Rozanne Paxman

Lion Hearts

"Taste this," the lion begged. "I have a lot of meat to share with you today."

The lioness stared at her mate in wonder. Did he really believe that a little meat would remove the sting of his roaming about every night? "He has gone mad," she thought.

"No, thank you," she politely answered. "I'm not hungry."

"What?" the lion roared. "Not hungry! Of course, you're hungry! I haven't brought home any decent meat for you in nearly a week."

She sniffed, turned around, and sat on the ground. "Yes, I know," she sighed. "Meanwhile, who was home... alone... tending the children... while you were out and about with the boys?"

Scratching his head, the lion stared at his mate. "Out with the boys?" he wondered. "What boys? I haven't seen a soul except the prey I have hunted. I suppose that some of those animals were male."

Noticing that her mate was failing to respond to her feigned despondency, the lioness sighed, "Mother warned me this might happen."

"That what might happen?"

She began to cry. "That you would... you would... lose interest in me..."

"Oh no," the lion fretted. "She is crying. How do I stop it? I want to stop it. I can't stand it when she cries."

"Sweetheart," he soothed. "I'll never lose interest in you. Why, you are the most beautiful, the most intelligent and the most wonderful lioness in all of the land."

"I am?"

"Of course, you are, dear. I wouldn't have married you otherwise."

Smiling at her mate, the lioness replied. "I suppose I am a little bit hungry. What did you bring me, dear?"

"Does it matter?"

Purring, she replied, "No, I suppose it doesn't."

- Ro

P.S. Please ignore the fact that it is the lioness that actually hunts for the pride. This isn't a true story, unless you want to believe it is. In that case, we can say it is a true story.

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.

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!

SCRAP GIRLS CLUB

Join the Scrap Girls Monthly Club and you can have fun with the newest traditional digital and printable scrapbooking looks while saving! (A $27.94 value for $9.99 or less!)

The Scrap Girls Club contents are released on the 1st day of the month (or the closest business day to the 1st).

With the Scrap Girls Club, you will receive:

1 Collection Biggie
1 Paper Super Mini
1 8.5x11 Sheet of Word Art
1 Embellishment Set
1 Assemble Your Own Zoom Page Set
1 Designer's Choice Item

Layout by Amanda Sok using January's Scrap Girls Club
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Created for you by Amanda Sok

If you prefer not to join a club, the Scrap Girls Club contents are available at regular prices in the Boutique. You can easily find them right now by checking the What's New? section of the Boutique.

Note: The Scrap Girls Club contents are always available for sale elsewhere in the Boutique at their regular prices once the associated club month is released. But all club contents are totally brand new, never seen before product releases for each month!

SCRAPSIMPLE CLUB

Join the ScrapSimple Monthly Club and you can enjoy the newest ScrapSimple looks while saving! (A $13.95 value for $6.99 or less!)

The new ScrapSimple Club contents are released on the 15th day of the month (or the closest business day to the 15th).

With the ScrapSimple Club, you will receive:

1 ScrapSimple Paper Template Set
1 ScrapSimple Embellishment Template
1 ScrapSimple Embellishment or Word Art Template Set
2 Designer's Choice Items

A commercially licensed version of the ScrapSimple Club is also available here.

Layout by Janine Buckles using January's ScrapSimple Club
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Created for you by Keri Schueller and Ariadna Wiczling

If you prefer not to join a club, the ScrapSimple Club contents are available at regular prices in the Boutique. You can easily find them right now by checking the What's New? section of the Boutique.

Note: The ScrapSimple Club contents are always available for sale in the Boutique at regular prices once the associated club month is released. But all club contents are totally brand new, never-seen-before product releases for each month!

Museums

My family loves visiting museums. Our local museum has a wonderful mix of permanent exhibits including natural history, local history, science, fine art, an interactive children's exhibit and a planetarium. It always has a specialized temporary exhibit. We love our local museum so much that we purchase an annual membership. With that membership, we receive free admission to the entire "family" of local museums and also free and/or discounted admission to nearly 300 museums in the United States and over a dozen other countries! So whenever we travel, we always look to see if there's a museum there that participates in the program. We visit all kinds of museums: art museums, science museums, and natural history museums, historic and civic museums. And of course, I bring my camera. I have hundreds of museum photos in my organizer!

Digital scrapbooking is my favorite way to capture and show off those fun expeditions. In order to scrap our visits, I'm always on the lookout for collections that will fit a particular museum's theme.

