Scrapbooking the Web Way

By Michelle Hainer

One of photographer Rebecca Ferraioli's favorite subjects is her two-year-old daughter Amelia. So as you can imagine, she has tons of pictures documenting every stage of her child's life. While the idea of scrapbooking her images was appealing, Ferraioli was put off by the expense. "Making one page would have cost $20," she says. 

Then one day, while perusing the aisles of her local craft store, Ferraioli happened upon a magazine devoted to digital scrapbooking. Digiscrapping, as it's called, is all about using computer software and online tools to make scrapbook pages that you can print out or post on web pages versus hand-crafting pages with glue and construction paper, for example. From the moment she logged onto her first digiscrapping site, she was hooked. "Digiscrapping is so cathartic," says Rebecca, whose handcrafted pages won The Last Scrapper Standing title on Divine Digital "There are so many things you can do with your photos that you just can't do with paper scrapbooking."

There are thousands of really talented digiscrappers out there, but don't be discouraged by the elaborate pages on display at many popular web sites. With the right tools, online communities and an open imagination, you'll be digiscrapping in no time. Here's how:

Step No. 1: Build your tool box While you won't need glue, die cuts or construction paper, you will need the right computer program to stylize your photos and make layouts of your pages. Unlike paper scrapping, with digital, you print your entire design on one sheet. Clara Wallace, owner of Matter of Scrap a site that sells digital scrapbooking supplies, recommends Microsoft Digital Image ($49.95) or PhotoShop Elements (around $99). Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo also is an affordable option at about $80. Also, if you're planning on printing out your pages, make sure you have a photo printer and that you use photo paper, Wallace says. You can also have your pages professionally printed at Costco, Snapfish or Shutterfly.

Step No. 2: Shop around As the trend builds, more and more digiscrapbooking sites are selling tons of fun products, like CD-based scrapbooking kits, which include pre-made pages that you can use as digital templates or as a base for creating your own design. Two Peas in a Bucket, Divine Digital, and 3scrapteers not only offer supplies, but allow users to create a gallery to display and archive their work. Some sites, like Cottagearts or Dafont offer free downloads. And if you want your dollars to go toward a good cause, check out Promos4DigiScrappers. A portion of the proceeds from their "What I Want" CD of pre-designed pages goes to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Step No. 3. Join an online community Sites like Rakscraps or Scrapbook-bytes have forums where digiscrappers can ask questions and share their work. Also, Yahoo Groups has several digiscrapping communities you can join. "There are so many people in the forums that can help you, which is great if you're new and want to learn," says Wallace, who started her own Yahoo Group, the aforementioned Promos4Digiscrappers.

In the year and a half that Ferraioli's been digiscrapping, she's created more than 200 pages, some of which she gives to her parents as gifts. And now that she's caught the bug, she's spreading the word to other crafters. "The other day I was in AC Moore and I heard these two women complaining about the price of scrapbook pages," she recalls. "I politely interrupted and said, 'Excuse me, but have you tried digital scrapbooking?'"