101 Excuses for All Occasions
Tuesday, January 17, 2012

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

• 40% off Life Scrapbook section Sale!
• Today's Special of the Day
• What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique?
• Life Muse By Ro
• ScrapSimple Club
• Tips From The Pros: Scrap Girls Club Craft
• Designer Freebie
• What's Happening at Scrap Girls?
• Ongoing Opportunities for YOU

Rozanne Paxman

101 Excuses for All Occasions

Just in case you are looking for one, here's a handy-dandy little list of excuses for future reference. You should be able to find something here to suit almost every occasion that requires an excuse for a goof, mistake, oversight, or need to say no to something you should not or do not want to do.

1. I didn't mean it.
2. I didn't do it.
3. Wasn't me.
4. Someone else did it.
5. The little man did it.
6. The dog ate it.
7. The cat carried it away.
8. Don't know what you're talking about.
9. Huh?
10. You've confused me with my evil twin.
11. I was in Alaska.
12. I don't drive that kind of car.
13. I joined the Rotary Club and was too busy rotating things to have done that.
14. You must be talking about the new girl.
15. I never park my car there so it couldn't have been me.
16. Grey's Anatomy is on.
17. My cellphone was dead.
18. The Internet was (is) down.
19. I had to (have to) reboot my computer.
20. I didn't get enough sleep.
21. My car is out of gas.
22. My husband took my keys with him.
23. A water pipe broke in our backyard.
24. All of my exercise clothes are in the washer.
25. My shoelace broke.
26. I need a new battery.
27. I have a virus.
28. My computer has a virus.
29. I'm too old.
30. I'm too young.
31. I'm afraid I'll make a mistake.
32. So-and-so will get mad at me if I do that, so I better not.
33. The football game is on.
34. I had (have) a flat tire.
35. They were out of that.
36. That's not good for people.
37. That's just the way I am.
38. I just had surgery.
39. I don't know how to do it.
40. It snowed last night.
41. I have to wash my hair.
42. I don't have time.
43. Project Runway is on.
44. The can opener broke.
45. I need to take time off of work to do that, and I can't take time off.
46. I fell asleep.
47. I was busy talking to [name] and couldn't be interrupted.
48. I was at the hair dresser's.
49. My hem ripped.
50. I don't know where to begin.
51. I need to go shopping.
52. I need to clean out my refrigerator.
53. I need to clean my kitchen.
54. I don't have any healthy recipes.
55. My family doesn't like healthy food.
56. I don't have time to cook.
57. I don't have the right ingredients.
58. Other things are more important.
59. It's time for bed.
60. My brain is tired.
61. I'll start tomorrow.
62. I'll do that when I get rich.
63. It's a waste of money.
64. I can't do it.
65. The Boogie Man will get me.
66. They stole my chance. I only get one chance per life and that was it.
67. It's easier if I don't try it.
68. I'm comfortable right now.
69. It takes too long to learn.
70. I'm too old to learn new things.
71. I don't have time to learn new things.
72. It's the other person's fault. Talk to them.
73. My alarm didn't go off.
74. I woke up late, and there wasn't time.
75. I forgot the time.
76. I had a crisis I had to take care of.
77. I lost my keys.
78. I had a flat tire.
79. I wrote down the date wrong.
80. I thought I had more money in my account.
81. I misplaced my phone.
82. I went to the wrong address.
83. I hit the wrong button.
84. I ran out of paper.
85. I ran out of printer ink.
86. My hard drive failed.
87. I just never got around to it.
88. I meant to do it.
89. It was on my list of things to do.
90. I lost my list.
91. Was that today? I thought it was tomorrow.
92. Someone called me and made me lose track of time.
93. I didn't think it would take so long to get here.
94. Someday I'll do it.
95. I just didn't think about it too much.
96. I tried once.
97. People like me can't do amazing things like that.
98. I don't have enough talent.
99. I'm too lazy.
100. I don't want to.
101. Please make my excuses for me.

