Tutorial of the Week

I hope everyone’s been enjoying our little trip through some of the cool features the interwebz has to offer. Remember that everything that I’ve shown you is just how I do thing, there are always other ways to use these resources but I just don’t know them all! Today we’re going to talk about doing direct downloads for your freebies, i.e. instead of having your fans clicking on a link, going to another page & clicking on another link to get a freebie all they have to do is click once & the download starts automatically.

If you have your own FTP site then your provider should give you the option to have a direct download link, that’s part of the benefits of having a paid site. For 4shared, a direct download link is only provided when you have a paid account; I’ve done some poking around & haven’t found any other way to get it through 4shared. Mediafire seems to not have the direct download option but I’ve never used them so if any of you wonderful readers know how to do it, let me know!

After some searching, I was able to determine that Box.com only provides direct download links for users who have a paid account. And boy is it hard to search for information on a site that is just called Box, I kept getting definitions from Wikipedia of what a box was! Heehee, back on track now.

You can do direct download through Dropbox.com with a free account but there is a little code you have to add to the URL to make it work. Again, I’m going to cover Dropbox becuase it’s what I know how to do, if you have a paid account on 4shared or Box.com do a search through the help section & they’ll guide you through the steps.

When you upload a file to Dropbox & go to your home page, you’ll see a little link icon to the far right of the file name. Clicking on the icon will open up a new window & the URL that you see is the link to the actual file. Because Dropbox randomizes links, it is highly unlikely that someone will be able to figure out the actual link, so I’m going to show you this using a real example; all the links are clickable so you can see how they work.

When I uploaded my file for a recent blog train & clicked on the link icon I got the following link of https://www.dropbox.com/s/iku39641lswx0xm/dts_SD.zip. If I were to use this link for my freebie as is, clicking on it would take someone to the file page on Dropbox where they would have to click on the Download icon to get the file. That’s cool but I want my followers to get the freebie via direct download. To do this you have two options both of which involve modifying the URL.

Option 1 is to add the code ?dl=1 to the end of the URL. Don’t know how the code actually does it but I know that adding this code will turn your Dropbox URL into a direct download. Adding the code to my URL above gives me the new URL of https://www.dropbox.com/s/iku39641lswx0xm/dts_SD.zip?dl=1. If you click on the link now you’ll see that instead of going to a new screen, you’ll get the download box popping up.

Option 2 is to add the code http://dl to the front of your file URL. To modify the original URL, I change https://www to http://dl which will make the new URL of http://dl.dropbox.com/s/iku39641lswx0xm/dts_SD.zip. Again if you were to click on this link the download box would pop up instead of a new screen. I can’t determine if there’s a difference between Option 1 & Option 2 it’s just that when I was looking for the direct download code, I found Option 1 first & then noticed a few freebies I downloaded used Option 2. Different code, same result!

Next week we’ll cover the last part of this series about how shorten & find out some statistics on how often & from where people are downloading your freebies.

STS Birthday Celebration ~ Day 16

Welcome to Day 16 of the Stuff to Scrap Birthday Celebration!

In honor of our 3rd birthday this month, we have a lot of fun activities going on along with a great blog hop through all of our designer’s blogs! All the freebies were made with the new designer collaboration, Sweet Birthday Surprise which you will receive for free on your birthday if you register in the Stuff to Scrap Forum & enter in your birthday! To add your birthday to your profile go to Settings –> Edit Profile. You can then set your birthday under the Optional Information section & don’t forget to save your changes.

Don’t forget to check out all the fun activities we have going on all month over in the forum! There is going to be a chat this Saturday, May 19th at 6 PM PT / 7 PM MT / 8 PM CT / 9 PM ET hosted by Sarah of In The Small Things. Join us for fun & prizes!

Today’s freebie comes to you from Natasha of Ponytails Designs; click on the preview to head to her blog & then come back tomorrow for your next stop!

STS Birthday Celebration ~ Day 15

Welcome to Day 15 of the Stuff to Scrap Birthday Celebration!

In honor of our 3rd birthday this month, we have a lot of fun activities going on along with a great blog hop through all of our designer’s blogs! All the freebies were made with the new designer collaboration, Sweet Birthday Surprise which you will receive for free on your birthday if you register in the Stuff to Scrap Forum & enter in your birthday! To add your birthday to your profile go to Settings –> Edit Profile. You can then set your birthday under the Optional Information section & don’t forget to save your changes.

