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Coupon Code: BeMerry It's the most wonderful time of the year to save big on everything in our Christmas category! Perfect for making last-minute gifts or for stocking up so you'll be ready to scrap all your 2012 Christmas memories!
Gifts Galore!
12 Days of Christmas Special
This gift tag will give you digital scrapbooking layouts and printable craft projects a special touch. Be sure to collect the entire set of gift tags over Scrap Girls' 12 Days of Christmas celebration!
12 Days of Christmas Games! Christmas Tree of Doom Here’s how to play the game:
The Christmas tree card above is made using 14 different papers. The paper designers include:
The Christmas tree card has 26 embellishments. Those designers include:
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 - because 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! HINT: The papers for the background and star are both included; the drop shadows are not. Everything is very straight-forward: You’ll be looking for papers and embellishments only. There are no ScrapSimple products, brushes, or tools. If you aren't up to playing the game, enjoy the pretty Christmas card and see if you can recreate it using your favorite papers and embellishments! Have fun! |
The Secret Santa Conspiracy
Friday, December 21, 2012
IN TODAY'S ISSUE:
- 40% Christmas Category Sale, plus an extra 5% off Coupon!
- Gifts Galore!
- 12 Days of Christmas Special & Games
- What's New in the Boutique
- 12 Days of Christmas Story
- Scrap Girls Club
- ScrapSimple Club
- Designer Freebies
- What's Happening at Scrap Girls
- Ongoing Opportunities for YOU
GENERAL INFORMATION
Contact Scrap Girls
Your email address is safe with us. We never share, rent, sell, or loan our list with anyone! If you ever need any assistance, please email hello@scrapgirls.com or call
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While one girl's picture appears here on the Newsletter, Scrap Girls is really a community of talented designers, techy gals, thoughtful contributors and fantastic customers. We are ALL so happy to have you as part of the Scrap Girls community and we are very grateful for your support. Debbie OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUSuggest a Challenge, Win a Prize! Have a great idea for a Gallery layout challenge? Submit it to challenges@scrapgirls.com. 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 receive because birthday presents should alway be a surprise! Make sure your Forum email address is current and that you have the correct birthdate entered into your profile to participate. |
Scrap Girls sends a birthday gift to each of our Forum members!|
*ADVERTISEMENTS*
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Christmas Beginnings digital scrapbooking kit celebrates the first Christmas. With the cows and the chickens and doves all around. Jesus was born in a humble stable. Paper size is 8.5x11 inches.
These layered craft templates are perfect for creating a personalized and fun chocolate bar wrapper. They can be easily customized by adding color, textures, shadowing or clipping your favorite digital scrapbooking paper or photo to the layer. A perfect gift for party favors, classroom exchanges, wedding shower favors, baby shower favors, or added to a special gift basket. Created at 300 dpi with .psd and .png files included.
Layouts are a joy when using these holly jolly frames that show the holiday spirit and fun. These frames in the holiday colors of red and green and candy cane stripes can hold one or several photos - small and large. These frames will showcase your focal photo while showing accent photos to tell your story.
This set of elegant vintage inspired cluster borders are the perfect way to add a little brilliance and charm to your layouts. There are 5 designs, each offered with and without shadows. In addition there is a second version without the added embellishments, giving you the option to embellish these neutral palettes to coordinate perfectly with all of your pages. Includes 10 digital scrapbooking embellishments (300 dpi, png files).
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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 Forum? It's easy!
If you are a registered user of the Forum, 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 Scrap Girls team layouts, visit the Scrap Girls Design Team section and the Scrap Girls Layout Artist Team section of the Layout Gallery.
Story Winner #9: The Secret Santa Conspiracy
The economy has had a tight grip on many families over the last four years. Mine has not been spared. We lost our house two-and-a-half years ago and moved into a rental house. Naturally, we were searching for stability. We had only been homeowners in the past, so renting was foreign to us. A little stability is all we were looking for at that point. Not just looking, but craving. Then we landed in a two-year lease. Whew!
Yet suddenly, our walls crumbled nine months after moving in. The owner came to us with the news that he was either going to let the house foreclose or do a short sale on it. What? We were paying as we should... how could this happen? It was all still so fresh. My heart hurt, even ached. In the end, the house was sold as a short sale – and abruptly, we were given 10 days to move out. It was almost as stressful as losing our own home. At least with losing our house, we knew where we were going, but not this time. Yet, once again, we did what we needed to do and figured it out.
