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FATHER’S DAY SCRAPBOOK THEME When we buy gifts for our mothers it is not as difficult as buying one for our fathers. Men’s needs in general are expensive and do not have much variation. There is one gift that you can give to the special man in your life. Honor you father by creating a scrapbook of him with a father’s day scrapbook theme.

A scrapbook is one way of showing your father how his presence has influenced your life. This scrapbook will be treasured more than an expesive gift because you have made this scrapbook with your father in mind and this will leave a long lasting impression unlike most gifts.

There are many themes that you can choose. The the scrapbook theme include your father’s life from childhood? Are you going to center on the learning and effect of your father in your life? What is your dads favorite hobby? Can you make some type of graphic for your scrapbook that will capture the theme of his hobby? Let us say that your father is a fishing enthusiast, you can probably have fishing tools as background images. If he is a baseball fan then maybe something about his favorite team can be an underlying theme.

You can then proceed to acquiring the materials for your scrapbook. Here are some tips to help you get organized:

·Have a spread of photos of your dad whether alone, with the family or with other people. Select the best ones for your scrapbook. These would be the photos that highlight an important event in your dad’s life or those that convey your emotions about your father.

·Be sure to select maximum of 3 colors for your scrapbook page. The colors should complement the photos that you will be placing. If you know your father’s favorite colors then this can be used.

·Choose one photo that is to be the focal point of the scrapbook. This can be a solo shot of your father. It can be a studio shot. An outdoor photo is also a good center piece.

The main picture should be highlighted to stand out. You can mat the image by having a wider border or another color which will stand out from the rest.

·Add journaling to your scrapbook page. Place a comment or caption about what the photo is, where it was made, what happened, etc. This will make the scrapbook more interesting.

·Arrange the scrapbook elements in such a way that it is not crowded. A page that is covered in many pictures may crowed the page leaving the viewer overwhelmed.

·Place embellishments on your page – stickers, die cuts, rubber stamps and punches. You do want to be careful not to overpower the images on the page.

Ask other members of the family to place their own journal to go along with the photos. You want to get others involved in creating your fathers scrapbook.  The more people that are involved the more meaning it will have in the future.  Try to get your dads closest friends and family to participate in the creation of the scrapbook.

My name is Teresa Surrency and I am the host of Scrapbook Secrets With Teresa.  You can post and search Scrapbook Crops on my Scrapbook Events Website

You don’t have to be a computer pro to make a digital scrabook. The internet is full of resources about digital scrapbooking. One can read and have online tutorials to get to know more about scrapbooking.

Making a digital scrapbook is not expensive. There are hundreds of FREE resources on the net. There are free online tutorials, free digital scrapbooking kits and free page layouts.

Some ways to find digital scrapbooking freebies:

1.Make a search using popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. The search engines will generate a list. Go over the list and bookmark the sites that are relevant to your needs.

2.Become a member of a forum about digital scrapbooking. Forum members exchange digital scrapbook tools, backgrounds and layouts. Relevant URLs are also posted especially on sites where digital scrapbooking freebies are given.

3.Visit digital scrapbooking sites. Most sites have downloads that are free.

4.Subscribe to a digital scrapbook newsletter. This is not only a good resource for tips and advice. Newsletters also contain updates on freebies.

5.Find blogs about digital scrapbooking. Where to find freebies can be found on some blogs.

Requirements to download freebies:

1.Some of the websites require you to sign up. After the registration, login name and passwords will be available.

2.Some sites require subscription to a newsletter before beginning a download.

3.A valid email address is needed for most sites before any download is allowed.

The following are freebies that can be downloaded:

1.Digital scrapbooking kits

2.Scrapbooking Fonts

3.Colors

4.Backgrounds

5.Layouts

6.Pages

7.Embellishments

8.Images

9.Templates

Here are the top five websites that supply digital scrapbooking freebies:

1.Digitreats Freebies  digitreats.typepad.com

Site offers some digital scrapbooking kits for free but only for personal use.

2.Free Digital Scrapbooking www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com

This site has everything needed to start digital scrapbooking including tons of freebies.

3.Shabby Princess  www.shabbyprincess.com

The site has both digital scrapbooking freebies and elegant digital scrapbooking supplies on sale.

4.Digital Scrapbooking Freebies  www.digitalscrapbookingfreebies.com

A digital scrapbooking website dedicated to digital scrapbooking freebies. Updates are made frequently.

5.Digital Scrapbooking Depot  www.digiscrapdepot.com

The site provides digital scrapbooking freebies and links to digital scrapbooking designer’s website.

