Hi! Im Katie. Ive been digi-scrapping since about 2007. I took 2 years off while in nursing school but now I'm back at it full force!
There are other programs that people use to scrapbook besides Photoshop. I use Photoshop Elements (which is different from CS4, CS5...) I know some people use a program called Creating Memories and ive heard of a free program called Gimp. I worked with a woman before who used ACeeDeeCee (spelling?). I really only have knowledge with PSE. I started with version 6, upgraded to 8 after nursing school graduation. I recently bought 10 but honestly havnt even installed it yet... From what i can tell from the adobe website there arnt too many changes from one version to the next.
I someone is interested in digi scrapping and has never done so before, i usually start them at scrapgirls.com They have a free e-book about how to get started in digi-scrapping.
When i started i read a book called "the missing manual" it helps a lot but was more geard towards photo editing than scrapbooking.
I recently found a website/forum/store called mousescrappers.com this WHOLE forum is all things disney and scrap booking. They offer links to digi stores, tutorials, templates, and people post their pages for others to view and "scraplift".
If you want to get into scrapping there are THOUSANDS of websites/blogs where people create beautiful kits and templates that you can use not just for disney but anything! And there are tons of freebies around too!
to search freebies try: digiscrapdepot.com
I saw a post where someone had mentioned they had downloaded brushes and scripts/actions. These can be amazing add ons to what PSE can do however, it can be a little challenging trying to install and use these tools especially if you're new to PSE and dont really know your way around the included tools yet.
Hope this helps some of you with questions!!
Katie Ann