The Sweetness of Summer
Thursday, July 5, 2012

IN TODAY'S ISSUE:

• 28.9% Sparkling Summer Sale!
• What's New in the Scrap Girls Boutique
• Product Design Team Call
• Scrap Girls, Etc.
• Scrap Girls Club
• ScrapSimple Club
• Designer Freebie
• What's Happening at Scrap Girls
• Ongoing Opportunities for YOU

Ever wish that you could be a Product Designer for Scrap Girls?

Well, now's your chance to apply!

If you are interested, please forward the following items to hello@scrapgirls.com.

The subject line must read: Product Designer Application.

1. 3 color palettes that you might use as a basis for designing collections.
2. A sample collection mini, consisting of 6 background papers, 1 "sheet" of embellishments, and 1 "sheet" of word art.

   A "sheet" consists of a grouping of items that will fit on an 8.5x11 document. Take care to make sure that the collection mini's color set is well balanced and that it has an idea that ties it together. It should contain enough embellishments and word art to be useful to someone who wishes to make several layouts from it. Also, take care that the embellishments are not a grouping of a small number of items that have just been re-colored. This is your opportunity to show your versatility and skill level.

3. At least one sample layout using the collection mini.
4. A sample brush set with 3 brushes.
5. A sample paper template set (like our ScrapSimple Paper Templates) with 2 papers.
6. A sample embellishment template set (like our ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates) with 3 embellishments.

   Examples of all of these products can be found in our Boutique.

Also, please answer the following questions in the body of your application email:

1. Approximately how much would you like to earn each month?
2. Approximately how many hours do you have to dedicate to design work each week?
3. What are your goals as it pertains to design work?
4. Why are you interested in working with Scrap Girls?
5. What software do you use?
6. Include any other information that you think would be helpful as we make our decision.

Other instructions: Save your files as 600px wide, 72 dpi. Place them in one zipped folder and forward with your application email.

DEADLINE: Friday, July 13, 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Notifications of results will be sent to all applicants by Friday, July 20.

What is Scrap Girls looking for in a new designer?

1. Talent
2. Desire to work with Scrap Girls and be a committed, active member of our team
3. Work ethic
4. Software and designing skills

If a talented person comes along whose skills are not quite what they might be, but we feel they would be a super-committed, dynamic member of our team if given a little help, we may choose to put them through an apprentice program.

We look forward to seeing your application!

Debbie Cleek
President, Scrap Girls Inc.

The Sweetness of Summer

It happens every year right around Easter. You're in the grocery store making your usual rounds and you spot something red out of the corner of your eye. You move in to investigate. And you realize with a certain giddiness in your heart that your long winter days of eating nothing but apples may be coming to an end. STRAWBERRIES are in!!! You snatch up a carton. You snatch up a second carton. You wonder if it would be piggy to buy two cartons and whether you can really eat them fast enough anyway. You skip your way toward the checkout line.

When you get home, you open your strawberry carton like it was your grandmother's jewelry box – slowly, carefully. And you take out the first precious strawberry and you think, Huh? It's the size of a baseball, which makes you stop and wonder, "Were strawberries always this big?"

You gently wash it off and take that first magical bite, and you think, Huh? "Why do I remember strawberries being so much more delicious then this?" You find yourself a little underwhelmed - and a week later, you notice that second carton is still in the back of your refrigerator.

As the days and weeks of spring roll on, you find yourself going back to apples. Maybe you buy some more strawberries here and there, but mainly out of duty, like "I need something pretty to dress up my fruit salad for this potluck."

Slowly but surely the real summer fruits start making their appearance as the days start to get longer and brighter. There are plums and apricots, maybe a few nectarines. Things are looking up.

And then one day you wander off your beaten path. Maybe you find yourself at a farmer's market or a fruit stand. Or you make a quick trip into one of those fancy-pants grocery stores. And there, in unassuming green cardboard cartons are the local strawberries. This time you really have to stop and consider, because, boy, those first ones are expensive. But then you notice something – the smell. They smell like real strawberries, unlike their early season cousins. They are tiny and delicate, and they seem like if you didn't eat them in the next hour, they might go bad. Without even realizing it, all of your hunter/gatherer senses have taken over, and you find yourself driving home with fresh strawberries next to you.

When you get home and start unpacking the bags, you eat one. And then you eat another. Wow, are they ever good. So sweet! They burst in your mouth. By the time your groceries are put away, you've finished off a third of the container. You move over to your cookbooks, and as you keep nibbling away, you start reading recipes for cobbler and shortcake. You go to the computer and research where in town you can go berry-picking. You start to dream of that alternate universe where you have time to make your own strawberry jam, so you could enjoy this amazing flavor all year long. As you chomp away, you think of freezing the berries. How surprised would your husband be to come home some winter night to find you pulling a freshly baked strawberry pie out of the oven? Of course, in your daydream you're wearing one of those cute frilly aprons, not the faded jeans like you usually do. And then you look down at your carton... did you really just eat the entire carton? There isn't even enough left to put on the cereal in the morning.

But here's the thing. Maybe in a world where you can get anything anytime you want it, where you can buy strawberries in February if you really want them, there should be some things that you can only enjoy for a few days a year. Things that you have to capture, really savor, seal them into your memory, and then let them go.

We hope you and your family can take the time to enjoy all the sweetness that is all around us during this special time of year.

- Debbie

Some berry inspiration for your summertime layouts...

Scrap Girls, Etc. is a column pulling bits and pieces from all over Scrap Girls. Stay tuned as Scrap Girls' team members bring you tutorials, musings, recipes, interviews, design/software tips and tricks, layout walk-throughs, and who knows what else!

