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Scrap Tutor™ – Scrapbooking SoftwareLearning to scrapbook has never been this easy! Now you can create beautiful scrapbooks, letting you enjoy your memories for generations to come. Years from now you’ll be able to look back at the moments and memories that are happening right now.

Scrap Tutor is an easy-to-use CD-ROM that will teach you how to start scrapbooking. You’ll then learn how to create beautiful pages using some of the most popular techniques used by scrapbookers today.

You’ll learn how to:

• Organize an album and choose the right photographs

• coordinate papers and achieve balance

• create memorable titles and journaling

• and you’ll learn to perform 14 popular scrapbooking techniques

The Scrap Tutor CD-ROM contains:

• 45 minutes of instructional videos so you can see how others make scrapbooks

• example layouts from some of the best scrapbookers

• step by step instructions and tips for better scrapping

• access to our online community so you can ask questions

• and much more!

Preserve your baby’s life today! Benefits | Features | Samples

Photographing a baby can be very difficult, especially if you have a squirmy baby or one who is camera shy. While you can not control the baby, you can control the surroundings and hopefully make the baby a little more comfortable so that you are able to capture a good picture, easily.

1. Make sure your camera is ready.
If your camera runs on batteries, you will want to make sure you have a fresh set. Carry a spare set with you as well. Be sure to have your memory card ready to go if you are using a digital camera. In a standard camera, make sure you have fresh film. As for the film, make sure it is at a constant temperature. You do not want it lying around for several years, then dig it out of the trunk of your car and expect great results. To always be ready, keep a disposable camera in the diaper bag to catch the photo opportunity while you are running around with your precious bundle.

2. Play with colors and lights.
Soft colors, soft light and soft textures work best when photographing babies. These take away from distracting backgrounds or clothing colors and allow the photograph to be focused on the baby. Don’t overlook their hands and toes. A baby’s personality is often found in these digits and cute pictures can be captured as your baby discovers them.

3. Use a blanket.
Covering the baby seat with a solid colored blanket will draw attention to the child, not to the busy pattern of the seat itself.

4. Minimize surrounding light.
Bright light makes babies and all other people, squint. A soft source of light by a window or under the shade of a tree works well. In the house turn on a lamp across the room from where the baby is in order to provide light for your picture and not bother the baby. If you are going to do outdoor photographs, morning light or sundown is a good time to take your baby out.

5. Work around your baby’s schedule.
The best photographs are taken when the baby is rested, fed, clean, and ready to play. Prepare everything during your baby’s nap so that when he wakes up and eats you are ready to have a successful picture taking session.

6. Ordering pictures.
If you are at a professional studio keep in mind that they will try to sell you at least one of everything. Plan before you go the amount of money you want to spend and who you want to buy for. If you are taking your own pictures you can print them out in your own lab at home, or upload them to an online site for processing. If you know sizes and quantities that you need ahead of time then you can quickly order what you need without spending all your grocery money accidentally.

7. Keep a record of your pictures.
Write the date on the front of the envelope that the pictures come in, as well as what it contains. Be sure to store your CDs or negatives in a dry, temperature-controlled place. You can put these photos in your albums or scrapbooks to create a visual diary of your baby’s life.

8. Take frequent pictures.
Your baby is growing up fast. If you are taking your own pictures take them often so that you can see the growth in your baby. When your baby is a year old you will appreciate being able to look back and see all the different ages. If you prefer a professional photographer consider going every three months during the first year to capture the changes in your baby. Many people will do newborn, three-month, six-month, nine-month, one year, 18 month and 2 year old pictures before just slowing down to one pose a year. If your baby’s birthday is around holidays you can take holiday pictures at the same time. If not you may find yourself at the photographers mid-year for holiday pictures.

by Jennifer Cram

You’ve engaged a celebrant and you’ve picked the day. So how do you ensure that the naming ceremony for your baby goes smoothly and is memorable for friends and relatives alike? Focus on two things – preparation for the ceremony, and how things are organized on the day.

