I had so much fun sharing what I’ve learned from The Daily Digi, but I had even MORE fun reading what so many of you have learned! Each and every comment just made me so happy, I love seeing how you have been inspired! Here are a few tidbits of what our readers have learned:

From Sharon S. – The coolest thing I learned in the last year involved double page spreads. As I challenged myself to complete Project 52, which for me included an entire scrapbook album, I kept learning things that made that project easier. From one designer, I learned to flip a template horizontally and vertically to make a second page. But the biggest aha moment came when someone said to lay the two pages out in a single document. What?!? I had been struggling with two different documents, trying to get things to line up across the two pages. The whole project became infinitely easier when I was able to see the whole thing at once. lol! Seems so simple now. Anyway, here’s the first spread I did like that:

Papers and Elements: Celebrate, TDD Collab., Sketch: Scrapbook Inspiration, Font: Problem Secretary

From arimacias – I have learned to let go and have fun. some days I am just too busy to do anything other than edit a few photos or power scrap a few pages. it’s all good and it is all ok:)

template by sahlinstudio (freebie) kit by DDE via thedailydigi

From Julie Rae – Well, virtually everything I know about digital scrapbooking I have learned directly from TDD or indirectly from a recommended link. How’s that!?! OK I don’t know tons but I have been productive: making layouts, invitations, mini-books (hybrid), cards, templates–it’s been terrific. I have printed dozens of layouts and have several scrapbooks going simultaneously. One of the most important things I’ve learned from TDD would have to be metadata. It’s not flashy, but it is HUGE! If we do not tell our story any other way, we can through metadata. Totally awesome (I say as I stare at boxes of old photos and a thousand digital ones…yikes). Thank you TDD for being here for us everyday, we need you!

From Sarah T. – I love looking at all the different styles of scrapbooking, and getting to know the different designers and their processes for scrapping and designing. I like seeing the example pages using product from different designers. It encourages me to try new things. For instance, this year I got to know Anna Aspnes through TDD and the digishow, and I love her artsy style, but it was WAAAAAY out of my comfort zone. I finally just jumped in and tried it after seeing some inspiration, and hearing that “there’s no wrong way to do this” and ‘just try it!!’
Here’s my “artsy” layout:

link to credits

From Jan in Alberta – The one thing I learned in the last year that I return to all the time is how to create a more effective title. I use the technique from Steph’s post My Favorite Title Trick for most of my layouts. One thing it has led me to do is make my title on a new blank file, essentially designing my own word art. I create a 12? long by 4? high canvas and often put each letter on its own layer. Once I’m happy with letter placement and size. I merge the layers, simply the resulting layer and then follow through with Steph’s title sticker technique. From there it’s a simple matter of dragging my title onto my layout, dropping it, resizing and positioning it where it looks best and giving it a little drop shadow to enhance the sticker effect.

I’ve learned a bunch of other things too, but this is the one that has made the biggest difference in my layouts.

From Mrs. Hobbes – Seriously, the best thing I learned in 2011 from the Daily Digi was from an old post–Fonts Don’t Float. It has seriously impacted how I work with my journaling, paint splats, brushes, masks, etc so that I experimented more with photo/paper blending, paints, brushes, etc. As someone whom brushes gave the heebie-jeebies for about three years, this is tremendous! Thank you so much!

From Corey -I’ve learned a lot from The Daily Digi and The Digi Show this past year. One post that really inspired me was Steph’s on Digital Scrapbooking Your Magical Memories. I have been working on a Disney album and that post really inspired me in several ways. Steph also introduced me to Aaron Morris in that post. I loved his Disney layouts and his clustering. As a result of that post, I took Aaron’s class at Big Picture on clustering and have started using clustering a lot in my layouts. And since you need to shadow all of those clusters, I enjoyed the post you did about One Layout Shadowed By Different Digi Scrappers. Thanks so much for all you do. I love this site and the show.

link to credits

From Michelle VO – I love the Daily Digi and almost always start my day with it. What have I learned?! I decided to go through the posts and look and I came up with a few specifics. Over the past year, I have learned so much but probably the Google Calendar post in January by Steph really impacted my life for the better. All of Katrina Kennedy’s posts are great. I can always use her tips for creating light or making better pictures. She puts the information into friendly terms that I can understand. I love the journaling posts from Katie. She has the neatest ideas for making journaling easy like the calendar as a journaling tool post. The Funtastic Fridays are great because I waste so much time shopping in relation to how much I actually spend scrapping . Friday posts also include trends and happenings like new classes or software product releases not just designer kits. I love the design posts regarding text size or design principles but honestly, it’s the well roundedness of the site that makes it so special and that it is positive and supportive of this hobby and industry. I also appreciate learning about the designers and discovering designers through the Digi Files contributor features. Thanks for a great year and keep calm and carry on

From Dawn N. – I love the digi show and I can not say enough about all I have learned in the last few months – every year I have created a book for my cheeleaders in publisher, or I have designed invitations, etc… I never realized that was a form of digital scrapbooking… now that I am listening and learning – I have discovered templates, designers, elements, clusters, and well a whole world out there to record all my memories! I love drop box (tip from the digi show) and also Unzip them all – tip from your free e-book. But mostly I love having a ‘go-to’ place each day where I learn something new, something to make my memory keeping easier & more fun.

From Leah – I only started digital scrapbooking after listening to the Digi Show and visiting the Daily Digi for a while – you guys made it all sound like so much fun – once I decided to try it out and downloaded some free stuff, I became a member to build up my stash, and now I’m even making my own elements. Definitely addicted!

There are even more wonderful comments to read if you want to check them out. Everyone who left a comment on that post was eligible to win a gift certificate from one of our January featured designers. I used the random.org site to pick a winner. Congratulations to Dawn N.! Check your email for your gift.

Wild Blueberry Ink’s completely digital December Daily from 2010.

This time of year, each year, digital and paper scrappers alike find themselves asking, “Am I going to do December Daily this year?” Most of the scrapbooking community will follow along with Ali Edwards as she creates her album during December. You might want to also check out Ali’s digital scrapbooking supplies that work very well with December Daily.

If you are thinking about doing your own December Daily album, we have pulled together some resources and inspiration for you. One thing to note though: I thought for a long time that December Daily was about doing one Christmas thing each day during December. It’s not. It’s about documenting one thing in your life each day during the month of December (real life and festivities).

Now, onto the resources…

We have a December Daily Pinterest board that we will be updating with digital ideas or albums that can be adapted to a completely digi format.

We have done lots of December Daily posts in the past:

Pre-planning digital pages and projects – part 1 (December Daily)

Pre-planning digital pages and projects – part 2 (December Daily)

December Daily Album

Katrina Kennedy has a December Daily category on Capture Your 365. She also has some December Daily Photo Ideas you can take a look at.

Anna has a GREAT album for December Daily. You can read about it too. She also did a guest post on organizing a December Daily album.

The Lily Pad released a special collection called Document Yuor December and our readers can get an exclusive discount

Code: TDD25
25% off entire DYD purchase good through 12/10/11

The Lily Pad also has some great inspiration in their gallery, you will need to be logged in to see the originals:

This collection is perfect to make your december daily or your 25 days of Christmas album. It’s a great way to capture your everyday stories of December and turning it into an album. Special offer till Nov. 30, purchase 25 Days to Christmas | Layered Templates and receive the kit for free!!!

One Little Bird and Amy Martin got together to create some cute journaling cards:

Wild Blueberry Ink sent over a link to her December Daily from last year as a source of inspiration. She also is working on an advent style December Daily this year.

December Daily is a short, stress-free project to document this busy time in life. Remember, there are no rules! Do it, do it for YOU, and enjoy the process!

P.S. Tamara was the random winner from yesterday’s post all about Dianne! She won $10 in product from Dianne Rigdon THANKS to everyone who joined in!

Custom Christmas cards and calendars are one thing that often bring people to explore digital scrapbooking. There are a lot of different ways a Christmas card can be created and customized using Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. In this post, you will find information for:

• creating a card using a drop-in quick page card (including a tutorial for the beginner)
• creating an infographic Christmas card (for the intermediate to advanced digi scrapper)
• creating a card using a layered template (including a tutorial for the beginner)
• product suggestions
• inspiration and ideas
• printing ideas (including a tutorial for uploading custom designs to Costco)
• 

I love creating Christmas cards! I love looking at all of the GREAT designs available. I’ve recently found though, that sending Christmas cards with a family photo on them is mostly a U.S. tradition. Here’s an infographic showing some of the history behind Christmas Cards (click to see larger image):

Layered Quick Cards and Templates

First off, we have some layered template cards. I created a tutorial for making a card using a layered template similar to the ones below to help those that are new (I use One Little Bird’s templates in my tutorial). The tutorial also shows how to adapt the card to fit Costco’s Custom Card size for printing:

Quick Cards

Next up are some super cute drop-in quick cards. I created a tutorial showing how to use cards similar to these. The tutorial also shows how to adapt these cards for printing as a Custom Card at Costco :

Our team member Kim Lund (a.k.a. Miss Kim) contributed a card to this collection of free cards on Becky Higgins’ site. They come in 4×6, 5×7, and Costco’s 6×7.5

If you really don’t want to do them yourself, CD Muckosky has an option of having her customize them for you to print at home:

Infographic

I have seen a couple of infographic cards around and I love them! Here are some examples:

Something like this could be adapted to a Christmas card:

If you would like to create an infographic card, I found a Google Doc Template that has customizable infographic images. Once you are done customizing, you can export in a PNG or PDF to use in Photoshop.

The Daily Digi has a Christmas card board on Pinterest where we’ve assembled some ideas and inspiration for the intermediate to advanced digital scrapbooker that might want to make their own card from scratch.

Printing

Most years, I have just printed my cards as 5×7’s and bought some 5×7 envelopes at the office supply store. You just can’t beat the 27 cents that Costco charges for their 5×7’s. Last year, I figured out how to upload my own design to the Costco Custom Cards that are 6×7.5 and include envelopes (I think non Costco members can order and have them shipped. See my tutorial for uploading a custom design here). I haven’t decided for sure what I will do this year…it might be a photo card along with an infographic.  I love the shaped cards that I found at Black River Imaging, but haven’t decided if that’s the direction I will go or not.

There are, of course, lots and lots of places to get cards printed. Persnickety is my go-to printer for layouts and they do cards as well at reasonable prices.

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to my photos – I LOVE making them pretty.

I recently finished our family fall photo shoot and I couldn’t wait to process the images. As I processed the photos with my favorite Lightroom presets, I was in heaven.

And yet, after processing that entire photo shoot, I still spent a good portion of time adding metadata to my images.

Why would I do that?

To some, metadata isn’t fun, pretty or desirable.

To others, metadata is that geeky thing they would never tell their friends they are into.

Actually metadata is that really cool & shiny gadget you never really knew you needed until you enjoy the benefits – then, you’re hooked.

To put it very simply, it is the modern version of writing on the back of your photos. If you’ve ever inherited boxes and boxes of photos, you know first hand the importance of doing that.

The great thing about today is that we have the technology to embed those writings along with other information directly into the files of our photos. This information goes with that file or photo everywhere and can be accessed in many different programs and sites (more on that below).

Automatically metadata is added when you snap the shutter on your camera. Most cameras embed the camera make, date, time, model, serial no. and even the lens you used and the settings. This is called EXIF data.

