Archive for the ‘Scrapbook Articles’ Category
New Scrapbook Set Downloads for September…
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011Hi Scrapbook Friend,
There’s new Summer Theme Scrapbook Sets, New Autumn Themed Scrapbook page sets and Halloween digital scrap theme sets either there or coming by months end.
We even have new Halloween Stationery Downloads coming in the next couple days to our totally FREE www.Free-Stationery.com site.
If you are a member just log into your Members Home page for full access to the 8.5×11, 12×12, or Landscape format scrapbook page sets at:
If you want more details on how you can save $100′s with our Membership -vs- everyone else… check out the details at www.MyPrincessCrafts.com or at www.PrincessCrafts.com.
You’ll also find our totally FREE Scrapbook Photo Calendar page downloads over at: www.FreeScrapbookTraining.com
Hope to see you all there,
Kathy & Wes
New Fathers Day Scrapbook Page Sets and More…
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011Welcome Scrapbook Friend,
Have you seen our new web page design at: http://www.princesscrafts.com/ yet?
Here’s the latest updates:
I just added Fathers Day Dad page sets 43 thru 57 to the Dad category on all 3 formats. 8.5×11, 12×12 and Landscape. Just in time for Father’s Day.
I also just replaced the Graduation scrapbook papers in the school category for all 3 formats.
I just put 9 new military or patriotic themed scrapebook papers in the military category for 8.5×11, 12×12 and the Landscape 11×8.5 sizes. Most of them are more Military themed than patriotic, but I’ll be doing more true patriotic themed scrapbook sets for the end of the month.
One last update: There are 6 new sports paper sets in all 3 scrapbook size formats in the members area now too.
Members can get them now at: www.MyPrincessCrafts.com
Not a member yet, isn’t it time to start saving $100′s off your scrapbooking costs? Membership has it’s privileges!
Memberships are at there lowest now… Try it for a week for just a buck and download all you want with no limits! www.MyPrincessCrafts.com
Camping Trip to Grayland Beach State Park in WA State
Grayland Beach WA
Hubby just posted the photos and story for our Camping trip to the WA State Coast last week on our www.FreeTravelScrapbook.info BLOG.
We even found the Hidden Lake that is inside the State Park there. The photos we took were just beautiful and we had a great time camping with hubby’s folks and their friends.
Yes, we are even in some of the photos too!
Again, the full story and all the photos are on our BLOG at: www.FreeTravelScrapbook.info
Father’s Day is this Sunday, don’t forget to head on over to www.Free-Stationery.com or www.1-Computer-Stationery.com and put your feelings for your dad down on FREE Custom Stationery paper templates. I’ve got mine done and in the mail… do you?
Makes a great card too!
Happy Scrappin’
Kathy and Wes
Review of FREE Pho.to App for Droid and Your Computer
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011Review of FREE Pho.to App for Droid and Your Computer
Before I get started, here’s a couple of notes that Kathy wanted me to pass on.
First, there are 12 Brand New Mother’s Day Digi Scrapbook sets in the Members Area. Just log into your Members Home page at: MyPrincessCrafts.com to get all three sizes.
We have several FREE Mother’s Day Stationery Downloads (and free training) for you at: http://www.free-stationery.com/
Mother’s day is only a few days away, don’t miss the chance to tell your mom how much she really means to you… put it in writting so she can treasure it always!
Now, on with our review.
Recently I’ve been playing with the new Pho.to app on my Droid 2 Global phone and I’ve been having so much fun with it that I just had to share.
I got my new DROID for my Birthday in January and loved the new 5 Megapixel camera, but needed a way to edit and crop the photos on the road without a computer.
Long story short… after several apps I didn’t like, I found 
Pho.to. It not only works live with the camera, but will edit any photo I have on the phone and let me save and share the results. I fell in love with the app the minute I used it.
Here’s one of the first images I made with Pho.to of one of the photos I took last Halloween of Kathy (right) and her sister Kris. The frame is one of the hundreds that come with the app. New ones are being added all the time too.
It’s so easy to use. Just open the app, choose a frame or effect and then choose the photo from the camera or stored on your phone. Some frames even allow multiple images such as the photo book image here of my grandson, Nick helping feed the horses.
Once you have picked the frame and photo or photos, you have the opportunity to crop the images. If the photo has multiple people in it and the affect just needs the face of one person, you can crop the image to choose which person to apply the affect to.
For example, the Jackie Chan frame image of Kathy’s sister Kris, on the left, came from a group shot of her and all her siblings. What do you think?
All in all, it’s a great app and it’s so easy to use. All the processing is done over the wireless web and that keeps the app small and keeps the abilities large. You can even turn off the Pho.to mark and add text to many of the frame effects such as I did for Kris’s image. My favorite effects are the Celebrity collages such as this next one…
That’s my niece Jessica in this one.
