Do you remember the first time that you discovered Digital Scrapbooking? Do you still remember your first layout?
I was going through some old layouts the other day and came across this double page spread which was my first ever digital creation. This baby is practically a fossil. It was created back in early 2005…so maybe not quite prehistoric in digital scrapbooking terms but definitely Middle Ages 
I still remember the exact week I discovered digital scrapbooking. Might have something to do with the fact that it was a week before I had my second child Cameron.
I was hot (the summer weather was sticking around), HEAVILY pregnant (thankyou Mr 10 lb, 3oz baby), maybe a teensy bit cranky and freaking out because I wasn’t up to date with my paper scrapbooking. Let’s put that one down to crazy hormonal nesting instincts I know it doesn’t really matter but heck do you really want to argue with a sweaty hormonal 6’1” woman carrying a baby the size of a small toddler? I needed to scrapbook and that was that!
I thought that it might be helpful to plan some layouts on the computer. So, I opened up Photoshop, which up until that point was something that was pretty much just an icon on my desktop. I had no clue how to use the program but I fumbled around a bit until I had the above layout. Note my very cool stitching and digital tags. They look a bit lame now…but I can still remember how freaking proud of them I was. It was ‘just’ like paper scrapping but better…no…not just better…but amazingly better. No mess!
That got me thinking…I wonder if other people created scrapbooking layouts on the computer.
Started up google and…
Hot diggity dog…people DO make layouts on the computer…and there are papers and elements that you can buy, and forums and people creating free stuff…and this is just the most amazing thing in the world…and I want to make my own stuff…and I’m going to do soooooo much scrapbooking…and heck I am having a baby…I can’t be getting all obsessed with this…I’m going to be crazy busy with a new babe…I shouldn’t be complicating things. More freaking out
Well two things happened. Sweet Cameron was born and I did become obsessed with digital scrapbooking. Cameron was the perfect baby. He was a great sleeper and allowed Mummy to play in digital scrapbooking world when he was catching some zzzzzz’s.
I do have bit of a giggle when I go back through my layouts…because for each one…I can remember thinking that IT was the best layout ever! This happens with my digital scrapbook kits too. Aaaaah…I am fickle…I just love em and leave them. Next please
Anyway…thought I would share some of my layouts through the years…so that you can either…
A. Have a laugh at my early and decidedly dodgy digital elements and papers
B. Laugh with me…because we were both there in the Digital Middle Ages
C. Or maybe if you are new digital scrapbooker…realise that EVERYONE has started at the same point as you – the beginning.
2002 – Found a photo of a paper layout I did around 2002 so threw that in for kicks…
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
So bit of a journey…and one that will continue. Lots more scrapping to come
Would you be game…to share your first layout? Or maybe your story on how you discovered digital scrapbooking. Share in the comments.
Happy creating!
Fee x
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
How fun! I too remember the pride in each new thing I discovered how to do. I’d never paper scrapped, but I’d been doing sort of scrappy webpages to share pics of my kids for a couple of years, and then in the summer of 2003 a friend pointed me to SBB. I was ecstatic to find others sharing their creations (I don’t think anyone was really selling yet then) and a group of like-minded people who would not only appreciate my cute kids, but the techniques that went into creating the pages. My first official (rather “dodgy”) “page” is here: http://scrapbook-bytes.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6180&title=kaylee-in-the-kitchen&cat=500
I was so excited about it that I even emailed the designer of the elements I’d used so that she could see too! I smile when I look back at these pages now, remembering the excitement and newness of it all. I still love scrapping, but it’s a totally different experience now.
LOVING the transformation, Fee!! Haaa!! I should collect and compare this my own. thanks for the idea!! Hahahaa…
Oh and I have to say, your 1st page (2002 & 2005) are really not bad at all.. they are indeed gorgeous!!
I think we all have digi layout’s from back in the day that we want to “redo”. LOL! Then again it’s sort of a record of how far we’ve come ourselves.