Scrapbooking Goes Digital

Each and every day we discover there are better, faster, easier ways to do things because of continually new and improving technology. With the abundance of photo editing, word processing and graphics programs, it’s almost hard to believe that it could get any easier.

But it has—the new HP Creative Scrapbook Assistant combines the features of these programs with additional options to create a tool that’s perfect for scrappers. You can edit images and text or create tons of new elements all with just one program. Here’s some info about how the program works and how you can use it to improve your scrapping life.

About the Program

Hewlett-Packard created the Creative Scrapbook Assistant to complement their Scrapbooking Community Website, which provides scrappers with tools and resources that teach the basics of using digital cameras, PC’s, printers and scanners for scrapbooking. The website includes project ideas with timesaving tips, instructions, supply lists and more. The site also allows users to share their designs with other scrappers and connect through message boards as well as participating in polls.

The HP Creative Scrapbook Assistant is both PC and Macintosh compatible and allows users to design their own layouts, images, titles, journaling, frames, mats and more. You can then print them, add them to your pages, and share them on the Scrapbooking Community Website. A variety of pre-made items are included for use, but the program also allows users to create original elements.

Navigating

HP Creative Scrapbook Assistant uses a combination of menus, thumbnail bars and tabs for navigation.

Navigating the program is easy, using a combination of menus, thumbnail bars and tabs. The menus organize basic functions into categories like most programs (File, Edit, Theme, Project, Help). Tabs are used as a means of filing for organizing and viewing scrapbook elements—you can search through to find pre-made elements or upload your own. The tabs are organized into seven different thumbnail bars (Images, Phrases, Clip Art, Backgrounds, Frames, Shapes and Pages) by theme. Each thumbnail bar offers a view of the items available for use in a particular theme.

In terms of organizing your work, the program offers themes (categories designed to organize scrapbooking items) which house collections of pre-made items–each theme contains images, phrases, clip art, frames, backgrounds, shapes and pages that relate to each other and can be accessed through the thumbnail bar. The CD includes the following themes: Animals, Babies, Celebrations, Family Milestones, Holidays, Kids, Nature, Sports, Tools and Textures and Travel. You can also save items into one of the themes or create your own themes to store your items in. Also, you don’t have to stick to one theme, but can travel between them to utilize the shapes, quotes, etc. Scrapbook Assistant also offers the ability to save your page elements as Projects, an area designed specifically to hold pages you’ve created.

Working with Elements

You can form photos into shapes by simply dragging and dropping.

You can create a variety of page elements with Scrapbook Assistant and what’s nice is that you can import your own graphics or images to use by either scanning them in or opening the already created digital files. Photos can be adjusted to black and white or sepia tones, and made more or less transparent, depending on your taste. You can also resize the image, but unfortunately, no cropping or coloring capabilities are present—you’ll still need some sort of image editing software for this. When selecting an element to work with, you simply drag and drop from the thumbnail bar to the workspace, be it a photo, shape, background, etc.

Shapes are also one of the main elements included with the program. A shape can be used as a custom mat for a photo (you can adjust the width with an easy-to-use sliding bar), a background for journaling or to reshape your photo. By simply dragging and dropping an image into a shape, the image takes on the shape and the size is adjusted accordingly. You can also create your own shape with a scanned or digital image—the image must have a definitive outline, though.

Scrapbook Assistant also offers text capabilities, including the ability to put your text into shapes just like images. The program allows you to create your own captions, alphabets, numbers and page titles in any font that you have on your computer, a great way to do your journaling. However, while you can easily adjust the alignment, style, font, size, color and transparency of your text, you can’t have more than one style of text in a text box. If you want to alternate text styles or sizes in your journaling, simply use a separate text box for each individual word.

Scrapbook Assistant also includes pre-made frames you can apply to a shape and already-written phrases appropriate to each theme, plus pre-made backgrounds you can apply, as well as a set of clip art for each theme.

How to Use Scrapbook Assistant for Your Everyday Scrapping

So how can this program help you? There are several ways that you can use Scrapbook Assistant to improve your scrapping life.

The Creative Scrapbook Assistant includes pre-made layout ideas.

The pre-made page layout ideas included with each theme are great way for the busy scrapper to do a layout. You can print out the pre-made page as it already appears and use it as a blueprint for your own page–or drop images and text into the shapes included in the layout, then print and cut them out to assemble and attach to your actual page. Scrapbook Assistant also allows you to create your own page designs that you can use as blueprints.

With just three to four mouse clicks, you can easily match your background with colors from your page elements.

HP has also made color matching easy! You can use the eye-dropper tool to match colors in your photos and images using backgrounds and other page elements with only three to four simple mouse clicks.
The transparency adjustment feature is also a useful tool for scrappers. You can adjust the softness or boldness of images or text to simulate a vellum overlay, turn your image into a light page background or soften an element to mute the colors.

Scrapbook Assistant will also allow you to create other special elements or projects for embellishing or other projects including wrapping paper, faux postage stamps, photo corners, stickers and cards or invitations.

Special Features

In addition to the ten themes that Scrapbook Assistant offers, it also includes a few extras. The software includes page images, clip art, frames, backgrounds and shapes from the Vintage Workshop and Hot Off The Press, as well as elements from the Creating Keepsakes 2003 Hall of Fame.

Let the Creative Scrapbook Assistant Work for You

While you will need a printer that’s capable of printing 12”x12” to print full layouts of this size, you can certainly utilize the program without it. Scrapbook Assistant is perfect for coordinating and or creating page elements you can simply print out and attach, or for planning your next layout.

HP Creative Scrapbook Assistant is available for $29.99 at http://www.hpshopping.com.