Switching from Paper Scrapbooks to Digital Scrapbooks

I recently made the switch from tradition (paper) scrapbooking to digital scrapbooking, and the first thing everyone around me asked when I told them was, "Why?" There are a number of reasons why someone makes the switch, but I wanted to share my decisions in case you're on the fence about making the switch, too!

Space

The biggest reason why I wanted to switch over was due to the amount of space I had to store and work on things. With my Etsy business growing, I found myself working with less and less storage space. The lack of storage areas was giving me stress. Additionally, scrapbook albums are large and bulky. The typical 12x12 Scrapbook album is a 3" Ring binder. I have 5 in a bookshelf and 5 more in storage.

Printed albums are 1-2" thick and lie flat. And because everything is made digitally, I'm only bound to the storage space of my hard drives and shelf space for a printed album.

Time

The way I would do my albums would be print photos, sketch layouts, build layouts, add embellishments, and then journal. I have 4 albums that are almost at the ads embellishments phase, and it took me a very long time to get there. Because it's impossible to correct most mistakes, I would get too much anxiety to move to the journaling phase in fear of messing up and having to recreate an ENTIRE PAGE.

I timed how long a digital page takes me on average to make and I'm at around 25 to 45 minutes per page from start to finish. That is with photo editing, journaling, building design and occasionally downloading new assets.

Cost

Over the years, I have spent hundreds, oof not thousands of dollars on scrapbook supplies, most of which has gone unused. Knowing that and looking towards future expenses, it just doesn't make sense for me to continue down that path.

I have so far spent $0 on digital scrapbook supplies, and the average cost for a printed book starts at around $40 (not including shipping and taxes). I'm probably going to spend a few mucks here bad there on special supplies from independent creators once I get the hang of this. I've cut my costs dramatically.

With that being said, my unused supplies are going to be given away to someone interested in scrapbooking in my local area to help them get a budget-friendly head start.

Environmental Impact

While traditional scrapbooking consists of paper products, not all paper products can be recycled. Any paper with foiling or glue has to be placed in the trash. You would also be surprised at the amount of paper that goes to waste. Most people buy the 12x12 sheets and only end up using around a 5x7 piece of it. What happens to the rest? Most often it gets thrown away or left unused. Items that get unused need storage space. Most scrapbook storage items are made of plastic. With digital scrapbooking, you have the option of printing or not. If you wanted to, you could upload the pages to an Instagram or Facebook account and never print them!

So not only does digital scrapbooking save time, money and space, it also leaves a better carbon footprint!

What you should keep in mind when starting digital scrapbooking

Digital scrapbooking is a lot of fun but requires some knowledge of a photo editing or layout software like Photoshop and In Design, but a lot of videos on YouTube have been teaching people how to use apps like Procreate and Canva to create scrapbook pages. These software also have a monthly cost. Since I'm already paying for Photoshop for my freelance work, it makes since for me to utilize my software further. This shouldn't discourage you, though! There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube to learn the basics of these software and apps to use them for scrapbooking. Plus, its never a bad idea to learn a new skill!

The other thing to keep in mind is that digital scrapbooking has a higher upfront cost. Whereas with traditional scrapbooking, you are doing the majority of the spending over time. Still, I'm learning that digital scrapbooking has a lower end cost for me.

I hope this helps you with trying to decide if digital scrapbook is right for you. I'd never want to discourage anyone from making a choice that's better for them, but I hope this helps you solidify the decision you DO want to make. Both versions have their ups and downs, pros and cons. The best thing you can do is make a decision that's right for YOU! Lots of scrappers prefer the traditional method because its a hobby and a pasttime for them, and I think that's great! There are a lot of great in-person scrapping communities out there, but I'm just not that type of scrapper!

Let me know in the comments below why you chose your particular method of scrapbooking! I would love to know what pros you find are important to you!