Digital Scrapbooking Software

Digital Scrapbooking Software: Preserving Memories Without Hassles and Extra Expenses

There was a time when taking pictures and collecting them can really put a big hole into your pocket. Aside from the initial photo taking, there would be the hassle of choosing where they will be developed so that you will get the perfect photo quality. After that, you still need to buy the things you need to make a scrapbook. Sometime later on, you will finally see the end result with only a few dollars left in your pocket.

That was before. With the creativity of human mind along with technology, people can use digital tools and equipments to save on the effort and resources needed to have those photos stand the test of time.

People can now say goodbye to films and albums that are only left in one dark corner of the house. Photos can now be saved in computers complete with scrapbooks that you can add words and messages into.

The need of digital photos and scrap booking arose from the need of people to take more and more pictures of themselves, their families and friends to look into some years from now. The need to share them with other people is also another reason.

The traditional way of sending pictures through mail can be a great waste of time. Besides that, you are never certain if the photos will arrive on time and in proper condition.

The Internet has brought about the modern way of sending photos without you leaving the comfort of your own home. All you need to do is compile them into a scrapbook file and share them with people in any part of the world. Before you know it, your photos will be seen by your loved ones wherever they may be.

With all these capabilities, the only thing that is required of people is to be creative on how they are presenting their photos. Digital scrap booking is the solution.

It is said that when digital scrap booking was introduced, its market already reached up to millions. Just imagine the number of people wanting to have their photos stored and shared to others and you will be able to figure out why they embraced this technology easily.

This has become the answer to keeping photos intact and in good condition so you can always look back at the happy times whenever you find yourself lonely and out of contact with the persons that you love.

This is also the solution to eliminating the need to have an expert do the work for you. You may find yourself out of idea on how best to present your picture and is just wasting your time staring at them laid out in front of you.

Have you also ever felt frustrated when you cannot seem to get the proper shade of color or the perfect background when you took your picture? With digital capabilities, you will be able to do that with just a click of your mouse. All you need to know are what functions to use and how to better enhance the quality of your photos using the software available.

Digital scrap booking will let you have the designs and styles you need and make it look like the real thing. The only advantage is that you need not visit every bookstore of stationery and shop around just to get the right materials. These things are already built-in in the software of your choice.

You can start by looking into sample of scrapbooks that are available in every software package. Once you have an idea on how to make your own, you can make use of your creativity to make one that suits your personality and style. You do not need to cut out or choose lettering styles. You can do that with the drag on your mouse.

If you want to take your creative juices into another level, you can also do slide shows and turn your pictures into screen savers. With the Internet at your disposal, you can look up tips and techniques to use with your digital scrapbook. There are articles and advices you can read online on how to perfect that scrapbook.

You can also take an online tutorial from the experts who can help you with layouts and designs. You do not have to have that talent within you. Your creativity is enough to make you a scrap book that your family and friends will love and will want to see some more of.

Check out my other guide on : Accordian Album for Scrapbooking and Beginner Scrapbooking

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Digital Scrapbooking

Digital Scrapbooking: Is it for you?

The digital artwork is making its way into the mainstream; so as the digital scrapbook. For sure, we have certain understanding about digital art, but what about digital scrapbook? Is it the same with digital art?

The two are both similar and different in many ways but we are not here to discuss deeply their differences and similarities. We are here to focus on the digital scrapbooking as an alternative to the traditional scrapbook making.

Traditional scrapbooks are make by hand with several materials such as papers, pens, letter cut outs, adhesives, and other embellishments you can think of. The main principle is; to create a wonderfully decorated page that would give better meaning on the message you want to address. Digital scrapbooking works on the same principle too. You create unique page with decorations to enhance the meaning of the massage you want to address.

What sets the two apart is the method of achieving this principle. As mentioned, traditional scrapbooking uses material such as papers, pens, letter cut outs, adhesives, and other embellishments. Digital scrapbooking on the other hand uses computer graphics that replaces these traditional materials. You may say it is harder to work on the page design on the computer than on the actual page (traditional scrapbook). But, to be honest, it is almost the same.

Take the following for example:

The traditional scrapbook will work on a background or layout (sometimes called a template), pictures, texts, and embellishments. The process goes like this: you place the pictures on the background, place some embellishments of your type, and write some texts.

The digital scrapbook will work on software with all the available digital embellishments and texts. You have scanned pictures to be placed on a chosen background. Put some texts and add more design. Then, with some more editing on the colors and borders, you have created a scrapbook page.

(Speaking of software. There are several software that would let you create digital scrapbooks. These are Microsoft® Digital Image Pro, Photoshop® Elements or Adobe® Photoshop®, Ulead PhotoImpact®, or Jasc Paint Shop Pro®, to name a few.)

