After 12+ years of doing traditional scrapbooking I have found the digital world!!!  It is so easy!!!  No taking any supplies out, no shoving supplies out of the way just to serve dinner on the table, no time wasted looking for the perfect sticker that you know you had somewhere....

Please share your experiences, what programs you are using (I'm using Photoshop Elements) and any good websites.

I still love traditional scrapbooking and have my own craft room - I can close the door and no one sees all the stuff I have out.  But I've just starting playing with digital scrapbooking and like that for a change.  My biggest problem is my slow computer but I'm having it worked on next week so it's will be easier to work with the programs.

I use Memory Manager (photo editiing program) and StoryBook Plus from Creative Memories. 

I was using Storybook 2.0 which is a free download from creativememories.com - it's good for starting out but I can do much more with Storybook Plus.  I do agree it's much easier than looking through all those supplies for the right paper or stickers.......

I received Storybook Plus as a gift and am embrassed to say that I have never installed it (I was a consultant for 3 yrs. shame on me).  I was used to working with Photoshop, so I chose to work with Photoshop Elements.  I've seen the CM product in action and it appears to have all the tools you need  to create a layout just like Elements.  I'm lazy and don't  want to learn a new program.

Anyway...I've started work on an album for my niece.  Poor girl is 13 and my sister doesn't have one album for her.  Meanwhile, my own children have 11 albums.  Hopefully, I'll have recorded her first two years of life by the time her next birthday rolls around.  I was going to keep the album a secret from both my niece and sister.  But I had to tell my sister, since I need help identifying some of the people in the photos (all of which I have to scan by the way!)  However, she doesn't know that she is getting a duplicate album.  Oh the joys of going digital.

How nice to be able to have a craft room.  I have a craft closet!  LOL  I agree you need a fast computer for digital scrapbooking.  I would  hate to have to wait for things to load.  I have found the site scrapgirls.com and like the selection and quality of their products. I've found that Costco does a nice job on printing.  They use Fuji ink and paper.  Much cheater than CM.  Though I understand that CM is thinking of lowering their prices.  

I scrapbook digitally and the regular way.  I like both.  I have lots of supplies and a scrapbook room downstairs for regular scrapbooking.  For digital scrapbooking I have Photoshop Elements but it overwhelms me.  I bought some software called Scapbook Max (my son and I LOVE this program!!) and it's much easier for me.  I just finished a 30 page scrapbook on our 2007 vacation (digital).  I'm starting our 2008 vacation now.  Digital is much quicker, but I like the look of regular scrapbooking better.  I'll keep doing both!!  I went through my scrapbooking books (I have dozens) and I found 18 scrapbooking books to list on PBS.  I had doubles of a few books! LOL!!  I'll be away from my computer for a week so I'll have to list them all later.  I know they'll go quickly, though some of them are SO heavy I'm not sure they're worth sending out!!

Barbara, Photoshop Elements can be overwhelming at first.  I've gotten the hang of it with help from a couple of Dummies books and a few websites' tutorials.  Keep at it, I think its really worth the effort.  

Wow a scrapbook room.  That would be my dream come true. 

I love love love scrapbook max. It is so easy and you can do so much with it!!! Hmm....I didn't even thing about posting my scrapbook books on here....I'll have to check and see what I have.

I still scrap the old fashioned way and still love it. Any books anyone wants to get rid of I would love to see what you have...you may have some I don't..

Rose B.

You mentioned that C.M was going to lower their prices on printing - I also heard received that information from C.M and am looking forward to that.  The pictures and baby annoucements that I did ordered through C.M. Photo Center were exellant quality but a bit pricey.  I'm in the process of ordering prints through Costco right now for the first time so I'm glad that you said they do a nice job.

Enjoy working on the album for your niece - I'm sure it will turn out great - yes, it is nice to be able to dulpicate the album digitally

I love this topic...... hearing from others about their scrapbooking ideas and experiences.

I'm a traditional scrapbooker only, but I've really been interested in digital lately....it sounds like the two top runners in this thread are Photoshop Elements and Scrapbook Max?  I keep wavering on making the leap.  LOL

Having been a traditional scrapbooker and cardmaker for a number of years, I have been longing to go digital...for all the reasons you mention, Rose. Actually, I'm thinking I would like to become more of a "hybrid" scrapbooker, using both traditional and digital methods.

I have been visiting a website that I would highly recommend...jessicasprague.com. Jessica is pretty well known in the scrapbooking community, primarily through Creating Keepsakes and the recently-defunct Digital Scrapbooking magazine. The website features her blog (which is pretty awesome in itself), as well as the online classes she offers. She uses Photoshop and Photoshop Elements in the classes, most of which are at your own pace and permanently available. She has just recently developed and is now offering Scrapbook Alchemy, a hybrid class. Through April, she is offering the first episode of the class at 50% off ($8.49) and you can also sign up a "lab partner" for free. Information about the class is available on the left-hand side of the page by clicking on Online Classes, then Scrapbook Alchemy.

