Monthly Archives: December 2012

Seven New Winners For The New Year

Post by steph

RevealPreviewBestDealinDigi7

We are just about ready to start ringing in a New Year with a new set of The Digi Files, but first, let’s wrap of December. Time is running out for you to get ALL of these kits for only $7.50 total. After midnight ET tonight, all of these products will go back to the designers’ stores at full retail value of at least $7.50 each.

Here’s what our members have to say:

“I’ve been receiving the monthly kits for several months and there hasn’t been any that I haven’t enjoyed! I am so glad I became a member! I look forward to the first of the month every month and log in immediately to get the new goodies and discover new-to-me designers. I love trying out kits that I wouldn’t normally think of using and then search out the contributing designers for more! I can see me being a member for a long long time so please don’t ever stop!” – Patricia

“It’s always exciting when it’s the first of the month because I get to see all the new kits. It is the best $7.50 I spend each month on Scrapbooking Supplies. What I also really like is that you have introduced me to new designers that I would never heard from! Thanks again for another great month.”- Jennifer B

“I am coming close to my year anniversary of subscribing, which is really hard to believe. When I first decided that I would actually carve out room in my budget for purchasing kits, I decided to join The Digi Game. I wanted to get the most out of my meager budget at the time. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. Really. It opened so many doors creatively– I was introduced to designers I now LOVE, but would have never, ever found simply because they weren’t on my beaten path and I’ve been introduced to to styles, trends and ways of memory keeping with the Playbook and products I download each month. And if for some reason I have an issue, Steph is there to help (BEST customer service ever). It’s worth every. single.” – Penny.

“The first of the month is now my “me” day. Thanks, Daily Digi Crew, for not only enabling my inner artist, but for constantly reminding me to carve out time for me each month. ?” – Carrie A

Here’s a closer look at all of the collections included in The Digi Files this month:

mleCard: Almost Magical

Pink Poppy Press: Back in 1985

Snips And Snails: So Versatile

Kimeric Kreations: Just Spiral Notebooks

Polka Dot Pixels: No Rules

Michelle Batton: Scrap Happens

Mommyish: Southern Geek

Did you know that every four months you are subscribed to The Digi Game level (annual OR monthly) you get an exclusive collaboration from past contributors to THE DIGI FILES? They are AMAZING:

“Story of Everyday Life” is an EXCLUSIVE collection to THE DAILY DIGI that is FREE to those who subscribe to THE DIGI GAME level of membership (available immediately).

TDD_GoodLife_Preview

“The Good Life” is FREE to subscribers of THE DIGI GAME after their fourth payment.

“My Journey My Life” is an EXCLUSIVE collection to THE DAILY DIGI that is FREE to subscribers of THE DIGI GAME after their eighth payment.

“My Life At Play” is an EXCLUSIVE collection to THE DAILY DIGI that is FREE to subscribers of THE DIGI GAME after their twelfth payment (or twelfth month for annual members).

“My Life In Print” is an EXCLUSIVE collection to THE DAILY DIGI that is FREE to subscribers of THE DIGI GAME after their sixteenth payment (or 16th month for annual members).

“My Life At Home” is an EXCLUSIVE collection to THE DAILY DIGI that is FREE to subscribers of THE DIGI GAME after their 20th payment (or 20th month for annual members).

“My Life of Adventure” is an EXCLUSIVE collection to THE DAILY DIGI that is FREE to subscribers of THE DIGI GAME after their twenty-fourth payment (or 24th month for annual members).

MyLifeCelebrationsPre

“My Life of Celebrations” is a brand new exclusive kit that will start going to TOMORROW to members that have been active for 28 months!

NOW…for the FUN part! Leave us a comment sharing one thing you enjoyed about The Daily Digi, The Digi Files, or The Digi Game this month! We will randomly select SEVEN people from the comments below to win $10 in product from one of this month’s contributors. Winners will be announced tomorrow when we will be here with a new issue of The Digi Files and a new look!

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Posted in The Digi Files Posted on December 31, 2012 by steph |

Ringing In a New Year With Printables

Post by steph

Will you be ringing in the New Year with a big party and lots of people? Or will you be like me and keeping it low key and just family? Either way, it might be fun to include some of these printables in the festivities. Note that some of them have the wrong year on them, but because you likely have Photoshop skillz (or another editing program), I decided to include them. Images are linked to the pins on The Daily Digi Printable Pinterest Board, where you can find lots of great (mostly free) printables.

First off, Katie talked last year about doing interviews this time of year and had lots of suggestions. I found this printable that would make it super easy too:

This printable is adorable:

Love these party hats! So bright, fun, and festive:

Some other fun supplies:

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Posted in Hybrid Help Posted on December 30, 2012 by steph |

Projects

Post by Heddy

Credits: The Silver Reed by Heather Joyce and I Believe In Miracles by Pink Reptile Designs

With the new year just around the corner, many scrapbookers are planning on starting a new project. Here is a list of a few ways to consider documenting your 2013.

