“My K-9 Valentine” by Karen Chandler
larger view

Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

I wanted to add the color of Starla’s scarf to the background paper. I opened Ursula’s ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Energy and selected the diamonds with the Magic Wand Tool. Then, I changed the foreground color chip by sampling the pink scarf. Next, I used the Paint Bucket to fill the diamonds with pink. After placing the template over the light pink background, I reduced the opacity of the template layer for a subtle effect.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Energy, Brush Set: Acrylic Stroke Biggie 2, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Ribbons To Go II and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Felt Biggie 6501 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Name of challenge: Valentine

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Black Jack

“Sweet!” by Kim Meeder
larger view

Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

After re-coloring and placing the ScrapSimple Embellishment Template: Expressive Frame on my layout, I wanted to apply a drop shadow to the frame portion only. First, I used the Magic Wand to select the frames. The frames were now outlined with marching ants. Next, I copied the frames to a separate layer by using the shortcut command Cmd+J (Ctrl+J). Finally, I added the drop shadow and adjusted it to my liking.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Charisma, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Expressive Frames and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Glitter Sparks 6401 Super Biggie are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Name of challenge: Valentine

Other Ingredients:

• Photo - Brandon Kidd

“More Than a Gigabyte” by Amy Flanagan
larger view

Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

For this layout, I wanted a very soft, loving glow on the photo. To achieve that, I simply ran the Photo Basic Action for PSE. Even though the photo was black and white, I ran the black and white action any way to clean it up. Then, I ran the Smart Glow action on top it to achieve the look I wanted.

The raffia strip was wider than I wanted to run through the black lace from Ursula’s Red Lily Collection Biggie. To make it more narrow, I opened two copies of the raffia and dragged it up into my layout. Then, I layered them one on top of the other, and offset them by the width that I wanted to take off. Highlighting one layer of raffia, I hit Ctrl+Clicked on the thumbnail of the layer to define my selection. Then, I highlighted the second raffia layer while keeping the marching ants from the first. Then I hit Delete, and voila, I have a more narrow raffia strip that easily weaves through the lace!

Also, I wanted to show everybody that even though Ursula’s beautiful Red Lily Collection Biggie is sold in the Christmas section of the boutique, it is very versatile and can be used for many other themes, like Valentines Day!

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Bits of Mesh, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Stitching And Holes 4102 and Lettering Delights Underwood Pica Font are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

Name of challenge: Valentine

Journaling: “Do you know how much I love you?”
“More than a gigabyte, Mama?”

“You” by Caroline Kaiser
larger view

Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

I had this fun idea not to use Ursula Schneider’s ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates - Layered: Lots O Shots with lots of photos, but only with one photo. I duplicated the photo as many times as needed and clipped the different layers with Ctrl+G to the squares of the template. Finally, to some of the photos, I clipped a paper from Ursula Schneider’s Assemblage Collection Biggie with the Blend Mode set to “Multiply” and Opacity reduced to 82%.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Lots O Shots, Brush Set: Acrylic Stroke Biggie 2, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Wired, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Bedazzled and Lettering Delights Mother's Typewriter Font are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Name of challenge: Valentine

“The Look of Love” by Julie Moberly
larger view

Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

The bow I used in the layout was originally cream in color. I wanted to make it teal. First, I clicked on my foreground color box and sampled a teal color from the layout. Then at the top menu, I clicked on Enhance> Adjust Color> Adjust Hue/Saturation. I clicked the “Colorize” box at the bottom right. I wanted more contrast between the highlights and shadows, so I duplicated the bow layer. On the top bow layer, I changed the Blend Mode to “Multiply.” Then, I merged the two layers.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Grandeur, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Sew Torn Up, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Aged Metals Biggie, Brush Set: Breathe Swirls, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics PSE 5001, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Edge It PSE 5001 and Dynamic Brush Set: Basic Stitching 4901 Biggie are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

Name of challenge: Valentine

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Chopin Script

If you have praise, comments, or questions for any of our Product Designers or Layout Artists, did you know you can send them a PM (private message) using the message board? It's easy!

