Scrap Girls Chit Chat Newsletter: August 22, 2008

If you are using an online mail client such as GMail, you will find the newsletter far more enjoyable to read if you view it online.
You can find it here:
http://www.scrapgirls.com/NL/Chit_Chat_080822_Fri_Cute.htm

Life Muses by Ro: It Must Be Cute

Editor's note: Ro is taking some well-deserved and much-needed time off. While she is having a break, we hope you will enjoy these muses contributed by members of our Scrap Girls team.

A conversation with my husband...

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“I think we could use something cute in the backyard,” I replied.

“What do you mean by cute?”

“You know... cute.”

“You need to be more specific,” he stated.

“I think it would be cute if we had a tiny shed in the back corner of the garden.”

“You have a shed.”

“Not in the corner of the garden.”

“You want a shed back there?”

“Yes. A cute, little shed.”

“I can build you a shed,” he offered.

“But, it must be cute,” I instructed.

“It does? It’s a shed!”

“It must be cute,” I repeated.

“Define cute.”

“Well, it can’t look like a shed, but it must be a shed. It must be cuter than a shed.”

“Buildings can’t be cute.”

“A tiny building can be,” I argued.

“Draw it for me.”

“Here, look at this,” I said, showing him a drawing.

“It looks like an outhouse.”

“It’s cute.”

“It’s an outhouse.”

“It’s a cute outhouse. It’s a tiny outhouse style shed. And, it’s cute.”

“It really has to be cute?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s very important to me that it be cute.”

“Okay. If you want a little shed, I’ll build a little shed.”

“Just make sure that it’s cute.”

“It’ll be cute.”

So, three days later, we have a tiny outhouse style shed in the corner of the garden in our backyard.

And, it’s cute.

- Janine Buckles

Computer scrapbook layout by Janine Buckles

Layout by Janine Buckles
larger view

This first product is included in this month's Scrap Girls Club offering. Members receive a substantial discount on these club supplies. They are also available elsewhere in the Boutique at regular prices for those individuals who would rather not join a club.



Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Alpha Templates: Afterglow, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Lifted Photos2 Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics PSE 5001 and ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Shadowing Transparent Objects PSE 5301 are also available.

Muse: To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation. Not intended to solve the world's problems, another person's problems, or to cover topics completely. One does not have to agree with musings to enjoy them, just as one does not have to be the same as someone else to appreciate who they are.

Note from Ro: Would you like to earn a $20 Gift Certificate? Send your own muse to [email protected]. If it is selected for publication in the Scrap Girls newsletter, you'll get to have fun shopping!

Ro is now spotlighting various Scrap Girls members, showing layouts, and running contests in her blog. If you end up being spotlighted in it, you'll get a little gift from her. Subscribe to her blog so you don't miss what is going on!

Ro has recently spotlighted Pireps, CharleneJ and Soozlou.

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial: Selection Tricks

Note: Tutorial created using Adobe Photoshop CS3 with Windows XP.

Photoshop’s toolbox is full of lots of interesting possibilities. Like a kid in a candy store, it’s often hard to pick the one thing you want to work with and learn more about. Happily enough, one of the easiest tools to use can also make one of the biggest impacts to digital scrapbook layouts: the Magic Wand.

To begin, there are three papers on the sample 12x12 layout (two will also work). For this digital scrapbooking technique, the top paper needs to have a distinct pattern and have a contrast in color.

In the example, I use the cream flourish paper from the Chic Embroidery Collection as the bottom layer, the beige paper from Spring Botanical Collection as the middle layer (with a Blend Mode of “Linear Burn”) and the soft paper from Chelsea Claire Collection Biggie as the top layer.

The first technique is to create a transparency or overlay by eliminating the background colors from a paper. I use this often in my own digital layouts because I may like the brushwork or texture or color scheme of the paper, as it was created by the product designer, but want to use only the “overlay” in combination with a complimentary paper.

Screenshot: Choose Magic Wand Tool

With the top layer active in the Layers Palette, choose the Magic Wand Tool. If you have not used the Magic Wand recently, you may find it under the Quick Selection Tool or use Shift+W to toggle through the two.

On the options bar, set the tolerance to a number between 0 and 255. The tolerance refers to the color range of your selection: the larger the number, the wider the spectrum of colors that will be chosen with one click of the mouse. The default for anti-alias is checked (active) and will allow for a smoother selection. Contiguous refers to colors that are connected. If it is checked, only the colors that are touching will be selected (within the tolerance range). Since this technique requires the removal of every instance of certain colors, contiguous needs to be unchecked. For this tutorial, leave “Select All Layers” unchecked.

