Episode 96: Puppy, Buddy, Kitty

The Topic

Renne Looney of ForeverJoy Designs joins the conversation today as we share tips, tricks, and frustrations for documenting, photographing, and scrapping our tweens and teens.

Joining the Discussion:

Renne Looney (ForeverJoy Designs)
Peppermint Granberg
Katie Nelson

Steph

Show Notes:

Alex’s Listography Journal
Remembering Why I Scrap
Snarky Snippets
Surf Shack
Stargazer

Picks of the Week:

Renne: Symphonical
Peppermint: Staedtler Fineliner Pens
Katie: One of a Kind Word Arts by Little Butterfly Wings
Steph: on Pinterest

Sponsors:

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This entry was posted in Katie, Peppermint, Renne Looney, Show Post, Steph. Bookmark the permalink.

73 Responses to Episode 96: Puppy, Buddy, Kitty

  1. Gypsy says:

    I’d have to say I agree with your listener that there is a heavy tech focus in the podcasts. I find it often it comes in the tangents you go off on. So while the focus of a show might not be tech focused (like the one with Wes talking phones) it can be tech heavy because that’s the direction you go off onto. And yes I do find it frustrating.
    I take your point with regards to the fact that as Digi-scrappers we use technology a lot but that said I don’t come here hoping to hear tech stuff- and if I was in a position to upgrade sometime soon I wouldn’t come here to research it.
    I do appreciate news related things the heads up on Adobe going to the cloud is welcomed as I am still on CS3 and never in a million years can justify the spending on the cloud- so will look to find a hard copy of CS6 before it disappears off the shelves.
    From my perspective I think that your stats wouldn’t be all that reliable as an indicator- I download every show automatically and listen to them all as well- some I enjoy and some not so much. Most I listen through till the end- but some I have definitely given up on way before the end because I’ve just thought – “yawn!”
    As to topics that you could cover…. I will try and think on that- nothing springs to mind so I can appreciate it must be hard to come up with new ideas. That said I wonder if you could springboard some ideas off of resources like Pinterest- What are people pinning that applies- what would they want to learn to action those pins or use that inspiration?

    • steph says:

      You have a good point! One of the things that Stitcher does (similar to iTunes) that is cool for podcasters, is it shows us how many minutes people listen to each show and what percentage finish etc. Based on looking at the minutes listened, some of our least popular episodes are the ones where we discuss specific topics related to ideas on scrapping certain topics. The shows that get more listening time are the more tech heavy shows and mail shows. This mirrors similar patterns in our download stats.

  2. Bobbi says:

    I was excited to see today’s topic — my youngest is turning 13 in a few weeks (bringing the total of teens in my house to four) and it is a real challenge getting them to cooperate with my memory-keeping! They share the typical teen allergic reaction to cameras, and are hyper-sensitive to the potential for humiliation-by-parent. Lol. So I’m always looking for inspiration and suggestions.

    I thought I would share a couple of things that have helped me. There was a great series on Write.Click.Scrapbook. a while back on scrapping your teen (here’s the link to Day 1 (http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/write_click_scrapbook/2012/01/scrapping-your-teens-day-1.html). Good ideas for topics and jumping off points. Another link is to Stacy Julian’s post about how she scrapped her son’s senior year. I ignored the paper details, but I loved her ideas about photos to take and details to note. One thing she did that I loved: she would text him once a week with a question and then scrap the question & answer. She shows her completed scrapbook/photo album on this YouTube video starting about two minutes in. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUaMsX0ZVIc).

    Thanks for covering this topic, and keep up the good work!

  3. Theresa says:

    Oh my…….Peppermint and the Puppies (sounds like a knock off band to Josie and the Pussycats!). Listening to this all I could think of was that commercial that’s on (think it’s AT&T) with the little girl who wants a puppy brother. I’m always teasing my kids “go get your puppy brother”.
    As for the techy shows……don’t mind them at all. I’ve learned things I didn’t realize I needed to know or could use (and some things I might be able to use down the road) – besides you ladies make any topic fun!!
    Hope we don’t lose Peppermint in Vegas – although I love it when Renne’s on the show!

