Quick Ways to Dress-Up Photos

Sometimes I like to spend hours on my pages, tweaking, altering, and experimenting with different effects. But sometimes, I just want to add a little text or something to dress-up a photo before I post it on social media. Other times, I want to create a layout where the photo is the absolute star. And most of all, I want to do it in a hurry.

In four easy steps, you can get a photo ready to upload or a layout ready to print. Especially at this time of year, quick and simple is the way to go.

Step One: Crop Your Photo

If you are just planning to post it online, the size doesn’t matter as much, but if you are planning a layout, crop the photo to the size you want the completed layout to be. Make sure to set the resolution to 300 ppi if you plan to print it. Crop out any extra distractions and background clutter.

Step Two: Choose an Accent

Pick an embellishment or piece of word art from your favorite designer. Or use the Text tool to create a quick title of your own. I used the fun, new ScrapSimple Word Art Templates by Laura Louie called Culinary Creations. Each piece of the word art is on its own layer, so it’s easy to recolor and add drop shadows and other styles.

Step Three: Add Journaling

This step is completely optional. A great picture doesn’t always need journaling. For my layout, I wanted to record just a sentence or two, but since the picture had a lot of texture and colors, I had a difficult time finding a good spot to place my text. So I added a thick white border around the whole picture and put my text on top of it. Two words of caution: first, be careful not to put text too close to the edge if you are printing your photo. About ¼-inch is a safe distance. And second, if you are posting online, don’t make the text too small. It’s a lot easier to read tiny print when it’s printed out than on a phone screen.

Step Four: Save

Save it! Then, just print or upload. That’s it!
I would love to see your dressed-up photos, so be sure to post them in the Scrap Girls Gallery.