Preparation
Choose your child’s godparents with care, talk to them about the promises they feel able to make, and ask them if they would feel comfortable about sharing with everyone at the ceremony some of their thoughts about your child and your family

• Consider other members of the family and significant friends, whether present or not, and how you might recognize, include or honor them in the ceremony
• Choose the venue with care, paying attention to shade, and sufficient space
• On the invitations include the time guests should arrive and the time the ceremony will start. If you know any of your guests are chronic latecomers, invite them for at least 15 minutes before you expect them to arrive
• If using candles in an outdoor ceremony ensure that the wicks are well protected from wind, breeze or drafts – candles that sit well down in a glass container are ideal. Because the flame on votive candles extends above the container they are not suitable

On the Ceremony Day

• Ensure the table for the signing is big enough to comfortably hold the register, certificates and anything else that will be used during the ceremony (candles, etc).
• Delegate someone to photograph the ceremony and alert the celebrant as to whom that person is
• Take the opportunity to have posed family photographs, and photographs of significant friends taken with the child either before or after the ceremony. Draw up a list beforehand and use it as a checklist so that no-one is missed
• Provide seats for older or disabled guests
• Make sure that any seating or shelter provided is close enough to where you and the celebrant will be standing to form an intimate grouping and ensure that everyone hears and sees the ceremony
• Limit the amount of alcohol served before the ceremony

Attention to all these quite simple things will make the world of difference to how smoothly your celebration runs, and how much everyone, including you, enjoys the ceremony.

Copyright © 2005 Jennifer Cram.

About the Author
Jennifer Cram is an accredited General Civil Celebrant based in Brisbane Queensland Australia where she specializes in performing one of a kind Naming Ceremonies as Beautiful as your Baby and other ceremonies. For more information about her naming ceremonies visit her website www.jennifercram.com and/or her Baby Naming Blog.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

I really enjoy giving scrapbook albums as gifts to my close friends. Two of my favorite albums are the ones I gave to my two best friends in college, showcasing each of our friendships in different ways. They each received one for their birthday last year and loved them!

The problem is that like many people, I always wait until the last minute before deciding what to give them for their birthday, so I don’t always have a lot of time to spend on creating a meaningful book. In creating these two albums, I’ve found a fantastic system for creating a gift album in less than a week that I’d love to share.

While my albums were both ABC albums about friendship, I’ve found that the system can work for any type of small album, such as a wedding album, graduation album, anniversary album, and many others.

Below are the steps I took to create my quick gift albums:

MONDAY

Collect Photos. The first thing I did for each of these albums was to collect as many photographs as I could find that represented the friendship that I have with each girl. I collected about 60-70 photos for each album, scanned them, and had re-prints made at Shutterfly.com. This of course wouldn’t be necessary if you had original photos that you wanted to use. Since I was using photos that were already in some of my other albums, I used re-prints for the gift albums.

By having prints made at Shutterfly, I was also able to change some of the photos to black and white and do some pre-cropping before I had them printed, which helped in the overall look of the album once it was finished.

TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY

Journal. I decided to do ABC albums for both books, so I started writing words for each letter in the alphabet that described our relationship and then described each of the words by talking about different things we’d done, and recalling memories from our college years. I also found friendship quotes that helped describe our friendships and added them to my journaling. I did all of this in a Microsoft Word document in a couple of afternoons. I’d say this is probably the most difficult part of creating the album, but it’s also the most interesting!

THURSDAY

Choose Your Products. Now that you have all of the “memory” elements of the album, it’s time to decide what products you want to use. I’ve found that the easiest way to choose papers is to choose a line of coordinating patterned papers to use throughout the entire album. Paper lines such as Mustard Moon, Patchwork Paper, KI Memories, Kopp Designs, Making Memories and many others are perfect for albums like this, because their papers come in a variety of colors and patterns that all match each other quite well.

In addition to deciding what papers to use, you’ll want to decide what fonts or lettering templates to use. I used three fonts in each album: a typewriter type font for each letter and the words for each letter, a print handwriting font for the journaling, and a script font for the quotes. Since all of my journaling was written in a Microsoft Word document, it was easy to change the fonts and page margins. I printed all of the journaling on white cardstock, so that I would be able to cut each section out easily and adhere them to the pages.