		Join the Scrap Girls Monthly Club and you can have fun with the newest traditional digital and printable scrapbooking looks while saving! (A $40.87 value for $9.99 or less!) The Scrap Girls Club contents are released on the 1st day of the month (or the closest business day to the 1st). With the Scrap Girls Club, you will receive: 1 Collection Biggie 1 Paper Super Mini 1 Word Art Mini 1 Embellishment Mini 1 Assemble Your Own Zoom Page Set 1 Designer's Choice Item 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Jiffy Easy Page Album 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Designer's Choice Item 1 CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Color Palette July's Scrap Girls Club designed for you by Durin Eberhart
Club Exclusive! JIFFY Easy Page Album	Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift	Layout by Durin Eberhart using July's Scrap Girls Club

June's ScrapSimple Club has been created for you by Cindy Rohrbough & Cherise Oleson		Join the ScrapSimple Monthly Club and you can enjoy the newest ScrapSimple looks while saving! (A $13.95 value for $6.99 or less!) The new ScrapSimple Club contents are released on the 15th day of the month (or the closest business day to the 15th). A commercially licensed version of the ScrapSimple Club is also available here. With the ScrapSimple Club, you will receive: 1 ScrapSimple Paper Template Set 1 ScrapSimple Embellishment Template 1 Brush Set 2 Designer's Choice Item CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Nano Collection CLUB EXCLUSIVE! Designer's Choice Item CLUB EXCLUSIVE! 2 Tutorials
Club Exclusive! Nano Collection	Club Exclusive! Designer's Gift	Layout by Amy Flanagan using June's ScrapSimple Club

Layout by Syndee Nuckles
larger view

Designer Freebie by Syndee Nuckles coordinates
with her Super 7 Spread: Sunshine Day

Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Tools - Shapes: Fancy Brackets 6301, Witty Font and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Butterfly Shadows 6301 Mini are also available.

Today's freebie designed by Syndee Nuckles

* There is a "free download" button on the details page for each gift. You don't need to put them in your shopping cart unless you are shopping for other items. Also note that if you are slow reading your newsletter, you may find this freebie has already been retired, as the freebies are only available as gifts for about two newsletter cycles.

Journaling Challenge Crop
Monday, July 9th - 8:00PM EDT

Do you struggle to get your words on your layouts? This is the crop for you! Join Carla (CRS) in the chat room at 8pm ET for a Journaling Crop that is sure to help you get journaling! This month, we'll use Melissa Renfro's Lifted Journal Paper Super Biggie. We'll have a special challenge to get your motivated. Hope to see you there!

New Member Chat
Tuesday, July 10th - 9:00PM EDT

Join Pat (PBarnes) for the New Member Chat at 9pm ET in the Live Chat room lobby. This is a great place to ask questions about getting around the Scrap Girls site or about digital scrapbooking in general - and a great place to make some new friends. All are welcome, new and long time members included. You do need to have Java installed on your computer to access the Live Chat.

High Noon Crop
Wednesday, July 11th - 12 Noon EDT

Join April (April Showers) each Wednesday at 12 Noon EDT for the High Noon Crop. All coasts and time zones are welcome! These crops are designed to allow you to work on your own photos and themes, simply giving participants a one hour goal and a fun, new challenge each week.

On July 11th, we'll do a Texture Challenge! Create a layout using textures - either a richly detailed photograph, a textured paper, embellishments, whatever! Add some texture!

Create your layout and upload it to the special High Noon Crop Gallery. You'll be amazed what you can get done in just one hour, but there is no High Noon Sheriff timing you! Hope to see you in the chat room!

July's Forum Game: Spotlight on the Boutique

Each day of July (with the exception of Sundays), a member of the Welcoming Committee will post an image spotlighting a small circle of the layout you are to search for in the Scrap Girls Boutique. If the layout is not identified by the following morning, a second spotlight circle will be added to the layout; this will be repeated until the product is identified.

All you have to do to participate is search the boutique for the layout and post a link to the product page in the official game thread. Only one guess per member per day is allowed. You can find more specific details in the forum game thread.

Three $10 gift certificates to the Scrap Girls Boutique will be awarded. The winners will be randomly chosen from all the members that correctly identify a product throughout the month.

For complete details, visit the Monthly Forum Games folder on the Scrap Girls Forum.

July Monthly Layout Contest: Hot! Hot! Hot! In the northern hemisphere, July is generally a month of very warm temperatures. For July's layout contest, we want you to scrap about what you do to stay cool – whether it'is in July or December. Post your layouts in the July Monthly Layout Gallery before Midnight EDT on July 31st and you could one of the two people who will win a $10 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique! Please be sure to list your layout's product credits in the description or under the EXIF Properties.

Club Concepts Layout Contest: Post your new layout using the current club selection (either the Scrap Girls Club or the ScrapSimple Club) in our Scrap Girls Club Members Gallery or the ScrapSimple Club Members' Gallery. Be sure to list all of the Scrap Girls products you used. If your layout is chosen, it will be showcased as a Club Concepts layout winner, and you will win a $5 Gift Certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique!

Check our Forum calendar if you have any questions about what is happening at Scrap Girls. All event times are given in the Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise noted. Need help converting time zones? Check out the World Clock - Time Zone Converter. (Use 'USA-New York-New York' as the location for the Eastern time zone.)

Copyright Scrap Girls, Inc. 2004-2012

This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. We encourage you to share it with others.

Customers or advertisers, you may contact us at:
Scrap Girls
4110 SE Hawthorne Blvd, #753
Portland, Oregon 97214
www.scrapgirls.com

Toll-free: (866) 598-3444

P.S. If you ever need any assistance, please email hello@scrapgirls.com or call 866-598-3444 and we'll help you as quickly as possible!