Good Morning everyone! I hope you all had a successful DSD, with lots of shopping and fantastic sales! Me, well, I did a little shopping and LOTS of scrapping! A fantastic way to celebrate!

Over the past several weeks I have been putting together tutorials for you based on info that I wish I had known when I first began scrapbooking.  Of course, I am always willing to take requests, so the tutorial I am bringing you  today was suggested by one of our readers.  If there is ever anything you want to know, please drop a note in the comment section below and I will add it to my list!

Recently, I showed you how to place your photos in a QP, but one of our wonderful readers wanted me to show you how to make a quick page,  so today, I am going to show you how quick and easy it really is!

Make sure that your resolution is set at 300 ppi so that you have the best resolution for your print layout. When you have entered your info, click ok. Your new blank document will open in your workspace.

Now you will create your layout. If this is your first time ever to make a layout, you can catch my earlier tutorial on how to begin digital scrapbooking.  In the essence of time, however, I am going to use a layout that I already put together for this lesson.

Once you have finished your layout, we need to select the mask or photo. Find the mask in your layer’s palette on the right of your screen, and select the mask.  Hit the CTRL key and with your mouse, click on the photo mask.  Marching ants will then appear around the photo mask or photo.

**TIP  When I create a layout, I almost ALWAYS create a mask where my photo would be  because I never know what photos I want to use until after I am all done. If you have used a photo, then you can follow the same procedure,  just select the photo instead of the mask.  

Now that your mask is selected, you need to turn the layer off by locating the eye next to it in the layer’s palette and clicking it of. DO NOT click on the layer or your marching ants will disappear…just click on the eye.

Once you turn it off, you will see all the layers underneath, and this is what we are going to erase to make the hole for your photo.  With the marching ants still marching, select each layer underneath the photo mask one by one and hit the delete button. When you delete the last layer, there should be a translucent spot for your photo.

Hit CTRL+D to deselect the photo mask. If you are making these for someone else, then you need to throw the photo mask into the trash. If you plan on using it yourself, I always drag the photo mask underneath all of the other layers so that I can clip my photo to it.

Now it is time to save your file so that it can be used as a QP. Go to File>Save As> and in the dialogue box, name the QP and select the format of layout you are creating by clicking the arrow and selecting it in the drop down menu. You will need to choose the PNG format when you are creating QP’s.  It will allow your transparent space to remain just that….transparent!  Hit Save when you have finished.

After you hit Save, another dialogue box will pop up and ask you if you want to save as None or Interlaced.  Interlacing (or progressive display) is a method of displaying images on a monitor.   Non-interlaced images are smaller than interlaced images, but Interlaced images are much more easily viewable on the computer. The interlace lets you see the picture before all the data has been transmitted (makes them appear faster and better-looking) and gives you the “feeling” that it is being dowloaded faster. I always choose Interlaced when I am saving my files.

TIP: Interlacing is not recommended for small images but is a must if the viewer is using a slow connection.

When you are done, you now have a QP ready to drag and drop your photos into!

See! Quick and easy! AND, because I am feeling in a very generous mood today and thankful for another fabulous year of scrapping, I am gifting you this little QP for all of our blog readers!

It was made using Mye’s gorgeous Thankful Heart kit.

and her matching wordart.

I also used a few bits and pieces (green leaves really) from her Sweet on September kit.

and here is your link to the QP!

Have a great week, and I will see you right here next Monday with another fun, and hopefully educational,  tutorial!

Tamara