“Winter Beauty” by Armi Custodio
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

The snowy, dreamy background was created with three papers from Brandy Murry's Holiday In Lights Collection Biggie, namely, Winter Scene (normal), Scalloped White (normal), and Dangles (soft light). I simply used Brandie Valenzuela's Brush Set: Grungelle to softly erase areas where I wanted each paper to show through.

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Grungelle and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Bickham Script Pro

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“Winter Wonderland” by Jo Corne
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

To create the snowflakes in the top right hand corner, I created a new layer for each one of Diane Miller's ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Chillin 3802, Snowflakes. On each layer I used the Custom Shape Tool, went to the Custom Shape Tool drop-down menu, loaded ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Chillin 3802, Snowflakes and chose the shape I wanted. I then “drew” the shape while holding down the Shift key so as to keep the shape in proportion. Once I was happy with my flake shape, I used Amanda McGee's ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Snow and Ice 6101 Biggie to give each flake its own snowy/icy texture.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Chillin 3801, Gift, ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Chillin 3802, Snowflakes, ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Chillin 3803, Swirls, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Windowpane Frames, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Snow and Ice 6101 Biggie and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Sea Glass 6401 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS4

Name of challenge: Free Scrap

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Aldine401 BT

Journaling: We finally made it to the snow this year after promising for so long. We rugged up, grabbed our toboggans and off we went. We had the best fun with lots of laughs and lots of wet body parts!!! We hope to do this again next winter.

“I Break for Purple” by Julie Moberly
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

I love Sarah Batdorf's ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Film Negatives. I changed the orientation of the template to better suit my photos. First, I dragged the pieces of the template to a blank file. From the top menu, I chose Image> Rotate> Rotate 90 Degrees Right. Then I chose Image> Rotate> Flip Vertical.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Film Negatives, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Paper Tears PSE 5001, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photos That Pop PSE 1801, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Glitter Brights Super Biggie 4101, ScrapSimple Transparency Overlays: Painted Edge, Lettering Delights Hoopla Font and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

Name of challenge: Free Scrap

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Blue Highway D Type

“Warm & Cozy” by Kelly Favor-Chronister
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

To make my photo fit properly in the crochet frame from Brandy Murry's ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Crocheted Frames, I made a photo mask. First I used my Magic Wand Tool and selected the inside of the frame. Then I went to Select> Modify> Expand; a pop-up window then asked me to select the number of pixels to expand the selection by. I choose to expand by ten pixels. Then I created a new layer below the frame layer. With my selection still made (it had the “marching ants” around it), I went to Edit> Fill Selection. Another pop-up window asked me to choose a color to fill with. I chose “50% Gray.” Then I simply clipped my photo to my newly created photo mask.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Crocheted Frames, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics PSE 5001, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501, Lettering Delights Hoopla Font and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Curled Edges Shadows 3201 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and Apple iPhoto

Name of challenge: Free Scrap

Journaling: Margot is such a happy girl! She is always smiling at me & crinkling her little nose. It's adorable! Today, she seemed very content to just stay in her jammies and be warm & cozy...

“Kendra's Camera” by Launa Valente
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

To make the paper clip look like it was really clipped to the paper, I loaded the paper clip layer by holding down Ctrl and Clicking on the paper clip layer. Then highlighting the paper layer, I did Layer Via Copy, then applied a bevel and emboss to the new paper layer. Now it looks like the back of the paper clip is really behind the paper.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Layer Your Own Brushes: Stamped Specifics, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Enveloped, Brush Set: Stamped Dates, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501 and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Paper 5701 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Name of challenge: Free Scrap

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Vintage Typewriter
• Font - Jeanna

“BFF” by Kara Swanson
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

I layered the background papers at various angles to create interest and variety, and then added the frame at an angle that balanced the background papers.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0

Name of challenge: Free Scrap

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.

Rediscovering the Meaning of Scrapbooking

This may sound weird, as I'm a digital scrapbooking supplies designer and scrapbooking is my life, but I just rediscovered the meaning of doing it.

