Information

[JDs Mom]

Ok, Digi Girls, I want to make sure I'm doing this right. I've been "commissioned" to do an album for a friend of work (you've seen her daughters Preslee and Paelynn in some of my layouts...). I have never printed anything I've done in digi (I know, I know...). She wants me to make her around 20 12 x 12 layouts and then she will have them printed and bound for Christmas presents for the grandparents. If I am using PSE-7 and my blank canvas is 12 x 12 inches at a 300 resolution, will this be ok so that when printed, the res is high enough that they're clear an crisp and not fuzzy?

Anything else I need to know? I will be saving them as j-pegs so they'll automatically be flattened...I also always save a PSE version so that I can edit them if needed in the future... THANKS!!

Carol

[Ayla]

Ok, Digi Girls, I want to make sure I'm doing this right. I've been "commissioned" to do an album for a friend of work (you've seen her daughters Preslee and Paelynn in some of my layouts...). I have never printed anything I've done in digi (I know, I know...). She wants me to make her around 20 12 x 12 layouts and then she will have them printed and bound for Christmas presents for the grandparents. If I am using PSE-7 and my blank canvas is 12 x 12 inches at a 300 resolution, will this be ok so that when printed, the res is high enough that they're clear an crisp and not fuzzy?

Anything else I need to know? I will be saving them as j-pegs so they'll automatically be flattened...I also always save a PSE version so that I can edit them if needed in the future... THANKS!!

Carol

From answers I've gotten when posting questions you have it good. The 300 resolution is necessary. When you save as a JPEG, make sure you save it with high resolution as well. It's been suggested no lower than "10" on the quality scale. I haven't printed a whole layout yet, but I did a trial one on my printer (I could only print part because it's not wide format and I didn't want to upload a bunch of layouts if they weren't going to print well)....turned out well!

[mysunshine]

Yep 12x12 at 300 dpi. I had some printed at Persnickety Prints and they turned out awesome.

[AmyTeets]

Also make sure to save layered files just in case of changes. And also watch what you put around the edges just in case it gets cut off, ie. no journaling.
I recommend http://www.scrappingsimply.com/ if she's not going with shutterfly or something similar.

[PezKat]

I just received my first order of 12x12's from Artscow & they turned out great! Pages are cheap they just take a couple weeks to ship from Hong Kong.

[Ayla]

I just received my first order of 12x12's from Artscow & they turned out great! Pages are cheap they just take a couple weeks to ship from Hong Kong.

I just checked their website.....I saw $3.99 for 12x12 print? That's like twice persnickety. Do they have sales? They've got free shipping but that's a lot more per print and definitely doesn't make up for the higher print price.

[sarahwhithers]

I just received my first order of 12x12's from Artscow & they turned out great! Pages are cheap they just take a couple weeks to ship from Hong Kong.

I just checked their website.....I saw $3.99 for 12x12 print? That's like twice persnickety. Do they have sales? They've got free shipping but that's a lot more per print and definitely doesn't make up for the higher print price.

I never order indivdual prints from Artscow, but I do get the 8x8 books. They turn out great! And they often have sales on those ones for like 6 8x8 books free. I know they have 12x12 books as well. This might be an idea, to have it already made up into a book instead printing individual sheets and than putting into an album.

[Ayla]

I just received my first order of 12x12's from Artscow & they turned out great! Pages are cheap they just take a couple weeks to ship from Hong Kong.

I just checked their website.....I saw $3.99 for 12x12 print? That's like twice persnickety. Do they have sales? They've got free shipping but that's a lot more per print and definitely doesn't make up for the higher print price.

I never order indivdual prints from Artscow, but I do get the 8x8 books. They turn out great! And they often have sales on those ones for like 6 8x8 books free. I know they have 12x12 books as well. This might be an idea, to have it already made up into a book instead printing individual sheets and than putting into an album.

I don't see it's worth a book for me...I don't scrap in order, and rarely do a complete "book." Plus, I still do both paper and digi, and mix them together. I'll keep looking, although it's a good idea for an occasional gift.

[PezKat]

Well, $3.99 is half of what I'd found them for at all the other sites I knew of (5 or so?); obviously now I know of some cheaper ones! I do know that you get a bunch of free stuff (& a bunch of free prints, or at least you used to) when you 1st sign up for Artscow. Anyway I'm checking out Scrapping Simply now & will also look at Persnickety!

[Ayla]

Well, $3.99 is half of what I'd found them for at all the other sites I knew of (5 or so?); obviously now I know of some cheaper ones! I do know that you get a bunch of free stuff (& a bunch of free prints, or at least you used to) when you 1st sign up for Artscow. Anyway I'm checking out Scrapping Simply now & will also look at Persnickety!

Wow! Guess luck was on my side and I found cheap sites first. Nice to know I don't ALWAYS spend more than I have to! lol

[JDs Mom]

Aw, thanks, Ladies. I knew I could count on y'all to steer me in the right direction. I intend not to have anything to do with the actual printing of said grandparents' Christmas gifts, that's Rebecca's part (Preslee and Paelynn's Mama) and she is constantly getting packages from Shutterfly at the office, so, I think she'll get what she wants. I just had nightmares about getting the resolution right--had visions of her opening the books and seeing nothing but swirly blurry blobs where layouts should have been. Muchas Gracias for the advice, Chicas!!

[MamaK321]

your specs are perfect. Don't resize the layout smaller before you print and you'll get the best results. And just a note, when you're putting a page together, knowing that you will print it, do not enlarge any photo, paper or element because it will stretch & skew, which when printed will look all pixelated. Ity's a good rule of thumb to never make larger, just make smaller, when you are digi scrapping. If you find your photos are small on a 12x12" canvas, don't enlarge it just add lots of elements

[JDs Mom]

Oh...dear....God. I will have to start all over. I never knew that. Maybe I can convince her to do a smaller photobook, would that help?!!

[sakura-panda]

And just a note, when you're putting a page together, knowing that you will print it, do not enlarge any photo, paper or element because it will stretch & skew, which when printed will look all pixelated.

This is not always true. I enlarge photos all the time and they are fine in the final print (although it does depend on the quality of the initial photo. Pictures that are blurry or have noise only become worse when enlarged.)

Make sure the box "constrain proportions" is checked when you resize and also check that the width and height percentages are identical so that the photo keeps constant proportions when it is resized. I find that PSE does an excellent job with keeping photos sharp, as long as the initial image is of good quality.

[sarahwhithers]

I never order indivdual prints from Artscow, but I do get the 8x8 books. They turn out great! And they often have sales on those ones for like 6 8x8 books free. I know they have 12x12 books as well. This might be an idea, to have it already made up into a book instead printing individual sheets and than putting into an album.

I don't see it's worth a book for me...I don't scrap in order, and rarely do a complete "book." Plus, I still do both paper and digi, and mix them together. I'll keep looking, although it's a good idea for an occasional gift.

i actually don't have any order to my pages when I put them into a book. The only thing I do is have a theme for it. Like one book with have all my pages about my cat Merlin, another with all pages about my family, stuff like that. I don't scrap in order at all, I scrap what I feel like and what i have a kit for.

[Firegems]

I have yet to print a 12 x12 page. I have my own wide format printer but have not known what to print these pages at. Thanks so much for the help!

[MOM2SNOX]

Wow! Great information!! Thanks for asking the question Carol!