Making a Mother's Day Digital Scrapbook

Attention children, grandchildren and husbands: if you're thinking of breaking out the crayons and construction paper for some Mother's Day coupons that are "good for back rub" or "will clean up room without complaining,' then think again. Although these cute and not-so-creative pieces of art may be legendary, they have certainly seen their day. Moms, and especially grandmothers who may not be close by, want something they can cherish. They want something they can look at and know it was created with love but also be something they can show to their friends with pride.

Digital scrapbooks aren't terribly hard to make if you have the right equipment. They can be as simple as a set of pictures in a digital picture frame or as elaborate as a DVD put together with pictures, music and even video. With the right photo software on your computer you could even make an actual scrapbook at home or have one created for you with the pictures you choose. You just need to decide your budget, your capabilities and the tools necessary to make it all happen.

Assuming you're starting with nothing but a set of pictures you think your mom or grandma might love this first option is the easiest and least expensive. Internet sites like Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com) take the pictures you upload onto their site and help you arrange them in a wide variety of scrapbooks. You can even have an image put onto a mousepad or make a calendar with your pictures, among other things. They have a library of colorful themes and their books come in various sizes and styles to fit any budget.

If you're a bit more computer savvy than that another option is using the Photoshop software (available for Mac and PC) to create your very own scrapbook pages. If this is your first time working with Photoshop you may want to give yourself some time to learn how it works and develop some ideas on how you want your scrapbook to look. Once you've developed your pages simply print them out and place them in a nice photo album. The advantage of building your own pages from scratch is the ability to add your own personal text and elements to make it special.

Maybe you're looking for something either a bit more high tech or something with more pizazz. Enter the digital picture frame. The cost of a digital picture frame varies by style and size of screen, however the beauty is the pictures can be updated from time to time. Digital picture frames are easy enough to use. Simply load the pictures you want into the frame either straight from your camera or from your computer's photo library. Most frames come with the ability to either focus on one picture all the time or alternate between the pictures that are loaded into it. Year after year new pictures can be loaded as children grow.

The penultimate of digital scrapbooks is that which ends up on a DVD. It requires the proper software and a certain degree of computer knowledge to do it yourself but Mom will be so impressed when she pops it in her DVD player and watching your creation. The first thing you'll need is movie-making software to put it all together like iMovie. In this program you will be able to add video from your video camera, pictures from your photo library and music from your music library. Once you have all these tools in place the magic can begin.

Visualize how you want your digital scrapbook to look. Many times the best place to start is in the music selection - this often directs your video and pictures. Begin playing your music and see what pictures and video look good with it and where they should fall in line. Add titles and text such as the name and date of an occasion being viewed or the location of the vacation pictures you're looking at. Try to put videos and pictures in a logical chronological order so it plays almost like a story from start to end. Use the fading effects and sliding effects to play with your pictures as them move in and out of the screen. Make sure the timing of the effects compliment the tempo of the music - don't rush or go painfully slow. Also remember to keep and eye on the time. It doesn't have to be a 5 minute digital photo sprint but if you find you need an intermission about halfway through chances are it's running a bit long. After you're satisfied with your digital scrapbook it's time to commit it to DVD. Follow the instructions with your software to burn it to a DVD, place it in your own DVD player to make sure it works (there's always that one DVD that doesn't work and it WILL be your Mom's Mother's Day present unless you check it first!) wrap it up and you're good to go.

Digital scrapbooks are an excellent way to share memories with that special person on Mother's Day. Whether it's your mother, your grandmother or even a husband's gift to his wife - photos are a wonderful way to show your love and appreciation, and what better way to express that love than with a digital scrapbook.