If you are a registered user of the message board, just click on the "PM" box at the bottom of any of their posts to send them a message. Or, to check out more of your favorite designer's layouts, visit the Scrap Girls Design Team section of the Layout Gallery.

Simplify

For the last month, I had the opportunity to relax with my husband and children during the Christmas break. Since my husband is a doctorate student, during this break we were able to enjoy two and a half weeks together as a family. During this time, I had a chance to read some incredible books on simplifying, as this has been a topic pressing on my mind lately. I often am the type of person that likes to do everything. I like to have my hand in everything and am often busy with obligations to too many people.

For the last month, I’ve had a chance to really sit and question the way I do things. I’ve had a chance to recognize and actually admit weaknesses I have rather than pretending they aren’t there. I’ve realized that this busyness has made me be short with my children and made me more stressed. It has filled up time that should have been spent on enjoying my children, serving others, taking care of my home, and decorating it to feel like a home. It should have been spent taking care of my physical self and being more active. I have realized that I have let people down because I couldn’t keep up with all of my obligations.

Since coming to these realizations and acknowledging that they are there, I have made a purposeful effort to eliminate things. To realize where real value is. I’ve tried to stop getting caught up in the world’s competition to create more, be more, do more, and have more. It has been so refreshing. I’ve had more time to play with my kids. I don’t feel stressed. We are happier. My home is becoming more of a home. I’ve developed other creative skills that give me huge satisfaction because I am using them to bless my family. I have spent less money, which eliminates some financial stress. When I find myself thinking, I can actually think about my faith, my family, my endeavors, and goals rather than thinking about the next thing to do, the next project, the next errand, all the things I haven’t been able to do, or the people that I still owe obligations to. I was free to really think.

Can I tell you how wonderful it has been? I am recognizing my weaknesses. I’m accepting them rather than trying to pretend they aren’t there. I’m realizing more where real happiness lies. I have seen what needs to be eliminated or lessened in my life. I am becoming more content. I am becoming happier. I am looking forward to what lies ahead and how my life will come to have more value, because I will only be doing those things that are of real value to me. I have so much joy to look forward to.

- Shalae

Favorite product I've designed:
ABC Fun Collection Biggie

I designed this one for a new school kit, but in the end, it reminded me of my time being an Elementary Art teacher. I see my kids cutting, gluing, and drawing when I look at it. It shows my love of bright colors, and I had a chance to include some of my own drawings in it as well. To me it just spells fun!

Layout by Shalae Tippetts
larger view

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Artistic Edges and Dynamic Brush Set: Splatter 4901 are also available.

The ScrapSimple club contains items that allow YOU to decide the colors and looks you will end up for your digital scrapbooking designs because the ScrapSimple products are completely customizable. You get all the products shown above, a $19.15 value, for $6.99 or less! And if you would like to create designs to share or sell, there's even a commercial club available! Plus, each month we will help you find new ways to use your club contents to the fullest with this article full of ideas, tips, and projects to get your creativity going!

January’s Scrap Girls ScrapSimple Club’s featured designers are Angie Briggs and Shalae Tippetts. Their club is full of fun products that can help you document your photos and get creative in amazing ways. Our entire Scrap Girls staff has put their heads together and come up with some ideas to help you get the most out of your fun, new digital scrapbooking toys!

ScrapSimple Club Concepts Tutorial: Personalized Toothpick Flags:

Note: Tutorial created using Adobe Photoshop CS2 running Windows Vista.

With a few quick tricks, you can turn just about any Scrap Girls product into a fun toothpick flag that can be inserted in appetizers, party foods, cupcakes, or muffins. After seeing the January 2009 ScrapSimple Club, I thought how all the products in this club were perfect for this use.

