Audience: Everyone
Category: Scrap Girls, Etc.
Sitting in my computer are many, many, many digital layouts that have never been seen by anyone but me and my friends here at Scrap Girls. I make layouts aplenty; however, I am not so good at getting them printed. The bulk of my problem is that when I first began digital scrapbooking, there were few printing options available, and those that were available tended to be expensive.
Fast-forward several years and what a difference you will find! Now I have a photo-friendly printer so I can print at home, or I can send my layouts out to be printed by a variety of companies at a very reasonable price. So, the printing problem has been solved, but what to do with the layouts once they are printed?
I was quite excited recently as I went cruising through the craft store and came across several new and exciting ways to share my digital layouts. First of all, photo albums have come a long way in the past few years. Not only do they come in more scrap-friendly sizes like 12×12 inches and 8×8 inches, but with the popularity of the Pocket Life style of scrapping, you can often find page protectors that hold multiple-sized layouts on one page. This comes in especially handy if you occasionally scrap in 4×6 inches but want to include it in an album with your full-sized layouts. I rarely have 20 layouts ready to be printed and bound into a photo book when there is a sale at the various printing companies, so being able to print my layouts one or a few at a time and put them in albums myself is a big relief.
Another option I found that I love is a scrapbook page holder. It is a decorative stand that holds 10 photo sleeves into which you can just slide your printed layouts. Using this holder not only encourages you to print your pages, but also puts them on display for all to see! I love the idea that I can keep my most recently printed layouts on display, then move them into a photo album when new ones are ready to be displayed. I will have a constantly rotating set of layouts for everyone to see.
For those extra special layouts that you may want to keep on permanent display, stores now sell a variety of very nice layout-sized frames ranging from 4×4 inches to 12×12 inches with everything in between. Some layouts represent such wonderful memories that they should be kept out for everyone to cherish.
When I first began digital scrapbooking, getting my layouts printed in bound photo books was one of the few options available to digital scrappers. The times, however, are a-changin’ – and in a good way for digital scrapbookers. There are a variety of options now available for showing off your layouts, no matter what size you scrap in, so there are no excuses for letting them languish unseen on your hard drive anymore.
Come share your most recent layouts with us in the Scrap Girls Gallery, then print them up and share them with your friends and family, too!
Digital scrapbooking products used:
Article written by Melanie Cockshott