I use this all the time for my grandkids now. My grandson thinks it’s cool to be Iron Man:
Since I loved this app so much, I wanted to see if they had a version for my computer. WoW! They do and it’s web based so it works with all computer operating systems, windows, mac, linux, what ever.
Just go to www.Pho.to and you can use it with no signups needed.
The web based version isn’t as easy to use as the one for the DROID, but it still is easy enough to figure out and you won’t need a manual to learn it. Just play and have fun.
The biggest advantage to using the online version is that it also does animated Avatars and photos such as the one here of me. I just added the effect to an image Kathy took at Lake Perrigin State Park last year. Looks pretty cool here on the web, doesn’t it?
Let’s sum is all up.
Likes:
The Droid version app is easy to use, let’s you save the results as well as share them via email, Twitter, FaceBook or what ever other social site you are in to.
The Web based version also lets you animate many of the frames and effects.
The DROID version also connects to your phone’s camera so you can take images for frame effects in real time.
Hundreds of Frames and Effects to choose from in both versions.
Needed improvements:
I’d like to be able to upload my own .png frames to use with the app. That would make all our PrincessCrafts digital scrapbook pages available to use.
Would love if the DROID version also allowed me to create the animated effects and had the Avatar function. My .jpg versions that it creates can be used as avatars, it would just be nice to have them sized to start with so I knew exactly what the final avatar would look like.
That’s it, I have nothing bad to say and only just two items on my future capabilities list.
I’m having a ball playing with the app and I know you will too.
Wes Waddell
www.DigitalsScrapbooking.com (free samples news)
Scrapbooking Tips Tuesday Again
Friday, February 4th, 2011Tips for Scrapbookers Block
Here’s a couple of ideas I use all the time when I’m finding it hard to find idea’s for my digital scrapbook pages.
First, I turn on memory music. What’s memory music? That’s the music you hear that floods your mind with memories of the past. It’s also music that makes you think about the subject you are trying to scrap. For example: I put on 70s ballads when I’m scrapping Valentines Day pages as this brings my dating years to mind and makes it easy to envision love themes.
Even Christmas music in March works wonders for my Holiday photo themes from the last Christmas. You may want to try a few Celtic tunes for St. Patrick’s Day.
If that doesn’t get your ideas flowing, then the step 2 I use is the Blank Page Shuffle.
All I do is to lay out a couple blank white sheets of paper either on the table (for hand scrappers) or on the computer screen when digital scrapping. Then I take 4 to 8 photos that go together and start arranging them on the pages until they look right and flow with the eye. Once they do that, it’s easy to add small elements and some color until I like the finished look.
Some times the simplest look is the best look for the memory story you are trying tell.
Happy Scrapbook Tips Tuesday. Hope these two scrapbook theme generating ideas get your creative juices flowing again.
Until next time…
Wes Waddell
Http://www.MyPrincessCrafts.com
Scrapbook Tips Tuesday – 8 Simple Scrapbooking Tips
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011Hello Scrapbook Friend,
It’s Tuesday and that means that it’s Scrapbook Tip Tuesday… at least today it is. So, I’ve collected 8 really simple and easy to follow scrap book tips and jotted them down with some notes for you.
This should get your holiday scrapbook pages off to a great start and make sorting through the hundreds of images you took over the holidays easier to arrange.
Scrapbook Tip Tuesday – 8 Simple Scrapbooking Tips
It’s Scrapbook Tip Tuesday and I’ve collected 8 easy to follow tips that will make your scrapbooking; both digital and the old style hand scrapping go a lot easier. I’m keeping this short, so here we go.
1. Keep a small journal or small planner handy 2 jot down memories, thoughts, events.
This is especially handy while you are on your vacation or holiday, but works really well while you are sorting through all the photos you took. If the photos are printed, number them on the back and make your notes corrospond to the photo numbers. If you are working with digital images, put the number in the file name at the beginning and it will sort your photos for you as well.
2. Keep your photos organized.
Speaking of sorting your photos… It’s so much easier to scrapbook when you can easily find the pictures you want for each page as you need them! For printed photos, I use an assortment of ziplock bags and boxes and plan my scrapbook pages as I sort them. For my digital images (which is most of them these days) I create subfolders on my hard drive and number/name the photos in each directory to make for easy sorting.
3. When hand scrapping a page, write your journaling in pencil first, to make sure it fits and to rectify any mistakes before you ruin the page!
Better yet, even if you are not usine the much easier digital scrapbooking techniques, you can still use your computer and it’s 1000s of fonts to print your titles and journaling and then cut them out and afix to your scrapbook page. This way, you can arrange the page in several ways and get just the look you want.
4. Batch tasks such as photo editing, cropping, and layout planning and do each for several layouts at once.
This should make it possible to get more hand scapped pages done in the time you have. You can be working on another page while glue or other elements are drying on your original page. Digital scrappers can use this techniqe too. Just create your file with several blank pages and save your photos, elements and background to individual pages. Then go back to each page and arrange and finalize your pieces.
