I think with a little preparation parents and grandparents can make a 1st birthday extra special, and get some great photos for digital scrapbooking too!

Hosting your child’s first birthday party is definitely not for the faint of heart!   The prospect lots of cute little one year olds toddling around grabbing toys, trying birthday treats for the first time, getting games especially fun for one year olds, making the party fun for parents as well, and more… can be quite the event to pull off! Especially for new parents!

But, the old fashioned pleasure of celebrating your child’s first birthday can also be such a very special event as well!

Fun birthday party ideas, tips and activities, digital scrapbooking resources for the 1st birthday party!

Here are some ideas to help make fun parties for one year olds and should give you a chance for some great photos for scrapping too!

Party tips for 1st Birthday:

• Nap first, party after! Try to plan the first birthday party for just after nap time so your child will be awake and happy.  If this isn’t possible then try and have the party as early in the day as you can.
• Keep it short and sweet! Keep the party between 1 and 1 1/2 hours. Remember little people have shorter attention spans and they will have more fun in shorter doses.
• Make a cake for the birthday toddler and a separate one for other guests. Make a large cake for guests and smaller cake for the one year old to enjoy.   The smaller cake could even be a cupcake – something you don’t mind the birthday child getting all over the place as they crumble the cake and enjoy it as only a one year could do!
• Work ahead of the party. Try to do as much of the party decorations, food preparation, and game set up ahead of the party and if possible like a few days ahead or the day before. Trying get everything ready the day of the party is stressful, makes everyone cranky and tired!!!
• Fun Party Games for 1st Birthdays Plan fun games for one year olds that are age appropriate for 1st birthday parties.
• Make a Time capsule. Create a special time capsule of the first birthday. (Maybe a time capsule they add to every 5th birthday, and will be opened on your child 18th birthday.) Ask party guests to write a special notes for the time capsule.  Plan ahead and even include out-of-town relatives by asking them to send a special first birthday note and including it in the box too. Maybe the special notes could include what they hope for the child’s future and what fun thing they have noticed about the child at one year. Try this for the time capsule –fill a photo album with pictures of your child’s first year.  On the margins around the pictures ask party guests, family and friends to write special thoughts, memories or wishes to the birthday child include this album in the time capsule! Add some photos from the party, other items that might be fun to include in the Time Capsule like an toy of the birthday child. Then seal up the capsule, place it somewhere safe and then when the years have passed you will have a wonderful surprise for your child and something they will treasure forever.
• Keep 1st Birthdays safe. Keep the party safe for your one year old for example: make sure party favors and toys are large enough that they cannot fit through a paper towel or toilet paper tube to avoid a choking hazard
• Make some 1st Birthday Memories that are great for Photos. Get a special birthday hat like this Fun to Be 1 Hat. Or how about making a shirt with a large #1 on the front.   You can draw this on a shirt with a permanent marker or find an iron on transfer and use Photoshop or Elements to make a cute design.  Many craft stores sell iron on transfer paper that allow you to print out a transfer directly from your printer. Or how about this idea? Tie helium balloons to the high chair to create a backdrop for pictures! If you are inviting several one year olds to the party have their parents bring their high chairs to the party and line them up all with the children enjoying the birthday cake in their high chairs all together! These ideas are great for photos that you might want to scrap later!

Scrapbooking ideas:

Get some great text for your scrapbook! Leave blank note cards out for the guest to write birthday notes.  Set the pages out on a table with plenty of pens and markers.

Ask guests, family members and friends to fill the pages with handwritten messages and well wishes for the one year old.

Then scan these handwritten pages and insert the text with the pictures from the party into your digital scrapbooking page!

Take the photos you took at the party to create a scrapbook of all the first birthday celebration!

I hope you and your one year old have a very special 1st birthday!

Enjoy!

Cheri

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Get Digital Scrapbooking Supplies for your Birthday Scrapbooking projects!

The Birthday Balloon Scrapbooking Kit 1 is a digital scrapbooking kit full of celebrations and set for parties and birthday fun! It’s time to join in all the Party fun when using this digital scrapbooking kit! Mix and match bright colored papers with other birthday party scrap supplies for the perfect celebration, and use to make scrap pages, or even digitally scrap invitations and other party items! The digital Papers in this kit are 12×12″ size which are perfect for the large traditional scrapbooking sized pages and projects. This Digital Scrap Kit includes digital papers that are party colored, and Birthday Party themed embellishments too! Use this kit for scrapping a Birthday, a party, even celebrations or festive themed parties!

With this Birthday Balloon Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 you can make wonderful Large Traditional Sized Digital Scrapbooking Pages. Also use the digital supplies to make gifts such as Calendars, Aprons, Puzzles, Greeting Cards and much More!

This digital scrap kit is a wonderful way to create digital scrapbooking projects that are party or celebration orientated!

More Birthday Scrap kits!

It’s time to join in all the Party fun when using this digital scrapbooking kit! Start scrapping all the birthday party fun with these digital scrap supplies for the perfect birthday and other celebrations. Use to make scrap pages, or even digitally scrap invitations and other party items! The Birthday Balloon Scrapbooking Kit 2 is a digital scrapbooking kit full of digital Papers that are12×12″ size which are perfect for the large traditional scrapbooking sized pages and projects.

This Digital Scrap Kit also includes digital Birthday Party themed embellishments and WordArt too! Use this kit for scrapping a Birthday, a party, even other celebrations or festive themed parties!

The Birthday Balloon Scrapbooking Kit 3 is a digital scrapbooking kit full of fun for parties and birthday celebrations! It’s time to join in all the Party fun when using this digital scrapbooking kit!  This Digital Scrap Kit includes digital papers that are party colored, and Birthday Party themed embellishments too!

Use this kit for scrapping a Birthday, a party, even celebrations or festive themed parties! With the included digital recipe card embellishment, use to scrap a recipe book, photo album or even a journal! Includes 11×8.5 or 8.5×11 digital papers depending how you rotate, great for home printing projects!

Mix and match bright colored papers with other birthday party scrap supplies for the perfect celebration, and use to make scrap pages, or even digitally scrap invitations and other party items!

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Get Digital Scrapbook Training to Learn Digital Scrapbooking to save your precious family memories!

Start Scrapbooking today!

Get the whole Getting Started Series for Photoshop Elements 9 on a handy CD!

The Getting Started Series in Digital Scrapbooking using Photoshop Elements 9 is the ultimate training! CD-set includes: tutorial videos, training guides for ALL Lessons (1-6) and lots of freebies too!

Start learning today! Get the downloadable lessons right now – you can get each of the Getting Started Lessons in downloadable versions now!

Need Photoshop Training?

No problem! Check out the Getting Started Series for Photoshop Users!

“The Getting Started Series in Digital Scrapbooking using Adobe Photoshop CS5 (or CS4) CD Training ” is the ULTIMATE digital scrapbooking training for beginners!

All Getting Started in Digital Scrapbooking Lessons 1 – 6 come on a CD perfect to begin learning Digital Scrapbooking using Photoshop!

Or check out ALL the downloadable lessons here -

Life is busier (and crazier) than ever now that I’m a momma, but there are a few times I think it’s critical to stop what I’m doing, take pictures of my baby, and scrap them. And holidays are that kind of a time, where you need to make the time to preserve special moments in your child’s life. Don’t let the day pass by without taking a few pics and digi-scrapping a page or two of your favorite photos.

I’ve also learned how important it is to get in a few of the photos myself. I learned my lesson this last Christmas (my son’s very first Christmas!). I was so focused on making sure I took plenty of pics of him, that I completely forgot to have anyone take any pics of me. And while I snapped a few photos of him and his Dad, as I went through my photos later, I realized that there was no first family Christmas photo of the three of us. What a bummer…

Digital scrapbooking has been a great way to keep track of my son’s holidays too. I end up taking a bunch of new photos every special occasion and if I wasn’t a digital scrapbooker, I can imagine how overwhelming all my pics would be! I don’t have to print out all my new photos every time I take them, and I don’t just let them sit on my computer to just forget about them either. After taking my photos, I quickly scan the pics and pic out a few stand-out-shots. Then, I quickly digi-scrap my few favorite photos onto a cute digital scrap kit and label it with the day, time, and place. There are many times I use Quick Pages to speed up the process even more, but regular scrapbooking kits don’t take much time either. I then take all these pages I have made over the year of birthdays, holidays, and other special events or milestones and combine them to make a photo book using an online printing company. It’s easy and it’s a great way to keep track of the year, keep important memories alive, and have a reminder of all the fun we had so I can show and give to my son when he gets a little older. Learn how to print your digi-projects at home or by using an online printing company. I love keeping these books in the family room. My guests love to look through them- they make great conversation pieces. Not to mention, I love browsing through them every once in awhile too.

Scrap your kids’ holidays too! I used this kit and you should too!

The Valentine and Love Tea Digital Scrapbooking Kit 2 is super fun digital kit filled with intricate lace papers and beautiful Victorian digital embellishments. Best of all it is 11×8.5 paper size which is perfect for home printing projects, calendar pages, recipe books, scrap albums, mouse pads and more! Use the Valentine and Love Tea Digital Scrapbooking Kit 2 to preserve special memories of Valentines, or you and your favorite girls enjoying a hot cup of tea and desserts! Heat up the tea pot and start scrapping all your best moments with your with this super fun kit. With this digital scrap kit start scrapping your love,  Valentines Day, Engagements, Weddings, Bridal Showers, Mother’s Day, Tea Parties, or Relationship-Themes for digital scrapbooking projects and pages!

Happy Scrapping,

Jennifer

Want a great night for your family or a fun evening for your kids friends?

Why not host an outdoor movie night?

An outdoor movie night can be fun for themed parties, birthday parties, kids sleepovers, cub scout meetings, pool parties, couples nights, or just a quiet family night.

Pop some popcorn, grab some soda and invite your friends to join the family in the backyard.  All you need is a movie screen (or sheet), a projector and a dvd player to make a backyard movie night.

Before you start your backyard movie night, make some invitations to let your family and friends know they are in for a special treat!

Making your own invitations for your backyard movie night,  means you’re in creative control when it comes to the photos included, the design, and the  card messages, event directions, RSVP requests, or other information needed inside (or outside) the card!

And making a personalized invitation that’s designed specifically with your movie night in mind can be filled with personal photos or other personal touches making it an invitation that’s likely to be treasured and saved- instead of eventually thrown away in the trash!

Get Training so you can make Movie Night Invitations!

How to Make Invitations, ‘Thank You’ Cards, and Note Cards in PSE 8 training is the best way to learn how to make your own personalized cards- for any occasion!  Creating customized invitation cards is a great way to make a card with a lot of personality and meaning… not to mention, it can save you a whole lot of money too! Store-bought cards are so expensive! Why not easily make your own and include all the photos, information, and messages that you really want it to have- all at the same time! Bonus: Digital Scrapbooking Supplies, Photoshop Card Templates are all included in this training too!

Don’t forget to scrap your backyard movie night too!

Have lots of fun with your backyard movie night, and don’t forget to get photos and scrap your event too!

Here are a few scrapbooking kits that you can use to make the invitations or to scrap the movie night later on.

The Movie Night Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 is a super-cute kit for celebrating a passion for film, the fun of going to the movies, or a special tradition of watching movies at home. Make some popcorn, cuddle with someone special, and scrap all the movie night fun with this adorable movie-inspired kit!,This kit comes with 12×12″ digital papers, WordArt, and Movie-themed digital embellishments!

Filled with movie tickets, popcorn, and more, all you need is your favorite photos of friends gathered around to watch a favorite show- and you’re good-to-go! Mix and match adorable movie-themed papers and digital supplies to preserve special movie date nights.

The Be a Star Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 is is an adorable kit that is perfect for becoming your own celebrity! Make a scrap page of you and your friends and turn into a digi-superstar!  This celebrity-inspired kit is filled with star-filled papers, cameras, and director-accessories that would make any actor and actress proud! This kit comes with 12×12″ digital papers, WordArt, and Movie/Star-themed digital embellishments!

Be a Star Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 is also great to use for movie-themed digital scrapbooking pages or albums. Filled with cameras, director boards and chairs, even film, you can create a super-cute digital page all about a special movie night with friends and family! This kit also works well to celebrate birthdays or other special occasions to make someone feel special!

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Here are some family movies that might be fun to show at your backyard movie night:

• The Princess Bride
• Finding Neverland
• Hook
• Babe
• School of Rock
• The Parent Trap
• Cheaper by the Dozen

When backyard movie night is treated like an event by sending out invitations, it sets the mood and makes great family memories for both young and old!

Enjoy!

Here are some ideas to keep children busy, and provides lots of great memories and chances to get great photos for summer digital scrapbooking albums too!

Idea 1: Take the Children Bowling!

How about free bowling all summer long? Did you know that more than 800 bowling centers in 45 states have teamed up with kidsbowlfree.com to give kids two free games of bowling every day for the entire summer!

It’s a fantastic way to have fun with your children this summer and create some terrific memories.

Don’t forget to bring the camera and get some photos you can scrap too!

If you want to have a family bowling activity but want to stay home then, set up your own Bowling Alley with Bottles

Homemade Bowling Alley ~ from Grandparents.com

You’ll need one round, heavy ball, such as a basketball or a soccer ball, and ten empty plastic bottles. Fill each bottle about one quarter-full with sand or water, making them just heavy enough to stand up but just light enough to be knocked down by the ball. Cap the bottles tightly.

Find an area for your alley, like a driveway, a flat, grassy area, or even a long, furniture-free hallway in the house.

Set up the bottles in the traditional bowling pin grid: Place one pin up front, two behind that, three behind those, and four in the back

Idea 2: Make a Craft together

Memories of a lifetime are made from the simplest pleasures, ones that don’t necessarily include buying things!!!

How about making a craft together, this gives you the opportunity to laugh together, talk and share a fun activity too!  Again, take lots of photos to remember the activity and to scrap it later.

Here are few craft ideas:

Make a Paper Bag Puppet ~ from Grandparents.com

Make a plain brown lunch bag into any kind of puppet with a little imagination. Simply turn the bag upside down and, using markers, crayons, and glued-on items, create a character of your own.

Build a Shoebox Dollhouse ~ from Grandparents.com

This project can be as simple or elaborate as you choose to make it. First, decide how many rooms (one shoebox per room) you want the dollhouse to have. Cut squares in the bottom of the box for windows. Add miniature furniture and decorations. Put the boxes in the order you want the rooms and glue them together. Take two of the box tops and lean them against each other over the house. This creates a vaulted ceiling and an attic space above the rooms.

Make a Shoebox Guitar ~ from Grandparents.com

An easier project than you might think. Take a shoebox and cut a hole in the center of the lid. Now cut a hole on one side of the box. In that hole, put an empty paper towel roll and tape it in place. This makes it look like the long end of a guitar.

Take four or five rubber bands of various widths and lengths, and stretch them lengthwise over the lid, as shown.

Decorate a Paper Plate Mask ~ from Grandparents.com

Using a white paper plate, make a funny face or a primitive mask with just a pair of scissors and some crayons. Cut holes where your eyes will go.

If you’ve got some yarn around, add it on as hair or a beard.

Put two small holes on either side of the paper plate, and thread some yarn through it to tie the mask to the child’s head.

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Creating memories by doing crafts with your children and grandchildren make summer less boring, creates some wonderful and lasting memories and gives you a great chance for some fun photos that you can scrap too!

Idea 3: Let your Child be a Reporter

Give your child or grandchild a camera, a notebook and pen and have them capture the summer events and write about it.

Why give the kids a camera today?  Well, as a parent, I’m sure you have lots to do this summer and it hard to be with them doing crafts all the time!  With summer here, and many kids out of school, they have plenty of free time to also keep busy doing independent activities like taking a few photos and writing about them too! Not to mention, giving them the responsibility to be in charge of the digital camera and getting lots photos this summer will help keep busy!

You can use the photos and the notes they take in digital scrapbooking pages too!

Idea 4: You and your Child/Grandchild scrap the Summer activities

Each Summer month, help them to digitally scrap the photos into digital scrapbooking pages, albums, and other scrapbooking projects. Once they have digital scrapbooking pages of their summer activities then they can make the pages into puzzles, mouse pads, posters, calendars and even gifts for other family members or friends.

For help on helping children scrap, check out these blog articles: Helping Kids Start Digital Scrapbooking ~ Part 1 and also this blog article: Helping Kids Start Digital Scrapbooking ~ Part 2 . Helping your children preserve the memories of their summer activities would be always be a way of preserving very special memories!

Have very happy summer and have some fun with the kids in your life!

Cheri

Ps. Tomorrow’s blog article will have more summer ideas  for children, so check back then!

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Get the Digital Scrapbooking Kit used in this blog article:

The Freedom Digital Scrapbooking Kit is a full-featured kit to celebrate the moment! Filled with red, white, and blue papers, you can scrap all of your  fun! Whether you use it for anything that needs bright blue, red and white colors or use it for scrapping a fireworks show, or for your backyard cookout,  scrap all the wonderful festivities. This kit comes with a Bonus Overlay Kit, 12×12″ digital papers, and digital embellishments!

Blue Ice Polka Dot Scrapbooking Kit is sprinkled with beautiful, blue polka dots! Decorate your favorite moments like 4th of July events, fireworks and more! This kit is filled full of digital papers, frames, tags, and embellishments all perfect for any time you need a blue themed kit!

Celebrate the 4th of July, Fireworks, Cookouts and use this kit when you need blue themed digital scrapbooking supplies!

Digital Scrapbook Tutorials get you the information you need to start digital scrapbooking right away!

Why not learn about all about digital scrapbooking?

Take the whole Getting Started Series Lesson 1-6 for Elements and Lesson 1-5 for Photoshop!

The Getting Started Series in Digital Scrapbooking using Photoshop Elements 8 is the ultimate training! CD-set includes: tutorial videos, training guides for ALL Lessons (1-6) and lots of freebies too!

Photoshop Digital Scrapbook Training:

The Getting Started Series in Digital Scrapbooking using Photoshop CS3 (or CS4) is the ultimate training! CD-set includes: tutorial videos, training guides for ALL Lessons (1-5) and lots of freebies too! You can also by each of the lessons individually and download them today! Check the Photoshop Downloadable Digital Scrapbook Training too!

See our Scrap Shop for other Photo Editing training and advanced Digital Scrapbooking Tutorials!

Training that would help you Make Digital PDF Scrap Albums

How to Make a PDF Scrapbooking Album using Photoshop Elements 8 is a great Intermediate 2-part tutorial set that will teach you all about the basics of making a digital scrapbooking album that you can email, print or view on a computer. This lesson will show you how to make just one PDF scrap page, or take multiple digital scrapbooking pages and combine them into album that is in the PDF format using Photoshop Elements 8!

Once you have a digital album you can email your whole digital scrapbooking album to friends and family! Learn how to turn just one page or multiple pages into the PDF format that most everyone can read with Adobe’s FREE Acrobat Reader for PDF formatted documents.  Also, learn how to make a PDF that can work like a slideshow and showcase your digital scrapbooking pages.

If you want to learn more about Digital Scrapbooking or Photo Editing please check out our Scrap Shop for great video tutorials and wonderful digital scrapbooking supplies!

See the Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Scrap Shop for great digital Scrapbooking Supplies at – www.shop.digitalscrapbooksandmore.com

Here are few ideas to make your family night special and fun!

Idea 1: Family Movie Night

Many like us love movies! When making a family evening, there is nothing quite like popping the popcorn, putting your feet up, and dimming the lights!

When movie night is treated like an event it makes great family memories for both young and old!

Here are few family movies you might consider:

• The Princess Bride
• Finding Neverland
• Hook
• Babe
• School of Rock
• The Parent Trap
• Cheaper by the Dozen

Idea 2: Family Make-overs

Help each family member dress in a new and complimentary way, get a hair cut or learn about applying make-up.

A make-over can be done in-person or virtually on a computer with graphic software.

Here is one article to consider if you are interested in virtual makeovers:

• Enjoy a Virtual Makeover Today!

If you would like to do a virtual make-over then consider these tutorials to learn how

Give photo editing and virtual makeovers a try with Digital Scrapbooks and  More’s Digi MakeOver Madness Tutorials- photo editing training that’s inexpensive and a lot of fun! The Digi MakeOver’s start at $1.99 a tutorial, which makes them affordable for anyone- even on a budget! Give photo editing and digi makeovers a try yourself!

Idea 3: Play some family games!

Board games are a great way for families to spend quality time together. Here is a list of Top Classic Board Games that could make for some family fun!

• Chess
• Clue
• Life
• Sorry
• Chutes and Ladders
• Chinese Checkers
• Monopoly
• Scrabble
• Twister
• Candy Land

Find a game that fits your family and age of the children and play a game tonight together!

Idea 4: Learn a new Hobby like Digital Scrapbooking together!

Another fun thing to do as a family is to learn a new hobby together like digital scrapbooking or photography.

Gather up your laptops and get together and learn about digital scrapbooking – or get a disposable camera for each family member and learn about photography concepts together.

Check the Scrap Shop for great tutorials that teach Digital Scrapbooking or Photo Editing!

Have lots of family fun and take some time tonight to build strong relationships and family memories.

Have a nice day,

Cheri

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See some of the kits used in this blog article:

The Movie Night Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 is a super-cute kit for celebrating a passion for film, the fun of going to the movies, or a special tradition of watching movies at home. Make some popcorn, cuddle with someone special, and scrap all the movie night fun with this adorable movie-inspired kit!,This kit comes with 12×12″ digital papers, WordArt, and Movie-themed digital embellishments!

Filled with movie tickets, popcorn, and more, all you need is your favorite photos of friends gathered around to watch a favorite show- and you’re good-to-go! Mix and match adorable movie-themed papers and digital supplies to preserve special movie date nights.

The Be a Star Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 is is an adorable kit that is perfect for becoming your own celebrity! Make a scrap page of you and your friends and turn into a digi-superstar!  This celebrity-inspired kit is filled with star-filled papers, cameras, and director-accessories that would make any actor and actress proud! This kit comes with 12×12″ digital papers, WordArt, and Movie/Star-themed digital embellishments!

Be a Star Digital Scrapbooking Kit 1 is also great to use for movie-themed digital scrapbooking pages or albums. Filled with cameras, director boards and chairs, even film, you can create a super-cute digital page all about a special movie night with friends and family! This kit also works well to celebrate birthdays or other special occasions to make someone feel special!

I laughed. It’s true, I probably won’t look like I’m ready to srtut my stuff down the runway right after I give birth, that’s for sure, but I hadn’t really even thought of that… I have so much on my mind already, from getting the nursery set-up, to taking baby classes, and just getting through the remaining weeks of pregnancy (oh, and not to mention, the easy activity of giving birth to the baby itself- haha), that as much as I think about photos (I do work for Digital Scrapbooks and More, ya’ know!) I hadn’t thought much about photos in this case.

But our conversation made me think about how a lot of women must feel about taking photos right after giving birth. I wonder if any women ever dab on a little lip gloss, powder their nose, and use a little mascara before snapping their first baby pics? Obviously, the moment is all about this new, precious little life entering the world, but with as challenging as giving birth must be (and painful if there’s no medication involved!), the post-mom shots will obviously not be the most glamorous, professional-looking shots of you and your amazing new addition.

But what if you COULD have pretty-looking post-birth pics? Why not? With Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Digi MakeOver Madness Tutorials you can get rid of zits & blemishes, remove red-eye, airbrush the skin, and more! It IS possible to feel comfortable in your pics, and be proud enough to put them in more places than just the baby book!

Digital Scrapbooks and More even has a photo editing mini-series with three tutorials specifically about makeovers for pics of new moms and babies! The Baby Series is available for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users! This special photo editing training series includes three lessons on removing red eye from digital photos, converting photos to black and white, and adding artistic effects & filters to your mommy & me pics. The Baby Series is ridiculously inexpensive at only $5.99 and is a great way to enjoy those post-delivery pics that include mom!

 Even better? Try the Baby Package- also available for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Users! This Baby Package includes beginner digital scrapbooking training (the best selling training, The Getting Started Series), all three photo editing tutorials from the Baby Series (removing red eye from digital photos, converting photos to black and white, and adding artistic effects & filters to your mommy & me pics), baby-themed digital scrapbooking supplies, and a free E-Book on creative digi-layouts for baby-themed scrap pages! The Baby Package makes an amazing (and original!) gift for baby showers and is a great way for any mom to get training and supplies to create easy-to-make, and super-adorable, baby keepsakes!

Personally, I think it’s very important to take those first-moment photos. I want to have my husband capture the very first time I hold and kiss my precious little baby for the very first time. I know that the last thing running through my mind as I love on my newborn will be how I look. But I also know that it’s a while after the delivery, when my baby is home safe and sound, and I’m looking over the delivery pics that I will prefer to look at pics without massive pimples and blemishes showing on all over my face.

That’s why I’ll be using the Digital Scrapbooks and More baby-themed photo editing tutorials to make simple edits so I can look natural and pretty. I don’t have to be afraid to see myself in photos anymore- even right after our delivery!

These photo editing tutorials also give me the option to take the photos in color (not using black and white film or setting my digital camera to black and white-mode) so that I can have the choice of converting my favorite pics to black and white for a more artistic, dramatic, and special look (and not just to help cover up imperfections or flaws!). Having the option of colored AND black and white photos is the best way to have the best of both worlds when it comes to these priceless pics.

Happy Photo Editing & Digi-Scrapping… during all those precious, once-in-a-lifetime moments!

-Jennifer

About two years later, in third grade, I rediscovered the journal in my room and read the last entry- the one I wrote. I found it so difficult to read (it was filled with 1^st grade spelling mistakes) that I translated that entry and then wrote a new one on the next page!

Every few years I would stumble upon this special journal and write a new update of my ever-changing life. And while I actually used to be an avid, almost every day “journaler” in my teens, I always seemed to lose this one particular journal and find it somewhere completely unexpected years later. I think that was what was so special about it. With just a turn of the page, I could see how much my handwriting improved, how my vocabulary advanced, and how my thoughts, feelings, and life evolved.

Some entries were long, others were really short, but in the end- it was just exciting that a new entry was there. Some years were good years, other years were hard, but again, it was great to see that as bad as things can get, a page later, life had a way of working itself out and I was happier than ever.

As much as I don’t tend to live in the moment, I do feel sometimes that I live day by day and forget the big picture of what a year can bring. I think may of us do this. But a journal like this can remind you of the big picture: that no matter what the ups and downs of life in a year may be, we all grow and change and can become better as people.

I think everyone should keep a similar journal, where there’s no obligation to write every day, but perhaps check in once a year to write a new entry (I think anyone can commit to that!). A simple update on how you’ve grown and changed, new experiences or challenges you’ve faced, and an overview of a good, bad, or average year. Nothing has to be “deep,” poetic, or perfect- just a simple reflection of what has happened and who you are every year.

As we approach the end of 2009, it’s time to take a minute to tell your story and say what this year has been for you. Digital Scrapbooking is a great way to journal your “2009 Journal Entry.” Try these ideas for your end-of-the-year digital scrapbooking reflections:

· Create a two page digital scrapbooking journal entry. Make one page all text: write about what this year has taught you, goals you’ve accomplished, and just an overview of your year. You may even want to include new goals, hopes, and dreams for the year ahead. On the second page, scrap a digital scrapbooking page with photos of favorite or meaningful moments throughout the year: a special birthday, a meaningful reunion, or a happy, simple day of doing absolutely nothing with friends and family. Add captions with dates, times, places, and people in the photos, or even include mini-stories explaining certain photos.

Like this scrap page? Get the Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Happy New Year Kit and make your own end-of-the-year digi-masterpieces!

· Make a one-page digital scrapbooking page with photos (real photos of you & events throughout the year, or perhaps photos/paintings/pictures of things that represent the year and what it means to you). Add meaningful quotes by a favorite poet or person, inspirational sayings, or other captions that represent the completed year and what it has been like for you.

· A quick way to remember the previous year in the year after is to digitally scrap the new year’s calendar with photos from the previous year. Fill the digital calendar with special pics, phrases, and memories from each month of last year to remind you of the wonderful moments made the year before. Do this every year with your yearly calendar and reflect on happy times each month from a previous year well-done!

You can make digital calendars fast too, just by using Quick Pages. Quick Pages are basically pre-designed digital scrapbooking pages. All you have to do is add your photos (and perhaps a little text, if you want) and you’re done! Use Digital Scrapbooks and More’s 12 Month Calendar Quick Pages to make your own super-fast 2010 calendar! Just add your best 2009 photos each month, and within minutes, you’re done and ready to print!

It really doesn’t take long to create an end-of-the-year digital scrapbooking reflection entry or calendar. An hour or two (though with Quick Pages it can take a few mere minutes!), and you have a priceless masterpiece that sums up an entire year of your life.

A journal like this is a treasure- for yourself or maybe even for a special little first grader somewhere down the line…

Happy 2009 and Best Wishes for 2010!

-Jennifer

Ps. If you want to begin Digital Scrapbooking in order to digitally scrap moments from 2009 and new adventures in 2010, get Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Getting Started Series for digital scrapbooking training for beginner’s!

Also, you might try some digital scrapbooking pages designed for Journaling like the Journaling Pages Digital Scrapbooking Kit

This kit is the perfect outlet for journaling your thoughts, feelings, activities, or adventures-digitally! This kit was specifically designed for large amounts of text, providing a wonderful outlet for you to include stories or memories of important moments within your digital scrapbooking projects. This kit comes with 12×12″ digital papers and several digital embellishments!

Add text and coordinating digital photos to this pastel and polka-dotted themed digital scrapbooking kit, and you have gorgeous, finished digital scrapbooking pages! The Journaling Pages Digital Scrapbooking Kit is a perfect kit to start creating your very own digital diary, with its large, designated spaces! Made just for journaling!

This kit is also designed so that you can have the pages face each other for a more continuous feel, if you are going to turn the digital scrapbooking pages into an album or book! This Digital Scrapbooking Page can hold a very lengthy story. Sometimes a scrapbooking pages need more than just photos …they need WORDS too!

Enjoy!

Kids are so excited to host their own Halloween party, and just like my mom, you can always set them up in the garage if it’s not too cold (I have to admit, I was spoiled, as we lived in sunny San Diego!), family room, or a rec room. A few, simple (and inexpensive) Halloween decorations, along with some yummy, Halloween-inspired snacks, and you really can create a fantastic “room of terror” for your own kids this Halloween!

The awful news about my own Halloween parties is that we didn’t take any pictures! All the photo ops of decorating the garage together or playing in the garage? Yup, we don’t have any pics and it’s such a shame! The good news? You can learn from our mistake and make sure to take plenty of Halloween party pics at your own ghoulish party!

There are a few must-take photos opportunities that you must take advantage of at your kid’s next Halloween bash:

First, take photos of the final set up. After adding a spooky Halloween decoration here and there, a table or two with black or pumpkin-orange-colored table covers, and made a few oh-so-frightening Halloween snacks, you must take photos of your super-scary garage transformation! Even better? Take “before” pictures of the room, and then take “after” pictures of the room of terror! You’ll want to remember your adorable Halloween set-up, and these kinds of pictures are great for digital scrapbooking pages! Make sure you ask your kids to pose in the pictures too!

You’ll also want to take pictures of the kids playing in the room of terror! As each of your child’s friends come over, ask them if you can take two posed pictures next to your child. Make sure you take pics of your child and their friend next to some adorable decorations in the room of terror, and ask for a simple smile. The next photo, ask the kids to be wild and crazy- do something fun for the cameras (like a silly face), or make a fun stance that matches their Halloween costume. Doing this will create fun memories, great pics, and will ensure that your child has plenty of photos (that you and/or your child can digitally scrap with!) of each friend!

Make sure you also take some posed group shots of your child and their friends. Same thing- ask for a few smiles and a few silly faces. As you leave them to enjoy their Halloween party, you may want to leave a few disposable cameras (if your children don’t have their own digital cameras). Leave a few on the tables, and encourage them to take their own pictures. Getting silly, adorable pictures from their point of view will be a fun addition for Halloween digital scrapbooking projects. It also ensures that you have some posed pics (that you took) and some fun, kid’s pics (that they take) from two, wonderfully different perspectives!

Last but not least, after the party is over, and you are ready to scrap all the Halloween photos, add some “spooky” Halloween effects to favorite photos using Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Halloween Photo Editing Tutorials! Convert a favorite photo to black and white and then add a touch of color, for an exciting Halloween photo-effect!

 If there were some scary kids’ costumes, add even more dramatic effects by emphasizing “scary” eyes in the pics! Play with Digital Scrapbooks and More’s special seasonal tutorials for adorable Halloween photos for digital scrapbooking projects or “thank you” cards for all the kids that attended the party!

Happy Halloween & Happy Scrapping!

-Jennifer

It is hard to cook together except for holidays when we live so far away from each other.

One thing we have done to help this is when we discover a good recipe we take photos and then digitally scrap the recipes and email them to each other! This is nice and helps us feel closer to one another.

Here is an article that will give you some ideas about digital scrapbooking recipes for your grown kids: Keeping Starving Students Fed: 6 Tips for Digitally Scrapping Your Recipes!

Try cooking together over the Phone!

While emailing newly discovered recipes to each other is nice – it doesn’t replace cooking in the same kitchen together! But I have found another fun way to keep in touch and do both cooking and digital scrapbooking with my grown children! The way we have found to do this is to cook the same recipe at the same time over the phone! It is almost as good as being in the same kitchen together!

I have found that cooking together over the phone and Digital scrapbooking the recipes is a  great way to stay connected with adult children. This is a way of  sharing ideas and recipes along with preserving our family history.

Here is what I do with one of my daughters and maybe it will give you some ideas to use if you want to cook with someone that is far away!

First, we pick out a recipe we want to cook together. We try to get recipes we haven’t cooked before to make the cooking more exciting. Here are a couple of websites that we like that we get some of our ideas from: One website is http://www.eatingwell.com/ and another website we use often is http://www.foodnetwork.com/. Once we get a recipe we like we print it out so we can study it and make a shopping list.

Next, set a date for cooking. We schedule a day and time we can cook together, and of course because we are not in the same town we will have to cook together while using a cell phone. So setting a date let’s us charge our phone battery, get set up with headphones and phone clips so we can walk around hand-free in our kitchen together. You might even see if you can use Skype so you can talk and see each other too! (If anyone out there has tried this and cooking together – I would love to hear how that works out too!)

We set the date a week a head so we are sure to be able to shop for all the ingredients. A week ahead also gives us time to discuss some alterations we might make and get those addition ingredients too!

We then call each other on our cell phones using headphones so our hand will be free, and then we start cooking. As we cook we take photos and write down changes to recipe as we cook together. Both of my daughters are allergic to wheat – so we make a lots of changes to many of the recipes we find and try to cook. So as we cook together we write down all changes of the ingredients, or even amounts of different items, or if we use a different cooking method or pan and even if we adjust the cooking time. It is fun to see the steps in cooking the recipe and also the dish on a plate at the end. We take lots of photos. We even compare photos – from each house – I remember one time my dish was turning out different from my daughters as one ingredient was different because one of us had to substitute an ingredient – we could tell it made a difference from the photos we took and swapped at the end of the cooking adventure!

Next, digitally scrap the cooking and share with family and friends. When we get done cooking together we take all the digital photos and changes we wrote down to the original recipe and then we make a digital scrapbooking page that we can share with our family and friends.  For example for this recipe I took a digital scrapbooking kit that had a recipe card in it and scrapped the recipe with the digital photos.

Then I can either turn it into a JEPG (image) or PDF file to email to all my friends and family so they can try the recipe too! If you want know how to save your digital scrapbooking page in JPEG format so others can see it then buy the Lesson 5 training in Photoshop or Lesson 6 training in Elements that covers the topic of saving and printing digital scrapbooking pages.

This is also a nice idea because they have yet another recipe to put in the recipe binders I gave them for Christmas last year. All they have to do is print out the digital scrapbooking recipe file and put it into their binders for use next time they want cook this dish!

Get digital scrapbooking supplies to help make interesting presentations of your recipes:

The digital scrapbooking kit I used for this last recipe was from the Gardening 3 Digital Scrapbooking Kit which is a  great for digitally scrapping another one of your favorite hobbies – gardening or even cooking as it has a digital recipe card!

This kit comes with 8.5×11″ digital papers which really works well in home printers as it is formatted to use on regular US Paper.

Keep your family cooking together even when you live in different towns!

It is very fun to find creative ways to stay close even when you live far away! Try cooking together and then turning those adventures into digital scrapbooking pages, or recipe books!

Also, you can use this cooking over the phone idea with parents and friends to that don’t live close. You can cook really with anyone you want to… still have a meaningful activity even when you both are far away!

Enjoy and happy scrapping,

Cheri

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Help your Adult Children learn about Digital Scrapbooking too! Send the Digital Scrapbooking Training CD as a gift for either Photoshop Elements or Photoshop. Get the training at our Scrap Shop today!

Buy Digital Scrapbook Training for Beginners, or Intermediate, and even Advanced Scrapbookers at our Scrap Shop! Also, check out our Digi MakeOver Photo Editing Training too!

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As the classes open and our children go through the doors it might be nice to remember in all the school photos that you take of your child this year to get some photographs of the teachers.

I don’t know about you but I have very few photos of the teachers in my life. And to top it off I really didn’t take many photos of my kid’s teacher either!

I guess I was more interested in my child! I guess that is natural – but I wish now I could have put a few photos of my child’s school year in a digital scrapbooking album with a few photos of that years teacher too!

Maybe you have thought about this already and are snapping lots of photos that include your child’s teacher – but I never did – so thought it might be nice to mention this to others that might have also forgotten!

Warn the teacher ahead of time about your picture taking intentions!

Most teachers don’t mind taking a photo with your child. Maybe as a courtesy ask the teacher if you could take a photo of them the next day with your child. This way the teacher has a chance to feel prepared for the photo and put something on that they feel good in. Don’t you just hate photo surprises?! Teachers do too! Give them some heads up on your photo taking intentions!

Volunteer at the School and take some great photos!

Another great time to take photos of your child’s teacher is when you volunteer for help for a field trip. During the activity take some photos of the adventure, the teacher and the children.  Make some extra copies for the teacher to put in her photo album, or better yet digitally scrap her a mini album of the outing and include the photos — print out an extra copy for the other volunteers too!

If you are working and can’t go on the field trips, class parties and other special events, then you might call the room parent and ask them if you could get a copy of the photos they take of the teacher, children and activities. In return you will make a digital scrapbooking album for them and the teacher! Most people would love that kind of exchange!

Have your child take the photos!

Let your child get involved in taking the photos. Give them a disposable camera and tell them to take photos. However, first get the OK with the teacher and find out when it is a good time to do that. Maybe she/he could give a cue to your child when it is ok – like lunch time, recess or other none interfering times. If it is an older child, have them ask the teacher themselves! Letting the child get involved in the memory-making process by take their own school photos that later be put in their own school memory digital scrapbooking album, allows for some extra special memories of taking the photos too!

Make a School Year Digital Scrapbooking Album for Each Of Your Children!

When the school year is ended take photos of your child’s teacher and school activities and digitally scrap them into a precious album.

One idea I really like is to let my child look at the photos and describe what was happening, how they felt, what special thing they learned that day, and then include this all in the digital scrapbooking page along with the photos!

Can you imagine how precious these albums would be over the years with the photos of teachers, friends, activities, your child, and even your child’s own words about each of the events!!!

Want More Resources on some of the topics discussed in this article? Then check these other blog articles for more information and tips!

Want more ideas about taking photos of teachers and school personnel to add to your digital scrapbooking school projects? Then see this blog article: Back to School Scrapping Idea!

Want to Know more about disposable cameras and kids? Then see these helpful blog articles for ideas and tips:

Blog 1: Creative, Cost-Efficient Photo Ideas for Kids this 4th of July!

Blog 2: My Underwater Camera Adventures in Cancun ~ 3 Tips for More fun Using An Underwater Camera

Hope these ideas give you some new ways to get photographs for your school digital scrapbooking projects!

Happy Scrapping,

Cheri

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