These digital scrapbooking freebies are already more than enough to start the hobby. You will notice that the freebies offered on these sites have strict rules for the use of the freebies. Most require that you use them only for your personal scrapbooks. If you require more advanced digital scrapbook graphics, you may want to purchase a scrapbook kit. The kits are rather inexpensive and you are helping support the sites that you love to visit by purchasing their products. They can not continue to give away products forever if none of their visitors never purchase anyway. If you are looking for a great way to practice and express creativity these freebies will work great.

It seems as if everyone is doing just about everything on the computer there days, from banking to shopping, paying bills, keeping in touch with friends, and yes, even scrapbooking.  While those making up scrapbooks on the computer may be tempted to just follow the directions they find on those digital scrapbook tutorials, it’s also good to remember that like the instructions you get with actual scrapbook kits, these tutorials are just guides and suggestions.  You might just be happy with digital scrapbook, but your scrapbook albums should be personal and unique just to you. Remember that an album is just like the photos inside – they should be something meaningful and personal to you!  So while digital scrapbook tutorials can be great as guides, they shouldn’t be considered hard and fast rules.

When you buy a software program for designing digital scrapbooks, it is a good idea to first review the digital scrapbooking tutorials that came with them.By doing this, you will know the basics of how to digitally attach your journaling, clipart, and other page elements that may be included.You can also learn how to place your photos, resize them, and crop them.  Having that basic understanding you get from digital scrapbook tutorials can then help you to move on to the more advanced options of creating and editing your scrapbooks as well as photoshop for digital scrapbooking.  Again, use their templates and instructions as a guide.  Try moving around clipart or taking some away, or adding items you’ve found online or may already have on your computer.  Also journaling or scrapbooking poems quotes are other items where you’ll want to express your own personality.Many digital scrapbook tutorials include directions on how to add journaling and may include a varieity of different fonts, or you can design your journaling in another software program and then upload it as you would any other page element.

If you’re new to digital scrapbooking you may want to create one entire page with the instructions from those digital scrapbook tutorials so you can see the end result, but if you’ve been doing this for some time or are comfortable using computer programs, step away from their instructions and make up your own pages.If you follow their directions too closely, your pages may come out looking artificial and somewhat contrived.  And isn’t half the fun of scrapbooking the ability to express your own creativity?So take the instructions from digital scrapbook tutorials and leanr the basics of how to move your elements on your page, but then adapt them so you can begin creatively making your own designs.

Young people of today are this country’s fate and because of that we must protect them. Kids are growing up in a crazy reality masked behind lurking dangers. Motor vehicle mishaps are the norm nowadays and our youth can be primarily to blame. His or her level of maturity may play a role as well.

A lot of today’s youth have a bold take on their life. Kids can very quickly yield to poor health. Therefore, it’s advisable for them to have cheap student insurance to protect their wellness.

Insurance companies have realized the potential of these student insurance plans and have come up with nice options for these students. Even government officials stress how important it can be to guard a pupil’s well being by advertising different insurance schemes.

Students today enjoy a lot of freedom. No wonder they are prone to vehicle crashes and various types of infections. Parents drop enormous amounts of money in schooling their children. The additional cost in the form of medical treatment may turn out to become a giant financial weight for them. Therefore, getting student short term health coverage is the best way to reduce this burden.

The selection of health coverage depends on the requirements of the student. Make sure to pick student health insurance which allows the college student to make use of the policy’s privileges. Reading an insurance coverage is the important aspect involved in the choosing of health insurance plans for students. The most effective means to do the investigation of health care coverage is on the Internet.

You’ll discover reputable insurance providers via the Internet. The details, benefits, and conditions of the policies are detailed there. Rate comparisons amongst various company policies can be made. Finally, select a plan which you believe will provide you the most comprehensive coverage.

A lot of students don’t know exactly what a student health insurance plan is and therefore do not have a general understanding of what is covered. With insurance policies for minors being canceled right after the child turns of legal age, college students can be taking a risk because they normally do not have college student medical insurance.

Youth in colleges today generally do not earn a lot of income, if any for that matter, and as a result they probably don’t carry student health insurance plans at all. In light of all of this, it is a brilliant plan for university pupils to capitalize on the medical plans that is offered by the college they’re going to. Students need to make a smart choice and pick the appropriate plan for their requirements.

Different colleges have different medical coverages and the insurance is offered without charge. This attracts the awareness of the college students, but they will forget the essential fact that this type of protection will only cover normal health check up costs and doesn’t provide for the screening charges or other bills. As a result, the college pupil needs to be mindful of this fact.

One additional relevant fact the college student has to bear in mind is the free health checkups are only given in the campus clinic or the college hospital. Should the student decide to go off university’s grounds, they will have to finance this out of pocket.

There may be times when a college pupil will already have a preexistent illness that will need to be covered by a plan other than what the university offers. Most of the time, the preexisting condition might not be provided for by the university’s insurance policy and they will only get medical care for new illnesses they have, which would be provided for in their policy.

