Ever notice how many craft stores have a “Christmas in July” sale about this time of year?  Having sales like this allows people to make thoughtful decisions about the handcrafted gifts or decorations they could create for the holidays. 

This year, why not include digi-scrapping in your gift-giving plans? By putting a bit of thought into projects now, you’ll be ready to enjoy the Christmas season without worrying about gifts at the 11th hour.

What types of gifts can be created through digital scrapbooking? The first item that comes to mind is a photo book, memory book or storybook.  These make wonderful gifts that will be treasured for generations! By planning now what topics and events you want to include in your book, you will easily be able to map out the layouts you will need and how quickly you will want to get them done.

• Want a year-in-review memory book?  Start going through the photos you have of this year so far.
• Want a through-the-years storybook?  Start looking for photos of those special events or people you want to chronicle.
• Want to create a 20-page photo book?  Get started now by doing 1-2 layouts per week and you’ll be all set!

Best of all, you can reprint your photo book in a smaller, soft cover format for a beautiful, yet inexpensive gift for other family members or friends. Pages can easily be swapped out for a more personalized touch as well.

If you decide to do a photo book, you can easily create a personalized holiday greeting as well.  Use the idea of a year-in-review and start collecting photos of the year’s highlights so far.

If you use Creative Memories’ Memory Manager, create an “album” named “year-in-review” and start dropping photos into it.  Come November, you’ll be ready to create a meaningful greeting.  It could be a collage of photos placed on a postcard, or an insert for a traditional card that includes photos, journaling and embellishments.

What else can you do?  Get your creative juices flowing!  The options are endless. You can use the layouts you’ve already created for other gifts. Here are a few more digi-scrapping ideas to consider:

• Mugs featuring a favorite layout.
• A digital photo frame that is loaded with digital layouts.
• Calendars featuring single-photo layouts (you can personalize the dates as well).  I like creating 6×7 layouts with a calendar block and slipping them into Creative Memories’ PicFolio Minutes albums for a great desktop calendar.
• Globe-style Christmas ornaments with a favorite photo (digitally-embellished of course!)
• A favorite layout placed in a frame for a unique wall decoration. (Creative Memories’ Everyday Frame works nicely for this purpose).

And finally, for those people who aren’t scrappers but love your work, give them a gift certificate for our newest division, I Hate Scrapping.  We create photo books, collages and more! See our Subscriber Special in the July issue of Scrap Magic [click here]  for a special discount on our gift certificates.  At I Hate Scrapping, YOU create the memories, WE create the book!

I hope you now feel inspired to create some digitally handcrafted gifts and greetings for this Christmas season.  I can almost hear the sleigh bells!  Ho! Ho! Ho!

Scrapbooking helps me relive special moments. The time Jordan lost her first tooth, when McKenzie took her first step or when my Grandma celebrated her 97th birthday. It could be hard to remember the details of these special moments without a scrapbook.

Tulip over Seattle's Puget Sound

Scrapbooking helps us to remember. I’ve been journalling since I was 14 years old and there are still times that I need to check back in my journals to get the details straight. My memory switches things even after telling the same stories for years!

Scrapbooking shares the story of our lives with family and friends. As special people come into our lives, we can share these memories with others. Many of us have other “families” through the military, sports, work, school or other activities.

Scrapbooking gives me a creative outlet. With how much technology does for us, it’s nice to do something that requires my imagination. I can share my thoughts, feelings and memories in my own special way.

Scrapbooking can be therapeutic. Like journalling, scrapping can help me get through a death or other traumatic experience. Sharing the good times along with the bad times can bring me peace.

And most of all, scrapbooking gives me a sense of appreciation for what God has given me. When I scrap, I am thanking Him for all my blessings. I’m grateful for each day not knowing if I’ll have another day with those I love.

And even though I see all these benefits of scrapbooking, I still make it less than a priority in my life. I use the same old excuses: “There’s not enough time in the day. Right now, something else is more important.” I think scrapbooking is more than a hobby. And it’s time I started treating it this way.

Have you ever thought about having a “scrapbook partner” or someone you check in with who would keep you on task and moving forward on your scrapping projects? Let us know what you think about this. We welcome your comments!

We presented a program called “Organize Your Photos and Start Enjoying Them!” to NAPO-MN on Monday, June 7th. It was an opportunity for us to share The Future of Scrapping, Inc. and I Hate Scrapping to this awesome group of professional organizers. We appreciated their support and encouragement.

