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Digital Scrapbooking - What's Required?

There is one thing about digital scrapbooking that turns some people away - you need a program of some kind to do it. For paper scrapping, anyone can go to a craft store or srapbook store, buy a scrapbook, some supplies, special tape or glue, writing and marking materials, and little packs of embellishments to finish off the design.

But to do digital scrapbooking, you need a reasonably robust graphics program, and you need to know how to use it. The more popular programs of choice for this are Photoshop, and Paint Shop Pro, but there are others. But once you buy a program, it may be difficult to learn how to use it. Unfortunately, sometimes people give up at this point.

If you are one of these then I have good news. There are now programs out there that are made especially for people to make scrapbooks. They don't have all the fancy bells and whistles of the power graphics program, but you don't need them. These special programs are light weight, giving you the exact tools you need and providing (usually) a workspace that is intuitive and easy to begin using.

There are several of these on the market, and it's not the purpose here to review them. I will mention one that I have glanced at enough to feel comfortable recommending it. It's a reasonable price at around $29, and they offer you a try before you buy download. If you are wanting to start with digital scrapping and just don't know how, I would suggest you might start here. You can find this program at http://www.photomix.com/, it's called PhotoMix. I am not affiliated with this program in any way. I'm just giving you a place to start.

If enough people want to learn this, and need help, I will be most happy to load it up and make myself available for tutoring.

Also, while these scrapbook programs are not specifically feared to genealogy scrapping, don't worry about that. You can add other digital resources that you create or purchase elsewhere on the net, such as at my site (Had to get a plug in there somewhere didn't I?)

If anyone wants to begin learning digital scrapbooking, I will offer one of my kits free to you in exchange for the promise of three images you create with it that I can use on my site as examples. Just contact me privately. My website link, GenScraps, is in the links section on this page.

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Permalink Reply by Evelyn Steinberg on July 14, 2009 at 5:59am

Can you or someone on this list recommend a good Mac digital scrapbooking program?

Permalink Reply by Marcia Loudon on July 14, 2009 at 7:08am

I use Photoshop CS3 but there is a long learning curve and the program is very expensive. Try Adobe Photoshop Elements and use their 30 day free trial. This program is under $100. It is much like the full Photoshop but much much cheaper. Also there are many tutorials to help you get started. I can send you many links. send me a private e-mail
Gmama jloudon(at)nc(dot)rr(dot)com

Permalink Reply by Evelyn Steinberg on July 14, 2009 at 10:53am

Marcia, does Photoshop Elements allow you to do all the embellishments you would do with paper, etc. or is it just for photos mainly?

Permalink Reply by Katrina Haney on July 14, 2009 at 6:39pm

Evelyn, you can have anything you want like that, embellishments, word art, all kinds of things. And being digital, you can have things you wouldn't have in paper because of the bulk :)

Permalink Reply by Evelyn Steinberg on July 15, 2009 at 6:53am

Thanks Katrina - I will be counting on the group's experience to help me as needed. I am really looking forward to this new venture.

Permalink Reply by N A Lemons on July 16, 2009 at 5:13pm

I purchased iScrapbook software through Amazon.com but haven't used it yet. It looks easy to use and is for Mac computers. I also use Photoshop Elements for working with photos and creating some pages. Plan to try iScrapbook when I get a chance. It looks a bit easier to use.

Permalink Reply by Judith Richards Shubert on July 14, 2009 at 7:39am

I have made a few digital scrapbook pages using PhotoShop since I couldn't go out and purchase another program right now. I had to spend a few days relearning some of the program's steps and commands, but as soon as I remembered everything has its own layer, things went well. But I have a long way to go. I hope to learn a lot from this group.

Permalink Reply by Kerri Anne (Rugg) Steward on July 15, 2009 at 6:51am

I want to learn more about digital scrapbooking. I have completed 4 or 5 digital scrapbooks using three different websites. I don't have any scrapbooking software. When I was done with the book I just ordered it.

My question, if you are not using one of these services where you use the website's free software and they print it for you where are you having them printed and bound into a book? Or are you printing them at home? It seems like that would get very expensive.

Also, I have three handmade paper scrapbooks that I would like to have duplicated. I have made digital copies of every page. I have been looking for a way to have these pages bound into books at the cheapest price possible so that my family can all have copies. I hope I am making sense this morning. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?
I probably have

Permalink Reply by Marcia Loudon on July 15, 2009 at 8:58am

Soome of the set up and printing of book sites can take your digital versions of your traditional books.
Call and talk to someone at the company you have used to see if they can help you with it.
As you are comfortable with a company continue with them.
I have bindery equipment at home and print 6-8 copies so I do at home but I am not normal. My husband is an inventor of printing equipment so my tools are not like the average person.

Permalink Reply by Lynnette McMahon on July 15, 2009 at 5:12pm

Kerri Anne - a simple way to create a book from your digi scrapbook pages is to have them put onto a CD as a slideshow or take them to Kinko's where they can print and bind them. Depending on what size you did your pages in, you can also simply upload them to a variety of photo processing sites (I use Walgreens often) and have them printed as photo prints. Then have them bound by Kinko's or your local copy center.

Anxious to see some of these pages!

Permalink Reply by Pat Edwards on July 17, 2009 at 12:31am

I would love to do some digital scrapping booking with my genealogy. I believe it is very hard to get it printed with inks that don't fade. I can't see the point in doing all this work, to have it fade in a few years.
I'm in Australia, so would like some local advice on this subject please. Also the cost of such work needs to be reasonable.

Permalink Reply by Kay Campbell on July 20, 2009 at 1:37am

I have scrapbooking for a few years. I am now helping an elderly lady research her family and thought it would be great to do a digital story for her so she can see it on her TV using her lovely photos etc. I have started using Art Explosions Scrapbook Factory Delux v3 which I am very pleased with.
I have completed 3 pages which I have saved as jpeg. to experiment with. But I am not sure what size to save them to so they can be viewed easily on TV. The program does not give very clear instructions on what to do next

Kay

Digital Scrapbooking - What's Required?

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