Digital Designer Toolbox

Summer is a time when family members get together and want to make heritage and anniversary books together. It can be a daunting task to figure out how to do that, especially with miles and miles between each other. I use a great tool called Basecamp with my customers. It has all the features I need to post images and allow my customers to provide comments and feedback. They can also upload any files they want to add.

Basecamp is flexible and will fit your needs. There is a free plan, the personal plan is $12 per month, basic is $24 per month, and they have more plans for larger companies. The Free plan should work for most people seeking a solution to create together. There is no contract, so if you need to upgrade, you can for just one month or several months.

If you have any questions about working on a project like these, please post it in the comments and I’ll share what I know. I’ve worked on many of these projects and helped many families create beautiful heirloom books.

Tim & Anne are awesome. We have used them many times. I’m not going to bother with my own testimonial, they have plenty on their new website and you can believe every word. People often wonder why bother with a travel agent when you can do it all online by yourself. It is worth it and it doesn’t cost you anything. If the price is reduced or a deal comes along after you book - they can pass that back to you. The know the ins and outs, etc. I highly recommend them for Disney trips. They took care of many of our Disney trips (now we are DVC members and know everything inside and out ourselves). They can book trips for you where ever you are, you don’t have to be local. Visit their website and bookmark it for the future!

FamilyTravelGurus.com

I went to the bindery to pick up a book yesterday and we have new cover materials - Gold, Silver and Copper. They are awesome! They are very shiny and metalic. They are buckram - coated canvas. I usually prefer the faux leather, but these are great. The silver has a thicker coating so the canvas texture isn’t as obvious - it will look great on wedding books with black or blue foil. The gold looks great with copper foil and the copper looks great with black foil. The photos just don’t capture how beautiful these really are.

I am currently designing my personal Disney pages (I have many, many photos from Disney). My husband bought me a DVC (Disney Vacation Club) last fall ensuring we will be visiting at least once a year. We have been going once or twice a year for several years.

I have partnered up with Sophia Sarducci to bring you her wonderful designs. Digital Scrappers can make their own pages from her designs and I am creating templates to use with my customers’ photos. You organize the photos in the order you want them, send them to me and I’ll make you a Disney Themed Photo Book! I am mixing my own designs in there with hers. There will be lots of themes including Cinderella, Mickey, Belle, Buzz, Woody, Bugs Life, Ariel, Nemo, Monsters, Snow White, Tink, Peter Pan and more.

I will post the pages in the gallery as I get them designed.

Polaroid Pictures

In this video tip, you will learn how to take a photo and transform it into an old-fashioned Polaroid photograph.

A friend sent me some new information about cell phone use - “Women who use mobile phones when pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with behavioural problems”.

You can see more information here:
Article on Cell Phones and Pregnancy

I found this site tonight, animoto.com. It’s fun, it’s free, you gotta try it! Here’s my first little video.

I am so excited about all of the fabulous designers who now allow their designs to be used in projects to scrap for others. I have a renewed excitement for the custom side of my business, designing pages for my customers. I am scouring TOU files searching for permission! I’m developing a book mark list of sites that offer these products. If you know of any or are a designer, please leave a comment with a link to your site.

Here is what I’ve collected so far:

http://thescrappindivazdesignz.com/
http://www.digitalscrapbookpages.com/
http://commercialcreate.com/
http://dihickmandesigns.com/store/
http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=819
http://www.digiscrapwarehouse.com/xcart/home.php
http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_dnld_info&products_id=1834
http://digitalscrapdesigns.com/
http://www.elementalscraps.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=87
http://www.artandscrap.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=688
http://www.scrappingwhispers.com/
http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/shoppe/index.php?main_page=conditions
http://digitalcandy.ca/shoppe/home.php?cat=20
http://www.divinedigital.com/boutique/home.php?cat=365

Grunge Borders

In this Photoshop tutorial, Geoff will teach you how to create a very easy, but very effective, white grunge border around your photographs.

Creating A Grid With A Custom Pattern

In this video tutorial, Geoff will show you how to create and define a custom pattern in Photoshop and then use that pattern to create a grid background for your Photoshop file.

I have a Razr phone and I have pre-paid. I refuse to go on a monthly plan. I don’t use my phone very much. I can’t send photos with plan. I wanted to download the photos I took in Las Vegas but I can’t. I searched a little and it looks like I’m not the only one with this problem. None of my friends know how to get photos off their phone, either. I have a Mac. Anyone know a way besides sending a photo to an email address which I can’t do?

