Lesson 1

Hi ladies!! Are you ready for your first lesson? There are so many different ways we could do this, so I hope this works. We are going to become familiar with the digital world. So, I want you to sign up at Digital Shop Talk and either Elemental Scraps or Divine Digital or all three. Up to you. There are 3 areas to look around and get to know and understand. Try and use the same name in all the sites you sign up to. You get to know people from there names from site to site. I am stangergirls. Let me know who you are.
1 The forums; These are a lot of fun. In the forums you are going to meet other scrappers. The digital world is HUGE ladies. They are from all over the world. People post all sorts of stuff, scrap and non scrap related info. Some of the jargon you may see: ISO= in search of. NSBR= non scrap book related. These are just two, but only ones I can think of right now. There are instructional and very helpful areas for newbies. Check them out.
Each site is set up a little different, but somewhat the same. The forums are broke up into various topics. Check them out and browse. There is generally postings for freebies on blogs, or at stores. Sometimes there is a post saying who wants a RAK(random act of kindness). Check those out, they are often times cool things to win if you comment in the thread.
2. Gallery: This is where you will post your layouts. If you want. It is also a great way to get ideas. I browse the galleries ALL the time for inspiration. Plus you can see the designers stuff. Most scrappers give credit to the designers they have used, so if you want to know who did the paper or elements then click on the photo and look at the description. They also give you a link to there stores. Very helpful.
3 Store/Boutique: Get an idea of prices and what is out there. You don't have to purchase anything, but it is fun to see what is being made.
There is an awesome blog Ikeagodess. She posts freebies with a link to the stores. It is my favorite site to find the fun and cool freebies. WARNING: don't download everything you see. You can get carried away and use up all your free space on your computer.
Ok once you have signed up, you may get some thank you gifts. Before you download I want you to make some folders to keep track of everything.
First make a folder on your desktop and lable it Scrap
When you download the freebies, they are going to be zipped and you will need to unzip them. Once unzipped place them in the scrap folder. Make sure you know where you are downloading the folders too. I have a download section, that all my downloads go, but this may not be the case. Once you click on the download, it will ask you where you want it, if you don't have a download folder make one or direct it to scrap. You are going to delete the zipped file once you download it. Decide which is going to be easy. I like having a download folder and then move my stuff to the scrap folder.
Side note: All my freebies I did not keep in there individual folder. In my scrap folder I have sub folders; Paper, Ribbons, Flowers, Buttons and so on. It was alot easier to look for paper in 1 spot rather than open up a ton of differnt folders. My teams(explain later), I kept in there own folders in a seperate folder.
Phew are you overwhelmed? That is enough for now. Later I will explain some ways to help save space. For now I think you have enough. Don't hesitate to email me and ask questions. Also the forums are awesome and very helpful!!!! Good luck ladies!!