Crazy Love Contest

We are getting crazy in February, the month of love, at Digitals. Every time you spend $20 or more in the store, you will be automatically entered in a random drawing to win one of our awesome prizes.

	• Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 for Windows
	• Digital Photography for Busy Women by Laura Oles
	• and.... a $20 gift certificate to Digitals!

So be sure to stop and see our new items, our large selection of Valentines products, and our sale items. Limit one entry per day, per person. Yes, we will ship internationally. Prizes will be announced no later than March 3. Good luck!

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
by Stacey Mann

In our lightning-fast growing hobby of digital scrapbooking, it is as important as ever to remember to give credit to the designers who have worked so hard to create the lovely pieces we use in our layouts.
In the Digitals galleria, we ask that you list the designers of all the products used on your page and the site you downloaded them from. We do not allow links to sites other than our own, so please use site names (such as Great Site or greatsite.com). Also remember to list all fonts used as well as often forgotten things like templates, a sketch the layout is based on, a color scheme, or a layout you scraplifted. When crediting Digitals designers, please list their name, Digitals, and a link if allowed.

You are welcome to download this tag and either digitally paste it in your jpg files (you can turn the layer off in your native file, such as .psd or .psp) or you can print them out on your home printer and adhere them to the back of your printed pages for easy reference in the future.
(Speaking of credits, for the tag, the doodle is by Bannerwoman @ Digitals, Fonts are Porcelain and Shimmer. Created by Stacey Mann.)
Happy crediting!

Help Wanted: Design Mentor, Paid Position

Digitals is looking for a person (or two) with advanced graphic design skills, more than a year active experience in the digital scrapbooking community, and a desire to encourage others. Must have excellent working knowledge of one or more of the 3 major graphics programs (PS, PSE, or PSP), know about commercial use and copyright issues, and be willing to work on a one on one basis.
The position involves giving feedback and advice to improve designers' skills. Compensation will be either cash (via PayPal) or store gift certificates, and will be discussed in detail with serious applicants. You will need to sign a confidentiality agreement.
To apply, email a digital scrapping resume listing your experience and qualifications, including links to any stores you sell at and galleries where you are most active to Stacey Mann.
We will accept applications until the position has been filled.
Thank you in advance for your interest!

Review - Digital Photography for Busy Women by Laura Oles
by Stacey Mann

Digital photography has made preserving our lives easier and better in so many ways. But will these pictures be around for our descendants to enjoy? Laura Oles' book Digital Photography for Busy Women addresses that issue.
Going, going, gone are the days of shoeboxes full of prints. Like me, you probably have accumulated thousands of digital photos in the few years since digital photography has been available, and all but the lucky few that have been scrapbooked live only on your computer. In the preface, Oles asks what 3 possessions would you save in case of a house fire? Obviously most of us would list our photos/ scrapbooks. But if your photos are only on your hard drive in your PC, will you be able to save it? She goes on to teach her trade-marked FRAME method for ensuring the preservation of our precious photos.
F stands for filter which means to delete unwanted pictures. This is hard for me. I don't like to throw any photos out; I wonder if I might find some technique that those blurry shots might be just perfect for. She suggests deleting right after you upload.
R is for reorganize. This involves tagging your photos with relevant key words in a software album program.
The A is for archive. Oles suggests backing up two times, by two methods, in two locations. Besides keeping them on your hard drive, you will want to consider two of these options for back-ups: CDs or DVDs, an external hard drive, and on-line service, or she even mentions an iPod. As for the second location, the online services is her recommendation. You could also send a copy of your CDs or DVDs to a family member for safe keeping.
Make a print archivally is the M. Silver halide processing which is what most labs that we order from use, lasts 20-100 years. Some inkjet prints may last as long, tests show, but you must be using pigment-based inks and follow the manufacturers guidelines for paper and ink choices to achieve these results, which are not available with all printers.
And lastly, E is for ensure backups. Oles says to set a date you will remember each year to go back and check your archived files and make sure they are still valid. I have looked at CDs from 4 years ago and found a handful of jpg files unreadable.
The author sprinkles in photo tips, addresses media migration (upgrading to the current standards as they change), and compares different media.
While it is geared toward digital photos, the same system will work for our digital scrapbook layouts.
Oles' book brings to mind issues that most dedicated digital photographers are aware of, but need to be reminded of, myself included. And this is great information for someone new to digital photography. We cannot be reminded enough to preserve the priceless photos we have captured of our loved ones.
Her book retails for $19.95 and is sold in bookstores, on-line stores, and retail outlets nationwide.