Picaboo Blog

Designer Spotlight: Trina Clark

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Trina Clark—one of the most prolific designers on our Free Backgrounds site.  She has posted over 500 backgrounds on our site, so let us introduce you to her!

What is your occupation? Graphic Artist

What software do you use to create backgrounds? Paint Shop Pro XI

Where do you find inspiration for your backgrounds? Everywhere, but mostly from craft and scrapbook magazines.

What was it that first got you interested in digital design?  I've loved to draw for as far back as I can remember, and I also had an interest in typewriters, word processers, then computers.  So, it just seemed like drawing on a computer was the most natural thing to do.  It's a wonderful creative outlet and is very rewarding for me.

What is your favorite background or set of backgrounds that you have created for Picaboo?  That's a tough one, because I fall in love with each one as I'm working on it.  But, I guess if I had to choose, it would be a toss up between the "Buttons n Flowers" and "Bunny Love" collections.

What do you like to do for fun?  Spend time with my family, sneak off with my husband/best friend for short get-aways, work with and ride horses.

What would be your dream vacation?  A beach house in Maine for a week or two.

What is something that you’ve always wanted to learn how to do?  Play the keyboard (better).  I can play, but I'm not proficient; and I would like to become more fluent in American Sign Language.

We would like to thank Trina for sharing her backgrounds with us and taking part in our Designer Spotlight.  We look forward to introducing you to more of our designers over the coming months, so stay tuned!

New Themes Are Available!

Have you seen the new themes that are available?  You can access them by either clicking the “Free Goodies” button in your Picaboo software, or by going to this link: http://www.picaboo.com/freegoodies/themes/.

We have both photo book and digital scrapbook style themes created by popular designers like The Shabby Princess and Michelle Coleman.

To use one of the themes on our site:

1. Click on the “Download” link under the theme you wish to use.  In the window that appears, click “Run”, “Yes” or “Open” (depending on your browser’s settings) to download the new theme.

2. Click on the “Create Book” button in Picaboo and then click on the “Import Theme” button in the first dialog that appears. 

3. Select the theme that you just downloaded, and click “Open” to import it into Picaboo.  It will then appear in the list of themes in the Picaboo software.

You are welcome to download and install as many of the new themes as you like.  My personal favorite is the new Travel Desk theme—I love the classic “world traveler” element that it adds to my photo books.

We will be adding new themes regularly, so be sure to check back with the site in the coming months to see our new additions.  And have fun!

Father's Day

Father’s Day is coming up, and photo books are a great way to show Dad how much you care.  We have TONS of great Father’s Day Gift ideas on our brand new “Father’s Day Idea Center” pages at http://www.picaboo.com/ideacenter/fathers_day/.

This is a gift that is guaranteed to be enjoyed by dad for years to come.

Get together your digital photos from memorable times you’ve spent with Dad—family vacations, milestone events (like your graduation or wedding), barbecues and picnics, etc.  You can use older (non-digital) photos as well if you first convert them into digital images by scanning them.  It is very important to scan your images at the highest possible resolution (300 dpi if possible) to ensure that your printed photo book looks fantastic.  Your scanner or scanning software should have dpi settings that you can adjust.  You can find helpful information on how to use older photographs in your Picaboo book at the following page at our Heritage Idea Center: http://www.picaboo.com/ideacenter/heritage/heritage_album.html.

If you don’t have photos from a particular occasion that you would like to reflect on in your Father’s Day book, you can find a background on our Free Backgrounds Website that can be used along with poems or other stories that will touch his heart.

When making your Father’s Day book, please keep in mind our shipping deadlines so that your book order is delivered before Sunday June 17^TH. Our shipping deadlines are:

UPS Ground – June 4th

UPS 3 Day Select – June 7th

UPS 2 Day Air – June 10th

UPS Next Day Air - June 11th

New Backgrounds Site

Have you created backgrounds of your own?  Have you taken any digital photos that you think work well as page backgrounds?  If so, we invite you to share them with everyone by uploading them to our Free Backgrounds site!  Click here to check it out: http://backgrounds.picaboo.com.

As I mentioned in our first blog entry, we have completely revamped our Free Backgrounds site.  It is now easier to find the backgrounds you need to complement your photos.  You can either search for backgrounds by keyword, or browse backgrounds by their tags. 

We also have new Special Collections (http://www.picaboo.com/freegoodies/collections/) where you can find groups of backgrounds that will work well together in a photo book.

But my favorite feature of the new Backgrounds site is that now everyone can upload and share their backgrounds with the entire  Picaboo community!  After you create your own username and password for the Backgrounds site, you are free to upload your own backgrounds and rate or comment on the backgrounds of others.

It’s pretty exciting when others view, use and rate your Backgrounds. Have fun!

Welcome to the new Picaboo Blog!

Hi everybody!  I am pleased to welcome you to our new blog.  We created this blog to provide our customers with the most up-to-date information about Picaboo’s products, software enhancements, new services, tips & tricks, special offers and more. 

This blog will be updated frequently by members of all teams within Picaboo including Marketing, Software Engineering, Product Management and the Support Group.  We are very excited to have the opportunity to communicate with our customers on a broad level through this blog.

We have a lot to write about this year with everything that is going on so STAY TUNED!

The New Picaboo 1.5 is Now Available!

We are excited to introduce you to the great new features available in the latest version of our software: Picaboo 1.5 (released April 17)!

With the new software, we had the opportunity to make some amazing additions that were requested by our customers. To name a few:

- over 100 new page layouts (now a total of 240 are available);

- several new fonts;

- new photo book and digital scrapbook themes;

- a completely redesigned Free Backgrounds site (http://backgrounds.picaboo.com/Backgrounds/) where you can search for backgrounds by keyword or event, rate or comment on backgrounds, and even become a designer to upload your own;

- picture border and drop shadow options;

- And more!

Coinciding with our new software release, we also upgraded our product line with Medium hardcover books and higher quality fine linen and leather covers. 

And, for those of you wishing to order books outside the US and Canada, you can now select almost any country for billing and shipping on our order page. 

You can download (or upgrade to) Picaboo 1.5 just by going to www.picaboo.com and clicking on the "Download Now" button.  You do not need to uninstall your previous version of Picaboo to upgrade to the new version.

We have all been having fun with the new software, and we hope you enjoy it too!  If you ever have any questions for us, please feel free to contact us at support@picaboo.com.

Until next time…