Ask Nettio: How Do I Crop A Two-Page Template?

POSTED ON September 29, 2011 IN Ask Nettio

Last week I released my first ever FREE two-page template here at NettioDesigns. Since then I’ve gotten some questions about the best way to crop the template into a 12×12 page so I’ve whipped up a little tutorial with some tips to show you just how easy it is to do.

If you haven’t already, you can download your own copy of the template here.

Step 1: Open the template in your scrapbooking program of choice (for me that is Photoshop CS3). The template is 12×24 inches so it’s really two 12×12 pages side-by-side in a single document.

Step 2: Save a duplicate copy of the template so you don’t accidentally crop your original copy.

To do this, you can either go to File>Save As to save the existing document with the new name or you can go to Image>Duplicate to create a copy and then Save the duplicate copy. I recommend using Image>Duplicate so that you can have both the new cropped version and the original template open in Photoshop at the same time.

Step 3: Grab your Crop tool and starting in the top left or right corner (top left corner for the West Coast, top right corner for the East Coast), hold down the Shift key and drag a box out towards the center of the template. Holding down the Shift key is key because it will guarantee you get a perfect square crop.

Your crop box would now look like this for the West Coast:

This for the East Coast:

Or you can even go with something like this for the Mid West:

Once you’ve drawn out your crop box, check to make sure any elements or states you want to include are within the highlighted crop box.

If they’re not, cancel the crop and move those elements into the area you plan to crop so they won’t get lost when you crop the template. You can also transform the map to a smaller size to include more states or move the states closer to the left side of the page if you want to include more of the Western half of the US.

Step 4: Once you’re happy with the area within your crop box, press Enter to crop the template.

Your template should now look something like this:

Step 5: Now add your own papers, photos and elements to the template like you normally would to create your page!

If you’d like to use the entire two page template, create your page first and then follow these same directions to crop each left and right page to 12×12 so you can upload them to be printed later on.

And in case you’re in need of some layout inspiration, check out this super cute Road Trip page from NettioDesigns CT Member Natalie. She moved the map portion of the template closer to the left hand side of the page to get more of the Western US and then cropped her page to 12×12. I just love the little car zipping between the states!

Hope this helps and if you have any questions, just let me know!

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How To Create a Scrap-worthy Map with Photoshop

POSTED ON September 22, 2011 IN Free Stuff

For the Sugarbabe September Portfolio challenge over at Sweet Shoppe Designs, I was tasked with creating a digital scrapbooking layout based on inspiration I had saved/favorited/pinned.

Since I have an ~~love~~ obsession with Pinterest, I turned to my scrapbooking pin board and selected this super awesome layout by one of my absolute favorite paper scrapbookers, Kelly Purkey. She’s a girl after my own paper-lovin’ heart with the way she rocks patterned paper!

Specifically what inspired me about this layout was the graphic shapes she gave to the states and her bold use of patterned paper against the kraft background (no surprise there, haha). I also loved all her little circle photos representing all the places she had visited.

Now while I love to travel, I certainly don’t travel as much as she does, so I decided instead to theme my layout around all the places Adam and I have lived so far. Since we have yet to live on the East Coast (it’s on our short list of places to go next since it’s the one US time zone we haven’t lived in yet, haha), I decided to simplify my layout and do a single page featuring the Western half of the United States.

Here’s my finished layout featuring Zoe Pearn’s super adorable Sunshine & Lollipops kit:

Since I posted this layout over in the Sweet Shoppe gallery earlier this month, I’ve gotten a some questions asking how I put this layout together. Kelly has an awesome tutorial over on her blog showing how she designed her map using paper, but since my layout is 100% digital, I’ve whipped up a little tutorial to show you how you can get this same look using Photoshop.

A little note: this tutorial was written based on Photoshop CS3 so it should work in other versions of Photoshop, but I haven’t tried it using Photoshop Elements. As always, there are a million different ways to do the same thing in Photoshop so I’m just sharing what worked for me.

Ok, on to the tutorial…

Step 1: The first thing you need to is find a map of your desired location. I took a screenshot from Google Maps for my map but any map image will do as long as it has the outlines of the states/countries on it.