  4. I agree with the first comment, I don’t comment often but I think the heavy emphasis in Adobe stuff and cloud it’s a little of reality of regular scrappers. Regular scrappers are not designers and don’t need to listen one hour of lightroom stuff or Adobe stuff. (And I don’t have money or need to pay cloud) Downloading a show doesn’t mean we listen to it. That said I really love when
    the show doesn’t go off track.
    There is a lot still to be said and to be discussed. I was a half paper half digi scrapbooker now going totally digi and I feel a lack of topics to help people like me, like I loved the little end of the show when you guys talked about embellishments to go on pink and things like that.
    Why not talk about sometimes what have you seen in new and exciting ? new digi kits new designers?

    Scrapping hard moments, scrapping past.
    Even if you talked about this still a lot to be said. I feel the digi layouts mostly are just happy life few journaling but what if we’d want to journal deep stuff what could help us?

    Scrapping special needs kids not everyone like me has high functioning kids like Katie my son is non verbal but I still want to document, I still want to document how I feel.
    I have depression and did a layout about this how many do you see out there? what products would help? Maybe people want but they don’t know how.

    Styles of scrapping: how to help someone coming from paper re define their style going digi.

    Tech tips in the sense of scrapping not products like adobe or windows stuff.

    Maybe some listeners guests ,PRT did that and has been pretty great all that listeners contributed. We could talk about the other side.
    There is so much…
    But I do like the podcast about 80% of the time ;) And very happy with my new daily digi membership.
    Thanks

  5. LeeAndra says:

    I have a crazy idea.

    [I know, I know. All my ideas are crazy. See ‘slumber party at Peppermint’s house for the 100th episode.’]

    I am currently kindasortamajorly obsessed with process videos. I’m not into tutorials, but I love seeing how other scrappers work. IF (bigscaryIF) you could have some ‘famous’ scrappers record themselves scrapping (with a voiceover later explaining why they did what they did) and then post a link to that video while you do a ‘Digi Scraps’ mini-ep that’s sort of a Q&A with that scrapper, you could make visual and auditory fans happy at the same time and use them to divide up your more technical or not as closely related to scrapping shows from one another.

    [I know what you’re thinking — SHAZAM! Mind. blown. Amirite?!]

    Just my 37 cents on the topic.

  6. Tammy says:

    I thought the pet names were so fun! I love that Peppermint’s mom calls the kids “chickens!” I started calling my boys “boysenberries” when they were really little. When they were little, they always replied, “We’re not berries!” Now, they just go with it! I don’t do it in public anymore since they’re teens, but at home they’ll always be “boysenberries!”

  7. carrie a. says:

    I wanted to chime on mail about the tech heavy shows:

    I don’t mind the tech talk even though I use Paint Shop Pro primarily to scrap with, don’t own any kind smart device or cell phone, and don’t really have a reason to use any sort of cloud anything at the moment. Why? Because the info in your shows comes in handy and boost my confidence when approaching new technology. You gals really breakdown super-techy stuff in a way that makes perfect sense to people like me.

    I also find myself sharing what I’ve learned from The Digi Show with others who are confused by their own technology on a regular basis. When that happens, I get asked where I learned all this great stuff or how I became so tech savvy. My answer is The Digi Show. :) That’s usually followed by explaining that it’s a digital scrapbooking podcast taking scrapping out of the ‘how cute’ category and into the ‘how cool’ realm.

    Plus, I feel like I’m the loop with all the relevant tech news thanks you guys. That makes me feel young and hip! LOL. My tech-loving-tween son thinks the tech talk is sick (which means cool, making me kinda cool by default).

  8. Amy says:

    I know the shows have been kind of tech heavy lately but even though I don’t always use the programs you guys are talking about, I ALWAYS get something out of the podcast. Just like today when you said the topic was tweens and teens. Initially I thought this topic doesn’t apply to me because my kids are 5 and 6. I was very wrong. I LOVED your insight about scrapbook pages boosting kids self esteem – that makes me want to scrap some pages for my kids – and, it is always good to hear tips from parents who are at the next stage.

  9. Susan says:

    Love the show….LOVE ALL THE Tech Talk!
    I agree w/Jana (above), maybe some listener guests!
    Finally, one thing that I would like to know more about is how people organize their photos in iPhoto!
    Thanks for everything…love the show!
    Susan

  10. Shawna says:

    I’ve listened to you guys from Steph’s first episode as a guest on PRT, and I’ve talked out loud to you many times but never left a comment until today. As a 95% paper scrapbooker, I LOVE your show…especially the ‘tech heavy’ shows. I am only venturing into actual digital layouts (aside from photobooks that I’ve been doing for years!) BECAUSE of your show. I admit that in the beginning I was glassy eyed at all the terms and tech info….I just didn’t understand it all….but now, 3 years later, I’ve gone back and listened to those first episodes and I can understand and gain something from each and every one of them! I agree that you guys explain the most complicated technology in terms anyone can understand and make digital scrapbooking accessible to even the most ‘tech ignorant’ among us!

