Every day, my husband and I go different directions for several hours. The time apart is encapsulated in the following dialog, my everyday muse.

"I love you," he says as he walks out the door. "See you sometime."

And I know he will stay if I ask. But only an hour will pass before "I love you," I say as I walk out the door. "See you sometime."

The day brings clients to meet, jobs to complete, networking to attend, leads to follow up. The phone rings.

"I'm stopping at the store. Do you need anything?" he asks. Only you, I think as I reply, "Can't think of anything."

"See you soon," he says.

Sometime is soon!

- Alice Jaggard

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 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

Alert! Alert! TODAY is the last day you can sign up for the ScrapSimple Club and still get this great group of products at this amazing price. Don't delay... sign up now!

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!

This question came up recently on the Scrap Girls Message Board:

Is there any way to save a "template" or some kind of file where I can keep the saturation, hue, and light/dark information for a color I want to use over and over on different overlay layers?

Barbara came up with a great answer for this question and even wrote a little tutorial for us on how to do this. If you have any questions or would like to see the topic on the Message Board, it can be found here.

Thanks, Barbara!

Saving a Hue/Saturation/Lightness Layer for Re-use

Sometimes you spend a lot of time tweaking a hue/saturation/lightness (HSL) change for a particular task, and you'd like to save the settings for re-use at another time on another layout or image. It's easy to do in Photoshop, and theoretically impossible in Photoshop Elements. It turns out there IS a way save your layer settings for future use without writing down the details.

Saving HSL settings in Photoshop

Create the HSL layer and tune its settings as desired. Click the tiny drop-down arrow at the upper right of the HSL window. Choose "Save Hue/Saturation Preset," then name it. It will be saved in the Adobe Photoshop CS4/Presets/Hue and Saturation folder. Make a copy to keep elsewhere, too.

Saving HSL settings in Photoshop Elements

Create a document entitled something like "HSL_HueSaturationLightness_Presets.PSD." The HSL adjustment layer document can be very small (16x16 pixels is fine.)

In your image document, create your HSL layer as desired. Add a BLANK layer below the HSL adjustment layer (I'll explain why a little later). Set the real document and the HSL.PSD document to "normal" windows (not maximized).

Go ahead and label your layers as desired at this point.

You can see the adjustment layer here, labeled "My Aqua to Green Adjustment" and the blank layer below it, labeled as such. It turns out you can't drag only an HSL layer from one document to another; you can drag an HSL layer when there is another layer, albeit blank, below it.

Select the HSL layer and the blank layer together, and drag them from the real document to the HSL document.

Add other layer pairs as desired, naming each explicitly. Save the HSL document and close it until you need it again.

The composite image shows the effect of an HSL layer, revising an original image with a blue background to a soft green background.

When you need HSL adjustments, open your HSL_HueSaturationLightness_Presets.PSD file in addition to your image file to be modified. Set both to non-maximized and drag the HSL adjustment layer and its blank layer to the new document. You can delete the blank layer now.

Presto! You have "pre-recorded" unique presets in PSE!

Tutorial by Barbara Crane (BarbaraC1977), July 2010
Screen shots created in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

Weekly Layout Winners

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Layout by goodqueenbee
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Commercial license versions of Geocache Collection Mini and ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Curled Edges are also available.

Layout by Sonia11
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Commercial license versions of His and Hers Collection Biggie, Scenic Route Collection Biggie, Assemble Your Own: Alpha Strings Biggie - White and ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: All Stitched-Circles, Blanket Biggie are also available.

Want to see your layouts make an appearance in the Scrap Girls newsletters?

Simply post your digital or paper layouts that use Scrap Girls products in our online Gallery, and if we choose your layout to be featured in the newsletter, you'll win a prize! To be considered, don't forget to list the Scrap Girls products that you used in your layout.

Congratulations to this week's selectees. Please email [email protected] to get your gift!

Want to see past winners of the Weekly Layout Contest? Visit the Weekly Layout Winners gallery on our Message Board here!

Contest Winners

August Friday Fun Prize Winners

Congratulations to all of the winners in the latest Friday Fun game! In addition to each of the winners below, each participant received a $2 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique just for playing along!

$20 Gift Certificate Winners:

Random Drawing - Winner
Layout by kd9apx

Most Original - Winner
Video by camerabug

Best Overall - Winner
Layout by BarbaraC1977

Funniest - Winner
Layout by coinmagnate

Chocolate Supreme - Winner
Video by skichic

$5 Gift Certificate Winners:

Layout by TracyP

Layout by cpeterson

Layout by michelelynn

Layout by Crabcakes

Congratulations to this contest's winners. Please email [email protected] if you haven't already received your prize!

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 Amanda McGee
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Designer Freebie by Amanda McGee coordinates with her ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Inked Doodles,
part of this month's ScrapSimple Club offering!

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Inked Doodles, Brush Set: Inked Frames, Dynamic Brush Set: Inking Textures, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Rosemary, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Rosemary Frames, AMC_Doodlelicious Font and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Tinted Plastic 6101 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

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!

Heritage Crop
Thursday, August 19th - 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, August 19th - 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, August 20th - 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!

Back-up Party and Chat
Friday, August 20th - 8:00PM MT

Need a little extra motivation to back-up your layouts and stash? Join April (April Showers) in the chat room on Friday, August 20th 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!

Recipe Swap Chat
Saturday, August 21st - 6:00PM MT

Join April (April Showers) and Lei (Bride) at 6pm MT in the chat room for our Monthly Recipe Swap Chat. Please check the message board on Thursday, August 19th for this month's theme and the swap details!

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!