The Daily Digi team not only wants you to enjoy The Digi Files each month, we want you to get the most out of the great kits you find inside. To help you do that, we host a challenge so you can find new and fun ways to create a great page out of just a few items. If you’d like to play along, just create a layout of your own using only the items you see below (one item from each of the August Digi Files contributions.) Feel free to recolor or otherwise alter the items, but your page should only include these files. You can also add any fonts you need and small fasteners like staples.

File names:
awolff_latesummer_frame.png
cvisions_happysnapper_pp_paper13.jpg
DD_MidMod_Flower_Fabric4.png
feistuff-emotions-wa1.png
Flergs_InBloom_Paper6.jpg
funkyfont_sissylynn
hazelolive_ohbaby_papers.jpg

Here are a few pages from our team:

Steph used the marquee tool to copy some of the swirls from the wordart and tucked them under the flower.  She also changed the frame to fit the photo.

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Jen first recolored her background paper: I changed the color of the green paper to navy to better match my pictures. I used Image > Adjustments > Replace Color with the values of Hue +180, Saturation -62, Lightness -27. I then duplicated the layer, rotated it clockwise 90 degrees and changed the blend mode to Overlay – opacity 75%. This created a checkerboard effect with the striped paper.

She also modified the word art: I changed the color of the word art by selecting Color Overlay in the Layer Styles palette, picking up the navy color from the photograph with my eyedropper tool, and changing the blend mode to “Hue”.

She used copies of this modified word art to create additional flourishes on the layout by rotating it in different directions.

Finally, she blended a photo into the background: Original photograph clipped to neutral paper (ctrl + alt + g), and blend mode changed to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Using the Eraser tool and a soft brush, I lightly erased the edges of the photo, and the curtain that was hanging in the background of the photo to give more of an extracted look to the photo blend. I then duplicated the layer again, changing the photo copy’s blend mode to Multiply.

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Additional Supplies: Template by Katie the Scrapbook Lady

Katie enlarged the frame to allow for a space for four larger photos. She also enlarged the flower to use as the centerpiece of the layout along with the word art. She commented, “It’s amazing how well all of these items (from completely different designers and kits) worked together!”

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I (Karen) recolored the background paper to brown and rotated it to get a different paper to put behind the larger stamp frame. I recolored the kraft paper a bit to get a few different thin paper strips. I also added a beveled shadow to the word art to make it look a bit  more like chipboard.

We hope you have fun playing along! Be sure to leave a link to your layout or project in the comments section of THIS post to be eligible for the drawing for $10 in product from one of our contributors. Don’t forget that you can also link to our flickr group if you want to upload your page there. Deadline for entries is 10 P.M. EST on Saturday August 14, 2010. Winners will be announced on Sunday morning. (August 15, 2010.)

File Names:
Audacious Designs – an-fresh-stitches
Chelle’s Creations – cc_bugcatcher_paper02
Emily Powers – photology2.3_antique_emilypowers
Queen of Quirk – QQ-CDC-flower1
Michelle Batton-mbatton-abeautifulbeginning-alpha
Valorie Wibbens – vw_beautywithin_p4 List
Girl Designs – Listgirl_TemplateSet_Gumdrops1 *optional

Here at The Daily Digi, we love to inspire our readers to stretch their scrapping skills. Each time we reveal a sponsor’s kit, we show you how WE scrapped with it so you can use that inspiration in your own scrapbooking. We also regularly cover themes and ideas like Scrapping Theme Parks, Using Quick Pages, and give you Embellishment Tips and Tricks. We do all of this so we can share the joy of digi scrapping with you and give you a springboard to jump into your own pages.

