IN THIS ISSUE: Hot Topics by Stacey Mann Mann 2 Artic A rticles les & Ann Announ ouncem cement entss 3 Featured Designer 6 Colo Co lorr Blo Block ckin ingg Tut utor oria iall 8 Featured Sc Scrapper 1 14 4 Featured Layouts 1 16 6 Scraplifts 19 19 Gifts Gi fts fr from om ou ourr desi design gner erss 21
digitalscrapbookpages.com
February 2008, Issue 4
f e a a t tu r u r e e d d d e e s si d a i g n ai ne i l e r l y d o r & ow n w l n l o o a a d d K a t th r h y yn E s n st r t y y f e a a t tu r u r e e d d s c c r ra a p p e e r r b i i g gm mE Eg 3 g 3 ( m m E Eg a g n n h u ub b b a b r d d ) c o o l lo or r b l lo o c c k k i in g n t u ut t o P i i x or r i E i a a l l El d l i d i v v a o u ur r d e e s si i g n ne e r rs s g g i i v ve e E i ig h g ht t b E E a u ut i t i f fu l u l g i i f ft s t s
hot topics
such as digital photos and scrapbook layouts on your hard drive and copied to at least two other locations. I have mine on my internal hard drive, an external hard drive (you can get a 500 Mb drive for less than $150 these days), and on DVDs. If any one of these fail, I have two other places to go to recover them. Chances of all three failing, unless the le itself is corrupt, are slim. A good idea is also to have a copy of your DVDs housed in a different location than your computer.. Even in a re-resistant safe, the DVDs could puter melt from the heat of a re. Ask a family member or friend to keep a copy at their house and offer to do the same for them. Of course all the back-up systems in the world are no good if you don’t remember to write to them often. I use Norton 360 which has a built in back-up feature. I set it to a certain day and time, usually when I plan to be sleeping, and it copies whatever directories I specify to my external drive each week at that time. The only drawback is that you have to have all your programs closed which I don’t always remember to do.
Hot Topi Topics cs with Stacey Mann Practice Safe Scrapping by Making Regular Back-ups If you have ever had a computer or hard drive crash, you know the pain of losing your precious data. As digital scrapbookers, we can lose memories including photos, completed layouts, and digital supplies, some of which we may never be able to recover. There is no getting around the fact that all hardware and media can fail at some point. Sooner or later, later, it happens to most everyone. With that in mind, we must do everything we can to protect ourselves by making multiple copies of our most precious les. In Laura Oles’ book Digital Photography for Busy Women, she suggests having important les
Another program I haven’t tried yet, but comes highly recommend by Digitals Designer Sophia Davies is called Second Copy. She says it compares your les and only backs up what has changed, and runs in the background while you are doing other things. You can check it out here with a free trial or buy a one-user license for $29.95. If you don’t have the money for either of these programs or just want to do manual backups, set a date on your calendar to do it regularly, like the rst of every month, or every Friday, Friday, dede pending on how often you are adding new les. As in all of life, there are no guarantees, but if you take these steps, you will be scrapping safely and worry less about your data, freeing you up for more creativity and fun!
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announcements
Welcome back, Designer Christine Smith My personal life focuses on my great family — First, my husband of almost 17 years, my step-son and his wife along with their beautiful new baby,, our six lovely and intelligent daughters, our baby homely but loyal dog, and then my other interests — which are volunteering at school, playing in our church’s worship, and laundry (which must be my hobby since I do it so often!) I am pleased to offer my designs at Digitals and look forward to seeing some of them in use in the galleria! Please visit Christine’s store, store, view her sampler and get her bonus download. download.
Welcome Kelli Vander Veen of Tallula Moon Designs Please welcome our newest designer to the Digitals team, Kelli selling as Tallula Moon Designs Designs.. You may remember her as a contestant in our Digitals Design Star contest last fall. Please check out her sampler and products in the store! My name is Kelli and I’m 35 years old. I live in California with my ancee and my 16-year-old daughter. I also have a 17-year-old son. I have been designing for about 2 years now, but have only recently ventured out into selling my designs. I love to cook (and eat), spend time with my family and create with anything I can get my hands on. I read a lot and am usually reading 2 or 3 books at a time. I love ALL types of feedback for my designs and love to see the LO’s created with them.
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announcements
Digitals is Listening to You!
Wond onderf erful ul Wedne Wednesda sdays ys Sales Begin! Every Wednesday, Wednesday, our fabulous designers are selecting some of their products to put on sale for 30% off this one day only! You never know what you will nd, so come take a look! Browse the specials section to see everything on sale each Wednesday.
