It's Our Lucky 7-Year Anniversary Party! Big Sale!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

• 27.7% off Anniversary Sale!
• What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique?
• Life Muse by Ro
• Scrap Girls Club
• Special Event: Scrap Girls' 7th Anniversary Party!
• Designer Freebie
• What's Happening at Scrap Girls?
• Ongoing Opportunities for YOU

Rozanne Paxman

It's Our Lucky 7-Year Anniversary Party!

Tomorrow marks the 7th anniversary of Scrap Girls' official opening! I can't believe so much time has passed since I timidly turned on the Boutique. And isn't it cool that it's the 7th anniversary? I mean 7... it's a lucky number, so that makes it even better, I think.

There are 7 days in a week, 7 years in a Sabbatical cycle, and 7 virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility). Christ said that we should forgive each other 70x7 times, which is a whole lot of forgiving. Indian medicine includes the belief that there are 7 force centers - chakras - in a body. The menorah is a 7-branched candelabrum. Japanese mythology refers to 7 gods of fortune.

Atlantis was said to have 7 islands. In British folklore, the Queen of the Fairies pays a tithe to Hell every 7 years. There are 7 stars in the constellations of the Big Dipper and Orion. Most mammals have 7 cervical vertebrae, and a 7-spot ladybird has, of course, 7 spots; 7 is a prime number; 7 is the sum of any two opposite sides of a six-sided die... and 7-11 has great Slurpees®.

Okay, I just had to throw that last one in there because everyone knows that human history was changed forever when Slurpees® made their first appearance on the scene. I know it rocked my world (and my mom's pocketbook).

Now that you know these astounding "7" facts, you will know why I am super-excited to say it's Scrap Girls' SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY!

To celebrate, I thought it might be fun to take a quick cruise through various iterations of the Scrap Girls home page. But before we start, I have to warn you that you are going to see some funky-looking pages. The Internet is a techie fashion show where styles come and go. The way in which web sites are coded (put together) is completely different today than in 2004. You'll also discover why Scrap Girls was a pioneering website in this industry. (We were one of a small handful of websites that opened that year.)

Obviously, the Scrap Girls story includes many very talented people - including our product design team, layout artists, the Welcoming Committee, support staff, and (of course) the wonderful customers who believe in us and shop at our Boutique. I couldn't have done it without everyone! But this particular tale will be told from my vantage point because that's what I know best. And the information I am sharing is that which few people know.

Let's get on with the show!

This was our very first web page - a "coming soon" page. On it, I introduced the revolutionary idea that we would send out freebies with each edition of our newsletter. This excited people, and lots joined up. We had a substantial list of subscribers before we opened, which was helpful. This thought was pretty ground-breaking at the time because nobody else was crazy enough to do it.

Just sayin'.

The page looks tiny because... well... because it was tiny. This was back in the days when most monitors were small, so websites had to be narrow. Because I didn't have a lot to say at this point, the page is also short.

Notice the cartoons on the page. This idea bombed - big time. In fact, after I learned that certain bloggers were making fun of our girls ("Why doesn't Scrap Girls website have any real people?"), I abandoned the cartoons.

Full disclosure. Why did I have cartoons running our company?

1. I thought it was a cute idea. The writer in me was amused by writing all of these fake characters - as if they were running the website. (Jill was the name of our hapless webmaster. I was Jill. I felt hapless for at least a year because building websites was new to me.)

2. I had recently been traumatized and was feeling insecure about myself. (Getting laid off, then fired for being too old, and then let go from yet another job will do that to a person.) All of that excitement left me feeling so insecure that I was terrified me put to my name and face on the Internet.

It wasn't that I was afraid that a boogie-man would come to my house and get me. It was that I felt like, maybe, I didn't belong on the Internet (beginner webmaster and all), and part of me was afraid that if I made a real appearance on the website, the Internet police would arrest me for being cheeky.

I knew business. Business was my strength. My background in business is what made me believe I could do this. But putting my picture on the Internet? That was a different matter all together...

I was scared.

I quickly found out that people wanted to know me. They wanted to know who was sending them email. They also wanted to see my picture so that they wouldn't be scared that I was the boogie-man.

Running Scrap Girls forced me to get over being afraid of myself, my shadow, and the Internet police.

That was very good for me.

This was our very first official home page. I know the image is too small to read, but this is the page in which I announced that the Boutique was open. See the girl with the laptop? Jill - the inept webmaster - made an appearance here. (By the way, I ran Scrap Girls for several years from a tiny laptop because that's what I had.)

