Are you a scrapbook enthusiast who is becoming tired of cleaning up the mess? Or, find scissor fiddling taxing? And, who on earth would like get glue all over their freshly-manicured nails? If your screaming out a big ‘YEEESSS’ right now, jump the gun by joining the bandwagon of digital scrapbooking.
You may ask ‘What is a digital scrapbooking?’
Most people have heard about paper scrapbooking but fewer know about the digital one. People scrap to cherish memories in the future. Similar to traditional scrapbooking, a digital scrapbook is a creative way to preserve valued moments. However, instead of printing, manually writing the story and gathering items for a page, the art project is done in a computer. Scrapbook albums, pages and designs are all available in the web.
Upsides of Digital Scrapbooking
Scrapbook enthusiasts go bananas about purchasing kits and supplies for the project in mind. What makes a digital scrapbook more advantageous than using paper is you can actually use the albums, pages, calendars and layouts over and over again! May I repeat, you can use every element of the scrapbook kit repeatedly! Now that’s a big plus and an economical way of preserving memories.
Another thing about web-based scrapbooking is that you can do a project whenever you like regardless of where you are. This clutter-free hobby also allows you to quickly save your work to a laptop and take it wherever you go! You can scrap while watching TV next to your partner and all you need to do is respond to him/her once in a while and everyone is pleased.
What’s more, you can share ideas with anyone quite easily using emails or posting them in social networking sites. A scrapbook enthusiast essentially needs people to see the outcome of all the hard work. A few click of your mouse, and there it goes, you’ve just flaunted your design and compilation!
Digital Scrapbooking Essentials
For newbies who don’t have any idea how to start digital scrapbooking; familiarize with Photoshop first; learn and understand the skill of how layers work with this software. YouTube have tons of video tutorials on how to do this. Learning this skill will make digital scrapbooking easier.
Other must-have software for this hobby are the following:
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 9
• Adobe Photoshop CS5
• Paint Shop Pro X3
• ACDSee Scrapbook Special
• iScrapbook 2
Amongst the listed applications, ACDSee Scrapbook Special is becoming more prestigious and preferred by many. However, software alone will not generate first-rate outcomes. Learning some techniques and downloading software that best suits or you like best would do the trick. The best way to find out which software works best for you is to download some free trial versions first. When the application drums up your creative skills, try other software and then decide if you want to purchase the full versions.
You might also want to download some free items from different sites before starting your digital scrapbook. Loads of designers, online stores and even personal sites allow scrappers to download free digital scrapbooking items including: kits to templates, frames, stickers, ribbons, flowers, alphabets, quick-pages and other scrapbook must-haves.
Getting a head start by downloading these must-haves for free even before starting your digitally made creative compilation would help you plan your layout or design better. These perks are perfect if you are just getting started with this hobby.
Along with other essentials mentioned above, using templates will make the activity a lot easier and less complicated. Even seasoned digital scrappers use templates to ease the burden as working from scratch eats up a lot of time. What makes this technique even better is you can actually use the same template many a times. If you want variety, you can easily change the paper and attach some elements to create a new one.
Photos are NOT Enough
Images preserve memories but, sometimes, presentations of photos alone are not enough to record a story. So, what is the missing element here? Based on experience I would say that composing a few lines or inserting humorous phrases would complete the memory-preservation process. Although this activity might create a new interest, you should never feel like you’re joining in a contest. In this new scrappy world some beginners, quite unnecessarily, become intimidated when viewing layouts and pages from seasoned digital scrappers After all, scrapbooking is not about who has the best layout but who is cherished and remembered.
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