Posted by karooch on
June 30, 2008
How to White List your Emails
Welcome to Scraps of Mind. I'm delighted to see you. Why not check out the site, and if you like what you see, subscribe to my RSS feed and get daily updates delivered to you. If you're not sure what the RSS thing is, then check out this 'RSS made easy' post. Thanks for visiting and I look forward to seeing more of you.
Today we’re going to look at how you can ensure that you receive the email newsletters that you sign up for.
Have you ever signed up to receive a newsletter and then found that nothing happens?
Well you might have typed in your email address incorrectly, and that’s a whole other story. But if you did type your email address correctly then chances are it’s because your email system think that it is unsolicited, unwanted advertising email and in its efforts to protect you, it has tossed your newsletter confirmation email in the junk mail. Let’s face it most of us never think to regularly check our junk mail, so there it will sit until your junk box does its regular clean out.
And all the time you’re thinking “What a dodgy newsletter that was. They didn’t even bother sending me one copy.”
Frustration for you and frustration for the newsletter producer. And I speak from personal experience here. I could weep when I see all the would be subscribers to my Word Art Newsletter who are listed as Unconfirmed because my email to them requesting confirmation of their subscription has been considered spam by their email system.
So here’s a tip if you sign up for anything and you want to receive their emails:
White List the email addresses of the Newsletters you want to receive.
What does that mean?
Well most email systems have a way that you can identify an email address as a ‘good guy’ so that they will allow emails from that address to get through.
First add the email address that you want to White List to your address book. For example,
karooch(at)scrapsofmind(dot)com if you want to receive the Weekly Word Art Newsletter.
Unfortunately all email systems are different (wouldn’t you know it?) so it might take a bit of checking in your menu bar to find the way it works for yours. But here are some instructions for some of the more popular ones.
Yahoo
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Open your Yahoo mailbox.
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Click Mail Options.
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Click Filters.
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Next, click Add Filter.
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In the top row, labeled From header: make sure contains is selected in the pull-down menu.
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Click in the text box next to that pull-down menu, then enter the address in the “From” line of the most recent email from the site you want to white list.
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At the bottom, where it says Move the message to:, select Inbox from the pull-down menu.
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Click the Add Filter button again.
Hotmail
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Click the Options tab.
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Select Safe List. (It’s under the heading Mail Handling.)
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In the space provided, enter the address in the “From” line of the most recent email from the site you want to white list.
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Click Add.
- When you see the address you entered in the Safe List box, click OK.
Gmail
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Add the email address of the site you want to white list to your contacts list by choosing Add Contact from the list of options on the left.
AOL
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Go to Keyword Mail Controls.
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Select the screen name that your emails are being sent to.
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Click Customize Mail Controls For This Screen Name.
For AOL version 9.0: You need to add the sending address to your “People I Know” list.
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Open your latest email from from the site you wish to white list.
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Click the Add Address button (over on the right) to add
to your “People I Know” list.
AOL version8.0: Select Allow email from all AOL members, email addresses and domains.
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Click Next until the Save button shows up at the bottom.
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Click Save.
For AOL version7.0: In the section for “exclusion and inclusion parameters”, include the site you wish to white list.
So I hope that has helped some of you who might be feeling a bit annoyed with newsletters that never arrive.
And if you’re someone who has signed up to the Scraps of Mind Word Art Newsletter and not received one, then please try again and white list my email address to I can break thought your email protection shield.
Other Articles you Might Enjoy:
Posted by karooch on
June 26, 2008
How to Use Scanned Objects in Hybrid and Digital Scrapbooking
We have a new Guest Writer on Scraps of Mind this week.
June is a traditional and hybrid scrapbooker who enjoys sharing tips and techniques with her readers on her blog Scrapping by Design where she makes some cool scrapbooking videos to demonstrate her projects. So when you’ve finished reading her article, why not click over and check out June’s blog?
