Hmmm, so either they forgot to actually give C the chemo, or his meds work incredibly well, or somebody swapped my husband because they gave him chemo on Friday and it's now Sunday night and he's acting strangely normal.

There is no sickness, sleeping, pain, or anything. In fact, he even took K with him to the grocery store to pick up groceries this afternoon (and no, I didn't ask him to do that!). I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop so we'll see how long this lasts.

In the meantime, *It's the Final Countdown* (remember that long-haired rock band from the 80's). 4 days to go.

As a user of Photoshop CS3 and Elements 6 I usually create my digital layouts using these programs. However, I appreciate that not everyone has the time or patience required to master these programs (which are generally about as unintuitive as you can get). I know a few of my friends have commented on this and are looking for something simpler, hence today I'm going to review Scrapbook Max!

This software is often advertised on the back of Simple Scrapbooks magazine (May/June 2008) for example, and is pitched as being fun, easy digital scrapbooking software using a point, click, scrap process.

Installation on my Vista laptop was a breeze. You are presented with 4 options, install program, install content, video tutorial, user guide. Simply selecting install program then offered to install content once it was complete, a complete no-brainer for the un-technical. At this point I also chose to watch the short video tutorial. I also opened the 125 page user guide (in PDF format) but didn't read it.

What's Cool:

#1. Quick, Easy to Use
They've really developed an incredibly easy to use interface. They've got it down to just adding photos, captions, text, digital embellishments (including paper), and paper scraps as far as building a page goes. You can also add/remove pages from your scrapbook project and save/print/export etc. I was able to create a page from scratch in just a few minutes with background paper, photos and digital elements and easily export it to a .jpg file to print. I did not need to refer to a manual, online help or any other tutorial to get this far (other than the tutorial I watch at installation). I have to give Scrapbook Max! full marks for an easy to use program (this is definitely easier than other similar programs I've seen such as Heritage Makers or Photoshop Elements).

#2. Flexible Page Sizes and High Quality Exports
The default page size in SM is an 8x8 page at 200dpi, but using the page settings you can change this to whatever size and dpi you want using the Page, Page Settings, Size command, either custom or a preset size (let’s say the industry standard of 3600x3600 for a 300dpi 12inch square page). Exporting to jpg at the highest setting will then give you a 3600x3600 file that you can send out for printing at your local developer. The only snag is that this doesn't become the default for the program, just for the scrapbook that you are in.

#3. Decent Amount of Content Included
Scrapbook Max! comes with 30 scrapbook templates, each with 5 single page layouts. All content on the page can be moved/deleted/edited. You also have access to the same content when you start a page from scratch. The background papers were hiding in the Page, Page Settings, Background function (approximately 57 decent scrapbooking ones – I am choosing to ignore the 100 patterns which are way to funky to be used, and have only counted the chalk alphabet papers once even though there is 26 of them), the rest of the content is in the Add Embellishment Gallery. All in all, you get quite a lot of content included in the package for $40. Having said all that, I will admit that most of the included content is not my style. Each persons taste in scrapbooking papers and elements varies and mine is the distressed/boho look. I know many scrapbookers that would like the included content. I don't see this as a big deal because of #4 below.

#4. Compatible With Your Existing Content and Easily Expandable
Scrapbook Max! allows you to use digital scrapbook elements and papers that you may already have (.jpg or .png) or you can purchase additional kits from their store. In addition, you can use any fonts you have on your computer when you create text objects.

#5. Fully Drag and Drop Compatible
While the menu does have buttons to add different types of content, you can actually speed up the process quite a bit by simply opening a Windows Explorer window and browsing to your content. When you see a paper, element or photo you like, simply drag it right onto your layout. Scrapbook Max! asks you what type of file it is (photo, embellishment, background etc) and then adds it right into your layout. Scrapbooking doesn't get easier than this!

What Could Be Better:
Disclaimer: You have to remember that in my real job (before babies) I was a Project Manager responsible for software development and web site creation projects, and that part of that job was to convert user requirements into specifications for how the software should work and often I performed a testing function. I am known to be quite picky when it comes to how I think things should work, but I do think that I am very good at standing in the shoes of a typical user unlike most software developers (ouch!). Ok, now for my disappointments in no particular order.

