Wednesday, July 4, 2007
ACDSee Photo Manager to the rescue
After reading about the pros of ACDSee on 2Peas for digital scrapbook kit organization and realizing that I needed to do something about ever growing collection, I broke down and bought the ACDSee Photo Manager. Before I started, I had to figure out what collections I'm going to have. Of course, that's hard when you haven't ever tried organizing the stuff yet, so I found a few people's categories and put them in the program. I put them at a fairly detailed level and if I find I don't like it, it'll be easier to consolidate them into more broad categories than to go the other way. We'll see how it goes!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Why I Love Digital
One of my scrapbook inspirations is Becky Higgins (www.beckyhiggins.com). Her sketches and album/layout ideas have been so helpful in getting my creativity flowing to make some of the layouts that I've done so far. Anyway, she'd posted today a question about why people had gone digital. I'm including my comment below.
I've used Photoshop Elements for a few years to edit my photos, but it wasn't until the past year that I started dabbling in digital. I loved the idea of not having to clean up scraps and being able to just sit down and get started (or wrap up) in a minute or two, rather than 5 or 10 minutes. Having a baby last fall is what finally pushed me to give it a try and I LOVE it!!!
I either get the 12x12 layouts printed at scrapbookpictures.com or shrink the layouts to 8x8, depending on what I'm doing. I love that I can either print the layout and mix it in with existing traditional/hybrid layouts I've already done in a scrapbook album, or that I can order a book at one of the photo printing sites, like Shutterfly, and can make several copies for myself and family who live far away. The backup aspect is nice too.
I don't see myself making any more of my chronological pages traditionally, just theme albums and cards. I get a lot more done in the same amount of time, which is important when trying to keep up on my son's life. I'd been afraid before I tried it that you couldn't get the look of depth and texture, like some early "flat" layouts I'd seen done, but you can. It probably helps that I definitely am a "simple" scrapbooking--I love the cleaner look, with limited patterns and embellishments.
I've used Photoshop Elements for a few years to edit my photos, but it wasn't until the past year that I started dabbling in digital. I loved the idea of not having to clean up scraps and being able to just sit down and get started (or wrap up) in a minute or two, rather than 5 or 10 minutes. Having a baby last fall is what finally pushed me to give it a try and I LOVE it!!!
I either get the 12x12 layouts printed at scrapbookpictures.com or shrink the layouts to 8x8, depending on what I'm doing. I love that I can either print the layout and mix it in with existing traditional/hybrid layouts I've already done in a scrapbook album, or that I can order a book at one of the photo printing sites, like Shutterfly, and can make several copies for myself and family who live far away. The backup aspect is nice too.
I don't see myself making any more of my chronological pages traditionally, just theme albums and cards. I get a lot more done in the same amount of time, which is important when trying to keep up on my son's life. I'd been afraid before I tried it that you couldn't get the look of depth and texture, like some early "flat" layouts I'd seen done, but you can. It probably helps that I definitely am a "simple" scrapbooking--I love the cleaner look, with limited patterns and embellishments.
I'm SO bad about updating!
I realized that it's been almost two months since I updated this blog--oops!
I'm definitely more into digital scrapbooking than I was when I started. I've finished several pages, although I haven't figured out where to post them that I can share them yet. I just haven't been motivated enough yet to try it out--I'm sure it's a cinch to do. :)
I'll try to update more soon, but just wanted to show I haven't forgotten this blog!
I'm definitely more into digital scrapbooking than I was when I started. I've finished several pages, although I haven't figured out where to post them that I can share them yet. I just haven't been motivated enough yet to try it out--I'm sure it's a cinch to do. :)
I'll try to update more soon, but just wanted to show I haven't forgotten this blog!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
First post @ Blogger.com--how exciting!
I've had a personal blog on a different site for a couple years, but I feel guilty posting my ramblings about scrapbooking and photography there since I think I bore my non-scrapbooking friends. I'm not sure who I expect to read this blog besides probably my husband O.J. occasionally. Maybe as I slowly start posting at various forums online, I'll meet some people in the digital world who might want to check in and see what I'm up to sometimes. Who knows, but really, I'm creating this blog for me at this point to just put my thoughts down for my own reference.
I envision this as my creativity blog where I want to note things that inspire me, rant about things that failed to impress me, and "talk through" the creative ideas I have for my scrapbooking. I've recently made the leap into the digital scrapbooking world, and I love it. I've only had a couple layouts printed so far at scrapbookpictures.com, but I'm a definite convert. I don't plan to ever give up paper scrapbooking entirely because I have WAY too much stuff that I accumulated in the "shop and hoard" phase of the hobby for me to NOT paper scrapbook. :-)
When I was choosing my blog name, I wanted incorporate my newfound love for the digital side of scrapbooking and my desire to keep things simple in my designs. (I'm a huge fan of Becky Higgins and Cathy Zielske, especially her more recent 12 x 12 designs, if that helps give you an idea of the style I like.) I love how some of more ornate layouts look, but they don't feel like "me" when I've tried them.
I envision this as my creativity blog where I want to note things that inspire me, rant about things that failed to impress me, and "talk through" the creative ideas I have for my scrapbooking. I've recently made the leap into the digital scrapbooking world, and I love it. I've only had a couple layouts printed so far at scrapbookpictures.com, but I'm a definite convert. I don't plan to ever give up paper scrapbooking entirely because I have WAY too much stuff that I accumulated in the "shop and hoard" phase of the hobby for me to NOT paper scrapbook. :-)
When I was choosing my blog name, I wanted incorporate my newfound love for the digital side of scrapbooking and my desire to keep things simple in my designs. (I'm a huge fan of Becky Higgins and Cathy Zielske, especially her more recent 12 x 12 designs, if that helps give you an idea of the style I like.) I love how some of more ornate layouts look, but they don't feel like "me" when I've tried them.
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