There is a nice article today - Digital Scrapbooking: Look,Ma, No Scraps!
I'm very excited since Gregg Ellman mentions FxFoto and he even quoted me - I feel famous! I don't know if it is in the print version of the Star-Telegram which is located in Fort Worth Texas but if any of you are in that area and see it, please let me know. He has lots of great resources and examples so it definitely worth checking out.
Happy {Digital} Scrapping!
Exciting news times two! I have two layouts that are getting published in the next issue of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine! So cool because this is such a wonderful digital resource.
AND the article was written by Angie Pedersen which is doubly wonderful. She even picked out the LOs she wanted for her article. I haven't read it yet but I can't wait to and I am sure it will be fabulous!
If you haven't heard of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, take a look at the web site. It has loads of inspirational ideas and information about digital scrapbooking. Plus when you subscribe you can get the full version digitally in your email box way before it arrives by snail mail. And you can access archived editions on line. What a wonderful idea!
Recently Typepad announced a new widget for bloggers who use Typepad - one that allows you to set up your own storefront, complete with a shopping cart and secure payment via PayPal. And all from your sidebar in a matter of minutes.
So since digital scrapbookers are a group of avid bloggers, will this change digital scrapbooking? Hmmm I wonder....
Since I started digrscrapping, it has gone through a lot of changes. In the beginning (like maybe 3 years ago - LOL!), there were few digital designers and few digital sites. Prices for kits were a bit higher than they are now but still quite reasonable considering how much use you can get out of one kit. As more people started scrapping digitally, the number of sites grew and so did the number of designers. Becoming a digital designer was possible with a computer, talent, time and a high speed connection plus it was easy to do it from home or as a extra business.
Just as market economics would predict, the digital world now has lots of designers - probably more than are needed. Prices have dropped, freebies now appear on such a regular basis that many consumers feel they don't need to buy kits with all the free ones available. In an effort to cope, designers have begun offering more and more sales. But when it takes hours and hours to create a kit that sells for < $5 is it worth it? Digital store sites and designers seem to come and go - this year has seen many designers leave the business. Those designers still left seem to move frequently from one site to another, probably in search of more sales. Without a rise in paying customers or in kit prices, it would seem that we will continue to lose designers in 2008.
So now that Typepad will help you set up a store, will designers just decide to sell from their own blogs? For one, it cuts out the fee designers pay for being part of a store. It certainly seems easier than setting up and maintaining a store site - less hassle, less marketing and if you've had a blog for awhile you have a built in customer base. Plus you don't have to pay for a domain name and hosting. But so far I haven't seem anyone jumping to set up a store. Maybe we're all still wrestling with the holidays and too busy to think about it. Or maybe it is harder than it looks - I haven't tried it yet. Or maybe 2008 will the year of the store-blog? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.....
For anyone on your gift list with a digital camera, here are some gift ideas. Or maybe I should say everyone since you will find ideas for cellphones, compact cameras and even SLRs. And when you count cell phones, just about everyone has a camera.
In no particular order....
Jelly Lenses let you do some interesting special effects from your compact digital camera or cellphone. A lens with repositional adhesive that you put over your camera lens to give you some cool effects – starburst, diamond or heart. $5.99 each or $17.97 for all three from The Container Store
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DiCAPac Waterproof/ Underwater Case for Compact Cameras
This is a great idea and much safer than a plastic bag – a waterproof pouch for your camera. I’m not sure I have the gumption to test it but they say is is waterproof to 16 feet. Even if you don’t planning on shooting underwater, this would be handy for beach trips, skiing (water or snow) or taking your camera anywhere near water like the beach, water park or even your local bath tub. It comes in a couple of different sizes for different cameras $33 to $35 depending on size. I found it at Amazon but you might also try your local camera store.
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Photography Classes
At your local camera or scrapbooking store or online. Panasonic is offering Digital Photo Academy which offers courses in many cities throughout the US. Any brand camera will do and there are three levels.
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No classes nearby? How about a Photography Book?
Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs by Bryan Peterson
Complete Digital Photography by Ben Long
Perfect Digital Photography by Jay Dickman
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Wallet Pix I haven’t seen this in person but the concept intrigues me…a credit card sized digital photo album. The flyer from Bed, Bath and Beyond showed one so maybe I will vetnure out to see it later this weekend. $29.99
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Need some easy to use photo software? I may be a bit biased but this is what I use …FxFoto Creative Edition. Order the CD ($65.95) and you will get ten digital scrapbooking kits and templates. Or order the download version for $59.96 (without digital kits). Either way, the software is intuitive and quite powerful.
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In the category of maybe not very exciting but definitely appreciated…
a stack of DVDs or CDs
Backing up photos is always a good thing – encourage it by giving CDs or DVDs. And if you need DVD burning software, here’s an easy to use free software for burning DVDs. Final Burner Free
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Going over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house? How about a memory stick/flash drive to bring all your photos along? They are everywhere, even in our local grocery store and have huge amounts of storage - you can get 4GB for about $40 now.
One hint – get one where the clip or key ring is on the drive part not on the cap. Take it from me, you don’t want pull out your key ring only to find the cap is there but the drive is missing. Not a pretty sight.
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Lastly, the LCD screens on camera take a real beating especially if you carry yours around in a purse or pocket. A screen protector is a great and inexpensive idea - Giottos 1.5" LCD Protector with Microfiber Cleaning Cloth is a great gift for cleaning and protecting that screen. Find if at a camera store or at well known NYC store B&H Photo for $7.50 or so.
