Getting Started with Digital Scrapbooking

The other day I went to Michaels in search of some craftiness for the kids at church to make for their mothers.  I had so much trouble figuring out what to buy, and I was shell-shocked by the prices, and the fact that once a pretty paper was used up, it was used up for good.  Also, where would I be if I couldn't resize or recolor my papers and elements, so that I could use the same kit over and over again without anyone noticing?  I am definitely a digital girl who doesn't understand much about the paper scrapbooking world.  After taking a peep down the scrapbooking aisles, looking at and touching all of the pretty papers and elements, I knew more than ever that I should stick to digital for my own sanity.  I just can't imagine finding a trinket that I love and only being able to use it once.  That or pay $2 again.  I'm too cheap, and I'm definitely afraid of the permanence of scissors and glue because I make mistakes all of the time (that because I'm cheap too and don't want to waste anything).

So I spend a lot of my time sharing my love for digital scrapbooking, and since my pages have been getting better (or at least the pictures of my babe are getting cuter), I've had a lot of people asking about it as of late, so here are the basics to getting started with digital scrapbooking:

First step:  Find your program!

The main feature that you need in a program for digital scrapbooking is a graphics program that works with layers.  Layers make it so that you can move your elements and papers individually and move them in front and in back of each other, just like you would with the physical items.

Photoshop seems to be the most popular program.  I use Photoshop Elements v.6.  You can download a free trial of their latest version here.  Photoshop Elements is the less-expensive and easier to use version of Photoshop.  Many people will never feel the need for anything more, and for the average digital scrapbooker, PSE is the way to go.  Also, you can frequently find it on Amazon.com for around $60 or even less, just keep an eye out.

When I started I used an open-source program called Paint.NET.  It does the job, and got me hooked into digital scrapbooking, but it's definitely not as sophisticated as PSE and runs a lot slower.  I've heard that Gimp is really good, and it's a free download as well.

Second step:  Get some digital products. 

Another cool thing about digital scrapbooking is that many artists offer freebies.  They do this so that you can sample their work, and hopefully fall in love with it so you buy from them.  There are a LOT of bad freebies out there, so don't feel bad deleting something if you don't think you will use it.  Most likely you won't (I sure haven't), and if you do, you'll probably remember where you found it in the first place.  Digital scrapbooking has come a LONG way from its beginning.  Everything used to look digital.  Now a lot of papers and elements are the real elements scanned in, so they look real.  In my opinion, the best pages look like they could be real.

Some good freebies can be found at:
Peppermint Creative (she posts a new one every couple of months or so.  I love her work!)
GG Digital Designs (she posts one about every month.)
Shabby Princess (she posts one whenever she feels like it.  Her latest is really cute!)
Kevin and Amanda have free handwriting fonts (and others) to add a bit of a personal touch to your layouts.

Also my friend Megan was designing for almost a year and a half, and you can find some freebies on her blog.  She is the one who introduced me to digi scrap, and her blog is an amazing resource for all things digi.

Third step:  Start scrapping!

Get to know your move and transform tools and your layers palette, and you'll pretty much be there.  Then you just need to learn drop shadows and you've got the basics.  Then you can go on to learning clipping masks, recoloring,

Open a new page that is 12"x12" at 300 dpi (or ppi), which is the same as 3600x3600 pixels.  You want the 300 ppi resolution so that when you print it'll still be good quality.  I've never printed a 12"x12" book, but it's really easy to reduce your layouts for printing without losing quality (enlarging will reduce the quality).

Good luck and happy scrapping!  Always feel free to ask me any questions!

Zip Files

Hopefully on Saturday you picked up that free kit from DST. (If not, it's still available. I checked!) It is a collab kit from the designers at Scrap Matters, which means that they all made up some parts to make up the whole kit. Collabs (short for collaborations) are a great way to see how you like a lot of designers for a low price.