Once you have your map, you need to drag it onto your scrapbooking canvas and resize it to the size you want your final map to be. I made my map fill the majority of the page. Don’t worry if your map image ends up pixelated, it won’t show in your final layout.

Step 2: Next, you want to grab your Polygonal Lasso Tool. You’ll find it under the normal Lasso tool – it’s the lasso with the weird angles on it.

Step 3: Now we’re going to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to draw a shape around each state using the lines on the map as a guide. Don’t worry about all the little detailed areas, we’re going for the angular look of the shapes in Kelly’s inspiration layout so we want to keep the shape simple.

If you’ve never used the Polygonal Lasso Tool before, it’s really easy. You just point and click where you want to add a corner on your shape. If you want to draw an exact straight line between two points, hold down the Shift key and it will give you either a 90 or 45 degree angled line. To close off your shape, bring your arrow back to your starting point and move it around until you see a small circle. Then click to close the shape.

If you’ve done it correctly, you’ll end up with a shape surrounded by marching ants like this:

Step 4: Our next step is to fill the shape we’ve created. The easiest way to do this is to hold down the Shift+F5 key which will bring up the Fill dialog box that looks like this:

Step 5: Select a color for your shape (I went with grey tones but it doesn’t really matter) and then click ok. Your shape will now look like this:

Step 6: Now you want to deselect your shape (Cmd+D on a Mac, Ctrl+D on a PC) and repeat steps 1-5 for ALL of the states or countries on your map. For my original layout this meant the entire Western half of the US but for the sake of this tutorial, I’m going to just do four states.

Here’s what your map should look like once you’ve completed all your shapes. Notice at this point there is no space between the shapes – they all fit together nice and tight. That’s what you want.

Step 7: Our next step is going to be to add space between the shapes so our mat layer will show through. (On my layout the mat is kraft, on Kelly’s layout the mat is white.) To do this we’re going to contract each shape down by the same exact amount.

First you need to get the marching ants around your shape again. A really easy way to do this is to hold down the Cmd/Ctrl key and click on the layer thumbnail for that layer in the Layer palette. Once you have your shape selected, go up to your toolbar at the top of your screen and choose Select>Modify>Contract:

Step 8: We’re going to contract each shape by 10 pixels so enter a 10 into the dialog box and click ok.

Your marching ants should now be slightly smaller than your original shape:

Step 10: Now we’re going to inverse the selection by hitting Cmd+Shift+I (Ctrl+Shift+I on a PC) and then hit the Delete key to remove the extra part of the shape like so:

Now your shape should have an empty border around it that separates it from the surrounding shapes:

Step 11: Now you’re going to repeat Steps 7-10 for all the shapes on your map. As you contract each shape, you may find that you need to adjust the placement of some of the states. Since you have already drawn all your states, you don’t need to worry about the states lining up perfectly with the map layer anymore. How they relate to each other is more important. I just eyeballed the spacing based on what I thought looked best.

Your finished product should look like this:

Which if we hide the map layer will look like this:

See, we have nice even borders between each of the shapes.

Now if you’re wondering why I essentially told you to create each shape twice rather than just contracting the original selection, the answer is because I found it much easier to draw out the shapes when they were all touching. I did try a few different methods for adding space between the shapes but ultimately the Contract & Duplicate gave me the best results. Yes it’s a little tedious this way but once you get into a rhythm it goes pretty quickly.

Step 12: Once you’ve got all your shapes drawn and contracted, the final step is use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to draw a shape for your mat layer. The steps are the same as how you originally created each state, just on a bigger scale.

I didn’t worry about the mat being the exact same size all the way around so I just eyeballed the border to get this:

And that’s pretty much it! You’ve created your very own map template! Now all you have to do is add in all your photos and papers and elements and you’re good to go.

The great thing is this method will work for any map so if you’re not in the US or are wanting to do something more country or even world focused, you can totally follow the steps in this tutorial to create a layout based on any map your heart desires.

Now I’m sure there are some of you who are reading the tutorial and thinking, “well that’s great, Lynnette, but it sounds like a LOT of work and I would much rather be pinning on Pinterest.”

