All of us have been effected by the devastation we have seen in Haiti. The families ripped apart, the death, the missing…it is truly heart-breaking!  It is hard to know what to do and it’s difficult to think that our little bit we might do, would really make a difference.  The truth is that doing SOMETHING, no matter how big or small, is so much better than doing nothing!  A dollar doesn’t seem like much, but a dollar donated by each of my readers CAN make a difference!!

So, let’s do something for THE LOVE OF HAITI…

I teamed up with Cindy from Skip To My Lou to make some very cute Valentine cupcake wrappers and toppers.  Just  email me telling me that you donated to a charity of your choice for Haiti and I will send you a link to the goodies (there are 7 papers – 4 patterened and 3 solids, 1 cupcake wrapper template, 1 cupcake topper template, 2 printable cupcake wrapper pdfs, and 1 printable cupcake topper pdf.)  No contribution is too small!!  Together we can make a difference!

If you need ideas of great charities, the BBB has a list of charities that meet the Wise Giving Alliance’s Standards for Charity Accountability.

P.S. If you would like a recipe for those cupcakes, check out Cindy’s post on Haiti.

P.S.S Our winner in today’s GIFTaway is Lor who won a $10 GC to Something Blue Studios!  Lor was randomly selected from those that have purchased The Digi Files this month.

There were lots and lots of questions posted in the “What You’ve Been Wondering” post that I did at the beginning of the year.  I am going to do my best to answer them If you really aren’t interested in me, my feelings aren’t hurt, feel free to skim or skip to the bottom where I have posted some fun finds from Twitter this week.

Many of the questions that were asked can be answered in the “about me” section of the site, that was just put up about a week ago or so (including a photo ).  Things such as:

• how long I’ve been scrapbooking
• how I found digital scrapbooking
• which Steph I am (yes, I am the same Steph that is on the team…lol)
• if I have kids
• what I like to do when I am not digital scrapbooking
• my goals for the site
• what my digital background is and where else you might have seen me (or my work).

You can also read more about me on my artist’s page.  Some of the things that you will find there are:

• my favorite layout
• who my scrapping idols are
• what I can’t scrap without

You can find out information about my fonts, the 10 things I love and 10 things that bug me in the Fontologie Sponsor Spotilight.

Now, for some of YOUR other questions…

What did you like to do as a teen and do you enjoy traveling?

Growing up, my parents tried to give us experiences instead of things. It was not uncommon for us to get a trip for Christmas instead of toys.  We were fortunate because of my dad’s job, we got to do a lot of traveling for very low cost or free.  So, as a teenager I really enjoyed traveling and hanging out with my friends.  I have lot of really great memories of both.  I am still in touch with some of my friends from my childhood/teen years and enjoy seeing them when I go back home for a visit (I have to give a shout out here to Julie who reads TDD everyday THANKS).  Those two things also helped lead me to scrapbooking at a pretty young age (I have many magnetic albums full of friends and trips…lol).

As a result of my traveling experiences growing up, it is something that I LOVE to do now with my family.  My husband is the king of finding really great travel deals (although Janet did beat him recently…lol…but, her area IS cheaper than the U.S. ).  I am willing to go just about anywhere just about anytime!!  I love seeing my kids experience new things and places.  There are many, many things in this world I would go without before I would give up those memories we create together on trips!  I know when my siblings get together now, as adults, we usually always end up talking about one of the trips and the fun memories we have!  I want that for my kids.

Colors…

There were a couple questions about colors.  My favorite color in general is PINK…has been for as long as I can remember.  As for what colors I like to work with, usually bright colors.  I love more saturated colors and have a more difficult time with pastels.  Some layouts need pastels, but for some reason, I usually struggle with them.

Snacks…

There were a couple of questions about what snacks I enjoy when I scrap.  Those that have scrapped with me know that I LOVE my chocolate covered raisins!  As for sweet or salty…love both!

I get a little jealous of the yummy snack food the Canadians have that we can’t get in the U.S. (they have much better chocolate, but we did finally get lime potato chips here…only took 4 years…lol).

