My name is Shannon "Dabling" hence the title :) I am a mother of 3, stay at home mom, Creative Memories Consultant, and photographer. I have been a consultant twice so far, and have had my home photography studio for 7 years.


My goal for the year 2010 is to "Focus on Photos" and my mission is to help others with the same goal.

I love what I do and have met the most wonderful people through both of my business's. I hope that I can continue helping others.

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you have any additional questions my email is spdabling@msn.com.


Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts

This is the year to“Focus on Photos”

 

focus logoCrop copy

 

Tough times usually brings with it perspective. It's time to begin remembering what is important in our lives and honoring them. Lots of us say we couldn't live without our pictures. I know for me my pictures helps me remember the good,  it saves my sanity from trying to remember every little moment, and brings me so much joy.

There are always cons that come with everything. Digital has been an evolving era that keeps changing. Which means that we have to try to keep up, and with the endless possibilities with our digital files, its gets overwhelming. The past is also not forgotten, a lot of us still have printed pictures and film that we still have in boxes. They are not less important because the aren't sitting on a hard drive. All our pictures are important and deserve to be looked at and remembered.

If this is also on your mind and in your heart maybe I can help. I have a personal mission to Focus on Photos this year. I take near to ten thousand pictures a year, including my personal and family pictures. That's a lot to edit and keep up on, and sometimes my personal photos get pushed back. So I am motivated to get MY photos in albums and books.

There are many different styles and different process's to achieve these goals. I am offering a Free Focus on Photos introduction Class. We will go over the different types, styles, and ways to get our pictures into albums and books (including organizing) Then there will be different workshops available to sign up for to help you follow through with your goals. For additional information and a full schedule Click Here .  Contact me at spdabling@msn.com to register for any workshops.

Making Dingbats into Embellishments in Storybook Creator Plus

Tuesday Tech Tip

Dingbats are a font that uses shapes instead of letters.

First, Check out these free sites that have LOTS of dingbats

www.dafont.com

http://www.urbanfonts.com/free-dingbats.htm

 

Download a dingbat font to a folder or your desktop. It will be a zipped folder so you will have to right click and extract the folder.

extract

Then go to the Control Panel and open your Fonts folder. Then open the new extracted folder and grab the TrueType Font file and drag it into the Fonts folder and your new font will install. You can now delete the folders you just downloaded from the website.

font

Now open your Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus Program. Choose Open or Create a New Project.

On a Blank Page, Create a Text Box.

Then select the new font you just installed from the font menu. It will not show the name of the font but you will see the images and it will be in the alphabetical order of the name of the font.

font2

Then type out the Alphabet A-Z.

You will be able to see all the different dingbats because each one is a different letter.

Tip: a space between each letter will make it easier when we cut them out.

t

Now Flatten the text box from the Layout Bar. Now you can adjust the size by dragging the corners.

By using the straight cutter tools crop the stars out in a grid pattern first by column and then by row. Then choose the option to "cut around the shaded area."

Tip:  Make sure you you have all the layers selected in the row or column you are cropping.

crop

crop2

Once your done each star should be an individual element.

Then you will save and name each one by selecting one at a time, right click and choose "Save Selection"

I named them by type and letter. So the first Star is made by the letter A, so I named it Star A.

Tip: I saved all of these into a folder that I created for all my CM stuff called "CM Content"  in My Documents>Creative Memories and I always use this folder to download stuff that I will be using for SBC+

name1

Now you have to bring these into the program by going back to the Home screen. Select the 'My Stuff' icon from the top left-hand corner.

mystuff

Select File>Add Collection

collection3

Then give it an appropriate name. I would suggest using the term dingbat so you remember where you got them later. So I named mine Dingbats-Stars.

Then go to Content>Add Embellishment, browse for the folder where you saved your dingbats.  Then 'Get all embellishments'

collection2

Now all these Dingbats will be available in any project from the Embellishments Panel.

And now you can use them on any page, fill with color, paper, change the opacity, etc.

embelishment

Hope you enjoyed this Tutorial on Using Dingbats. As always I love to hear your feedback in the comments section of the post.

 

Happy Creating

Shannon

Creating Templates in Storybook Creator Plus (Part 1)

Tuesday Tech Tips:

There is a way that you can create your own templates in Storybook Creator Plus.

I saw a similar layout in a scrapbooking magazine, so I created my own version in SBC+.

Temp1 - Page 001 T1 - Page 022

Here are the first steps for creating your own page templates.

1. Create a New Project

create

2. Choose your page size. Remember you can only use your template in a project using the same page size. So I chose a 12x12 page print using blank pages (I did not choose a storybook because I will be importing these pages and will not need a cover option.)

pages

3. Name this project "Templates"

This will be the project that you will always use to create new templates.

name

4. Then your project will open.

5. Start with something easy. Just create a square shape in a shade of gray. Select the shape menu from the side bar. Click the arrow next to the square shape and pick create a shape. From there just make your shape any size and select a shade of gray by clicking the color box icon.

shape

6. Keep creating shapes and keep building your template...

add2 add1 more

7. Don't forget to add an add photo box. Decide what size you want and where you might want a photo

tip: if you hold down the shift key while changing the size of the box, (or any image or element) it is a shortcut key for unlocking the aspect ratio (unlocking the size).

addphoto

8. Add titles and text boxes.

text

9. Try adding drop shadows, embellishments, different size photo boxes, etc

10. When you are satisfied, save your page.

Now that you are done with this page... Remember DO NOT add paper, color, or photos to this page in your template project.

