The Girlfriends Club

Free Quarterly Newsletter

Hi everyone,

For those of you who haven't heard, we have a FREE quarterly newsletter. The first newsletter went out on October 1st. We are still taking new subscriptions daily. All you have to do is send an e-mail to donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net with the subject line "Newsletter" and your name in the body of the e-mail.

**IMPORTANT** Please add my e-mail address to your approved senders list so the e-mail won't be sent to your junk e-mail.

We are also hosting challenges every quarter and the theme this quarter is "Comfort". We would love to see projects, layouts, home decor, etc... with this theme. Each of the three of us will be picking our favorite submissions and if your project is chosen, you will be highlighted in our next newsletter! Just send a pic of your project (250kb-500kb) to donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net with the subject title "Comfort" to enter.

Tell your friends!

We have a prize to give away!

To enter into the contest for the prize shown above, have your friends send us an e-mail that says "your e-mail sent me" in the subject field (example: donna@thegirlfriendsclub sent me) The person who refers the most new subscriptions WINS! 

Good Luck!

Hi everyone,

For those of you who haven't heard, we have a FREE quarterly newsletter. The first newsletter went out on October 1st. We are still taking new subscriptions daily. All you have to do is send an e-mail to donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net with the subject line "Newsletter" and your name in the body of the e-mail.

**IMPORTANT** Please add my e-mail address to your approved senders list so the e-mail won't be sent to your junk e-mail.

We are also hosting challenges every quarter and the theme this quarter is "Comfort". We would love to see projects, layouts, home decor, etc... with this theme. Each of the three of us will be picking our favorite submissions and if your project is chosen, you will be highlighted in our next newsletter! Just send a pic of your project (250kb-500kb) to donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net with the subject title "Comfort" to enter.

Tell your friends!

We have a prize to give away!

To enter into the contest for the prize shown above, have your friends send us an e-mail that says "your e-mail sent me" in the subject field (example: donna@thegirlfriendsclub sent me) The person who refers the most new subscriptions WINS! 

Good Luck!

V-blog #84 - Donna's Layered Flowers

In this week’s video I get to show you a brand new way to make my signature flowers. I’ve been experimenting with different materials and LAYERING them together. These new layered flowers remind me of the crepe paper flowers we used to make around Cinco de Mayo when I was a kid.

One question I get asked most often is how I make the scallops. I use an AccuCut die (you know the huge wood & foam dies you see at your local scrapbook store) and I cut the scallops out of dictionaries, vintage books, denim, material… you name it. If you don’t have access to a scrapbook store where you can do the die cutting yourself, I have some for sale on my website (www.donnasalzar.com) I bought one of the big machines and the dies because I wanted to be able to die cut at home… and use some slave labor to get them done (a.k.a. my children… lol).

I'm selling a set of 20 flowers (10 medium and 10 small) for $5 and a set of 15 of the original scallops for $5. You can buy a set of 12 (6 large and 6 small) for $4 at the Pinecone Press site.

If you would like to win the prize from this week’s video, just leave a comment and we will pick a winner when we post our next video.

The winner of the drawing for the gated album and the covered post it note pad from our last video is:

JuneBugPins

 

Have missed you guys! So glad to see you today! :c)
Love the gate fold book! The note card cover gift was also very quick and easy ...perfect since most everyone uses post it!
Your both so fun to watch...your out-takes are adorable...Thanks!

 

Send me your mailing address and I will ship off your prizes!

Thanks for watching! ~D~

V-blog #83 - Patterned Cardstock

Hi Friends. In this week's video, Leah shares her love of patterned cardstock and shows some GREAT tips for making mini-albums. These albums can be made using cardstock that you already have on hand to help you make some quick and beautiful, yet affordable gifts... These would be perfect for the holidays!

This week we are giving away the gated album, the two micro-mini albums and the tiny post-it notes as the prize. Just leave your comment here for a chance to win.

