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Scrapbooking is one of the most well loved leisure activities around these days. Scrappers are well-acquainted with the craft, working with the materials and tools like pros. Combining cutting lots of paper shapes, gluing photos, and sticking a collection of ribbons, die-cuts, and stamps on each page is their passion. It’s hard for an experienced scrapper to imagine doing it any other way.
But computers can invade anything – even scrapbooking. Modern technology introduces a whole new approach to scrapbooking that uses grahics programs to make the basic scrapbook elements and page layouts. Using a computer to make scrapbooks, known as digital scrapbooking, involves making page layouts with the help of computer software that edits photos, makes graphics, inserts borders and text, and allows you to “paste in” digital embellishments.
Using high-quality paper, you print your scrapbook pages on a high-resolution printer and then attach your traditional scrapbook materials. More tech-savvy scrappers can even save elements and pages on the hard drive or store them to DVD or CD to share with others electronically. These days, several websites give you the ability to make an online scrapbook by uploading your photos and images to their prepared digital scrapbook albums.
There are several computer programs that are fantastic for scrapbooking. Most well loved are Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2.0 and CS, Microsoft Picture It!, Lumapix, and JASC’s Paint Shop Pro. They are all effective for manipulating designs. The features that scrappers will appreciate include cropping photos, replacing backgrounds and colors, adding text, and inserting borders and graphics.
The programs we’ve mentioned weren’t made for scrapbooking, but they offer many features scrapbookers will find useful. It’s simple to isolate and “cut out” specific images from a photo. You can apply color schemes to your designs. Cropping photos and trimming page elements is simple and quick, and the programs allow you to make your own design elements.
The major obstacle to applying these high-end programs to scrapbooking is in learning how to use the software. For people who haven’t used graphics programs, there can be a steep learning curve, and becoming adept may take some time. They’re expensive too. You can expect to pay several hundred dollars for one of these software packages.
Once you are familiar with the programs, though, using the software for other projects is fascinating and fun. Their fantastic value for scrapbooking lies in their versatility. You’re only limited by your imagination in what you can make to make a super scrapbook. You can blend your own colors, make your own borders, and add texture digitally. These programs offer a variety of virtual textures: marble, canvass, cobblestone, leather, silk, and a range of natural color-texture combinations.
Simpler programs dedicated to scrapbooking are also available. They include Hallmark, CK, Scrapbook Studio, and Scrapbook Assistants. Designed specifically for digital scrapbooking, they’re simpler and quicker to learn and much less expensive. But, they are not as flexible as the high-end programs, and your options can be limited to a prescribed set of colors, pre-set page settings, and canned layouts. But they do make the job simple, and you won’t spend weeks to months trying to figure out how they work.
An in-between solution might be a program like Microsoft Digital Image Pro. Less expensive than Adobe PhotoShop, it’s simpler to learn and has more features than the digital scrapbooking programs.
If you’re not sure whether you want to try digital scrapbooking, you can try it out by downloading free digital scrapbooking programs from the Internet. Be aware, though, that these programs may not be as effective as those you buy. That’s because free downloads are often used as product samples, and not all menu features are turned on in the free trial offers and downloads. They will give you a sense of what the software can do, and trying out free digital scrapbooking software may help you make your choice.
Most programs come with tutorials and help features that teach you how to do major tasks. The step-by-step instructions allow you to explore features and sharpen techniques as you learn the software. You can also probably get online help through blogs and forums run by scrapbooking websites.
