I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I tend to be a solitary scrapper as I don’t have any like minded friends nearby. My sister does card making but she doesn’t live so handily as to catch up for regular card making sessions. So you can imagine how pleased I was to be included in this group.

So now Tuesday night is a craft catch up night and I really look forward to it. There’s usually yummy treats and lots of chat.

I’ve just bought myself a little mini notebook computer so I can also do some digital stuff whilst I’m there.

So as the Newbie to the group, I brought along some of the stuff I had done. The others are stamping card makers and fabric crafters but not scrapbookers. Anyway one of the things I brought along was my ATC (Artist Trading Card) album. Marla was intrigued. And in next to no time she became a total addict and had joined several on line ATC Swapping Groups.

She’s pulled me along in her wake and I’ve started making ATCs for some of the swaps myself. Mind you, Marla has gone from 0-60 in an instant. She’s completely by-passed the learning stage and jumped straight to advanced. Her ATCs are absolutely gorgeous (check some of them out here). So the pressure is on!

One of the swaps I joined was for the theme of Orange and the second was a Mystery Image swap where the image was mailed out by the coordinator and you had to design your ATCs using it.

Because you need to make a run of the same ATC for each swap (a limited edition run) I like to use digital techniques as the basis for my design. That way it’s easy to repeat the design. I like to print out some of the design elements separately and cut them out, mounting them on the card using foam tape to add some extra dimension.

And of course there’s usually a brad or two somewhere in there.

I enjoyed making the cards for the ATC swaps but I can’t see myself becoming as involved as Marla. One of the attractions of ATCs for me is that I can make individual projects on a whim when the fancy takes me. And I don’t need to make several of the same thing. I don’t mind doing the occasional limited edition but I don’t want it to become the norm.

But it’s definitely a fun thing to do whilst in the company of like minded friends.

PS. Only two more sleeps before Purple and I are on the  big silver bird to Budapest. Oohh I’m starting to get excited.

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Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swaps

This is my new little baby.

Isn’t she cute?

She’s really dinky. Almost too small to have been taken from her mother.

And she’s purple!

I didn’t want to get anything that looked remotely like it was a work tool. This is all about play and portability.

Having lugged my work laptop across the central business district of Melbourne it does not meet my definition of  ‘portable’.

I wanted something that I could grab and tuck under my arm when I go to my Tuesday craft catch up with the girls.

I wanted instant portability without lots of cables.

I wanted a power pack that doesn’t weigh as much as the machine itself.

I wanted something lightweight enough that I won’t get fed up carrying it about when I go to Europe next week.

My baby comes with a Bluetooth wireless mouse because I hate those touchpad thingys. As with all babies there was a little teething trouble in the beginning but I found a little pacifier to stick in a USB port and the teething problems went away.

I’ve bought a cute little purple outfit for her to keep her warm when she’s having a sleep.

Just think of the digital scrapbook layouts and ATCs we can make together.

Did I mention that she’s purple?

Everyone say, “Aaahhhh!”

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My New Baby

Hybrid Card Making for Someone Special

My daughter recently celebrated a birthday, and in what has now become an annual tradition, I flew up to Sydney to spend her birthday weekend with her.

It’s been a difficult year for her and I wanted to make her a card to let her know how much she means to me and how much I admire her.

I used my favourite card making technique…hybrid scrapbooking.

I always enjoy the enormous scope for creativity I get by combining digital with paper elements. I can tailor my digital elements to suit my project by changing the colours, size and even the overall shape.

For this card I used a chipboard concertina mini book as the base and all the digital elements are from my Night over Rhone kit (available free through the Step by Step Digital Scrapbook Program) combined with some papers from Thao Cosgrove’s Art Journal Kit from Scrap Girls.

I used the masking tool to extract the images of Seona from the rest of the photo so that I could feature her. After all , this card is all about her.

Then I desaturated the background of the photos  and blended them into the background papers by reducing the opacity a little. That way I got a silhouette of Seona whilst still keeping some context of her surroundings.

The arched window from Night over Rhone is one of my favourite elements and it is very easy to change the shape and size of it so that it fits the arched shape of the chipboard page. And there’s something special about putting a photo behind a window frame I think. It sort of gives the idea of looking in on a private moment.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of flowers and brads, both digital and ‘real life’ so no card of mine would be complete unless I managed to incorporate some into the design.