Amy Krauss, Karen Bumgardner (NAPO-MN President), Pamela Grover

To keep things interesting, we played out a skit where Amy presented one company and I the other. Because Future of Scrapping caters to scrappers, Amy described digital scrapbooking, shared the benefits of it and outlined our group classes, all day retreats and, coming soon, our video-based online learning service. And since I Hate Scrapping is for those who would prefer to have someone else do the scrapping, I highlighted why scrapping is so important, how we organize photos, digitize photos, and then create custom photo books and other products such as collages, invitations and cards.

We offered a giveaway of three gift certificates for I Hate Scrapping. Congratulations to the winners who were: Brenda Rau of Let’s Get Organized, Jane Scheidnes of Art of Organizing, and Robbie Deering of Balance Your Life.

If you belong to a group or know of a group that would like a speaker on the topic of digital scrapping, photo organization or custom photo book development, please contact us. We appreciate these opportunities!

The Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers works in a cooperative manner to educate the public about organizing as a profession, promote the benefits of organizing services and provide support, education and a networking forum for its members. Learn more about them by visiting http://www.napominnesota.com/.

Let’s face it – computer failures happen.  But how you deal with a computer failure as a digi-scrapper can mean the difference between losing everything or simply dusting yourself off and moving on.  I am speaking from experience here.  I had a major computer failure recently while on retreat!  By using the following three tips I have learned, you can have peace of mind knowing a computer failure is not the end of the world – even on retreat! 

First, if you are going on a retreat, be sure to bring alternative things to do.  In all likelihood you will not have a failure, but if you do, you will want to be prepared.  I did not do this, and was left playing endless games of solitaire on my phone while I waited for various recovery procedures to run on my failing computer.  I so much wished I had at least brought a book to read!  Some ideas for things to bring with you include copies of your favorite scrapping magazines or idea books (I personally like Creating Keepsakes), your journal for ideas on future layouts or to record your current thoughts, good walking shoes so you can get some exercise, or some other craft you enjoy (like knitting).  When you are digi-scrapping on retreat, your load is already light, so adding an alternative activity shouldn’t weigh you down.  It’s a simple precaution and will even help if you end up with a creative block as well!

The second tip is backup, backup, backup!  I can’t stress this enough.  When my computer failed, I was disappointed I couldn’t get my scrapping done, but I wasn’t panicked because I knew my data was safe in at least two other locations.  I have heard other experts say that if you don’t have at least two other copies of something, then you don’t care about it.  So I always have two backup methods in use.  One is an online product called Mozy.  This is an inexpensive “set it and forget it” type of service that is continually monitoring my computer and storing my files at Mozy’s location.  I like the idea of off-site storage as I am then protected against anything that might happen to my home.  My second backup method is a simple external drive.  I use it about once per quarter and back up only my most priceless files such as photos and scrapbook pages.  My husband then stores this drive at his workplace – again to protect from disaster, yet easily accessible.  On retreats, I even have a third backup.  I bring along a small external drive to backup my pages as I am working.   This way if my computer does fail, I have not lost the work I have done over the weekend.

My third and final tip is to budget for computer replacement.  Just as you might budget for eventual replacement of a car, you should do so for your computer equipment.  When I finally decided it was time to lay my computer to rest, I again was not panicked because I knew I had the money set aside to replace it.  This gives additional peace of mind and actually allowed me to upgrade my laptop to a bit nicer model as well!

So digi-scrap with confidence knowing you have a plan in place and that everything will be just fine even if your computer fails.

This past weekend, we attended a weekend-long scrapbooking retreat in Zumbro Falls, Minnesota hosted by Digital Dream Team member, Laurie Grover. This retreat is located on some very pretty land which is also home to many bald eagles, deer and other nature. In addition to enjoying this beautiful location and getting some needed relaxation, we accomplished some scrapping goals. We’ve shared some of our experiences with you in order to show you the power of Creative Memories software.

Pamela’s Entry: Photo Editing Tools in Memory Manager
After returning recently from a road trip to Seattle with my family, I thought it would be a great idea to organize my photos in Memory Manager. I simply created a “Seattle Trip 2010″ folder and placed the photos in it. On some of the really great shots, I tagged them for placement in a few other folders as well. I liked how this created a reference but not an additional copy of the file so as to save space. While on retreat, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law reviewed the photos with me and asked for reprints.

Here is another reason I love my Memory Manager. I was able to select the photo and move it into my Work Area. After all the photos were in my Work Area, I moved them into an album. From there, I simply exported the group of files into a folder on my desktop so that I could order them. OK, so that was cool right? Well, here is what I thought REALLY totally rocked. I used the editing tools in Memory Manager to touch up the photos. And I used 2 main tools almost exclusively — Auto Color and Auto Contrast. These two tools created awesome results! So much so that when I picked up the reprints at the store, the photo processing people said that I must have an outstanding camera. Ha! I told them that my camera was average but that Memory Manager was the real hero!

