I love discovering new technologies that I can use as a grandparent. Don’t you? Especially when they are free! For example, I recently discovered this awesome new website where you can create your own online digital scrapbooks for free! It’s called scrapblog.com. As soon as you’ve read my review and seen my example scrapblogs, I’m sure you’ll be eager to surf over to scrapblog.com and play with it!

My first scrapblog

Take a look at this first scrapbook I made there. It’s simple; just two pages. It only took me about 20 minutes to complete it. That shows how intuitive the software is. These are photos of our 8th grandchild, baby Isabella on her birth day.

Click on the play button to it play it with music, or click the forward or back buttons.

Scrapbooking is one of the leading folk arts in the US today. Digital scrapbooking is creating a scrapbook using a computer. 

Scrapblog Builder is scrapblog.com’s web-based application for creating digital scrapbooks. It has an intuitive interface that is very easy to learn. This online tool has plenty of features to help you get started quickly. It comes with a generous set of free themes which include backgrounds, stickers, shapes and frames. You upload your own photos for adding to your scrapblogs. You drag-and-drop each of these elements onto your scrapbook page. You can design simple scrapblogs (such as the one above), or multimedia rich scrapblogs including music and video.

The Scrapblog Builder is an amazing example of what can be created with the latest web development software. The Scrapblog developers use cutting-edge technology to make it easy to use. I spent 17 years developing Macintosh software, so I know what it takes to develop a fine piece of workmanship like Scrapblog. It got my brain spinning and brainstorming again about all the cool new web technologies that grandparents can take advantage of. I love technology!

Does your brain spin too when you discover cool websites? Do you tell yourself, “Wow! I could use this to connect with my grandkids!” 

Two scrapblogs for Princess Adeline

One of our grandaughters turned 3 today, so I made her this digital scrapbook as a present. I titled it Sleeping Beauty Adeline. She won’t wear anything but princess costumes, and mostly only pink! It was inspired by one another digital scrapbooker over at Scrapblog. The background themes I used for each of these scrapblogs are from their set of free templates.

There’s an interesting story behind The World’s Fastest Bedtime Stories. When my children were young, they would enjoy having me make up bedtime stories for them. Sometimes, just to be funny, I would see how fast I could tell a fairy tale and say, “That’s all. Good night!” Then they would want another one, and another…. So, as a keepsake, I printed a dozen sets of books titled The World’s Fastest Bedtime Stories. They are only 1 inch square and 6 pages each. Sleeping Beauty is my fastest; just 19 words!

After I made the first scrapblog for Adeline, I wanted to make a “modern” version with current photos. So I asked my daughter to take some of Addie in her Sleeping Beauty dress. So Addie and her brother, Prince Isaac, acted out the story for me. My daughter emailed me the digital photos, and I uploaded the photos to my scrapblog. Here’s the Modern Sleeping Beauty Adeline.

Click on the ★scrapblog logo on any of these scrapblogs to see a larger version. Then you can viewed it in full screen mode if you like.

There’s no cost to join scrapblog.com. It is completely free. I recommend starting by clicking Quick Tour. After you’ve created one or more, be sure to check out their Get Crafty show for ideas. Once you publish your scrapblog, you can choose if to share them with everyone, or just those people you invite.

They have a nice community of scrapbookers, and a fun way to add other people as your “friends”. When you see a scrapblog you love, be sure to click its Love It! button.

Grandchildren and grandparents

This last scrapblog highlights Grammy Tanda’s loving relationship with our grandchildren. (Oh, there may be a couple of photos of me too.)

Grandchildren are the crowning glory of grandparents. ~Proverbs 17:6

I hope you’ve enjoyed my review of this amazing state-of-the-art technology. Hopefully, this has given you some ideas about how you can use Scrapblog to create fun memories and help you connect with your precious grandchildren. So head on over to scrapblog.com and enjoy making your own scrapblogs!

When you’ve created one, please come on back here and let us know about your experience using scrapblog.com, and feel free to paste a link to your scrapblog in the Website field of your comment.

Enjoy! Shayne

Thanks to Scrapblog artists Lori Barnhurst and Jackie Eckles for the cool themes! 

Copyright 2008, Shayne Packer. All rights reserved. You may review this article and link to it, but please do not embed the scrapblogs in another website. Thanks, Shayne

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My grandson applying stickers

Have you ever had aspirations to write a children’s storybook? Not necessarily a published storybook, but at least a simple one for your own children or grandchildren? Come on, admit it! I have. I’m going to show you how to create a simple childrens storybook using stickers.

Ever since our children were young, my wife and I enjoyed telling bedtime stories to them. Tanda Loved to read good books to them. (They got their love for reading from her.) I love to read also. I love to make up stories even better. So I would invent impromptu adventures about Silver Long Johns, the pirate, and Oowey Goowey the worm. (Sometimes Oowey was sticky bubble gum or roasted marshmallow). As the children got a little older, I’d stop the story at the pivoting point, just as something exciting was about to happen, and have them take over for awhile. Like a choose your own adventure. We would all take turns. It helps develop creativity and imagination. The wilder, the better. Now I make up fun stories with my grandkids — in person, on the phone, in video chats — and we all enjoy it!

They say genes skip generations. Maybe that’s why grandparents find their grandchildren so likeable. ~Joan McIntosh

My young grandkids love stickers (also known as an autocollant or decal). But sometimes they stick them in places that their mom isn’t too happy about. So I thought of an idea, to combine stickers with my desire to create a storybook for children. So, I created one. And as most of my projects do, it started with a simple idea, and ended taking more time than I expected. But, oh was it fun! Don’t you just love getting into that creative zone where you can let your imagination soar? It is an exhilarating experience.

Daniel working on his sticker book

So far now, I’ve made two of these sticker storybooks as birthday presents for two of my grandsons, Daniel and Joshua. They just turned 4 and 6. I plan to make one for each of my grandchildren. It is a personalized storybook; a keepsake. It is also an interactive storybook because the grandchild applies the stickers on each page of the storybook story. The first one I made was for my 4 year old grandson, Daniel. I documented my storybook project and took photos so I could share the process with you, and show you how you can make your own children’s storybook with stickers. Yes, you! You are just as creative as me or anyone else.

Joshua working on his sticker book

By the way, anyone can make a storybook like this. You don’t have to be a grandparent, but this blog is viewed with grandparent glasses on. So whether you are a grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, mother, father, or kuala bear, the process and techniques explained here are the same. You can also create one that is much simpler than mine. Just try it! Your special child will love the handmade gift from you. I think homemade presents are the best! Don’t you? (Unintentional hint for my children that Grandparent’s Day is September 7th this year.)

So, click and play the tutorial presentation I created for you now. It includes the story I wrote, along with my commentary. Enjoy!

One more thing… I kept a copy of the story. So when Daniel was finished with his book, I had a video chat with him. I read it to him as he turned the pages. It was fun!

Daniel reading his finished storybook

Now go and make a sticker storybook yourself! Then please come back and let us know about your experience. Have fun!

Grandpa Shayne

Copyright 2008, Shayne Packer. All rights reserved. You may review this article and link to it, but please do not embed the slideshow in another website. Thanks, Shayne

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