Click on the background color you wish to erase. “Marching ants” will be visible. In the example I use a tolerance setting of 50 and select the tan color.

Screenshot: Delete selection

Click the Delete key to remove the selection. The background paper(s) will now be visible.

For another option, try inversing the selection before you delete with Shift+Ctrl+I (Shift+Cmd+I on Mac) or Select> Inverse.

Use Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on Mac) to deselect (turn off the marching ants).

Screenshot: Change Blend Mode to "Soft Light"

What was a paper is now a patterned transparency. You can see how the swirls of the top layer work well with the paper below and create an interesting backdrop for our layout. In the example, the Blend Mode of the overlay layer was changed to “Soft Light.”

For the next technique, a custom cutout will be created from a coordinating paper to accent a design element on one of the background papers.

In the example, I am going to highlight the swirls from the Chic Embroidery Collection paper by filling in the negative space (the parts between the curves in the corner).

In the Layers Palette, choose the paper you want to work on and make that layer active. Also make the other layers invisible.

Screenshot: Choose Magic Wand Tool

Choose the Magic Wand Tool. On the options bar, set the tolerance level and check “Contiguous,” since this technique requires selecting only certain sections of the background color, not all of that color from the entire layer.

Click to make the initial selection and Shift+Click to continue to add to the selection. As long as you hold the Shift key, you will be able to make the selection larger. The “marching ants” will be visible. The goal is to select the entire area that you want to cover with the cutout. In my sample, the stitches were close to the same color as the background that I was selecting so I had to lower the tolerance to 20 in order to have a smaller color range. As a result, I had to Shift+Click approximately thirty times to select the entire section.

If you are not comfortable choosing such a large amount at one time, begin working with a smaller area. Remember digital scrapbooking is very forgiving and easy to adapt to your needs.

Continue working with the Magic Wand Tool. Hover the mouse over an area that is selected or surrounded by marching ants and notice how the cursor changes from the magic wand to an arrowhead/rectangle.

Open a coordinating paper.

Screenshot: Drag selection to new paper

With the arrowhead/rectangle cursor visible, Click+Drag the selection onto the coordinating paper. As long as you stay within the marching ants, you can Click+Drag to move the selection around until you find a section you would like to cutout. Note: the selection from the layout was in the lower corner, but a section from the middle of the coordinating paper was chosen.

In the example, I use the solid brown paper from At the Cottage Collection Biggie.

Switch to the Move Tool. Notice when you hover the mouse over the selection on the matching paper, the cursor changes to an arrowhead/scissors.

Now comes the cool part.

Screenshot: Move selection back to original paper

With the arrowhead/scissors cursor visible, Shift+Click+Drag the selection from the coordinating paper onto the layout and drop it. Voila! Photoshop automatically aligns the cutout into the correct place and turns off the marching ants.

Note: this technique will also work with other selection tools such as the Rectangular Marquee Tool.

Screenshot: Embellishment made for upper right corner

To balance the sample layout, a cutout was created for the upper corner as well. Remember to turn on the visibility of the other layers.

With a little experimentation, these techniques, or a combination of them, can easily be used in many of your digital scrapbooking layouts.

Computer scrapbook layout by Marnie Adams

Layout by Marnie Adams
larger view








Commercial license versions of Lettering Delights Painter's Hand Font, Lettering Delights Hallmark Font, Brush Set: Clippings, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Grunged Metals Super Biggie 4104, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Grunged Metals Super Biggie 4105, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Destinations 5401 and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Wrought Iron 5201 are also available.

Marnie Adams

Tutorial written by Marnie Adams

What's Happening at Scrap Girls?

If you have never been to the Scrap Girls Chat Room before or have questions about it, this tutorial, Chat Basics, will provide lots of helpful information.

Crops and Chats

Scraplift Crop
Sunday, August 24th - 5:00PM ET

Join TysMommy and angelaNussbaum for a Scraplifting Crop. A few hours before the crop we will tell you the name of a Scrap Girls Team Member, and you will be able to choose one of their layouts to be your inspiration.

During the crop we will also help explain about scraplifting, how to use a layout as inspiration, and the importance of giving credit. Scraplifting is a lot of fun! So come join us, you're sure to enjoy it!

