Story Time Sale & Photoshop New Document Preset Tutorial

My friend Nikki Beaudreau is retiring from designing at the end of the month. (Sad!) Our collaboration kit, Story Time, will still be available in my store after she has closed up shop. But since Nikki is having a retirement sale, you can pick it up through the end of June at 50% off! So if you don’t have this bright and fun kit in your stash, now is a great time to pick it up! You can find Story Time HERE in my shop at After Five Designs!



I have a short Photoshop tutorial/tip here for you today.

Because I have so little computer time (like most of us), I employ an arsenal of time saving techniques when I'm scrapping and designing. I'm a big fan of creating presets in Photoshop to save time. You can make a preset for almost anything.

I want to show you a quick and easy time saving technique today. I use it almost anytime I open up a new Photoshop document. You can create your own New Document presets and use them instead of resetting the properties each time a new document is created.

I will demonstrate how to create and save a 12x12 scrap page layout preset that you can refer to each time you start a layout. To begin, click on the file menu and select new. In the New File Dialogue Box, set your layout dimensions as you would normally.

For a 12x12 page:
Width and Height: 12 inches
Resolution: 300 pixels/inch
Color Mode: RGB Color, 8 bit,
Background Contents: transparent (or white if you prefer to start out with a solid background)

After you have set your document dimensions, click the Save Preset... button.



In the New Document Preset dialogue box, type a name for your preset. I named mine, Scrapbook Page – 12x12. After you have typed a name for your preset, click OK.



After you have named and saved your new preset, click the drop down arrow next to Presets.



You will see your newly created preset on the list in the drop down menu. Click your new preset name and then click Ok.



You now have a new file preset you can use each time you create a 12x12 scrapbook page. Each time you start a new page, simply open a new file, choose your preset and start scrapping!  Your document dimensions will be just as you like them in just one simple click.

Since I often print photos in 4x6, 3x4 and 5x7, I have also set preset dimensions in those sizes. I have a preset saved for 8.5x11 documents as well. You can create as many New Document Presets as you like in any sizes you wish.

I hope this tutorial is easy for you to follow, and I hope that you will follow it and create your own New File Presets!

I'll be back very soon with a sneak peek of my new kit coming next week!!  Happy scrapping!