I started working on my 2007 scrapbook on February 1. Now it’s mid-April, and I’m one layout away from finishing it. This never would’ve happened when I was “manually” scrapbooking. For me, digital scrapbooking is worlds faster than paper scrapbooking. Overall, I’m happier with my pages, too — it’s easier to undo my mistakes on the computer!

Getting started
You’ll design your scrapbook using photo editing software such as Photoshop Elements. If your Photoshop skills need a boost, Jessica Sprague and the Digital Scrapbook Place have excellent tutorials — including one for “Creating Your First Layout“!

Embellishments
There are great, free resources available for digital scrapbooking. My favorite source for decorative elements is Shabby Princess. There are several “kits” there that include digital papers, photo overlays, “stickers,” alphabets and more.

Several sites also sell kits and individual pieces. I don’t buy much to do my scrapbooks, but if I’ve seen several things at Two Peas in a Bucket, Scrapbook Graphics, The Shabby Shoppe and Designer Digitals that I’d like to have.

Printing
One thing I was worried about when I started scrapbooking on the computer was whether or not I’d be able to print my pages. Some people print their pages at home and put them in a traditional album, while others just print some elements for “hybrid scrapbooking.”

My preferred route is to have the whole shebang printed and bound. Lots of photo processing sites now offer photo books; just make sure you know what the page dimensions are before you get started, then upload your layouts and use them as full-page photos in the book. I’ve printed two books so far. I used Photoworks for the first and Blurb for my most recent project, and I was happy with both. The Blurb books include a dust cover, which makes the book look pretty darn fancy. I’m using them again for the 2007 book.

My digital conversion has left me with a surplus of paper and stickers, but that’s OK. That just means Poppy has a packed arts & crafts kit!

Get more handy-dandy tips at Works-for-Me Wednesday!

One of the downsides to digital scrapbooking has been the inability to use my own handwriting in the journaling. But today I read about Fontifier, which turns your handwriting into a font for your computer! It costs $9 — not terribly expensive.

I don’t have a dedicated space for scrapbooking. That means I have to pull out all the equipment then work on the pages and then put it all away again before the kids wake up from their naps.

I haven’t done any on-paper scrapbooking in a long while.

Digital scrapbooking is another thing altogether. All I have to do is open the computer, fire up the external hard drive and open Photoshop, and I can start a layout. Which is what I did repeatedly this weekend.

Here’s our 2007 scrapbook thus far. I started working on it Friday evening.