Seona was very happy with the card. She said, “Oooh, my first ‘book’ card!”

I and I realised that I hadn’t made her a card in book form before.  She has a significant birthday coming up next year, her first significant one since I started card making, so I’ll really be pulling out the stops for that.

And you can back it in that whatever I decide to do I’ll be using hybrid scrapbooking to do it.

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National Cardmaking Day

Writing Scraps of Mind takes a lot of time and energy to come up with fresh articles on a regular basis. But that’s OK because I’ve always loved doing it and I’ve loved being in touch with so many readers, as well as the wonderful comments and messages I have received over the years.

But after three and a half years it has become more difficult to think up new things. It’s started to become like work!

And that’s not what I want from Scraps of Mind.

So I’ve decided to take a break from regular posting and see how I go about taking my own advice and getting my own mojo back.

I expect that I will still post something new here from time to time and probably still offer the odd freebie as well.

So please pop back every so often to check out the site and wish me luck in getting my head back together.

Don’t forget, the Articles Page is a great place to find all sorts of scrapbooking and blogging tips treasures so why not go and have a rummage whilst you’re here. With over 600 posts and articles  in the archives to choose from you’re sure to find something useful.

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Following my own advice

I occasionally have a card making afternoon up at my sister’s place in Wallan, which is always fun and we both enjoy it. But I’ve never really had a group of papercraft-minded friends that I can hang out with. You know what I mean, people who you can talk to about scrapbooking or card making without watching their eyes take on that glazed look and roll back in their heads.

But a few weeks ago I went along to a surprise 50^th birthday party for a work friend of mine and I met his wife for the first time.

Well, it turns out that not only is she into stamping and card making, but she has a bunch of friends who are into it too. She saw the card I had made for Tim (it was a hybrid scrapped card) and recruited me into the bunch.

Yesterday was my first chance to get into it. Marla organised a sensational Christmas Card Making in July Day. And when I say organised, this woman knows how to organise an event.

There were 17 of us in her living room and she managed to cram in work tables for us all, a table with stamps, inks and other stuff which were available for sharing/borrowing, an embossing table with heat guns and embossing powders, and a table with stuff to buy if you wanted to. It was crowded but still comfortable to work in, if you know what I mean.

To get in the right frame of mind the room was all decorated for Chrismas and it was strung with heaps of examples of cards so you could grab one and use it as an inspiration point for your own or straightforward copy it if you liked.

It was a fantastic, friendly day with people sharing stories, tips, techniques and of course food. Just like I had read about in magazines but had not experienced before (my one experience of going to a crop held in a scrapbook store was not a fun memory with the other women there, including the shop owner, sticking to their own clique).

I had a lovely card making day and with all that inspiration around I managed to make five cards. So I was really pleased with my productivity, given that there was plenty of chatting going on.

I think card making is easier than scrapbooking to do in a group situation like this because the projects are smaller and so the need for concentrated focus is not so high. At least for me anyway.

So a big thank you to Marla. You rock.

Do you have any ‘real life’ cropping experiences? Were they good, bad, ugly?

I’d love it if you’d share them in the comments section below.

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Christmas Card Making in July

They’re 11 years old and I’ve ‘replaced’ them twice with newer boots. But I just can’t get rid of my old friends.

And although I wear my newer boots, whenever I know I’ll be doing a bit of walking during the day I always reach for my trusty old boots, knowing they will see me through. They’re even more comfortable than my runners (trainers, sneakers).

They’ve walked me around large chunks of France, Italy, the UK and Ireland.

They’ve been used and abused.

And they just keep giving.

Is it any wonder that I would dedicate a scrapbook layout to them.

They have been repaired so many times, I’ve lost count. And I know that one day (probably in the not too distant future) they will be beyond repair and will go to that Great Shoe Closet in the Sky.

But that day is not now.

Now I open my wardrobe and my hand hovers over my smart boots before drifting, as though drawn by a magnet, to my shabby old friends.

A quick shine up and they’ll look as good as new. Yeah, right. I know it’s to my eyes only, but I don’t care.

My boots and I will walk on together.

Old Friends walking into the sunset.

