Digital Scrap Booking + Baby = Awesome

I've spent the past few weeks going over and over all the photos we took of Andrew in his first three months. I love them. I love him. I could look at them all day and still want to snuggle with him and look some more :)

I've been working on a scrapbook for him. Almost 2 years ago I switched to completely digital scrapbooking... much less inventory to keep around and several major benefits. First, there's nothing to set up or clean up - so I actually work on the scrapbook instead of putting it off until I have an entire weekend to dedicate to cutting, sticking, and being creative. Second, everything you buy can be used over and over again (no more running out of the letter "p" in the middle of a title for a page), re-sized, and re-colored. Everything can match, everything can fit on the page, and the whole page can be filled up without having to go find something to stick in the blank spot. Any photo cropping and editing can be undone or redone with the click of a mouse, and even the photos can be re-sized and re-colored. There's even a "match color from page" function that allows your font (or whatever) to exactly match (or have an adjusted tint or hue) whatever is in the photo. The finished product is then printed as a hard-backed coffee-table-type book, which takes up much less space than traditional books and deteriorates much less quickly. They can also be shared online for people far away to view.

The only drawbacks I've found so far are not being able to attach memorabilia (hospital bracelets, for example), although anything that can be scanned into a computer can be included as a "photo" on the page. And the temptation to tweak every page incessently instead of "finishing" it and ordering it.

Anyway, I've just finished and ordered my first full length digital scrapbook (I did a small one for the Band before I left teaching). I really like it and I can't wait to start on the next one :) I also did smaller modified versions for both sets of grandparents, although James' mom doesn't know about hers yet because it's a birthday gift. Hopefully she's forgotten about this blog and doesn't see this post before her birthday ;)

Andrew's Baby Album: Zero through 3 Months

The software I use is two-fold: digital photo storage/cataloging (Memory Manager 3) and album/card/etc. design (Storybook Creator 3). They are by Creative Memories, which is a fantastic company (similar to Pampered Chef) that also works with traditional scrapbooking and faithbooking. All of their products are very high quality and their customer service is very good. Here's my consultant's page if you're interested in investigating.

Enjoy :)




PS - the current photos for the title of the blog were done with the same Storybook Creator 3 software.