Saturday, February 28, 2009

Scrapbooking Digitally and Loving it!





I have been scrapbooking for about 7 years now and am completely and hopelessly addicted! I can't help it. I love playing with paper. I started out as a Creative Memories scrapbooker but have sinced branched out a bit. My albums, pages, and paper are still mostly Creative Memories brand but now I add ribbon, eyelets, lots of cricut cuts, and the odd stamp here and there.

When I first heard that Creative Memories was starting an entire digital line I thought there was no way I could go there. I like the chunkiness of traditional scrapbooking. I love cutting, glueing, and playing with paper. I couldn't see myself sitting infront of my computer to create entire layouts. Well, guess what. . . I have gone there. I don't think I will ever completely give up my scissors, ink, and glue but I definitely love some of the digital aspects too.

I received Creative Memories Storybook software as a Christmas gift. I had used the free version for a few projects but wanted to take the full version out for a spin. This software is awesome. You can do so much and it is very user friendly. With the drag and drop capabilities you can do layouts really fast if you find yourself behind on your scrapbooking. However, you can do so much more and create unique and beautiful layouts from scratch. When I am creating a layout from scratch I think it takes just as much time to do it digitally as the traditional way but there are some definite advantages to going digital.

I love that I can vary my layouts a lot easier. When I scrapbook with scissors and glue my pictures are 4x6 90% of the time. I print my pictures out and then plan and do my pages. When I scrapbook digitally I can make my pictures any size I want with the click of a button.

Here are a few of my pages I have done so far. I had a ton of fun creating. Hopefully they will get your creative juices flowing.

Happy Crafting,
Cat

Minnie Card




Here is one of my latest creations. I became the proud owner of a provocraft cricut machine a couple of years ago and now I use it pretty much everyday. For this card I used the Mickey and Friends font cartridge to cut out Minnie and the lettering. The paper is from Creative Memories, and the ribbon is from my stash. Sorry I'm not sure of the brand name. The design came from a fabulous blog that I happened across. It is called Sheetloads of Cards (http://sheetload.blogspot.com/). This website is fantastic. Every month they come out with a new design and then give you a list of materials you will need as well as cutting instructions to get the most out of your supplies. By following their instructions you will have enough material to create 8 cards in no time at all. This is a fantastic way to build your card stash.

Welcome to My Blog!

Here I am jumping in with both feet! I am hoping this will be the perfect place to share my love of scrapbooking, cardmaking, and photography. I have learned so much from other people's blogs that I thought now was the time to start my own.