Scrap Girls Digital Scrapbooking Newsletter: December 5, 2012

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You Have a Story to Tell...

...and we want to hear it! Scrapbookers are all about telling their stories – family stories, personal stories, children's and grandchildren's stories. Why, even the word "history" has a story in it! And my-oh-my, we love history around here.

Make some history of your own this year by putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, to be more precise, and tell us a Christmas story from your own experience.

Last year, we were blown away by the incredible stories that were submitted to our 12 Days of Christmas Story Contest. This year, we know you've got more stories just waiting to be told. We want to hear your stories of Christmas past, of Christmas memories, marvels, magic, or miracles. Was there a time when you saw something wonderful happen at Christmas or during the holiday season? Can you recall a first Christmas or holiday memory with your loved one, your child, or maybe the last Christmas with your great-grandmother? Maybe it's a story handed down through the generations in your family. We love to share good stories around here, and we don't mind having to grab a tissue, so write with all your heart to speak to our hearts.

We will select 12 stories - with one story revealed in our newsletter from December 13-24, every day, including Sundays. Just to keep things interesting, we're not going to tell anyone if they have been selected ahead of time. You'll just have to hop out of bed every morning, rush to your computer, and open up your Scrap Girls Newsletter with all the wonder of a child on Christmas morning and look to see if your story was published that day!

Here are the Submission Guidelines, so start those creative juices flowing!

The deadline for submissions is Midnight (ET), Friday, December 7. Email your story to [email protected] with a subject line of My 12 Days Story. With your email, please include the following attachments:
- Your story: Story length - maximum of 700 words. Your story must be true (to the best of your knowledge), and it must tell a story/event centered around a holiday theme, not just a collection of thoughts about why you love this time of year. One entry per person. Send your story in MS Word or something similar. At the top of your story, include your name, Forum username (if you have one), your mailing address, and your email address. At the bottom of your story, write a few sentences about yourself – where you live, what you do, your family, your job, your hobbies, etc.
- Scrap Girls publication release (download it here)
- One image/layout (optional): You may submit one image or layout that is related to your story - but only one, so make it good! Images should be no more than 300 pixels long on either width or height. If you submit a layout, we need two sizes: a 300-pixel image (72 dpi) and a 600-pixel image (72 dpi). Please show off our beautiful Scrap Girls products in your layout and include a supply list of products used (along with links to those products in the Boutique). Even if the product is retired, please include it in the list (without a link). By the way, submitting a photo or layout will not drastically improve the likelihood of a story being published, but it's a nice accompaniment to give our readers.
A few miscellaneous details:
- We reserve the right to edit the story as needed for clarity, grammar, punctuation, length, etc., though we will make every effort not to change the meaning of what you write. However, the better you write, the less we have to edit, and the happier you will make our editor.
- If you submitted a story last year that was not chosen, you may resubmit it this year!
Hmmm, what have we forgotten? Ah, yes, the prizes! What is a contest without prizes?!
- Everyone who submits a story will get a JIF 6 kit that coordinates with our "12 Days of Christmas Stories" this year! That's right – you get a prize just for entering! And this JIF 6 will only be given to our story tellers, not available in the Boutique. You want it? Then write a story and send it in!
- The 12 winners will get what everyone needs at this time of year – a little extra cash! If your story is published in our newsletter, you'll receive a $25 Visa gift card.

We look forward to hearing your story as we launch our annual 12 Days of Christmas celebration!

Take a deep breath and we'll tackle all these issues. Let's start with the size of the card. Have a look at your photofinisher's website and determine what sizes of prints and photo cards they offer. Price may be a determining factor for you, or you may have your heart set on a lovely linen-textured card that is only available in one size. (Keep in mind that if you design a square card and mail it in a square envelope, then you will owe extra postage in the U.S.)

I like to order my cards early to take advantage of photofinisher sales and to make my mid-December less hectic. That usually means I have not yet begun to decorate my home for the holidays, so I simply use photos from earlier in the year for our card. Another option is to use a professional photographer. Then it's up to him or her to decorate early to provide you with a holiday scene!

Oh dear, but the vacation photo I would love to use clashes with classic Christmas colors. Do I force the issue and use a Christmas digital scrapbooking collection, or can I use a non-themed collection that actually complements the colors of my photo? You will see in the layout below that I have decided on the best of both worlds here.

Some years, there simply are not any decent photos of all five of my family, nor can we get our three children to all look and smile at the camera at the same time. In fact, I recently made a humorous layout of all the outtakes from our 2011 Christmas photo shoot! My solution to this is to use three (or five) separate photos of each of us at our best. Even in a year filled with grumpiness every time the camera comes out, I have always been able to find at least one reasonably stellar photo of each child.

So, what is my plan for our 2012 card? I had not yet tried a two-sided photo card but a friend has convinced me to try it this year. I was able to use my two favorite family photos from the year plus the best individual photo of each of us. It made my decision process a lot quicker than other years when I have agonized over which one photo to use. On one side we are on vacation in San Diego feeding the flamingos at the zoo. I used a pink non-Christmas collection and a tropical theme collection to complement the photo. On the flip side of the card is another family photo of us camping and individual favorite photos from throughout the year. On that side, I used a traditional Christmas collection.

I hope I've provided you with some good tips for your own holiday card for this year and beyond! After you've mailed them out to family and friends, don't forget to upload the image to the Scrap Girls Printable and Digital Cards Gallery so we can see it, too!

Surprise! Surprise! Gifts Galore!
We have TWO designer freebies for you each day until Christmas Eve!

* 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.

It's time for our 7th Annual Cookie Recipe Card Exchange - and you're invited! We have a special, free recipe card template to help you get started. We love cookies, and we love getting new cookie recipes to try, so this year, all participants will receive a sweet little Scrap Girls Boutique gift just for joining in.

Join April (April Showers) each Wednesday at 12 Noon ET 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 December 5th, we'll do a Circle Challenge. Create a page using at least one circle. It can be a circular embellishment, polka-dots, brads - it is your choice!

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!

Do you struggle to get your words on your layouts? This is the crop for you! Join Carla (CRS) in the Chat Room for a Journaling Crop at 8 pm et that is sure to help you get journaling! We'll show you just how easy it is to highlight the important parts of your journaling with Cherise Oleson's Brush Set: Highlights 8301 Biggie and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Highlights 8301.

Join Pat (PBarnes) for the New Member Chat at 9 PM ET (8PM Central, 7 PM Mountain, 6 PM Pacific) 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.

Join us for an exciting game of December BINGO on the Scrap Girls Forum!! 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 Forum username" by Sunday, December 2nd (Midnight EDT) in order to play in the first round. The first round will begin on Monday, 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!

December Monthly Layout Contest: December is here and that means Family Time! During the holidays, we spend more time with each of our families... and we'd love for you to share your families with us! Post your layouts in the December Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight ET on December 31st 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.)

Holiday Cards
Wednesday, December 5, 2012

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

GENERAL INFORMATION

OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU

Holiday Cards Wednesday, December 5, 2012

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

GENERAL INFORMATION

OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU

Holiday Cards
Wednesday, December 5, 2012