The link I sent you to had you download the DST Insider (which is a free monthly magazine they put out), and a Coupon Catalog for the iNSD sales. Neither of those are the free kit though! Did you check out the download files within the PDFs? There were 6 downloads in each, for a total of 12.

Parts 1-6: DST Insider Page 31
Parts 7-12: iNSD Coupon Catalog Page 6

The easiest way to download your files is to create a Scrapbooking folder somewhere on your computer (I put mine on my desktop), and then to have sub-folders for stores/designers. Downloading it in an organized manner makes it a lot easier to find what you want later, and it's a lot easier to credit the supplies you use (which is required if you want to post your pages online). I saved all of my files in my DST folder (although since it's a Scrap Matters Collab it would fit there as well).

Understanding how to use Zipped Files:

A Zipped file (also known as a compressed file) will have an icon like this:

Compressed files are used to package up files in a way that they are smaller and easier to download.  However, using your digital files when they are within a compressed folder isn't very nice, so luckily Windows has a built-in unzip tool.  Simply right click on your zip file and choose Extract All...

A box will pop up asking you where you want the extracted files to go.  I generally save my compressed files in the folder that I want them to go, so I simply delete the generic file name that they give me.  This time I wanted to create a new folder to keep all of the collab together, so I simply replaced the last string of the breakdown with "Lifes Little Surprises".

Once you've unzipped a couple of files and learned how they work, you will find a system that works for you.  Also, Windows helps you along by not letting you copy over files or folder, but allows you to merge them together, meaning it won't copy redundant files, but will add the new ones to the folders associated.

Once I'm done extracting all of the files, I then delete the zip files.  Zip files are more liable to corruption because of the mumbo jumbo that goes on during compression, and because scrap files are mostly pictures, they don't get very compressed anyway.

I hope this helped!  Let me know if I missed anything or if you have any questions!

iNSD

Saturday is {inter}National Scrapbooking Day.  Do you know what that means?  Amazing sales, tons of freebies, and games with prizes all weekend long!  I'll try to compile a list and keep updating it for you so that you know of the places that at least I'd like to go.  If you see anything that should be added, please link me up!  In alphabetical order:

Digi Shop Talk - TONS of events in the forums sponsored by all kinds of designers, including this HUGE free kit: 

 You will have to download a couple of free PDF's to get the links.  This would be a great way to find someone new, and LOTS of freebies are posted.  They have a huge list of all of the sales going on, but I just wanted to list the ones that I've personally bought from before.

GG Digital Designs - 30% off her whole store, and her grab bag looks like it'd be amazing for mommas with boys.  Sale lasts through May 6.

The Lily Pad - Will be having tons of activities and sales going on throughout the weekend.  Check out their May BYOC Special too.  Check out their blog hop for freebies from all of the designers (you only have to actually friend 2 of them).

Peppermint Creative - Will have a huge create your own sale (by spending money you save more money).  Also there is an iNSD template challenge (aka free template AND a chance to win $5).

Scrap Orchard - They have a Farmer's Market where you can buy TONS of kits for only $1 (April 29-May 2), and if you check out their forum they will be having freebies and fun events all day long on Saturday (May 1).

Sweet Shoppe Designs - Check their blog for the big announcement about everything,  Basically 35% off everything, a free kit with a $10 purchase, some coupons, as well as some good tips to make iNSD pleasant for you (and the shoppes) on such a busy day for all of the servers.  They also have some really fun activities in their forum that earn you contest entries as well as points toward a future coupon if you do their monthly challenge portfolio.

And as always, my main go-to for scrapbooking is my good friend Megan Turnidge, who introduced me to digital scrapbooking.  She just stopped designing (totally disappointing, but I understand), but she's a great source for beautiful scrappy goodness.  Check out her blog to see what she bought.  She found more deals than I did at first glance.

I'll try to update this as I hear more.  Make sure and check out designer blogs and forums for lots of freebies, coupons, specials, contests, etc. 

Have fun!