Working on a book - Help me out!

[Cassel]

Someone suggested that I should write a book on digital scrapbooking using PSP since there is already so much content in the Campus that I can collect and publish. Well, that is easier said than done as it needs to be well organized. I searched on Amazon and there has not been any recent book on digital scrapbooking in recent years, and even less using PSP.

So, here is my thought. I want to know, from all the scrapbookers in here, what topics you feel a book should cover. Let's make a list of CHAPTERS you can envision in a book or topics you wish you had when you started (or still are looking for). I have a few ideas in mind, but I would like YOUR ideas.

I will list the CHAPTERS/TOPICS in this post as you suggest them so it will be easier to see what has been already suggested. At this point, the chapters/topics won't be organized. Here is a list-in-progress.

• Why digital scrapbooking? Pros and cons.
• The Text tool - used for titles and journaling
• Layers - linking, and grouping
• Shadows 
• Content and information - dates, names, locations
• Supplies to use - getting pre-made kits 
• Fixing photos - some basics
• Genealogy - one way to share
• Photo processing - some interesting styles to replicate or use
• 365 or 52 - a different type of documenting everyday life
• Building a page - start with the focus and add the details
• Sharing your scrapbook - printing, posting, emailing, etc.
• Using PSD supplies - a lot more can be used!
• Variety in scrapbooking - from simple and basic to complex and crafty
• TOU - what it is and why
• Clusters
• Size and formats
• Printing or not printing
• Special effects (only available for digital)
• What to scrapbook or why

[Corrie Kinkel]

Wow, this is not an easy question; I think it will need at first the chapters and than the many topics related to that particular chapter. A chapter could be about all the different ways to use the tools, like the brush tool, selection tool. Vectors would be a topic that I could have used. I'll have to think a bit more about this and come back when I have more ideas.

[Cassel]

12 minutes ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Wow, this is not an easy question; I think it will need at first the chapters and than the many topics related to that particular chapter. A chapter could be about all the different ways to use the tools, like the brush tool, selection tool. Vectors would be a topic that I could have used. I'll have to think a bit more about this and come back when I have more ideas.

I want to make it a book about SCRAPBOOKING first and not a manual for PaintShop Pro, so I am thinking of using more a scrapbooking angle than listing all the tools in PSP. However, I can definitely see a section about the Text tool, since it can be used for titles and journaling, which are often integral parts of many pages.

[Rene Marker]

My first thought was a chapter about layers, a basic explanation at first. Then go into using layer groups, linking layers and using the color highlighting in the layers palette. I personally use linking with the color highlighting to know which layers are in my clusters. I use layer groups for both clusters and alphas to resize the elements all at once.

Knowing these basics are useful when creating clusters and the shadowing of the various layers.

Another item would be shadowing and explaining how the bottom layers have smaller shadows than those higher in the layers palette especially in clusters. Also, with shadows explain how the warp brush or mesh warp tool can be used to make subtle changes to the shadows.

(On a side note I just found out a member of the Sweet Shoppe Designs design team uses PSP and I never suspected it because her shadows look great on clusters. I always though she used PS. I asked for her shadow settings and have played with them a littler and WOW what a difference on clusters!)

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

1 hour ago, Cassel said:

I want to make it a book about SCRAPBOOKING first and not a manual for PaintShop Pro,

The idea is nice but the actually doing it is difficult My thought is to start with a titel for example: Create memories. What's your goal with a or your scrapbook. You'll still have fun long after the party is over. that's why people put together a scrapbook isn't it? In Dutch we have a good word for it: after-fun. What i found out recently is that for next generations its not clear who are on the photo's and what kind of occasion the party was. I have a large box of photos from an inheritance. But I don't know who most of the people in the photos are. Since there is no one left alive except my sister and I, and a handful of niches and nephews, younger than me. One of these days I will have to throw them away. NAMES are important an the OCCATION of the party. The quality of the scrapbook is also important. 

