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Gifts Galore! Place an order totaling $10 or more before December 23rd and
Layout by Cheré Kaye Edwards
Scrap Girls' 12 Days of Christmas!
Project by Becca Hauck
Designer Freebie by Ro The first four products listed below are included in this month's Scrap Girls Club offering. Members receive a substantial discount on these club supplies. They are also available elsewhere in the Boutique at regular prices for those individuals who would rather not join a club.
12 Days of Christmas Games! Christmas Tree of Doom The Christmas Tree of Doom is here! For those of you who are new to this game, the object is simple. You must correctly identify the items shown in the Christmas tree card image, created from products found in the Scrap Girls Boutique! Send your guesses for this game to [email protected]. Use the subject line "Christmas Tree of Doom" for your email entry; include your name and your Scrap Girls Forum user name, if available. Please include the product name and its web address link for each item you find in this Christmas Tree of Doom! You have until 11:59pm MST on Saturday, December 31st to enter. The Christmas tree card above is made using 14 different papers. The paper designers include:
The Christmas tree card has 27 embellishments. Those designers include:
Now don't panic! You don't have to find them all to play the game. (Whew!) But anyone who DOES get them all correct will automatically win a $10 Gift Certificate! No problem. You've got it. This means more than one person can win a $10 Gift Certificate. (Anyone this motivated deserves a prize!) The winners of these gift certificates can get in on the rest of the game, too! For all players:
Does that sound possible? Hope so! HINTS: The background paper and the star paper are both included; the drop shadows are not. Everything is very straight-forward: papers and embellishments only. There are no ScrapSimple products, brushes or tools. Even if you aren't up to playing the game, look at the pretty Christmas card that was made for you and see if you can recreate it using your favorite papers and embellishments! Have fun! |
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Miracle in Havana
Friday, December 23, 2011
IN TODAY'S ISSUE:
- Gifts Galore!!
- 12 Days of Christmas
- 12 Days of Christmas Stories
- Note from Ro
- What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique
- Scrap Girls Club
- Tips from the Pros: Coloring Brushes: Christmas Whimsy 3
- Designer Freebies
- What's Happening at Scrap Girls?
- Ongoing Opportunities for YOU
GENERAL INFORMATION
Support Center We Accept:
The entire Scrap Girls team wants to say how grateful we are that you have chosen to participate with us. You'll never know just how much your support means to us and our families. Ro P.S. Your email address is safe with us. We never share, rent, sell, or loan our list with anyone! P.P.S. If you ever need any assistance, please email [email protected] or call IMPORTANT TO KNOWDon't forget to check out the Retirement Sale section of the Boutique. Items in this section are always on sale for 30% off. The items you will find during any particular month will be discontinued permanently on the 5th of the following month. So if you see something you like, grab it while you can! OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUCustomer Muses: Would you like to share your own Life Muse with our readers? To have your own essay considered for publication as a muse in the column for our special Saturday newsletter, send your essay to [email protected]. If your essay is selected, you will receive a $20 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique. Way Cool Scrap Girl: We are so excited to have all of you meet some of the amazing people that have become Scrap Girls! If you would like to be spotlighted and win a $25 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique, send the following items to [email protected]:
Project SG Challenge: Stay motivated to scrap your current photos! Post your 2011 layouts in the Project SG Challenge Gallery to earn one point per layout each month. You can earn up to four points per month this way! Earn a bonus point each month by attending the monthly Project SG Chat! Each point gives you an entry into a quarterly drawing for a special prize! And at the end of the year, each month that you participated in will earn you an entry into the Grand Prize drawing for a 12 X 12, 52 page Keepsakes photobook from Color, Inc! Our fourth quarterly drawing winner will be announced in the Saturday, January 7th Newsletter. Suggest a Challenge, Win a Prize! Have a great idea for a Gallery layout challenge? Submit it to [email protected]. If your challenge idea is chosen, you will win a prize! Friday will be Customer Challenge Day, so keep an eye out on the Message Board calendar. It will be fun to see what YOU come up with for us to do!