Natural history museums typically include activities and exhibits involving dinosaurs, specimen collections, archeology, and geology. To scrap your visit to the natural history museum, you might want to include elements from:

Extinct Collection Biggie
Vintage Ephemera: Birds-n-Eggs Collection Biggie
Noteworthy Collection Biggie
ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Specimen Jars
Ephemera Collection Biggie

Some of my favorite exhibits in natural history museums involve archeology and ancient cultures. You might include elements from these collections in your pages:

Egypt Collection Mini
Spirit Collection Biggie
Hula Sue Collection Biggie
Kingdom Collection Biggie

Science museums typically include exhibits and activities involving weather, ecology, technology, astronomy and anatomy. These collections would work well with science themes:

Science Collection
Digital Stickers: Science
ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Weather 1501
ScrapSimple Photo Templates: Windy 3801 Biggie
Space Kids Collection Mini
Robomania Collection Mini
Computer Tech Collection Mini
GraphX Collection Biggie

Science museums often include exhibits that teach about taking care of our planet. You might add elements from these collections to your pages:

Planet Earth Collection Biggie
Eco Friendly Collection Mini
Go Green Collection

To scrap your visit to the art museum, you might want to use:

Abstract Expressionism Collection Biggie
Impressionistica Collection Mini
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Gallery
ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Artsy - Watercolor 1
Mixed Media Collection

We live near Philadelphia which is very rich in American History, and we visit these types of museums frequently. For this theme, you might want to include elements from:

A July 4 Collection Mini
Heartland Collection Biggie
Civil War Collection Mini

Scrap Girls has some wonderful collections that include museum elements and word art for scrapping your trip all over the world:

A Tour Across Europe Collection Biggie
New York City Collection
Assemble Your Own Zoom Pages: City Park
Well Traveled Collection

Visiting museums are a fun way to learn and see things you wouldn't normally see in your day-to-day life, and the moments are certainly worth scrapping!

Layout by Elisha Barnett
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Specimen Jars, Brush Set: Nearly Taped and ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Waves 3801 are also available.

Article written by Elisha Barnett

FREE STARTER KIT

Free eBook "starter kit" turns your dreams of digital scrapbooking into reality today!

This dynamite eBook is 65 pages - packed full of the information, ideas, and help people need when they are about to dive into this great hobby. It answers all of the important questions new digital scrapbookers have. They are all here for you - in one easy to use eBook!

Bonus! Download the free "Warning" Label, too. It was created for you by Valerie Randall as a little bit of extra fun!

Would you like a chance to try digital scrapbooking yourself?

Scrap Girls' Refresh Collection Biggie offers you free samples of some of our most popular product types. Try making a layout, your own paper with a ScrapSimple Paper Template, a fast layout with a ScrapSimple Digital Layout Template, or experiment with a brush.

We know you'll love digital scrapbooking as much as we do, and we have thousands of products to feed your new addiction!

Ready to Take Off? In-depth Tutorials Help You Become a Great Digital Scrapbooker

Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed!

NEWLY UPDATED! Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Photoshop
NEWLY UPDATED! Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Photoshop Elements
Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Paint Shop Pro X (XI)

Find out what tens of thousands of people have already learned: Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed is the fastest way to learn how to create digital scrapbooking layouts. And because this series covers so many topics with one purchase, it is a bargain!

In the tutorials, you'll see Ro working on her computer and hear her talking about why she is doing what she is doing. It's like having Ro come to your home and give you private scrapbooking lessons. You can create digital scrapbooking layouts today!

Download and CD versions available.

Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users receive:

30-31 movie tutorials
Companion eBook(s)
Collections
Other supplies

Paint Shop Pro users receive 31 movie tutorials.

MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed!

MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed! for Adobe Photoshop
MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed! for Adobe Photoshop Elements

Now that you've learned the basics of digital scrapbooking with Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, you are ready to learn advanced skills for having even more fun while you create digital scrapbooking layouts!

Get a big boost learning how to use ScrapSimple products to make your own backgrounds, embellishments, and alphas with the MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Photoshop Elements movie tutorial series. You'll learn so much that your digital scrapbooking layouts will never be the same!

eBooks

Scrap Girls offers a large catalog of eBooks covering topics that will expand your digital scrapbooking abilities to new heights. Here are just a few samples:

Inspirations eBook

With three richly illustrated sections, Inspirations eBook not only offers a virtual gallery of stunning works by EIGHTEEN contemporary digital artists in a variety of styles, but it also describes the techniques they used and gives several key points on how you can recreate each of these TWENTY-EIGHT layouts yourself.

