Questions from a Newbie

[kbcook]

Hi Ladies,
I have been to this site several times, and it is incredible and inspiring.
I have been scrapbooking for 3 years now and I love it. My wonderful hubby got me a beautiful Epson printer that can print all the way up to 14" width papers. I am so ecstatic!! Now, I am officially ready to tap into Digital Scrapping. I have been trying to do some layouts, but it is not as easy as I thought it would be.
On an average, how long does it take you to do a digital layout? Does it typically take longer than traditional scrapping?

And, do you print up entire scrapbooks of your digital pages? Or, do you create Digital CD Scrapbooks?

I would appreciate your insight and advice and really look forward to learning from all of you wonderfully creative, experienced digital scrappers.

Thanks so much,
:)

[colorella]

Hello and welcome to this great place :)

Digtal scrapping goes really faster than traditional one.As for me,I need 15 to 30 minutes if I use a complete premade kit and about 1-2 hours if I make my own elements.There are many scrappers who participate at speedscrap challenges and are able to finish 10 different layouts in 5 hours.
As a beginner you maybe have trouble with your software.Just look at the online tutorials (button on the top of this page) to find out if there is something that matches the software you have available.
For the answer to your second question check out this poll:
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1733
As you can see, most of us print the layouts at home.
Happy scrapping.

[Starling]

I print out my layouts for me and my daughter, but am beginning to consider other ways to distribute them too.

Right now it is taking you a long time to do your layouts mainly because you are also learning your software. Some of mine go together shockingly fast, others, where I am using techniques where I'm learning take longer.

colorella mentioned Power Scrapping (10 layouts in 5 hours) and I'm one of the people who did that challenge the last time DSP ran it. It actually took all of us more than 5 hours to do the 10 layouts, but what it was teaching was how to organize to scrap faster. Four of those hours were spent getting ready to scrap over a one week period.

This is not a race, for me. It is an enjoyable artistic hobby, so fast isn't what I'm after. What I like best is that I can do it in small chunks.

[Lauren]

He he he!!!- I dont know about digital being faster where Im concerned - Ive spent days and days on a layout myself - however it is possible to complete a layout in seconds by using a premade "plopper" ( a bit like a premade layout where you just "plop" your photo on or under in the space provided) .
But the huge benefit of digital is the UNDO button - make a mistake and its just so easy to rectify it digitally!!!( this is also a curse as it means your layouts can take a LOT longer if you are obsessively a perfectionist like me!!!)
Take it slowly for your first few layouts as you learn your graphics programme - 90% of the frustration you will feel is just learning HOW to do what you want to do rather than actually DOING it . And my advice is to try out as many tutorials as you can ( even if they dont apply to a layout you are making at the moment- you will learn something that could help you on the next layout and reduce the frustration element!!!!

[Emma]

Some layouts are faster, some take a lot longer than paper. Paper is the same way, some are super fast, others take forever! It IS certainly cheaper, even considering printer and computer and software costs. It amortizes over the years and saves a lot of money.

You can print entire albums or not, up to you. Very versatile, you can do anything you'd like. If you need help figuring out how to meet your needs, just ask and we'll help you decide and figure stuff out

Welcome to DSP!!!

[Emma]

oh, it DOES get tons faster once you know what you're doing. As with all things, the learning curve can be steep at first, but levels out. Your best bet is to keep things in perspective, don't get frustrated, give yourself plenty of time to learn.

And ASK if you ever have any troulbe or start to feel frustrated. We're here :)

[JuneC]

I am new at this and I am finding that getting the idea for the page takes a while but once that comes together the LO goes pretty quickly. If I am trying to learn a new technique it slows me down. I have downloaded page kits, both free and from the store that speed things up alot.

I like the freedowm to be able to go back and tweak a LO that I am not all that happy with. Paper scrapping made me so anxious that I couldn't enjoy it because glueing seems so final. For example I just went back and changed the background and element colors on a LO that is going into a gift album to more match the look I am going for...a look I hadn't even decided on when I origianlly did the LO.

I could never have done that with paper!
Junec