[Cassel]

28 minutes ago, Jannette Nieuwboer said:

The idea is nice but the actually doing it is difficult

That is why I am thinking of using what already exists in the Campus but in an organized way.

I do agree with you that details are important!!!

[Suzy]

Here are some random thoughts from me.

There should be several chapters on photographs.

one for disguising bad photos,  but  the others could be something like cropping, and getting rid of photobombing things…we were just at the Andy Griffith of Mayberry Museum in Mt Airy, NC, and the 1966 Mayberry patrol car was leaving the parking lot. I snapped some quick photos because it was leaving. The houses in the background were old, but there was one modern SUV in the photo I want to get rid of. Something lIke that.

Jannette is right - the one thing about what is going to be important in 30 years.   It’s the people. And pretty much only the people. Their names. The date (as close as possible) the location. A caption at least of what you’re looking at, but more text the better.  (More text, fewer clusters.). My kids like the text the best in their baby books. It is descriptive text on their lives from my perspective…how much they cried, what  outfit  of mine they spit up on that day. what they ate, the color of their poop, presents they had gotten, that they pulled the dog’s tail or cried when they saw a certain person….minutia, really, but they love reading about it! Still! 

a caution…..where there are so many junky elements with giant flowers bigger than the heads of the people in the photos…. Where so much junk is there itks hard to figure out where there even are any important pictures.

there could also be a chapter on genealogy. Easy Sharing is one of the most important reasons to do genealogy digitally.  The other thing is not having enough actual photos of an old great uncle, for example - but the person might know he had a yellow Lab dog and the address of his house and his occupation. Without a whole lot more, they could put together a page with a little story.
(I am STILL selling copies of a genealogy book I wrote in 2008.  personally for me, figuring out how I’m going to print and bind BEFORE doing even one LO was a Godsend.)

A chapter on embracing the decade.. maybe they have a photo with 1960s color  Cross processing?, I think that's the term. They have a choice to make. Fix it or embrace it?  And you can show them how to use period text and the sepia colors for old photos,  then how the colors change per decade or generation. Because that would be really groovy. Er, da bomb. I mean hip, baby!

Be sure to touch upon the idea of scrap every day of the week, or 365 or 52 week, or whatever, to show their actual lives and what they do and how they do it. Show pics of their bathroom sinks, kitchens, including wall paper and maybe even the inside of their refrigerator, maybe you could two pages that have 365 prompts in tiny font of everyday life?  Riding in the car…facing front, backwards, car seat?, big booster seat?, whatever.  Wouldn’t it be fun for me to have that from my youth?

Well, I have 1000s of ideas, I’m just not sure this is what you mean.
 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by Suzy

[Susan Ewart]

Since it's about scrapbooking why not make it based on either the Bootcamp or the Basic Scrapbooking course.  Or a mix of the best of both.  I'm thinking if the reader has never scrapped before, but also what if they've never used PSP before, so that's why I thought a blending of the two courses.    When you are making your book think of how you told us you make scripts.  First get the basic outline, then add in the detail parts into the sections as you think of them.  Or reverse engineer it, start with the end products you want to have and then write the lessons on how it was done (This is for you to help organize the layout of the book, not how the reader would use the book).  Mind you in my bookbinding books I learned from, some would have the book you would make ( photo) then the supplies, then the directions with lots of illustrations and written directions for each (drawn or photo - in your case it would be photos and screen shots step by step).  It's quite an undertaking.  Will this be an e-book or physical paper book?   I also have bookbinding books where the chapters are (for example) the type of binding, so I also like your idea of having chapters on different aspects that you listed.  As well as Supplies and subcatagories for supplies like Papers, elements, Alphas.  What about "ready-to-use" masks and templates and how to use them?  It's a pretty complex task and figuring out how not to go with too much ideas or not being thorough enough.  

Edited November 24, 2023 by Susan Ewart

[Rene Marker]

8 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

  As well as Supplies and subcatagories for supplies like Papers, elements, Alphas.  What about "ready-to-use" masks and templates and how to use them?  It's a pretty complex task and figuring out how not to go with too much ideas or not being thorough enough.  

