CRS Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 A few of us were chatting about how we got started in digital scrapbooking on Reminiscing's thread about an old LO. This made me curious....How did you start digital scrapbooking? How long have you been scrapping (paper or digital)? For me, I started when pregnant with Brooke, 14 years ago. I was on a pregnancy forum with other women who were due the same month/year as me and some of them were creating these gorgeous images. I bought a cheap software package that had a lot of clip art to begin with, then moved up to Elements (I think it was 3). I remember dh asking me if I thought I'd stick with it long enough to justify the cost. Little did we know, 14 years later, it would be such a big part of my life! I take photos and imagine how to scrap them. I spend all my free time scrapping or reading, and of course, this amazing community at Scrap Girls! So tell us, how did you start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariJ Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 My niece was about 8 (she was just 25!) when she took a short, summer paper scrapbooking class at her school. She came home and showed us all and decided we needed to all make a scrapbook. Her Grandma had just gone in the hospital and was there for awhile so every day her Mom would drop Alison and her brother off at my house and she, my Mom and me each made a scrapbook. Mine was a first year book for my Goddaughter (who’s actually now 16!). I then made books for my Goddaughter’s brother and later her sister’s first year. But, in 2009 Diane (Florida Granny) showed me this new creating she was doing - in PhotoShop Elements - all kinds of neat things you could do with photos. Later, she found and introduced me to ScrapGirls saying she’d looked around but it was the best site... Then I got the flu very badly in January 2010 and was in bed when I decided to try it out since I had a lot of time... So I bought a few things, made a very sorta “layout” in PSE (6!) and then took a class and fell in love with it! Like I said in the other thread, in my wildest dreams I did not imagine this venture could take me this far and involve me in so much - creativity, artistic outlet, true friends, enjoyment, time consuming when I needed it, a way to created and make gifts and people happy.... etc etc etc! I would never in a million years believe how much scrapbooking has come to mean to me in so many ways! And, I also always say - you can blame Diane for me here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ngaire Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 5 minutes ago, MariJ said: And, I also always say - you can blame Diane for me here! Well I say THANK YOU Diane for Marilyn being here?? Marilyn you are a wonderful asset to SG? Well it made me think, how long have I been scrapping, and its takes me back about twenty years now? Started with paper and I got hooked on digital about 13 years ago. Digital Scrapper was what caught my interest and very shortly after I found SG in 2006. As many will understand coming from paper scrapping to digital scrapping is soooooo much less mess and expense and I also find so much more creativity for me in the digital. I am amazed at how I continue to learn new skills all the time. This has been a huge part of my life taking me on lots of journeys in the learning department. Including a trip to Utah to meet some of the earlier SG's.? I am hoping that one day I will again get to go and meet up with some of you beautiful ladies that have given me much inspiration and encouragement. I'm looking forward to reading how many of you got started into this delightful hobby. Thanks Carla for starting this thread!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishrose Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 I was introduced to PSE on a staff development course in 2008 while I was teaching. I remember taking a photo of my line manager, cutting her head out of the photo, duplicating it several times and "piling them up" into a photo of a wheelbarrow. It was a wonder she didn't sack me on the spot! The following year I retired and my first DGS arrived. That's when I got into photography seriously. I bought myself a copy of PSE 5 and a course of tutorials. Before long I was looking at the papers and embellishments contained within PSE and playing about with layers and effects. It felt for a few weeks as if I had discovered digital scrapbooking all by myself! What I created is totally cringe-worthy to me now. I soon tired of what PSE had to offer and I started browsing the web for other supplies. I found Scrap Girls pretty quickly and soon decided that it was the place for me. I am now in my 9th year. I wondered whether the craze would soon pass but it hasn't. I love the creativity that I can enjoy through scrapbooking and my friends and family can enjoy the fruits of my labours. I cant imagine life without it. Thank you Scrap girls - may you last forever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-M Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I was a card maker using rubber stamps from back in 1992 and then with the birth of my first grandchild in 2006 I started Paper scrapbooking. I was part of a on-line forum - Faith Sisters and some members there were doing digital scrapbooking. I discovered that with my scanner I had possibly the earliest version of PSE so I tried creating a digital scrap page and did not like it. Then I kept seeing the great results on that forum that people achieved so I thought I would give it another try and got hooked. I quickly upgraded to PSE6 which meant I needed a better computer than what I had. Scrap Girls was my second ever totally Digital Scrapping forum I joined - the first was Nuts 4 Digi which was an Australian owned site ( closed quite some years ago). I gained a lot of my learning here at Scrap Girls back in those early days. In 2009 I started to dabble in designing and still do a little. Joined a store as a Designer but soon realised it was taking away too much of my own personal scrapping time, plus it was causing me physical trouble with a trigger thumb with doing lots of extractions. I resigned from being a designer just before that site closed. Thankyou Carla for asking the question which goes well with the weekly question in Scrap Chat that I will be asking this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 It's so fun to hear how and when everyone started. I've really enjoyed watching everyone's families grow and seeing how creative everyone is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angleigh Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I also started about 14 years ago. When the boys turned 2 we went to Disney in California, when I got back I started doing a paper scrapbook of the trip (just found that the other day...lol) I shortly found digital after that. It was so much easier because I didn't have some 2 year old boys wanting to tear everything up as soon as I got it out. I played a round for a few months, then started looking at different forum. I was a creative team member for several designer, and did some freebie at a store. Soon after I started on the CT here. A few months after being on the team I was approached by Ro to do customer service, and I in turned asked her about being a designer. I started doing both about the same time. LOL It's all history after that ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorac Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I started scrapping in 2007 after my cat Cissy passed away. A friend of mine, who doesn't scrap, got me involved by buying me a paper scrapping kit. Then I found Scrapbook Max and Scrap Girls. I can't believe that I've been scrapping for eleven years. Unreal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelle Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I said a lot of this on the other thread... DH and I moved to Ohio when I was 7 months pregnant with Karlie, and made friends with neighbors, one of whom did paper scrapbooking. I thought it was neat, and loved the pages she made, but I was overwhelmed by her stash... her entire basement (full finished basement) was filled with scrapping supplies! It was a sight to behold. I remember mentioning wanting to try scrapbooking to DH, and the fear in his eyes, lol. By the time Karlie was 6 months old, we had taken hundreds if not thousands of digital photos of her already. I wondered if there was a way to scrapbook with digital photos, without having to print out photos and cut and paste - seemed like traditional scrapping defeated the purpose of digital photos. So searched online for... something, can't remember exactly what, but eventually landed on "digital scrapbooking", and I think SG popped up right away. I browsed the site off and on for a few months before I decided to become a member of SG. I talked to DH about it; he's IT, and I knew nothing about photo editing software, how any of it worked. He said he had a version of Photoshop for Mac already, but it would mean I'd have to learn how to use a Mac as well as learn Photoshop. So I gave it a go. At the time, his Mac was down in our basement amidst a big jumbled mess, so after Karlie was asleep I'd head down there and try to learn. I admired everyone else's layouts on SG and couldn't imagine creating anything like that. Eventually I bought Ro's first set of videos... but I have to admit I made it through only the first several before I took off on my own. Maybe I should finish those someday? When all is said and done, I started learning digital scrapping in 2007, first became a member of SG early in 2008 (I think), and scrapped off and on for several years. I had to rejoin SG in 2010 because I stopped for a while and couldn't remember my info, so now my profile says member since 2010. I remember everyone being so supportive, even though I look back at those first layouts and think Yikes! Even now sometimes I think Yikes, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelle Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Oh, also wanted to add, I started avidly taking photos when I was 12, and organizing them into albums, with info written on the backs of the photos as to time and location and names of people. So I had/have lots of paper photos, pre-digital age. I've finished scanning most of those in, and they really are great scrapping fodder. I've been happy to find digital scrapping as a hobby, because it very much goes along with my enjoyment of documenting my life in photos but puts the photos in a more interesting form than photo albums, with journaling, etc. And no cutting and pasting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaFace Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 On 7/25/2018 at 5:00 PM, englishrose said: I was introduced to PSE on a staff development course in 2008 while I was teaching. I remember taking a photo of my line manager, cutting her head out of the photo, duplicating it several times and "piling them up" into a photo of a wheelbarrow. It was a wonder she didn't sack me on the spot! That's hilarious! My husband jokes that is about his extent of PS knowledge, cutting someone's head off ?? As for me, I began paper scrapbooking after I became preggo with my second. I had been doing graphic design for several years by then and found "digital scrapbooking" and thought well hey, I like those two things, let me try this designing my own items out. The rest his history I guess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariJ Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I’m so enjoying reading how everyone started, this is so interesting - thanks Carla! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyscrapalot Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 I'm not sure exactly how or when I started digital scrapbooking. I'd say I started around 2009/2010. I never got into paper scrapbooking; too much to buy. One wrong move and it's over. I do know that DH had some version of photoshop and he loaded on to my laptop. I just started playing around with it. I'd find tips and tricks online. I've bought several books on photoshop and digital scrapbooking that I don't hardly use. ? When I first started out I found a few sites that had lots of freebies. Looking back I now understand why they were free. ? Thankfully I found Scrap Girls ? and well that was a game changer for sure. It's amazing how friendly, helpful, supportive, and crazy fun everyone is here. Digital scrapbooking for me is therapy. I can express my feelings through art journaling. It is a creative outlet without all the mess. No wrong moves, just happy accidents or redos! DIGI IS LIFE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRS Posted July 27, 2018 Author Share Posted July 27, 2018 2 hours ago, ladyscrapalot said: I'm not sure exactly how or when I started digital scrapbooking. I'd say I started around 2009/2010. I never got into paper scrapbooking; too much to buy. One wrong move and it's over. I do know that DH had some version of photoshop and he loaded on to my laptop. I just started playing around with it. I'd find tips and tricks online. I've bought several books on photoshop and digital scrapbooking that I don't hardly use. ? When I first started out I found a few sites that had lots of freebies. Looking back I now understand why they were free. ? Thankfully I found Scrap Girls ? and well that was a game changer for sure. It's amazing how friendly, helpful, supportive, and crazy fun everyone is here. Digital scrapbooking for me is therapy. I can express my feelings through art journaling. It is a creative outlet without all the mess. No wrong moves, just happy accidents or redos! DIGI IS LIFE! I was never a paper scrapper either. I got into hybrid, but not LOs. And I had all the books, too. I gave them all to my niece, who I'm sure gave them away, lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbaraj Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 I made paper cards for a few years and then in 2007 I bought PSE 5. I just sat and stared at it. I didn't know what to do! Then I discovered a class and was on my way. I have never tired of digital scrapping like I have all my other hobbies. There's always new kits and new techniques and I just love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindarobin Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 Back in the 20th century, I bought my first real digital camera, the ultimate 2 MP resolution!! It came with a CD, Adobe PhotoDeluxe (which came before PSE). Yada, yada, yada, digital scrapbooking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ngaire Posted July 27, 2018 Share Posted July 27, 2018 I love your description Linda!!!?? especially the yada yada yada bit!!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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