Oftentimes, it is much easier to create a digital scrapbook than a traditional one. This is because software that lets you create digital scrapbook with ready to use templates for texts and backgrounds, not to mention the editing tools you need. These features make it easier to create one unique page. Downloadable templates are readily available over the internet to widen up your choices on text, embellishments, and background. This is unlike traditional scrapbook that every thing is yours to make; from the background to the cutting of the decoration.

To further illustrate how does a digital page is created, here are the steps to follow:

·  Create a new image from a blank canvas

·  Define the size of the page you will use.

·  Enter the settings you want to adapt.

·  Add the photo

Photos determine the color scheme of the layout, therefore, you may want to see first what picture will you going to use before determining the mat of the canvas.

To add a photo, you must first save one on a file. You can either scan pictures or take them from your digital cameras.

·  Create the background

Now that you have a determined canvas and photo, it is time for you to select your background. Here, the choices are endless. You can download images from the internet or use your photos to be the background itself. You can edit the texture of the background to match the theme you want to achieve.

·  Create the photo mat

Photo mats let the background and the photo meet on a certain point.

·  Add the text and embellishments

Ready made texts and embellishments are one good feature of digital scrapbooking software. This helps you to put important touches fast and easy.

·  Apply some finishing touches

Final editing is as important as placing everything in order. Make use of built in features such as shadows, emboss, effects, and others. This would help your page look more attractive as it highlights whatever you want to be highlighted.

Also read my other guide on : Accordian Album For Scrapbooking

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Beginner Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking for Beginners
You may come across with various definitions of what a scrapbook is. And you may even have set one for yourself. But you see, of all those meanings associated with scrapbooks, there will always be one thing central to it- keeping memories.

Just like photos, scrapbooks are keepers of precious moments that you would always want to return back to. The moments that you have captured in photos and the moments of your creativity, deeply embedded in every page, note, captions and journals in your scrapbook.

One day, you'll take a look at the scrapbooks you have created and they will deliver you back in time.

Not all of us are avid scrapbookers. Many may not even have tried starting one. However, we all have an idea of how to preserve our past. Well, scrapbooking is like that, only you would have to add up some creativity and art concepts into it.

The hardest junction might be to start from scratch. Scrapbooking may look simple for some yet the hours and the ideas you have to invest on them are so enormous that many find themselves initially frustrated. Or possibly, on wits end before an idea crops up.

We have prepared some guidelines in here that you may modify and apply in your own experiences. Basically, this is just a collection of ideas that will help shed light on the thoughts bugging in your mind.

Somehow you have to know your own style.

Shine up with your personality. After all, it will show in your craft. If you are not as sure with what truly is your preference when making the design or the layout of your scrapbook, it is best that you analyze your self first. Know your personal tastes and refrain from following the hypes and fads as presented in the scrapbooking industry. This way, you will more likely to produced original and personal ideas that will work best in your own ways.

Sometimes, we have to find outlets for our personalities to show. Some people do writing stuffs, some delve into less serious practices. Scrapbooking though may fill the gaps between the two.

If it is really that difficult to produce an original idea, you can forgive yourself by mimicking other scrapper's works.

Many find great uses in other people' s designs. Sometimes, they even bring out the best from adopting a concept into their own. This technique is called scraplifting.

Other people choose not to follow this concept. However for beginners it is always easier to follow those that worked for many. Somehow, along the way they will find their own methods of doing things.

As a beginner, it won't harm if you check some great works. Then modify these using your own materials, photos and touches. And once a good inspiration breaks out, the scrapbooker may find herself immersed in the confidence of doing things in her own way.

Create your own mood board.

Mood boards are commonly used in the fashion industry as testing grounds for new ideas. These are like boards wherein cutouts, drafts of designs and fabric swatches are portrayed to provide initial impressions of the new trend. In fact, anything that will help the viewer's see the direction and concepts of the designers are placed on the mood board.

By making use of mood boards, a scrapper may easily find her style. Placing concepts into more tangible mediums will construct foundations for your layouts and intentions.

Don't be too critical in this process. While flipping through magazines, you need not know why a picture or an image attracts you. If it produces positive reaction then go and tear it out. This is one good test to determine your style.

Second, you would want to check on color combinations. For some of us, we have already set definite grounds on what our favorite color is what we may most likely not use. Using a single group of shades is good if you can manipulate and mix them into varying combinations.

However, most people find it hard to detract themselves from a single concept. It won't be bad if you will experiment on some other hues. When inspiration turns bad and there seem to be no color available for you, look at the butterflies for inspiration.

