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!

(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!!!

catching up with Ella Publishing

There's so much great stuff going on with Ella Publishing right now, so I wanted to share a quick catch-up post with you! About a month ago, Angie contacted me and wanted to know if I was interested in trying out a skin care line that had been in touch with them. I said sure, even though I normally don't have much of a skin care routine. But developing better habits centering on taking care of myself is one of the things I'm trying to work on, so this seemed like a great chance to get started.

Muvazi sent a trial run of products and I started working them into my developing skin-care routine. As I stated on Ella's blog, the products are easy-to-use and so far, they seem to be working. My skin is hydrated, my forehead frowning wrinkle is less conspicuous (I don't think it will ever disappear), and I'm well on my way to having an established skin care routine -- one step closer to taking better care of myself (and creating a good example for my girls on the importance of doing the same thing.)

Angie challenged us to create a layout about ourselves as part of the blog feature, which caused me all kinds of anxiety. I snapped a quick shot with my iPhone, and to be honest, it isn't that bad. I think I'm learning to be less critical of myself. It doesn't hurt that I have two daughters and a husband who constantly let me know that they think I'm beautiful and smart and funny and loved and all those other good things. I just have to continue to learn to believe those things about myself, too.

credits: template and kit from This Week collaboration by Karla Dudley and Tiffany Tillman at Design House Digital, alphabet from Karla Dudley's Digi Essentials 6 at Design House Digital

Muvazi is generously sponsoring some giveaways on the Ella blog, too: If you'd like to try the Muvazi line yourself, we have a KILLER deal for you. Use the codePAMPERYOURSELF to save $80 off the kit (includes cleanser, serum, moisturizer, and eye cream) AND get free shipping. It's priced at $149 and you get it for just $69. No kidding! And there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, too, so if it doesn't work for you, there's no risk. And come back tomorrow for your chance to win the kit for FREE!

Speaking of shaping up, have you registered for SPRING TRAINING yet? Right now is the perfect time to enroll in for this fun event. I mean, just look at the lineup: great coaches, informational videos, creative exercises, organizational tips, live chats, bonus downloads and tons of prizes -- and all designed to fit into your busy schedule! What are you waiting for? Sign up now!

Ella's newest e-book is out, and it's perfect for booklovers, craftlovers, and thriftstore-lovers alike! Book Crafting features layouts and projects you can complete by repurposing old books, as well as a ton of prompts just perfect for starting your own reading journal. 

Don't forget to #Take12 tomorrow -- join us as we take 12 photos on the 12th of April as part of our year-long series Take Twelve 2012! Just finding out about this great project? Here's everything you need to know!

Use coupon code TAKE12APR on Thursday, April 12 only, to save 12 percent on any TWO items*—including the Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit and the Take Twelve Templates. And here's a hint, it will work on Spring Training, too!

*One coupon per person. Cannot be combined with other coupon codes or gift certificates. Excludes gift certificates.

 

as luck would have it: happy birthday, little sister!

This month's Girl v. Scrap challenge is the perfect venue for me to wish my little sister a(n early) happy, happy birthday! She is such an incredible woman, and I am so proud of everything that she is -- whether she is running a 5K, taking care of her students at sporting events, being an amazing mama to baby A and wife to Jason, sharing her faith in word and in deed, or making me laugh until my stomach literally hurts. 

credits: Crystal Livesay, March Foundations template (#7), Live Your Stories; Shannon Hegarty, Luck of the Irish elements (striped bow, shamrock charm, shamrock epoxy), Design House Digital; Karen Funk, Lucky Charm digital kit (all other papers and elements), Design House Digital

Are you interested in playing along this month? Just create your layout using the guidelines below and link it up on the One Story Down blog. Winners will recieve an awesome paper pack for free, just for participating.

Causes, Contests, & a Cool Giveaway

February is National Heart Month, and Ella Publishing Co. is celebrating with three days of heartfelt stories and projects leading up to National Wear Red Day on Friday, February 3. For the rest of the week (today, Thursday, and Friday), the Ella blog will be featuring stories and projects from team members who have been affected by heart disease. I encourage you to visit the blog and read the incredible stories that Rachel and our other team members have shared. 

I was honored to be asked by Rachel to tell my story; as those of you who've known me for a while know, my dad died of a heart attack at age 44 almost 12 years ago. Each year, in May, I've commemorated this loss with a post here on the blog. Most of those posts end up on scrapbook layouts so that I can keep them, and Rachel's invitation gave me the opportunity to tell the story I posted on the 10-year anniversary of his death. 

