Scrapbooking Timesavers

If you ask scrappers what their biggest dilemma in scrapbooking is, inevitably they will say time. With all the distractions of our daily lives, scrappers need little tips and tricks to help get things accomplished quicker. Here are a few timesaving tricks that never fail.

Pre-plan your pages: Spending a little time planning out your pages can be a real timesaver in the end. Choose your photos, then match them with cardstock and patterned papers. Place these items along with coordinating embellishments into large zip bags to keep the pages separate. Once you have planned out five to ten of these pages, it's time to get to work. You will be amazed at how quickly these pages come together when all the guess work is taken away.

Use a sketch: A layout sketch is a rough drawing that shows how to place patterned paper on the page as well as the photos and embellishments. The bonus to using a sketch is that the scrapper knows exactly where everything is going on the layout beforehand, thus cutting down on the time spent pondering over placement.

Time yourself: I never thought of doing this until I read about it as a challenge on a message board. Amazingly it really works. Choose a time frame and then set the timer; it's like magic, and the page gets completed in the time allotted.

Use baby wipes: I use baby wipes for everything from cleaning my paint brushes to cleaning my clear acrylic stamps. They are quick and handy. Instead of jumping up and running to the sink I'll just wipe the ink or paint off with a baby wipe.

Scrap alone or at night: This one makes total sense. The less noise and the fewer distractions, the more work you'll get finished.

With five minutes of pre-planning, the following layouts were all assembled in less than 20 minutes from start to finish.