If you’re a scrapbooker, you owe it to your craft to try digital scrapbooking!

It’s an easy way to expand and enhance your creativity in new and exciting ways. Some traditional scrapbookers are hesitant to “go digital” because it seems so different from what they’re used to.

But don’t fear – scrapbooking digitally, while it might take a little extra time to learn, is well worth the minimal effort. Plus, it’s not as if you have to become an expert digital scrapbooker overnight. Start small by making a simple, small digital photo album, then work your way up to a full-fledged storybook.

1. Saves you time. In the long run, once you learn it, digital scrapbooking will be a great timesaver. You can turn out wonderful looking keepsakes in no time – keepsakes that you’ll be proud to share. And when you do share them, you can email links to your photo creations.

The beauty of digital scrapbooking is that all the resources you need are at your fingertips – literally. And if you want to scan in a special design, poem, writing style or any other embellishment, you can. Then, what you’ve scanned will be available to use again and again.

2. Saves you money. Of course, you love paper, scissors and glue scrapbooking. But all three cost money – especially the paper embellishments and albums. And of course, you are just brimming over with creativity, which can also get expensive when you try to bring all your ideas to life.

With digital scrapbooking, all you need is your computer, your photos, some artwork to scan, backgrounds and layouts to work with … and voila, you can have a lovely keepsake for a fraction of the cost! And when you consider the money you’ll save on gas driving to and from the crafts stores – well, that alone may make it worth your while to learn how to scrapbook digitally.

3. You can scrapbook more. Combine Nos. 1 and 2 above and you get to scrapbook more than you ever thought possible! Rather than spending hours on just one paper and scissors scrapbook that has to accommodate a whole vacation’s worth of photos, you can create individual scrapbooks for each person who went on the vacation with you!

Rather than spend time driving from store to store looking for materials, you can simply upload your photos, scan in your embellishments and quickly create a thing of beauty you and others will cherish for a lifetime.

Of course, digital scrapbooking will never replace traditional scrapbooking. No one would want that to happen. The beautiful scrapbooks you create with your own two hands are special, unique and hold an enormous amount of value.

But digital scrapbooking does have its place in the scrapbooking world. And as you learn new techniques and tricks digitally, that’s sure to spark your creativity with your traditional scrapbooking.

So go ahead – give digital scrapbooking a try today. And get ready to be surprised by all the fun you’re going to have!

Matt Smolsky writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

Digital Scrapbook Graphics-Making Your Digital Scrapbook Unique

Digital scrapbooking is similar to traditional scrapbooking but it is easier and cheaper. With physical scrapbooking, problems such as photos eventually turning yellow and the damaging of photos by cutting them to resize them, an alternative is online scrapbooking where you can ensure protection of your photos and make your very own unique online scrapbook pages. There are special web sites that have endless digital scrapbook graphics for special occasions and holidays. You can only start digital scrapbooking once you have scrapbooking software and a photo program installed on your computer. To show you the way to get started there are tutorials and advice online for free. You can take advantage of free scrapbooking clipart and digital scrapbooking kits that already have all of the basic elements, ready for you to merge your photos into.

You can create your own paper, and embellishments, add your own digital scrapbook graphics from scrapbooking clipart files, Internet sites or your photo and scrapbooking software program. Since nothing is glued down, you can fix mistakes easily with your undo button, and since the digital scrapbook supplies are on your computer, you can re-use them over and over! There are different programs that you can import your graphics from and put them on your pages. The more you experiment, the better you can become, and the more unique your digital scrapbook becomes.

Using the email or a personal web page you may send pages from a digital scrap book to friends and family members. You can also make as many copies of your layouts as you wish and share them with family and friends in print. Merge your files when printing to get consistent results and make additional copies of your efforts to a CD, flash drive, or e-mail yourself a copy. Making additional copies of your efforts is important should your computer stop working. A unique gift idea for special occasions, such as birthdays or for the holidays, is a digital version of your scrapbook burned onto a CD. With the advances in digital scrapbooking , there has been a huge increase in the amount of people who are scrapbookers.

There are all kinds of great freebies online for digital scrapbook design, tutorials on digital scrapbooking, digital scrapbook graphics and scrapbooking clipart, paper designs and more. You can find fun and creative ideas for your digital scrapbook by visiting the blogs of other scrapbook creators. While many people belong to scrapbooking clubs, and take the annual scrapbooking convention getaway, they can get great ideas year-round through the Internet.
You can customize your digital scrap book - eventually making it more interesting - by adding journal excerpts and poems: just browse one of the many galleries and web sites which offer downloads. Digital scrapbooking allows you to create your own electronic scrapbooks for every single event easily.

Although parenting doesn’t stop when a mother goes to prison, the Ohio Reformatory for Women is one of very few prisons that addresses this problem. It has a program for non-violent, short-term offenders, who are pregnant or have infants. These mothers live in a special wing of the prison, where they’re able to have their babies with them in their cells. Between prison roll calls these women are able to take their babies to an in-house nursery for parenting classes and other scheduled activities. It’s hoped that programs like this will make it less likely mothers will commit other crimes. It’s hoped that more family bonds will mean fewer jail bonds.

Unfortunately, family bonds don’t prevent fathers from suffering postpartum depression. According to U.S. studies, 1/4 of new dads experience feeling of sadness and worthlessness, as well as loss of interest in sex and hobbies, soon after their babies are born. Although sleep deprivation is thought to be a factor, postpartum depressed dads also experience a decrease in testosterone and an increase in estrogen. Because there’s no medical explanation for this, psychologists theorize it’s caused by feelings similar to sympathy pains. In fact, having a partner with postpartum depression doubles the likelihood the dad will have it too. Depression, no matter what the cause, needs professional treatment. These dads need to understand it can’t be walked off.

The American Academy of Pediatrics wants all parents to understand that young children shouldn’t have exotic pets - and chicks, hamsters, hedgehogs, lizards and turtles are considered exotic. These animals carry dangerous and potentially deadly germs. Eleven percent of salmonella in children is caused by contact with reptiles. Chicks and hamsters also carry the salmonella germ and hedgehogs carry bacteria that cause fever, stomach pain and rash. Children under 5 are particularly at risk because of their underdeveloped immune systems and their propensity to put their hands in their mouths - to which parents need to pay pet-icular attention.

Attention should also be paid to new research done by sociologists at Florida State University. A study of 13,000 adults found that parents aren’t happier than childless adults. Not only does the parents’ depression increase with each child they have, but it doesn’t get better when the children move out. Because there doesn’t appear to be a cure for this parenting phenomenon, maybe every child should send their parents sympathy cards on Mother’s and Father’s Day.

KNIGHT PIERCE HIRST takes humorous looks at life.
Take a minute to make yourself smile at
http://knightwatch.typepad.com

Virtually everyone these days has heard of scrap booking and how to make a scrap book, its seems to be one of the fastest growing hobbies and everyone appears to be talking about how to start a scrap book. Is it really a new thing? Certainly not; its been around for literally years and years but as with many, some people might say ‘old fashioned’ hobbies. But how to start a scrap book has made a real comeback over the last few years.

Get Scrap Booking and learn how to start a scrap book whatever your age
And it appears to be ageless – you hear elderly people right through to young children who are really discovering (or in some cases re discovering) scrap booking as a really fun past time and activity. There are even some who you might have become a bit addicted to the past time utilizing any spare moment to scrapbook..

You might be surprised to discover the hobby of scrap booking has even overtaken golf in the popularity stakes which is absolutely amazing. It’s now reckoned that over 25% of households participate in scrap booking in one form or another!

Don’t Miss the Special ‘Scrap Booking’ Day
The interest in scrap booking and how to start a scrap book is so intense that the first Saturday in May has been claimed as National Scrap booking Day by National Scrap booking Association.

So don’t delay get started right away, it’s a terrific past-time that ensures you have a lasting keepsake of that special person and/or event.

As you hold the flashlight beneath your chin, eerily illuminating your face, you glance around the semi-circle of kids holding onto marshmallows and sticks over the camp fire, and some are intently staring at you with wide eyes, others looking around at their friends for support. Telling ghost stories is one of the oldest pastimes in the world; a way of exorcising our anxieties and deepest fears through a cathartic tale. If you’re looking for another ghost story to tell around a campfire, then here are some suggestions for all different ages and scare levels.

If you have little ones, then you’ll want to get them in the mood for Halloween fun, yet you don’t want to scare them silly with stories about ghosts. Theatrical storyteller Mary Jo Maichack plays guitar and fiddle on her audio CD, while combining folklore and “howlarious” Halloween jokes.

She’ll offer kids a variety of voices, from a Hungarian ghost to a goofy vampire to comprise a funny version of Halloween. The “Ghosthunters series,” by Cornelia Funke, combines humor, illustrations and gross stuff for seven-to-nine-year-olds to enjoy.

“Fungus the Bogeyman,” by Raymond Briggs, is a good picture book stuffed with puns and illustrations that’ll have your little ones roaring with laughter as they follow a monster through his daily routine. “It’s Halloween!,” by Jack Prelutsky, includes thirteen separate poems about Halloween and isn’t really a ghost story, but will certainly gets the kids in the mood. There is also a great collection of audio books and stories at “Surfnetkids Audiobooks Short Stories” that may be suitable for your children.

Tweens in the chapter-book age especially love ghostly stories. If you want an innocuous chapter book to get your child in the mood of Halloween, then try James Howe’s “Bunnicula,” which is a funny story about a little rabbit who sucks the life out of carrots with his fangs.

“Truly Scary Stories For Fearless Kids” will introduce your child to timeless classic stories of the ghosts described by Bram Stoker’s “Dracula’s Guest”, Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and E. Nesbit’s “Wedding,” to name a few. Esteemed author Roald Dah who wrote”The Witches” and “James and the Giant Peach” has sifted through 749 creepy tales before selecting the best for his collection, “Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories,” which provides a collection of stories that’ll “give you the creeps and disturb your thoughts.”