The website talks a lot about "printables" because, well, because people didn't really know what digital scrapbooking was about in those days. For the first few years of our existence, people would look at me like I had three heads whenever I told them that I ran a digital scrapbooking website. I had to come up with an excellent, though brief, statement about what digital scrapbooking involved, just to get past the awkwardness that people felt when I told them I ran this particular Internet business.

Story that illustrates this point: One day I went to the bank (where I have my personal account) to cash my paycheck (such as it was back then). The check was from Scrap Girls. It was written by me, to me, and was signed by me on the front and the back. The teller picked it up, sniffed it, and said, "Who is Scrap Girls? Have you ever received money from them before?"

I pointed at my name and the signature at the bottom (which was all in the same handwriting) and said, "My business."

"What kind of business?"

"An Internet digital scrapbooking store."

She called a manager over (because that thought worried her). The manager told the teller to deposit the check.

That kind of thing doesn't happen anymore. People are generally familiar with the term, and there are lots of Internet entrepreneurs around. Now when I tell a banker about what I do, they respond, "Cool. I need to tell my wife about that."

This was the home page in March 2005. The people cartoons are pretty much gone. Lots of colors on that page, huh? Too many colors.

This was the home page in May 2005. The cartoons had made their permanent exit. By this time, I was a little braver, so I tried setting up the website like Pottery Barn's. (I was inspired.)

Problem was, I didn't explain what we were about, so people didn't get it. I knew it was a real issue when Mandy Steward's mother (who knew our company) told her that our home page confused her because she didn't know what to do once she got to it.

Oh - and by the way - Mandy Steward designed that logo for us. Her husband contributed the idea for the three boxes on the left-hand side.

So what did I do when I found out that our home page was confusing Mandy's mother? I started over.

Continuing to need inspiration, I went back to Pottery Barn's website to see what they were doing. They had moved to a three-column format, so I decided to try it myself. The page was narrow because people's monitors were still small.

I was such a beginning web person that it nearly killed me to set this up. As I recall, I did quite a little bit of crying during this period. I had to create tables inside of tables inside of tables because HTML (the code behind web pages) doesn't like to obey. It has a mind of its own!

I made those purple navigation buttons. I was so proud. In fact, I was so proud, I kept them on our web site for five years! It took a big company shake-up to realize that I needed to shake those buttons off the website once and for all!

This home page was from the high-point of my experimentation period. Every month, we created a new logo that was related to the season we were in or the dominant holiday of the month. The web page colors were then set up to match. Of course, everything had to go with our pinky-purple logo. I can't remember how long we did this, but it was quite awhile. Eventually, changing the look every month started to feel like a bit "much" so we stopped doing it. Now, the only time you'll see things change up a bit is at Christmas.

By the way, we LOVE Christmas around here! If you haven't spent a December with us before, you'll want to do that because we have lots of fun - and do lots of special things for you.

You'll see.

In 2007, I learned how to build web pages so that they stretched sideways when you stretched out the monitor. It was quite revolutionary. I was excited and this was the result.

Notice that we were still using the long logo with the boxes.

Then I tried this one - a very notable fail that didn't last long. But I did learn something valuable during this brief period of ugliness: People liked the "scrapbook-y" feel of this page. And I also realized that unless I wanted a revolt, I needed to maintain a purple website. I was firmly told by our members that Scrap Girls is PURPLE!

I filed away that information for future use.

This is how I repaired the big "fail" while still keeping it new.

Later, Valerie Randall cleaned up the logo - simplified it - and got rid of the boxes. I went back to a three-column format. The columns became wider because people's monitors became bigger. This let me increase the size of the Club images.

Our editor (the girl-genius named Cindy) gave me some very valuable feedback about the text on the page, so I included her suggestions. She also pointed out that I needed to put my photo on the home page so that the welcome came from a real-life person. Despite feeling that the Internet police were going to chase me down for appearing so big-headed, I complied. But I didn't like it.

Just sayin'.

Notice that we are still using the purple navigation bar. Those things hung on for years... and years... and years. They did include a little black separator bar between them at the point - our nod to progress.

And then... finally... last March, we moved to a scrapbook-y home page - emphasizing the softer pinky-purple instead of the darker saturated purple.

Oh my... I do love pink. This page makes me feel happy when I see it because the colors are soft. And who can resist sparkles, glitter, lace, and flowers?

Not me.

I need to thank Brandy Murry and Paula Wright for coming up with the cute background, flowers, lace, buttons, and such that you see here. All I did was "scrapbook" the cute supplies into a layout in Photoshop based on how I wanted the home page to look. Then I turned the design and images over to a real-live web person (meaning someone other than myself) to make the vision happen on the website.

It was a team effort.

