Photobooks can be the minimalist’s best friend as well as the sidekick to the most embellishment-loving scrapper. They bring stories together in a permanent, cohesive way for storing and sharing.

There are a few ways to go about making a digital photobook and this post will organize the approaches in two ways.

The DIY Approach

This method involves sending files of your own creation off for printing in a bound format. These files can be regular digital scrapbook pages or pages creating using templates designed specifically for photobooks.

Photobook from Artscow

Printing Options

There are not a huge number of options for printing full-bleed scrapbook layouts in a bound photobook. Some of the most well-known include:

• Shutterfly
• Artscow
• Viovio
• Blurb
• My Pic Tales

Persnickety Prints is an additional, newer option. While their regular scrapbook pages are printed on-site in Utah, they outsource their book printing to an expert in Minnesota. I’m eager to see how this option compares with some of others.

Template Options

The market for photobook templates is on the rise. I’m seeing more and more minimalist templates that mimic the black or white background offerings within the All-in-One options listed below.

There are also an increasing number of album kits designed to the specs for particular book printer. A few options include:

Off to Press templates from Paislee Press

Templates photography vol.3 by bisontine

Shutterfly Toolkit: 8×8 v2.0 by Wendyzine Scraps

The All-in-One Approach

More commonly available are services that allow you to upload photos and use pre-made page templates to arrange your book. I’ve listed a few options below, but the range of options these days is quite large.

Photobook from My Publisher

• Tiny Prints
• iPhoto
• Snapfish
• Kodak Gallery
• Lulu
• My Publisher
• …

I’m eager to hear which services are YOUR favorites and why they are fabulous. Because today is the 10th of March, it’s time for our $10 on the 10th giveaway! We’ll combine these two thoughts together for a collaborative educational party:

• Leave a comment telling us all about your favorite approach or site for photobook creation.
• Tell us why your way totally rocks. Be specific!
• Enter by 11:59pm on Thursday to win $10 to the digital shop of your choice!

This month we’re spreading the love for 21 ways to tell your story. Photobooks are #5. How are you telling your story?

You all had such great ideas for baby shower games! Thank you everyone for entering this sweet giveaway for Biograffiti’s Baby Bird and Baby Owl albums.

These great products are on sale today only for 20% off! Make sure you pick up the add-ons to host a fab baby shower of your own!

And now the drumroll please…

That means the winner is…

Congrats Candi! Email me for your prize.

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Simple Scrapper's daily tips are sponsored by Clickin Moms:



Visit the subscribers-only archive for exclusive access to archived freebies. The password is "ssfreebies". Still craving free templates? Check out the community directory! ]]> http://www.simplescrapper.com/2010/03/09/biograffiti-baby-book-winner/feed/ 0 http://www.simplescrapper.com/2010/03/09/biograffiti-baby-book-winner/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/simplescrapper/~3/ilXFc9qF9FM/ http://www.simplescrapper.com/2010/03/08/8-innovative-ideas-to-spark-your-scrapping/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:07:31 +0000 Jennifer http://www.simplescrapper.com/?p=6763

Digital scrapbooking offers freedom for experimentation not totally possible with paper, scissors and glue. We’re seeing more and more of fun approaches to digital style in the galleries. Here are 8 layouts I’m loving and what new techniques you can learn from them.

:: Try cropping with a new angle (Today and always by Janka)

:: Re-think background positioning & size ([cutie] by kissncontrol)

:: Offer new perspective on your page (A day under the sunshine by Lauralys)

:: Tuck elements inside of other shapes (Walking with his Baby by pewtertm)

:: Use paint smudges to emphasize text (Valentine’s Day by Carolee)

:: Think about what’s underneath (My Lucky Charm by liljatr)

:: Be strategic with shadowing (Remember These Moments by aussiekat)

:: Don’t forget the power of photo-less scrapping (Off Air by tettletop20)

What new digital scrapbooking ideas have you tried recently?

This month we’re exploring 21 ways to tell your story. #1. Photo albums. #2. Paper scrapbooking. #3. Hybrid scrapbooking. #4. Digital scrapbooking.