#1. Paper scraps is pointless? I'm not sure what to make of this feature. Initially, it looks like you can select a background paper from the selections, and many of the papers are similar to today’s textured cardstock (Bazzill) and come in great colors. When you select your paper the preview window shows it covering the whole page, but when you insert the paper scrap it is only 6x6 and not 12x12. When you stretch it cover the entire page, the texture does not look at all realistic and sometimes the small image tiles across the page and looks very odd on screen. I have not printed a full page layout yet to see if this weirdness transfers to the print. If the point of this feature isn't to create a full page of background paper, then I haven't figured what the point is.

(On further correspondence with Indigo Rose, the publisher of Scrapbook Max!, I am informated that paper scraps are just for creating mats or shaped pieces of paper using the shapes function.)

#2. No two page layouts or side by side view. While you can have multiple pages in a scrapbook project, even using the same template, there is no way to put two pages together to create a 2 page layout. You can’t put them on the screen at the same time and align elements/images across the 2 pages, or even check for balance between the two. It should be noted that you can still do a 2 page layout in SM but you will need to resize your page to 24x12 and have to go the one extra step of cropping the layout into two 12x12 pages after you export it into another application. I will also add, that a competitive program that I have dabbled with, also does not create a 2 page layout and does not even have the workaround of a 24x12 page offered by Scrapbook Max!

#3. No page previews in scrapbook gallery area. When you initially create your page you can browse through the scrapbook templates but you can only see the first page of each template in the preview. There appears to be no way to expand the template to see the pages inside. Basically this means you can see the "theme" of the template but you can't see the individual pages. This means that you could easily miss a template page that you like or start using a template when you don't like the remaining pages. I will note that you can see all the pages on their web site if you are online or if you use the Add Page command inside of an opened scrapbook.

#4. Crop is out of context. Rather than having a selection tool and then selecting crop (which is pretty much industry standard), you enter the effects mode and select crop. However, when presented with the select tool that allows you to select the part you wish to crop, you are unable to see the rest of the pages elements so you are cropping out of context. For example, if you are cropping a paper mat behind a photo, you can't see the photo so can't tell if you are cropping the correct size. Of course you can still resize your mat (rather than cropping it), but you just have to check that any pattern doesn't get distored or shrink to small when you do this.

#5. No real time previews in Effects. You can apply various creative effects to each element on the page. However when selecting Effects there are no real time previews. There is a preview window but you must make your adjustment using a slider then click Apply each time to see the result. I tried recoloring an element using the Adjust Color function. While I could select the Hue (and please note the Hue does not have a rainbow bar above it to show you where the hues are on the slider) I had to select Apply at each point along the slider bar. Basically you are left completely blind trying to recolor an object, compare this to Photoshop Elements where you can see both a rainbow bar and a live preview as you adjust the slider.

(Since discussing this with Indigo Rose, this feature has been added to a suggestion list for enhancements to the program).

#6. No .abr brush support. This is hardly a suprise, I haven't run across brushes in any competitive product (yet) but it would be a great feature if you could use .abr brushes. However, most purchased brushes usually come with a .png version which you can use in Scrapbook Max! Alternatively if you or a friend have access to Photoshop or Photoshop elements you can stamp a brush and then save it to a .png file for use in Scrapbook Max!

All in all, Scrapbook Max! is a great program for those not wishing to invest the time in learning Photoshop Elements or full Photoshop. You can create pretty good layouts, quickly and easily. You have endless amounts of content because the system is not proprietary in nature. You can print, export to jpg, send by email, burn to cd, create pdfs, create web pages with your completed pages.

Rating: Highly recommended.

Well I guess things must have been going too good so far with C's treatment because everything is starting to fall apart this week.

After a lousy weekend of no voice and barely being able to swallow/eat/drink, this week was made worse by the rescheduling (at 4pm the day before no less) of C's chemo. It has been pushed back until Thursday (instead of Tuesday) because the hospital is overbooked and they don't have enough staff to bring anyone else in.

This totally sucks on so many different levels, first the whole mental anguish of preparing yourself and then it being delayed. Second, it is K's 4th birthday on Friday so C will return home drugged to the eyeballs and completely out of it. Thirdly because it is parent/child day at school on Friday too, C missed the last one because of work and now will miss this one being in the hospital, there are no more this school year. Finally, because K's school birthday celebration will be on Thursday (because parent/child day is on Friday) and so C will miss that too.

So if I sound a bit p***ed off, yes, I am.

One of Stacy's optional extra's are Cold Storage Photo Boxes. She removes photos that have remained unscrapped for years into boxes for long term storage without bogging down her storage binders or her category drawers.

