Digital scrapbooking is so easy it’s almost criminal. All you need is a computer or a device, such as an iPad or smart phone and, of course, your digital photos. If you can play computer games, you can scrapbook digitally.
My first criteria is ease. So many awesome, but complicated and fancy digital scrapbooking exist. I have those on my bucket list for when I actually have the time to learn them. But in the mean time, here are the few very simple applications that I adore.
SmileBox (smilebox.com), which is an online digital scrapbooking site. Users can also create slideshows, invitations, cards, collages, and photo albums using this free software. It requires download and installation, but the application works completely online. They make the whole process so easy that I advise brand new digital scrapbookers to start here.
Coolibah (coolibah.me) was one of the first scrapbooking apps available. They offer galleries of digital paper kits and elements. The is app is free and many of many of the paper kits are free as well, with opportunities to purchase some kits. I purchased one for 99 cents, which is inline with other digital scrapbooking in-app purchases. It’s very reasonable. You can only use the kits they have in their gallery.
Martha Stewart Craft Studio App is also free, and offers in-app purchases of certain kits and digital paper. Oh boy. This app rocks my world. As usual, the folks at Martha Stewart do nothing half way. First, the interface is drop dead gorgeous—with little digital drawers holding all the materials and paper that you open just with a touch on the screen. It also offers, glitter, stamps, pens, and glue. It’s great fun. Once again, you can only use the materials available through their app.
My Memories is a great software program (mymemories.com) that I found very easy to use after working my way around some of the other applications. I think most scrapbookers could go straight to the program and be fine with it. It’s pricey at $39.95—but I found it’s worth every penny. You can import digital designs from elsewhere and use their program. So far it’s been really easy to use. I’ve stuck with some simple functions because I’m just learning. Basically, it’s much less complicated than say Photoshop Elements, which really don’t have the time to get to know better. With My Memories, I can do basic scrapbooking without knowing much about all the other, more advanced things it offers. I can kind of ease into it. That is a classy program.
For me, nothing will ever completely take away my love of paper scrapbooking—but it’s sure been fun spreading my wings and learning new ways of approaching it.
I’ve not gone completely digital and, in fact, I usually end up printing out my pages for albums. I like a physical copy, but here are some other things you can do with your digital scrapbook pages.
A lot of people wonder what you can do with a digital scrapbooking page.
• Send the file to a print shop for printing
• Upload it to the web to become part of a hard cover book
• Upload an image of the page to an online photo gallery for sharing with others
• Email a copy of the page to family and friends
• Burn a copy on a CD for safe keeping
So many options exist with digital scrapbooking for every level of scrapbooker and for every technology comfort level. My list is not an exhaustive list—it’s just my own personal experience. How about you? Are there any other apps and programs out there that you use?
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