I've only been doing the digital scrapping for a couple of months, so I'm still a tad overwhelmed also. I use Paint shop pro mostly to do my scrapping. I also have photoshop essentials. Right now, I am printing my own . I haven't bought a wide format printer yet, so I have to print out either a 8x8 of 8x11 page & place it on a 12x12 piece of cardstock. As far as cost compared to paper scrapping, I spend a whole lot less. Now that's not to say you can't go overboard with all the gorgeous pages & cds you can buy, lol. I can scrap more pages on the computer than I ever did by hand. I am having a blast learning all the ins and outs. My layouts aren't as artistic as some I've seen online, but I am very pleased with them.
Pam R