Digital scrapbookers - input please :)

[Momto6inIN]

I use Forever's Artisan 5 and have loved it for years. (It's becoming buggy recently, but I *think* that's my RAM on my laptop, not the program itself.) Anyway, I see they are coming out with an Artisan 6, but the upgrade is $160 (!!!) My consultant says they are offering 30% off this first week through the 16th, so that would make it more manageable and put it into Christmas present range budget wise.

But before I pull the trigger, I wondered if I should look into other options. I've not been thrilled with snapfish or shutterfly because their options for paper and embellishments were so limited, but that was years ago so maybe they have more options now? Or maybe there's some other program out there I don't know about?

I usually do a 100 page book for each year and in addition a book for each vacation. They used to be a lot more elaborate but recent years I've gone a lot more towards "basic but done".

Anyone have any wisdom to share?

[prairiewindmomma]

Photoshop elements is something I’d recommend looking at. You can add components from places like digital Project Life. https://www.beckyhiggins.com/digital-project-life/?_ga=2.180855726.868093790.1605034402-1239720551.1605034402

 

Lately, though, I have just been using Costco. It’s not the easiest interface, but my albums are simple, and the price is right.

[MEmama]

Project Life https://www.beckyhiggins.com/?_ga=2.144994228.1404389370.1605037729-182725301.1546291967

Their digital books page is currently under construction, but you can get a feel for everything else you’d want to do digitally.

I use the app and print photos at home. However, years ago I had several years of photos to catch up on and made digital pages (on my phone)— it was super easy and fast and they turned out beautiful. It was a super efficient way to organize that many photos and the printing was beautiful. I’ve used Project Life for years and can’t say enough good things about the products and the company.

[almondbutterandjelly]

I like Shutterfly.  They have a lot of embellishments and backgrounds.  I do a 50 page book every year.

[Momto6inIN]

5 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Photoshop elements is something I’d recommend looking at. You can add components from places like digital Project Life. https://www.beckyhiggins.com/digital-project-life/?_ga=2.180855726.868093790.1605034402-1239720551.1605034402

 

Lately, though, I have just been using Costco. It’s not the easiest interface, but my albums are simple, and the price is right.

So does Elements do anything different than just plain Adobe Photshop? I've been considering a Lightroom subscription now that I'm becoming a better (amateur) photographer, and "Photoshop on desktop and ipad" comes with some of their subscriptions but since I haven't used any of it yet I'm unclear what programs do what.

4 hours ago, MEmama said:

Project Life https://www.beckyhiggins.com/?_ga=2.144994228.1404389370.1605037729-182725301.1546291967

Their digital books page is currently under construction, but you can get a feel for everything else you’d want to do digitally.

I use the app and print photos at home. However, years ago I had several years of photos to catch up on and made digital pages (on my phone)— it was super easy and fast and they turned out beautiful. It was a super efficient way to organize that many photos and the printing was beautiful. I’ve used Project Life for years and can’t say enough good things about the products and the company.

Is this primarily for pictures from a phone? I can't quite tell from the website. I don't take photos with my phone, it's cheap and has a crappy camera, I use my DSLR.

[Momto6inIN]

4 hours ago, perky said:

I like Shutterfly.  They have a lot of embellishments and backgrounds.  I do a 50 page book every year.

Can you add more photos to a page or are you limited to using their layouts? I seem to remember I couldn't do that years ago when I looked but that may have changed since then. I like to pack lots of pictures on a page 🙂

Edited November 11, 2020 by Momto6inIN
ETA: Also, do you know how many pages you can do max per booK?

[almondbutterandjelly]

You have to use their layouts, but you can pick how many photos you want on a page.  They have a 5+ section where you can find all different layouts for all different numbers of photos, and if it's not directly showing, you can search and find the number of photos you want.

They also have all different layouts options, and, again, if you don't see what you want, you can search for more layout options.

Edited November 11, 2020 by perky

[MEmama]

15 hours ago, Momto6inIN said:

Is this primarily for pictures from a phone? I can't quite tell from the website. I don't take photos with my phone, it's cheap and has a crappy camera, I use my DSLR.

No. You can use any photos.

The digital version is available if you prefer to use your computer. I prefer the app so when I use my DSLR I just transfer the photos I want to use onto my phone. But I almost always just use my phone camera. 

[sweet2ndchance]

16 hours ago, Momto6inIN said:

So does Elements do anything different than just plain Adobe Photshop?

Elements is a stripped down version of Photoshop. A lot of people use it for digital scrapbooking and it works fine for that though.

I use Photoshop CS6 for digital scrapbooking. I also make worksheets, custom flashcards and such for school, planner pages... it's a lot easier to work with than say MS Word for those things imo. I've never upgraded past CS6 because I didn't like the subscription set up they came up with after that. But it works fine for digital scrapbooking and the like. I know you can get much older versions of Photoshop for free from Adobe... I think it was CS2 or 3 maybe? I can try and find the link if anyone is interested.