Don’t forget, you too can join the Journalist Team at Scraps of Mind and showcase your work to other Scrapbookers by writing a Guest Post and getting published on Scraps of Mind.
Many of us use our scanners to digitize photographs, greeting cards and other paper products. And certainly, these scanned images are great enhancements to digital, hybrid and traditional paper scrapbooking layouts.
However, with a little imagination, you can expand the use of your scanner to incorporate various other items into your projects.
If it’s flat enough to fit in your scanner, you can digitize a picture of it. Simply place the item face down in the scanner and scan.
You might experiment a bit to see if covering it with a sheet of white printer paper improves the quality. In some cases, it will make a difference. In other cases, it may not.
In the picture shown, I have incorporated scanned images of a piece of lace, a spray of artificial flowers, a leaf from a house plant and a gold elephant shaped brooch with a black cord.
Other possible items that come to mind include earrings, pearls, buttons, candy bar wrappers, decorative wrapping paper, book covers, ribbon, coasters, seashells, twigs, flat rocks and pebbles, flat food like cookies, gum, tea bags, dried fruit or mushrooms or even small items of clothing like gloves, baby bootees or bibs.
These scanned images can play several roles in your scrapbooking activities.
Scanned Items as Mementoes
If the item you scanned played a role in the memory you’re scrapbooking about, why not include it as a picture?
If it’s a baby shower layout, scan in the booties that you knitted for the new addition.
If it’s a gardening theme, scan in some leaves and flowers picked from your garden.
Spent a day at the beach? Scan in a seashell that you collected.
Scanned Items as Buttons, Borders and Backgrounds
Your scanned images have multiple uses beyond displaying the pictures in your layouts. If you have photo editing software, you can edit or combine your images in any number of ways to create custom borders, backgrounds, buttons and embellishments.
Software applications vary in terms of features. I used Adobe Photoshop CS to make the button shown, but you could do it with Adobe Photoshop Elements and probably many other applications as well.
To make the button,
- I selected a square of the scanned lace, then copied it and pasted it into a new file.
- Next, I used the Magnetic Lasso Tool to select the elephant from the elephant pin picture.
- Once selected, I copied and pasted it into a new layer in the new button file, and moved the layer so the elephant is centered.
- Lastly I used a filter to create the 3D button effect.
That’s just one example of the myriad possibilities that open up when you’re working digitally.
Getting the Resolution Right
When working with scanned images, resolution plays an important role.
If you are planning to print your images, you need a resolution of at least 300 dpi, or dots per inch.
Set the scanner to scan at the highest resolution possible if printing is your goal.
If you plan on displaying the image on a computer or web site only, then the resolution requirements are much less. 72 dpi is considered the ideal resolution for Web viewing.
Remember that a 72 dpi image will look great on the computer - but if you print it, it will be blurry and lack definition. What you see is definitely not what you get when we are talking about digital images and printing.
Why not give this a try?
Post a comment and let us know how you incorporate scanned objects into your scrapbooking or paper craft projects.
Other Related Articles:
Learn How to Digital Scrapbook
Hybrid Scrapbooking - the Best of Both Worlds
Learn how to digital scrapbook so you too can make cool projects like this?
Posted by karooch on
April 29, 2008
Scrapbooking Layouts are a lot like Sandwiches
Please welcome this week’s Guest Writer on Scraps of Mind.
DreamScrapper is a scrapbooker and designer who loves to share tips and techniques with her readers on her blog DreamScrapper. You can find her designs at her web site DreamScrapper.com. I love her title for today’s article. So sit back and find out how scrapbook layouts are a lot like sandwiches.
Don’t forget, you too can join the Journalist Team at Scraps of Mind and showcase your work to other Scrapbookers by writing a Guest Post and getting published on Scraps of Mind.
Note: Click on the layouts to see a larger image with credits.
