Digital Scrapbooking Tips

Digital scrapbooking is a way to grow your scrapbooking supplies using your computer! With the high quality, yet affordable printers that are available today, you can print photos and other scrapbooking embellishments right from your home! This can help you save time and money while still creating great pages. The use of digital scrapbooking is unlimited. Print out an entire page layout, a special border, or individual embellishments that you cut out and apply on your traditional scrapbooking pages. The possibilities are endless.

1. Become familiar with your software: With computer scrapbooking, your biggest expense may be the software you choose to use, although there are free digital graphics programs available to download. The more you learn the more designs you will be able to create. The software I recommend is Adobe Photoshop. I use photoshop 7.0 for all of my templates. Other programs that are available include Microsoft Picture It and Paint Shop Pro. And if you take the time to learn how to create your own background papers and embellishments, you will be able to scrapbook for next to nothing.

2. Saving your Digital Scrapbooks: Digital scrapbooks can be saved on a disk and can be copied and shared with friends and family. This thought of digital scrapbooks are very appealing to those of us that have so many photo that is impossible to put them all into scrapbook. Creating a disks and adding them to your traditional scrapbooks is a fun alternative.

3. Manage your time: Remember electronic scrapbooks can take just as long as paper scrapbooks to create, but once they're finished, they can be easily copied and shared. Some people also like the idea that these scrapbooks can be backed up and are less likely to become damaged. Creating a disks and adding them to your traditional scrapbooks is a fun alternative.

4. Using TextL I'm consistently wanting to use text colors that don't show up well enough to read colors that match the page but really blends in too much! Sample the main color of the paper and brush it on a new layer between the paper and the text. Depending on the color and design of your paper and text you may want to not use the main color but choose black or white instead.

5. Use your Scanner to Create your own embellishments: This is a good way to increase your digital embellishments without spending any money. Scan the item you want and save it to a file. Pull it up in Adobe or any other layered software. Use the magic wand to get rid of the back ground. Save the new embellishment for future use.

6. Remember not to over do your embellishments: The photo should still be the main focus on your page. Too much stuff on your pages can cause your photos to get lost.

7. Organization: There is no dealing with left over paper scraps or temporarily lost tools that always seem to be difficult to find just when you need them. However, keeping track of your digital elements is a must and can be handled by a well organized directory system. With everything at your fingertips, clean-up is simple. If you have to stop in the middle of creating your digital scrapbook layout, all you need to do is save it without concern about keeping your layout in tact before you can finish it.

8. Sharing your work: One of the most riveting aspect of scrapbooking is sharing your designs with others. Digital scrapbook pages are easy to share with family and friends through email or by posting them online to community photo albums. Pages can be printed and framed like a photograph or kept in a traditional scrapbook album. You can even use them to create a DVD presentation and give them as gifts to your loved ones. Some online photo printing companies also offer story books you can add your layouts to.

The sky is the limit. Whether you are new to making scrapbooks or are searching for new and creative ways to design them, digital scrapbooking is an exciting alternative to paper crafting and is just as addicting.