Friday, June 16, 2006

Answering YOUR Questions About Digi Scrapping

WOW! I am so glad to see there is such an interest!!

Hip - I laughed so loud at how proud your ButterBean was to "unstick" all those pages! LOL!! I never even thought of that as just one more benefit to digital scrapbooking!

Paper scrapbooking used to overwhelm me too. I am not sure why digiscrapping relaxes me! Maybe because it is I don't have to try so hard. Especially with all the free kits out there you don't have to worry about getting colors to look good together. Everything that comes together goes together! And there are a LOT of sketches out there (that show you how to place pictures). That is something I am just not good at.

I love being able to resize a picture (something you cannot do without paying for it when you are doing paper scrapping). If you look at my online scrapbook you can see that I rarely use a picture in the size that it normally prints (4x6).

I also like how little time it takes to do a layout now. I can can get several digital layouts done in the time it used to take me to do one.

As I said before, my layouts look 100 times better digital than they ever did on paper. Of course it did take a little while to get there. My first attempts looked pretty much like my paper ones did - AWFUL! But I so wanted to scrap so I would have a memory to pass on with the picture. I look at my moms and grandmother's pictures and even they don't remember who or where about 90% of the pictures.

Another thing I like about digiscrapping is that when I get an idea, I can make a template on the computer and then just plop in the photos. It takes a whole lot less time to crop an image on the computer than to crop one in real life. AND it comes out PERFECT everytime on the computer! LOL! I could never crop perfectly for the life of me! Even with the cutter! AND I can cut into several different shapes WITHOUT having to purchase a hundred different shape cutters!

As for the FEEL, if you were to rub your hands over it, it would feel just like paper. BUT as for the LOOK, there are times I catch myself rubbing my fingers over the ribbon in a layout because it looks 3-D!!
This is an example of a layout that I often do that to:

Click on picture for larger image.

That was made with a freebie kit I got from DSP. It may not look 3-D on the computer, but printed out, those ribbons look like they have texture and feel to them!!

I am not sure it is creating little web pages or little computer pages. It is all one big image made up of little images (pictures that I have taken, papers that someone has made, alphas that someone has made, etc.). All the pages really do look like layouts you would see in a magazine.

One of the great things about digital scrapbooking is you can do a digital layout (something you cannot do with paper). The image above is considered a paper layout. The image below is considered a digital layout:

Click on picture for a larger image.

I do print out my pages. I scrap in 12x12in but because I print my own, I print them out at 8x8. You can also buy a printer that prints 12x12 or send them off to Kinko's or Costco. I did not think I would like the 8x8in size, but I DO!! It is so cute! And it doesn't distract from the page at all. I buy 8x8in albums from JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby when they are having their 50% off sales. I have printed out all of my layouts, and my girls frequently look through them. The smaller 8x8in also is great for smaller hands!

I have even printed out the layouts in 4x4in (that is the great thing about digital scrapbooking, is you can shrink your layout down) and given them to the girls to play with as they wish. You can laminate them and punch a hole in them and put them on a lanyard for them to wear around their neck!

One other great thing about doing your layouts digitally is that you can put them all into a slideshow, add some music and burn it onto a CD or DVD! Makes a GREAT gift!

Well, I hope I answered all your questions. I will be HAPPY to answer any more. As you can tell, this is one of my favorite subjects!

Be sure to check out my online gallery to see samples of what can be done. And while there, take a look around at what others are doing. You will be amazed at what people are doing!! My layouts pale in comparission to most!

Oh yeah, one more thing. When you sign up for membership (FREE) at DSP, you get a free kit. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter. Their newsletter has freebies that you can ONLY GET through the newsletter.

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