I want to start scrapbooking, but just thinking about it makes me sick!

[home4school]

I'm just like those old ads, all of my boys' lives stuck in my camera and on my computer. I really want to get started, but we're talking YEARS of pictures.

 

I don't have a lot of space or time. I was thinking maybe of digital, but I love the texture of traditional. Could you give me suggestions of how to get started either way? What do I need?

 

Thanks,

Kim

[CandaceC]

Kim, funny you should mention this, I am going to be starting Project Life...and I just posted about it on my blog. I LOVE that it's going to make things SO much easier for me to keep up with!!

 

Project Life (from my blog)

[Nicoleab2]

I know how you feel and was in the same boat last year. I had 13 years worth of photos in shoe boxes.

 

The first thing I did was sort by year the best I could. I put them in photo boxes marked with the year.

 

Then, I decided that even though I wanted to scrap book them all, it takes time and I just wanted to make sure they were put in an album with captions for names, dates, places, etc. So, I put them in a regular album without scrapbooking.

 

Now, I have them all in albums so it is easier to take a year and scrap book it if I want to. I don't have the stress hanging over me that the others are still in shoe boxes. I can relax and enjoy the year I am working on, knowing that at least all the others are in an album all safe and sound.

 

I also plan on keeping the current year in an album or go ahead and scrapbook it, so I don't get any further behind.

 

I hope this makes sense. Feel free to email or contact me if you have questions.

Nicole

[Jenny in GA]

Ha!

 

I like to scrapbook, but it's not "fun" for me. I don't like shopping for different paper and gizmos and stuff. It's not a "social outlet" (I do it alone and don't want to be bothered.)

 

It;s kinda like cleaning out the closets.

 

Anyway, what I did the last two albums was very helpful. One, the album was very specific. One was a Disney trip. The other was a trip was husband took with our two oldest kids to see the space shuttle lift-off.

 

Each time, I bought the album. I bought one Creative Memories pack of paper that all color-coordinates. I bought one pack of relevant stickers. I printed out that set of pictures only.

 

Then I planned when to do it. (I did the NASA album last summer when the kids were in VBS in the mornings.)

 

Then I was able to work fast and furious for a set amount of time. I finished each album in less than a week. I did not want it to drag on. I did not want it to be a project that kept growing. I did not want to spending time organizing and digging out unrelated photos.

 

So in five days, the album was done and I could show it to people. And I packed up all my scrapbook materials. And I went on with my life.

 

And it was good.

[ocelotmom]

I'm just like those old ads, all of my boys' lives stuck in my camera and on my computer. I really want to get started, but we're talking YEARS of pictures.

 

I don't have a lot of space or time. I was thinking maybe of digital, but I love the texture of traditional. Could you give me suggestions of how to get started either way? What do I need?

I'm sending a disk of photos off to my grandmother, who enjoys making scrapbooks :P (at her request)

 

Actually, even that has ended up being a huge job, because my photo collection is so unorganized, and I have seemingly endless duplicates of the collection in varying sizes (many of them pretty much useless), and not all the photos are ones I want to send out to family and potentially have put into an album.

 

I'm also thinking about doing my own. Probably digital. I'd consider traditional if I had a group of people to do it with, but I'm not a crafty enough person for it to be worth it to invest in supplies.

 

If I do my own, my current plan is to do 1 or 2 pages per season, which seems like a reasonably manageable and coherent way of dividing up my 8ish years of photos.

[texasmama]

I recently started scrapbooking again after an 8 year break. I just pulled out all of my old stuff, got some new stuff to round it out and completed baby #3's first year scrapbook. I do a pg through first year book for all of my kids. Now to work on #4's book. I just made myself get it out without thinking of the final goal. I made a page, then another, then another. leaving out the things on a card table so they were accessible if I had 30 minutes to work on it.:001_smile:

[home4school]

Thanks for the replies. It really does make me sick at my stomach and very anxious-feeling, almost depressed!

 

I think a million thoughts. I have two boys, so should I make duplicate traditional scrapbooks so they can each have one? Should I go digital, then we can print them each one?

 

Which is more cost effective, traditional or digital? How do you even get a digital one printed?

 

Keep the ideas and suggestions coming!

[Allearia]

I love the idea of scrapbooking but it is just not going to happen. The past few years I have made the Kodak Gallery photo books as Christmas gifts for the grandparents and order an extra one for myself. They are beautiful, I get to write captions, organize them chronologically. The best scrapbooking is the kind you are going to do. As a homeschool mom working part time I just can't devote time to manually doing it.

 

What I do is go through my digital pictures and try to pick the best to add to a master folder. Then I upload those, the site sorts them by date, and then I add a few of these for either a page or few pages for each event, vacation, or a few pages about homeschooling or general fun photos.

 

The quality is very nice and the book I choose is a hard bound picture book with a full color picture and title on the cover. I do black pages so the pictures stand out but they have some options. I am sometimes frustrated by the limitations of picking layout vs adding text but sometimes having those constraints makes me be more creative in the solution. Also, I can order another book at any time for grandparents, and hopefully they will still be around when my kids go off and I can make a book for them of their childhood. Theoretically you could create fancier pages on your computer and put them in as full page pictures but again I do what I have the time for, it turns out great and everyone is happy.

 

Depending on how many photos you have, you might start with a book per year.

