Several days ago while scrapbooking at a friend’s kitchen table, she commented on how nice it would be to work on two pages at once instead of having to wait for the file to save while going back and forth between two related pages. Thanks to a frappe consumed earlier in the day, it occurred to me very late last night that there was a way to do this (I am typically asleep within seconds after going to bed).

1. Click on the vertical bar that separates your work area from the Pages/Pictures/Content column on the right and move it as far to the right as it will go. Move the bottom horizontal bar to the right.

2. Select “View” and then “All.”

3. Create your facing page on a 12 x 12 square. When you are done, gather up the elements that make up the second page (hold down the shift key and click on each element) and group them together (“Arrange” tab and “Group”).

4. Right click on the group, select Cut, move to the next page and click Paste. Go back to the Two-Page View and make sure it’s all how you want it. You’ll have to “Ungroup” it if you want to make any changes. You may find that everything, except for the background, needs to be moved to the right a bit to allow for the binding. To do this, lock the background, then use Control-A (select all) and nudge everything into place using the arrows on your keyboard.

Before you click on “Order,” be sure your album is completely ready!

1. Flatten photos that have the warning symbol on them. For some reason, it increases the quality of the photo.

2. Copy and paste all of your journaling into Word and reread it while checking for errors. Somehow seeing it in a different context may help to catch mistakes.

3. Double check the details on each page and also confirm the page order.

For the Cover…

1. Click on “View” and “Front Cover” to see exactly what will be on the cover. Create your cover or rearrange what’s already there if necessary.

2. Click on “Spine” and add a title that you will be able to see while the book is standing on a shelf. I typically use a very plain, clear font. Be sure you flip the title so that it will be right-side-up when the book is laying face up (Arrange, Rotate 90 degrees clockwise). Make the text box for the title the same size as the revealed spine section. Zoom in for accuracy.

3. Insert a signature on the back cover perhaps something like the example below.

Click on the “File” tab, “Order” and continue to follow the directions. CM recommends that you check the pages once they have been uploaded to the Digital Center. It’s worth the time and money to check it all again!

Do not do this when you are tired! If you’re a morning person like me, then 10:00 pm is not the time to finalize an album.

Q: What do masking tape, film strips, metal framed tags and measuring tape have in common?

A: They are all in my miscellaneous file.

(Remember to save as png files.)

Backgrounds like this are very easy to create in CM but if you’d rather use mine, go ahead!

I scanned my son’s uniforms to get this “paper” and have since used it a lot. If you have rough and tumble boys, you will surely find a use for these backgrounds! Save them as jpeg files and then as paper when you import into CM.

Here are two little fancy two-piece text boxes. The colored part can be filled with paper, color, texture – whatever you want. Then place the outline over it. You can add dimension to it, change the color or again – whatever you want. When you’re done, I suggest flattening them together before adding a shadow.

Be sure to save these as png files when you download them.

Many scrapbooking papers in the stores have a slightly darker area around the edge. We can do this with digital scrapbooking…

1. Copy the paper.

2. Line up the original and the copy (Arrange tab, Align vertically and horizontally).

3. Select the original and darken it just a little bit (Color tab, Brightness & Light) or click on Click & Fill, Color, Colors on this Page, select the darkest one, OK.

4. Select the copy and blur the outside edge (right click, edit image, using an image filter, edge, soften edge, pick a number and adjust if necessary).

5. Select both elements (on the element list on the left side of the screen the darker original should be below the softened copy), arrange, flatten and then add shadows if desired.

By the way, this works with any element that could use a bit of a darker, more defined border. If you want to use this method with text, you will have to flatten it first so it becomes an element. Filter options work on elements only.

These aren’t exactly hand crocheted doilies, but they are cute and will add interest to a page.

These are great journaling boxes or just something to tuck in somewhere to add interest. Right click and save as png files in your User Content folder.