The RAKScraps Newsletter Staff wishes all its readers a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Boxing Day, and/or Happy Winter Solstice.

Melinda Staley added a tutorial on making holiday lights glow on your pages.

Hey guys! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and getting the decorations up and the presents wrapped!

I just wanted to share a little something with you guys, in case you don’t know and in case you may have missed the past sponsor newsletter freebies… you can still grab some of them!

If you click on past newsletters (links are at the bottom of the current newsletter link which is found here) you still have the opportunity to grab some of those kits.

Here’s a few of the past newsletters that you can still grab some freebies from! So check it out in case you missed them!

November’s Newsletter: Sponsors: Linda’s Dream Designs & Doris Castle

October’s Newsletter: Sponsors: Blind Sight Designs & By God’s Design

September’s Newsletter: Sponsors: Jan Hosford & Kiss This Designs

August’s Newsletter: Sponsors: Tracy Murphy & Kim Christensen

These are just a few of the freebies still available to you, so go ahead and check back and see what wonderful freebies you can still grab!

We still have a lot going on this week at RAKScraps so don’t miss out.  The Events Team would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, as well as any other holiday celebration you are having this week.  After you eat your holiday meal, enjoy being with your family and friends, we hope that you consider us “family” as we feel very close to each of our members.  Since the day I first  came here, I have been treated as such and hope that I always treat everyone here with the same kindness that has been shown to me.  It’s hard to describe how close you can become friends with people on the internet until you join a special community like ours.  I could never understand it, that is, until I joined this forum.  I have since joined several forums but I always come here first to see what’s new.  I don’t participate in other forums as much because I have found the people here so warm and helpful.  Never once have I been made to feel like I was “bothering” someone when I asked a question.  This is what makes our forum so special!  No matter how large or small each question is welcome and if someone knows the answer they get back to you.  So I feel like we have the a special closeness that few forums do and we wish you the best this week and every week.  Oh, by the way, don’t forget to join us in a challenge or two this week if you find the time.  I’m not posting any special challenge this week since I feel all of them are great ways to learn more about each other.  Just log in and find a spot and start scrapping!  Have a great and safe time this week!

Before I did scrapbooking, I used to knit. One of the questions that would drive me crazy was “How long did it take you to knit this?” I never knew if the person was curious to see if they could’ve done it faster, to see how much time I thought they were worth, if the workmanship was shoddy, or if they were going to try to sell it at a church bazaar and were angling how much money to charge. [The last one *did* happen, by the way.]

Now that scrapping takes up my free time, to the pleasure of my son’s great-grandmothers, I’ve discovered another question that drives me crazy - “How long did it take you to make that page?”

Maybe it shouldn’t bother me. If a page takes 15 minutes, 35 minutes, or 65 minutes - it doesn’t really matter, right? Sometimes the page flows - photos are acceptable, a paper and elements quickly found, and the first font I pick is just right. Sometimes the journaling is a problem, sometimes it’s a photo requiring a lot of work, sometimes the element I want I don’t have so I need an alternative - and sometimes I’m just stumped on what to say or do with a photo or story. Basically, sometimes it’s easier than other times, and sometimes it requires some time away from the computer to get everything looking right.

My neighbour is infamous for saying, “Oh, thank you so much for this page of my daughter. It’s lovely and wonderful. I’m sure you just whipped it out - you do it so quickly.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t quick; for one layout there was 20 minutes on fussing with the photo, then 15 more minutes erasing the background, then 5 minutes picking the paper, then more time getting it to the right shade, another 15 minutes picking and resizing the glitter alphabet title, then 10 minutes figuring out what to write, and then 10 more minutes getting the right font. I’ve learned to smile sweetly and take the compliment. I know she means well.

The other day my neighbour needed my help doing a “quick” page for her daughter’s school … you know, just put the photos onto a piece of paper, write some text, and then send it to get printed. First she had to pick the photos, then I had to remove the red-eye, then do an auto-correct on the colour balance, then resize the eight best photos to fit on the page, then pick out the background paper, then decide upon a font [she rejected the first five], then pick another paper to place behind the journaling to make that stand out, which required a font colour change, and so forth. After about 65 minutes, I had an 8×10 page made, approved, and sent to a photo store to pick up in an hour.

That evening, I got an email from her stating “Oh, NOW I get it. I just see the final product and think ‘wow, this is great. She makes it look so easy,’ but it’s not easy, is it? You spend time culling the photos, picking the best ones, then fixing them to make them look good, then do all this work before even getting to colours and text. I never realized how much work (and time) was involved. That you spend so much doing one page for my daughter is amazing. I’m amazed at the effort put into your craft. I get it now. I really do.”

From the bottom of my heart, I thank her for “getting it.” I really do.