PROJECT 365 or PROJECT 52

To do Project 365, you commit to taking at least one photo every single day for an entire year. (Hint – go easy on yourself if you miss a day here and there!)

I’ve seen Project 52 interpreted as a photography challenge (52 weekly photos) and as a scrapbooking challenge (52 layouts). It’s whatever works for you!

Confessions of a Project 365 Quitter by Steph
Four Months and 11 Days by Janet
About P365 at Photojojo

PROJECT LIFE

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins. Using a simple grid format and pre-sized journaling cards, you can document your life quickly and consistently. It can be paired with P365, but it does not have to be! Some scrappers do a 2 page spread every week and others scrap as they have material. You could even do it on a monthly basis. Project Life is whatever you want it to be.

NEW 52

Peppermint Granberg of One Little Bird Designs and Christine Newman of Listgirl started the New 52 project. Basically, you try something new-to-you each week, take a picture and write about it. You can note it on your blog or scrapbook about it.

Peppermint’s New52
Katie’s New52

TAKE TWELVE

The “Take Twelve” challenge encourages you to take 12 photos on the 12th day of each month.

Some of Katie’s 12 on 12 blog posts
Take Twelve

MONTHLY ROUND-UP

At the end of every month, Katie answers a standard set of questions. It’s a wonderful keepsake to see what has happened each month – and can even be the starting point for future scrapbook pages. I haven’t done a round-up every month, but I have scrapped a few and I love how easy it is to answer the simple questions and document an entire month.

Round-Up Your Month by Katie
Katie’s Monthly Round-Ups

MONTHLY FAVES

Lynette at NettioDesigns documents her favourite things and moments from each month. What a great and positive gratitude project!

A WEEK IN THE LIFE

Ali Edwards documents a Week In the Life each year. This project aims to capture all the little moments in a typical family life through photography and journaling.

Katie on her Week in the Life project

DECEMBER DAILY

I love to follow Ali Edwards’ December Daily album as she documents her family’s December days.

Pinterest boards for December Daily – here’s The Daily Digi’s December Daily board
Katie’s fun and easy approach to December Daily
The DigiShow episode about December Daily

Are there any other projects that you would enjoy learning more about? What projects are you considering for 2013?

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Posted in Check it Out!, Just for Beginners, Truly Inspirational Posted on December 29, 2012 by Heddy |

Final Friday of 2012

Post by steph

image created using graphics from “Time Flies” by Erin Kay Studio

We are winding up 2012 here at The Daily Digi and this will be the last Funtastic Friday post of the year. Many designers take this week off from designing (and we took the week off from recording a Digi Show too), but there are still some great things going on. Be sure to check out…

This mini kit is free for presslist subscribers and paislee press facebook fans! (Not yet a subscriber or a fan? Links to sign up are on the paislee press blog .) It’s a limited time offer, good thru December 31st so take advantage and grab it now. The kit will go on sale in my shop after the new year.

Liz

50% off EVERYTHING Christmas Special happening at Studio Karen Lewis from Dec 25th – Dec 31st 2012.

klewi_xmas50off

Scrap Orchard is hosting Biggest Loser 2013 … head over to the forums to learn more about the support and motivation challenge starting on January 4th for 12 weeks!

Don’t you sometimes miss the handmade elements and details on your pages that give it that homemade feel? Guess what? Pink Reptile found a solution to that problem! She made this set of beautiful, bright coloured, hand embroidered stitches and knots, scanned and extracted them and voilá: instant handmade gorgeousness to add that extra little oomph to your pages!

If you got a bunch of presents, but don’t have much time to make a card, why not try Heather T.’s “Thanks: Printable Cards & Mini-Kit”, at MScraps?

Project 2013: January – Mega Stash goes on sale this weekend! Grab all eight fabulous packs for just $7.99!
Get full details about this collection at ConniePrince.com

Cindy has a new double-pager All Purpose Album coming to the Sweet Shoppe, perfect for everyday photos, vacation photos, and even Project Life/P365 in 2013!

A digital scrapbooking kit by Erica Zane and Studio Basic Designs at Sweet Shoppe Designs, Jar of Hearts is a fabulously fun kit full of love, fresh colors and endless options – so get scrapping!

Studio Basic has a new template pack out:

Visit Snips and Snails store at One Story Down, buy my *Brand New* Grazzi Kit and get the Journal Cards FREE through 1/3/13. The Journal Cards will automatically be added to your cart at checkout.

Tracy Martin has this new collection: Winter Whites.. loaded with soft white embellishments and papers.