In a digital world I comtemplated the necessity of doing this when I could simply filter out the less worthy photos by rating them lower or sorting by date. However, I figured if you had 1000s of photos that fell into this category you might want to archive them off of your hard drive to save space. So here is my plan for doing this.

In Photoshop Elements 6 there is an option to archive photos to CD. Simply select the photos you want to archive then use this feature. The photos are moved to the CD/DVD and removed from the hard drive. Elements keeps a thumbnail of the image and marks this image with a flag that indicates you need to retrieve the CD to edit/print the full size image.

When doing this I will archive one year at a time and create a CD/DVD label that has the year but also opens to show a bulleted list of events/themes of whatever is on the disc.


Photo Credit: Taken from "The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker" - Wendy Smedley & Abbey Garvey

The advantage to doing this in Elements is simply to keep the thumbnails and still be able to search for a file. Bridge and Lightroom both give you the ability to export files and you can simply copy them to the CD/DVD. Lightroom will continue to reference the original location in its catalog and display thumbnails. However, if you try to use a photo it will tell you that the photo is missing from the referenced location and prompt you for a new location at which point you can tell it to look on the CD/DVD you used.

Stacy's 3rd essential item are her Library Albums, this is where her completed layouts are stored. Stacy's LOM albums are divided into the four categories: People, Us, Places, Things.

Once my layouts are created in Photoshop Elements then I print them usually at Costco in the 18x12 size. The neat thing about this size is that you can print 1 12x12 and then 3 4x6 photos on the remaining 6x12 strip. I insert these 12x12 layouts into my albums.

My albums aren't quite organized like Stacy's yet. I have albums for each child (Us) but need to add albums for both C and me. I have not separated out People We Love, Places or Things although I do have a Family album as well as a Marina's stuff album. My next step is to do this separation.

To do this I am going to purchase sticky colored flags from Staples and use a different color for each of the 4 themes. I will then go through my albums flagging the various layouts and pulling them out of their albums and into new ones. This will be a time consuming process so my next blog entry will skip to the next step (gasp!).

Yesterday we were officially 2/3 of the way through the cancer treatment. C has had 2/3 of both the chemos and the radiations. He is doing suprisngly ok.

The 2nd chemo kind of knocked the wind out of his sails a bit and it took about 1 week for him to recover. He is still not eating very well, only managing fairly soft foods or liquid (high cal shakes). He lost 15 pounds last week so is really trying hard this week to eat as he is worried they will make him get a feeding tube which would be a shame now that he is so close to the end (1 chemo and 11 radiations left including today's). He has definitely improved and has been seen scoffing pancakes, omelettes, bananas and butter tarts(?). Hopefully this weeks weight loss shouldn't be as bad, today is weigh-in day.

For more long term storage, Stacy Julian takes her photos out of her storage binders and puts them in category drawers.The next step in my implementation of the Library of Memories is to create digital category drawers.

In digital category drawers give you a different way of searching on your photos. The digital storage albums we created allow you to search by date, but this isn't always the way you want to scrapbook your photos. What if you want to find all the photos of your kids swimming, or all the photos of you kids with Grandpa. This is where the category drawers are particularly powerful. And the advantage to doing this digitally is that a photo can reside in more than one category, whereas a physical photo can only live in one category (although it can be moved around).

To set up my digital category drawers, I used Photoshop Elements 6 Keyword tags. I used these because (for the most part) I have already keyworded my photos and it was a simple process to select an existing tag and move it around in a hierarchical structure, rename it or combine it with another tag.

I usually keyword my photos as I import them of the camera (as you can do them in batches). For example, Christmas photos might be tagged with Winter, Christmas, home on import. This speeds up the process of tagging tremendously. Then I would go through and individually tag and rate them. I always try to do this at the time of import as it doesn't take long to do then but if you let the number of photos build up it seems to take forever and is one of those tasks you tend to put off.

If you don't want to use PSE6, then what you need to make sure of is that your tagging or categorizing program will allow you to make hierarchical lists of tags. It is also advantageous if you can convert a keyword to a category (you put keywords inside the category) if you later discovered you wanted to subdivide it further.

I ruled out using Creative Memories Memory Manager program because it would not convert a folder to a sort box. The other reason I ruled out Memory Manager is that it wouldn't read my already existing ITPC keyword tags. ITPC is an industry standard that allows keywords to be embedded directly in jpg, psd, tiff files allowing them to be read by any ITPC compatible program.

I ruled out ACDSee 10 for a similar reason, it won't allow its categories to be written to the ITPC keyword field (ACDSee Pro 2 will do this, as will PSE6).

