2010 Digitized

I've been doing a bit more digital scrapbooking lately, with the goal in mind of creating at least one layout for each month of 2010.  I hope to eventually print these out and make an album!

July

September

 October

November

December

Hot off the Press...

My first printed digital scrapbook pages arrived in the mail today! I have been so curious to see how they would look on paper.  They are even better than I hoped for!!! I am SUPER excited and this just confirms that I will be doing most of my scrapbooking this way.

I ordered one-sided 12x12 prints from VioVio.com.  It was a little confusing to figure out how to order loose prints. You need to create a 12x12 photo book with at least 10 pages, then choose the loose page option at the end.  I think I chose "photo paper" as the paper type.  They are beautiful - not think like a standard photo, but more like a poster. The total with shipping was $14.47, so they were about $1.45 a page. Not too bad. I'm not sure if they ever have a sale? The shipping was $5.02 and it took almost two weeks to arrive.

When I created my pages, I didn't really think about the edges of them and whether things would get "cut off" when printed.  C's birthday pages are the only ones where this is evident, but it's not really that noticeable. In the future, I will need to make sure I keep that outer margin free of necessary elements.

Digital page:

Printed page:

They fit perfectly into my 12x12 drop-in album and I can't wait to order some more! :)  It's a good day.

Recent Scrapbook Layouts

Here are some of my recent digital scrapbooking layouts I've created. I am a serial scrap-lifter, so most of these layouts are copied from magazines and online.  If I find an element I like (the metal snowflakes and bingo card, for example) it's been a fun challenge to find a way to make them myself in Photoshop Elements, rather than buy them.

Highest of all

Here's a two page spread I made, copied from a layout in Memory Makers magazine, April 2006.

More on the Digital Revolution

So I've gotten a lot of comments on "my new obsession."  (Although most were via email and not blogger comments... what's up with that?)

Here's a few more details. 

I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 which I received for Christmas last year (thank you, Marcia!). It is about $80, I believe. There are other programs out there that you can use, which range from free (the GIMP) to moderate (Creative Memories) to professional/top-of-the-line/expensive (Photoshop CS).

Why Photoshop Elements (PSE)?

Doug has tried and tried to get me to like the GIMP, and I did attempt to use it last year, but it just didn't work for me.  While Photoshop is not exactly intuitive, the GIMP was worse.  Plus, almost all the free tutorials online are for Photoshop users.  While I haven't tried Creative Memories' software, my impression was that it is more for ready-made/drag-n-drop type of scrapping, and I wanted to do more "from scratch."   And Photoshop CS is just way too expensive for what I am doing.

There are some things that I wish Photoshop Elements could do, which it doesn't, but for the most part it has been great.

Where to start?
I started by doing a free online tutorial.  You can Google "beginner digital scrapbooking tutorials" or search on YouTube for tutorials as well.  You can download templates (pre-made pages) and just add your photos to them, if you like.

Another thing I did was to take some of my existing traditional pages and then see if I could reproduce them digitally. For each new "thing" I needed to do, I searched online for a tutorial or free element. It really helped me learn a lot!


What's so great about digital elements:
One great thing about digital scrapping, is that the papers/embellishments/borders are all reusable. For example, if you buy a digital paper pack, you can reuse it as much as you want.  It is very simple to change the colors, as well, so that instead of searching for the perfect shade of blue, you can create it yourself!

While you can buy digital scrapbooking elements (just like traditional scrapbooking), you can also find a lot of stuff for free.

Here are a few sites I've found useful so far:
* Pixels & Ice Cream
* Free Digital Scrapbooking.com
* The Digital Scrapbooking Free Site

Making my own elements:
What has really attracted me to digital scrapbooking, is the ability for me to make my own elements. If I see a layout I like somewhere (magazine/online) or want a certain embellishment, I can use PSE to make it myself! I've made photo anchors, frames, flowers, papers - whatever you can think of.  Here are some examples:

 

What about printing your pages?

Yeah, that's the part I haven't got to yet. :)  I need to research my options a bit.  But, I know that it is possible to get 12x12 prints of your pages, so that you can add them to your own albums. Or, you can have a photobook printed with your digital pages as well.  

A lot of folks do "hybrid" scrapbooking, as well.  Hybrid scrapbooking is basically using Photoshop to edit/enhance your photos, printing them out and using them on your traditional paper page.

Hope this answers some questions!

A New Obsession

I've begun to play around with the new Adobe Photoshop Elements software that I got for Christmas.  Have you heard about digital scrapbooking?  Well, I am hooked!


It is SO much fun! I've started out by taking some pages that I've already scrapped and recreating them digitally.  It's been a great learning experience.  There are so many amazing free tutorials out there and a ton of free papers and elements as well!  I've really enjoyed learning how to make my own embellishments and play around with color and textures... I could go on and on.

Here's a little sample of some of my first pages:

My Own Font

When I scrapbook, I usually use Word to type out my journaling and print it out. As I don't trust myself to write neat enough, I often like to use cool handwriting fonts, so it looks like I actually wrote it. But they say, you should write some things yourself, so your own personal handwriting is preserved as well as the photos.

Here's a great compromise I found: create your OWN handwritten font for free! Go to www.yourfonts.com and find out how to do it, too. But don't wait too long, as they will start charging for it in the near future.

Want to see some samples?

Crop - Paper - Scissors

This past weekend was a special treat for me. I got to spend it with four of my best friends, doing one of my favorite things - scrapbooking!
Kristi, Dionne, Jen and I packed my mini-van to the max and drove down to spend the weekend at Lisa's house. We had the house to ourselves, as Mike and the boys spent the weekend with grandparents.

It was SO much fun! We scrapped 68 pages (is that right, ladies?) during our time, and had a blast doing so. Lots of girl-talk, inside jokes and laughter occurred. One of Lisa's friends stopped by Saturday night to join in. When we asked her if she thought we were all crazy, she paused and said, "no, but you do seem to be very comfortable with each other." :-)

I thank God for these good friends with whom I can just be myself around. We love each other unconditionally. That's a good weekend! Thank you again, Doug and all the men for taking good care of all the kiddos while we were gone. It meant SO much.
Hard at work:

Kristi kept us warm:

Precious Friends: