I start by opening lightroom classic on my desktop & the mobile app on my phone. My photos sync to my EHD into a folder (organized by year- so right now new photos go into a 2023 folder.) I also have google photos running on my phone as a back up.
I use google photos to search my photos for whatever I'm scrapping (theme, colors, dates, etc.) I then go to that folder on my EHD to look for the photos I want to grab. I open Photoshop CC and FontBase (my font manager.) I drag/drop photos into CC. I then go to my CT work, To Be Used or Template folder- depending on what I'm working on. Sometimes I start with a kit/template for CT work other times I start with photos.
I always fill the photo spots of templates first, sometimes changing templates if my photos aren't working or leaving open photo places for journal cards. Then I fill in the papers next, then florals, then wordarts & journal cards. I always add date & journaling last. I tend to shadow as I go, but after I'm done adding everything, I have actions to separate shadow layers & warp the ones I think need it. After I'm happy with shadows, then I add a layer at the very top. I fill it with black and then with a soft round brush, add white where I want the highlight. I adjust that layer to 10-20% opacity. Next I add a photo filter on top of everything- I usually go with the 1st warming filter between 15-25% or Sepia 15-25%. Lastly, I have actions to flatten, sharpen, credit & save. I always save a full size first, then have actions for various web sizes (600,700,800 & 900 pixels.) I even have an action that adds my CT banner to the bottom of a few of my CT's (just jaimee, foreverjoy and the digital press.) I save the 3600 layout in a fullsize folder, and then have a folder for the weekly releases, as well as a folder for posted web layouts. My folders on my EHD go like this- Scrapbook Layouts> Year> Month> Fullsize/ Posted/ Weekly.
When Friday releases are out, I post layouts around digiland & copy/paste from weekly folders to the posted folder. I copy/paste the credits from the metadata that I add when I flatten/save into the galleries when I'm posting! Voila. Done for that week!
