Use a variety of layouts or designs to make a digital scrapbook more interesting and customized. Basic scrapbook page designs consist of photos arranged on top of a background (color or texture). Doing some digital photo editing is essential to create more options of images to use in your scrapbooks. More interesting pages include graphic elements such as:
- Titles in varied font styles
- Names, dates or text on the page in different colors and font weights and styles
- Photos arranged in montages
- Journaling on the page using a font that looks like handwriting
- Clip art graphics to interesting elements on the page layouts
- Digitally created special effects such as torn paper, shadows or glows around elements
- Frames or borders around photos
- Layering of backgrounds to simulate the look of layers of paper
You can see how getting better skills with photo editing software and learning new computer scrapbooking techniques is essential for all of this.
Some of the suggestions listed above are used in traditionally created scrapbook pages. Special digital effects can make scrapbook page designs more dynamic. Special effect such as shadows and highlights can add interest if they are done correctly.
Layouts using a theme can be very effective to create more uniqueness to the look of your page layouts. Travel, birthdays, vacations, reunions, genealogy, and so many other occasions are themes that you may want to use. Themes are great because they give you ideas for images to add to your photography.
A Scanner is a Computer Scrapper’s Friend
Using your scanner and then photo editing your scans is a great method to acquire custom elements for your pages and layouts. For unique pictures or images for computer scrapbooking, make your own buy scanning objects. For example: Make a kids’ school theme by using any supplies for school you have and scan those items (then photo edit the scans).
To get some patterns to use as backgrounds, try scanning holiday wrapping paper. Greeting cards’ or postcards’ imagery such as illustrations, photos and pictures are some other options. Be aware, however, that scanning materials with a copyright means that you must only use those scans in pages that you won’t be trying to sell or profit from. You can scan some ribbon and use your scanned images as an accent to a scrapbook’s layout or page.
Another technique is to get traditional scrapbook products such as chipboard letters and scan those. You can make titles from scanned chipboard letters or artwork for you layouts – they make good titles on pages.
There are also affordable clip art galleries and photo and clip art CDs available with images for themed scrapbooks. Many digital elements kits can be purchased or downloaded. Images such as paper patterns, elements, and tags from those can be used as is or modified to create your own unique digital scrapbook layouts.
Make a Hybrid Scrapbook
Just because it’s a digital scrapbook doesn’t mean you can’t do some hand writing, drawing or add other embellishments on the pages after they have been printed. Combining digital scrapbooking techniques with traditional elements (paper, ink, or other elements) is what is called hybrid scrapbooking. Using hybrid scrapbooking techniques is another way to be creative with your scrapbooking.