    I can’t imagine how hard it is to continually come up with episode after episode and I can’t begin to express my appreciation for the wonderful FREE content you put out each and every week. Thank you for all you do to be ambassadors of the digital scrapbooking community. Thank you for all the amazing hard work you do to bring us an enjoyable, fun loving, entertaining show that never fails to teach me something each and every week….no matter WHAT the topic is!

    Enjoying each and every ‘rabbit hole,’
    -Shawna

  11. L Squared says:

    Even though I don’t have any children I really enjoyed this episode. Thanks for all your hard work.

    I just got my first book back from AdoramaPix and Steph it is just as you said – gorgeous! However I do have one question – the spine title is printed on the side and part of the back of the book. I thought I had it well aligned on line but wonder if you have any tips.

    Also wish I wish I would have added the free blank page to the start and end – next time :) I’ve never had a no gap photo book and now I don’t think I’ll ever order one any other way. Thanks for working to get us promo code – I have a lot of scrapping to do before November.

  12. Pam in Misosuri says:

    Enjoyed this topic. I liked Renee’s idea of downloading her son’s pix and video to include his perspective in her memory keeping. When I got married my mom gave me a scrapbook of my life. Of course one book covering 30 years couldn’t be comprehensive but one thing I noticed is that it was my life through my mother’s lens. I was really grateful for the book but felt like there was a lot of my life missing because my perspective wasn’t always shown. Going forward with making scrapbooks for my own kids, I welcome the ideas for including their thoughts and viewpoints in the pages.

    • Peppermint says:

      This is so totally going to be my son’s albums. It’s why I say that I won’t even be handing them over. LOL He enjoys reading my perspective, but it is very one sided. It’s more like my memoirs as a mother rather than his childhood.

  13. Leonie-Australia says:

    Hi Girls, I have been listening to the show since the paperclipping days and I have never gotten bored with your shows & I still look forward to them every week. I enjoy the mix of tech & scrapbooking & to me the two just go together when you digi scrap. I would be disappointed if you never had any tech talk, so I guess it comes back to you can’t please all the people all of the time ! I appreciate that you all take time out of your busy lives to do these podcast for free & would like to congratulate you all on the great job you do.
    As for future topics I would like to hear some more on scrapbooking when the kids have left home, things that others have found enjoyable to scrapbook about that might apark some fresh ideas for me & others that kids have flown the coop :) ( I know you have talked about this before but I am feeling really stale with my ideas lately). Anyway keep up the great work you do & best wishes from Australia.

  14. Teri says:

    Getting excited for your upcoming 100th Episode! Wondering what you girls have planned? I will stay tuned!

  15. Shannan says:

    Love the show (and the geeky tech stuff). I have learned so much. Just wanted to comment about “buddy”. We called my son buddy since birth (we had a girl first). Then when he started talking I realized he thought his name WAS buddy. If I told my daughter we were going somewhere, he’d point to himself and say “Me come too, me, buddy?”. Made us step back and try and use his name more, but then he’d say “not Eli, Buddy!”. So funny (I made a page about this if course!).

    • Peppermint says:

      I love this story! I actually called Nicholas “Nickopotamus” when he was a baby/toddler .. and when he started responding to it in conversation I had to re-evaluate.

  16. RitaQ says:

    Ironically I do have a tech question… & my first thought was to post it to you ladies :) Although I have to admit I get a little disinterested with long discussions about Adobe cloud, Illustrator, Lightroom… I’m only using my Mac (iPhoto) & PSE & that’s good enough for me. I suspect that most digi scrappers aren’t using much more than that.
    But I do LOVE the show & always listen to the very end. Dog walks, bike rides & runs go so much faster with your company :)

    My tech question…. my son just bought a new computer w Windows 8 preloaded. Since this was for his new business, I sent him a Seagate Go Plus EXD that I had purchased a yr ago. While visiting, I attempted to install it for him (since he is not a techy guy). It seemed to be fine until I started to drag files to it – for back-up purposes!! At that point (after I’d spent 1/2 hr installing), it said that the operating system (windows 8) would not support this EXD. UGH!

