Shop, share, review and pin: How rewarding!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Are you familiar with our loyalty Reward Points?  Did you know you can EARN FREE STUFF just by shopping our online store? Really! But that's not the "new" news, because that's been happening all along. Maybe you didn't even realize it. But if you've been shopping at clubscrapshop.com, you've been earning reward points.

The NEW news is that now there are even more ways for you to earn Reward Points. Yep. It all happens in our online store. 

Here are three new ways you can earn extra Reward Points:

1. Write a review of one of our products. (Limit one per day.) Writing a review is easy! Just click on the text below the product image(s), as seen in the screen shot below, and share your feedback, earning yourself 50 reward points.

2. "Share" a product from our online store on Facebook. (Limit one per day.) Sharing on Facebook is easy, too, assuming you have a Facebook account. Just click on the Facebook icon above the product photo, like shown below, to share with your Facebook friends and get 50 points!

3. "Pin" a product from our online store on Pinterest. If you have a Pinterest account, you can pin as many products from our online store as you like and get 10 points per pin! (Unlimited.) Just be sure to click on the Pinterest icon above the product images in the online store, as shown below.

So, how ya like them apples? Pretty cool, eh? Not sure how to use all the fabulous reward points you've been accumulating? We created a special FAQ page with answers to all your shopping and reward point-related questions.

Just a couple of things to note: 

• Please be sure to sign into your account in our online store. You must be signed in (you'll see "Welcome, your name" in the upper right corner of the screen) for the system to correctly monitor your shopping, sharing, reviewing and pinning activities. 
• There is a one day "lag time" before points earned can be redeemed. 
• You'll need a minimum of 1,000 points to start redeeming, and 1,000 points is worth 10 bucks in the store!

So that's it . . . easy peasy. We invite you to get started right away.

Oh, and don't forget . . . this week you can earn double points for all of your online shopping in our store, too. You'll be earning free stuff in no time flat!

Happy shopping, sharing, reviewing and pinning!
Karen

New Club Scrap Digital Store!

We are so excited to announce that our new Club Scrap Digital store is open for business! 

So what's the scoop? There will now be two separate stores--The one you all know and love for your traditional scrapbooking, stamping and papercrafting needs, AND a separate one, dedicated exclusively to Club Scrap digital materials. As you know, the Club Scrap world is a very unique one, so separating the digital and paper products will make shipping and delivery a little less complicated and will help you shop more efficiently. 

Digital members and customers can start using the new store immediately. If you are a current member, you'll be happy to know that your information will magically be transferred into the new cart by February 20th.


We've also created a separate Club Scrap Digital fan page on Facebook! If you are into digital scrapbooking, we'd love to have you stop on over and visit. 

Be sure to "Like" our page to keep up-to-date on all the latest news and information on our digital products. Oh, and don't forget to tell your friends!

Creatively yours,
Karen

Facebook Banner Fun (and a Spoiler!)

Hi there, everyone! Ron here with another Thursday digi-idea.

When Facebook updated their site a while back, they added the ability to have a banner on your home page. Many members just upload a photo to display in the banner area, but some folks (both companies and individuals alike) have gotten a bit more creative with their banner. So how about a quick tutorial on how to create your own cool banner?

Okay, before we look at how to create your own banner (or 'cover photo' as it's also known), you need to know that Facebook has published a list of things that you can't do with that banner:

You can't…

• Use it as an ad.
• Include your contact details – i.e., no website address, no phone number, no email, etc. 
• Include pricing or purchase information – i.e., ’40% off…’ or ‘Get yours now at our website…”
• Reference any “user interface element” – i.e.,  you can’t ask for, mention or even use a graphic to point to Like, Share or any other Facebook feature. Facebook even makes special mention that you cannot encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.
• Include calls to action – i.e., ‘Get yours now’ or ‘Tell your friends.’
• Use an image you do not own or have the rights to use, that is false, deceptive or misleading.

