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Lessons Learned & the Show Off Your Awesomeness Winners!

POSTED ON IN 1st Anniversary

Happy Leap day everyone! Are you enjoying all the leap-tastic puns flying about today? I know I am!

With today marking the final hours of the NettioDesigns 1st Anniversary Celebration, it seems only fitting to end this month with a post sharing a few of the lessons I’ve learned from my first year as a digi designer/blogger/business owner. This year has definitely been one crazy learning experience for me so I hope you find some of these tips helpful.

Lesson #1: You’ll work harder for yourself than anyone else.

Ask any small business owner and they’ll tell you the same thing. When the entire success of your big idea falls on your shoulders, it can be tough to take a step back and relax. Even more so when you’re passionate about what you’re doing and your work life is but a few small steps away behind the computer screen. But ultimately your business needs to work for you, which means no matter how passionate you are, you need to make time to relax because being burned out and overwhelmed is no fun.

Lesson #2: A little planning goes a long way.

What natural type-A business owners don’t tell you is that managing yourself is hard. When you’re setting your own deadlines and working from home, it can be WAY too easy to convince yourself that watching that Price Is Right marathon is a good idea. Which is why having goals and a plan is key and if you can find an accountability buddy to keep you on task even better. I’ll admit I am still in the process of figuring out a system that works for me but I have no doubt that the times when I’ve planned out my blog posts or kept my to-do list up to date, everything has run much more smoothly. And less stress equals better work from me.

Lesson #3: Things will always take longer than you expect.

That timeline you planned out? Double it. Or triple it. Because despite your best intentions, you don’t always know what you don’t know until you’re in the midst of a project and as Adam likes to remind me, no plan survives first contact. You’ll be thankful for the extra time when something unexpected comes up.

Lesson #4: The best person to be is yourself.

When you’re out and about in the world wide web, it can be SO easy to start comparing yourself to everyone else and think you’re never doing enough. But the reality is the reason people come to your site or check out your work is because of YOU. Looking back through my archives, I know that the blog posts or the projects people love the most are the ones that are 100% me. So put your head down, go with your gut and be you. Your right people will find you.

Lesson #5: I have the bestest hubby in the whole world.

So it’s not like I didn’t know this already (he does do all the cooking around here after all), but after all of the support and encouragement Adam’s given me this past year, I can easily say I am one lucky girl. Not only has he been patient with all the late nights and weekends, but he’s been there to share his thoughts, offer a helping hand or a boost of confidence. He’s offered hugs during the frustrated meltdowns and helped me celebrate the victories no matter how small. I have no doubt this would have been a much tougher adventure without him by my side.

And so with that, I’m about ready to call this 1st Anniversary Celebration done-zo. But first we have some winners to announce…

The Show Off Your Scrapbooking Awesomeness Winners!

Four lovely ladies entered our Show Off Your Awesomeness Contest and I have to say, it was SO fun seeing all your layouts! But without further ado here are the winners…

Our 1st place winner is…Denise with this awesome take on my free Oh the Places We Go layout. As a child who also spent many a summer vacation traveling around in a car, I loved her tribute to that spirit of travel and adventure. I especially love the way she shrunk down the template to fit on a single page and added all the fun text into the states.

2012 02 travel and explore

And our runner up is…Stephanie with this fabulously creative take on my Single Temp No. 4 Photo Focus template. I LOVE the way she flipped and scaled down the template to use as background for all those gorgeous papers. And an AAM at that? That’s extra bonus points right there. Stephanie will be receiving $15 to spend in the Shoppe!

Being 33

Congrats ladies! Way to go showing off your scrapbooking awesomeness! I’ll be emailing you about your prizes later this week. And a huge thank you to both Amy & Nanette as well for being brave enough to enter the contest. I’ll be emailing you a little something too. 🙂

And with that I’m ready to bring this 1st Anniversary Celebration to a close. It’s been fun but I more excited than ever to see what this next year has in store!

Just reminder that there’s only a few more hours to save in the Shoppe so if you’re wanting to get something, you won’t want to delay. Sale ends tonight 2/29 at 11:59ET!

 

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Counting Down My Top 5 Faves From NettioDesigns’ First Year

POSTED ON IN 1st Anniversary, Announcements, the Faves

With the NettioDesigns 1st Anniversary celebration coming to an end this week, I wanted to spend today sharing some of my favorite NettioDesigns related-moments from the past year. I have to say, going back through my blog archives was a fun reminder of just how much I have done this past year, so I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane!

Fave #1: Opening Day of NettioDesigns

20110215 Opening Day web 600 coupon

I don’t think any faves list for the past year would be complete without starting at the very beginning: February 16th, 2011, NettioDesigns’ official grand opening day. The circumstances surrounding the grand opening were well, crazy.

