Digi-Scrapping 101 - Getting Started

I want to try to make it as easy as possible for you to get started with digi-scrapping, so I'm going to hopefully be able to get all this info to you in an orderly and logical way. I learned some things the hard way, so I'll try to help you not make the same mistakes and be off and flying in no time.

To get started in digi-scrapping, the first thing you need to do is figure out which program you are going to use. There are many different programs that people use, you just have to figure out which one will work best for you.

Here are some that people use: Adobe Photoshop (PS), Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE), Jasc Paint Shop Pro (PSP), Microsoft Digital Image Pro (DIP), etc. HERE is a link to a site showing some of the pros and cons of the different programs.

You might already have one of these programs on your computer because they sometimes come bundled with other software. After looking into things, I decided that I wanted to use an Adobe product - it is one of the most used by people in digi-scrapping and I feel that it has the least limitations. Obviously the full-blown version is limitless (PS), but also costs a lot. We happened to already have an older version of Elements (PSE 3.0) on our computer, so that is what I decided to go with and I feel it works for my needs right now. Maybe someday when I am the most amazing designer I will upgrade (or when we're rich, or someone rich buys me one :_)

Anyway, choose what program you are going to use, and know that whichever one you decide to use, you will be able to find plenty of tutorials online to help you with that specific program.

After choosing which program you are going to use, just make sure you have enough RAM on your computer to be able to run the programs. You need at least 256 KB RAM on your operating system, and obviously, the more you have the better it will be!

Now you need some pictures and some digital kits and you are ready to go. Following are some links for some great places to go to start downloading your collection of digital kits, but please read my post about organizing BEFORE you do the actual downloading. I promise it will save you a lot of grief (speaking from experience here) and you will thank me later!

Places to start your collection:
Two Peas in a Bucket - scroll down a bit and you'll find a "free kits!" section with lots!
Shabby Princess - LOVE her kits!
Nanna's Attic - keep clicking through all the older posts, I think the links stay active - lots of kits
Jennysscrapplace - she's got an insane amount of kits, so find some you like and get them.

I only listed a very few sites that I know have a large number of kits to download in one place that have everything that you see still available for download. I will do another post on places to go for day to day downloads, etc.

And here's a site for fonts:
Fonts for Kids

Let the fun begin... Oh yes, I do want to just give a warning that all the digital kits are pretty large files. So if you don't have a whole lot of space on your computer you'll have to be very selective, or burn stuff to discs. If you've got room, download to your heart's content. It builds up fast. I have collected an insane 40GB or more stuff in the last 3 months. So just beware!