be AUDacious

this week's Dollar Deal: Alphabits

I've got a simple alpha up for sale for $1.00 in the shop today through Thursday. It's called Alphabits, and you get not one but two grungy, cardboard, stencil alphas for the price of one. One has a cardboard backing with the traced letters on top, and the other consists of cardboard squares with punched out stencil letters. There are also three paint swatches and two sets of stitches for accent. So what are you waiting for? Head over to the shop to grab them while the price is so low!

new release: new $Dollar Deal$

I've added another set of journaling cards to the shop, and they are just $1.00 through Thursday. These are BUILD YOUR OWN: JOURNALING CARDS, and they give you the freedom to combine base cards, frame overlays, and journaling lines to create just the perfect journaling card for your Project Life or other needs. They come in two sizes: 4x6 and 3x4, with plain, grid, and notebook papers in rounded and rectangle formats. The arrow frames come in vertical and horizontal orientations -- striped and plain -- just like the journaling lines, which are also available in dotted, straight, and handdrawn styles. I've also included the days of the week and a few little phrases to add to the arrows, if you'd like. The result is a really flexible product that I hope you'll love as much as I do.

$ Deals and Take12

I've got a brand new kit on sale for just $1.00 today through Thursday in my shop at DHD; I LOVE this color scheme, and once I had a few items in place, the rest just came together easily. Love when that happens!

I finished my layout for my Take12 May photos. I'm really loving how this project is coming together -- I love that I can count on the girls and Chris to grab photos for me, particularly if the 12th is on a weekend, like it was this time around. Normally, our weekends mean that we are moving in opposite directions, one for each kid, so having four smartphones in the house means there's no shortage of pictures from multiple perspectives.

I'm sticking with my plan to use the templates and papers/embellishments from my 2012 line at DHD; I love the cohesiveness that it brings to the entire project. Here's a look at the first four months of the project, all together. Awesome, right?

Are you participating in Take Twelve? I'd love to see your layouts and pictures. You can load them up in our Flickr pool, and we've even got our own hashtag on Instagram and Twitter: it's #Take12, so join the conversation!

(inter)National Scrapbook Day: Blog Hop Freebie!

We're kicking off the (i)NSD festivities at Design House Digital with a blog hop, a free kit, and a layout challenge! So let's get started with a look at the most recent collaboration from the DHD Designers, Retrospect.

This kit is FREE for you if you play along with our DHD Blog Hop, which starts on the DHD Blog. From there, just hop from blog to blog, picking up letters along the way, which you'll plug in at the end to grab a coupon code which will allow you to download the full kit from the shop. My letter for you is: 

I was lucky enough to participate in the April 2012 class at Masterful Scrapbook Design recently called Artful Embellishing. As I was preparing my layouts for the course, I spent a lot of time thinking about scrapbook embellishments and digital kits. I'm a one-kit scrapper, for the most part, and I've talked before about the pros and cons of scrapping with just one kit. I keep an ongoing list of stories that I need to tell, with photo notes alongside, so that when I get a creative team assignment or just some time to scrap on my own, I have stories ready to be scrapped. 

But what do you do when you're faced with a themed kit (perhaps by assignment, or perhaps simply because you just LOVE the kit too much not to purchase it) and no photos that fit it? Here are some tips for using themed-kits for non-themed layout pages.

FOCUS ON THE COLORS: 
I pretty much buy any kit that uses the colors red, white, gray, and light blue because those are my kids' school colors. Both of my girls are involved in multiple sports and other extracurricular activities, so layouts with papers and elements in these colors can come in quite handy. The layout above was made with a Christmas kit, but you'd never know that by looking at it. (Here are a couple more that use Christmas kits for sports pages: Run Like You Mean It and Run Like Girls.)

FOCUS ON THE SHAPES AND PATTERNS:
Just about every kit comes with a set of common patterns (stripes, dots, chevrons), along with patterns that are more thematically-focused. If you focus creating a certain mood with your paper choices, themed kits can still be extremely useful. In the case above, the patterned paper and elements are from a 4th of July kit, but the circles and stars help capture the movement and energy of the photos. The hand-drawn, comic-book touches also tie in nicely with the track photos. 

FOCUS ON THE WORDS AND STORIES:
For this layout, I was assigned to work with a spring/Easter-themed collab. Sadly, we've almost outgrown the Easter bunny at my house, so I didn't really have anything that fit. When I was flipping through the elements, I found a word art that said "Faith" and was inspired to tell the story of my oldest daughter's youth group, her family in faith. Word art, titles, quotes, and other textual elements from themed kits can be a great starting point for a layout about a variety of topics. Here's a link to a page I did where I was inspired by the "Start the Journey" elements to use a travel/vacation kit for a graduation layout. 

Leave a comment on this post and share with me a link to a layout you've created (or one you've been inspired by) that uses themed products for non-themed layouts. I'll choose a winner via random.org and that person will recieve all of my May product releases for FREE! That's right! Each week when the new releases go live at DHD, you'll get a coupon code allowing you to purchase them for FREE!

Want additional chances to win? Here's how:
1. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter and post a link to your tweet in the comments.
2. Update your Facebook status with a link to this giveaway and then post a link in the comments here.
3. Blog about the giveaway and then link me to your blog post in the comments.

THAT'S 4 WAYS TO WIN! All comments must be posted by midnight EST on May 6th, 2012. I'll post the winner on Monday.

