Paper to Digital Scrapbooking

The Beginning

I started scrapbooking back in 1998. (I had a scrapbook back in the 80s, but it was different then.) Like many others at the time, I went to a few home parties & became hooked right away. Paper, stickers, photos cut into shapes - it was fun. I expanded my circle to include stamping & card making. Stamps, inks, vellum, brads - I started collecting supplies. The colors, the textures, I loved all of it. Soon, I had quite a supply of goodies to play with and kept amassing more. I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator to help others learn new techniques, create projects and collect supplies.

Collecting & Growing

I had a lot of stuff for scrapping & stamping. I went to day crops & scrapbooking weekends with friends, loading up my car with as much as I could fit. My craft area got bigger & my stuff found its way all around the house. By this time, I had created many books. These big 12x12 books filled with pictures & stories. I loved looking through them & sharing them with others, they were just so big to store. I also had a few 8.5x11 for the kids' individual books and some smaller, themed books. But, the 12x12 was the popular size for supplies, so I kept creating the albums. Plus, I could fit more pictures on the 12x12 page.

There were "rules" for scrapbooking back then. When I started with Creative Memories, I was only supposed to use CM products because they were "photo safe". With Stampin' Up!, I only used their products for my demonstrations. You were supposed to only use acid free, lignin free products on your pages to protect the photos for a lifetime. Work in chronological order. You must journal, you must mat your photos, use a title. Then, things went 3D & pages got bulky with metals, buttons, ribbons, and Jolees - oh, those Jolee stickers were awesome (ok, they still are!).  I got a Cricut & started cutting out my own die cuts & embellishments. The albums got so big, the seams were bursting & I couldn't close an album all the way.


Scrapbooking magazines provided the inspiration & ideas for layouts, embellishments and themes. I looked forward to my monthly dose of inspiration. I started noticing some pages used computer printed titles and photos with type on them. I dabbled in it a little, but felt like I was cheating by not using real scrapbooking supplies. Then, I saw pages that were done on the computer completely! Never would I do that, that's not "real" scrapbooking, I thought.



Changing to Digi-Scrapping

In 2011, I started looking at more digital pages. They looked like real pages that had 3D items on it. I decided to try it. I started with MyMemories Suite software - it was a free trial program. It had supplies already installed & a nice little shop that made it easy to download what I needed. I bought a book about digital scrapbooking & it included a CD of sample supplies. With a short learning curve, I was scrapping away pictures from 2010 quicky & easily. I could stop in the middle of a page, save it & come back later without having to clean up my mess.

supplies by Brittish Designs - Backyard Bliss

I was hooked on this new phase of scrapbooking, especially because of one word: Undo. With Undo, I could change my mind without losing a picture or that favorite piece of paper. In fact, I could use that favorite piece of paper over & over again if I wanted. I progressed to a trial download of Photoshop Elements and started learning it. Loved it, bought it. I learned more about shadows, effects, templates and more. There were so many benefits to digital scrapping, but I hated the thought of leaving my paper supplies behind. So, I used the supplies in my craft room for older pictures, card making & some other projects. I started letting the kids use more of my "good" stuff for their projects. But, the more I did on digital, the less I did in paper.

Supplies: Kellybell Designs - On the Frontier

The first digital album was finished and it was time to decide what to do with it. I could leave the pages on the computer, put it on a CD, print out the pages & put them in an album or have a book printed. I decided to back up the pages to a CD and upload it to Shutterfly to have a book printed. It came out great and not bulky at all. I realized that the 12x12 size may not be necessary. So, the next book I printed, a Disney album, was 8x8. Perfect! I could still fit a ton of pictures, decorated with embellishments & journaling and the book fit great on any shelf.

Supplies: Connie Prince - Rawr Collection

And Now

Recently, I have come to the point of deciding it was time to let much of my paper scrapping supplies go. I started out with purging the papers that I didn't really like and donated them. I put up some lots on ebay. Now, I am in full-force purge mode. I realized that if I want to go back & scrap my old pictures, I'll scan them into the computer. I have kept some supplies for the card making and for the kids' projects for home & school.

There are a lot of great designers and communities in the digital scrapbooking world. I've had the opportunity to do some marketing for an online store, participate in contests, online crops & games, and was a guest designer for Connie Prince Designs last year.  I have been learning how to create my own digital papers & embellishments, too, for my own pages and started selling some packs on SummerfallDesigns Etsy Shop .

Supplies: Connie Prince Designs - Winter Wonderland 

Digital scrapping makes it so easy to share pages with others. You can share pages with family & friends, make copies of books and post to galleries with just a few clicks. I'll be adding more pictures to the Gallery, so stop back & take a look. Feel free to share your pages, too!