be AUDacious

$ 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!

take 12: april

One of the things that I have learned about myself over the years is that I am very good about getting really excited about a project. I make lots of grand plans and get everything pulled together and jot down lists and buy supplies. I work feverishly on it for a month, two months, maybe even three.

And then real life starts creeping in. Travel for work. Conferences. Classes and grading papers and writing final exams. All-weekend soccer tournaments, multiple track meets. Laundry, dishes, yardwork. The girls get sick. I get sick. I get tired. I lose my motivation. 

While I'm really good in the initial idea and development stages, I'm not so good with the follow-through. I know this about myself, though, and I keep it in mind whenever I begin a project like Take 12. 

April ended up being one of those months. The 12th happened on a day when I was sick, followed by three days where I continued to be sick and both Chris (stomach bug) and Cami (strep) also got sick. (Cass took her turn earlier in the week). As a result, there wasn't a lot of documenting happening on the 12th. That's where the most important aspect of any project like this comes into play: FLEXIBILITY.

You have to be flexible. Because life happens, right? So you have to be willing to let go of some of the expectations and let go of perfection. You have to be willing to fudge it a bit. My 12 photos were actually taken over the course of four days, and I'M OKAY WITH THAT. I enjoy this project too much to let a minor bobble like this throw things off-track. After all, this (for me) is about documenting REAL LIFE. Here's a summary of my April Take 12:

Watering plants is something new for me. Before my grandparents passed away, I didn't own any houseplants. But now we have five (yes, FIVE! and they are all still ALIVE!). I've read that it's better to water in the mornings, so that's what I do.

This was Spring Break, which meant Cami got to watch a lot more TV than normal. (Plus, we were all sick, so there was a lot of lying-around-on-couches and watching crap TV with that as well). She loves our Roku because she can stream episode after episode after episode of cartoons like My Little Pony. I hate our Roku for the same reason.

Easy lunch -- frozen pizza. Make sure to cut out the BoxTops to send to Cami's school.

Planking: an internet sensation that's just now caught on in the Neal household.

I'm traveling to Mayfield every day right now, teaching a hybrid Blackboard course and doing some COMPASS/ACT prep with seniors. It's easiest just to pick up my car from Transportation at the beginning of the week and return it on Friday, rather than doing it daily.

Rat-snuggling. This happens frequently in our house. It is a strange thing, but Peanut Butter really does love to cuddle. He is most content sitting on the girls' chests or shoulders and grooming himself. 

The sun is up, which means I've got the blinds open, letting the daylight stream in and trying to banish some of the fug that a houseful of sickies creates.

Every day, I spend a couple of hours here -- reading and writing emails, blog posts, forum posts. Designing layouts, kits, advertisements. Grading papers, posting lessons, updating assignments. It's such a big part of everything that I do.

Working our way through a couple of Easter baskets. The chocolate bunnies have been de-eared. The Cadbury eggs are all gone. The Peeps are dwindling quickly.

Amoxycillan -- I am so proud of Cami for taking this nasty mess without fuss. She doesn't like it at all, but she doesn't fight us over it either. She knows that it is necessary. 

Strep throat looks like this. Grandmother quilt, couch pillows, and quiet time. She even took a couple of naps over the past few days -- she's feeling much better but even daily activities wear her out quicker.

Trying to keep up with the amount of bedding needing to be washed this weekend has almost worn our poor washer out. Trying to contain the germs from three different illnesses at the same time has worn me out as well. 

what's going on: the weekend

If you haven't picked up the Softly Collaboration that I put together with the fabulously talented Robyn Meierotto, today is your last day to get it for 25% off. 

Robyn and I will be chatting at 2 pm CST in the DHD chat room, so make sure you stop by to visit. I'll be offering up a new set of paper-piecing templates for free to anyone who attends the chat; if you can't make it, you'll be able to purchase the templates in my shop on Thursday.

As this weekend's Featured Designer, I've got a number of great deals in my shop: 18 to be exact! That's right -- I've marked down 18 kits to just $1.00, plus I'm offering this template for free. All of my $1.00 kits are perfect for both your Project Life and your Take 12 projects. Here's a glimpse at the 2012 Digital Kit and Templates in use for my March 2012 layout:

Speaking of the Take12 project, Ella Publishing Co. has some GREAT deals going on right now, including a Lucky 3-Day Sale on selected items. But you've got to act fast if you want to take advantage of them.

