Paper Layouts vs. Digital Layouts

It has been a long time since I actually did real paper scrapbooking.  I have been doing more and more digital scrapbooking because I can do it with no mess in my house and I can easily have it made into the digital books online.  I love that. I can also use and re-use the kits which actually cuts down on the cost of buying paper.  All this said, I spent 6 hours last night at a scrapping crop with a Creative Memories consultant and I remembered how much fun it is to do a hands-on, paper-cutting, tape and gluing layout.  It is especially fun when you can do it with other people and chat the whole time. 

These layouts I made don't have any Creative Memories stuff in them, but I did buy some papers which are super cute for next time!  I have to print the pictures to go with the papers.  So here's what I made.  I spent most of the time making my boys' Valentine's.  The airplanes still need to have banners attached, but I haven't printed those yet.

Most people have seen this kind of Valentine by now.  I love how cute they turn out.  I saw one online that also said, "Valentine, you make me snicker!" and then the little girl was holding a Snickers bar.  Totally cute.

These will have a banner tied onto the back with Happy Valentine's Day on it and my son's signature on the back.  He's a little too old (5th) for the traditional cutesy Valentines, so we went with something a little cooler.

 This is my layout I finished last night.  Not sure who makes the orange edged paper, but there is some Basic Grey on there as well as a folder I made using one of the Basic Grey folders as a template.

 The folder opens for a lot of journaling space...

There are two pages for journaling....

 I believe the "words" in the back are from Basic Grey as well.  They are actually on a transparency, so I can add a background behind it.  I tried that. Let me know which you like better.  I think the white looks crisper and Springier, but the dots look warmer and more "Fall".   What do you think?