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Looking for a place to print your digital pages?

I just recently tried out a new digital printing service and I thought I would share my impressions with you.  You may have heard of Scrapping Simply before, or you may not. I hadn’t, up until this fall.  I heard about them through the ubiquitous Facebook. Their current customers raved about the prints and customer service so when they posted a special right before Christmas, I jumped at the chance to try them out.

I had a ton of 8×8 and 12×12 pages I wanted printed.  With the special pricing it was such a great deal I got them all done. I had 24 8×8 prints done for less than $25 and 20 12×12 for less than $40.  Now, that was with their special discount but still, it’s a darn good deal.

Their website lists the following pricing structure:

  • 12×12, 10×10  $1.99
  • 8.5×11, 8×10   $1.89
  • 8×8                  $  .99
  • 6×6                  $  .79
  • 5×7                  $  .99
  • 5×5                  $  .59
  • 4×6                  $  .29

They also do canvases and a whole bunch of other things.

I got my prints today and I have to say, I am VERY pleased.  The colors are true, the images are crisp, and the prints look really good. I wish I could show you one in person, but I am thinking something would be lost if I took a picture of the picture and posted it. 🙂

I had one small issue – where some of my fonts were substituted from the ones I originally had selected.  I called them to ask about it.  They were very prompt in responding to my question and it turned out to be a software issue on my end. They were very gracious and helpful and even offered to reprint the pages for me at no cost if I wanted to fix the issue on my end and re-send them.  That was impressive. Especially since it was not even their issue to begin with.

So, I will be using Scrapping Simply for more prints.  I was very happy with my products. 

More scrapping and other news tomorrow.  We have had snow here today and the kids have been home from school.  Life has been rather hectic around here. 🙂

Scrapbook Projects for 2010 – what are you doing?

2010 If you are looking for a little inspiration for your scrapbook pages, or a new project to focus on this year, there are tons available:

  • There is the  now-classic “Project 365” for those of you into a photo-a-day project.  You can even purchase Becky Higgins’ new Project Life kit to help simplify the process.
  • One of the gals from the Blogging for Scrapbookers class (Dolly) is offering her own set of prompts: 52 in 10.  It’s a weekly challenge.
  • Shimelle is offering a free class “Document 2010”
  • Cathy Zielske is offering a template: Seven Days, to document a week in your life. It’s a cool template, regardless of how you use it.
  • Simple Scrapper is offering Project 10×12, focusing on the top 10 photos each month of the year.

What am I doing?

Well, I tried Project 365 last year.  That required a little bit more diligence and dedication than I had in me.

While I love the concept, life is just too busy/crazy for me to remember to take a picture every day, journal something, and then put it all together. I still have pictures from June/July of my P365 album I need to scrap. Nope, that won’t be me again.

I did buy the Project Life kit, though.

And here is what I thought I’d do.

I’m always taking pictures. Some days I take 5, some zero.  But I thought I could use that for the quick and easy scrapbooking to document those little bits of life.

I am also curious about Dolly’s class and Shimelle’s class. So I will probably do a few pages based on their prompts as the inspiration strikes me.

Other than that? I am going to focus on two things:

  • scrapbooking more STORIES this year.
  • scrapbooking more about me… what my life is like, my hopes, dreams, thoughts, etc.  I want my girls to know what life was like when they were little (when and if they read the scrapbooks when they are older) and I want to document what my life is like right now so I can look back one day and remember life with my little ones.

What about you? What are your projects for this year?

Weekly Scrapbook Challenge #1

Our first challenge is up over on our new blog. Have you checked it out yet?

Dawn’s got a great idea for us –

  • Think about your goals or things your looking forward to in 2010.
  • Use up that stash you have had saved for a special occasion
  • Use a picture of yourself

Are you game?

Here’s the page I created:

JYC2009 - Page 012

Share yours!

I can’t wait to see it!

Our First Weekly Scrapbook Challenge!

Be sure you check out our first challenge post over at the Scrap Weekly blog.  It's our first in a series.

