Advice for the newbie! Contest alert.

Hey, I just wanted to put a little plug in for ScrapGirls...

The BESTEST best thing about ScrapGirls are their newsletters. I've been receiving them for about 4 years now! They send out a little freebie... every. single. day. Woohoo! I've been accumulating these for quite some time, I have them all on my external hard drive or backed up to CDs. Yep, all of them. So... when I REALLY get started, just think how much I'll have to work with!! Sign up for the newsletters HERE. Today, you could walk away with this cool paper:

Ro, the brain behind the thing, is having a most excellent contest on her blog. I went ahead and entered even though the question is, "What advice do you have for new digital scrapbookers?" Hah. I am new! But this is what I said...

Oh! I'd LOVE to win this book!! I'm still SO new... even though I've been receiving ScrapGirls newsletters for about 3+ years!!! Hahah! I've been slowly accumulating freebies with the hope that SOMEDAY I'll start digiscrapping for real. In the last 2 months, I've gotten fresh inspiration as my youngest child (of 5) is now almost 2... I am beginning to see the possibility of a little more free time in my future!

hahahah...maybe ;)

My best advice is, just start! In your zone-out time, start playing around with whatever photo-editing program you have (paint.net and gimp are two free options, but there are many). Start playing around until you start to feel comfortable with doing the basics, cropping, text, resizing, etc. Start collecting freebies. Start simple... you can always go back and scrap those pictures again someday if you don't like your work later on! There is so much online to help you on your way... (online tutorials, freebies, designer's blogs, etc, etc)
Just start! :)

I hope, hope, HOPE I win the book!
Amy
Tarapoto, Peru*

(*don't worry... I have a US mailing address as well ;)

That is the advice I have for myself! ;) And I'm taking it, even if very slowly...

I am STARTING! yay.

Now, I hadn't been to their actual site for a long while, so while linking-up this post, I saw they've done TONS of rennovations! It looks great! I must say that they have a LOT of stuff in their shop which you can find by using their search bar. And by subscribing to their newsletter you'll find out about their almost constant sales (not to mention the freebies). So, don't ever pay full price, wait for the sale (not that I've bought anything yet...). On their homepage they're even sporting a 10% off coupon for 1st time customers. AND, you'll also find a free e-book and starter kit for beginners. So, what are you waiting for? Check 'em out.

Have a wonderful day!
Amy

evernote

Remember it all; sounds good.

Compile all the notes you write... ever. in one place. Then, find it when you want it.

Oh yeah, and it's FREEEEEE!

An irresistible idea.



This looks like just the 'coolest' thing...
I'm totally going to look into this, just as soon as I have a second... in other words, I have no idea when, but I really, really want to :)

Read more HERE and HERE and HERE.
Thanks for the tip Janet! :)

Oh Happy Day... Freebies!

No, sorry. I myself am not giving anything away :) But I've found two lovely sites with LOTS of digital scrapbooking freebies! (thanks Christie, for the lead on that first one!)

>>Be careful though, freebie hunting has a way of taking over your life if you're not careful ;) <<

...speaking from experience,
there were a couple of days when I was
downloading EVERY free moment,
which is clearly out of control..

Shabby Princess - love her, she was my first lure when it came to digital scrapbooking because of her beautiful kits that she gave away for free! She's been doing this for years! She shares a new kit a couple times a year (personal use only).

[I wish she had a button or blinkie, I'd put it right here ;)]

Ikea Goddess - she scours the web and posts only the best freebies from all over the place. She posts new freebies practically every day (templates, QP - quickpages, word art, fonts, kits, samplers and addons).

O Happy Day... Fonts!

I found this site today with FREE fonts, yay! Yes, there are LOTS of sites out there with free fonts, but this one was VERY user friendly and the people over there are very nice :)
Plus, they have great taste in fonts!

Go have a look!

Resources:
A tutorial on how to use fonts in Photoshop.
Here's a tutorial on how to use cute fonts on your blog.

Open Office

I'm also looking into using this... .
This isn't directly related to digital scrapbooking, but since it has something to do with my computer work, I'm blogging it here ;). I've heard so many good things about this program. It takes up less room on the hd than the alternative word processors. It isn't microsoft. It is also supposedly able to open all .doc files and convert to .pdf right in the program! But the best part is, it's FREE! I have downloaded it, just haven't installed yet. Oh the anticipation!

I'm just so nervous about making such a big life change! MS Office is like a pair of old slippers, it's comfortable. Buying a new pair of slippers would entail a lot of wearing in and stuff... a little unfamiliar at first, but maybe OO could turn out to be a better fit after all?

Here's a tutorial for adding clip art into the program

That link there's for when I actually get the nerve up to make the switch :)