Each month we do a special challenge called “From the Files” where we pick one specific item from each of the kits featured in the current month’s DIGI FILES.  Here’s what our team did with this challenge:

by Karen

I used pieces of the template to pull shapes for accents and recolored the paper and flower to complement the aqua paint on the alpha. by Jenn Font: Designer notes, Pea Devon Caps

I didn’t use the template for this one. I recolored the two papers by changing the hue/saturation options. I cut circles out of the photo overlay and used them as accents on the paper, instead of as an overlay, and also to create the center of the flower. Techniques: For the cut out in the bluish paper, I just used the Elliptical Marquee Tool to draw a circle, and then cut it out of the paper. To “tuck” the photo into the cutout I duplicated the photo, placing the paper in between the two layers. Select the top layer and erase the section that you want to appear underneath the paper. Since I had a drop shadow and stroke added to the photo, I created a separate layer for these (right click on the layer and select “Create Layer”), and erased the overlapping sections for each of these layers, too.

by Katie

Here’s what I did: I kept the template the same, but decided I needed more papers to work with. I re-colored Chelle’s paper to make a few other backgrounds.

In PSE 8 I went to “Layer” on the top navigation bar and created a “new adjustment layer” for “Hue/Saturation. Then I used the sliders to adjust to these settings. Hue +139 Saturation +1 Lightness +23 I saved this paper as a new file and used it for my background. I then took that newly re-colored paper and followed the same process and used the following settings: Hue -19 Saturation +21 Lightness -22 I saved this paper as a new file and used it for the tree trunk. I then took that newly re-colored brown paper and followed the same process and adjusted only the lightness to +49. I used this new paper as the centered background. I used the photology texture on the photos and reduced the opacity to 30%. I only used one letter of the alpha – “R” for my daughter’s name. I used it on one of the tree circles as sort of a hidden gem.

We’d love to see what you can do with this challenge! Be sure to leave a link to your layout or project in the comments section of THIS post to be eligible for the drawing for $10 in product from one of our contributors. Don’t forget that you can also link to our flickr group if you want to upload your page there. Deadline for entries is 10 P.M. EST on Saturday July 17, 2010. Winners will be announced on Sunday morning. (July 18th)

File Names:
AnnaBVDesigns – abv_suar_doodleframe2
Elise’s Pieces – ehansen_ParadisePunch_Paper4
Jenn Barrette Designs – jbarrette_feetinthesand_p13
Kristin Aagard – KAagard_NightOwl__Paper3
Karah Fredricks – kfredricks_thumb_blue_button
KsharonK Designs – kskd_butterflybreeze_alpha
FizzyPop – lreiber_TDD_sidekick1 *optional

Here at The Daily Digi, we love to inspire our readers to stretch their scrapping skills. Each time we reveal a sponsor’s kit, we show you how WE scrapped with it so you can use that inspiration in your own scrapbooking. We also regularly cover themes and ideas like Scrapping Theme Parks, Using Quick Pages, and give you Embellishment Tips and Tricks. We do all of this so we can share the joy of digi scrapping with you and give you a springboard to jump into your own pages.

Each month we do a special challenge called “From the Files” where we pick one specific item from each of the kits featured in the current month’s DIGI FILES. This is by far the most challenging scrap assignment for me (Katie) each month, but I’m always amazed at how much I learn from doing this! It is a real challenge to see what you can do with a very limited supply list. I know if you try this challenge, you will learn something new, and grow your skills.  I hope you will join us for the challenge this month! (See details at the end of the post for more information)

Here’s what our team did with this challenge:

Layout by Katie. Fontologie Haphazard font.

I added a back layer to the template so I could use the yellow paper as a border. I recolored the brown paper (using a hue adjustment) to match the blue in the patterned paper. I rearranged a few of the blocks and made the main photo block larger. I used the number from the alpha as part of my title art.

Layout by Jenn. Font: Pea Stacy Doodle and Pupcat

I started out with the template, kept moving things around, and basically only kept a few of the small paper blocks because I wanted the photo to cover the majority of the canvas. Since the sky of the photograph was almost white, I used the yellow paper in the background (changing the color), to add a little more texture. The color of the brown paper was changed to salmon to repeat the color of the little fish in the patterned paper.