Which is why I also created a little something extra for all my fellow US-map lovers. And because I was feeling extra generous, I even included all of the Eastern half of the US for you as well.

And best of all?

It’s FREE!

Yes, that’s right I am offering up this awesome template for FREE for personal (non-commercial) use. If you’ve never purchased one of my templates before, here’s your chance to see what NettioDesigns is all about.

All I ask in return is you spread your love for the template on Twitter/Facebook/forums/blogs and let everyone know they can download it right here at NettioDesigns. Oh and if you post your layout in any gallery, please credit NettioDesigns and where allowed, include a link back to this post.

The template is a single 12×24 inch file so if you use the entire template you’ll end up with a two-page layout similar to Kelly’s layout or you can use your crop tool to crop the template to create a single page layout like I did.

Download here

I can’t wait to see what you create so if you use the template or tutorial, be sure to link me up to your layout!

Happy scrapping!

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A Week In the Life 2011: Bringing It All Together with Aperture & InDesign

POSTED ON September 15, 2011 IN A Week In the Life, A Week In the Life 2011

On Tuesday, I shared my completed A Week In the Life album (you can see it in all it’s photo-y goodness here). Now I don’t know about you, but I am always ~~curious~~ nosy when it comes to how people tackle large projects like this, so today I wanted to offer a little behind-the-scenes peek at how I put my Week in the Life photo book together.

Let me preface this by saying that this was my first attempt at creating a photo book so by no means do I consider myself a photo book expert. I’m just sharing what worked for me.

The tools I used:

Apple Aperture
Adobe InDesign

Yes, you read that right. No Photoshop.

Ok, well, that’s not entirely true. I did use Photoshop to run my most favorite Totally Rad “Lux” action on my big 8×10 and 10×10 focal photos.

If you’re wondering why I chose for this project to go with my first Adobe love, InDesign, over my old scrapbooking standby, Photoshop, there were a couple of reasons:

1) InDesign is designed for multi-page projects

In order create this photo book in Photoshop, I would have had to create a separate document for each page of my album. But because InDesign is built for multi-page print publications (think magazines, newspapers, books, etc), I was able to create one single file that included all 46 pages of my album.

Definitely WAY easier than keeping track of 46 individual Photoshop documents.

2) The Blurb InDesign PDF to Book plug-in

One of the reasons I chose to go with a Blurb is they offer a free downloadable PDF to Book plug-in for InDesign that creates a custom book template for you based on the size and number of pages you want in your photo book. And it includes all of the trim and bleed information right in the template so you don’t have to worry about parts of your text or images getting cut off. Plus you can save the entire file as a PDF and upload it directly to print. So so easy.

Now if you’re wondering if this means you need InDesign to your long digital goodies wish-list, the answer is NO. You can absolutely use Photoshop to create a photo book – lots and lots of scrapbookers do.

BUT if you’re one of those scrapbookers who happens to own the Adobe Creative Suite and has always wondered what you could use InDesign for scrapbookingwise, this post will give you a little overview about the awesomeness that is InDesign.

But before we get to InDesign, I want to talk a little bit about the first big hurdle for this project – the photos.

Part 1: Organizing Photos in Aperture

Over the course of A Week in the Life, I took over 750 photos. That’s a lot of photos! So I needed an easy way to select and edit my most favorite photos.

Enter Apple Aperture.

In another post I’ll explain more about why I’ve made the switch from Adobe Lightroom to Apple Aperture but for now, all you really need to know is that if I didn’t already love Aperture before, this project totally made me head over heels in LOVE with it.

After uploading all my photos from my Canon Digital Rebel XT, my Nikon P&S and my iPhone, I started organizing them in Aperture.

First I made a project folder for A Week In Life 2011 and added Smart Folders that pulled photos taken during the week divided by days:

Next I added a five star rating to all the best photos, being careful to limit the number of too similar photos:

Once I had my five-star photos selected, I created Albums for each section of my days (I called them Routines) and dragged the five-star photos into their correct albums:

My final step was to Flag the small number of photos I wanted to include on my page. These are the only photos I edited and exported as JPGs to use in InDesign. As I mentioned, I used Aperture to edit the majority of my photos. The only photos that went to Photoshop were the large focal photos so I could add a little extra punch to them with my Totally Rad Actions.

