Scrap Girls Chit Chat Newsletter: December 5, 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_081205_Fri_Uncovered.htm

What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique?

Life Muses by Ro: Myths About Scrapbooking Uncovered

Myth 1: Scrapbookers are caught up.

This myth perpetuates the fantasies that not only are you caught up with your scrapbooking, but you are actually ahead of the events that will happen in the near future. In order for this to be true, you have to take pictures before the events actually occur so that you can scrap them in time for the event that will happen in three months or you might forget to scrapbook them at all.

What often happens:

By the time you decide to do something with the pictures that have been sitting on your hard drive - you often can't remember...

Where you took the photo
When you took the photo
Why you took the photo
Who is in the photo

Myth 2: Scrapbookers have oodles of wonderful pictures to work with.

This myth is perpetuated by the fact that we see beautiful layouts with beautiful photos and beautiful people in beautiful magazines. We see similar things in galleries on the web. We are too embarrassed to show each other what most of our pictures are like. Unfortunately, we can’t repair our families by buying a better camera and they are too uncooperative to wear matching clothing and stand still 100% of the time.

What actually happens:

Here’s the reality breakdown:

40% of our pictures include family members looking bleary-eyed, with ratty hair, in last year's pajamas, as their eyes glaze over with their haul on Christmas morning, a mountain of wrapping paper surrounding them. That darn wrapping paper... It doesn't match any scrapbooking paper on the planet.
30% include pictures of children or uncomfortable adults looking at their birthday cake...

...or eating their birthday cake...
...or watching somebody else eat their birthday cake...
...or smearing their birthday cake on their faces.... (Can pretty scrapbooking things rescue those pictures?)

10% are pictures of people lined up against the wall in an ill attempt to get a nice background to showcase their new finery. Oh – and that wall usually has “retro” wallpaper on it. Retro is a nice word for it, by the way.
10% are fuzzy.
5% involve somebody sticking their tongue out or pulling a face at the camera.
3% are of somebody putting something in their mouth on a holiday.
1% include somewhat cute pictures with bad backgrounds.
0.5% are too dark to use, but we keep them because they unveil some element of our lives that we are worried we will forget about if we throw the picture away.
0.3% are school mug shots.
0.2% are actual “scrap worthy” pictures with people that look adorable.

(I made this up, but you get the point.)

But what about the vacation pictures? Heritage pictures? Where do they fall?

IF you remember to take your camera on your vacation (which is doubtful), they are probably in the dark/fuzzy category someplace. Okay. Maybe you can substitute some of those Christmas/Birthday pictures out of their category and swap these pictures back in. But, that doesn’t change a thing in the grand scheme of scrapbooking life.

We have thousands of pictures that are hard to scrap. They aren’t pretty. Maybe they are ugly and there isn’t a magazine anywhere that would publish them. But, we love them all the same because they are of the people we love, and even though they are fuzzy, dark, streaked, or something messy is on that kid's dirty face, those pictures make you remember that person at that moment and how you felt.

So, go ahead...

Scrap any photo you like. And then, be a rebel. Post your layouts in the Scrap Girls gallery so we can see what your life is really like. Post your layouts with a lot of real pictures on them. Pat yourself on the back for being authentic. And then, step back and sigh with relief as you notice that most people’s layouts are just like yours.

Have fun!

- Ro

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 CharleneJ, Soozlou, and mtorres_usa.

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial: Playing With Perspective and Gallery Layout Templates

Note: Tutorial created using Adobe Photoshop CS2 with Windows XP.

Perspective in graphics arts is the illusion of distance on a flat or two-dimensional surface. This uses the principle that objects closest to you will appear larger and, conversely, objects farther away will appear smaller. You can achieve this technique digitally with a few simple steps.

To demonstrate this technique, this tutorial will feature a template from the ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: Gallery.

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial Screenshot: Open layered template

First, open the layered PSD template called “TCS_SSDLO_Gallery_Corner” from the Gallery templates. (Note: If you are using the PNG files, you will need to open and drag all of the individual PNG files onto one layered document.)

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial Screenshot: Drag photo onto document

Next, open a photo and drag it onto the template document.

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial Screenshot: Resize photo to fit frame

If the photo is much larger than the frame, go to Edit> Free Transform (or Ctrl+T) and manually resize it so that it is fairly close in size to the picture holder. Be sure to hold down the Shift key so that it is proportionally resized.

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial Screenshot: Transform boxes appear on photo's corners

Next, go to Edit> Transform> Distort. A selection guide with small boxes at the corners and middle will appear on the photo.

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial Screenshot: Use handles to transform photo

Keep in mind the side that is farthest away. In this case, it is the left side of the frame which is farthest from the viewer and closest to the corner of the room. This side will be “shortened” so that it appears smaller (and farther away). To do this, click on one of the left corners of the selection guide. Slowly drag the corner towards the center to shorten. Use the lines of the black frame to guide you. Do the same for the bottom corner.

Depending on the size and shape of your photo, you may also need to shorten or extend the other corners as well. It may take some experimentation to get the hang of it.

Digital Scrapbook Tutorial Screenshot: Arrange photo's layer in Layers Palette

Once you have your photo resized and transformed properly, drag the photo layer so that it is above the layer “08-Art2” (see above). Create a clipping mask by clicking Ctrl+G (or Alt+Ctrl+G in Photoshop CS2). The photo is now wrapped around the art2 layer.

Repeat the steps for your second photo or artwork. Complete the rest of digital layout template with your choice of digital scrapbooking papers, embellishments, and styles.

Computer scrapbook layout by Thao Cosgrove

Layout by Thao Cosgrove
larger view



Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates - Layered: 12x12 Gallery and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Gold 5702 are also available.

