Ariadna Wiczling

Confessions of a Digital Scrapbooking Artist

Every one of us occasionally suffers from scrappers' block. It's not easy to be creative and original all the time. It's probably not even possible. I found a string on the Scrap Girls Message Board the other day. One of our members had trouble finding "the groove" after a break. There were some great pieces of advice there: Participate in Scrap Girls challenges, take a lot of pictures, take a two-day break. But the most recommended thing to do was scraplifting!

I also suffer from scrappers' block from time to time. I was blocked when I was working on my 2006 scrapbook and my coupon for a free book was about to expire. I tried hard to have the layout finished, but nothing that I came up with worked for me so I decided to scraplift Erica Hite's layout. Erica is one of my favorite designers. The layout was for my personal use only and I thought nobody would ever know that a Digital Scrapbooking Product Designer scraplifted, but that thread on the Scrap Girls Message Board made me confess the other day. I also found that it actually made some people feel better about their own blocks. I thought I'd share my layout with you today. Here's the proof! ;)

Layout by Erica Hite
larger view

Commercial license versions of Dynamic Brush Set: Doodle Borders 5401, Dynamic Brush Set: Paintstroke 5401, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Lifted Journal Paper Super Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photos That Pop 1801 Mini and AMC_Friendly Font are also available.

Layout by Ariadna Wiczling
larger view

Commercial license versions of Dynamic Brush Set: Vines 5701 and Brush Set: Stamped Dates are also available.

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 Trish Yochum using February's Scrap Girls Club
larger view

Created for you by Trish Yochum

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 Cherise Oleson using February's ScrapSimple Club
larger view

Created for you by Cherise Oleson and Syndee Nuckles

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!

Easy Pages

What would your first reaction be if someone told you that you could create an entire album of 10 layouts in one evening? If it were me, I'd say "That's crazy!" Well, I'm here to tell you, it's not only possible, but it's easy!

Digital scrapbook pages created with Scrap Girls Easy Pages are just as beautiful, in a few minutes, as a complex, multi-layered layout that takes you several hours to put together. Trust me when I tell you, I love layers. In fact, I've been called the Queen of Layers on the Message Board. Trust me again when I say, I love Easy Pages!

For this article, I chose to use Easy Page Pro Album: 12x12 Reawakening. In the screenshot below you can see that my completed layout contains four layers: One text layer, one Easy Page layer, and two photos.

The photos I chose span a 17-year time frame, are from three different cameras, and obviously have different lighting conditions. Some are digital, but several were scanned. In order to give my photos a sense of consistency, I chose to run the vintage action from ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Vintage PSE 6502 Mini on all photos before I began.

Not only are Easy Pages a time-saver, but they are a great base for more complex layouts. You see, just for fun, I had to experiment with adding embellishments to one of my pages. After all, I am the Queen of Layers! In the layout in the screenshot below, I used Dynamic Brush Set: Paper Piercing 8201 with ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Edge It PSE 5001 around the perimeter of the layout. Then I added papers and a clip from Super Pack: Reawakening, at the bottom corner to create a place for my title. The stitching is from Cocoa Couture Collection Mini, the flowers from His and Hers Collection Biggie and the greenery behind the flowers from Super Pack: Reawakening.

The easy part about adding embellishments is that the Easy Page Pro Album: 12x12 Reawakening coordinates perfectly with pieces from Super Pack: Reawakening. About 99% of the Easy Pages and Easy Page Pro Albums have matching collections that let you customize your Easy Page even more. And you can always find coordinating elements that work with your color scheme in the Boutique. It couldn't be much easier!

BEFORE

AFTER

The result, in a very short time one evening, was 10 layouts documenting the first 17 years of our marriage!

For more great ideas on making fabulous digital scrapbooking layouts, check out the incredible tutorials on Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed and MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed!

Layout by Janine Buckles
larger view

Commercial license versions of Dynamic Brush Set: Paper Piercing 8201, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Edge It PSE 5001 and ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Vintage PSE 6502 Mini are also available.

