I started scrapbooking in the late 1980's, and introduced my daughter and my
husband’s cousin, Debby (both of whom are much more artistic than I) to the
craft. Today Debby is an avid scrapbooker, and has taken her craft to a
much higher level.
For me, traditional
scrapbooking wasn’t always practical for what I wanted to achieve. First, there
was the text. I want my photo pages to include as much text and
information as possible. I want names, dates, places. And quite
frankly, my printing/handwriting just isn’t that great. No matter how
hard I try, it always looked far more primitive than I wanted. And considering
the amount of writing I wanted to include with some of my pages (which might at
time resemble a journal more than a traditional scrapbook), purchasing and
applying premade letters was not practical.
Second, I needed multiple
copies. This first occurred to me when I started putting together a
Christmas book for my son and daughter. I tried scrapbooking two books at
one time, and it was a bit overwhelming. It simply took all the fun out of
it. One problem, I didn’t have double prints, so I was forced to divide
the pictures between them.
In the midst of this
project, I decided to make just one Christmas book, and then scan it.
I could then print off the pages, to create an identical album for each of
children, and keep the original scrapbook for myself. Unfortunately, that
first problem I had with scrapbooking seemed to look even worse scanned.
You remember, my print was not terrific.
But, this did give me an
idea. I decided to try digital scrapbooking. I don’t remember
hearing that phrase before, yet I figured someone was probably doing it. And
sure enough, after a trip to the office supply store, I found several scrapbook
software programs.
There are a couple of
definite advantage of digital vs traditional scrapbooking. First, that
pesky text problem. No more did I worry about my handwriting, I now had
dozens of font styles to choose from, in a variety of colors.
Second, I could print out
several copies if I wanted. I finally finished that Christmas album, this
time all digital. I printed out three copies, one for my husband and I,
and one for each of our children.
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