ACOT Message Board

Few Questions =) Hope its ok I ask them all at once instead of separate posts!


1 - This might seem like a silly question, but I still wanna ask it Lol.
Alot of the kits I have bought come with Alphas, but they seem really small... is it ok to stretch them to make them the size you need? In my experience with other graphic design it's always better to make things smaller, not larger. I'm wondering if it will appear grainy when printed?

2 - Ya know those photos we all have that are from years ago and not in digital format? What is the best way to get them digital? Would it work to simply take a picture of the picture with your camera? I've got a good one, so they look pretty good when I do that, but I am wondering if they will print decent? Or would it be better to scan them into my computer via printer/scanner?

3 - Are there any challenge BLOGS for digiscrapping? I know theres a ton for cardmakers, I've participated in a few, but seems most of the digiscrapping challenges I have found are for forums, and I don't want to have to join up with a bunch of forums. I happen to like it here so far, and I don't have time for more anyways lol. Plus, I'd like to find stuff to do for my blog, too

4 - Where is your favorite place to get 12x12's printed? I am not lucky enough to have a printer that prints that large, so I will have to order prints =)

5 - What's YOUR blog link? My digiscrap blog is linked below, let me know if you follow me I'll follow back!

Hello! let's see if I can answer any of this for you.

The alphas, depending on how large you make them, and how you stretch them, there may be a bit of distortion. I usually try not to make things too much bigger than they already are.

I prefer to scan my old photos, but you could probably take a picture of them, if they turn out well. Taking a picture will probably give you a bigger image than just scanning them, so you won't have to enlarge stuff as much.

I don't know about any challenge blogs, but we do have monthly challenges on this site. November's will probably be up some time today actually (1st of every month). Check http://www.acherryontop.com/articles/cat/81 to see the past challenges. Might spark some inspiration for ya! As well, we have monthly winners, a random drawing from those who participate in the challenges to grab some ACOt points.

The printing places are of preference really. I'd suggest to try a few different places, maybe when they have sales, and see which you like better. I often print my pages to 8x8 books at artscow.com. You can also get stuff printed on tons of other stuff too, so I like it there.

And my blog is in my siggy! haha!!

sarahwhithers wrote:Hello! let's see if I can answer any of this for you.

The alphas, depending on how large you make them, and how you stretch them, there may be a bit of distortion. I usually try not to make things too much bigger than they already are.

I prefer to scan my old photos, but you could probably take a picture of them, if they turn out well. Taking a picture will probably give you a bigger image than just scanning them, so you won't have to enlarge stuff as much.

I don't know about any challenge blogs, but we do have monthly challenges on this site. November's will probably be up some time today actually (1st of every month). Check http://www.acherryontop.com/articles/cat/81 to see the past challenges. Might spark some inspiration for ya! As well, we have monthly winners, a random drawing from those who participate in the challenges to grab some ACOt points.

The printing places are of preference really. I'd suggest to try a few different places, maybe when they have sales, and see which you like better. I often print my pages to 8x8 books at artscow.com. You can also get stuff printed on tons of other stuff too, so I like it there.

And my blog is in my siggy! haha!!

Someone who is more resourceful than I am can probably find the thread where we all talked about where to print...there are good ideas there. I've printed at Ritz photo, but also online at scrapbooks something...great quality both places. You can get coupons for printingm or watch for sales.


I also prefer to scan photos...I have found I can stretch them a bit without it looking to pixel-y, but I haven't taken them real far. More of my issue with alphas in kits is making them smaller as I tend to create longer titles, but I've stretched other elements without having problems! Can't wait to see what you're doing!

Ayla wrote:

sarahwhithers wrote:The printing places are of preference really. I'd suggest to try a few different places, maybe when they have sales, and see which you like better. I often print my pages to 8x8 books at artscow.com. You can also get stuff printed on tons of other stuff too, so I like it there.

Someone who is more resourceful than I am can probably find the thread where we all talked about where to print...there are good ideas there. I've printed at Ritz photo, but also online at scrapbooks something...great quality both places. You can get coupons for printingm or watch for sales.

Someone should make a "Tools of the Trade" sticky -- like the ones in the other forums for adhesives and trimmers, etc -- and we can all chime in -- this question seems to come up a lot!