 

Of course I still need to go through and get photos of an old computer for the years before I started doing this, but the past few years I am very happy with.

 

ETA: This took me a few hours over two days to do the book this year to order for Christmas so it is not as time consuming as it seems it will be when you first start.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

I LOVE traditional scrapbooking. I have done it for about 8 years now. However, with homeschooling and online college, etc. I just do NOT have the time.

 

For Christmas, I got the Creative Memories Digital Storybook software, plus a few add on CD's. I LOVE IT!! It is expensive, BUT, it makes things SO much easier. I like being creative, but being creative takes up a LOT of time. With the pre-designed pages, all I do is choose the page and drag and drop the photos. Add some journaling and next page....move along, LOL. It's really pretty layouts too and the printed books (also expensive, LOL) are REALLY nice and will last for decades. You can make your own pages with the papers and such, but I'm so far behind, I only have time to use the pre-designed pages.

 

My plan is just to make the books and save them, buying them as I can afford them, ie. when they have them on sale ;)

 

At least with digital, I can reuse the materials over and over again. I plan to buy some more add-ons and by the time I get all that I want, I'll probably have invested $300-$400, BUT that should last me for years and years!!

 

The Storybook Creator 3.0 plus is $65 and I got two add-ons, one was $20, the other $15. Worth. every. penny.

 

PS. I am not a CM consultant, just a CM fan ;)

[happyhomemaker25]

I have wanted to start scrapbooking since baby number 6 came along. Before it was not a big deal. I don't know why it is now. My plan for the new year is to get the girls involved. At the end of the month we will plan a scrapbook weekend where we sit around and scrap the pictures for that month.

[mama2cntrykids]

Great thead. I'm feeling the same way. Maybe not anxious, but I have a lot of pics and the scrapbook stuff, I just need to sit down and DO it. It's hard though because I have to find the time and motivation to do it.

 

A couple of weeks ago however, I DID set up a spot in the basement with all of my stuff that I can lay out and work on, I've just had too much going on with Christmas. Now there are other issues that we're dealing with and well, I'm just not sure when I will start. Sigh.

[laundrycrisis]

I do what I call speed-scrapping. I am not into details or decorations for most pages..I just want the pictures mounted onto some paper and put in a sheet protector. I print a selection of pictures at Walgreens. I assemble an assortment of 8 1/2 x 11 paper from JoAnn or Archivers in either solid colors or very simple patterns. I use a short Omni Grid quilting ruler to align the pictures on the paper. I use a glue stick on the back of the pictures to mount them. This way the pictures are all mounted on paper and put into sheet protectors very quickly. I like it better than an album but it doesn't take much time.

 

If I have an occasional page I want to fancy up, I will go back later and add stickers or lettering. I do some lettering with a clear stamp set, cardstock and some shaped punchers. If I think journaling is needed I do that on a little piece of cardstock and then glue it on. I buy the assorted cardstock packs at Michael's...there are all different colors and sizes. I realize my pages are very plain and none are going to win any awards ;) That's okay...it gets the pictures put into a book that I'm happy with.

 

BTW for our 10th anniversary I made us a really nice album this way. I chose a few very pretty papers that were quiet and went well with each other, and just placed the wedding pictures onto the papers with no embellishments at all. It's a really nice album that is pretty and elegant. (yes it took ten years of marriage for me to get a scrapbook done :tongue_smilie:)

[goldberry]

I LOVE traditional scrapbooking. I have done it for about 8 years now. However, with homeschooling and online college, etc. I just do NOT have the time.

 

For Christmas, I got the Creative Memories Digital Storybook software, plus a few add on CD's. I LOVE IT!! It is expensive, BUT, it makes things SO much easier. I like being creative, but being creative takes up a LOT of time. With the pre-designed pages, all I do is choose the page and drag and drop the photos. Add some journaling and next page....move along, LOL. It's really pretty layouts too and the printed books (also expensive, LOL) are REALLY nice and will last for decades. You can make your own pages with the papers and such, but I'm so far behind, I only have time to use the pre-designed pages.

 

My plan is just to make the books and save them, buying them as I can afford them, ie. when they have them on sale ;)

 

At least with digital, I can reuse the materials over and over again. I plan to buy some more add-ons and by the time I get all that I want, I'll probably have invested $300-$400, BUT that should last me for years and years!!

 

The Storybook Creator 3.0 plus is $65 and I got two add-ons, one was $20, the other $15. Worth. every. penny.

 

PS. I am not a CM consultant, just a CM fan ;)

 

I just started the Creative Memories Storybook software about 6 months ago, and I love it! I did traditional scrapbooking before, and I enjoyed it, but didn't enjoy the cleanup, storage space, etc.

 

Also, while digital can seem more expensive upfront, you reuse the items, you don't have a ton of extra junk hanging around that you paid for but didn't use. I did a Disney traditional scrapbook, and I went totally crazy buying things! I probably spent hundreds!

 

Best step to get started, as others have mentioned, it to start sorting your photos by year first. Then start with the current year and work backwards - don't start with the oldest year. That way you will stay current.

[Ellie]

I feel your pain. :-/

 

Personally, I want my pictures in an album, because we'll always be able to see them, KWIM?

 

That's my goal for the next year: get all the pictures in albums. I'm not planning on making each page an art project...I just want the pictures in there. I'll crop, maybe make notes (in addition to names and dates), but NOT art projects.