I definitely agree that a chapter on supplies that are already there for people to use would be nice. Most digital scrapbookers that I know like to buy a pre-made kit then scrap their layout when they first start out. Heck I've been digital scrapping since 2008 and still prefer to buy kits. I prefer my scrapbooking time actually being spent on scrapbooking not creating although I have enjoyed learning more about creating my own stuff.

As for templates, make sure to include the fact that PSD templates can be used in PSP. Even though PSD templates might have native PSD features in them, they can still be used in PSP. A PSP user will just get the basic template to use (I do it all the time).

One of the designers I have bought from has glitter styles as an add-on to her kits. Since PSP can't use styles, I always ignored them. Until I found out that the png files of the glitters could be used by saving them in the patterns folder. Not to mention all the commercial use paper textures from Pixel Scrapper that can be used by saving them in the textures folder.

I do agree with Susan about using Bootcamp as a starting point. But make sure to expand into more crafty or complex pages. Show what can be done with PSP because quite a few PSD or PSE users think PSP users cannot do everything they can! Most of the scrapbookers that I know started out with very basic pages but as they continued on they found they enjoyed the crafty (and what some call busy) pages. I've seen (and done) some crafty pages that do have the story on the page as well. Just because a page is crafty doesn't mean it can't tell a story.

Since you don't want to go in to detail about the tools, if you mention something but don't want to go into a lot of detail put a disclaimer that more info can be found at.... whether it be one of your books or a blog post or tutorial here at campus. A sneaky way to advertise 😉 

[Susan Ewart]

1 hour ago, Rene Marker said:

I definitely agree that a chapter on supplies that are already there for people to use would be nice. Most digital scrapbookers that I know like to buy a pre-made kit then scrap their layout when they first start out. Heck I've been digital scrapping since 2008 and still prefer to buy kits. I prefer my scrapbooking time actually being spent on scrapbooking not creating although I have enjoyed learning more about creating my own stuff.

As for templates, make sure to include the fact that PSD templates can be used in PSP. Even though PSD templates might have native PSD features in them, they can still be used in PSP. A PSP user will just get the basic template to use (I do it all the time).

One of the designers I have bought from has glitter styles as an add-on to her kits. Since PSP can't use styles, I always ignored them. Until I found out that the png files of the glitters could be used by saving them in the patterns folder. Not to mention all the commercial use paper textures from Pixel Scrapper that can be used by saving them in the textures folder.

I do agree with Susan about using Bootcamp as a starting point. But make sure to expand into more crafty or complex pages. Show what can be done with PSP because quite a few PSD or PSE users think PSP users cannot do everything they can! Most of the scrapbookers that I know started out with very basic pages but as they continued on they found they enjoyed the crafty (and what some call busy) pages. I've seen (and done) some crafty pages that do have the story on the page as well. Just because a page is crafty doesn't mean it can't tell a story.

Since you don't want to go in to detail about the tools, if you mention something but don't want to go into a lot of detail put a disclaimer that more info can be found at.... whether it be one of your books or a blog post or tutorial here at campus. A sneaky way to advertise 😉 

Well said Rene.  I did not know that about the Styles.  I have downloaded some in the past thinking I could use them.  I'll have to find them and see if they have png files.

[Cassel]

9 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

It's quite an undertaking.  Will this be an e-book or physical paper book? 

I plan on a physical book to start.

[Cassel]

You are giving me such great feedback!!!! I'll go update the starting post.

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

17 hours ago, Cassel said:

I want to make it a book about SCRAPBOOKING first and not a manual for PaintShop Pro,

I think that Corel can make a handout them self very well. Even one for dummies.  (I seriously hope they do once.)  It must be adjusted every year when a newer edition is published. In that case an electronic book seems the best option. It seems to me that Carole just meant with paper and scissors etc. There won't be much demand for that here in Europe, for both ways. not. When i reed Suzy's reply where you al doing so when i didn't new even that it existed. Not as much scrapbooking is done here than in the States. Then there is an inexhaustible source of ideas through FB, Insta, and Pinterest etc. People will come up with their ideas. I think the best option would be something for under the Xmas tree. Something you don't really need but is nice to get. Might be something in smaller booklets or parts. Than they can safe them together or keep it by what they are really intrested in.......  