Other alternative programs that will work include Lightroom and Bridge.

This is the top and middle level structure I used. Each bulleted sub-category has individual tags inside it (for example, Grandparents contains Grandma, Grandpa, Grandad, Nanna).

People

• Family
• Friends
• Grandparents

Places

• Around Town
• Far Away
• Home

Things

• Accomplishments
• Everyday Life
• Seasons and Colors
• Special Days
• Sports & Recreation

Us

• All in the Family
• Family Relationships
• Personality

And this is what it actually looks like in PSE6.

To add a category, sub-category or keyword tag in PSE6, simply click on the green plus "+" sign shown in the image above. You can also move tags around in the structure by click and dragging them.

To search on a particular tag, click in the empty box on the left of the tag name. A pair of binoculars will appear indicating that you are currently searching on that tag.

The first step in Stacy Julian's workflow is to print her pictures by Season. She organizes her digital photos on her computer then send the faves (the ones she *might* scrapbook) out for printing. Once these come back she then organizes them into storage binders which are chronological.

As a mostly digital scrapbooker, I don't want to actually print any photos. When I download my photos they automatically get put into folders with the date. However, this doesn't mean that I can't organize them by season too.

In Photoshop Elements Organizer, I have created Smart Albums for each quarter, Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec. In addition, each smart album is filtered to show only photos that are rated 2 or higher (my rating system is 0=no good, 1=ok, 2=good, 3=fabulous portfolio worthy).
This enables me to quickly look through what I have and see anything that is scrapworthy that I know that I haven't scrapped yet. I would like to implement a way to record what has been scrapped (or printed for traditional layouts) but haven't worked on this yet but have a couple of ideas I'll discuss in a later post.

I figure a couple of years worth of photos in these "storage binder" smart albums gives me plenty of fodder for scrapbooking.

Stacy clears out her storage binders after four years. I will just delete the smart albums instead.

How to create a digital storage binder in Photoshop Elements 6

1. First make sure you have no filters or search in progress and that you are starting a new search.
2. In the top right of the photo area select the number of stars you want to filter on. If you don't use a rating system them you won't need this step.
3. On the timeline put the left and right sliders to select your date range. Each column represents one month.
4. In the Albums pane, click on the plus "+" sign and select "Save Search Criteria As Smart Album". You will be prompted to name your album which will now show in the Album pane.
5. To use your smart album, click on the name in the Album pane.

If you need to make changes to your album criteria:

1. Select the album from the Album pane.
2. Make changes to the search criteria as desired.
3. Right click on the album name and select Save Changes to Album name.

The advantage to using a smart album is that what is shown is dynamically generated. So if you change the ratings of your photos or upload more photos for those dates, they will automatically appear/disappear from the album.

A similar system can be made in Lightroom and Bridge. Instead of Smart Albums you can use Collections to save your filter criteria.

I have been reading Stacy Julian's "Photo Freedom" book which encourages scrapbookers to scrapbook in a non-chronological order and provides a theme/category system to allow you do this in a guilt-free way.

I have to say, scrapping chronologically has never really been a problem for me. I usually print the photos I think I'll use, shove them in the albums' page protectors in chronological order and then scrap what I want as I've left enough space (and I can always shuffle the pages later). I guess this would be harder if you used a strap hinge system and didn't calculate the space you'd need.

But what I did like about her book was:

• the idea of putting "like" photos with "like" to draw comparisons;
• the idea of using the remaining photos from an event in a different context;
• the idea of storing layouts relating to the same person (like grandma) together;
• the idea of having themed albums so that you can see how many layouts you do of each type (Us, Things, Places, People We Love) and can balance this as you see fit.

What I noticed from mentally subdiving my existing layouts into these 4 categories, is that I don't really scapbook Places or People We Love, and even my Things was looking decidedly skimpy.

I think this is where I can expand what I am scrapbooking and provide more meaningful insight into our lives. And I think this explains why I have a box of memorabilia, newspaper cuttings and other stuff that hasn't been scrapbooked (and I doubt will ever be, using my current system).

I thought it would be fun to document my journey in creating a Library of Memories especially as I am a mostly digital (but not completely) scrapbooker. I have done extensive searches online to find out about implementing a digital LOM system and have found nothing at all. So I hope to help other digiscrappers who want to do this.

Plan
To implement Stacy's LOM system, I am going to implement her four categories:

• All About Us,
• People We Love,
• Places We've Been,
• Things We Do

with subcategories based on those in the book.

Separate to this I will keep my heritage photos (i.e. any photos from before I was born) in with my genealogy files. Stacy keeps Family History Drawers but obviously she doesn't have the 20 years worth of genealogical research that I do :) I already have a great binder based filing system for my genealogy files which is published here. I am now including my heritage page layouts as I have switched to 12x12 ring binders from American Crafts instead of 8.5x11 binders from Staples (although I could have scrapped them in the smaller size).

As a digital scrapbooker I currently use Photoshop Elements 6 to find my photos and ACDSee Pro 2 to manage my digital scrapbooking supplies. I use Photoshop CS3/Bridge and Lightroom only occasionally as I find PSE6 does almost everything I need. My plan is to use the organizer where it makes sense to do so but am willing to use other programs as necessary and I will discuss some of the alternative programs I have looked at and why they will or won't work for me.

I read this today on the Jessica Sprague forum.

Scrapbooker’s Bill of Rights:

A Scrapbooker is entrusted with documenting and safely preserving family photos in an album to be treasured by future generations. Creating a Scrapbook is an honorable and important task.

As a Scrapbooker you are entitled (but not limited) to the following rights:

1. You have the right to take as long as you want to complete one album page. This may be five minutes or two weeks.


2. You have the right to purchase a certain scrapbook item for no other reason than because:1.you like it; 2.you think it’s cute; 3.you’ll never find it again, or; 4.you know you’ll use it someday.


3. You have the right to a workspace of your own. This may be the basement, your college student’s old bedroom or the kitchen table. It’s yours.


4. You have the right to scrapbook when inspiration strikes - whether the dishes are done or not.


5. You have the right to request peaceful, kid-free, stress-less scrap time - guilt free.


6. You have the right to create pages that reflect and celebrate the spirit of the one person who is usually NOT in the photograph: You.


7. You have the right to put whatever you want on your album page. This includes, but is not limited to: patterned papers, die-cuts, stickers and punch-outs.


8. You may place as many or as few photos per page as you deem appropriate.


9. You have the right to do nothing more than snack and socialize at a 6 hour cropping party.


10. You have the right to value your personal scrapbooking style to be as important as your photographs. You are creating a treasure and part of that treasure is You.


11. You have the right to create your own legacy, one page at a time.
    

This photo display is made from an old kitchen cabinet door that I picked up for $4. I used Basic Grey chipboard letters covered with patterned paper and stuck them on with Liquid Glass. Then I used hermafix clear photo corners to hold the photos in place. This will enable me to change the photos for new ones down the road. I converted all the photos into black and white in Photoshop Elements to give it a consistent look as all the photos had different color schemes.

Leave a comment, let me know what you think!

Bonnie and I signed up for the new Jessica Sprague "Digi in Deep" digital scrapbooking course to learn some advanced Photoshop techniques. However, I hadn't actually finished the previous course, Now We're Rockin' (ooops). Today I got around to finishing NWR Lesson 4 and creating the layout.
The photos from on this layout are from the first time we took the kids to the bowling alley at McCurdy Lanes.

The journaling reads:
"Our first trip to the bowling alley was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad taught K to bowl with two hands. J needs a little more help but liked to "do it myself" collecting the ball and throwing it down the lane. The kids were quickly tired and didn't make it through all 10 frames. "

We're having a nice break from treatment this weekend. So far C's had 2 of 3 chemo doses of Cisplatin both given IV in hospital together with anti-nausea drugs. There's been no throwing up yet, slight hair loss at back, some feelings of nausea once initial anti-nausea drugs are finished (he has another ongoing drug for breakthrough nausea). Last chemo scheduled April 22nd.

In addition he's had 17 out of 35 radiations treatments at the Cancer Center. Taste buds are wacky and certain texture foods are bothering him (i.e. he can't eat without wanted to throw up). Has lost 15 pounds total (2/3 of that in the last week). Trying to supplement with high calorie meal replacement shakes but will have to be more vigilent with this otherwise the doctors will resort to a feeding tube if they think he's not getting enough calories (I've already read the riot act).

Today is Radiation 14/35 and Chemo 2/3. This means C will be in overnight at the hospital and will probably be nauseaus for the next few (hopefully only few) days. Up until now, he has been feeling pretty good except his taste buds are off.

Kids are aware that daddy is away getting his medicine and we plan to have a pizza/movie party tonight while daddy is away (and maybe even a sleepover in mommy's bed).