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Computer Scrapping: Adapting Technology
Ramie Ahlstrom - Scrapping Design Team LeaderComputers have become a way of life for a large majority of the population. People use them for work, for school, and for play. The number of people who own them has doubled in recent years, due to major advances in technology, and price reductions.
Scrapbooking is also quickly climbing the ranks as a favorite hobby in households across the globe. The scrapbooking industry has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the last decade.
In the last few years, using a personal computer for scrapbooking has become almost commonplace. Software companies have come out with products specifically for scrapbookers, and have changed photo editing and publishing software to accommodate scrapbookers. Clip art and fonts are easily accessible both through software manufacturers and the Internet. Some of the most popular include the Creating Keepsakes Creative Lettering CDs, Provo Craft’s HugWare software and the Chatterbox Journaling Genie Software. Photo Express 4.0-My Scrapbook Edition by Ulead Systems is a new software program designed specifically for scrapbookers. Hallmark has also come out with software called Hallmark Scrapbook Studio Deluxe, designed for scrapbooking on the computer.
I don’t own any software specifically for scrapbooking, so I’ve adapted my favorite photo editing software, Microsoft’s Picture It! Publishing Platinum 2001. It’s a little outdated, but it does everything I need, plus some! I’ve been able to easily create title blocks, journaling blocks, and embellishments with the click of a button. By printing on cardstock, photo paper or sticker paper, I can easily accomplish the same thing manufacturers do…all in the comfort of my own home, and often in my jammies!
When I first started using the computer to aid me in my scrapbooking, I simply typed text into word processing programs, cut it out and pasted it onto my traditional scrapbook pages. It was simply a tool for getting words onto paper in a readable manner! With the Picture It! software, you can create text in several sizes, fonts, and colors, all within the same document. Then with the touch of a button, you can print them onto any style paper or cardstock you’d like. Simply cut and paste onto your layout, and you’re done!
The Picture It! software has several photo project templates to work from. The program comes with seven disks, which contain everything from clip art to templates, both blank and pre-made. All you need are some photos, either scanned and saved, or from a digital camera, and your imagination!
Using the premade album page templates is as easy as choosing a page, then adding a picture, by dragging it from the “tray” at the bottom of the page. The premade pages come with title blocks already “built” in. Simply change the text to make it your own, and you’ve got most of the page complete! Unfortunately, this software won’t allow you to add text, for a journaling block or the like, to a premade page, so I added the text to the page after printing, by typing into a word document, and printing over the page. You could also print the text onto vellum or transparency paper, and adhere it to the top of the layout, to create the same effect.
Another way to use the Picture It! Software is to create a page from a blank worksheet. I started with a Blank Project, then added a background picture, from the gallery of clip art in the program, and then added text and embellishments. On this layout I used the same picture as the background, but I added a transparent filter over the top, to give the illusion that the text had been printed on vellum.
By creating several pages on your computer, you can create a digital album. Simply save them all to the same folder, and you’ve got a easy to make, easy to view, digital album. You can then print or email the pages, to share them with others. This works especially well for special projects like recipe pages (as you’ve seen here), and gift albums.
Scrapbooking with the computer can be as simple as a few lines of text, or as complex as an entire digital album. The possibilities are endless. Take your computer to new heights…use it in your favorite hobby today!
Scrappin’ Hugs!Ramie Ahlstrom
ramieahlstrom@ssreflections.com
Scrapping Design Team Leader
S.S. Reflections, Inc.