Digital Scrapbooking - Logan's First Year Album

About a year ago, I started scrapbooking photos of my oldest two children, compiling all the memories from each of their first years into scrapbook albums.  As of this writing, both of those albums remain largely unfinished, though my daughter's is closer to the finish line than my older son's. 

Scrapbooking can be a time and space consuming hobby.  There are papers and punches and embellishments and stickers and ribbons...not to mention the actual photos that end up spread around while you try to find the "perfect" shot for a layout!  With little kids in the house, I don't get to scrap very often, so I'm always chronically behind on all of my scrapping projects. 

In order to avoid getting even more behind on everything I'd like to scrap, I decided that Logan's first year scrapbook is going to be 75% digital.  At first, it was difficult to get used to working with Photoshop files instead of paper and stickers, but what I've discovered is that scrapping digitally allows me to work on a layout in the spare minutes of the day when I can sit down at the laptop and there are no supplies left out and about for the kids to mess with.  I can get a lot more accomplished this way!  In fact, Logan's scrapbook is coming along so quickly, it looks like I'll be able to keep up with it through the year, and it will probably be finished before Chloe's and Ben's 100% traditional albums.

Logan's First Year Album - Title Page

There are definitely some adjustments when switching from traditional to digital scrapping.  I definitely miss the tactile aspect of traditional scrapping - I love the feel of different papers and the three dimensional embellishments.  But, digital scrapping has given me a way to feel creative, and to create something for our family's legacy, without feeling like I've taken up half the day with dragging out and putting away supplies. 

Digital scrapping is also much, much cheaper than traditional scrapping.  Digital layouts are created with digital Photoshop files, which are reusable.  You can purchase design files and kits in all sorts of themes from thousands of designers for an average of five to seven dollars per kit, or you can find and download thousands of FREE files. (Two of my favorite download sites: www.OScraps.com and www.TheShabbyShoppe.com)  The best part is, once these files are downloaded, you can use them as many times as you'd like!  Once your layouts are complete, the only other cost involved is having your layouts printed, at an average of $4.00 each.  Often times I'll spend twice that amount on embellishments for a single traditional layout!


I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Logan's album progresses with the year, and to see if I'm able to keep up with it!  I'll be sure to share more layouts as I get them finished.