My flagged photos (which you can also see in the earlier photos but only because I’ve already done the project, haha):

I then repeated this process for each daily routine album.

If you’re wondering why I chose to mix the flags with the star ratings, the answer is personal preference. I liked that it was easy to see the flagged photos rather than trying to see the difference between say 3-star and 5-star photos. You could definitely do it a different way, this was just what worked best for me.

Writing it all out it seems like a lot of steps but it actually went rather quickly. For all you fellow math nerds, here’s a little numbers breakdown of the photos at each step:

162: Number of photos taken on Monday
99: Number of photos that received a 5-star rating
40: Number of 5-star photos which were moved to the Monday Morning routine album
8: Number of flagged photos for Monday Morning which were then edited and exported as JPGs
6: Number of photos that made it onto the final version of the Monday Morning routine page in the photo book

Because I already had my design planned out, I had to be pretty ruthless since I knew at most I could only have 7 photos per spread.

Once I had all my photos edited and exported, it was time for some InDesign fun.

Part 2: Putting It All Together In InDesign

I don’t want to get too detailed about how I use InDesign, only because, if I did we’d be here all day and this post is already getting long, haha.

But I did want to show you the highlights of how I put my album together with InDesign. So if you’re curious in knowing more about InDesign or would like some more specific details/questions answered, please feel free to ask in the comments section.

My first step in InDesign was to download and install the Blurb PDF to Book plug-in. You can find the plug-in here.

Once you have the plug-in installed, you’ll be able to go to the File menu and find the Blurb Template Creator, which will bring up a dialog box that looks like this:

There you’ll choose the size of your book and the type of paper you want (some paper is thicker than others) as well as the number of pages.

If you’re not sure how many pages you’ll need, don’t worry about it. You can always add and remove pages as you work. The only time the correct page count matters is when creating your cover so make sure you don’t create your cover until you’re completely done with your book (or at least 100% sure on your finished book page count).

Once you’ve inputted all your book information, Blurb will create a book template that looks like this, a two page side-by-side spread just like you would have in the finished book:

That main area is where you’ll design your pages and on the right side of the window, you have a list of all your spreads.

At the top of the page Blurb has included some bleed/trim information for the book. Here’s a closer look:

Included are are three sets of lines: one for the safe area, one for the trim area and one for the bleed area.

The black trim line represents the physical edge of the book pages while the big grey box is considered the “safe zone.” Anything important (like text) should go in that grey box as due to trimming inconsistences, Blurb can’t guarantee that anything outside that box will for sure not be trimmed. It shouldn’t be, but it’s a better-to-be-safe kind of thing.

The red outer line represents the bleed line. If you want your photos to bleed to the edge, aka no white edges, you want to make sure your photos go all the way to that red line.

In terms of designing the album, InDesign is a lot more simple than Photoshop in that you don’t deal with layers in the same way. It’s pretty much all boxes: either image boxes or text boxes.

The weekend prior to AWITL, I created two master pages (essentially templates) to serve as foundation pages for my design. This is what my two master pages looked like:

8×10 Focal Photo:

10×10 Photo:

haha, yes, those are our wedding photos. They happened to be in an easily to grab folder along with these other prints.

To create my pages, I simply replaced the photos (in InDesign it is MUCH easier than Photoshop to replace and resize photos into pre-done image boxes) and adjusted the image and text boxes based on the number of photos I had chosen for that portion of my day.

Let’s just say there was a lot of repetition in this project – duplicating spreads, replacing photos and adding new text.

As far as planning, other than the basic design of the master pages, I didn’t have all my pages planned out in advance. I just moved the boxes around as I saw fit based on how the overall album was coming together. One of the great advantages of InDesign is you can see ALL of the spreads at once and really get a birds-eye view of how it’s all flowing together.

Now here’s the part in the cooking show where I miraculously pull my pre-made finished dish out of the oven. *cue the wavy time-is-passing lines*

Here’s what my finished album looked like in InDesign after all the moving and replacing:

One of the finished square photo pages (if you look closely you can see how the big photo bleeds across the book spine and onto the second page):

A little bit more of a close up:

So you can see all my text is within that gray safe zone and all my photos bleed to the very edge where the red line is because I didn’t want any white space at the edge.

