New to Digital Scrapbooking?

Supplies Needed:
Gotta Pixel Sampler (Download)
Photoshop Elements 6 or higher. You can use a lower version, however, this tutorial is written for Photoshop Elements 6 and higher.
Zip Program to unzip the Sampler

Welcome!

If you have heard about this thing they call Digital Scrapbooking, but you aren’t sure where to start, then read on!! Digital Scrapbooking is a very fast growing version of a favorite memory preserving past past time. There are a few basic things you will need in order to get started:

1. A scrapbooking or photo editing program
2. Lots of your favorite digital photos
3. Digital Scrapbooking kits
4. A little patience and the desire to preserve those memories!!

Choosing a Program

There are many different kinds of software available for digital scrapbooking and/or photo editing. Some people choose to buy software that is manufactured specifically for digital scrapbooking. Often, this software comes with built-in papers, elements etc., but may offer limited editing capabilities.

Many people choose to invest in a photo editing program, such as Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro or Photo Impact. While they can be a little more expensive, these programs offer many more options when creating your layouts. They allow you to use a wider variety of file types and they donʼt restrict you to built-in papers, elements, etc. In general, these programs allow you to be much more creative and more in control of how your completed layout will look.

Whichever program you choose, do not hesitate to ask about it in the Gotta Pixel forums. With so many different members here, there are sure to be others who use the program of your choice.

Your Photos

Many people are using digital cameras as their camera of choice nowadays. Digital provides you with the ability to preview and/or delete your pictures right after you take them. No more waiting for your favorite pictures to be developed.....just upload to your computer and they are ready to be used in minutes. Film pictures can be used in digital scrapbooking as well (remove comma) if they are scanned on a scanner and saved to your computer.

Digital Scrapbook Products

We want to give you a little something to get you started. With this mini kit, you will have all you need to make your very first layout!! This file is in .zip format, so you should be able to extract the contents in Windows by right clicking the file name, and choosing Extract All. If you do not have Windows, there are many free unzip programs available that can be found with a quick Google [do you want to use the brand Google or just say internet?] search.

Once you've unzipped this kit, you will need to find a picture or two that you would like to scrap and open them within your chosen software program. Next, you will need to open a paper to use as your background. If you are using one of the editing programs listed above, it will most likely work using layers.

Imagine that you are working on a paper layout [remove comma] with all the supplies sitting on the table in front of you. As you build your layout, the pieces get layered on top of each other, with the paper being the 1st layer, since it is on the bottom. Well digital is the exact same way!!

To start a layout, [you will need to open a new file. Talk a little about choosing page size and dpi here or else real newbies might start using their paper file as their base and save over it. I did that the first time I ever built a layout. Many people will be working along as they read and will not read all the way through before starting. Therefore, if a step is missed here but explained later, it could be too late!] The first thing you will add to this blank file is your first layer, the paper. Just like in paper scrapping, everything else you choose to use in your layout will build on top of that.

Generally, in Photoshop, you will just drag your pieces onto your paper, then use the various resizing tools or the layers palette to arrange them where you would like. In Paint Shop Pro, you will have to copy each piece and paste it onto the layout as a new layer. When you view your layers palette, the order in which the layers are listed is the order that they are "stacked" on your paper. If it helps, you may want to rename each layer by clicking on the name in the layers palette and typing in a more descriptive name---ie; paper, ribbon, etc.

Thanks for reading