I started scrapbooking about nine years ago when my daughter Tiana was a baby. My husband’s parents live across the country, and so it’s a good way to keep them involved in our lives even though they rarely see us. I only made a handful of traditional pages before I jumped into the world of digi scrapping though, and while I still pull out the paper once in awhile, my book of digital layouts is much thicker than my traditional book.
Over the years I’ve had a lot of people ask me why I prefer to digi scrap. My friends who scrap in the usual manner can’t quite wrap their minds around it, especially when I make my pages to look like traditional pages with all of the papers and dimension you’d see in any other scrapbook. Why do I try to copy something digitally when I could go to my craft desk and just make the real thing?
Why? Well, let me tell you…
Cost is certainly a factor in my scrapbooking preference. The initial start up costs are a little bit more than traditional scrapbooking, you have to buy software, and a scanner or digital camera. If you really want to make life easier a good photo printer is important to have as well, though it’s more of a convenience than a necessity. Even taking all of that into consideration, it’s not too bad when I think of the cost of my Cricut, my Cuttlebug, or the hundreds of other papercrafting tools I own. Long term is where it really starts to pay off though!
A traditional scrapbooker may buy a pack of Prima Flowers that will stretch to make ten or so pages, but when I purchase a pack of digi flowers, they last forever. I never have to buy refills of designer papers, ribbons, or any other typically consumable product. Plus, I don’t feel the need to horde my digital scrapbooking supplies, saving them for the “right” occasion (you all know what I’m talking about). If I love a paper, I can use it over and over again without guilt because I won’t run out, ever!
The other big advantage to digi scrapping is the versatility. I only need to make a page once, and I can print it out over and over, make copies for my parents, my in-laws, and my kids. I can take the same page and use it to make a calendar, a picture to hang on the wall, or I can even make a photo DVD to share with my family and friends.
Digital scrapbooking will never take the place of traditional scrapbooking, but it can be a wonderful extension for your creativity, and it does have certain advantages. If you’re looking to learn a new trick, give it a try. There are tons of resources out there to help you get started, and you won’t be sorry you did!
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Anne (StormRose)
Filed by admin at 2:36 pm under Challenges, Digital Scrapping, Elements, Paper Scrapping
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