 Also, if you haven't picked up your copy of the Stamping Secrets e-book, I've got a special code you can use to save 15% through March 31. Enter the code SECRETSTAMPER at checkout.

And lastly, you can save $5.00 on the cost of registration for Spring Training 2012 -- this is one event you won't want to miss!

 

new releases

I've got three new products available in the shop today; make sure you check them out, as they're discounted 30% today only!

Jennifer shared a layout with one of the Take 12 templates; these really are so simple to use for the project.

I scrapped our December trip to The Parthenon in Nashville with my 2012: The Monthly template. It's a great way to scrap a photo a day, but it also gives you the flexibility of scrapping large events, like trips or family gatherings.

(Note: Jen's layout uses my collab with Karla Dudley, A Life Recorded; my layout features items from my Currently kit.)

celebrating february

February is one of my favorite months at Design House Digital, because that's when we have our Daily Dollar Deals: every day, several brand new kits are released in the shop and for the entire month of February, they're only $1.00 each. Right now, I've got three Dollar Deal products available:

If you haven't grabbed any (or all) of these products yet, make sure you grab them before February is over, because once March blows in, they'll revert back to the original pricing! $1.00 is too good a deal to let pass you by!

Did you remember to take your 12 photos on February 12th for the Ella Publishing Co. Take 12 Scrapbook Challenge? I didn't focus on any particular theme this time around -- I just snapped what caught my eye. But when I sat down to upload the photos I'd taken to the Take 12 Flickr pool, I realized that almost every single one represented something that our family loves, in one way or another (heck, what woman doesn't love a photo of her husband vacuuming the floors, right?) How fitting for February!

If you're still looking for a way to scrap your Take 12 photos, I've got some products in my shop that make putting together coordinating pages really simple: the 2012 digital kit and the 2012 Photo Templates Vol.1 and Vol.2. Here's a look at the digital kit, as well as a peek at a new template (part of a set of 4) that will be releasing on Thursday.

I've been shooting all of my #Take12 photos with my iPhone 4s camera and then editing/sharing them in Instagram. I really LOVE the Lo-fi filter and use it on almost all of my photos.

DESIGN TIP: That sketchy/stampy black border is my favorite. It works great for scrapbooking these photos too, because you can easily erase the white edges, leaving you with just the stamped border, like I did in the layout above.

 

a new take on Take12

Are you gearing up for the February edition of Ella Publishing's Take 12 Scrapbooking Challenge? Your reminder email should arrive today (unless you haven't registered for it -- but it's not too late to do so!)

Challenge recap: It's simple. On the 12th of each month, take 12 photos during the course of your day. Use your fancy camera, your phone camera, whatever is handy. Hand your camera off to your husband, your daughter, your son, your best friend -- the more, the merrier! Of course, you aren't limited to just taking your photos on the 12th. If another day works for you, then go for it. Or use the concept as a way to summarize your entire month by pulling together 12 photos at the end of February. And don't worry if you are just getting started -- this is a project that is infinitely flexible! In fact, that flexibility is helped inspire my $Dollar Deal$ product at Design House Digital today.

These quickpages and templates use my Currently papers and elements and are perfect for layouts featuring 12 photos. The quickpages are simple to use -- just drop your photos in and print. Or you can add your own papers and elements to the template to truly personalize your layout just the way you want it. (Might I suggest using items from my 2012 product line: Lifeblocks, Photo Templates Vol 1, Photo Templates Vol 2, Digital Kit) Did I mention these templates/quickpages are just $1.00 through the whole month of February?

These quickpages and templates also offer you another way to make the Take 12 Scrapbooking Challenge work for you. I'm always looking for ways to get my family more involved in my memorykeeping process. My oldest daughter has discovered Instagram and has been participating in a PhotoADay Challenge through the site. (Can I just add that I LOVE seeing her pictures each time she uploads them?) Since she's always got her camera phone with her, I asked her to document a regular day for me; to help her out, I gave her a list of verbs to use to help provide her with some photo ideas -- things like "wearing," "eating," "craving," "listening to," etc. I combined her photos with one of my quickpages for a snapshot of Cass at 15 that I simply adore looking at. 

NOTE: This particular quickpage in the kit is an 8.5x11 page. I turned it into a 12x12 page by simply placing the quickpage on top of a 12x12 sheet of digital paper, which I personalized a bit more by digitally coloring the 1's and 5's to represent her age. 

