How To Get Your Layouts Online
It's easy to share your layouts online....you don't need special equipment and you don't need to know how to create a web page.
Many of us have scanners today because of their low cost and ease of use. However, most home scanners aren't wide enough to accomodate 12x12 pages or 12x15 pages. You can scan right from your page in two passes and then after some practice, hair pulling and learning image editing software, you can "stitch" the two scans together. I don't recommend this method for many reasons. First and foremost, most home scanners are slow....and the more surface area they have to scan the longer they take. Each layout will also have to be scanned twice! We are already having a hard time finding time for scrapping, let alone finding time to sit at our scanners all day and scan pages! Make it easy on yourself--photograph your layouts and then scan the pictures. This method is also nice if you don't own a scanner or a digital camera because when you get your film processed you can order the Kodak Picture Disk or Kodak Floppy Disk, and all the pictures on your roll will be scanned for you. The disks run from $4-10 and are available at most retailers that offer film processing. If you are watchful, you can often find coupons in the retailers ads for discounted or even FREE disks!
To take good photos of your layouts, lay your album on the floor or low table open to the layout you want to photograph. Stand over your layout (you may find it easier to stand on a chair), zoom in tight with your lens filling the frame with your page(s), and snap the picture. Sometimes it helps to remove the page protectors to eliminate glare. As an alternative, some consultants suggest using the album stand to support your album so you don't have to stand over it while you photograph.
When you have scanned your photos (or received your Kodak Disks), open an account with PhotoPoint or Ememories (or if you are advanced, upload them to your web page). Both PhotoPoint and Ememories have instructions on how to create your photo albums....and it doesn't require any expertise. It's very easy to use!
Once you have your layouts online, send me the URL to your photo album or web page, and I will post it here. Please choose a "nickname" to use to link to your album.
You may email URLs to scraparchive@yahoo.com.
Note: If you have an original layout you'd like to protect, you may want to consider adding copyright text to your scan.
If you still prefer to scan layouts and stitch them, here is a link that might be helpful to you:
