(photos by Bill Myers; kit is Remember the Magic by Keystone Scraps)

This is my very first blog post for  the PassPorter Disney Scrapbooking and Memory Making blog. I’ll give you a little background about me to start with.  I’m Donna and I’ve been a PassPorter Message Board Guide for almost 8 years. I live in Winnipeg, Canada, have been married for 26 years and we have 2 grown children and a son-in-law. My first Disney trips were to Disneyland and it’s got a very special spot in my heart. I believe that is where my love for Disney began. We took the kids to Disneyland in 1999, and then started taking them to Walt Disney World. I started paper scrapping a couple of our early trips to Disney, but I just didn’t get very far. It’s not that I didn’t like doing it, but I found it quite time consuming and I ended up putting everything away in the spare bedroom and not bringing it out again.

I started digital scrapping almost 2 years ago. I have always been a crafty, creative person – if I’m not creating something, I’m not happy. I have tried almost every craft you can think of from quilting to cross stitching to knitting. It’s not that I didn’t like them, but I didn’t find them to be the right creative release for me. Digi scrapping is the answer for me and I feel like I have finally released my inner artist. Although digi scrapping is my main focus, paper scrappers shouldn’t feel left out of this blog. I’m going to try my best to keep this relevant for you too. Scrapping is scrapping, right?

So I’ll start by assuming that you don’t know anything about scrapping. If you already scrap, this first post will be a recap of the basics. The main rule is “there is no wrong way to scrap.” If you like it, then you did it right. I know that a lot of people, myself included, have or had some hesitation about scrapping because of being nervous about doing it wrong. So there. You have no excuse, you can do it, there is no wrong way.

I won’t lie to you, it’s an expensive hobby, whether you are paper scrapping, digi scrapping or doing the combination of both which is known as hybrid scrapping. However, think about this: it is preserving your memories.  How can you put a price on your memories? Actually, digi scrapping doesn’t have to be expensive if you can discipline yourself to only using freebies that are readily found in the scrapping community on the internet. (If you can, you’re a better person than me!) Many designers, myself included, make freebies. I recommend checking scrapbooking message boards. Designers and their creative team members hang out on the message boards and  there are links to blogs everywhere. The blogs are where you find the freebies!

So let’s get started! Do you have a Disney vacation that needs to be scrapped? If you are reading this, I’ll bet that you do! First of all, obviously you need photos. They can be digital photos or photographs taken with film, doesn’t matter. If you use photographs from film, and you want to digi scrap, you need to have a scanner available. One of my biggest concerns about paper scrapping was cutting the photos. Easy solution – have duplicates made! That’s why you get the negatives back when you get your photos developed, right?

Paper scrappers need archival quality supplies. Don’t cheap out! It is absolutely necessary if you want to preserve your memories forever. Have you ever looked at your Grandma’s scrapbook? The one with the yellowed newspaper articles and the black and white photos with those glued down black photo corners. Did you notice how brittle and yellowed everything is?  It looks like it’s going to fall apart if you turn the page. That’s because she didn’t have archival products to work with. So. Archival supplies. Necessary. I know you know where to buy them – craft stores are everywhere and they all have papers, cutters, stickers, rubber stamps, glue, etc etc etc. The internet is another great place to buy your supplies.

Digi scrappers need a software program such as Adobe’s Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro from Corel, or Gimp. Photoshop is expensive (!) and there’s a pretty steep learning curve, although if you stick with it you can master it. There’s a lot of tutorials and support online to help you along, and you can even ask me and I might be able to help you. But Photoshop is overkill for the average scrapper. You can buy a less expensive version called Photoshop Elements for around $100 and you can sometimes find it on sale for less at places like Costco or Sam’s Club. There is also an education discount available so if you are a student or teacher, check for that. It is more than enough for the average digi scrapper. I started with a program from Serif that cost me $29 called Digital Scrapbook Artist 2 (now called Craft Artist), then went to Photoshop Elements (PSE), but now that I’ve decided to totally commit to digi scrapping, I have upgraded to Photoshop (CS5). You can go to Adobe’s website and try them out for free for 30 days. I’ll admit this – I know nothing about Paint Shop Pro (PSP). I do know that it’s about comparable in price to PSE.  Another software program some of my friends use is called Story Book Creator Plus (SBC+) from Creative Memories which is similarly priced to PSP and PSE, but again, that is not one I’m familiar with myself. As with Adobe products, you can download trial versions to see if it’s the software for you. And good news for somebody who is not sure whether digi scrapping is for them – there’s Gimp. It’s a free, yes free! It is a program available online. Again, I have no experience with it, but according to friends of mine who use it, it is also quite adequate for the average scrapper.

Digi scrappers also need kits. Kits are digital embellishments and papers. Kits usually sell for around $5 each, although some are more and some are less. But remember — you can also find kits that are freeeeeeee!  Just find some digi-scrapper blogs and start reading. You may have to go to a few, but you will find free kits without too much effort. I’ll tell you where to look next time I post.

Ok. Photos. Photo editing program and digi kits or archival quality supplies.  You’re ready to go. But what do you do? Where do you start? A really good place to start is by looking online for ideas. There are so many galleries on the internet that you will easily find some examples. In fact, you can look at my galleries if you like.  I have quite a few, but here’s the link for my Disney gallery:  This Dixie Pixie’s Gallery.

In fact, I want to talk about that website for a minute. MouseScrappers is the only scrapbooking website that is exclusively dedicated to scrapping Disney vacations and it’s just as friendly a community as PassPorter is. I get nothing for referring people to it except bragging rights, but if you do check it out, like what you see and decide to sign up, tell them This Dixie Pixie referred you. You will find very talented scrappers there, happy to answer questions regarding both paper and digi, although digi is more prominent. You’ll find lots and lots of fantastic inspiration there, so check it out if you want some ideas about scrapping your Disney vacations.

Well, that’s enough for my first post. I have to leave something to get you coming back for more, right? So what do you think? Are you ready to scrap your Disney memories? Great! Check out some of the suggestions that I made and give it a shot. Remember, there’s no such thing as the wrong way to scrapbook. And don’t forget to come back here in a few days for my next post!