In part 2 I will show you how to import this page into a different project. And how to fill with colors, papers, and images.

Happy Creating

Shannon

Digital Desserts

In February I will be having my first Digital Desserts workshop where everyone will bring their latest projects to share with each other.... and of course I will supply the dessert. This will be lots of fun because so many of you have made such Beautiful projects!  Even if you haven't made anything still come and get some ideas. I will also show a few new techniques using SBC+.

Here is a page I just made:

snowman - Page 022

 

Shannon

New! Digital Done-in-Four Webinar Series

(These are Webinars created from Creative Memories. These are different than the Webinars that I have been currently offering and taught by different instructors.)

Family photos trapped in your computer? Photos scattered from your memory card to your hard drive? Would you love to have a beautiful, completed StoryBook to showcase your favorite memories?
Digital Done-in-Four Webinars are a series of four training sessions that will guide you through the process of organizing photos and completing a Storybook photobook. This series is FREE and will cover everything from how to organize and edit photos in Memory Manager to creating your StoryBook pages and designing a cover.
Sessions are available Jan. 5 through March 11, 2009, and are designed to be taken in four consecutive weeks. Access the links below to register for your first session. There are a variety of dates and times available each week. Join from the comfort of your home. A high-speed Internet connection is required.

Start the week of Jan. 5

Start the week of Jan. 19

Start the week of Feb. 2
no links available yet

Start the week of Feb. 16
no links available yet

Sessions Beginning Jan. 5

All Times Mountain Standard Time; a high-speed Internet connection is required)

Session 1
Use Memory Manager software to organize and edit photos for use in your StoryBook photo book.

Monday, Jan. 5
9 – 10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/341626737
6 –7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/728316308
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/816371868
Tuesday, Jan. 6
9 – 10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/128777581
6 –7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/534821861
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/356856581
Wednesday, Jan. 7
9 – 10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/943497670
6 –7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/639412442
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/910054233

Session 2
Get started with StoryBook Creator Plus. Choose a theme or digital power palette and learn the page-creation basics.

Monday, Jan. 12
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/394277659
6 –7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/835956692
8 –9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/756681047
Tuesday, Jan. 13
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/288585416
6 –7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/528202910
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/299084303
Wednesday, Jan. 14
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/419994817
6 – 7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/216513452
8– 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/833947023

Session 3
Use advanced design tools in StoryBook Creator Plus to enhance your pages.

Monday, Jan. 19
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/118167541
6 – 7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/347544222
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/925633995
Tuesday, Jan. 20
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/369622178
6 – 7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/630665136
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/193789990
Wednesday, Jan. 21
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/713656278
6 – 7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/698763117
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/465299050

Session 4
Put the finishing touches on your StoryBook, review it for final edits and upload it to the Creative Memories Photo Center. Use your coupon code to order the StoryBook.

Monday, Jan. 26
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/442327838
6 – 7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/729985714
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/592446922
Tuesday, Jan. 27
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/620326074
6 – 7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/944142972
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/710993863
Wednesday, Jan. 28
9 –10 a.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/148035496
6 – 7 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/818932458
8 – 9 p.m. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/773965874

Look and See

How much fun we had at showcase!

MM dancers fun lorene MM band paper IMG_0523

These photos are from the 2 early days at Vicki Morgan's Lakehouse!

IMG_0327 IMG_0291 IMG_0315

These are the Wonderful Morgan's! It was an Honor to get to know them and hear their stories about all the years of business with Creative Memories. I also loved to hear about their Family Legacy from the very beginning starting from Lee's Fathers Book Plate Company. Thank You from the bottom of my heart for you hospitality and friendship!

morgans

Shannon

Looking For People to Join Me!

Lately it seems like the more digital people are going that I have had people asking me about the business opprotunity from Creative Memories.

I know there are so many out there that need a solution to help them get their Digital photos safe and organized.

Creative Memories has and are following the trends and offering great products to keep their mission alive. Creative Memories believes in and teaches the importance of preserving the past, enriching the present, and inspiring hope for the future.

I love working for Creative Memories and I believe in their mission. I am looking to sponsor consultants that would love to run a home based business.

Right Now until the end of the month there is a special offering for the consultant kit. Click here to find out more and to you can sign up right there.

Summer Slacker

So summer is crazy and I am off and on again with this blog so I found a new video on youtube from Creative Memories that I am going to share for todays post. Also I leave next week for Showcase Convention in Minnesota. I so will be MIA here. But the good news is when I return I should have a lot of great stuff to share!!!!

Enjoy the video!