    So….what happens if this had been an EXD that I had used to back-up all my precious photos & then deleted from my computer (thinking they were safe). I do know you should have multiple back-ups… I’m just playing devil’s advocate. But seriously, what if this was important data & now you can’t access it? (FYI – I will be able to still use it with my Mac)

    • Peppermint says:

      I guess I’m confused as to what had to be installed? All my EHDs I just plug in and the computer recognizes them, I don’t install any software or anything. So your question is already over my head. When I plug a new EHD into my machine I always right click on it and chose “Format Disk” immediately and wipe the whole thing clean, then Windows just recognizes it as a generic disk. BUT I’m also not on Windows 8 because change scares me.

      • StudioWendy says:

        Well, you do have to be careful about Mac vs. PC as far as the disk. Most of the time you can reformat them either way, but some will only work with one or the other. And, if you do have a drive that you have files on that you want to move to another computer, it may be impossible. (ie. a mac-formatted drive hooked up to a PC won’t be able to get the files off of it.) But, I’m like you Peppermint… every drive I’ve bought has worked fine without even formatting it.

      • RitaQ says:

        Thanks for ur response… turns out that I was being an idiot in that I had purchased a Mac-specific EHD and forgot. I had thrown away the original box… DUH!

        However, Wendy’s follow-up response does make me ponder. I don’t expect to ever go back to a PC, but if I back up/ archive my photos to my Mac EXDS, then in the future, no one on a PC will be able to access them???

  17. Sarah R. says:

    Seriously, The Digi Show has impacted my life for the better :) I have learned so much and been introduced to products/tools/techniques/gear/ideas that have enriched my everyday life. I’ve said it before and it still rings true: the quality of content put out by both The Daily Digi and The Digi Show – on a consistent daily/weekly basis – is amazing. Thanks to you all for your work!
    P.S. I love LeeAndra’s about watching someone scrap. It could be The Digi Show’s version of Lifehacker’s This Is How I Work retitled to This Is How I Scrap. ;)

  18. Cathy R says:

    I just started listening to this episode and had to stop to comment regarding the listener’s comment about the shows being too techy. I am a paper scrapper. I confess I have ATTEMPTED to digi scrap but it is in a totally foreign language at least to me. So I try, get frustrated and go back to what I know and am comfortable with – my papers and embellishments. However, having said this, I love your shows anyway, techno dropout that I am. I have listened from the beginning for the company of your friendship and for learning new tips any memory keeper can use. In fact, I scrap while listening to the podcast! Yes, sometimes my eyes glaze over when yall are talking PSEitsis or what-u-ma-call-its flattened pixels drop shadow-osis but I hang in there because I still might learn something and usually do. In fact, I am now a proud Android owner and use my phone to take photos…comfortably doing so from listening to tips I heard on your podcasts. I am almost ready to take the big step of downloading an app to edit my photos…so who knows what the future holds? You might find me actually digi scrapping…maybe. :-)

    So keep up the work: It’s ALL good! Thank you for working hard to entertain and inspire us. I’m a listener for life!

    PS. FYI: My youngest child is 31, and although I created as a high school graduation present for her two GIANT scrapbooks of her life which she knew I was doing, she scrapped smaller ones herself of her prom and to document her senior week. Her perspective and her “insider” comments on these events bring a smile to her face every time she opens the albums. Just a suggestion for those of you who have high school seniors.

  19. Rebecca says:

    I haven’t listened to the show yet but am commenting based on the comments above. Short & sweet, I love love the tech shows.

  20. Jayne says:

    I love all the shows – tech and scrapbooking (and I’ve listened to EVERY one). I think that you would never be able to satisfy all the people all the time. I don’t have children at home so I guess I could complain about shows that talk about scrapbooking children but I would never do that because even if it’s not really a topic that is relevant to me I can ALWAYS learn something and then make it relevant to what I’m doing. Tech is part of what we do in digital scrapbooking and it will always be that way. I’m always interested in the cameras, phones, ways to share, etc that you talk about. Seriously I love it all and appreciate what you do.

    Shout out to the digi game – I love it each month and think everyone that is digi scrapping should have it.

