Several different programs for scrapbooking with your computer are available. When deciding what is the best digital scrapbooking software for your needs, there are a number of factors to consider.

• Do you like to edit your images before adding them to your layouts? For example, do you do a lot of cropping or converting photos into black and white?
• Are you interested in special effects, such as filters to add a "dreamy" glow to your pictures?
• Do you want a program that includes templates, graphics, and fonts or would you prefer to find these items on your own?
• How much time are you willing to invest in learning new software? Do you have the patience to read long tutorials or would you prefer something that lets you create pages right out of the box?
• What is your budget for digital scrapbooking? Are you looking to start as cheaply as possible or do you have money to spend on the latest software and technology?

• Ease of Use – Digital scrapbooking software features and tools should be easy to find and operate, and digital scrapbooking software should be simple for both scrapbook novices and computer novices to use and understand.
• Variety of Scrapbooking Images – Top digital scrapbooking software packages offer a wide variety of pre–made scrapbook page templates and a huge selection of fonts, frames and clip art to embellish any scrapbook project. Digital scrapbooking software should also offer additional clip-art, themes and templates. The digital scrapbooking software should also include enough variety for you to create your own scrapbook page layouts easily.
• Import Scrapbooking Graphics – Digital scrapbooking software should allow you to import digital photos, images from a scanner and other media such as digital video, music and sound, and others. Importing tools in scrapbooking software must be intuitive or your scrapbooking experience will be far less enjoyable.

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Photo Collage Creator is advanced digital scrapbooking and photo collage software that turns ordinary digital pictures and text into personalized works of art. The program combines three amazing functions: dozens of pre-designed fabulous collage templates, more than 50 photo frames, special mask effects, and flexible publishing formats. Photo Collage Creator includes everything one needs to turn regular digital photos and text into great-looking scrapbook pages suitable for printing, adding to a scrapbook, sharing with friends or hanging on the wall. Photo Collage Creator also introduces an entirely fun idea to assemble your precious photos into an artistic compilation, completely re-expressing your ideas. Using advanced features such as halo effect, perspective and atmosphere correction, you achieve dazzling results. With the innovative and fast digital collage software, the only limit to what you are able to create is your imagination.

Version 3.15 features new picture frames and masks, and new stylish collage templates.

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To some traditional Scrapbooking is an art form, but like most art the slightest mistake can turn your masterpiece into a mess. But with digital scrapbooking software, you can go beyond the limitations of paper and cloth and take your scrapbooking in new directions. With digital scrapbooking software, you’ll have everything you need to make attractive, inspiring scrapbook pages. Digital scrapbooking software also saves resources by allowing you to experiment with design and color freely—giving you flexibility to change your mind on the fly, without wasting costly scrapbook supplies.
Most digital scrapbooking software suites offer hundreds of prefabricated themes and templates. Most templates can be modified or altered to suit the styling of the author. With photo editing software included in many digital scrapbooking software suites, cleaning flaws from copies of old photos, removing red eye and adding image effects is a quick and painless process.
With new importing options providing new directions and making new demands on digital scrapbooking software, many cutting-edge products are beginning to include direct digital camera and scanner importation, cutting the time it takes to upload and reformat.

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Let's all give a warm welcome to Darleen Araujo, the new digital scrapbooking kit designer for About Graphics Software. I think you're going to love her new kit which was inspired by a scene from an Italian countryside. Darleen describes it best herself:

"This kit was built upon the colors in an Italian photo I had taken. The color palette consists of beige, green and clay tones with a pop of blue to add interest. The title means Countryside (Scenery). Whether you use the kit to display your favorite vacation photo or a family memory, you'll find everything you need to make it special."

The free kit can be used with any graphics software and includes a quick page for a fast and easy scrapbook page.

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Quick pages are an easy way to create digital scrapbook pages. A quick page is a pre-designed digital scrapbook page with photo cut outs for inserting your own pictures. Rather than assembling papers and decorative elements to create a scrapbook page from scratch, you need only plop your own photos into the design. This tutorial will show you how to add your own photos to a digital scrapbooking quick page using Photoshop Elements or any other software with layers support.

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TumaSoft, LLC releases Preset Viewer 2.0, the first stand-alone browser for Photoshop presets including brushes, styles, shapes, patterns and swatches. The program, which allows its users to find, preview and organize Photoshop presets, was created by John Tuma as a gift for his wife. Along with it's search and keywording features, Preset Viewer provides previews of brushes, patterns and shapes at their native size, a much larger image than had been previously available.

Colorado Springs, CO (PRWEB) March 26, 2009 -- Most women get flowers or jewelry as gifts from their husbands; Betsy Tuma's husband presented her with a software program he had designed that revolutionized the graphic designer's business. And luckily for other designers, the program is now available to the public.

Preset Viewer 2.0 is a ground-breaking product that extends the usefulness of Photoshop brushes and other built-in tools by allowing users to find every file, quickly and easily.