Time…and my one little word

There were a couple of questions on this, “I was wondering is how you manage to find so much to post daily and still design, and keep things so fresh and interesting?”

First, thanks for to compliment!! Designing has really taken a back seat for me since I started running TDD, because I can’t do it all, even though I LOVE it all…lol.

Finding things to post about comes from a variety of places, your questions and ideas, the reader survey, our team, things I see, things I wonder myself, and Katie and I brainstorm on stuff as well.  It’s really great because there are far more ideas for posts than there are days to post…lol!!

another similiar question,  “Do you have a daily schedule? Do you scrap at the same time every day? Do you cook more or get take out? Do you have a cleaning lady? I’m struggling to get everything done in a day…so I’d like to hear how you run things to be soooo efficient! Hee Hee!”

Well, my one little word for 2010 is ROUTINE…lol!! I’m just not very good at having routines, but as I have talked to friends that have very clean homes, they tell me about their routines.  My goal this year is to get better at having morning routines, nightly routines, and routines in general…lol.

I do not have a cleaning lady.  I have a daughter that is a huge help and so is my husband!  I did a post a while back on a couple of tools that help me, Once a Month Mom and Motivated Moms. I just did a big cooking session last Saturday and cooked for 6 hours straight and had 26 dinners in the freezer when I was done!  Now, instead of an hour or two each night on dinner, I spend a few minutes

The thing I keep telling myself is that balance does not mean doing everything perfectly!  I can’t do it ALL and do it all perfectly!  I just try to focus most of my attention on the most important things.

What do you struggle with now or what did you struggle with the most when you first started scrapping?

When I first started digital scrapbooking, I can remember being frustrated that I didn’t know how to do whatever it was I wanted to do.  Now, there are so many tutorials online, that it’s a simple Google search away.

Now, my biggest struggle is making time to scrap all of the layouts I want to get scrapped.  It’s all about priorities!  I love that doing posts on TDD makes me make time to scrap!

What TDD blog post of the week do you enjoy doing most?

Honestly, there isn’t one that I don’t love!  I love learning about all of the sponsors and working with them, so many talented and NICE people!!  I love seeing all of you discover them as well.  I love sharing a tutorial or process and having someone say that they learned from it.  It has been exciting to do some un-digi posts and have you guys say that they are changing you…wonderful!   I am really, really LOVING all of the feedback we are getting from comments this month and might start going through withdrawls when the birthday party is over…lol!!

Lastly,

What makes you happy?

Well, all of the things that are listed above…and then some.

Okay….I am SICK of talking about me!!!!

Let’s end this post with some fun stuff we found on Twitter and digiland this week:

I love this album:

Paislee Press announced a very cool new photography workshop on Friday’s

Misty Cato has this great tutorial on threading elements.

Yin has some free templates up.

I love the mission behind Songbird Avenue and LOVE this charity idea on their blog.  Love these cards too:

Love these:

Love these too:

P.S. Our winner for today’s GIFTaway is Bobbie, who said, “Love it, and just had to buy it.. TDF#11, i could not resist.. I REALLY really want that Adorned kit..” Congratulations Bobbie!  You just won a $10 GC to Paislee Press! THANKS!

supplies by Stephanie2 at The Daily Digi

It hardly seems real that today is our FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!  365 days, 388 posts, 78 awesome sponsors, 10 Digi Files, and 1 awesome collaboration kit by all of our past sponsors (this summer).  Countless ideas, moments of inspiration, and tips to help us all preserve our memories!  We so appreciate all of our readers, our customers, and our sponsors who have all contributed to this being possible!

We will be celebrating our birthday all month long here at The Daily Digi!  Here are some of the fun things we have planned:

Confetti by Elise’s Pieces

First off, we of course, have a super issue of THE DIGI FILES this month! Here is a list of our AWESOME contributors to TDF11:

Gina Cabrera of Digital Design Essentials

Michelle Underwood at 2peas

Danielle from Something Blue Studios

Traci Reed at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Liz of Paislee Press

Vinnie Pearce at Pixel Canvas

Sweet Shoppe Designs is our store contributor with an EXCLUSIVE kit!