In the midst of getting everything ready for the shoppe opening, I’d also volunteered to help my little sister drive back from Florida to California (I was on call for the Florida to Texas leg). Which meant behind the scenes, not only was I furiously working to create new product and get the shoppe up and running, but I was also driving long days and dealing with some of the craziest weather I’ve ever encountered – 30 degree weather in Florida, tornados and crazy rain in the South and snow and ice in Texas.

In the end, it simply wasn’t possible to get everything done in time and I had to postpone the grand opening by a week. But all the waiting and hard work proved to be worth it because I’ll never forget the sense of pride I felt in seeing those first sales come through and realizing that hey, maybe this crazy idea of mine may just actually work.

Fave #2 – Blog-tastic Events

5thscrapiversary logo web

Two of my favorite blog-related moments from the past year would have to be the Great Computer Spring Clean-a-thon I did last March and my 5th Scrap-i-versary celebration last April. In both cases, I came up with this idea for a week-long series of posts for the blog and while things didn’t always go exactly as I planned, the posts from both of those series are still some of my favorites. There’s a quirky honesty and joy to those posts that feels 100% me. I may even have giggled a time or two as I read through them all again, hehe.

Fave #3 – A Week In the Life 2011

Nettio blurb01

It’s hard to deny that my A Week In the Life photo book wasn’t a bit of turning point for my this little website of mine. It got me noticed by a larger audience and as a result, opened doors for some fun opportunities that probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise. The icing on the cake? It’s still my absolute favorite scrapbooking project from 2011.

Fave #4 – Teaching at Masterful Scrapbook Design

Nettio masterful

Teaching has always been something I’ve wanted to do as part of NettioDesigns but I’ll admit the large upfront time cost compared to creating a set of digital scrapbooking templates kind of scared me. So when the lovely Debbie Hodge asked me if I would be interested in guest teaching at Masterful Scrapbooking Design, I jumped at the chance. And I have to say, I loved it. Not only did it make me realize just how much I love chatting about the process and design side of scrapbooking, but it was a nice little reminder that maybe my goals and dreams aren’t as so out there after all. (And yes, the fact that I taught a class alongside one of my fave paper scrappers, Kelly Purkey, totally boggles my mind.)

Fave #5 – The Faves 2011

Nettio 09 2011faves 10oct

If there was one product line for NettioDesigns that represents year 1 it would have to be my Monthly Faves and Holiday Faves Mini Album templates. But the reason the Faves makes this list is not so much for the Faves themselves but because they represent the heart behind NettioDesigns – the importance of taking time to document and celebrate your awesomeness in a fun and unique way.

The Faves are what pushed me to begin this crazy adventure in the first place and so it seems only fitting to end the 1st anniversary with my final installment of the Faves template series, FAVE-O-RITES Vol 5: Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec Faves.

Nettio favesv5 pack

These templates are up in the NettioDesigns Shoppe now and like everything in the shoppe are 20% off (30% off if you’re a subscriber!) through the end of February in honor of the 1st Anniversary Celebration. Go check them out here!

And of course my final fave on this list would have to be getting to chat with all of you. Like most bloggers there are definitely days when it feels a bit like I’m rambling to myself, but those moments when someone shares a layout or leaves a comment and totally gets it makes this crazy adventure all worth it. So at the risk of being mushy for a sec, I hope you know just how much it means to me when you take time out of your busy day to stop by and share your thoughts and layouts with little ol’ me.

So with that, that wraps up my 5 Faves from the 1st year of NettioDesigns! I’ll be back tomorrow with my final 1st Anniversary post and to announce the winners of the Show Off Your Awesomeness Contest. In meantime, if you’ve been eyeing something in the shoppe, make sure to pick it up before the anniversary sale ends tomorrow!

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How To Use the Photo Book Frenzy Templates to Create Your Own Photo Book (Video Tutorial)

POSTED ON IN 1st Anniversary

Since releasing the Photo Book Frenzy: A Week In the Life templates last week, I’ve received some questions about how exactly they work and how you can use them to put together your own photo book.

So in an effort to offer some clarity, I’ve put together a two-part video tutorial showing you just how easy it is to use these templates to create your own photo book.

I’ve been wanting to create some video tutorials for quite some time but I’ll admit, the thought of having to listen to my own voice on a recording kind of scared me – what if I sounded crazy?! – but it turned out to be really fun!

But before we get to the videos, I wanted to answer a couple of the questions I’ve been frequently asked about these templates:

1) What size are the actual templates?

The Photo Book Frenzy: AWITL 8×10 templates are 10 inches tall by 16 inches wide. This represents two 8×10 pages side-by-side in a single spread, just like you see when you look at any book. The Photo Book Frenzy: AWITL 12×12 templates are 12 inches high by 24 inches wide – two 12×12 pages side by side.