 

And they will all be in Creative Memory albums. I think they're the best.

[laundrycrisis]

BTW you inspired me to tackle some scrapping today ;) I do very little sorting - I just group pictures into sets of four and stick them onto papers that are similar and that will face each other once they are in the sheet protectors. I will sort out the order of the pages later. I am using a cutting mat (for the lines), quilting ruler, and two-sided tape and getting it done, hon ! It just flies this way.

[amyrjoy]

I'm just like those old ads, all of my boys' lives stuck in my camera and on my computer. I really want to get started, but we're talking YEARS of pictures.

 

I don't have a lot of space or time. I was thinking maybe of digital, but I love the texture of traditional. Could you give me suggestions of how to get started either way? What do I need?

 

Thanks,

Kim

 

I would scrapbook those pictures that inspire you. You do NOT have to scrapbook each and every single one. I do NOT scrapbook chronologically. I know some people only scrapbook that way but it isnt for me...I think that way stresses one out. Wouldn't your family just appreciate whatever you do? Maybe pick a few special pics of each year? As you scrapbook the present, just mix in some of the past. You don't have to catch up all at once. It's a process, but I don't think of it was one that never ends...it's more or less on that never stops giving...giving the memories back to you.

 

I do mostly paper scrapbooking but some digital. There are a TON of digtal scrapbook freebies out there. Twopeasinabucket has some and I can't think of other particular places off the top of my head but you could start there. I know the dollar stores have some scrap booking supplies. Think monthly scrapbook kits are a great way to obtain your supplies without stress and running around.

Edited December 26, 2010 by amyrjoy

[amyrjoy]

Oops I wasn't quite done with my post. Lol. If you do digital expect using some of your computers memory and if you print the pages out then you do start accruing some sort of cost. I don't print any digital out but it's nice to add to a blog etc. I like traditional paper scrapping the best, personally, and it's fun to pull out those scrapbooks and pour over them. I don't know if I've been helpful at all but I guess my advice is this: don't stress about it because it should be fun, start small, and do what YOUR comfortable with, no one else!

[Rhonda in TX]

I would make a timeline of the period covered by pictures you want to scrap. Note birthdays, holidays, vacations, births, etc. This will help you in the next step, which is to sort the pictures. Use your timeline to help you sort them.

 

I would start with traditional scrapbooking, just because there's very little learning curve. Start with some sort of kit. I love Close to My Heart, but there are many others out there. Creative Memories is great, and really emphasizes simple pages. You'll also need a trimmer and adhesive. Those plus a kit will get you started.

 

I would also only do one family album. You can always go back and make individual books later, but if you're only doing one book, it won't be as overwhelming.

 

I've been scrapbooking for about 13 years and love it as much as I did at the beginning. I don't have as much time for it as I used to, but I have a CTMH group that I meet with once a month, and another group of friends that meets occasionally. In fact, I'm getting together with some friends tomorrow to scrap. :)

[sbgrace]

Thanks for the replies. It really does make me sick at my stomach and very anxious-feeling, almost depressed!

 

I think a million thoughts. I have two boys, so should I make duplicate traditional scrapbooks so they can each have one? Should I go digital, then we can print them each one?

 

Which is more cost effective, traditional or digital? How do you even get a digital one printed?

 

Keep the ideas and suggestions coming!

I think digital is more cost effective (I've done both..I'm doing only digital at this point). I say that because printing pictures, purchasing papers, books, and elements for me anyway was way more than getting a digital book printed. I prefer shutterfly for printing and they have frequent sales. If you design in shutterly printing the book is the only cost and if you do that on sale it's great. Either way it's cheaper than printing pictures or was in the books I've done. If you do your own designs it's still cheaper or is for me. There is tons free. And if you want to purchase things often you can get a whole kit (tons of paper designs, elements, etc.) for $1. I spent tons of money on paper and elements when I was doing paper scrapbooks and some I never used.

 

What I also like about shutterfly is you can design a book in a larger size and then get smaller/mini books printed for kids (or grandparents, etc.). I'm just designing a book for our family that has both of my kids--i.e. a page for one child's first haircut and another for the other child. However, if and when I want, I can select layouts for each child individually and arrange them to print in their own individual books if that makes sense.

 

I design mine is photoshop but given how you're feeling right now and how much you've got to do you might try designing pages right in something like shutterfly. You would just upload all your photos you want to use then select page designs and paper and plop the pictures in (or have shutterfly do it with simple path). It's really easy. Your only cost is the printing of the book and you can do that on sale if you want. You would at least have a way to have your pictures printed in book form. They have background papers to choose from, tons of layout design options to select (picture placement designs) and you can have journaling as well if you want (or not). What you don't have are elements and the freedom to design the page from scratch yourself with any paper or design. That said, if you wanted to you could also pick selected important moments or an event like a vacation and try designing your own without the overwhelmed stress of years and years of pictures. You could do that either traditional paper or with a digital scrapbook or digital design program. That said, you may find that what Shutterfly can create is all that you need.

 

You might look around at their photobook options, community to see what others have done, etc. and see what you think. http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books My own designs in photoshop that I upload and print in book form via shutterfly take a while to design but I've made scrapbooks for grandparents in Shutterfly directly that were extremely quick and easy and I was pleased with the look. Overall I spend less time, even designing myself from scratch, than paper scrapbooking took but I didn't do the kits and wanted things just so and maybe it could have been simpler. That said, if you want simple layouts I still think digital is just as great, you can do shutterfly or similar for the premade designs, and then it's easy to print multiple books for gifts or individual for kids and you've got the whole thing backed up and safe on shutterfly. My paper books, should we have a fire, would be lost and I've yet to make a paper book for a gift while digital is so simple it's easy to do them for grandparents.

