You're method is totally foreign to me!!
My method: (on PC)
1. Open background paper. (I love your idea of renaming the bkgd layer right away!)
2. I use the shortcut ctrl+shift+P to place embedded for each element. I do it 1 ellie at a time. So I ctrl+shift+P, grab a flower, hit enter, and then drag it where I want it. The first ellie I shadow, then I copy layer style using ctrl+shift+c.
3. I continue to place ellies the same way, but for every additional ellie aside from paints, I ctrl+shift+V to copy layer style so they all get a basic shadow.
4. After I get everything placed, I go in and select specific ellies and adjust shadows to create more depth.
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