In this series, I will be going over many ways you can complete pocket scrapbooking and scrapbooking tasks with your smart phone or tablet. There are so many things that you can do now and there will be even more things you can do in the near future! I am hoping that we can keep these posts current as updates come to us.
I am starting today with organizing your photos, memories and digital goodies and showing you some camera app options. Here is a look at a few apps I have on my iPod Touch that I use for mobile memory keeping.
To get started using your phone (or tablet) for Project Life or digital scrapbooking, there is going to be some time spent at your computer getting everything you need in place to work for you.
First, upload your photos, fonts, digital journal cards, papers and embellishments to an app like Dropbox. I do recommend Dropbox as it is the easiest to use and is very compatible with apps like Becky Higgins Project Life app and LetterGlow which I use quite a lot)
I use a folder system in Dropbox similar to my computer in which I have a folder for each of my favorite designers and in each designer's folder, I have each kit or card set in its own folder. I try to only upload things I might actually use on my mobile since I only have a free Dropbox account. I use Other backups for my digital files so I only use Dropbox for mobile memory keeping. (For more on organizing digital scrapbook goodies, see my post here)
For organizing photos and text, I use the Collect app. (Many Android users use Momento or Evernote.) I add any photos I have taken that particular day to the Collect app and I add my documentation right with the photo. I can use multiple albums in the app and this helps me keep track of photos and notes I want to use in multiple albums. I have a day to day album that I use for my Project Life 12x12, an Amie at 39 album that I use for a mini book I am working on, and I have one for different monthly photo a day challenges I do, and one where I keep track of food photos and where I may have used a recipe.
So I can go back in the app to any given day and see the photos and note I made while I am working on my Project Life pages! I will use it to make notes even if I don't have a photo by taking a picture in the app of whatever is in front of me (Usually the carpet.) and then writing in the thought or thing Ian said that was funny.
So I can go back in the app to any given day and see the photos and note I made while I am working on my Project Life pages! I will use it to make notes even if I don't have a photo by taking a picture in the app of whatever is in front of me (Usually the carpet.) and then writing in the thought or thing Ian said that was funny.
A note about the Becky Higgins Project Life app
The Project Life app has journal card sets that you can purchase in the app and you can really do an entire page in the app. If you want to add other things like borders to your photos, or artwork from other apps, or your own journal cards, those would be the only reason you need to use any other apps for journaling and artwork really. If you want simple and easy, the Project Life app can do everything but take your photos and edit them for you. I particularly like that you can get photos right from Dropbox in the app if you have that set up with Dropbox. I will be covering the PL app in the Scrapbooking portion of this blog series.
Taking Pictures.
I use either my regular old phone camera, VSCO Cam or the Gorilla Cam apps to take photos. I find I since I need to snap a photos quickly, my regular old phone camera is most used. I love the filters in VSCO, but it just takes too long for me to open for day to day toddler photos. I use the Gorilla Cam app for anything when I need a timer.
You can set the number of photos it takes, and the timer so you can run across the room and get in your photo if you need to. The multiple photos is the big thing for me with that app. Who wants to run back and forth and check each photo one by one before you get a good one! I have heard that Focal and NightCap takes better pictures in low light, I am testing them while I write this post.
I also upload photos from my big camera to Dropbox so they can be used in the Project Life app. You can purchase a memory card called and Eye-Fi card with will upload from your camera to your computer or Dropbox wirelessly! Then you would be able to skip the step of moving from your computer to Dropbox unless you shoot in RAW. RAW images would need to be converted to JPG to be used on the apps we are using here.
Please feel free to add any of your own organizing and photo app tips you have to the comments here.
On Thursday, the next part of this tutorial series will be posted, Editing Apps.
We have also set up a Pinterest page with some favorite apps and their links to either iTunes or Google Play so you can find the apps for your mobile device. It is a work in progress so bear with me!
Please feel free to add any of your own organizing and photo app tips you have to the comments here.
On Thursday, the next part of this tutorial series will be posted, Editing Apps.
We have also set up a Pinterest page with some favorite apps and their links to either iTunes or Google Play so you can find the apps for your mobile device. It is a work in progress so bear with me!
Mobile Memory Keeping Part 2 │Editing Your Photos
My favorite app for editing right now is Instagram. The ability to sharpen photos in their app is amazing. To save photos without posting them, you need to be offline or, I just snap a screen shot after editing and then crop my screen shot. On almost every photo I take with my phone, I increase the contrast and sharpness. Sometimes increasing brightness and decreasing shadows. Some photos that were taken in low light, I need to decrease the warmth (or colorcast).
I also use PicTapGo. It's Light On filter is awesome, and the black and white filters they have make quite a lot of not so great low light photos look much better. AND, you can use PicTapGo to post non-square photos to Instagram.
After I have edited my photos, I use PicStitch to add a border. I just like the look of the border around all the photos and how it gives a cohesive look to my pages.
When you open PicStitch and want to add a border to a single photo choose the single square
Then change the Aspect to the one you want. I chose 6x4 here and then you can change the border thickness.
tap on the circle in the center and you will get the options of where to pull a photo from. Then you just need to export and save to your camera roll or DropBox.
You can also use the app to make collages when you have a lot of photos you want to put on a layout.
Choose the collage you want to use for the number of photos you would like to add.
