Overview of this week’s rapid scrapbooking project

This week we’ll be rapid scrapbooking layout #1. If you don’t have the template for this project. Sign up for the weekly newsletter. You’ll get the free template for this project, and each week, I’ll send you a new free Rapid Scrapbooking Template for Canva!

This week is a small project. Just one photo.

Utilize any available free time to accomplish as many tasks as you can. Any unfinished tasks can be resumed during your next period of idle time. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done with your phone and a few spare minutes. Have fun watching as your scrapbook fills up and your photo pile goes down!

Move all items into Canva

If you don’t already have a Canva account, refer to this post for instructions on how to sign up.

When you open Canva, it starts on the home page. In the upper right-hand corner, you’ll find an ‘Upload’ button. Press that.

Then click on ‘Choose files’ and find where you stored your photos and, if you’re using it, this week’s rapid scrapbooking template.

Click on ‘Open’ to start the upload. If your photo is PNG, JPG, or HEIC, it will go to the Upload section of Canva. Your template and any photos in PSD format will go to the Projects section of Canva. When the upload is complete, Canva will take you to the Projects section.

Make a copy of your rapid scrapbooking template

Your template should be the first item in your Recent list. We want to make a copy of the rapid scrapbooking template for you to work on so you can reuse the original on a future project.

Hover over the template and click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner. Then, select ‘Make a copy’ from the list. Unfortunately, you won’t see anything happen.

Scroll down to the Design Section. The first item in the list will be your copy of the rapid scrapbooking template. When I first made my copy, the image of my template did not show up, but the copy was successful.

Move your rapid scrapbooking template into the design space

Click on the copy of the rapid scrapbooking template to open it up in the design space.

Click on the file name in the upper right-hand corner and give your page a name.

Place your photo into the frame

Click on ‘Uploads’ in the left menu bar.

You’ll see the photo that you uploaded.

In the rapid scrapbooking template, you’ll see a rectangle with grass and a blue sky. In Canva, this is called a Frame. It’s a placeholder for photos. When templates are created, they are divided into photo sections, journaling sections, and decorations. The Frame placeholder designates photo sections. However, feel free to play around with photo placement. You can fill a Frame with color and use it for journaling if that fits the look you are going for on your page.

For now, let’s move our picture into the Frame.

Left-click on the photo and drag it onto the Frame. Only let go once you see the picture snap into the frame you want to put it in. If your subjects are not centered in the window correctly, double-click on the photo in the Frame and move the picture until it’s where you want it. You can click outside of the design to close the selection.

Document your ‘When, Where, and Who’

For me, documentation is the most important part of scrapbooking. I have forgotten so much of the story behind the pictures I have. I wish I had, at a minimum, made a note of the date, who was in the pictures, and where we were.

The date will go into the small journaling tag in the upper right-hand corner for the ‘When’.

Click on ‘Text’ in the left menu bar. Just to the right of the left menu bar will be a variety of choices for your text style. You can choose from a default text style or click on the ‘Add a text box’ button. That is the option I’m going to choose.

The font defaulted to Canva Sans, and the text box appeared at the bottom left of my page.

Press and hold the left mouse button on the crosshair to move the text up into the banner shape in the upper right-hand corner of the design.

I’ll change the font to Arimo by clicking on the down arrow next to Canva Sans and then scrolling through the font menu on the left until I find the font I want.

Click on the banner text and change it to the event date. Use the crosshair to position the date. I like the font size, so I’ll leave that as is.

Now, let’s use the larger journaling box to fill out the ‘Where’ and ‘Who’ information about the event.

Adjust your colors

You don’t have to use the colors that came with the rapid scrapbooking template. There are multiple ways to vary the colors.

You can change the whole design by clicking on ‘Design’ in the left menu and then clicking on ‘Styles’ in the menu to the right of the left menu.

Scroll down until you find the Color Palettes. You can click on a palette to change the colors of your layout. A click on the arrow pointing to the right will scroll through all the palettes. Clicking on the double arrows will allow you to scroll through the colors on a single palette.

Click around until you find something that looks good with your photo.

You can also change the color of an individual item by clicking on it and then clicking on the color box at the top.

You can click the color icon and pick a color from the Color Wheel.

Click on the ‘Eyedropper’ to select a color from a different part of your layout or photo. You can also scroll down to select from the assortment of colors Canva has provided.

Using a darker color for the tag has made it harder to see the date. The color of the text can be changed by clicking on it and then clicking on the ‘Text Color’ icon.

The menu on the left side allows you to select from the available colors. I’m going to choose the yellow from the larger journaling box.

Add additional embellishments if you have time

The most important tasks are done.

If you still have time, click on the ‘Elements’ icon in the left-hand menu. Find an element that will add some interest to the page. I want to find something BBQ-related for my layout since the restaurant is a BBQ joint. My grandson’s favorite meal there is chicken wings.

I’ll click the ‘See All’ link in the Graphics section.

The first one in the 3rd row looks perfect. Note that everything with a Crown next to it is for premium users. On the free version, we can select from everything that doesn’t have a Crown.

You move the graphics the same way you move the pictures. Left-click the graphic and hold the button down as you drag it onto the page. Move it until you find the perfect spot. You can also increase and decrease the element’s size by pulling on the corner dots.

Put your design in a folder

With the design complete. Let’s move our page into a folder.

Click on ‘File’ in the top menu bar. Then select ‘Save to Folder’ from the list.

I have a folder named Pages to hold my finished layouts. If you haven’t already created a folder, click on ‘Create new’ at the bottom left.

Enter the name of your new folder. Then press the ‘Add to new folder’ button.

A pop-up will tell you your design was added to your folder.

Download as a JPG, PNG, or PDF if you want to print

If you download a copy of your page, you can print it on your home printer.

Click ‘File’, then select ‘Download’ from the list.
Canva defaults to PNG. Pick the best option for how you want to use your layout.

Close the design space

Click on the ‘X’ in the tab for your design. It should be the only tab open at this time. This action will close the design space and take you back to the Home screen.

Move the photos in the upload area to a folder

If you still have a few minutes, click on ‘Projects’ in the left-hand menu. Let’s move the photo out of the Upload area so it’s empty when we start our project next week.

Under the Folders section, click on ‘Uploads’.

Hover over the photo and click on the three dots. Then select ‘Move to folder’ from the drop-down list.

Select the folder you want to move your photo into or create a new folder. I’m going to move mine into the Photos folder. Click on ‘Photos’, then click on the ‘Move to folder’ button.

The uploads folder should now be empty.

Move the rapid scrapbooking template in the Projects area to a folder

We also need to move the rapid scrapbooking template we uploaded into a folder.

Click on ‘Projects’ in the left-hand menu. Find the template in the Recent section.

Hover over the template, click the three dots, and then choose ‘Move to folder’ from the drop-down list.
Select a folder to move your rapid scrapbooking template into or create a new one. I will store mine in Templates.

Click on your desired folder, then press the ‘Move to folder’ button.

You’ll get a pop-up that tells you the design moved, and your template will now show a gray box next to the size of the template that holds the folder name.

Start picking out your photos for next week’s page

That’s it! We have our first page done. Our workspace is clean and organized. Now, we can start getting ready for next week’s layout.

You’ll need to find six pictures for the new rapid scrapbooking template.
Don’t stress if you can’t find an event you took six pictures of. We can delete any ‘Frames’ that you can’t fill.
Congratulations on completing page one! Watch for the newsletter. It will have next week’s free rapid scrapbooking template.