Digital Scrapbooking


While I personally am more of a traditional and/or hybrid scrapbooker (meaning: old-fashioned cutting and pasting), digital scrapbooking can be a great solution when you:
- don't have a lot of time to sit down and scrapbook in the traditional sense,
- don't want to invest in lots of scrapbooking product (even the basics - cardstock, tools, adhesive - can add up quickly).
- don't have ready access to your 'regular' supplies (for instance because you are away from home), but you have your laptop on hand and still want to be creative.
- want to dabble with sprucing up your photos but don't quite know where to go or how to start.


Getting started
First things first: in order to even attempt any digital scrapbooking, you need the proper software.
There are several different programs available, all with their pros and cons, but Adobe Photoshop Elements seems to be the preferred program of many digi-scrappers: it's relatively cheap, offers all the features you'll need to get started and there are many tutorials available online, should you need them.
You can download the PSE10 free trial package here.

Digital scrapbooking products
The second thing you'll need are digital scrapbooking products. There are tons of freebies available online, you can find a nice selection of free templates/papers/kits at these websites:

Oscraps
Two Peas in a Bucket
DSF
Shabby Princess

Once you've downloaded the products that you like, it's worth spending a little time to organize them in such a way that you can easily access them. I prefer to break kits apart and store similar items together in their own folders (e.g. all patterned papers together, all solid papers together, all templates together etc.). At the same time, there are many scrappers who prefer to keep their kits together and/or store by theme ('birthday', 'travel', etc) - go with what works for you, there is no right or wrong here!

Photo-editing
So-called 'actions' can make you look like a seasoned photographer with just one mouse-click - I think they're awesome! I really love Pioneer Woman's free actions (click here for the 'regular' Photoshop version, and here for the Elements version), but there are more available online - just do a Google search and download the ones that appeal to you.

Tutorials
When you've downloaded all the necessary software to get started, you may feel yourself a bit lost on how to go about it exactly. But never fear, the internet is here! Pick a topic - any topic - and there will be a tutorial available to walk you through it. Do a Google search or check YouTube.
Note: most websites that offer digital products will often also offer tutorials.

When you're done
You've taken the plunge, downloaded the software, made your first page and now what?
Of course you'll want something tangible for your efforts: it's easy to print your pages at home, through a (online) developer or even create a custom album with your layouts.

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