Snowflakes

This is a quick post for those looking forward to the snow season! There are 3 shimmery snowflakes in this download. Hope you enjoy!


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Updates...

Hey there!

It has been FOREVER since my last post. Sorry it's been this long. I'm hoping to post some free downloads very soon. The good news is that I have been making progress on my Europe album. I'm currently researching places to print a photobook. This will be my first time printing a photobook. I used my Europe album to familiarize myself with PS and PS elements so it has taken considerably longer, but I feel great about the final version. Looking for printing places has been harder then expected. My concern is cost and quality and also finding a 12 by 12 format. I've been experimenting with Shutterfly lately. I find their program a bit of nuisance for uploading and putting it together but I love that you can make a front cover/back cover and spine in your own design. If anyone has any thoughts/advice as far as printing goes please send off an email...I'd love to hear some recommendations!

Thanks!

PC vs. Mac

Hey everyone,

Not sure if anyone has been to the apple website today but they have just released an new iMac. It looks like a nice machine (27 inches!), however I just got my macbook pro so I won't be buying anytime soon.

For those who are undecided between pc or mac I'll put in my thoughts.

I have grown up using a pc both desktops and 3 laptops (within a three year period) during my university days. After my unsuccessful run with pc laptops I vowed never again will I waste my money on laptop and went with a desktop for my last year of school.

Once I finished school I was able to enjoy more time digital scrapbooking. At this point I realized that my pc was great for essay writing but pretty slow for overlays and textures. I spent a good year or so contemplating the switch to a mac. I spent another 6 months debating between a desktop or laptop. I didn't want to get burned again with a laptop with no power. After hearing good things about mac laptops I went for the macbook pro. It's been nearly 6 months and I dread having to turn on my old pc to grab a file because I've become so used to my high speed mac. It is super fast for all my digital scrapbooking needs. The screen extremely clear and bright. I also love how it automatically adjusts to the lighting and the backlight keyboard. I find it's very portable (13 inches) yet surprisingly enough room to do some serious photoshop work. I did also buy the adapter to use with a tv or monitor but only use it on occasion. When it comes to price Apple products do tend to be more expensive, however providing my laptop lasts a couple of years I'll be doing better than my past pc laptops. So that is a price I'm willing to pay.

While I won't go into the technical details for my preference because honestly I'm basing my opinion on my happiness with performance. With that said I'm extremely happy with my purchase based on speed and reliability. If you are planning to do digital scrapbooking and are considering making the switch I would highly recommend it. Feel free to email me if you have a question, I'd be happy to offer advise.

DigitalScrapbookBlog

Time for an update

Hey Everyone,

It's been a little while since I last posted. I've been putting some focus on a travel album from the summer of 2008. I travelled for 26 days in Europe (England, France, Italy), so this album is quite extensive...over 60 pages! I feel like I can't seem to let this album go to print. I keep on going back and fixing up pages, and adding overlays and journaling. I always seem to struggle with the journaling the most. Overall though, I'm quite happy with how it looks and can't wait to get it made into an album. The entire album has been made by me...backgrounds, elements etc. The only help was a few brush downloads for PS elements. By the time I'm done I might put together a kit of the elements that I used that are Europe related for anyone else doing similar travelling.

Anyways, I hope everyone is enjoying the free downloads. I hope to post some new freebies in the next week.

Final add on...

One final kit to add on. Match them up with some patterned paper or re-colour as needed. Enjoy!

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Add on paper kit

As promised another paper kit download part 2. I may post a third pack of more neutral colours tomorrow. Enjoy!

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Free Paper Kit

Everyone seems to like paper packs so I'll post another...This paper kit is part one of at least two parts. The second part will most likely be posted tomorrow. Hope you enjoy!

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Paper Kit and Font Resource

Here is a free paper kit! I've also included an overlay in this kit - not shown in the preview. If you would like to use this overlay to add some texture to a background page just alter the opacity and the layer style to your liking. If you haven't set up a folder for overlays I would highly recommend it. My overlay folder is my go to place when I want to change up a look of a background.

You will also notice with all my downloads that I do not include any alphabet characters. I may one day, but at this point adding alpha characters can be quite time consuming, and would limit how often I can post. I will however post a great resource for font downloads for PC or Mac. I'm going to send you to some fonts that I think would be great for this paper kit found here. This website is endless. I found a ton of fonts I love just by looking at the 'A' section...This site should keep you busy!

Enjoy the download!

Designer Calls...huh?