Next week is my turn, this week, the challenge is offered by Dawn.

I can't wait to see what you do with it! (Renay!)

Coming soon… Weekly Scrapbooking Challenge Blog

I have joined forces with thirteen other ladies from around the globe. We will be posting weekly scrapbooking challenges/ideas on a new blog we're starting.

Sound interesting?

Check it out!

Our first post will be next week – January 3 – with weekly (Sunday) posts from each of the members.

Join us!

More Journal Your Christmas Pages

I’ve gotten a few more pages done today.  Hoping to do some more tomorrow…

JYC-1

JYC-7

this will be the facing page for the one above:

JYC-8

A special treat

Just for you StoryBook Creator Plus users…

Here are some templates you might like to try out! (Merry (late) Christmas!)

Here is a sample of the first one:

sample1

And here is the template: (click on the image to download)

template1

You can read the blog post where I talked about the layout above here.  BUT – use the link above (in the photo of the template) to download the .page file template. I posted the other template before I knew the easy way to share templates and if you use the new link you will download a bunch of junk you don’t need.

Here is the second one:

sample3

And the template:

template3

 

You can read the blog post where I talked about the layout above here.  Remember, use the link above to download the template here so you only get the .page file and not a bunch of junk you don’t need.

And, a special bonus template for you:

template4

I don’t have a sample layout yet – but you can use your imagination. :-)  Click on the image to download the .page file.

If you have never downloaded templates before, here are some tips on how to bring them into your SBC+ program. You can’t just open the .page file.

  1. When you download the template, save it somewhere easy to find. I suggest creating a folder in your My Documents/Creative Memories/ folder called “Templates.”
  2. In SBC+, create a blank StoryBook just for storing templates. I have one I so creatively called ”templates.”
  3. In the new StoryBook, click on “Import Page” (on the Home ribbon)
  4. Find your .page file you saved in your Templates folder. (or whatever you called it)
  5. You can now edit the page as you like.

Here is a link to the CM website where they tell you all about importing template pages.

I’m working on some more templates. Hope to have them posted next week sometime!

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

One of my favorite things about the holidays is not having to get up early – well, except for Christmas morning when the kids come bounding into the room at some ungodly hour, bouncing off the walls and onto the bed, insisting that we get up! get up! Santa’s come! get up!

Other than that exception, it is SO NICE to be able to sleep late.  This year, especially, since I have not been feeling that well.  Generally speaking, though, I am part bear and love to hibernate in the winter (heck, I love to sleep year round!).   

There is nothing nicer than nestling down in the warm, soft covers knowing that you don’t have to go anywhere or do anything until you want to.  The days leading up to Christmas are certainly not that way, but those precious days after Christmas are my favorites. Lazing around with only the things you want to being the things you have to do.  Chores can wait, cooking? who is cooking? leftovers, baby.  But the bestest part is the napping and sleeping in.

When the girls were smaller, they didn’t sleep past 6 AM or so.  Actually, until last year, that was the case. However, now they are sleeping (gasp!) until 7:30 or 8:00 (isn’t it sad that I am excited and consider that sleeping “late?”). And the best part is that their dad usually gets up with them (part of why he is my SuperMan) and lets me sleep even later.  (sigh)

I’m not looking forward to getting up at 5AM next week, but I’m sure enjoying my lazy days this week.

Bra

Coming out of the Haze

There is nothing quite like being sick during the holidays. After all the cooking, cleaning, baking, preparations and anticipation, my body simply decided it was done.  Quit. Finis. Full Stop. 

Thank goodness I have a very understanding, loving, and compassionate family.  SuperMan did most of the cooking (including our delicious Christmas Day dinner) and general taking care of things.  The girls were so well behaved (for the most part) and just played with their new toys and patted me on the arm as they went by.  Me? I spent most of Friday and Saturday either on the sofa or in my recliner in a snot-induced haze. Gross imagery, I know, but true.

I am finally starting to feel a little more like myself, although I think a trip to the doctor is still not out of the running. 

