<![CDATA[Spirit Within Designs - TIPS & TRICKS]]>Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:14:04 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Top 7 REASONS to go DIGITAL]]>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:11:29 -0800http://spiritwithindesigns.com/1/post/2010/02/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit.htmlYou ask why in the world would I want to digital storybook/scrapbook? Here are some reasons that you may have never thought of:

1. No mess! Within minutes it's easy to cover an entire table with papers, embellishments, glue, pens, pictures, and still not have everything you need to complete the perfect page. You can now sit on the couch with your laptop, while your kids watch a movie, and create all you want. And clean up is a real SNAP...Just turn of the computer!

2. Did you take the time to handwrite the stories that go along with all the photos in your scrapbook albums? Probably not! Publish with HM Studio and there's no need to go back through the years of scrapbook pages to fill in the story gaps you left because you ran out of time. Journaling is just as fun as the rest of it now!

3. No more trips to the photo store to resize, recolor, or reprint pictures. You can do it all with the mouse. What took 3-5 pages of scrapbooking can now fit into 1 or 2 page layouts!

4. All-inclusive pricing. The cost of a Premier account includes all the embellishments, alphabets, paper, etc. that I will ever need. It's like the whole scrapbook store right at my fingertips! No need to stock up on flowers, ribbon and the like. A lot less waste. And it's cheaper in the long run!

5. You won't get bored. It's easy to get bored quickly with a computer program that doesn't change, or that is so one dimensional that you can't learn anything new. You'll love the tutorials in Heritage Makers and the opportunities to learn new techniques and features. It keeps you hooked and learning new things all the time!

6. You can fill the gaps in a traditional scrapbook with digital pictures from Heritage Makers. Drag and drop into a template those events that perhaps didn't warrant a little extra time to scrap. You can do a page in 8 minutes with this and it looks fab!

7. It warms your heart to make a book for a mother of her grandchildren. And it brings satisfaction to know that your children will have a sense of history in a storybook that will last a lifetime. Mother's Day is coming up. Need some gift ideas?]]><![CDATA[NEW Canvas Sizes ~ Kids Room Decor Idea!]]>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:09:53 -0800http://spiritwithindesigns.com/1/post/2010/02/new-canvas-sizes-kids-room-decor-idea.html
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NEW 8'x20' & 8'x'8 Canvas Sizes!
We've just added 2 great new sizes to our gallery-wrapped canvas line and you're going to LOVE them! The new sizes are: 8" x 20" and 8" x 8". The possibilities for creativity with these versatile sizes are endless!

I just created the above templates as a set to decorate your baby's nursery or toddler's bedroom. Customize the 8" x 8" name plate canvas with your baby's name, birth date/weight, etc. And, as always, you can customize ANYTHING else you wish...change or add elements, photos, etc. to make them your own! Simply click on the photo to open the full size template and make one today!

There are so many fun ideas for these new canvas sizes. Check out other templates already in the Template Gallery. And I have many other template designs I'm working on...I'll post them here as they are completed.

Happy Creating!
~Gina
]]><![CDATA[Storybook Page Arrangement ~ Did you Know???]]>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:48:28 -0800http://spiritwithindesigns.com/1/post/2010/01/storybook-page-arrangement-did-you-know.htmlDid you know that you can rearrange the order of pages in your storybooks? Yes, you can! Simply open your project in edit mode and look at the top right area of your screen above the little thumbnails of the pages that run down the right hand side of your screen. There is a button that says "Manage Pages" that you can click on. That will bring up a box that shows all your pages as they will appear in your storybook. To rearrange pages, simply click on the page you want to move and drag it into the new spot where you want it to be. All the other pages will automatically move one page forward to make room.

You can also duplicate and delete pages from within the page manager screen. This is much faster than the old method where you had to copy and paste elements from one page to another. Now, you're just one click away from creating duplicate pages and arranging your pages in the exact order you want them to appear in your finished storybooks.

THANKS Heritage Makers...They're always working to make Studio as quick and easy to use as possible...and we DEFINITELY appreciate it!

Happy Storybooking! :)
Gina]]><![CDATA[You Spin My Head Right 'ROUND...]]>Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:48:19 -0800http://spiritwithindesigns.com/1/post/2010/01/you-spin-my-head-right-round.htmlPicture
Wondering how to make round photo frames and/or crop your photos into circles? It's really quite simple once someone tells you how...and that's what I'm going to do today.

To create a rounded paper photo frame, simply select the paper you want to use from the art collections and drag a piece onto your studio project. (The papers I used here are from the XOXO collection) Then with your paper selected, on your toolbox "effects" tab, slide the bar under "Round Corners" all the way to the right. You'll see your square piece of paper magically change to a circle! 

Now...How do you get your photo to be a circle? There are two ways to do this. First, drag a photo onto your studio project. Then, from your toolbox "tools" tab, choose the "crop" tool. Now, resize the blue crop box by sliding each of the sides until it looks pretty close to a perfect square. Reposition the square crop box over the photo area that you want to crop and click "done" in the toolbox. Your photo is now cropped to a square and you can use the rounded corners effect tool to turn it into a circle just like explained above.

Another method is to create a "drop photo here" circle that you can then just drag and swap your photos into without having to crop them first. To do that you will need to find a square shape to start with. Open the artwork collection tab across the bottom of your studio and type "shapes" into the search box. Once the Shapes collection is found, click to open it and select the plain square and drag it onto your project. Then, use the rounded corners tool like explained above to turn it into a circle. Position the circle wherever you want it on the page and then "lock" it by clicking on the little padlock located in the bottom right corner of your toolbox. The "drop photo here to swap" image should show up once it's locked. Now you can simply drag any photo up until your mouse pointer is directly over the center of the "drop to swap" box and let go. Your photo should now be inside the circular area.

Depending on the size of your photo, you may need to use the "adjust" tool located on the "tools" tab of your toolbox to resize the photo to fill the entire circle or to reposition it. Once you get the photo to the correct size, click "done" and unlock the photo to check for print quality. If the box around your photo is green or yellow, it will print well. If the box is orange or red, the photo has been enlarged too much and will not print well. In that case, you'll need to shrink the size down until the box turns yellow or green again.

NOTE: When a photo or object is locked, the box around it will be hot pink. That doesn't tell you anything about the print quality. You must unlock the item to see the quality check box.

Give it a try...You'll soon be addicted to circles! :)

~ Gina
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