Thinking about going digital...

I did digital scrapbooking for the years 2011-2014. I did it for much the same reason you are considering it, that is, I wanted to scrapbook my memories but our house was literally so small there wasn't room at all for anything and we had a desk top computer that we made room for.

I used photoshop to do my digital layouts. There is a real plethora of digitals out there now and I think AussieMeg might be able to direct you to some current quality sites. Her layouts are amazing. And well, there is so much digital content being offered right now, it's crazy. I didn't have all that back in the day when I did digital layouts. It was a much simpler time.

I always uploaded my layouts to Shutterfly in a blank book and then had the book printed. I had no issues with quality.

I often think about going back to digital. I went to a weekend crop once and I managed to get like 20 layouts done in the weekend which is basically unheard of with my paper scrapping. I missed the paper, though so I went back to it in 2016. There are really pluses and minuses of both ways of scrapbooking. And I will admit to feeling overwhelmed with paper supplies. Since I'm working from home now using my craft room as an office, I keep thinking that I'd be happier (space reasons) going back to digital again. There is just something to be said for being able to resize and reuse things and being able to use fonts! Sigh, I loved it. I worry about the learning curve with a newer edition of photoshop at this point. Although, I have always been a simple scrapper.

I am considering finishing up my project life for this year and then going back to it next year. I think I'm just overwhelmed with the amount of supplies. Plus, I'm big one with feeling wasteful. That's a hard thing for me to get my brain around. All the waste.

I have been thinking of going digital, too. For one thing, I have five adult children and several grandchildren, but I doubt that anyone wants my thick albums. I simply prefer paper scrapbooking, but these days it just seems harder to do. One of the things I plan to do is photograph every layout and create digital copies for my kids. Then they can have them printed in to books, which would be thinner than my albums.

I also got way behind when we moved, and the last two years have been especially challenging, so I think digital scrapbooking might help me get caught up.

I use Photoshop Elements (PE) to tweak my photos, so it should be easy to start doing digital scrapbooking if I decide to actually do it. PE is a great program. It’s not as powerful as the full version of Photoshop, but it does pretty much anything I need it to. It even has different levels, including a beginner level if you need.

I have also thought about scanning and/or photographing my papers and embellishments, which I could then use Photoshop to turn my craft hoard stash into digital elements. I don’t really like most of the digital papers and embellishments, and I’ve already got a room full of scrapbooking goodies that I could use once I scan and turn them into a digital format. Why should I go to the expense of buying digital scrapbook stuff?

I’m willing to spend money on something I like, but I am also somewhat practical. So if I go digital, I will merge my paper and digital worlds.

Or I may just keep on doing traditional scrapbook pages, then photograph them and make digital copies for my kids. I am struggling to decide what to do. Good luck with whatever you feel is right for you.

Long story short: you can buy everything digital to modify in Photoshop/Elements. Layout templates, embellishments, paper packs, alphabet letters, stamps, it all exists digitally.

You will need to first pick your software of choice and go through a basic class to use it. You can find these classes online for free. Most important will be to get acquainted with the basic drag-drop function and layers. Then you'll teach yourself how to add shadows (it's super easy, don't be scared). And before you know it, you'll be making your first proper page.

Depending on your aesthetic, you'll shop from the vendors of your choice. The two main specialised digi scrap marketplaces are The Lilypad (if you've ever looked at/done December Daily with Ali Edwards, this is where Liz Tamanaha from Paislee Press has her store) and The Digital Press.

Once you're at ease with this, you can move on to creating your own papers, stamps and more. There is a plethora of free goodies out there for you to enjoy and use for free (personal license). Icons galore!

Good luck and don't get too frustrated if at first you don't figure everything out. It's a learning curve. I was already working with Photoshop regularly when I started digi scrapbooking so I had it easy but I really don't think it's that hard...

Do it do it do it!   

I stopped paper scrapping about 10 years ago, started buying digital supplies a few years after that, then started scrapping again (digital) in 2018. 

In answer to your specific questions:

Are there online sites that I can use instead of program downloads?
I use Photoshop, a lot of digital scrappers use Photoshop Elements. I'm [pretty sure you can only get these on subscription now. There is another program called Affinity that you can buy outright, and it is much cheaper than Photoshop used to be. I don't know of any on-line sites. 

Who do you use to print your finished books?
Hmmmm, if I ever get around to finishing one whole year, I will let you know! 

