Valerie asked me to post this. Hope it helps some of you!

Here it is in text format or else you can also download it in .txt format (the link is at the bottom of the page)

Computer Scrapbooking Tips
(Most of this is based on a PC not Mac)

Scanning/Digital Pictures:
1. Always scan (and save) at atleast 300 dpi (anything less and you won’t get a good printout)
2. Scan your pictures for an 8x10. You can always resize the pictures smaller and still get good quality, but you can resize them bigger because you lose dpi and your pictures will look grainy.
3. Make all alterations of the picture (remove red-eye, fix coloring, etc.) before saving.
4. 72-100 dpi is enough for viewing on the computer screen.

Saving:
1. Save pictures and scrapbook pages in a format that is meaningful to you. The way I do it - YYYY_MM_DD_People_Event_##
Example: 2000_07_09_Johnny_sleeping_01
This makes it easier to find the picture you are looking for and to know who is in it!
2. Save at 300 dpi for good printouts, 72-100 if it is just for screen viewing
3. Save Master copy of photos as a TIFF (this is the best graphic format)
4. You can save a copy that you are done manipulating as a JPEG (every time you re-save a JPEG it loses quality – like making a photocopy of a photocopy, JPEG’s sacrifice quality for file size) DO NOT SAVE AS JPEG UNTIL YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU ARE DONE MANIPULATING IT! If you have to alter it, go back to the TIFF and then make a new JPEG file. .
5. Always save your scrapbook pages in the file format of the program. Then if you want to you can also save them as a graphic file (i.e. TIFF, JPEG, PNG)
6. PNG Files are a great file format to save your pages in because they keep the transparency of the background. But, they are not recognized by all programs (especially older ones). Anther great thing about .png is that they are high resolution, so you can make the image bigger without losing quality.
7. .GIFs can only save in 256 color not the 16 million like .tiff
8. You may want to save copies (and originals) of your photos and scrapbook pages on CD’s as they do tend to be big files and can take up a lot of room on your hard drive. You need a CD burner to do this. I always make an extra copy of my CD’s to keep at another location in case of fire, flood, etc. Then you still have all of your photos and pages saved and can just reprint your pages.

Printing:
1. You can print on photo paper or cardstock, depending on the look that you want.
2. You need a printer that prints decent photos not necessarily a “photo printer”
3. You will need some sort of album and sheet protectors
4. Another option for printing is to have your pages professionally printed, just save it to a CD or disk and take it in. An 8x10 is usually about $1.50 a page.
5. Of course you don’t have to print your pages. You can do digital scrapbooks. (See section on Slideshows)
6. To cut down on printing costs, you can refill your cartridges. They can be safely refilled 2-4 times before buying a new cartridge
7. You only need to worry about acid free, lignin free, and PVC free if you are using developed photos. If you are printing your own photos you don’t need to worry about these things. NOTE: pretty much all computer inks these days are acid free so you don’t need to worry about that either.

Getting started:
· Scrapbook programs tend to be memory hogs, so before you start your scrapbook program you want to free up as much memory as possible by rebooting your computer and shutting down all non-essential programs including hidden programs. The best way to do this is by using CNTL-ALT DELETE to shut down everything but explorer and systray. Then you can start your program.
· Remember to save often and reboot your computer every couple of hours.

Computer Maintenance:
· It is important to keep your computer in good working condition to easily work in your scrapbook programs.
o Empty your temp, Internet temp, and cookies files daily.
o Defrag every 1-2 months.

Programs to use:
· A word processing program i.e. Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect (can be used if you just want to do basic journaling and glue your pictures on.)
· Any layout program (capable of making cards, posters, banners, etc.) You need a program that can do layers, and open raster files as well as vector files. Most computers these days come loaded with some kind of layout program.
· Print Shop (good for journaling, doing basic backgrounds, clipart, borders, newer versions have some great photo effects)
· Microsoft Picture It!/Digital Image Pro - Great capabilities, is also a photo editor. Does have a few kinks, uses a lot of memory. Comes with tons of great clipart. Currently what I use the most. Usually runs about $80. Very user friendly. My pick for the new computerscrapper.
· Paint Shop Pro – A great program, does have a bit of learning curve. Runs usually about $100.
· Photoshop – the most awesome of all programs but has an extremely high learning curve and is quite expensive. (Around $600 I think)

Fonts:
· You can download tons of fonts from the Internet. Just do a search for fonts with your favorite search engine and you will get tons of sites!
· Put downloaded fonts into a “my fonts” folder not your windows fonts folder. Too many fonts in your windows fonts (over 500) folder can greatly slow down your computer.
· To use fonts in your programs that are not in your windows fonts folder just open the font file and then open your scrapbooking program and it will recognize it. Make sure you keep it open all the way through printing stage.
· There are also many font organizers out there. Some are free and some cost $$.

Clipart:
· There are lots of “free” clipart sites on the Internet, but most clipart that you can download for free are not of a high enough quality (i.e. 300 dpi) to print out.
· There are many great clipart companies and programs that do have high quality clipart, but they usually cost money.
· Most scrapbooking programs come with quite a bit of clipart as well.


Slide Shows: If you don’t want to print your pages you can create a slide show, there are many programs out there that will create them, including Microsoft Picture IT! MGI PhotoSuite, and FlipAlbum.

Some of my favorites:
· ACDSee – a photo-editing program, which I mainly use to make a sheet of thumbnails of my photos. You can get a free demo at www.acdsee.com when the demo is over you can switch to sponsored mode and you just have to connect to the internet every 30 days and download some messages from the company or you can buy the program. This is a great program to catalogue your photos, pages, graphics & even music (yes mp3's) without changing the file format or having to import them into a program - just pop in the disc and take a look at what your files are!
· Extensis Suitcase – a font organizing program. This program allows you to use all the fonts on your computer with any program without having to open up the specific font. You can download a free trial, but after the trial is over the program costs about $100.
· The Font Thing – another font organizing program, which is not as easy or versatile as Suitcase, but it is free.
· Color Cop – you can run your cursor over something on the page and it will give you the exact RGB (Red Green Blue) values of the color so you can match your borders, background, etc. with the color of your daughter’s beautiful pink dress (for example.) http://www.datastic.com/tools/colorcop/features.php
· Becky Higgins Creative Clip CD – a great set of fonts and clipart - $30. You can purchase this on http://creatingkeepsakes.com
· PCHugClub – join for $7.95/month and you get great clipart every single month as well as some extras. http://pchugclub.com

List of My Favorite Websites
www.acdsee.com
http://www.datastic.com/tools/colorcop/features.php
www.creatingkeepsakes.com
http://scrapbook-bytes.com
http://computer-scrapping.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/compu...ppingelements2

Attached Files

computer scrapbooking tips3.txt (7.9 KB, 66 views)

Amanda~this is wonderful information. Thanks so much for taking the time to type & share.

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amanda, thanks so much for sharing this!!!

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valerie

MY BLOG

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures."

Henry Ward Beecher

Oh Amanda thank you so much for taking the time to lay this out for us. I have asked these same questions and gotten so many diff. answers that I was even more confused. ( Not hard to do) I have just started to CS so I'm so happy to be able to do it right, from the start.

Thank You
Thank you

Tammy

If anyone has any suggestions...changes, etc. Let me know, I'd be happy to add them!

Thanks Manda. This is great info for everyone. I know I have some websites I've got to go visit now.

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Suzanne

this is a really great article. i think it would be great to put it into the FAQ section for new people who might now find it embedded in the forum...



Kristie

Do you set up your picture in portrait or landscape view?