“Young @ Heart” by Jo Corne
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

To give Thao's Life's Canvas Collection Biggie note a grunged, outlined look, I made a duplicate of the notepaper. On the first copy, I changed its Blend Mode to “Luminosity” at 100% and on the duplicated layer, I changed its Blend Mode to “Linear Burn” at 100%.

For the main photo, I gave it Sarah Batdorf's ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Vintage PS 6502 Mini action and then duplicated the photo twice. On the first photo layer, I reduced its Opacity to 30%. On the second photo layer, I changed its Blend Mode to “Soft Light” and reduced it to 50%, and the third photo layer I left at “Normal” at 100%. I then gave this top photo layer a layer mask and “erased” all the area around my body so that I stood out clearly of the background.

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Film Grunged, Brush Set: Grunged Butterflies, Brush Set: Grunge 2, Brush Set: Inked Edges, Brush Set: Fractals, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Vintage PS 6502 Mini, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: 14K 4104 and Lettering Delights Becca Font are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Name of challenge: Young At Any Age

Journaling: As I find myself rapidly approaching the age of 40 (yikes!) I still don't feel like an 'adult' at times. In my heart and in my head, I am still a young, spring chicken, LOL! Can it be that I have two school-aged children, have been married for nearly 15 years and have been in the workforce for almost 19 years? I don't feel any older than I did 10, even 20 years ago and hope that I will always remain young @ heart and @ mind.

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

I wanted the Korean character for “strength” to match the bamboo on the template. I used the Marquee Tool to select small pieces of the template, then copied and pasted them onto new layers. I moved, resized, and rotated all of the pieces until they looked like the Korean character in the dictionary. Then, I merged the layers, creating my own unique embellishment!

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Asian Tranquility, ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Tell the Story, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Beautiful Distress, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Glass Clear Super Biggie 4102, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics PSE 5001 and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

Name of challenge: Young At Any Age

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Chinese Takeaway
• Korean-English Dictionary

“Laugh” by Kim Meeder
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

Rather than use the brush file (ABR) in Lori Cook's Brush Set: Grunged Butterflies, I liked the realistic look of the PNG file. I also wanted to use a large size, and the PNG file would work perfectly to achieve that. I simply dragged the butterfly on my layout. Then, I removed some of the grunge using the Eraser Tool and a soft brush.

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Growing Things, Brush Set: Grunged Butterflies, Lettering Delights Sweet Potatoes Font and ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Marginal Two are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Name of challenge: Young At Any Age

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Arial

“Laugh, Giggle, Smile” by Christy VanderWall
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

To create the background paper, I placed Lori's Really Different Grunge-Dark Paper Mini - brown crackle paper - on my layout. Then, on a new layer, I brushed the circles brush from Brush Set: Grunged Geometrics and clipped the yellow paper from Really Different Grunge-Dark Paper Mini to it and set the Blend Mode to “Hard Light.” To brighten the circles up a bit, I duplicated the brush and yellow paper layers, set the Blend Mode to “Lighten,” and the Opacity to 30%.

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Edging 1 Grunge, Brush Set: Grunged Geometrics and ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Frame It! Edgy 1 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Name of challenge: Young At Any Age

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Swingset BB

“Remain Young” by Janine Buckles
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Directions for one technique I did on this layout:

When I placed the alpha I wanted to use for my title (from Amanda Sok's Alluring Autumn Collection Biggie) on the completed layout, it looked a bit washed out. It was the right colour but just needed a bit of punch.

I selected the “R” layer by clicking on its thumbnail image in the Layers Palette and added a bevel from the Artwork and Effects Palette. I clicked on the little star that appeared in the “R” layer and, in the Style Settings box, reduced the bevel's setting to 5. Then I played with different Blend Modes until I found one that produced the effect I wanted (Multiply).

To make these changes to the rest of the alphas, I right-clicked on my “R” layer in the Layers Palette and chose “Copy Layer Style.” Then, while holding down my Shift key, I clicked on each alpha's image on my layout. All of my alpha layers were then highlighted (in blue). I right-clicked on one of them in the Layers Palette and chose “Paste Layer Style,” which then applied all my settings to the remaining alphas, all at once!

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Decorative Swirls Grunged, Brush Set: Film, Brush Set: Grunge, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Photo Masks - Downtown, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Tie Backs, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Downtown, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photos That Pop PSE 1801, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Leather 4901 and Brush Set: Stamped Dates are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

Name of challenge: Young At Any Age

Journaling: “To remain young while growing old is the greatest blessing.”

