Luckily, a Storm is Rolling in...

Usually my mornings are all mine. I drop the kids at their respective school, and by 9:00 a.m., I have a few hours to myself. Over the last few years, I have found that giving these hours to myself makes me happier than working hard on the obligations I have at home and then trying to pull out some time for myself when there are kids, meals, and homework that need coordinating. So, 9:00-11:00 a.m. are all mine... usually. The best laid plans, right?

Yesterday, my seven-year-old daughter needed to see the pediatrician. Between a quick trip to Walmart, a hasty and much needed shower, and then flying out the door to get my daughter from school, my morning was shot. I was even a half hour late to get my preschooler. Lunch took up another hour, so I wasn't even home until 1:00 p.m.

As for today, I have been so looking forward to getting my morning back. Just a couple hours for me to bond again with my Paint Shop Pro and my digital scrapbooking. And to top it all off, heehaw, it's a new month, and the Scrap Girls Club is putting out its latest Biggie Collection! What a morning it will be!

And if I needed any more excuses, I caught some sort of cold at the pediatrician's office (snotty, sick kids everywhere!), and I woke up sick and grumpy. Oh, my poor kids! I heard my nine-year-old son asking no one in particular, "What time did Mommy go to sleep last night?" (Well, it was late, little boy. I was finishing up a scrapbook page, but that is none of your business! Don't worry, I didn't say this to him. It was just the inner workings of my own grumpy mind.)

Now, I just heard on the radio while driving the two older kids to school that there is a storm rolling in... high winds, rain, and dipping temperatures. I hit the jackpot! There is just no excuse to not sit at my computer and scrap. I'm sick... so I just can't look at that laundry without wanting to kick it across the room. And the weather makes it certain that I'm not going out to do any quick errands. Maybe I should just keep my preschooler home, too. No need to take him out in that. Ooo - an extra hour of scrapping.

Is this a Defining Moment or what?

Stephanie Harvey

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 March's Scrap Girls Club
larger view

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 Julie White using March's ScrapSimple Club
larger view

Created for you by Julie White and Amanda Sok

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!

Brenda
Scrap Girls' Member of the Month - March 2011
Member Name: ArizonaAngel

1. What program do you use to digital scrapbook?

I started with Photoshop Elements 3 (PSE3), moved to PSE4, and when I got to PSE5, I really started to learn how to scrap. I upgraded to PSE8, and thought I would never figure it out, but I did. My next upgrade will be to Photoshop CS.

2. Are you a Mac or a PC?

PC all the way. MACs scare me!

3. Tell us the make and model of digital camera that you use.

My primary camera is a Nikon D80. I also have a Nikon D3000 just for times when I want a wide-angle and telephoto lens available, but don't want to have to change out the lenses. I carry a little point-and-shoot Canon A1000 in my purse so I always have a camera handy.

4. Name one thing that every beginning digital scrapbooker should know.

Keep it simple. There is so much to learn, and it takes time. And don't get caught up comparing your layouts to anyone else's. Everyone started somewhere, and as you grow, it will be fun to look at those beginning layouts and see how far you've come. Look for inspiration everywhere and don't be afraid of anything. That little Undo button is the best thing ever!

5. If you could be transformed into a digital scrapbooking embellishment, what would you choose and why?

This is a tough one for me, but if I have to choose just one, it would be a ribbon. Very versatile, they can be used with so many different styles, and they can adapt to any layout. I'd like to think I'm versatile and adaptable, too.

6. What time of day do you find that you do your best scrapbooking?

Anytime that the mood strikes me. I do most of my scrapping on the weekends during the daytime, but I've been known to stay up late if I'm working on a project.

7. What is your favorite snack?

Goldfish Multigrain crackers and chocolate – just not together! It depends on if I'm in the mood for something salty or sweet.

8. What is your least favorite household chore?

Doing the dishes. When I was pregnant with my second son, I blew up at my husband because he wasn't helping much around the house, and I suggested that he just do the dishes for me. Within a week, we had a dishwasher (why didn't I think of that?), and to this day, it is still his chore.

9. Finish this sentence. "I couldn't live without..."

My family and my faith. I think I can do without everything else, (well, except maybe chocolate and pizza).

10. What's your current favorite layout that you've done?

Layout by ArizonaAngel
larger view

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics PSE 5001, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Stacked Photos 6502 PSE and PS Mini, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Well Worn and Brush Set: Grungelle are also available.

Weekly Layout Winners

Layout by makib1218
larger view

Commercial license versions of Dress Up Paper Super Mini, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Stitching 6401 Mini, Dynamic Brush Set: Paper Piercing 8201, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Blended 8201 Super Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Realistic Shadows - Basic 11301, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Realistic Shadows - Firm Materials 11302 and ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Edge It 5001 are also available.

Layout by Ande43
larger view

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 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:

30-33 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 Tutorials & Way Cool Stuff eBook Set - 2010 2nd 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 2nd Quarter of 2010 in one convenient PDF format. It's easy to find those helpful hints with just the click of your mouse. You get two eBooks for the price of one!

Scrapbook Quotes: 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.

Mastering Brushes for Photoshop

Whether you are just finding out about brushes, or have been using them for a while, this eBook will help you see and understand the creative power that brushes contain and give you new ideas for using them in your digital layouts.

Perfect Memories for Photoshop Elements eBook

With five beautifully illustrated sections this eBook not only offers details on the most common photo flaws, but stunning designs by SIX contemporary digital artists in a variety of styles, as well as detailed steps for tackling layouts using your own flawed photos. Designed for the novice and expert alike, Perfect Memories will have you re-looking at photos previously deemed lost causes and utilizing their unique attributes as focal points for digital documentation of life's most cherished moments.

See more titles

Layout by Brandy Murry
larger view

Designer Freebie by Brandy Murry coordinates with her ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Die Cut – Love

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Die Cut – Love and PS I Love You Collection Biggie are also available.

Today's freebie designed by Brandy Murry

* 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

Hybrid Card Swap Chat
Tuesday, March 22nd - 6:00PM MT

Join Carla (CRS) and Shannon (tinkerbell11) to chat about the beautiful card you recieved from your Scrap Girl friend in this month's Hybrid Card Swap.

New Member Chat
Tuesday, March 22nd - 7:00PM MT

Join Pat (PBarnes) and Theresa (tiza126) 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, March 23rd - 10:00AM MT

Join April (April Showers) this 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 March 23rd, we'll do a white space challenge! Create a layout using white space. This "negative" or blank space guides the eye to the important areas of your page. Remember, it certainly doesn't have to be the color white! 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! Hope to see you in the chat room!

Photo Focus Club Chat
Wednesday, March 23rd - 6:00PM MT

Do you want to challenge yourself and improve your photography? Check out the Scrap Girls Photo Focus Club. No membership required - Everyone is welcome. Note that this is not a class but an opportunity to share ideas, ask questions, and try something new. If you are looking for tips, techniques or inspiration to help you take better images, this is the chat for you. Join Becca and Ashleigh (caprimom) on Wednesday, March 23rd at 6pm MT for March's monthly conversation about photography.

NSBR Chat - Early Edition
Thursday, March 24th - 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!

Ad Inspiration Chat
Thursday, March 24th - 7:00PM MT

Join Pat (PBarnes) at 7pm MT for an Ad Inspiration Challenge and Chat. A few hours before the chat, a magazine, newspaper or online ad will be posted on the Bessage 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 in the Scrap Girls Boutique Chat
Friday, March 25th - 9:00AM MT

Join April (April Showers) at 9am MT on Friday mornings to chat about all the wonderful new products in the Scrap Girls Boutique! What are your favorite new items? Is your shopping basket full? What did you kaboodle? Have you already done layouts or other projects with your new goodies? Come tell the designers how much you love their work. You never know who will show up. There's a thread every Thursday and now there's a chat too!

Scraplifting Chat
Friday, March 25th - 5:00PM MT

The Scraplifting Chat has been revamped! Join Angela (angelaNussbaum) in the chat room at 5pm MT for a crop and chat about scraplifting! Scraplifting can be a huge source of inspiration to you and your layouts, and it's a lot of fun for the person who inspired you. Come and see what new fun we will be having!

Desktop Challenge Chat
Friday, March 25th - 6:00PM MT

Tired of the boring desktop wallpaper backgrounds that your PC or MAC came with? Join Becca and Angela (angelaNussbaum) on Friday, March 25th at 6pm MT for this month's Desktop Challenge Crop. We'll show you how to use your digital scrapbooking supplies to create a personalized desktop wallpaper!

Speed Scrap Crop & Chat
Friday, March 25th - 7:00PM MT

Ready for some Speed? We'll give you six tasks, spread out over an hour, to include in your layouts. It's a challenge because you never know what will be required next!! Join Carla (CRS) and Angela (angelaNussbaum) at 7pm MT!

MARCH EVENTS

March Message Board Game: Going on a Boutique Hunt!

Remember as a child when you played the game that started like this: "I am going on a ___ hunt and bringing..." then you listed an item with the first letter of your name or a specific letter? We are playing a similar game on the Message Board during the month of March. Each day, a new theme and starting letter will be posted in the Game thread. Members will search the Boutique for something that fits the theme and post a link to it in the Game thread. Only one product per letter per round will be counted, and products cannot be used more than once. Collections and their individual parts are one product, and time stamps will be used to determine which post came first in case of more than one post per letter. Entries are to follow the alphabet, starting with the letter posted with the theme each day. There's a limit of three posts per person each day, and there must be another player's post before posting again.

PRIZES: Members' names will be added to a drawing based on the number of qualified product links which they post in the thread. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the month and winners will be announced in the April 2nd Newsletter. Gift certificates will be awarded as follows: First prize - $15 Gift Certificate; second prize - $10 Gift Certificate, and third prize - $5 Gift Certificate.

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

Layout Contests:

March Monthly Layout Contest: Do you have a good luck charm? Do you have something in your life that you consider lucky? For the March Layout Contest, scrap it! We'd love for you to share you luck! Post your layouts in the March Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight MT on March 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!