I was thinking just the other day that digital scrapbooking could be compared to sandwich making. I’m sure that every reader has at some point made a sandwich for themselves or for someone else. Of course, different occasions call for different sandwiches, but all sandwiches utilize layers of ingredients, just as in digital scrapbooking, people use various layers to create a layout.
The Peanut Butter and Jam Sandwich
A mom or dad may quickly spread two pieces of bread with peanut butter and jam to give to a child for an after school snack. This type of sandwich provides necessary protein, grains, and fruit (in the form of jam) and is quick and easy to assemble. A simple layout can be made in much the same way by utilizing a background paper, a photo, and a matte for the photo. To complete the layout, add one simple embellishment, a title and journaling, as desired.
In Moments, I used a very simple format - one background paper, a photo on a matte with coordinating paper strips behind it, a snowflake embellishment and a one word title.
Fancier occasions demand fancier sandwiches.
The Ribbon Sandwich
Quite often, local churches or community organizations offer some form of “Tea” during the course of the year. Common to be served there are finger sandwiches. These are sandwiches made by slicing a whole loaf of bread into long, thin slices and carefully removing any trace of crust. The bread is lightly buttered to seal the bread from the moist fillings. The bread then has a filling applied (egg salad, tuna salad, cream cheese and cucumber to name a few) and the bread is either rolled up or further slices of bread and different fillings are added to create layered sandwiches. The rolled or layered sandwiches are then sliced into individual “rolled” or “ribbon” sandwiches.
Posted by karooch on
April 22, 2008
Using Word Art in Real Life
On the weekend my sister said to me ” I really love the Word Art in your Weekly Newsletter, but I don’t really know what to do with it. It looks great but I just don’t know how I can use it in ‘real life’ ”
So I thought I’d provide some examples of Word Art in action and also show you how to use it as greetings inside your cards.
And for those of you who don’t make your own cards, you can still do this and use it in cards with blank insides to make them a bit more spiffy and personal.
Word Art on Scrapbook Layouts
Word Art can be used in two ways on scrapbook layouts.
As your Scrapbook Layout Title.
Coming up with a knacky title for your scrapbook layouts can sometimes be a little challenging. Using Word Art as your title is a handy little scrapbook idea that can meet the challenge. If you’ve been collecting a library of Scraps of Mind Word Art you should have quite a few potential scrapbook titles in your stash by now.
You can see how June from Cen’s Loft has used the Host of Golden Daffoldils Word Art (from the Scraps of Mind Weekly Word Art Newsletter) quote on her layout here.
For Digital Scrapbookers it’s as simple as opening the Word Art file and dragging the Word Art onto your layout. You can then adjust the size and colour to suit your layout and you’re done.
For Paper Scrapbookers you can print out the Word Art onto paper, cut around the edge and chalk the paper in a complementary colour. Then matt it onto a piece of coordinating cardstock, cut it out, ink the edges and you have a cool scrapbook layout title element.
You can use Word Art as journaling on your scrapbook layouts too.
The Word Art that is based on quotes is particularly good for using this way. Just follow the same steps outlines above for a cool journaling alternative.
Word Art in Card Making
In the same way as for scrapbooking above, you can use your Scraps of Mind Word Art as part of your hand made card design. Just resize to suit the smaller card size and follow the same techniques as for scrapbooking.
Word Art is particularly handy to use as messages for the inside of Greeting Cards.
Here’s how you do it:
- Open your Word Art files and drag them onto a New File that’s set up for 300 dpi and is A4 or 8.5 x 10 inches (whatever is the size that your printer takes).
- If you don’t use a photo editing software program you can still do this in Word by selecting Import Picture.
- Resize your Word Art by dragging it in by the corner handles until it’s the size that would fit your card.
- I would suggest that you repeat this with two or three pieces of Word Art so you can print off a few at a time.
- Print out your Word Art on good quality white printer paper. Allow the ink to dry thoroughly.
- Now rub some coloured chalk gently over the surface of the paper And blot with another piece of paper to set the chalk.
