Choosing Your Scrapbook Printer

Digital Scrapbooking is a wonderful creative outlet and choosing a scrapbook printer is one of the most important decisions you will make. You can create anything your mind can conceive right on your computer screen, but what do you do with your creations once they are completed?

You can print single page layouts and place the pages in a traditional scrapbook, you can have your layouts printed and bound into hard cover storybooks, or you can create decorative and gift items. No matter what your ultimate goal with your designs, you will need to decide how to print your final projects.

Options for Digital Scrapbook Printing

• You can print your own individual pages on an inkjet printer.

• You can have your finished files printed by a regular photo printer, either through a local supplier or or through an online service.

• You can choose to have your final layouts printed into bound hard cover books.

• You can choose to have your final layouts printed by digital offset process onto single sheets, playing cards, posters and more.

Choosing an Inkjet Printer

• Do you want to print at 12 x 12 inches or will 8 x 10 or 8 x 8 work for you? If your current printer is a standard paper size, you will be limited to 8 x 10 in most cases.

• Does you current printer have photo capabilities? Inexpensive printers designed for general printing won't produce the best quality prints for scrapbooking. For the best quality you should be using a photo quality printer.

• What type of ink does you printer use? For scrapbooking, you will want to use archival pigment inks with compatible paper for the best quality.

If you decide to purchase a specific scrapbook printer, research your options. Make archival properties, print size, print quality and operating costs your main considerations. All of the major brands (Epson, HP and Canon) have great printers available that will print photo quality prints in
12 x 12 or larger sizes.

One of the biggest benefits of owning your own printer is that you can print on demand at any time. However, the cost can be more than using an outside printer, and if you don't use your printer on a regular basis, it may not be the best choice.

Choosing a Printing Service

If you would rather spend your time creating layouts than in actually printing your work, there are many printing services available. One such service to check out is Scrapping Simply.

When checking into any printing service you will again want to determine if the print quality meets your expectations and you will want to know what their archival properties. Some services offer a true photographic print and others offer digital offset printing. Each has it's advantages.

At the very least, for the best possible outcome you will want to find out if the service requires file submission in a specific size, color space and file format.

About Colors

When printing your layouts, whether yourself or having someone else print them, be aware that what you see on your screen will not necessarily match your final print exactly.

• Computer monitors do not show color accurately unless they have been calibrated.

• Certain colors, especially dark blues, purples and florescent colors that can be viewed on a computer screen are not within the range that is possible to print, especially with digital offset printing.

• Color spaces used in your camera, used by the designer of your scrapbook elements and used by your printing service can all affect final color of your prints.