a beginner's guide to digital scrapbooking

I had some requests for a post about digital scrapbooking after I mentioned it yesterday, so here is my beginner's guide to digiscrapping.

I started paper scrapping last year with a whole bunch of supplies that my mother-in-law gave me, but I found it so time-consuming and messy, not to mention expensive, the deeper you got into it. I felt like my pages were so simple because to make a great page like I saw in the magazines, I would have to spend so much money on supplies. I always had an interest in digital scrapbooking to see if it was any easier, but I never could figure out Photoshop Elements.

In April 2009, I wrote a little about finding the time to learn PSE. Once I learned the basics, I took off from there and never looked back.

The greatest thing about digiscrapping is the abundance of free materials available on the web. Free! So many wonderful designers offer freebies on their blogs. You just have to know where to find them. I'm going to share my secrets with you.

It's hard for me to explain how to start digital scrapbooking because I'm not even sure how I did it, besides get in there and play around with whatever program you are using. I use Photoshop Elements 5, but there are lots of options.

One of the first places I learned from was Shabby Princess, where you can find some awesome tutorials and great kits to download for free.

-The Daily Digi has some great tutorials about how to get started.

-I use templates for a lot of my pages, just as a general jumping off point for the rest of the page. Scrapping with Liz offers original templates for sale, plus several freebies per week, usually only offered for one day.

-My favorite resource is DigiFree. Every day they compile freebies from around the blogosphere and put them in one place for you. How great is that?

-Ikea Goddess has new freebies almost every day, as well.

-Digi-Designs by Nicole is one of my favorite designers. Nicole has a store where you can purchase her work, but she also offers freebie kits on her blog once or twice a month.

I haven't had any of my pages printed yet, but you can either print the pages individually (most people use a 12x12 layout), or print them together in a book from a company like Shutterfly. My plan right now is to print albums annually. This is also nice since our wedding anniversary is in January, each calendar year is a nice representation of our first year of marriage, second year, etc.

My favorite part of digiscrapping is how easy it is! I love how I can move things around on the page, change papers, and even change the color of anything I want, all with just the click of a button or a movement of the mouse. My absolute favorite part is Ctrl-Z, which is of course the shortcut for undo. I can undo or redo anything I want. I believe that the ease and flexibility of digiscrapping really allow my creativity to unfold in a way that paper scrapping can't.

If you have any more questions just let me know. I'd be glad to help!