Scrapbooks are a great hobby for young and old alike; they keep memories alive and celebrate your precious keepsakes.  But of course with the advent of home computers and the increase in software for not just business but virtually any pursuit you could imagine, it didn’t take long for there to be programs that let you make scrapbook pages on your computer.  If you want to begin with some digital scrapbooking for teachers, what are some things you should keep in mind?  How difficult are these programs to work with?  And where can you find software programs that are specifically made for digital scrapbooking for teachers?  Let’s look at some of these questions here.

Capturing Memories

Keeping memories alive from a year’s worth of class, or for any other reason, is a great project for digital scrapbooking for teachers.  They are sure to appreciate your efforts as you show your appreciation for theirs.  But one of the first questions you might ask yourself is just what memories you want to keep.  Trying to use every photo or every memento will just overwhelm your project, so be selective.  Which ones capture the theme or feel of the entire year or semester?  Or, if you’re considering a project of digital scrapbooking for teachers of subjects like art, theater, music, cheerleading, coaches, and the like, you may want to remember the big recital or the end-of-the-year play, and so on.  One or two big events, with some selective memories of the weeks leading up to it, will probably be sufficient.

And of course you will need at least one good picture of everyone in the class, preferably at the end of the year.  You can make up a sign for the year of graduation or the name of the play or something else significant.  After all, you may put all the details and thought possible into your digital scrapbooking for teachers and coaches and the like, but what good will it do if they can’t remember the year or the play?

Scanning Your Items

Usually when using the software needed for digital scrapbooking for teachers, you will need a way to scan in items that you will use as focal points, if they are not pictures you already have on your computer.  For example, if you have pages of sheet music for a band teacher or a program from the play for a theater teacher, you will need a way to scan those into your computer.  Most scanners for home computers are very affordable these days, and sometimes you can even use your home printer that’s already set up as such.

Sometimes, however, if you don’t have a scanner, you may want to consider just using pictures from your digital camera, as these are usually in a format that’s easier to get to your computer.  Your camera may already come with a cord to connect it to your PC, or you may have a chip of some sort that plugs into your computer’s USB hub.  Remember, you’re creating digital scrapbooking for teachers to be fun, not to be difficult for yourself, so do what is best for your own equipment.

Picking a Theme

If you’re talking about digital scrapbooking for teachers at a particular school, then you may want to incorporate the school colors or mascot or team names throughout.  For example, if the school colors were navy blue and white, you can make sure that all your pages are these two colors.  Or, use embellishments that are these two colors.  Or, if your school had a particular animal or other character as a mascot or team name – such as a cougar, a lion, a tiger, and so on – you can use this animal throughout as well. 

One great idea when it comes to digital scrapbooking for teachers is to put one common element on each page, something that reminds them of the school, the theater troupe, the team, or for whatever class they were teaching.  For example, if this is for a football coach, then of course different elements of football can be put on each page, giving it its theme.  If you’re doing digital scrapbooking for teachers of theater or some other type of art, use different elements of this pursuit throughout as well. 

Get Creative With Embellishments

Because digital scrapbooking for teachers is done on your computer and is not a physical page, you can do two things with embellishments.  First, get creative with those embellishments on your computer.  Most software programs that you would use when creating digital scrapbooking for teachers or for anyone else will come with embellishment extras.  However, don’t forget that once you have your pages laid out on the computer you can run off hard copies if you want, and add embellishments to this as well.  So, if you have any physical items you want to use as embellishments – petals from the flowers you used in a play, pages of sheet music, and so on – be sure to leave room for them when doing your page on your computer.  Remember, like any scrapbook, digital scrapbooking for teachers should include personal elements that really make the project something unique and special.

Should You Make a Hard Copy?

When doing digital scrapbooking for teachers, you have the option of running off a hard copy of the book and getting it bound, or of simply saving it to a CD-ROM, or creating a PDF file.  When deciding on what you want to do, remember that there are probably several other students who would love a copy of it as well.  Wanting to print copies for everyone is nice, but you will need to consider the cost.  What you might consider doing instead is giving all the students a CD-ROM and running off just one copy for the instructor.  This way you can do a nice presentation to him or her, and your new hobby of digital scrapbooking for teachers will not be something that breaks your bank or hurts your budget.