* I've had good luck with resizing elements bigger in Photoshop and having them look okay when printed. I don't like to do that though and tend to just use a fun font when I want something bigger than what I have (I don't use pre-made alphas very often.)

* Back when I was shooting film, I used to get CDs at the same time; before that, I had a machine that would digitize my APS negatives for me. I'm no help to you there, but I would think that scanning the negatives would be your best option. I think that photo labs that process film can probably digitize negatives. Really no idea about taking pictures versus scanning them.

* Yes, there are challenge blogs for digi scrappers, or there used to be. (I remember one called The Digi Dares; not sure if they are still around.) I don't have any idea how to help you find them though -- it's been a long time since I went looking for any. I prefer to do standard challenges myself, rather than ones that are specific to digi or paper.

* I usually have mine printed at Costco; I recently tried Persnickity Prints and I like them a lot too. Costco is still easier.

* I haven't updated my blog since last May and don't think I'm going to be updating it anymore, so I'm not going to share.

1. I never stretch anything bigger. Normally alphas are at least an inch so they don't overpower a 12x12 layout
2. I scan mine
3. I usually just do the challenges here
4. amyteetsdesigns.blogspot.com

HTH!
Oh and I've printed mine through scrapsimply and Michaels if I don't print them from home.

1. I try never to go bigger
2. It depends how old they are, if photos are on mat paper I scan them, if they are on shiny paper or are really old and have texture I photograph them
3. I do challenges here or at the http://www.digidares.com/
4. No clue, I don´t live in the states
5. My blog is in my ziggy

1 - This might seem like a silly question, but I still wanna ask it Lol.
Alot of the kits I have bought come with Alphas, but they seem really small... is it ok to stretch them to make them the size you need? In my experience with other graphic design it's always better to make things smaller, not larger. I'm wondering if it will appear grainy when printed?

In my experience, most good quality Alpha's should be able to be expanded usually double and triple their size.

2 - Ya know those photos we all have that are from years ago and not in digital format? What is the best way to get them digital? Would it work to simply take a picture of the picture with your camera? I've got a good one, so they look pretty good when I do that, but I am wondering if they will print decent? Or would it be better to scan them into my computer via printer/scanner?

I prefer to scan them in at the highest DPI your scanner will go.

3 - Are there any challenge BLOGS for digiscrapping? I know theres a ton for cardmakers, I've participated in a few, but seems most of the digiscrapping challenges I have found are for forums, and I don't want to have to join up with a bunch of forums. I happen to like it here so far, and I don't have time for more anyways lol. Plus, I'd like to find stuff to do for my blog, too

We have challenges here monthly. Several can be done digitally. I'm not sure about blogs, but am sure there must be some out there.
4 - Where is your favorite place to get 12x12's printed? I am not lucky enough to have a printer that prints that large, so I will have to order prints =)

I prefer Persnickty Prints. I've used them and they turned out beautifully!

5 - What's YOUR blog link? My digiscrap blog is linked below, let me know if you follow me I'll follow back!

I think my blog is in my siggy, but I'm so bad about updating it!

1. yes you can stratch them but you need to make sure you are using the enlarge tool and making sure they stay in porportion..i.e if you want to make it 150% bigger you need ot make sure the width and height are both 150%

2 - I scan mine

3 - not really sure.....


4 - I really like Costoc, Shutterfly {but you have to be careful because they will cut some of your page off so I make sure to scrap more than 1/4" from the edge on all of my Lo's} Persnicity prints andInkubook {I like getting my pages printed in abound book at the end of the year}Blurb is also suppose to be pretty nice



5 - I haven't kept up with my blog in almost a year

If you have the negatives for the old pics then it is best to scan the negatives. But, you have to have a scanner that can do that. There are places that will scan the negatives for you, but buyer beware. Some places don't scan them in at a very high resolution. Other places don't bother to clean the dust off the negatives. And if they are really old negatives on film that isn't made anymore the colors can out off if they don't have the proper settings. And if they are of an old film type that is no longer made, you can get really ripped off. I took some old 126 film negatives in to be scanned and paid like $4 each. It turned out all they did was printed out the photos at only 4" x 4" and then scanned in those little photos - and not at a high resolution either. Nor did they clean the negatives before they printed the pics.

I wanted to pop in and say Hi looks like you've got some great answers already. Here is a link to that previous topic discussing printing options
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=237943

....you wanted answers....you got answers.....