[Susan Ewart]

12 hours ago, Suzy said:

Here are some random thoughts from me.

There should be several chapters on photographs.

one for disguising bad photos,  but  the others could be something like cropping, and getting rid of photobombing things…we were just at the Andy Griffith of Mayberry Museum in Mt Airy, NC, and the 1966 Mayberry patrol car was leaving the parking lot. I snapped some quick photos because it was leaving. The houses in the background were old, but there was one modern SUV in the photo I want to get rid of. Something lIke that.

Jannette is right - the one thing about what is going to be important in 30 years.   It’s the people. And pretty much only the people. Their names. The date (as close as possible) the location. A caption at least of what you’re looking at, but more text the better.  (More text, fewer clusters.). My kids like the text the best in their baby books. It is descriptive text on their lives from my perspective…how much they cried, what  outfit  of mine they spit up on that day. what they ate, the color of their poop, presents they had gotten, that they pulled the dog’s tail or cried when they saw a certain person….minutia, really, but they love reading about it! Still! 

a caution…..where there are so many junky elements with giant flowers bigger than the heads of the people in the photos…. Where so much junk is there itks hard to figure out where there even are any important pictures.

there could also be a chapter on genealogy. Easy Sharing is one of the most important reasons to do genealogy digitally.  The other thing is not having enough actual photos of an old great uncle, for example - but the person might know he had a yellow Lab dog and the address of his house and his occupation. Without a whole lot more, they could put together a page with a little story.
(I am STILL selling copies of a genealogy book I wrote in 2008.  personally for me, figuring out how I’m going to print and bind BEFORE doing even one LO was a Godsend.)

A chapter on embracing the decade.. maybe they have a photo with 1960s color  Cross processing?, I think that's the term. They have a choice to make. Fix it or embrace it?  And you can show them how to use period text and the sepia colors for old photos,  then how the colors change per decade or generation. Because that would be really groovy. Er, da bomb. I mean hip, baby!

Be sure to touch upon the idea of scrap every day of the week, or 365 or 52 week, or whatever, to show their actual lives and what they do and how they do it. Show pics of their bathroom sinks, kitchens, including wall paper and maybe even the inside of their refrigerator, maybe you could two pages that have 365 prompts in tiny font of everyday life?  Riding in the car…facing front, backwards, car seat?, big booster seat?, whatever.  Wouldn’t it be fun for me to have that from my youth?

Well, I have 1000s of ideas, I’m just not sure this is what you mean.
 

 

 

 

Wow. So much awesome ideas.  I have loads of old family photos of my parents and no clue who anyone is (other than my parents and grandparents).  They are all gone now.  Wish I was into that sooner so I could have asked more questions.  I guess that's why I never actually scrapped physically, because I come from a photo arts background (and handmade books/paper) so I was more interested in the art aspect of layouts...as I am now.  The only family members i've digitally scrapped is my cats.  Yikes eh!  

[Susan Ewart]

A section at the end for where to find supplies listed by category

 

Like:

Fonts - then a list of some current free and non free places

Kits - list places you can get kits or elements etc

Other supplies: eg. like textures, brushes, scripts 

Tutorial sites - yours, Corel

Also:

section on "making your own supplies"  (papers, flowers, elements - just some basic ones )

Also, somewhere in there explaining what CU and PU and Scrap-for-hire mean...I didnt understand that for some time.  

[Cassel]

2 hours ago, Rene Marker said:

Since you don't want to go in to detail about the tools, if you mention something but don't want to go into a lot of detail put a disclaimer that more info can be found at.... whether it be one of your books or a blog post or tutorial here at campus. A sneaky way to advertise 😉 

Let's be honest: that is definitely one purpose of that book too! 