Hence, it is very important the various health insurance for college student be studied properly prior to a pupil deciding what coverage to go with. Since these don’t cost too much, the premium shouldn’t be the main factor, but the treatment fees should be the real issue in choosing the medical coverage for the university student.

Have you been searching for Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials online?  You may be hesitant to use any of these tutorials because often they’re very expensive or just a bit useless.Usually, those that are free are very basic and don’t give you a lot of detailed instructions to get you beyond the beginner stage.Of course Photoshop can do this, and they can provide any tutorials they want as well as charge for any they wants too.  But there are places you can find free and useful Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials.  Whether it’s digital scrapbooking ideas or other kinds of tutorials, you need to know where to look online.

One great website to check out is YouTube.  This is because many scrappers upload their own Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials to YouTube.  Because it’s free and easy to use, there are many tutorials for all sorts of things on this site, from applying false eyelashes to building a catapult and yes, free Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials.Scrapbookers put up these videos because they love using Photoshop for their digital scrapbooking layouts, but they also know how hard it can be to learn the program on your own and then use the program to design digital scrapbooks.Other scrapbookers love to share scrapbook layouts. You can go to YouTube and just search on their home page for Photoshop and scrapbooking and you’ll get probably hundreds of choices!

Of course YouTube isn’t the only site that has free Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials.Many scrapbookers put their videos on different scrapbooking websites that allow videos in their galleries or they might put them on their own blogs or sites too.Many online scrapbook supplies stores that sell digital products also provide video tutorials, and these can be fairly easy to find.  If you go to Google or Yahoo and select Video for your search and simply enter “Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials” you’ll see many videos that are very useful.

Video Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials is more useful than reading instructions because it’s better to actually be able to see how things are done.  Computer programs especially can be difficult to understand when you’re just reading the instructions.However, if you are able to follow along with Photoshop digital scrapbooking tutorials in video, you will do much better learning and will have a better understanding fo the concepts they are teaching.  This means you can use the information in the tutorial and apply it to your own projects and new digital albums that you create with Photoshop.  Jessica Sprague, a contributing editor at Creating Keepsakes magazine offers video tutorials on her website, and some of them are free for you to sample.You’ll want to check out jessica sprague. Once you begin learning digital scrapbooking, you’re going to want to learn even more to enhance your digital scrapbooking page layouts.

The merits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring  for kids are regularly argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they have on child development. However, it is difficult to argue with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to  take part in arts and crafts.

Creativity – Ask anyone what the first personality characteristic arts and crafts develop in a young child and most will answer ‘creativity’. And they are  correct.Everyone has natural talents & skills and it is certainly possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a tiny amount of natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and benefit from new ideas, options and alternatives in a future career. Kids learn to do things in new ways and literally profiting from thinking “out of the box”.

Perseverance – Perseverance is perhaps the single most important quality for any successful individual – be they a a business person, sportsman or other professional.  In fact, most well-known breakthroughs in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance.For instance, children learn to keep trying until they accomplish the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet.If something unexpected goes wrong… they are encouraged to persist by trying new ways and means and the pay-off is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.

Concentration – Similar to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual. Drawing, coloring, sculpting, painting and even doodling will definitely teach your child to focus on one  specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In a nutshell, their overall concentration will definitely improve.

Even from a young age children can draw and color – so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble away  to their hearts content whilst also improving their fine motor skills.

For example at sites like Spiderman Coloring you’ll find Spiderman Party as well as coloring pages, funny pics and more.

Little girls on the other hand tend to prefer images of fairies and princesses – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies  are also hits.

Give your child many opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials as well as resources and the occasional canvas so that they can be creative and feel pride in what they create. 

Parents as well as caregivers can promote drawing and coloring as a way to improve physical, social, emotional and cognitive development-and to have a lot of fun along the way too. Here are some suggestions:

The simple acts of drawing and coloring are  literally childs’ play, however, they both play an important role in a child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. Drawing and coloring allows children to express their emotions like no other activity – it also helps them experience autonomy and builds their confidence. 

1.Provide children with drawing materials, blank sheets of paper and coloring pages that are nontoxic.

2. Model drawing. Show children that you like to color and draw as well – make designs but do not show your children what they should draw.

3. Encourage all drawing and coloring  efforts by talking about the beautiful colors, the lines and  shapes the child has made.

4.Rather than enquire, “What is it?,” say “Tell me all about your lovely drawing”. Asking “What is it?” suggests to the child that s/he has failed to depict what they intended.

5. Talk about concepts like  thin, thick, wide, narrow, dark, light, edge, shape, contour, etc.

6. Don’t just display their art in their bedroom – give it pride of place in your home in places where visitors to your home will see them. Point them out to visitors – the praise for the work will boost a child’s self esteeem and confidence. 

