My Digital Scrapbooking Addiction: Scrap faster!

This time of year, I think we all are just slammed with things to do and our scrap time is reduced to 10 minutes here or 15 minutes there. How can you get a good bang for your buck? Pre-made clusters, Cluster frames, Border clusters, and Quick Pages (QP). Some of my most favorite pages of mine were made with pre-made goodies that made for quick scrapping to catch me up and give me my "fix". Here are some definitions of these goodies you'll find in various stores:

1. Pre-Made clusters- these are are clusters of embellishments put together to make a beautiful larger embellishment. Sometimes clustering can be frustrating for people, with the several layers and resizing that it requires. Pre-made clusters are flattened into a single layer, making it easy to put together a fabulous page! My favorite thing to do is to cluster the clusters and add one or two extra embellishments to make it my own. Here are some examples of pre-made clusters:

2. Cluster Frames - these are similar to the pre-made clusters, only they have frames as part of the cluster. Giving a little more structure to the cluster. Sometimes you'll find single and double frames and on occasion you'll even come across three or more! More examples can be found below:

3. Border Clusters - These are great for adding a final touch to your page, or for framing your pages. I've used two of the same and flipped them to border my pages on both sides. Sometimes doing them on the top and the bottom can make for a fun page. Border clusters can be straight or wavy and some can even include frames! See samples below:

4. Quick Pages (QP) - Quick pages are great for building out an album or set of pages quickly if you need to get a book printed in time for a special occasion! These are pre-made pages that have opening for photos. They include backgrounds, clusters, embellishments, and often a place for journaling. I love quick pages for helping to start my creative juices. I often use them as a base for my pages, then add more embellishments, titles, etc. They are very easy to use, just add them into MMS, just as you would an embellishment, add photo boxes, resize them (or reshape if you need to) drop in your pictures and bring the QP back to the front.