Combining the capabilities of a scanner with the ever-increasing memory capacity of personal computers and the sophistication of the newer greeting card and graphics programs, high resolution scanning with amazing fidelity is within everyone's reach. A scanner is one of the digital tools every crafter should consider owning.

You can purchase clip art that includes decorative backgrounds and textures or you can make your own. If you want to sell your graphic design work, you need to make your own, since most graphics programs prohibit commercial use of their designs.

Think about the background designs and textures you want in your personal file. Then start collecting and scanning. Here are some ideas to get you going.

? Fabrics with interesting textures like canvas or muslin

? Papers with interesting textures like sandpaper or linen

? Wood veneers with nice graining

? Small items that can be set on your scanner bed such as pebbles, screws or buttons

? Items from nature like leaves, flower petals, ferns, twigs or sea shells

Be sure the scanner's glass is clean before arranging your design. Protect your scanner bed when using anything that might scratch the glass by putting a clear sheet of acetate on the glass before laying down your objects.

The higher your scanner resolution, the better the fidelity of your scan will be. The tradeoff is that your file will be larger and take longer to scan, save and open.

For backgrounds, 360 dpi should be more than sufficient. If your program allows you to save files in JPEG format, you will save a lot of file space.

Once you have scanned the objects, open your greeting card or a graphics program, such as Adobe Photoshop. Almost all programs on the market allow you to control color levels, contrast and brightness of your images. Photoshop is well known for its ability to create magical results. But less expensive programs, like Photoshop Elements allow you to achieve almost identical results.

Here's how to adjust the color strength. Your graphics program should have a "photo workshop" where you can adjust the brightness/darkness. You will usually want to brighten your scan to make it suitable as a background. Your program may also have a tint bar which allows you to select a percentage of intensity.

Next adjust the color. Since you want a background image, you might want to lighten the colors to create a light ethereal effect. You also might want to feather around the edges to make it less likely the background will call attention to itself.

Play with your images until you create the result you are looking for. Save the result and you will be able to print custom stationary, note cards, scrapbooking pages and more.