After Five Designs: Tweetie Pie by Cinnamon Designs

Cat Scrap: Photog Pretties No. 1 by Fizzy Pop Designs

Designer Digitals: Layered Template No. 49 by Cathy Zielske

Design House Digital: Design 365 Layered Layouts, vol.3 by Deena Rutter

The Digi Chick: Scraps to Go Vol. 2 by Jennifer Fox

Elemental Scraps: Mr. Fix It by Litabells Designs

Gotta Pixel: A Day with Smiles by Lorie M. Designs

Inspiration Lane: Neon Funk from Creations by Rachael

The Lilypad: Stitched Frames by Emily Martin

Little Dreamer Designs: Center Stage templates by Listgirl Designs

Mscraps: Happy Go Lucky by Jennifer Barrette

Oscraps: Everyday, Ordinary by Emily Powers and Paislee Press

Peppermint Creative: 10 Things template by Miss Mint

Plain Digital Wrapper: Lucky U by Southern Creek Designs

Scrap Artist: Messy Layered alpha by Aja Abney

Scrap Matters: Daisy Crazy by Madame Wing and Trixie Scraps

Scrap Matters: Sister Sue by Sarah Bennett

Scrap Orchard: Background Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Scrapable: Take Me by Charlize Creations

Scrapbook Graphics: Book of Me The Second 10 by Crystal Livesay

Scrappity-Doo-Dah: Earth’s Reflections by Kari Q Designs and Kris Myers Designs

Sweet Shoppe Designs: Inspired by Rubia Templates by Darcy Baldwin

Molly Weight (aka Biograffiti) is one of my favorite template designers and she’s offering a great present to one lucky Simple Scrapper reader.

On Tuesday, Molly will be releasing Baby Bird and Baby Owl, two fully customizable printable baby books! She’s giving away one book plus a baby shower add-on kit!

The books are so cute and would be perfect shower gifts! The kits are ready for 100% digital or hybrid approaches. The coordinating add-on includes ready-to-print invitations, thank you notes and game cards!

All the pages are 8×8 and have photo mats in place so the new mama just has to add her own 4×6 photos and fill in the journaling pages (the journaling prompts are already there).

Or you can crop your own photos to 4×6 @ 300 dpi, slide them onto the JPG page, add a drop shadow (style included) and your journaling then upload to MyPicTales for printing a digital photobook.

Giveaway Details

• Enter to win Baby Bird + Add On or Baby Owl + Add On (your choice!).
• Leave a comment on this post sharing your favorite baby shower game.
• The giveaway closes at 11:59pm mountain time on Monday, March 8.
• The winner will be announced Tuesday morning.
• For a second chance to win, head over to Molly’s blog!

We’ve talked a little bit here about the concept of hybrid scrapbooking. At the most basic level, hybrid means a combination of digital tools or supplies and the tangible, material world. But our previous discussions centered on crafty projects that utilize digital supplies. What about the flip side?

Yesterday I touched a little on this idea of using your computer or digital supplies to turn a simple photo album into a scrapbook. Today, I want to take that one step further and explore the ways people are coupling digital with paper on real scrapbook layouts.

Let’s start with a comparison. Both of these pages below have typewritten journaling. Can you tell which layout is 100% digital? I couldn’t without looking at the credits!

It really could have been either layout, as digital products so easily mimic the real deal. But, while digital does offer a sense of realism, the very thing digiscrappers want to avoid (imperfection) is one key element of appeal in the paper world. Things aren’t “just so”, which brings scrappers and their stories closer together.

There are many ways in which digital images can be coupled with paper, glue and scissors. In fact, even the most dyed-in-wool paper scrapper is probably using digital photos! Here are a couple of options for bringing the concepts together in new and fun ways.

Strip it

Printing out your journaling in strips and blocks also adds a repetitive design element to the page.

Print it

Typewritten journaling on your background paper or card stock brings clean lines to your layout.

Merge it

Couple photos and journaling, as Cathy Zielske so famously does, on one sheet of photo paper. Then pair with papers and embellishments. You can find some great examples on Cathy’s blog here, here and here.

Digital scrapbooking is all about making memory keeping easier, allowing you to have more fun in the process. Hybrid techniques, in this context, combine digital’s time-saving techniques and paper’s artistic flair. What results is really the best of both worlds.

