Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking: Using Your Computer for Paper Layouts
By Cindy Schrauben
As scrapbook artists, our preferences, skills and overall style change over time. As new products are introduced, our choices multiply. Technology allows us to enhance our layouts (LOs) in countless ways.
As is evidenced by many scrapbooking websites, many scrapbookers, like myself, create LOs entirely through digital means. The computer and its related components can also be used to supplement pages for scrappers who choose more traditional means. Paper scrapbook artists can use the computer to edit and print photos, create graphics and title blocks as well as perform a number of other functions.
I do not profess to be skillful at paper scrapbooking — far from it! I am a digital artist by choice. I would, though, like to share some tricks of the digital trade with paper scrapbook artists in an attempt to enhance their creative experience. I'm sure my ideas are not unique, but sometimes it helps to put them all in one place.
In an attempt to illustrate these techniques, I will share the few simple paper pages that I created before I discovered the digital side of this art. Because there is so much to be said on the subject, this article will give only a brief overview of a few alternatives and include some very general instructions. You can find more detailed descriptions in the form of tutorials.
Materials
(* useful, but not required)
Computer
Photo quality printer, ink and various papers
Graphics Program (such as Print Shop Deluxe)
Digital Camera *
Photo editing Software * (such as Microsoft Picture It, Digital Image Pro, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Adobe PhotoShop, etc.)
Scanner *
Internet Access * (for downloading elements, backgrounds, fonts, etc.)
Digital Scrapbook Software* (contain backgrounds, elements, etc.)