Frequently Asked Questions
About Digital Scrapbooking
What is digital scrapbooking?
Why should I scrapbook digitally?
What kind of program or software do you need?
Where do you get the digital papers and elements?
What do you do with your pages when they are done?
What is digital piracy and how do I avoid it?
What do the acronyms I see mean?
About Digital Scrapbooking Classes
How are your classes taught?
How do I get the lessons?
Who are the teachers?
What do I do if I need help?
What software do I need for your classes?
About Digital Scrapbooking
What is digital scrapbooking?
Digital scrapbooking is a type of scrapbooking that uses a computer and computer program to
assemble digital papers and elements into scrapbooking pages. The papers and elements used
are actually graphical files, not physical products. Using a computer graphics program,
you can cut, rotate, and layer papers and then resize and place elements and pictures on a
digital page to create a scrapbook layout. Layouts can be created in any size. You can
visit our gallery
to see some layouts created digitally.
Why should I scrapbook digitally?
Create great memories: It is important to document things that happen in our lives
for us to look back on, share with others, and preserve for future generations. Pictures
and journaling are great ways to do this and a vital part of scrapbooking. And since so
many of our pictures are already digital, why not scrapbooking digitally too!
No mess: To work on a digital layout, you need only to open it in your computer
program – no need to get out all of the supplies and tools. And when you are done, just
click save. You don’t have to clean everything up and find a place to store it all. This
is especially helpful if you have little ones running around your house who would love to
mess up a pile of paper scrapbooking supplies.
Save money: Currently digital kits are much cheaper than traditional scrapbooking kits.
You can also reuse the digital papers and elements as many times as you would like. You may
need to spend some money to buy a graphics program to scrapbook with, but this takes the place
of so many tradition tools. There is no need to buy scissors, tape, glue, punches, etc.
Duplicates easy: You cannot only use the same pictures and elements over and over,
but you can even duplicate your pages easily. Print copies for everyone in your family and
e-mail the layouts to a bunch a friends. Digital pages can be used in so many different ways.
What kind of program or software do you need?
When I first looked into digital scrapbooking, I spent some time looking around at different
programs that can be used for scrapbooking. It can be intimidating. Without knowing how to
digiscrap how can you know what you will need in a program?
As I looked through my options I found 2 categories of programs. First, there are programs
that are created just for scrapbookers. These programs often have templates where you can place
photos in and then other papers and elements you can add to customize your pages. These are
useful if you just want to quickly create simple layouts and not go any farther than that.
These programs are easy to use but very limited in scope. Examples include
Picaboo,
PhotoMix,
My Scrapbook,
and Scrapbook Factory Deluxe.
The second category of products are actual graphics programs that can be used for scrapbooking as
well as other digital and graphic tasks. These programs are much more powerful than the first
category and allow you to create your own custom scrapbooking page with complete freedom.
They are more expensive than the first group and can be harder to learn to use, but you will
not easily feel limited by them. There are four main pieces of software in this category that
are commonly used for scrapbooking:
Adobe Photoshop CS,
Adobe Photoshop Elements,
Corel Paint Shop Pro,
and ACDSee Photo Editor.
These are the four software programs that our site teaches scrapbooking classes using.
You can find out more information about each one of these programs here.
Where do you get the digital papers and elements?
If you are brand new to digital scrapbooking, you will probably want to download some free digital
kits from the internet. These kits have papers and elements that match that you can use to create
your first layouts. Each paper and element usually comes in a separate digital file
(a .jpg or .png file most commonly). When you download them, they will most likely be in a zip
file that you will need to unzip, and then you can open the graphics in your program. Here are a
couple of sites that offer high quality free kits to get you started:
Shabby Princess
Peppermint Creative
Oscraps
Once you get the hang of digital scrapbooking you will want to start buying some digital papers
and elements for you pages. There are some amazing digital scrapbooking stores online where you
can purchase graphics and then download them right to your computer. Many paper scrapbooking
stores are also starting to carry digital papers and elements that you can buy on CD.
(Click here for some online stores where you can purchase digital supplies.)
What do you do with your pages when they are done?
This is such a common question for those just getting in digi. When you are done creating a
digital layout you will have a digital file of that layout. There are many things you can do
with that digital file.
First, you can keep the file digital. You can store the file on your computer and show it to
people when they are at your house. You can upload the file to an online gallery to share with
others or e-mail it to friends and family. You can take a bunch of layout files and create a
video of them. There are even digital picture frames that you can save the file to and display
around your house somewhere.
Second, you can print you layouts. If the layout is small enough (or if you have a large printer)
you can do this right on your home printer. Otherwise there are lots of places where you can
bring the file or send the file online and have your layout printed. There are also sites where
you create photo books with you printed layouts.
(Click here for more info on places to print.)
These printed layouts can then be displayed in frames or albums. You can even get layouts
printed on t-shirts, mugs, magnets, and just about anything else you can think of.
What is digital piracy and how do I avoid it?
Digital papers and elements are created by digital graphics designers and should come with a
terms of use file (TOU). Often this file states that the graphics are for personal use only.
This means that once you download them or purchase them, they are for your use only. It is
illegal to let someone else use the file by sharing it with them, giving it to them, uploading
the file for others to download, or in any other way. Digital supplies are different than
paper supplies because they do not get used up when you share them with others. It is only
fair to the designers that other people pay for the files if they are going to use them.
Please take a minute to read the TOU file in the kits you use. For more information on
digital piracy, please see this blog.
What do the acronyms I see mean?
ACDSee PE: ACDSee Photo Editor (An ACDSee graphics program)
PSCS: Photoshop CS (An Adobe graphics program)
PSE: Photoshop Elements (An Adobe graphics program)
PSP: Paint Shop Pro (A Corel graphics program)