First, create a new document sized approximately 9”x9”, 300 dpi, with a transparent background. Open up one of the Brush Set: Time Stamped PNG files (it doesn't matter which one) and drag it over to your new document. Close the original PNG file. Create a new layer on your new document. Using your Rectangular Marquee Tool in the Tools Palette, create a rectangle over the word, and then using your Paint Bucket Tool, fill in the rectangle with black. This will cover up the word. You can then merge the layers.

Now, open up the word art of your choice from ScrapSimple Word Art Templates: Here and Now. I chose the Celebrate one and opened the PSD file that came with this product. Using various colors of your choice and ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Off The Wall, decorate the word art with the use of clipping masks, layer styles, and effects. When you are happy with your finished word art, select the entire word art (Ctrl+A) and copy all layers merged (Ctrl+Shift+C). Paste (Ctrl+V) your word art onto your document that has the Brush Set: Time Stamped frame.

The word art is a bit too large for the frame, so now you will want to resize your word art so it fits better. I like to do this by using Photoshops Transform feature (Ctrl+T). While holding your Shift key and dragging one of the corners, you are able to drag and resize your word art smaller until it's the size you would like. After resizing, you can add a drop shadow if you wish. Then, temporarily turn off the word art layer (click the little “eye” next to the word art layer in the Layers Palette) and you can decorate your frame – again using ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Off The Wall to give a great texture and any colors of your choice. Turn back on your word art by clicking on the little “eye” again near the layer in the Layers Palette.

We're almost done. Right now our flag is too big, so we need to resize the entire item. Assuming that you are happy with everything you have done, you can merge all layers. If you think you might want to come back and make further edits, you may wish to save your document before merging the layers as a PSD file. Merge all your layers, and then hit Ctrl+T to resize. I resized mine about 40% smaller.

After resizing, add a photo behind the frame opening. Now, select both layers (the photo and flag) and duplicate both of them. With your two new layers selected (highlighted in Layers Palette), drag them over to the left and line them up perfectly, right next to your original two layers.

Your flag is finished – all you need to do now is merge your layers and duplicate your flag as many times as you would like for printing. Print and cut out each flag (both sides stay connected together). Fold the flag in the area where both sides meet together. Add a small amount of white glue to the folded area and the back of one side. Then place the top portion of a toothpick in the folded area. Press the backs of each side together so they are matched up evenly and securely around the toothpick. Allow glue to dry and then you can use your personalized toothpick flags as a cupcake or muffin decorations, or to fancy up small appetizers, such as cheese cubes.

Project by Brandie Valenzuela
larger view

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Word Art Templates: Here and Now, Brush Set: Time Stamped and ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Off The Wall are also available.

Tutorial by Brandie Valenzuela

We hope this article gives you some ideas to get you scrapping! We’d love to see what you come up with. You can share ideas and tips on the message board, plus there’s a special gallery available for you to show off your Club creations and inspire each other, so start creating!

And remember, this club will be expiring in just a few days! So if you like these ideas, don't hesitate to sign up today, or you will miss your chance to get in on these tremendous savings! It's like buying the two brush sets at a savings, and getting the ScrapSimple Paper Template Set, ScrapSimple Embellishment Template Set, and Designer's Choice Item for free! Now, that's a bargain. Don't miss out!

Have fun!

P.S. We hope you are enjoying this article, Club Concepts. Each Monday, we give you ideas on how to use your current club selections in many different ways. We give you ideas for layout themes, embellishments, tips, cards, quotes, projects, and more! Well, we have realized that in creating these articles, we were leaving out one of the most important voices in our club... yours! So, we would like to announce that we will be looking for your help in creating these articles. And, of course, there are prizes involved!

How can you get involved, you may ask? Simply post your new layout using the current club selection (either the Scrap Girls club or the ScrapSimple club) in our Scrap Girls Club Members Gallery. Be sure to list all of the Scrap Girls products you used, as well as a short (1-2 sentence) description of the unique idea or theme your layout shows off. If your layout and its corresponding tip is chosen, they will be showcased in our Club Concepts article, and you will win a $5 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique!