Despite the things you can't do, you can still create something that's fun! And don't worry about that last bullet - If you wanna use some elements from a Club Scrap Digital™ kit, Tricia said it's okay - you have the right to use them - just as long as it's for your own personal use on your own page. So no making cover photos with CS® parts and start selling them to make extra craft money!
Let's start with the size: 851 pixels wide x 315 pixels high, 72 ppi and less than 100Kbs in size. (I'm using Photoshop, but these steps should be similar in whatever program you're using.)

Now since all of the CS® digi components have a resolution of 300 ppi, it's a good idea to change the resolution of your file to 300 now - makes working with those pieces a bit easier. Don't worry, we'll change the resolution back to 72 when we're done! To do this, go to Image -> Image size and change the resolution to 300, the pixel width and height will change automatically.

Now here's a 'template' that I created for the Cover Photo. You'll notice that it has a red box in the lower left - that's where your profile photo will actually cover part of the banner, so you'll probably want to leave that area blank with you design your cover, since it will end up being hidden anyway. In Photoshop, I keep that red box as a separate layer - you'll see why later on.

Now that we've gotten the tedious stuff out of the way, let's get creative! I'm using February's Up, Up, & Away digital kit for this (yes, I got permission to post a spoiler today!).

1. Pick a background, any background. I chose the blue one, just 'cuz I like blue, but you can pick something else if ya want.

2. Drag it on to the Facebook canvas - in Photoshop, if you hold the 'Shift' key down while you drag, it will automatically center itself.

3. I want to give it a little more visual texture, so I'm going to add one the overlays - cool, huh?

4. Time for an embellishment - I added this really cool steampunk balloon (believe it or not, Jac constructed this out of digital elements - she's so talented!).

5. And maybe a ribbon and bow - with shadows, of course! (but that's another lesson for another time)

6. One last embellie, I think - a word balloon (see, I'm keeping a balloon theme here, folks!) from the Comics kit with "Up, Up & Away" inside - positioned so that it looks like the profile photo is speaking :)

7. Remember I said that I'd do something with that red layer? Well, it's time! I'll turn it white and add a fuzzy shadow all around so that the profile photo will 'glow' just a bit.

Once you're happy with your banner, save it in the program's native format (that would be a PSD file for Photoshop users) so that you can use it as a starting point later to build a new one. Then merge the layers and change the resolution back to 72, and save it as a JPG (you might need to reduce the quality of the JPG to make sure it's less than 100Kb in size). Last step - log-in to Facebook and go to your home page; click on the 'change cover' button and upload your new creation!

That's it for today - now go and create a Facebook Cover of your own - I can't wait to see what you create!

Digital Greetings and Facebook

Happy Thursday! Ron from Club Scrap here. Today I'd like to take a few moments and talk about Facebook and how you can make an impact with digital greeting cards.

I'll venture to guess that most of the readers here are also on Facebook. I know I am - a few years ago, my sister Renee told me that if I want to see up to date photos of my nieces, I needed to be on Facebook; now I have over 250 Facebook friends! One of Facebook's many features is a notification to let you know that one of your friends is having a birthday, at which point, all of that person's friends send some type of 'Happy Birthday' message and the lucky recipient get's dozens of well wishes for that special day. Unfortunately, all of those greetings start to look alike because they're just simple little text messages.

Wanna make your 'Happy Birthday' message stand out from the rest? Make a digital greeting using a Club Scrap Digital™ kit!

Bold Blooms

Digital cards are really easy to make - typically, they take a lot less time than a layout to make and when you share them with your friends on Facebook (or email, if you wanna go that route), people notice!

Pure & Simple

If you find yourself with a few minutes to spare, make a digital card or two and create a digital 'stash' for yourself. And don't limit yourself to just birthday cards - 'Thinking of You,'  'Happy Anniversary,' 'Thank You,' & 'Just to say Hi' cards can also come in handy!

Mixed Kit card

Then the next time Facebook reminds you that your friend is having a birthday (or you see a post that lets you know that someone needs a virtual hug), send them a digital greeting - it will let them know how very special they are to you!