Let me start with this: I'm not trying to make enemies or to centre anyone out in the digital scrapbook community. I think everyone is motivated by different things in life, and that is fine by me. I'm fairly new to the online scrapbooking community which is maybe I'm surprised by this.

Within a short time of starting this blog (really, it's been maybe 2 weeks?!) I have found a few emails in my inbox regarding designer calls. I wondered how many new bloggers found these same exact emails bcc'ed to their email inbox. Generally these emails contain the same content: flattery, an invite to design for someone else's store, and rules/guidelines (ie. how many products required, mandatory community chats, fees, and commission).

I guess my initial surprise comes down to just how new this blog is, and that I post FREE downloads for digital scrapbooking. I have never bought any digital products for any of my scrapbook pages. The reason I love to digital scrapbook is the price. For me personally, it's been the cheaper route. So I will say this now. I do not intend to design this blog as a free site and suddenly start up a store to sell my products or join a design team for someone else's profit. I do this for fun, and for a bit of a challenge...not for the money. Is the money even that great for digital scrapbooking? I'm not sure, but I won't be quitting my day job. At this point you notice there are no advertisements on my site. I will be honest and upfront now. One day there might be ads, or maybe not...who really knows. But I do know this will remain a free site with free downloads, and I will continue to design for myself and for fun. If you want to download my stuff to enjoy too, then that's great.

So for now, I will say thanks to the emails, but no thanks.

DigitalScrapbookBlog

New Digital Kit

Freebie digital kit for your weekend scrapbooking! Hope you enjoy!

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Add on to the last download! Freebie paper pack...

Hmm...it looks like the last free paper kit download was a popular one! I'm going to post an add on to that kit...I loved the bright colours, but I'm also a big fan of more neutral colours. Next post will be a full kit!

Enjoy!

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Overlays are everywhere! + freebie papers

I'm trying to use more overlays in my kits to create more variety/texture than using the regular canvas filters found in PS. Overlays are pretty simple to create. I generally find textures I like and do a full photo of that area. It doesn't matter if your texture is varied or consistent. I've done stones, tree bark, cracked pavement...the options are endless. Today's free kit started out as a picture of laminate wood flooring in black and white. From there I reduced the opacity to 20% set to normal and duplicated the layer. On the second identical layer I rotated the image by 90 degrees. This created a nice texture for a paper pack. It will take some experimentation for the layer style setting and the opacity. Using the same settings usually won't work for every colour chosen but minor adjustments are usually simple. I'm liking the final result, and I hope you do too!

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Free Digital Kit

Here's a new digital kit for today. If you have used any of my kits for your scrapbooking send me the link/image by email if you have a chance, I'd love to see a finished layout!

Email: DigitalScrapbookBlog@gmail.com

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Free Paper Pack Download

Just a quick paper pack today...enjoy!

12 by 12 inches

300 dpi

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Next post is hopefully this Sunday...Have a good weekend!

Quick Post w/ a Free Digital Kit

This is just a quick post but it includes another free download...enjoy!

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Getting Creative with Colour Palettes +free digital kit

I want to share a website I came across. This website was the colour source for the scrapbook kit that that I am posting as a free download.

Sometimes I find the hardest part of scrapbooking is choosing a colour palette. It's the first thing I decide on as I create a kit, and being stuck on my first step is pretty discouraging. Whenever this happens I usually search out some finished layouts for colour ideas I wouldn't normally chose. This time I searched colour palettes and came across this website called COLOURlovers

There are tons of user created palettes to chose from. You can even sign up for a free account to mark your favourite colour combos. There are probably a ton of features that I haven't even come across yet. Honestly, when I found this palette called Wildflower Whimsy and had to get started right away.

I'm not sure if I would ever come up with this colour combination, but I think it's great and had a lot of fun putting this kit together (and I hope it shows!).

I didn't bother with downloading the palette to PS option this time. It was quick enough to copy the HEX and enter them into Photoshop Elements by double clicking the colour selection. I think the download option will be useful as I get more familiar with the site.

Anyways, I thought that this website is a great resource for digital scrapbookers...so check it out!

Enjoy the free download...

First Post and First FREE Kit

I'm posting a link to my first free digital kit. Feel free to download for your own personal use and alter however you like.

If you are posting your finalized page using a Digital Scrapbook Blog kit post/send me the link...I'd love to see it!

There will be more to come so keep checking back!

BTW: All downloads are 300 dpi for quality printing. Background papers are 12 inches by 12 inches.

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