Another cool thing in Memory Manager is that one can revise a photo and retain the original. If you do this in other programs, you have to save another copy of the file which then increases your space requirements. Memory Manager saves the revisions but not a whole new file. Here is a screenshot taken from Memory Manager that shows you the original (top) and the final revision (bottom and main window). Amazing isn’t it? And the printouts were incredible, too!

Amy’s Entry: Conversion Tool in StoryBook Creator Plus
My first goal was to take advantage of Creative Memories April sale on 5×7 storybooks. I thought these small books at such reasonable prices would be great options for gifts for the grandparents. I went through all of the pages I had created and flagged about 20 pages to be included in each book. I included different pages depending on which side of the family it was intended for. Christmas for the Krauss side of the family only went in their book for example.

Once I had all of the selected pages copied into a new project in StoryBook Creator Plus, I simply used the Convert feature to turn my 8.5×11 pages into 5×7 pages. What a quick and easy way to get more mileage out of pages I already created and create a beautiful gift that will be treasured forever! This is digi-scrapping at its best!

Our retreat experience was fun but we can’t always get away for the weekend. This is why we have launched an all-day retreat experience called Dream Big Digi-Meets. Scheduled for Fridays, May 7th and May 21st, these aren’t your ordinary all-day retreat! Click here to learn more about Dream Big Digi-Meets today.

When many people think of making a digital photo book, they think of Shutterfly and other online services. These sites offer a convenient and fast method for making a photo book. They store your photos safely forever, they have a wide variety of looks and sizes to choose from, and they make it easy to share your finished project with family and friends. Many of their page styles even feature the art of scrapbooking celebrities. However, this type of photo book is NOT what digital scrapbooking is all about.

Any traditional scrapbooker using an online service such as this will be impressed with the wide selection of pages and how quickly a book can be produced. However, they will very quickly become frustrated with the creative limitations these services have. It is just not the same as “real” scrapbooking.

The whole point of scrapbooking is to put a little bit of you on the page. As a scrapbooker, you crave a creative outlet for your ideas and memories. When you see a set of photos from an event, you start to formulate a vision for presenting your memories on the page. The sense of satisfaction you get from a realized page is priceless. Using online services, you cannot match a background perfectly to the dress your daughter is wearing. You cannot place the perfect element in just the right spot. Instead, you get a predesigned page and can only place the photos in the predetermined spots and write journaling in the predetermined locations. And heaven forbid you have more to say than will fit in the tiny journaling box you are given!

So PLEASE, do not think about these services as digi-scrapping! Check out what Creative Memories’ Storybook Creator Plus software can offer you. With this software, you can truly recreate the traditional scrapbooking experience with fast, convenient, and longer-lasting results. Click here to watch a video that shows you a Digital Storybook from Creative Memories.

Below is a list of some of the traditional scrapbooking techniques you can recreate using Storybook Creator Plus. Keep in mind you cannot get these features from online photo book production services:

• Choose the background papers that match your photos or theme perfectly.
• Use your own handwriting as a font for a personal touch.
• Crop and color adjust your photos on the fly as you place them on your page.
• Mat your photos quickly and perfectly with the exact color or paper to match your style.
• Add elements such as brads, buttons, and ribbon which embellish your page and give it that artistic and creative touch.

Finally, here is a list for all you traditional scrapbookers who are still on the fence about digi-scrapping. These are all the things you cannot do traditionally that you wish you could!

• Use the “undo” button when you make the wrong cut or choose the wrong paper.
• Swap out different background papers once you complete your page to see if a different paper might work better.
• Resize any photo to fit better on your page and create just the right artistic balance.
• Reproduce a favorite page and share it instantly with others or tweak it slightly and use it in another book.
• Never have a mess of supplies to clean up and have a light load when you pack for a retreat.
• Never feel guilty again about the number of supplies you own or haven’t used yet.
• Never have to deal with your photo processing company again – your photos will always be in the order you want them, you won’t need to sort them, and they won’t be color corrected based on the photo lab technician’s idea of what that sunset looked like.

Bloomington Classroom

So look again at digi-scrapping today. Understand all your options and how this new technology can apply to your scrapbooking style. If you want more information, try our Intro to Digital Scrapbooking class – no computer required. If you want to try out StoryBook Creator Plus but do not want to make a commitment yet, try our Let’s Start Digi-Scrapping class using the free version of the software.

