Latter-day Village Square

I’ve had a blast designing and preparing the designs of our talented artists for new digital scrapbook collections in our Village Download Depot. I have something to admit - I have little experience making scrapbooks the way most people do. I have a very old fashioned scrapbook from high school, and long before the scrapbook craze began, I made scrapbooks for both my babies (now 27 and 23) and for their missions. But I haven’t bought scrapbook paper or embellishments etc to do it. I decorated them by hand or designed them on my computer myself.

Over the years I have noticed the scrapbook section of the local craft stores I frequent getting larger and larger - taking up more and more floor space. One store has devoted well over 50% of their store to scrapbooking products. It blows my mind.

But right here in the heart of the seedbed for this international passion for scrapbooking, where it all started - along the Wasatch Front - you can hardly find any LDS-themed scrapbook paper or embellishments/tools anymore. The general market is so immense, our little LDS-niche is hardly worth sneezing at - even for scrapbook companies I drive past along I-15, owned and operated by latter-day saints who once catered to their LDS customers.

Well, we all have birthdays and holidays and vacations and other memorable occasions we want to scrap like the general population - but what about those uniquely LDS aspects of our lives that we also want to make a permanent and beautiful record of?

That’s where LDV steps in. We have a growing array of LDS-themed scrapbook products, along with the traditional general/seasonal themes, and we can offer it because our products are digital! We leave the printing, if you even decide to print - to you! That allows us to design to our hearts’ content without worrying if we can sell 10,000 of any design. Printing and manufacturing prices go down with volume - so most companies have to pick and choose what products they will feature with that high-volume requirement.

Problem - not everyone knows how to use digital images to make beautiful scrapbooks! I do my designing with Adobe Photoshop - oh what cool things I can do with that robust program! But average Josephine scrapbook enthusiast isn’t going to pay the high ticket price for that high-end professional software, nor have the time to learn how to use it.

Well - I decided to test some affordable digital scrapbook software out. I wanted to see if it was easy to use, could do cool stuff, and if I could import images from our Village Download Depot collections into a scrapbook page using it. I read reviews about various products - and it was very hard to tell if they allow you to import images from outside their programs - so there was nothing to do but buy a package that sounded good and try it. I picked Nova Development’s Art Explosion Scrapbook Factory Deluxe Version 3.0. It got the highest ratings in the reviews I read and only cost $29.95 direct from the manufacturer (you might find it cheaper elsewhere).

It arrived in a timely fashion and installed easily onto my computer. They have good documentation to step you through the process. It comes with tons of templates and clipart for unlimited designs, and has easy to use tools that do really nice things you would need scrapbook software to do. But the true test for me was, of course, could I use my own Village Download Depot images and Fonts to create scrapbook pages with it?

WAHOO! YES! It worked - and was so easy! With any project open in the editing window, click on the INSERT menu option and choose GRAPHIC then FROM FILE. You then find the image you want to insert from your DownloadDepot folders and viola! It is inserted and can be edited as needed! Now, granted, I am used to Photoshop - so the ease of use of this software seemed dreamy to me - but I really believe anyone could use this to create lovely digital scrapbook pages, import our great LDS scrapbook elements into it - edit them freely so they are just the right size, shape, direction etc - and print out beautiful pages, or simply save them in a form anyone can view them and email them to your family and friends.

As much as most people spend on their scrapbook supplies, this software is a small price to pay for a great tool.

Since most people have home printers that only print on 8.5×11″ - Scrapbook Factory templates are for that size paper - but they also allow you to select 12×12 layouts - and if you have a wide format printer, you can print those yourself, or send the files to a copy center that does wide format printing, or use an online service that will print your 12×12 pages and ship them to you. I am researching printers, scrapbook papers for inkjet printers and scrapbook printing services and will write about those more in a future post.

Debra

Courtney White has designed a wonderful photographic art collection for General Conference that is currently the downloadable collection in the Village Download Depot Club! One of the funnest parts of the collection are the BINGO cards she designed! You will be able to use this collection again and again, at home or in the classroom.