Using Clipping Masks

You’ve all seen postcards or advertisements with a picture of something inside a block of bold text. In this tutorial, you’ll learn just how easy it can be to achieve this effect

With all the press about diet soda making people fat, I’ve gone back to regular. I try not to drink soda, but I gotta have on every now and then. My new favorite is Coke in a bottle from Mexico. DH bought a case from Costco. It’s so much tastier than the US version - why? Because it’s sweetened with good old fashioned sugar - not corn syrup. I did some research - Coke-a-cola around the world is sweetened with sugar - but not here in the US. Unfortunately, corn syrup is in everything!

Corny Syrup is all about the numbers.
Here is the more info about the Coke formula.

My kids and husband prefer Orangina - sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. I personally don’t like it.

After Orangina, Vivi loves cranberry juice. We get the cran-rasberry from Costco - 100% juice. Cranberry juice can be tricky - the bottles are labeled to make you believe it’s all juice when it’s not.

I try to do juice with soda water - tastes great and is more healthy. Like Izze sodas. They are tasty, but pricey.

What do you like to drink?

I don’t recommend washing a digital camera! My Canon Powershot SD750 went through the wash last week. I had taken the kids to the zoo with my camera in my pocket. That’s one of the things I loved about it, it fit perfectly in my pocket! DH likes to toss the dirty clothes over the banister down to the foyer below - years of yelling has not deterred this behavior. I’m sure the camera had a good bump to the floor. Then we went to Las Vegas for a few days. I was annoyed on the way to the airport - I forgot the camera!. Oh well. My stepmother was watching the kids - she loves to do laundry. We called to talk to the kids and check in when I learned of it’s demise. At that point, I was upset because it had been a while since I downloaded the photos from the memory card.

I decided to buy a new Canon, having all the pieces and parts from the old one. I love the screen on the SD750, but hate that there is no battery warning - it’s just done, without warning. I have an extra battery from the first camera. I bought a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS from Costco.com - came with a free 2GB memory card. It’s about the same size, nice for a pocket - I’ll be more careful! It also has an image stabilizer - good for DH who manages to take really bad photos most of the time. The screen is much smaller, but it has a viewfinder (so tiny, it’s not very useful).

The first thing I did was put the old memory card in there - and it works just fine! All the old photos were there. I tried the old battery - didn’t work. Charged the old battery - it works just fine. So I now have 3 batteries, 2 2GB memory cards, 2 battery chargers and 2 cables to connect.

I have finally put my designs up for sale. I’m slowly getting them uploaded and entered on a new site, Digital Scrap Designs. This site is dedicated to commercial use and S4O/S4H (scrap-for-others and scrap-for-hire) products. You can purchase my designs in the store.

I would love to hear feedback from you. I know you’re out there, lurking. Let me know if you like these kits. I’m also interested to know who and how many of you are looking for S4O/S4H kits.

Here are the kits I have up so far:

Heritage

Pirates

Glitter Girls

Boys Life

Sweet Baby

I have worked out the printing issues and I’m back in business. I will now be printing on a newer machine and the prints are awesome. They are higher quality, the paper is much nicer for the books. The prices have been adjusted and are effective immediately. Thanks for your support!

I haven’t posted a freebie in a long time, so here’s one for you. We celebrated Vivi’s birthday Sunday with a Tea Party at the Brown Palace Hotel in downtown Denver. It was fancy, fun and way too expensive. Here’s my page, it took way too long to design this page that looks so simple.

Here’s the freebie, just download the image.

I have started a conversation with a company who I think is a great fit for Photo Book Memories. They have a plan to launch a new business May 1. I just wanted to give you all a quick update so you aren’t hanging in limbo wondering what will happen. I really like what they are creating. There will be more options for ordering and creating things. I may or may not stay involved somehow. We’ll see what develops! Thanks for hanging in there.

Casting Shadows

In this video tutorial, Geoff Riggs will teach you how to create an elongated shadow cast in front of a block of backlit text.

I got this email from a friend. I laughed so hard I was crying!

Subject: WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We’re related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him
3. My grandma says that Mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.

Who’s the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because dad’s such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What’s the difference between moms &dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3 Dads are taller &stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.
4. Moms have magic; they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don’t do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Dye it. You know her hair. I’d dye it, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I’d get rid of that.
2. I’d make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

WHEN YOU STOP LAUGHING –
SEND IT ON TO OTHER MOTHERS, GRANDMOTHERS, AUNTS
and anyone else who has anything to do with kids or just needs a good laugh!!!