Other Ingredients:

• Font - HansHand

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

Following a basic design principle, I made a special effort to use elements in groups of threes, including the circles, the word tabs, and strips of paper behind my photo.

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Circles 2 and Brush Set: PhotoEdges 4 are also available.

Software used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0

Name of challenge: Young At Any Age

Other Ingredients:

• Font - Hootie

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.

Working From Home

Just over three years ago, I resigned from my corporate job as an assistant communications director at a local university to independently pursue graphic design from home. That move has brought a bounty of blessings as well as surprising challenges.

When I tell people that I work from home, they immediately smile and say how they’d love to do that. Honestly, it’s harder than it looks. While there are many undeniable perks such as working flexible hours, taking on only the projects I want, and not having to commute in traffic, I’ve learned that it takes a huge amount of personal motivation, self-discipline, and sacrifice.

Most days, I love what I do: create for a living. I love finding inspiration, using and experimenting with my artistic talents, and meeting new people from all over the world. Other days, when the ideas are less than flowing, it’s very easy to get discouraged and caught in a creative rut. That’s when I get distracted with all of the other aspects of personal life that I’d rather be doing, such as playing with the dog, going out to lunch with hubby, or even doing laundry!

So, to get anything done in the last three years, I had to learn new work habits to adjust my work life to my home life.

• Always dressing up as if I’m going out to work. Most days, I choose to wear something that is appropriate for public outings (even if I don’t go out). I fix my hair, put on lipstick, and even wear earrings. This helps me see myself as a working professional, even if I remain barefoot.

• Setting consistent work hours. I try to be in the office between nine and six. On days that I have personal appointments or a late start, I opt to work the later part of the day. Even if I’m working late, I’m only a door away from my family and not across town in an empty office building. Fortunately, I also have a separate room in the house to designate solely as an office.

• Making sure others know that I’m at work. Sometimes, one of the hardest things to communicate to friends and family is that I cannot accept their invitation to lunch, shopping, or phone calls during the day when I’m working. Although they know that I work from home, I think they naturally forget that I can’t always be available for personal matters. And yet, I try to be reasonable about this by making myself available for occasional outings or important phone calls. After all, people do come first.

• Riding the ebbs and flows of financial income. This is where working from home discourages a lot of people I know. My younger brother is also a graphic designer, but he chooses not to work independently because he likes his paycheck every two weeks. The biggest lesson I’ve learned about this is to diversify my income and trust God as my ultimate source. I’m blessed to work at Scrap Girls and it provides a regular source of income for me. However, to supplement it, I also accept other design jobs as they come for additional short-term pay as well as career growth.

• Remembering to take breaks. I think a lot of people in all sorts of roles can relate to this. If I’m in a flow, I can easily forget about meals, taking breaks, or when to end the day. But, taking short breaks helps me to clear my head, stretch, and work easier, not harder, even if it’s a long day.

• Separating personal chores from business tasks. Oddly enough, I only recently realized that doing laundry, going grocery shopping, and responding to my personal emails don’t have to happen during work hours. What a time saver!

• Honoring both home life and work life. When my work is done, I rarely stay in front of the computer for personal reasons. I walk away from the office, cook dinner, and enjoy my family. They are the most important reason why I do what I do anyway.

- Thao

Favorite product I've designed:
Dynamic Brush Set: Drawing 5701

Commercial license versions of Dynamic Brush Set: Drawing 5701 are also available.

Of my recent batch of Dynamic Brush Sets that I have just put out, such as Dynamic Brush Set: Musical Notes 5701 and Dynamic Brush Set: Say What 5701, Dynamic Brush Set: Drawing 5701 is my favorite because I like finding new ways to incorporate drawing into my digital scrapbooking. These brushes can be used to draw, write and decorate.

Layout by Thao Cosgrove
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Commercial license versions of Dynamic Brush Set: Drawing 5701, ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Storyteller, ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Slim Tabs 5701, Lettering Delights Mother's Typewriter Font and Brush Set: Sketchbook Dotted Biggie 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.

Tutorial: Heart Pillow

Sometimes digital scrapbooking embellishments lend themselves to other creative projects. After I designed a cut paper heart for my Creative Spirit Collection Biggie, I knew I wanted to use it for something in addition to layouts. I’ll show you how I made a little ornament pillow with the heart.

