Note from Heidi: I hope you don't mind, but I am hijacking the regularly scheduled girl-fest to bring you a blog post from a real, live man.

Yes, it's true. He has a Y chromosome and everything. (I've checked.)

My husband, Dan Steenblik, wrote this amazing blog post on August 14, 2009 - two days after our daughter was born, exactly one year ago today on August 12, 2009. I'm not sure what today will hold for the three of us. Dad has promised Nelly an adventure in the mountains. Momma has promised splashings in the fountain at the local park, followed by ice cream. Maybe we'll do something entirely unexpected. After all, it seems like August 12 is the day for the unexpected in our little family....

Dan Steenblik

Whoa, Nelly!

Whoa, Nelly. Pink Belly.

Eleanor Jane Steenblik. She's come early, almost two months.

I am exhausted, overwhelmed. Thank you all for your emails, text messages, voicemails, doorstep muffins and baby suits, mailbox Eeyores, FTD'd roses, Creams of Spinach, and hand-delivered custom calzone creations. Passing your love, prayers, thoughts, and chocolate-covered strawberries on to Eleanor (except the strawberries, sorry).

Nelly is beautiful, and working hard to grow up fast. Her tiny lungs are called to action sooner than expected, and she's pumping like mad to draw the oxygen she needs. I tell her, Nelly Jane, that she is doing it exactly right, practicing for mountain biking with her Uncle Matt and Aunt Martha and our Mighty and Strong family.

Heidi is a heroine, enduring all, with only eyes for Eleanor. Watching her hold Nelly, I am pulled in hard. She is deeply in love and captivated by her hiccups and reaching arms, long toes, and squinting fluttering, almost-opening eyes. She is a mom now - she'll be a good one.

About a week ago, we began reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Nelly in the Belly - an Eleanor Jane unnamed and unknown – my head in Heidi's lap. One of my favorite books when I was a Little Dan, because of the powerful imagery associated with winning Chocolate For Life (!!!), delivered by the truckload.

Nelly let me know when to read faster or slow down, with a kick here or there to my ear. Or would rumble the whole assembly when I tripped up and read Grandma Georgina's lines in Grandpa Joe's voice. (It's hard to be Dad, more than expected.) And night after night, we got deeper into Wonka's world.

Upon reaching the Oompa Loompas, however, Eleanor decided she needed to see these things for herself! No more hanging around! She packed her belongings in a red handkerchief on a stick and came through the rabbit hole.

We are thrilled to have her and look forward to the day we can pull her from her submarine and hold her in our arms.

P.S. These are a few of the pages I started making for Nelly's baby book. Even though Shalae's great album and Durin's wonderful collections made the process easy, I haven't quite finished this simple 10-page album. I think it had something to do with being really busy shuttling back and forth to the NICU for the first three weeks after she was born. At the time, it gave me something to do while I wasn't at the hospital, but once Nelly came home, I quickly lost my digital scrapbook time!

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Layouts by Heidi Dillon
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 4x6 Newborn, Felicity Collection, Make a Wish Collection Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Paper 4901-Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Innocence 5102 Super Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Innocence 5103 Super Biggie and Pretty Little Spring Collection Mini are also available.

Scrap Girls, Etc. is a weekly column pulling bits and pieces from all over Scrap Girls. Stay tuned each week as Scrap Girls' Jane-of-All-Trades Heidi Dillon brings you tutorials, musings, recipes, interviews, design/software tips and tricks, layout walk-throughs, and who knows what else!

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 Ariadna Wiczling using August's Scrap Girls Club
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Created for you by Ariadna Wiczling

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 Amanda McGee using July's ScrapSimple Club
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Created for you by Amanda McGee and Kerry Veale

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!

Dynamic Brushes

Dynamic brushes have opened up a world of possibilities in digital scrapping. They are so versatile, and there are countless ways to use them. Dynamic brushes are different than regular brushes in that they can be used in any direction, as well as respond to pen pressure when using a tablet.

I'm going to highlight a couple of my favorite ways to use dynamic brushes as well as a few tools I use along with them that make them even more fun and useful.

After placing my photo on my layout and adding a few embellishments, I've decided that I want a frame for the photo. I've decided that I want to do a custom frame using Dynamic Brush Set: Embroidered Stitches 4901. In order to do that, I need to use the really cool ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Edge It PSE 5001.

First, Ctrl+Click on the photo in the Layers Pallete. This puts the "marching ants" around the photo.

Next, choose the particular brush you want to use to frame your photo. I've chosen the "Expand" option in the action and then clicked "Apply." A box will pop up asking you how much you want to expand. I've expanded the selection by 10 pixels. You may just want to play around with this until you get a feel for the look you want.

Then I clicked OK, and like magic, my frame appears perfectly around the photo! I applied ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Metallic Stitching 6401 Super Biggie in black, and now my frame looks like it was stitched with fancy metallic thread!

Here's another trick I've learned in using dynamic brushes that I use frequently: Hold down the Shift key while stroking the brush across my page. This allows me to get a perfectly straight line when I need it. I like to use dynamic brushes to create an inked edge on photos or around the entire layout. In this layout, I used Dynamic Brush Set: Naturally Handmade Additions while holding down the Shift key in order to get the straight inked edges around my background paper.

Another fun way to use dynamic brushes is to create trails! In this layout, I used Dynamic Brush Set: Basic Stitching 4901 Biggie to create the butterfly trails. I used the smallest stitch and swirled my mouse around to draw the trails that gives the illusion that the butterflies are flying around my layout!

These are just a few of the ways to use dynamic brushes. You are only limited by your imagination! Have fun dynamic brushing!