Layered quick pages by The Daily Digi Artists

When I first discovered digital scrapbooking stores and communities (2004), one of the designers I purchased from frequently was Michelle Underwood.  One of the things she did that I LOVED was she had semi-layered quick pages!  Each paper was on it’s own layer and then all of the elements were merged on a layer. I loved the flexibility it allowed.  I have often wondered why more designers haven’t done this. I decided this past September that I wanted to include some layered quick pages in our birthday edition of THE DIGI FILES!  Our team put together some fabulous 8×8 quick pages that we will be revealing through the month and they are all included in THE DIGI FILES (11 layered quick  pages in all).

These quick pages are COMPLETELY layered!  Each element, paper, and even a clipping mask for your photos, are on their very own layer.  So, if you want your photo above that ribbon, no problem, switch the layers around!  Need a different shape or size for your photo, no problem, you can adjust it!  I am so excited to share these with you!  One thing to note is that the layers do not have drop shadows included.  We figured you could easily add your own (since shadows can be a very personal thing) and if you want some help, our team highly recommends Kristin’s layer styles!

We have some GREAT sponsors that are donating some awesome products this month as well.  We will be randomly drawing from ALL of the names of those customers who purchase THE DIGI FILES 11.  When TDF11 is taken down from our shelves at the end of the month, we will randomly draw winners for the following products:

Roll and Tumble Press

You know how much I LOVE letterpress!!  Roll and Tumble Press has these wonderful letterpress posters for us, there will be one winner for each poster.

About Roll and Tumble:

“Charming painter turned letterpress printer + Art school dropout turned tattoo artist bond over a love of music, quirky collections and dusty junk shops. One, big, drafty house, three rescue dogs, and a chance meeting with a true old time printer…………Roll & Tumble Press is born. We print using traditional letterpress methods…..using all original illustrations, hand cut into wood or linoleum, pair these with all hand set antique wood or metal type, hand mix our inks and hand crank each one on a vintage press. Letterpress Printed By Hand!”

Modern June

What kind of a birthday party would be complete without a birthday banner?  One lucky winner will win TWO banners (so you have enough pendents to spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY!)

I LOVE these chalk oilcloth banners by Modern June and must say that I am very envious of whomever wins these!  Cute colorful oilcloth on the back and chalk oilcloth on the front, so you can change the expression based on the event you are celebrating.  Watch for these banners to make an appearance in the February issue of one of my favorite magazines, Country Living.

Curly Birdie

I thought these little Mary Jane’s were sooo CUTE and would be a great gift for a little girl’s actual birth day…lol.

“I am the Momma of three lovely girls 5 and under. My girls keep me filled with joy and very busy too. I crochet in between laundry loads, dishes and kids! But it all works out pretty well. I enjoy using a lot of color in anything I create.”  You can find her blog here and on Twitter here.

One winner can select the style and size of shoe of their choice.

Past Contributors

ONE lucky winner will receive ALL of the following products from our past contributors to THE DIGI FILES:

$10 GC to Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

$10 GC to Designs by Leora

$10 GC to Sweet Shoppe Designs

$10 GC to Taylor Made

$10 GC to Shabby Miss Jenn Designs

$10 GC to Wimpy Chompers

4 templates packs of your choice from Yin Designs

$10 GC to Wetfish Designs

$10 GC to Danielle Engebretson

$10 GC to Pamela Donnis

$10 GC to Jacque Larsen

$10 GC to The Hybrid Kid

Isn’t that AMAZING!?!?

gift by Elise’s Pieces

Finally, EVERYDAY during the month of January, we will have a random GIFTaway for a $10 gift certificate to a contributor’s store.  How will we choose the winners?  It will be different everyday, it might be from random comments in a post (or previous post), from customers that are registered in the store, or from customers that have purchased THE DIGI FILES to that point in the month.  You will never know (although if you read us often, you might catch on to a little bit of a pattern once in a while ).  Watch the bottom of our posts each day to see the winner’s announced.  We will also have some fun GIFTaways featured in posts that everyone will be able to grab!  There will be GIFTS for everyone!  We hope you have fun celebrating with us all month long! 

