Goodbye Traditional Scrapbooking - Hello Digital

Goodbye Traditional Scrapbooking; Hello Digital! by Nancy Kraska

I have never understood the need to scrapbook. I have friends that make page after page of photos, but never saw the allure of cutting and pasting pictures on top of one another. At least that is how I saw it.

Although I do like doing things with my hands and letting the creative juices flow, the traditional method of scrapbooking never appealed to me. Digital Scrapbooking, however, does appeal to me.

About three years ago, I started going through photo albums looking at the pictures of my children as they grew and they were in a hodgepodge of order. Some were marked others were not, as I never seemed to have the time to put any order to the albums. There were pictures in shoeboxes that just sat. Pictures of the rest of my family when they were young, including pictures of my parents when they were children. Pictures of grandparents I barely remember. Some were fading, some were bent, and some even got stuck together because of dampness.

I thought I should preserve them for my children, and grandchildren. So I set about organizing them on my computer by scanning each one in, using a photo editor to fix any of the more serious problems, and then saving them one by one to discs for each of my four children.

Recently on one of the forums I belong to the members started talking about Digital Scrapbooking and how much fun and inexpensive it was to do. So I started asking questions, reading informational materials, and found a use for all those pictures that are stored on my computer and disc.

Digital Scrapbooking doesn’t have to cost anything to do. If you already have a photo editor program on your computer such as Photoshop, then you can do Digital Scrapbooking. I personally use Microsoft Picture Plus, but any photo editor program should work.

The papers and embellishments can also be downloaded to your desktop for free. Just type in free scrapbooking materials, or some variation, and you will see listed sites that offer free supplies.

As far as layouts there is no rule, except to have fun. You can do anything you want design it anyway you want, put anything on the page. Once you get the page, as you want it, then print it out. You can use the page as a part of an album, use it in a picture frame, printed on the right paper it can be used for decoupage, wrapping paper, I can think of a thousand uses other than putting them into an album. I have been putting mine onto disc again for the family.

You can truly make these your own. Ever seen a scrapbooking paper and said I wish this came in rust, well with digital scrapbooking it can! Make your digital products suit your needs. Unlike traditional scrapping with digital scrapbooking if you should make a mistake simply press undo and start over again. Didn’t cut that line as straight as you’d like, glued that element in the wrong spot? With digital none of these things apply. As you have as many chances as you need to get it just the way you want it.

The versatility of digital is so different than the traditional method. The elements of a page can be resized, recolored, combined, cut, whatever you want to do. Don’t feel you will be giving up anything by giving Digital Scrapbooking a try because digital scrapbook kits and elements are just as beautiful as some that you’d find in traditional scrapbooking shops.

Nancy is a closet crafter; one who doesn't craft on a regular basis, but likes to try new things. Her crafting website is at: http://www.creativecrafting4-1-1.com