Scrappers give thanks

Now in its second year,  Scrappers Give Thanks is an annual community scrapbooking project dounded by Jennifer S. Wilson with gracious support from Anna Aspnes. The  inaugural project in 2009 delivered over 650 handmade cards to Operation Write Home. I’ve quoted some details of the project this year from Scrappers Give Thanks website.

The 2010 Project

The 2nd annual Scrappers Give Thanks project has a goal of assembling 2000 participant-created 4×6 pages into 100 ten page (double-sided) mini albums to be delivered to 10 children’s hospitals across the country. Submitted pages should be scrapbook-style mini artworks containing positive words, happy images, jokes etc. and may be in digital or tangible formats.

Specifications

The Scrappers Give Thanks mini albums will be assembled with 4×6 page protectors and o-rings. To ensure a consistent look and feel, participants must adhere to the following specifications:

• Single-sided 4×6 pages
• Vertical orientation only (4″ wide by 6″ tall)
• Include age-appropriate positive messages and/or images
• No glitter, embellishments greater than 1/4″ thick or copyrighted images

Examples

Visit the Scrappers Give Thanks Flickr group to view great examples from our creative team and fellow participants. The following digital submission is an excellent example of a fun page designed to bring cheer to kids:

Submission

Digital contributions should be submitted via this form, submitting one entry at a time, by Wednesday, November 24. All digital submissions will be printed by Scrappers Give Thanks through our printing partner, Persnickety Prints, and thus should be created at 300ppi and saved at high resolution.

Paper submissions should be mailed to the following address no later than November 20, 2010 and MUST include an email address. Entries must be received by Wednesday, November 24 to be eligible for the giveaway.

I’m going to create my submission in the next couple of weeks so look out for it on this blog soon!

Melissa

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Simplify Christmas Cards this year with Shutterfly!

Want to simplify your holiday cards this year?

As we are moving house, I’m hoping to get these done early so my friends have our new contact details before they mail out their cards! Shutterfly has dozens of Christmas card options to chose from, but don’w worry about overwhelm, they have a cool card selector to help you narrow down to photo number, colour or designer. All of the cards professionally designed for you to pop your photo into and you are good to go! After receiving several books and photo prints from Shutterfly myself, I know you’ll be thrilled with the print quality.

Here’s a selection of my favourites:

Sweet And Retro Christmas Card

Merry Merry Swirl Christmas Card

Nicely Noted Christmas 5x7 folded card

Inspiration from Christmas Past

Today I thought I'd share couple of past designs for my Christmas Cards in the past… click the image for full credit information.

2007

2008 I combined these place cards to be Christmas cards for our close friends at our Christmas Party

2009

I printed this card and popped our family photo on the inside left.

2010

Well I can’t reveal that yet!

If you are looking for an easy gift to create why not check out their desk calendars  - after the first one they are 30% off!

This post is sponsored by Shutterfly, if you are a blogger and you’d like to receive 50 free cards from Shutterfly jump on board!

Why not take a look and let me know what design you like best?

Melissa

*affliliate links where possible*

A quick shadow tip

In my travels on the web, I stumbled across this video at Scrapper’s Guide on installing actions in Photoshop Elements, which comes with a cool Custom Shadow action and a PDF manual!

It creates a shadow on a new layer, which allows you to fully customise it to you heart’s content, a feature usually missing from Elements. You may like to change the blending mode to multiply to get to match your other shadows that use the built in drop shadow.

Here’s a quick look at what it can do:

 

All the shadows here are generated using this action and then modified using the smudge tool. I used Monica’s goodies from Songbird Avenue's Toys in the Attic kit (No longer available).


Scrapper’s guide is pretty cool site with some free video tutorials here.

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PS This post is based on one I wrote for the mgl Scraps CT blog

Ready to leave

2010 10 25_Front yard_0003
Originally uploaded by mshanhun

Our home on a clear October day, roses in full bloom. Only a few more days to spend here in Kalgoorlie.

Katie Inspires me

Katie the Scrapbook Lady is one of my favourite bloggers. Katie's posts cover everything from an intro to digi-scrapping to guides to holidays throughout the year to a reminder to regulary record our memories plus snapshots of her life. I found Katie at the Daily Digi had to check out her blog.  I just love reading back through her posts using the little related posts icons at the bottom of each post.

Her big stack of printed layouts inspired me to order my first 12x12 prints and it was Katie who introduced me to the Log Your Memory planner.
Why not check out her digi-scrapping Q&As and more here, her review of Photoshop Elements 8.0 or her scrapbooking secrets
Want more Scrapbook Lady???

• Delicious: katiescrapbooklady
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/digiscrap
• Flickr: scrapbooklady
• Goodreads: 1853467
• Other...: http://thedailydigi.com/meet-katie/
• Other...: http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/scripts/Katie.asp
• Twitter: ktscrapbooklady

I'm glad I found Katie's blog, and I hope you enjoy reading it too!
Melissa
 
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PS All photos from Katie's site
PPS This post first appeared on the mgl Scraps CT blog

Daily dose of digi inspiration

I just adore The Daily Digi, for over a year now Steph and the team have been writing awesome posts about digital scrapbooking.
If you listen to the Paper Clipping Roundtable you would have heard about Steph's awesome layout printing reviews, they also have a great tutorial about making your kid's eyes pop in photos (well anyone's eyes really!), a roundup of online scrapping classes, power scrapping, and tips about organising your photos and digi supplies
The posts cover all sorts of topics, including:

• Computer Tips and Tricks
• Hybrid Help
• Truly Inspirational
• Photography Class
• The Digi Files
• The UN-digi
• The Write Way
• A Gift For You
• Check it Out!
• Crafty Corner
• Just for Beginners
• A Bright Idea
• SCHOOL of SCRAPPING
• Team Inspiration

You can also catch The Daily Digi on Twitter and Facebook.
Melissa
 
*affliliate links where possible*
PS This post first appeared on the mgl Scraps CT blog

Celebrate Monday

2010 10 19_Emily's room_0005.JPG
Originally uploaded by mshanhun

Emily loves reading, and in this photo is looking at her book of rellies! Only a couple of weeks until we move and can see them all in person much more regularly.