Scraps Of Mind

My ScrapBlogging Journey - Part 3

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Discovering Digital Scrapbooking

I’m not sure how I was first introduced to digital scrapbooking. I think I was surfing the Net, looking for scrapbooking sites and came across one that had some freebie digital kits. I downloaded them and started playing around with them using Seona’s Fireworks program. This was a struggle as I didn’t know what I was doing. Hmm…not sure that a lot has changed. And so she found me an old, old copy of Paintshop. This was long before it had become PaintShop Pro.

That lasted until my next computer upgrade when I needed something a little more up to date, a little less ’90s. I purchased Photoshop Elements 2 for $20 on eBay from someone who had got it packaged with their new camera and didn’t want it. And my love affair with PSE began.

At first I just used it for editing my photos, because I am a very ordinary photographer (that’s a euphamism for ‘crap photographer’. Then I tried making some A4 sized layouts that I could print out on my home printer. I like my layouts printed. Sorry, but they’re not real for me unless they’re printed. So I thought the only digital layouts I could make were in the A4 shape. Pity, because I do prefer the square shape. And I really only created digital scrapbook layouts for my older photos which I was making an A4 album for.

I really liked the increased scope that digital gave me (not that I gave up my paper scrapbooking though). The forgiveness of that Undo button seemed to unlock a creativity that I didn’t know I possessed. And I loved it!

And when I discovered 8×8 albums, my digital scrapbooking cup was full! Now I could scrap in my favourite 12×12, resize and print in 8×8 and have ‘real’ layouts. Yaaay!

…Which led to Hybrid Scrapbooking

Then I started adding ‘real’ embellishments like brads, silk flowers, foldout concertina books, lift up tabs for hidden journaling, ribbon, buttons etc. and I discovered I was a Hybrid Scrapbooker.

I started making cards and mini-albums using hybrid techniques for a great unique look. My family started to expect that I would produce something a bit ’special’ as a card for any milestone events. My teenage nieces told they feel excited when they open my birthday cards. I created some really cute little mini-albums where I made the album cover and pages as well as the layouts.

And it finally started to dawn on me that maybe, just maybe, I might actually be a bit creative after all.

Part 4 of the story to be continued.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4