Crop Schedule February 20 9pm EST - Over the Hump with DeDe: Speed Crop February 21 9pm EST - Scrap Therapy with Amanda & Glenda
We have made some improvements to our store since the rst of the year to make it easier and more fun for you to shop at Digitals. Now if you click on a designer’s name, her products come up listed by the newest one rst (newest to oldest). Also, if you are looking at a particular designers’ products and fall in love with her designs, you can click the link under her photo on the right that says “Other Products” to instantly see all of her things! Last but not least, we know requiring you to log in to browse was annoying, so we have changed it so you only have to log in to use your wishlist or checkout. We hope you like the changes. If you have any more suggestions, please email Stacey, Stacey, the store owner.
February 25 9pm EST- Multi-Photo Layouts with Shawn 11pm EST - Diary of a Diva February 26 Noon EST - Gettin’ to Know Scrappin’ with Karla & Diana February 27 9pm EST - Over the Hump with DeDe: Designer Spotlight February 28 9pm EST - Leaving a Legacy with Stacey & Jenn March 3 11pm EST - ATC Crop with Beth & Pixel Diva
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announcements
New Crop: Leaving A Legacy Join Digitals Designers Stacey Mann and Jennifer Maceyunas on Thursday Thursday,, February 28, at 9 p.m. Eastern time in our chat room for the rst in a new series of crops called Leaving a Legacy. It will be journaling-intensive and have a theme each month designed to encourage us to record a certain segment of our memories for our family. These are things we don’t necessarily scrap every day day,, but thoughts/feelings, family history, and things that may be even more important to our descendents. We have a great theme picked out, and attendees will receive a free mini-kit to download from Jennifer’s Valentine’s Day Romance kit! Starting in March, these will be on the second Thursday of each month at 9 p.m. Eastern. See you there!
Valentines ATC Contest Upload your Valentine-themed ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) to the Digitals ATC Contest gallery by Feb. 22. The only two rules are that they must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and they each must include at least one product from Digitals Digitals..
See Us All Around the Web You can nd Digitals branching out to several You new places on the internet so that we can better interact with you, our customers. First of all, we have an awesome store blog where you can nd out about our freebies, specials, and events. Starting March 1, we will have an exclusive feature found only on our store blog where you can get to know our designers better as they are blog guest hostesses for a week at a time. You will want to bookmark it so you don’t miss your favorites! We recently started a YouTube page where you can watch free video tutorials on digital scrapbooking techniques written by our talented team. We have 6 tutorials by Digitals Designer Chris Beasley uploaded, and we will be adding more. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss new ones as they are added. If you are a member of Facebook, as many digital scrapbookers are, we would love to have you join our public Digitals group found here here.. We also have a Scribd group, group, a Squidoo lens, lens, and a HubPage,, all of which you can join or subscribe to keep Page up-to-date on the latest at Digitals. See you around the web!
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featured designer
Featured Designer Kathryn Estry Tell us about yourself and your family. I’m Kathryn Estry (aka Kathryn Mhire before I was swept off my feet and married to the sweetest man I know). My Robert and I live in Katy, Texas, with our 3 kitties, kitties , Shadow, Jasmine, and a nd Amber. Amber. Robert is incredibly patient and understanding with me and knows that every evening, at least for a little while, I have to have my designing x. He’s also a perfecperfectionist as well as an artist. What he can do with a block of wood and a lathe is sheer magic. I have 2 grown children who are both married and living in Dallas and Fort Worth, about 5 hours from here. My son Tommy Tommy turned 30 in October,, which is a little hard for me to believe! ber beli eve! He’s a computer engineer, engineer, and his pretty pr etty wife, Audra, is a CPA. Her job will soon be taking them to Connecticut for a couple of years. Tommy’s Tommy’s company will let him work from home for that time. Sounds to me like a perfect time for them to start a family with him at home, what do you think? My sweet daughter Brandi is also a computer engineer and is married to Ryan, a college minister. Ryan ofciated when Robert and I got married this past summer, summer, and my kids organized the entire event. Our wedding was also a week-long family reunion, and it was fabulous having everyone here! I have a special request in for grandkids as soon as the kids are ready and God has that in His plan. During the week, I’m the Gifted / Talented Facilitator of 1st - 5th graders. I work with wonderwonder ful kids who keep me on my toes for sure. We do
academic competitions, independent study projects, AND I’m teaching them Photoshop Elements! How long have you been scrapbooking (paper & digital)? I had really just started paper scrapping when I discovered digital scrapbooking. That was in the summer of 2005. I started designing in 2006 and have had so much fun with it that I don’t scrap as much as I’d like. What is your scrapbooking/des scrapbooking/design/craft ign/craft background? I’ve always loved to sketch and to paint. My favorite medium (besides the computer) is pencils. In my next life, I hope to do more with colored pencils as well as pastels. In the past I’ve worked all sorts of crafts with scouts, had my own
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featured designer
wood cutting and painting business, sewn for others, decorated cakes (another little business), and I’ve shown my students how to incorporate scrapbooking techniques (paper and digital) into their independent projects.
