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How are you taking care of your digital photos and layouts?
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Are you printing them out?
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Are you having someone else print them out for you?
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Or are you just relying on storing them on your computer or a CD?
Do yourself a HUGE favor and print them out, please! I finally printed out all of the layouts that I had created during this last year. I filled up FIVE (5) scrapbooks. What a joy it was to look at them like that. And how I marveled at how beautiful everything truly looks. The papers... the embellishments... the alphas... the photos... Oh, it is just too wonderful to be true. How I wish I could bring you here into my office so that you could see them yourself.
Don't cheat yourself of the joy of seeing your layouts in a scrapbook. And think about your family.... After I had printed them out, suddenly everything I had been working on this past year and a half made sense to them. And they LOVED IT!
How do I personally do it? I have the Canon i9100 printer. (This model number has been replaced by the i9900). It is consistently rated the best photo printer on the market by PC Magazine every single month and I can tell you that I have to agree with them. You might not have heard so much about these printers because Canon hasn't done as much advertising in the scrapbooking space as they should. They originally have targeted professional photographers.
I buy my ink from 123InkJets.com and print them on nice photo paper. I easily save 75% on ink costs because of where I purchase it - and we go through a lot because of the company.
I use either 8.5x8.5 or 8x8 albums now. The details show up perfectly and they FIT ON MY SHELVES!!!! 12x12 albums don't fit on any shelves on the planet, I've decided, and I seriously am regretting the 12x12 albums that I spent so much time creating. I can not find a good place in my house to put them so they are sitting in a corner in my bedroom - where no one can enjoy them. However, my 8.5x11 albums (which I used for most of my scrapbooking history) are great because they will fit on my shelves. (Happy dance!)
I printed out five complete albums and also contact sheets for every single digital photo that I have taken in the past two years in one day and guess what? I only had to change the ink tanks on some of the colors once and some of the other colors twice. This printer is not an ink hog.
Canon should win some kind of award for creating this series of printers... and for building them so that you won't go broke using the ink.
That's generally how printer companies make all of their money - by selling the ink. That's why so many printers break if you try to use an off-brand. The Canon won't do that. Actually, some people have begun to suggest that this behavior by printer companies could be considered to be breaking anti-trade practices. Can you imagine buying a car that only works on the gas that the car company sells? Isn't that a ridiculous thought? Some printers are actually engineered to break if an off-brand ink cartridge is used - they have components that can tell if it happens. And then they also like to scare you, too, telling you that your results won't be good if you don't pay them to buy their ink and their papers. And, of course, your warranty isn't any good now... Why? Because they want you to buy their ink.
Well, I have better results using this Canon with off-brand ink than I got using the Epson with Epson ink. The colors are perfect - every single time. What I see on my screen is what I get on my page.
Sorry, my Epson friends out there... I haven't seen your latest, greatest printer yet (the last one you sent me to test was the 2200) and so it may be super fantabulous! I certainly hope that you are working to fix some of the problems that exist because the people I know at Epson are awesome people... as nice as you can meet anywhere. And if you are ready to do it, I would love to see that new printer and if it is good - I''ll tell people it is good.
But because I feel that I can only put things in this newsletter that I personally believe in, I have to say that I can't recommend the Canon i9900 printer with enough enthusiasm to you, my faithful readers. If you need a new printer, check this one out. You won't regret it.
Review by Ro, CEO of Scrap Girls
From the Scrap Girls Message Board
Question: I'm just getting started in digital scrapbooking, but I've had concerns about printing out my layouts. What do you recommend?
Answer One (from Tonya Doughty, Scrap Girls Product Designer): I do just about everything, but do 8x8 the MOST. LOVE this size, it's portable, looks great, is easily printable, scans well... just love it. I do 8x10 also, if the layout warrants a non-square shape. I used to do 11x14 and frame them, but then got tired of working with the huge files so just print my 8x10's larger now and I can't see any difference. 12x12 I only do if required as they are too difficult to get printed and I have no album for them. I also have one book of 6x6, which is all paper scrapping, called my "Found" album, because each page incorporates something found.
Layout by Tonya Doughty
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Answer Two (from Valerie Randall, Scrap Girls Product Designer): I design in 12x12, but print at 8x8. I love that size! The albums are so easy to carry and store and when I travel by air, they fit in my bag. I do like 12x12 and when I show people my work, I like to have both options. But I have albums made for SBE, FanCraftic and Scrap Girls with my page sets and layouts divided by group and these are at 8x8, easy references!
Layout by Valerie Randall
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Answer Three (from Ann Hetzel Gunkel, Scrap Girls Product Designer): Since I've been a digi-scrapper, I started at 8x10 and then moved to 12x12. I now can't leave 12x12 because I love the room on the "canvas." I get my 12x12s printed at Costco and the quality is Un-bee-lieve-able. And they're cheap!! I store them all in page protectors in 3-ring books from pulp paper products. I do 6x6 paper for gift books, too, just for fun!
Layout by Ann Hetzel Gunkel
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