If you are just starting digital scrapbooking you may be wondering, what will it cost me to get into this hobby?
Computer
I suspect you may already have a computer, since you are reading this post! Most modern computers will cope with digital scrapbooking, but check the system requirements for your version of Photoshop Elements. You can use either a Mac or a PC.
Photoshop Elements
Photoshop Elements is the program I use for all my digital scrapbooking, and I love it! It is powerful and not as difficult to learn as some other software, and is available for the Mac or Windows.
If you don’t have Photoshop Elements yet – it will set you back between US$60 and AU$150 depending on where you live in the world - can buy it from Amazon Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (Win/Mac) or from Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.
Supplies
Digital scrapbooking is a lot cheaper in terms of supplies than paper scrapbooking. Digital scrapbook kits cost around $5-6 each, and you can make as many pages as you want from them, whereas with a paper pages struggle to stay below $5 per page with supplies.
One huge benefit is that you can reuse your favourite papers or embellishments over and over!
I used one kit to create Emily’s whole first year album– even the cover! See it here:
Click here to view this photo book larger
So it can be very cost effective compared to $1 dollar per piece of patterned paper or cardstock in the real world! 🙂
I’ve tended to stick to a few favourite designers and really use the kits! I’ve also earnt free kits or coupons through challenges – such as those run over at Scrapbookgraphics.
The Digi Game
If you find you want to try out lots of different designers to get a feel for your style, there’s an awesome deal at the Daily Digi for you. They have a membership club the Digi Game – you get over $50 worth of digital scrapbook supplies, a 30-50 page interactive ebook, additional exclusive collaborations and surprise gifts automatically each month for ONLY $7.50 a month?
The Digi Game is the best deal in digital scrapbooking I can tell you that I’ve personally used the Digi Game as my main source for scrapbooking kits for the past year.
Printing
Printing your pages professionally does cost about $2 per layout depending on the size you print (I do 12×12) or you can collect them all and print them in a photobook using Snapfish, Shutterfly or lots of other sites (or even at Big W or Harvey Norman here in Australia).
I hope this answers some of your questions about digi-scrapping, if you want to find out more about how to get started – check out my tutorials and feel free to email me!
Melissa
P.S. You may also enjoy this post about the cost of digital scrapbooking from Jen Jen.