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I'm recently divorced and have been in my new, teeny apartment for 3 1/2 months now. At the first of the month, I finally went back to the house and took all of the boxes and boxes of scrapbooking things from a storage closet and brought them here. They are stacked on my brick fireplace and I don't know what to do with it all. I went to Tulsa for the CK convention with a friend a couple of weeks ago and am all pumped to do some scrapbooking, but it occurred to me that I don't have room for albums anymore.
I could get my scrapbooking fix from card making, I guess. I really enjoy traditional scrapbooking, though. Very basic, but still very space consuming.
I bought a small bookcase I'm hoping will be large enough to hold some books. :P
If I were to go digital, which services are available? Which do you prefer? The only ones I know about are CM and SU. I'm sure there are more. Do you like the SU one? Compared to the CM one? If I try it, I'd like one easy to use, but with pretty stuff.
When I was going thru my divorce, I was in a 1-bedroom apt w/ my 2 kids. Thankfully, my sister gave me a tall (72"h x 30" w x 12" d) bookcase with some adjustable shelves, so my scrapbooks fit on 1 shelf and there was room for lots of other stuff. If you want to continue traditional or try hybrid (just to get your paper/embellie fix! LOL), maybe you could look for 1 or 2 tall bookcases or an armoire that could also serve double-duty as a room divider or screen. I'm glad you want to continue scrapbooking! It's been 2 years and I'm just now starting to get the urge to scrapbook again. I've been making cards for my paper fix and art therapy. ;D Since you enjoy traditional scrapping, have you thought about making pages or albums as gifts? That way, you'd be using up your supplies and not have to worry about more storage.
Sorry, I don't know anything about digiscrapping, although, I do know there are some free templates/quick pages available online, so you could try and see if you like scrapping that way.
I have made a few digital scrapbooks of our vacations. I love cutting and pasting too much to give up traditional scrapbooking, but I also didn't need a 10-inch thick album for each vacation in addition to my yearly family album. My bookshelves are at their limit!
I used the Creative Memories program and really liked it! It was easy to use and gave me enough control over changing paper color, shapes, etc. without giving me too many options to chose from. It wasn't cheap (not that traditional scrapbooking is either), but I felt the quality of the printing, paper and binding were well worth the cost. I love, love, love my *THIN* book that covers an entire vacation. (Oddly enough, my husband likes my traditional books better. I think he feels like he's getting his money's worth a little more with all the thickness! Ha!)
I have played around with some of the other programs, but just keep coming back to the Creative Memories program. I am about 99% of the way done with our trip to Yellowstone and I'm hoping with their bankruptcy restructuring that the quality doesn't change.
I'd be happy to answer questions about the CM program or take some pictures of the pages I've done if you are interested.
Thank you, both Tisha and Beth!
Tisha, I'm glad you're getting your mojo back, too! It's crazy how that can just disappear for awhile, huh? I'm hoping my urge to write comes back, too. I think it is, slowly. I'm just glad I have the urge to do ANYTHING creative at all.
Beth, that was a great recommendation for CM digital! The Close to my Heart one seems insanely expensive to me, but the CM one sounds reasonable. From what I understand, anyway. I watched a girl at a crop on her laptop a few years ago and it was pretty.
Beth, that was a great recommendation for CM digital! The Close to my Heart one seems insanely expensive to me, but the CM one sounds reasonable. From what I understand, anyway. I watched a girl at a crop on her laptop a few years ago and it was pretty.
The CM program is extremely easy to use, however, the company is currently going through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the program is no longer available for sale. The company is expected to come back in November in some form, but there is very little information right now about the future of CM - they don't even know what the new company name will be yet. If this new company comes out with a digital scrapbooking program, then I would trust that this is essentially the same as the current Storybook creator sold by the former CM.
If you can wait, then it is probably worth it to see if the new "CM" comes out with a new digital solution. If you need something immediate, then I would suggest you do some research into other software.
__________________ Elizabeth
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Hand over the chocolate, and no one will get hurt!
I have the SU My Digital Studio and just love it. I was hesitant at first to try it but tried the free trial and have been hooked since. I like being able to download anytime something special that I want to use. Every download is reasonable. Give the free trial a try and go from there. Bet you won't be disappointed. Happy Scrapping.
I have been using PSE for a few years. Photoshop Elements 12 by Adobe. There is a free download on the Adobe site. There is a small learning curve, but once you know the basics, you can take a years hiatus and still navigate your way around. There are tons of places to find free or nearly free digital supplies. Personally, I like Designer Digitals and Oscraps the best. The finished pages seem to better reflect the paper scrapping that I fell in love with originally.
Good Luck- I certainly understand the space issue. I wait now and print my pages in 11x11 books with Photobook America and wait until they offer coupons!
__________________ Valerie in SCN2/12-O14/10 J14/30M43/30A34/30M43/31F47/40J102/312014-293/365
you should try My Memories Suite V5! It was created for digital scrapbooking! I am holding a giveaway on my blog HERE or you can buy the software HERE Use code STMMMS27067 at checkout and save $10.00!!
No space for scrapbooks anymore! Digital?
