Gone Digital?

I made a scary discovery the other day . . . it kinda blew my socks off. I have over 16,000 photos on my computer. You did not read that wrong . . . 16 THOUSAND photos. Sure, many of them are probably trash or probably duplicates. But even if I deleted half of those, I’d still have 8,000 pictures, which is nothing to sneeze at.

What a dilemma going digital has caused! What am I going to do with all these photos?

There is no way I can paper scrap 8,000 pictures . . . especially considering I already have 5,000 photos printed, which, by the way, are all PRE digital. Quite frankly, I could go broke paper scraping the lot of them . . . and, at heart, I guess I truly am a paper scrapper because that sounds like a really cool way to go broke. But, the children must be fed and clothed, so I had to come up with another idea.

The solution that I, and many before me, came up with was to go digital. I’ve always considered my family website my “digital scrapbook”, but even here I just posted the photos in a row with no embellishment or journaling.

But now there is no need for such a boring presentation, because digital scrapbooking has flourished as graciously as paper scrapbooking. It’s HUGE. And there are some phenomenal talent to inspire those of us who are willing to give it a shot.

I still hear a lot of opposition to digital. Some people are afraid that they can’t master the technique. Luckily there are a lot of software packages s to choose from, some free while other offer free trials. Check out Google Answers to view a list of software options. Another fear is that paper scrapping will go the way of the dinosaur. NOT gonna happen. I know you don’t know me, but take my word for it. There are just too many people in love with using their hands. They love the feel of paper, and feel they can create better when they are able to move the objects they have chosen for a layout around on a page sitting in front of them. The good news is, you don’t HAVE to give up paper scrapping. For myself, and many, it’s just another way to create.

A good place to get started digital scrapbooking is at Scrapbooking Top 50 many of the top 50 scrapbooking sites are devoted to digital scrapbooking. But you will also find that many of the larger communities devoted to paper scrapping are also building their own little digital niches. This is a great place to start because it will link you to many different communities where you can find inspiration, techniques, assistance, and free or for-purchase kits to play with.

I have been playing around with digital scrapbooking for only a very short time, and there is so much I have to learn. But I’m happy with my first pages which I’ll share with you below. Like all things new, it takes some getting used to, but I found it to be a very enjoyable experience and I’m looking forward to creating more pages.

You can click on the photo to view the full version of the layout.









I’d love to see what you create when you decide to take the plunge into digital scrapbooking! Good luck and have fun!