Where Has the Time Gone?

It seems like it was only yesterday that I carried you under my heart. My little boy, so quickly (it seems) you've grown into a man.

You joined the Army, and I cried the day you left, wishing I could keep you here with me and protect you under my wing. I thank God that you came back safely and didn't have to be in harm's way.

You fell in love and got married to a wonderful young woman. I miss seeing you as often as I would like, but I understand that your lives are busy, and you have jobs that keep you occupied just like the rest of us.

I cherish the times you can come and visit, and we all sit around just talking and enjoying each other's company.

Last night, you and your lovely wife came to visit, and after 30 minutes or so of talking about your recent vacation, you blessed me with a wonderful gift. You asked me how I felt about being a grandma.

I looked at you, you looked at me, your lovely wife was glowing, and yes, you said I am going to be a grandma!

I'm still trying to absorb it all. My baby, my little boy, is going to be a daddy! It doesn't seem like you should be this old yet, old enough to bring your own child into the world and start your own little family.

I wonder, where has the time gone?

- Mia Bauer

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 Laurel Lakey 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 Shalae Tippetts using August's ScrapSimple Club
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Created for you by Thao Cosgrove and Brandie Valenzuela

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!

Here are some of the things our customers have said lately:

What amazing customer service! Thank you so much! I work at a school and always recommend Scrap Girls to my Photoshop students. You make me proud to be a Scrap Girls customer and very happy to continue to give you my recommendation as the best scrapbook company in the nation... no need to ever go anywhere else!

I love your site. I am very new to digital scrapbooking, but I have scrapped the old-fashioned way for years, so this is a new adventure for me. I love that I can scrap a page so soon after my pictures are taken. I can see lots of advantages to digital scrapbooking.

Just wanted to say how informative and inspiring the daily newsletter is. I so look forward to receiving it each day. Thank you. Love the Muses, too. Plenty to ponder....

Just want to let you all know how much I love your site. Ro's Muses almost always hit home with me, and I often forward them to my friends, so your site goes on and on and on!

I appreciate your interest in customer satisfaction and the personal touch that you add to your web site and the newsletter! I feel like I have friends in cyberspace. I am new to digital scrapbooking, and your web site and Boutique have been very helpful.

I can't remember how I came across your website, but it is the best one on the Internet. I love everything about it. I wouldn't return everyday if it wasn't such a pleasant place to be! Please keep up the good work as you have a really satisfied customer in me.

I love your newsletter and the freebies every day. Thank you for all the hard work your team does.

Your album and Gallery features are probably the best-organized of all the sites I visit. I only wish I had more time to look thru the Gallery and leave comments for all those wonderful layouts, as well as add more of my own layouts.

The bottom line? Scrap Girls continues to be one of my top "go to" scrapbook websites for product... and the #1 "go to" website for tips, ScrapSimple products, and Gallery viewing.

I am fully satisfied with my purchase from the Scrap Girls Boutique! I have been there several times, and my biggest problem is limiting my purchase. You have so many fine things I just have to have!

Your site is so easy to use. Check-out is a breeze, and I like that I can download my purchase right away. I pay with PayPal, and some sites won't let me have my purchases for days and days, waiting for verification. This is a nuisance for me - because I know I have the money/credit card info on PayPal – and when I am deep into a layout, I want the kit now! So, thank you!

I love your products. So far, everything has been what I expected. I have worked with Angie a time or two, and she is always so nice and so prompt! She's a real asset to your business.

Thank you for the newsletters and all you put in them, and thank you for continuing to offer wonderful products.

I am an avid Scrap Girls fan and don't know how you have time to do all that you do, especially your Muses, Ro. I am busy with four children (16, 15, 14, 12) and hardly have time to even read the emails. You are in inspiration and are doing a wonderful job with the site. At your suggestion, I bought a journal and have been trying to keep up with my "creative self," but that has been hard, too. Thanks for everything you do; I always look forward to your email and insights. You have some very talented and creative people working for you!