How can digi-scrappers benefit you as a Creative Memories consultant? If you have a steady stream of traditional scrappers, why would you disrupt that cash flow by moving those customers to digi-scrapping? At first glance, it does not seem to make sense to do this, but a closer look and you will see that it makes just as much sense to have digi-scrappers as traditional scrappers.

Before we look at the numbers, let us look at the digi-scrapping business as a whole. It is still a relatively new industry and there are many companies out there making money with it. I am certain when the paper-crafting business began people wondered the same thing. How can anyone make money from that? How could you make money selling pretty paper? Well, time has shown us the answer.

The fact that Creative Memories has entered the digi-scrap business is another sign that this is profitable. Creative Memories is a very strong and established business. They have made good business decisions in the past. They would not have entered digi-scrapping if they did not see the potential for a moneymaking opportunity.

So how can digi-scrappers increase YOUR profit?

First, let us look at the cost difference between traditional and digital scrapping. In our “Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking” class, we cover this topic in detail. One of the things we discuss during this class is how much money our customers can save by going digital. Products they buy can be used and re-used – all for one low price! However, if customers are spending less, how can it make you, the consultant, more money? For now, let us assume a finished digital scrapbook is two-thirds the price of a traditional scrapbook. Since you are making a commission on the sale, that would mean earning two-thirds less as well! This does not make sense until you look at the big picture. Digital scrapbooks by nature are designed to be reproduced many times over. Once your customer completes their book, they are very likely to share the book with friends and family. Before you know it, many copies of the book have been made. All it takes is two more copies of the book before you break even compared with your traditional sales.

Second, your customer is very likely to take their already finished pages and place them in a new book. For instance, it is easy for your customer to create a child-specific book by pulling pages from a year-in-review book. Now each child has their own book and you have sold even more books!

Third, think of the time needed to make a digital scrapbook. Again, in our “Intro to Digital Scrapbooking” class, we discuss how much time can be saved by “going digital”. We estimate digital scrapbook pages can be made at least 30% faster than traditional pages. Add to this speed, the fact that digi-scrapping can be done anywhere and anytime. Using a laptop, I often get scrapping done at the ice rink while watching my daughter. That is something you cannot do with traditional scrapping! So now, your customer is making pages and books at a much faster rate! Let us say your traditional customer makes 60 pages during a year – two weekend retreats and some scrapping on their own. The digi-scrapper is creating 80 pages in the same amount of time. Now add on pages they complete while at sporting events, on the airplane, etc. and the digi-scrapper has at least another 20 pages for a total of 100 pages in a year. This is now two-thirds more pages!

Finally, look at how much time you will be saving as a consultant. Through this entire process, you haven’t had to worry about shipping, inventory or delivery. If you send your customers to us for the training, you will not have to be the expert and you will have relatively little work to do. We will help your customers become efficient and happy bookmakers. You can just sit back and watch the orders come in!

Combine more pages, more books and less time, and – viola! You now have a steady income stream that is comparable to the traditional market.

Take some time to get familiar with our classes. You can even invite us to your next event and we will present a class to your group! We offer unique classes for all interests and abilities. Below are our ideas to help get your customers started.

• “Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking” is a great class to suggest to your customers who are not familiar with digi-scrapping or do not know how to start.
• “Let’s Get Creative!” is for those customers who have purchased StoryBook Creator Plus but have not yet placed an order for a book. This class makes it easy to start using this great software product

We also have a Digital Dream Team that is a partnership with Creative Memories consultants. We promote Creative Memories’ StoryBook Creator Plus and their other digital products exclusively to our customers while they receive teaching from us. We always encourage our customers to return to their CM consultant for product purchases. If you’re a CM consultant and interested in increasing your digital sales, learn how we can help you.

We’d love to hear from you!  As a consultant, can you think of other ways that digi-scrappers benefit your Creative Memories’ business?

Before StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 came around, many digi-scrappers including myself used Photoshop Elements to create their layouts. Photoshop Elements is a robust software program that lets digi-scrappers create layouts mimicking and even reaching beyond traditional scrapbook layouts. However, the downfall of Photoshop Elements is it is extremely complex and hard to learn. Many techniques like page tears take more know-how than most people have or even want. Sitting down to scrapbook – digital or traditional – should be easy and fun. It should never cause frustration.

Enter StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0! Fast, simple, and easy to use, this newest version of StoryBook Creator Plus is without a doubt better than Photoshop Elements. Not only are all techniques easy to learn and use, but now it can do things Photoshop Elements can’t!

One of the best examples of this new power is with the “Text Path” tool. With this tool you can draw a “path” on your layout to have your text follow. This is most useful for making your journaling and titles spiral, follow around a circle, or outline just about any shape you can dream.