Some cameras even come with GPS capability which automatically embeds the GPS coordinates where you took your images into the photo file.

What this means is that because of technology, future generations will know a LOT more about our images and lives than we knew about those who went before us.

However, it still isn’t enough. Digital photography means that we are now taking more photos than ever before. Which is translating into a lifetime photo collection that can easily number into five to six figures of individual images.

With this plethora of photos, I believe that adding metadata to our images becomes a necessity if we want them to be relevant to future generations.

So let’s review: Automatically your photos tell a story about the camera you used, your lens, camera settings and maybe where you were when you took the image, but what about the things that will connect future generations to your story? Metadata is one of the most powerful tools you have to preserve your story for future generations. Today we’ll talk about three pieces: keywords, ratings and captions.

Keywords are the hints to the story of your photos. Think who, what, where, when.
Ratings are the guide to importance and/or quality of your photos – they help to distinguish your most important images.
Captions are the stories behind your photos.

If you are interested in looking at or adding some metadata, here’s how:

In Windows: Right click any photo or file and select Properties. You can see a lot of information under the General tab. You can also add more details such as a rating and captions under the details tab.

In Photoshop or Photoshop Elements: go to File> File Info. You can enter a lot of information right there and it will stay with the file in each format you save it in.

In Lightroom: all text, tags, descriptions, etc. are automatically added to metadata.

In Flickr: Flickr keeps metadata intact and when you add tags, comments, descriptions, etc. in Flickr it is added to the metadata. Katie will often have her extended family add information to photos from events through Flickr.

Be careful, some programs advertise that they write keywords, ratings, and captions to the metadata, but they often don’t. The best way to know for sure is to add some tags and captions with the program in question, save it, and pull the file into another program to see if the information is there. If you are backing up online, you will want to make sure that the site you are using supports metadata in the backup and restore process.

The best part about metadata? Metadata isn’t just for the future, it also helps you now. Imagine having a library of 30,000 images. Because of the metadata you added, you are able to narrow down exactly what you want in seconds. Can you imagine how much easier it would be to create when you can find what you need in seconds?

So yes, metadata is geeky. It is also one of the most powerful tools available to us as we endeavor to manage our photo libraries and preserve memories for future generations. I hope you’ll take advantage of it!

P.S. Jan in Alberta was the random winner from the comments on yesterday’s feature post about Anna. She won $10 in product from Anna.

P.S.S. Be sure to grab our free Playbook from DSD if you haven’t already!

Supplies from suzyQscraps DSD grab bag

Happy DSD to all of our readers!  This day has become the biggest day in a digital scrapbooking year. We talked about how this day began and how it has evolved over the years on the most recent Digi Show.

My husband said to me last night, “So, this weekend is Digi Shopping Day, right?” I giggled and said, “That’s right dear, it is!”

Shopping is what most of us look forward to on this eventful weekend and there are lots of deals to be had. Katie and I got together on Skype yesterday and shared screens as we added things to our carts. It was super fun! We are hoping to do it again today. Katie’s daughter said we were nerds and we agreed! If you are wondering what our strategy has been, here’s what we did:

• we started going through yesterday’s FF post by store and made sure we had what we wanted.
• We would also check out other designers products while in that store.
• Katie checked her newsletters and the stores blog while we were there to make sure we weren’t missing any free with purchase offers (we love them). While she did that, I was checking prices on a few of the things we knew we wanted to get and compared getting a bundle (if we didn’t want the whole bundle) versus buying kits individually.

Here are a couple more tips I have learned over the years:

• If a site is slow, come back later.
• Wait to download your purchases until the weekend is over. Most digital scrapbooking stores are seeing the benefits of allowing longer download times. Downloading later will mean you will have less corrupted files and leave more bandwidth for others to shop.
• Unzip right after downloading.
• If you have corrupt files: delete the files, delete the zips, empty your trash and try again later at a slower time (late at night in the U.S. or even one day next week).
• If you need an order reset, include your order number and username then be nice (trust me; being nice gets you much faster and friendly results).

For more shopping strategies, see Heddy and Katie’s post from Thursday.

We wanted to give our readers a gift on Digital Scrapbook Day and decided that we would share a FREE Playbook (our interactive ebook) with you. When we first started releasing the Playbooks, they were free. Once we got a few of the kinks worked out, we added them to The Digi Files and called the combination of the two The Digi Game.  The Playbooks have become very successful over the last year and a half. They have changed a lot in that time too. You can click on the Playbook by clicking the image below. This will only be available for a limited time.

This special edition of the Playbook consists of layouts created using the exclusive members only collections. It is a bit smaller than most Playbooks which are usually around 40 pages of brand new layouts and content. This Playbook has a bonus section at the end that is an actual post from The Daily Digi. We had several requests to see the “Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows” layouts side-by-side and thought this would be the perfect place to do that.

After you are done shopping for the day, download the Playbook, grab your favorite beverage and discover something new!

With everyone gearing up for Digital Scrapbooking Day (Saturday, November 5th), we thought it would be the perfect time to share some of our smart shopping tips. Heddy and Katie have teamed up on this post in order to help you navigate the digi shopping world. We are lucky to be digital scrapbookers at a time where the pool of talented designers is overflowing with creativity and incredible selection. There really is something for everyone in digiland and we do our best to share that with you each and every day here at The Daily Digi. We are shoppers and customers just like you are, so we know how much it helps to have a few tips and tricks to make digi shopping easier. Here are our shopping secrets:

Finding New Designers

There are so many great digi designers and great stores – the trick is finding them! Here are some tips:

• Check out gallery standout (GSO) blogs like Gallery Standouts, MeSoScrappy and OneStoryDown. When you see a page you love, check out the credits to find out which designer’s products the scrapper is using.
• When you find a scrapper you love, either bookmark their gallery or mark their gallery feed in your blog reader. (Google Reader is our favorite) Their newest pages will show up in your feed as they become available. Then you’ll have inspiration and find out about which products your favorite scrappers are using.
• Periodically check in the new product galleries, like this the one at DigiShopTalk, to see the newest releases from a variety of designers and stores.
• Many creative team members post products from their designers alongside layouts made with those products in forum threads called “CTM Enabling”. DigiShopTalk and MyScrapbookArt are two sites that I know of that have forums posts for CTM enabling.
• Browse the list of past sponsors of The Daily Digi. You can always find the link to “Past Designers” in the left column of the site, as well.
• As you read the designer interviews on The Daily Digi, use The Digi Files, and read the playbook, you will quickly discover designers and products that are a great fit for you. The Digi Files are the best way to try out A LOT of designers for a very low price.
• Many of the articles here on The Daily Digi feature layouts, or even product previews to help you find related digi designs for your projects.
• Listen to The Digi Show podcast. We regularly chat with designers and others in the digital scrapbooking community and we often talk about our favorite kits and products.

Get Signed Up For News and Savings

When you find a designer you like,  take a multi-step approach to making sure you hear about their best deals and sales:

• Sign up for the designer’s newsletter. This ensures that you will receive notice of new products and sales. Many designers also include coupon codes for newsletter subscribers, too. (If you want, you can use “email rules” to automatically store newsletters in a folder until you’re ready to browse through them, to avoid cluttering your inbox.)
• Follow the designer’s twitter feed. Designers will let you know when they’ve released something new and will tweet about special events, such as a contest on their blog to win their new release.
• Follow The Daily Digi on twitter to keep up with great deals and finds from our favorite designers
• “Like” the designer’s Facebook page. Usually designers have their Facebook page auto-populated when they tweet or blog. Some designers have fan freebies on their pages, as well.
• Add the designer’s blog to your blog reader.
• Check The Daily Digi designer feature posts for the current month. Sometimes there are coupon codes!

You can stay informed about your favorite stores by following many of the same steps.

Know When To Go Shopping

• Most stores have one day a week when they release the newest goodies. The new products are on sale (often 20-30%) for the first day or first few days of release.
• Mark your favorite store’s anniversary date in your calendar. Many stores have huge “birthday” sales. Other stores have quarterly sales that you’ll want to know about in advance. (It’s no fun buying stuff and then having it go on sale for 30% off the next week!)
• The Funtastic Friday posts we do each Friday are a great guide to use for shopping. We do a lot of the footwork for you so you can find new goodies and great deals (sometimes there are freebies and coupons as well). It takes hours to put together these posts, but we know how much our readers appreciate the help in finding all the good stuff!
• Big sales like Digital Scrapbooking Day (DSD) require pre-planning. Since DSD is coming up this weekend  Heddy has started using Pinterest to make her  DSD wish list, which will help her decide how to best use her DSD budget. Katie has been tagging her wishlist items in delicious so she can easily find them when it’s time to shop. Many stores have wishlist features where you can save the items you plan to purchase. Remember to follow your favorite designers and The Daily Digi on Twitter to hear about some of the awesome sales coming up. It’s also a good idea to check out DigiShopTalk DSD forums. In the past, sales have been summarized and organized by store in the forum threads. (To our knowledge, there isn’t a 2011 list yet, but here is the link to last year’s list to give you an idea on where to start.) Of course, we will have an extra big Funtastic Friday post this week to help you get ready for a great DSD!

Go Google

It’s worth taking 5 seconds to Google the designer’s name + coupon code. Sometimes the designer will be a featured designer at another site and may have a valid coupon code posted for the month. (PS – this is great to do with other online purchases! Heddy has saved so much on books for her eReader by doing this!)

Earn Savings

Many stores have customer reward programs, either based on purchases or participation in challenges. If it’s a store you love, this is a great way to earn savings.

PayPal is your Pal

The great thing about digi shopping is that it’s instant! If you need a princess kit you can search for, purchase, and download it, all within a few minutes of time. Most digital scrapbook sites use PayPal for processing payments. Some sites also accept major credit cards. If you don’t have a PayPal account, you might want to take some time and get one set up. Your purchases will go through quickly, and you won’t have to wait for e-checks to process. Most people will only need a personal account and you won’t have to pay any fees as the customer. You can link your PayPal account to a credit card or a bank account. There are a lot of benefits to using PayPal so be sure to check out the Top Ten Things to Know About PayPal for more information.

The digital scrapbooking community is a fun place for shopping. You are buying useable artwork to make your own special keepsakes. Many times, you can interact directly with the designer through blogs, social media, podcasts, and forums. There are many extras such as coupons, freebies, and kit add-ons for loyal customers. On top of all of that, the designs are very affordable, instantly available, and so much fun! We LOVE digi shopping!

Hopefully, at some point in your digital scrapbooking journey, you will print out your layouts to share with others. Some digi scrappers never print and that’s perfectly ok, but I (Katie) have found that my digi happiness grows when I print out my pages. I love to look at them in a book because then it feels like I’m really sharing the story of our lives. My children especially love that they have their very own albums filled with precious memories. I highly recommend printing layouts and we have some great resources for you to read through when you want to learn more about the printing process.

Decisions to make:

• Photobooks or Albums – Do you want to print an entire completed project at once? Then photobooks are for you! If you scrap out of order, you might want to consider albums with pages that can be added to and/or rearranged.
• 3 ring or post bound – Albums usually come with a ring or post binding. Rings are easiest if you want to rearrange pages frequently. Posts are nice because the pages are presented right next to each other so 2 page spreads look better in this type of album. Both are great choices, it’s just a matter of personal preference.
• Size of layouts – Do you want to print 12×12, 8×8, 6×6, or even mix sizes? You need to consider this when choosing an album to store your layouts.