Our winner from the last video, who will get Samantha's adorable wall hanging is:

S. Payan said:

Thank you for sharing Sam's ideas. I love her stuff at Yellow Bird also. Get better Donna, we miss you.

So... S. Payan... e-mail donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net with your mailing address and we will ship off your prize.

 

If you haven't signed up for out quarterly newsletter it isnt too late. We are sending out our most recent newsletter almost daily to new groups of subscribers. Just e-mail donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net with the subject line "newsletter" to get signed up. In this newsletter we have lots of info about the cruise that the three of us will be hosting in May, 2010 and ton of pictures of the actual cruise ship that Johanna took for us!

 

And DON'T FORGET to let your crafty friends know. Send an e-mail to them letting them know about our free newsletter. If they send us an e-mail saying "your e-mail sent me" you will be entered into a drawing for a great prize (example would be "donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net  sent me").

 

Thanks for watching!

 

photo friday

Just a quick tip!

Balancing window light when it is sunny outside. The above photo is not balanced for the amount of light indoors and outside. Most cameras on auto, this will be the photo you will get. the windows will be all blown out and white. The photo below is after I balanced the light for the existing outdoor light.

the top photo with the women was balanced and you can see the trees outside and the water and marina. the bottom photo is not balanced. Not only are the windows all white, but the woman showing the table cloths, her hair is almost erased by too much light.
Solving this and balancing the light is quite simple.

1. turn your camera on and set it to shutter or aperture priority.

2. turn on your flash. many times with this much window light the flash will not want to flash, it is looking straight into a huge window with tons of light.

3. before you take the photo, toggle or turn your aperture or shutter speed dial until the image you see is darker and you can see out of the windows and see what is outside of the windows. If you are using aperture priority you will be moving your camera to a higher number such as 11,16,22... If you are using shutter priority, you will be moving your shutter speed to a bigger number such as 250, 500,800...

4. take the photo. you may have to make small adjustments to your exposure, but this should work :)

until later :) Johanna Peterson
   

Vblog #82

This week Leah and Johanna have a visitor (Donna was home sick). Samantha Sibbit is Johanna's friend from Yellow Birds Scrapbook Store in El Cajon. Samanth introduces us to the new stamp company Pink Persimmon that is mentioned in our Newsletter this week. Samantha is giving away as set of stamps on her blog HERE. By the way... the window covering is called a vallance... lol. Leave a comment here for a chance to win the "adorable" wall hanging shown in the video.

Our very first FREE quarterly newsletter has gone out. If you want to be added to our list of subscribers just send an e-mail to donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net. We are also giving away a prize to the person who referrs the most new subscribers... you can find out more in the newsletter.

The winner of the card set from our last video is...

Jeanne said...

how fun! Of course I signed up for the newsletter before the video even completed! LOL

Just send your mailing address to donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net and she will send this off to you!

Thanks for watching!!!

Photo Friday

Hey everyone! Where did the summer go? At least here it feels like summer still. Do not fear, there are a lot of out door activities still ahead! Picking apples, harvesting a garden, going to the pumpkin patch or a picnic in the park can be a great opportunity for some outdoor photos. Here are some tips on photographing an outdoor event:

Tip #1

If it is really sunny, try to move your subject into the shade if at all possible. If you have more than one person in the photo, they either both have to be in the sun, or both in the shade. Turn on your flash and use your flash when photographing outdoors in the shade. If there is no shade, turn your subject so the sun is to their back, and use your flash.

Tip#2

Take some close up shots to help tell the story. If you are picking pumpkins, take a close up of a pumpkin, or a close up of a bushel of apples.

Tip #3

 

Not all your photos have to be perfectly posed, nor does the subject have to be looking at the camera. Sometimes the really candid photos capture the event better than the posed photos.

Tip #4

Try a new perspective. Take a photo from up high, down low, or use a short depth of field to have your subject in focus and an object out of focus, or vice versa (like this photo).

