REVIEW BY MARK EUSTACE: Mention the word scrapbook and I think of old pictures, newspaper cuttings and the like, but Scrapbooking, as it is known, is a complete art-form in itself.

Serif has managed to capture the art of Scrapbooking in a wonderful new application out now on PC called Digital Scrapbook Artist.

It enables you to combine your creativity and passion for celebrating and treasuring life’s special moments – all on the computer.

Traditional Scrapbookers create their works by using real-life materials, cutting, stitching and embellishing to produce anything from cards and bookmarks to full scrapbooks – but all by hand.

This is very skilled work and not something I would even attempt to try, but with Scrapbook Artist from Serif anyone can have a go and produce some amazing results in no time at all.

The application is very well crafted (excuse the pun!) and is laid out in an intuitive manner.

After spending only a few minutes playing with the various tools and menus I managed to get something on my page which looked not half bad.

To create your first design you can choose to start with a blank page, previous work or a theme.

The themes are amazing and feature some incredible photo-realistic ‘scraps’ and materials that print out perfectly in very high resolution – in fact, you could almost see the fibres in some of the materials and that’s what makes this product unique.

It’s fine being able to add all of these embellishments, but if the end result is poor then people won’t want to use it. Thankfully, Serif has made sure that this is a product people will keep going back to time after time, after time.

Once you have your blank page it’s time to have a look in the content pack manager – which is where all of the graphics and embellishments are kept and organised.

Down the left-hand side of the screen are the digital kits which cleverly group together all of the bits and pieces you are going to need to complete a project, including backgrounds, photo frames, embellishments, materials and an alphabet.

Choose your kit, and there are plenty to choose from, and you can download others from the DaisyTrail website – which is a social networking site for scrapbooking. You even get two extra free digikits when you register on the site.

It’s then just a case of designing your scrapbook – the only limitation being your imagination.

This is an excellent bit of software with some awesome tools – tools which allow you to cut up lifelike papers and fabrics as well as add realistic-looking stitching. You can sprinkle glitter all over your page without making any mess and there’s even a facility to scan in and cut out your own keepsakes to use in your own project.

I made a card as one of my projects and couldn’t believe how simple and straightforward the program was to use – but then again, this is Serif and they are masters at producing easy-to-use, but very powerful software. Keep your eyes peeled for my review of their latest desktop publishing package Pageplus X4.

To check out some of the amazing things that can be achieved using Digital Scrapbook Artist, check out the following link: http://www.serif.com/scrapbook/

There’s even a how-to video on how to get the best out of the software for those times when you get stuck or just want to see what the program is capable of achieving.

Give Digital Scrapbook Artist a try and join the thousands of other scrapbookers out there – send the results to the DaisyTrail website and share thoughts and ideas with fellow scrapbookers … I guarantee you’ll be sending out some amazing cards and designs in no time.