[Susan Ewart]

2 hours ago, Cassel said:

Let's be honest: that is definitely one purpose of that book too! 

and it should be!  The more people that find the campus and the store and Corel will only benefit us all and hopefully you really will, because you put tireless effort into all the great resources you've given to us.  You should be well compensated for that.  I'm a book lover, I'll be buying no matter what.

[Susan Ewart]

Oh, dont forget a section on clusters.  that seems to be used a lot

[Cassel]

With all those fantastic ideas, I might need to write an encyclopedia!

... or maybe build a website ?? 😉

[Rene Marker]

21 minutes ago, Cassel said:

With all those fantastic ideas, I might need to write an encyclopedia!

... or maybe build a website ?? 😉

I know a lot of the information is available on the internet but you have to search all over the place to find it. And, that can be frustrating! Especially since most of it is focused on PS and PSE. I think a book would be great for a start then possibly build the website to go with the book.

I've only learned what I know by trial and error and frequenting various forums over the years. I already was familiar with PSP when I started since I had already been using it for over 10 years for scanning and correcting photos. I was familiar with layers since the first thing I ever did with PSP in a class on ZDNet was make signatures for forums! But I was a complete novice when it came to digital scrapbooking although I had done paper scrapbooking so knew what scrapbooking was. I needed to learn more about the process.

I just thought of something else that isn't PSP specific but how about having testimonials from scrapbookers that use the program giving their tips for how they do things. (For example, when I shadow my layouts I start with the bottom layer and work my way up the layer palette. This way I always know which layers have shadows when I don't use shadows on a separate layer.)

[Cassel]

19 minutes ago, Rene Marker said:

I just thought of something else that isn't PSP specific but how about having testimonials from scrapbookers that use the program giving their tips for how they do things. (For example, when I shadow my layouts I start with the bottom layer and work my way up the layer palette. This way I always know which layers have shadows when I don't use shadows on a separate layer.)

That is an interesting idea. I might just ask you all when the time comes!

[MoniqueN.]

The first thing that came to my mind is a title: Digital Srapbooking made easy😎

[MoniqueN.]

23 hours ago, Cassel said:

I want to make it a book about SCRAPBOOKING first and not a manual for PaintShop Pro, so I am thinking of using more a scrapbooking angle than listing all the tools in PSP. However, I can definitely see a section about the Text tool, since it can be used for titles and journaling, which are often integral parts of many pages.

But if you don't know how the tools work.........you can't do much scrapbooking at all?

 

 

[Cassel]

20 minutes ago, MoniqueN. said:

But if you don't know how the tools work.........you can't do much scrapbooking at all?

Of course, tools would be mentioned and used, but I would not want to main focus to be on the tools, but use the tools to guide the scrapbooking.

[Sue Thomas]

33 minutes ago, Cassel said:

Of course, tools would be mentioned and used, but I would not want to main focus to be on the tools, but use the tools to guide the scrapbooking.

This  is only a thought, as it seems to me that you want to focus on actual  digital scrapbooking, but  you can't  do it without reference to a graphics program, in this case PSP. To achieve the  realistic digital scrapbook page layout. What about splitting the book into 2 parts.  The first half of the book or how many pages it will take would be designated  to creating digital scrapbook pages.  The second half or the last quarter of the book could focus on tool references within PSP.  In other words a Bibliography.  I know  that section is usually reserved for book references on a particular subject, related to the  book being read.  Your Bibliography would refer the reader to pages,  in the campus. Along with brief instruction on how to create shadows, or  a title for instance. 

This way your book will attract the conventical scrap booker, who can pick up ideas and tips, while  the digital scrapbooker or want to be digital scrapbooker will get to learn how to use   PSP.  Become familiar with Corel.  For instance, say your first chapter is about Titles.  Then in  your Bibliography, under Chapter 1. Titles, you  can list  bog posts, masterclasses, and lab titles for  the reader to check out.   

I hope you know where I'm coming from with this.