I'm leary to get into using digital scrapbooking entirely but I do use the computer for titles and printing my own papers. Clip art is good too occasionally. I even bought scrapbook software to help with both. For those doing digital scrapbooking, does the end result look flat? Do you find it easier or faster to complete your LOs? Do you use other types of embellishments after doing a digital page? I suppose if using a digital camera then it would make LOs go quickly. I can see where it would cut down a lot of the supplies you needed too.
I do strictly digital scrapbooking. Since I don't see in 3D, tho, I'm not the right person to judge whether pages look flat. Dave & a few others have seen my pages, so maybe they'd be better judges. You can look at them online, if you're interested, at
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Look at the later albums (unfortunately I don't have the 2 most recent ones up yet), as I did more with backgrounds & layering as my technique evolved (my early albums were done without ever having heard of digital scrapbooking or seeing anything similar to give me ideas).
Here are some of my layouts which are digital as well. I don't have pictures of the printed ones but they didn't look flat.But I think that is more the type of layering that I do. Flat looking is something I try to avoid.
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The one called Binkie looked especially great printed.
Wow ladies!!! If you hadn't have said those are digital LOs, I would not be able to tell the difference. They are gorgeous! You are so creative!
I personally think it is harder to digitally scrap because I am inspired by the tangible "things" around me as I scrap....the picture, a patterned paper, etc. With digital, you have to have an idea in your head and go find the proper tool or image. You have to know if you need to layer it, float or change the transparency to get the look you want....and I'm a computer person! Perhaps since I spend 10-12 hrs a day on a computer for work, I like the paper and glue of traditional scrapping. But I can't live without my computer & fonts for journaling! LOL!
The main thing that has kept me away from more digital LO work has been the cost of toner. It's bad enough printing pictures, but to print an entire LO scares me to death. I buy toner about every 6 weeks as it is.
Tiffani, your layouts are really nice. Your daughter is simply adorable! Would you mind if I ask you a few questions? What program are you using? I have Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Designer but also use Word and Adobe Photoshope for titles and custom paper. Do you print out your sheets on white card stock or do you use a matte photo paper? Do you add any additional elements for depth or are you getting this effect from the digal images? Do you find digital LOs save you time and/or money? Do you only do digital or do you do paper scrapping as well? Are you able to get more LOs done using digital? Finally, do you print all of your LOs. Thanks in advance for your answers and help.
Sorry to ask so many questions. I bought the software thinking that even if I used it just for custom papers, I would end up saving money. The time aspect is important as well as I'm trying to finish my 2005 album in order to work on older pictures. I'm averaging 4 - 6 LOs a day but only because I am pushing it and want the album finished. As I've worked with the software, I realize it can do so much more. I'm concerned about the end result looking too flat when printed. Maybe I should just go ahead and try a LO, print it then see how I like it.
Aren't they just gorgeous? I'm looking at this as another way to scrapbook as in one more way to make creative use of my photos. If you are looking for a way to save money on inks or toners, check ebay. I found ink cartridges for my printer about 1/4 the cost of in the stores and they work just as well. Right now I'm getting 3 colour cartridges and 4 black cartridges for $22 including shipping and handling. As far as printing custom paper something that I've just recently started to do, the one website
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says that it cost about 5 cents to print your own custom paper verses 89 cents plus to buy paper and that's buying brand name inks. I won't give up the specialty papers but I've already seen where I can cut the costs significantly by using a custom printed paper matched with the actual more expensive paper. I used a mulberry custom printed paper matched with actual mulberry paper. The LO came out gorgeous! Printing an actual LO shouldn't cost that much more and if you aren't using the more expensive papers it would be really cheap. If you have a Sam's or Costco's near you check out their Image Plus Card stock and their photo papers. Both are a lot cheaper than anywhere else. Their card stock IIRC is $7 for 250 sheets. Photo paper varies depending on the brand. I've had a few problems with the RoyalBrites Professional Plus satin finish from Sam's. The pictures print beautifully but when you print a 4 set with right to the edge, a line shows up about 1/8 " into the lower photos. It can be cropped out depending on the photo but it is still annoying. This didn't happen with the Staple's brand satin photo paper. I confess that I'm a font junkie! Even with a little minor tweaking you can get some really nice titles. Most of my journalling is done on the computer. I do a little journalling in my own handwriting just to keep the scrapbooking gods happy.