Edited December 27, 2010 by sbgrace

[Jamee]

I would suggest a photo book too, and I like Shutterfly as well. They have pre-themed books that could get you started and if you do theme books like vacation or holiday, you can print multiple copies if you want those for each child, grandparents, etc. I agree with all those who said to pick a particular time frame or theme and start small. Perhaps even start with last year's or current photos and then go backwards, rather than trying to "catch-up" and continually feeling over whelmed.

 

I paper scrapped forever and changed to digital about five years ago. Whichever way you choose should be fun, scrapping isn't supposed to be stressful and that sort of defeats the purpose.

[laundrycrisis]

The way I do paper scrapping is very frugal, so for me digital is much more expensive. It does have the benefit that you are able to reproduce the entire scrapbook just by ordering another copy. If we are making photo calenders or albums for Christmas, I do those at Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc. But my own personal family albums are paper. I am not worried about them not being in duplicate. All of the photos themselves are stored so those will be accessible to whoever might want another copy of them.

[Photo Ninja]

I moved to digital scrapbooking years ago and love the advantages. I use Photoshop Elements.

 

Others have mentioned how easy it is to print duplicate pages for multiple albums or print an album at a smaller size to give to grandparents. That alone is a time saver. I have scrapbooks for each child and often will want the same set of photos in each of their books. It is far quicker to print three copies than to make three complete layouts.

 

It is less expensive for me to scrap digitally than to paper scrap. For each paper page I needed to buy the background paper or cardstock. Then I needed to buy additional paper for matting or journaling, and then elements for embellishing. I also needed adhesive, and other basic supplies. That all added up and took up space, also leaving a mess on the table if I didn't clean it up every time I scrapped. But once cleaned up, there wasn't time to scrap when I have a free hour because it took time to get it all out again. When I buy digital kits (papers, fonts, elements, etc.) I can use them as many times as I want, and change colors to match what I envision. I can reduce the size, or enlarge the element, and I can layer without a thick and lumpy finished page. I never waste anything with digital, not do I run out of the exact color or pattern I need. What freedom! Looking at cost, when you add up paper, adhesive, prints (and enlargements) etc., each paper page would cost me anywhere from 2.00 - 5.00. Getting digital prints is cheaper at Costco or Shutterfly. If I insert them into a CM album with page protectors, that cost is what I had with paper scrapping. If I get the entire album printed at Shutterfly, it is far less money than paper scrapping.

 

My creativity was limited with paper scrapping. The biggest hassle was having to decide which photos I wanted to use, in advance, so I could have them printed in the correct size. When working on a layout I would want a specific photo in 5x7 or 6x9, but only had it printed in 4x6. So my choices were to make a page that wasn't what I was inspired to create, or get that photo printed again in the size that I thought I wanted to use, delaying my ability to complete a page. That was really a hassle and huge frustration for me. I also wanted to make specific looks on my pages, like blending and changing opacity, which is not possible with paper. I love how my digital pages look because they are what I picture in my mind. I love looking through my digital albums, and someday, when there is time, I would like to scrap all the photos I already scrapped in paper and redo them digitally. But that is probably a very long time in the future.

 

Another benefit to digital scrapping is that I can start and stop whenever I want to, without having any mess. All my supplies are on my computer and I can take it wherever I want to, and still scrap. I can use my photos in any size I want them, cropping them the way I want to on the spot, and even change my mind and start over if I don't like the way it is turning out.

 

Photoshop Elements is an excellent program to use, but there is a learning curve. You could go that route if you want all the versatility possible. If you want ease, then try Shutterfly. As another poster said, you can use their digital templates and papers, add your photos and journaling, then print. It would be a way to quickly complete an album for the cost of printing only. You lose a lot of creative options, but there are certainly times to get that album done without investing a lot of time, and other times one's mind is uncreative, so this option works.

 

I suggest you try one album with Shutterfly to see how it works for you. If you don't like the finished pages, then stop. If you like them, then continue and print the album. Having one album on your coffee table or bookshelf may motivate you to do another. This may help you decide whether you want to scrap digitally or not, and whether you are happy with what places like Shutterfly offer, or whether you need to buy software, like Photoshop Elements so you are pretty much limitless.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I know how you feel and was in the same boat last year. I had 13 years worth of photos in shoe boxes.

 

The first thing I did was sort by year the best I could. I put them in photo boxes marked with the year.

 

Then, I decided that even though I wanted to scrap book them all, it takes time and I just wanted to make sure they were put in an album with captions for names, dates, places, etc. So, I put them in a regular album without scrapbooking.

 

Now, I have them all in albums so it is easier to take a year and scrap book it if I want to. I don't have the stress hanging over me that the others are still in shoe boxes. I can relax and enjoy the year I am working on, knowing that at least all the others are in an album all safe and sound.

 

I also plan on keeping the current year in an album or go ahead and scrapbook it, so I don't get any further behind.

 

I hope this makes sense. Feel free to email or contact me if you have questions.