Here’s what the finished page will actually look like in the photo book (minus the grey background):

It’s kind of hard to tell from the screenshot, but everything outside of the black trim line has been basically “trimmed” to give a more realistic look of what the book will actually look like in print.

I haven’t received my printed Blurb book yet (possibly Friday!) so I’m not sure how much will really be trimmed off but I’m hoping it’ll be similar to this look. I’ll definitely be sure to share whatever happens!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this ~~little~~ long peek into the inner workings of InDesign, Aperture and my A Week In the Life album. If you have any questions or anything, feel free to leave me a note in the comments section!

Psst…want more A Week In the Life 2011 goodness? See all my AWITL posts here.

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5 Tips for Creating Easy Breezy Summer Layouts

POSTED ON July 6, 2011 IN Memory Keeping

Summertime is in full swing here in the northern half of the world which around here means one thing…summertime scrapbooking!

One of the great things about summer is the abundance of summer-specific activities just ripe for awesome scrapbooking pages.

The only problem with summertime scrapbooking?

Finding time to actually scrap in the midst of all the fun!

So whenever summer rolls around, I am always looking for ways I can simplify my digital scrapbooking layouts so I can get more done AND have more fun.

A few months ago I came across this fun summer bucket list image on Pinterest and knew that when summer rolled along, it would make a great starting point for a summer scrapbooking page. Image found here.

Now granted, we’re rocking a child-free lifestyle right now which meant our list was bound to be a little different from the list above. Although the big kid in me is definitely tempted to add “run through the sprinklers” and “blow bubbles” just for summertime nostalgia’s sake, haha.

But a few weekends ago while we were waiting for breakfast at the delish Magnolia Pancake Haus here in San Antonio, Adam and I brainstormed a summer bucket list that’s perfect for us. Granted I have no doubt it’ll evolve as the summer goes along but that wasn’t about to stop me from scrapbooking our list.

So to document our summer 2011 bucket list, I created this fun summer bucket list layout in no time using Penny Springmann’s bright and colorful summer-tastic 12 Months: June kit.

Credits: From Sweet Shoppe Designs: 12 Months: June by Penny Springmann. 12 Months Alphas by Penny Springmann. Tape from Play It Again by Misty Cato and Jenn Barrette. Fonts are DJB Boyfriend Jeans and Jailbird Jenna. Other: Stitched by Anna Borders No 3 by Anna Apnes. Thick Summer Words by Ali Edwards.

My Tips for Easy Summer Layouts

So what are my tips for creating an easy, breezy summer layout?

1) Look Ma, No Photos!

No-photo layouts have become a favorite time-saving trick of mine because they simplify the first half of my scrapbooking process. No hunting for the “right” photo. No editing photos. It’s just you and the open product road, baby.

2) Become a One-Kit Wonder

Mixing and matching from multiple kits can be a lot of fun but pulling from one kit is even easier. Penny’s kit was perfect for this as included a bunch of unique summer elements like the flip-flops, sunglasses and fruit slices.

3) Get Your List Journaling On

List journaling is one of the easiest forms of journaling out there. Lists are quick, easy AND they provide a great foundation for the design of the rest of the page.

4) Get Your Loved Ones Involved

The great thing about my summer bucket list? It was written before I started my layout. Sure I could have written a summer fun list on my own but getting Adam involved not only made my list-making easier but it ensures we’re both included in the summer fun.

5) Look for Outside Inspiration

Sites like Pinterest are a great place to find new, inspiring ideas for scrapbooking pages outside the scrapbooking world. Why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to? Keep your eyes peeled and I’m sure you’ll be inspired in no time.

Summertime scrapbooking doesn’t have to be time consuming. With a few smart scrapbooking choices, you’ll still have plenty of time for fun in the sun AND scrapbooking your summertime memories.

Do You Love Summer?

I am currently in the process of working on a BRAND NEW template collection which will be perfect for getting your summertime scrapbook on. I know what I LOVE about summer but I want to hear from you.

