Getting The Most Out Of iDSD

The hoodley what now? You'd have to be VERY new to digital scrapbooking not to know that iDSD is International Digital Scrapbooking Day. The first confusing thing about it is it seems to be more than a day. It's more of a 4 day thing from 1 - 4 November as different stores start at different times but TODAY is the big day.

There are a gazillion freebies and special offers BUT, make no mistake, this is a MARKETING event run by the digi stores and their aim is to sell you as much as possible. Your aim is to get as much free stuff as possible whilst getting some good deals on kits you've been lusting after.

First of all, DON'T PANIC. Brits -  feel free to shout that several times in a Corporal Jones voice.

FREEBIES

We have that covered. Join the Digi Scrapping Freebies group on Facebook and you'll find links to all the cool stuff and a list of blog trains and Facebook hops (in the File section). It's useful to know the links are there so you haven't got to rush round frantically finding and saving them. Of course, if you do find one we haven't got please post it!

The most important tip about Freebies is don't download stuff just you don't want or need just because it's free. There lies madness.

There are more detailed tips on how to save time, work efficiently and get a ton of stuff on our main site HERE.

BLOG/FACEBOOK HOPS

We have thirteen of these - at the last count - on Digi Scrapping Freebies so you don't have to go chasing around the web.  Yikes! Thirteen!! The article on the link above has lots of tips on blog hops.

Start with the My Memories one because you add the freebies to your account and can download them later which saves you a ton of stress. You don't need to have My Memories software to use the freebies. Just download the "general" files. as everyone knows, though. I use My Memories all the time and have made thousands - really - layouts easily. Go HERE for a good deal on MyMemories and access to our private tutorial group.


GOOD DEALS (???)

I regard at least 40% off as a good deal and tend to ignore the rest BUT lots of stores do deals at other times of the year so don't stress over it. Just make you sure really need (OK, want ...) the kits before exercising credit card.

There will be coupons - Some will come in the kits you download and some will come in emails. Save them in separate folders for later.

CHECK YOUR STASH

Designers tend to move about a lot from store to store or one store takes over another one. When the designer is new to the store their kits will be in the new products section. This is fair enough but they might not be new to you. It's really annoying to buy something you already have! That is definitely not a good deal. I file all my kits twice on two separate external hard drives - once under themes and once under designer names. There will be more tips on this in an article shortly. However you do it try to make sure you haven't already got the kit. If it looks familiar to your there might be a reason for that!

UNZIP AND TIDY UP

If you download stuff all day then you're faced with a mammoth unzipping task guess what will happen? You'll get fed up and delete the lot. That's what I did one year when I got to August and realised I hadn't unzipped stuff from the May NSD. As you're unzipping, if you don't like it or you're not going to use then delete it! There is no point in clogging up your computer.

TAKE A BREAK

Sick of people trying to part you and your cash? Take a break in the Digi Scrapping Tips group on Facebook. It's a completely advertising-free zone where you can show your layouts, get help, join in challenges etc. We have a weekly challenge every Monday and a daily word challenge. Plus chat of course. And absolutely no ads!

How To Use SVG Shapes in MyMemories

I left paper scrapbooking behind a few years ago, probably just as the Cricut and what my DH calls the "Robocop" were becoming popular so I had no idea what svg files were. When I found they were files used in these cutting machines I thought they had no relevance to me

BUT

Did you know you can use svg shapes in your My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking program? Lots of svg files are available free so that means you could have dozens of new shapes to use in MMS.

This is a quick example of a shape filled with a glitter "paper". Actually the paper is a sample jpeg of a glitter style that Lindsay Jane thoughtfully provides with her kits. (Glitter and embossed paper from Lindsay's Frosty kit). The chandelier was free from the FreeSVg blog.




The best way to tell you how I did this is to get you to do it.

Go to one of the sites that offer free svg files. You can Google exactly that or "cutting files".

Download a SIMPLE silhouette type shape. If you're a paper scrapper what we're looking for here is one pass of the cutting machine not multiple layers. You can use multiple layers but not when you're first starting out! For example the chandelier is one simple shape. There are no separate bulbs or cord in different colours.

Download it. It will appear on your computer very quickly as these are small files. If it appears as a web page to to save in your top toolbar as save as SVG file.

Open Windows Explorer and find where MMS is on your computer. It's likely to be in C Drive - Programs - My Memories:



See "Components"? Expand that until you see Shapes. Put your cursor on this word and right click - new folder - rename the new folder to Free SVG Files or whatever name you like. As you can see, I have a folder called free svg files and one for SVG Cuts with sub-folders for the few shapes that I've bought.

Right click on the file you just downloaded and select Copy. Go to your new folder in the MMS components section and Right Click - Paste to put your new file into that folder. You can even do this while MMS is open.

In MMS click on the shapes icon, go to the folder where your new shape is and click on it. It will appear on the page and you can click on the paper icon to fill it with paper. Choose a paper that came with MMS. It doesn't matter what. Double click on the shape and a window will open. You can then replace the image (the paper) with another paper or a photo.

Rinse and repeat! Go get lots of shapes. I have downloaded a few free ones that won't work for some reason. I just deleted them from my MMS folder.

More tips on the main site soon. For the geeks - SVG stands for Scaleable Vector Graphics.