How many of us have looked at scrapbooks from the past and wondered who was in the photo and what were they doing? Why was Aunt Sally at Cape Cod in 1952?  Did she know someone there? How long did she visit? Was there a wedding or event, that may have had printed invitations? When we scrapbook we need to answer the who, what, where, & why’s of the future.

Who will end up with your scrapbooks in the future? You are preserving memories not only for your immediate family, but for your posterity as well.  By being descriptive in your journaling you are creating a history that will endear you to future generations.

• Tell the story behind the pictures. Where are you and why are you there? Why is Uncle Bob laughing so hard? Even if the story doesn’t seem interesting, it tells who you are. I cherish my grandmothers journal even though there is only one sentence per page. It tells of her everyday life and brings a human element that I can relate to now that I am a wife and mother.
• Journaling doesn’t need photos. Did a funny thing happen on your vacation that you don’t have photos for? Included that story in your journaling! You will remember the fun when you read it. There doesn’t need to be a photo for everything. Take a photo of grandpa and then journal stories about his childhood.
• Be creative! Don’t just put dates and names in a line under the photo. Journal around the photo or in a creative shape! Just make sure your writing is easy to read.
• Use fun fonts – but sparingly! There are a lot of fun fonts available and they are great for titles and some captions. But make sure your journaling is in an easy to read font. We want people to be able to enjoy the story – not be frustrated because they can’t read it!

Did you know you can have your own handwriting made into a font? You can do your journaling on the computer but still in your own handwriting! Many online digital scrapbook stores offer this service so check it out.

Scrapbooking is a great way to preserve our family memories and stories for our posterity. By journaling we let them know what kind of people we were and what we enjoyed. Don’t sugar coat it – show who you really are. Your future family will love you no matter what. Now get journaling!

We have heard of hybrid cars, hybrid plants, even hybrid animals. But what the heck is Hybrid Scrapbooking? Well you have traditional paper scrapping and digital scrapping – hybrid scrapbooking is a combination of the two!

If you paper scrap, you might already be doing some hybrid scrapbooking without even realizing it!  When you use your computer to create any part of your layout – journaling, photo resizing, etc., you are making your layout hybrid.  You are using technology and traditional scrapping together.  Don’t you love the results?

In a hybrid layout pick what you want to create digitally and what you will create with paper.  You could make a great photo collage in a photo editing program, print it on photo paper and put it on your paper layout. Add fun elements and journaling for a complete page that comes together easily!

You can create an entire digital layout, print it and add real ribbon for dimension. Add ticket stubs or maps from vacations and events.  Reprint a digital page and cut out certain elements, the adhere them to the first page using pop dots for added interest!

Both traditional scrapbook stores and digital stores are starting to cater more to the hybrid scrapbooker.  Many online digital stores carry templates that are special made for the fun chipboard albums that are on the market.  You know the ones, they are shaped like words, brackets, etc.  Polka Dot Potato carries quite a few that are made to fit the SEI Word Books.

Chipboard albums are a fun way to use hybrid scrapbooking. You can create the entire layout online using a template or quick page. Then add ribbons and other fibers to tie it all together. Add a few traditional elements to your pages and you have an awesome book to give as a gift or keep for yourself!

Hybrid scrapbooking embraces the best of traditional and digital scrapbooking.  So, if you just can’t give up playing with paper give hybrid scrapping a try.  Have fun and get creating!

Another fun FREEBIE – and a 60% off sale!

No matter how they are dressed, little kids never look scary – just adorable! Capture the moment and the memory by taking great photos of your little ghouls, superheros and princesses! By following a few simple tips, your Halloween photos will be the best you have ever taken!

Digital Photography Classes Available Online At VideoProfessor.com

In my last post, I talked about Jack-o-Lantern photos and many of the things I pointed out there apply for trick or treat shots as well. Lighting, setting, etc., will all make a good Halloween photo a creepy stunner!

• Lighting – like I said before, Halloween is supposed to be dark and scary. So you don’t want brilliantly lit photos. Adjust your lighting (and aperture if you can) to make the photos dramatic! Use the glow of a fire or the setting sun for some great silhouette photos. Photograph your child looking into their Jack-o-Lantern, this will add a spooky glow to their face!
• Perspective – Don’t take pictures of children from your perspective, get down on your knees and shoot at their level. For even more drama, lay on the ground and shoot up. They will seem larger than life and that much scarier! Get up on a chair or ladder and shoot down from a greater height than just standing for great group shots.
• Tell the story – take photos of the process of getting ready to go trick or treating. Putting on the costume, make-up, etc. Make sure you include photos of pumpkin carving as well!
• Shoot the loot! Trick or treating is all about the treat! So make sure you get photos of the loot as well. Take photos of your child going to a door and getting the treat – it is fun to include the person giving the treat, or at least a hand holding out the basket of treats! Take photos of your child with their candy spread out for all to see (before they get a chance to eat it!).
• Watch the flash – if you do use your flash, make sure you are aware of any reflection off shiny surfaces like windows, etc. You may need to move around to avoid flash reflection.