Also read my other guide on : Scrapbooking Supplies

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Accordian Album For Scrapbooking

Give it up to an Accordion Album for Scrapbooking

Each one of you has a set of good and bad memories. Usually those good memories paint smiles on your faces while the bad ones sadden your hearts. Whichever kind of memory it is, these things occur in your life when you least expect them.

Keeping pictures of whatever event in your life with whoever the persona is with you is one way of keeping those memories alive. Most people love to take pictures during field trips, holidays, vacations, birthdays, graduations, weddings, and many other occasions. With these photos, the memory is kept to be lingering in the minds of those who get to take a glimpse of those. But would you rather let your photos lie still in plain and traditionally-looking photo albums? Don’t you want to spice them up? Why not work on scrapbooks?

You need not be an expert photographer or an experienced artist to create scrapbooks. All you need is the concept of the design and layout for the scrapbook plus of course the photos which you want to include.

Have you ever heard of the term accordion albums? You may have encountered these things or you likely keep one in your bedroom. An accordion album is not that standard photo album size. It is smaller. Accordion albums are also best for keeping alive those memories of your loved ones. Love relationship accordion albums are the most common of all. As lovers, you have certainly spent several good times together and you would want such memory to live on forever. In this way, creating an accordion album for scrapbooking will work out just perfect!

The number of photos to be included in the scrapbook determines the size and layout to be employed in your accordion album for scrapbooking. To keep the memories more alive, you can make use of poems, quotes, love songs, or simple statements expressing your love to the person as captions for the photos. In this way, the intimate feeling will be manifested in your work of art.

When writing down the journal, you can recall some funny or memorable incidents about the photo in order to make the caption more expressive and alive. The colors will also have to play a great role in the journal. Softer colors such as cream and blue or silver and gold are mostly used. These colors make the pages of the scrapbook more attractive and lively.

Worthy Topics for the Accordion Album

Among the topics which you can employ for your accordion album include the “Ten Things I Love about You” or “The History of Our Relationship”. Whichever more personal topic you would want to employ can be as long as it will make an intimate impression on your scrapbook.

More so, the accordion album for scrapbooking may also serve as a memorabilia of the items such as cards, love letters, restaurant menu dined at, concerts attended, dried flowers, and many other things which both of you have given for each other. You may likewise have a question and answer portion that both of you will answer. The questions may revolve around your favorite food, pet peeves, traditions, future goals, favorite pastimes, and the things which you mostly agree and disagree on.

The Importance of the Accordion Album for Scrapbooking

The accordion album for scrapbooking is one quick and easy way of recording special memories that you and your lover share. Doing it entails a lot of fun too. You can even laugh by yourself as you remember particular incidents associated with the pictures. As you show it to your partner, rest assured that he or she would also be very happy with your output.

Some Valuable Steps to Follow

Before finally starting with the scrapbooking, first get all the pictures that you will include in the craft. Sort them out according to events and according to chronology. Before pasting the photos, make sure that you’ve already conceptualized the sequence of those as they will appear in the pages. Once in a while, put in artistic embellishments to the pages. Never fail to include the captions too. Do this all throughout the pages of the scrapbook. By carefully following the ins and outs of the steps, you are on your way to a desirable accordion album for scrapbooking!

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Ideas for Scrapbooking Pages

Some Ideas for Scrapbooking Pages

Finding ideas to apply to your scrapbooking can be such a big pain. You are faced with the prospect of creating a masterpiece, yet you don’t really know how to begin. Here are some suggestions for you to try out:

1) Color – The simplest idea for a scrapbooking page should be a color. Basing your scrapbook pages on a single color though, can be quite complex if you want it to be. There are shades to experiments with. By trying on different shades of a color, you can have variety and yet stick with the same scrapbooking idea.

Another fun scrapbooking page idea that involves colors has you researching their different interpretations. By using colors this way, you can actually have a message that means something special to you.

2) Literature – Think of your favorite piece of literature and base your scrapbook on that. Taking inspiration from books or a poem is a really good scrapbooking idea. You see, authors sometimes picture their characters and stories so vividly, that you can visualize them in your mind. By placing these images on paper, you can actually share with people something that so inspired you.

Basing your scrapbook on a piece of literature can be pretty deep for some people to take. You may have to do a bit of explaining before someone gets the message of the scrapbook. In doing so, you get to show a part of your soul to the readers. It may also inspire people to take up reading.

3) Characters –Characters abound in the world that people can take inspiration from. In using characters, you have two options:

A. Fiction – this idea for scrapbooking pages involves you taking a fictional character and using that character as an inspiration for your scrapbooking page. Contrary to what most people think, fictional characters are actually harder to research on than actual, living characters.