To read my story, you can visit the original blog post; the journaling was pulled directly from here.

Credits: papers and elements: LoveLoveLove digital papers and elements by Robyn Meierotto (Design House Digital); frames: Pinned by Audrey Neal (Design House Digital); font: Olivetti Type2

This week, Design House Digital has a SUPER event for you… in celebration of the Super Bowl we have some fun and games of our own – scrappy style!  Here’s what is going on Sunday, January 29th – Monday, February 6th:

• 25% off Everything In the Shop

• Super Bowl-inspired Challenges

• Hosted Chats on Super Bowl Sunday (all times in MST):

Saturday, February 4th
12 PM – Jen Allyson
1 PM – Karen Funk
2 PM – Karla Dudley
3 PM – Shannon Hegarty
4 PM – Erica Coombs

Sunday, February 5th
12 PM – Robyn Meierotto
1 PM – Allison Waken
2 PM – Katherine Hansen
3 PM – Sarah Schmutz
4 PM – Gennifer Bursett

• The Super Gallery Bowl Prizes:

Play along all week long in our Super Bowl-inspired challenges, and you could win a $5 gift certificate to DHD. In addition, one Super Gallery Bowl Grand Prize Winner will receive Photoshop Elements 10! This winner will be chosen from all qualifying* layouts submitted to the Super Gallery Bowl challenges this week. That’s right… the more challenges you complete, the better your chances to win!

*Qualifying layouts must contain 100% DHD product and be inspired by the challenge. Upload layouts to the Super Gallery Bowl 2012 Gallery for entry in the grand prize drawing, and post a link to your layout in the individual challenge threads to be entered for the gift certificate prizes. Layouts must be submitted by 11:59PM MST on February 6th.

I couldn't resist the change to play along with a layout of my own. If you follow college basketball, you might have heard about a small western Kentucky school that's making big headlines: my alma mater (and current place of employment) Murray State University is currently the only undefeated D1 team in the country! That's right! It's an amazing time to be a Racer, that's for sure!

credits: circle tab, white papers, date strip (Jen Allyson, Up to Date Part 1, Design House Digital); gray paper, chevron paper, button, banner and brad (Gennifer Bursett, Up to Date Part 2, Design House Digital);  photo cluster template (Audrey Neal, 2012: Photo Templates Vol. 2, Design House Digital); alphabet -- recolored (Gennifer Bursett, Favorite Things 2, Design House Digital); paint splatters (Gennifer Bursett, Toolbox: Mists, Vol. 7, Design House Digital)

Shelley Haganman has an awesome Etsy store where she sells flair buttons, which are perfect for all kinds of scrapbooking and crafting projects. She's got so many great designs! 

I'm especially excited about her two recent additions, both of which use some elements from my Just My Type digital collection. Shelley was kind enough to send me a couple of sets for a fun little giveaway here on the blog.

I'm giving away 2 blue sets and 2 yellow sets, so that's 4 winners! Just leave a comment here on the blog to enter. For additional chances to win, tweet about the giveaway and post about it on your Facebook page. Just come back here with a link to your tweet and status update. The giveaway ends at midnight CST on Friday. I'll use random.org to select the winners on Saturday.

 

10 on Tuesday: Best Books of 2011

2011 was another good year of reading; early on, I set a goal (using Goodreads' Reading Challenge tool) of 100 books. I'm pleased to report that I ended up reading 122 books, thanks in large part to a huge reading spurt in late December while I was on Christmas break. 

Because I'm a nerd like this, I'll end up putting together some stats for my reading this year (again, something that Goodreads makes really easy for me), such as the total number of pages read, average number of pages per book, and number of books with 300+ pages.  Here's a breakdown of how many books I read each month this year. I may even go back and compare that to previous years, to see what kind of reading habits I've developed over the long run. I'll keep track of that info in my reading mini-album.

January: 5 books
February:  9 books
March: 16 books
April: 11 books
May: 7 books
June: 6 books
July: 9 books
August: 7 books
September: 7 books
October:  8 books
November: 16 books
December: 20 books 

(According to those stats, I'm only coming up with 121 books -- not sure where that extra book is.)