Remember, if you're participating in the Take 12 scrapbooking challenge, we've got a Flickr group where you can upload your photos. We're also using the hashtag #Take12 on social media sites. Don't forget to stop by the blog and check in -- each month you'll have a chance to win some great prizes too!

take twelve: special themes and other options

Have you been playing along with the Take Twelve Photography Challenge on the Ella Publishing blog? If you're just now thinking about joining, it's definitely not too late! This is a project that you can start at any time -- the "twelve on the twelfth" format is actually much more flexible that you'd think at first. If you didn't get a chance to snap twelve photos (or more!) on January 12th, here are a few options for still joining in the project during the month of January:

• Select any day of the month that works for you -- the 5th, the 14th, the 28th -- and take your photos on that day
• At the end of the month, choose twelve photos from your photo stash and use those to create an overview of the month's activities
• Put the internet to work for you -- if you don't have photos from a particular day, grab screenshots, Facebook status updates, tweets, or other digital images and use them instead of photos
• Do you have creative kids? Use their artwork or let them recount your month, comic-style 
• Opt for a February (or March or April) start and document your 12-of-12 from that point for an entire year

If you'd like even more ideas for your photo options for this project, pick up a copy of Ella Publishing's Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit. It's chock full of photo checklists for each month, plus great variations on the Take Twelve concept. One of my favorite parts is that each month, in addition to featuring a photo checklist, the book offers a theme with related photo tips. 

As you can see, January's special theme is "collections." I love the idea of photographing and capturing all the things that we collect, so yesterday I spent some time seeking out the various collections in our family. It wasn't hard to come up with twelve photos; I tried to keep things evenly balanced, although you'll see that Chris doesn't really collect as many things as the rest of us do (maybe it's a girl thing? Or maybe his hoarding gene isn't as dominant?!?)

credits: My Favorite Things 2 kit by Gennifer Bursett; numbered journaling list from My Favorite Things kit by Gennifer Bursett; fonts are LiebeErika and Pea Sugar Noodles

No matter how you choose to play along with the Take Twelve photography challenge, we want to see your photos and layouts! You can upload them both to our Flickr group and if you're sharing via social media (Twitter, Instagram, etc.), make sure to use the hashtag #take12. For easy reminders about Take Twelve monthly contests and other events, sign up for the email reminders too!

2012: product line and take twelve layout

I've got a simple new product line coming to Design House Digital over the next couple of weeks. The first release are these easy-to-use photo templates, perfect for scrapping your Take Twelve Photo Challenge pictures. These templates can be used to easily create a digital layout of your Take Twelve photos; you can also use the templates as a way to share your photos on your blog each month. In addition, these templates are flexible enough to use for printing and scrapping the traditional way, too. There are four photo templates: 2x6, 3x4, 4x3, 6x2 (that's width by height) and they come in two styles: square corners and rounded corners. 

Each template comes as a layered .psd file, meaning that each square is on a separate layer. Using these in Photoshop or PSE is really simple. Just open the template, and then open your photos. Place one photo above the layer where you'd like to have it located in your photo grid. Resize your photo as necessary, and then click Ctrl G to "clip" your photo to the template square. Make any adjustments to the location and then click Ctrl E to merge the two layers together. Repeat these steps with the rest of your photos, and then merge all the layers together. Here's a tutorial from the DHD blog to help you out.

Here's what the templates look like in action. I used the 4x3 template with rounded corners; I chose the 4x3 orientation because my photos were divided into morning, afternoon, and evening and this arrangement let me keep them grouped in that way. The other products I used are a brief glimpse at some of the products you'll see in next week's release in my digital shop. My plan is to use these items throughout the year on my Take Twelve Challenge. 

Speaking of the Take Twelve Challenge, have you signed up for Ella Publishing's reminder email yet? It only takes a few minutes; fill out the required fields and make sure to check the box that says "Take Twelve Project." You'll be sent monthly email reminders about the Take Twelve Photo Challenge, and you'll get some great opportunities to share your photos and win prizes! Also, don't forget to check out the Ella Blog today to see how other team members are scrapping their Take Twelve photos.

Take Twelve: January 2012

We ended up having a snow day today, so I'm really late on the blogging front. (The snow, sadly, was nothing to get really excited about. While it did snow quite a bit yesterday, much of it melted because we had temps close to 50 the day before that. Still, temps dropped below freezing last night, and much of the melted snow then freeze, which resulted in today's snow day. Ahh, the joys of living in the South.)