  21. Amber says:

    Just a few quick thoughts as I’m still listening… RE phones vs “real cameras” and kids being more accepting of them… My 5yo has grown up with the majority of his photos being taken with the phone camera, so I routinely get that “Mom – stop taking pictures!” while I’m trying to sneak a quick snapshot with my phone. When I bring out the CAMERA, though, he’s all grins and poses and working the cheese.. I think it’s just a matter of what they’re used to, and generationally, these kids who are growing up with phones as their parents’ main cameras may react to them the same way we reacted to our parents whipping out the real cameras.. Maybe the reason teens are still pretty accepting of the them is that they remember the big ordeal of the whole family needing to “pose” for the big camera and making it something “special” as opposed to just a quick and easy snapshot… idk..

    P.S. Renne – I totally teared up at your story about watching him go off to the beach.. ;)

    • Renne says:

      Thanks Amber– my family just laughs at me… in a cruel BwaaHaHAAA kind of way. Just the other day I almost lost it seeing a mom shop with her son for *ugh* college dorm stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond…. and whats really lame is I was by myself.

  22. Renne says:

    One more thing I wanted to add about capturing some of my big guy’s memories… Text Messages. I have a Windows Phone and haven’t found an app I like yet- so I just take photos..like screen shots.. but I know there are Android apps like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zeesoftware.emailnytexts&hl=en. Some of the texts he sent when he first started high school are so precious to me. Not because they were all mushy, but because he was sending them everyday at lunch. he hadn’t made alot of friends yet… so I was SO happy the day I didn’t get a text at lunch time! But you dont really need to egt a screen shot- you can just jot it down… I scrapped one of our texts here: http://foreverjoydesigns.blogspot.com/2013/04/feeling-little-social-today.html

    • Steph says:

      Renne!! I had the same thing happen with my oldest when we moved to Seattle a year ago. It broke my heart every single day when I got texts at lunch. I cried with joy the first day I didn’t!

  23. Sarah R. says:

    I had to chuckle at myself last night…I too, call my son “buddy”….only I didn’t even realize it!! I greeted him yesterday with a “hey buddy, how ya doing?” and stopped in my tracks thinking, “geez, how did I miss the fact that I call him that?!” Maybe a clue that I need to be a little more tuned in? :)

  24. Nicole M. says:

    I just have to say how much I enjoy listening to your show every week. I am a more recent listener, and found your show through the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast. Although PRT is very informative, I have found myself drawn to your podcast BECAUSE of all of the ‘tech talk’. As a (newer) digital scrapbooker, I love hearing about all the products that can help me with creating pages, organizing photos, taking photos, etc., and how to utilize them best. Since I’ve found your show I’ve gone back and downloaded and listened to them all, and can honestly say I have found useful information in all of them. I appreciate all of your time and effort that goes into creating these podcasts weekly (for free!), keep up the great work!

    I had to laugh at the “Puppy, Buddy, Kitty” title. My husband somehow started calling my son “Spud”….as in a potato, (I think it evolved from me calling him “Bud”), and we call him that ALL the time now! He responds to it as much as his actual name (he is 15 months old). I’m sure strangers must think we are nuts!

    • Courtney M says:

      I agree. Since I listen to both PRT and the Digishow, I love the more tech talk here. I actually find myself getting bored with some of the more “scrappy” topics at PRT, and fastforwarding or skipping to the end. I think part of that depends on my mood, and part of it depends on what I’m working on in my life.

  25. I have set my daughter up with a Project life album etc. ready for her senior year. Its going to be exciting. She’s starting with the last day of her junior year. I really recommend the envelopes Becky does for gathering the bits and pieces to add to the album. At her school this is part of her English grade so she’s keen to do it well. I’m thinking of hosting her friends once a month so they can work together on it and use my supplies etc. I’ve been using the Michaels and Hobby Lobby coupons to buy her the things bit by bit.
    She’s not my Buddy but my Sweet Pea. My son is “P” short for Philip.

  26. Dawn N says:

    Here’s my two cents… I love the techy stuff, I love the non-techy stuff. Every show I have learned something! I do both paper and digi. I would never have known of the adobe cloud w/o the digi show. I can not afford one time buy of lightroom, etc… so I get them all at a low (student rate) monthly price and I am forever thankful! I have learned great tips regarding photography and memory cards, etc… so please don’t stop being who you all are and doing what you do.

