Putting the Quick back in Quick Clicks

I've heard it over and over that quick clicks (or layered templates) just aren't quick.  For some people, it's because they just can't decide on a paper combination. For others it's more about making the software work better for them.  Here's the good news: there is a shortcut to make it faster! 


The method I'm going to share with you works best on layered templates with shadows on separate layers.  Some templates don't have the shadows on separate layers so you might get imperfect results with this method, but I'll give you a tip on those another time.


The first step to making layered templates, like the one below, work for you is to open the .psd file in Photoshop Elements.

 You can see from this screenshot of my layers palette that this quick click has 20 layers.  Almost half of them are shadows!

Now, here is the first big trick to working quickly with quick clicks: turn on auto-select.  To do this, select the move tool (press V) and make sure the first box is checked on. This will allow you to click on the layout itself to select a layer.

 Now, working from the back forwards, select the background layer and drag your chosen background paper onto the layout.

 

Now select one of the blocks and drag another paper onto the layout.

Now your layout should look something like this:

Here is the magic step.  On your keyboard, press Ctrl+G.  This will 'clip' the paper into the shape below and you will see that magically most of the paper has disappeared.  It's not really gone, but only the part over the layer below is now showing!  Cool, isn't it? 

On your layers palette, you'll see this:

What this shows is that the BG layer is clipped to the Block layer below it.  The whole of the BG layer is there, but most is hidden. You could even make that layer bigger or smaller to show more or less of a pattern if you liked, or shift it to show a different part. Just use the move tool (V) to do that.


Now, continue adding papers and photos and clipping them to the template below using the move tool and Ctrl+G.  In just a few minutes, you should have a layout ready to embellish!  Here is my finished layout with this quick click.

One on Blocks Quick Click by Erica Belton and Feeling Free 2 page kit by Erica Belton