Digital scrapping newbie questions

[pjlla]

Okay, I've read the entire FAQ thread, but still have a few questions.

I asked for (and received) a laptop computer for Christmas. (My DH is very good to me!) My intention is to do some digital scrapping and some hybrid scrapping. But I have never done " real " digital scrapping (I have done a bit using some of those limited CD programs you can buy at Staples, etc.... fun, but limiting). So here are my questions at the moment....

MUST I have a manipulating program (such as Paint Shop or PhotoElements) in order to use the free dowloads that are out there??

If I download a free trial of one the manipulating programs, how long does the free trial last??

How would I go about organizing these "kits"?

Would I need to consider using an external hard drive to store the kits? Do they take up lots of hard drive space?

What other quick tips would you give to a Newbie to digital scrapping?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me.......................P

 

[Sandy22]

I'll try to answer a few questions.

I do believe you have to have a program in order to digiscrap. I use Photoshop Elements. The free trials last 30 days and are on the Adobe site.

I've been digiscrapping for a few years now and have about 60 gigs of freebies, kits and completed pages. Just this week, I finally purchased a 500 gig external hard drive.

I save the files by designer but I organize my kits using the Organizer feature in Photoshop Elements. I tag each item by designer, color, theme, element, ...). ACDSee is a popular organizer but I didn't like it.

My new favorite place for freebies is http://ikeagoddess.blogspot.com/ She hunts around the internet everyday and compiles a list of freebies. Saves me lots of time!

There are a lot of free tutorials on the more popular digital stores - that's how I learned how to use Photoshop. Once you understand the concept of layers it's pretty straightforward.

 

[Fran98765]

The scrapbooking kits available are nothing more then .png and .jpg images. You can digi scrap in any graphics program that uses layers. Picture It is old and usable, Digital Image Pro/Standard, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop/Photoshop Elements. I have heard of some using the free download from Google to scrap, Picasa. There's also the one ACDSee put out, Photo Editor, not the Photo Manager, which is very popular.

There have been people that scrapped in Word even.

You essentially could even use a program without layers, but you lose a ton of flexibility as you cannot manipulate the layers without them. Having layers allows you to move things around, and remove elements you don't want any longer without removing the other elements.

If it's in your budget, I would recommend PSE or PSP (or PS if you have that kind of $$). Most tutorials that you can find for learning to digi scrap are for those programs, which makes them easier to learn.

 

[boBQuincy]

One thing to consider is compatibility and longevity (ok, two things). Some programs use their own file format, which may or may not be around for a long time. If you ever want to go back and edit the original layered file it may become impossible if the program is discontinued.

For better or worse, Photoshop is the standard and the most likely to be around for a long time. Elements shares the Photoshop file format and is a good choice for the "under $100" range. These are not the easiest or maybe even the "best" editing programs but they *are* the standard.

 

[Fran98765]

For organization (since I didn't finish the questions in my previous reply)...

Well, it really depends on you. I have seen some that group by item type.. ie all their blue backgrounds then pink backgrounds, etc each in their own folders. I tried that when I started and I didn't like it. It is common practice to credit the designers when you post layouts on scrapping sites, and I found it terribly time consuming to find out the designer's name sometimes. Many designers name their files poorly.... you will end up with many "BlueBackground.jpg"s!

What I do now, is in my main directory I have a listing of all the major scrap sites that I download from, plus a Misc Blog directory, since many only post on their blogs and not at major sites. Under each major site, I then have folders for each designer and under that I have them separated by kit. I am on many CTs now (I help designers advertise their kits by using them), so I usually don't use things outside of a kit when I am creating. Othertimes I will go get some stitching or fasteners of some sort from another folder. So.. my files look like this:

3Scrapateers
Designer A
Kit A
Kit B
Designer B
Kit A
Digitals
Designer A
Designer B

and so forth.

When you first start out, you will probably download everything you can get your hands on for free. After you find a style of your own and learn your tastes better, you will be more discriminate on your downloading... plus your hard drives will fill up. They are all large files... Some kits are 100 mb, and major mega collaborative kits can be up to 450 mb.

I just got an external drive for Christmas, I was desperately out of space! I love it. I know many scrappers and designers with many EHDs.

BACKUP! After downloading, especially on anything you pay for, you will want to back up kits onto CD/DVDs. I keep a folder called "To DVD" and put things there that I downloaded and extracted into their proper spots. Once I get enough for a full DVD (around 4.5gb) I burn them to a DVD.

Also remember to keep a backup DVD of your work! I thought I lost some of my work and I about cried, but everything was fine afterall. I keep another folder for my large files of pages, to await the 4.5 gb for a DVD as well. I keep my credits on a notebook .txt file, so I send that with them. I keep my layouts in the original format, you never know when you want to go in and change something. When I first started, I didn't know this, and I flattened the page and thought I was done. I later found out I put the wrong year of birth on the page, so I had to redo the whole thing. Much easier to just change the date.

Also, I save a copy of the file in a small 600x600 .jpg. This image I use to share my work online at different scrapping sites or here, or with family on my blog. Once the big original files are on DVD, I delete them and pray nothing happens to that DVD! I keep the .jpgs of everything on my drive.

If you like the square look, I would suggest creating 12x12, even if you are thinking you will print 8x8. You can always shrink to print, but going back to 12x12 from 8x8 will look horrid! I create at 12x12 and shrunk things to 8x8 for my shutterfly book, but I didn't touch the originals, everything is still safe at 12x12!

Hope that gives you some more things to think about. Let us know when you create, we'd love to see your first page!