Digital Convert

I mentioned a little while back that I was into digital scrapbooking. I dabbled in it before Ethan was born, but now, of course, I have his first year album to do and I want it to be special and hand-made by me. I use the term hand-made loosely because I'm basically using my keyboard and mouse. In reality, I know that the efforts I put into his album are more for me...to preserve these memories I have of him and finding another place to display the {hundreds of} pictures I've taken of him.

Recently I had been using photo books from various vendors {mostly Shutterfly and Blurb} to create any albums that I wanted...and I still plan on doing that for certain things. But, I've rediscovered my affinity for scrapbooking. I tend to be on the more simple side of things and less cluttered in my designs {big surprise}, but I still like the look of it.

Back in high school I did scrapping the old-school way and I have about five 20 pound albums to show for it. They're enormous. And did I mention they're heavy? I love them, I really do. But, I'm definitely a digital convert. If you love scrapbooking and have any sort of computer knowledge whatsoever...make the change. You will be glad you did. Here's why I did:

1. It takes up less space. Actually, it takes up NO space in my house. Only a little bit of hard drive space on our computer. For a girl who hates clutter, this is good.

2. The finished album is 10x smaller. You do have the option of printing your scrapbook layouts individually and binding them in a traditional album. But why would you do that? You can use Shutterfly's digital scrapbook solutions {and a couple of others} to print your digital scrapbook in a nice, neat, manageable book. Perfect.

3. The workflow is much more organized and practical. When I want to scrapbook, I don't have to haul out all my supplies on my dining room table. Alternately, I don't have to either leave them out there or pack them up again when I'm done. Everything is packed nicely away on the computer for me to "pull out" whether I've got one hour or a whole weekend to dedicate to scrapping.

4. I save money. When you buy traditional supplies and you use them {besides stamps}, they're gone. Then you have to buy more. With digital scrap supplies, you can use them again and again...and for different projects. Also, you don't have to print your pictures. And if you accidentally crop a picture badly or want to change it...you can...and you didn't waste a print.

5. More creative licence. When I put together a layout, I move things around like crazy and change things up a lot until it's perfect for me. I need to let go of the perfect thing...but with digital scrapping, I can move and change things to my heart's content and I haven't used or ruined any of my supplies.

6. Print multiple copies. If I wanted to share my book or make another copy, I can. And I don't have to do everything all over again.