Oh - and before I forget - Brandy also suggested that cool new way of showing off our "big" Scrap Girls Club each month. It was a hit.

Once the home page was done, we rolled the look throughout the website. I was so excited when I finally got the Forum/Gallery set up so that it matched because it was the last to make the big change-over.

Won't it be interesting to see what Scrap Girls looks like seven years from now? I can't wait!

Meanwhile, I'll continue to feel extremely blessed for everything I'm learning while running this company and for all the fine people that I've gotten to know over the years. The whole experience has strengthened me as I have had to face down some very tough situations from time to time. In the process of staring the company's challenges down, I grew back my spine, so to speak.

Also, it has helped to remember that many families are depending on me to get my own feelings out of the way so that I can see the big picture. People need me to be tough when it is required.

That has been good for me.

And scary.

And wonderful.

And scary.

And heartbreaking.

And scary.

And interesting.

And scary.

Just sayin'.

And all of you had a very big part in our story. We wouldn't be here at all if our wonderful customers had not supported us by shopping in the Boutique. We are, after all, a retail outfit, and every penny you spend with us helps us be here for you every day. Without our customers, Scrap Girls would have been nothing but a random dream I had one day.

So... THANK YOU! We couldn't have done it without you!

Just sayin'.

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!

		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 JIF 6 Plus Page Set 1 Designer's Choice Item 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Jiffy Easy Page Album 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Designer's Choice Item 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Color Palette October's Scrap Girls Club designed for you by Cherise Oleson Club Exclusive! JIFFY Easy Page Album Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift
Layout by Sara Beth Peterson using October's Scrap Girls Club larger view	Layout by Shalae Tippetts using October's Scrap Girls Club larger view	Layout by Cherise Oleson using October's Scrap Girls Club larger view

Scrap Girls' 7th Anniversary Party!

Celebrate Scrap Girls' 7th Anniversary by collecting our special edition, professionally designed, two-page digital scrapbooking kits. We call them Super 7 Spread kits! With each Super 7 Spread, you will receive two layered PSD* files - the left-side and the right-side of the double-page layout. Just open the files, insert your photos, add your journaling, and you're ready to go! Each kit also includes the seven files used to create the layout separately so that you can create even more looks!

A few examples of the brand new Super 7 Spread kits...

*Note: PSD files are layered files used in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro and certain other software packages. If your particular software title does not use the PSD file type to create layouts, don't worry! We have also included individual JPG and PNG files, which are accepted by most software titles commonly used by digital scrapbookers.

Chat Schedule

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

• 10:00 AM MDT – East Coast High Noon Crop
  Join April (April Showers) and Carla (CRS) 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 October 19th, we'll do a Journaling Challenge. Create a layout with at least seven sentences of meaningful 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! Hope to see you in the chat room!

• 5:00 PM MDT - Hybrid Craft Chat
  Carla (CRS) and Shannon (tinkerbell11) will share fun and easy ideas to dress up your table using your digital scrapbook supplies along with some glue, ribbons and who knows what else. Stop by and jump on the Hybrid Craft Train. You will be amazed what you can do with your supplies!

• 6:00 PM MDT - Build Your Own: Anniversary Cake Chat
  Join April (April Showers) and Theresa (teecee) for some Anniversary Cake decorating! Don't worry - we won't make a mess with frosting, and your layout doesn't need to include cake. Early in the day, we'll post a thread with some cake ingredients. Each ingredient will correspond to a scrapbooking item. What you choose for your cake determines what you will use on your layouts! We'll reveal what each ingredient means at the chat and will update the thread then, too!

• 7:00 PM MDT - Use Your Stash Chat
  Join Shannon (tinkerbell11) and Theresa (tiza126) in the chat room for an Anniversary party edition of the Use Your Stash Chat. We will help you create a layout in a flash with our challenge. Come join the fun!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

• 6:00 AM MDT – Coffee Break Chat with a Siggy Challenge
  Join Conda (Sodscrap) and Lei (Bride) as they brew up some fun with a 6am MT Coffee Break Signature Challenge on Thursday, October 20th. Bring a cup of your favorite warm beverage and we will serve calorie-free coffee cake!!

• 1:00 PM MDT – Mess or Masterpiece Chat
  Join Ro for a digital scrapbooking crop that will get you laughing while you create a layout or two with the "ingredients" you'll take out of your folders as directed. Luck will determine if each layout is a mess or a masterpiece!

• 6:00 PM MDT - Heritage Crop
  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.

• 7:00 PM MDT- Desktop Challenge Chat
  The season is changing and it's time for a new desktop! Join Carla (CRS) and Lei (Bride) as they host a chat and challenge to celebrate Scrap Girls' 7th Anniversary. We will be meeting in the chat room at 7pm MT for fun!