However, yesterday, SuperMan took the girls for an afternoon outing with friends. They went to see the new Alvin & the Chipmunks movie – The Squeaquel (I love that play on words!).  They had a great time and then MB went to spend the night at a friend’s house. They were supposed to be staying here, but we decided there were too many germs in our house so they moved the party.

While they were gone, I thought I would do a little reading or scrapbooking. Turned out, I got to do both.  I am reading Dan Brown’s new book: The Lost Symbol.  It is very engaging and from about page 50, I was hooked.  I have been carrying the book around under my arm everywhere I go in the house this weekend (from the couch to the recliner… from the recliner to the couch :-)  and reading every second I can.  Basically, it’s similar to the other Dan Brown books although this time it’s not focused on the Catholic Church – it’s about the Masons.  Pretty interesting.

Anyway, I also sat down to do some digital scrapbooking (my scrap table is covered in Christmas paper right now and I didn’t feel up to cleaning it off) only to find out that the new “patch” of the StoryBook Creator software I’d installed had completely erased all the links to my content.  Argh! So, I spent close to two hours re-linking all the files.  While this probably was a good thing in the long run (it cleaned up my mis-mashed linking I had before) it was SO not how I wanted to spend my afternoon of silence and solitude! 

Once I finished that chore, I was determined to get some scrapbooking done.  I managed to finish the album I’m making for my brother (shh, it’s a secret!) and did a little work on the one for my mom.  Then, I started on some pages on my family album.  Here are a few I did:

CoverPage2009 This will be the cover page of our 2009 album.  Do you get the reference?
I love the simplicity of the design –
and the fact that I managed to fit 12 pictures from the year on one page!

 

Halloween I think this one speaks for itself concerning the topic.
All of the elements are freebies (including the paper) that I found online in October.

Here are larger pictures of the pages:

HalloweenLeft

HalloweenRight

 

FieldDay I have been wanting to do something special with MB’s field day pictures. I think this turned out pretty well.
I used one of the free CM templates (Great Escapes) and doctored it a bit to make it less ‘travel’ oriented and more sports oriented.

Here are larger pictures of the pages:

FieldDayLeft

FieldDayRight

I don’t know if I will have time today to do more scrapbooking, but I am hoping to. Next on my list of things I want to scrap are Ang’s graduation pictures, our trip to the pumpkin patch, and the Girl Scout hike the girls took in November.  I am really enjoying not constraining myself to crop chronologically… although I am a wee bit concerned I may miss a few pictures here and there. But heck, when you take close to 200 a month some months, you are bound to miss one or two, right?

What have you been up to?

Digital Scrapbooking Goodies for the Holidays

Merry Christmas to all of you! This may be my last post this week – I have company on the way (arriving any minute) and then a week full of festivities planned. I am sure you are not going to have any more time to sit still and surf the web than I am, so we will just plan to see each other again after the 25th, okay?

Before I leave you, here are some links to some of the digital goodness I have stumbled across this holiday season. Even if you are not a digital scrapbooker, you can download and print these out to use in your traditional scrapbooking.

Enjoy!

  • Digital Doodles from Scrappy Fairy (I love these)
  • Be Merry mini kit from Digital Freebies
  • This beautiful Winter Wonderland from Jenallyson.  She is opening a new shop Design House Digital and has a freebie on that webite, too, if you sign up for her mailing list.
  • Kolette Hall always has beautiful downloads. There are several on her site that are holiday-themed. I printed a few out last week and added them to my last-minute decorating. I just printed them at 5×7 and stuck them in some black frames. Very classy, very nice.
  • Here is a beautiful 2010 Calendar you can print out and gussy up to give as a last minute gift (or keep for yourself!)
  • The Shabby Princess has some gorgeous downloads. She has a shop, too, with a sale going on right now. I love her designs.

Oh, and if you are a Creative Memories digital user, you can still use these. Just import them into your program as your own digital content.

Ok, hope that gets you started.

I have to go make final preparations…

Merry Christmas to all, and to all Good Night! 🙂