Creating scrapbook pages -- and few "technical" questions

[kanda71407]

Thank you for all of your advice on my last post! This is such a neat thing that I cannot wait to do!

What sites do you recommend for creating the digital scrapbook pages?
I have seen scrapgirls.com, but what else do you all recommend?

What does "full bleed" in MP mean? Does that mean the layout option with only one pictures so it fills up the entire page?

Last one, question on sizes! How do you set up the different sizes and such???

I hope I am not being a pest! I am so excited about creating this beautiful books and want to know as much as I can about them!

[Cruiser]

Deleted

[csstick56]

Hi Marti, Cruzier, Kanda and the rest of you out there. Well I'm excited about mypublisher/ scrapbooking too and I'm jumping right in using MS Powerpoint. I have a question and was wondering if any of you have tried this yet. If I create something in PP and use a black background will it bleed nicely when using the full page bleed BLACK option if it's not the exact size? If I pick the basic black background in PP, lay out 3 or 4 photos, some text, etc - if it's not the exact size of the FPBleed will the 2 blacks clash? I guess the question would go whether it's a FP Bleed or not... Does this make sense? I don't know how to explain it but hope you understand.
Thanks Christine

[greytides]

Hello!

Newbie to digital scrapbooking and new to mypublisher. I have done the paper type scrapbooks before though. Thanks to this forum I found Scrapbook Flair, which is great and am starting on my book. I have some questions I'm hoping I can get more details before I dive into this project.

I want a larger book. I would like to print a 15x11.5 Hardcover book with MP but Scrapbook Flair's maximum page size is 12x12. If I use the 12x12's what do I need to do in MP? I also see I could print them to shutterfly and they do 12x12 books.

Thanks for any suggestions and tips,
Rebekah

[Marti]

Hi Rebekah,

Welcome to digital scrapbooking and MP. Both are great fun! I love Scrapbook Flair, too. I have uploaded 12x12 layouts from PowerPoint slides to MP's Classic 11.25x8.75 full-bleed pages and had to reduce them slightly to fit on the page. The top and bottom margins are a bit smaller than the left and right, but it looks fine. I allow a bit more allowance on the binding side so the layout is centered on the page. I would think that you could upload your 12x12 layout to the 15x11.5 page and see how it looks. You might have to enlarge it depending on how much margin you want on each side. Another MP user, Cruiser, introduced me to Scrapbook Flair and uses the MP Deluxe book, but I don't know if she has placed a 12x12 layout on a page yet.

If you do use Shutterfly, I should note that the images (layouts or photos) seem to print a little darker than MP, at least they did on the couple of books I've published there. I've used several other bookmakers, but always come back to MP because the end product is better.

Maybe Cruiser will have some suggestions, too.

Good luck and have fun,
Marti

[greytides]

Thanks for the info! I wanted to get all the technical stuff out of the way so I could start on the fun! I exported a page at 300dpi (is that right?) and it zooms in and so now I can see what will get cut off in the process!

Shabby Princess had some cute free kits. Do you know of any similar sites? I liked the kits, less thinking ;)

[Marti]

My experience is that if the image on the MP page looks crisp and clear on your monitor, then it should print that way. Occasionally there's some variation in color, but again from my experience, very little or none at all.

Yes, I love Shabby Princess, too. It's probably one of the best sites for freebie kits, as far as I know. And you're right, kits are nice because you have all the elements at your fingertips and it makes putting a layout together much quicker. Plus, if you want a book where every page is color coordinated, you can design different layouts using the same papers and elements. Each page will be different, but still within the same color scheme and patterns. Other sites you might check out are:

http://www.designerdigitals.com/ddgallery/showgallery.php?cat=531
http://www.digiscrapdepot.com/freebies/date.aspx
http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com/digital_scrapbooking_freebies.html
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14130
http://youniquephotos.com/freebies.html

I haven't looked at any of these sites lately, and some of them require you to register in order to access their freebies (which is usually no big deal). Anyway, if you need more, let me know.

[greytides]

Wow Marti! Thanks for those links - tons at digiscrap! If not too much trouble, go ahead and send some more.

[greytides]

I don't know if you've used Scrapbook Flair. There are some questions I had, but I'll try to find help on their site as well. Thought I'd throw it out there in case you encountered this too. I wish to import mulitiple embellishments at once. It's quite time consuming to have to click in each time to pull one item. Maybe this isn't supported. I thought I saw some other free software to do scrapbooks but I'll have to find it, to test it's features.

[Marti]

Sure, Rebekah, give these a try, too:

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com
http://www.digitalfreebies.com
http://groups.msn.com
http://www.scrapchicstudio.com
http://www.scrapchicstudio.com
http://www.scrapbook-bytes.com
http://www.scrapfx.com
http://www.simplycleandigiscraps.com

How's that? Those are ones I use the most.

[Marti]

I haven't spent a lot of time in Scrapbook Flair, but when I have, I've downloaded each element individually. It's a pain. I haven't checked their FAQ, though, so maybe there's a way to download more than one item at a time. Let me know if you figure it out.

[greytides]

Thanks again - Marti, what program do you use?

