Archive for June, 2008:
Using Photo Editor 2008
Here’s a few layouts done ACDSee Photo Editor 2008
Using the text on a path feature.
Credits
- Paper, Frames & Flowers & Embellishments from DigiChick collaberation, Bring it on
Using the text on a path feature, masking and blending
Credits
- Tags from DigiChick collaberation, Bring it on
- Sparkle flourishes & paper from Eva Kipler Good Morning
Using text on a path with 3 different fonts.
Credits
- Lie Fhung’s water drops
- Amy Leighs papers from Metro Springtime
- Flower from Faflr Designs from March Collaboration kit from godigitalscrapbooking.com
- Frame by Vicki Stegall in Distressed Bohemian
Have you tried ACDSee Photo Editor 2008? Do you have any layouts you would like to share? If so, leave a comment and link me up!
Subscribe to the comments for this postI sure am glad its Friday, how about you?
Oh, its been a long week. I totally forgot what commuting was like in rush hour traffic. I feel like I have spent the week in the car. (And I think I did.) The children are loving their summer camps though so its worth it.
I have found my little table at the library. I think libraries are the best. Books and wi-fi. Could it get any better? There are some coffee shops nearby but I chose the library. Why? Because I won’t be tempted or feel obligated to buy the drinks/snacks/etc. at a coffee shop. I am not a coffee drinker though so that doesn’t hold much appeal. Although yesterday morning, I was thinking about coffee & caffeine.
What I do miss is that I don’t have my pictures, digital kits and layouts. I do have everything on my EHD but I didn’t feel like packing it. Definitely something you want to plan for though if you want to do any digital scrapping on the road. (either bring your EHD or put what you need on the hard drive)
Remember the DigiScrapInfo makeover? I am working on it and transferring all our information! I hope soon, I will be able to go live with it and show everyone.
working on the “road” and being connected!
I hope everyone celebrated Father’s Day in some special day. I meant to post about my tradition but didn’t. The day kind of got away from me. Every year, I look through all my pictures and pick out the ones of my husband and the kids. I then take and create an 8 x 10 photo collage and that is his “traditional” gift. He currently has the last 7 years at his work place and he can see most of his “fathering” years! My husbands other gift was a trip to Valleyfair Amusement Park. It was the first year both kids were tall enough to ride the REAL rollercoasters. It was awesome to take them on their first rollercoaster.
The next few weeks is dedicated to taking kids to their summer camps. The camps are about 25 – 45 minute drive away and the times are staggered. So I don’t have enough time to head home. So I grab my laptop and look for wireless access (wi-fi.) In the morning I go to a library and check up on email/forums. In the afternoon, I can check email and forums again at the school where the summer camp is located. I researched where I could go and found out all kinds of places are offering wi-fi access. Some is free and some is not. I knew many coffee shops had wireless but I learned McDonalds and many restaurants are offering it now too. I noticed that most restaurants aren’t free, like McDonalds isn’t. Although I read on some forum, ask at the counter for free wireless access coupons. Many public places like the museums have wi-fi too. I even found web sites that lets you enter in zip and they tell you all the places around the area that have wi-fi. Last summer when we were traveling, some rest areas had wi-fi.
Even though I work in the technology world its amazing just how “connected” we are between cell phones and internet. That’s my random thought for the day.
Windows Live Writer just keeps getting better
I just saw that in early June, Windows Live writer released the next version of Windows Live Writer. They call it a Technical Preview. They say its still experimental, kind of like in beta, pre-released stage. But I decided to go ahead and give it a try!
First of all, I have to say I enjoy using Windows Live Writer to publish my blog posts. Even though the editor in Wordpress is decent. If you work with images, videos or other media, you will get tired doing the tedious uploading and linking of the images. That’s the beauty of Live Writer. I copy in the images from my computer/desktop/clipboard. It takes care of the uploading, linking to larger images, & creating thumbnails of all the images.
A good many of the updates in this version relates to the video and image edits.
You can now crop your image after you pasted it in:
Here’s the one I like, you can tilt your photo to give your user’s more visual interest.
They added some new borders. Here’s the rounded corners.
and here is my images centered, tilted, and with a reflection border.
How cool is that?
They also added some features for Uploading videos to Soapbox, MSN Videos.
Some other features:
- Auto Linking: Not too exciting. You can set up a list of links that you commonly link to and then when you choose web link, you can choose to pick from a list of auto links.
- Word Count: Can go to Tools | Options and find the word count, characters, etc. If that’s important to you.
- Tabs are at the bottom to switch between Edit, Preview and Source. That is quicker than the drop-down menu in the previous version.
Seeing the Windows Live Writer in action:
If you want to see what it likes here’s some videos from Windows Live Writer about the current public version: Writer Videos: Come and Get ‘Em!
I like to see a tool that I use and enjoy continuing to improve. I have found I can easily put up tutorials, tips, examples of layouts, etc with ease on to my blog with Windows Live Writer. I have tried a few other blogging tools but have to say Windows Live Writer has them beat.
ACDSee Photo Manager Sale! and release of ACDSee Photo Editor 2008
ACDSee is having a summer sale and you can get ACDSee for 40% off regular price. That makes the cost of the software: $29.99.