Here’s how I approach albums:

As you can see in the above photo, I have 2 tall & narrow Billy bookcases from IKEA filled with albums. Not all of the albums are full (yet). I have not done anything fancy with the labels on the albums (yet) because I have just penciled in the album titles and/or dates until they are filled. On the top shelves I have Pioneer Photo Albums for regular printed photos. The bottom shelves have sturdy cardboard magazine files where I keep yearbooks, small albums, notebooks, and other miscellaneous scrapbook projects. The 8×8 linen post bound albums on the 3 middle shelves are the same ones Janet wrote about in this post and they are sadly not available anymore. The same company (We R Memory Keepers) does make the linen album in a 3 ring style and also has several other finishes and sizes of albums. I chose post bound because I prefer the look of the pages when they are right next to each other without rings in the middle.

It is harder to fill post bound albums if you don’t plan ahead because you will have to pull pages out of the protectors and move them around or else undo the posts when you want to rearrange things. This ends up being a stumbling block for me to putting new layouts in my albums and can result in an embarrassing stack of loose layouts like this -

Oh well, at least they’re printed, right? I still prefer the post binding though so I just need to have a big album filling “party” one day.

I color code my albums because I’m cool like that. lol! The green ones are for me and my hubby. The blue albums are for my son. The red albums are for my daughter. The tan albums are for heritage pages and the black albums are miscellaneous projects. Several of the albums are still empty, I just got a great close-out deal when they discontinued them so I bought enough to get us through our lives. Plus, it looks nice to have those bookshelves all filled up. Remember, I’m kind of obsessed with scrapbooking!

I fill my books up to capacity by adding extra page protectors. I can comfortably fit about 65 page protectors in each of these albums which equals 130 layouts per book! I love how thin digital layouts are – no bulk means lots of pages in a little space. Photobooks are even more compact, but I prefer albums for a few reasons:

• I come from a paper scrapbooking background and an album with page protectors feels more “scrapbooky” to me.
• I don’t scrap in order and if I had to wait to finish a whole topic to get a book printed, there would be nothing on my shelves.
• I LOVE having page protectors on my pages. I don’t have to worry about young kids looking at my books, or pages ripping. The albums and page protectors are sturdy and I can wipe the fingerprints right off the page protectors if they get “gunky”.

I’m not against photobooks and I’ve actually put together a few of them that I love.

Generally speaking though, I prefer albums. They just work better with my creative process and personal style. I also love 8×8 size albums because of the way they fit on bookcases. I don’t like the way that 12×12 albums stick out from the shelf and I feel like they are a little too big and cumbersome for me. When I was a paper scrapper, I always used 12×12. Since I’ve gone digi, I use 8×8. I feel like this size is small enough to manage physically, but big enough to provide plenty of creative canvas space. Here’s an example of 3 common sizes of layouts:

From left to right – 12×12, 8×8, and 6×6

As you can see, I prefer square layouts although some digi scrappers prefer rectangle sizes. That is another thing to consider when you are looking for albums. Another advantage of ring bound albums is the ability to mix shapes and sizes of layouts. You can put 12×12, 8.5×11, and 6×6 all in the same book using the same ring system.

I thought it would be fun to hear from some of our team members and let them share their approach to albums.

Heddy says

I print my layouts in 8×8 size and slip them into post-bound albums. I have the kid/family pages in one album “set” organized by year and then I keep another album for AAM/pre-kid pages.
Although I love the look of photobooks, I just can’t seem to say “Okay, I am now done scrapping 2010 and will print a photobook.” I may not ever be done scrapping a particular year! That’s I prefer post-bound albums – I can slip new pages in anytime I want.

Melissa says

I print 8×8 and use D ring binders – usually 2 per year. I am hopelessly behind in printing – haven’t printed in over a year, and I probably have 200 layouts that are printed, but have yet to be put into albums. Very bad, I know!

Tara says

I use a 12×12 3 ring binder and I have mixed sizes of layouts. 12×12, 8.5×11, 6×12, 8×8, 5×7, 11×8.5… I like the flexibility I have with a three ring binder. I started with strap hinge? and postbound… I ended up moving everything over to three ring binders.

Wendy says

You know me… I’m the photobook girl. I scrap 12×12, but print in 8×8 custom cover photobooks. I have done other sizes as gifts, but my own library is 8×8. If the 10×10 had been around when I started, I probably would have chosen that instead. But since I started in 8×8, I’m sticking with it. I don’t have photos, but I do have all my book covers in one “gallery” here.

Anne says

I just made an order to Persnickety Prints a few days ago (was over a year behind, ahem). This time I ordered prints in 12×12 instead of the 8×8 I’ve done before, it’s a bit pricier but worth it. Can’t wait for them to arrive! I mix all my pages (digital+traditional) in four album roughly based on Stacy Julian’s system. After receiving my order, I wanted to add that I LOVE the 12×12 print. There is no turning back for me now It is off course more expensive, but the details and the largeness of the page are so worth it. So this is me waiting for the next sale, so I can order some more.

Steph says

When I started digital, I was 8×8. Then for some reason (can’t remember what it was), I moved to 12×12 and that’s what I have been printing for a few years.  Although, seeing my youngest struggle to hold the 12×12 albums has made me want to go back to 8×8.  I really like the post bound albums because they lay flat and my two-page spreads can flow into each other smoothly.  I’m not picky on the albums at all. I found a great deal at Costco a couple of years ago and bought a bunch of albums that have worked well for me. When these run out for me, I will probably do something like these albums because they look very similar to the ones I am currently using.