Thao Cosgrove

Tutorial written by Thao Cosgrove

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 Chat & Crop
Sunday, December 7th - 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!

Aussie Chat
Monday, 8 December - 9:00PM *Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time*

Join Jo (ScrappingJo) and Karen (kazbar73) for our next Aussie Chat on Monday, 8 December. This week's challenge is to create your favourite Christmas Recipe on a 4x6 layout. Join us in the chat room from 9pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time for lots of laughter and fun.

PS - For our International Ladies, the chat will start at 5am, Monday, 8 December.

Card Chat
Monday, December 8th - 8:00PM ET

Join Michelle (Shelbi) and Ngaire (Ngaire) for our new monthly chat, The Card Chat.

Do you use your digi-supplies to make cards? Do you want to? Instead of going to the store every time you need a card, we thought it would be better (and more fun) to use our digi-stash to make any cards we might need for the upcoming month. Birthday cards, thank you cards, get well cards, various holiday cards....

This will be the first of the monthly chats, and we will use this one to plan and to share our Christmas cards. See you there!

New Member Chat
Monday, December 8th - 9:00PM ET

Join Pat (PBarnes) and Carol Ann (Zaz) for the New Member Chat at 9 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, December 10th - 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 December 10th and 17th, we'll do a TWO-PART, end of year challenge! Create a 2-page layout or a mini album using the very best photos of your 2008. Part one (December 10) may be an hour of sorting, planning and picking photos, papers, and embellishments, and part two (December 17) could be all about the layout/album. As Tim Gunn says in Project Runway, “Use your time wisely,” and, “Make it work!”

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!

NSBR Chat - Early Edition
Thursday, December 11th - 1:00PM ET

What is NSBR? It's a non-scrapbooking related chat! We talk about everything, including some scrapbooking and usually chocolate. It's a great chance to meet new friends, catch up on what everyone is up to, and just relax! If you have a problem, we'll lend an ear or a shoulder to cry on. Have some great news to share? We'd love to celebrate with you.

So, join us, Shari (Shari PV Mom) and Michelle (Shelbi), on December 11th, at 1 PM EST, in the chat room Lobby! Hope to see you there!

Sketch Crop Challenge
Thursday, December 11th - 9:00PM ET

Join me, sprinklz, for the Sketch Challenge and Crop, Thursday, December 11th at 9pm ET in the Scrap Girls Chat Room!

Like getting a little jump start on your layouts? Then this challenge is for you! A few hours before the challenge begins, I'll post a sketch for you to use as the starting point for your page. You can be inspired by the basic arrangement, the amount of photos, or copy it literally. All interpretations are welcome and encouraged!

Looking forward to seeing you there! We'll be meeting in the “00_Room_1” room of the chat. To join, click on the “Chat Room” link (above). Once you are in the lobby, click on the “Show Rooms” button (on the upper left), then select “00_Room_1” from the list on the left side.

Quote Chat & Challenge
Sunday, December 14th - Time TBA

Come join Pat (PBarnes) for the Quote Challenge Crop! Including a quote on your layout can be a touching and meaningful addition, especially if you use the quote to create your own word art.

Here's how it will work. On Sunday, I'll post a thread on the Chat section of the board giving you the quote that you will use to make your own word art. It's not hard, and I will have a layout with a Word Art example in the gallery. Then we'll meet in the chat room to have fun, chat, and create our Word Art layout!

I'll post the time on Sunday, as the time changes around each time to allow participation by our international folks. Everyone can participate and create a layout, even if you can't make the chat. Hope to see you there!

December Events

December Board Game: Holiday Hoopla!

Welcome to Holiday Hoopla 2008! This time of year is packed with holidays and events and traditions galore! It's also time for our most challenging game of the year! This challenge promises to keep you busy all month long. We're going to celebrate the season together here on the Message Board through tasks and challenges focused on holiday and seasonal traditions and of course there will be prizes in store!

Here's the nitty gritty: Every other day (December 1st through December 29th), a Holiday Hoopla 2008 task will be posted in the Events folder on the Message Board. If you complete all 15 tasks, you'll win a $10 gift certificate to the ScrapGirls Boutique! Also, there will be layouts to complete within these tasks. If you choose to only do the layout tasks, then you are eligible for a $5 Gift Certificate should your layout be chosen as a winner of that particular task.

Read each task carefully and compile all your answers and links into ONE word document and e-mail it to [email protected] at the end of the month when you've completed all the tasks. Emails need to be received by December 31st at midnight ET (Happy New Year!). Please put “Holiday Hoopla 2008- Username” in the email subject line.

Good luck!

Layout Contests:

December Layout Contest: We want to see your trees! For the December Layout Contest, we want you to scrap layouts featuring trees! You can scrap a tree full of leaves or a bare tree, or a tree in any season (Christmas trees too!). Maybe you have a tree with a very interesting shape; let’s scrap it! To be eligible for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique, create a layout featuring a tree and post it in the December Layout Contest Gallery before December 31st at midnight. Good Luck!

November Mid-Month Layout Contest: We all have some principles that we look to for guidance in our lives. These principles help us make decisions and choices. For the Mid-November Layout Contest, we want you to create a layout documenting a list of five principles or rules that you live by. Post your layouts in the Mid-November Layout Contest Gallery by December 15th at midnight, and if your layout is chosen, you will win a $10 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique! Good Luck!

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 Kim Meeder

Layout by Kim Meeder
larger view

Designer Freebie by Marnie Adams coordinates with her Christmas Eve Collection Mini



Commercial license versions of Lettering Delights Deck The Halls Font and ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates - Layered: Instamatic are also available.

* 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 important to 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