ATC Swap Crop
Sunday, August 24th - 7:00PM ET

Hello ATC swappers! Please join me, Pat Bowman, for our next chat on August 24 at 7PM. The theme will be “A” is for Apple. My goal here is for us swappers to create ATCs that cover the entire alphabet. We may take more than one month to complete this, but it should be fun.

For the first round, take the first letter of your first name and create an ATC with the main thing being the initial. For instance, since my first name starts with “P,” I might do “P” is for “Pool,” or “P” is for “Popcorn,” or “P” is for “Precious.” Be creative, but we want the alpha letter to be the most prominent thing on the card. Keep your eye on the ATC Gallery to see what letters have been done in case your name starts with the same letter as someone else.

Be sure to participate each month so that you will have the complete alpha when we are done. Let's have some fun!

Aussie Chat & Crop
Monday, August 25th - 8:30PM *Australian Eastern Standard Time*

Please join Jo (ScrappingJo) and Karen (Kazbar73) for our next Aussie Chat. As this is the last week of Winter for us Aussies, we thought it might be nice to create a new "Spring Desktop" to celebrate the end of Winter. Create your desktop, then come and meet Jo & Karen in the Chat Room at 8.30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (please take note of the time change).

For all our other International Ladies, the chat will start at 6.30am New York time on Monday, 25 August.

Not sure how to create your own desktop layout? Then come along and we will go through the steps so that you can create an outstanding desktop. We look forward to seeing you all there.

NSBR Chat - Early Edition
Monday, August 25th - 1:00PM ET

What is NSBR? It’s a non-scrapbooking related chat! We talk about everything! It’s a great way to meet new people and get to know everyone. Catch up on what everyone is up to, and just relax! If you have any questions, we'll try to answer them.

So, join me, Launa, for some fun on August 25th, at 1 PM ET, in the Chat Room! Hope to see you there!

New Member Chat
Tuesday, August 26th - 9:00PM ET

Join Pat (PBarnes) and Carol Ann (Zaz) for the New Member Chat at 8 PM ET in the Live Chat room lobby. This is a great place to ask questions about getting around the Scrap Girls site or about digital scrapbooking in general - and a great place to make some new friends. All are welcome, new and long time members included.

You do need to have Java installed on your computer to access the Live Chat.

High Noon Crop
Wednesday, August 27th - 12:00Noon ET

Join your host Betsy for the High Noon Crop every Wednesday at Noon eastern time. These crops are designed to allow you to work on your own photos and themes, simply giving participants a one hour goal, and a fun, new challenge each week!

On August 27, we'll do a favorite things challenge! Create a layout about one of your favorite things! Any color, any topic (other than your kids!). Maybe your love of a particular movie or song, a certain flower, your addiction to Diet Coke, whatever!

You'll have one hour to create a layout and upload to the special High Noon Crop gallery. You'd be amazed what you can get done in just one hour! Meet new friends and have fun in the chat room! We hope you'll join us!

Desktop Crop and Chat
Wednesday, August 27th - 9:00PM ET

Please come join Angela (angelaNussbaum) @ 9PM ET for the Desktop Challenge Crop.

Tired of your desktop being some graphic that you would've liked to make? Tired of a solid background? Did you know with your digital scrapbooking skills you can make a fabulous background for your enjoyment? A few hours before the chat, we will provide you with a source of inspiration, so stay tuned.

Swap Crop Chat
Thursday, August 28th - 9:00PM ET

It's time for the Swap Crop Chat! We've done the swapping, and created the layouts, now it's time to chat about all the gorgeous layouts!

I don't know what it is, but these swaps bring out the best in everyone. This is the time to chat about the theme, the beautiful layouts and learn about the swap crop if you haven't participated before. I'll even reveal the theme for next month!

Join me, Carla, for a fun chat at 9 pm et on Thursday, August 28th!

August Events

August Board Game: BINGO!

It's that time again! Join us for an exciting game of BINGO on the Message Board Forum in August! Pick 25 words from the list provided in the forum and send them in an e-mail to [email protected] with a subject line saying “BINGO CARD” and including your message board user name by Sunday, August 3rd in order to play in the first round which will begin Monday, August 4th.

Each day, members of the Welcoming Committee will call 5 random words from the Bingo list. Match just 15 of those words to win a BINGO. You must be first to call bingo in the forum to win that round. After a winner is called, the boards can be cleared and a new round will begin the following day. All winners receive a $5 Gift Certificate to the boutique! We like to see lots of winners, so please remember that each person can only win one round during the month. Have fun!