Decide how big you would like your pillow to be. Either make it an ornament like I did, or make a full-sized decorative pillow. I wanted my pillow to be 5” square.

Open up the heart embellishment from the Creative Spirit Collection Biggie in Photoshop, and inside the Layer Styles Palette, add a thin black stroke of 1 pixel to the art while also turning the Fill Opacity to 0%. This will leave you with a nice outline to trace. If using Photoshop Elements, simply fill the embellishment with black. If you would like, you can create a square or pillow shape at the desired size to print out at the same time as the heart.

Cut out the paper heart and place face down onto your felt. Trace around the perimeter of the heart with a marker or pen.

Measure and cut the front and back of your pillow fabric or felt.

Trace the heart embellishment printout onto tear-away (do a test first!) or dissolvable stabilizer. I used the dissolvable kind. Pin the stabilizer to your felt for your heart.

Embroider along the lines of your heart on top of the stabilizer.

Cut out your heart outline and then dissolve or tear away the stabilizer.

Pin and stitch the heart to the front of your pillow fabric.

Pin and stitch the front of your pillow to the back of your pillow. I used a blanket stitch. You may want to insert a ribbon at this time and pin it in place at the top and center. Leave a gap open in your stitching at the bottom to stuff the pillow. Stitch to close up the pillow.

Project by Erica Hite
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Tutorial by Erica Hite

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 Collection Biggie and getting the coordinating Paper Super Mini, Word Art, Embellishment Set, Assemble Your Own Zoom Page Set, and Designer's Choice Item for free! Now, that's a bargain. Don't miss out!

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

Aussie Chat & Challenge Monday, 23 February - 9:00PM Australian Standard Daylight Eastern Time Come join Karen (kazbar73) and Jo (ScrappingJo) for an Aussie Quote Challenge Crop! Here's how it will work. On Sunday, we will post a thread on the challenge board giving you the quote which you will use to make your own word art. It's not hard, and we'll even have a layout with a Word Art example. Then we'll meet in the chat room to have fun, chat, and create our Word Art layout! The chat will start at 9pm Australian Eastern Standard Daylight Saving Time. Everyone can participate and create a layout, even if you can't make the chat. Hope to see you there! For our International ladies the chat will start at 5am New York time on Monday, 23 February. New Member Chat Tuesday, February 24th - 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 25th - 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 25th, we'll do a surprise color challenge! Create a layout predominantly using a color to be chosen by the group at the beginning of the crop! 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 25th - 8:00PM ET Join Becca and angelaNussbaum for the Journaling chat at 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. Desktop Crop Thursday, February 26th - 8:00PM ET Join Angela (angelaNussbaum) and Becca tonight at 8pm ET for this month's desktop crop! If you're tired of your computer's boring and basic wallpaper, this is one chat and crop that you won't want to miss! You'll learn how to use your digital scrapbooking supplies to make a unique and fun-to-look-at wallpaper for your computer! Each month, we will give you a theme and a technique challenge for this crop. It will be announced on the message board a few hours before chat time! What's New in the Boutique Chat Friday, February 27th - 11:00AM ET Join Michelle (Shelbi) at 11 am EST Friday morning to chat about all the cool new things in the boutique. What are you getting? What did you Kaboodle? And most importantly, show us the layouts or other projects you made with your new goodies! There's a thread every Thursday and now there's a chat too! Swap Crop Chat Friday, February 27th - 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 Friday, February 27th! Scrap Girls Monthly Club Chat/Challenge Sunday, February 28th - 3:00PM ET Here we are with another Sunday club release! We know everyone is excited to get their hands on the new Monthly Club, but for today we'll just have to look with anticipation for Monday. Come join me, Sherry_Lynn, on Sunday, March 1st, at 3 PM EST for a Scrap Girls Monthly Club Chat/Challenge! We'll be oohing and aahing over the download we'll get tomorrow. As a challenge, let’s create one more layout using February's Monthly Club before the next one arrives. It’s sure to be a blast! 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 Valerie Randall
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Designer Freebie by Valerie Randall coordinates with her Brush Set: Spirals 2101

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Spirals 2101, Brush Set: Spirals 2102, Brush Set: Spirals 2103, Brush Set: Stamped Dates and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Glitter Metals Mini 4102 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.