Have you experimented with hybrid layouts? Tell us your story of pairing paper with pixels. I’m so curious to see examples of scrappers who’ve taken the next step and used printed digital scrapbook supplies on a more traditional layout.

This month we’re sharing 21 ways to tell your story: #1. Photo albums. #2. Paper scrapbooking. #3. Hybrid scrapbooking.

Think back to 2, 10, even 20 years ago. Were you scrapping then? I bet, for most of you, the answer is no. But what came before scrapbooking?

Sometimes its a challenge to think about a time before we coupled art with our photos. For me (and many of you), memory keeping “back then” was centered on simple pocket photo albums or even those sticky page albums.

We took rolls of film, had the photos printed and then stuck the images in albums — even the completely blurry ones! Our digital world now has us operating at the other end of the spectrum. We edit readily, delete frequently and all too often do not print our photos.

What if that changed?

We can get so caught up, stressed even, in our little world of scrapbooking, that it is easy to lose sight of basic approaches to the same goal. We must ask if we can bring more value and a deeper sense of simplicity to our memory keeping. Is it possible to reduce the fuss?

Today it is easier than ever to bring storytelling to photo albums as well as mesh printed images with scrapbook layouts. Traditional 3-ring binder-style albums have also reached incredible heights of style. So long black pleather!

Super easy journaling

You might be thinking that photo albums are so far from scrapbooking, because they lack the written (or type) word. Nix that idea – because it just isn’t so. New products allow you to easily journal on or next to your photos.

You’re likely already family with the top quality digital products from Ali Edwards. However, if you’re a digi-only scrapbooker, you might not have thought of them in this way. Ali’s overlays are excellent tools to combine journaling with printed photos – which is exactly how she uses them!

An even more bare-bones approach comes from Pioneer, one of the top manufacturers of photo and scrapbook albums. A large portion of their photo album pages contain slips of paper for journaling next to, above or below your pictures. You can even get creative by replacing these strips with your journaling printed on a favorite colored card stock!

Mix & match

Scrapbooking doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing. The market is now flush with products to help you pair photo prints (or cropped images) with your scrapbook pages.

American Crafts stocks 12×12 pages that hold 12 (front and back) 4×6 photos and We R Memory Keepers recently launched a whole new line of multi-photo pages for 12×12 and 8.5×11 albums.

These products are opening up so many possibilities for new modes of hybrid scrapbooking.

Trend watch

All the pretty colors and patterns are a core attraction factor in scrapbooking. It’s possible to bring the same level of style to your albums with Rag & Bone Photo Binders. These albums hold four 4×6 photos per sheet.

As you examine your overall strategy for memory keeping, I urge you to consider how traditional photo albums might fit into your world. Are there opportunities to find more time? Photo albums, especially with all the modern bells and whistles, provide a great, no-fuss option for helping you stay caught up!

I’m thinking more along these lines – because I just can’t scrap everything. What about you? How are you using photo albums as part of your memory keeping process?

This post kicks of my new series: 21 ways to tell your story. Throughout March, I’ll be sharing fresh perspective on a multitude of approaches for documentation and honoring your memories.

Yay! I love giveaways. Thank you all for sharing your scrapping stories with our community. Without further delay,  we’ll get to the drawing.

Here are your random numbers:
20      38      2
Timestamp: 2010-03-04 21:37:39 UTC

For Defining Moment by Karen Lewis Designz:

“I paper scrapped a little after my stepmom gave me a bunch of supplies for my wedding shower. But once I found digi, I never wanted to go back to paper scrapping, and I don’t even like hybrid.” – Tiffany

For a free kit from Kiki Halbert Designs:

“I was a paper scrapper for years before timidly venturing into the digital world but once I started with digital scrapping, I’ve never looked back. Now if I could just find a way to get rid of all those paper supplies without a lot of guilt. ” – flowersgirl

For Sweet Spontaneity from Graham Like the Cracker Designs:

“I was a paper scrapper until about 2006 when I discovered digi scrapping. I have not turned back!” – Jackie

Congrats girls – please email me to claim your prizes!

Today, I guest posting at Aud Neal’s blog: 9 ways to make scrapbook journaling more fun. She’s having a giveaway too, to win all 9 of her new releases this week; so make sure to stop by and leave a comment.

