Why Digi-Scrap?

PROS for Photoshop and Digi-Scrapping:

•  all the cool kids are doing it. heh. 
•  if you move a lot, no supplies to pack, unpack, and repack 
•   you don’t need storage space for products (don’t have to take over a room in your house – although dedicating an external hard drive for storage is a good idea.)  No little pieces or dangerous tools to keep away from the kids.  
•   NO MESS TO CLEAN UP.  It’s super easy to save, walk away from a layout, and come back to it later (no tying up your dining room table!)  ;o)
• you buy a piece of paper once and use it over and over again forever.  Change the size of the pattern, make the colors just a little darker or lighter, make the paper act as vellum, make it into a ribbon . . .
• you can make a page ONCE, then get as many copies – even in different sizes or formats – as you want.  No needing to re-create it or make sub-par copies
• you don’t have to get pictures printed before you scrap (or make sure you have then in the right size to work together on a page.)  You get to completely skip this step!!!  Very easy to do cool things with pictures, make them unusual sizes and incorporate them into fun elements 
• you NEVER have to worry about running out of an alphabet sticker, and you can make an alphabet element whatever size you need it.
• once you figure things out, you can design your own elements.  Talk about freedom!
• all the great digi designers!  The internet evens the playing field for designers.  They don’t have to associate with a larger company or have a ton of money for start-up.  The good designers get noticed purely on their merit and rise to the top based on good customer service and great design.
• depending on your style, once you figure things out, making digi-pages can be a LOT faster than paper.
• if you have a blog it’s super easy to just cut and paste to turn blog entries (or material from them) into a scrapbook page
• no hammering eyelets!  Just click and drag! (and you can make them as big or small as you want!)
• two words: FLAT PAGES.  Flat scrapbooks, more pages fitting in one book.
• No spending money on adhesives! (except for hybrid projects LOL)
• Shopping is on the internet: you don’t have to run out to shop if you need an element to finish a page (and you never “run out” once you have something.)  No tantrums from your 2 year old in the scrapbook aisle!  (was that just me?)
• no making mistakes with sticker placement and no need for Undu.  No ruining a photo and having to run out to get it reprinted.  Edit > Undo is your new best friend!
• you don't have to worry about a stupid husband spilling something on a scrapbook page in progress (or spilling pop on it yourself)
• all the cool, funky photo manipulations!  You can make photos you thought were unusable into something totally awesome.
• it's easier to be precise when lining things up, especially with the grid feature
• don't have to worry about elements you add to the page being archival and damaging photos

 

CONS

• if you don’t print your pages, you don’t have physical evidence of your work.  (SO PRINT THEM!)
• the torn edges look is hard to get unless you can wrap your mind around paper tearing actions and templates
• a lack of your own handwriting on your pages (unless you leave space and add it later.  Or have a font made of your handwriting.)
• some people will miss touching paper and the physical process of it all
• you miss out on the current cool physical scrapbooking papers.  (But dude . . . you'll run out eventually anyway.  And a lot of digital designers are now designing for paper manufacturers, AND paper manufacturers are starting to release their designs digitally!!!)
• some people don’t like to scrap at a computer because they work at one all day
• if you’re a scrapper who likes to use found objects or physical mementos (ticket stubs, receipts, etc) they are more challenging to incorporate (although it can be done!)
• some hard-core paper scrappers will look down on you and say you’re not REALLY scrappin’. ignore them.
• if the pictures you want to scrap are primarily already physical and not coming from a digi camera, it’s more of a pain to get them into a digital format.  (Then again, it may be nice to have a digital copy anyway.)

 

My solution to most of the CONS?

 

BE BI-SCRAPUAL.

 

DO BOTH.  Have a combination of digi and paper in your books.  They work together just fine.  One will inspire the other and take the pressure off.  You get the best of both worlds this way!

 

For more of my thoughts of paper and digi and how you can easily do both, read:
Scraplifting from digi to paper & paper to digi
finding inspiration everywhere

 

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I do feel the need to say, though, that I DO love paper scrappin'.  I still scrapbook with paper and I personally don't plan to ever give it up 100%.  I don't think that digi is BETTER than paper, it's just different.  We're all scrappers, we're all working to get our photos and memories in some semblance of order.  That's what it's all about.

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Comments

[angie]

Thank you so much for posting this! I agree with every word you said.

[MommyBa]

Hi Jen! I'm glad to have come across your blogsite. I actually am a blogger and a digiscrapper too. You have a very good site, full of resources and full of things with sense. I love how you write and I love how you've been very kind enough to list down everything here.

I hope it will be okay to link you up from my site. It would be great for digiscrappers to have your page for one of their dependable resources and of course for some good reading :)

Keep up the good work!

[RiordM]

Thank you so very much for you site. I am really new to DS and love it! I work with computers everyday and just started scrapbooking earlier this year. I like the combination of the two. You site is very informative and I have learned alot regarding piracy. I have sent your link to all by scrappin' buds. Thank you!

[Judi]

Up until about two hours ago, I knew absolutely nothing about digital scrapping. Thanks to your site, I have just finished my first digital layout. Thank you!

[PrincessEmeraldstar]

Hey, I do both! It's wonderful. The odd thing about me is that I did digi BEFORE paper. LOL

[Sandi]

i enjoyed your pros and cons article - but i have to comment about the "con" of not being able to put your own handwriting on a digi page. Hmmmm i do that by writing it out on a piece of paper and scanning it in and putting it on the page, adding a drop shadow, etc. i also have handwritten poems, notes and journal entries that my parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles wrote, and i've scanned them and put them on pages. It looks great! So, yeah, you can have handwritten stuff on the page. i have also left space for handwritten notes and then, as you said, added it later with a the new fine-line sharpies. tee hee...i think for almost ever "con" there is a way to compensate for it! Love your blog!

[Sonja]

Hi Jen! You have done great work with this site! Very good explained, one step after the other, ... It was really helpful for me. Even with my German 2.0 version of Photoshop, I was now able to create my first digi-scrap. Thanks a lot!

[Ana Domingues]

Thanks for creating such an amazing Blogg.
I shall ready everything. :)

[Adriana]

I googled "digiscrapping" because I want to learn how to do it. I came upon your post and even though it doesn't tell me how to digiscrap, I enjoyed it. Some parts made me laugh and it all made great sense. I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep my work. I am glad I can now I just have to figure out a few things

1) How to digiscrap
2) Where to save the digiscraps I download

Thank you for the great info!

Adriana

[A Facebook User]

Jen
I posted a link to this page on my blog [email protected] - its a great summary about digi versus traditional scrapping, thanks