Of course, it is a surprise what you will get because birthday presents are always surprises! But you will like it for sure because most people like money.... Anyway, make sure your Message Board email address is current and that you have the correct date entered into your profile to participate. *ADVERTISEMENTS*
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12 Days of Christmas
Welcome to one of Scrap Girls' most cherished traditions - the 12 Days of Christmas newsletter celebration! We've been hosting this celebration since the beginning of Scrap Girls back in 2005. Back then, I was putting the newsletter together when I suddenly noticed that Christmas Eve was 12 days away.
Now, a 12-day event is something I love best about Christmas.
In some areas of the United States, people enjoy picking out a family in their neighborhood that they can secretly give little gifts to as a way of celebrating how grateful they are for the birth of Jesus Christ. Every evening after dark, some lucky person in the gift-giving family sneaks up to their target's front porch, deposits that day's gift, rings the doorbell, and takes off running with all their might. A successful 12-day campaign means that the receiving family never knows who has showered them with love.
Because I hadn't planned it out, the first Scrap Girls 12 Days of Christmas event was pretty simple - consisting of some extra freebies, a daily Christmas muse by me (this is when muses first appeared in the newsletter), and some neat layouts and samples. Angie Briggs quickly noticed that I needed a little help with this project - because, as I said, it was not pre-planned - and she started feeding me extra layouts for the newsletters. I'll always love her for that. She saved my bacon!
The second year (2006), without thinking through the ramifications of what it would mean for future celebrations, I decided to surprise our readers with a 12-part serial story. You know... like Charles Dickens used to write. (I'm a little nuts sometimes.) That first story - The Flight of Christmas - took me months to write and remains my favorite one to this day. (I have now written five serial stories for this annual event.)
The specially-designed set of 12 Days Embellishments first made their appearance in 2007. The games - including the Infamous Tree of Doom - made their debut in 2008.
So, as you can see, the 12 Days of Christmas event grew from me having a desire to share a little extra holiday spirit with you into an event that takes our team months to prepare for. We keep it going because it's just one small way we can let you know how grateful we are for you and your support of our company. When you refer your friends to us and share what we are doing, you help keep Scrap Girls going. Every time you shop with us, you help us maintain our Forum, our Gallery, our newsletters, our blog, and every other service we offer you. And, of course, you help us to be able to continue to provide you with the free daily downloads that you all enjoy so much!
We need you. We understand that completely. We want you to know that our team members and their families are sublimely grateful for you each and every time you choose Scrap Girls to be your source for the beautiful digital scrapbooking supplies you need to make your layouts and projects. Every time you make a purchase in our Boutique, you make a HUGE difference in many, many lives. You help keep this small business going!
This year's 12 Days of Christmas stories come from our readers who submitted them when we put out a call for amazing stories related to the holidays. Every day from now through Dec 24, you'll read a new story that will make you laugh heartily, think deeply, and maybe blink back a tear or two. We received lots of amazing stories and had a hard time picking just 12!
So here we go! This is the 2011 Scrap Girls 12 Days of Christmas event. I hope you have fun!
- Ro
Miracle in Havana
I am so excited that I can't sleep. My brother, on the other hand, is sound asleep. I don't think he understands what an important night this is. How can you sleep when the Three Wise Kings will bring us presents tonight?! I can't wait till morning to look under my bed and see all the beautiful presents they brought me. After all, they sure brought nice presents to Baby Jesus long ago!
I keep my eyes shut tight just in case they come when I am awake. You see, we are not supposed to see the Three Wise Kings. If they know we are awake, they leave without giving us anything. I really don't understand how they get inside the house, so I asked my mom one day. She said that they are very magical, and they get very tiny and just walk under the door as if they were little ants; once they are inside, they get big again.
Mentally, I review the list of toys I asked for. Well, mostly books, really. I love to read. But I also asked for a doll with blonde hair and for coloring pencils. I want a box of at least 100 different colors.
Is it morning yet? It still looks so dark. Maybe if I'm really quiet I can take a peek and my mom won't hear me. I just want to know if it's almost morning. Quietly, I tiptoe to the bedroom door and notice that the living room light is on, and my mom is in the rocking chair. Why is she watching TV so late?
It sounds like someone is crying. My mom is crying! What's wrong? I want to run to her and hug her, but something stops me. I go back to bed, but now I really can't sleep. Why is Mommy crying?