Not unless you want it to. There's a style of digital scrapbooking that more resembles commercial magazine ad layouts than traditional paper scrapbooking. It doesn't rely on photo-realistic elements to create a faux-paper look. If you prefer your digital layouts to look like embellished paper layouts, just learning to add shadows is a big step in the right direction.
Depends. Do you want to do it all from scratch, top-to-bottom design all yourself? That's going to take some time, at least till you become expert at it. But if you want to use some or all pre-made elements from digital kits, it's fast as fast can be.
It's faster for me personally because I do a lot of "do I like it here or do I like it there?" fiddling around on my layouts.
Do you use other
I do sometimes. I often print a digital layout at 8x8 or 10x10 and then matte it to 12x12. I also sometimes add co-ordinating embellishments - like flower brads that make a digital flower design in the layout.
Well, yes and no - your dining room table will probably be clear, but any money you save on paper supplies will get sunk into digital kits and software. Half the fun of scrapbooking is the collecting.
Printing is the major ongoing cost outlay. I print at home, generally, and if I print on my wide format HP using 13x19 Epson Semi-Matte photo paper, I can print 1 12x12 and 2 6x6 layouts on one sheet. Unless the layout uses a very highly colored-background paper, my average cost for the entire sheet is around $2. Consider the cost of creating three such layout pages from traditional supplies. How much does the average paper album cost to produce?
I am just getting in to scrapbooking myself. I wanted something else to do with my digital camera images. I have looked at digital scrapbooking and have decided that some things do have a place. I use dingbat fonts and clipart to make custom papers. I also use Photoshop and InDesign for certain types of things like for framing photos and stuff. There are some really cool plug-ins for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements that do edge effects, lighting effects, etc. You can see some of them at
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and
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For Alien Skin I like the exposure plug-in for black and white film effects. At AutoFX I like Mystical Light and Photographic Edges. I do like using real embellishments for that 3D look. Sure you can simulate it with shadows and stuff on the computer but it isn't the same thing. Also, since I like making my own albums 100% from scratch I figure I might as well do a lot of it non-digital. But, as I said the computer and scanner have their place.
BTW I like Adobe InDesign because it allows for really easy use of transparent graphics. You don't have to jump through hopes to important text with a drop shadow and not have to worry about the background. I use Photoshop for most of my graphic manipulation.
I've been away for weeks getting our company launch overwith, and it's SO nice to be back among the "readers" in here again!
We just upgraded our online publishing system and now you can make your photos look like the fancy photoshopped ones right in the system. And they announced that coming this summer...we will launch the first official "live" online digital scrapbooking system in the world! No expensive programs to buy or learn, no hard drive space taken up with intensive programs ( I will NEVER let go of my precious photoshop CS !!) and the ability to design your layouts, add your photos, and then import them directly into our glorious books for printing all within the system. I'll keep you posted as June comes closer.
It's truly an amazing system and someone above asked about the prices for printing digi layouts...depending on the size of pages you want, we have 5x5, 8x8, and 12x12 for now and are releasing an 8.5X11 vertical book in September. The cost per side is about $2.00 and this is on heavy weight, glossy commercial paper, acid free, lignon free etc and printed on a digital PRESS and not a copier or printer. They look exactly like the coffee table style books you can get in Barnes and Nobel paper wise, in story book form! We also double bind the spines so they never wear out or tear out. And we archive each book for later reprinting etc.
See my website and feel free to ask questions if you want. I'm hopelessly addicted to digital scrapping and I don't know what I would do if I couldn't print my layouts to show everyone!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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