I have been asking this since I started making digital Project Life pages beginning in Week 17. And the answer?
So far, so good. But I'm torn.
Let me start by saying this: I adore the ease of which I can build pages (and share them here on my blog) when working the digital process. I love not having to print everything out at home. I love not having to cut and trim every card and photo. I love how simple it is to change my mind on what type of layout I'll do this week, or how quickly I can swap out cards and photos. I love the seamlessness of saving the files, uploading them to the print service, and then getting a package a few days later. Those are the good parts.
That said, I kind of miss the printing everything at home and cutting and trimming of every card and photo. I miss putting everything into the page pockets. I miss the tangible aspects of scrapbooking.
Right now, my album is hybrid through Week 16, and digital to present day. I really am enjoying this change up, but one thing I am realizing is this: so much of my life's work has revolved around computers and part of what I loved about the hybrid process was being able to cut something. To glue something. To make something on a table, with my hands.
And yet when my package arrived yesterday with four week's worth of Project Life pages, I was all, "This is so cool." So there's that.
And who knows… next year, I may even switch to the 8.5 x 11 format.
I will say it's a work in progress. I know many of you who are digital scrapbookers left the paper process and never looked back. I'd love to hear perspectives today. If you started out as a paper scrapbooker and made the leap, why? Did you miss anything? Paper scrapbookers, would you ever consider digital aspects, or hybrid aspects? Or what about those of you who never touched a piece of patterned paper ever? Digital from the get go?
In the end, it's all about saving stories so really, it's great either way and any way in between. If you have a few minutes today, tell me what you do and what motivates your approach.
Sarah PM says
Speed and fkexibility! For me, it’s the ease of being able to change my mind quickly on photo placement, photo editing type (do I want B&W? Tinted? Enlarged? Cropped?) and the ability to see it all there in front of me right away. I like being able to try multiple types of layouts to see which one “works” for me and the story I want to tell. I also travel extensively for work, and i can take my digital storytelling with me to help me unwind and capture thoughts quickly.
I tried hybrid scrapping, but honestly the wait between sending in my pics and then getting them back, and then the trimming and shaping and screwed up cuts, was too much for my type AAA personality! I admire those who take pleasure in slowing down for the tactile experience, and I wish I had the patience to do that. But that’s just not me!
machelle says
I love the ability to have pages work-in-progress and not have a mess laying out. I love the fact that I can store the digital copy in case of a fire and not worry about losing all my stories. I live in a small town with no scrapbook stores and I love that I don’t have to “stock up” on supplies so I won’t run out. I love how I can make more than one book or use the page in my family book and my child’s book without having to re-create. I love not waiting for my photos (I don’t like to print at home). I love how I can set my photo to any size, not just a standard size. I do miss all the pretty papers and embellishments of the old days but not enough to go back.
Chris H says
love how clean and simple the pages are. I’m about a month ‘behind’ and want to get it done fast and easy.
Are your templates available somewhere and I’ve missed it??
Sian says
I am new to the world of digi scrapping and at the moment am only using it for Project Life. I am a bit torn like you as I do like the ease and no-mess nature of digital as I do not have a designated craft room or space and therefore can do it anywhere I can sit with my laptop….usually the comfort of the lounge or rear deck if a nice sunny day!?!? I also love that you can use, reuse and recolour digi elements.
But I also love the tactile nature of traditional paper scrapping and do still plan to keep up this creative process for my daughter’s album. Also I have a huge stash of goodies that need to be used up…
So for me, I will try and retain both creative processes for different projects and see how I go. If only I had an endless supply of hours and free time to scrap to my heart’s content and I would not be behind in either of the above projects.
Oh and on an end note, I love your pages – digi or hybrid….
Chris H says
doh…never mind… found them on designer digitals….
Julie S says
I’ve made the switch to digi for about 90% of my scrapping. I’ll do the occasional paper layout and I do all of PL “traditionally”. For me, it helps me slow down a bit and enjoy the process more. I also really love being able to slip other bits into those pockets that help tell the story and for me, scanning a ticket stub isn’t the same as the actual ticket stub.
I’ve thought about going digi for some of the reasons you mentioned and also because I bet I’d only need one or two albums each year instead of three, but I just don’t think I’m there yet.
cathy says
Indeed, they are here:http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Cathy+Zielske+Life+Basicsx=-153y=-168
anne says
I did traditional for a while got fed up and quit. Then I went digital for about two years and loved the ease of doing everything on the computer. I found your blog and started doing hybrid and love it. The instant gratification of being able to print and trim is great. I had major surgry last month and got way behind. So I am going to do digital for the six weeks that I am behind and call it good. That is the great thing about it. There is no right or wrong way. If you want to do half digi and half hybrid go for it.
cathy says
I do have envelope pages in my PL album, and Ive been putting bits of memorabilia into them. But yeah, Im not quite there to make the full jump just yet.
banu H says
Hi Cathy, I was a pure paper scrapper until I discovered your blog :)) Yup. From that point onwards, I have become a hybrid scrapper – if that means doing some parts of the work digitally and then printing them and including them in my paper projects. The reason I cannot become a full fledged digital scrapper is because I love the texture, the feel of paper and the embellishments etc….So I think for a while now I will be hybrid scrapper. Loved your post. (Thanks for the awesome tutorials).
cathy says
Exactly. : )
Barbie says
I determined that Project Life only works for me in a digital format. I can stay on top of it this way, but could not with a paper or hybrid format. I am never more than a few days behind now, where with paper, I was often weeks, or even months behind. I like being able to change my mind about size and placement and elements so easily. And I prefer typed journaling.
But…I still love my paper scrapping. So I do PL for all the random, everyday stuff, but still have my Library of Memories system for when I want to elaborate on a story or have lots of photos from a particular thing. The LOM books are done in whatever medium I feel like at the moment–paper, digital, or hybrid. These pages still go in traditional albums, whereas my PL stuff gets saved and printed in a photo book at the end of the year.
MissKim says
I started as a paper scrapper and did that for 4 years (2000-2004). In 2004, I went digital and I’ve never missed paper scrapbooking. I’ve done a couple of mini albums using paper supplies, but I always come back to digital. I like that I can do it while sitting in my living room while my family watches TV. I like the versatility of it. I like that it doesn’t require space in my already small house.
I started Project Life because I did our Disney album(s) that way last year. I did it hybrid… designed on computer and printed and trimmed and all those things you were doing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the printing and trimming and rounding part of the process, but I never considered going digital and I have no idea why I didn’t. Once my vacation album was done, I kept doing Project Life hybrid style, but by that point, it was almost all digitally designed, printed and slipped into pockets. I was even printing via Persnickety and having them round my corners for me.