gorgeous. I like the challenge of creating realistic elements for my pretty kits, and I’m delighted when I see pages made with my cute characters.
What software do you use? I love Photoshop Elements 5.0. I love the challenge of convincing the program it really can do all (well a lot of) the tricks PS can do. I use key combinations and logical thinking like it’s going out of style, and it’s so much fun! Not everything works, but that’s the nature of the beast. How many layouts do you average per month? I usually get in one or two, but some months don’t even see that. I love designing too much! Why do you like to create elements/ kits? It’s like a painting or a story you’re writing. I get an idea, a theme, and seeing it all come together is magic. I much prefer full kits to just papers or elements or even designer templates because of the story the kit tells and the ideas it will spark in others. How would you describe your style? My designing style is sort of evolving as I’m learning, but I really like clean and either super cute or super
Who/what inspires you when you create? I seem to be constantly looking around me for kit theme ideas ~ something I haven’t seen before that others might nd fun to work with. I love color combinations and sometimes just start there. After doing this for some time, I have a hard time looking around me without thinking of how the things I see might work in a kit. So many of my photos are of random things in great colors or of textures I nd interesting. It’s a fun life! What is the best thing about a bout scrapbooking? It’s such a wonderful way to preserve your memories. The photos are snapshots of life, the journaling helps tell the story of that chapter chapter,, and the scrapped page gives it personality per sonality.. Ten people could scrap the same photos of the same event, and you’d get ten totally different pages. That’s what makes scrapbooking so special to me. Show us your favorite of your own layouts. Sisters Sisters,, Brandi and Ryan’s Home, Home , He Survived the Great White, White, and Tommy and Audra ~ Feelings Feeling s. Be sure to check Kathryn’s products as they are discounted 30% February 20-March 4, and she is providing the Daily Download as well.
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color blocking tutorial
Color Blocking Technique Technique Using Photoshop Photo shop by Brigid Brigid Of PixelD PixelDiva iva DesignZ DesignZ
One of the best things about this time of the year is that we can scrap about each other’s love affair.. Albeit a love affair with your signicant other, fair other, your kids, grand kids, even the family pet. We all have a love of someone. So let me help you use a simple (so simple you would be amazed) color blocking technique I used to create a layout for my darling hubby for a Valentine’s Day gift to him from me. For this tutorial I will be using Photoshop as my software program choice, but if you are familiar with your own you will be able to duplicate what I am showing you here to your own program. I am also using my new kit Funny Valentyne Collection Collection in the store now. First we open a new document size 12x12 inches, at 300 ppi. Then open 4 papers you would like to use for your blocks.
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color blocking tutorial
Tip: when trying this technique for the very rst time, choose one main color and then look for interesting patterns and various shapes as this gives your layout great visual interest. Once you have opened all 4 papers, in Photoshop we are going to turn on our rulers. To do this we go View, then scroll down to Rulers and click on it. Then go to EDIT, PREFERENCES, Guides, Grids and Slices, then select GRIDLINE every 1 inch and SUBDIVIONS every 4. See screenshot at right. Tip: this will be extremely important for when we need to start creating our blocks. Okay, so let’s start having some fun. We have on Paper 1 my solid red paper, paper, and on Paper 2, I have red polka dots. Be sure you have Paper 2 selected. Using your Rectangular Marquee tool, start at your upper left corner of the grid, and draw a square to 6 inches across by 6 inches deep. Tip: In Photoshop holding the SHIFT key while dragging out to a point, helps you to keep a perfect square). Now once you have done that, go up top to the MENU tabs and be sure that you have selected the box that says “ADD TO SELECTION.” SELECTION.” We need this to be selected as we are going to draw another square perpendicular to the one we just made.
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color blocking tutorial
Once you have both squares selected we are going to go to SELECT, INVERSE, and then hit DELETE (Command + X on a mac). Now we should have 4 squares.