Ten Beginner Tips on Type eBook

If you're creating a digital scrapbooking layout, it's almost guaranteed that you'll be using type on your pages somewhere. But did you know that type can make or break your page? What typeface will you use? What size font? Where will you place it on your page? If you want to take some beginner steps towards improving the type on your layouts, and thereby improving the overall look of your layouts, then this eBook is perfect for you.

digital Photography Simplified eBook

This eBook is full of easy to understand information and photographic examples, and is tailored to the beginning digital photographer who wants to take better photos. More advanced photographers will also benefit from this eBook with the sections that get you out of your comfort zone.

Start to Finish eBooklets

Start to Finish eBooklet - PS: How to use ScrapSimple Tools: Custom Shapes & Patterns

Nothing could be simpler than learning to scrapbook digitally with Scrap Girls Start to Finish eBooklets. Step by step written guidelines and detailed screenshots will help you learn new digital scrapbooking skills. Included with the eBooklet are the actual digital files you need to create a finished project!

See more titles

Layout by Diane Miller
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Designer Freebie by Diane Miller coordinates with her ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Chillin 3802, Snowflakes

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Torn Edges, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Well Worn, Brush Set: Stamp A Date and Brush Set: Dear Diary Arrows Biggie 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.

CROPS AND CHATS

New Member Chat - Early Edition
Tuesday, January 19th - 1:00PM MT

Join April (April Showers) at 1pm MT 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.

East Coast High Noon Crop
Wednesday, January 20th - 10:00AM MT

Join your guest host April Showers for the East Coast High Noon Crop every Wednesday at 10am MT. 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 January 20th, we'll do a five-photo challenge! Create a layout using five photos - no more, no less! 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!

Heritage Crop
Thursday, January 21st - 6:00PM MT

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) at 6pm MT 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.

Ad Inspiration Chat
Thursday, January 21st - 7:00PM MT

Join Pat (PBarnes) at 7pm MT for an Ad Inspiration 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!

What's New Chat
Friday, January 22nd - 9:00AM MT

Join Michelle (Shelbi) and Sherry_Lynn at 9am MT on Friday mornings to chat about all the cool new things in the boutique. You never know who else is going to show up! 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!

Back-Up Party and Chat
Friday, January 22nd - 8:00PM MT

Need a little extra motivation to back-up your layouts and stash? Join April Showers in the chat room on Friday, January 22nd for a Back-up Party and Chat. We'll also go over several different ways to safeguard your files. You won't want to miss this one!

Scraplifting Chat
Sunday, January 24th - 5:00PM MT

Scraplifting can be a wonderful starting point for your layouts! Join Becca on Sunday, January 24th at 5pm MT to learn more about scraplifting, the importance of giving credit, and more! A few hours before the chat, I will post the name and gallery link to a Scrap Girls Team member, and you can choose one of their layouts for inspiration! Hope you'll join us!

Coffee Break Chat
Tuesday, January 26th - 5:00AM MT

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 on Tuesday, January 26th at 5am MT for this month's Coffee Break Chat. We'll chat over the latest issue of the Newsletter and give you a challenge based on it! Hope to see you there!

JANUARY EVENTS

January Message Board Game: Jumpstart January!

Join us on the message board this month for "Jumpstart January!" This is a message board game and challenge to start your year with fun and focus on taking time to scrapbook regularly despite the little speedbumps of life. When the month is over, you'll have completed several layouts and been challenged and treated to some fun along the way.

A member of the Welcoming Committee will post a mini-challenge/task every day from January 1-30 in the games folder on the message board. Check out the game thread titled "Jumpstart January 2010" for complete details and rules.

Those who complete all tasks and submit or post required participation by 11:59PM MT on January 31st will be entered in a drawing to win one of three $10 Gift Certificates to the ScrapGirls Boutique! Those who complete just the layouts will be entered in a separate drawing to win one of three $5 gift certificates. (Those who complete all tasks will have their name entered in both drawings!) Winners will be announced in the newsletter on Saturday, February 6th.

Layout Contests:

January Monthly Layout Contest: Did you have dreams as a child as to what your life would be like? Did you dream as a young adult how you wanted your future to pan out? Do you, as a mature adult, have dreams unfulfilled? The beginning of a new year is a great time to think about the future. This month's layout contest, create a layout about your hopes and dreams. It might center on family, a job or a recreational pursuit, show and tell us what your dreams are and how you are making them come true. Create your layout and post it in the January Layout Contest Gallery by Midnight on January 31st. Be sure to list your credits in the description or under the EXIF Properties. If your layout is one of the two chosen, you will win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique!

Club Concepts Layout Contest: 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 or the ScrapSimple Club Members' Gallery. Be sure to list all of the Scrap Girls products you used. If your layout is chosen, it will be showcased as a Club Concepts layout winner, and you will win a $5 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique!

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

Haven't received your prize as a contest winner? Please send an email to [email protected] and we'll get it out to you right away!