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 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). A commercially licensed version of the ScrapSimple Club is also available here. With the ScrapSimple Club, you will receive: 1 ScrapSimple Paper Template Set 1 ScrapSimple Embellishment Template 1 Brush Set 2 Designer's Choice Item CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Nano Collection CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Designer's Choice Item CLUB EXCLUSIVE! 2 Tutorials January's ScrapSimple Club has been created for you by Elisha Barnett & Amanda Fraijo-Tobin Club Exclusive! Nano Collection Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift
Layout by Elisha Barnett using January's ScrapSimple Club larger view	Layout by Amanda Fraijo-Tobin using January's ScrapSimple Club larger view	Layout by Elisha Barnett using January's ScrapSimple Club larger view

The Scrap Girls Club allows you to get all of the newest looks while saving money! It is perfect for anyone who wants beautiful, coordinated digital scrapbooking supplies that are easy to use. You get all the products shown above a $40.59 value, for $9.99 or less! Plus, each month we will help you find new ways to use your club contents to the fullest with this article full of ideas, tips, and projects to get your creativity going!

Members-Only club content! Now Scrap Girls Club members receive three exclusive, members-only Club products every month! These new products include a JIFFY Easy Page Album - five layered PSD files of your favorite Club layouts designed by the professionals at Scrap Girls just for this Club, one Designer's Gift item - a product chosen by the Club's designer, and a Color Palette which you can use to coordinate your photos and ScrapSimple products with this month's Club to make it an even bigger value!

January's Scrap Girls Club's featured designer is Jen Reed. Her club will make your digital scrapbooking layouts and altered projects feel like true masterpieces, no matter your subject!

Scrap Girls Club Craft: Canvas Art

Tutorial created using Adobe Photoshop CS5 with a PC

One home décor project I turn to again and again is canvas art. Since I'm not a painter, I rely on my scrapbooking supplies to make my canvas art look great!

When the January Scrap Girls Club - Reflections of the Heart - arrived in my inbox, I knew I'd use it for a canvas project. It's an exact match for the colors in our master bedroom and bathroom. We already have a simple quad of 8x8-inch canvases in our bedroom, covered simply in pretty scrapbook paper. I wanted this design to be a bit more elaborate with word art and a few embellishments as well as pretty paper. I love the idea of collaging various sizes and shapes of canvases together in a grouping, which would also allow me to use more of the beautiful papers from this month’s club selection by Jen Reed.

Canvas can be purchased inexpensively at your local craft store in a fun variety of shapes and sizes. However, I made a quick trip to my basement craft room and found my stash of canvases. Using what I had available, I quickly hit on an eye-pleasing collage. Next, using a foam brush, I painted the edges of each canvas with a medium blue that coordinates well with our bathroom and the club collection. The centers don't need to be painted because the paper will cover them.

While the paint dried, I measured each canvas and opened separate Photoshop documents for each canvas. Then I arranged the documents in the same grouping as they would later be on the wall.

I resized each digital scrapbooking paper prior to dragging it into the appropriate Photoshop document. I opted for a very simple design - I didn't want to detract from the beauty of the papers Jen designed, and the collage itself is complicated enough without adding huge embellishment clusters to each piece. The most eye-pleasing design to me was to leave the center four canvases "plain" with a digital scrapbooking paper covering each. The two taller canvases on each end have a word art and simple embellishment cluster or banner.

The next step was to print each document and allow the ink to dry. My favorite adhesive for canvases is "tacky tape," found in the scrapbooking section of craft stores. It is sold in a roll under various name brands and usually has a pink backing. It forms a bond about as strong as concrete (my unscientific opinion after using it for several years without a failure).

My husband receives the credit for finishing this project! He drilled holes in two long, thin pieces of metal and screwed all the canvases together into one large grouping for ease of hanging on the wall (his least favorite home décor project, in case you wondered). Someday, I may take apart the project and paint the metal strips with our wall paint to disguise the strips a little better, but for now, I am pleased with the way it turned out!

larger view

Project by Cheri Thieleke
larger view

The five 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.

Article written by Cheri Thieleke

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 Cheré Edwards
larger view

Designer Freebie by Cheré Edwards coordinates with her Adventure Land Collection Biggie

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates: 12x12 Priceless are also available.

Today's freebie designed by Cheré Edwards

* 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!

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