Create the Perfect Holiday Card. Buy any Adobe Elements 8 product & enjoy a $20 gift from Shutterfly. Offer ends 11/09/09.

After Halloween, have your fun photos made into cards to send to far away family and friends. Share your memories – that is what it is all about!

The scary night is almost upon us. The night when frightening creatures roam the neighborhood looking for treats and threatening tricks! It is also the night when kids look so absolutely darling you just have to take some pictures of them! But what makes the perfect Halloween photo?

Create the Perfect Holiday Card. Buy any Adobe Elements 8 product & enjoy a $20 gift from Shutterfly. Offer ends 11/09/09.

Anyone can pick up a camera and take some pictures of kids in costume or the jack o lantern. But with a few tips and tricks you can take your Halloween photos to the next level!

Jack-o-Lanterns: After all the time you spend picking out the perfect pumpkin and then carving it into a scary creature – you want a picture that does it justice, right?  It only takes a few little tricks to create the perfect Jack-o-Lantern photo:

Click here to find a great freebie!

There are a lot of people who wonder why someone would choose digital scrapbooking over traditional paper scrapping.  I think there are several reasons, two of them are it is inexpensive and it is so easy!

COST

When you paper scrap, each layout can cost anywhere from $3 on up depending on what you put into it. I know you can do minimal embellishments and bring the cost of the layout down, but do you really want to cut things out? The cost of paper scrapping is going up and up, with just a single 12×12 sheet of colored cardstock costing close to $1!

With digital scrapbooking you can get a high quality full size kit for around $3 to $5! For less than the cost of one paper layout, you can create multiple, stunning layouts with one digital kit! Since you can reuse digital kits over and over, you can make a fun brag book or mini gift album that has the same theme throughout. What a great inexpensive gift!

Your major expense with digital scrapbooking is your software. There are many different programs to choose from. I will talk more on programs later.

EASY TO DO

Digital scrapbooking is very easy to learn and fun to do! You can resize pictures right on you layouts to fit where you need them – no more getting out the ruler and cropping! It is great to be able to see your layout on the screen and move things around as you wish.

It is much faster to scrap digitally. Setting up your supplies is just a matter of turning on your computer! When you need to take a break, you can save your layout and come back later. Everything will be ready to go again when you return.

It is great not to have to worry about kids getting into your supplies or running out of something. I am sure we have all been scrapping late at night and needed a certain color paper or the perfect accent, right? With digital scrapping all your supplies are right on your computer and if you need something you can always find it on the internet where digital scrapbook stores are open 24/7!

In my opinion, digital scrapbooking is the way of the future. Join in the fun – you will be glad you did!

If you asked a roomful of scrapbookers (at a crop of course!) why they scrapbook, you would get a wide variety of answers. To preserve memories, for a creative outlet, for their family, to make gifts, etc. What ever the reason, scrapbooking is here to stay!

Years ago a scrapbook was a large book with construction paper pages (or those magnetic sheets!). In this book, people would use rubber cement to paste photos, cards, etc., to keep them safe. But did the albums really keep these items safe? I am sure we have all come across a book like this only to find the photos either falling out of the book or stuck in so good you have to cut them out!

Now these early scrapbookers had good intentions and we are lucky to have these books. They just didn’t have the right tools then. But they still recognized the need to keep photos and memories for future generations.

The ‘scrapbook revolution’ started in the late 80′s to early 90′s. The scrapbook industry was taking off and the best ways to preserve pictures was the big thing. Everything because acid free and safe fro scrapbooking. Some scrapbookers even wore gloves as they worked to avoid transferring acids and oils from their skin to photos.

Now, scrapbooking has taken another turn as technology is playing a bigger part in our lives. Scrapbooking digitally is easy and fun, and the number of people digiscrapping is growing every day. Almost everyone owns a digital camera these days and it is so easy to take the photos straight from the camera right into a program that allows you to create beautiful scrapbook layouts. No more waiting for the film to be developed and then digging out your paper scrapping supplies. You can make a great digi layout in no time!

Whatever your reason for scrapbooking, you have many options for creating layouts. If you really love playing with paper – you can still use digital scrapbooking in your paper layouts. Hybrid scrapbook pages are a great way to combine digital & paper scrapping. I will cover hybrid layouts in a future post.

Digital scrapbooking is here to stay. It is fun, easy to do, and very inexpensive! Try it out – you will fall in love with Digital Scrapbooking!