so where did you "learn" to digi scrap?

D

danagirl82

New member
As some of you may have noticed I am new here, on the boards, and to the digi side of scrapbooking. While I do have more than basic knowledge of photoshop there is plenty I do not know, and there is even more I don't know about digi scrapping. So what I want to know is how did you learn? find your knack or niche? develop your digi style?
Thank you for any and all answers.
 
Hey Dana :) Welcome to SSD!

I kind of stumbled into digi-scrapping. I was a paper scrapper first, and then I wanted to learn how to do selective coloring in photos (everything is black and white except for a bright red rose, that sort of thing). Once I got into that, it was all over. :) I saw tutorials for curling papers, and I thought "MAN! that is cool!". And then I stumbled onto a freebie blog, from there I found my first CT designer. And the rest is history!
 
The Nº1 inspiration for me were the galleries, and every time I saw something I like I try to copy and/or start screaming for help "HOW YOU DO THAT!!!"... LOL
 
Hi Dana, and welcome! :)

I stumbled across Simple Scrapbook's Digital Scrapbooking 2 magazine at Christmas in 2004. When I read that magazine, I thought "I can do that!" And, until recently with the hybrid craze, I haven't even thought about scissors or glue :D
 
welcome to the sweet shoppe!! i dabbled ever so slightly in paper scraping yeaaaaars ago...like really dabbled. only did like 25 pages or so. i liked it, but it was too difficult and pricey to really go full out with it and get all of my 3 kids combined 22 years done. anywho, jenny (lilcameronsmommy) is my irl bff, she got into it over a year ago and she would tell me about it. one day whilst hangin at her place i asked her to show me, she did, i told her to tell me what i need to buy, so i did and the rest is history. she actually taught me how to do everything. i am her protégé, so to speak. :D ask her...she literally had to sit with me at my computer and show me how to do things over and over again, till i got it. i was lucky to have a hands on coach! bottom line is: i love it and have never looked back. :thumbup:
 
I am in a group called Scrappy Chatters and two of my friends digi-scrapped and kept sending in their LOs for us all to see. So, I contacted one of them (Nikki Painter aka scrapwithnikki) and she taught me a few things and I've been hooked ever since.

I did take the Scrap Girls tutorials when I converted over the PSE last year, but that was mainly to learn the tools because I was a die hard PSP user. But, when I switched to Mac, I had to learn PSE in order to scrap. So, what ya gonna do? LOL

But, I am thinking of taking some of Jessica Sprague's Photoshop classes.
 
I first saw digital scrapping over at 2Peas in January 2003 when Ali Edwards was posting her digital AAM pages there. Over the next couple weeks, I was able to get an academic version of PS, found a digital scrapping site (the first one to be exclusively digital as a matter of fact), and began to play.

I hate working through tutorials & I rarely scraplift, so it was 99.9% trial and error, just playing around and following the trends. Things have REALLY changed since then, and I like to believe, at least, that I have gotten better and streamlined and refined my process. Templates were not 'invented' until a couple years ago, so my first few years were solid me & whatever my brain came up with to do on the page.

After awhile, you just get a pretty good sense of yourself. I know that most of my pages use 1-2 papers & many many elements, so buying stand alone paper packs or kits where I'm not crazy abt the elements is a pretty dumb thing for me to do. Along the same lines, I do not use real/extracted items on my pages or lots of fairydust/wing/storybook type things, so even if I'm attracted to that kind of page or kit somewhere, I know that the process leading up to something like that is too frustrating for me and will be a waste of money.

Ultimately, my goal is to get as many pages done as I can, so if that means simpler pages, pages with templates, or any other 'trick' I can think of, sobeit. I'm not interested in becoming a designer for the same reason; why try to make something if it already exists & I can just get it and be done with it? Once you figure out what your goal is in scrapping -- to get pages done, to flex your creative muscles, to learn everything abt your program, to make everything you use --- it is much easier to go along and avoid setbacks.
 
I was a paper scrapper too for many moons and haven't looked back since going digi. When I finally delved into digi, I fiddled and fiddled and fiddled with photoshop as a starting point. And have been self taught for the most part as far as the program goes. When I started to make pages, I soaked up all the information I could find. There are tons and tons of great resources. There is a scrap "university" at scrapgirls and that's decent for just getting started. I'd also recommend the tutorials on Misty Cato's blog (she ROCKS it). I've never taken any, but I've heard that Jessica Sprague's classed that Paula suggested are fabulous.

As for developing a style...I'd say mine is still evolving, lol. Just remember there are no rules in scrapbooking. Whatever guides you, whatever you enjoy doing, go with it. And the cool thing about digi is you can play and have fun and make mistakes and fix them and just excperiment to your heart's content.

Welcome and have fun!!
 
For me, I have a background in graphic and web design.
I used to play around making sig tags and web design stuff for friends. I stumbled upon a digi-scrap site one day looking for tubes for PSP. I tried a few things, but was never happy with what I was doing. One day I went to a chat at that site, met Kristin CB in the chat room, discovered we were neighbors, and the rest is history. Almost 3 years now!
 
I started at ScrapGirls, found DST and templates and it kind of took off from there. Meg made me switch to CS2 and away I went. :)
 
I was a paper scrapper for years (since 2001) and a rubber stamper for even longer (since 1996). 2 years ago I saw some cool stuff at both 2 Peas and School of Scrap dabbling in the digital side. So my DH got PSE 4.0 for me for Christmas that year. But I didn't learn how to do digital scrapbooking until February or March of 2007 when I took the Scrapbooks Etc. online class with Rhonna Farrer for beginning scrapbooking. Then I got Renee Pearson's book Digital Scrapbooking 2. Between those two and some of the wonderful galleries and challenges at a couple of digital sites, I'm almost all-digital now (I still like playing with paper and rubber stamping)
 
I started as a tagger and made letter for Incredimail..... and someday more and more scrapelated stuff went through the yahoo-groups and I tried it too..... Then I started with lifiting and asking and joining several websites (most in German)
 
I learned as I went. And I learned a lot from being here and gallery surfing. You sort of develop as you go along really.
 
I am still learning, but it really all started when I first saw some LO's Lauren Greir did over 2 years ago. I had a very basic knowledge of Photoshop and have been trying to build on that knowledge whenever I can. I fianlly gave it a real shot when I got a chance to scrap w/one of Lauren's kits this summer...and here I am still trying to learn about layout, lol.

-Diana
 
I started out paper scrapping in '98 and found 2peas. Then I started hanging out at Holly McCaig's site, Memory Making Divas (does anyone remember that place?). They started a digi section (we're talkin' 2003) and I started getting exposure to it there. Then, when she started The DigiChick, I became a member of her CT and that's when I really started learning. Digi scrapping sure has come a LOOOONG way since then. ROFL!
 
I don't really digi-scrap...I've done a little but would rather design ;) Dianne Rigdon is the one who introduced me to digital scrapbooking and the designing part of it :)
 
I started dabbling in photoshop to learn how to add color to black and whites....that's really where my learning began and it skyrocketed from there. That lead me into te siggy world. I learned a great deal in ps as i went. Im now using CS3

I stumbled into the whole digi scrap world after hearing about it from a few fellow designers.

I already had a basic knowledge of designing and cs3 when I got here so the rest just came from surfing through the galleries and picking up little tidbits here and there from all the talanted ladies here!
 
I used to make signatures for a certain site and would download freebies. Then I started browsing around DST and found some better sites (like SSD that I just love) to get better kits for my own pages. I browse the galleries for ideas and subscribe to a couple magazines.
 
I started with a program I bought over a year ago. It was called photo explosion deluxe. I never had any idea that digi-scrapping was so big so I started searching online for stuff to see what was out there and just came up with so much that I got kinda hooked. I bought a book to read and learn the basics and then just started practicing. I used Scrapbook Factory Deluxe for awhile as well as the Photo Explosion but it didnt do everything I wanted it to and it was really slow so I bought Paint Shop Pro and taught myself the program by trial and error and just playing with everything that is on it. It will be two years in Feb. that Ive been digi-scrapping
 
I do part-time logo design from home, so I've been working with Photoshop for a while. A mom on the Babycenter board started a thread for digital scrapping, and I saw the cool stuff you could do. :) I started dl'ing a few freebies, then made my way to Sunshine Studios, where I picked up a bunch of techniques just from the forums and galleries. Then I made my way here and the rest is history! :D
 
Well, one of the designers (not here), Sweet Genevieve & I are really good friends IRL. She & I lived 2 apartments buildings down from each other (also went to church together). We spent a lot of time learning together, but she started first & learned much quicker than I did! lol But, yep, she's the one responsible for y'all having to put up w/me! :) lol
 
Well, I learned from a friend and on my own. I would start a page and if I had a question about something i would ask her or my dh. Little by little I have learned a lot. I got frustrated at first because it was so hard. BUT I finally gave myself permission not to know everything, and be o.k. with what I knew. My pages didn't look all that great, but with each page I did, I learned a new trick, became familiar with that trick (not to mention remembered how to do that trick) and now I am more "fluent" in CS3!
 