What do YOU love about summer?

If you could design your ultimate summer scrapbooking template what would it include? Room for lots of photos? Lists? Journaling? Blocking? A big giant flip-flop, haha?

Here’s your chance to get your voice heard so let me know in the comments what you’d love to see. I’d love to hear from you!

Pssst…want more time-saving scrapbooking tips? Be sure to check out this month’s Fast Starts class over at Masterful Scrapbook Design.

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Stuff I Love: Persnickety Prints

POSTED ON May 20, 2011 IN Memory Keeping, Stuff I Love

Happy Friday everyone! I am back with another edition of Friday Faves!

After last week’s foray into reality tv, I’m keeping things techy this week with a digital scrapbooking pick, none other than the fabulous…

Persnickety Prints!

For those who haven’t heard of Persnickety Prints before, Persnickety Prints is a professional photo lab that specializes in printing full-bleed digital scrapbooking layouts.

For the first four and half years I’d been digital scrapbooking, I was a loyal Scrapbook Pictures fan. I’d printed numerous layouts through them and had always been very pleased. On the one occasion I had some issues with a few of the prints I received, their customer service team took care of it right away and reprinted my layouts with no cost to me. As far as I was concerned, they were the printer for me.

But for months and months and months, I’d been hearing rave reviews about a new printer on the scene, Persnickety Prints. So back in October I decided to give them a try. I was impressed.

A few weeks ago when Persnickety Prints had a sale in honor of National Scrapbooking Day, I decided to try them out again. And I have to say, I was even MORE impressed the second time around.

Impressed probably isn’t even the right word. LOVE is more like it. Yes, in caps.

Why I Love Persnickety Prints

1. Amazing Quality

O.M.G the colors of these prints are SO rich and more importantly, dead-on true to the colors I see on my screen. It’s like my digital scrapbooking pages leaped off my screen and into the real world.

As a scrapbooker who loves to place thin symmetrical borders around her pages, I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to bleed (aka the amount of the edges that gets trimmed off in the printing process).

Persnickety Prints boasts their trim is less than 1/16 inch (you can read more about that here) and I have to say, comparing my printed layouts to my actual size layouts on my screen, you really can’t see any difference. Considering this border is only like an 1/8 of an inch that’s pretty awesome.

2. Lightning Fast Speed

I placed my order around noon on National Scrapbooking Day in the midst of their big NSD sale and received notice that my order had ship by that night. That’s what I call a fast turnaround.

3. Super Reasonable Pricing

At $0.99 ($0.79 during the sale) for an 8×8 print, they are one of the most reasonably priced photo printers in town.

Now with all this raving, is there anything I didn’t love about my Persnickety Prints experience?

What I Didn’t Love

1. The photo paper is pretty thin, thinner and less sturdy than ScrapbookPictures’ photo paper. Since the pages will be in page protectors anyway it’s not really an issue but it does make me a little nervous about them getting bent prior to making it into my albums (since we all know they’ll sit around for months before that happens, haha).

2. While the prints come in a nice strong box, I don’t like the way they tape the plastic sleeve down to the inside of the box. Now I know this is done so the pages don’t move around in shipping and get bent but it makes them a hassle to remove. Scissors are definitely required.

The first time I printed with them I had both 8x8s and 12x12s and I found it difficult to remove the package of 8x8s without worrying about damaging the 12×12 because of the way they were taped together. Including a stiffer piece of cardboard or cardstock in the sleeve with the prints would probably help with this as well as providing a bit more protection for the prints while they’re stored in the sleeve.

Persnickety Prints is a Fave

All that being said, the few negatives don’t outweigh the amazing quality, fast speed and reasonable pricing. It’s safe to say that I will be using Persnickety Prints again in the future. They are definitely a new FAVE of mine.

*Disclaimer: I was not perked anything in exchange for this review. I’m just a big fan and customer. 🙂

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The Nettio Guide to Surviving National Scrapbooking Day

POSTED ON May 6, 2011 IN Announcements

Happy National Scrapbooking Day everyone! Everyone ready for one of the biggest scrapbooking (and shopping!) days of the year? I know I am!

