If you’re a scrapbooker but have never tried digi-scrapping or are an experienced digi-scrapper and want to do a super fast page, you may be interested in Broderbund’s new Scrapbook Boutique.It’s affordable on almost any budget and has a lot of features found in the more expensive programs like Photoshop Elements and (the leader of the pack) Photoshop Creative Suite (CS).
Like the Photoshop programs, Scrapbook Boutique features layers so you can add elements and move them around just like on a paper scrapping layout. You can recolor, resize and tweak the layers, add drop shadows, reduce opacity for a vellum or faint image look. Unlike Photoshop, Scrapbook Boutique has a spell checker and a library of designs and templates for every occasion.
Customizable templates include: Love, Weddings, Baby, Kids, Holidays, Vacations, Seasons, Celebrations, Family and Friends. In the way of design elements, Scrapbook Boutique includes decorative papers, photo mats and frames, embellishments, ribbons and bows. What more could you want?
Of course, if you already have a supply of digital embellies and ribbons and bows, you can simply click and drag them into your Scrapbook Boutique layouts. Scrapbook Boutique is available for PCs and Macs. The PC version is available as a download, so you can start playing with Scrapbook Boutique in just a few minutes.
No wasting gas or time running to the store and waiting on line to check out. Just download right to your PC, unzip and go!
Tags: Scrapbook Boutique review, scrapbooking software, digital photography, scrapbook layout templates, scrapbooking, digital scrapbook embellishments, Photoshop, digital scrapbooking
4 comments:
I'm wondering if you've ever created greeting cards using this software. If so, do you think they could be printed at a photo finishing place instead of on my printer at home? I am a big fan of Snapfish.com and send all my photos to them. It just saves to a basic jpg format, right? That way, I'd imagine it'd be simple to get it printed and sent to me. You think?
Hi Valerie,
No, I haven’t used Scrapbook Boutique for greeting cards, but yes, you can do what you describe. I checked Snapfish upload requirements and card printing options.
Snapfish recommends that the .jpg file uploaded for a 5 x 7 folded card be 840 by 600 pixels.
You don’t really have to concern yourself with the file size as long as it has:
• good resolution when you upload it; and
• the correct dimensions.
Since Scrapbook Boutique is designed primarily for scrapbooking, the default file sizes are 12 x 12 and 8 x 11 ½ inches, which are the two standard scrapbook page sizes. For a 5 x 7-inch design all you need do is constrain your design to a 5 x 7-inch section.
Before starting to lay out your design, click on File in the top tool bar and select Print Settings. Choose Advanced and enable “crop image to fit area”. Input the dimensions you want and Scrapbook Boutique will set up guidelines outlining the design space.
When you have your design completed and are ready to save it as a .jpg, go to the Control Panel on the right side of the screen, click Share Album. Then click on OK.
At the Page Selection screen, check the box of the design you want to save for printing.
On the next screen select “Large” as the export size. Click “Next” to continue.
You will then be asked to save your file to a folder on your computer. Make sure that you choose a directory that you can easily find after the pages are saved to files, such as My Documents or the computer Desktop. Click “Next.”
Confirm and click “Export”. You’ll find your high resolution .jpg design in the folder [Name You Selected]_JPEG.
Since you’re a Snapfish pro, you know what to do from there.
P.S. If you want to use pretty background papers and embellishments, Scrapbook Boutique offers a few designer packs which include 11 papers and 60 to 70 embellishments.
If you don’t find what you want there, check out the Boutique at Scrap Girls (my favorite digital design site). If you can’t find it there, it hasn’t been created yet!
Great write-up Valerie. I purchased this software from your recommendation and love it. I need to create a scrapbook page that is 8x5. I can't tell in the software how to change my canvas/page size. Any ideas? Thanks!
Hi Dan,
This is Eileen - who wrote the review ;-)
I think I covered that in my response to Valerie.
"Since Scrapbook Boutique is designed primarily for scrapbooking, the default file sizes are 12 x 12 and 8 ½ x 11 inches, which are the two standard scrapbook page sizes. For a 8 x 5-inch design all you need do is constrain your design to a 8 x 5-inch section.
Before starting to lay out your design, click on File in the top tool bar and select Print Settings. Choose Advanced and enable “crop image to fit area”. Input the dimensions you want and Scrapbook Boutique will set up guidelines outlining the design space."
I fixed a teeny typo on the standard sizes. It's 8 ½ x 11 of course, not 11 x 8 ½ as I 1st typed. Also, I put in the dimensions you requested.
Hope this helps.
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