Nicole

 

This is good advice when you feel overwhelmed. There is no need to feel like you have to scrapbook every picture, or even every event. Once you get your pictures sorted, just pick one event and work on that. You don't have to make a whole scrapbook at once. Just do a few pages at a time until you get in the swing of it.

[Chocolate Rose]

Photoshop Elements is an excellent program to use, but there is a learning curve. You could go that route if you want all the versatility possible.

 

I just purchased and installed Photoshop Elements 9 specifically because I wanted to start digital scrapbooking. I just don't have the time or space anymore to do traditional scrapbooking. But, I'm finding that Elements is not at all intuitive for me. I know there is a learning curve, but is there some way to speed that up so that I don't get completely discouraged? I'd like to just be able to do some scrapbooking and learn the extras as I go. I spent HOURS today trying to figure out how to get started. Any suggestions?

[Jamee]

I just purchased and installed Photoshop Elements 9 specifically because I wanted to start digital scrapbooking. I just don't have the time or space anymore to do traditional scrapbooking. But, I'm finding that Elements is not at all intuitive for me. I know there is a learning curve, but is there some way to speed that up so that I don't get completely discouraged? I'd like to just be able to do some scrapbooking and learn the extras as I go. I spent HOURS today trying to figure out how to get started. Any suggestions?

 

There are a lot of tutorials out there for scrapping with PSE. I would just google and go from there. The thing to keep in mind is that it is all done in layers. Each layer is an element to your page. Bigger items you want on the bottom, smaller on top so they don't get burried. Have fun! Once it "clicks" you'll be spitting out pages like crazy. I also like all the templates that are out there for scrapping. Makes the process even faster.

 

ETA: Looks like Tbog and I posted at the same time. LOL Another thing to remember is that you DO NOT want to save over your background file, nor do you necessarily want to save everything as a flattened jpeg file. They're big files, but I always save as a layered psd file so that if I need to, I can go back and change things or update a page. If you save over an original, it's gone for good.

Edited December 27, 2010 by Jamee

[threeturn]

You need this book Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian. That will get you started on the boxes and boxes of photos. (Yikes! Don't buy it from Amazon -- your library will have or can get a copy.)

 

I loved digital scrapbooking with Photoshop Elements. I like to keep it simple -- words + photos (with some good design technique) looks beautiful. Photo books are also great. Stacy also talks about photo album scrapbooks.

 

Don't think about chronologically scrapbooking all those years of photos. Just think about sitting down and recording a story or how you feel about a child, moment, place or activity and then add a few relevant photos. You will NOT scrapbook every photo you have. That is a sure recipe for crazy.

 

Good luck!

 

Pam

[Chocolate Rose]

tbog and Jamee, thanks so much for your suggestions. I just downloaded some free scrapbooking paper to get started with. I'm just going to jump in and try to get something put together.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but would you tell me about purchasing "kits" and papers, etc.? Is that something you do? Is that something I need to do?

[home4school]

I LOVE traditional scrapbooking. I have done it for about 8 years now. However, with homeschooling and online college, etc. I just do NOT have the time.

 

For Christmas, I got the Creative Memories Digital Storybook software, plus a few add on CD's. I LOVE IT!!

 

 

It was actually your post that got me to thinking I need to make taking care of these photos a priority for the new year!

 

I just feel like a horrible mother for letting them get so far behind.

[home4school]

Great thead. I'm feeling the same way. Maybe not anxious, but I have a lot of pics and the scrapbook stuff, I just need to sit down and DO it. It's hard though because I have to find the time and motivation to do it.

 

A couple of weeks ago however, I DID set up a spot in the basement with all of my stuff that I can lay out and work on, I've just had too much going on with Christmas. Now there are other issues that we're dealing with and well, I'm just not sure when I will start. Sigh.

 

 

I don't have a spot I can dedicate to this, so I would be getting it out and putting it up each time. That tilts the scale toward digital, but I'm old-fashioned! That would definitely be a learning curve.

[home4school]

I really like the ease and low cost of digital. A lot of digital stores have dollar days, which allow me to get kits for a buck and I can use it for layouts over and over again. There are also tons of freebies out there. As long as you have a scrapping program, like Photoshop, the cost of kits is minimal. You can always download GIMP, which is free, and grab some freebies, and see if you like it.

 

www.digishoptalk.com is a good place to look for sales and freebies.

 

Thanks for the link. There in itself is another problem! I can see myself sitting here for hours looking at digital kits. Then when would I come here?

 

BTW you inspired me to tackle some scrapping today ;) I do very little sorting - I just group pictures into sets of four and stick them onto papers that are similar and that will face each other once they are in the sheet protectors. I will sort out the order of the pages later. I am using a cutting mat (for the lines), quilting ruler, and two-sided tape and getting it done, hon ! It just flies this way.

 

Well, I'm glad somebody's pictures are getting done! I've spent all my free minutes today researching on the internet!:001_huh:

[Jamee]

tbog and Jamee, thanks so much for your suggestions. I just downloaded some free scrapbooking paper to get started with. I'm just going to jump in and try to get something put together.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but would you tell me about purchasing "kits" and papers, etc.? Is that something you do? Is that something I need to do?