And now, I move on to adding my journaling.
Camera+, Clear Cam, VSCOCam, GorillaCam, Picframe, Picstitch, PicTapGo, Photoshop Touch, Lightroom Mobile, Photoshop Express, Fuzel, Big Lens, Face Tune, Manual, Simply B&W, Afterlight, Snapseed, Filterstorm Neue, Autodesk Pixler, Pixlr Express, Photo Editor, Pho.to Lab, Photo Editor Free, NightCap, Focal
Mobile Memory Keeping Part 3│ Text & Documenting
I will go over adding journaling to your photos and digital journal cards. Here, you can just use the cards you have purchased in the Project Life app and journal on them directly in the app, but if you want to use cards you have in your digital stash, you will need to use another app. I use Letterglow. And in Letterglow, I have my favorite fonts added to use for my journaling.
tap the gear button when you open Letterglow and then tap install Fonts
You will see a message to select either a OTF or TTF font file from Dropbox. I have all my fonts in one folder in my Dropbox account
Select your font or fonts and then tap the back arrow to go back to the Letterglow settings menu. Now your favorite fonts will be in the Letterglow app for you to use on photos and journal cards. I believe you can also do this with Phonto for Android users.
Then, I can open a photo or journal card from Dropbox or my camera roll and add any text I like.
(Photos of adding text to photo or journal card here)
More Text Apps - Over, Phonto, Letterglow, Studio, Rhonna Designs.
Mobile Memory Keeping Part 4│Artwork
How to add embellishments to you photos and journal cards.
I find that I don't use the ABM and Rhonna apps very often right now since I like to use a lot of my own artwork PNGs from Dropbox. But those are great options for anyone looking to add some pretty stuff to their photos or journal cards. I do use the Instaweather app each Monday with the Forecast overlay to show a glimpse of the week's weather. In these apps, you add your artwork and then save to your camera roll.
(Add screen shots of ABM and Rhonna apps here, and Instaweather)
(photos of using Letterglow to add pngs)
A Beautiful Mess, Rhonna Designs, Letterglow, Mextures InstaWeather,
Mobile Memory Keeping Part 5│Scrapbooking
Making a layout on your mobile.
I will show you here how to complete a layout in the Project Life app.
(insert PL screen shots and instructions here)
I usually upload to my computer from this step and complete my pages in Photoshop for desktop. It's just faster. But! I am not sitting in a car waiting at various sites for children to be done with school or other activities during the days.
To work on a 12x12 layout in Letterglow or Phonto, your original image must be 300dpi (A 12x12 paper is about 2448x2448px) to be printed and look right. This generally doesn't happen with your camera phone, but... you can store 12x12 pages in Dropbox and open them in Letterglow or Phonto.
Information About Photoshop Touch
It's not possible, as of yet, to do 12x12 in Photoshop touch as they don't yet allow the required amount of pixels you need to do a 12x12 layout (at least 3000p x 3000p or 300dpi). (Maximum resolution is 2,048 x 2,048 pixels restricted to 10 layers. The default remains 1,600 x 1,600 pixels with up to 16 layers. You can change the default in the app's Preferences.) And you can't open a layered PSD file in Photoshop Touch yet. It will flatten any layers. Which means that you could add embellishments and drop shadows to a layout that already has your photos and cards added, but probably not on a 12x12 layout. If you try to open too large of a file, it will crash the app and just shut it off. And since PST flattens any image you open in it, you cannot at this time use any PSD templates in the app.
Letterglow, Phonto, Becky Higgins Project Life app, Photoshop Touch,
Mobile Memory Keeping Part 6│Printing
Get your memories off your phone and into your albums.
Again, the easiest way is to print right from the Project Life app, but you can do as I do and print your individual photos from your phone and put into pocket pages.
You can upload from the Collect app or Dropbox to Persnickety Prints to have your photos printed, or to a place like Artifact Uprising, Chatbooks or Shutterfly. There are many ways to get your memories off your phone.
Collect, Artifact Uprising, Chatbooks
Organizing:
Collect - iOS Dropbox - iOS & Android
Evernote - iOS & Android Adobe Creative Cloud - iOS & Android
Momento - iOS, & Android
Photos & Editing:
VSCO Cam - iOS & Android Rhonna Designs Photo Editor - iOS & Android
Instagram - iOS Snapseed - iOS and Android
Photoshop Express -iOS & Android Photoshop Touch - iOS & Android
Camera + - iOS & Android Gorilla Cam -iOS
PicTapGo - iOS & Android Picstitch - iOS & Android
PicCollage - iOS & Android
Adding Text & Documenting
Becky Higgins Project Life app - iOS Letterglow - iOS
Phonto - iOS & Android Over - iOS & Android
Photoshop Touch - iOS & Android
Adding Artwork & Embellishments
A Beautiful Mess - iOS & Android Rhonna Designs - iOS & Android
Letterglow - iOS Phonto - iOS & Android
Little Moments - iOS
Scrapbooking
Becky Higgins Project Life App - iOS Letterglow - iOS
Phonto - iOS & Android Photoshop Touch - iOS & Android
Printing
Collect - iOS Artifact Uprising - iOS
Chatbooks - iOS & Android Shutterfly - iOS & Android
Stores such as Walgreens, Costco, Wal-Mart you can also print photos from your phone.
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