If you are playing along with the Design House Digital LAYOUT CHALLENGE, to be entered into the drawing for a digital photo frame, you will need to complete a layout meeting all 26 of the challenges by Tuesday, May 8 at 11:59 MST. These challenges should be gathered as you visit each blog for the iNSD blog hop. Here's my challenge for you:

Now you're ready to head over to the lovely Gen Bursett's blog for a great post on what to do with your layouts once you've finished them, plus another letter and layout challenge. HAPPY iNSD!!!

Tuesday's Dollar Deal

A 16-page 8x8 album template -- how can you turn a deal like that down? (Regularly priced at $7.99)

Here's a look at a few pages created with the album, featuring some photos from a trip to Washington DC with the family a few years ago.

surprise sale, layouts, and more!

We've got a surprise SALE! going on at Design House Digital today -- 100 kits randomly chosen and on sale for just a buck! There's a great variety of my products in this sale including my newest paper pack Ombre: Chevron (and you might as well grab Ombre: Dots and Stripes while you are at it), Count Your Memories Part One, some perfect-for-Project Life products like my iConic Banners and Chalkboard: This Life cards. In addition, there's my Modern Fall Patterns paper pack, Expectantly Yours Date Tags, Everyday Celebrations Full Kit, and my Distressed Alphabet. All are excellent products, and you don't want to miss a chance to score them at just $1.00 each! Don't forget that everything else in the shop is 30% off right now as well, as we wrap up our Mad March Memories celebration! (Have you voted today?)

There are tons of great new kits available at One Story Down today, too. I had a chance to do some scrapping this week -- and man, does it feel great to be recording memories on a regular basis again. Here's a look at what I was able to create with some of these great new kits.

 

march madness and girl vs scrap

Well, almost the entire state is celebrating UK's win in the NCAA tournament (I say almost because I doubt there is much celebration happening in Louisville). But even though March Madness is over, that doesn't mean we're finished with our Mad March Memories celebration at Design House Digital!

In addition, voting has started for our Digiscrap Competition winner, so cast your vote here; you can vote once a day until the April 6th deadline. We've got 24 gorgeous layouts to select from, and one lucky voter will also win a class from ReneePearson.com. 

It's time to kick off the April round of Girl vs Scrap over at One Story Down today, too! This month your challenge is to:

Here's the layout I created:

credits:
Photograph tab and leaf doodle (recolored): Photobooth by Paislee Press
alphabet: Candyland by CD Muckosky
page border: Storyteller by One Little Bird and Paislee Press
all other papers and elements: Tell Me A Story collaboration by One Story Down designers
font: Olivetti Type 2

Upload your layout to the gallery and then post a link on the blog or in the forum by 4/30/12; just for playing along, you'll get this lovely freebie from Tickled Pink Studio:

 

now open: one story down

My friend Lauren, whom I've known in this digital scrapbooking biz probably longer than anyone else I know, has just opened a lovely new shop, One Story Down! I love Lauren's style, and I love her love of stories, and One Story Down is the perfect combination of those two things. Here's what's going on:

Spend just $10 in the shop and get the very first Team Collab, Tell Me Stories, FREE!

It's an awesome kit; I've scrapped with it twice and still have notes for at least two more layouts using it.

While you're shopping, be sure to head over to the forum and check out the games and challenges going on. You could win some FANTASTIC prizes (like a GC to Persnickety Prints or Ella Publishing, a spot in a photography class, custom jewelry, and more!) Check out this thread for the Jo Tote giveaway!

new $$$ dollar deal product available

Our $$ Dollar Deal Days $$ in February were so popular that we're continuing the fun with new products every Tuesday! Head over to the shop anytime between now and Thursday to pick up my newest product, Clipped Frames, for just a buck!

Here's a look at the Clipped Frames in action; I used the Side-by-Side frames twice to create the row of photos in my layout.

additional credits: Crystal Livesay, March Foundations Template #6; Karen Funk, Brown Paper Packages digital kit

Also, check this post for some $$-saving coupon codes from Ella Publishing and a great giveaway at write.click.scrapbook!

upcoming: this weekend

Just a few announcements for the weekend, before I log off and finish out my Spring Break weekend as unplugged as I can get.

My Count Your Memories collab with Erica Coombs is 25% off through the weekend. We're also chatting at 4 pm CST on Sunday at the DHD Chat Room -- freebies will be involved. Come hang out for an hour or so!

Speaking of freebies, I've got a couple of card freebies for you on this blog post. Just click on the link and when the image opens up, right click and save it. It's just a .jpg file, so you can print straight from that image, no fancy programs required. 

Everything in my shop will be 25% off this weekend, so if you've been eyeballing something, now's a great chance to get it at a discounted price. I've got some free and $1.00 kits available as well: Tribal elements is free, and Orange Crush, Jar of Hearts Papers, and Small Talk Bubbles are all $1.00 through Sunday night.

One last thing: I've got a new article up on Ella Publishing's e-zine, Scrapbook Ellaments, about using your favorite TYPES of books for scrapbooking design inspiration. I guest posted there almost two years ago on a similar topic, so it was fun to revisit the idea of using books for inspiration. I hope you'll give it a read and let me know what you think. 

Now, I'm off to finish up some laundry and dishes, take the recycling to the drop-off center, and grade a handful of essays. I'm taking Cass to see The Hunger Games this weekend, and I've got two novels I'd like to finish before Spring Break is over. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you at the chat on Sunday!