If you miss the first round cutoff date, you can still play! Just send in your Bingo card at any time during the month and you'll be eligible to begin playing when the next new round starts. Everyone who sends in a Bingo card will receive a confirmation email that their card has been received. If you do not receive confirmation within 24 hours, please re-send your list of words. We cannot be held responsible for misdirected emails.

Layout Contests:

August Layout Contest: We all have had some magical events in our life. We want to see your layouts that describe a time before or during a magical event in your life like a wedding, a prom, a special vacation, or maybe the birth of a child. Upload your layouts to the August Layout Gallery by August 31st at Midnight, and if your layout is chosen, you will win a $10 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique!

August Mid-Month Layout Contest: The story of your life is unwritten. We’d love to see a layout that has a story of something in your life most people don’t know about you. Do you have a hidden talent to share, a special award you received, or maybe an embarrassing moment? Upload your layouts to the August Mid-month Layout Gallery by September 15th at midnight and you will win a $10 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique if your layout is chosen!

Check our message board calendar if you have any questions about what is happening at Scrap Girls. All event times are given in Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise noted. Need help converting time zones? Check out the World Clock - Time Zone Converter. (Use 'USA-New York' as the location for the Eastern time zone.)

Today's Freebie

Computer scrapbook layout by Angie Briggs

Layout by Angie Briggs
larger view

Designer Freebie by Angie Briggs coordinates with her His and Hers Collection, part of this month's Scrap Girls Club offering!

* There is a “free download” button on the details page for each gift. You don't need to put them in your shopping cart unless you are shopping for other items. Also note that if you are slow reading your newsletter, you may find this freebie has already been retired, as the freebies are only available as gifts for about two newsletter cycles.

Create your own digital scrapbook layouts using the latest, most popular techniques

Manage all of the important basics that digital scrapbook enthusiasts need to know to get started

Understand how to save your files for printing or sharing them with your friends and family over the Internet

Make your own textured brush

Learn how to install and use purchased brushes

Make your own simple backgrounds

See how easy it is to manage transparent embellishment files that allow digital scrapbooking layouts to look like they are “real”

Become a pro at managing the drop-shadowing techniques

Learn about transparency and lighting effects

Make your own digital torn paper edges

Be able to isolate a single item in an embellishment or alpha and be able to change the color to suit your fancy

Become a pro at repairing damaged photos

Know the secret of putting text on a curve or in a circle

Laugh at how simple it is to make rounded edges on your photos

Use keyboard and tool shortcuts that make digital scrapbooking a breeze

Be able to place digital embellishments on your digital scrapbook layout with ease

Unlock the mystery of how to clip a digital paper clip onto your layout so that it looks real

Learn how to install and use purchased textures

Understand some advanced techniques such as how to keep blue eyes blue on a black and white photo

Learn how to adjust black and white photos to sepia

Take the world's easiest shortcuts to creating your own backgrounds, embellishments, and alphas.

Make sure that you don't make the biggest mistakes that digital scrapbookers make when they create layouts.

Learn fantastic tricks for using Scrap Girls ScrapSimple products.

Dip your digital scrapbooking self into some of those “other” cool tools that are sitting there waiting in your software for you to use such as paths, masks, the drawing pen, and more.

See how easy it is to install and manage new Custom Shapes and Styles in Photoshop so that you can make things that are creative and unique.

Learn advanced tricks for using tools that you already know and love.

Watch me make some beautiful papers and get a chance to peek inside of my layers. (Oh dear... That is the last frontier and I might be out of my mind to let you do it... NOBODY likes people to see inside of their layers. It is like having visitors peek inside of your dresser drawers. Very private stuff.)

See a new way for coloring doodles. (I'm betting that it will surprise you what tool I've used to do that with, too...)

Get “IN” on creating your own brush sets. (You do NOT have to have those impossibly long brush sets frustrating you anymore. In fact, when you learn this trick, you will wonder why you haven't been using it all along.)

Find out why Custom Shapes are so importantto you. (Bet you didn't know...)

Learn how to cut out a title from a background or a photo.

1 8.5x11 Sheet of Word Art

1 Assemble Your Own Zoom Page Set

1 Designer's Choice Item

1 ScrapSimple Paper Template Set

1 ScrapSimple Embellishment Template Set

1 ScrapSimple Layer Your Own Brush Set

1 Designer's Choice Item