I have been thrilled with Courtney’s work for LDV - and so have our visitors - her instant download collections are our very most popular products! I have come to expect great things from Courtney. But what I didn’t know was that she is not the only talented artist in her home! Courtney enlisted the help of her talented husband, Del, to design symbols she could use on a children’s pictoral BINGO game. She told me about it, and I waited to see how it would turn out.

I was once again thrilled! Del is definitely a gifted artist as well. I am sure you will find that these BINGO boards will become a great family tradition twice each year as you gather your family together to watch/listen to General Conference. So take a little extra time and effort to print them out on heavy cardstock and laminate them. I don’t have a laminating machine, so I just buy crystal clear self adhering laminating sheets at the office supply store to protect printed things I want to last. But you can also go to your local copy center where they often do inexpensive laminating.

SEE THE ENTIRE COLLECTION

Debra

For the study of the Camp of Israel and after, one of our LDV artists, Nicole Whitehead, has designed beautiful Tribal Banners, patterned after those described in Numbers. Nicole did a fabulous job, hand painting acrylic on artboard, and we have digitized the paintings (professionally photographed and edited in Adobe Photoshop) and prepared them to be printed on felt - each is approximately 7″ across and 18″ long.

Each banner has the Brigade symbol in the upper left corner, the tribe name at the top, a row of olive leaves, the Hebrew tribe name below that to the left, with the tribe gem pictured in a grid depicting birth order to the right, the tribe colors are used as background in the area beneath, with the tribe symbol in the center. At the bottom is a compass depicting the position of the tribe in the Camp of Israel, north/south/east/west.

Designs are put on the felt through a process called sublimation. There are several steps involved, so from the original hand-painted designs to the final felt banners, we had to work very hard to get the colors right. After several tries, Nicole and I drove to the felt company with her originals and worked with their staff to achieve accurate colors. The only way to do it was to find the right color on some existing felt product and pick that color in the software and apply it where we needed it in the image files. Whew! We finally got it figured out and the banners are gorgeous!

My husband wants to hang the banner for Ephriam (our tribe) on our front porch. The nice thing is, the felt is color safe and washable, so we can hang it outdoors. SEE THE ENTIRE SET, or PURCHASE IN OUR STORE NOW.

Thanks to the folks at Storytime Felts and to Nicole for not only her designs, but her perseverance in getting the digital photos and coming with me to the factory to get the colors right!

Debra

I am adding this to the AS today but thought I might share it here first in case any of you are preparing this lesson for tomorrow!

BABA Hi. I’m Baba Wawa from station ENOC, a sister station of KOAB on location. This is beautiful Mount Ararat. And even though we are here, we don’t actually know where “here” is. Our best guess is somewhere in northeastern Turkey close to the Russian border.
But regardless we are bringing you an exclusive interview with Mr. Noah..

NOAH Mr. Noah? Well doesn’t that have a ring to it. Actually most people just call me Noah.
BABA Most people? What ‘most people?’ There doesn’t seem to be anyone else here.
NOAH No, that’s not true. Why there’s my wife and Shem and his wife and Japheth and his wife and Ham and his wife. There’s eight of us in all.

BABA Well, okay. But didn’t there use to be millions?
NOAH Yes
BABA And?

NOAH They were all drown.

BABA And the animals and the insects and the birds?

NOAH Yes, Them, too.

BABA So, why are they all dead and you’re alive?
NOAH Because we built an ark.

BABA Why did you build an ark and nobody else built an ark?

NOAH Because the Lord told me to build an ark.

BABA Did the Lord tell them to build an ark?

NOAH No. He had me tell them.

BABA You don’t talk much

NOAH Not any more.

BABA What do you mean, anymore?

NOAH The Lord had me talk for one hundred and twenty years and I talked until I was blue in the face, but nobody listened. Moses 8:17
BABA Why did he have you talk for 120 years

NOAH I suppose to make sure everybody had plenty of time to listen. Actually it kind of started with my grandkids. All my granddaughters were marrying sons of men, you know, men without the priesthood, and the Lord was really upset.
Moses 8:14-15
BABA Why was He so upset? Everyone always says that the best way to convert them is to marry them.