One reason is the fact that different people have different interpretations of them. Take Batman, for example. In the sixties, the TV series portrayed him as this campy superhero who wears grey and blue spandex. In the 1989 movie, he’s a bit more brooding, and wears protective armor. In the movie “Batman and Robin” he is portrayed as this not so brooding, talkative character who wears a rubber suit with nipples. See how different people’s perceptions of a fictional character can be?

One advantage to this, though, is the fact that you can have more freedom with this idea for a scrapbooking page. You see, not many people will question your interpretation of a fictional character.
B. Non-fiction – In this idea for a scrapbooking page, you take your inspiration from a real person. It doesn’t really matter if they are alive or dead. However, remember that people change all the time. Just take a look at Britney Spears and you’ll probably realize the meaning of this statement.

By using real persons as your inspiration, you are actually offered a whole lot of detail on their lives. However, you won’t really have the same freedom as when you are trying to do a fictional character.

4) Activities – Try getting an idea for scrapbooking pages from your favorite activity. Most guys would choose sports and stuff, and nothing’s wrong with that. However, you may want to try being different and think outside the box. Base your scrapbook on an interest which no one can really guess. In doing this, you’ll get to have additional fun by having people guess the connection of the page to the activity.

Sometimes, people tend to categorize us through our activities. However, you might want to prove to others your true depth by showing in your scrapbook that a certain activity foes not define the “whole” you.

You might want to show, using your scrapbook that even though you enjoy a particular activity, it is only a minor part of your existence and that you have a deeper facet to your personality than being a computer whiz, basketball jock and other stereotypical labels.

There you go: those are just some ideas for scrapbooking pages you might think about trying out. By trying out different things before you actually use them, you can actually see if those ideas for scrapbooking pages fit your personality.

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Great Scrapbooking Supplies for Starters

You have seen several of your friends’ scrapbooks. You have also developed a growing interest to make one of your own. You finally decide to make some moves and go to the scrapbooking shop and grab some supplies. But once you enter the shop and see what is in store for you, you found yourself totally lost with hundreds of items to choose from. The same feeling of being lost also happens to other starters like you, believe it or not. Surely, you don’t want to end up picking up some items you just thought you might need but you really do not. You want to have specific list of scrapbooking supplies you can use.

To help you out on this, here are some of the scrapbooking supplies must haves to start you with your scrapbook making:

Album – When selecting an album, consider the size and the theme you want to achieve. A definite size would help you plan the overall look of your scrapbook while the theme would help you choose the style of album you need. Try to find a large album if you want a good space for elaborate decoration; of course, this would depend on the theme you want to adopt. A small album is also okay if you prefer a manageable space. Sometimes, scrapbook enthusiasts have small and large ones but as a beginner, you may want to start on one size and improve from there.

Album refill – You may want to include album page refills the moment you buy your album. This is because album refills do not have standard sizes and you may not see refill that matches the size of your album in the future. Grab some packs so that you would not have to worry about finding one when you need them. Make sure also that when you buy an album, refills are available. Pick refills from the same album manufacturer you have bought.

Adhesive – There are several types of adhesive. There are also several brands of adhesives you can buy. Pick one or two that would match the exact need of your scrapbook. Glue Dots, Mod Podge, Triple Thick, EZ, 3D Dots, and Xyron are some of the brands you might want to pick.

A Pair of scissors – It is always advisable if you have a separate scissors for your scrapbook. This will let you keep it as sharp as possible. Your mom does not want you to use the kitchen scissors is another good reason why you should have your own pair of scissors exclusively for your scrapbook.

Papers – Different kinds of papers would let you have a beautiful scrapbook. But if you select one, make sure that the colors you pick match your chosen theme. You may want to go to scrapbooking shop and get different types of paper sold in sheets. This will give the pages of your scrapbook some variations.

Journal pens – If you buy journal pens, consider the permanent marking, fine tips, and acid-free ones. Acid-free pen is a must because it will keep the album clean and free from chemical reaction that would cause the pictures and the album to deteriorate.

Additional supplies :

Acrylic paint – For more vibrant look of the pages of your scrapbook, colored pens and papers may not be enough. You may want to add some acrylic paint on your shopping. You can buy them in batches or individually.

Rubber stamps – Rubber stamps could add more color and style to your scrapbook. Rubber stamps come on different shapes, sizes, and styles. Choose some that would enhance the look of your scrapbook.

Rub-Ons – To free yourself from cutting or writing texts on to your scrapbook, rub-ons are nice alternatives.

Die Cut Machine – To have a perfect cut every time you make some texts, purchase a die cut machine.

Scrapbooking kit – a clean and exclusive compartment of all your scrapbooking supplies is a must. Thus, you may want to have your own scrapbooking kit.

These are some of the things you could have as you start your own scrapbook. Make sure you have the primary things before buying other supplies that are more expensive.

Gook luck and happy scrapbooking!

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