Through all these trials, we pulled together as a family and showed love, commitment, and resiliency. We finally moved into a permanent home earlier in 2012, just about nine months ago. We all felt like we breathed a huge sigh of relief!
Then only four months after being in our home, we were robbed. I felt so violated. Yes, I played that game in my head about how none of us were hurt and that we all have our health, but the bottom line is that it was still painful. Some of the stolen items included many of our sentimental keepsakes, our pictures, and all of our holiday items. We lost so much stuff - irreplaceable stuff. It was purely devastating.
But as we had done before, we held our heads up with grace and put one foot in front of the other. As Christmas approached, I became so overwhelmed when I would think of having to buy all new ornaments, a tree, lights, and decorations. I would often go into a store to buy ornaments, only to walk out empty handed. I was paralyzed by the daunting task before me. I felt emotionally broken, and I wasn't sure how I was going to put the pieces back together.
Then came November 1, 2012 – a day to mark down in the books. A package arrived on our doorstep with a return address simply marked, "Secret Santa." Inside were four beautiful stockings. Some may not think they were beautiful, and maybe I didn't at first glance, but once I realized the gift that they were, they were absolutely beautiful. Golden. And they were from a complete stranger.
The next day, three more packages arrived from various parts of the country, filled with ornaments all marked from Secret Santa. We have continued to receive packages filled with various Christmas decorations. I am so grateful for each one of these things, because the robbery took those mementos from us. I am absolutely astounded by the generosity that keeps coming to us. It's a conspiracy, all right – a conspiracy of kindness.
Packages are arriving daily from all over the United States, even some from outside the country! We have also received beautiful, heartfelt cards with the kindest messages from complete strangers. These cards mean just as much as any gift. I am awed at the true generosity and kindness of the human spirit. I feel blessed in so many ways.
This experience has taught my kids so many lessons about how, despite hardships and tragedies, good can come out of difficult situations. Equally important, it has allowed each of us to heal in our own way. It has allowed me to heal, to put together the broken pieces of my soul. All of our ornaments that were so special to us have been replaced with ones that have their own special meaning. We now have the most incredible Christmas tree decorated with the most unique collection of ornaments! Our tree represents kindness, compassion, generosity, fortitude, resiliency, healing, love, and the true spirit of Christmas! We have been given the gift of each of these things, things which are not tangible but only felt with the heart, with my heart, with my kids' precious hearts.
I am grateful. I am beyond blessed.
- Kelly Conry
Layout by Kelly Conry
larger view
Kelly's layout shows her family's ornaments and one of the four Christmas
stockings that they have received just this year from their Secret Santa!
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About the Author:
Kelly Conry: I am a momma to two and a wife to one. I have the two coolest kids on the planet... quite possibly the universe. We live in Phoenix, Arizona, and I am a freelance graphic designer, specializing in stationery design. I have been digitally scrapbooking since 2004. I just need 12 more hours every day to get everything done and keep my head on straight!
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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 Melissa Renfro |
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December's ScrapSimple Club has been created for you by |
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:
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Surprise! Surprise! Gifts Galore!
We have TWO designer freebies for you each day until Christmas Eve!
Card by Brandy Murry
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Designer Freebie by
Brandy Murry coordinates
with her Wesley's Christmas Collection Biggie
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Wesley's Christmas Super Biggie 8501 are also available. |
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Today's freebie designed by Brandy Murry
Card by Kimberly McKean
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Designer Freebie by
Kimberly McKean coordinates
with her ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Christmas Island
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Christmas Island and Well Loved Collection Biggie are also available. |
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Today's freebie designed by Kimberly McKean
* 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.
High Noon Crop
Wednesday, December 26th - 12 Noon ET
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 26th your challenge will be to Use Your Stash! We all have those collections, embellishments and templates we couldn't resist, but we just haven't used them yet. Now is the time!
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 26th - 8:00 p.m. ET
It's time for some Speed! Join Shannon (tinkerbell11) at 8 pm et for the Speed Scrap Crop! We'll give you 6 tasks, spread out over an hour. You'll then have an hour to get it finished and posted in the gallery!
December's Forum Game: BINGO!
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 games@scrapgirls.com 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!
For complete details, visit the Monthly Forum Games folder on the Scrap Girls Forum.
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.)