Digital Scrapbooking Temptation

So, I'd like to think I was a purist. I'd like to be able to say that the loving consideration, work hours and skill it takes to make handmade cards and scrapbook layouts is the best way to infuse love into a scrapbook. But unfortunately, I like things to get done fast and easy. Its why I'm more drawn to card making than scrapbooking as a rule. Cards are faster projects and require me to use less of my stock to make. But cards do not a heirloom scrapbook make.

So, of course, there has been plenty of those digital scrapbook program sales people at the scrapbooking expo. I find myself drawn in a big way to drag-n-drop pictures, 'paper' and 'accessories' stored on my hard drive instead of my closet, and if you do something you don't like, you can just redo it without worrying about ruining the $2-a-sheet paper you bought. Also, I havne't looked into the capabilities of those programs yet but I imagine even if your scrapbook layouts file format isn't compatible with most picture viewing software, you can usually dump it into Photo Shop or Paint Shop and quick as a wink, convert those files to .jpg or .gif formats. Those are all things that have me at hello.

But here are my problems with digital scrapbooking. Have you ever seen a printed sheet of digital scrapbooking? Well, no offense to those that love digital scrapbooking, but they look fake. Some of the ones I've seen just look thrown together. There is also something very unnerving about a scrapbook page that isn't, well, 3-D. It also seems to me that the expense of digital scrapbooking rivals that of regular scrapbooking, no matter how you slice it. First you pay for the program, then if you don't like any of the papers or accessories included in the program, you can buy some from some enterprising gal who is really awesome at Paint Shop. From all accounts this type of paper buying is just as addicting as the wood pulp stuff. Then there is the cost of printing this paper. If you choose a printer that is out of state or even out of city, the cost of printing is nothing compared to shipping 12 x 12 paper. Believe me, I know. A couple of my layouts that I sold cost me a pretty penny to send. It makes it so not appealing.

I have come to the conclusion that if I decide to delve into the digital scrapbook area, there are just some things I won't do without. I think I would still accessorize my pages. I'm pretty confident enough in my vision for the way I want a page to turn out that by the time I got my page from the printers, I could accessorize it with a fair amount of confidence. I would refuse to buy digital papers that look cheesy or cheap. I've seen enough really good background designs to know there are good ones out there. The draw of actually having several finished scrapbooks done and sitting on a shelf somewhere is a dream of mine. I may have to just pony up for a good digital program and just do it my way.