Don’t forget to check out all the fun activities we have going on all month over in the forum! There is going to be a chat this Saturday, May 19th at 6 PM PT / 7 PM MT / 8 PM CT / 9 PM ET hosted by Sarah of In The Small Things. Join us for fun & prizes!

Today’s freebie comes to you from Shel of Shel Belle Scraps, click on the preview to head to her blog & then come back tomorrow for your next stop!

Scrapping Sales

Did everyone have fun with the sale over the weekend? We don’t have too many sales going on this week but you’ll want to check out Shel Belle Scraps’ store tomorrow for her birthday sale!

There are so many May Build A Kits out this month it’s hard to pick just a few so why not get ‘em all? While you’re at it use the code MAY2012_BUY3_SAVEHALF when you buy 3 or more to get 50% off on all the May BAK products in your cart!

With summer right around the corner, it’s time for the March Mega Collaboration & Grab Bag to move out & make room for new kits. Both Whimsical Wonders & the March CU Grab Bag: All About the Girls will be leaving us on May 31st, so if you’ve been wanting to add them to your stash make sure to do it soon!

Through May 31st our free with $5.00 purchase is the Building Blocks Template Set by Shel Belle Scraps. Oh how I adore blocked templates!

STS Birthday Celebration ~ Day 14

Welcome to Day 14 of the Stuff to Scrap Birthday Celebration!

In honor of our 3rd birthday this month, we have a lot of fun activities going on along with a great blog hop through all of our designer’s blogs! All the freebies were made with the new designer collaboration, Sweet Birthday Surprise which you will receive for free on your birthday if you register in the Stuff to Scrap Forum & enter in your birthday! To add your birthday to your profile go to Settings –> Edit Profile. You can then set your birthday under the Optional Information section & don’t forget to save your changes.

Don’t forget to check out all the fun activities we have going on all month over in the forum! There is going to be a chat this Saturday, May 19th at 6 PM PT / 7 PM MT / 8 PM CT / 9 PM ET hosted by Sarah of In The Small Things. Join us for fun & prizes!

Today’s freebie comes to you from Deanna of Flower Scraps, click on the preview to head to her blog & then come back tomorrow for your next stop!

Weekly Challenges & Speed Scraps

A happy Mother’s Day to all the mom out there, I hope you are going to have a fun day doing whatever you want for a change! If you’re planning on hiding someplace with your computer & scrapping the day away, here are the weekly challenges to get started on.

First up is the Word of the Week Challenge which runs from Sunday, May 13th to Saturday, May19th & this week’s word is Party. Post your layouts in this week’s WOW thread by Saturday night to earn your points. Remember that to earn the bonus points, you need to complete each week’s challenge, you can find the WOW rules & point tracking thread right here.

Next is the Challenge of the Week which runs from Sunday, May 13th to Saturday, May 19th & this week we are challenged to do a Mystery Challenge, you’ll have to see the thread for information but it looks like fun! Post your layouts in this week’s COW thread by Saturday night to earn your points. Remember that to earn the bonus points, you need to complete each week’s challenge, you can find the COW rules & point tracking thread right here.

This week’s Featured Designer Challenge is brought to you Hannah of Scrapteam2008 & will run from Friday, May 11th to Thursday, May 17th. Here’s some fun information about Hannah & she’s put her whole store on sale for 50% off until Thursday so if you don’t have any of Hannah’s fabulous products yet, now you’ve got a great excuse to pick one up!

Here are the Speed Scraps for this week! The week’s first speed scrap will be Tuesday, May 15th at 5 PM PT / 6 PM MT / 7 PM CT / 8 PM ET & will be hosted by Jessica of Digital Harmony Design Studio. Come join Jessica & other forum members in the chat room or follow along in the speed scrap thread.

Our other speed scrap will be Saturday, May 19th at 1 PM PT / 2 PM MT / 3 PM CT / 4 PM ET & will be hosted by Colleen of Mommy Made This. Come join Colleen & other forum members in the chat room or follow along in the speed scrap thread.