NOAH Look, I preached repentance for one hundred and twenty years and they didn’t convert. Without the priesthood in their homes the Lord had no way to channel His power to them to help them or guide them or anything.
Moses 8:15
BABA So what did they say when you told them all this?
NOAH They said “You’re right. We marry outside the church, we have plenty to eat, we have plenty to drink and look at our kids—they’re healthy and good-looking and as strong as Adam in his day. So what’s your point?” They just weren’t into hearkening to the Lord.
Moses 8:21
BABA Why didn’t the Lord tell them himself?
NOAH Well, he’s kind of busy you know. He has worlds without end. So every so often he calls a prophet to tell the people what He wants them to know. He called my great grand dad Enoch and he went around telling everyone to repent. He moved mountains and made earthquakes and all that.

BABA Did they listen?
NOAH Some did. The Lord translated them and left the hard of hearing here.
Moses 7:27
BABA So did you move mountains and cause earthquakes?
NOAH Nope. I built an ark.

BABA So the Lord killed them all because they wouldn’t listen?
NOAH They had their chance. You’ve got to remember the spirit children still trying to get down here.

BABA What do all the spirits in heaven have to do with it?

NOAH How would you like to be in heaven knowing it was your turn to leave the presence of God and know you’d end up in a family that wouldn’t have the priesthood? And from the looks of things – not likely to get it?
Moses 8:17
BABA So you’re saying that God did this whole flood thing to protect the spirit children in heaven?

NOAH He did it for a lot of reasons, but that’s a big one. There sure were a lot more of them up there waiting to come down here than were down here not even trying to get up there. So he cleansed the earth of sin, provided a ‘time out’ for the wicked and established a righteous line.
Moses 7:38

BABA Time out?

NOAH Sort of. Actually they’re all in spirit prison where they’ll have a chance to listen again in a few thousand years.
1 Peter 3:19
BABA Okay. So the Lord made sure everyone was taken care of. The righteous, except for you, were twinkled, the unrighteous were put into ‘time out’ and your posterity will provide good homes for all the spirit children waiting to get here. And to do all this He told you to build an ark. How did you do it?

NOAH We made it of gopher wood and covered the whole thing with pitch – inside and out – to make it waterproof. Gen 6:14
BABA How much pitch did it take?

NOAH How much pitch? I don’t know ‘how much pitch’. Who would ask such a question, how much pitch? Enough to cover an ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.
Gen. 6:15
BABA What’s a cubit?

NOAH What’s a cubit? Here, stick out your arm. Go ahead, stick it out. (Points to elbow and to fingertips, then takes his hands away, keeping the measured distance between them and shows the class.) That’s a cubit. Come over here, let me show you. (Points out the window to appropriate distances to give an idea of the size of the ark.) Now you cover that in pitch, it takes a lot of pitch. A ton of pitch. A huge, humongous glob of pitch.

BABA Okay, okay. It took a lot of pitch.
NOAH Don’t get huffy with me, you asked the question.
BABA So once the ark was built you had to go out and find two of every kind of animal, right?

NOAH I didn’t have time to go find two of anything, I was building an ark.

BABA How did you get the animals?
NOAH They just came. I covenanted with the Lord that I would do my part and He took care of His part. Getting the animals here was evidently his part
Gen 7:9; 15
BABA Okay. So you brought them in two by two, and…

NOAH I didn’t bring them in two by two. Where do you get this two by two thing? Two by two would have been easy. No we did seven by seven of every clean beast and only the unclean ones came two by two.
Gen. 7:2
BABA How did you know which animals were clean and which were unclean?

NOAH That was easy. If seven showed up they must be clean. If only two showed up they must be unclean. Remember I was building the ark, not traipsing after animals.

BABA But why seven? Doesn’t that sort of leave an odd man out?
NOAH Well, you got that right.

