Why I love Digital Scrapbooking

I scrapbook digitally now.  I use Adobe Elements, and find digital scrapbooking supplies online.  I love the instant gratification of finding what I need, and being able to download it at that very moment.  I scan any ticket stubs, or other mementos to incorporate into my pages.  I print the pages at Costco and am slowly but surely working on books for all three kids.  I started scrapbooking digitally in 2006. I love digital scrapbooking for many reasons:

• Digital pictures can be easily be manipulated in size, cropped and recolored during the design process.
• I can shop online, and my supplies are a download away.
• My printed pages are not so "bulky" but still have dimension.
• I can easily move, resize, recolor any of my page elements.
• My projects are stored in my computer, when I am blocked or need to stop to make dinner, I just click save and walk away, I can come back anytime to my work in progress.
• No clean up, I hated the mess of my traditional scrapbook area. 
• Storage of supplies.  All I have is my laptop and an external drive.  
• At first I missed the tactile process of cutting and gluing, but I don't miss that now.  I get enjoyment from the design process, rather than the mechanics of the process.
• Finished pages.  I actually get pages done!  When I am inspired I can get a page done in minutes, others can take awhile longer, but I do so many more layouts now than I could ever accomplish traditionally.
• The ability to reprint a page in multiple and various sizes.  I can make a page once and print it for my book, a grandparent album, a frame, or multiple kid books.  
• Cost.  I like to think digital is cheaper, but honestly if I sat down and figured it out it might be a wash.  Cost is not the driving factor for me, all the things above is why I love digital scrapbooking.

Here are a few random pages I have made.

I don't work chronologically on books.  I just work on whatever I am inspired by when I feel like scrapbooking.  Sometimes I find a kit I want to use, other times I find all of my kits related to a theme and work on several layouts at them same time.  I don't think I will ever be "done" or "caught up" but that does not bother me. I use scrapbooking as a creative outlet, and I love watching the kids look through their books. 
Unfortunately for Cooper, all of his baby pictures are film, and not digital, so I need to scan a lot of pictures in to work on his baby book. Since most of his baby book is done traditionally, I am not extremely motivated right now to redo it, when I have so many layouts I need to create.

I have a book(s) for each kid.  I just add layouts to it as I get them done.  Eventually I will organize them in date order, but not anytime soon.  I make sure I always scrapbook school layouts, birthday layouts, sports layouts.  My plan is to at least stay up to date on these, so they are done to display at their graduation parties.  I don't feel like I have to scrapbook every picture or event.  At the end of the year, I always go through my digital photos and print out 200 pictures to include in a photo album and burn all of the pictures I took that year to a CD.  I am worried with digital photography printed photos will be a thing of the past.  I am diligent about saving and printing pictures.