    I have 2 older kids and 2 younger ones. My oldest girl graduated last year and my son graduated this year. Because they grew up half of their life before digital cameras I have their school books and sports all in 12×12 pages, chronological order. (this includes a one or two page LO’s for dances, sports and each grade in school)
    As for their “life” pics since I needed to cram in many years before their grad party I have pocket pages (cover your eyes Katy…) mixed with 12×12 layouts in another book. This includes baby photos, a layout for all the major milestones where we got professional photos taken. I have a LO for their birthdays and Christmas, but maybe pocket photo and journal cards for Halloween, Easter, beach day, etc… (I hope these make sense).

    As always it was a great show again! Please don’t stop with the techy stuff!!

  27. Tricky Nag says:

    I haven’t listened to the entire show yet, but I LOVE the tech-talk. I sometimes try to find answers to my tech questions but oftentimes what I find isn’t written in a language I understand. It’s English, but way beyond my comprehension. However, with your show, you speak my language!! I understand what you’re talking about. As a result, I’ve learned so very much and I’m actually tech-savvy within my own circles. When I come across people who are a bit techy, I mostly get what they are talking about, and when I don’t, I feel comfortable enough to ask questions that don’t make me look like a complete moron.

    Plus, I want to know what people or groups like Life Hacker are up to and talking about, but I don’t want to listen to it or read it everyday, or any day for that matter. That’s where you come in Peppermint!

    If I wanted only scrapbooking, I’d listen to PRT or read more scrapbooking blogs. I want what you offer!!

    Love the show, and the knowledge and skills it has given me.
    Thank you!!

    • Peppermint says:

      I think it’s funny that Lifehacker has become part of my personal brand at this point. I must really reference it A LOT if it’s moved ahead of Bravo TV on the list of “What Peppermint is known for”..

  28. willimena says:

    Hi. I like the mix of contents as it is. The tech stuff is great – I don’t have Facebook, Lightroom, instagram or store anything on any cloud however it is so useful to be in the know when talking to my techy brothers, younger collegues and my kids. Plus techy content means I can listen to my podcasts with the older kids in the car -scrapbooking isn’t quite so universally acceptable in our car :) You’re doing a great job – listening to you is my special treat after a long day!

  29. Teri Merkins says:

    I would love a show about scrapping the hard times in life-the break ups and the hard times with kids.

    Also a show about scrapping special needs children and how to balance the hard times and the amazing moments.

    What a show about layout design? The rules of composition, etc.

  30. I always love shows talking about organising :) (surprise, surprise!)

    Sometimes it does feel like the show can get a bit ‘high-level’ for the average scrapper who isn’t in the industry, but of course, most of the guests are in the industry, that’s how you know who to invite on. I personally do enjoy all the Adobe talk, but perhaps talking to the people behind My Memories, My Digital Scrap Room, Serif, Panstoria, Corel etc could be interesting. Maybe a whole show about scrapping specific products. No everyone wants to spend $100 to start scrapping with PSE. These programs have come a long way.

    I loved the ep with Cheryl Ashcroft :) and would love to see her back on again sometime.

    • Courtney M says:

      I’ve never heard of Serif, Panstoria, My Memories or My Digital Scrap Room. Are they all programs similar to Adobe? Or like Creative Memories/early Memory Makers do they lock you into printing with them?

      PS: In the US, you can grab PSE from Amazon for about $65.

      • Courtney

        Sadly in Australia, the price of PSE isn’t that low! It’s even worse if you try to buy it in a store. It’s usually bundled with Premiere Elements for $150.

        :) Melissa

  31. Valerie says:

    Help! At the beginning of the year, I started a scrapbooking club. Several of the ladies showed an interest in learning how to Digi Scrap, but were intimidated by the idea of online classes. I decided, I’m a teacher; I know how to digi scrap; I can solve this problem. I thought I was being tremendously clever when I decided that in order to avoid any TOU problems, I would design my own kit.

    Obviously, between designing my own kit and all the workshop documentation, I’ve put a lot of work into this, so I want to be able to get paid for my work. For various reasons having to do with the location that we meet, I can’t charge admission, but I can sell the kit and course materials before the workshop. (Again, I was feeling terribly clever at this point)

    I decided to sell the kit to my group members through my Etsy, and I ran into a HUGE snag. I can’t seem to compress the papers enough to be able to put the whole kit into the 5 files under 20 MB allowed by Etsy.