As always, I read a lot of YA fiction this year, as well as a lot of science fiction/fantasy. A lot of the novels I read were series, which I wish would quit being such a big thing, particularly in YA fiction. I read a lot of mediocre novels and some really, really excellent novels as well (thankfully, the list of stinkers is pretty short). Here's a look at my 10 favorite reads for 2011; not all of them were 5-star reads (and some 5-star reads didn't even make it onto this list). Just because I give a book 5 stars doesn't make it one of my automatic favorites; I've reserved this list for books that I tell others they absolutely MUST READ:

*Disclaimer: These are in no particular order.

  The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
A lovely, lovely book about sisters and growing up, among other things.

Chime by Franny Billingsly
I picked this up because of Andrea's recommendation, and I thought it was pure magic.  

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Cathrynne M. Valente
This book was everything that I want a children's fantasy novel to be. Perfect.

 The Magician King by Lev Grossman
More perfection, this time of the grown-up fantasy novel type.

 

 The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
Another look at sibling relationships, with excellent characterization and a truly unique narrative voice.

 A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
A  new addition to the paranormal romance genre -- a breath of fresh air.

 

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
A fun and funny romp through a geek's gamer paradise.

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
The conclusion to Westerfeld's fantastic steampunk trilogy. 

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
A solidly crafted story for lovers of horses, mythology, and romance.

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
One of the most distinctive literary voices I've encountered all year. Beautifully crafted.

 

The Open Book, Challenge 6: Kitchen Confidential

This week's challenge is brought to you by Barb.

My book is Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

I love this book...couldn't put it down, and it's changed how I think about eating in restaurants and the people who work behind the scenes. 

Description of the book:

After 25 years of sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine, chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain has decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown (where he first experienced the real delights of being a chef); from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village; from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are passionate and unpredictable, shocking and very funny. This book will change the way you view restaurants — for ever.

 Challenges:

1. Use some black and white with yellow as an accent color, like the book cover (see attached)
2. Use two different fonts or alphabets
3. Have you ever worked in a restaurant? Tell us about it!
4. Have you ever worked for a difficult boss, or with unruly co-workers?  Tell us about it!
5. Do you like to cook or do you hate cooking?  Either way, tell us about it!
6. Chef Bourdain's love for food and cooking was ignighted when his family spent a summer in France when he was a teenager. That trip changed his life forever. Have you ever gone anywhere that changed your life forever?  Tell us about it!
7. Did you ever have a bad experience with food and find that you can't eat it anymore?  Tell us about it!

Here's what our team came up with:

from Barb:

from Amy:

from Dawn:

To participate, just create any paper-crafted item -- a layout (digital, hybrid, or traditional), a card, an altered item, or home decor item using the challenge above. Post a link to your project in the credits, and make sure to share any thoughts about the novel as well. We'll have a new challenge up on August 9, 2010. Thanks for playing along!

The Open Book, Challenge 5: The book of Awesome

This week's challenge is brought to you by Laura.

The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha grew out of the author's blog (1000awesomethings.com), begun in June 2008, where he set out to write about one awesome thing every weekday. He began the blog as a way to see something positive and joyful in the midst of a very difficult time in his life, and over time the blog grew to attract a huge following and led to the publication of the book. His "awesome things" are the little joys: finding a pull-through parking spot, waking up and realizing it's Saturday, the smell of crayons, and a favorite old T-shirt. I love this example of thankfulness for ordinary and otherwise unremarkable events and the encouragement to take notice of the everyday bits of joy we all have. I also loved seeing how many of his awesome things made me say, Hey, I didn't know anyone else noticed that! My kids read the book, too, and for the past few months we've continued to point out awesome things to each other--and that's awesome, too.

Challenges:

Use bright colors against a black background.

Try a painted, brushed-look font. A selection of free ones can be found here: http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=604

Scrap your list of awesome things or a single awesome moment.

Scrap about a turning point in your life--perhaps a difficult time that spurred you to make a change, as the author did when he started his blog.

Scrap about enjoying a book together with other people: a book shared with loved ones, a favorite read-aloud with your children or from your own childhood, a book group experience.

 Here's what the team came up with this week:

by Laura:

Credits: Everything by Audrey Neal; fonts vtks animal 2, Steelfish, & DJB Laura.

from Jennifer:

credits: digital paper  Sweet Summertime by Crystal Wilkerson, template- ChrissyW, cardstock - Audrey Neal, font- LeviBrush dafont.com,

from Stefanie:
Credits: fonts, Walkway Bold & Ginga.

