Remember those rainy days at Grandma’s when you had nothing to do, couldn’t go outside, and were soooooooo bored? And what happened when Grandma found out how miserable you were? Out came the scrapbooks and the next few hours were spent laughing, whooping at pictures of old cars, or weird haircuts, or Mom’s high school pictures and the time went by like a flash as you enjoyed each others company and the fun of all those old memories. People have been saving memories for generations now, and do so because it gives them something to hold on to and revisit those times that have passed, or look at the faces of loved ones who also have passed; because memories like that are precious to folks no matter who they are.

Everything you need to create a scrapbook using a digital scrap booking method can be found on all kinds of sites on the Internet devoted to scrap booking—–all you have to do is browse up the subject and then drool. You won’t believe your eyes when you see all the stuff that is available to you, not only on how to create a scrapbook, but what to use, what kind of glue, what colors, how to arrange pages, how to make your photos stand out from the page, and on and on.

There are thousands of sites on the Internet these days devoted to digital scrap booking and you can spend hours, literally, just browsing these sites and find everything you need to start a project. Many of the digital scrap booking sites offer free patterns, free ideas to get you started and things you can down load and use to your heart’s content as part of their promotion of the site. Many scrap bookers take advantage of these freebies to expand the materials they already have on hand, and it saves them a lot of money that they would have spent otherwise at a craft store.

Then we have a new term on the block called digital scrap booking hybridization, which is simply the merging of two art forms: the stock photo snaps and paper materials that you have in your hand to go into the book, and the digital artwork that can be downloaded from one of the computer sites. Your saved materials will go into the scrapbook and then be accented and embellished with the artwork you get from the online site; which usually is really neat choices of page borders, cartoon characters, stars and celestial forms, whimsical flowers and objects, and the coolest choices in lettering and script—–stuff you could never do yourself in a million years.

And that makes me think of something I should have mentioned earlier—-you don’t have to be a Michelangelo, or even related to one—-to be a master at this digital scrap booking. Even folks who cannot tell a flower from a rock, or draw a straight line, or tell blue from magenta; can master this art form and with the instructions you will find online and all the wonderful downloads, even a monkey could do it. Not only will you be helped with color choices and matches, but how to arrange a page for maximum effect and what embellishments to use are all included in the instructions—–just keep looking until you find the help you need.

I have lots of friends who do digital scrap booking, and they floor me with the designs they come up with and how gorgeous the pages look that they put together. Most of them start with pictures of something the kids did or are doing, like a ball game, or a birthday party, or Halloween; and then expand the idea with materials they found on the Internet that they could download and use for free, and I’m telling you—-these books look like a pro did them. Amazing.

So there you have it—-how did we ever get along without computers all these years, and all the fabulous things they can show us and provide. Digital scrap booking is rapidly gaining followers all over the world, and more and more folks are doing what they considered the impossible before they were introduced to the world of digital scrap booking and that is creating a work of art all on their own, that they are receiving raves for and is a stunning accomplishment in its own right. How terrific.

Fay Grant publishes and discusses issues regarding Scrapbooking Software. For more information on Scrapbooking Stickers visit our site.