This makes it easy to give your two pages a cohesive look but you will need to crop each template into two individual pages for printing which I show you how to do in Part 2 of the video.

2) Is your A Week In the Life album cover design included with the templates?

As of right now, no. My concern with including a template based on the cover of my album was that unlike with the individual pages, the sizing of an image-wrapped cover depends on a lot of different variables – type of paper, thickness of book, number of pages, etc., and because of the grid-based design of the cover and the spine text, it’s not quite as easy to adjust as the pages.

But I may do some more research into this and if I can figure an easy way to include it, I’ll be sure to send an update to anyone who has purchased the templates.

UPDATE 5/01/12: Happy Day! Both the Photo Book Frenzy templates have been updated to include cover templates for creating a front and back cover for your book.

3) Can these templates be resized for say 8×8, 10×10 or 6×12?

Yes. In the case of a square-size like 8×8 or 10×10, your best bet is to pick up the Photo Book Frenzy: AWITL 12×12 templates and size them down as the proportions will remain the same. Resizing for 6×12 is a little more complicated as you’d have to adjust the photos and journaling individually but it can be done with a little effort.

In Part 2 of the video tutorial, I’ll show you how to adjust the template to fit the specifications of your photo book printer as well.

Ok, now onto the videos!

In Part 1 of the tutorial, I show you how to resize the template to fit the exact size of your photo book and how to design your page using the template and clipping masks. In Part 2 of the tutorial, I show you how to crop your pages for printing and then upload them to Blurb using Blurb’s online Bookify tool.

Part 1: Resize & Design Your Book

How To Create A Blurb Photo Book Using Digital Scrapbooking Templates: Part 1 from Lynnette Penacho on Vimeo.

You can find the Blurb full-bleed sizing info here.

Part 2: Crop & Upload Your Book

How To Create A Blurb Photo Book Using Digital Scrapbooking Templates: Part 2 from Lynnette Penacho on Vimeo.

I hope you find the videos helpful and as always, if you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask away in the comments section!

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Are You Embracing Your Scrapbooking Awesomeness?

POSTED ON IN 1st Anniversary, Memory Keeping

If you’ve been to the NettioDesigns website since the 1st Anniversary revamp was revealed last week, you may have noticed that in addition to a shiny new graphic up at the top of the site, there’s also brand new tagline to go along with it: NettioDesigns – Embrace Your Scrapbooking Awesomeness.

Since this new tagline is a big clue into where we’re headed in year two, I wanted to share some insight into what this whole idea of embracing your scrapbooking awesomeness is all about.

One of my goals since opening NettioDesigns has been to find an easy way to break down my personal scrapbooking process in a way that would be applicable to any scrapbooker. For me, it’s not just about sharing my tips & tricks for drop shadowing or how I mix and match papers, but it’s also about sharing how I approach scrapbooking from a big picture perspective.

Which is is where embracing your scrapbooking awesomeness comes in.

What it boils down to is this:

Embracing your scrapbooking awesomeness is all about finding your own style, telling your own story and learning to use all the tools in your scrapbooking arsenal in a creative way so you can embrace what makes YOU an awesome, unique scrapbooker.

 
These three things are at the heart of every scrapbook layout I do.

1) Find Your Style

Finding your style is all about learning the basics of design, embracing what you LOVE, and challenging yourself so that you can ultimately find a style that is 100% you. It’s about pushing yourself to step outside the box of what everyone is doing and create layouts that are so uniquely you that they make you want to jump up and do a that’s-so-me! happy dance each and every time you create a page.

2) Tell Your Story

I’m a firm believer that the number one most important story you can tell is your own. Your thoughts, your feelings, your words, your perspective.

I know, I know. The thought of scrapbooking yourself kind of terrifies you. And the thought of having to actually be in front of the camera scares you even more. But here’s the thing. Your spouse, your children, your family will all have their own memories of their lives: the birthdays, the Christmas, the trips to the park – but only  you can share your own unique story.

And you know what? Your story is pretty dang amazing because your thoughts, your likes, your dislikes: they’re what makes you, YOU. And that is definitely a story worth scrapbooking.

3) Learn to Love Your Tools

As digital scrapbookers we are blessed to have an arsenal of digital tools at our disposal: digital photography, Photoshop, and of course, templates.

But when trying to combine design+story+technology all together, it can sometimes get a bit overwhelming!

Which is why step 3 of embracing your scrapbooking awesomeness is all about learning how use the tools in your scrapbooking bag of tricks in an effective, yet creative way that not only enhances your personal style but allows it to take center stage.