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A Muse on Old Friends

Incidentally you can see this information in whatever statistics package you use. For Wordpress bloggers it’s in the Stats Dashboard and for others it is sure to be in the stats section of your platform’s dashboard. Or you can sign up to a free Google Analytics account which will give you more information about your blog’s visitors than you can imagine existed.

Anyway, back to the topic.

There are reasons why some of your posts attract more Google visitors than others. And one of those reasons is probably in your post Title.

Google searches operate with key words or phrases. These are the words that you type into the search box to locate all the web pages that include your search criteria. Unless the key words you type in are pretty obscure, Google will probably return thousands (or even millions) of links to pages where the key words you are searching for appear. There might be hundreds of screens with these links.

Now obviously no one who is searching on Google is going to wade through hundreds of screens to find what they want. Usually they will only go as far as the first handful of screens and select from the links that they find there.

So how do those web pages make it to the first few screens?

Well some of them pay Google for their position at the top of the list, but for most of the rest it’s because they do something called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) on their web pages to get Google to notice them more.

SEO is a huge topic and covers many things but here are a few simple things that you might like to keep in mind when you’re writing your blog posts that will improve their position on Google search rankings.

1 Choose your key words and key phrases

Try to make them not too generic. You’ll have better success if you choose a phrase that isn’t being used by hundreds of thousands of other web sites.

If you look at the stats on your Google visitors you will see which key phrases your visitors typed in to find your site. These would make a good starting point for choosing your key words and phrases.

2 Try to include your keywords in your post title

When Google is searching for keywords placing is very important. Keywords in the title carry far more ‘weight’ with the Google search engine than when they just appear in the content of your post.

3 Include your keywords in your heading

After your Title, the next most important place (from a ‘weight perspective) is in your Headings.

Your Headings should use the headings tags (h1,h2,h3,h4) to count or the search engine won’t realise they are headings. There is usually a formatting icon on your blog’s editing tool that let’s you choose whether your text is to be part of your regular content or a heading.

4 Include your keywords in your content

Sprinkling your key words throughout your content will also help your post rank well for your chosen key words.

Just remember your post is being written to be read by humans so don’t stuff it full of key words so that it’s not good to read.

5 Include your keywords in your tags

Before you publish your post you will have the option to add tags. Make sure that your key word or phrase is one of the tags.

6 Link to the post from other posts

If you have the opportunity to link to your ‘key word’ post in other posts that you write, do it. Especially if you can use your key words to form the anchor text (the text that you make the link on).

Now just start watching your stats to see how many new visitors Google brings to your blog.

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It’s a bit weird living on the opposite side of the World to most of my readers. Not so much in the right to left sense, that just means I’m awake when you’re asleep and vice versa. The part I find the weirdest is the top to bottom perspective.

You see I live in Australia and, being in the Southern Hemisphere, our seasons are opposite to yours in the Northern Hemisphere.

So it is quite strange to read on blogs and forums about how everyone is getting excited about their summer vacations and is melting in the heat etc. When we are muffling up for winter and firing up the central heating, you Northerners are running around in sandals and shorts and reaching for the air cooler.

So to celebrate the diversity of the seasons in both hemispheres, here is some Summer and Winter Word Art Freebies for you to enjoy.

To download this Word Art just right mouse click on the image and choose Save Target as… or Save link as…

I hope you have fun using these. And if you post your scrapbook layouts on your blog please let me know so I can come and see them.

Step by Step Digital Scrapbook The digital scrapbooking site that’s designed especially for beginners. Learn how to digital scrapbook and create wonderful art works from your photos quickly and easily on your computer. No mess, no special workspace needed, no cleaning up.

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Free Summer and Winter Word Art

Following on from my update last Monday on the Kilmore Celtic Festival, I came across the video below. It seems a fitting conclusion to my Celtic week.

But first a gift wrapping contest

Yes, you read that right.

Many scrapbookers extend their love for all things paper and decorative and they really go to town when wrapping up gifts. I must confess, I’m not one of these folk. Gift wrapping is a little too ephemeral for me. I like the things I create to last just a tad longer.

However I’ll be the first to admit that a beautifully wrapped present is a wonderful thing to receive.

And Scotch (the sticky tape people, not the alcoholic beverage people) have come out with a contest for all you gift wrapping enthusiasts where you can win $10,000!

To enter, describe in 100 words or less why you or someone you know has what it takes – whether it’s a vast amount of gift-wrapping experience or endless creativity – to be crowned the “Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper” for 2009.  The person who nominates the grand-prize winner will also receive $1,000 for his/her winning recommendation. Be sure to also include the following:

• Your name, home address, city, state, zip code, daytime phone number, fax number and e-mail address (if available).
• Nominee’s name, home address, city, state, zip code, daytime phone number, fax number and e-mail address (if available).
• Whether the nominee is entering as a professional or amateur. Note that anyone who is currently or has previously earned income as a gift wrapper at a department store, specialty store, etc. is considered a professional.

Entries must be received no later than October 5, 2009 and can be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail to: Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper Contest, c/o Hunter Public Relations, 41 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10010; fax: (212) 679-6607; e-mail: giftedwrapper@hunterpr.com.

Eight winners will receive a 3-day all-expenses paid trip to New York City where they’ll compete in the practical leg of the competition in a Grand Wrap-Off  between the final eight contestants to determine the winner of the contest and the $10,000 prize.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, pop an email off to them or visit http://www.scotchbrand.com/ for a complete set of contest rules.

And now to the video

Many of you will recall the popularity of  Riverdance in the 90s. They were a brilliant Irish Dancing Company who toured the World leaving us awed and amazed as they step danced, tapped and high-kicked across the stage. If anyone had a little bit of Irish in them, Riverdance woke it up and really brought it out.

The most well known dancer from the Company was Michael Flately who went on to form his own company called Lord of the Dance.

Well, (drum fanfare) Scraps of Mind is pleased and proud to bring you:

The New Lord of the Dance:

This is very funny

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Wrapping Up the Celtic Theme

Coming up with fresh ideas for your scrapbook layout designs can sometimes be a challenge. So here’s a tip you might find useful:

Recycle your old scrapbook layouts!

I don’t mean that literally of course. But if you choose some of your favorite scrapbook layouts that you have previously done you can easily create a sketch that you can turn into a totally fresh new layout.

How to Create a Sketch from a Scrapbook Layout

• Choose a scrapbook layout that has some strong structural elements to the design.
• Now sketch the layout on a piece of paper, leaving out all the small details. Just draw basic geometric shapes such as circles, rectangles and triangles to represent the key elements.
• The reason for this is that you don’t want to replicate your original scrapbook layout on your new one. You just want to create the structure that you can build your new layout on.
• Now turn the sketch around. See how it looks from each of the four sides. You don’t need to necessarily repeat the sketch exactly as the original layout. But you will have the basic structure of the design to build on.

And for digital scrapbookers you can take it a step further and

Create a Template from your Scrapbook Layouts

• Choose your scrapbook layout in it’s layered format. As before it’s best to choose one with strong structural elements to the design.
• Duplicate the file so you don’t accidentally destroy your original layout.
• Delete any layout specific layers like journaling and any embellishment layers that don’t contribute to the overall structure of the layout.
• Now Control+Click on one of the layer icons in your layers pallet to select all the pixels on that layer.
• Set your color swatch to a shade of grey (just because that’s the usual color for templates) and with your bucket tool, click on the selected element to turn it a solid grey color.
• Repeat the previous two steps for each element layer, varying the shade of grey so that you can easily distinguish between the layers.
• You now have a digital scrapbook layout template which you can vary to create very different looking layouts.
• As with the sketch above, rotate the file so that you can see how the design looks from other angles. And don’t be afraid to discard any of the shapes if they don’t fit what you want to do with your new scrapbook layout.

In the Published scrapbook layout below I turned the template 90 degrees to the right and removed some of the element shapes to create a very different look.

You can download my Karooch Kurvy Template clicking on the template image.

For instructions on how to use your template check out my article on making a Scrapbook Patchwork Quilt. You can pick up another free scrapbooking template there whilst you are at it.

So now you can create many scrapbook layouts from a single favorite.

Do you use sketches and/or templates?

And have you ever tried making your own?

It can be a real boost to the inspiration and it’s very satisfying to get that extra mileage from your favourite scrapbook layouts.

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