To participate, just create any paper-crafted item -- a layout (digital, hybrid, or traditional), a card, an altered item, or home decor item using the challenge above. Post a link to your project in the credits, and make sure to share any thoughts about the novel as well. We'll have a new challenge up on July 26, 2010. Thanks for playing along!

The Open Book: Challenge 4, The Twilight Series

**My apologies for the delay in getting Challenge 4 up and running; life has been less than cooperative lately.

This week's challenge is brought to you by Jennifer.

My challenge this week is based on none other than the Twilight Series. The book that started the phenomenon is now Open Book challenge #4, which I find perfectly fitting since there are 4 books in the series ;)

"Bella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.

Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite."

This weeks challenges (you can choose to do them solo, in combination, or not at all)
1. Scrap a layout inspired by the image above.
2. Scrap about one of the books or the series and your opinion of it, good or bad.
3. With the new Eclipse movie coming out, I decided I should re-read the book again...Is there a book or series that you find yourself reading over and over again? Create a layout about it.
4. Scrap about an obsession in your life, be it a book or something else.
5. Scrap about your first love.

Here's what our team came up with for this week's challenge.

from Barb:
credits:Checked paper and star element from French Kiss kit, Photo frames from Made in France and Organic Photo frames, Journaling line stamps from Journaling Space Brushes, Bottom Border stamp - Borderlines 2 --all from Sande Kreiger; Small butterfly - Flutterbies by Christina Renee Designs; Paper Overlay - Lynn Marie Favroeau; Large Butterfly - Create Wings kit by Lauren Reid


from Laura:


To participate, just create any paper-crafted item -- a layout (digital, hybrid, or traditional), a card, an altered item, or home decor item using the challenge above. Post a link to your project in the credits, and make sure to share any thoughts about the novel as well. We'll have a new challenge up on July 12, 2010. Thanks for playing along!

The Open Book: Challenge 3, Plain Truth

This week's challenge is brought to you by Stefanie and features the novel, Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult.

Hi Scrappers!
I'm not a 'Book Club' type reader, those are the ones with the cool, trendy and artistic covers.  I read mysteries written by old, white-haired guys & gals, with pretty bland covers.  Not too inspiring!  But my daughter DOES read the cool, trendy books, so I asked to borrow her book as inspiration for the
new challenge.

Here's the cover:
 

This challenge will have nothing to do with subject matter, plot line, or esoteric meaning behind the written word.  I'd like you to just use this cover as inspiration for your page design.

The subject of your layout should be WHERE you love to go to read. Is it your favorite comfy chair or window seat? Bed? The beach? A blanket out in your garden?  Snap a few photos of your happy place. Strive to capture the mood of your favorite reading spot or spots. Share your thoughts about your reading place in your journaling.

Your photo or photos (feel free to use more than one photo) should be black and white, sepia, or any other neutral monotone that you like.

Use the bottom 1/2 to 2/3  for your images. Bleed one of your photos off at least one side of the layout. If you like, you can blend your photo or photos into the background, but it's not required. The top section can be white or neutral.  Please use the top section for your title and journaling.

Feel free to use one additional color as a color pop, but keep the majority of the layout neutral in color. This book cover has a gold title. If that inspires you, use gold for your title or journaling.

Here's what our team came up with this week.

from Stefanie:

credits: all items created by Stefanie


from Jennifer:

credits: Template:Tiffany Tillman for 25 days of templates at ReneePearson.com, everything else: Lemonade Stand by Paislee Press and Taylormade designs

from Amy:

credits: Everyday Happenings by Spinky Dink Scraps and Misty O'Brien Designs


from Audrey:

credits: template and kraft paper from Photocentric collab by Emily Powers Designs and Crystal Livesay at Oscraps; everything else from The Real Us kit by One Little Bird Designs at Oscraps


from Barb:

credits: Scalloped cardstock by Jen Martakis; Title alpha: Doodles in the Dark alpha by Scarletheels Media; All other elements from the Urban Spring Collab kit at Scrap Artist; Font is DJB Poppyseed

To participate, just create any paper-crafted item -- a layout (digital, hybrid, or traditional), a card, an altered item, or home decor item using the challenge above. Post a link to your project in the credits, and make sure to share any thoughts about the novel as well. We'll have a new challenge up on June 21, 2010. Thanks for playing along!