Embrace Your Scrapbooking Awesomeness

Ultimately what embracing your scrapbooking awesomeness boils down to is this: your life isn’t cookie-cutter – and your scrapbooking shouldn’t be either! We each have our own stories, our own perspectives, our own views of the world and your scrapbooking should represent that.

When someone looks at my scrapbooks, I want them to feel like they’re getting a slice of ME on a page. Not just in the stories I tell or the photos I take, but in the design, look and feel as well. I want there to be no doubt that my scrapbooks are 100% me which is what embracing your scrapbooking awesomeness is all about.

So with one year under my belt here at NettioDesigns, this is going to be the focus for year number two. Showing you how to find your own unique style, tell your story in new and interesting ways and learn to creatively take advantage of all the tools in your scrapbooking arsenal so you can take your scrapbooking layouts to the next level.

I am beyond excited to get started so I hope you’re ready to step outside your box and come along on this adventure with me!

And to get things started, how about a chance to win a prize or two for showing off YOUR scrapbooking awesomeness…

Introducing the Show Off Your Awesomeness Contest

Here’s your chance to start embracing your scrapbooking awesomeness and show us what you’ve got by using any NettioDesigns template in a new, creative, awesome way. Shrink it, scale it, flip it, combine it – it’s totally up to you. What matters most is that you push yourself to step outside your box and create a layout that is awesomely YOU.

Here are the rules:

  1. Choose any NettioDesigns template currently available in the NettioDesigns Shoppe (this includes the free Oh the Places We Go map template found here) and create a NEW layout showing off that template in a fun, creative way that is 100% YOU.
  2. You may enter as many times as you like but you must use a different template for each entry.
  3. Post your layout in any online gallery and then link us up to that layout in the comments section of this post. You have until Sunday, 2/26, 11:59PM ET to enter.
  4. The NettioDesigns Team Awesome and I will select our favorite, most creative entries and the winners will be announced next Wednesday, 2/29 as part of the final day of the NettioDesigns 1st Anniversary Celebration.

 

I can’t wait to see what you create so don’t be shy! You never know which layouts might catch our eye!

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It’s Time to Party, 1st Anniversary Style!

POSTED ON IN 1st Anniversary, A Week In the Life

That’s right! The NettioDesigns 1st Anniversary celebration is finally here!

Woohoooo, I’m so excited!

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been hiding last two weeks, well, I suspect the new look of the site may be a big clue, haha, but yes, for the last two weeks I’ve been buried under a pile of code working hard to spiffy up NettioDesigns for her very first birthday party.

As I’ve been telling my team, this was meant to be more of a revamp than a complete redesign but looking at it now, I’m realizing other than the background, the colors and some fonts, almost everything has changed in some way, haha. There’s still a few things that need tweaking (aren’t there always?), but I think she’s looking pretty good so if you’re viewing this post in a feed reader or email, be sure to stop by and check out the new look!

Of course the new design is only the kickoff to the 1st anniversary celebration so over the next two weeks, we’re going to be partying it up here at NettioDesigns with new products, a contest and more!

And to get things started today, I’ve got a much-requested NEW product up in the NettioDesigns Shoppe…

Photo Book Frenzy: A Week in the Life 8×10

Yes, that’s right, the modern, magazine-style design I used for my popular A Week in the Life Blurb photo book is now available in template form!

You can read all of the details in the shoppe but included in the template set are 18 two-page 10×16 page spreads, including 8 photo-style pages and 2 A Week in the Life highlight pages. Each photo spread comes in both a left and right version so you can mix and match the spreads to your hearts content.

And for all my square-loving friends out there, I also put together a 12×12-inch version of the templates…

Photo Book Frenzy: A Week in the Life 12×12

 

Both sets of the Photo Book Frenzy: A Week in the Life Templates are up in the NettioDesigns Shoppe now but before you pop over to the shoppe, I’ve got one more little announcement…

It’s time for the NettioDesigns 1st Anniversary Sale-a-bration!

That’s right, starting today through the end of the month you can use coupon code: 1birthday to save 20% off everything in the NettioDesigns Shoppe! Storewide sales aren’t too common around here so if you’ve had your eye on something, here’s your chance to pick it up and save a little $$$.

And of course, if you’re a NettioDesigns News email list subscriber, check your email for an exclusive subscriber only discount code. Want to get in on the subscriber goodness? Sign up here.

And if you want to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the NettioDesigns 1st Anniversary Celebration fun over the next two weeks, look for the image below at the top on the site. It will link you direct to all 1st Anniversary related content:

Well that’s all I’ve got for today! Be sure to stop by NettioDesigns tomorrow where I’ll be chatting more about what it means to “embrace your scrapbooking awesomeness” and how you can get yourself in the running for some free stuff!

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