Five packs of ViVa Artistry goodies for one low price, special for ONE WEEK ONLY between December 26-January 1. Check the images for contents of grab bag. We will break open and separate the contents on January 2.

Just a little Freebie to celebrate the New Year on the Girl Boy Girl Designs blog:

From Jacque TDD readers can get an ADDITIONAL 20% OFF of the ALREADY 20% new release discounted price by using coupon code GR8_JLL:

Michelle Godin has a new collab with Litabells Designs, “Build Your Wings”, is all about taking action, moving forward and making dreams come true. Perfect for scrapping your resolutions for the new year! 20% off at the Lilypad this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

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Posted in Funtastic Friday Posted on December 28, 2012 by steph |

Making Memories 366 Days This Year – Year In Review Layouts and Albums

Post by steph

Image created using 365 Stamps by Wild Blueberry (altered)

I LOVE creating year in review layouts and albums! It’s the perfect way for me to take some of my favorite photos from the year and put them on one layout. A year in review layout is a fun way for me to showcase events that happened each month through out the year (since I normally don’t love scrapping events).

We’ve done posts on this before:

Typically, when I’m creating a year in review layout, I go through my photo folders by month (they are organized chronologically by year, then month) and pull out the photos I love and that represent the year to me. I use FotoFusion to automatically create a collage for me with all of my photos. Here are some other programs that will create collages for you:

For one of my year in review layouts for 2012, I decided to document my travels, which were abnormally frequent this past year:

Layout by Steph, supplies used: free map template by Nettio (there is also a tutorial for creating your own), Vagabond by One Little Bird, font is Smith Primiere Schutzy.

I have a New Year’s Eve tradition where I work on a Year in Review Album and I’m looking forward to that again this year (I missed last year). I will most likely do photo collages using one of the programs mentioned above OR some scripts that will place photos in a template for me.

I thought I would share a few of the fun templates I’ve seen popping up around digiland:

Michelle Batton’s templates that are included in The Digi Files through the end of December 2012:

A year in review by Penny Springmann

From Studio Basic:

I think this is a GREAT idea and would create a super quick Year In Review Album:

Cindy Schneider has a lot of Year in Review templates. If this link doesn’t pull them up, just do a search for “year in review cindy” and it will pull up 6 packs. Here’s the link to the templates below.

There are many, many templates out there that can be used for a Year in Review album. They don’t need to have the months on them in order to work. Just look through the template section of your favorite store, you are bound to find something great!

Have you created a 2012 Year in Review layout or album? Link us up in the comments! We would love to see your work!

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Posted in Topics to Scrap Posted on December 27, 2012 by steph |

I’ve become a better photographer because of The Daily Digi

Post by Katie

Anyone who knows me probably realizes how much I like this time at the end of the calendar year. I love to reflect on what has happened, what I’ve accomplished, and what I’ve learned in the last 12 months. It’s a great time to step back and take a mental inventory on where I stand in my life. It’s also the perfect opportunity to think about what I want to accomplish in the upcoming year.

I find that many of these thoughts center around the amazing things I’ve learned from the blog here at The Daily Digi, as well as the weekly podcast of The Digi Show. Of course, the inspiration I get from the team members, the playbooks, and the monthly Digi Files is an incredible bonus in my life as well!

One of the many areas of my life that The Daily Digi has had a big impact on is how I take and process photos. Let’s face it, we all love pictures around here! Photographs are the most common way that we capture our memories and it’s always wonderful to find new tips and tricks to make them even more meaningful. This year, we’ve focused (pun intended) on:

How to photograph people in glasses. My son wears glasses (and so do several of my family members) so this was a huge help for me!

How, when, and why to use a gray card. Great tips!

Smart Phones can be your only camera – even on vacation!

Geotagging on purpose and by accident. There are ways to mark where your photos were taken, and you might not even know you are using them.

Almost 100 ways to take sharper photographs. Wow!

Knowing when and how to crop photos and some simple mistakes to avoid.

You can outsmart your camera! This little line thingy will help you.

Stock photos are a great resource for photography inspiration. Even if you never buy stock photos, just browsing the sites will give you a ton of ideas!

It sure is easier to shoot fireworks when Katrina Kennedy tells you the right settings. I love that she shares the specifics!

Buying a camera doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are a few lists of things to look for.

Shooting from the right angle can make a huge difference. It helps to see how a photo improves based on the shooting position.

There are many ways to edit your photos online and for free. There are plenty of ways to get creative with your pictures – even without expensive software.

Not all cropping ratios are created equal. This has always been confusing for me until Janet explained it.

Light is a key ingredient in great photos. It’s amazing what you can learn from one little tomato!

You can read your camera manual on your iPad, phone, or computer. Why didn’t I think of that?