After my DS was born in 2005 I went to a scrap store and bought all these cute paper supplies to do a baby book for him. I did exactly 2 pages..they looked awful and the mess was just too much for me. I stumbled across some digi sites looking for an alternative to paper and after that there was no looking back lol. I just pretty much was self taught..did some tutorials, used lots of freebies in the beginning things like that. I think it takes everyone a while to kind of feel out their scrapping style. I've been at it almost 3 years now though and still scrap just about every day! :)
 
I used to be on a fertility/pregnancy/parenting board when I was TTC DS2 and for a couple years after. I had PSP5 then and made blinkies and sigs and group headers. One of my friends there started digi scrapping & showing us her layouts. I had heard of it before but everyone used PS & I wasn't in a position to buy new software. She told me about a site that had PSP tutorials specific for digi scrapping. I hung out there for over a year, taking classes & doing challenges. Then I started branching out, shopping other places visiting various forums. I had settled at a new site that sadly closed :( then flitted around some more then found SSD. I rarely visit anyplace else now except DST from time to time.
 
I taugh myself for the most part, but I found loads of tutorials online and I also checked out a few books on PS from the library.
 
I was making signatures at Ivillage and we were looking for other graphics to use and I found the Shabby Princess, I pretty much collected her stuff and then I finally decided to start digi scrapping like 18 months later.
 
Totally stumbled on it - And then found tutorials like Misty's and was hooked!!! Such a relief of stress for me and totally opposite of what I do all day!
 
I made siggies at iVillage with Vanessa and many of the other ladies here as well. We were a fun group :D

I actually did my first pages for my friend who had cancer. We created a book for her, we downloaded Shabby Princess freebies, 2Peas freebies. I look at the pages now, and they suck. Fast forward a few months, and Vanessa and Katrina got me hooked on SSD stuff, and eventually I stopped hoarding and started scrapping.

I do graphics for a living, plus my experience with making sigs and blinkies, made it so I had plenty of PS knowledge coming in. I feel now, that my style has REALLY changed lately, and that's one thing I like, the versatility of digi.
 
Like others, I bought supplies for a traditional paper album in 2004, for my wedding. And I made 2 pages and gave up.

I stumbled on Shabby Princess almost a year ago.. downloaded a few kits.. but never did anything with them. Then, recently, I decided it was time to get serious. The photos were piling up and I wanted to start getting them into albums.

I'm just getting into the community aspect and will share some LOs soon!
 
My very good friend scrapwithnikki was a designer at Elemental Scraps and she kept sending in LOs to this group that we are in. I used to scoff at digi scrapping thinking that it wasn't "real" scrapping. But, one time she sent in a LO that just took my breath away. So, I asked her some basic questions. At the time, I used PSP X. She helped me and I've been hooked ever since.
 
I just started digi scrapping at the beginning of this year. I was never a paper scrapper. I have been in graphic design and web stuff for awhile now and I am one of those who came across SP's freebies and became fascinated with it all and soon my addiction to digi scrapping began. I am pretty much self taught with my program (PS) too. I sometimes look on the net for tut's or ask questions if I have them, but I mostly played around with my program to learn it. And sadly as much as I do know, there is still so much to the program to learn.

As far as my digi style, I don't know if I have a style exactly! LOL! I do love layering and clusters! So I do tend to do that a lot. But like the ladies said you do learn and evolve as you do until you find your own thing!


Oh and welcome to SSD! You will love it here!
 
I wanted to make siggies because no one would make one for me on the forum I was on at the time and then I got hooked into freebies. Once, I got PSE5, it is fantastic because before I was using GIMP and it took forever to scrap a page. I just read the tutorials online to learn different techniques and I am still learning. I had paper scrapped years ago but hated the mess it made.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2026 XenForo Ltd.
Back
Top