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

Aussie Chat Monday, 9 February - 9:00PM Australian Daylight Eastern Time Come join Jo (ScrappingJo) and Karen (kazbar73) for our first Aussie Chat for 2009. As we are in the middle of one of our hottest summers this year, we thought it would be a great challenge to create a layout with your favourite summer photos. Come to the chat room at 9.00pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time and have fun chatting with us. For our International ladies, the chat will start at 5am New York time, on Monday, 9 February. We look forward to chatting with you all! Leaving Love Chat Monday, February 9th - 7:00PM ET February's the perfect time to share the love in the SG Gallery! Join Becca on February 9th at 7pm ET for this month's Leaving Love Chat. Bring a layout of your own and others from the gallery, so we can all share the love together! The Card Chat Monday, February 9th - 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.... The challenge for this month is to do a Valentine's or Friendship card. You can also pick another February Holiday (I have posted a list on the MB), or if you have any birthday cards you need for the upcoming months, do one of those. We will be posting our cards in the gallery. See you there!! *NEW* Baby Album Crop Tuesday, February 10th - 1:00PM ET Do you need some motivation getting those baby albums done? Children grow so fast; let's get those baby memories scrapped! You can scrap your children, grandchildren or even your own baby album. Join me, Carla (crs), in the chat room on Tuesday, February 10th at 1 pm et to work on those albums! You can start from fresh on a brand new album, or jump in wherever you are in your project. I'll provide an optional challenge each crop for motivation if you want it. This time, I challenge you to scrap the “big news...” finding out about the impending arrival! Come join me! New Member Chat Tuesday, February 10th - 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, February 11th - 12:00Noon ET Join your guest host April Showers 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 February 11th, we'll do a 'Things I Love' challenge! Create a layout telling us about your favorite things - stores, treats, tech equipment, books, music, movies, TV shows - 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! Journaling Chat Wednesday, February 11th - 8:00PM ET Join Shari_PV_Mom and angelaNussbaum for the Journaling chat @ 8pm. Are most of your layouts decorative? Do you have stories to tell, but just not motivated enough to make a layout with journaling? We are going to challenge you to do a layout with your Journaling in mind. Come join us and tell your stories. Sketch Crop Challenge Thursday, February 12th - 9:00PM ET Join me, sprinklz, for the Sketch Challenge and Crop, Thursday, February 12th 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 “Live Chat” link (above right). 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.

February Events

February Board Game: BINGO! It's that time again! Join us for an exciting game of BINGO on the Message Board Forum in February! Pick 25 words from the list provided in the forum and send them in an e-mail to [email protected] with a subject line that says “BINGO CARD - your SG message board username” by Monday, February 2nd (midnight MST) in order to play in the first round, which will begin Tuesday February 3rd. Each day, members of the Welcoming Committee will call five 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 win 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. Layout Contests: February Layout Contest: Amour, Amor, Amore! The word LOVE is one of the most popular in any language across the globe. For this month's contest, we want you to use the word “Love” on your layouts. Let's see how creative you can get with it by using it in a unique way on your pages. Post your Love layouts in the February Layout Contest Gallery by midnight ET on February 28th, and if yours is selected, you will win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique. January Mid-Month Layout Contest: It's the beginning of a new year, a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. January is a time for resolutions and setting goals. So, for the mid-January Layout Contest, we want to see your layouts showcasing New Beginnings! Post your layouts in the Mid-January Layout Gallery before midnight ET on February 15th and you could 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.)

Layout by Debbie Layden
larger view

Designer Freebie by Syndee Nuckles coordinates with her Assemble Your Own: Greeting Cards - Love

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Inked Edges Neutrals 4102, Brush Set: Beautiful Distress and Brush Set: Playful Swirls 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.