I wanted to share some findings. I found one that has a ton of freebies; site is in french and english so pretty self-explanatory.

http://freebies.scrap-gratuit.fr/freebies-scrapbooking.html

This one is on the ranks of Shabby Princess; I wish all the freebies were located in one place. Seems they are scattered throughout the site, but well worth finding.

http://www.raspberryroaddesigns.blogspot.com/

[Marti]

Thanks. I'm always looking for good, new sites. A lot of them come and go and it's hard to keep up. I use PowerPoint to create my layouts, but am in the minority on this. I've used it for years and it works easily for me. Everyone else pretty much uses Photoshop Elements. I have a couple of older versions of that and use it occasionally for editing purposes. Is that what you are using?

[greytides]

I'm experimenting with Scrapbook Flair but I think I'll need to buy software to save some time and wrist action! It's a little too basic. I'm looking for a good, inexpensive program, trying to read reviews and such.

[Marti]

I didn't realize that Scrapbook Flair allowed you to create a layout and save it to My Docs. But if you're not totally satisfied with it, you might try scrapbookmax.com. If you want to give me your email address via private message here, I'll forward some info on it. I bought their software for about $39.95, I think, on-line. The entire program is supported on-line as well. There are freebies, a forum, a FAQ, etc. When I was using it, I thought it had a lot to offer. But I like landscape layouts for my MyPublisher books and think Scrapbook Max only offers portrait or 12x12. Anyway, let me know if you want to pursue it.

[greytides]

With Scrapbook Flair I am able to export to jpeg at 150 or 300 dpi. For easy finding I saved them to my desktop. They only do the 12x12 pages however so I had to be aware of losing the top & bottom when I expanded it out to MP's 15 x 11.5 book that I want to do. I was ok with that but everything else requires too much clicking; it wasn't as user friendly as I would like. But it's great for being free. ;) I was able to find the source folders for the software and copy the kits I downloaded online so they would be more accessible and built into the program. It worked for the embellishments but not the papers.

I made a list of features I like when I trial each software, some of which is importing multiple files (embellishments or papers) at once, being able to resize a group of things at once, rotating/flipping, easy duplicating, and exporting to jpeg of course. I am trialing iScrapbook (for Mac) and so far it has all the things I need. It even lets me put a custom size page. I also have Windows so I might trial Scrapbook Max now that you mention it. From the way their site reads they might offer custom pages. "prints at any size, including the popular 8 x 8 and 12 x 12 formats." Photo Elements offers a free trial for their new version 6 (but they are more costly at $99.)

Guess I'll be playing around to see what I like best - thanks again for your suggestions on great websites out there.

[Marti]

I think I'll look for the source codes in Scrapbook Flair, too, for quicker downloads. If you're a Costco member, watch for their on-line sales. Cruiser advised me that they recently had Elements on sale for something like $49.99. If you're in the market, that's a huge savings.

[Marti]

Let me clarify my comment about Elements being on sale at Costco: "The $49.99 sale on Elements 6 is coming up. It was in one of the booklets sent out by CostCo. I believe it starts this month some time but I took the coupons out that I needed and recycled the book. I just checked on-line and it hasn't gone on sale yet. I believe it is after the 21st or the 28th. I don't want to confuse folks who go to CostCo.com and find it at $79.99." This clarification comes from a friend who read my reply.

[Marti]

This is a copy of an email I received from my friend who uses Photoshop Elements 6.0:

"We were at Costco this morning and the $30 off is in effect as of today with a coupon (for Photoshop Elements 6.0). However, it can be ordered on line for the same price no coupon required."

I'm not endorsing Costco or Elements 6.0, but if you or anyone else is in the market for Elements 6.0, this might be the way to go as a Costco member. If you're not a Costco member, it might be worth the membership fee to get the discount.

Happy shopping,
Marti

[greytides]

I have a layout that has black paper and to match i wanted hot pink writing over it.
On screen it looks ok, how will this print? Black is 1/4 of the page but wondering if too overwhelming on print. Suggestions? thanks

[smokyvalley]

http://happyscrapgirl.blogspot.com/
This site is devoted to listing ALL of the "freebies" from everywhere on the web.
You don't have to sign up or anything except say thank you after you download.
This site updates daily and is HUGE!!! so be warned; if your easily addicted you may begin to lose sleep.
Have to go....getting behind on my downloads....
Cynthia

[Marti]

Thanks for the link. I checked it out and it's really great! And yes, I tend to be easily addicted to freebie downloads. I may have mentioned this one before, but it's pretty good, too:
http://www.raspberryroaddesigns.blogspot.com/

[Conniej]

If you want to create a hardbound sewn book that you have 100% control of, including the cover, all the pages and the back cover and create a wedding poster, cards and calendars, then check out this amazing website-
www.celebratingmystory.com
There isn't a system out there like it!!!!

[Marti]

Thanks for the tip, Conniej. I checked out this site. Everything looks great, but the books seem to be considerably more expensive than MyPublisher (MP). I have yet to find any product that's competitive with MP in terms of price and quality. If price isn't an issue, though, then this site does look nice.