The Fine Print: You’ll earn points on almost all of the challenges & when you reach 500 points, you’ll receive a $5.00 gift card to the Stuff to Scrap store to purchase anything that catches your fancy. Points roll over from month to month & do not expire! Please remember that to earn any extra bonus points, you must state in your challenge post that you’ve used 90% or more current STS products or you will not earn the bonus points. There is no double dipping with challenges, i.e. you cannot use a layout made for a speed scrap for one of the monthly challenges or use one layout for two challenges. The only exception is a double page layout where each side is for a different challenge. The use of quick pages for challenge layouts are not allowed, all layouts must be made from scratch or with a template. You are most welcome to make a post in the May Challenge Round-up thread to keep track of all the challenges & points you’ve earned. As always, any layouts featured in this post are linked to the gallery for easy love leaving.

STS Birthday Celebration ~ Day 13

Welcome to Day 13 of the Stuff to Scrap Birthday Celebration!

In honor of our 3rd birthday this month, we have a lot of fun activities going on along with a great blog hop through all of our designer’s blogs! All the freebies were made with the new designer collaboration, Sweet Birthday Surprise which you will receive for free on your birthday if you register in the Stuff to Scrap Forum & enter in your birthday! To add your birthday to your profile go to Settings –> Edit Profile. You can then set your birthday under the Optional Information section & don’t forget to save your changes.

Don’t forget to check out all the fun activities we have going on all month over in the forum! There is going to be a chat this Saturday, May 19th at 6 PM PT / 7 PM MT / 8 PM CT / 9 PM ET hosted by Sarah of In The Small Things. Join us for fun & prizes!

Today’s freebie comes to you from Adriana of Adriana’s Cafe, click on the preview to head to her blog & then come back tomorrow for your next stop!

Inspiration Station

It’s Mother’s Day weekend & I hope all you moms out there are getting some rest & pampering in along with plenty of time to do what you want to do! Naturally I have to feature layouts with moms in them this weekend, we scrappers often forget to make layouts that include us so for this weekend, it’s all about the ladies!

I Love Mom! | Dennise
There’s a new kit out from Scraps By Andrea called A Mother’s Love & so I had to make some hard decisions on what to pick but I just love this layout by Dennise. The clustering behind the picture is amazing & I love that her alpha title uses the same paper as the background. Plus that’s just such a cute photo!

Mother’s Day 2011 | filandstef
I was drawn to this layout by Stephanie because of the stunning pictures, just love how she & her son are shown against that backdrop of the lake & mountains. I really like how the colors of the kit Emma’s Room by Scraps by Andrea go so well with the photos & bring out the little patches of green around the rocks.

3 Generations | lwyant
Multi-generation photos are always some of my favorite to look at, did you see the recent news story about a family that has six generations of daughters still alive? While Lauren’s family doesn’t have as many generations in this photo, it is lovely to look at & I really like how Lauren used a paper from Just Like Mom by Meagan’s Creations that matched the photo background for continuity.

This | wtunison
Here’s a great example of using a non-girly kit for a lovely picture of a mother & her daughters. First off I love the photo of Wendy & her girls; add in the fun stacked papers & cool title, well this is a layout I will be scraplifting soon! Wendy used the Thanksgiving themed kit Gobble Till You Wobble by Scraps N’ Pieces for this lovely layout.

Motherhood | tamlia
I told you it was hard to pick just one layout that used A Mother’s Love but I just had to include this one of Tammy & her son. Words can’t describe how adorable that picture is so I’ll just say that I love the little cluster & the border that looks like it was cut out of newspapers.

Mommy | trouprincess
Can you believe this layout was made using the train kit Ridin’ the Rails by Adriana’s Cafe? But a perfect choice for this picture of trouprincess & her son, I love the large circle mats & stacked papers/ribbons behind the picture. A great layout for all us moms of boys out there!

‘Tis all for this week! Remember that all the layouts are linked for easy love leaving. Head on over to the STS Gallery to see what else our forum members have been up to & leave some love on your favorites!

STS Birthday Celebration ~ Day 12

Welcome to Day 12 of the Stuff to Scrap Birthday Celebration!