- You can then cut out the Word Art either cutting around the edge of the design or adding a few doodles or scrolls to frame it.
- Fix it to the inside of your card either with glue or with brads and you’re done.
And if you have a blog, I’d love you to spread the word about the Scraps of Mind Word Art by proudly displaying this blinkie on your blog.
Just copy and paste the text in the box below into a Text Widget for your blog’s sidebar (or whatever the thingy is called on your particular blog platform) and help me share my Word Art with the World.
<a href="http://www.scrapsofmind.com/2007/11/27/free-word-art-newsletter/" target="_top"> <img src="http://www.scrapsofmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/free-word-art-blinkie.gif" border="0" alt="Free Word Art at Scraps of Mind - 3 pieces of original Word Art delivered to your inbox each week" hspace="0" width="125" height="125" align="left" /></a>
I hope this article has given you some ideas to help you get the most out of your Word Art.
Other Articles You Might Enjoy:
Scraps of Mind Weekly Word Art Newsletter
Posted by karooch on
April 8, 2008
How to Make Frames with PaintShop Pro
Joe (aka Wildheart) from Wildheart’s Works returns to bring us another great Guest Post. This Guest Writer Series is a great opportunity for Scraps of Mind readers to see some of the great ideas and talent of other Scrapbookers and also an opportunity for other Scrapbooking Writers to showcase their work to other Scrapbookers.Enjoy Joe’s great PaintShop Pro tutorial and then click over and check out her blog.
A couple of years ago when I was heavy into finding everything I could on Paint Shop Pro I came across this great site called Nanson’s Place. This site is how I learned to make picture frames for paint shop pro. You can go to the site to see the great stuff they have over there. I had to go back in to get a refresher this evening as I sat down to make this frame to show Scraps of Mind readers how to make interesting, one of a kind frames expressly for your own creative ventures.
First let me show you a frame I did for you to get an idea of what can be done.
You can save this to your hard drive if you wish so that you can add it to your own frames file in paint shop pro.
To get this you need to do the following:
1. Open a new image 400 x 350 for best results and select transparent.
2. Flood fill with your color, gradient or pattern of choice.
3. To give it some texture you can go to Adjust>Add Remove Noise> and play around with the settings. You can also go to Effects>Texture Effects and then play around with the blur, density, length, and transparency to get the desired effect you want.
4. Now go to Effects>Kaleidoscope set your horizontal and vertical offset to 0, Rotation to 0, and the scale factor can be adjusted to your liking, petals to 4, orbits to 0 and radial suction to 0. Select edge mode>Repeat
5. Effects>Image>Offset check center and wrap, also leave the numbers at 200 and 175.
6. Select your magic wand tool and set your tolerance to 5.
7. Click on the center of your image, then Selections>Invert. Go to 3D effects>Inner Bevel and play around with the settings until you find a look you like. Go to Selections>Invert and then hit the delete key on your keyboard to get the frame. Then Select>None
8. To save this as a frame go into File>Export>Picture frame and give your frame a name and click save.
9. To save to your hard drive go to File>;Export>JPEG Optimize, compression to 1, save with the same name you gave the frame in your frames file.
I know this sounds pretty tedious, but trust me it is a great way to make your own frames and also it is really a fun exercise to do to keep those creative juices flowing when you get stuck in a rut. You can visit my blog to see the other two frames I made
Be sure and check out Nanson’s Place though there are so many interesting gradient tricks to learn and try.
Joe (Wildheart) is a Graphic Designer from Kansas who writes the Wildheart Works blog, where you can get lots of inspiration and more great textures.
Other articles you might like:
Increase your Scrapbooking Profile by becoming a Guest Writer on Scraps of Mind
How to use Textures in Digital Scrapbooking
How to Make Word Art - Digital Scrapbooking Video Tutorial
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Get more mileage out of your digital scrapbooking kits.