 

There are a lot of freebies out there, Shabby Princess is a favorite spot to start. Her stuff is high quality and usually complete kits. Yes, I purchase kits, but haven't in awhile, other things going on (I have more than enough to work with though:D) Right now there are several Boxing Day sales going on, Peppermint Creative--she has freebies--Sweet Shoppe, Scrap Matters. Weeds and Wildflowers and the Lilypad are favorites of mine too, oh and Little Dreamer and Designer Digitals (that's a huge site though and not the easiest to navigate, so it may be overwhelming.) Scrapbook Graphics is great too, some professional designers/big names there. The trick is to not go out and buy EVERYTHING, as tempting as that may be. Look at styles, where you can get the most bang for your buck, stuff that coordinates and can be mixed together. Unlike traditional scrapping you will never run out of paper or alphabets, you can resize everything and when you get the hang of it you can even recolor.;) If I was going to start at a particular store, I think I'd go to Sweet Shoppe, they're having a HUGE retirement sale and their stuff is all really nice, and a lot of variety.

[anneofalamo]

This IS my passion!!

I love digital scrapping!

 

I have to admit, it is highly addicting!! Be CAREFUL!

 

My most favorite for learning and I felt she held my hand is

Misty Cato

Creating YOUR first Page

 

now I do work for this next people, for printing and making books, but they are so sweet,

MyPicTales

and it is like shutterfly, and other photo book printing, but they have very competitive costs.

 

I started 6 years ago with digital, and do about 200 pages a year! I like to make books, bound some 8x8, some 12x12 and a few brag books in smaller versions!

 

I started with Photoshop elements 5, and have just moved to the big momma of CS-5 that has so many bells and whistles, I drool! But I didnt' start there, I started with Misty Cato, and slowly learned! It is fun and so nice that when you are done, no clutter, except in your mind, it bounces

and

bounces!!

[anneofalamo]

tbog and Jamee, thanks so much for your suggestions. I just downloaded some free scrapbooking paper to get started with. I'm just going to jump in and try to get something put together.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but would you tell me about purchasing "kits" and papers, etc.? Is that something you do? Is that something I need to do?

 

I didn't buy anything for years!! :D

So many people love to give things away.

Craft Crave <--has a list of all who have free things everyday. She has an archive and you can go back in the time and pick up freebies too!

 

I would learn your program and play with what is free.

I began to make layouts for designers, and they GIVE me the kits they sell and I make layouts for them for advertising!

 

I will say, the kits from reputable stores like Scrapbook Graphics, Sweet Shoppe, Scrap Matters, you will see a difference in them, they have little things that you might miss in a freebie kit. It is nice to have a kit with 10 papers and 30-40 elements and an alpha and it all matches.

 

I do recommend setting up a SCRAPBOOK file with sub files

for

full kits

alphas

misc elements

word arts

etc

to make looking for your things easier in the long run!

 

Oh golly, I so hope you all who are tip toeing in, enjoy it!! I am Anne of Alamo in the digital scrap world!! Welcome, and if I could teach you a small amount in exchange of how much this site has helped me in homeschool...oh wow that would be so cool!

[laundrycrisis]

I don't want to hijack either but I have a quick question about digital. I tried it, and what derailed me (besides not being good at manipulating things on a computer) was text. I was not happy with it. Unless I am printing a photobook directly from the service I am using to put in the text (like Shutterfly etc), the text never looks nice. I do not have a color/photo printer so I need to export files to jpg format and have them printed elsewhere. Whenever I add text in a text box, it looks fine until I export to jpg; then it looks fuzzy and sloppy. I have a friend who is very good at digital...she told me to never use text boxes...that I needed to get the alphabet characters as images and add the letters in one by one to make it look nice when it is exported. I can't do it. I can't get the letters aligned to look nice...and doing journaling of any length in this manner would drive me nuts. For people who love digital and also like to put in more than a tiny bit of text, do you always print your own, or have a service like Creative Memories print it that doesn't need a jpg file ? If you are converting to jpg and having it printed, do you really take the time to align all the letters as separate images ? This is the issue that kicked me off the digital wagon.

[home4school]

I really like the ease and low cost of digital. A lot of digital stores have dollar days, which allow me to get kits for a buck and I can use it for layouts over and over again. There are also tons of freebies out there. As long as you have a scrapping program, like Photoshop, the cost of kits is minimal. You can always download GIMP, which is free, and grab some freebies, and see if you like it.

 

www.digishoptalk.com is a good place to look for sales and freebies.

 

 

I'm downloading GIMP now to try out! Thanks for the link.

 

I know I haven't responded to every post, but I did take something from every one of them. Thanks everyone!

 

You know I also have a drawer full of photos to be scrapped too, so I'm going to try regular scrapping on those and digital with the ones stuck in my computer and see how it goes. I guess the most important thing is just getting them done.

 

I know once I get started, I will feel better. I'm just so far behind and have so much to do, it just hangs over my head and really stresses me out. You know, like when you get behind balancing your checkbook or something. You know you have to do it, but there's just so much to do to get caught up.

 

Thanks again everyone! I'm really enjoying reading all the posts.

[laundrycrisis]

You know I also have a drawer full of photos to be scrapped too, so I'm going to try regular scrapping on those and digital with the ones stuck in my computer and see how it goes. I guess the most important thing is just getting them done.