Page tears are also simple to create in StoryBook Creator Plus. Simply go to the “Cut & Fill” tab, select “Straight”, and then click on “Paper rip”. Presto! An easy-to-place cutting tool appears on your page ready to create a very real-looking tear. You can even control the amount of white reveal (from the paper core), how uneven the tear is, and if your rip is wavy or jagged.

Want to put a chalked edge around something? It’s simple! Go to the “Format” tab, select “Glow” and pick the color and size of your outline.

Best of all, once you have created the layouts for your book, you simply go to the “Home” tab and select “Order” to upload all your pages at once. It couldn’t be simpler!

These are only a few of the many cool and easy-to-use tools offered in StoryBook Creator Plus. None of these are easy to do in Photoshop Elements and some are not even possible. I am a very happy StoryBook Creator Plus user and I am not even going to put Photoshop Elements on my new computer. My digi-scrapping is now faster and more efficient than ever before and I am loving every minute!

NOTE: Are you ready to take advantage of the full features of StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0? Are you ready to unleash your digital creativity? We offer a class called Let’s Get Creative! for those who are ready to use StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 for the first time. Register for our next class on February 21st!

Make a lasting impression with a personalized photo card. I enjoy creating personalized photo cards because the designs are unique, the cards are more meaningful and they are easy to create with Storybook Creator Plus 3.0. After reading this, I think you’ll agree that personalized photo cards are the best.

First, I create a unique design for each photo card. With my photos or those taken by a photographer I’ve hired and other graphics, I can design a card that best represents me and my story. For instance, I added a favorite portrait of Jesus to my Christmas card. To represent the current season, I might have our snow-covered tree as a back drop for my daughter’s birthday party invitation. Personalized photo cards can tell a story while sharing a message. I enjoy making photo cards for birthday party invitations, holiday cards and thank you cards.

I also think personalized photo cards are more meaningful. My investment of time is shown through these cards. I think they might stay on the fridge longer and be valued more than regular cards. They might even be immortalized in a placemat or in someone’s archives. I like to frame cards and place them in my livingroom. Later, the JPG file for the photo card I make can easily be placed in a photo book for future enjoyment.

Third, personalized photo cards are easy to create with Storybook Creator Plus 3.0. After installing the software that can be purchased online, I can use some cool features to bring out the people in my photo cards and add words to it in a special way. See the illustration here as an example of these features. I can send my creation to my color printer or any online printer. I can create any size (like 4×6, 5×7, 4×8, etc.) and use techniques that look like a professional designer made the photo card.

So you can see, I enjoy creating personalized photo cards because the designs are unique, the cards are more meaningful and they are easy to create with Storybook Creator Plus 3.0. Perhaps you’re thinking that this is the year to get started in making your own personalized photo cards. If so, The Future of Scrapping offers classes to help you get started. Are you ready to give it a try?

In my last entry, I discussed my new-found closet space after making the commitment to go 100% digital.  The exercise had left me energized and free to get my creative juices flowing!  I liked the feeling so much, I thought I would extend it a bit by doing one more organizing task – I was on roll!  My thoughts fell logically to my increasingly large collection of digital photos.

Typically, when I pull photos off my camera or phone, I use the auto-name feature when importing to name and file my photos by date.  This method has generally worked well, but many times, I have needed to find a particular photo, and have not known exactly when the photo was taken.  In addition, I am receiving more and more digital photos from friends and relatives who use different naming conventions.  I have absolutely no interest in renaming every one of these photos to follow my naming conventions, so this makes these photos hard to find as well.

Enter my digital photo organizing software! (I use Creative Memories’ Memory Manager.)  Now, I didn’t want to get overwhelmed here, so I just pulled in about one month’s photos at a time.  Whenever I had a spare moment, I would tag a few photos with the appropriate categories.  In no time, I had a whole bunch of photos done.  And it was fun!

Now my mind began opening to whole new ideas.  It suddenly became easy to assemble photos for a layout featuring both my daughters together at the cabin.  Or perhaps I could do a layout of photos featuring my husband and I together through the ages.  We don’t take photos of our pets very often, but now finding photos of them is suddenly easy and I am eager to do a pet layout now as well. As a traditional chronological scrapper, these are fantastic and freeing ideas for me.  It is now easier than ever for me to scrap what brings me joy and truly tells my story!

I encourage all of you to take a small amount of time to sort your photos each time you sit down at your computer.  In just a short time you will begin to see results and possibilities like never before!

Special Note: Future of Scrapping offers a class called “Organize Your Photos and Start Enjoying Them!” which can teach you methods of organization through using Creative Memories’ Memory Manager. Complete our Class Interest Form if you’d like to register for this class.