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Scanning Tricks and Why You Should Tell Stories
Friday, January 13, 2012
IN TODAY'S ISSUE:
- 27.7% off Annual Winter Sale!
- What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique?
- Life Muse by Ro
- Scrap Girls Club
- Tips from the Pros: A Step-By-Step Recipe for Creating Custom Clusters
- Designer Freebie
- What's Happening at Scrap Girls?
- Ongoing Opportunities for YOU
GENERAL INFORMATION
Support Center We Accept:
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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]:
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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Scanning Tricks and Why You Should Tell Stories
Scanning Multiple Photos
If you're like me, you have decades of photos that need scanning into your computer so that they can be digitalized and archived so that they don't deteriorate any more than they already have over the years. (My photos are covered with scratches and lint from years of inadequate storage and careless handling.)
Because scanning hundreds - if not thousands - of photos can be quite a time-consuming project, Adobe has made it possible to scan in multiple photos into your computer at once and then separate them with a single click - assuming that you have scanned them in correctly, of course. I have tons of photos to scan in for my Life Scrapbooks so I am grateful for this functionality!
The most important factor in allowing Photoshop Elements or Photoshop to do their job is to make sure that you have placed the photos on the scanner bed so that there is plenty of white space around them. Note: If your photos have a white edge around them, you need to place a dark piece of paper (like black cardstock) over the photos prior to scanning or your software won't know where the edges of the photos are.
Here's how you cut the photos apart in Photoshop.
Follow this path: File> Crop and Straighten Photos.
Once you click on the Crop and Straighten Photos command, Photoshop splits the images into separate files, as shown above.
Here's how you cut the photos apart in Photoshop Elements.
Once you have scanned the images in, right-click on the image and from the pop-up menu, choose "Edit" in Photoshop Elements Editor. The image will open in the editor window.
Follow this path to divide the photos: Image> Divide Scanned Photos.
You will then see the individual photo files in the photo bin along the bottom of the editor window.
Story Telling
Once the photos are scanned in, the fun begins! Make some digital scrapbooking layouts, taking care to tell the story behind the photos on the pages. If you group all of the related photos on one layout, the story-telling process will be easier because you will be able to recall more details.
Does it take more time to tell the story behind your photos? Yes.
Will your family be grateful that you took the time to tell the story? Without a doubt.
Photos without details and stories become unknown faces for future generations. Because they won't feel a connection to the strangers they see in the images, they may decide to discard them. Photos without details placed on a digital scrapbooking layout are merely fancied-up photos and will not be valued more by future generations just because they are fancy. However, photos accompanied by details and stories become cherished family historical documents.
What can you do if you have a lot of layouts without journaling on them? Is it too late? Do you have to start over?
You can quickly solve the problem of having a lot of layouts without details and journaling if you create a page that contains the story of the layouts. If you keep them all together in your scrapbook, it will all flow together seamlessly and you will have done your job as a family historian!
Layout by Rozanne Paxman
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Neutral Shadows 2801 Super Biggie are also available. |
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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!
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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:
January's Scrap Girls Club designed for you by Jen Reed
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 Layout by Jen Reed using January's Scrap Girls Club larger view |
 Layout by Jen Reed using January's Scrap Girls Club larger view |
 Layout by Joyce Schardt using January's Scrap Girls Club larger view |
A Step-By-Step Recipe for Creating Custom Clusters
Tutorial created using Photoshop CS5 with Mac OSX 10.6
In our family, we have favorite recipes that we use again and again. Bet you do, too! Today, I want to share an easy "recipe" for creating clusters for your digital scrapbooking layouts. The inspiration for this project was this picture of my granddaughter. She just turned two, and I wanted to do a page with this photo, but I didn't have a cluster that worked with these colors.
Follow along as I share my recipe for creating custom clusters.
First, open a new document and bring in a background paper. If you want the photo and the cluster to become the focal point, use a simple or neutral background paper. You will want to form a base for your cluster. The easiest thing is to use borders because most collections contain a few borders. This may sound a little odd, but stack up three borders. You can easily size them to make them different sizes and rotate one or two slightly to show them off. Stacking borders is a great start to creating a clustered look.
Second, add a frame to your photo. This is a vintage, lifted frame from the Love Struck Collection. Place the photo behind the stack of borders.
Third, add some anchors. This can be done with a wide variety of products. You could use leaves, swirls, brushes, glittery sprays, basically anything that anchors your photo without dominating. In this example, the swirl and leaf design were from Super 7 Spread by Amanda Frajio-Tobin and the paper lace doily were from the Love Struck Collection. See how these balance out the photo?
Fourth, add some embellishments. Because you are creating a clustered look, add between five and eight small embellishments. You can use buttons, bows, rickrack, pins, stamps, or anything that fits the theme of your project. In the example below, you can see that seven small embellishments were used.
For a finishing touch, add elements that make the embellishments look like they have been attached to the page. This could be stitching, staples, brads, buttons, or tape. These small details add to the depth of a clustered page.
One thing that may help you is to check the "sweet spots" on your page. These are the four spots on each page that your eye is naturally drawn to. Your eye wants to rest on a focal point. The best layouts usually have the person's eye in one spot and supporting details in areas close to the other spots. It is also good to allow open space so your page isn't too cluttered.
To finish up, you could add a title, a name, or some journaling to explain the story behind your page. See what an easy recipe this is? You could easily adapt or change this formula as your project evolves, but these steps take the mystery out of creating custom clusters on your digital scrapbooking pages. Have fun, go wild, and create your own clusters.
Layout by Paula Wright
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Commercial license versions of Keys to Happiness Collection Biggie, Collage Art Collection Biggie, ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Tied Tags and ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Stitching Studio are also available. |
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Article written by Paula Wright
Learn to make digital scrapbooking layouts and more! – Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed Ready to learn advanced techniques? – MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed |
Layout by Jo Corne
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Designer Freebie by Jo Corne coordinates with her ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: BitsAndBobs
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: iTech, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501, Dress Up Paper Super Mini, Peacock Feather Collection, ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Sketch It 2 and Scenic Route Collection Biggie are also available. |
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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, January 18th - 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 January 18th, we'll do a Font Challenge. Use a font that you haven't used before in your layout. 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 & Chat
Thursday, January 19th - 6:00PM MST
Do you have boxes of old photos that you want to scrap? Is preserving a record of your family's heritage important to you? Come to the Heritage Crop at 6pm MT where we'll give you some basic scanning tips and teach you how you can use Scrapsimple Tools - Styles: Photo Fix 2201 and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Photo Fix 2202 to correct an old photo's color cast.
January Message Board Game: Jumpstart January!
It's time to kick off the new year with fun and focus on scrapbooking! And a few prizes thrown in never hurt, right? Join us on the message board this month for "Jumpstart January!" This is a message board game and challenge to start your year with fun and focus on taking time to scrapbook regularly despite the little speedbumps of life. When the month is over, you'll have completed several layouts and been challenged and treated to some fun along the way.
A member of the Welcoming Committee will post a mini-challenge/task every Monday through Saturday during January. Some tasks will require message board participation, email responses, or gallery posting. Those who complete all tasks and submit or post required participation by 11:59pm MT on January 31st 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!)
For complete details, visit the Monthly Message Board Games folder on the Scrap Girls Forum.
January Monthly Layout Contest: With the beginning of a new year, many people set aside some time to set goals. It might be an exercise plan or establishing better eating habits. It might be getting your life more organized. Or maybe you set goals for your digital scrapbooking output for the year. Post your layouts in the January Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight MST on January 31st. Be sure to list your layout's product credits in the description or under the EXIF Properties. Two layouts will be selected to 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!