The largest privately-owned home in the country does not allow indoor photography so when we visited the Biltmore, I bought postcards. After scanning them with the quality control set higher than usual, I added them to my scrapbook just like regular photos.

The title was made using the Freebooter Font. To get this look, type the letters, Flatten (Arrange tab), select Filters (Format tab), 3D Edge, Amount 100, Softness 100, Width 20.

There are so many free fonts available that it seems silly to pay for one but my daughter found Lavanderia and was able to buy it for one dollar. It was too pretty to pass up. Unfortunately, it’s an Open Type font and with CM you can only use True Type fonts. There is a way, however, to get around it.

1. Type the word(s) you want in Word. Set the font size rather large so you’ll get good quality.

2. Using the Word Snipping Tool (I keep the icon on the bottom of my screen) hilight the word(s).

3. In the Snipping Tool window, click Edit, Copy or click on the copy icon. Go to the CM page you are working on and click Paste.

4. Select the word(s) you just pasted in and click on Cut & Fill, Wand, click on the white background around the word and inside any letters as needed and delete all the white. Now you have your word(s) as an element and you change the color, or add effects as desired.

Note: With the wand tool you can select more than one area at a time by holding down the Shift key. Also, if you want to fine tune the background removal, zoom in to 200%. Anything that looks good at 200% will look even better at 100%!

Attached is “A Day at the Beach” which was made using Lavanderia. Be sure to save it as a png file so that the background will be transparent.

I understand why stores and websites that sell scrapbooking supplies advertise papers and embellishments for a specific holiday on or around that holiday but I’m still a bit amused. After all, who is actually going to be making their 4th of July pages on the 4th or even the 5th of July? Perhaps they should be more realistic and run about six months behind (or maybe they are actually a year or two behind and are on target for some scrapbookers!). So, in the spirit of being a bit more realistic, I’ve attached the papers and embellishments I made from one shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day as well as a page I made using these elements.

And yes, I also used the opportunity to show that my son is leading the cadets in the parade. Moms can be proud, right?

I simply could not delete this email from Georgia Power without trying to copy it. I wish there was a way in CM to twist and turn elements but seeing as I haven’t figured out a way yet, we’ll just call the attached png file my interpretation of it.

Several days ago while scrapbooking at a friend’s kitchen table, she commented on how nice it would be to work on two pages at once instead of having to wait for the file to save while going back and forth between two related pages. Thanks to a frappe consumed earlier in the day, it occurred to me very late last night that there was a way to do this (I am typically asleep within seconds after going to bed).

1. Click on the vertical bar that separates your work area from the Pages/Pictures/Content column on the right and move it as far to the right as it will go. Move the bottom horizontal bar to the right.

2. Select “View” and then “All.”

3. Create your facing page on a 12 x 12 square. When you are done, gather up the elements that make up the second page (hold down the shift key and click on each element) and group them together (“Arrange” tab and “Group”).

4. Right click on the group, select Cut, move to the next page and click Paste. Go back to the Two-Page View and make sure it’s all how you want it. You’ll have to “Ungroup” it if you want to make any changes. You may find that everything, except for the background, needs to be moved to the right a bit to allow for the binding. To do this, lock the background, then use Control-A (select all) and nudge everything into place using the arrows on your keyboard.

Before you click on “Order,” be sure your album is completely ready!

1. Flatten photos that have the warning symbol on them. For some reason, it increases the quality of the photo.

2. Copy and paste all of your journaling into Word and reread it while checking for errors. Somehow seeing it in a different context may help to catch mistakes.

3. Double check the details on each page and also confirm the page order.

For the Cover…

1. Click on “View” and “Front Cover” to see exactly what will be on the cover. Create your cover or rearrange what’s already there if necessary.

2. Click on “Spine” and add a title that you will be able to see while the book is standing on a shelf. I typically use a very plain, clear font. Be sure you flip the title so that it will be right-side-up when the book is laying face up (Arrange, Rotate 90 degrees clockwise). Make the text box for the title the same size as the revealed spine section. Zoom in for accuracy.

3. Insert a signature on the back cover perhaps something like the example below.

Click on the “File” tab, “Order” and continue to follow the directions. CM recommends that you check the pages once they have been uploaded to the Digital Center. It’s worth the time and money to check it all again!

Do not do this when you are tired! If you’re a morning person like me, then 10:00 pm is not the time to finalize an album.

Q: What do masking tape, film strips, metal framed tags and measuring tape have in common?

A: They are all in my miscellaneous file.

(Remember to save as png files.)

Backgrounds like this are very easy to create in CM but if you’d rather use mine, go ahead!