I typically only do photobooks when it is for an event or a specific period of time that has a definite start and stop.  I get a little freaked out about wanting to add something later and not being able to. It’s such a big deal to me that I know it would become a roadblock and I would stop printing.
A long time ago, I stopped printing layouts because I didn’t want to organize them chronologically anymore. I just didn’t want the hassle of having to move layouts around since I don’t scrapbook chronologically. It was a huge roadblock for me. I talk about how I got over it and what I do instead here.

Now that we’ve shared all about our albums, we’d love to know how you keep your layouts ! Do you use photobooks? Albums? What types and styles do you prefer? Please share in the comments.

P.S. Congratulations to Sandy H. who was the random winner from yesterday’s comments!

Have you wondered about listing credits when you share a layout online? I (Katie) remember the first time I ever posted a layout online (back in 2005) and I was so nervous about how to list the credits. I didn’t really understand much about how to do it and it seemed to take more time than I wanted to spend. Just like anything, there was a small learning curve before it made sense to me, and now I can pretty much keep track of supplies in my head as I scrap, or use a few handy tricks to make it easy. Once you get in the habit of keeping track of your credits, you will really come to understand why you should keep track of credits. It might surprise you!

WHY TRACK CREDITS?

• Do it for yourself! Some digi scrappers wonder why they need to keep track of credits at all, especially if they don’t share their layouts online? The number one reason I keep track of credits is for myself. Yep, just for my own records! I wish I had done this in the very beginning so I could find the same supplies I used for some of those early layouts. I find it to be especially helpful to have a list of credits to refer to if I want to go back and make an opposing page to go with a layout, or create something similar. Now, I always put together a list of credits, even if I never share the layout online. I post all my layouts to Flickr, but I do mark some of them as “private” or viewable only to family. I find that the description area on Flickr is the perfect place to keep track of the information relating to the layout. Some scrappers create a hidden layer with the details and keep it in their layered file. Others might keep a word document. I prefer the Flickr method because it’s so easy for me to always find the credits when I look up the layout.

• To help others: When you share a layout online, others can be inspired by your creation and they will want to know where you got the “stuff” and/or the ideas for your layout. I quickly realized that if I didn’t post the name of the font I used, people would comment to ask me what it was. One of the great things about sharing online is the feeling of community you experience. It’s fun to have others comment on your layouts and to share the good things you find in digiland with them. I love it when someone tells me that just had to go and buy a certain kit because of one of my pages! It’s considered a common courtesy when you post in a gallery, or even on a personal blog, to include the credits for your page. Of course, there are no “credit police” out there – it just makes it more fun for everyone and it’s nice to do!

• To promote a designer/store/website: If you are on a creative team, or completing a challenge or prompt, it is generally expected that you will list the appropriate credits with your creation. This is the way we all find out about what’s available for digital scrapbooking. When I see a layout that I like, I carefully read the credits to see what products were used, or if there was a challenge that inspired the page. I want in on some of that good stuff too!

• When a layout is published: A magazine won’t publish a layout without proper credits. They know that people are going to want to know the “recipe” for that page so they can make it themselves. Can you imagine the mail they would get if they published so many fantastic layouts without any information about how they were made?!

HOW DO YOU KEEP TRACK OF + LIST CREDITS?

This might seem daunting at first, but I find that keeping track of credits for digital layouts is much easier than when I tried to do the same thing as a paper scrapper. The product information is always right there in the product, or at least in the folder. You just need to experiment with the system that works best for you. Here are a few approaches I’ve used:

• Use only 1 kit. This is the easiest way to keep track of what you’ve used on a page, just pull everything you need from 1 single kit, or even from 1 designer. I used a template and a kit that were both from the Shabby Princess for this layout. I like to keep the folders I pull the supplies from open until I’ve had a chance to jot down what I’ve used. Again, I just type them into the description area on Flickr, but a sticky note on your desk, a word document, or a hidden layer in your file, all work equally well.

Here’s how I would list the credits if I was posting this layout in a gallery or sharing it here on the Daily Digi. I would just list the designer and the product used.

Shabby Princess Easy As Pie Template # 12
Shabby Princess Clementine kit
Traveling Typewriter font

If I wanted to add more detail, I could mention that the template was a freebie on The Shabby Shoppe blog. I could also copy and paste my journaling right into the credits. Some people like to be able to read the journaling and I enjoy sharing it. Journaling reads:
You are such a beautiful girl – inside and out! I love that you care so much about people and that you express your love for us often. Your heart is very tender and your emotions are often close to the surface. You are constantly looking to learn new things and you spend many of your days inventing new knitting projects or dreaming up experiences and parties you would love to participate in. You truly have a zest for life and that makes you even more beautiful!

• Refer to the source of an idea. For this layout, I used a technique that I wrote about in a previous article here at The Daily Digi about using charts and graphs for scrapbooking. I anticipated that others might wonder how I made the graph so I thought I would mention the article. A lot of what inspires me to include things in the credits is thinking about what I would want to know if I saw the same layout online.

Tattered Pear Bookmarked (TDF 32)
Template bySine (NLA)
Graph idea from http://thedailydigi.com/digi-scrapping-charts-and-graphs/

Traveling Typewriter 12 pt. 18 pt. leading

Did you notice some of the extra things I added in the credits? When I listed (TDF 32) next to the Tattered Pear kit, that indicates that this kit was in The Digi Files #32). I added this for my own records, but someone who has bought the Digi Files in the past will appreciate knowing where they can find this fun kit!

The (NLA) means that this particular item is “No Longer Available”. I think this is helpful to let other people know so they don’t waste time looking all over for the item. Some scrappers might have it in their own stash so they can look through their files.

The font size and leading is something I recently started adding after I wrote this article on Text Size Matters because it is something that is very helpful to me when I go to make an opposing page, or if I need to know what a good text size is for a certain font. I’m not sure if I’ve seen anyone else list this in with their credits, but I like to do it.

