I love when people look at one of my pages and think:

  1. I have too much free time
  2. I am much more talented than them
  3. There is no way they could ever do this.

That is when I show them how I make a fabulous page in less than 5 minutes.  To do this, I do cheat a bit….

I begin with something called a page template that work with the scrapbooking programs like Creative Memories Storybook Creator and Adobe Photoshop Elements.  Other programs use other terms like predesigned pages, templates, or click n’ fills.  Either way these pages give you a starting point to design a beautiful page in record time.

The theme for my page is a day at Disney’s Beach Club Villas.  I had 5 photos I wanted to use.  So I pulled up a page template that had a layout I liked.  I took this from Creative Memories Black and White 12×12 Predesigned Pages.  The cool thing was this set was actually from their free artwork.  Can’t beat that!

Using Predesigned Pages to Make Disney Scrapbooking Easier - Page Template by Creative Memories

Predesigned Page by Creative Memories

The page is set up so that you just drag photos into the boxes and add your own text.

You could be done now.  Took me exactly 1 minute to complete and it looks great.  Can you imagine, at this rate I could have my Disney 2011 book completed today!!  That is just too cool.

Using Predesigned Pages to Make Disney Scrapbooking Easier - Adding Photos to the Page Template by Creative Memories

Just Add Photos and Journaling

BUT I want it a bit more ‘beachy’.  So I remove the background and added a page from Creative Memories Rugged Power Palette that has more of the feel I am going for.

Using Predesigned Pages to Make Disney Scrapbooking Easier - Changing Up the Page Template by Creative Memories

Change the Paper to Meet the Theme

Better, much better.  But it’s still missing something.  I looked through my memorabilia from the trip for any ideas.Then I saw it, the map from the resort!  I scanned it and added it to the page.  Made the font white and moved the photos down a bit so the map could fit.  Voila!!  That is the page I was looking for.

Using Predesigned Pages to Make Disney Scrapbooking Easier - Finished Page using Page Template by Creative Memories

Finished Page of Beach Club Villas and Stormalong Bay Pool

In all, it took me about 10 minutes because I had to think of what to journal and scan a map.  So anyone can do this, no excuses!

HINT 1: Notice in the photo with the wine there is an added photo of the room number.  I always take a photo of the room number so I remember where we were.  Then I add it somewhere to a page.  It does not need to be big just there to jog your memory.

HINT 2: To journal over an image or text, add a background to your text box and move the opacity to 50% or more.  This will allow you to read the text and see the image behind it.

Mary Signature

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