Note: Tutorial created in Windows XP.

Welcome to Scrap Girls!

We are thrilled to have you join the growing ranks of digital scrapbookers. By participating in one of the many events, chats, crops, and challenges in the Scrap Girls Chat Room, you are taking advantage of an outstanding way to learn and interact with our talented and helpful Scrap Girls Team - the Staff, Product Designers, Layout Designers, and Welcoming Committee.

The information included here is designed to help out our newest members and those just dipping their toes in the digital world. To make the chat process easier to understand, it has been separated into three categories: Before the Chat, Entering the Chat, and During the Chat.

 

Before the Chat

Before the Chat - Downloading a file

Some of the Chat Room events, such as the Sketch Crop Challenges, require you to download a file ahead of time. One of the most common sites to download files from is yousendit.com.

The download link will be included in the event message board announcement. Copy and paste the link into the web address bar of your Internet browser or click on the link to follow it.

 

An example of the first download screen at yousendit.com is shown here. Click on the link beginning “http://” (most download sites will work in a similar manner).

 

This is an example of the second screen you will see at yousendit. Click on the “Download Now Securely” button to continue.

 

Next, a file download window will appear. Click on “Save” to continue.

In the “Save As” window, first use the drop down menu to select the file in which to save your download. You may find it easier to set up one file folder for downloading all your chat materials.

For example, I always download into my “classes and crops” folder. The file path for my classes and crops folder is as follows: “N:\ScrapGirls\classes and crops”. The “N:” in this example represents the drive name, and each word after that is the name of a folder. So essentially, my classes and crops folder is in the Scrap Girls folder on my N: drive.

It is important to make note of your file folder location so you can easily find your information for the chat.

 

After selecting your folder, click on “Save” to begin the download.

 

Before the Chat - Extracting (or Unzipping) a File

Many of the file downloads are zipped to compress the file size. You will have to unzip or extract the information before you can use it.

 

This screen shot shows an example of a zipped file.

On a Mac:

1. Double-click on the file, and it automatically uses an extract program to extract the file.
2. You can do more than one at a time just by highlighting (clicking and dragging over) as many files as you want. The program automatically extracts the files to the same location where the ZIP file is located.

On a PC:

1. For extracting multiple files, you may want to use a freeware program such as Extract Now, go to http://www.extractnow.com/ to download for free.

2. You may also use the Extraction Wizard (that comes with Windows) to extract one file at a time.

3. Right-click on the file, and then select “Extract All...” from the drop down menu.

4. In the Extraction Wizard window, click “Next”.

5. If you want to unzip the file into the current folder, click on “Next”.

6. If you wish to unzip the file to another location, first click on “Browse” to choose the new folder, and then click on “Next”. Make note of any folder changes so you may easily find the file for your chat.

7. To complete the extraction process, click “Finish”. You will now see the unzipped file.

 

Before the Chat - The small, little details

Before your chat begins, it is recommended you review the chat materials (if any) so you have a basic overview of what will be covered. You may wish to make note of any questions you have so you may ask the teacher or hostess during the chat.

You will want to open your photo-editing software. During a general chat, challenge, or event, there will regularly be assistance available for Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.

 

Make sure you have the latest version of Java. You can check at http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp.

 

Entering the Chat

 

You can enter the chat by clicking on the “Live Chat” icon (on the upper right of the page) from either the Scrap Girls home page or the Scrap Girls Message Board.

 

It will take a few moments for the Chat Room Java application to open. While you are waiting, you will see a screen similar to the one here.

 

During the Chat

The screen shot here shows what you will see upon entering the chat room.

A. This is a list of the Users currently in the Chat Room. Your name will be shown in blue.

B. This is where you will see the chat text as each user posts a comment. Your name will be seen in blue.

C. This is where you type in your text. You can either hit your “Enter” key on your keyboard or “Send” to enter your words in the chat.

Please note: Bold and CAPS are used by the hostess or teacher only so their posts can be easily seen by all participants.

Many of the chats, challenges, and classes are held in specific chat rooms (refer to the message board thread for each event for more details).

 

To enter a specific room, click on “Show Rooms” button on the upper left side. Where the user names once were, will appear a list of the available rooms. To enter a room, double-click on the room name.

Note: The “Show Rooms” button will be visible when viewing the list of users. The “Show Users” button will be visible when viewing the list of rooms.

 

To make your chat window float (so you may see more than one window at a time), click on the second button from the right with four black arrows. Once the chat is floating, you may change the size of the window and move it around your monitor.

Regularly, the hostess of the chat will share links to different products in the Scrap Girls Boutique, to various layouts in the Scrap Girls Gallery, or to informational threads in the Scrap Girls Message Board.

Depending on your internet browser and security settings, you may be able to follow a link by using Control+Click (Command+Click on Mac).

 

If that method doesn’t work for you, click on “Actions” from the chat menu and click on “Recent Room History” from the drop down menu. A new pop-up window will appear.

 

Highlight the link by clicking and dragging your mouse across the web address. Use Control+C (Command +C on Mac) to copy the link.

 

Open another Internet browser window. Paste the copied address into the new window by using Control+V (Command+V on Mac) and hit your “Enter” key.

 

During the Chat - A few last things to keep in mind

Here at Scrap Girls, we welcome all members, experienced and new, to our chats/crops/challenges held in the Live Chat room. All of our events are hosted and moderated by Scrap Girls team members. Moderators will appear in RED/BOLD in the chat room; other Scrap Girls Team members will appear in blue. Please refrain from using these colors and/or bold during the chats to avoid confusion.

New Member chats are directed towards our newest members and are held to answer questions they may have about the message board, galleries, TOU (Terms of Use), and challenges. They are a great way for our new members to find their way around the chat room, learn how things work and get to know us. All members are welcome to attend; however, we ask that the focus stay on the new members and welcoming them to our forum.

Each chat event has a theme: Sketch, Art, Ad, All About Me, and High Noon to name but a few. It is important for all our members that we stay on topic with the chats while having fun. All questions are answered by team members unless the team member opens the question to the group. Discussions about software and message board use, chocolate and ice cream are natural, however, we ask that personal information and topics be reserved for our "Non-ScrapBook Related" (NSBR) chat, held once a week in the chat room.

Team members may invite a member into a Private Chat for a gentle reminder if these rules aren't being followed. Remember, we have a limited amount of time to cover a lot of information. Should the chat or crop end with members still wishing to chat, then please feel free. But wait until all topics have been covered, all questions answered, and the moderator has signed off the chat room floor.

 

And finally...

If you have any questions regarding this information or anything involving digital scrapbooking and photo editing software, please feel free to post on the message board or send a private message to any one of our team members. We want your digi scrapping adventure to be a happy one, and we all take great pleasure in helping you learn and grow.

Thank you for being a part of the Scrap Girls family!

Tutorial by Marnie Adams, Dee-Ann Decker and Theresa Kavouras