Digital Goodness

My first digital layout - this is my first full digital layout also known as the twist mentioned in yesterday's post. I guess I've been doing hybrid layouts for a while. And by hybrid, I mean typing my journaling and titles - nothing too major. Technically this layout fits with the OLW challenge, but I've been wanting to talk about digital scrapbooking for almost a month. I've always been interested in digital scrapbooking but several things got in my way initially.

1. I did not have Photoshop Elements or the $100 to pay for it due to my traditional scrapbooking expenditures. I took care of that situation by borrowing a friend's copy. Shhh, don't tell anyone.
2. I believed digital elements were too costly.
3. I spent most of my time in Photoshop Elements cursing the Adobe gods. Man I didn't understand the program at all.
4. Fear - I would look at other digital pages and believe I could never do anything that cool.
5. To be honest, I wasn't sure I liked 100% digital pages.
6. I love the feel of my traditional scrapbooking supplies - I was worried about giving that up.
7. Sometimes it just takes me a long damn time to start something. Okay, most of the time it takes me a long time to start something.

In the past few months I've learned a few things about digital scrapbooking.

1. Buy books and magazines on digital scrapbooking if you're a newbie. If you're not a book person, there are some great forums online. I went to Jessicasprague.com to learn how to use photoshop actions.
2. Go to Digital Shops and download freebies before committing to digital products. I've only purchased three digital items. I have 130 items in my digital scrapbooking folder. Most of these items are folders with multiple elements. Most of these elements were freebies I have gathered from magazines, books, and digital shops (find a list of my favorite shops at the end of this post).
3. Digital scrapbooking is very creative. It suits me well in terms of layering and altering pictures. I'm a little unsure of how to get the pages printed - but I'm going to research an affordable printing service. I really like my 100% digital layout.
4. Digital scrapbooking is less messy - but harder on my hands. Those clicks on the mouse are not my right hand's friend.
5. Digital scrapbooking is totally doable. Just play around with it and have fun.

I hope to do a few more layouts in the future - but I'm sure I'll be mostly a traditional scrapbooker. I like the feel of the elements in my hands. If you are interested in taking the plunge, I've listed a few links to shops and magazine sites with free digital elements.

Designer Digitals - Click on freebies at the top.

Little Dreamer Designs - This link is straight to the freebies but the shop is definitely worth checking out.

Creating Keepsakes Magazine - Click on the downloads menu

Scrapbooks Etc. Magazine - Check out the digital scrapbooking section.

I can't say enough about buying magazines and books on digital scrapbooking. They have LOTS of free extras/elements that make the cost of the book really worth it. With all the freebies out there, give it a try. I have this book, which even gives information on digital scrapbooking with Microsoft Word. I really feel like this page - it gave me the jumpstart I needed. I hope your Thursday is great. Until then...Happy Crafting.