When scrapbooking started going digital a ways back the main idea was to try and make the pages look as much like traditional scrapbook pages made out of papers, scissors and glue as possible. What we didn’t realize is how much we were limiting ourselves with this idea and attitude towards preserving these precious memories. Computers and photos editing programs are powerful tools for us scrapbookers so as we embrace this technology we are going to find and create incredible and fresh pages beyond the bounds of scissors and glue. So don’t be afraid not to use drop shadows everywhere and fames and boarders around your pictures. Unleash the special effects, like “glows” and “gradients” and see what you come up with.
Here are five ways to get you started with embracing and unleashing more of the digital side to you digital scrapbooking.
1. Drop the drop shadow:
These are two great examples of mulit-pic pages that have no drop shadow. Sometimes the drop shadows take away from the design and layout and this style gives a more modern feel to the pages as well.
2. Use your pictures for the background paper.
Here is something you really cant do with traditional scrapbooking and thats using your pictures for backgrounds. These are stunning and create a very sentimental feeling to the pages when used in this type of layout.
3. Have fun with texture:
There are so many fun textures and overlays to use now and you can find them all over the place for free. Don’t be afraid to place them on top of your photos and play with the opacity and blend modes.
4. Dream Scape It!
Dream-scapping in scrapbooking is the technique of cutting your subject out and placing them in an imaginary scene of sorts, the possibilities of these are endless and just to much fun.
5. Utilizing The Fonts
Nothing in digital scrapbooking beats the usefulness of working with letters, fonts, and word art when it comes scrapbooking with computers. (Not to mention spell-check -aka my best friend.) These are two very different examples of using fonts for pictures templates to insert your photo/photos into. I love this artistic technique and use it often when creating more modern and unique pages.
I encourage you all to try and break away from old ideas of what pages are supposed to look like and if you do this and have more fun with your programs you will really tap into a whole new creative side to yourselves.
Happy Scrap’N!