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color blocking tutorial
Next we are going to use the Rectangular Marquee tool again and draw a ¼ inch line going horizontally where the boxes meet up and color ll with WHITE. Duplicate that layer and go to EDIT EDIT,, TRANSFORM, Rotate CW 90. Then move the line to line up vertically by where the boxes meet up. Okay,, so now we have 2 more papers. Let’s call them paper 3 and paper 4. With paper 4 as your Okay active layer, please repeat the process we did earlier with the rectangular marquee tool, and create 2 squares. Once you have done that merge Paper 3 a nd paper 4, so now they become Paper 3. Now we are going to make a CIRCLE using the ELLIPTICAL MARQUEE TOOL. Draw a circle and then go to SELECT, INVERSE, then hit DELETE.
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color blocking tutorial
Still keeping the circle selected, go to SELECT, MODIFY, EXPAND. Here I used a value of 40. Now create a layer in between Paper 2 and paper 3. And on that layer be sure that your foreground color is white, then press ALT and backspace and you should have a created a white circle behind the 4 blocked circles.
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color blocking tutorial
Okay, so let’s go back to the rst circle with the 4 blocks in it. We need to turn Paper 3 a bit and to Okay, do this we go to EDIT, TRANSFORM, ROTATE CW 90. Once we have that done you may need to use your MOVE tool to nudge the circle back into place. Once you are happy with how the Color boxes all line up, you can then begin adding your photos, your elements, your Title and your journaling. I hope you have enjoyed a new Layout technique and if you have by chance tried this technique out please feel free to PM. My screen name is Pixel Diva DesignZ. Until my next tutorial, keep on scrapping and chatting with us at Digitals.
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featured scrapper
Featured Scrapper Meg Hubbard (bigmeg33) Tell us about yourself and your family. I am 34 years old and live in Stafford, Virginia. I grew up just outside of Boston, MA and I love the warmer weather in the south! Before kids, I was an avid golfer and gardener; now I enjoy spending time with w ith my family. My husband, Travis, and I were married 4 years ago. We have 3 kids – Troy is 9, Zack is 2.5 and Zoë is 1.5. I work part-time as a home-health care physical therapist, full-time as a Mom and devote most of my free time to reading, sleeping or digi-scrapping! Where do you fnd your inspiration when making a layout? I spend a lot of time browsing galleries and magazines looking for neat details that I like about each LO and then it gives me ideas for combining many of those ideas into a LO of my own. Name one element you couldn’t scrap without. I’ve got to pick 2… glitter and stitching.
How many layouts do you average per month? Wow Wow,, really! You want me to count??!! 50+ What is your favorite thing about digi scrapping? It is so much more versatile than paper-scrapping. It really allows my creativity to shine
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featured scrapper
through and I love that I can undo until I get it right! Tell us 3 random facts about yourself. My favorite food is sushi, I am a gold belt in Chun Kuk Do, and I can’t carry a tune! What is your favorite: color: orange movie: Days of Thunder book: there is no way I could ever pick just one… I’m a “readaholic. “readaholic.” ” TV show: CSI subject to scrap: that’s an easy one… my kids
Do you blog? If so, hook us up with your blog addy. www.sunowerstudio.co www.sunowerstudio.com m Show us your favorite of your own layouts & why & why is it your favorite? Love at First Sight.. I love the simple, soft feel of this page and Sight I feel that the journaling will be something my daughter can treasure for years to come. I didn’t get to see my son right after he was born, and I treasure those few short moments I got to spend in the OR with my daughter before she went to the NICU. I will hold onto the memory in this picture forever. Take a peek at Meg’s gallery. gallery.
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featured layouts
Designer Brigid of PixelDiva of PixelDiva DesignZ is featuring a layout done by EAL-Designs EAL-Designs,, simply called Wedding. Brigid writes, “EAL scrapped her layout on her wedding day to darling hubby on November 26th, 1988. I loved how she used the bold crumpled red fabric as her background choice, and her choice of elements really compliments her layout well. She used my Funny Valentyne Mega Kit Kit to make this gorgeous layout. This kit is currently on sale for $2 each collection (or combined for a megakit price of $6).