Since this isn’t my first time navigating the craziness that is National Scrapbooking Day, here are my top tips for how to survive the scrapping and shopping craziness:

1. Stick to a Budget

Yes, that’s right, I used the dreaded B-word.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Having a budget will totally cramp your NSD shopping style! But here are my reasons for recommending a budget:

You’ll shop smarter when you realize buying that 40% kit at one shop would mean you’d have to forgo another kit somewhere else. When you’re facing down deeply discounted products, this becomes super important. Do you really want to end up buying a bunch of products you don’t really love just because they’re a deal? Believe me, I have been there and I don’t recommend it, haha.

Having a budget also means you’ll avoiding waking up with that post-NSD oh my god, did I really spend that much? panic attack from viewing your paypal account on Monday morning. Monday’s are hard enough, let’s try to not add to the stress.

2. Keep A List of Must-do Events

Have a must-do chat/game/sale you just don’t want to miss? Make a list of any favorite events, times and deadlines so you’ll be sure not to forget anything in all the excitement. Nothing worse than realizing at 12am Monday morning that you just missed one of your must-do sales.

3. Have Fun

Yes, NSD can be one of the craziest, most stressful scrapbooking days of the year. Sale deadlines, slow servers and discounts galore is enough to make any digital scrapbooker’s head spin. But at the end of the day, it’s just scrapbooking. If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?

And now for the news I’m sure you all really want to know about…

It’s NSD at NettioDesigns!

In honor of National Scrapbooking Day this weekend, I’m releasing not one but TWO awesome new template packs. That’s a grand total of six template-y goodies!

I’m not going to lie, these might just be some of my favorite templates I’ve done yet. I kind of want to use them myself. Is that totally weird? I’m thinking maybe, haha.

Ok, Are you ready to see them?

First up, in keeping with the FAVE-O-RITES theme from last release, I’ve got a BRAND-NEW set of FAVE-O-RITES templates based on my February Faves layouts…

FAVE-O-RITES Vol. 2 – The February Faves Super Pack

Along with two February Faves-inspired templates, this template Super Pack also includes a bonus Top 10 Faves layout template. Perfect for documenting Top Ten lists, Monthly Faves or any other bite-sized bits of journaling you can think of.

The name of my next pack of templates will probably come as no surprise to anyone who has been following my scrapbooking for awhile, haha.

Based on my absolute LOVE of pattern paper, I introduce the first in a series of paper-centric layouts perfect for all my fellow paper lovin’ digital scrapbookers:

I Heart Paper Vol. 1 Template Pack

Paper strips, paper blocks, awesome clustering and bold titles, this awesome three-pack of templates has it all! Perfect for documenting any and all of your life moments, events and adventures.

It’s Time to Save

And of course what would NSD be without a SALE!

That’s right, everything in the NettioDesigns Shoppe is 20% off through Sunday night!

Just use coupon code:

nsd2011

to save 20% off everything in the NettioDesigns Shoppe.

Just make sure you are 100% ready to checkout before you enter the code in your cart. If you try attempt to make changes to your cart after the coupon code has been entered, your cart will be emptied. I know, sad, haha.

This will likely be the last time the entire shoppe is on sale for awhile so if there’s something you’ve had your eye on, I highly suggest you take the plunge. I promise it’ll be worth it, haha.

Attention all NettioDesigns Newsletter Subscribers!

Be sure to check your email for a NettioDesigns News exclusive subscriber-only discount! Want to make sure you don’t miss out on any future exclusive NettioDesigns News discounts? Sign up for NettioDesigns News here.

Only one thing left to do before the NSD festivities can begin and that is to announce the giveaway winner from this post.

And the Winner Is…

Thanks to my handy-dandy random number generator the winner of both FAVE-O-RITES Vol. 2 – The February Faves Super Pack AND I Heart Paper Vol. 1 Template Pack (I told you the winner would be lucky!) is…

Lucky number #13 – Natalie!

Congrats Natalie! I’ll be sending you an email with your prize! Thanks again to everyone for playing along!

Ok everyone, that’s all for today! Have a GREAT National Scrapbooking Day everyone!