Combining Layer Styles
Friday, June 3, 2011

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

• What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique?
• Life Muse by Ro
• Photography Friday: Cleaning Your Lens
• Scrap Girls Club
• Tips from the Pros: How to Use Two Digital Scrapbooking Styles on a Layer
• Designer Freebie
• What's Happening at Scrap Girls?
• Ongoing Opportunities for YOU

Rozanne Paxman

I lay in my bed, pillow over my head,
and shivered and shook and wondered.
I lay in my bed, blanket around my head,
tucked between and over and under.

Tucked in hard to keep escape-it night in.
Tucked in hard to keep danger-day out.
Tucked in hard to keep hopeful-might in.
Tucked in hard to keep go-away out.

I thought about high gas, bread, and disease.
I thought about rough wind, earth-shakes, and freeze.
I thought about children, babies, and scales.
I thought about in and out and oops-mail.

I thought about who's-it and what's-it and not-it.
I thought about messages failed to transmit.
I thought about what-if and that-if and why-if.
I thought about pushing it all off a cliff.

I lay in my bed, pillow off my head,
and looked up saw the word on my wall
"Imagine," it said, staring down as I read.
"Just imagine if it ends well instead."

Chagrinned, I sat straight up in my bed.
Chastised, I quietly said,
"Thanks for that. You're right. It's time that I shed
My worries. I'll live hope instead."

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!

How to Clean Your Camera Lens

Note: Tutorial created Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Windows Vista

When I was a little girl, I always helped my dad hold his lenses while he changed them from his 50mm to his 135mm. Those were his two most widely used lenses, and he handled them all the time. My job was to carefully hold one or the other while he swiftly changed them out so as not to miss the perfect light or the perfect action and to do so without touching the lens! We were always super-careful not to touch them, but invariably, it eventually became necessary to touch the lens when it needed to be cleaned.

It always seemed scary to clean the lens. There are special coatings on the glass, and the thought of damaging that was inhibiting. It would be much easier to just keep shooting! However, shooting through a dirty lens will leave dark spots or blemishes on your otherwise perfect photos. How many times have you had that once-in-a-lifetime shot, only to look at it and see a smudge, dark spot, or a fingerprint in the most important place? Photoshop may be able to rescue your photo, but it's better to shoot through a clean lens!

The very first (and most important) thing to do when your lens is brand new is to purchase a UV filter for your lens and leave it on all the time. That's right. All the time. Never take it off. This alone will protect your lens better than anything. When you need to clean your lens, you are actually cleaning the filter. If it becomes damaged, you can quickly and easily purchase another one for far less than the cost of the lens.

Now for technique: There are several ways to clean a lens that won't damage the coating or scratch your glass. A small, soft-bristled brush with an air bulb on the end is a good means for getting small dust particles off your lens. This can be purchased at any photo store. Also, many photo stores will give away small packets of soft lens-cleaning tissue, or they can also be purchased. These can be puckered up, and in a very gentle swirl motion, you can use them to dust the lens delicately. This will help loosen and remove the smallest particles also.

For the bigger smudges, you know, the dog noses, the kid fingerprints, the water drops, those are a little trickier. For that, the must-have items include the small bottles of liquid lens-cleaning solution found at photo stores and a cleaning tissue. Simply drop a dot or two of solution on the tissue, and gently wipe the lens in a circular motion. This should remove your smudges safely without damaging the coating or leaving any annoying smudges.

Lastly, two very simple ways to keep your lens clean is to make sure you leave the cap on when you aren't shooting and to keep the inside of your camera bag clean.

Nowadays, my kids are the ones holding my camera lenses, and I'm the one teaching them!

- Amy

Layout by Amy Flanagan
larger view

Commercial license versions of Inspired Collection Biggie, Pink Lemonade Collection, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Gesso 5103, Lettering Delights Long Hand Font and ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Negative Space are also available.

Article written by Amy Flanagan

		Join the Scrap Girls Monthly Club and you can have fun with the newest traditional digital and printable scrapbooking looks while saving! (A $40.87 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 Word Art Mini 1 Embellishment Mini 1 Assemble Your Own Zoom Page Set 1 Designer's Choice Item June's Scrap Girls Club designed for you by Amanda Fraijo-Tobin
		But that's not all! Scrap Girls Club members now receive these exclusive, club-only items! Club Exclusive! JIFFY Easy Page Album Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift and a Club Exclusive Color Palette
Layout by Amanda Fraijo-Tobin using June's Scrap Girls Club larger view	Layout by Amanda Fraijo-Tobin using June's Scrap Girls Club larger view	Layout by Amanda Fraijo-Tobin using June's Scrap Girls Club larger view

How to Use Two Digital Scrapbooking Styles on a Layer

Note: Tutorial created using Photoshop CS4 and Windows 7

Today, we're going to look at an easy way to use more than one digital scrapbooking style on a layer. I've wanted to figure out how to do this for a long time, so I checked with our experts on the Scrap Girls Message Board. The method I am sharing with you today seems to be the most reliable for whatever program you are using to create your layouts. We're going to give your layouts some extra pizazz and depth today!