Designer Jennifer Maceyunas is featuring a LO created by Michele Brandt (aka mmbbear) mmbbear ) entitled B-R-R-R . Jen writes, “This layout just popped out at me as soon as I saw it in the gallery. gallery. I was immediately drawn to the large photo as the background and how Michele made it look so soft; it reminded me of uffy uffy snow. snow. I also loved how how she added in the smaller “action” shots in the collage frame along the bottom and decorated it with the snowakes for a little extra pizazz; it really brought the whole page together!” Journaling reads: “Snow jacket, snow boots, snow pants, snow suits, snowakes, snow storm - snow is cold but we feel warm!” ~ Helen Moore. Credits: Collage Frames - WinWin ter Edition by Jen Maceyunas and Jen’s Winter Wonderland Add-On Kit by Jen Maceyunas
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featured layouts
Desinger Shawn Walter is featuring a layout she did entitled Sandis’ New Sunglasses, May 2003.. Shawn writes, “I created these QPs for Glen2003 da but I just had to use them myself! I loved the bright, fun colors and whimsical accents - they were perfect for these photos of Sandis being silly with her new sunglasses.” She used The Most Wonderful Place on Earth - Quick Album - Set 2 by Glenda Ketcham.
Designer Silvia Romeo is featuring a layout by Demetria White, aka ladydsw00 entitled The Gift of Affection. Affection. Silvia writes, “What I love about this layout is the composition. Demetria created this layout with such talent, it’s amazing! She used a large amount of elements and the layout isn’t clustered at all. Actually, this layout is a vivid proof of her love for Digital Scrapbooking. Way to go, Demetria!” Demetria used Silvia Romeo’ Romeo’s s Romanza Kit. Kit.
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featured layouts
Designer Amanda Thorderson is featuring Carlita’s Love designed by ct member twinsmomor o r. Amanda writes, “I love this layout that Flor made of her sweet daughter mothering her stuffed animals. The photos are adorable and are accented beautifully by the frame, the clustering of elements, and the horizontal horizontal line of strips and ribbons. I love her other added touches—the ric rac owers at the bottom and the little corner cluster as well! Beautiful feminine layout, Flor! Flor used my new designs Shabby Sheik Collection. Collection. The collection, as well as the individual items, are on sale for a huge discount February only.
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scraplifts
“ Sweet Cristina Guillermo scraplifted a LO by Sunstream Sunstream.. Cristina writes, “Sunstream’s layout, “Sweet Dreams,” Dreams ,” caught my attention because of the simple title and simplicity of how just a few photos told a story. As digital scrappers there is a tendency to scrap with lots of the gorgeous digital embellishments available and sometimes forget that our focus should be on the photos. I wanted my layout, “Purrfect Love,” to do the same as Sunstream’s... tell a story in a few words (the title), the rest with photos. Kit. Ribbons and background used to create Credits: Background, mat, and ber bow from my Wild Love Kit. smaller folded frame from my Handy Hearts Kit. Kit. Fonts for title are DieDieDie and Artistamp Wet Jumbled.
First Responder erica922 scraplifted a layout by liliassm called Love Love.. Erica used First Crush Crush kit by Angela Sharrow, Overlay by Lynne Lynne Simmons; word art by Lilach Oren; Shabby Sheik frame by Amanda Thorderson.
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scraplifts
Designer Lynne Simmons scraplifted a layout called Love Gramma by Priscila Barros. Barros. She writes, “I just love this layout by Priscila. The swirl work is fabulous, and the tied ribbon draws your eye right to the adorable picture. The buttery decoration in the corner is just the perfect accent to tie it all together! My scraplift uses Sohpia Davies’ new kit, Simplicity Simplicity.. I have to tell you, a kit hasn’t “wowed” me more since my own kit, Days Gone By...lol. I fell in love with this kit the minute I saw it! The colors are just fabulous! The low-resolution preview doesn’t even do this kit justice. Thank you to both ladies... Priscila and Sophia, for your inspiration and creativity!”
Designer Amanda Thorderson scraplifted a LO by Nighty called Unbekannter Flattermann Flattermann. Amanda writes, “I love this layout by Nighty. It is so elegant and simple and beautiful. It has a minimum of elements but all the elements draw your eyes to her beautiful photos. (hummingbird moths—how cool is that?!) I decided to make a layout focusing on my sweet daughters. I loved the photo of them, so decided to show it in triplicate. I used my new collection, Shabby Sheik, Sheik, for my layout. It is on huge discount this month. I liked the layout so much that I made a freebie quick page for you! You can get it in this newsletter!
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gifts from our designers
Amaryllis Frame from Kathryn Estry
Desktop Calendar Freebie Freebie from Nini’s Notions
First Crush Quickpage from Angela Sharrow
Funny Valentyne freebie freebi e from PixelDiva DesignZ
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gifts from our designers
Hugs & Kisses Quickpage from Jennifer Maceyunas
Gift from Lifesong Kreations
Shabby Sheik Quickpage from Amanda Thorderson
Hawaiian-Style Quickpage from Maddy Fernandez Fernandez
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