A brush? Isn't that something you use on your daughter's tangled curls or to update the color of the guest bedroom? Not anymore! Learn how to add interest to your digital scrapbook layouts as Ro teaches you the tips and tricks for using digital brushes in MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed!

Layout by Jennifer McCabe
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Commercial license versions of Dynamic Brush Set: Naturally Handmade Additions, Dynamic Brush Set: Basic Stitching 4901 Biggie, Dynamic Brush Set: Embroidered Stitches 4901, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Edge It PSE 5001, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Metallic Stitching 6401 Super Biggie, Creased N Crinkled - Sassy Paper Biggie, His and Hers Collection Biggie, Creative Spirit Embellishments Mini, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Deep Shadows 6501 PSE and PS Biggie and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501 are also available.

Article written by Jennifer McCabe

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 2008 Digital Scrap Link Class: Understanding and Creating Color Sets

Learn to create perfect color palettes on your digital scrapbook pages with Understanding and Creating Color Sets written by Trish Yochum. Learn color terms, how to put together color palettes, how to mix and match colors by hue and how to create winning color combos every time.

ReMix: (Digital Scrapbooking) From Ordinary to Extraordinary! eBook

Have you ever wanted to get a makeover - A layout makeover? Do you ever wonder how someone might decide to make certain changes and why? In ReMix: (Digital Scrapbooking) From Ordinary to Extraordinary! eBook, you have the opportunity to virtually "look over the shoulder" during the remake process, as Scrap Girls Product Designer Marnie Adams takes member's pages and plies her design magic.

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 - 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 Kerry Veale
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Designer Freebie by Kerry Veale coordinates with her ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Rosemary,
part of this month's ScrapSimple Club offering!

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Rosemary, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Rosemary Frames, Dynamic Brush Set: Inking Textures, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Inked Doodles, Brush Set: Inked Frames, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Intaglio Biggie 7601, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Subtle Photos 7601 Biggie, Brush Set: Intaglio Swirls and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Time Traveler 7601 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

NSBR Chat - Early Edition
Thursday, August 12th - 2:00PM MT

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 Pat (PBarnes) at 2pm MT in the chat room Lobby! Hope to see you there!

Sketch Challenge Crop
Thursday, August 12th - 7:00PM MT

Join Marnie (sprinklz) for the Sketch Challenge and Crop on August 12th 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, August 13th - 9:00AM MT

Join April (April Showers) 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!

Scraplifting Chat
Friday, August 13th - 6:00PM MT

Scrap-lifting can be a wonderful starting point for your layouts! Join Angela (angelaNussbaum) and guest co-hostess Angie Briggs (angleigh) on Friday at 6pm MT to learn more about scrap-lifting, the importance of giving credit, and more! This month, we'll be scrap-lifting Angie's layout gallery, and you can choose one of her layouts for inspiration! Hope ya'll join us!

Quote Challenge Crop
Sunday, August 15th - 2:00PM MT

Come join Pat (PBarnes) for the Quote Challenge Crop at 2pm MT. 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. On Sunday, Pat will 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 she 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!

Journaling Chat
Monday, August 16th - 6:00PM MT

Join Lei (Bride) and Angela (angelaNussbaum) for a Journaling Chat at 6pm MT on Monday, August 16th. Struggle to find the right words for your layouts? Are your layouts more decorative than descriptive of the moments you're trying to capture? Then you won't want to miss this chat - we'll have a special challenge to encourage you to journal on your pages more! See you there!

New Member Chat - Early Edition
Tuesday, August 17th - 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.

Faith Journey Chat
Tuesday, August 17th - 5:00PM MT

Join Elisha (elibar) and Lei (Bride) for a Faith Journey Chat on Tuesday, August 17 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!

East Coast High Noon Crop
Wednesday, August 18th - 10:00AM MT

Join April (April Showers) each Wednesday at 12 Noon Eastern Time 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 August 18th, we'll do a quote challenge! Create a layout using a meaningful, inspiring or funny quote. It can be in place of journaling, or use a beloved quote as a starting point for your journaling. Create your layout and upload it 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!

AUGUST EVENTS

August Message Board Game: Posting Contest!

It's that time again - Posting Contest time! This is where you are rewarded for your flying fingers and chattiness. The contest will run from August 1 when we post the thread to August 31 at 12:00 Midnight (MST). We are doing things a little differently this time, so here are the rules:

1) To enter the Posting Challenge, reply in the game thread with your CURRENT post count. This is the number under your Avatar that shows when you post. Do not post the number found on your profile; it is a different number that is calculated differently.

2) During the month, chat your fingers off!

3) On August 31, BEFORE Midnight (MST), go back to your original post in the game thread (the one with your starting post count) and take a screenshot of it. Send the screenshot to [email protected]. The screenshot is your contest entry! We will calculate your post count based on the numbers on the screenshot. (Directions for taking screenshots will be posted in the game thread.)

Prizes: The top poster gets a $20 Scrap Girls gift certificate. Everyone over 250 new posts will be entered in a random drawing for a $10 Scrap Girls gift certificate. Everyone over 100 new posts will be entered into a random drawing for a $5 Scrap Girls gift certificate.

For complete details, visit the Monthly Message Board Games folder on the Scrap Girls message board.

Layout Contests:

August Monthly Layout Contest: For August's layout contest, we want you to scrap about what you do to "get away from it all" when you can't get take a big vacation. Do you play tourist in your own town, do you pamper yourself with a spa day, do you just take a weekend day to do nothing? Post your layouts in the August Gallery before Midnight MT on August 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!