    So, here’s my question. Is there any way to “super compress” (for lack of a better term) jpegs, so that I can make my papers fit? Alternately, do any of you have suggestions for another simple and trustworthy site I can use to sell my course kit to my members?

    Thanks in advance for your help!

    • StudioWendy says:

      You can sell off a blog using PayPal, like Katie does. I think it’s pretty simple to figure out. A wordpress blog is free and easy to set up as well. Or, you can go with an inexpensive web hosting plan that includes a domain name and wordpress 1-click install for around $100/year.

    • Katie says:

      I use payloadz.com to sell off my blog and it’s really easy to set up and a great system!

    • Peppermint says:

      There is one site that I’ve done a few commissioned kits for that requires me to compress all of my papers down to as close to 1MB as I can – which with some of my small patterns & textures can require that I move the compression down to a level that I am *completely* uncomfortable with as a digital designer (like 1 or 2, seriously…) They maintain that once the layout is printed there is no noticable difference in a paper that was compressed at 2 vs. a paper that was compressed at 10 (which is what I typically use) and I have not tested this out personally. My argument is that a lot of digital scrapbookers never print out their pages, and in high-res digital files there IS a noticeable difference between those two compression rates – but only at 100%. At a typical gallery size of 600px or even a larger 900px then no, you won’t notice the pixelation. And really if you’re only ever going to share your layouts in digital form no one would ever be looking at them by 3600×3600.

      Still, I create two separate sets of files for that kit – one that goes to them at the uncomfortably low compression and another at a level 10 compression that goes into my store once the kit is released back to me. Because that compression rate is not one that would fly with the majority of my customers, quality-wise.

      All of that is my roundabout way of saying that according to them you could compress those files at a “super compressed” rate and the pages would still print well, but I would want to test that out first at both compression rates and decide for myself because at the end of the day your name is attached to it.

      • StudioWendy says:

        I totally agree with you. Sometimes you have to do what the client requires, but I’ve seen printing tests done with highly compressed JPGs and it’s not always pretty. The really bad artifacting happens when you use highly contrasting colors. And it WILL show up in print. Will most people notice? Probably not. But, I also would not want to put my name on something potentially awful when it is so easily avoided!

    • Valerie says:

      Thanks, everybody! I don’t know how often I’ll be doing something like this, but I’ll definitely keep your suggestions in mind for next time. This time, I just ended up putting a pdf on etsy that had a link to a password protected file on mediafire (just because I was familiar with it already and it was free).

  32. carrie a. says:

    Thank you for the topic! Since my kiddo is 12 now, most of the boy kits just aren’t my style, are too young or just don’t fit my kiddo (though I truly loved Renne’s kits). I appreciate any designer that can make a boy kit that feels fresh, yet fits boys of all types and ages. Having a boy who has never been stereotypical a mud-bugs-tools-cars-and-sports guy forced me to approach scrapping his pages in a different way. I’ve really gotten over the whole idea of “boy” or “girl” kits. I use whatever kits support the story, not the age or gender of the subject in my photo.

    But I don’t really flowers. :P

  33. Katie (sakura-panda) says:

    I think that most of the tech talk has been discussion about either digital scrapbooking tools (which to get, how to decide, why to pick) or digital scrapbooking technique (how to make, how to use, what to apply). I don’t recall any tech discussions not ultimately related to digital memory keeping. To be honest, I don’t think that you could go away from the tech talk and still distinguish yourself as a “digital” scrapbooking show.

    On the other hand, if you went away from so much tech talk, I would be buying less, and both my credit card and my husband might consider that to be a not bad thing. LOL

    My kids are younger, but your discussion has reminded me that I need to get more input from them regarding what they are doing even now. My oldest is almost 10 and it won’t be long before he becomes a big mystery to me, I think. I need to start getting his input more; it kind of went by me that he is already growing up. Great topic!

    Peppermint — my drafting kit in college was by Staedtler, and while I gave the rest of the kit to my then-boyfriend-now-husband when my drafting class was over, I used the mechanical pencil and eraser until I graduated. (Technically, I used it until I married — funny how things like that disappear when you get married! I haven’t been able to find a replacement and I miss it. It was a great pencil!) I never thought to look for pens — thanks for the pick!

