Becoming Debbie... "President"
Tuesday, June 12, 2012

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

• TODAY ONLY! 38% off Meet Debbie Sale!
• What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique?
• Scrap Girls, Etc.
• Scrap Girls Club
• ScrapSimple Club
• Designer Freebie
• What's Happening at Scrap Girls
• Ongoing Opportunities for YOU

Debbie Cleek
President, Scrap Girls Inc.

Becoming Debbie... "President"

Over the past week, I've looked at that new title behind my name many times and thought "Whoa!" It's all happened so fast. And at the same time, it's been a long and winding path that led me to Scrap Girls. Sometimes it felt like a journey where I didn't know quite where I was going. Yet somehow I ended up exactly where I was meant to be.

It all started about seven years ago. I was fortunate enough to have a secure job with the City of Portland. I was doing well and managed to become successful at a job I didn't really enjoy. I was working for the department that approves building permits, so my job consisted mainly of giving people a service they never wanted to begin with. Even when I did cartwheels to make customers happy, they were still leaving with an expensive permit that took them months to get and they weren't really sure they needed it in the first place. Every night when we walked our dog, Ike, I would talk to my husband about how futile my work felt. But my parents had taught me values like responsibility and loyalty, so every morning I'd drag myself back to work again. Somehow, the promotions kept coming.

Fast forward to the spring of 2009. The housing bubble had burst and nobody was building anything anymore. My department was forced to lay off half its staff and everyone who got to stay was demoted to cut costs. I was very lucky and able to keep my job, but losing a community of coworkers I'd come to love as friends and the lost feeling of job security convinced me it was time to move on. I decided to sign up for a retreat aimed at helping people find their passion. Very unsurprisingly, I learned that what gives me energy and motivation had very little to do with being a bureaucrat. So I started to develop a vision of what I wanted, but how to get there was still very unclear.

Around this time my husband was equally frustrated with his job. We'd both worked hard for nearly two decades and saved our money. So after months of his lobbying, I finally agree to take some time off with him. Before I knew it, we'd sold our house and were off on the road in our RV, which we named Frances after my husband's recently-passed grandmother. We visited all the places we'd been longing to see, reconnected with long lost friends and spent as much time outside as we possibly could. It really reminded us that we live in a fantastic country full of wonderful people and opportunities!

Every day I thought about my next step. I filled journal pages trying to land on the perfect idea. I knew I wanted a vocation that made people happy at the end of the day. I wanted to have a community and feel like I was part of something bigger than me. I wanted to be creative. And I needed something that would challenge me in every way where I could see the results of rising to those challenges. I said to my husband at least a thousand times, "I think I want to run my own business."

As my ideas started to gel, it became clear to me that I wanted a business on the Internet. I'd always loved technology and the possibilities offered online just seemed more and more compelling. I'd also fallen hard for my iPhone, especially the apps that let me play with the pictures I'd taken of my friends and family. So I started doing research and talking to the people I knew who had online businesses. I took business classes at night and read everything I could. But I still hadn't landed on the perfect idea. I decided to join a few email lists for brokers that specialize in helping business owners sell their online businesses.

I looked at listings every day for over a year and would think to myself, "What do I know about Mixed Martial Arts?" and "Could I really spend the rest of my life selling specialty cabinet hardware?"

And then one day, there it was – a digital scrapbooking company. And for some reason I didn't think to myself, "What do I know about digital scrapbooking?" Instead a voice inside of me said, "Debbie, this is it!"

So I pulled out all the stops the way I tend to when I really, really want something.

A strange combination of fate and fortitude has washed me up on the shores of your lovely purple island. There have certainly been moments over the past week (such as when Ro was filling my head with necessary details like product codes and software interfaces), when I thought to myself, "What was I thinking?" But then I take stock and realize - I have been blessed with an opportunity to do work that makes people happy! This is going to challenge me in every possible way! I now have a community and a purpose to be passionate about! And then I would know that I was going to be just fine.

I must confess that I've never been much of a public person before, and now you are all here, along for the ride. You will get to watch me learn how to apply my creativity and love of crafting in a digital way. You will see me struggle to find my voice in newsletter stories like this. And you will get to see me throw everything I've got into keeping Scrap Girls a wonderful place to visit and shop. In the process, I hope that I get to know just as much about all of you. I know that in choosing Scrap Girls as a business, I also chose you. But in a funny way I feel like you actually chose me, and I am so grateful to Ro and your wonderful community for letting me come along on the adventure.

- Debbie

Scrap Girls, Etc. is a column pulling bits and pieces from all over Scrap Girls. Stay tuned as Scrap Girls' team members bring you tutorials, musings, recipes, interviews, design/software tips and tricks, layout walk-throughs, and who knows what else!

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!

		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 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 June's Scrap Girls Club designed for you by Brandy Murry
Club Exclusive! JIFFY Easy Page Album	Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift	Layout by Brandy Murry using June's Scrap Girls Club

May's ScrapSimple Club has been created for you by Laura Louie & Ang Campbell		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
Club Exclusive! Nano Collection	Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift	Layout by Laura Louie using May's ScrapSimple Club

Layout by Ang Campbell
larger view

Designer Freebie by Ang Campbell coordinates with
her ScrapSimple Word Art Templates: Beauty of the Earth,
part of this month's ScrapSimple Club offering!

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Paper Templates: Earthy, Brush Set: Framed Nature, Rough and Tumble Collection and Super 7 Spread by Ang Campbell are also available.

Today's freebie designed by Ang Campbell

* 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.

New Member Chat
Tuesday, June 12th - 8:00PM EDT

Join Theresa (tiza126) for the New Member Chat on June 12th at 8pm ET 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.

High Noon Crop
Wednesday, June 13th - 12 Noon EDT

Join April (April Showers) each Wednesday at 12 Noon EDT for the 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 June 13th, we'll do a Photo Manipulation Challenge. Create a layout using a photo you have manipulated in some way - change it to black and white or sepia, remove a distraction, cut out the subject - anything goes!

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
Thursday, June 14th - 8:00PM EDT

It's time for some Speed! Join Carla (CRS) at 8pm EDT for the Speed Scrap Crop! She will give you six tasks, spread out over an hour. You'll then have one hour to get a layout finished and posted in the Gallery!

June's Forum 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 Scrap Girls Forum for "Re-JUNE-venate!" This is a 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 completed several layouts and been treated to some fun along the way.

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

Those who complete all the required tasks and submit or post required participation by 11:59pm EDT on June 30th will be entered in a drawing to win one of three $10 Gift Certificates to the Scrap Girls Boutique! Those who complete all the layouts will be entered in a drawing to win one of two $5 Gift Certificates. Each person who completes a layout will be entered – once for each completed challenge page- into a drawing for one of three $3 Gift Certificates.

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

June Monthly Layout Contest: June is full of weddings and graduations – a time of pomp and circumstance. For June's contest, we want to see your wedding, graduation or other special occasion layouts. Post your layouts in the June Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight EDT on June 30th and you could one of the two people who will win a $10 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique! Please be sure to list your layout's product credits in the description or under the EXIF Properties.

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 Forum calendar if you have any questions about what is happening at Scrap Girls. All event times are given in the Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise noted. Need help converting time zones? Check out the World Clock - Time Zone Converter. (Use 'USA-New York-New York' as the location for the Eastern time zone.)

Copyright Scrap Girls, Inc. 2004-2012

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
4110 SE Hawthorne Blvd, #753
Portland, Oregon 97214
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!