BABA I got what right?

NOAH Odd man out.

BABA What do you mean, ‘odd man out?’

NOAH Why are you asking me? You’re the one who said odd man out. He’s odd so that when he was sacrificed to the Lord there would still be three pairs, male and female, left to populate the earth. He was male because he was sacrificed according to the Law. Odd -man - out.
Gen. 8:20
BABA You don’t suppose that’s where we got that saying? Probably not.
How did your wife take to your plan to build an ark?

NOAH I keep telling you it was not MY plan. It was the Lord’s plan. But, you know, it is kind of hard to have a husband building an ark in the back yard and you don’t even own beach front property. I think she took a lot of ribbing from the neighbors. Actually, by the time we got done we didn’t have a lot of real close friends.

BABA Did you see a change in their behavior once it started to rain?

NOAH Well they didn’t get together a BonVoyage party or anything like that. The Lord actually shut us in seven days before the first raindrop fell. But once it started, it poured for forty days and forty nights.
Gen. 7:7-10
BABA So, you were in the ark about seven weeks?

NOAH Seven weeks? Wouldn’t that have been nice. No. The flood lasted five months before we grounded here, on Mount Ararat. Then it took another three months before we could actually see land.
Gen. 7:24; 8:5
BABA So as soon as you could see land you all got out of the ark?

NOAH Well you can’t just let the animals out in the mud to wallow around and starve. We had to wait until the grass grew and there was something for them to eat, not just here, but everywhere. Could you imagine if every one of them just stayed right here and replenished and ate and replenished and ate and replenished and ate. Not my idea of a fun time.

BABA So how long were you cooped up in the ark with all the animals?
NOAH Well, once it stopped raining we opened the window in the top. It was a cubit by a cubit. Gen 6:16; 8:6

BABA You mean about 18 inches by 18 inches. That couldn’t have provided much ventilation.

NOAH Listen, if you had been cooped up in a watertight ark for forty days and forty nights with no windows opened, you’d have thought it was pretty good. It was really nice when we took the entire cover off on New Year’s day. But we waited two more months after that to leave the ark. We spent an entire year from first raindrop to final stop.
Gen. 8:14
BABA So I suppose you kissed the earth once you got off the ark.

NOAH No. We built an altar and gave sacrifices. And then the Lord gave us five special commandments.
Gen. 8:20
BABA Special ones?

NOAH Yes

BABA What are they?

NOAH Well, first, we are to shed the blood of all flesh which we take for meat upon the ground, which taketh life thereof; and we shall not eat the blood.
JST Gen. 9:10-14
BABA That’s pretty straight forward. I’m not real fond of blood anyway. What else?

NOAH Blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will He require at our hands.

BABA Whoa. You don’t want to be caught hunting just for the fun of it, do you?

NOAH Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for man shall not shed the blood of man.

BABA I guess that settles in my mind any question regarding capital punishment. That’s pretty clear. What are the other two?
NOAH Every man’s brother shall preserve the life of man, for in mine own image have I made man. And last, be fruitful and multiply.

BABA Boy, those are pretty strict commandments, but they make sense. God wouldn’t want you going out and killing the animals while you still have so few. And with only four families to start the human race all over again I can see why the Lord wants you to have lots of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, at least for a while.

NOAH For a while?

BABA Well, yes. I mean eventually there’ll be lots of animals on the earth and scads of people, then these commandments won’t be necessary, will they?

NOAH I suppose you’ll just have to wait and see if the Lord rescinds them but somehow I don’t think he will.

BABA Do you ever worry that the Lord will flood the earth again?
NOAH No.
BABA No?
NOAH No, for I have covenanted with the Lord and he has said: The bow shall be in the cloud and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself.

And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy:
And the general assembly of the church of the first-born shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with thy father, Enoch.

And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will establish my covenant unto thee, which I have made between me and thee for every living creature of all flesh that shall be upon the earth..

And God said unto me, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and thee; for all flesh that shall be upon the earth. JST Gen. 9:21-25

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