FRIDAY

Do Some Pre-Scrapping. This is what makes creating the album easy. Now that all of your journaling and photos are ready, put them into page protectors in the order that they will appear in the album. Cut each letter and journaling block out so that they’ll be ready to adhere to the pages. Decide what photos will go with each journaling section and add the photos to the page protectors. This is a great task to do in front of the television! Now your album is ready to put together!

SATURDAY

Put it Together! This part goes very quickly since most of the work is already completed. I’ve found that starting at the beginning and just making your way through the album is the best way to complete it. Since all of your papers coordinate, simply start pulling papers and making your pages. I kept both of my albums simple and used colorblocking and paper tearing techniques to create varying backgrounds. Add a few embellishments and stickers to your pages, and you’ll have an album to cherish in no time at all! With all of the pre-scrapping and planning done, you can easily complete the entire album at an all-day crop or in a couple of afternoons.

The key to this system is having your journaling done first! It makes creating the rest of the album quick and easy…and I’ve found that it makes a very meaningful album to read, and a wonderful gift to receive.

WELCOME BABY PRINTABLES

Looking for a way to start off a scrapbook for your baby? Print a Welcome Baby Treasured Keepsakes for Newborns!

By Andrea Steed, the author and creator of Scrap Tutor, a web site and CD-ROM that teaches you how to create scrapbooks and how to perform many popular techniques used in scrapbooking. For more information, visit www.scraptutor.com.

Mini-albums make fantastic little coffee table books, and are great gifts. I find they’re a nice way to capture an element of your life that requires more than one page in an album, but less than an entire album of its own.

You can buy small scrapbook albums in a variety of shapes and sizes or you can easily make your own. I’ve done both and each has its own appeal.

Store-bought Mini-Albums
These are nice because they’ll often come with page protectors available in the size of the pages. Whether you choose 7 x 7, 8 x 8, 5 x 7, or any other size, a benefit of these store bought albums is that you don’t have to worry about cutting the pages, figuring out how to bind them, or how to protect the pages. You just have to worry about filling the pages!

Handmade Mini-Albums
An easy handmade mini-album can be made very quickly in just a few steps:

1. Cut sheets of 12 x 12 cardstock in half to create 12 x 6 sheets of paper. You can cut as many sheets as you’d like depending on how big your album needs to be. Each sheet of 12 x 6 will make up 4 pages in your mini-album.
2. Fold each sheet in half to create 6 x 6 pages.
3. Lay the folded sheets inside of each other to create a book. You will notice that the inside pages stick out farther than the outside pages. This can be fixed easily.
4. Hold the closed album tightly to a cutting surface and place a metal ruler along the outside edge of the top page. Using a sharp craft knife, cut along the ruler to remove the protruding parts of the inside pages to make the edges of the album even.
5. I recommend decorating each of the pages at this point, and binding the album after it has been finished. This makes managing the pages much easier as you work.
6. To bind the album, put all of the pages together and lay them flat, so you are looking at the center two pages of the album. Using a long, thick needle, make two holes in the crease of the fold that go all the way through click for close-upeach of the pages. These small holes in each page will serve as “marks” so that you’ll know where to punch the larger holes for your ribbon or string to bind the book.
7. Punch small holes in each of the pages where your needle mark is.
8. Assemble the pages again and thread ribbon, string, rope, or fibers through the two holes to bind the book.

Ideas for Mini-Album Themes

• Family Tree
• Learning Numbers
• Wedding Highlights
• Our Engagement Story
• 10 Reasons Why I ___________
• Our Vacation
• Things I like
• What a Mother/Father/Sister/Friend/Grandparent/etc. Means to Me
• Favorite Quotes
• Lessons Learned

WELCOME BABY PRINTABLES

Looking for a way to start off a scrapbook for your baby? Print a Welcome Baby Treasured Keepsakes for Newborns!