My older daughter, who turns three this year, was looking at some pictures and layouts from when she was little. She could recognize herself in the pictures and was having so much fun looking through all of them! I thought that she was too young to enjoy what I do, but children grow up fast and parents are usually “behind” them.

This little episode made me think. I really want my children to know not only what they looked like when they were little, but also what they did, what they said, what they liked to do, to eat, and to play with. I also want them to know what we, parents, were thinking about them and that's why I'm so thankful that I found digital scrapbooking. Doing things digitally is especially great in my situation – it saves me money, time, and mess. I just can't imagine scrapbooking somewhere in the kitchen until all hours and then having to clean up after I finish. Just one paperclip left behind could cause trouble. All I do now is turn off my computer. I have enough other things to clean after the children go to bed.

So, today, I sat at my computer with the feeling of an important mission ahead of me. I still have so many memories to scrap, hundreds of pictures that need to be linked with words. I will do it eventually and I am not getting frustrated with the prospect of all the work. Some of the pictures can be put into photo albums; I do not have to scrap them all. Some of them tell stories, some don't. My favorite photos are those shot on ordinary days. Those that show things that seem to be unimportant at the time. Everyday things like the little quirks of people we know. I enjoy reading my scrapbook pages most when they show me things that I have already forgotten!

So, enjoy the layout about my younger daughter and her obsession with a washing machine!

- Ariadna

Favorite product I've designed:
ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Blended 8201 Super Biggie

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Blended 8201 Super Biggie are also available.

The idea for this style came to me in a flash and then I couldn't believe I had not done it before. ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Blended 8201 Super Biggie lets you blend your elements into the background. It can be used on type, alphas, paper templates, brushes, shapes, and more. I just love the realistic effects it gives. I’ve used it for years and recreated it for each new layout. Now, it's as easy as a click of a mouse!

Layout by Ariadna Wiczling
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Journaling reads:

You love to look at our washing machine while it is running. You love to watch the clothes turning and all the bubbles appearing in the window. You are so focused and excited then, that I find it a perfect time to do things like cutting your nails. Nothing else keeps you so busy and still for even one minute.

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Blended 8201 Super Biggie, Texture Set: Paper, ScrapSimple Layer Your Own Brushes: Parcel Dates, Brush Set: My Descriptions and Dynamic Brush Set: Inky 5001 are also available.

The Scrap Girls Monthly Club allows you to get all of the newest looks while saving money! It is perfect for anyone who wants beautiful, coordinated digital scrapbooking supplies that are easy to use. You get all the products shown above, a $29.33 value, for $9.99 or less! 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!

February’s Scrap Girls Club’s featured designer is Erica Hite. A vibrant digital scrapbooking kit inspired by Mexican and Scandinavian folk art, featuring cut paper, floral motifs, felt flower embellishments, wood and metal frames, and crackle textures. This digital scrapbooking kit is perfect for all occasions including family, friends, love, and birthday. Let’s look a little closer and see what additional ideas we can come up with for this club.

Creative ideas:

• Use the cream paper with the heart in the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie to create a romantic card or layout.

• With colors so vibrant, the entire February Club is great for showing off the graphic nature of black and white photos.

• The Creative Spirit Collection Biggie is perfect for creating a mini album about a story of love, marriage, or birth. Use the word art as a title for each page, or as the starting point of your journaling.

• Digitally weave a ribbon through the green cut out paper in the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie. Then use this for a layout about a garden party or a gazebo event. Layer that over a contrasting paper for lots of pop!

• Use the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie and coordinating products for adoption layouts.

Layout by RosemaryS
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Congratulations,RosemaryS! We loved your idea so much we had to share it with everybody! Please contact [email protected] to claim your gift.

• The embellishments in the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie, along with the papers, would be fun used to decoupage anything – a wooden box, a photo frame, old chunky jewelery. Check flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores and give beautiful new life to something old and out of style.

• The papers in the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie would be beautiful to either print on fabric or to create an iron-on with. Use the fabric or iron-on to create a decorative pillow, wall hanging, apron, tote bag, or any other fabric item.