  34. Jenn says:

    I have been listening to the Digi Show since early Paperclipping days, and went back to listed to every single show early on. As I began listening to this episode, I had to click “stop” and weigh in on topics:

    I do enjoy the tech talk. As a non-techie, I’m never going to listen to tech shows, so you guys are all the information I ever really get–and importantly, it’s all geared to me where I live, down here in the land of “I only use enough technology to survive”.

    Other topic suggestions:

    I’m up to my nose in wedding right now–daughter is tying the knot in a week and a half–and I’d love to hear a show focused on how to deal with such MAJOR photography events! I have my first daughter’s wedding just languishing in a separate iPhoto library, on an external hard drive, and those 20,000 photos are the stuff of a scrapbooker’s nightmare (apart from that other, worse nightmare: data loss).

    Another topic of interest to me is just plain old TIME–ways to speed up the process of scrapbooking, how everyone manages their time (and when they DO scrap), and setting/keeping priorities in memory-keeping: I feel like precious stories are escaping my mind as I fret through wedding preparations and filing my photos away for “later”.

    A show on journaling would be good: I remember Peppermint saying that she starts with a big ole’ text box, but it seems most digi-layouts (and scrap layouts in general) are really light on story and heavy on “pretty”. How does one handle keeping the story intact, until the page is done? I’d love if there were a way to include a text file in an iPhoto folder; do any other photo managers allow this?

    Thanks as always for being my “imaginary friends”…and keep up the good work, gals!

    • RitaQ says:

      Jen… I’m not an iPhoto expert but I picked up a ‘journaling’ tip from a Paperclipping episode way back. Noell talked about including some journaling right in the photo metadata / information section under description, as you upload your photos into iPhoto. I don’t do it for every photo but if I see one/several that have a specific story attached (& I’m likely to forget it later), I will write a few sentences immediately. If there is more than one photo involved with the story, I just copy & paste the info to the other photos’ info section. Hope this makes sense.

      • Jenn says:

        Thank you, Rita! A good tip; I have been, when I have a minute, transferring my OhLife entries to the metadata description of that day. I really wish I could just include a text file in the iPhoto folder, however; that way I can see right there the story that I wish to include on a page.

      • Peppermint says:

        I talked about this on Episode 98, too! When I did my Live crop at ScrapOrchard I showed how I store journaling in the “caption” field in the photo’s metadata and it was quite the earth shattering development. I love storing it along with the photo, it takes the pressure off me to remember and I see it as a form of memory keeping in and of itself. Sort of like how my grandma used to write things on the back of her 35mm photos. I loved flipping the photo over and reading her words.

  35. Jenn says:

    Oh…another topic: Looking back on years of experience: mistakes you’ve made, things you wish you’d done more/less of, the pages you treasure the most, pictures you wish you’d have taken, and so on.

  36. Marilyn Sibblies says:

    Hi ladies – I couldn’t listen to this episode in it’s entirety because I am “infertility woman” a la PRT episode 157. [snicker] So I couldn’t get through the main topic of scrapbooking teens/tweens because it was too emotional to hear you speak about your kiddos.
    But I love The Digi Show, techy-focused as you wanna be! If I stop to think about it, I don’t really have much reason to be the huge Digi Show Lover I am because… A) I don’t scrapbook [unless you count Project Life as of this year], B) I’m a paper-crafter, basically non-digi by choice, and C) I would rather rather crawl over hot coals than do post-processing on my photos. So why on earth would I love The Digi Show??!??! Just like the person who wrote in, it keeps me connected to memory keeping in general; I hear about digi scrapbooking ideas that I can translate to paper; I learn about cool ANDROID apps; I actually use PhotoShop, InDesign, and Illustrator sparingly at work, so hearing about Adobe products is always handy; and adore the camaraderie and experience you ladies bring every week. I love it so much that I decided to become a member to support your efforts even though I have zero plan to use the Digi Game supplies I keep downloading to admire, then end up deleting. [EXCEPT for Peppermint’s kits that I buy just to look at] LOL! So keep up the great work you do, just as you are, with no need to apologize.

    I was glad I caught the reason for the show title as I was fast-forwarding to Picks of the Week. So as a cultural aside, in Jamaican slang “buddy” is phallic reference… as in “nutty buddy”. [giggle] So it’s somewhat uncomfortable when I hear American people calling their male children “Bud” or “Buddy”. AWKWARD! LOL ☺