P.S. I am always a little surprised when I turn on the new Digi Files for the month that there seem to be people waiting for it to be live and buy it immediately, so I thought it would be fun to randomly draw a winner from the purchasers of THE DIGI FILES 11 up to this point.  Our first GIFTaway of our daily gifts goes to Lisa N who won a $10 gift certificate to Something Blue Studios.  Lisa, your certificate is in your inbox!

I cannot believe we are so close to 2010 (and many of you are already there)!! HAPPY NEW YEAR to those of you on the the other side of the world and to each of you as you ring in 2010!! It really is crazy how fast time moves, the older I get! I know lots of digi scrappers stay home on New Year’s Eve, so I wanted to remind you that TODAY is the last chance to pick up this month’s issue of THE DIGI FILES (TDF10). It is amazing! It’s HUGE and it is not to be missed!! To see bigger previews of everything included, go here.

It’s that time of year, when everyone is thinking about year-in-review layouts.  I thought I would leave you with some inspiration:

From ZigZagScraps: 2009 in Review Template by Dúnia (me), Smells Like Teen Spirit Kit  by Dúnia (me)

Layout by Dunia, supplies: From ZigZagScraps: 2008 in Review Template by Dúnia (me); Paper, Stitches, Buttons, Bow, 2009 alpha from Whole Lotta Love by Dúnia (me); Paper, Doodle, Ribbon Flower, Stitch from Let’s Go Kit by Amanda R Designs and Dúnia (me); Paper, Button, Staples from My Way Kit by Dúnia (me); Doodling Page Frames by Annick Philibert; Pied de Poule by Kimmie Prout.  Paper from Essential Colors 2 by Lili @scrapartist; Lilypad Ribbons by Natalie Braxton @thelilypad; Fonts: 1942 report and AL Charisma

Layout by Rachael, supplies: Doodled Paper flowers and Doodled Paper Frames by Kate Hadfield at The Lilypad, Art Chick Kit by Kristy Ann Nerness, Kraft Paper and Key Elements: Stitching by Heather Roselli at Sweet Shoppe Designs, Real Buttons by Lisa Whitney, Hunk O Staples ny Katie Pertiet, The Basic Framing (pocket) by Welli Designs

Emily Powers Art Nation: Blossom and Experiment No. 10 template; Gina Miller stitched border; Emily Merritt Meshy Brushy; Lauren Reid Perfectly Sketchy alpha

From Katie: This one from 2006 is with a template from Heather Ann (she usually does a year in review template) and it is one of my favorites. A picture from each month and 3 journaled tidbits about each month.

From Katie: This one is a collection of our favorite photos from 2007. This was also a template from Heather Ann. I printed this out and made Christmas Cards with it and I also framed a 12×12 version with a frame from IKEA. It is hanging in our basement and we all still love to look at it.

Layout by Karen, supplies: Danielle Engebretson Share the Moments kit from TDF10; Zig Zag Scraps word strip from TDF10; Janet Phillips template from Collection 15; Lauren Reid Penelope alpha; Fonts are Sketch Rockwell and Audrey Neal Baby Birdie

Layout by NeeNee, supplies: Template; A Year in Review Kits used: All I Want For Christmas, Autumn Spice, My Fair Lady, Forever Yours, Family Tree, Holly Days, 2009 Date Element; Word Jumbles; Dates, all by Penny Springmann; Away In A Manger by Penny Springmann and Traci Reed; Absolute Cherry Crush by Penny Springmann, Lauren Grier, and Shawna Clingerman

Some templates to help the process along:

We are busy behind the scenes getting ready for a month long birthday celebration that will start tomorrow, on New Year’s Day! You will not want to miss anything during January. We have lots of fun and surprises planned during the month! We will also be launching TDF11 tomorrow and have some amazing designers lined up (as we do each month ). You will also see some changes throughout the month that YOU have asked for! We can’t wait to show our readers and customers just how much we appreciate you! Hold on tight, it’s going to be a really fun ride!!