When the other drivers insurance company settled with us on the car, we purchased a 2000 Dodge Intrepid. It had over 160,000 miles on it but we were told that the engine had been rebuilt and a new transmission had been put in so we felt comfortable purchasing it and the major thing for me was that it had a passenger side airbag (something our old car did not have).

We knew that there were three parties involved and we had thought that we were helping a former family member save face with the third party by giving him the money to give the other guy since he was going through a tough time and couldn’t continue to make the payments and was going to be giving the car back.

Through some unfortunate circumstances, we ultimately found out that the third person never got paid, wanted his car back, and we were out the money.

Now for the positive. We were able to be financed for a 2007 Saturn Aura and the bonus…..it’s a HYBRID!!!

I could not be happier with our new car knowing that we are reducing our emissions (thus lowering our carbon footprint) by up to 25% and I know we will enjoy it for many years to come

Last year I had the scare of my life when an irregularity in my annual mammogram led to not one but two separate biopsies. I think it was the longest month of my life, waiting and worrying about what the results might have in store for me.  I was lucky…this time, but too many are not and find out that they have a hard battle ahead of them.

Our good friends at Wacom are running two special promotions this month that you can participate in. I sure hope you can find the time to do one or the other and help to support this cause.

1) October Pen Scrappers contest, “Season of Hope”: www.penscrappers.com
During the month of October, the Wacom Pen Scrappers website is sponsoring a special contest called “Season of Hope” commemorating everyone whose lives have been touched by breast cancer.  Lori Barnhurst designed a beautiful kit for contestants to use, in remembrance of her grandmother, who battled breast cancer most of her adult life, and died 10 years ago from complications from a relapse.

Wacom will be making a donation to the Oregon and SW Washington affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure to honor each person who enters the Season of Hope contest.  The Grand Prize winner will also take home a prize package that includes a Bamboo Craft, ten free 5×7 greeting cards from Shutterfly, a free online class from Jessica Sprague, a gift certificate to Scrap Orchard, the Hopes Strength Page Set from Anna Aspnes, 100 iStock credits and a one-year subscription to Paper Creations Magazine.  In addition, everyone who enters this contest will receive a very special 16×20” poster collage from Shutterfly.  Layouts can be uploaded beginning on October 4.

Enter the Season of Hope contest  www.penscrappers.com

2)  Wacom To Support Susan G. Komen For The Cure :  a Percentage of Bamboo Craft sales revenue this holiday season will contribute to the search for a cure for breast cancer

http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/komen.php

Wacom aligns with the Oregon and SW Washington affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure to help in the fight against breast cancer. From October 1 to December 25, Wacom will donate a generous percentage of Bamboo Craft sales revenue to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Wacom has a strong history of donating to charitable organizations and the program with Susan G. Komen demonstrates its commitment to help fund important causes. “Bamboo Craft and Susan G. Komen are a natural fit and the perfect springboard for giving,” says Dennis Hoff, senior consumer product manager at Wacom and initiator of the program. “Our Bamboo Craft tablet holds a special place among the growing community of digital scrapbookers, quilters and crafters. This same community also tends to be very close knit with an amazing capacity to help others and build awareness over important issues. It truly is the ideal match to generate support and Wacom and its customer base look forward to rallying behind Susan G. Komen for the Cure and contributing to their wonderful cause.”

Thank you to all that viewed the video and entered the contest. We hope you learned something from it and will let all your friends and family know that you are scrapping green and helping to save the earth and don’t forget to let them know they can learn all about how to digital scrapbook right here at Save The Green!

Then there is the Next Designer Contest and Layout Artist competition that the Studio is having in conjunction with their birthday bash throughout the month of September. Are you comfortable enough with GIMP to give it a go?? Sign ups are running until the end of August here.

And don’t forget to send in your entries to win a Wacom Bamboo Craft Pen and Touch Tablet that is being offered in partnership with PenScrappers too! If you missed the post with the rules you can see them here! It really is the easiest contest to enter and chances of winning are dependent on how many entries we receive so get your answers in so you can have a chance to win one, I truly love mine and of course it’s compatible with GIMP!!

I have been given the opportunity to actually use the Wacom Bamboo Craft pen tablet and, for an old grammy like myself who’d always used a mouse, it took me about three days of using it exclusively to get the hang of it. But now I just love it!  I continue to be amazed at the technology of today. We totally have to thank the folks at Wacom for their generosity and for supplying the winning prize!

The PenScrappers site has a great video on how to install your Bamboo Craft here as well as another on customizing it here. There are also various video tutorials dealing with using your Bamboo Craft tablet in several different photo editing software environments. However, Save The Green is where you’ll find tutorials dealing with using a pen tablet with The GIMP!!

So please make sure that you check out the PenScrappers website. They even have a monthly contest where they supply you with a mini kit and inspiration to scrap your next layout!

We at Wacom Pen Scrappers and Save the Green strongly believe in the Native American proverb, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

Save the Green has created a video about the earth-friendly benefits of digital scrapbooking, and we’d like to share it with you in this exciting contest in which you can win your very own Bamboo Craft.

Here’s all you have to do to enter:

1)  Watch the Benefits of Digital Scrapbooking at:
http://www.penscrappers.com/2010/06/30/save-the-green/

2)  After you watch the video, send an email to penscrappers@wacom.com and do the following:
A) Put “Save the Green” in the subject line
B) Complete the sentence below which you will hear in the video:

“Save some green today.  Together we can ___________________________! ”

Contest runs from August 1, 2010 – September 30, 2010.  Entries will be accepted up till midnight on September 30, 2010.  One random winner will be selected from all qualified entries.  The winner will receive a Wacom Bamboo Craft pen and touch tablet and will be notified via email.

We use our computers to scrap yes we do, we share our layouts on our blogs just for you.

Our mouse’s are flyin’, pen to tablet we keep tryin’

To learn new techniques, save some green, I’m not lie’n.

Ok, so it’s not the greatest rhyme in the world and I’m not going to win any poetry awards for it, but within that little ditty is a clue as to who our partner for this contest is and what one lucky winner will receive. Guess if you will but my lips are sealed, not telling you if you are right or wrong (insert evil grin, lol)!

I’ll give you a little clue… Our partner for this contest also advocates the benefits of digital scrapbooking on the environment.

If I get some guesses as to who our partner might be within some comments, I just might post one more clue tomorrow before we make the announcement!

Stay tuned!