Tutorial: Basic Explanation of Layers...

This is a tutorial I wrote for The Scrap Addicts...and I thought I would post it here in case anyone needs a simple explanation! :)

A lot of people seem to get worried or put off by the term ‘Layers’ in digital scrapbooking. But it really isn’t that scary and once you have played around for a few minutes it is easily understood.

I find the easiest way to understand Layers is to relate them to traditional paper scrapbooking. For a paper layout you may have: a cardstock ‘layer’, a patterned paper ‘layer’, a photo ‘layer’, and flower ‘layers’. Each of these elements of the layout are separate and can be thought of as being layers of the layout.

Digital scrapbooking is exactly the same. You have a piece of ‘cardstock ‘ on one layer, a piece of ‘patterned paper’ on another layer, a photo on another layer and flowers all on separate layers. Then if you want to move your photo, you need to click on the photo’s layer to let the program know that is what you want to move. If you have two elements ie flowers, on the same layer, you can only move them together. If they are on separate layers then you can move then individually.

And that is the whole idea of layers. You want all of your elements to be separate so that they can be moved and changed individually.

Then at the end of paper scrapbooking, you glue all of your elements down - which essentially makes them act as one layer. In digital scrapbooking this is called flattening the layout. The program merges all of the layers together so that they act as one. This makes the file much smaller and allows it to be saved as a jpeg for printing or uploading to online galleries.