First things first, here's the winner of the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit: 

Janet, email me at audneal at gmail dot com and I'll get your redemption code to you right away! 

Thanks to everyone who entered. If you didn't win a copy in one of the many giveaways going on, Angie is offering you a chance to take 10% off your purchase off the Inspiration Kit or the Take Twelve Templates with the code PROCRASTINATOR. 

Here's a look at my 12 photos for the day. Just a few notes about my process: I had planned to take a photo an hour -- just a random collection of whatever was going on at the time my phone reminder went off. Instead, my photos are grouped into morning, afternoon, and evening. That just ended up making more sense with the rhythm of my day. These are processed through Instagram, but I took them with just the regular camera on my phone, so I have plain, unfiltered files to use (if I want) on my layout. I like having the two options -- Instagram is fun for blogsharing, tweeting, and even Facebook posts, but I prefer having unfiltered images to use on my scrapbook layouts. 

Morning: As I was dropping Cami off at school, the cold rain was just beginning to turn into snow. The first thing I do at work each day, after booting up my laptop, is check my agenda to see what needs to be done; much of my work involves planning for upcoming projects and presentations. Just a quick shot of three of my favorite things: my Fossil Key-per tote, my gray Converse sneakers, and corduroy pants. When I left for lunch, it had been snowing for several hours, covering the bushes, ground, and cars.

Afternoon: Beatrice spends much of our lunch hour just lying on the rug, near us. A random shot from my living room: a vintage typewriter I found for $5.00 -- I love the faux wood detailing and the red spacer key. Cass was all smiles when I picked her up from school this afternoon. Snow kept lightly drifting along the edge of the car windows; I was amazed at how downy it looked, rather than icy.

Evening: Cami came home with this little monkey toy from the school's 4th/5th grade Jamboree. I spent the evening catching up on some laundry; it's so much easier to fold it as soon as I take it out of the dryer (why don't I do this more often?) Any time we go into Cami's room now, the ratboys run to the bars of the cage to see what's going on; they've become quite nosy. I headed to bed fairly early, mostly to warm up and to spend some time reading; I finished one book and made it about halfway through another before falling asleep.

It's Time to Take Twelve!

I'm really excited to be kicking off my personal participation in the Take Twelve photography challenge, especially since I'm still on the fence about Project Life. I LOVE this kind of "capture the little moments" project, but I also know how I am when it comes to follow-through. Somewhere along the way, I lose steam, get overwhelmed, get excited about a different project, or just plain forget. But I've had success with this project in the past, so I know that it is totally do-able for me.

How do I plan to make it work? Easy.

* I'll be using my iPhone to shoot most of my photos. It's convenient, it's always with me, and the quality is good. While I love the look of Instagram, Hipstamatic, and other camera applications, I'll mainly be sticking with just the straight camera app on my phone.  If I want to later upload some of my photos to Instagram, I can do so at that point. (Use the hashtag #take12 to tag your photos so others can find them.)

*For this first month, the plan is just to take a photo once an hour. That's it. Nothing fancy -- no themes, no checklists. Just in case I forget, I'm setting an hourly reminder on my phone as well, so that if I get caught up in something else at work or home, the reminder on my phone will give me a little nudge that it's time to snap another photo. In the upcoming months, I definitely plan to make use of the photo checklists in Ella Publishing's Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit. 

*I'll be sharing my photos here on the blog tomorrow, in place of my standard iPhone Friday post. There's also a Take Twelve Flickr group; Flickr is something that I've never used before (I know, I KNOW, where have I been?) so that will be brand new for me. 

*I also plan to scrap my photos pretty quickly. I've found that if I let something like this sit and wait, my chances of completing it grow slimmer by the hour. Luckily, I'm a digi scrapper, and the Take Twelve templates will make this a snap. Even if you aren't a digiscrapper, you can use the sketches from the Inspiration kit to help you get your photos scrapped and in your album quickly. There are also great options for mini-albums.

So that's the plan. Simple, quick, painless. Just the way I like my projects. So what are you waiting for? Grab your camera and start capturing 2012!

Don't forget to leave on a comment on the post below this one before you leave. I'm giving away a copy of Ella Publishing's Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit for free; you've got three chances to win, but your chances end at midnight tonight. I'll be drawing a winner (using random.org) tomorrow morning. Good luck!