7. Give children the freedom to choose the subjects of their drawings and of their coloring sheets. For example little girls  may enjoy coloring images of  Barbie and at sites like Barbie Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Barbie coloring

Little boys on the other hand tend to prefer images of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies  are also hits with little boys.

8. Crayons pose a choking hazard – so always supervise younger children while they draw and color.

To the casual observer a child who is drawing or coloring in, is merely doodling. The marks seem to be decidedly random, almost meaningless. But there is much more happening in your young child’s mind as s/he engages in the physical act of drawing and coloring.

In fact, examining children’s drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional and cognitive development of the young child. From toddlerhood through to primary school, children choose to draw and color, but the process actually starts much earlier – during toddlerhood.

At around the age of a year and a half toddlers become interested in scribbling. It appears to provide sensory enjoyment, but the child is also interested in the marks that are made. The act of doodling or scribbling can serve several useful purposes for the young child. Small muscle coordination (fine motor skills) and control improve with practice, cognitive abilities are exercised, opportunities for social interaction arise, and the physical movements provide emotional release.

Because a toddler’s small muscle control is not fully developed, he or she may approach the coloring sheet by grasping the marker with his or her fist and may well find it difficult to place the marks exactly where he or she wants them. Movements are typically large, involving the entire arm with very little finger or wrist control. This is because the pattern of physical development in children begins from the center of the trunk outward.

With practice, your child will naturally improve his or her control. Full control, however, will not be achieved until much later. A few toddlers rest the forearm on the drawing surface to give them additional control. A repetitive scrubbing motion is common among two-year-olds. This provides them with sensory enjoyment and making drawing a very physical act.

By providing children with the materials and opportunities to scribble a parent can promote physical skills. Just as babbling is a natural way to gain language, scribbling is the precursor to muscle control and coordination.

Intellectually toddlers care much about both the process and results of their art. They really do not intend to represent objects at first. Instead, they are concerned with color and line. However, they may look at the marks and scribbles they have made and, in surprise, recognize a shape and name it. While they may not have intended to draw a car, a house or a tree, the scribbles suggest the shapes. Children interpret, rather than intend. This is called 'fortuitous realism' & becomes common as a child approaches his third year of age.

As a parent you can encourage your little one to draw and to color by offering him or her opportunities to do so. Provide them with blank sheets of paper to let their creativity run wild or supply a coloring book or coloring sheets – many of which are available free of charge online. Little boys may enjoy coloring images of  cars and trucks or of favorite characters such as Spiderman and at sites like Spiderman Coloring you’ll find Spiderman printables as well as coloring pages, funny pics and more. For little girls search for coloring pages of princesses or fairies or anything else she may be interested in such as Disney characters or even trucks!

Remember however that toddlers need constant supervision while coloring due to the choking hazard that crayons pose.

The need to pick the best retirement plan for self employed arises out of the fact that there are many different retirement plans for self employed persons. In order to pick the best retirement plan for self employed it is necessary that you consider the profitability of different plans and also factor in that many retirement plans stay dormant for a long time. It is therefore necessary to first understand how to be in control over your life after retirement by investing in the best retirement plan for self employed and then pick the best plan that addresses all your retirement needs.

Low Returns? Then Choose Best Retirement Plan For Self Employed

Most people that begin a retirement plan find that the returns are on the low side and there are two main reasons for this: ignorance of the facts and hesitation in going for self directed IRA plans. The good news is that things can be made to work for you and it is in fact quite easy to maximize returns on the money you have invested in the best retirement plan for self employed – provided you learn how to choose the right option.

Someone who is self dependent can take good care of them and will develop qualities of a leader. This is different than salaried people who allow them to be bossed by their employers. A person unable to take decisions will hesitate in going for self directed IRA plans in which there is the option to invest in the way suitable for him.

One of the best retirement plans for self employed is the Roth IRA that ensures that you do not need to pay any taxes on the money that you earn from this retirement plan. This in fact is the biggest advantage to choosing a Roth IRA though you are not exempted from paying taxes on your contributions. Nevertheless, this is certainly a hot contender for best retirement plan for self employed and if you invest shrewdly this is one retirement plan that will pay you back handsomely.

All you need when making use of this best retirement plan for self employed is to contribute your money to the account and then invest in profitable though save markets like the real estate market. This gives surety about increment of your money and getting you high returns. At the time that you withdraw your money you will have earned enough and you also won’t be taxed on this money. Now, what could be better than this?

If you are looking for the best retirement savings plan online be sure to check out the Retirement Savings Plan of the Presbyterian Church USA that is a 403 (b) (9) plan. Going with this plan one can have protection for his future after his retirement.