It also works for multiple layers, so if you wanted to Duplicate a cluster, activate all the layers in that cluster and CTRL/CMD>J BOOM!
CTRL/CMD>L : Adjust Levels – Good for lightening or darkening images.
CTRL/CMD>N : New document – I like to build my titles and word art on their own documents then import them into the layout.
CTRL/CMD>O : Open last folder – I always fill a folder with the things I think I might use for a given layout, but sometimes I need to go back to the kit folder for more paper or whatever. If I’ve opened that kit folder once after starting my process, I can quickly get back to it using just these keystrokes.
CTRL/CMD>P : Print – You probably use this one a lot already.
CTRL/CMD>S : Save – If your computer is misfiring at times, or you need to interrupt your creativity to make supper, you might want to just Save what you’ve already done so it doesn’t vanish when your back is turned.
CTRL/CMD>U : Adjust Hue/Saturation – Very useful for recolouring on the fly.
CTRL/CMD>V : Paste – Whatever you last Copied or Cut will magically appear on your canvas.
CTRL/CMD>Y : Redo – For when you’ve overdone the Undo!
CTRL/CMD>Z : Undo – Undoubtedly my most uses shortcut of all time.
CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>S : Save AS – Elements creates a PhotoShop Document (PSD) so if you want you work Saved As a JPG or PNG, use this.
CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I : Invert Selection – When I’ve Selected the edges of an object and want to alter everything outside of it,  the Selection must be Inverted.
CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>I : Resize document – Quick way to get to the Resize menu so you can Save your layout As a 600×600 Gallery-friendly pixel version.
CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>C : Resize canvas – When you need more room to create your title, word art or cluster than you have, use this.

* : these shortcuts are my go-tos for custom shadows These are the shortcuts I reach for automatically while creating shadows. My fingers just know where to go!

I’m getting a bit closer to that new laptop I mentioned. Hubby was at Costco this morning checking out the options. (As IF he knows what I need…)

What Do I Do With All My Layouts??

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I know I can’t be the only one who has hundreds of completed digital layouts. I’ve been digiscrapping since October of 2010, after all… and I was late to the party! So that got me thinking about what we do with all the wonderful things we create. I’ve had several 8×8 hard-cover photo books printed, had quite a few layouts printed in both 8×8 and 12×12 format so I could put them in old-school albums or frames, and I’ve done a couple of calendars. With Christmas and Chanukah fast approaching, maybe some of you are planning to give scrapbook-related gifts. Did you know there are lots of options out there for what you can do and where you can do it? Here are a few!

<Editor’s note: where you see bold, coloured, underlined text, there’s a URL link embedded there which will take you directly to the site.>

I’m not going to talk about Kinko, Staples, Vistaprint or any of the more business-oriented print shops. I want to focus on scrapbooking!

I think we all know about Walmart Photo Centers. They’re typically found in the same part of the store as the electronics department. They offer prints, posters, photo books, canvas prints, calendars, plaques, greeting cards and a few other options. Prints-wise, they don’t do 12x12s, but they DO have 12×12 photo books in both soft and hard cover. I believe you can skip their “themes” and just upload your full-sized layouts to fill the pages. If you scrap in 8×10 or 8 1/2×11, you’re in luck – you can get prints at Walmart. You have a choice between going into the store to order, or an online store. Canadians, this is your link. Of course, as Walmart is a budget option, quality may be somewhat diminished.

The next one I think most of us know about is Shutterfly, the OG online photo service. Recently Costco eliminated both their in-warehouse and online photo services, moving their business to Shutterfly. Since this is where I’ve had most of my photo books printed, I wasn’t all that mad; their products run the gamut – anything you want printed on anything is possible here. I’ve uses the Costco service before and was quite annoyed that they ROLLED my 12×12 prints for shipping, so I was a bit trepidatious  of how the 12×12 prints for my dad’s memorial service would arrive. Thankfully they were packaged flat and well-protected. One great thing about Shutterfly is that they run sales all the time! Quality is decent, and sale prices make this a good choice. Canadians, your link is here.

Persnickety Prints is, in my opinion, the BEST option for prints. They’re completely online, based in Utah. They offer a wide variety of print sizes and types, as well as calendars (yes, they DO have 12×12 calendars!) and soft-cover photo books, but only 6×8, 8×8 and 5×5. Best of all, they use a credit system so you can buy an bunch of prints without having those prints ready to go. A couple of times a year (Black Friday, anyone?) they have a sale… I have 127 credits for 12×12 prints just waiting for me to give them the go-ahead. (I plan to print all my Ireland layouts and put them in an album.) As far as quality goes, they use Fuji photo paper, REAL silver halide photo paper, for crisp, clean, vivid prints. Turnaround time is quick, too.

Presto Photo is entirely devoted to scrapbooking. They offer prints and photo books in a variety of sizes, calendars (yes to 12×12) and gift options. Although they’re based in the US, their site supports currency from multiple countries. I did note some negative feedback in their comments section. so proceed at your own risk.

For non-US readers, I have a PSA for you. If one of the shipping options on your chosen site is UPS, choose any other mode! UPS charges a brokerage fee that often is more than the value of the contents of your package, and will harass you if you refuse delivery. This is on top of any duty you may be required to pay. I’ve never had to pay duty on any of the prints or books I’ve ordered, but I HAVE been harassed by UPS over another type of shipment I refused at the door.

Okay, back to our regularly-scheduled programming… you may have heard of Blurb, which is based mainly in Canada, but has a US site as well. Their focus is self-publishing, so for the family historian they’re a great choice. They have a variety of sizes, covers, paper choices and even magazines! They have a few wall art options, but they don’t do just prints, or any of the tchotchkes. I have a book that was produced by Blurb and the quality is very good. I think I might use them for the children’s book my brother wants me to illustrate.

Milkbooks is another printer that only provides books. They have a selection of sizes and options, including magazine format. And they’re pricey! But on the plus side, their site supports multiple currencies.

The last site I’ll mention is Treasure Books. I left them until last because they require the use of proprietary software. Their website refers to some issue with creating on Windows-based systems necessitating a call to their toll-free number. That by itself would make me leery, although they say they don’t use an automated call-answering system so you’d speak to a human right off the bat. Based in Canada, they also have a support number in the US. Their basic books are 20 pages, but can go as high as 200.

I hope you’re not disappointed that I have no screenshots for you this week. 😉