Rozanne Paxman

A Very Happy Ending

Over the years, I have often written muses that celebrate the small details of life. There is such wonder in a peach blossom, a drink of ice water with lemon, and the feel of a leather journal in your hand.

But there is another side of watching for life's details that must be considered; it is possible to get so lost in the individual words of our life's story that we fail to remember that there are more words to come. We forget that unhappy portions of the tale are followed by better, happier paragraphs. We don't recall that as long as we live, the pages of our days will keep turning, one by one by one, until our mortal-life-story has finally ended.

Often we make desperate appeals to God for help with our problems. "Get me out of this mess," we beg. "Tell me what to do. Help me get a job... or get better... or feel better... or find answers." We want immediate help because we want immediate relief. We want a hero to ride in and rescue the damsel who is tied to the train tracks.

I was reminded recently by a wise man that God is a big-picture thinker. This is why His will for us is better than our will is. His goal is to help us navigate through the difficulties of this life because He understands that it isn't wise for Him to remove every stumbling block from our path. He understands how and why the obstacles go there and what it means to us to get past them. God never tears down walls when it will serve us better to dismantle them ourselves.

Maybe it will help us, when we are lost in the trials of our lives, to remember that the characters in great stories have multiple crises to overcome before they can enjoy - at last - a very happy ending.

- Ro

"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

- Isaiah 48:10 (King James Version)

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 Valerie Randall using May's Scrap Girls Club
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Created for you by Valerie Randall

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 Brush Set
2 Designer's Choice Item

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

Layout by Angie Briggs using April's ScrapSimple Club
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Created for you by Jan Hicks and Shalae Tippetts

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!

Simple Perspective

Note: Tutorial created using Adobe Photoshop CS4 with Windows 7.

Sometimes I have a photo that has some great full-body shots that would be fun to extract and play with in a layout. One fun way to do this is to create a scene by using digital scrapbooking supplies and place the objects within that scene. In order to make it look a little more realistic, you have transform your supplies to have a bit more perspective and depth. Let me show you a really simple way to do this.

This is a photo that I thought would be really fun to play around with the background. First, find a similar photo that shows full body shots and extract the images from the background.

Next, create a new document and open up the paper you would like to make your background. I used a sky background from the Picnic Lunch Collection Mini.

Now choose a paper for your foreground. I wanted it to look like my daughter is outside on the grass, so I chose a grass paper from the same collection.

You'll notice that the grass paper was taken looking straight down on the grass. In real life it wouldn't look this. The grass would be larger closer to you, and smaller the farther away it got. It needs to have some perspective.

Next, give your foreground paper some perspective by selecting the foreground paper layer in your Layers Palette. Go to the menu and select Edit> Transform> Perspective.

A transform box will appear. Drag one of the bottom corners and drag outwards. As you do, you will see the paper start to change perspective and look as if it is going back in space. Keep adjusting it until the grass looks realistic in a way that recedes toward the horizon. Hit Enter.

Now you can add additional papers and objects. I'm going to use a checked paper from the Picnic Lunch Collection Mini to create a picnic blanket on the grass.

Follow the same steps you used to give perspective to the grass and create a blanket that goes back in space. You can use this technique to create all kinds of dimensional looks.

Now begin placing your extracted images on your layout. For my final layout, I liked the look of my daughter crawling directly on the grass, so I didn't use the picnic blanket.

Add additional elements, papers, or word art to finish off your digital scrapbooking layout. This technique has so many fun applications to it. You can also use it to give perspective to your paper in ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates such as:

ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Interiors
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Storybook Town 1
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Storybook Castles
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Storybook Land 1
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Storybook Land 2
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Dream Boards
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates - Calendar: Gallery 2010
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Gallery

Explore the secrets used by our professional designers and layout artists to make amazing digital scrapbooking layouts! Check out the incredible tutorials in Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed and MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed!

Layout by Shalae Tippetts
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Tutorial written by Shalae Tippetts

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:

Scrap Girls 2009 Digital Scrap Link Class:
Using Silhouettes in Scrapbooking

Learn to make and use silhouettes with Using Silhouettes in Scrapbooking written by Brandy Murry. Learn the history of Silhouettes, different ways to use them in scrapbooking as well as how to make a digital traditional style Silhouette using Photoshop programs.