 

 

You can do it !!! Since I posted last night, I have photos mounted onto 60 pages of paper/cardstock. Most of those pages have two photos each. By the end of today, just using five minutes here and there, I will have another 50 pages done. This is two years' worth of photos I had previously selected and printed, and using paper/cardstock I had already purchased. There are no stickers or text yet, but the photos are mounted and the pages ready for sheet protectors. I can go back and decorate them later. For adhesive I use Scotch 2-sided tape on a roll, the kind without the backing. It is photo safe and fast fast fast ! I think the key is to get some very simple, basic supplies, toss the pictures onto the table, jump in with both feet and just start putting pictures into groups of four, assigning them to paper, and sticking them on.

[Nestof3]

I love hybrid scrapbooking. You arrange your photos digitally in photo templates, print the arrangement out onto photo paper, adhere to cardstock and then decorate.

 

I also make annual books at Shutterfly with my favorite photos. This allows me to just scrapbook what I feel like scrapbooking instead of feeling like I need to scrapbook every photo. I end up scrapbooking because there's a lot I want to say or because I feel very artistic about a certain photo(s).

 

Here are some examples of my hybrid layouts:

[Nestof3]

I also like scrapbooking simply and quickly these days.

[Nestof3]

Oh, here's one more hybrid.

 

Most of my photo templates are free from this website.

http://ournestof3.blogspot.com/2010/01/free-photo-collage-templates.html

[Frontier Mom]

BTW, Photoshop Elements 9 is $59.99 at the Adobe site through the end of the year. The price is $79.99 with a $20 mail in rebate good through 12/31. Thanks to this post, I just downloaded mine as I had Elements 6. Great price!!

[LisaKinVA]

First, you don't have to scrap every photo. Choose the best representations of the event/month/year... whatever you choose to do.

 

You don't have to scrap chronologically, either (although, I can't really seem to do that).

 

You can do things as a "school album" "Birthday Album" "Christmas Album" If that helps...

 

When faced with a mountain of digital photos... the best thing to do is "tag them" with the appropriate tag (child's name/event). Then, you can print off an index print of ONLY those photos and the year. You will get the thumbnail image, the photo "name" for each photo that has been tagged like this.

 

Then, sit down with your index print and start selecting your photos, and put them into "page groupings."

 

Next, hopefully you have something like this, grab your Sketches Book (Becky Higgins), or Blueprints, or Close to My Heart Reflections or Cherish type of Layout book, and scan some layouts that have the same number of photos that you intend to use (as you get more comfortable with using Sketches, you can figure out how to "split up" photo areas for more photos, or combine photo areas for fewer). Layouts can be flipped (r to l), rotated (what was on top, could go on bottom) or both rotated & flipped... giving you tons of options.)

 

Select the sketch you like. You should have a piece of paper at this point... I write down the "name" of the layout (not necessarilly my Title, but the name of the layout I'm doing... maybe it's Zoo 2010). On my index print I label the photos (on-top edge of thumbnail images) with "Zoo 2010." I write down the name of the book for my sketch (or I will sketch my own, not necessarilly to scale).

 

I will label the size of the final printed photo right below that same thumbnail image. When we print the photos, we put them all on an 8.5x11 photo paper, already cropped/sized... so then all I have to do is cut them out, and put them on the mats). I will then "cut out the section" of the index print and put it (stapled to) with my planning page.

 

I will do this part of the process for several hours, or until I've done all I can do, or feel the desire to move onto something else.

 

Next, I "shop my stash." I take my layout planning page(s), along with the index print(s) I'm going to use. Depending upon what I'm doing, I may select embellishments first, and then choose cardstock and prints that coordinate, or I may start with cardstock & prints and then do embellishments... you can really go eitherway (I can always print the photo in black & white...sometimes that looks best anyway, especially with lots of distracting clashing/colors in the photos). I put the selected items, along with the planning page & index print they are to go with into a project envelope (usually about $1... but often can get them on-sale). I have about 20 on-hand. I make a sticky-note "list" of anything I'm missing for that layout, ribbon, cardstock... whatever it is, I put it on that list. I will then go shopping *only* for what I need.

 

I don't buy paper pads, as a general rule. I have purchased some because I was doing a baby girl album... but then I pretty much limited myself to those colors/papers/embellishments. I don't buy 3 or 4 baby girl paper books. Just won't get used. I buy what I need, and stick to that.

 

Essentially, if I don't have a known use for it, I don't buy it. That's how I escaped owning a scrapbook business (4,500 sq. ft. store) for 7 years with so little stuff. I do have many tools... but there are some tools you couldn't have paid me to purchase (No, I don't own a paper tagger, but I do have BOTH a Cricut Expression, and a Pazzle Inspiration).

 

I don't buy sticker letters... I cut out my own titles (hence, the Cricuit and Pazzle Inspiration), I can make lots of my own embellishments with cardstock, glitter, rhinestones... I'm just pretty selective of what I've purchased.

 

Essentially, work with a strategy... and work in small chunks. If you look at it as 12 YEARS of scrapping, it's hard. But, if you look at it as "12 Birthday pages" or "One Zoo Layout" -- it becomes much more manageable.

 

For you, I would probably start with the Birthday pages... Then add the Christmas pages... Then add some Baby Firsts... If that gets old, move onto something particularly meaningful to you (I took this photo because...when I look at this photo it reminds me of...) Things like that interwoven in an album are particularly meaningful in the long term, not so much because of the photo, but because of the journaling (which I do almost all on the computer!!!).

