iNSD 2011

iNSD- translation: {inter-} National Scrapbook Day, always the first Saturday in May. 

This is THE day to shop for the best of the best of anything to do with Scrapbooking.

Of course we are having a PaRtY- and YOU are invited!

1. The biggest print sale of the Year!  {yes, print credits will be available}

2. Win $100 in prints by entering our layout contest via Facebook

3. A BIG BIG Giveaway!
4. Listings of digi sales around the globe
5. ... and this New Free Kit- HERE

     

MARK your CALENDARS! 

Print Sale Starts FRIDAY! 

Friday May 6th - Monday May 9th

*please allow 2-4 days for orders to be fulfilled during this weekend. Orders are processed as received {ie, if you order the last day, you are at the end of the line}

Quotes to Live By

History Question: Who was the 26th US President??

hint:

You got it! Theodore Roosevelt. He is the also the youngest US President, as he took on this role at age 42! TR was a great writer, and has some given us some great quotes to live by.

"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything." is one of my favorites. We have to get out there and try, conquer our fears, make mistakes and learn from them. 

Nobody is perfect.

National Scrapbook Day is coming up {may 7th}... we have a great kit for you, along with some other "surprises" .. so make sure you stop by! 

This TR quote will coordinate with this new kit, but you can download it now.

HERE

This is a one page .png file.

There are so many ways to do the same thing in photoshop, but here is a little tip on the way I work with .png's laid out on the same page....

 This is what your download will look like.

1. Make sure the .png layer is highlighted
2. Grab your Marquee tool
3. Drag the marquee frame around the image/text you want
4. Copy & Paste onto your layout!
5. Easy Stuff

Have Fun!

Cub Scouts + the Pinewood Derby

I have a love/hate relationship with the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. 

2 boys and 3 years, this is the first derby that a car didn't fall apart on the way down the track. For the first time, I got "mom, this is the best we have ever done". The last 2 years were full of tears and my oldest boy, Ethan, hiding in the car.

 Try & Try again is what we try to teach our boys. 

           

Look at those happy faces! Neither one of them won, they are just happy their tires didn't fall off!

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Digital Scrapbooking is another form of "graphic design". Now that you have these wonderful talents, do people always volunteer YOU to create everything under the sun!?

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Just as the Derby was starting, the Cub Master asks me if I brought the Pack Race Certificates- "huh"? I didn't get that memo.
"Oh, in our Scout Meeting,  _____ (i will leave them unnamed) said they were going to call you and have you make them, since you might know how."
Awesome.
So, I left the race and ran home to my photoshop. I busted out this certificate and printed up 15 just in time for the final race.

I figured I would share with any of you that may be stuck in this predicament anytime soon.
 (it is pinewood derby season)

                            Click HERE for .PDF                          Click HERE for layered .psd

2 Picasa Ready Backgrounds

Have you tried digital scrapbooking in Picasa yet?

 Even if you have design software, it is still fun to build a layout in Picasa, not to mention- very fast.
Currently, Picasa flattens .png files, so it is hard to have that "layered" look.  For this reason, we offer downloads that are "Picasa Ready".
It's easy.

1. Select the photo's that you want, and hold them in your dropbox
2. Picasa creates the collage
3. Crop the collage + save it
4. Create another with collage #1 on top of your Picasa Ready paper

Click HERE for detailed Picasa Tutorials

Although Picasa won't read .png files, there are ways around that!

Adding Different Font Types... 

The "EASTER" font below is the "wish I were taller font" from non other than Kevin and Amanda.

Kevin and Amanda have so many scrapbook style font's available for free!

The green diamond border on the left is a wingding/webding font. {Webdings is a TrueType symbol for the web.}

You may not know it- but you already have webdings installed on your computer (if you don't- you need a new computer) Browse your fonts, and find "webdings"- you may even have 2 or 3 styles of them.

(Webdings is a symbol font designed in 1997 as a response to the need of Web designers for a fast and easy method of incorporating graphics in their pages. -microsoft)

Play around with your Wingdings/Webdings!

Get these 2 Picasa Ready Layouts via box.net HERE

Spring Break & Instagram

It is spring break. We should rename it "winter break", the snow keeps coming back.
Jon and I had to go somewhere the sun was shining.

3 hours away -Moab, Utah- home of Arches National Park.

We try to wear these boys out. Hiking, Swimming, Biking... they just keep going, and going...

Even my little 4 year old, Ryder.... well, he started out on this bike ride being really tough & ready to roll.  Once we were about a mile out into the trail, he decided that he wasn't tough anymore.

My whole plan just backlashed on me-  these boys just end up wearing me out!

Is there such thing as a break- after spring break?

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I wanted to share a fun little toy that I found on the iPhone- an App called Instagram.

A couple of guys from Stanford University created it from the inspiration of old Polaroid Camera's. 

Snap a photo with your phone, choose one of their fun filters, and share it! It's Free.

Moab is a great place to take pic's- I have been getting a little carried away with my Instagram App.

You can share to facebook, twitter, and flickr straight from the App.

Added Bonus- I like is that there is an online community within it the App. You can follow your friends Instagram pic's and leave them comments. Privacy settings are available if you would rather keep them to yourself.

Here are some FAQ from the Instagram site

My only Gripe? I want to print! I cannot seem to export a photo larger than 612x612 pixels. This is not high enough resolution for a decent 4x6 print. No worries- I am on top of it. Email sent. 

For now- all of you iPhone users- grab the App and lets Instagram!

{instagram username: charipack}

 -Chari

Free Kit

It's freebie time!

We have the best customers in the world and we just love to give back!

Here are some layouts made from our awesome little CT Team from this new kit: 

Lavender & Chick's

 

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You can download this full kit for free, when you share it on Facebook!

 HERE

{we love to see what you do with these, feel free to share your creations with us on our facebook page!}

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For those of you that are NOT on Facebook (I won't tell Mark Zuckerberg)

Here is a .png Quick Page for ya!

Add elements from the Full Kit and make it your own!

Download the above QP Here via Box.net

{this is a .png file}

Did you miss this Free QP? Click Here for the post.

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You should be completely sick of Green and Purple now!

Enjoy your Spring!

My Digital Conversion

Did you start scrapbooking with paper and scissors? Are you still?

I started in 1995, all thanks to my mother.

Here are my Scrap Books, handwritten spines and all. (yuck)

 Back then it was 8.5x11 binders- I converted to 12x12 in 2004. 

This photo is about 8 years old. See those 2 boys? They got into everything, still do. It was impossible to try and scrapbook with paper, glue, and scissors.

I wasn't ever a "3 hour -a- page" scrapper.
My focus was to document my kids lives.
Even a simple page like the one above would take me a good 1-2 hours from start to finish. I hand stamped the "rodeo" title, and then typed up journaling in a word processor, printed, cut and pasted it onto the page. The simplest layouts were still time consuming. I was never "caught up". I would create a book for my baby, and then a copy for me. Oh, how I wish I had digital back then!

When I look back at how horrible my scrapbooks are, I have to remind myself:
"Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without."  ~Confucius

The Conversion:

After the 3rd boy was born, I saw a friends 12x12 album filled with digital layouts popping off the pages. It looked so amazing! That was it, my turning point. Never again would I need an entire day to complete a layout.

In 2007 I bought a digital camera and took a community photoshop class at our local College. 

• Now I can create a page in 10-20 minutes.
• I don't have to have an entire room in the house dedicated to scrapbook supplies. 
• I can also print one layout multiple times, rather than cutting and pasting multiple pages!
• My digital "letters" don't come unglued and spell out odd words
• Taking the laptop on a road trip generates at least 10 layouts
• I can start a page, save it, and come back. No clean up required!

 Digital Scrapbooking saves me time AND money:

• I can fit up to 10 images on one 12x12 page. (10 4x6's costs $1.90)
• My digital supplies can be used over and over! (recoloring)
• I can fit at least 50 more pages in a 12x12 binder 
• I *could* charge my mother for the time it takes to now create her layouts digitally, but I don't. She is currently in digital training:)

Statistics show that when children see photo's of themselves, it foster's self-esteem. 

When we have down days, we can reminded of happy times through our photo's. 

All of my boys LOVE looking at photo's of themselves. (they are almost "too confident" at this point!)

Time to get your layouts OFF of your hard drive people! (you know who you are:)

My Goal: That my kids will have self-esteem. That they will remember the good times in life, and know how much they are loved.

Regardless of how you choose to document your memories, I hope you feel it is as valuable as I do!
(even I have to force people to look at my scrapbooks, but someday they will do so willingly!)

Happy Scrapping -Documenting -Designing -Creating
Chari

*Are you a digital convert? What was your turning point?

BOGO

It's BOGO time! {buy one- get one 12x12} 

Even at our already low 12x12 price of $1.99, we are giving you one for free!

 It's a great time to "try us" if you haven't already! We dare you to compare:)

*one free 12x12 print (matte or glossy) per customer, per order. expires Tuesday April 12th

coupon code: fbfree

upload now

Our Free Digital Scrapbook Software

We have just launched our free online software that will allow you to create a digital scrapbook page. 

No need to download a huge software program. 

This is available to all Persnickety Prints members, and of course our membership is free!

It's easy to create your own digital scrapbook layout!
Click Order - Create - Scrapbook Pages

Choose any pre-made layout.
Choose the Blue Customize button to begin making template changes.
*note- you can delete, add, remove all elements of the template, this is just a starting point. *

Once in Customize Mode, you have access to our digital art, background papers, borders, and elements!

Take this Template...

And make it into this... 

Or start from scratch!

Watch our custom photo cards video tutorial, which uses the same software, to see more details.

Print Pricing for Scrapbook Layouts using our Templates

8x8 Printed Scrapbook Page     $1.99

10x10 Printed Scrapbook Page $2.49

12x12 Printed Scrapbook Page $2.99

GET STARTED

Lavender & Chick's QP Freebie

Our new kit,  Lavender and Chick's, will be available for download on our facebook page soon.  

Here is a Free Coordinating Quick Page!

This is a .png file. 

Download HERE

via Box.net.

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DISCLAIMER: 

This layout looks xtra STUNNING when printed correctly, from Persnickety Prints!

This purple background is completely a solid color and will not look so pretty when printed at home. 

• left image: glossy
• right image: matte

Glossy vs Matte/Lustre Prints
The difference in print finish is difficult to show online. Paper is something that needs to be touched. This isn't normal paper. It is photographic paper. Light is a huge factor, and we still use a darkroom to change our paper rolls. You will never get this kind of a print quality anywhere else.

The paper finish is a personal preference.
Matte is a more popular choice for digital scrapbook layouts. Glossy has more of a vibrant "pop", but there is some glare. Glossy also retains fingerprints. We use white gloves when handling our glossy prints. I would recommend going with matte prints for anything that is going to be handled. (photo cards)

Both paper types are waterproof, and so archival that you won't even be alive to see them fade!


Metallic

Metallic looks similar to the glossy, but with much more contrast. The metallic photographic paper is still photographic (ie, waterproof, archival, scratch/fade resistant, etc.) and with our software that reads your embedded sRGB color profile- your images will pop! Metallic paper is thicker than the glossy and matte papers. It works great with solid colors/graphics and is perfect for cards. (ask for no backprinting)