I have hesitated to get started with digital scrapbooking because I would really like to go with Photoshop Elements but figure there's probably a pretty steep learning curve involved. The only graphic design software I have used is Memory Mixer, which I purchased for scrapbooking purposes but I have not done much with it.

I have certainly enjoyed reading your posts on this topic and look forward to continuing the discussion (this is the first time I've posted a reply and am hoping I am doing it properly).

Sandy

I just started playing around with it and I'm using the Creative Keepsakes software.  I got it for $2.00 when Circuit City was closing and I can't reisst a good deal

Hi everyone!  I thought this post was dead. I just came on to see what was new and saw all the new posts.  Sandra I have been to Jessica' s site and it is lovely.  I have not taken any online classes though.  I'll check into it.  I just haven't had time for anything!  All I can keep up with is Project 365. 

I am going to an all day crop tomorrow.  They are expecting 125 women to show up.  I love the energy in the big crops and to look at what everyone else is doing.  I was packing for it tonight and realized that I'm 2 years behind on my daughter's album.  Bad mommy.  But come to think of it...I spend a good portion of my time either volunteering at school or at some Girl Scout meetings or campout.  Guess I'm not such a bad mommy after all.  :)

Melissa, $2.00 for the program, that was a steal.  I need to go shopping with you!

Happy Scrap Eveyone!

Glad to hear from you again, Rose. I know 365 must be keeping you busy. I have a friend doing that and it sounds like lots of fun. It must be very rewarding as well, particularly for someone with young children.

You are so right about all the energy in the big crops. My scrapbook club has two retreats a year and we have about 50 people there. We have all become so close over the years and always have new people join us as well. We learn so much from each other and have such a great time as we work to preserve our memories. I recently attended a Creating Keepsakes Convention that came to a nearby city and it was awesome. Took some really cool classes and, of course, spent lots of money at the vendor booths.

I just did a very basic (photos and text only) digital photobook through Shutterfly. They offered a freebie 8X8 so I decided to give it a try. I thought the experience might help me decide about going digital since I'm not sure I'm going to like the one-dimensional nature of the final result. Maybe I'll end up being a hybrid scrapper or do both, like Barbara.

Sandy

The crop was great!!!  We ended up having 145 women! I scraped a year's worth of pictures and had a ball.  Now I have to help my son finish his science project.  The joys of motherhood.  :)  It truly is the best job!

Sandy, I wish I had a regular group of gals to crop with.  We used to have a group that met once a week, but once the kids got into middle school and with all the extra activities it fell apart.  I've never attended a Creating Keepsakes Convention.  They sound like loads of fun.  They have never made it this far south.

The one-dimensional aspect doesn't really bother me.  I'm not one to use a lot of thick stuff in my albums any way.

Happy Scrapping!

Ohmigosh, Rose...a year's worth of pictures...that certainly was a productive crop! Thanks for telling us about it.

It's too bad that your weekly crops have fallen by the wayside. The monthly ones at my club have done the same thing, so we just have the 2 retreats a year now. I also started a club at my church and finally discontinued it after 6 years of not being able to get anyone to come on a regular basis. People are busy and it's just hard for us to commit to what always turns out to be lower on the priortiy scale of things to do.

Everyone should keep an eye on the CK conventions. If they haven't made it to your area previously, they may soon as they are adding some new locations. The one I attended in Louisville, KY, was the first time they have made it to this area. One of the class instructors mentioned that scrapbook conventions are not the type of business that tourism bureaus are looking to attract. They are interested in bringing people in who will stay in hotels and go out to eat, shop and spend money in the community...while we, of course, never leave the convention site and stay there spending our money on classes and with the on-site vendors. It was lots of fun and well worth the time and money if one makes it to your area.

Sandy

P.S. I'm back to edit my post of earlier in the day since I just received the completed digital album I did on Shutterfly. It turned out really well. I particularly like that the pages have a matte, rather than glossy, appearance. I also loved the wide variety of backgrounds that were offered. I ended up selecting a set that had coordinating patterned papers in the same color for the cover and throughout the 20-page book. I did find the site to be a bit frustrating to use and ended up letting the photos auto-load onto templates designed for the number and orientation of photos that I had for each layout (they had very little space for text). If I had not put this off until the last minute in order to take advantage of the freebie and had had more time to work on it, it probably would not have been as frustrating. Although I do think I would be much happier with Photoshop or something where I had more control. This project certainly does make me want to pursue digital scrapbooking.