In honor of our 3rd birthday this month, we have a lot of fun activities going on along with a great blog hop through all of our designer’s blogs! All the freebies were made with the new designer collaboration, Sweet Birthday Surprise which you will receive for free on your birthday if you register in the Stuff to Scrap Forum & enter in your birthday! To add your birthday to your profile go to Settings –> Edit Profile. You can then set your birthday under the Optional Information section & don’t forget to save your changes.

Don’t forget to check out all the fun activities we have going on all month over in the forum! There is going to be a chat today, Saturday, May 12th 11 AM PST / 12 PM MST/ 1 PM CST/ 2 PM EST hosted by Meagan of Meagan’s Creations. Join us for fun & prizes!

Don’t forget that the whole Stuff to Scrap store will be on sale for 40% off today! But the sale ends at midnight so hurry & get your shopping one!

Today’s freebie comes to you from Jodi of JMC Designs, click on the preview to head to her blog & then come back tomorrow for your next stop!

New Release Fridays

Is anyone else having a little too much fun with the 40% off sale going on in the store right now? Remember that these store wide sales are the only times you can pick up the designer Mega Collaborations & CU Grab Bags on sale! Let’s take a look at the week’s new releases all of which are, of course, 40% off until tomorrow!

About 10 years ago my Mom took a trip to China & got some amazing pictures which means I am very excited to see the new kit The Orient by Scraps N Pieces. Full of lovely papers & elements, many hand-drawn by Heidi, this kit is a must have. While at the store, you’ll want to pick up their other new release, Space Station, which is just what is needed for all those space-obsessed little ones! Plus there are some wonderful freebies up for grabs on the Scraps N Pieces blog.

It’s time for the May release of the Our Life in a Year series by Adriana’s Cafe; this lovely kit is full of soft colors & the perfect elements for your spring or Mother’s day photos. And remember to keep an eye out on Adriana’s blog as she’s celebrating her blogiversery all month long!

Two new releases this week from A-Manda Creation, Cinco De Mayo for all your pictures from the party last week & Backyard BBQ to get you in the mood for grilling!

A fun kit that would be great for both spring or summer pictures, or really any pictures at all is What Makes Me Happy by Created by Jill. Love the colors & word art strips Jill has included!

Can’t find that perfect Mother’s Day card? Then why not try making your own card with your digital scrapbooking kids & either the Spring Cards or Easel Cards Volume 1 template sets by DoubleTrouble Scraps? Two card templates, one envelope template & full instructions are included in each download!

All the designers out there will want to checkout the new Finishing Touches Designer Tool by Scrapteam2008. This multi-use action will add drop shadows, merge elements, bring papers/elements into gamut & trim transparent pixels. A great tool for any designer! Plus Hannah has released the fun, refreshing kit Cherry Pop & you can get a cute add-on if you participate in Hannah’s Featured Designer week over in the forum!

 Feeling a bit nostaligic for the video games of your youth? This Little Missy has the cure for you with her new Power Up! kit all about our favorite little plumbers & their adventures. There are some freebies to go along with this kit but you’ll have to go to Carissa’s blog to hunt for them!

Keystone Scraps has three, count ‘em, three new releases this week. Take Me To Your Leader is full of some of the most adorable aliens I’ve ever seen while for those of you staying on Planet Earth, World Traveler: Washington DC is the newest add-on to Paula’s World Traveler Kit series. For some quick scrapping, check out her Magic Every Day Quick Pages!

 If you’re taking some trips to the zoo this summer, you’ll want to pick up Alphabet Zoo by Mommy Made This. This great kit has 34 papers & 70 elements (& an add-on cardstock pack) that will help you scrap any zoo or animal related pictures! Plus Colleen has some freebies up on her blog, go check them out.

Just in time for Mother’s Day is A Mother’s Love by Scraps by Andrea; I just adore that alpha cut from newsprint! Don’t forget to check out the matching cardstock pack & quick page set.

Finally, we have the Slice of Summer bundle by HD Creations, I’m getting hungry just looking at it! The bundle comes with the kit, cardstock pack, alpha & quick page pack so snag it while it’s a super deal this weekend!

Through May 15th our free with $5.00 purchase is the PB&J Mini kit by This Little Missy. Anyone else getting hungry just looking at this adorable kit?