 

• Include sources of other images: When you use a stock photo, someone else’s photo, or even a website image, it’s considered more than good etiquette to list the sources, it’s a matter of respecting copyright and terms of use. These items are ok to use on a personal scrapbook page if proper credit is given. When a stock photo is purchased through proper channels, you might not be required to credit the source, but it’s nice to give credit where credit is due. Others might wonder if they see that same stock photo popping up on other scrapper’s pages as well.

Weeds & Wildflowers + Cinzia Designs Everyday Life kit, elements, & word art
screen shots from myfitnesspal.com

• Keep track of multiple items from many different kits and designers: You won’t always be creating layouts from a single kit at a time. Some digiscrappers never do that and prefer to combine many different ingredients together. When I scrapped this page a few years ago, I participated in a Digi Dares challenge to use at least 4 patterned papers in the design and 5 different fonts to create a word art piece.

I used quite a list of supplies from a variety of sources. I just listed each item and the designer to compile my list of credits.
Experiment No. 16 template by Emily Powers
East meets West kit by Traci Reed
Glitter Paper by Two Sisters Designs
Natural Spring kit by Katie the Scrapbook Lady
Good Day Sunshine kit by Rachel Young
Build your own blooms by Christina Renee
Please Refrigerate kit by Lauren Grier and Mikkel Paige
Fonts: Francis Gothic, CK Classical, Abadi MT Condensed, FO giggles, Angsana New

• Copy and paste the file names into your credits: When we did the From the Files Reader Challenge here at The Daily Digi, we needed to use very specific items from several different kits included in The Digi Files. I found it easier just to copy and paste the exact file name of each item right into my list of credits.

klewis-mywonderland-border
pspring-iam-journaling2-list
sd_Rememberthisday_Paper12
tmonette_springFieldTrip-pp25
WW_EL_paper5
vlim_sweetmemories_epoxyframe-sh
I’m so lucky (in kk_wio_spring folder)

Font is Pea Luv Holly Wood. Background template by Scrapping with Liz (paperback 7). All I did to recolor the orange paper (in PSE) was to add a new adjustment layer and slide the hue slider to the left until I got the right shade of pink (-38). I changed the border by clipping the green paper to it. I lowered the opacity on my large background photo to create a paper. I used the word art of “I’m so lucky” to inspire me to write down some of the many things I’m grateful for.

Use a credit tracker: I’ve heard great things about Anna Forrest’s credit tracker, so you might want to consider using either the Photoshop CS version or the Photoshop Elements version.

Check out the product description:

Do you hate keeping track of all the supplies you’ve used? Struggle remembering every little details? Don’t stress – let this application do all the work for you! Just build your layout as usual and when you’re finished get a nicely formatted list of all your supplies and fonts ready to post! Credits can be formatted in plain text, BB code, or HTML. They can be saved to the file’s document info, a text file or in a text layer! Product links and store names can be included if desired. Don’t compile a list of credits ever again!

So cool!

WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

• Credits should still be given even if the item was a freebie. It doesn’t matter whether or not you paid for the item, it’s still someone else’s creation and should be credited. You can read more about digital freebies here.
• When using a collaborative kit with many designers, it’s not necessary to list every item you used and the designer responsible for that item. Just be sure to list the collab kit name and other pertinent details such as the store it was sold in, or the charity it raised funds for, or if there are only a few designers, you might want to list them. You can read more about collaborative projects here.
• Don’t be worried about “not doing it right” when it comes to listing credits. Just keep practicing and you will get the hang of it. I think the best advice for learning how to post credits is to browse through a gallery, or a blog like this one and see how others do it. You can read more about online galleries here.
• It helps to know a little of the digi “lingo” when you are posting credits. You can read about digital scrapbooking acronyms & terminology here.

Posting credits is a great way to keep your own records, and share in the fun  of the digital scrapbooking community. Take an extra minute or two next time you create a page to jot down the credits,. You’ll be glad you did!

P.S.  Jacinda was the random winner selected from the comments on the Micheline Martin feature. Congrats!

One of the things we really love in the digital scrapbooking community is collaborative kits! These are referred to as “collabs” in digi language and there are a lot of different types of collaborative projects. Basically, the definition of a collab means that more than one designer contributed designs to the kit. Generally speaking, collabs are a great opportunity for designers and customers alike. Lauren Reid, a designer and a team member here at The Daily Digi had this to say: “Collabs are SO MUCH FUN! I could go on for ages on it, but I’ll be short and sweet. Depending on who you work with… they can be really inspiring… some collabs are more “collaborative” than others… sometimes it ends up that you initially decide on a kit idea and color scheme then you make your pieces separately then it all comes together at the end. Other times it’s a back and forth project, which to me is the best! That’s how Val and I were on the very first collab we did together… which ended up leading us to form The Tattered Pear together.”

Collab kits take a lot of coordination and hard work to put together because everyone needs to keep a common cause/theme/idea in mind to make sure the finished project comes together. There are several ways this can happen, and these types of projects have many benefits to the contributors and the customers.

TYPES OF COLLABS

Two (or more) designers from the same store.

This is a very common type of collaboration since it is easy for the designers to coordinate the release details with only one store. Often times, the store owner will take care of dividing up the sale proceeds between the two designers when they make their regular payments. This is a good opportunity for the designers to get new exposure to someone else’s fan base. The customer gets to try two different designers at the same time.

Two (or more) designers from different stores.

This type of collab can take a bit more coordination since it will be sold in two different stores. The advantage for the designers is the cross-traffic that will be created by bringing customers over from another site. It is typical in this case for each contributing designer to send the other one half of the proceeds they earn from their store sales on the kit.