Can I resurrect this thread to ask you guys how you print your books?  So far I've read Costco and Creative Memories.  I don't want to print pages on my computer--I don't feel they would have the same archival quality I get from professionally printed photos.  Does Shutterfly let up upload completed pages, or do you have to use their templates?  I've noticed that Snapfish offers books, but it looks like you have to use their templates--which don't allow for much text.

Tanya--I just checked out Scrapbook Max.  It looks good--and seems to be on sale right now.  I'm trying to figure out how much RAM a computer needs to run it--I can't seem to find the technical specs on their website.  (I'd love to have a program that would run on my new notebook computer so I could take it with me to crops...)

Dana,

I continue to use Creative Memories software, right now I have Storybook creator Plus but used the free StoryBook download in the past and I think I liked that better as it was very easy to use.  I can do black and white pages or use the templates with texts to make different size albums - and I've also done some Page Prints - single pages - uploaded them to CM to print and then just slid them into my traditional album -  they were beautiful.   They're easy and fun. 

I did an 8 X 11 album of our family in 2 hours as a challange and it was so easy and a great looking book, I ordered additional copies to share with my family as Christmas presents.

But I still love to do traditional scrapbooking - I enjoy scrapping best when I  invite others over to work with me in my  craft room right off my front door - very handy - but I took my husbands room where he had his pool table - he was a good hubby and gave it up for me!  :)

As far as ram - CM recommends 256 MB minimum - 512 MB recemended for Windows XP

512 MB min - 1 GB Recomended for Vista

SB is now availabel for the Mac and I don't know what is recomended.

What I do know now is that my 8 year old computer is completely out of memory so I'm on hold right now for digital stuff - waiting for my new laptop!

Anyway,  I'm glad you added to this post - I like hearing  what others are using and what works for them.........and I hope you find something that works for you.  You could go to the CM web site and check on the free SB software and the packages to to  download and see if that would might work for you.

Best wishes to you on your scrapbooking - whichever way you do it.  So important to record your family history with photos and jounaling!!!!

Thanks for replying, Sara!

I like the idea of ordering Page Prints and sliding them into an existing album--that would be a good way for me to finish albums I've already started.  Looks like it would be costly to order a lot of pages that way, though.  (I see $3.99 per page, or $3.49 each for more than 9.)  I'll have to check out the free version of the CM software.  I'm also looking at a couple of other free digital scrapbooking software downloads: Scrapbook Flair 2 and Digital Scrapbook Artist (from the DaisyTrail website).  If I start with something free, I should get an idea if I would like something more.

Hi Dana,

Yes, they are a little pricey but when I saw the quality of the pages - I thought they were worth it.  (The whole page looks like a photo quality matt print but in 12x 12) - a number of people had to touch it to see how it felt - they thought the embellishments were raised but they weren't.  I've done 5 for my baby granddaughter's album - then did the rest traditionally.

I looks like page prints are done with Storybook Plus (not the free software) but can be make on line at the dig center.  I did mine with SB Plus so havenn't checked out the online templates.

I started out with the free version to see if I liked it and could work with it - then upgraded later.   I'm learning to use the SB Plus and has lots of feature .....   But like I said before I found the free one so simple and quick  to use - I think I will download it again to this old computer when I remove the SB Plus to my new one so I will have both.  By moving Memory Manager (photo editing program)  also I should have more space and memory to use the free version.

Let me know which one you decide on - sounds like there's lots of software out there!

Keep scrapbooking.......

you might be interested in www.duetica.com. they have interactive fonts. very cutting edge interesting stuff. 

Just an update:  I decided to try Scrapbook Flair last night.  The free version of the Creative Memories software requires me to print through them; I wouldn't be able to export a jpg file of a page.  Scrapbook Flair has a service I can use to order printed pages, but I can also export a jpg file if I want to.  I just played with it a little last night; it's kind of addictive to download free backgrounds and templates to use with it.  I did discover that it really helps to read the forum pages on  Scrapbook Flair's website to help a beginner get started.  I found a lot of my initial questions in the forums as I was working on my sample page. 

I'm sure I'll get to a point where I find the free Scrapbook Flair software to be limiting; then I'll have to take another look at the Creative Memories software.  For now, though, I think this free program--along with GIMP for photo editing--will probably hold me over for a while. 

The fonts at duetica.com look good.  When I get bored with the free stuff I'm collecting, I'll have to go there to build my collection. 

FYI--I found some nice free coordinated backgrounds and embellishments at www.shabbyprincess.com. 

Hi Dana,

I'm glad you found something that works for you.  Have fun with it.  It can be addicting!

Merry Christmas to you!

Sara