Discover Yourself With an Online Photo Journal

By MJ Johnston

Each of us has come to earth to experience a journey through a thing called life. While we are here we have many things to learn in order to help us progress into happy, successful productive people.

Creating an online photo journal through online photo sharing stories is a way to find out who you are and sort through the lessons you are learning. Journals have long been used for this purpose and putting them online and adding photos makes them all the more compelling and creates more vivid memories.

Online photo sharing stories help people to journal their lives and experiences which they can choose to keep private or share with others. Sharing your journal with others can help them develop a greater understanding of what your life is like and what their own lives were about.

Some journals even help chronicle history. Anne Frank's father had her journal published because he believed the honesty in the way the story was told, she never expected anyone else to read it, would really give people an idea of what it was like to experience the holocaust. A deliberate writing of the story would lose so much of the purity that Anne's writing had. Helping people understand each other creates a greater sense of community throughout the world and makes people want to help each other.

Even though most of us are not living under constant threat of our families and lives being taken by Nazis, each us face our own trials and difficulties. We also each have our own joys and triumphs. Even Anne in her cramped quarters with seemingly so little to look forward to managed to find joy in the everyday experiences of life. When we better understand ourselves and how to find joy we can give our lives more meaning and purpose. Online photo sharing stories can be the tool to help us on the path to self discovery by helping us keep detailed photo journals of our lives.

Keeping a journal is not only a great way to discover yourself, but it is a great way to chronicle a moment in history. Each of our lives have meaning and purpose, a purpose that goes beyond the mundane tasks of daily living, and sharing with one another gives us greater understanding and strength for our own journeys. Creating online photo sharing stories makes our journals so much richer and more meaningful and could even give us an opportunity to affect the world in a positive way. Your pictures provide a glimpse into your world and the events that make it special and your words help to sort through the emotions and put the events in context. It is never too late or too early to start journaling with online photo sharing stories.

MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to enjoy online photo printing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=MJ_Johnston

Scrapbook Memories

By Karlie Loo

Scrapbooks, as we know them today, started many centuries ago, in the form of Common place books, friendship albums, photo albums, journals, diaries, scrapbooks, and now web home pages. Today, you can find a scrapbook club in almost any town that you go to. People love to get together with their friends to scrapbook. Everyone has a different motivation for doing a scrapbook. I've even seen families do a Family Recipe Scrapbook.

Why? Why do so many people around the world love to scrapbook? I'm sure that there are literally hundreds of reasons....but here are some of the more popular ones.

1.) To Protect your Photos: If you are careful and store your photos in archival-safe albums your family, friends and future generations can enjoy them 30 or even 60 years down the road. Isn't this reason enough for launching your family history preservation mission?

2.) Showcase and Record Memories: Your children and future generations will appreciate the time you have taken to record the memories you have shared together. Make a Journal or simple caption next to the photo. Scrapbooking doesn't have to be expensive either. The important thing is to get your photos out of the box and into books where people can see them and enjoy them. You'll go through so many things in your life, and if you missed out recording these precious memories, "once it's gone, it's gone".

3.) Organize your photos and mementoes: Disciplined scrapbookers have their personal memories, mementoes, and photos organized in a way that will preserve their quality. Imagine how just a bit of water could damage your precious memories beyond repair. Storing your photos in acidic envelopes or boxes can damage their quality, as well. The safest place for these precious items is in an acid-free box or scrapbook. The more organized you are the more that you can accomplish. If your stickers, stamps andembellishments are organized, You can easily sneak in a page with a unique layout at one sitting, while your child is napping or away at school. Imagine the smug satisfaction you feel when you see a completed page. This is empowering and makes you believe that if you can do this, you are capable of doing more.

4.) Record the "firsts" and Preserve the "Can't throw it away" items. If you have a baby or small child, you know how quickly the time speeds by. And you know the importance of recording your child's first laugh, first tooth, and beyond that, to the first date, the first car, and on it goes. You can also preserve the sentimental value of those can't-bear-to-throw-away concert tickets, handmade cards, menus, buttons, etc into the scrapbook.

5.) Socialize: Scrapbooking keeps you connected to people, events, places and experiences that thread together the ups and downs of your life. Expand your social circle by joining a club near you, and making new friends. Besides having fun, you'll be learning new tips and techniques from these scrapbooking enthusiasts!

Scrapbooking is a way that you can express you creativity and have fun with all the Stamps, Stickers and Embellishments. But how hard can it be with scrapbooking? By mimicking or in scrapbooking term "scraplifting" some layouts that you've seen somewhere, and then adding in your own cutting, pasting, and writing, you're done! Within minutes, you now hold in your hands a unique piece of your own artwork.

Visit my Web Site at http://www.allmymemoriesscrapbooking.com
Karlie Loo
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karlie_Loo

5 Reasons To Create A Newsletter For Your Scrapbooking Customers

By Vera Raposo

Your scrapbooking business really requires you to create a relationship with your customers. When a customer comes into your store you have an opportunity to visit with them face to face.
But when they approach your website, you need to capture their information so you can contact them about all of your scrapbooking specials and start giving them free information to keep them coming back to your website.

If you don't have a newsletter and haven't started building a subscriber base, you should start today.

Here are a few reasons why:

Reason #1: It's FREE advertising. Why pay a ton of money to advertise in a local newspaper when you can do it for free with yourself? Building a solid subscriber base means you have an open audience of like-minded people who either like what you have to offer, or are, at the very least, interested in your message. You just send off an email to your scrapbooking customer base and keep them in contact with what you're doing and also any specials you may have.

Reason #2: It's the perfect market research tool. Have you ever been stumped for fresh, new ideas to offer your customers? When you have a subscriber base, you can ask them for their feedback and/or ideas. What better way to give your target market what they want, than by asking them directly? You could find out what kinds of questions they have about scrapbooking so you can create online classes just for them. It keeps you in touch with what layouts they like, and most of all it keeps the communication open for them so they feel like they can contact you anytime.

Reason #3: It promotes word of mouth advertising. Everybody knows that word of mouth will get you a whole lot farther, faster, than any type of advertising. Please your subscribers, and they'll let their friends and family know. An easy way to get them talking is to run a scrapbooking contest on your site. One day I decided to run a scrapbooking contest on my site and I received 76 subscribers just in one day! A contest is well worth your time, scrapbookers love contests.

Reason #4: It keeps you in touch with your customers. What turns you into a return customer? Quality customer service! Your newsletter is an excellent way for you to stay in touch with your customers and show them your appreciation for their business. Don't just use your newsletter as a way to squeeze more money from them. Use it to express your gratitude for their business. Even create memories for them, guide them to look forward to your emails by giving them great scrapbooking content, tips, tutorials, and contests. By providing them great information, they will look forward to receiving your tips all the time.

Reason #5: Keep your customers informed. Having a scrapbooking sale? New products arriving? Do you have something really exciting to share about your business? Mention it all to them! Having a newsletter will give you an easy method of informing your customers about all the new things going on with your business. Keep them in touch with all the latest crops that are out there, products that are new. They will be very happy to learn more from you.

Vera Raposo is the Scrapper's Business Coach. She is now teaching how to create your very own Custom Scrapbook Artist Business. You can sign up for her exclusive tips at ScrapVenturePro.com to help your business succeed.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vera_Raposo

5 Reasons To Create A Newsletter For Your Scrapbooking Customers

By Vera Raposo

Your scrapbooking business really requires you to create a relationship with your customers. When a customer comes into your store you have an opportunity to visit with them face to face.
But when they approach your website, you need to capture their information so you can contact them about all of your scrapbooking specials and start giving them free information to keep them coming back to your website.

If you don't have a newsletter and haven't started building a subscriber base, you should start today.

Here are a few reasons why:

Reason #1: It's FREE advertising. Why pay a ton of money to advertise in a local newspaper when you can do it for free with yourself? Building a solid subscriber base means you have an open audience of like-minded people who either like what you have to offer, or are, at the very least, interested in your message. You just send off an email to your scrapbooking customer base and keep them in contact with what you're doing and also any specials you may have.

Reason #2: It's the perfect market research tool. Have you ever been stumped for fresh, new ideas to offer your customers? When you have a subscriber base, you can ask them for their feedback and/or ideas. What better way to give your target market what they want, than by asking them directly? You could find out what kinds of questions they have about scrapbooking so you can create online classes just for them. It keeps you in touch with what layouts they like, and most of all it keeps the communication open for them so they feel like they can contact you anytime.

Reason #3: It promotes word of mouth advertising. Everybody knows that word of mouth will get you a whole lot farther, faster, than any type of advertising. Please your subscribers, and they'll let their friends and family know. An easy way to get them talking is to run a scrapbooking contest on your site. One day I decided to run a scrapbooking contest on my site and I received 76 subscribers just in one day! A contest is well worth your time, scrapbookers love contests.

Reason #4: It keeps you in touch with your customers. What turns you into a return customer? Quality customer service! Your newsletter is an excellent way for you to stay in touch with your customers and show them your appreciation for their business. Don't just use your newsletter as a way to squeeze more money from them. Use it to express your gratitude for their business. Even create memories for them, guide them to look forward to your emails by giving them great scrapbooking content, tips, tutorials, and contests. By providing them great information, they will look forward to receiving your tips all the time.

Reason #5: Keep your customers informed. Having a scrapbooking sale? New products arriving? Do you have something really exciting to share about your business? Mention it all to them! Having a newsletter will give you an easy method of informing your customers about all the new things going on with your business. Keep them in touch with all the latest crops that are out there, products that are new. They will be very happy to learn more from you.

Vera Raposo is the Scrapper's Business Coach. She is now teaching how to create your very own Custom Scrapbook Artist Business. You can sign up for her exclusive tips at ScrapVenturePro.com to help your business succeed.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vera_Raposo

5 Reasons Why Scrapbooking Should Be Your Next Hobby

By Nicole Fisher

Scrapbooks Protect Your Photos

Not only does a well-made scrapbook protect and preserve your photos, it also makes the photos themselves more fun to look at. Most people would much rather thumb through a scrapbook with its extra, fun touches than a plain photo album.

Scrapbooks Make Great Gifts

Because they are so personal, scrapbooks make a great gift for a loved one on a special day. Some especially good occasions to give a scrapbook as a gift are: weddings, anniversaries, milestone birthdays, graduations, and retirement parties.
Scrapbooks show that you put a lot of time and thought into your gift and can be a wonderful keepsake for the receiver.

Scrapbooking Is a Great Creative Outlet

Did you know that you have an artistic, creative side? Everyone does, it's just that not everyone uses it. Scrapbooking, with its colors, themes, cutting and pasting, writing, and arranging, is a great way to express your creativity. The best part is that all of that is enjoyable and so much fun!

Maybe you are one of those people that don't believe you can do any of that very well. Guess what? You're wrong! Even the most un-artistic person can copy a page layout that they found somewhere and really liked. Besides, it's hard not to be inspired when you have some great photos and some fun scrapbooking materials in front of you.

After a while you'll be adding your own personal touches to your pages, and soon you'll be creating your own completely unique layouts that you can be proud of.

Other Scrapbookers!

Nothing will help you make new friends faster than sharing a hobby with someone! Scrapbooking is an especially great hobby for sharing with friends. Many communities have scrapbooking clubs where scrapbookers can get to together to scrapbook, share ideas, show each other photographs, and talk for hours. Some craft stores also have a scrapbooking night for this same purpose (usually with the hope that people will buy a few things).

These scrapbooking nights or "crops", as they are called by scrapbookers, are a great way to get out of the house and spend some time socializing with other people. If you really need some time for yourself, get your club to put on a weekend scrapbooking retreat. It will be two days of nothing but scrapbooking fun!

Your town doesn't have a scrapbooking club? That's easy. Find some friends who scrapbook and start one! If you don't have some other scrapbookers in your life, you're missing out.
Scrapbooking Captures Precious Moments and Memories

In my opinion, this is the most wonderful thing about scrapbooking. The best way to explain it is with a quick story.

When I first started scrapbooking, my grandma was the person in my family most interested in my layouts. Every time she came over we would look through them together and she would point out the things she liked the most.

She was so interested that I finally decided to make a scrapbook with her. We put in photos of us together along with mementos of all the special times we could think of. It took a few weeks to finish, but we had a great time.

Two short months later she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and quickly slipped away. I'm so thankful that we were able to make that scrapbook together. Because now, whenever I miss her, I can just look through that scrapbook and smile at all the precious memories.

Nicole Fisher is a contributing writer for SuperScrapbookingIdeas.com, a fantastic resource for page layout inspiration, useful links, helpful tips, and tons of scrapbooking ideas.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_Fisher

Snow Fun Scrapbook Layout

By Rachel Paxton

Playing in the snow is a great time to take candid pictures of your family. Where we live we might only get one or two days of snow each year, if we're lucky, so this year we decided to drive to the snow! We found a state park only a couple of hours away where they had great sledding hills, and took the whole family along for an afternoon of sledding and snow fun.

We took lots of great pictures that day. It's not often you get pictures of grandma and grandpa sledding and playing in the snow. The hard part is choosing which pictures to put in my scrapbook!

Materials Needed:

- Dark blue piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper
- White piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper
- Paper Cutter
- Glue
- Two photos

I was trying to come up with a "snow" theme for my scrapbook layout. I chose a 12x12 dark blue piece of paper for the background of my page. I decided to accent the blue with lots of white to represent the snow.

For the first white accent I decided to create snowflakes to be the mats for my photos. There was only enough room for two photos on the page, so I cut out two snowflake mats.

To make the snowflake mats, I cut out a piece of white cardstock to be the size my mat would normally be. Then I folded the piece of paper in half as many times as I could and cut the corners off and cut little triangles into each side of the shape to create my snowflake. You can have fun with this part, just think back to making snowflakes as a child! I also cut out a couple of small snowflakes for extra decoration.

To add some snow to the background of my page, I took a 12x12 piece of white card stock and tore a strip of it to glue at the bottom of the dark blue background page. This gives the page the appearance of a snowy background (see photo).

Next I cut out a freehand snowman to glue on the side of the page. It really doesn't have to look perfect, it's supposed to look homemade!

I then printed out the words "Winter Wonderland" on my computer to create the heading for the page. I didn't mat this piece of paper. I just cut it out and glued it at the top of the background page.

Last but not least, I glued two photos to my "snowflake" mats and arranged them in the center of the page with the extra snowflake for an added accent. Easy, and very cute!

Photos of finished snow fun scrapbook layout: http://www.crafty-moms.com/scrapbooking/snow-fun.shtml
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel_Paxton

How To Start Digital Scrapbooking In 5 Easy Steps

By Delores Robinson

Digital scrapbooking is gaining in popularity rather quickly. However, to someone who is just getting started, it can seem like a daunting project to start. It doesn't have to be this way. You can start digital scrapbooking in 5 easy steps.

Step 1. Gather your gear. You'll need photo's on your computer. They can be photo's you've taken with your digital camera, photo's others have emailed you or old photo's you've scanned and imported to your computer. It doesn't matter how you got them on your computer, what's important is they are there!

Step 2. Decide which software you'll be using. There are two types of software for digital scrapbooking. Layout programs and photo editing programs. There are a host of layout programs for digital scrapbooking. Layout programs allow you to assemble and make digital scrapbook pages easily. They help you organize digital photo's, page themes and journaling. Sadly, many of these programs leave something to be desired for serioius digital scrapbooking. If you really want to try a layout program, give Pixel Magic a try.

The other type of program for digital scrapbooking is the Photo Editing software like Photoshop, Corel's Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements or Microsofts Digital Image Pro. Paint Shop Pro and Adobe's Photoshop Elements are two of the most popular and easy to use Photo Editing software for digital scrapbooking. You can find online tutorials for each program if you don't already know how to use them.

Step 3. Create Your First Digital Scrapbook Page. Here is where the fun starts. You'll want to find some tutorials about laying pages out (layering), resolution count and creating your first basic page. You'll be choosing templates, photo's, embellishments, decorations and other elements for your first page. Don't get carried away, keep it simple until you get a few pages under your belt. You can then try new things and techniques.

Step 4. Store you newly created scrapbook page. There are a number of ways you can choose to store your digital scrapbook pages. You can save them as a high resolution JPG image, in the native format of the program you're using or as a low resolution JPG. Also, make sure you create proper folders on your computer for you digital scrapbook pages. Nothing is more frustrating than hunting for pages you know you created but can't find!

Step 5. Show off your pages. There are many services where you can choose to share your newly created digital scrapbook pages with friends, family and the whole Internet! You can also email them to other people, but be warned, the size of the scrapbook pages can get huge and you could fill up someones email box by sending them a huge file.

It really is this simple to get started with digital scrapbooking. There are many, many places on the web where you can get ideas for you own page. There are galleries of other scrapbookers finished pages, forums and blogs. There are no limits to the resources for a beginning scrapbooker!

Delores Robinson is an experiences scrapbooker. She spends her time helping newcomers to scrapbooking, designing scrapbooks or working on her site DIY Scrapbook Supplies You can find advice, tips and helpful advice as well as the latest scrapbooking supplies on her site. She also has the latest and coolest digital scrapbooking supplies to make your next scrapbook project really jump out!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Delores_Robinson

Bring Your Scrapbooking to a Higher Level

By Tiffany Washko

Are you getting bored with the beginner tactics you learned as a scrapbooker just starting out? Are all of your scrapbooks starting to look the same? If so, it may be time that you began implementing advanced techniques to take your scrapbooks to a higher level.

If you're beginning to lose inspiration for your scrapbooks, take a look at the following advanced techniques and see if it opens the door to more scrapbooking fulfillment for you:

Matchbook scrapbooks - You can show off small photos in a scrapbooking format that look like a tiny matchbook! For instance, many parents take a picture of their child's first day of school each year.

You can use a cover that resembles a tiny matchbook that opens up and displays the child's school picture for that year. Plus, you might want to include some special memories about that school year.

Use up those leftover scraps - You can create a mosaic border for your scrapbooking pages. If you have some leftover scraps that you don't know what to do with, just cut them up into little pieces and create a mosaic piece to add to the scrapbooking page.

Place them on a background page that's a contrasting color to the colors you plan to use for your mosaic so that you can give the illusion of grout that would be seen in a ceramic mosaic pattern.

Add some silhouettes - Silhouette cropping your photos gives your scrapbook page a new dimension that will make the page pop. By cutting close to the subject lines, you can make the picture seem real to those browsing through the pages.

Add decorative cuts - Want to make your cuts more interesting and less plain Jane? Use decorative scrapbooking scissors. You can cut different shapes into your project with triangles, corkscrew and art deco patterns.

Design your own background - If you can't find the background paper you want, then try designing your own unique pattern! Take a piece of background paper and sponge paint it with the color and shapes that you want.
You can even finger-paint it if you want - get creative.
Scrapbooking can be fun for the beginners as well as the more advanced memory-keeper. Create your own projects and come up with new ideas for your scrapbooking hobby to share with others. Bring your scrapbooking creative juices to the surface and let them flow.

Tiffany Washko is the editor of Nature Moms, http://www.naturemoms.com . After working several years in corporate healthcare marketing and public relations, she took time away to be a mother. This new pursuit lead her to a new passion, natural family living and writing about environmental and political issues. She currently works as a freelance writer and newspaper journalist.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tiffany_Washko

Tips and Tricks for the Scrapbooking Beginner

By Tiffany Washko

Scrapbooking can be a fun hobby to start for anyone who loves taking pictures and showing them to others. It's so easy to do that even a beginner can catch on quickly. If scrapbooking intimidates you because you've seen some elaborate creations, just follow some of these beginner tips to hone your skills into a bona fide scrapbooking pro:

Matting - By simply matting your photos, you can instantly change the look of your picture and make it stand out on the page. Double matting is even more effective to making a picture stand out. Use white or light colored mattes first and a contrasting color to matte the picture in last. For the contrasting-colored matte, use a color that's in the photo to really make it pop.

Pre-made designed pages - If you're not comfortable designing your own pages for your pictures, then buy some pre-made scrapbooking pages from any hobby store. You can simply attach your photos on these pages however you want and add any extra things - like stickers or content.

Rubber stamping - Consider using rubber stamps to add a little spice to your themed scrapbooking pages. Take a day at the zoo and bring more life to the scrapbook page by rubber stamping zoo animals periodically throughout the page.

Don't forget the words - No scrapbooking page can be complete without some text scattered here and there on the themed page. You can use your own handwriting to write what you want or print something off of the computer and cut it out to place on your scrapbook page. Words can help keep the memory of that special day alive.

Something old, something new, something special - To make a scrapbooking page more personal and special to you, add some sort of physical item from that day. For example, a wedding scrapbook page could use something like one of the flowers from the bouquet or a wedding napkin to immortalize that day in your life.

Get others involved - Recruit your children or friends and have them design their own pages for their photos. It can be the perfect way to pass the time on a rainy day when you can't get outside.

If the kids aren't old enough, you can do the cutting and pasting, but let them add stickers and choose the colors they want. They can even add some of their own artwork to the pages if they want!

Use stencils - If you want to add some little graphics to your scrapbook, but can't draw, consider using stencils. There are many stencils out there that have all kinds of shapes you can trace onto your scrapbook page.

Scrapbooking is the easiest hobby you can start! Once you're comfortable as a beginner, you'll find it easy to implement new ideas you stumble upon for your scrapbooking pages.

Tiffany Washko is the editor of Nature Moms, http://www.naturemoms.com . After working several years in corporate healthcare marketing and public relations, she took time away to be a mother. This new pursuit lead her to a new passion, natural family living and writing about environmental and political issues. She currently works as a freelance writer and newspaper journalist.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tiffany_Washko