So, let's get started! Go ahead and create a new layout. Make a nice big starburst on its own layer using Brush Set: Starburst Biggie. I have circled the starburst on the layout and its corresponding layer in the Layers Palette for you to see.

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Now, go to your Layers Palette menu and select the command Duplicate Layer.

You will need to have already loaded your layer styles so that they are ready and available to use. We are going to use the ScrapSimple Tools – Styles: Intaglio Biggie 7601 and the ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Starburst White 7601. I've shown you below how the Styles Palette looks with both sets of the digital scrapbooking styles loaded and ready to use.

Just click on the top starburst layer, and then click on the Copper style from ScrapSimple Tools – Styles: Intaglio Biggie 7601 to apply the style. I really like the way this style looks on the paper I created for this layout. (I used Brandy Murry's ScrapSimple Paper Template: Background Blenders to blend a paper from my JIF 6: Adventure and a paper from my Intaglio Collection Biggie.)

Next, select the other layer of your starburst (the layer just below the one to which you just applied the style.) Just click on the first ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Starburst White 7601 to apply it.

Check out how nice that starburst looks with both a metallic style and a white glowing style on it! It is so easy to apply two digital scrapbooking styles onto a layer with the technique I've just demonstrated.

Layout by Kerry Veale
larger view

Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Starburst Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Intaglio Biggie 7601, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Starburst White 7601, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Background Blenders, Intaglio Collection Biggie and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Subtle Photos 7601 Biggie are also available.

Article written by Kerry Veale

Learn to make digital scrapbooking layouts and more! – Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed Find out how easy it can be to learn how to create digital scrapbook layouts, edit photos, use and make brushes, recolor papers and embellishments, make your own simple backgrounds and embellishments, save and share your layouts and much more! Ready to learn advanced techniques? – MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed Learn to use paper templates, embellishment templates, custom shapes, styles, and brushes to make your own supplies. Learn advanced clipping mask and lighting blend techniques. Learn to make and use patterns. Learn to make brushes from your own doodles. Learn to extract images from photos. Learn work flow techniques that will speed up the layout creation process and advanced photo editing skills and much, much more!

Layout by Syndee Nuckles
larger view

Designer Freebie by Syndee Nuckles coordinates with her ScrapSimple Type Paths: Spring

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Cardstock 2, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Curled and Torn Edges, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Butterfly Shadows 6301 Mini and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Photo Borders 6501 are also available.

Today's freebie designed by Syndee Nuckles

* 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.

What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique Chat
Friday, June 3rd - 9:00AM MT

Join April (April Showers) and Theresa (teecee) 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!

NSBR Chat
Monday, June 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) at 7pm MT!

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

Join Pat (PBarnes) for another Life Moments Crop! This crop focuses on you, the scrapper, creating a scrapbook one layout at a time. The theme for this chat will be posted on the Message Board on the day of the chat. Hope to see you there at 2pm MT!

Creative Cards Chat
Tuesday, June 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) and Theresa (tiza126) for the once-a-month Card Chat on the first Tuesday of each month at 6pm MT. Can't wait to see you there!

Project SG Chat
Tuesday, June 7th - 7:00PM MT

Join April (April Showers) and Shannon (tinkerbell11) to hear all the details about Project SG! You can win prizes for taking part in this Challenge. It is never too late to start. We'll see you in the chatroom at 7pm MT on Tuesday, June 7th!

June Message Board Game: Re-JUNE-venate!

We helped you jumpstart your January and now it's time to re-JUNE-venate your focus on scrapbooking! Join us on the Forum this month for "Re-JUNE-venate!" This is a Meassage Board game and challenge that focuses on taking time to scrapbook regularly despite the little speedbumps of life. When the month is over, you'll have several completed layouts and will have been challenged and treated to some fun along the way... with prize opportunities thrown in as well!

A member of the Welcoming Committee will post a mini-challenge or task each day Monday through Saturday from June 1st - 30th. The tasks will be formatted in LARGE PURPLE FONT for ease of locating them in the game thread as it grows. Some tasks will require Message Board participation, email responses or gallery posting. Read each daily task carefully to see what is required of you.

Those who complete all tasks and submit or post required participation will be entered in a drawing to win one of three $10 Gift Certificates to the Scrap Girls Boutique! Those who complete just the layouts will be entered in a drawing to win one of two $5 Gift Certificates. Those who complete just the speedbumps will be entered in a drawing for one of two $3 Gift Certificates. (Those who complete all tasks will have their name entered in all three drawings!)

Join us in June for some serious scrapbooking re-JUNE-venation!

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

June Monthly Layout Contest: Father's Day is celebrated in June in the United States, but a day set aside to honor our male parent is celebrated in many countries on different dates throughout the year. For June's layout contest, we want you to do a layout honoring your father, whether he is living or not. Post your layouts in the June Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight MT on June 30th. Be sure to list your credits in the description or under the EXIF Properties. If your layout is one of the two chosen winners, you will receive 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!

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