Help with my scrapbooking dilema...

[Joe]

I decided I want to do some scrapbooking last summer, and mentioned to Cath that I thought it looked fun. So for my birthday I got a Disney scrapbook and a bunch of supplies to get started. While it took me a bit to get going, I did get the Disney book done, using the pictures from our June trip. I was focusing on Kasey and the friend she took with her. And for a first effort, I think I did pretty well.

Then along comes MissB with her terrific digital scrapbooking tutorials and tips, and those look like a lot of fun too. And believe me, I'm way more comfortable working around the computer than I am scissors and exacto blades and glue. So now I'm thinking the digital books are cool and all I need to work that is PSE for the Mac and I'm in.

Then for Christmas, Cathy and Kasey give me the Cricut Expressions that they picked up on Black Friday along with the Disney Character pack.

You see the dilemma, I'm just getting started, I have this awsome machine to do hardcopy scrapbooking, as well as a bunch of other supplies. But I'm intrigued by the digital side of this hobby too.

What to do, what to do? Pick one, or go with both. Does anyone do both, and how do you like it. Is one more satisfying than the other?

Share with me the benefit of you experiences.

Thanks
Joe

[ChrisR]

Well, Joe, I do both. I started paper scrapping about 7 years ago. I was relunctant to go digital at first. Then I remembered one of my favorite saying..."There is no scrapbooking police"...so I decided to do both.

I do 90% of my scrapping at home in digital. Once or twice a month I get together with fellow scrappers at a crop. While I am there, I do paperscrapping.

There are a lot of free digital kits and elements out there. Download a few and try out MissBianca's first tutorial to see if you like it.

You can even add paper elements to your digital layouts if that is what you want.

The major pros for digital: no mess, no storage issues, the undo button, and need to replace tools as they were out
The major cons: learning curve for some, printing limitations (size of your printer, cost of printing either at home or elsewhere), being glued to a computer (some don't like this)

Most of all have fun!

[Tagrel]

... being glued to a computer (some don't like this)...

what? What? WHAT? That sentence makes absolutely no sense to me. :peri:

Sorry - couldn't help it... :lol:

Have fun with both Joe!

[Ursulinda]

Joe,

I'm a paper scrapper. I like the feel of paper and scissors. I spend enough time on the computer doing other things. Sometimes, I just want to make scraps! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my cricut!

With digital, You've got size limitations and the one dimensionality of the printed page (although I know MissB can do wonderful things with drop shadows.

All that being said, however, you could always do a hybrid - digital pages with cricutted titles and accents. Maybe something printable on 8 1/2 x 11 photopaper, that could be put on a backdrop of 12 x 12 cardstock, then bordered and embellished by hand.

Why not? Despite that other thread to the contrary, there ARE no scrapbook police!

[WDWDen]

I decided I want to do some scrapbooking last summer, and mentioned to Cath that I thought it looked fun. So for my birthday I got a Disney scrapbook and a bunch of supplies to get started. While it took me a bit to get going, I did get the Disney book done, using the pictures from our June trip. I was focusing on Kasey and the friend she took with her. And for a first effort, I think I did pretty well.

Then along comes MissB with her terrific digital scrapbooking tutorials and tips, and those look like a lot of fun too. And believe me, I'm way more comfortable working around the computer than I am scissors and exacto blades and glue. So now I'm thinking the digital books are cool and all I need to work that is PSE for the Mac and I'm in.

Then for Christmas, Cathy and Kasey give me the Cricut Expressions that they picked up on Black Friday along with the Disney Character pack.

You see the dilemma, I'm just getting started, I have this awsome machine to do hardcopy scrapbooking, as well as a bunch of other supplies. But I'm intrigued by the digital side of this hobby too.

What to do, what to do? Pick one, or go with both. Does anyone do both, and how do you like it. Is one more satisfying than the other?

Share with me the benefit of you experiences.

Thanks
Joe


Dude!!!:?

[kathleena]

Well, despite Dennis' comment - men engaging in this kind of a hobby is very attractive to women!!!!!!! :D Den - you might take a lesson!!!!

So I've been paper scrapping for 8 years or so. Love it.

Just started digi scrapping last Dec. hey, that was just last month! I've done about 10 pages and I"m hooked. Or maybe I just like to download free stuff and I do a few pages on the side.

Digital - cheaper, cleaner, can do lots more with it
Paper - easier on the eyes and hands, have more fun playing with stuff and it's more social

I plan to do both. I paper scrap with a friend once a month and I will do from 4-8 pages digitally thru the challenges on the scrapping boards or just on my own. DOing with the challenges motivates me more, but most of them require you to use the board kits, so not sure how far I'll get with that one!

[MissBianca]

Joe, there's a whole "breed" of scrapbooking cropping up around people who combine the two. There are lots of possibilities--use digital papers (you never run out) and a few elements from traditional kits. Or cut and paste elements from the digital side with the physical side.

Most of the pages I did for my "Circle of Friends" books here were hybrid. Most often I'd use the digital side to plan and printed out elements and stuff I didn't have. Journaling is a lot easier on the computer for those of us who have lost the ability to write with a pen due to disuse of those muscles, LOL.

Prima Hybrid (http://www.primahybrid.com/shoppe/home.php) is a whole new website with this theme, 12 of the hottest designers in the digital scrapbooking industry AND their grand opening sale is day after tomorrow!

If I were you, I'd try one or 2 pages with a trial copy of Photoshop Elements, planning to add something cool from your Cricut after you print out the digital pages. That could reall be cool!