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Layout by Karen. Fonts are all by Fontologie: Chubby Times, Giggles, and Printing Primer

I used the template pretty much as is, replacing some paper pieces with tiny photos. I also recolored Kristin’s paper and Karah’s buttons to go with the colors in the photos.

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We’d love to see what you can do with this challenge! Be sure to leave a link to your layout or project in the comments section of THIS post to be eligible for the gift card drawing. Don’t forget that you can also link to our flickr group if you want to upload your page there. Deadline for entries is 10 P.M. EST on Saturday June 19, 2010. Winners will be announced on Sunday morning. (June 20)

Here are the supplies for this months “From The Files” challenge, we chose one item from each designer’s contributions.  The rules are the same; use each of these products at least once and nothing else (except fonts).  We will randomly draw a winner from the layouts linked up in the comments (post on your blog, in the flickr group, or in a gallery) before 10 p.m EST on the due date.  The winner will receive a $10 in product from one of our sponsors and will be announced here on The Daily Digi blog. See details at the end of the post.

File Names:
After5 – nbeaudreau_heartofnature_pp
Connie Prince – cap_ohappyday-paper9
Cinzia – CinziaL_HelloSpring_Elements_Flower4
Jennifer Fox – jfox-tomorrowsanotherday-solid9
Kitschy Digitals – ButterflySewingPin
Kelley Mickus – kmickus-beautifulyou-frame2
Scrapping with Liz – ZineTemp1 – *OPTIONAL

Here’s some inspiration from the team to get you started:

Layout by Karen. Fonts are Sketch Rockwell, Aurulent Sans and Steinem.

Karen filled some of the photo spaces with paper and used the frames as embellishments on the squares.

Layout by Jenn. Fonts: Eccentric, Printing Primer In-Between, and Dirt2 Stickler

Jenn flipped the template upside down and added a stacked photo look to a few of the pictures.

Layout by Melissa

Melissa used the frame on all the photos to help them stand out a bit more.

Layout by Steph. Fonts are clementine and traveling typewriter

Steph recolored the beige paper, the yellow flower, the butterfly, and the arrows to lime to work with the colors in the photo better.  She also recolored the beige paper to white to use as a matte behind the bottom photos.

Layout by Katie: Francis Gothic Demi and Courier New fonts

I straightened the bottom left photo and added the frame. I’m also the only one who left the numbers on Liz’s template – they gave me a great framework to use for a list of 6 of my favorite things right now.

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Isn’t it fun to see how many different ways a few digital supplies can be used? We’d love to see what you can do with this challenge! Be sure to leave a link to your layout or project in the comments section of THIS post to be eligible for the gift card drawing. Don’t forget that you can also link to our flickr group if you want to upload your page there. Deadline for entries is 10 P.M. EST on Saturday May 22, 2010. Winners will be announced on Sunday morning (May 23rd).

P.S. the random winner from Cinzia’s feature yesterday is Nicole who said: “too cute… I’m sooo totally Jones-ing for a Retro Fall. Love the colors! ty, Nicole.”  She won $10 in product from Cinzia!  Check your email Nicole!

Here are the supplies for this months “From The Files” challenge, we chose one item from each designer’s contributions.  The rules are the same; use each of these products at least once and nothing else (except fonts).  We will randomly draw a winner from the layouts linked up in the comments (post on your blog, in the flickr group, or in a gallery) before 10 p.m EST on the due date.  The winner will receive a $10 GC from one of our sponsors and will be announced here on The Daily Digi blog. See details at the end of the post.