After what seems like hours, I hear a very soft knock on the front door. This is really turning out to be a strange night. I get up and peek again. I can see my mom opening the door just a crack. There is a pause, and suddenly, she throws the door wide open, and she starts crying really hard. But I think she sounds happy now, not sad like before.
There, at the front door, stand my abuelos (my grandparents) loaded with shopping bags. They are all hugging each other and crying together. I watch as they start taking toys and books out of the bags. Suddenly, I understand. The Three Wise Kings are not the ones who give us the presents - our parents do. My mom must not have had money to buy us any gifts - that's why she was crying. Baby Jesus must have heard her crying and sent my grandparents. It's a miracle!
Quietly, I go back to bed. And I fall... sound... asleep.
In the morning, under my bed, I found the most gorgeous doll, my coloring pencils, and many books. Christmas had come to Havana!
- Luisa Kelly
Layout by Luisa Kelly
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Note from Ro: Bill and Mary from the Scrap Girls homemaking blog - HowMomDidIt.com - have just made the cutest post about making homemade crackers for Christmas. It is such fun that I thought the Scrap Girls newsletter readers would enjoy it. Just imagine making crackers with some pretty digital scrapbooking papers. They could be beautiful and would help make a very memorable moment for your family!
In the past, I've used Christmas crackers as decorations for our Christmas dinner. I placed them on the plates and then the first thing we did - after blessing the food (prayer), is to break open the crackers. It was such fun. I've never made them before, but I think I might do it this year. Bill and Mary have inspired me!
Make Christmas Crackers a Family Tradition
One of the best Christmas traditions our family ever instigated came straight from the mind of my son, Bill. When he was in seventh grade, Bill read somewhere about the British tradition of serving Christmas crackers at Christmas dinner.
Christmas crackers are small tubes wrapped in festive paper, and each cracker contains a small gift along with an occasional joke or riddle. When you pull on the ends of the wrapping, you hear a loud bang, and the gift comes out of the tube.
Bill thought Christmas crackers sounded like a lot of fun, but after a search online revealed the high cost of a few genuine crackers, he decided to make his own.
Read more here: http://howmomdidit.com/2011/12/make-christmas-crackers-a-family-tradition/
Layout by Syndee Nuckles
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 8.5x11 Picture It Mini and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Butterfly Shadows 6301 Mini are also available. |
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Layout by Cindy Rohrbough
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Commercial license versions of Jolly Holiday Paper Mini Border Overlays are also available. |
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Digital Presentation Layout by Durin Eberhart
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Commercial license versions of Presentation Digital Scrapbook 1-2-3: 8.5x11 Memories of Green are also available. |
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Layout by Angela Blanchard
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Commercial license versions of Christmastide Collection Mini are also available. |
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Layout by Sarah Batdorf
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Christmas Happiness 6501 Biggie, Christmas Happiness Collection Mini, ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Clustered and Clean and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501 are also available. |
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Layout by Syndee Nuckles
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Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Painted and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Butterfly Shadows 6301 Mini are also available. |
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If you have praise, comments, or questions for any of our Product Designers or Layout Artists, did you know you can send them a PM (private message) using the Message Board? It's easy!
If you are a registered user of the Message Board, just click on the "PM" box at the bottom of any of their posts to send them a message. Or, to check out more of your favorite designer's layouts, visit the Scrap Girls Design Team section of the Layout Gallery.
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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:
December's Scrap Girls Club designed for you by Angie Briggs
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 Layout by Angie Briggs using December's Scrap Girls Club larger view |
 Layout by Joyce Schardt using December's Scrap Girls Club larger view |
 Layout by Angie Briggs using December's Scrap Girls Club larger view |
Coloring Brushes: Christmas Whimsy 3
Tutorial created using Adobe Photoshop CS5 with Mac OS X
Some digital scrapbooking brush sets are in a solid, silhouette-type form, while others are in outline form. There are several ways to color both and add fills to the outlines. I will show you a few examples of the fun ways to do just that with my Brush Set: Christmas Whimsy 3!