It’s easy to make gray skies blue. Now, if we could only do that in real life!

Photos become even more powerful when grouped in a series. This has been a big “aha” eye-opener for me. I love shooting photo series now.

There are some great tricks to use when photographing kids. I love Katrina’s tips for figuring out how to capture the young ones in our lives!

Phone cameras are mainstream now – they can even show up on the cover of Time Magazine!

Simple tricks for photo editing. I always appreciate tips to help my photos look their best.

Fixing common photography mistakes. Help for blurry, yellow, or even boring pictures.

Noticing and treasuring moments. Really, it’s all about seeing when it comes to photography.

Those are just the photography posts from 2012 here at The Daily Digi. We’ve been at it since January of 2009 so feel free to look through the photography post archives to find even more.

All of these amazing tips and resources have been shared here for FREE! Most people would have to take expensive classes to get this type of content. We are able to offer these types of posts because of the ongoing support of our members. A BIG THANKS to everyone who supports what we do!

Now go grab your camera and have some fun with it!

katie big

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Posted in Photography Class Posted on December 26, 2012 by Katie | Tagged photography, Photography Class |

Merry Christmas!

Post by steph

From everyone here at The Daily Digi: May this season be filled with peace and joy for you and the ones you love! Merry Christmas!

P.S. Graphic was created using items from our new “My Life of Celebrations” collaboration that will start going out to members once they have been active for 28 months.

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Posted in A Note From Me Posted on December 25, 2012 by steph |

Last Minute Christmas Helps

Post by steph

Hipster Holiday by Mommyish Graphic Design and included in December 2012 Digi Files

Are you in the throws of the hustle and bustle today? It can get pretty crazy! In my effort to help (and not create more stress), I thought I would link up to some of our past Christmas posts that just might help you cross some stuff off your list:

How to get Santa to leave you a letter

Wrap it Up – Digi Style

Photographing The Magic of Christmas Morning

Last minute gift ideas

Holiday Gift Tags

Photographing Christmas

How To Photograph The Lights of Christmas

Holiday Subway Art

Holiday Recipes We Love

Boxing Day

Quick Personalized Thank You Notes

Hopefully, there’s something here that will help you cut out some of the hustle today!

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Posted in Computer & Tech Tips and Tricks Posted on December 24, 2012 by steph |

A Daily Digi Year In Review

Post by steph

It’s always interesting to take a look back at our year here at The Daily Digi. It is exciting for us to be approaching our 4th birthday (on January 1st). It is crazy to me that it’s only been FOUR years. The Daily Digi has been such a big part of my life for so long, it seems like it’s always been here.

Here are some additional items of interest not listed in the infographic above:

we did a total redesign of our Daily Digi iPhone app and it’s been a big success (we released an update recently as well).
we launched our Daily Digi Pinterest account about a year ago and gained over 5,000 followers in that time
we gave away over $1,680 in digital scrapbooking supplies to winners during the year
we recorded 45 new Digi Shows
we sent over 85,000 unique clicks to digital designers’ sites and stores (not including traffic from newsletters, rss subscribers, or iPhone app users)
we launched the free Digital Scrapbooking Manual
we launched the free Digital Design Quality Manual
we launched a new site
we released two new iPhone apps
we were so sad to have a designer in our community pass away
sadly, we’ve seen a lot of stores close during the year

It’s been a busy year! Thank you to our readers and especially the designers and members! It’s because of you that we get to do what we love on a daily basis! We are truly humbled that you invite us into your lives and days. We are looking forward to more amazing things in 2013!!

- Steph, Katie, and team

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Posted in A Note From Me, UN-digi Posted on December 23, 2012 by steph |

Holiday Gift Tags

Post by Katie

One of my favorite benefits of being a digital scrapbooker is that I always have access to wonderful designs at any time of day! When I decided to wrap some gifts the other night, I realized that I didn’t have any tags. No problem though, I just looked through my digi stash (and even did a little bit of quick shopping) to find just what I needed. Love that! All I had to do was print them out and trim them with a paper cutter. So easy!

I used the free LaurensScript font to add the names.

This is the set I used for my nieces & nephew’s presents.

I printed up some different tags for our family gifts.

I used this set for Alex & Riley’s gifts – and this one comes in The Digi Files this month! Smile

My guess is that you have some presents to wrap also right now. Here are some more of my favorite tags from digi land: (all images are linked)

If you need tags for your holiday gifts, check your digi stash. You might even find some tucked in with some holiday kits. It’s fun & easy to add a personal touch to your presents!

katie big

PS. Congratulations to this week’s readers who have won $10 to one of December’s featured designers: KarYn A (Snips and Snails), azika (Pink Poppy Press) and Teresa (mleCard). Thanks for commenting!