It is finally here...
And you can find all the participating site with links to their DSD page at
Did you see this? Win This Lens
Tamron is offering a lens worth $400 as a prize for Digital Scrapbooking Day! It's really an amazing lens - I don't have one but it is definitely on my wish list. Really nice zoom and is lightweight which is important if you have lugged around a heavy zoom to get good shots.
You don't have to be a digital scrapbooker to enter or to win. So go check it out and enter. Who knows - you might win!
This is the perfect time of the year for a Tailgate Party and you don't even have to be a football fan. In fact you don't have to leave your house, or worry about calories or points to join in....
Hummie is hosting a DSD Tailgate Party from now until Digital Scrapbooking Day on November 3rd. You can find all the details on her blog by clicking here. Come join! Oh and did I mention there are prizes....??? No? Well, there are! So get going!
The theme is Heritage layouts so I'm going to share a few of mine here...
This one is of the three women in my family with the name Eileen - my grandmother, mom and I. I scanned the photo which I found in my very first photo album - a bit grainy for sure but precious nonetheless. I had recieved a camera for Christmas ( a Kodak Instamatic I believe) and my dad helped me develop these photos in his darkroom. I scanned the album cover too - it's in the lower left corner.
Credit: Lucky Day by Carrie Stevens at FishScraps, font is Journaling Hand
And a little anniversary layout of DH and I that I did for our 24th anniversary last year...
Credit: Pomegranate kit which is a collaborative kit at Plain Digital Wrapper; corner brushes are by Michelle Coleman at Scrap Artist, font is Jenkins v 2.0
Digital Scrapbooking Day November 3, 2007
Let's celebrate!
You can find out more at Digital Scrapbooking Day dot com.
Anyone and everyone is welcome to participate. Feel free to contact me at seswhite@gmail.com
This is a great idea...a Digiscrapping Blogroll. Now there are several bloglists and blog rings like and Top Digi Blogs which Carrie Stephens runs, Top Scrapbooking Blogs and Ringsurf's Digi Scrap Blogs - you can find links to all of them on the right side bar of this blog. They are an incredibly useful set of links to digital scrapbooking blogs and one thing I really like about them is they show the headers of each blog. That makes it easy for someone visual like me to locate a particular blog. And an interesting blog header will sometimes make me stop and check it out. But headers make the list awkward to scroll through. And the blogs are listed in order of popularity and by the blog name so it can be hard to find someone.
Enter Digiscrpping Blogroll which has been organized by Hummie which you can see on my sidebar. What is so different? Well, first off, there is a scrolling thingie listing all the blogs by the writer's name which does make it a bit easier to find someone. And she put them in alphabetical order by first name which helps too. For someone like me who has never gotten around to making a list of my favorite blog links, well, this sort of cuts down on the need to do so. One of the reasons I've never made a sidebar list is that I am afraid I will offend someone by leaving them off my list. Of course, the blogroll is only as good as the person running it but Hummie is working really hard to add blogs and so far it has about 300+. That's a lot of digiscrappers!!
Another big advantage is that if you wanted to just check out some blogs it would be easy to just click on the names from anyone's blog who has the list. Many of us have been using Bloglines to keep track of our favorite blogs since it allows you to create playlists of your favorites. So you can have a playlist of all the freebie blogs or all the store blogs or all the news blogs. One really nice thing about Bloglines is that it tells you when someone has updated their blog with a new post which saves lots of time. Of course there is no reason not to use both!
Want you blog to be listed? Hummie's post on Digiscrapping Blogroll will tell you how to do that.
And it you are a Typepad user with your blog set up like this one with 3 columns then you need to change the pixel width to 100 to get the scroll bar to show up.
Well, well, look what I woke up to this morning. I am just tickled pink - and to be tagged by none other than Angie Pedersen is so cool. Pretty amazing collection of blogs I like to visit regularly are already sporting this cute little button...Jen Caputo, Cathy Zielske, Katie the Scrapbook Lady, Kim Guymonand Michelle Thompson of Scrapability
In the category of preachin' the word of the digital gospel, I say that Susan White is a Rockin' Girl Blogger. She provides consistent informative content, and she has BIG things in the works - all delivered on a blog, baby.
I'm not sure how informative I am ....but....a-yuh... there sure are BIG things coming.. ;-)
So who am I going to tag with a bit of linky love...
Studio Friday by Tine Wiggins - since 2005 Tine's been gathering weekly thoughts from artists all over the web and the world about art subjects and the creative process. What I love is that there are that the Studio Friday folks include all sorts of mediums - paint, paper, fiber, fabric, clay, jewelery and computers. I never miss reading these, although I don't always manage to post in time.
Loquacity of Latharia - ( say that three times fast) - I met this woman at Cropping on the Cape along with several of her partners in crime and of course, we exchanged blog links. What I love about here blog is the myriad of subjects she covers - some scrapping, some life and some just plain fun.
Delightfully Digital by Thena Smith - You know her I'm sure and her posts and poems always bring a smile. I hope I'm so cool when I grow up.
Inspiration for Generation C and Everyday Digital Scrapbooking both by Julie Ann Shahin - the Everyday Digital Scrapbooking blog is a never ending source of inspiration with projects galore. And on Inspiration for Generation C you will find a great series on getting published.
Hold Dear by Michelle Geller - She does such neat stuff - her projects are so interesting and I've gotten quite a few ideas from her. Way cool combining of all sorts of scrapping, painting, sewing, digital and vintage things. Very inspirational.
Okay so that's my list...