5. Don’t be afraid to hand-write some of your journal entries. The way you write can be just as important as what you write.
If your hand isn’t as stedy as it used to be or you have a condition that makes it difficult to write, the computer can still use your handwritting. Kathy, my wife had her best handwritting made into a computer font. It’s not that expensive and adds a really nice personal touch to not only her digital scrapbooks, but to her letters and emails as well.
6. Use Calendars and Greeting cards in your layouts or clipart versions from the internet.
It gives a different look and feel to your scrapbook layouts. Hand scrappers, be sure and make sure that there are no acids or lingon in the papers as they can destroy your photos. I don’t recommend anything with glitter or thick dimensional objects as they can cut and perferate your pages that surround them in your scrapbook when stored. Scrapbook Photo Calendars also make great holiday, wedding and baby shower gifts.
7. Try to make scrapbooking a part of your daily or weekly schedule.
Even if it’s just an a hour a week, you’re 1 step closer to being finished! Don’t forget, that if you are digital scrapbooking, you can start and stop at any time by just saving where you are at. So, with digital scrapbook techniques, you can scrapbook with as little as just 10 minutes a day. If you have followed the sorting and organizing tips above, you can even finish a digital scrapbook page in just 10 minutes.
8. I like to save lots of souvenir’s from vacation places or special events I have been to.
They are an added bonus to the page layout. Ticket stubs, napkins, invitations and other paper type souvenir’s work great. Be really careful with leaves and flowers as they need to be sealed, even when dried, to protect your photos from the gases and oils they contain. As stated above, avoid thick and sharp items as they will damage your surrounding photos and pages, especially when stored in stacks. If you really like a large thick object, consider taking a photo of it and using the image on your scrapbook page, then place the object in a shadow box for display with your page.
See, 8 simple easy to follow tips and you are preserving your life’s most precious memories in no time at all.
By: Wes Waddell
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Kathy also just finished some new Winter Themed FREE Digital Scrapbook Page Downl0ads at: www.FreeScrapbookTraining.com in 8.5×11, 12×12 & Landscape 11×8.5 sizes.
You’ll also find new FREE Stationery Paper Downloads in Winter, Christmas, Kwanza and Hanukkah Themes at: www.Free-Stationery.com
No hassles, signups or junk… just go there and get all the scrapbook and stationery designs you want. Support the sites by checking out our sponsors links while you are there.
Happy Scrappin’
Wes & Kathy
Taking Better Photographs for Your Scrapbooks
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011Hi Scrapbook Friend,
We have a great short article with some wonderful tips on taking photos for your scrapbook, but first…
No Cost Goodies Update:
Kathy just added a new winter theme mini scrapbook photo page to www.PrincessCrafts.com. No hassle’s or signups, just go there and download from the main page.
Wes also just added Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza scrapbook pages to www.FreeScrapbookTraining.com in the new Scrapbook Page Download area there in the Freebies section.
For our Members:
Kathy just added Christmas 68 thru 70, Hanukkah 16 thru 18 and Kwanza 11 thru 13 to our 8.5×11, 12×12 and 11×8.5 Landscape areas on www.MyPrincessCrafts.com. You took all those great holiday photos, now it’s time to get them put into your new holiday scrapbook pages and preserve the memories for generations to come.
Now, on to the main article:
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Title: Taking Photographs for Your Scrapbook
Author: Audrey Okaneko
Article:
Once you begin scrapbooking, you begin to see photography in a whole new light. When I created my first album I realized that my photos always had way too much space that was not part of the picture, meaning too much sky, or too much grass.
Now, one of the joys of scrapbooking is that you can cut away all of the excess sky, or all of the excess trees, however after you begin your first scrapbook you begin to take pictures a little bit differently. As you look through the camera lens, you begin to see the scrapbook you’ll be making.
You’ll also to begin thinking about a “story” or a theme. I know for me, I take more pictures now, however where I used to take 5 shots of the same thing, I now take 5 shots of a whole story.
I also tend to take my camera to more places now, knowing I want to preserve the memory. It’s fun when folks ask me if I’ll share my photos, since no one else thought to bring a camera to a particular event.
If you are using a digital camera, you can view your picture immediately and determine if this is the picture you want. You then have the opportunity to either retake the picture or if you like the picture but see a lot of “waste” you know you’ll be able to cut it out prior to putting the photo into an album.
After you upload the photos from your camera, you can then print them out on photo paper, which can be purchased at any office supply store.
So, the next time you take out your camera, ask yourself what pictures you envision in your new scrapbook.
About the author:
Audrey Okaneko has been scrapbooking for several years now. You can reach her at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com
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That’s it for this week, but keep watching as Kathy has 3 New Years Digital Scrapbooking Page Sets coming for the middle of the month along with Valentines Day and St. Patrick’s Day sets coming very soon.
Happy Scrappin’
Kathy and Wes
www.MyPrincessCrafts.com (main Members hub)
www.Cookbook4Kids.com (Where you never have to worry about the mess)
