From Jen White: I recently had the pleasure of corresponding with Cheryl Ausdahl over email. She took the opportunity to tell me the story of her journey and I asked her If I could share her words. Let this be an encouragement to you.

From Cheryl:
I have been scrapbooking since 2008, when I discovered PSE and Linda Sattgast’s training. I still consider myself a moderately experienced PSE scrapbooker. I would like to share my story with you.

I am currently 68 years old and a grandma to five great kids. In 2008, I was a grandma to one and a fourth-grade teacher to many. My husband had been a systems analyst and knew computers well. I had a teacher gift card after Christmas and walked into a Barnes and Noble store and perused the magazine rack. I had been doing a little bit of paper-and-scissors scrapbooking and found it very messy and wasteful when I wrecked a photo, so when I saw a magazine about DIGITAL scrapbooking it intrigued me. I showed my husband the magazine I had purchased about this new hobby I wanted to explore. I was drawn toward the easier-to-use programs described in the ads, but my husband told me I would not be happy with those down the road and encouraged me to get Photoshop Elements, which at that time came with Linda Sattgast’s CD training. I was on my way to learning how to digitally scrapbook! (On a side note, I discovered Linda Sattgast was the author of The Rhyming Bible, which I had and enjoyed reading to my son when he was little back in the 1990’s!)

At first, that meant buying online supplies similar to paper scrapbooking and finding sizes and colors to work well with my photos, but I soon learned things I could do in PSE to manipulate my photos and supplies to adjust colors and effects that made them work better together. I also wanted to MAKE some of my own elements and papers for use on my pages, since I found that bit of creativity a very fun aspect of the hobby! Digital Scrapper’s ongoing tutorials gave me the boosts that I was looking for in small bites that I could handle and remember.

Over the years, both my husband and my son gave me the in-house support I needed when I got stuck on something while sitting at my computer. I also found it comforting to hear in tutorials when someone found some aspect of PSE “tricky” or if it didn’t work quite as it should—then I knew it wasn’t just me doing something incorrectly. I really wanted to learn the program, so I pushed on, and I soon found that the program had so much more to offer than I would probably ever have time or energy to expand upon.

Over time, I upgraded my version of PSE. I started with version 6, and currently use 2024. My computers have been upgraded, too, to incorporate more storage. My favorite PSE upgrade over the years was the inclusion of masks, and my favorite manipulations have been with color and light adjustments of my photos and supplies, including selecting areas of a photo to adjust as needed. My digital photos look so much better than in the early days, and it’s not just due to newer camera technology!

And one thing indeed leads to another. Learning digital scrapbooking made me want to learn more about taking better photos. So many things beg to have a photo taken so a memory can be made of the moment! One of the most important things about scrapbooking is the STORIES that go with the photos. It’s history being written down in present time for the future. I have created a couple of heritage books over the years which are special to me and my family. I am so glad I made them. Now, when I run across an old photo that I know something about or find compelling, I scrapbook it while it’s on my mind and throw it into the current volume of my Life Moments scrapbooks. I don’t care if it’s mixed in with the current stuff. I create 8 x 8-inch pages so the books can fit easily on bookshelves. This size book is also more economical for when I purchase multiple copies. When I have between 100 and 111 pages made, I put them in chronological order within the book, and then I create the covers and a spine for a new volume of memories. I upload to Shutterfly, wait for free “unlimited” pages and other deals, and order seven copies. I couldn’t do that with a paper-and-scissors scrapbook! I currently have enough pages ready to complete Life Moments Volume 24 and start Volume 25.

Keeping up with the present while going back to the past is a big task in scrapbooking. With the digital age upon us, there are SO many photos now, and I have many photos sitting in storage bins that also need to be digitized and scrapbooked. Names and places must be attached to them so they are not lost to future generations. I am guessing it won’t all get done in my lifetime while someone may still know the names and faces. It’s important to keep the hobby fun, so sitting down to work on it is something I WANT to do for myself and others.

Memory Keepers. That’s who we are.

Thanks, Jen, for continuing with this company and teaching us ways to be creative with digital scrapbooking! And thank you for keeping things simple and fresh for those of us who have so much scrapbooking to do but who want to keep it interesting along the way. I do struggle with balancing getting the actual scrapbooking done with taking classes to learn more, but the classes are always inspiring! My beginning books are so different from the ones I create today, and I am sure today’s scrapbooks will differ from the ones I create in the future because scrapbooking is a hobby that you can keep changing and growing with to meet your joys and needs.

Cheryl Ausdahl

Do you have story to tell? I’d love to hear it and share it with others. Email me anytime.

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Author: Jen White | Contact Us
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