Interested in Digital Scrapbooking

[CajunQT102]

Hi Everyone,

I am usually a lurker around here reading tips and checking out everyones amazing work. I love to scrapbook and really enjoy creating traditional style scrapbooks. However, recently a coworker of mine showed me a vacation album that she created digitally using shutterfly. It was absolutely beautiful. I think I might be interested in trying to create a digital scrapbook for my most recent trip. The only problem is that I don't have a clue as to where to start. Is there any specific software that you lady's like to use. I have seen some amazing examples with beautiful electronic embellishments. Where do I get a program like this and how do I get the embellishments and fonts for it? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aj2hall]

I'm just getting started and don't really know what I'm doing yet. Hopefully some of the more experienced members will chime in. I've been paper scrapbooking for about 12 years and love shutterfly's photobooks but wanted to get a little more creative with them. I just bought adobe photoshop cs5 (fortunately dh is a grad student so we bought the teacher/ student version at a significant discount). I would recommend the guide book by Scott Kelby and an on-line class by Jessica Sprague. both have been super helpful to me. good luck!

 

[NJDiva]

I actually do a lot of digital books now, not all but ones I do for others and I will tell you the things you can do digitally are amazing. the first thing you need to figure out is who you want to use to create your book. Snapfish, shutterfly and other sites like that are a good place to start. I actually have the Creative Memories Storybook program which starts you out with basic colors, paper and embellishments. you can purchase more supplies depending on what you wish to do. but for the most part, when you use online services, you will walk through it with ease. you sort your pictures, create a layout and decorate, just as you would a traditional book. the best thing about digital is that you can use multiple paper and embellishments without running out. you can change your pictures to look like they are frosted or fading the edges. trust me, it can be a little overwhelming. when you do your first book, start out simple and as you go, you'll start to add your embellishments and text and you will love your finished product. and remember, you can always change it before you print it. in a traditional book, once you lay it down that's it...you try and change it, you either ruin the picture or the layout itself.

 

[CajunQT102]

Aj2hall - I didn't even think about Photoshop for my pages. Im just not sure I can afford the CS version. I just checked the price online and all I can say is ouch that's an expensive little program. I did notice that there was a $100 Photoshop but I'm guessing it must be very different. . I guess I'll need to do some checking.

NJDiva - Thanks for the words of encouragement. It does seem very overwhelming right now especially not knowing where to begin. I am going to do some research into the program you use as well. I want to explore all my options. I really like the thought of using lots of embellishments and not running out.

Any other suggestions would be great appreciated. I want to explore all my options before I get started. Thanks so much ladies!

 

[NJDiva]

Aj2hall - I didn't even think about Photoshop for my pages. Im just not sure I can afford the CS version. I just checked the price online and all I can say is ouch that's an expensive little program. I did notice that there was a $100 Photoshop but I'm guessing it must be very different. . I guess I'll need to do some checking.

NJDiva - Thanks for the words of encouragement. It does seem very overwhelming right now especially not knowing where to begin. I am going to do some research into the program you use as well. I want to explore all my options. I really like the thought of using lots of embellishments and not running out.

Any other suggestions would be great appreciated. I want to explore all my options before I get started. Thanks so much ladies!

let me know what you find out, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions...

 

[CajunQT102]

let me know what you find out, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions...

Thanks so much. I'll keep you posted.

 

[sakura-panda]

Photoshop Elements is a pretty popular program for digital scrapbooking and can be bought for under $100 (and cheaper if you have a Costco membership.) There are a ton of tutorials online for how to digi-scrap using it! It is basically a streamlined version of Photoshop and is powerful enough for most people that do not do commercial design work.

GIMP is a free program that has a steeper learning curve, but works just as well. I don't know much about it, although I have used it once or twice.

Additionally, there are lots of stores online that sell digital scrapbooking "kits" -- packages with pp, embellishments and alphabets for digi-scrapping.

With minimal searching, you can find a lots of freebie kits and elements, as well as "quick pages" that are pre-made pages with space for your photos. It's a super quick way to make up pages!

(I dabble in digi-scrapping a little bit, and I'm trying not to overwhelm you with too many details and too much enthusiasm.)

 

[ohMom]

i am about to take the digitial scrapbook plunge so i just wanted to give my .02....I'm going to give it a try through Close to My Heart's digital program. If you are willing to host a gathering (online or at-home) you may be able to qualify for a discount for a year's membership in their program...which translates to cheaper pages. PM me if you want more details, I'm not a consultant

 

[ElizabethG]

When you use Shutterfly (or something similar) you have two options. You can use their templates and backgrounds or you can completely create your own pages from scratch. The later option has the steeper learning curve.

I use photoshop elements. It is a great program. You can get images from many different sources. There is a lot of free stuff online. There are some great websites for fonts. For example, you can get Waltograph, the Walt Disney script free from MickeyAvenue.

Here is a great example of digital scrapbooking (with some tips) on the blog of touringplans.com:
http://blog.touringplans.com/2010/1...he-vacation-through-photography-scrapbooking/