“Halloween Night” by R.L. Stine is a good pick for kids who are well into chapter books. The “Fear Street” series is a bit scarier than the popular “Goosebumps” books, but all offer good writing and carefully unraveled creepy plots that’ll keep your kids turning the pages.

For some people, ghostly stories aren’t enough. Now there is a whole cultural phenomenon surrounding the idea of ghost hunters, as seen on the TV show by the same name. Some avid paranormal enthusiasts use books of ghost stories as launching points for ghost hunting expeditions of their own. They’ll visit Alcatraz, Amityville, The Winchester House, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, the Lemp Mansion, the Viscilla Ax Murder House, the Old Slave House on Hickory Hill, Bobby Mackey’s Music World, Myrtles Plantation and Gettysburg.

Are you planning a halloween party. Mike Selvon’s portal has more information about ghost stories. Visit our portal and leave a comment at our halloween monsters blog.

As technology improves, consumers now have access to services that make their lives easier. One of the best examples of this is digital photo printing. In the past, you would have to take your pictures with a regular camera, then have the film developed before finally being able to see your photos for the first time.

Now, this process has changed dramatically. Thanks to digital cameras, you can see your image right after you’ve snapped the picture. Consumers no longer have to risk having their pictures turn out badly, missing out on opportunities to capture a moment or a memory. Instead, you can immediately tell whether or not a photo turned out well and if it didn’t you can instantly take a better picture.

The processing stage has also improve drastically. Since you no longer have to wait days, or even an hour, you can access your pictures immediately and begin sharing them. Digital photos can be taken right off of your camera, uploaded to your computer and then you can decide how you want to keep them. If you’re interested in preserving the photos, it’s best to work out a solution where you keep a digital copy of the photo, as well as using digital photo printing. This is the best of both world. You no longer have to worry about having your photos damaged, since you’ll always have a digital back up.

There are many different benefits to digital photo printing that consumers are now enjoying on a regular basis. Thanks to these services, it is easier than ever to take, print and share high quality photos. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, there are a few others that consumer can enjoy.

1. The ability to change your photos before having them printed. If you don’t want your photos to have the dreaded “red eye” effect, or you need to be able to crop, resize or even add special effects to your images, this is possible with digital photos. Now, anyone can easily make any change they want to their photo before sending them in for digital photo printing.

2. More control over your options. When you’re using a digital photo printing service, you have a lot more control over all of your options. Since consumers are no longer constrained by traditional photo processing, they can choose to have some or all of their photos developed, have a back up copy for archival purposes, as well as easily enlarge or shrink photos and have the results turn out remarkably well.

If you haven’t tried digital photo printing before, now is the perfect time to take advantage of all of these benefits. Even if you don’t have a digital camera, you can still scan your images in, edit them, and send them off to be printed. This blending of technology and features makes digital photo printing the best option for those that want more control over their photographs.

CJ Thomas writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

One of the best benefits of digital photo printing is that you have the ability to change your photographs any way you would like before having them printed. If you are interested in taking advantage of free online photo album sites, but you’re not sure where to start, here is an easy guide to help you edit your pictures.

Step One: Download a photo editing application. There are numerous freeware versions of photo editing software, or if you need extra control, you can purchase a more comprehensive suite. Photoshop is a very popular tool for advanced users, while Paint Shop Pro is enjoyed by many entry level users. It is a good idea to take advantage of free trials on paid photo editing applications so that you can make sure you like the software before actually buying it.

Step Two: Once you have your photo editing software installed, you will need to either transfer your photos from your digital camera or scan existing prints in. Most digital cameras will come with a flash memory card that can either be directly read by a computer, or they will have a cable that will transfer the data over to your computer. Flat bed scanners are widely available as well and they make it simple to send old photographs to your computer.

Step Three: Now that you have the original image saved on your computer, it’s time to open up your digital photo software and start editing the image. You’ll have many different options, depending on the type of application you are using. Some of the more popular uses include cropping photos to remove unwanted areas, fixing problems with colors, getting rid of certain effects, or even adding special effects of your own.

You can add special borders, integrate clipart, or even make the photo look like an oil painting, depending on the software you are using. It’s a good idea to make sure that you save the file under a new name so that you can preserve the original. Once you’re done editing the picture, it’s time to move on to the final step for digital photo printing.

Step Four: Picking the right size. If you keep the photo the same size that your camera produced, it will be a little easier to get them printed with the digital photo printing service. If it is smaller, try to pick image sizes that will correspond to prints. For example, 4×6, 5×7 and 8×5 are popular image sizes. You can use your photo editing software to resize your image, but please note that the quality may be lessened if you try to change the overall size too much.

Step Five: Upload your pictures for digital photo printing. After you have followed the above steps, it’s time to upload your photos to the digital photo printing website and order your prints. This process is very similar to traditional photo processing, but the results will be much better.

That’s all there is to it! Go out and take some pictures, load your pictures to a free online photo album site, and see just how easy it is to use digital photo printing services.

CJ Thomas writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.