By Andrea Steed, the author and creator of Scrap Tutor, a web site and CD-ROM that teaches you how to create scrapbooks and how to perform many popular techniques used in scrapbooking. For more information, visit www.scraptutor.com.

If you’re not quite sure where to start when creating your baby’s first year scrapbook album, or if you don’t think you’ll have time to scrapbook all of the photos you take, here are some suggestions for organizing an album that’s quick and painless!

• Instead of scrapbooking every photo you take, divide your photos by month and choose some of your favorites to highlight in a 2 to 4 page layout for each month. You’ll be able to show how your baby has grown and changed over an entire year, without having to create separate layouts for each roll of film.

• Keep a monthly calendar to document various milestones, firsts, and important dates. You can then include the calendar with each set of monthly photos. It’s a great way to do your journaling “as you go” and remember all of those important little everyday moments.

• Include the photos that you don’t choose to scrapbook in photo sleeve pages behind each monthly layout. This allows you to include the additional photos in your album without having to make additional scrapbook pages for each event or set of photos. Be sure to add the date and label each photo so that you’ll know when and where they were taken as well as who was in them.

• Don’t let this system prevent you from creating scrapbook pages about special moments or events that inspire you to create additional layouts. Just add them to the album in chronological order!

Remember that there is no “right” way to organize your scrapbook. Use whatever system that works best for you.

WELCOME BABY PRINTABLES

Looking for a way to start off a scrapbook for your baby? Print a Welcome Baby Treasured Keepsakes for Newborns!

By Andrea Steed, the author and creator of Scrap Tutor, a web site and CD-ROM that teaches you how to create scrapbooks and how to perform many popular techniques used in scrapbooking. For more information, visit www.scraptutor.com.

You’ve finished the layout you’ve been working on for a couple of days, but somehow instead of all of the paper being ON your layout, you’re left with a pile of extra paper that you’ve cut photo mats, titles, journaling blocks and embellishments from. It’s a mixture of cardstock, patterned paper and vellum. You could just toss it all and start fresh with every layout, but let me give you some reasons why you shouldn’t toss those “scraps”.

Why should I save my scraps?

• Scraps make great borders, decorative squares, and mosaics.

• You can use them to make punchies with your large collection of punches.

• You only need a little bit of paper to cut out the letters for a title.

• Small pieces of paper can be used to create accents on handmade greeting cards.

• Your children will love to “scrap” with you! Give them a pile of your scraps to get started.

• It saves you money! (so you can buy OTHER scrapbooking things!)

How should I organize my scraps?

There are a few different ways you can organize your scraps, and whatever system works best for you is the one you should follow. My personal system includes separating your scrap paper into three categories: cardstock, patterned paper, and specialty papers. You can also get really ambitious and color code your scraps by storing them in separate file folders. I recommend a drawer or folder that is large enough to hold 12 x 12 paper, so that you don’t need to cut your scraps down even more before filing them. You never know when you’ll need a 12 x 12 border!

It is a good idea to clean out your scrap folders or drawers every once in a while. When my scrap supply gets out of control, I get rid of the smaller pieces of paper and hold on to the larger ones. It’s actually kind of fun to go through my old scraps. Just like a quilter knows her fabrics, I can tell you how each paper scrap was used.

I’ve been saving my scraps since I first started scrapbooking. It’s amazing how often I go to my scrap drawer and find the perfect paper to use on another layout or card. So often I find that I need just a small piece of paper in a certain color, and don’t want to cut into a brand new piece. So don’t toss those scraps; they can be used.

WELCOME BABY PRINTABLES

Looking for a way to start off a scrapbook for your baby? Print a Welcome Baby Treasured Keepsakes for Newborns!

By Andrea Steed, the author and creator of Scrap Tutor, a web site and CD-ROM that teaches you how to create scrapbooks and how to perform many popular techniques used in scrapbooking. For more information, visit www.scraptutor.com.

We all have birthdays, at least once a year (they’re kind of un-avoidable), so it’s inevitable that birthday layouts will be found in all of our scrapbooks. Some scrapbookers may love working on birthday layouts, but I find them very challenging—especially when I want them to be different every year.

Since it’s not my specialty, I brought in the experts for some advice. I asked a group of scrapbookers what they do when they’re faced with another birthday layout and got some fantastic tips that I’d like to share with you!

Birthday Themes

A birthday theme can help direct your scrapbook page. For instance, a Barbie birthday party would naturally lend itself to a Barbie scrapbook page! Here are a couple of tips and ideas from different scrapbookers on themed parties and layouts.

• Have theme parties! That gives you something to work with other than the traditional cake, presents, and candles kind of layout. —Gayla Feachen

• For Brandon’s first birthday we did a Time Capsule. I sent a note with the b-day invitation asking everyone to bring something to put in the capsule—it could be a photo of their family or a news article or a newspaper etc. I asked the grandparents and great grandparents to write Brandon a letter and seal the envelope. We will give him this when he turns 21. — Martha Crowther

Must Have Birthday Photos

Sometimes simply taking some strategic photos can make creating a birthday layout fun and easy! Below are some fantastic ideas for must-have birthday photographs.

• I usually take a photograph of the cake from overhead. I often silhouette it and use it as an accent/embellishment on the page…especially on the topper or in a journaling block. — Laura Linda Rudy

• Take a photos of the cake (candles lit) turned towards the camera, so you can read or see the decorations. — Linda Porter Jones

• Take one of the birthday boy/girl blowing out the candles (at our house, this is done with all the lights off, so I’ve gotten a few really cool photos, just the candles and flash) — Linda Porter Jones

• Opening gifts. Try to get photo of birthday person, with gift and person that GAVE the gift. — Linda Porter Jones

• A “group” shot…birthday person with ALL their gifts around them. (or on table) — Linda Porter Jones

• Birthday person getting their birthday ’spanks’. We started doing this tradition this year…Have a photo of Mike bent over Dad’s knee, getting spanked!! Too funny! — Linda Porter Jones

• We usually have a balloon bouquet, and I try to get a close-up of just the balloons. — Linda Porter Jones

• For little kids’ birthdays, take a photo of them holding up how many fingers old they are. — Linda Porter Jones

• A special birthday photo that I always try to get is of us measuring Matt’s height. He tracks his height on a wall in the garage. And, yes, I took one of these photos on his 20th birthday! — Jill Winholt

• One of the things I make sure I do now after many years of birthday parties is get a good group shot of all the guests. I would have pictures of them as they were involved in the party but it always seemed like someone got left out. Now I have a record of everyone there in ONE picture. I also get a picture of my child with all their gifts arranged around them after the party so they can remember when they got certain items. I do this after opening presents on Christmas morning also. — Alaine, www.scrappingbyalaine.com

• Take a photo of the birthday boy/girl’s face being illuminated by candlelight. — Briana Fisher

• Take a photo of the birthday boy/girl’s face puffed up blowing out the candles. — Briana Fisher

• Capture the reaction of someone that is touched by a gift you gave (perhaps Grandma crying at a special gift you made) or your kids throwing their hands up in joy for something they received. — Briana Fisher

• Take photos of the guests playing games (like pin the tail on the donkey) — get a photo of someone trying to put the tail on the donkey (and got it wayyyy over, not even close to the picture!) — Briana Fisher

• If you make your own birthday cake, get a picture of you (or your child) making it or decorating it. — Briana Fisher

• Make sure YOU get in the photos! Have a picture taken with the birthday person. If it’s your birthday, then give your camera to someone else for the evening! You need to be in your scrapbook pages too! — Briana Fisher

• Every year, get your child to stand in a certain place, say next to a tree in your garden, and photograph them. Not only will you see how much your child grows but you’ll see how your garden and/or the tree has grown with them. — Lynn McCorry

Journaling and Layout Ideas

What really makes scrapbook layouts meaningful is the journaling. Birthdays are a fantastic opportunity to reflect on how a person has changed or grown in the past year. Below are some great tips from scrapbookers for different information that would be interesting to include in a birthday layout.

• Ask the child questions every birthday about their favorite color, song, hobby, etc. and use the same questions every year. — Martha Crowther

• What I love to do for some variety with kid birthdays is to do an interview page. I just use fun shots of them, not necessarily birthday party pictures. I ask them some of their likes, dislikes, what they want to be when they grow up, and if they had three wishes what they would wish for. It’s really fun to see how the answers change through the years! — Heather Uppencamp

• Do a page detailing specific things about the month they were born (that month’s flower, zodiac, and/or birthstone) and how you resemble those traits. — Briana Fisher

• Journal about (20) reasons why you are glad to be you…and the (20) can be your age… — Briana Fisher

• If your family has a tradition you do for birthdays then journal that so the tradition can be carried on and include a photo or photos of the tradition. — Briana Fisher

• Do you have a special song that you sing at birthdays? My family is Polish and sings a song that means, ‘May you live to be 100 years’ in which my grandma has taught everyone in the family. Journal special songs that you may sing (even the silly ones your kids always sing!) — Briana Fisher

• Make a checklist of things that happened for your journaling and number them (ie. Invited friends, lit the cake, sang the birthday song, blew out the candles, gifts!). Then number your photos to match your checklist. Use paperclips or circular clips to attach the numbers to the photos. — Briana Fisher

• Make a timeline and use photos from different birthdays and journal the age you were for each. This will help take some miscellaneous photos and use them in a unified way. — Briana Fisher

• At the party, have your guests sign their names on a scrapbook page. Use the guest list as a part of your birthday layout. — Briana Fisher

• Journal a list of the presents they asked for (and received). You’ll see how much the things they want change over the years. — Lynn McCorry

• Include actual memorabilia or scans of things like party hats etc. in your birthday layouts. — Lynn McCorry

Products

All sorts of birthday themed scrapbook products are available in scrapbook stores.

• Use a theme from pre-made products centered around birthdays. That makes creating a birthday layout easy! — Jill Winholt

• Use die cuts and get the guests in on the action. Have each person at the party write their good wish (one word) on the candle die cuts. These then make up the border for the page. Words like happiness, love, health, fun, zest, chocolates, humor and wonder and the person’s signature are on a candle. You can also put them all on a cake paper piecing. Very fun idea and I hope to use it some time myself. — Rockester

• Jolee’s by You has a lot of birthday embellishments that are fun to use, including a HAPPY BIRTHDAY string banner, wire balloons and more. Some are in primary colors, others are in silver and gold to use in adult birthday pages!! — Briana Fisher

• Pebbles, Inc. recently released a whole line of die cuts with a birthday theme!

WELCOME BABY PRINTABLES

Looking for a way to start off a scrapbook for your baby? Print a Welcome Baby Treasured Keepsakes for Newborns!

By Andrea Steed, the author and creator of Scrap Tutor, a web site and CD-ROM that teaches you how to create scrapbooks and how to perform many popular techniques used in scrapbooking. For more information, visit www.scraptutor.com.

There are a million things that you want to remember about your baby, most of which can easily be recorded in a scrapbook. Below are some ideas for facts to document, things to write about, and photos to take when creating a baby’s “First Year” scrapbook album. While it’s certainly not an extensive list, it might give you some ideas for things to write down and photograph as your child grows.

Photos to Take

• Document growth by taking monthly photos of your baby next to a large stuffed animal

• Photos of their nursery

• Photo of the house you live in

• Photos with mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, and other family members

• Sleeping baby photos

• Bath photos

• Photos with favorite toys

• Photos each day of their first month

• Any “firsts” you can capture

• Happy and not-so-happy moments

• Black and white photos

• Facial expressions

WELCOME BABY PRINTABLES
Looking for a way to start off a scrapbook for your baby? Print a Welcome Baby Treasured Keepsakes for Newborns!

By Andrea Steed, the author and creator of Scrap Tutor, a web site and CD-ROM that teaches you how to create scrapbooks and how to perform many popular techniques used in scrapbooking. For more information, visit www.scraptutor.com.