Store collabs

happen when all (or most) of the designers from a single digi shop put together a kit. There are several reasons for these types of collaborations and these kits are often given away as a customer bonus with a minimum purchase (usually $10 or $20 required from the customer). This approach works really well on me since I often will bump up my cart total just to get the big collab kit.  It is typical that the designers don’t make any money from their contribution to a store collab kit. It is simply an opportunity to promote themselves and the site that they are a part of.  When these types of kits are later sold on the site, the proceeds usually go to keeping the site running and helping with hosting fees. Many stores have requirements for the designers to participate in a minimum amount of store collabs so everyone is sharing the duty of helping out. The benefit to the consumer is that they get to download really big kits as a reward for their purchases, or for a much lower price than if they were to purchase the items packaged individually by the designers.

An interesting sidenote – As I help Steph search for high quality designers to contribute to The Digi Files, I often start with these big collabs because I can check out A LOT of designers for a low price. It gets expensive to purchase kits from every designer we consider, but we feel it is important to do that so we know they provide high quality designs.

Another reason for a store collaborative kit is when a store is featured here at The Daily Digi as a contributor for The Digi Files. This has been a great way to introduce our members to a lot of new-to-them designers and share great digi shopping sites with them. Those kits are sold later on in the individual site stores so the best way to get them is by being a member here! This Around the World collab by The Digi Chick designers was included in The Digi Files last month (July 2011). This month we have a collab from the After 5 designers in the files which will be revealed later on this month.

Multi-store collabs

when two different digital shops collaborate to make one giant kit. The reasons for this type of collaboration are usually similar as those for a single store collab. The extra benefit to more than one store working together is that there is a much bigger opportunity for cross-promotion between the two sites. Some stores have entirely different customer bases so this is a good way for the designers to get their work out in front of a much wider audience. Again, the designers usually don’t make any money on their contributions to these kits, unless they can later repackage their pieces for sale once the collab is pulled from the shop.

Charity collabs

These are kits that are put together to raise funds for a charitable cause. Often, the digital community wants to reach out and help when something  devastating like an earthquake happens. There have been times where an individual scrapper or designer has struggled with the loss of a loved one or a long and expensive illness and the digi community shows their support by putting together a kit to help them out. I love to buy these types of kits because I feel good about contributing a small amount to help someone in need. Another way to do this is by simply purchasing more from the designer’s regular store to boost their sales. When designers contribute to a charity kit, they don’t make any money for their work – it’s a labor of love. The site that hosts the kit usually doesn’t make any money either, or they might simply cover the hosting costs of selling a kit that requires a lot of bandwidth. If you purchase a charity kit, be sure you understand who the money will be distributed to. If the kit benefits someone like earthquake victims, the description should explain where your money will go to help such as a specific agency like the American Red Cross.

Bonus gift collabs

are a fun way to try designers from all over digi land.  We reward our members here at The Daily Digi every 4 months with an exclusive kit that they will never be able to purchase anywhere else. We invite any of our past contributors to participate in these huge collabs. The designers don’t get paid for their contributions and The Daily Digi doesn’t make any money from these kits, even though there are huge bandwidth and hosting costs associated with them. These are a labor of love from everyone involved to thank our members! Here’s a preview of the 3rd kit a member would receive after their membership has been active for enough consecutive months.

Why do some collabs end?

Many charity collabs only run for a limited time because they are raising funds for a specific cause. There is a lot of time and money involved for the site that is hosting the charity kit so these usually have a limited run time. Sometimes the designers will package up their contributions for sale later on, but most of the time they are gone when the kit is. Many store and multi-store collabs eventually end as well once they’ve quit selling as much. Some stores do keep their collabs up indefinitely though which is nice for customers who find digi later on and want to try a sampling of designers. When a collab is put together by a group of designers, they are usually the ones who decide how long it will stay in their stores. It takes a little extra time and effort for them to divide the profits each month and if they decide down the road that it isn’t worth the effort anymore, they will probably retire the collab. Now it is often the case that they will package up their own contributions to the collab and simply sell them in their individual stores.

Some of our favorite collaborative kits:

We thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite collaborative kits with you. Each image is linked.

How do you feel about collab kits? Who would be in your DREAM COLLAB TEAM? We’d love to know!

Layout by Steph, supplies: template and technique included in the Playbook, July, 2011; papers and elements by Studio Rosey Posey and included in The Digi Files during July, 2011.

I remember the first time I had some of my layouts printed.  I was shocked that I had a HUGE (much-larger-than-real-life) staple on my layout.  There were several other elements on my layout that were skewed out of perspective.  I decided to come up with a way to know, as I was working on a layout, what size things should be, so I wouldn’t have regrets after printing.

The monitor size and the display customizations you have set will determine what percentage you need to view your layouts at to judge scale correctly.  An easy way to figure this out is to:

1) Print a layout.
2) Open the same layout in your photo editing program that you use for digital scrapbooking.
3) Hold the printed layout up to your monitor.
4) Use the Zoom Tool to zoom in and out until the elements in the layout are the same size as they are in the printed layout.

In most photo editing programs, you can fine toon the percentage by clicking on the percentage (in PSE and PSE it’s in the lower left corner) and entering in a number.  On my monitor, I know that real print size is 33.7%

Make sure your rulers are turned on (in Photoshop go to View> Rulers) and now you can drag items up to the ruler to see how big they are.  I know that a staple looks good at right around a 1/2 inch.  Once I am zoomed out to 33.7% I can scale the staple accordingly using the rulers:

The same technique can be applied to any elements to help you keep everything on your layout in perspective, so your printed layouts are regret free.

Are you an advanced digi scrapper and have other methods you use to keep things in perspective?  Please share, we would love to hear!

P.S. I totally dropped the ball and forgot to post Laurie Ann’s free gift for our readers with her feature. It’s an adorable word art pack for you to download.  Be sure to check out the exclusive coupon to her store in her feature: