Katie the Scrapbook Lady’s Top 5 of Everything
I lifted this idea straight from the amazing Scott Kelby on his Photoshop Insider blog. It was so brilliant that I just couldn’t wait to do my own Scrapbook Lady version!
Five Scrapbooking Books I Recommend:
- Life Artist, by Ali Edwards (link)
- A Designer’s Eye, by Ali Edwards (link)
- The Big Picture, by Stacy Julian (link)
- Clean and Simple Scrapbooking, by Cathy Zielske (link)
- My Creative Companion: The Ultimate Scrapbooking Resource, by Becky Higgins (link)
My Top Five Favorite Books:
- All 7 Harry Potter books, by J.K. Rowling (I love them all!) (link)
- Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte (link)
- How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, by Michael J. Gelb (link)
- The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown - the illustrated edition (link)
- When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market, by John Yokoyama and Joseph Mmichelli (link)
Five tools I recommend for Paper Scrapbookers:
- A Good Paper Trimmer with plenty of replacement blades. I like this one from Fiskars because the replacement blades are available at most office supply stores and it is extremely portable. The most important thing about a trimmer is to have sharp blades so you don’t get feathery edges (known as “whiskers”). Be religious about replacing dull blades. A 12 inch trimmer is a necessity so you can trim both photos and papers. I started with a smaller one and soon regretted the purchase. Start with a 12 inch.
- Really Good Permanent Adhesive. If you’re serious about acid-free, lignin-free scrapbooking than you will want to use a quality adhesive. I still love Creative Memories Tape Runner and I can't get along without it. You don’t need to use a lot of it – just a tiny bit in each corner.
- Permanent Fine Tip Pens. Even if you do most of your journaling on the computer you should still have a nice collection of fine tip permanent pens. If only for the hope that it will motivate you to do some journaling in your own handwriting. Nothing beats your written penmanship- it is part of your personality. Think of how you feel when you find an old handwritten recipe from your Grandmother. Does it feel the same to find a typed recipe? I like fine tip sharpie pens or dual sided Zig writer pens for journaling. I almost always use black but sometimes a color or two is fun for variety.
- Expandable Scrapbook Albums. It’s so important that you can add refill pages to the album you choose or you will end up with a zillion scrapbook albums on your shelf. I’m a chronological scrapper (I go in order from birth to death) but I know many scrappers prefer theme albums. Either way… you need good albums. I like all mine to match in style but to be customized in color. Red albums for my daughter, navy blue for my son, etc. I love matching though so that is just right for me. Find a style that works for you. I use 8x8 linen post bound books and I was lucky enough to buy a whole bunch of them on clearance from a store that was clearing out their scrapbook supplies. On the website they have some gorgeous colors and other styles as well. Someone told me that this company is going to discontinue 8x8 size albums. I think that is a huge mistake! I’m hoping it was just a rumour.
- Organizational supplies and a lot of room. There is a lot of “stuff” involved with paper scrapping and it takes up room. Find ways to organize your supplies. You don’t need an entire room (although it is easy to fill one!) but you will probably need a closet or a fair amount of underbed storage space at least. I used to have a scrapbooking/art studio where I used a lot of my supplies as decorations in the room (jars of ribbons and buttons on the shelves). Studio link here. I’ve gone digital now and turned my scrapbook studio into a homeschool room for me and my kids to hang out in. It’s still a very creative place. Link coming soon.
Five Tools I recommend for Digital Scrapbookers:
- Um, a computer. You have to have one of those to be a digital scrapbooker. Many digi scrappers swear by Macs. I have never used one so I don’t know what I’m missing. I use a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop which is a 2006 model and out of date now so I can’t link to it. It has a 17 inch screen and is quite heavy. My next one will be smaller and lighter. I’m not sure I need the 17 inch screen either as it makes it impossible to fit into most laptop bags. And I didn’t get a DVD burner put in mine. Big mistake. Digi Scrapbookers (and photographers in general) need to back up files all the time. I have to use an external DVD burner. I’m hoping to upgrade my laptop sometime in 2009.
- A high speed internet connection. Almost as much a necessity as the computer itself. You will want to go online for inspiration and supplies. If you are on dial up you will spend hours trying to download the really large kits.
- A good photo editing program. Adobe Photoshop Elements is the most popular and very affordable. Then you will want to learn how to use the program you pick. There are tons of free online tutorials listed here.
- A high quality scanner for getting those old photos in digital format. You can also have your photos professionally scanned. Read more about this in my Intro to Digital Scrapping blog post. My scanner isn’t fancy but is does a nice job and doubles as a printer and copier also. (link)
- A comfy chair. You spent a lot of time sitting on your posterior when you are using a computer. Pay attention to posture and ergonomics to keep your back strong and your wrists carpal tunnel free. If you find a great chair let me know because I’m still looking for one!
Five Reasons Why I Love Digital Scrapbooking:
- No mess. No need for a scrapbooking room or big bins of embellishments and papers – digital supplies all fit inside your computer.
- Portability. I can scrap on vacation. I can make a page while sitting on the couch watching television. I don’t have to pack up tons of supplies to go to a crop, just my laptop.
- Lower Cost. Digital scrapbooking is so much cheaper (unless you count the cost of the computer but I would want one of those even if I was a paper scrapper). There is some cost in a photo editing program but I would also still need one of those because all my pictures are digital. There are many free kits and supplies and even the ones you pay for are priced so much more reasonably than paper supplies and you can use them over and over! You can also print out duplicate pages so you save money that way as well. My main cost is printing the layouts since I get it done professionally but there is no way I could make these types of pages in paper form for less than $1.50 each. Read about my printing process here.
- A range of creative possibilities. I can create extremely simple or very complex pages and I’m happy with both. You can literally learn a new technique every day if you want and push the creative envelope as much as you like. I know there are lots of creative techniques with paper scrapping, but it’s nothing like the practically limitless boundaries of the digital world.
- Community. I have found so many online friends and forums filled with inspiration. I know this exists in the paper scrapbooking world but I never looked for it then. Digital scrapbooking lends itself to computer involvement and when you have questions it is so easy to find help online. I love the sense of community I have found in the digital world. It’s not perfect, people are still humans after all, but for the most part it has been an extremely positive experience for me.
Five scrapbookers whose work has really inspired me:
Five things you probably didn’t know about me:
- I don’t eat any type of seafood—not tuna, not shrimp, nada! If it swims, I don’t eat it. If it gets near stuff that swims, [i.e. seaweed], I don’t eat it. (I copied that word for word from Scott Kelby’s blog but I couldn’t have said it better myself.)
- I love the TV shows LOST, Mythbusters, and Friends reruns. I really don’t watch much else. I could live without a television and be just fine.
- I had my leg broken on purpose when I was 17. You can read all about my crazy legs right here in this blog post.
- I’m not “caught up” on my scrapbooks– not even close! (link)
- I can’t stand to watch the news – it gives me nightmares. I prefer to get my information from reading newspapers online (I don’t do a lot of that) or from blogs and message boards.
Five websites that inspire me: Five blogs I read every day: Five Places I shop for Digital Scrapbook Supplies: My Top Five Favorite Fun Fonts (right now) My Top Five Workhorse Fonts (check your font library because most of these probably are already installed on your computer) ok...... so this is gettting very long! I think I will end the top 5 lists here but I may add on to this at a later date. Let me know if there is anything else you want to know my top 5 choices on. Movies? Restaurants? For now I'm going to "take five"