Friday, October 21, 2011

• 9:00 AM MDT - What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique Chat with April and Theresa
• 12 Noon MDT - Quote Challenge Chat with Lei and Carla
• 1:00 PM MDT - Mini Class: Using the Liquify Tool with Anna
• 5:00 PM MDT - Sketch Challenge Chat with Cheri and Theresa
• 7:00 PM MDT - Organize and Back-Up Your Files Chat with April and Shannon

Saturday, October 22, 2011

• 1:00 PM MDT - Scraplifting Chat with Cheri and Debbie
• 2:00 PM MDT - Color Challenge Chat with Conda and Carla
• 7:00 PM MDT - Cram the Chat Room Party with Shannon and Theresa
• 8:00 PM MDT - Late Night Pajama Party with Bingo with April and Theresa

Monday, October 24, 2011

• 10:00 AM MDT - Word Art Challenge Chat with Gayle and Ashleigh
• 1:00 PM MDT - Calendar Chat with Debbie and Shannon
• 3:00 PM MDT - U.F.O. Chat with Shannon and Joyce
• 6:00 PM MDT - University Chat with Theresa and April
• 7:00 PM MDT - Speed Scrap Chat with Carla and Shannon

* Schedule is subject to change... stay tuned to the Newsletter and Forum for the latest happenings!

Layout by Jo Corne
larger view

Designer Freebie by Jo Corne coordinates with her High Holy Days Collection Mini

Commercial license versions of High Holy Days Collection Mini, High Holy Days Paper Mini, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Butterfly Shadows 6301 Mini, ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Pop Up, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Ribbons To Go III and ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Paper Roses are also available.

Today's freebie designed by Jo Corne

* 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.

East Coast High Noon Crop
Wednesday, October 19th - 10:00AM MDT

Join April (April Showers) each 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 October 19th, we'll do a Journaling Challenge. Create a layout with at least seven sentences of meaningful 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! Hope to see you in the chat room!

Heritage Crop
Thursday, October 20th - 6:00PM MDT

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.

What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique Chat
Friday, October 21st - 9:00AM MDT

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!

Life Moments Chat
Tuesday, October 25th - 3:00PM MDT

Join Theresa (teecee) in the chat room at 3pm MT for a Life Moments Chat. These chats are meant to get you inspired to scrap about yourself. A theme will be posted earlier in the day to help you get started.

ScrapSimple Club Chat
Tuesday, October 25th - 6:00PM MDT

Join April (April Showers) and Shannon (tinkerbell11) on Tuesday, October 25th at 6 pm MT for a chat and challenge using this month's ScrapSimple Club. Did you know that every time you create a layout with the ScrapSimple Club and upload it into the ScrapSimple Club Gallery your page could be chosen to be featured in the Newsletter and receive a prize? Join us for the chat so we can encourage and inspire you and help with any questions that you may have. Let's get those ScrapSimple Club layouts done and uploaded!

New Member Chat
Tuesday, October 25th - 7:00PM MDT

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.

October Message Board Game: Product Picks

Join us for a new game in October, where we encourage you to stroll through the aisles of the boutique and do a little window shopping!

Each Monday through Saturday in October, a member of the Welcoming Committee will post the name of one or two product designers in the Product Picks game thread. You will then head to the Scrap Girls Boutique and navigate to that particular designer's product pages. Choose any of their products (your favorite product, one you like, or one you wish you owned), then head over to the Product Picks game thread and share the product name, Boutique link, and a brief explanation of why you chose that product.

At the end of the month, members who haves posted links to 42 products (one for each designer) will be entered in a drawing for one of three $10 Gift Certificates. Members who have posted links to 16-41 products will be entered in a drawing for one of two $5 Gift Certificates. And members who have posted links to 10-15 products will be entered in a drawing for one of two $3 Gift Certificates.

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

October Monthly Layout Contest: October is all about color! Show us those fabulous fall colors or spring colors for our Southern Hemisphere members! Maybe you have a favorite color you'd like to showcase or a very colorful photo to scrap. Remember, it's all about colors! Share those layouts in the October Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight MT on October 31st. Be sure to list your credits in the description or under the EXIF Properties. Two layouts will be selected to win a $10 Gift Card 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!

Copyright Scrap Girls, LLC 2004-2011

This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others.

Customers or advertisers, you may contact us at:
Scrap Girls
10817 Highland Circle
Highland, Utah 84003
www.scrapgirls.com

Toll-free: (866) 598-3444

P.S. If you ever need any assistance, please email [email protected] or call 866-598-3444 and we'll help you as quickly as possible!