What made you go from traditional scrapbooking to digital?

[maslex]

I have to confess. I'm addicted to Pinterest. Have been for a year and a half now. Needless to say, I have quite a few scrapbooking layouts that I have pinned for future reference and ideas.

The thing that I have noticed is that I find myself drawn to the digital pages more than the traditional pages. I just like the overall look of it. The colors, embellishments, journaling, layouts, etc. And no matter how I try, I can never get my traditional paper scrapbook pages to look like that. LOL


There have been times that I've THOUGHT of switching over to digital but it just scares me. Well not scare, but I wouldn't even know where to start and plus I have a TON of paper, a ton of embellishments, the Cricut, a bunch of cartridges, tools, etc. Plus, I enjoy looking through an actual album (in my hands) instead of just looking at them online. I wouldn't even know where to print out 12x12 pages or even how to do it.


I'm assuming creating a digital page is a easier and quicker than doing it with paper, right? So, are you someone who worked with all the great papers & embellishments and made the big switch to digital? How & why did you make the switch? Was it an easy decision? What did you do with all your "traditional scrapbooking stuff"?

[Mary_Pat419]

I've been paper scrapping since 1996 and started digi scrapping a few years back before the stamp/scrapping companies had digital programs so I cannot speak to those programs. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) 10. Frankly I feel it takes just as long to scrap with paper as with digital. I do both styles of scrapbooking ~ no need to decide between one or the other :-). How I do a page depends on my mood; I think I tend to do paper more than digi because being on the computer for long periods strain my eyes and I end up with double vision; working with paper tends to relax me more. As for printing, I have an Epson R1800 printer so I can print at home but I usually get a 12x12 printed at Costco and slide them into my album (I use the 'D' ring albums from Stampin' Up!); you can also order from on-line sites. I have digi & paper pages mixed in the same album; I don't scrap chronologically but I do store chronologically. However, the advantage of digi is you can print out as many pages as you need, different size pages (create a hybrid page), and you can put them in photo books of all sizes.

I think many of the companies you can start with a trial version. Adobe has a learning curve but there are tutorials on-line however once you get the hang of it you have more options with that program. Check out the SCS Digital Scrapbook area, these women are very helpful and know a lot more than I do! Happy Scrapping!

Digital Scrapbooking - Splitcoaststampers

[scrappyoz]

I've been a paper scrapbooker for around 10 years, but I've done a few digital photobooks to share with family who don't live in my town. It's easier to send a digital photobook to them rather than try to share traditional layouts.

I must admit that I do resist digital scrapbooking even though my job is in IT. For me, having spent all day working on the computer it makes a lovely change to come home and do traditional paper & photo scrapbooking. However, I do also think that digital scrapbooking does have it's place for sharing with family & friends who don't live nearby and is also a huge space saver as traditional albums are bulky to store.

[cat_woman]

I've been digi scrapping for almost 10 years and paper scrapping for about 7 or 8. I think it takes just as long to do either, but what really helps get a digi page done quickly are templates. There are some absolutely beautiful templates out there and many of them are free. I've also started designing scrapbooking kits again and have my own digi scrapping shop. What I like is that if I really like a digi layout I can make it into a paper layout, and vice versa. Here is a digi layout I made for a contest, and then I made it also as an 8x8 paper layout. I only have a regular printer, but saving for a wide format so I can print my digi supplies and make 12x12 layouts with them or print out my digital ones if I want.

digi layout:



and here's the paper version:



What does help is having a cutting machine that you can cut your own designs (so that would rule out the cricut). I used my Craft Robo to cut all the embellishments and the doily mats.

Now that I'm designing my own scrapbooking supplies, I've only had time to make digital layouts, but I plan on making a lot more paper & hybrid projects with them once I get my new cutter (next week) and get more ink for my printer.

If you'd like see some digital layouts made with templates, I have a few in my gallery here: Splitcoaststampers Member Galleries - cat_woman - Handmade Cards & Crafts (these are made with the digital scrapbooking kits I design as well). I don't have very many paper layouts in my gallery here. I tend to put those up on a Canadian board I'm a member of.

There are tons of websites that have tutorials to get you started. When I was first starting out, the two places that I found helpful were Scrapbook Bytes and Digital Scrapbook Place. They are still around and have a lot of tutorials. I would love to get my website to the point where I can offer a lot of resources, but it takes time. I'll get there soon...

[3Fries]

Like Mary Pat I still do both, but in all honesty do far more digital. I too have lots of paper and embellishments, though I have recently downsized a lot of my paper stuff knowing that I was not going to use it.

I create in My Digital Studio, and I like being able to use my SU images in any size or color I want. There were often stamps I wanted to use for scrapbooking that were really too small for what I wanted. Now I can use them any way I want. I also love to journal or embellish directly on photos and that is so easy and fun with digital. I think one of the biggest benefits to digital is being able to use many varieties of photo size easily within my flow of creativity. I don't have to plan ahead which photos I want to use, or what size they will be. I choose a layout and create instantly with my digital photos - 6x6 photo? No problem. 5x7? No problem. Oh, 4x6 is better there, no problem.

I still play with ink, stamps and paper and the actual embellishments, but mostly with cards now. This summer and fall I plan to dabble with some hybrid pages just for fun. I also got an electronic cutter recently, and I want to fiddle with that and scrapbooking as well.

Like Mary Pat, I also use D Ring albums and put all of my pages - digital or traditional -in them. I have an Epson 1430 wide format printer that I've been using this past year, but before that I always just printed about 40 pages all at once at the photo lab. I definitely still like my pages to be in albums.

[Ambelleina]

I'm actually going in reverse: I started digi scrapping several years ago as my first foray into scrapping and I'm NOW moving towards traidtional paper scrapping. Weird, huh? I started digi scrapping as a way to "do something" with the ridiculous amount of photos I had from college (I took, on average, around 30-50 photos A DAY when I lived on campus!) that didn't have to include having all those photos printed. Also, I was in college and I needed something that was WAY more inexpensive that paper scrapping.

I somehow stumbled across it one day and once I found a community I loved, it became a big part of my life. I actually just got back from visiting one of my closest friends; she lives in Wisconsin and I met her a few years back through my digi scrapping community! The sense of community is awesome in the digi scrapping world, whereas none of my friends "in real life" scrapbook or even craft.

I still digitally scrap regularly as I now work for that community I discovered some years ago. It's so fun and it's my main creative outlet since all my photos are digital in the first place. BUT now I'm craving more physical memory keeping, so I'm starting with SMASHing and I just joined a church scrapbooking group.

I am definitely one of those gals who has been crafty and creative my entire life, so I don't see digital and traditional scrapping as exclusive; they both take real skill, talent, time and they're both awesome!