Most of the brushes in this set are line drawings, and they can be used in that way alone. But I am also going to show you a few ways to add solid and patterned fills to give them more of a presence on your page. Choose one of the line-drawn brushes and open the included PNG files in your photo editing software. I'm rather fond of the little birdie in this set so I've decided to start with her.
Hold down the Command (Cmd) key (or Ctrl on a PC) while clicking on the "New Layer" button at the bottom of the Layers Palette. This will add a new layer to your file directly beneath the bird image.
Using the Pen Tool from the Tool Palette on the left, click to add an achor point and drag to trace the outlines of the bird creating an object fill. Don't be too picky here, some coloring outside the lines is fun!
You can always change the color of your newly created object fill by locking the transparent pixels on that layer and choosing your desired color as the foreground color. Then just click Cmd+Delete (or Ctrl+Delete on a PC) to fill the object.
Another quick and easy way to add color and pattern to your object fill is to add a pattern overlay. Click on the Layer Style button at the bottom of the Layers Palette and choose from your patterns loaded right in Photoshop. I chose this fun, green diagonal stripe - perfect for the holidays!
You can also choose from your library of 12x12-inch background files and create a clipping mask to color your fill. I chose to use this great red paper from the Nearing Christmas Collection Mini. Open the file and drag it over to your working brush/PNG file.
With the paper lined up on top of your object fill layer, click Cmd+Opt+G (Shift+Ctrl+G on a PC) to clip the paper layer down onto the object fill.
Ta-da! You have quickly and painlessly added color and pattern to your line brushes!
Layout by Keri Schueller
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Commercial license versions of Brush Set: Christmas Whimsy 3, Beaute Botanique Collection Biggie, Christmas Cheer Collection Mini, Christmas Wonder Collection and Brush Set: Princess are also available. |
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Article written by Keri Schueller
Learn to make digital scrapbooking layouts and more! – Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed Ready to learn advanced techniques? – MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed |
Surprise! Surprise! More Gifts Galore!
We have TWO designer freebies for you each day until Christmas Eve!
Layout by Elisha Barnett
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Designer Freebie by Elisha Barnett coordinates with
her ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Twill Tape
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Commercial license versions of White Christmas Collection Biggie and ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Edgers Biggie are also available. |
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Today's freebie designed by Elisha Barnett
Layout by Chere Kaye Edwards
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Design Team Freebie coordinates with 1 Scrap Girls All New December 2011 Specials - Sets 1 - 3
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* 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, December 23rd - 9:00AM MST
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!
New Member Chat
Tuesday, December 27th - 7:00PM MST
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, December 28th - 10:00AM MST
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 December 28th, we'll do a photo challenge! Create a layout using your favorite recent photo(s)! 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!
Speed Scrap Crop
Wednesday, December 28th - 6:00PM MST
It's time for some Speed! Join Carla (CRS) and Shannon (tinkerbell11) at 6pm MT for the Speed Scrap Crop! We'll give you some tasks, spread out over an hour, and you create the layout! You can check out some of the past Crops in the Speed Scrap Gallery!
December Message Board Game: BINGO!
Join us for an exciting game of BINGO on the Scrap Girls Forum during the month of December!! Pick 25 words from the list provided and send them in an email to [email protected] with a subject line that says "BINGO CARD - your Scrap Girls Message Board username" by Friday December 2 (Midnight MST) in order to play in the first round. The first round will begin on Saturday, December 3rd. If you miss the first round deadline, you can still play! Just send in your BINGO card at any time during the month, and you'll be eligible to begin playing when the next new round starts.
Each day (Monday through Saturday), a member of the Welcoming Committee will call five random words from the BINGO list. Match just 15 of those words to win a BINGO. You must be first to call "BINGO!" in the game thread to win that round. After a winner is called, the boards will be cleared and a new round will begin the following day.
Each winner will receive a $5 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique! We like to see lots of winners, so please remember that each person can only win one round during the month. Have fun!
For complete details, visit the Monthly Message Board Games folder on the Scrap Girls Forum.
December Monthly Layout Contest: For the December Monthly Layout Contest, it's all about the gifts! Scrap a layout about a gift that was extra special, either one you gave or received. Or you can scrap about something or someone you consider to be a gift in your life. Share with us what makes that gift special! Post your layouts in the December Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight MST on December 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!