[laundrycrisis]

BTW for putting pictures on cardstock ... I went to Michael's today to replenish my supply since the work I did yesterday and today has really depleted it. I buy 8.5x11 solid colors, which are usually very affordable even at regular price....they rang up half price !!! :hurray: The cashier said they usually go on half price sale around this time each year. So if you have stacks of printed pictures and would be happy with them mounted on plain cardstock, and Michael's is in your area, this would be a good time to check the price. They weren't marked down yet but they rang up that way.

[Chocolate Rose]

I love hybrid scrapbooking. You arrange your photos digitally in photo templates, print the arrangement out onto photo paper, adhere to cardstock and then decorate.

I love your hybrid method. I could do some of my scrapbooking this way to use up some of my scrapbooking supplies that are just sitting around doing nothing.

[Chocolate Rose]

I just purchased mine for $59.99 at Staples. No rebate, just the $59.99.

[kwickimom]

I know how you feel and was in the same boat last year. I had 13 years worth of photos in shoe boxes.

 

The first thing I did was sort by year the best I could. I put them in photo boxes marked with the year.

 

Then, I decided that even though I wanted to scrap book them all, it takes time and I just wanted to make sure they were put in an album with captions for names, dates, places, etc. So, I put them in a regular album without scrapbooking.

 

Now, I have them all in albums so it is easier to take a year and scrap book it if I want to. I don't have the stress hanging over me that the others are still in shoe boxes. I can relax and enjoy the year I am working on, knowing that at least all the others are in an album all safe and sound.

 

I also plan on keeping the current year in an album or go ahead and scrapbook it, so I don't get any further behind.

 

I hope this makes sense. Feel free to email or contact me if you have questions.

Nicole

 

This is EXACTLY what I am doing. I am going to take all my CDs and print everything. Then I am going to put them in albums by year. I own a Kodak photo printer and so there should be no excuse (except for money :lol:) for me not to print.

 

Then I am going to label each album and CD so that when i want to actually scrap some of the pictures I can just grab the CD, print, and scrap!

[Jamee]

I don't want to hijack either but I have a quick question about digital. I tried it, and what derailed me (besides not being good at manipulating things on a computer) was text. I was not happy with it. Unless I am printing a photobook directly from the service I am using to put in the text (like Shutterfly etc), the text never looks nice. I do not have a color/photo printer so I need to export files to jpg format and have them printed elsewhere. Whenever I add text in a text box, it looks fine until I export to jpg; then it looks fuzzy and sloppy. I have a friend who is very good at digital...she told me to never use text boxes...that I needed to get the alphabet characters as images and add the letters in one by one to make it look nice when it is exported. I can't do it. I can't get the letters aligned to look nice...and doing journaling of any length in this manner would drive me nuts. For people who love digital and also like to put in more than a tiny bit of text, do you always print your own, or have a service like Creative Memories print it that doesn't need a jpg file ? If you are converting to jpg and having it printed, do you really take the time to align all the letters as separate images ? This is the issue that kicked me off the digital wagon.

 

Hmm, not sure what the issue is. I use text boxes all the time without any issues at all. I only use the one-letter-at-a-time method for title work, never journaling, that's just insane. What program are you using? what size is your layout? Size in pixels? What size is your font? This would help in figuring out what's going on. My first guess is that your font is too small or the layout is saving at much too low a quality.

[laundrycrisis]

Hmm, not sure what the issue is. I use text boxes all the time without any issues at all. I only use the one-letter-at-a-time method for title work, never journaling, that's just insane. What program are you using? what size is your layout? Size in pixels? What size is your font? This would help in figuring out what's going on. My first guess is that your font is too small or the layout is saving at much too low a quality.

 

Thank you. I have the HP Digital Scrapbook software. I have also tried it in some program by Corel I think that came with a printer. I'm not sure of the other technical details. Everything looks great until I export to jpg. Then the edges of the text are not sharp and clear. The color sort of bleeds. I will try saving the whole thing as a bigger image to see if I get higher resolution when I export it. Knowing that is possible to add text boxes without it turning into a mess makes me curious about trying digital again. I am really not good at manipulating letter images with a mouse so I have to be able to use text boxes.

[Jamee]

I'm not familiar with that software, but when printing, you always want to save at as high a resolution as you can. Even if it looks good on the computer, a low res photo will not print well. For scrapping, a 12x12 scrapbook page is 300dpi and 3600x3600 pixels. Hopefully saving a high res will give you better results. When I do text on pages for journaling as such, on a 12x12 page, my font is usually anywhere between 14 and 18 pts.

[Chocolate Rose]

I do recommend setting up a SCRAPBOOK file with sub files

for

full kits

alphas

misc elements

word arts

etc

to make looking for your things easier in the long run!

 

Oh golly, I so hope you all who are tip toeing in, enjoy it!! I am Anne of Alamo in the digital scrap world!! Welcome, and if I could teach you a small amount in exchange of how much this site has helped me in homeschool...oh wow that would be so cool!

:

Thanks for all of your advice. The file issue was one that was already starting to overwhelm me and I've only downloaded a couple of items. :001_smile:

[kitten18]

Kim, funny you should mention this, I am going to be starting Project Life...and I just posted about it on my blog. I LOVE that it's going to make things SO much easier for me to keep up with!!

 

Project Life (from my blog)

That's brilliant! I'm ordering it. Thanks for the link. I have a whole drawer full of Creating Keepsakes magazine but I've never completed more than a couple pages for my kids.:leaving: