The Groove
Digital Scrapbooking Inspiration - October, 2006
BOO! Welcome to the Halloween edition of The Groove (cool Halloween layout, don’t ya think?). Take a look inside for “frightening” tips, “chilling” inspirations, and a “spooky” layout contest! (Okay – maybe our content isn’t all that scary, but you’ve got to dig that groovy Halloween spirit!) And speaking of spirited…
NEW! Look for the Weekly Challenge in the Scrapbook MAX! forums, hosted by Julie C. Every week, Julie throws out a scrapping challenge (a theme, a type of font, a scrapping style, etc.) and looks for the best layout in that category. It’s been extremely popular right from the start– so be sure to take a look and join the fun!
Musings on Halloween
I live in the middle of Canada, and Halloween night is inevitably freezing. I recall cruel blizzards blowing into town on the very eve of October 31. Not that it stopped us – oh no! We trudged ahead in our door to door pilgrimage, pillowcases hopefully outstretched, shouting “Trick-or-Treat!” at the top of our lungs. Our mouths would water at the thought of all that candy inches from our faces, in need of parental inspection before we’d stuff ourselves silly on a school night.
But we’d first have to “stuff” our parka-ed, mufflered, mittened, capped, booted selves into our costumes. Snow White swelled to unsightly proportions. Superman looked as though the donut rather than kryptonite was his arch nemesis. We walked the streets in a stiff shuffle, bloated versions of our svelte, school-costume-party selves.
It finally dawned on me in my last year of trick or treating to masquerade in gear appropriate to the climate. I donned an ancient fur coat that had belonged to my grandmother, wrapped a scarf glamorously around my head, and sported elbow length gloves and knee high boots. I was a movie star, and oh so toasty!
Digital Scrapbooking Tips
Groovy Tip #1: To group two or more objects together, hold Ctrl, select the objects with your mouse, and choose Edit > Group from the menu.
Groovy Tip #2: To avoid accidentally moving an object, right-click on the object, then select Pin or Lock.
Scrapper Profile
A- My wife Shelley and I have lived in Phoenix, AZ area for many years. We have no children, but have two Black Labrador Retrievers that might as well be. I enjoy doing anything creative, so I've done many careers concurrently... I'm a professional chef, musician, programmer, multimedia developer and cabinet maker. I run my own software development business from my home.
Q- How did you get started on digital scrapbooking?
A- I've worked as a developer and designer on scrapbooking-type programs in the past, but I've never done any kind of traditional scrapbooking. For the last 15 years, I've created many CD-ROM interfaces, websites, games and programs, so when Scrapbook MAX! came along, it was a great fit.
Q- Where do you get your layout ideas?
Q- What is your favorite Scrapbook MAX! tip or trick?
Q- What are your hobbies/interests (other than digital scrapbooking of course)?
A- I love to travel, do photography, shoot video, play with my dogs and swim. I've recently started going to concerts. I love all types of movies and music.
Some of Steve's favorite layouts!
Click on "Happy Halloween", "Winter", and "Basketball" to view larger images.
A great project to do with the kids: Write out a draft of a short story- either an original or a retelling of a favorite. Think like a picture book – keep one action or event to a single page. Now get out the costumes and props and take a picture to accompany each page. Then the scrapping fun begins – put your text and pictures together with Scrapbook MAX!, print it out, and bind it in an album. You are now a published author and your children are the stars of their very own book!
Top marks to all entries! We’re preparing ourselves to be “scared silly” (in a good way!) by your submissions for next month’s contest.
Variations! Choose a “focal” picture for your page. Paste several copies of the picture, each cropped differently. Or, surround your main picture with several other pictures taken from the same photo session, and bring your page to life! (Thanks to Kristy C. who provided the adorable "Dylan" layout!)
Click on "Dylan", "Friends", and "Birthday" to view larger images.