• Use the embellishments in the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie for layouts with photos of Pennsylvania Dutch or Holland's fields of spring flowers.

• All of the Creative Spirit products work nicely for layouts celebrating Mexican culture.

• Use the alpha in the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie to add the initials of those in a photograph in your layout.

Layout by Kelly Favor-Chronister
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Layer Your Own Brushes: Artsy Ampersand Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Beveled 5401, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics PSE 5001 and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501 are also available.

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!

Have fun!

- The Scrap Girls Team

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

Coffee Break Chat Monday, February 16th - 6:30AM ET If reading the Scrap Girls Newsletter and having a cup of coffee, cocoa, or tea first thing in the morning is a part of your daily routine, join Sherry Lynn and Becca on Monday, February 16, 2009 for this month's Coffee Break Chat. We'll chat over the latest issue of the Newsletter for a light and fun way to start off your week! Hope to see you there! New Member Chat **Early Edition** Tuesday, February 17th - 3:00PM ET Join April (April Showers) at 3:00 PM ET for a fun chat to get to know our newest members. We will discuss the message board, gallery, chocolate and so much more! Everyone is welcome, new or not so new! Not sure how to get there? Just click the “chat room” button at the top of this newsletter; you will need JavaScript enabled to access the chat room. Ad Inspiration Challenge and Chat Tuesday, February 17th - 9:00PM ET Join Pat (PBarnes) on Tuesday, February 17th, at 9 PM ET for an Ad Challenge and Chat. A few hours before the chat, a magazine ad will be posted on the message board to use as inspiration for a layout. You can use whatever you want to from the ad - the colors, the shapes, the composition. There are no wrong answers! High Noon Crop Wednesday, February 18th - 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 18th, we'll do a patterned paper challenge! Create a layout on any theme, any topic, and any colors - using multiple patterned papers - at least two different patterns! Mix it up! 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! Scrap Girls 52 - Chat Wednesday, February 18th - 8:00PM ET Calling all Scrap Girls 52 participants! And those who want to find out more about it! Join Angela (angelaNussbaum) and Becca at 8pm on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 for this month's chat! You'll be given a new “one word” for inspiration this month, and we'll discuss ways to keep scrapping lots of photos on a single or two-page layout! Hope we'll see you there! NSBR Chat Thursday, February 19th - 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, Michelle (Shelbi) and Shari (ShariPVmom), on February 19th, at 1 PM EST, in the chat room Lobby! Hope to see you there! Heritage Crop Thursday, February 19th - 8:00PM ET Do you have boxes of heritage photos just waiting to be restored and scrapped? Are there family stories just waiting for you to write down and preserve? Then this is the crop for you! Join April (April Showers) and Carla (CRS) for the Heritage Crop and Chat! We'll help you get motivated to scrap those heritage photos and record your family stories for future generations to enjoy. ATC Swap Crop/Chat Sunday, February 22nd - 3:00PM ET Please join me, Sherry_Lynn, in the chatroom for our February ATC Swap Crop/Chat on Sunday, February 22nd at 3PM ET. For this month's challenge we are doing ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) that feature “LOVE!” Quote Challenge and Chat Sunday, February 22nd - 8:00PM ET Come join Pat (PBarnes) for the Quote Challenge Crop at 8 PM ET! 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! Everyone can participate and create a layout, even if you can't make the chat. Hope to see you there!

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. February Mid-Month Layout Contest: Did you know that February is International Friendship Month? Let's honor the special people we call friends by featuring them in a layout! Post your Friendship layouts in the Mid-February Layout Contest Gallery before March 14th at midnight eastern. You will be eligible to win a $10 gift card to the Scrap Girls Boutique! Let's get scrapping!

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 Jan Hicks
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Designer Freebie by Jan Hicks coordinates with her Cardboard Curled Edges Embellishment Mini

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Stitched Signage, Brush Set: Floral Medley 2 Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Curled Edges Shadows 3201 and ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics 5001 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.