Article written by Janine Buckles

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:

Scrapbooking 911 - 2-page Sketches
to Revitalize Your Digital Scrapbooking eBook

Are you stuck in a creative corner? Need a jumpstart to your layouts? Want more ideas how to go from a blank page to a digital masterpiece? With a fresh collection of original sketches, all the hard design decisions (such as balance, composition, and rule of thirds) have already been made for you.

Scrapbook Quotes eBook
The right quote for your scrapbook layouts

Looking for scrapbooking quotes or quotes to use for greeting cards? Here's your solution. This packed eBook contains hundreds of quotes, collected over many years by Rozanne Paxman specifically for use on scrapbooking layouts.

Scrap Girls Tutorials & Way Cool Stuff eBook Set
2009 - 3rd Quarter

Subscribers to the Scrap Girls Newsletter have one thing in common: they love to learn new techniques! Each issue shares ideas, tutorials, and new ways to use Scrap Girls quality digital scrapbooking products. Now you can have all those past tutorials and Way Cool Stuff articles of the 3rd Quarter of 2009 in one convenient PDF format.

Start to Finish eBooklets

Start to Finish eBooklet - PS: The Beauty of Blending Modes: Using them with ScrapSimple Products

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 Cherise Oleson
larger view

Designer Freebie by Cherise Oleson coordinates with her Brush Set: Penned,
part of this month's ScrapSimple Club offering!

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Penned, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Journaling Blocks, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Frame Decor, Texture Set: Paper, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Mega Lift I-Squared Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Scripts: Supply Tracker 11101, ScrapSimple Tools - Scripts: File Save 1 11101, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Lens Effects 8302 Selective Focus Mini, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Naturally Handmade and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Well Loved 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.

CROPS AND CHATS

Heritage Crop
Thursday, February 18th - 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.

What's New Chat
Friday, February 19th - 9:00AM MT

Join Michelle (Shelbi) and Sherry (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!

Back-Up Party and Chat
Friday, February 19th - 8:00PM MT

Need a little extra motivation to back-up your layouts and stash? Join April Showers in the chat room on Friday, February 19th 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!

Scraplift Challenge Chat
Sunday, February 21st - 1:00PM MT

Scraplifting can be a wonderful starting point for your layouts! Join Becca on Sunday, February 21st at 1pm MT to learn more about scraplifting, the importance of giving credit, and more! A few hours before the chat, you will be given the name and gallery link to a Scrap Girls Layout Artist Team member, and you can choose one of their layouts for inspiration! Hope you'll join us!

UFO Chat
Sunday, February 21st - 4:00PM MT

Please join Sherry_Lynn and a special guest co-hostess Julie (Burnsie) from our Layout Artist Team in the chatroom for this month's "Unfinished Objects" chat. Let's complete or revamp some of those layouts that are sitting in your "Layouts to be Completed" folder. Post your layout in the UFO Gallery and meet us on Sunday, February 21st at 4pm MT to get some inspirational suggestions from our incredible professionals here at Scrap Girls!

Coffee Break Chat
Tuesday, February 23rd - 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, February 23rd at 5am MT for this month's Coffee Break Chat. We'll chat over the latest issue of the Newsletter and create a challenge based on it! Hope to see you there!

New Member Chat
Tuesday, February 23rd - 7:00PM MT

Join Pat (PBarnes) and Carol Ann (Zaz) for the New Member Chat at 7pm MT 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.

East Coast High Noon Crop
Wednesday, February 24th - 10:00AM MT

Join your 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 February 24th, 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!

FEBRUARY EVENTS

February Message 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 email to [email protected] with a subject line that says "BINGO CARD - your SG message board username" by Saturday, January 30th (Midnight MST) in order to play in the first round, which will begin on Monday, February 1st.

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 Monthly Layout Contest: During the month of February, many people turn to thoughts of love. What greater love is there than the love for family. For this month's contest, we want to see layouts about your family – either the one you grew up with or the one you have started. Create your layout and post it in the February Layout Contest Gallery by Midnight MST on February 28th. 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!