While you’re there, check out her digiscrap basics post from yesterday. It is a great complement to 7 essential supplies for digital scrapbooking and 6 more essential supplies for digital scrapbooking.

Finally, don’t forget to enter our big March giveaways and then, drop by the Quirky Twerp shop where you can get $3 off your purchase!

We’ve got more for you each month here at Simple Scrapper. On top of announcing our fabulous new sponsors each go-round, I’ll be highlighting a few of their products, offering great coupons and conducting fun giveaways. I am so excited March is here!

Audacious Designs
Audrey Neal is a scrapbook industry veteran with a focus on authentic storytelling and designs that are eclectic yet streamlined.

Her blog, Be Audacious, is a source of daily inspiration for uncomplicated memory keeping. Audacious Designs can be found exclusively at Design House Digital.

Digital Designer Shop
There are lots of great new products in the shop, including IT Man, a grungy and masculine paper set, and a Project 365 Starter Kit! All new products are 20% off on Friday and Saturday and Simple Scrapper readers get a special coupon code. Use “SS-MAR2010″ to get 40% off everything in the shop except printing credits with $5 minimum purchase (single use per person).

Julie. It. Is. Designs
Julie. It is. Designs is the work of Julie Southern – wife, mother, and self-professed digi-fiend.  Julie’s creations combine her love of color and texture with a casual elegance, and her goal is to create a particular mood or essence for each kit she creates.  Find her designs exclusively at Plain Digital Wrapper.

Karen Lewis Designz
Karen Lewis has a brand new kit, Defining Moment, out at The Digi Chick. Giveaway Alert: One lucky will will receive this kit for free! On top of that, everyone gets a coupon for the Karen Lewis Designz shop!

Kiki Halbert Designs
Kiki Halbert, an industry veteran from Canada, celebrated her third anniversary as a digital scrapbook designer last fall. She has a full time job in addition to a store at Scrapbook-Elements.com and feels blessed to earn a supplemental income for staying true to her passion.

She is often inspired to create her “Elegant Grunge”  styled kits when a color palette jumps out at her from everyday life. She never knows what will happen when she opens up Photoshop and loves that it is like having a fresh box of crayons. One thing is certain, something beautiful always emerges, kit after kit.

Giveaway Alert: One lucky winner will receive a free kit! Plus, make sure you visit the blog to download this Slim and Trim QP freebie.

Log Your Memory
There’s a lot going on at Log Your Memory, helping you to stay on top of your memories. There’s never been a better time to check out all the action. Mark your social calendar for Thursday, March 4th @ 7 p.m. Mountain Time to participate in a template challenge chat with (another Simple Scrapper sponsor) Suzy Iverson of SuzyQScraps.

Plain Digital Wrapper
Quirky.  Resourceful. Vibrant and fun.  Plain Digital Wrapper’s designers and staff  believe that scrapping embraces the very heart of our lives.  As such, they strive to provide not only a wide variety of well-made and exclusive scrapping tools and materials, but a cheerful and supportive community as well.

Whether you are a dedicated chronicler of your family’s daily lives and major milestones; just like to express your creativity with beautiful colors and rich textures; or possibly want to tell your story to the world through words and pictures – you’ll find what you need with us.  Come join us in our daily journey of discovery and imagination!

Freebie Alert: To get any PDW team kit for free, like Red Hot and U, use the code “SimpleScrappin” by June 1. ($10 off any team kit, one use per customer)

Quirky Twerp
Check out the latest design from Quirky Twerp: Fabrications Classic

Stuff to Scrap
Come join the Stuff To Scrap community where there are lots of fun challenges.  Earn points for free store products.  Become a Facebook fan and get even more free products.  Recently upgraded with a new improved forum and gallery.  Lots of designers and lots of fun.  Stuff To Scrap, where we are Simply Scrapping Stuff.

Bonus Giveaway

Jen Graham, of Graham Like the Cracker Designs, is giving away this fun kit to a lucky winner!

How the Giveaways Work

Everyone has three chances to win one of these amazing prizes.

• Leave a comment telling us if you paper scrapped before you went digi.
• Leave a comment sharing that you posted about the giveaways on Facebook.
• Leave a comment noting that you posted about the giveaways on Twitter.

Deadline: Enter by 11:59pm central time on Wednesday, March 3rd.