When 2013 started, I decided to try it digital. I had a vision for how I wanted my pages to flow, and I knew I could better control that flow digitally. I love it. I buy the print credits through Persnickety and print every 4-6 weeks. I’m also doing an ongoing vacation album (because we have 3 different trips this year) and it’s 8.5×11 and I’m realizing that I really miss my rectangles (I did 8.5×11 when I was a paper scrapper). When I read you were considering doing PL in 8.5×11 next year, I thought, “But there aren’t any great templates out in that size for digital!” and then I remembered that you have some. So yeah, definitely going to think about that…
Lisa VdV says
I have done both digi and paper scrapbooking but for PL it’s all paper b/c my favorite part of the project is saving bits and pieces of life that otherwise get a) thrown away or b) stuck in a drawer for eternity. Ticket stubs, business cards, my daughter’s homework… PL is the perfect place for all of those things.
Myra says
I have done both types of scrapbooking and got so burned out with it all that I completely changed the way I document my family’s life. I have started creating a yearbook using Shutterfly’s photo books. I do December Daily — mostly paper, but some hybrid. And I do love special projects, esp. Me The Abridged Version. I will do Smash books for family vacations. My time on the computer has migrated to time on the iPad. A very different experience.
Sheri says
I fell in love with the idea of Project Life in 2011 and bought all the materials to get started…then got overwhelmed. I’ve never been a scrapbooker and didn’t even know where to begin in spite of having a very logical and simple system to work with!
Then I discovered the Shutterfly Project Life option and was completely hooked. It takes all of the worry out for me and lets me get a week’s worth of information laid out in about an hour a week (more if I want, but I don’t have to). No delays for printing pictures or even for uploading, because I use the Eye-Fi card in my camera and it syncs with my Shutterfly account. I can pull shots from Facebook, Instagram and my iPhone quickly too.
I’ve purchased the first half of my 2011 album and was thrilled with the quality. Now I’m just hanging on for another discount code to get part two. The one downside to the Shutterfly approach is that there’s a page limit, so I end up doing January to July and then July to December, but I just keep the same cover/spine design so they’ll look like a matched set =)
As much as I love the idea of handcrafting, I think I would use those extra steps as a reason to procrastinate and then I’d end up with nothing done!
ElaineM says
I started in paper but the progress was sooooo slow. And the mess everywhere drove me crazy. When I discovered digital, I let out a whoop and have never looked back. I love the ability to resize and recolor everything and work in small increments of time and leaving the mess in my computer. For me it is about the stories and I have no need to touch and cut all the paper. I embellish very little and so the digital paper is the same as the paper-paper. haha I also love being able to resize font to my exact needs. Can’t think of any downside. I am a digital girlie and have been since about 2006.
Janet S says
I’ve been digi for a few years now but I haven’t parted with all my paper yet. I took lessons from JSprague for Elements and made some digi pages the traditional way but I find I like the simple PL format better with focus on the photos and a bit of journaling.
I have 2009 – 2012 in 11 x 8.5 books. I like the compact format. Before I started the books I have all my photos in pocket pages with the highlights scrapbooked in 8.5 x 11. (2013 I’m using your new templates turned horizontal.)
With digital cameras you snap so many photos that won’t ever be printed and as a result I wasn’t printing anything. I used your earlier templates for 2010 and printing the whole page but later I decided to make a book from those layouts. It’s hard to find printing in the portrait format. I used Inkubook.
2011 and 2012 are in a modified 11 x 8.5 PL format – 2009 (created this year) I used the MyPublisher program and made the pages. I like the control I have using PS Elements and templates better. I find the books to be large enough and they are cheaper than the 12 x 12.
When I load my photos I try to go through and make a “best” folder and delete the blurry and bad pictures. Helps when I go looking for that month’s photos. I scrapbook monthly highlights instead of weekly. I try to get photos from my extended family too.
My paper and doodads sit in the closet but if I want to make a card it is there for me to play with. I became a grandmother in the past year so I see the paper being used someday for grandma craft time. I can also see my 2013 book being a 2 volume set! She is really cute.
Sorry so long. Janet
My books – http://janlynns2012.blogspot.com/
cathy says
I love this approach, Barbie. That seems to be how I view it too. : )
Diana says
I actually did both paper and digital for awhile then decided to leave digital behind for many reasons…my craft room full of supplies that were just sitting there, the love of digging thru that stuff to find the perfect paper or embellishment, the fact my daughter loves to touch all the lumpy stuff, the fact I never got around to getting any of my digital pages printed, and the fact I already spend enough time on the computer between work, Facebook, and a cute little game about candy! 🙂
I think both ways of recording memories are great, but I wanna keep supporting the paper companies I love. I will do a few things that make some of my pages hybrid, but I doubt I’ll ever do totally digital pages often anymore.
Jo says
I played around with the idea of doing PL digitally, but I didn’t like the flatness of it, and I already spend so much time online/on my computer. Sure, there was no mess to clean up, but it also didn’t feel real. I could stop half way through a layout and close the file and it was like it didn’t exist at all. I did some December pages digitally and I did like the flexibility and the cost effectiveness of re-using elements endlessly. But digital also meant unlimited possibilities, which can be a little overwhelming! In the end it didn’t feel very satisfying.
So when I started PL for real in January I went with a paper version – I use 6×8″ Studio Calico page protectors that hold 3×4″ cards mostly (with some 4×6″ slots too, but that cuts down on how many stories I can tell) and I keep things pretty simple, which means I stay up to date. I print at home, usually printing eight 3×4″ pix (on four 4×6″ pages) for each week. I bought some 6×6 paper pads and alpha stickers and a few simple embellishments, but I often just use photos with digital text, or I add some patterned paper behind a smaller photo and add some letter stickers (I like how they look better than most digital text). And I love being able to handwrite short notes directly on my photos. I use digital text for longer comments.
I enjoy my Monday afternoons sitting down with paper, stamps, stickers and pocket pages more than I enjoy the part where I sit with my laptop and lay out the photos for printing. But I’m glad I learned digital scrapping and I might use it again in the future.
Kathleen S. says
I too am torn between digital and paper scrapping. I do a lot of digital for the same reasons you give. But I miss the tactile input of paper — a lot. I love the hands on of papers, punches, photos, and simply moving things around on a page. And I find that, in spite of my best intentions, I don’t add ephemera to my digital pages. I do find that I work more efficiently in digital, get more pages done, because I don’t worry about the design. It’s so easy to change your mind in digital! So I plug along with a foot in each camp.
Tracy Smith says
I like using some digital elements, but I know I will never be 100% digital, unless companies stop making paper and supplies for scrapbooking. I also love that process of physically making something come to like while working at my scrap table, something that I can actually feel – the texture of the paper, the corners of the photos. I need that.
