It's that time again! Time for a behind-the-scenes peek of our newest Scrapbook Ellaments issue. Here are five little background tidbits, just for fun:


1. Buh-Bye Beta
Did you notice that the Ella logo in the top left corner of your screen has shed a little bit of weight? That's right, her orange "beta" tag has disappeared. After four months being live, we now feel comfortable being out there without the protection of the beta tag, which in effect says "don't blame us if this site is a mess, we're still in the beta development stage!" Knock on wood. We really hope this won't be one of those occasions where the minute you pay off the car loan, you get rear-ended in your own driveway.



2. Blog Hop Barb
The very day Scrapbook Ellaments went live, we heard from a reader who was inspired by Barb's "Shop Your Stash" article to start a blog hop on her own site. If you were as inspired as Liberty Cottage was, head on over and join the fun. Way to inspire the world, Barb!



3. Apple of Elizabeth's Eye
We heard from a reader who was intrigued by Elizabeth Dillow's timeline layout in "Ten Years Later." (This was Elizabeth's first digi layout ever, by the way.) This reader wanted to know more about the program Elizabeth used to assemble the page, but unfortunately there was no e-mail address included in the comment, so we couldn't respond directly. Instead, we'll respond to everyone! Elizabeth used Apple's Pages software, which is a word-processing and desktop-publishing program. Here's a link to a short video overview of the program. The lesson? You don't have to be a Photoshop expert to try digital scrapbooking; you can use any program that will help you accomplish your goals.



4. The Rise of Valerie
With this latest issue, we discovered a new scrapbooking (and cookie-baking) talent! Without even realizing it, we requested three different submissions from scrapbooker Valerie Mangan all in the same week. We love it when that happens! She had three layouts featured in a pre-Christmas blog post, then we requested layouts for the "Editors' Corner" and "Stretch a Sketch" articles too. We have a feeling you might be seeing more great work from this up-and-comer in the scrapbooking world at large. What do you think?



5. Cover Calls
For our January issue, we limited our monthly cover contest to the members of the Write. Click. Scrapbook. collective, because we wanted to reward them for their hard work writing the awesome Year in the Life eBook, and we wanted to celebrate this fun new eBook's release. Our winner? Aly Dosdall. Read all about her here. And check out their eBook as soon as humanly possible, if you haven't yet.


And now for your chance to be a Scrapbook Ellaments cover girl:
We hereby announce our cover contest for our February issue of Scrapbook Ellaments! If your layout is chosen, you'll be profiled in our eZine, including a link to your blog if you'd like, and you'll receive a coupon code for the free eBook of your choice. Here's what we're looking for:

Love layouts. Share layouts you've created about love and romance. Your page might list all your favorite things about the love of your life, it could take a "he said, she said" angle, it could highlight a new flame, it could focus on your wedding or a memorable anniversary, it could spotlight your favorite couple (your parents, for example), or it could cover any other angle you choose! Read our submissions guidelines for complete details, and send in your layouts by Wednesday, January 13. Good luck!