Perfect Memories for Photoshop eBook

In her debut eBook Perfect Memories: Creative Solutions for Less-Than-Perfect Images, Katherine Weaver introduces her latest design-based secrets for overcoming the most common photo flaws, as well as additional ideas for getting your digital scrapbooking projects off and running in no time.

Scrap Girls Tutorials & Way Cool Stuff eBook Set
2009 - 4th 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 4th Quarter of 2009 in one convenient PDF format.

Start to Finish eBooklets

Start to Finish eBooklet - PSE: How to Emboss & Texturize with ScrapSimple Templates

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 Amanda Sok
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Designer Freebie by Amanda Sok coordinates with her White Linen Collection Mini

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Graceful Grunge and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Alloys 6401 Super 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

East Coast High Noon Crop
Wednesday, May 12th - 10:00AM MT

Join April (April Showers) on Wednesday at 10am MT for the East Coast High Noon Crop. All coasts and time zones are welcome! 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 May 12th, your challenge is to use products from at least 5 different collections on your page! Upload your layouts to the special High Noon Crop Gallery. You'll be amazed what you can get done in just one hour, but there is no High Noon Sheriff timing you!

Scraplift Challenge Chat
Wednesday, May 12th - 6:00PM MT

Scraplifting can be a wonderful starting point for your layouts! Join Becca and guest co-hostess Shalae (satippetts) on Wednesday, May 12 at 6pm MT to learn more about scraplifting, the importance of giving credit, and more! This month, we'll be scraplifting Shalae's layout gallery, and you can choose one of her layouts for inspiration! Hope you'll join us!

Sketch Challenge Crop
Thursday, May 13th - 7:00PM MT

Join Marnie (sprinklz) for the Sketch Challenge and Crop on Thursday, May 13th at 7pm MT 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, Marnie will 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!

What's New Chat
Friday, May 14th - 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!

Coffee Break Chat
Tuesday, May 18th - 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, May 18th 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 - Early Edition
Tuesday, May 18th - 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.

Life Moments Crop
Tuesday, May 18th - 2:00PM MT

Please join Sherry Lynn on Tuesday, May 18th at 2pm MT for the next installment of our Life Moments Chat and Crop! These crops are about building a scrapbook all about you, one layout at a time.

Faith Journey Chat
Tuesday, May 18th - 5:00PM MT

Join Elisha (elibar) and Sherry Lynn for a Faith Journey Chat on Tuesday, May 18 at 5pm MT. All faiths are welcome! We'll be chatting and scrapping about our individual faith walk and how we also walk together. Watch the message board for this month's topic of discussion, and if you like - create a layout based on the topic!

MAY EVENTS

May Message Board Game: Geocaching - Scrap Girls Style!

There's no need for maps and compasses for this month's Geocaching trek! The object of the game is to correctly guess an item within a product in the Scrap Girls Boutique by solving clues and discovering the stars.

Each day, you will be given two clues: The first clue will be to the product (you will know you have found the correct product because there will be a star on the page.) The second clue will be to find a particular item within the product!

Send an email with the EXACT item name (within the product) and the link where the product is found to [email protected]. Use the subject line: Geocaching Scrap Girls Style in your email entry, and be sure to include your message board name and real name. Entries must be received by Midnight MT on May 31st.

Everyone who correctly identifies all 29 items will be entered into a random drawing for one $15 Gift Certificate!

Everyone who correctly identifies 19+ items will be entered into a random drawing for one of two $10 Gift Certificates!

Everyone who correctly identifies 9+ items will be entered into a random drawing for one of two $5 Gift Certificates!

For complete details and examples of game play, visit the Monthly Message Board Games folder on the Scrap Girls message board.

Layout Contests:

May Monthly Layout Contest: Summer is right around the corner for some of us and winter for others. What is your favorite part of that season? For this month's layout contest, scrap your favorite parts of the upcoming season. Maybe you enjoy swimming in the pool, boating or hiking the trails. Or, maybe it's building a snowman, skiing or sledding. Whatever you love, scrap it for us to see! Create your layout and post it in the May Layout Contest Gallery by Midnight MT on May 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!