People have been scrapbooking with paper supplies for many, many years. As computers have become more commonplace though, many hobbies, including scrapbooking, have taken advantage of all that computers have to offer.

With the advent of digital scrapbooking, creating scrapbook pages has become easier, faster and more affordable. The wonderful thing though, is that just because you move your creative space to the computer, the goal of scrapbooking doesn't change. You're still working to create a story in pictures that can speak for itself.

If you want to try digital scrapbooking to see what it's all about you don't need much to get started. All you need is:

1. Photo or Image Editing Software - There are many types of software out there that are great for digital scrapbooking. Some of the most commonly used are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Lumapix: FotoFusion, Microsoft Picture It!, Paintshop, or Paintshop Pro.

2. A Printer - You'll want to use a photo quality ink jet printer but most brands are fine; just make sure the printer has a resolution of between 200-300 PPI (pixels per inch).

3. Printer Ink - Of course ink for your printer is essential, and with digital scrapbooking you'll use a lot of it! A great way to save money on printer ink is to purchase your ink from an online store like 123inkjets.com or carrotink.com. And, you can save even more by using a 123inkjets coupon.

4. Paper - For most purposes, many digital scrapbookers use regular white cardstock or ink jet 80lb cover paper because it's easier to find and more affordable than the paper found in most arts and crafts stores. You can also print your digital scrapbook pages on transparencies, stickers and other types of custom papers too to create really unique affects on your scrapbook pages, and all still using your home printer.

Once you have these few things you can get started on your digital scrapbooking project!

Printing your digital scrapbook pages is the final step in the creative process, and it's gotta be done right! Here are some tips to help make sure you get your page to print the way you want the first time.

- Some printers don't print to the edge of the paper, if this is true of yours and you're trying to print an 8.5x11 in. layout, select to print your page at 91%. This will enable you to print the full layout without missing anything.

- Some printers also don't print 12x12, the standard layout for scrapbook pages. You can solve this problem by resizing your page to 8x8 prior to printing. There is minimal if any affect on the quality of your layout, and many people choose this size anyway as 12x12 albums often don't fit on standard sized shelves.

- Before printing, make sure to do a nozzle check. This will tell you if your printer's print heads need to be cleaned or not.  If they need a cleaining, it's importat to take care of this before printing your scrapbook pages, because clean print heads ensure that colors will print properly.

- Replace your ink cartridges when they get low (and don't forget to save some $ by using a coupon code when you do!). And, when it does come time to put in new ink, make sure to always align them before printing.

- Keeping your printer OFF when not in use not only saves power, but keeps the print heads from drying out as quickly, thereby giving you a better print.

- Make sure your printer's drivers are current. Drivers are the software interpreters that allow your computer and printer to communicate successfully. Check your printer manufacturer's website once in a while though as they're revising these drivers constantly, and you want to make sure you have the most recent one to get the highest print quality from your printer.

- Always let the ink dry before handeling your digital scrapbook pages. You're usually safe about an hour or so after printing.

The easy answer to this question is - you can do most anything with digital scrapbooking that you can do with paper scrapbooking, and then some! To get a bit more specific though:

You can create stickers, text overlays, ribbons, shadows, and curled edges.

You can cut out different shapes without repeating measurements over and over again if you want more than one of the same shape.

You can use different brushes to create a wide variety of different effects on your digital scrapbooking project.

You can add pop out effects, outline texts, vellum shadows, reflections, and, you can even add wrinkles to your paper!

And this is just the "tip of the iceberg"! There really is so much you can do with digital scrapbooking to make your layouts more beautiful and original than ever; and all without using any paper until your creation is final. Best of all, when you get an effect or layout you really like, you can save it and then use it as many times as you'd like.