All's Well That Ends Well: Dabbling in Digi

I've been a paper scrapbooker for the past 12 years, since I got married and my mother-in-law dragged me to a workshop to learn how to scrapbook my honeymoon photos. I never considered myself crafty - I'd always had a head in a book or writing a story during my childhood - but I quickly grew to love this new hobby. In 1994 I learned how to set an eyelet, and left Creative Memories for more artistic forms of scrapbooking.

I like how digital scrapbooking has evolved over the past couple of years, and how some notable paper scrappers, like Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske, starting embracing the digital format and creating some stylish templates and kits. But I have maintained that since I sat in front of a computer several hours a day as a Web developer, I didn't want digital to be my outlet. I love working with paper and putting things together with my hands.

But something happened to me this past fall. I have been very inspired by the work of Katie the Scrapbooking Lady, starting with her Tuesday Tutorial on Ali's blog about using the same template in different ways. The flexibility of what she was describing impressed me - purchase one template, use it many times for different types of layouts. I bought one of Ali's templates and created a layout. A month later, I used the same template again. Then, the possibilities seemed amazing to me. I visited blogs, downloaded lots of freebie templates and kits, and purchased the Daily Digi's monthly Digi files, which seem to be an amazing value.

I've been having fun. I've scrapped more layouts in a couple of weeks than I usually do in a productive month. I love how digital allows me to tell my story more completely and more freely than the constraints of paper. I just uploaded my first batch of layouts to Costco in lustre and glossy formats to compare, and I will file them away. Another bonus? I can print more than one copy if the layout applies to more than one child. I love that.

I can't imagine leaving paper totally behind right now. I love making cards and I think that holding that on your hand is a special connection. But for me right now, this works.

Here are some of my recent digital layouts: