After my post about digital scrapbooking, I was contacted about trying out this new software, Digital Scrapbook Artist.  Have you seen it or heard about it yet?  Well, it is a really great software program that seems to have everything you need for digital scrapbooking!




Here are some of the features:

• High Quality Embellishments
• Page Size Selection
• Crafting Tools
• Photo Paintbrushes
• Shadows & Effects
• Built-in Digital Photo Editing
• One Click Share

Without further adieu, here is my take on Digital Scrapbook Artist….

Installation
I installed this program myself, and it was a piece of cake.  I just put in the CD and followed the instructions on the setup wizard and had no problems at all.  I also installed in the included DaisyTrail digikit which had 10 VERY cute design packs.  The design packs include coordinating backgrounds, materials, alphabets, brushes, frames, and embellishments.  Everything you need to complete a page or album with the same theme.

Using the Program
The first thing you see upon opening the program is this Startup Wizard…

I began by clicking “Start with a Theme”, and all of the included DaisyTrail digikits were right there for me to work with.  I made a 12×12 practice page, and chose a page  layout that I liked.  What’s really cool is that even though this is a pre-created page layout, you can still move anything or add anything you want!

Here is the page I created:

Next I created a page from scratch.  I started with a blank page and chose everything I wanted to add. The left side bar had everything I needed; backgrounds, frames, pictures, embellishments, etc.  The only difficulty I ran into was with cropping and then framing a photo.  I had to email and ask for help on that one.  I found out that if you crop a photo, you have to make a frame from scratch to fit.  Which would be easy to do with either the shapes tool, or use some of the very cool brushes.  I added some embellishments and a little journaling, and my page was done.  Here it is:

Some of the other cool features that really impressed me were the glitter dust and that you can cut free form shapes with all sort of cool scissors – think pinking shears, zigzag, wavy and many, many more.  You can even use your existing digital scrapbook supplies, (backgrounds, embellishments, etc.),  with this program!  If you’d like to save your file differently than the default, you have to export it as the file type you want, which is a little bit of a pain, but it is possible.

What I Think
I thought this program was very user friendly.  I had the User Guide handy and it was pretty easy to figure it all out.  There are lots and lots of fun options to choose from for making pages, and I can even use all of my other digital scrapbooking kits.  I love that I can create pages with this program that can be saved as a JPEG, TIFF, or HD photo, or as a PDF and then burned to a CD, printed or shared online.  So I can still upload my pages for printing a photobook at Shutterfly, or anywhere else,  when I’m done. If you have a digital scrapbooker on your shopping list for Christmas, I think this would be a great gift idea!  It’s available for purchase at Serif.

In the pre-children days I was a full fledged Creative Memories girl.  I even sold the stuff for a short amount of time.  I had the albums, pages, colored paper, stickers, scissors, markers, stencils, die cuts, adhesive, and along with all of this scrapbook stuff I had storage bags and containers.  Yes, when you scrapbook like that, you’d better have a big closet for storage.  Not only do the supplies take up room, but the albums are HUGE when completed.  You had better also have some substantial shelf space somewhere.

It didn’t take me long after Gabriel was born to realize that I was not going to have the time to scrapbook in this way any longer.  I was getting sick of spending 30 minutes of my scrapbook time getting out all of my stuff and arranging it on the table.  Then you’ve got to clean up all this stuff too!  So I started doing a little research.  It was 2006 and photo books were becoming popular; they seemed like a great alternative.  I can’t remember how I exactly stumbled upon digital scrapbooking, but I loved the look of the books!

After a little research, digital scrapbooking seemed to be the way to go.  It was cheaper than traditional scrapbooking and didn’t require a large amount of storage space (physical storage space, that is)!  Here is a picture showing the differences in size.  A traditional scrapbook album on the left vs. a digital photo book on the right, each with 24 pages.

I found some great digital scrapbooking sites where I could buy scrapbook supplies on-line and download them.  And you can use digital supplies again and again!  Yes, it’s not only cheaper than traditional scrapbooking, but you can reuse the stuff forever!!!  Several different sites offer photo books, but so far I’ve found that Shutterfly is the only one who will allow you to upload your own digital scrapbook and print it for you.  So, I made the move.  I sold all of my Creative Memories stuff on eBay for a nice chunk of change and started digital scrapbooking.

First I went to the scrapbooking sites I liked. Here are some that have really cute stuff, and offer freebies too!

• Scrap Girls
• Two Peas in a Bucket
• Shabby Princess

I love that you can buy kits where all of the paper, alphabet, ribbons, paper clips, buttons, everything, coordinates!  You’d be surprised at the cute stuff you can find and how 3D it all looks!

You need some sort of image editing software to make your page layouts.  I bought Microsoft Digital Image Suite at eBay and taught myself to use it.  (This program is included with Vista.) I like it, but it doesn’t have all of the professional capabilities of Adobe Photoshop or something similar.  But, it’s easy to use.  Take a look at some of my page layouts.

When I’m ready to scrapbook I don’t have to get anything out!  I just sit down at my computer and open up my Digital Image Suite and go! I always try to scrapbook in chronological order because it’s just easier for me.  So after I complete a page I save it as the page 1, and then I start working on page 2, and so on.  I even design my covers! When I’m done with an album I just upload it to Shutterfly.  (TIP: Wait until there is a discount or coupon code on photo books.) Then Shutterfly prints it for me as a hard bound book and ships it to my door.  Let me tell you, these books look great and I’ve gotten lots of compliments!  And, they don’t take up much room on your bookshelf at all!

If this all seems way more involved or overwhelming for you, then choose from the albums at Shutterfly that already have page designs and you just pop in your pictures.  They have some really great new ones that I’m thinking about trying out.

If you’ve been thinking about going the digital route, I say go for it!  It’s really fun and is much less time-consuming than traditional scrapbooking.  I’m no pro, but if you have any questions, please ask away.