File Names:
Danielle Corbitt  – dcorbitt_take2_ribbon3
Dunia -dunia-upsidedown-paper-02
Mary Fran Nitwit  – button_4_maryfran
Julie Billingsley – jbillingsley-bumbleblooms-solid1
Joyce – joyce-justchillrelax-cardboardflower1
Sausan – sdesigns_hip_pp7
Cindy Schneider template – cschneider-templates46-page4 *optional

Here’s what we as a team did with the challenge:

Layout by Amy. Additional credits: fonts- LD unique, SNF Little Star Skinny, CD’s SuzyQ alpha brush

Layout by Katie. Additional credits: Fontologie Messy Bessy font and CK footnote font

Layout by Karen. Additional credits: Fonts are Fontologie Textura Traced and Textura Empty and Printing Primer Lowfat

additional credits…black glitter alpha by Mari Koegelenberg and mini shirt box template by Mel Wilson

Isn’t it fun to see how many different ways a few digital supplies can be used? We’d love to see what you can do with this challenge! Be sure to leave a link to your layout or project in the comments section of THIS post to be eligible for the gift card drawing. Don’t forget that you can also link to our flickr group if you want to upload your page there. Deadline for entries is 10 P.M. EST on Saturday April 17th. Winners will be announced on Sunday morning (April 18th).

P.S. Congratulations to Peggy who was the random winner chosen from the comments on Mary Fran’s post yesterday!  She won $10 in product from Nit Wit!!  Here’s what she said:  I’m so glad I discovered Mary Fran’s designs through this post today. I really like her kits and alphas and the way she displays them. I love fabrics but unfortunatly only have very, very basic sewing skills. So shopping fabrics to use for digiscrapping is even more fun!My favourite collection is the Summer Splash Collection. I also like What’s the buzz and Hey Cupcake a lot! Thank you for the chance to win and the coupon!

P.S.S THANKS so much to all of the readers that take time to leave the designers comments!  They really do love it!  I love that we have such NICE readers!!

Here are the supplies for this months “From The Files”, we chose one item from each designer’s contributions.  The rules are the same; use each of these products at least once and nothing else (except fonts).  We will randomly draw a winner from the layouts linked up in the comments (post on your blog or in a gallery) before midnight EST,  The winner will receive a $10 GC from one of our sponsors and will be announced on

File names of this month’s challenge ingredients:
Danielle Young – dy-herestoyou-pp8
Heather Roselli – hroselli-treasured-blue
MScraps – 4SBD-fortunate-negativeframe
One Little Bird – onelittlebird_forthebirds_watogether
Meredith Fenwick – mfen-sweetthing-brad-ivory
Krystal Hartley – khartley_birdsandbees_pp3
*optional – use a Wendyzine action from the files

Here’s what we as a team did with the challenge:

Layout by Katie. font is Century Gothic

I used a template by Jen Caputo because it had the perfect place to use those fun negative frames.

Layout by Karen

I used the MScraps negative frame as a border/edge and recolored Heather’s paper to create a paper strip. I also beveled the shadow on the One Little Bird word art to give it a bit of dimension since it is on top of several layers of paper.

Layout by Janet Font is DJB Angel Baby

Janet added white around the word art title to make it stand out. You can read about how to do this here.

Hybrid project by Mel Wilson

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Isn’t it fun to see how many different ways a few digital supplies can be used? We’d love to see what you can do with this challenge! Be sure to leave a link to your layout or project in the comments section of THIS post to be eligible for the gift card drawing. Don’t forget that you can also link to our flickr group if you want to upload your page there! Deadline for entries is 10 P.M. EST on Saturday March 2oth. Winners will be announced on Sunday morning (March 21st).

P.S. Congratulations to Julia who was randomly chosen from the comments yesterday to win $10 in product to Krystal’s store!!  Here is what she said: “Really like My piano room. I own Oh No you Didn’t and play with that a lot. ; )”

Here are the supplies for this months “From The Files”,we chose one item from each designer’s contributions.  The rules are the same; use each of these products at least once and nothing else (except fonts).  We will randomly draw a winner from the layouts linked up in the comments (post on your blog or in a gallery) before midnight EST, Saturday February 20th. The winner will receive a $10 GC from one of our sponsors and will be announced on Sunday morning (February 21st).

