Printing Your Digital Scrapbook Layouts - Make Them Real

I don't know about you but I'm an old fashioned girl. I like to be able to touch my scrapbook pages in printed form. Looking at them on the PC screen just doesn't do it for me. I'm sorry, until they're printed out they're just not real.

But I don't want to go to the trouble and expense of taking my 12×12 inch layout files to a professional printer to get it done. Hey, this is the new millennium. I want instant gratification.

However, as is the case with most of you I expect, I only have a regular A4 or Letter width ink jet printer. But you can still get your scrapbook layouts in printed for on your home computer. Here's how:

Step 1: When you have completed your layout, resize it to 8×8 inches (in PSE5, Image>Resize>Image Size and change the height and width fields).

Step 2: Print it on your regular printer. I recommend using a good quality photo card in either a satin of glossy finish and set your printer quality to the highest quality setting available. And extra tip on choosing photo paper for your print outs, choose a good thick weight paper -- say 230 grams -- and if possible select your paper brand to match the brand of your printer. Each manufacturer's inks seem to work best with their own brand of paper.

Step 3: Don't save the reduced size unless you want to keep the file at 8×8. I just resize, print and then use the Undo button to get back to my 12×12 size.

Step 4: You can leave your layout with the white borders around it or, like me, you can trim off the white edges and there you have your digital layout...real!

Now here are a few things you might like to do with your print out:

* Slip it into an 8×8 album (make sure it is in a protective sleeve, or the print will rub and wear off. And let it fully dry off for 24 hours before putting into the protective sleeve or the plastic will 'stick' to the print.)

* Mount it on a 12×12 piece of cardstock and store it with your other hand scrapped pages (if you are bi-scraptual)

* Mount it on a canvas or in a frame and hang on the wall (makes a lovely gift)

* Or, my personal favorite, combine the two scrapbooking worlds by adding some 'real' embellishments such as brads, silk flowers or ribbons to it to give it an extra level of dimension.

I find that the reduction of size from 12×12 to 8×8 has very little impact on the quality of the layout (especially if you scrap at a minimum of 300 dpi). It's probably a good idea to use a crisp clear font style if you're going to include a lot of journaling or at least use a reasonable font size (but you'd have to do that anyway if you want to read it clearly on the screen).

And now your virtual creation is 'real'.