Digital Scrapbooks: How to Use a Quick Page

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Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7

November 5, 2008

For quick and easy scrapbooking, quick pages are perfect! A quick page is a predesigned scrapbook page with a transparent frame or frames to which you can add your own photos and journaling text. Most quick pages come in a single layer in the PNG file format because that format recognizes transparent sections. In this lesson, learn how to add your own photo and journaling text to a quick page in Photoshop Elements.

Transparent frame in quick page Completed quick page

How to Use a Quick Page in Photoshop Elements

Basically, to use a quick page, copy the photo you want to the layer below the quick page layout, resize the photo as needed, and then add layers of journaling text.

  1. Open the quick page and the photo you want to insert in the quick page in Photoshop Elements.

    Tip: Duplicate the quick page and work with a copy to avoid ruining the quick page source file. To duplicate a file, from the File menu, select Duplicate.

  2. Select the quick page layout and add a blank layer below the quick page layer:

    1. In the Layers palette, select the quick page layer.
    2. To add a blank layer below, press Ctrl and click the Create a new layer button in the Layers palette.
    3. In the Layers palette, click the new blank layer to select it.
    Create a new layer

  3. Copy the photo into a blank layer below the quick page layout so that the photo appears within the transparent frame:

    1. Make sure you can see the quick page and the photo in the workspace. From the Window menu, select Images, then Cascade to display both files.
    2. Select the Move tool, then drag-and-drop the photo to the quick page layout. The photo is displayed on the layer below the quick page layout and shows through the transparent frame.
    Drag and drop photo

  4. Resize and reposition the photo as needed:

    1. After you drag the photo to the quick page, the photo has transform handles that you can use to resize and reposition the photo in the frame.
    2. If the photo extends beyond the borders of the quick page, press Ctrl+0 to view the entire photo with the transform handles.
    3. If you do not see the transform handles, in the Layers palette, select the layer that contains the photo and press Ctrl+T to display the transform box.
    4. Click the green checkmark to apply the changes.
    Resize and reposition photo

  5. Add text layers for journaling:

    1. In the Layers palette, select the quick page layout.
    2. Select the Horizontal Type tool, then select a font and enter one or more layers of text above the quick page layut.
    3. To resize, rotate or place the text, select a text layer and press Ctrl+T.
    Add text

  6. After you have completed all your edits, merge the layers to reduce the file size. From the Layer menu, select Merge Visible.

    Caution: After you merge the layers, you won't be able to edit text or photo layers, so make sure that your creation is finished before merging!

Resources

You can download many free and inexpensive quick pages, images and fonts to use in your digital layouts. The resources used in this quick page are described below:

Quick page ChinaBlue 6"x6" Quickpage by Lie Fhung of Ztampf.com
iStockphoto photo Photograph of girl from iStockphoto, ©iStockphoto.com/lpkoe
Font Font: PegsannaHMK
For permission to use an article or resource for educational or non-profit purposes, please contact me at karenb@alibony.com. Commercial use is not permitted.

Updated on November 9, 2009