Digital Scrapbooking: What Exactly is It?

Digital scrapbooking can mean many different things. It can refer to the practice of using your computer to create a scrapbook page digitally, which can then be stored and displayed on a computer, or printed so that it can be stored within the pages of a traditional scrapbook. Digital scrapbooking can refer to digital elements, such as embellishments that are then transformed into printables, and used in the exact manner of any other embellishment. Digital scrapbooking could also refer to the use of assorted software programs to either create, store, or enhance your scrapbook pages and or embellishments. Digital scrapbooking can also be the manner in which you obtained many of the photographs that you scrapbook with, via your digital camera.

To me, digital scrapbooking means all of the above. The more time I spend scrapbooking, the more I find myself turning to the digital world for everything from single elements on a page to the whole layout. I still scrapbook in what some may refer to as the traditional sense, with paper and old snapshots. However, I will also snap a photograph with my Konica Minolta DiMage Z5, transfer it to my computer, and then alter the picture digitally until it meets my current needs or wants. I will then save it so I can use it in a scrapbook layout in one of my several scrapbook oriented software programs, such as Scrapbook Factory Deluxe from Nova Development. On the other hand, I may print it on my HP photo printer to use on a traditional scrapbook layout.

Using the same program, or some other program such as CorelDraw X3, I may make use of computer originated clipart and fonts to create my own titles, stickers, die cuts, or even transparencies. By accessing the digital side of my life, I enhance the physical side of it wherever scrapbooking meets.

If you are a scrap booker, and you happen to visit on of the numerous online sites devoted to the world of scrapbooking, you might encounter those who ask if you scrapbook on paper or scrapbook digitally. What surprises me most about these who ask this question, is that if they are online, visiting sites and boards related to the world of scrapbooking, they know that the digital scrapbook world is all around them, right? If they have snapped a single photo of a layout and posted it, they have entered the digital scrapbooking world.

If you are unsure if the digital scrapbook world can realistically meld with the physical, try out a few of the techniques yourself. Print a selection of clipart onto a sheet of sticker back paper that is made just for such a project. Once you realize how easy it is to create exactly what you want, whenever you want it, you may never look at your computer, digital camera, and printers in the same way again!