Being an early riser (between 4:00-4:30 a.m.), the first thing I do on my way to the coffee pot is hit the button to pull my email. I love getting the newsletter every morning. I was kind of skeptical when you said we would get one five days a week, thought it might be a lot of repeat stuff, less quality, less freebies. I should have known better than to ever expect less than your best. It's great, even better than I imagined! By the way, everyone is getting a big family scrapbook this year for Christmas.

Keep up the great work here at Scrap Girls. I so look forward to your newsletter. Thank you for all your hard work. Scrap Girls Rule!

Weekly Layout Winners

Layout by Belle
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Commercial license versions of Basic: White Paper Mini are also available.

Layout by bjc
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Commercial license versions of Daily Quotes - Boys Word Art Mini, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Photo Borders 6501, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Label Maker 5001 and Lettering Delights Slender Font 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!

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 Durin Eberhart
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Designer Freebie by Durin Eberhart coordinates with her ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Studio 1 Biggie

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Studio 1 Biggie, Fantaisie Collection Mini, Blue Christmas Collection Biggie, Vista Linda Collection Biggie, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Manuscript and ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Enchanted 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

Swap Crop Chat
Saturday, August 28th - 6:00PM MT

It's time for the Swap Crop Chat! We've done the swapping and created the layouts, now it's time to chat about all the gorgeous layouts! I don't know what it is, but these swaps bring out the best in everyone. This is the time to chat about the theme, the beautiful layouts and learn about the swap crop if you haven't participated before. We'll brainstorm a theme for next month, too! Join us, Carla (CRS) and Angela (angelaNussbaum), for a fun chat at 6pm MT on Saturday, August 28th!

Emphasis on Embellishments Chat
Monday, August 30th - 7:00PM MT

Join Angela (angelaNussbaum) and Janine (J9Buckles) on Monday at 7pm MT for the Emphasis on Embellishments Chat. This monthly chat is geared towards challenging you to use more elements/embellishments on your layout. Each month, you will be given a specific number challenge to inspire you to start using more elements on your layouts or to create your own cluster of embellishments! You will be amazed at what YOU can do at this chat!

East Coast High Noon Crop
Wednesday, September 1st - 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 September 1st, we'll do a surprise color challenge! Create a layout using a color to be chosen by the group at the beginning of the crop! You'll be amazed what you can get done in just one hour, but there is no High Noon Sheriff timing you!

ATC Swap Crop Chat
Wednesday, September 1st - 5:00PM MT

Please join Lei (Bride) and Elisha (elibar) in the chatroom for our ATC (Artist Trading Card) Swap Crop/Chat on Wednesday, September 1st at 5pm MT. Come see what everyone has created and we'll talk about next month's topic. We're looking forward to seeing you there.

Project SG Chat
Thursday, September 2nd - 6:00PM MT

Have you heard about Project SG yet? This challenge is all about creating an album for 2010 and scrapping your most current photos. Join Angela (angelaNussbaum) and April (April Showers) on Thursday, September 2nd at 6pm MT for this month's Project SG Chat! It isn't too late to start. We'll fill you in on all the details at the chat. Hope to see you there!

What's New in the Boutique Chat
Friday, September 3rd - 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, September 3rd - 2:00PM MT

Need a little extra motivation to back-up your layouts and stash? Join April (April Showers) in the chat room Friday, September 3rd 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!

NSBR Chat - Early Edition
Monday, September 6th - 7:00PM 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 us, Carla (CRS) and Lei (Bride) on September 6th at 7pm MT!

Life Moments Crop & Chat
Tuesday, September 7th - 2:00PM MT

Join April (April Showers) in the chat room September 7th at 2pm MT for another Life Moments Chat and Crop. These chats are focused on building a scrapbook all about you, one layout at a time. This week we will be focusing on Back to School Memories. If you're like me, you may not have Back to School photos of yourself, but I've found other photos that will work with this challenge. Go ahead, dig through your files, write down your memories, and be sure to join us in the chat room!

Creative Cards Chat
Tuesday, September 7th - 6:00PM MT

Do you use your digital supplies to make cards? Do you want to? Instead of going to the store every time you need a card, you can save money and have fun making cards with your digi-stash! Make a note of any cards you might need for the upcoming month and join April (April Showers) for the monthly Card Chat on Tuesday, September 7th at 6pm MT. Can't wait to see you there!

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!