Scanning Large Items with the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

Back in November 2013, we ran a contest on our blog where we gave away a Flip-Pal mobile scanner. To enter the contest, we asked you to tell us your fun and creative idea for using the Flip-Pal. We got over 75 terrific ideas from our readers, making it hard to pick just one winner.

Ultimately, we picked Pam Zeman of Michigan as the winner. Pam has a love for all things vintage and could imagine the Flip-Pal being useful for scanning her vintage button collection. But the thing that really caught our attention was her idea to scan the hide of her daughter’s Appaloosa pony named Latte.

We will be checking in with Pam during the year to see what she has been doing with her Flip-Pal. Today’s tutorial is written by Pam and features her Filp-Pal. If you are inspired by what you see, remember that you can get your own Flip-Pal by ordering straight from the Scrap Girls Boutique here!

Audience: Everyone
Category: Apps, Technology & Hardware

I have always been passionate about making a layout meaningful by including personal memorabilia, and the Flip-Pal mobile scanner helps me do just that. The Flip-Pal can easily scan just about anything. What I love most about the scanner is the ability to scan large objects.

Ever since I started digital scrapbooking, I’ve always wanted to use a lovely antique needlepoint chair seat as a background. The Flip-Pal was the perfect tool for the job! Let me explain how I did it:

Remove the lid of the scanner, flip it over, and lay the scanner on the seat cover.
Take multiple scans of the needlepoint seat by moving the scanner to make sure there is at least a one-inch overlap from one scan to the next. Use the scribed lines on the viewing window to align each scan.Here are the 10 scans I made of the needlepoint seat cover:

flip-pal scanned needlepoint

Remove the SD card from the scanner and insert it into the USB that is provided and connect it to the computer.
Open the Flip-Pal Toolbox software that is conveniently located on the SD Card.
Click the “Stitch Scans” box and select the files to stitch together. The program automatically saves the stitched images to the SD card as a JPG file.

As you can see, the stitched image is not square, but the scanner did an amazing job at stitching the intricate needlepoint together. I can even see fibers from the wool thread!

stitched image in flip-pal

Next, I opened the file in Photoshop and enlarged the image to cover the background. Here is the final result:

open image in photoshop

I also had fun scanning my daughter’s show ribbon. The ribbon measures approximately 6×12 inches, which would consume half my layout if I were to place it there at full size! Even though the rosette was higher than the ribbon, I got creative and scanned the rosette separate from the ribbon. I used the stitching software to stitch together the ribbon, then used Photoshop to put the rosette and ribbon together.

I love the idea of easily creating my own embellishments to personalize my layouts. The Flip-Pal is truly a game changer for me as I think about my digital scrapbook options. It’s so easy to use and the quality is excellent!

flip-pal scanned memorablilia layout