quinn222

What I've Learned About Digital Scrapbooking in Two Weeks

1. It's fun!


2. There's a ton of free stuff out there.


3. You need a bigger hard drive. (see above)


4. When you're trolling around looking for stuff don't be put off by color or theme. Take a really close look at what's included in the download. There may be a single item you can really use. As far as color, PhotoShop is your friend, you can change the color.


5. Photoshop Elements works. I don't know how well but I played around with it for research purposes on a friends computer and it did work.


6. For some reason the majority of scrapbooking places host their downloads on the truly dreadful 4share. Learn to delete cookies if you don't already know or you'll be waiting 5 minutes for download links.


7. Templates are your friend. Really. I've made liberal use of them in the Glam Nation Scrapbook. Some I downloaded, some I made myself. They are fantastic for allowing you to quickly churn out attractive pages.


8. Use clipping masks. I have no idea if real scrapbookers use them or not but if they don't, they should. Here's a brief review of clipping masks 101:

So where are the best sites? I have no clue. It's only been two weeks and for all I know I haven't found the best sites yet. But here are links to what I have found.

My blogger profile. I don't actually have a blog on blogger but a hell of a lot of scrapbookers do. Check out who I am following. The vast majority of those links are going to be to scrap booking sites (the top few aren't.) A lot of my favourite sites are in French but you should still be able to figure it out or use translate or something. Don't skip over a site just because it's not in English (or whatever your native language is.)

My delicious scrapbooking bookmarks

Freebies on DigiScrapDepot - If you only bookmark one site, this should be it. It links you out to the original owners sites for the thousands of things they post. You can follow it like a treasure trail and figure out which sites most suit your particular style.

I'm using this for a very specific project of course but I know I'll use it for other things too. everyone has digital photos and a way to view them. Printing snapshots is rapidly going the way of the dinosaur. I'm already planning a 'scrapbook' sized to fit the digital frame that I have on my desk at work. When I get my iPad I'll sure be making one for that too. How about your TV? Most of us have TVs now that you can display photos on. I see a lot of uses for this hobby.

Oh and one more thing, use your anti-virus software! I haven't run into any issues but when you're downloading a lot of stuff (and you will be if you try this) it's just common sense. Download it all into one folder and scan it before use.