[Carrie]

There is so much you can do with the Cricut Expression. Although I have the "baby bug" I'm seriously considering upgrading and purchasing the Expression. I purchase a new cartridge every couple of months. I just love this so much I don't think I'll go digital any time soon. I like to see the physical elements on the page. On the other hand, I'm sure there are many digital things that people do digitally that I never could do on a physical page. So I'm sure each type has its own advantages.

[Joe]

Thanks all for your advice (you too Den-dude). Sounds like I should take the best of both worlds and work them. It has been a lot of fun working with the software from TLC we got a show this fall. I'm familiar enough with PSE as that is the software Cathy uses for some of her classes at school. One of the things I really like about doing this is that I can see a finished product relatively quickly. That is something I don't have with my work all the time. The next project I need to look at is Kasey's memory book for graduation. Fortunately she is a Junior this year, I have time to do the learning curve stuff.




being glued to a computer (some don't like this)

Chris, there's a downside here? :confused:

Thanks again
Joe

[MissBianca]

Woohoo Joe! :napkin: Can't wait to see some of those pages! For pointers to tons of free digital scrapbooking stuff, see Ikea Goddess's Blog. (http://ikeagoddess.blogspot.com/)

[sjh801]

what? What? WHAT? That sentence makes absolutely no sense to me. :peri:

Sorry - couldn't help it... :lol:

Have fun with both Joe!

And what do any of us know about being glued to the computer???:confused:

[Flash]

Hey Joe,

What photo program are you using on your mac? Did you get photoshop elements? I want to try the tutorials, but I don't have a program to run (unless I can use iPhoto - which doesn't seem right).

[MissBianca]

There is a version of Photoshop Elements just released this month which is for the Mac :D

[Flash]

The adobe site said not until March (at least that's what I thought it said - I'll check again).

[MissBianca]

Oh, maybe it was just announced this month then :(

I know there were a couple of graphics/digital scrapbooking sites very happy that Adobe finally got around to it, since they had not released one for the Mac since PE2.

[Joe]

There is a PSE version currently available for the Mac (4.0 I believe), with 6.0 coming out soon. I think I'll wait to see the new version and get that one to work with. I much prefer working on the Mac platform, and would like to stay there if possible. The problem I'm finding is that some of the template downloads only unpack with a DOS utility. Have to do some work between platforms and see if that will work. More to come, I'm sure.
Joe

[MissBianca]

Is it the .rar format that gives you trouble, Joe? That's really widely used in Europe and is a pain for a lot of people here.

[Joe]

Yes MissB, the program used to unpack the files won't run on the Mac. I need to do some checking and see if there is a modified program that will do the job. Just haven't had time to dig into it yet. Now, if I can't find a way to work with those templates on the Mac it could be an issue. There are a couple on the website you recommended that I really liked.
Joe

[MissBianca]

There's more every day! :D

[Frogman]

Is it the .rar format that gives you trouble, Joe? That's really widely used in Europe and is a pain for a lot of people here.

Not that *I* would have a reason to know this but most illegally downloaded content is in the *.rar format due to its much higher rate of compression over zip files, the ease of which it can split large amounts of information like that in found in movie and TV downloads into volumes, and its format being more resistant to corruption. It is quickly picking up steam to become the standard. I can't recall the last time I downloaded a zip file. Rar programs will never ship with windows of course, but it is getting a lot of use all the same. I use a free program to unzip them and have never once had a problem. Not that I, I download that illegal content or anything. ;)

Can I ask what part of it is a pain to people here or anywhere? Seems to work like a charm to me. Maybe I am missing something. :confused:

[Joe]

My problem Brian, is decompressing the files on my Mac. I just haven't had the time to go see what was available to do that. I think I found one that will work, but I'll have to wait until I get home to check it out. Not an insurmountable problem, I know it will get solved. Just need to dig a bit deeper into it.
I'll get there.
Joe

[MissBianca]

I know you'll get there, Joe. When I said more every day, I meant that if you don't get something that works today, come back tomorrow.

Brian, a lot of the people who have trouble are computer naive. If the tool to open those didn't come on their computer, they "panic." Yes, you and I can find http://www.rarlab.com easily, but not everyone can. I've never heard of anyone having trouble once they got something working on their computer. Unfortunately, winrar does only work with a command line interface on the Mac. I'm sure Joe will find something.

What do you use that's freeware? You wouldn't be still using the demoware version of WinRar and forgetting that it's a demo since they so nicely continue to allow it to work? I actually bought a license for it--I figured they deserved my support since I use their program every day!

edited to add: Joe, I found one for you! http://www.unrarx.com/

[Flash]

....and the most recent conversation is probably why I will probably never be any good at digiscrapping. It read like a foreign language to me. :confused::?

[MissBianca]

Now, now Kathy! I knew Joe and Brian were way computer-savvy when we were conversing. We can speak in words like "Go here. Get this." :D

But nobody said everything is for everyone. :no: If it's not for you, you're still okay with me! :yes:

[Joe]

MissB, that unrarx site worked really well, thanks! Maybe I will have time to work on some of it this weekend.
BTW, I did get to the winrar site, and would have gone ahead and downloaded the SW. As this one is shareware, I'll see how it works for me and pony up then. Being a programmer, I have an ethical thing about paying the originator for their work. Not as much as the highway robbers in Redmond:wink:, but I will spread it around.
Thanks again
Joe

[MissBianca]

I think that is why I have no illegal software on my computer--once you can picture your friends working that hard and not getting paid for it, you just feel it's an industry worth supporting.