Tip #5

Take some scenery shots, you don't need people in every photo. Take some landscape shots, zoom in and take a few shots of the surrounding elements.

Videoblog #81

Hello everyone!

This week Leah and I play with paper and die cuts from my Winter Wishes line. I will show you how to make this cute card and envelope from one sheet of paper and a couple die cuts using the Scor-it board and Scor-it's envelope template. Leave a comment and you will be entered into a drawing to win the card and envelope from this week's video:

We also announce a couple NEW things that we are doing. We now have a new section on our website called "Girlfriend's University" where you can buy project sheets which are COMPLETE step by step class instructions with plenty of photos. You won't have to pay for shipping fees and you can use any product that you have on hand! Pictures of the first two projects available are below:

LEAH'S BIOGRAPHY ATC SPINNER ALBUM

DONNA'S BRAND NEW PAINTABLE LAYOUT

Our 2nd announcement is that we will be starting a FREE quarterly newsletter! If you want to be added to the mailing list, just e-mail donna@thegirlfriendsclub.net with the subject line "NEWSLETTER" and let me know that you would like to be added. Our first newsletter will go out in October. By the way... you might want to add my e-mail address to your address book so that the newsletter doesn't go into your junk e-mail box.

Thanks for watching!

Vblog #80

This week it is just Leah and I. I get to show you all some fun tips for one of my favorite techniques, Heat Embossing. I don't often teach embossing in my classes due to the number of heat guns and electrical outlets that are necessary so this was a fun treat for me to be able to share with you all.

Our winner of last week's drawing for the new Pinecone Press Options kit is from someone who commented on our blog:

Flower (skrapbuker@gmail.com) has left you a comment:

Ooh I'd love to win this kit! You guys are so clever & creative. Hopefully that will rub off eventually from watching your videos :)

My frugal tip is if I'm going to be layering large pieces of cardstock or pattern paper, if possible, I'll cut out the middle of the paper, basically creating a border/frame, since you won't see that part of the paper if you left it there cos another layer would be on top. I will also create cards or tags with the scraps while I have them out. If I'm not ready to complete a card, I'll basically prep it so that I have the pieces to do so when I'm in a cardmaking mood. I hope that makes sense.

I'm in the process of trying to use the coffee sleeves I save into a mini album. I've seen great photos of some and figured might as well try it since I started saving the sleeves thinking I could do somthing with them. Plus I love the idea of mini albums because I can sometimes get distracted easily or bored quickly!

Thanks again for sharing and the chance to win!

So... just e-mail me at donna.salazar@cox.net with your mailing address and we will send your prize to you.

 

Thanks for watching!

Johanna's Halloween Layout

   BOO! I mean ...Hey everyone! Here is another project I made from my PineCone Press Kit, that we showed you in videoblog 79. I made a little shaker style layout - it's really fun, the layout has beads and stars and google eyes that can shake around, and the moon can swing, it is hung on a clear string (fishing line).

If you are local I would love to have you join me to make this project! I am teaching it at Yellowbird scrapbook store - Saturday September 12th at 10 am, if that fills up, I can add another date to teach it. if you need more information about this class, just email me at aadvphoto@aol.com - thanks! Johanna Peterson

vBlog No 79: My Minds Eye Halloween Kit

This week we are showing you one of the new "Options" kits from Pinecone Press. The "Options" kits will be the new Book Club. The really cool thing about these kits is the fact that EVERY project in the book is made with the same stuff so you have the "Option" to make the project that you like best! We add in a bit of fun stuff here and there but the main part of the project is the same.

We would love for you to join in with us and be a part of the Girlfriends Book Club (the only video group that does this). There will be some fun new things that we will be doing for our Book Club members... more on that soon! So join now by clicking on the button below to get your kit. You can send us pictures of your projects and we will be posting them into the gallery on our blog.

 

For a chance to win the kit in this week's video, leave a comment and share some frugal project ideas.

Thanks for watching!!!