Graphic designer and TumaSoft co-founder Betsy Tuma explains, "Designers know how frustrating it can be to search for the brush they need and not be able to find it--or even remember what it's called! Preset Viewer identifies the brush (.abr), pattern (.pat), custom shape (.csh), swatch (.acb, .aco, .act, .ase), style (.asl), compositions (.psd), and image (.bmp, .jpg, .png) files and quickly sorts them for display."

Plus, because Preset Viewer 2.0 is a stand-alone application and the presets can be exported as .png files, it allows non-Photoshop users to access these resources for use in their program of choice.

An attentive and supportive husband is the hero behind Preset Viewer 2.0. "I was working on a project in 2006 and was getting really frustrated because I couldn't find a custom shape that I needed to finish the project. My husband, John, a computer programming hobbyist, asked me what was wrong, and I explained the problem. He searched the Internet for a program to solve my problem, but he found nothing. So he set out to write one."

When he had finished, he had redefined an entire industry. Among the innovative features of Preset Viewer 2.0:

* The tiled view mode, along with the ability to change the color and shape of the brush and the background color, takes all of the guess work out of developing paper patterns or backgrounds, allowing the user to "preview" an idea.
* It's the only product on the market--including Photoshop's built-in preset manager--that allows a preset to be viewed at its native size.
* Non-Photoshop users can export software-independent PNG files from preset files within Preset Viewer. The wealth of readily available Photoshop presets can now be used by designers, even if they don't use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.
* Users can extract embedded images from brush and style files. Many Photoshop brush (.abr) and style (.asl) images were undetectable before the release of Preset Viewer, but users can now view them as a composite with the brush/style file and also separately.
* Users can quickly create a color swatch from a photo in just a few clicks.


One of the biggest benefits of Preset Viewer 2.0 is its versatility. "It can be used to keyword any type of file--not just presets," Betsy says. "Some of our customers use it to catalog their photographs and digital scrapbooking supplies, as well as preview Photoshop actions. Whatever you're doing, it saves you time and ends the frustration of searching for what you need."

Not only does Preset Viewer 2.0 make organization a breeze, but it also offers creative insights. "I honestly don't design without it any more," Betsy says. "The color features allow me to test what combinations actually look like together and make paper pattern designs pop quickly and efficiently."

Though the company could have put a premium cost on the product, they chose a retail price of $37.00 for a reason. "Our goal is to help people solve their problems. We decided that the price should be less than the per-hour rate that most graphic designers charge; in effect, Preset Viewer 2.0 costs them the hour they would have spent looking for a specific preset." And with a 30-day, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee--plus discounts for students and members of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals--there's no reason to live with the frustrations of Photoshop anymore.

Betsy says she's been flooded with heart-felt thanks. "We've been overwhelmed by positive feedback and have been surprised by the ways our customers use Preset Viewer--not only graphic designers and computer scrap bookers, but also vinyl sign cutters, photographers, and we even have a children's clothing designer as a customer. Anyone who uses their computer as a creative tool can benefit from Preset Viewer 2.0."

About TumaSoft, LLC
TumaSoft, LLC was founded by Betsy Tuma, marketing manager, and John Tuma, lead developer, in 2007. The company released a commercial version of Preset Viewer in October 2007; version 2.0 was released in November 2008. The product was initially a gift created by John for his wife, Betsy, to help her graphic design business run smoother and more efficiently. Once they recognized the many uses of the innovative product, they brought Preset Viewer to market so that everyone could experience its advantages. For more information, visit the TumaSoft web site at www.tumasoft.com.

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Well, this is Gina Chen, Family Life editor, busting into Scrapbook Mom's blog again. This time I just have to tell you about my experience with digital scrapbooking.
I tried it for the first time a few weeks back. We had gone to California to visit my in-laws, and we were wracking our brains to come up with a gift to thank them for their hospitality. I decided a scrapbook of the trip would be a great gift, but I knew there was no way I'd have the time to do a traditional scrapbook.
So I decided to go digital. It was great.
I've been scrapbooking the traditional way -- with stickers and paper -- for about 12 years, and I've finished more than 10 albums that way. I love doing it. I love expressing my creativity, reliving our family fun and chatting with my girlfriends.
But going digital had one big draw: speed. In about three hours I had an album done.
I selected my pictures, uploaded them, added captions and headlines. I used Creative Memories free software, so I had follow the pre-determined picture format. (But it's free!)
It was simple to use. Point, click and move a picture. I could change the color of the text. I could put a picture on the cover and a title. It allowed me to do all the basics things one would want, although eventually I'd probably spring for the $59.95 program. That allows you more flexibility and choice in picture placement, size, embellishments.

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"Cherrie's Jubilee" is a general purpose digital scrapbooking kit in a cherry and cherry blossom theme with a color scheme consisting of burgundy, purple and lavender tones, perfect for spring. With plaid and floral elements, it can work for both masculine or feminine styled scrapbook pages. These elements and papers can be used with any graphics software that supports JPEG and PNG files.

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