Joyce L. says
Let me start off by saying, you are one my biggest scrapping inspirations. I came across your blog when I first started digi scrapping & I’ve been reading & enjoying it every since. I love your clean, graphic style of scrapbooking and your blog has me literally laughing out loud all the time!
I was purely a digital scrapper for years but when I started Project Life, I went hybrid…sort-of. I do everything digitally as 4×6’s and arrange & clip into all into templates…and then I have them printed at Costco and trim & stuff into physical page protectors. It’s a little extra work but this way, I feel like I get the best of both worlds: the flexibility & speed of working digitally, the ability to incorporate bits of ephemera like tickets & kids’ artwork (which I scan for my digi copy) into my weekly layouts, and the look of actual photos on photo paper (which I prefer over the look of images in photo books). The added bonus: it’s all saved archivally in digital form & in the future, I can print off multiple copies so each of the kids can have their own in the form of photo books, to be enjoyed digitally, or however they prefer.
Katy says
I have been doing regular PL pages. But I love when I make a shutterfly book for vacations and other things (did an all Disneyland book for all the visits we did over the four years we lived in LA) – I love how simple and mess free and SMALL those photobooks are which makes me want to run to all digital photobooks for PL. BUT, the one thing I’d miss that I can’t figure out a way around is the memorabilia issue. I love having those little bits here and there, and like others have said, I could scan or take a picture of that ticket stub…but it’s just not the same.
Andrea Grimes says
I love your digital pages! That being said, the only thing I do on my computer is upload pictures and order them from Snapfish. I do think traditional Project Life is much more time-consuming, but this is my only chance to do something “crafty”. At work I am on the computer all day and at home, more time than I would care to admit seems to be spent on my iPhone for one reason or another. So…I paper-craft. I love looking through my rub-ons and stickers and do-dads to “fancy up” my pages. I love using bits and pieces of my pattered paper stash. I love the cutting and taping and corner-rounding (okay, I don’t really love the corner-rounding). I love that while I work on my book, my teenaged son will be in the room playing video games, and believe it or not, we really do cherish this time together. And I really love tucking in movie stubs, little notes, drawings, newspaper clippings, appointment cards…
I am not anywhere near being caught up, but everything is printed and organized, so one good girls’ weekend away is all I need!
Helena says
I use the pockets but create most of the inserts digitally – adding text etc on the computer and then printing and rounding the corners.
When I started PL I thought I’d do more on card but due to delays in availability of PL cards in UK shop I started without and created it all digi and have stayed with that.
In the last few weeks I’ve been trying to have 2 inserts a week which I make not on the computer – but I’m not loving them so think I’ll stop that.
I do like adding theatre programs, boarding passes etc and having smaller size pages as inserts and this is the main thing stopping me from doing PL digitally in a photobook.
Still trying different mixes really and liking that I can do that
Sue says
I started as a paper gal back in the 90’s (remember Paper Pizzaz??). I was a paper scrapper until 2007 or so and then stopped scrapbooking as life got too busy (divorce, single mom etc). I would attempt a page here and there but never finished anything. I did a 365 project digitally in 2009 (and printed a hard cover book) and that got me hooked on digital. No mess, no clutter, no layouts to put away when they were part done. I bought all your school templates and have digital books in progress for both kids that I update each year. I scan their artwork/papers for each year and drop them into the templates. I totally agree with you about digital being so easy. I especially love being able to recolour elements to match my page 🙂
At the start of 2012 I started Project Life digitally. It was hard waiting for the year to end so I could see my pages in print (I did a Mixbook 12×12 hard cover book) but SO worth it. I still have shelves of finished 12×12 albums – around 30 of them!! No one ever looks at them. They are big and bulky and sit in the basement on shelves. My 2009 book and my 2012 books sit in the living room. The kids love looking at them (even my teen!) and showing them to their friends. I don’t think I would ever go back to paper. That being said, I do have all my childhood photos and all my school stuff and I am trying to figure out what to do with all of it. It would be a lot of scanning to take it digital!
Nat says
I don’t do PL, but with scrapbooking generally I’ve learned that tangibility is a big deal for me. While pure digital may be “easier,” paper crafting and memory keeping is a hobby, not a task or a chore. So if it takes me longer and is more laborious to work with paper, it’s fine, I like doing it. When I do things purely digital, I don’t enjoy the process as much. I suppose what I do is hybrid because I lay everything out digitally so I can decide I like it before I commit to printing everything.
Vickie says
I like doing it both ways. I probably enjoy the digital process a bit more- but I have so many scrapbook supplies and so many photos printed that it isn’t cost effective for me to do everything digitally. I do like slipping those photos in a Project Life page protector but actually creating a paper page from scratch is hard for me.
D says
My paper-to-digi journey is different from most, I’m sure. I did one scrapbook each for my son’s great-grandmothers. Because I had this odd idea that they’d compare the books [they lived 3000 miles apart, but my brain couldn’t grasp that concept], I literally made two identical books. Can you say stress and crazy? Yes … I miscounted papers, I had too few alphas for titles, and I dislike my handwriting – and cannot cut straight lines to save my life [I may have flunked that part of kindergarten]. For about two weeks I think I lived at the scrapping store! My husband disliked the mess and at times cleaning up after took longer than page creation.
I then discovered digital scrapbooking – make once, print twice. Hello! Miscouting papers – a thing of the past, along with not enough alphas or cute sticker-like things; and as for that handwriting – hello fonts. I love the ability to change colours, reposition a gazillion times, and even save mid-page where I know my child, cat, or husband won’t mess/move/joggle it. And clean-up? Pfft – piece of cake.
So, for me, it was a welcome embracing because the great-grands LOVED the books and encouraged me to create more for them [and knock wood, they’re both around to continue enjoying them a decade after that first book].
Scrapping in many ways reminds me of knitting – is part of the process to enjoy the process or is the process the way to get to the completed project faster?
Laura L says
I started as a paper scrapbooker and then took off about 3 years. I became so far behind that I decided I would switch to digital. For some reason, catching up on the past 3+ years seems so much less scary in digital form. I don’t know if it is the templates or the not having to choose photos to have printed ahead of time.
There are a lot of things I like better about digital though. It saves a lot of space not having to store all of the physical materials and printed pictures. It is much faster for me. I must say that I also like being able to re-size a photo to fit the layout and not have to wish I had re-sized before printing.
My issue right now is that I haven’t figured out what to do with the physical memorabilia that I would normally include in a traditional layout (first hair cut, first lost tooth, etc.)
Cheri says
What I love about this thread it how it showcases the need for options – to suit many styles, needs, and preferences. Definitely no right way or wrong way – just lots of choices!
I don’t maintain Project Life style albums (I don’t have room to store an album for every year for any length of time!) but I will occasionally include a PL style page (yes, I own a bunch of the supplies!) in my LOM albums when I have something that fits that style. Like the day my 19 year old spent in the E.R. with an irregular heart beat (it just is… no problem). I used a PL page protector and included the discharge summary (folded up), her hospital bracelet, and a receipt for the copay.
I mostly prefer scrapping digitally – I just tell better stories that way. I like the flexibility of sizing photographs, changing to B&W, recoloring elements to match, endlessly reusing my favorite supplies, etc. I’ve even done digital hidden journaling by creating a 4×12 page to fit behind the layout in the page protector and just add a tab at the top. I print quarterly from Scrapping Simply and add those right along with the paper pages and PL style pages to my LOM albums. Although I’m using traditional albums (not photobooks), the printed digital pages take up way less space than a cardstock paper page – especially if you like to embellish.
And when I feel the need to “get physical” I turn to art journaling and mixed media work. Which is the beauty of having so many “hobbies”!
Jesse says
Great discussion! I was a paper scrapper for a number of years about a decade ago, then went away from it when life got busier. When my daughter was born in 2011, I wanted to get back into memory keeping, but knew that the paper scrapping wasn’t realistic with my limited space and free time. A friend recommended digital scrapbooking, and I haven’t looked back!
I did my first 2 annual family albums using your monthly templates, and I’m taking on PL style for the first time this year, with single weekly spreads.
I have been printing them as photobooks. I love how they turn out – and very compact, but I hate having to wait the full year before printing!
Audrey says
Not to be a copy cat but I feel about digital scrapbooking EXACTLY the way you do. It’s much easier and faster but I too work on a computer all day and love getting away from that to a more analog /tactile experience. Right now I’m catching up on past years using your digital 8.5×11 project life templates (YAY and THANK YOU SO MUCH for creating those.) I’m traditionally a 8.5 x11 scrapper and it was hard for me to make the change to 12×12 which I did with Becky’s Project Life paper products in 2011 because her system was much faster than traditional layout scrapbooking. But I’m still “behind” (2008 -2010: the unscrapped years) and I really can’t see myself “catching up” without going digital at least for those years.
BevS97 says
I do a lot of digital scrapbooking, mostly holiday albums that become a single photo book when they are complete. But, a couple of times a year I get to a crop, and I love to do some traditional scrapbooking when I get away. I never seem to do it at home, but for those weekends away I really enjoy the cutting, and sticking.
Darcie says
I am strictly traditional, but not because I prefer it that way, more so because I am so digital challenged that I can’t find a digital way that works for me. I am still trying to figure out how to get my pictures downloaded to an online program or Costco Photo to get them developed! Oh how I miss the days when I took my roll of 35mm film to my favorite developer and picked up my prints the next day.
That being said, I am – as we speak, er type – in the process of trying to learn how to do just that (download pictures) so that I can enjoy the benefits, that my husband tells me about, of digital scrapbooking. I am a very tactile person, however, so I have a feeling that I will be a hybrid kind of girl – when I get that far.
Isabel says
I never scrapbook with paper or digital gona start this summer to register my memories of this season that I love. I have research to see the many differences of paper and digital. For me digital is better because is more cheap because of the prices that you spend for paper and is materials and have another advantages you can put and play with many digital supplies you whant, and does not occupy space to store them. I think is for this reasons that many are switch for digital. About the style I love the way you do your scrapbook is beautiful, simple and easy the way I like 😉
Marilyn says
Scrapbooking has evolved so much during the fifty plus years I’ve been doing it, and I’ve done lots of each method. For me, paper and hybrid fall in the same camp, and I love their tactile, dimensional quality. These albums are the most inviting to pick up and leaf through and just touch. Still, I’ve gone to almost total digital for several reasons. Space: I have closets full of albums…mine and those I’ve inherited. The sheer volume makes it almost impossible to share the information with extended family members, so I’ve radically condensed the stories and photos into 12×12 photo books and given copies to children and cousins. Space again: I used to make yearly 6×6 and 8×8 hybrid albums for each of my grandchildren, but considering that I plan to do this until they are grown, it takes up more storage space than their mothers have available. For the past few years, I’ve gone to 10×10 photo books and storage is no longer an issue. I’ve done all my photo books with Adoramapix because their pages are like a children’s board book, and durable enough for lots of handling. Simplicity: For me, digital is just easier. No mess, no fuss, no standing for long hours cutting, trimming, fitting. I love the flexibility of design options and the ability to try as many different photos, color schemes, etc., as I want without committing resources until I’m completely satisfied with the result. Accuracy: I love the perfect placement of text and photos possible with digital. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get the same accuracy with hybrid. My digital pages just look sharper. So, although I really do think hybrid albums are more fun to touch and browse through, I’ll probably always do more digital. Space, Simplicity, Accuracy.
Laura says
I wasn’t a scrapbooker at all until I took Jessica Sprague’s class on Digital Project Life in January. I am now obsessed…. I have three young kids at home, work full time and am going to grad school. I don’t have a lot of time and I don’t like to have stuff sitting around my house. I don’t want to have a craft room full of all kinds of paper and embelishments and I don’t want to feel guilty for not keeping up. DPL is perfect for me because all I have is my laptop and my external hard drive and i can get a week done in a half hour if I don’t have much time to spend. I started at week 14 and am up to date and have gone back and am filling in the earlier weeks. If it wasn’t for digital and for Project Life in general, I never would have become a scrapbooker.
GinaT says
I wouldn’t get anything done if I didn’t do some of it digitally. And then the pressure of it all would overwhelm me. But then I miss the paper and glue so I go back and forth. I’m so thankful to have both options.
Started out a paper scrapper.
Took Jessica’s classes (all of them) now do both.
I can’t live without them both.
Question. Why do you send your digital PL layouts out for printing if you have a large format printer at home?
Patti says
The only thing I have used paper products for lately is travel mini albums, to keep memorabilia mostly though I include photos, and I’m currently using a Project Life kit to transfer old heritage photos from a disintegrating album into a more presentable and enduring format. I don’t want to take time to scan all of these right now, and I don’t want them glued down due to the handwriting on the back, so PL pockets are a good solution.
Other than that, I’ve gone 100% digital, baby, and love it. I use my MacBook Pro & my iPad for digi scrapping.
I recently started making a few cards for birthdays etc., so that will help me use some of my paper stash still lying around. Wen I feel like getting messy I make a card now, or an art journal page.
Heather Johnson says
I honestly think I found the perfect mix when I started printing out the 12x12s this year. I blogged about it a few weeks ago: http://hgjphotography.com/digital-project-life-2013-how-a-digital-girl-embraced-physical-inserts/
I have been a digital scrapbooker for years, but after seeing all of the inserts last year I decided I couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer..I needed to incorporate inserts into my stuff too. For me this method satisfies both things–I like the speed and flexibility of digital for the week to week, but when I feel like messing around and taking more time I create an insert.
Either way your right–it’s all about saving and recording the stories.
cathy says
Hey Joyce, glad you found this blog and glad you come back to visit!
cathy says
Janet, thats so cool how you have it all online right there to share!
cathy says
See, I get that. I like feeling crafty too. Even though I dont do a whole lot that is really crafty, I like the cut and paste stuff. : )
nita says
I do PL full digital and make photobooks with a hardcover, I love the idea to shuffle and I am always up-to-date because I can work on this project with my laptop at the end of the day just before sleep.
I was a paperscrap-girl and over the years I learned bit by bit the digi-skills. Now I do paper and digi on a fifty-fifty base.
I compensate the lack of ‘putting things in pockets’ in my travelbooks and in The Week in the Life- it works for me.
cathy says
Dara, that is crazy! Grannies DO get picky. LOL!
cathy says
Space, simplicity, accuracy. Oh, that speaks to me! : )
cathy says
Yes! I hear you. And I too love reading peoples different approaches and reasons. : )
cathy says
Gina, I dont ever buy large format paper. In fact, do they sell 12 x 12 sizes of photo paper? I know they do the Super B sizes… I figure, cheaper and easier to send out for the 12 x 12 pages. : )
cathy says
Heather, youve got an awesome mix and a great feel to your pages. : ) Thanks for sharing the link. People, if you read this comment, check her out!
Amy says
Years ago I bought a bunch of paper supplies with the intention of scrapbooking our wedding and honeymoon. I couldn’t do it. It was too much pressure to have to CUT my photo – what if I changed my mind? Never mind glue something down or WRITE ON the scrapbook paper. I didn’t have the confidence. I never made a single page. When I discovered digi, I was all in. I just go for it because I can change how my photo is cropped, use the same paper as often as I want, and edit my journaling. Also, I’m not a good cleaner-upper so I love not having to take out and put away.
I do love to use my digital scrapping skills to make paper projects like cupcake toppers and classroom gifts for kids and teachers. In that way I can get my tactile crafty fix.
Nancy S. says
Hi Cathy, I have a question about your 8.5 x 11 digital templates. Do you have one set or more? I found the life basics no. 3 at designer digitals – is that the right template?
Prachi says
Project life was really the push into the digital world specifically:
-I am thinking more about sustainable foods and eating at home so part of that was minimizing… I love my physical albums but if I kept up at this pace I would need a room for all my albums… and the carbon footprint of that is staggering (the plastic the photo paper this isn’t a environmentally friendly hobby)
-there are so many great PL products I hated limiting myself to one “core kit”… one week I may use the seafoam kit another month I may the photofreedom kit. The recent releases would have normally gotten me upset (b/c I would want to buy all of them) but with digital I can buy all the ones I want without the guild. Some of my favorite products are Nisa Fiins lines that aren’t sold through Becky Higgins.
– I work on my PL in bursts and I always have half finished layouts…. when I did hybrid it would be one thing if I finished all the digital aspect and left the physical aspect but I wasn’t always that good….I finish what I feel like finishing and get the rest done in time… my process is a lot less disjointed when it is all in one medium.
Diane says
My scrapbooks are a mixture of traditional, hybrid and digi. When it’s time to make a page, I do it in whichever way strikes my fancy. Clean & Simple has taught me hybrid and I love every bit of it. For project life, though, it’s digi all the way printed into an 8.5×11 book at the end of the year. Reasons being, space and time. Those books are so darn big. I really like the small yearbook size book. It’s so much more approachable to look through. I tried to do PL traditional in the last quarter of 2012 w/ Becky’s Project Real Life at BPC and I stressed out so much over it. The constraints of having the photos be the right direction and the right size gave me hives. Having different page protectors did not help. It only added to the confusion. I was totally frozen and unable to make any decisions. It took me forever to do one week. Forever. I ended up doing just October. On the other hand, catching up in 2013 I did the whole month of May in an afternoon.
so. much. easier.
Laura says
I scrapbook layouts that are 99.9% paper and I also do Project Life (one side of a page protector per week, instead of two.) My PL is hybrid in nature — I’m using your Week in Review cards (http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/15103), which I fill in and print out. It works out great, as I can choose to layer a digital paper that matches whatever else I’m using that week. I get my pictures printed at Walgreen’s. Since I spend my workday at a computer, I really crave the physical nature of scrapbooking. Sliding things into pockets. Adding stickers or die cuts. Writing by hand sometimes. Bits and pieces of ephemera. (I don’t include a lot of ephemera, but things like clothing tags, or the little card that comes with flowers, or a little note from my daughter are fun to include.)
photogazelle@home says
Last year was my first foray into PL. I started “easy” by dipping my toes in with an album all created on Shutterfly. It was truly all I could commit to last year and good way for me to dabble in the process. I hated HATED not touching things weekly and was jealous over others PLs posted on line. However, the access to my photos and ease of it (literally no more than 10-15 minutes a week) was AWESOME. Then, those first weeks in January I ordered the book (using a 50% off no less!) and when it arrived I was OVER THE MOON HAPPY! I (and my family) must have poured over that a million times. PLUS, I did it all for $100.
This year, I wanted the tangible satisfaction. I love all of the products I am digging into and I truly am loving the process. But a couple of things…1) this is costing me WAY MORE than $100. 2) Printing my pictures is hard work and expensive! And finally, I like the look and feel of my Shutterfly album. Bound so nicely and pretty. However, I am enjoying the process so much this way too. I love putting handmade items into the book and little treasures/trinkets from my kids.
Anyway. I think I’m basically saying the SAME THING as you. I love both. 🙂 How lucky for us!
Diane says
Oh Heather your pages look great!!!! You’re seriously making me rethink my decision to go 8.5×11 printed photobook……
My plan now is to include insert pages within the book with white space that will get trimmed at home after printing.
KellyMinMN says
Paper scrapping works for me, both PL and traditional layouts. I like to cut/paste/write/touch and I include ephemera often. I have PSE11 and crop my pictures or lighten/darken a little and print at home but otherwise I avoid my computer after spending 40 hours a week on one. Stacy Julian once said that ‘perfection is highly over-rated’ and I scrap by that logic. I have a small/neat PL stash that I keep near my PL album on my coffee table where my family can and does look through it and my other supplies are in my scrap space. My PL is current (4th year), my tradional layouts (10th year) are done when time permits and/or stories call to me. I say do whichever way you enjoy most.
cathy says
Just one set for now. I will be working on some others, though! This week, hopefully!
cathy says
Laura, thats so interesting! I mean, to go from not doing it, to doing it. I love that.