Receive 40% off ACDSee 10 Photo Manager! Take advantage of the Summer Fun Sale! Offer Expires 08/26/08
In addition, if you want the ACDSee Pro 2, its sale is 50% off regular price. You can do everything with organizing digital kits like you do in ACDSee 10 but you also get RAW image capability. The sale cost is $64.99.
Get 50% off ACDSee Pro 2 Photo Manager! Take advantage of the Summer Fun Sale! Offer Expires 07/25/08
And ACDSee just released ACDSee Photo Editor 2008:
If you want more information, here’s a quick description of the new features in: ACDSee Photo Editor 2008
and here is a general overview of creating layouts with ACDSee: Creating with ACDSee
Have you used Group By feature in Photo Manager?
If not, let’s explore the possibilities of Group By!
Here’s a few things to play with:
I almost always have Group By set to File Type. It separates out my paper from my elements and allows me to quickly minimize folders.
Here’s another one, I selected all the folders that contain my purchases from 2008. Sorted them by author and I can quickly browse and view all my recently purchased kits but still keep them “separated.”
Or if you have a collaboration kit and the designers named the files with their name first. Select the whole kit and group by filename. It will group all the files by each designer in their own section.
And another tip for you, if you click on the bar above each group type, it will select all images in that group!
Have you found a good use for group by? Comment and let me know.
Hi everyone! I’m back. I had told Hummie longgggg ago that I would find her some friends for Twitter. Then when Molly Newman connected with me I remembered that I hadn’t followed thru.
It’s been awhile since I brought you new social media tools! I’m going to start with Twitter. In the beginning it takes awhile to figure out (until you get some followers - so I’ve given you a list below).
They way Twitter works is that you follow friends & they follow you back. Then when you post you’re limited to 144 characters. You can talk about whatever you want.
If you want to say something to a specific person then you use the @ sign. For example if you wanted to ask me Where have I been? you’d use – @cbensen Where have you been?
Then I can click on my Replies tab & I’ll see it. (I have 1000 people following me & there’s a lot of chatter).
Here is how I use Twitter:
- pop in only on breaks (there are ways to stream it, but I wouldn’t get anything done)
- chat with my network that is online at the moment
- if I see an interesting comment I may
- click on the @username for context
- follow that person
- put their name into quotably.com to see the thread of the conversation (it works pretty well albeit it’s not perfect)
- use quotably.com to check my favorite tweeters & follow their links
- check replies & respond
My Twitter tips:
If you tweet about a broad variety of topics you’ll get followers of varied interests
Ask questions - crowdsource your followers - they love to help! (today I asked if I should get a kayak or canoe; on another day it was what to do in Paris) It’s also a great place to get tech help (my following is very geeky).
Business related tips:
- Tweetscan.com delivers an email every morning to me with a standing search for:
- cbensen - for DM’s that are missed - Twitter is prone to hiccups)
- cbenson (people misspelling my name)
- acdsee - brand monitoring
- community manager - I’m connecting with like minded people
& I like reading the news as people announce their positions or talk about their work
Benefits:
- Networking - I’ve met a large number of people from Minnesota. After getting to know them I’m ready to attend the Twin Cities Social Media Breakfast & met them in person!
- Branding -
- repetitive - Use your photo as your avatar
- memorable - Use a representative photo for your home page & people will see it when they check out your profile or go to DM you. This space offers the opportunity to display your brand logo multiple times. If you have questions on how to do it, let me know - I know of some software that makes it easy!
Follow me @cbensen & I’ll follow you back!
Resources
- for the beginner - Beginner’s Guide to Twitter
- more in-depth - Caroline Middlebrook has a great guide
- And there are tons of Twitter app’s out there - Lee Odden lists 5 newer ones & @jowyang has a good list too.
- Ellen has a good resource
- all things Twitter - a wiki with many, many resources!
Here are some Twitter friends to follow - I’m not sure how actively they use it though.
Have fun & ask if you have questions! Add your twitter name in the comments if I didn’t list you.
rachel_martin
melrio
ScrapperBlog
hejeva my sister
Special digital hybrid class making a personalized clock
Have you wanted to learn ACDSee Photo Editor or see what it likes? Are you interested in learning how digital scrapbooking can be combined with a physical item?
One of our DigiScrapInfo’s team members, Kristi, is teaching a new class on making this cute clock: 
What’s this class going to be like?
Kristi is going to use ACDSee Photo Editor to help create the face on this clock. ACDSee Photo Editor has a free fully functioning trial if you don’t already have ACDSee Photo Editor. The clock itself is purchased separately but she will help you find one. I believe they can be found cheaply at Walmart for about $4 - $5.
She will give you a printed guide on creating the clock face and there is a video on how to physically assemble the clock. But best of all there is going to be a live session. A live session is great because Kristi will be showing you exactly how to do it almost like in person! You will watch her desktop, so you will see her Photo Editor and her mouse and what she is doing. In addition, there is a voice capability so you will be hearing her too. You can ask questions via a chatroom or via voice if you have a microphone! The group is going to be small so she will be able to answer each person’s questions!
This is a great opportunity to try something new and be guided by a great teacher! This would make a great Father’s day gift.
Here is where you can go to find more information about Kristi and her class: DigitalScrappingStudio