For those that made the change, were you able to get more done? (I'm several years behind and would like to catch up at some point!)
I LOVE the flexibility of digital scrapping. I do my scrapping on my MacBook. I am currently sitting on the couch watching TV and scrapping. I take my MacBook with me when we go to the beach house, and scrap in the car on the way there, then scrap at night, and I don't have to worry about packing a whole lot of supplies to take with me. I scrap on the train on the days I have to go into the office. I scrap during half time at my son's football matches. I scrap while sitting outside on my outdoor lounge. I scrap in bed on a Sunday morning. I think you get the idea! 

The thing I love most (after the flexibility of being able to scrap anywhere) is the number of products available, and that if you see something you want, you can buy it and use it immediately. The prices are SO MUCH CHEAPER than paper products, and you can use your stuff over and over. I rarely pay full price for anything, and most of the kits I buy cost between $3.50 (on sale) up to $8, and that will give you usually about 20 papers and 100 elements, sometimes an alpha and journal cards.

One of the new releases I'm looking at this weekend has all of this for $6.67:
141 elements 
15 Journal Cards
1 Alphabet in 5 different colors.
22 Papers
52 additional elements 
If you were to buy all of that in paper products, you'd be spending a ton more than $6.67, and you would only be able to use it all once!

You can buy templates where the page is already set up, and all you have to do it drag in your photos, and clip papers. It's like a sketch on steroids! Some even have all of the papers and elements on them, so you only need to add photos.

A lot of the big paper scrapbook companies are now selling their stuff as digital eg. American Crafts, Simple Stories, Cocoa Vanilla Studios etc. Love Vicki Boutin's Sweet Rush? No worries, you can buy it at AC Digitals. (They need to bring their pricing in line with other digital stores, they're a lot more expensive but still heaps cheaper than paper.)

Why don't you get the trial version of Photoshop Elements to give it a go and see if you like it. There are plenty of free digi scrapping products out there that you can heave a play with. I'll be happy to help out with any how-to questions, and to point you in the right direction as to where to find the freebies. 

One last point, and this is a biggie: To run the latest version of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Affinity, you need a computer or laptop with 8GB of RAM. I can only run an older version of PS on my old PC, because I only have 4GB of RAM. 

I found this recent article Best digital scrapbooking software 2022. There are other programs listed here, but I'm not familiar with them.

Let me know if you have any more questions! 

I use Blurb to print my photo books. You might want to check out www.shannanm.com/ for some ideas for digital book printing although her style might not match what you have in mind. I mostly do very simple pages with mostly photos and words so I don’t need much and although blurb is not the most premium book printer it’s good enough for what I want. Their prices are good and they offer upgrades if you want to get better quality papers.

Photoshop Elements is much easier to learn than full Photoshop.

Some people do iPad scrapping using Procreate and/or Photoshop but I haven’t figured out that whole process.

I’m a huge fan of the compactness of printed photo books and I love the look of them. I don’t enjoy holding a heavy album and I don’t like plastic page protectors. The big downside is not having a physical product until you actually finish the album. It can be hard to stay motivated when you only have digital pages to look at. If you like to make pages from lots of different time periods or for lots of albums it’s hard to ever get anything finished and printed. I make pages as I go through the year and print around Christmas for gifts.

AussieMeg you are such a good "salesperson" for digital scrapbooking! No, but seriously I agreed with everything you said. My hang up is like you said, my current laptop doesn't have enough ram to run PE. I talked to Jeremy just this morning about possibly going digital with my PL for next year.

I too use Photoshop Elements. For printing, I have printed 8x8 albums at Shutterfly. However, I’m not a chronological scrapper, but do like to store my pages chronologically, so I print my pages individually and slip them in page protectors in a 3-ring 12x12 album. You can definitely get more digital prints in an album than traditional paper pages. I always print at Persnickety Prints - they periodically have sales and I but credits for 12x12 prints. Good luck and have fun!

In addition to the stores listed, I also like Sweet Shoppe Designs.

That's a great perspective. And a good point that you can "flip" through the album prior to getting it printed. When you do go to print, how many pages are your albums typically?  

Cheryl Ashcroft of Fiddle Dee Dee Designs has many videos on youtube. She sells layered templates and does live videos often. I think her layouts are like traditional paper scrapbooking with lots of embellishments.

http://instagram.com/p/CeZguWrM42R

Shannan Matton does minimal scrapbooking with lots of white space.


I say watch some videos showing the digital scrapbook process. Browse the gallery at the lilypad to see if you like the pages that can be made digitally. Check your computers specs to see if it can run Photoshop Elements (PSE). I bought PSE in 2017 and I haven't upgraded. Adobe has a creative cloud photography plan that is $10/month. I am happier to buy the program than have a monthly fee.