Scrapbooking enters the computer age

Many do their cutting, pasting online

By Steve Woodward

Cap the glue. Stash the scissors. Pack up the paper.

It’s time to gather all those holiday photos and make a scrapbook for the Digital Age.

All you need is a computer, the right software and, of course, your digitized photos.

Thomas Jefferson’s memory books were nothing like this. Within the $2.5 billion scrapbooking industry, says research firm Digital Trends, digital scrapbooking is a fast-growing new page.

Consider the evidence:

Dozens of Web sites now cater to digital scrapbookers with backgrounds, alphabets, fonts, photo mats and embellishments that can be downloaded, many for free.

A new category of graphic artist known as digital designer has sprung up, with practitioners offering coordinated scrapbook kits much as fashion designers tout their clothing lines.

Digital Scrapbooking, the first known magazine devoted to the subject, will debut next month.

A new Web service called Scrapblog will soon enable users to create easy, drag-and-drop scrapbooks online that can be shared publicly, much like Flickr photos or YouTube videos.

Portland Community College has responded to the digital-scrapbooking craze by offering its first class on the subject next month.

Continued at: http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-7/1169966167175150.xml&coll=1&thispage=2

http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-7/1169966167175150.xml&coll=1