Stephanie says
I have been hybrid for a few years. For 2012 I did digital project life and had the pages printed.
I love that all the pages fit in one album plus a thick pocket envelope in the back filled with ephemera from the year. Now this year I got a wild hair and decided to print photos and use the physical PL system.
I like that too!! Although it takes more time and albums it is fun to play with paper.
All this being said I will return to digi PL next year and just work on some hybrid layouts on the side.
I understand its tough because honestly both methods offer so much. I know I didn’t help at all!
Abby P. says
I add digi embelishments to photos and print them and I do my journaling cards digi and print them. I should just go digi, but I am too impatient! I like to see those photo slots filled up throughout the week and can’t wait to receive printed pages!
Dawn M says
I was a digital scrapper from way back and I was falling further and further behind because it slowed me down to pick kits for each page and figure out a design for each page, etc. I loved the original paper PL because it was so simple! The cards were what they were and I would just write on them and put them in the book with some photos and be done with it. But, then I started embellishing more and more, and more kits came out to mix and match, and it wasn’t so simple anymore and I was falling behind (again). So, I switched back to digital. 🙂
So, I too struggle with this. I really think there is joy in both digital and paper/hybrid. I could see myself switching about every 6 months (which is how often I print albums) to keep it fresh. When you do only digital, it really is fun to get your hands on some “real” product once in a while!
SherriS. says
You’ve been a big influence for me going digital! I am thrilled that I have January-March of this year finished:) I haven’t scrapbooked in a few years.
I still make cards so I cut, paste and play with embellies still. But I LOVE DIGITAL PROJECT LIFE!
Mel says
I love how much space I save with digital scrapbook ing. I have so many albums full of paper pages that I would love to redo in digital just to save on space, not to mention all the space my supplies and paper used to take up. When I paper scrapbook end I would plan my whole page on the computer essentially making a digital page. I have been having so much fun since you showed us your digital project life pages. I am a true blue 8.5×11 girl and I just could,n’t bring myself to use 12×12 the albums are just so big and heavy. I have a completed 365 album from 2009 but I will redo it digitally to fit in one 8.5×11 binder. One binder per year of project life is my aim. I love how thin and flat the page are..
Ami E Pilon says
I started as a paper scrapper and then in 2006 began to do digital scrapping. I started my first PL album in 2010 and have continued since with doing it all hybrid with printing everything at home. I was thrilled when you put up the 11 x 8.5 templates. I am considering going all digital next year but as I must print at home am wondering if you will be doing more of the 11 x 8.5 templates?
Would love to at least give it a try digitally.
Sue Alg says
I started as a paper scrapper almost 15 years ago. These albums are a stitch. I only had a glue stick and decorative scissors and some stickers, but I still love these albums because of the memories.
About 5-6 years ago I discovered digital scrapping. I LOVE IT. I’m in my second year of PL in the 12×12 format. I started doing the more traditional method, but soon discovered digital was better. However, right now I still love to “get dirty” with my traditional supplies so I guess you would say I’m a hybrid scrapper.
I create not only albums for myself, but 3 annual albums for my DIL. Digital has been a blessing. I can create one template and use it for all 3 albums, just replacing the pics that are relevant to their respective family. And for those pages that are relevant to all 3 families, I can just get 3 pages printed. Last year, I even used some PL plastics and added some of these pages into the scrap books. Everyone loved it.
cathy says
Yes, Ami. I hope to design a few more sets!
Debby Riendeau says
It’s hybrid all the way for me… I love playing with paper & “stuff”. I am very tactile. I have done some digital pages and I do like the ease, especially when using the templates from your Design your Life class. But they just are not the same for me. They are sleek and clean – so not me! I guess I am doomed to always be a cut and paste girl!
Karen says
Hybrid is the best of both worlds. I like the texture and dimension of paper, the fun of combining several different products to make pages totally my own. Learning digital scrapping continues to delight my middle-aged brain, and boost my self-esteem. Professional print services do a better job than home printers, and saving the cost of ink allows me to use more digital products, customizing them to my taste. I can size photos to any dimension.
Combination of both allows a colorful creative hobby that safeguards memories. After losing several immediate family members in a few weeks; more of my family sees how a photo can preserve precious details of our loved ones and our lives.
Jenny says
I do project life very simply with the core kit, but I still like the embellished scrapbook pages. As a stay home mom, there is so little that stays clean and pretty and I never feel like I complete something. Doing a hands on page with adhesive and cutting lets me do something pretty and clean and completed.
audrey says
wow Janet, I love your books, I see myself doing something like this in the future. Right now I have 2 teens at home, and I do both paper and digi scrapbooking. When my kids are in college, I can see myself doing just digi books, with monthly layouts and additional pages for specific events. I like how you used the same PL embellishments throughout the book, it really makes it look cohesive. Lots of good discussion here.
Kropster says
Cathy, like you I am a bit torn. I really like the look and feel of paper and hybrid. And I have good intentions of doing paper and hybrid stuff, but when I get an idea and I can crank it out digitally in about 30 minutes, I get really excited by the process and 90% of the time ditch the hybrid idea. I am doing 8.5×11 and do all my printing at home, so it’s instant gratification.
I have never done PL, but have done a weekly scrapbook page the past 7 years … I just focus one event or feeling for each page.
You are partly to blame for my digital addiction … since I scraplift all of your LOs, I just find them so quick and easy to duplicate in PSE. Yes, I could duplicate them with paper, but it would take me 10 times longer and my paper, photos, journaling would never be perfectly aligned like it is in PSE and I like the accuracy I get with digi.
But I am really am going to try to do my hybrid and paper in the coming months.
jacquie says
I had primarily been a paper crafter until I started following your blog and dabbled in the hybrid approach. I have to say that I am way behind on PL and think that I may try doing it digitally for 2014. I don’t think I could ever ‘give up’ the feel I get when I am choosing papers, or physically moving the layout around the page. My pages are relatively simple(thank you Cathy!) but honestly, I have spent so much time at the computer since finding hybrid, that I think my kids forget what I look like! The other part of physical scrapbooking that I would miss would be the community. I quite frequently attend crops with a large group of my friends, and I would certainly feel their scorn if the only ‘tool’ I brought along was a laptop!
Amy says
If it wasn’t for digi I would have stopped scrapping – the truth is, I don’t like cutting and pasting. The photos and the stories are the focus for me and having a simple, time efficient and compact way of storing my pages wins out. Plus, the accuracy and flexibility makes life a whole lot simpler.
I was printing digi pages for a while but converted to photobooks last year and it has been the best choice for me.
As an aside, last week I heard a news report about a medical study on people with dementia. One of the findings was that people who are able to have access to events/memories in their past seem to be able to delay full blown alzheimers, not stop it but slow it down. Another great reason to have our stories and photos out to share!
Debby says
It was honestly pocket-page style scrapbooking that led me to ultimately switching over to digital completely. My style was so clean and simple anyway, and then when I started working with the pocket pages, I realized that I was doing almost everything on the computer (cleaning up photos, adding text, cutting out titles on my CraftRobo), then printing it out and sticking it in pockets. I’m one of those scrapbookers who actually likes my handwriting (architect in real life, so it is sort of a job requirement), and adding a Wacom tablet to my equipment is helping to preserve that aspect of my style and get past that last mental hurdle in making the jump to completely digital. I’m not a font guru, but my handwriting and extensive journaling was always the thing that tied my albums together.
The final thing that put me over the edge is the BULK of traditional scrapbooking. Even with my relatively flat style, those 12×12 babies are BIG and HEAVY. Last summer I had to clean out my mom’s things and a lifetime of photos and albums, and while I appreciate having them, I am reaching critical mass in my small California-sized townhouse. I realized that I don’t ever want my things to be my daughter’s burden someday. Whether or not we are turning into memory hoarders is something that I have been thinking about quite a bit lately. If everything is important, then nothing is important.
So that was rambling. TL;DR: I’m really looking forward to getting 2013 printed up in one nice, slick, easy-to-store photobook at the end of the year.
Semi-related question: Are you going to run your font class again at BPC? Both times it was offered, I was unable to participate and would LOVE to take it!
JoLynn says
I am a hybrid scrapper fo’ sho’. Back in the early 2000s, I was mainly digi. I remember documenting out trip to Disney in a Power Point and sending it to my family. A few years later, I returned to that Power Point to snag pics for one of my Design Your Life layouts!
I adore processing photos, using Photoshop and RadLab and Instagram and Camera+ and… I now send the photos off to Walgreens because lab processed photos last a lot longer than prints from my printers seem to last. I like the tangibility of a book and the depth of having placed things together (though I am not huge on a ton of embellishments). I am impressed with people who make digital layouts look so amazingly realistic, and I have toyed with a variety of kits and such. I still return to hybrid.
However…I have been toying with the Bamboo slate, and, I must say, I love the thing. Who knows how hybrid I will stay?
Delia says
Hi Cathy,
Like everything you do the digital looks fantastic but I miss you doing the cut and paste. As someone who spends 10+ hours a day in front of a computer (or near one) it is the last thing I find relaxing in my time off. I’ve just finished week three of your fabulous Clean & Simple course (never sworn as much in my life as in week two but week 3 was a huge improvement – mostly due to your new trick for how to bring in elements so they don’t get buried in the middle). So what am I trying to say – hope you don’t go completely digital for Project Life as I find endless inspiration for your cut and paste work. Thanks for asking.
cheers
Delia
Pat says
Like others have said, I spend my work life on a computer. Doing scrapbooking digitally would, for me, feel like more work. And I need it to be fun.
dawn says
Hi Cathy, what a great post and awesome comments, read thru the first 30 I think. So fun to see all these ideas and what others are doing.
Hands down your PL is my favorite from all the ones I read about. I started PL that very first year Becky announced it as the 365 Project, SO AWESOME SHE IS! Well, I called and waited over an hour to purchase that kit and it sold out before I could order it. Sweet Becky then made it possible for us to print out a few of the cards in that kit for those of us who missed buying the kit. See, isn’t she amazing and sweet. Well, that first year I printed and cut everything each week, man was that a lot of work. I fell in love with it from day one and my love for it keeps getting stronger.
So fast forward to now and I have to say the clean and simple style is what keeps me committed to this project. I have no digital skills or software, I LOVE having that white box on my table and playing with all the cards and seeing the different styles/colors/themes Becky has now. I did make a switch this year, totally different and smaller version of PL. I enjoyed it but it was work and my heart wasn’t as happy. So with that I have to say the paper/traditional side of me will always win but if I ever did go digital it will be because of YOU!! I have always loved your simple style, photos and awesome words/fonts/text and so on. You have rocked Project Life from the start and I love seeing your pages each week.
Now, with you going digital it is making me want to do this too but still hoping you will throw in some traditional pages from time to time. Either way you want to roll with this is ok with me, just so long as you keep doing Project Life!! Go with what makes you happy and that’s all that counts.
Sorry if any of this didn’t make sense or was too much, just started rambling and couldn’t quit!! Just know that you ROCK!!
cathy says
Debby, I am hoping to re-run it. It needs to be retooled! Working on that this summer.
c
cathy says
Delia, you can always swear around me. LOL!
I dont know if Ill go completely digital or not. I just finished a layout that I am loving, and I thought: Should I now make it hybrid? I might. Then I might look at them side by side (hybrid vs. digital print out) and do a post about that! : )
cathy says
I think I have a Bamboo Slate somewhere in my office. Never figured out how to use it! But I kind of want to!
cathy says
Thanks, Dawn. You know, I dont know what Im going to do for next year. I really like the idea of a smaller format. I may do 8.5 x 11 fully digitally. Or go with one of Beckys mini albums. I dont know. Love the possibilities!
Jessica B says
Love your blog and all your PL pages!
Alicia Cross says
I have always been a paper scrapbooker… I have tried, with all the fabulous technology available, to include hybrid elements because some of the digital stuff is just so cool. But I can’t, I hate it in the end and it always feels so forced. I love scrapbooking because the paper and playing makes me happy; leaving behind all these documented memories is actually a bonus for me. If no one ever looked through my albums, I would still love it because I’m putting my heart in those books and that’s what I enjoy doing with my ‘me’ time.
Jessica B says
I have just spent the last hour not working and reading everyone’s comments. I am a paper scrapbooker through and through. I love it, I crave it, I sometimes purchase outfits for my children because they would look fabulous on a layout. Don’t judge LOL, I’m sure I’m not the only one.
That being said. I tried PL for the first time last year. I found it so time consuming. I made it to about August and then didn’t finish the rest of the year. I have the pictures printed but just haven’t finished the album. I haven’t done it at all this year and feel really guilty for it. I love project life and what it is all about but I struggle with having time to do both, work full time and raise two kids, which I know you fully understand.
I really want to learn how to do PL digitally so I can do it quickly and have it done. For me, I love PL but I need it to be simple, maybe smaller and to the point. I love seeing your digital layouts. However, for me I get the paper crafting fix with my traditional LOs, I don’t need it with PL. I really need to take a scrapbooking PL photoshop class. Maybe I should go check out Jessica’s that some one recommend in one of the comments. I don’t think I could ever go 100% digital, but I do like the option for PL. Plus I would buy way more of your products to use! Which I drool over and buy but don’t use that much because I’m a scrapbook product hoarder and need a good printer so they look better. 🙂
Also, I love how Heather is doing it with a traditional insert in her weeks. That may be a good option also. I have also seen some people changing from the weekly format to the monthly or bi-monthly format which I love!
Anyways, lots of rambling. To say, I think you are AWESOME and maybe your happy medium is going back and forth. I do like the idea of the mini albums. 🙂
cathy says
You should check out Jessicas class! Shes such a good instructor and it will help you sort it all out and find a way to dabble in digi on that project! : )
Heather Johnson says
That’s a great idea Diane, I never thought of that! Perhaps if I start running out of room (which I KNOW I will eventually in my small house!) I can go that route. Right now though…man…I am obsessed with different sized inserts!
Heather Johnson says
Thank you for Cathy! Coming from you, someone I consider a super, duper rockstar in all things scrapbooking–I take that as a HUGE compliment!!!
Meghan says
I Looove how easily and quickly I can build pages digitally, but I’m like you, Cathy, I need a little of the cut and paste in my life. My pages are digital from week 16 to present and I’m going back to the hybrid process for the month of June. I’m also going to move to a monthly approach. I’m finding that the weekly approach is making PL feel like a chore, when it should be an enjoyable hobby. At the end of each month, I’ll print my photos that are the most representative of life that month and then lay them out in pockets. If they take up one double page spread or three, or two and a half…so be it. Why make it more complicated than it needs to be?
Meghan says
You should think about Cathy’s hybrid scrapbooking class through Big Picture, she’s a great instructor and you create some fantastic pages.
cathy says
Yep, if its feeling like a chore, its not fun. This hobby should be and has to be fun to be sustainable. I love your attitude. : )
Elizabeth says
I’m not a Project Lifer (well, since the planning for PPP started I haven’t been much of an anything-scrapbooker, gah) but oh, how I love to occasionally make the odd digital page. I will NEVER give up the playing with paper stuff but I sure do like messing around with digital (in Pages. I love, love, love Pages.) Mostly so I can ooh and ahh and Liz’s Paislee Press stuff. I am her best customer. : )
cathy says
I love Lizs stuff!
Di says
Hey Cathy!
I’ve been scrapbooking since 2003. In 2010 I stopped and took a break, dumped the design teams etc and just decided to focus on family and career. I started blogging again “properly” last year (health and fitness blog) and I decided in January to join in the project life for 2013. I decided to do it 100% digital. I’ve done regular scrapbooking and hybrid and was even designing my own digital products before I quit in 2010. I decided on digital because it’s quick. I can get the pages done in under an hour, and like you I’m using my iphone photo’s 99% of the time which are digital anyway. I like the convenience and I LOVED your freebies and just kept the same template and just changed out the photo’s!
I have to say that this is the ONE PROJECT I’ve kept up with in scrapbooking. It’s the longest so far as we’ve almost half way through the year too… but I’m still plugging away posting my pages on my blog every Sunday!
I like that I can share instantly via blog, email, facebook etc. And I can get them printed at the end of the year in a book. BOOM done!
Reading the replies here made me realize that I’m a digital girl now. Sure I love the tactile elements of paper and glue but the perfectionist in me (graphic designer background – so I love the clean and simple style of your pages!) just won’t relax, and anything not “just so” irritates the crap outta me. So it’s digital for me 🙂
Melanie Britt says
Cathy, As you know from the BPC Project Dig Deep ebook, I never looked back.
I love the simplicity of digital and my clean office. 🙂 I remember you from the 2004-2005 digital design books with Renee Pearson and always thought of you as a digital girl but then I seen you wasn’t doing digital project life. Happy to see you are starting it and hope you continue.
Doing the close up digital shots are my favorite part of posting my digital project life.
To me striving to get it “digitally” as real as possible is exciting!
Barbara says
I paper scrapped for years (and absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it!). I moved to digital 7 or 8 years ago and I really never looked back. I guess love the ease of digi. I’m also a techy person so I love playing on the computer. I love that I can scrap whatever I’m in the mood to scrap and I don’t have to think about whether I’ve got the photo printed and ready and what size I photo I want to work with. I guess I just love all the fun things I can do in the digi world! (I love getting my pages back from the store the day after I create them … and for my annual and theme albums, I so look forward to when I get my book in hand!
I was thinking about it the other day. When I paper scrapped it drove me crazy if things weren’t “just so.” Everything had to be straight and flat and not crumpled. With digi it’s almost the opposite. I still love straight lines but I also love adding distressing and crumpling and tilting. I guess just to make it look “real.”
I created photo-a-day digi books for three years and this year I moved to digi Project Life. I have to say I absolutely LOVE it!
Love your post BTW!
Cassandra says
I am having this same issue. I’d like to go digital – but I don’t know if I’d rather print photo books and have a memory box somewhere or print 12 x 12 pages to insert into sleeves and include envelopes and inserts between the pages.
cathy says
I am liking the prints and putting them into page protectors. But, half my year was already traditional. Who knows what ill do next year!
Jenny B. says
I somehow missed this post when it was new, but found it tonight when I did a Google search for “how to make project life go faster.” Ha! 🙂
I started out as a paper scrapper. Magnetic albums with hand-drawn and colored embellishments when I was in school. Then a little bit of Creative Memories in the 90’s (in college) and a 12×12 album for our wedding. When our first son was born, I created his birth announcement (a 4×6 collage with text) in MS Picture It. Right then, I became a digital scrapbooker, and pretty much never looked back. Fast forward 8 years, and here I am doing all digital Project Life and printing photobooks. I can’t say that I NEVER do paper layouts, though, since I recently started a physical/paper Project Life album for all of my college photos. I’ve found that I can actually get those spreads done a lot faster than my digital pages. That seems backwards, but it’s because I have limited photos to choose from, and they’re already printed (they’re all from pre-digital camera days). Plus, I only have the Blush and Jade kits to work with, so my card choices are limited as well. I really DON’T like cutting and pasting (unless I can use ctrl+x and ctrl+v – ha!), and my least favorite thing is the mess and the cleanup. That’s why I love digital scrapbooking! I just wish I could do it faster. The scrapping itself isn’t the slow part, though… it’s choosing the photos and writing the stories. That’s the hard part, whether you do paper or digital (in my opinion). Oh, and I really, really love photobooks. I don’t love page protectors. My boys look at our 8×8 photobooks all the time, and that’s the goal, right? I think so. 🙂