File names:
Sir Scrapalot – SSA_YMCOT_eyeletframe
Suzy Q Scraps – sqs_sunshine_paper_blue
Mari Koegelenberg – mkc-iluvu-solid001
Janet Phillips – jphil_sensationalsingle1
Cheeky Monkey – CheekyMonkey_AHappyHeart_pp014
C.D. Muckosky – CD_LuvNotes_Love
CatScrap – fruitloopsally_ahth-collab_stitches (shadowed or unshadowed version)

Here’s what I did with this challenge:

Layout by Katie. font is CK footnote.

I turned off the layer of journaling strips on the template. I duplicated the lace border and made an inner frame out of the pieces. I also used the stitching on the frame. And I used pink on a page with my son on it – I don’t do that very often, but I thought it worked just fine with the theme here.

Here is what our team did with this challenge:

Layout by Jacki. Fonts are Giggles by Fontologie and Rub This.

“I moved items around on the template a bit. I’m not very good at using journal strips b/c I tend to be so wordy in my journaling – eep! But I love lots of photos so I used all those. I changed the hue and saturation on the blue paper a bit to match the tone of my DD’s t-shirt. Used the burn tool on the edge of paper to give it more dimension. Also used the heart cutting tool on CD’s wordart to give me some extra hearts to plop here and there.”

Layout by Karen.

“I blended papers from Mari and Suzy Q for the background. I cut up the stitches and the scallop frame and moved quite a bit around on the template for what I wanted to do.”

Layout by Steph font is JPHand

“I recolored the pink paper to a red and the blue to a darker shade of blue, but still coordinating with the LOVE doodle.  I wanted the papers these colors so they would compliment my photos better.  I recolored by going to image>adjustments>hue/saturation and playing with the saturation and light/darkness until I got what I was looking for.  I added the scallop border to the bottom of the papers because a little scallop never hurt anybody (including boys).”

And here’s a fun hybrid project:

Project by Sunghee.

“I used Mari’s CD Sleeve Card from the DigiChick.”

Isn’t it fun to see how many different ways a few digital supplies can be used? We’d love to see what you can do with this challenge! Be sure to leave a link to your layout or project to be eligible for the gift card drawing.

P.S. The random winner from yesterday’s comments on Janet’s feature was Mary, who said:

“I’ve been a BIG fan of Janet’s templates, since back when I first discovered her at SBG. I continued to purchase her templates while she was at TDD and, have continued to do so at Sweet Shoppe Designs.  There are several of Janet’s NEW templates on my wish list but the one I’m wanting most would be: The Birthday Book Album Set.  Good Luck to everyone!”

Congratulations Mary!  You won a $10 GC to Janet’s store!  Check your email!

Here are the supplies for this months “From The Files”, the rules are the same; use each of these products at least once.  We will randomly draw a winner from the layouts linked up in the comments (post on your blog or in a gallery) before midnight EST Sunday. The winner will receive a $10 GC from one of our sponsors and will be announced on Monday morning.

Here are the file names:
Paislee Press: Paislee-Once-pp1
Sweet Shoppe Designs: kcroninbarrow-tddcollab-pp2
Vinnie Pearce: VPearce_Bag_queen_012
Michelle Underwood: MUnderwood_Youpickedme-stitches
Digital Design Essentials: Journal_Spot_Orange_GinaCabrera
Something Blue Studios: SBS_Alt365_Jan_wordart-today
Traci Reed: treed-littlemiss-string
*BONUS* DJB Leoni (font in SSD kit)

Here is what our team did with this challenge:

Layout by Karen: “I used most of the stuff as is, but duplicated the wordart a few times (and varied the blending each time) and cut little hearts out of Kristen’s paper and recolored it to match the pink in Danielle’s word art.”

Layout by Jacki

Layout by Katie

I wanted to share some great find from around digiland this week:

If you would like these fun cupcake wrappers and toppers, it’s really easy and it helps HAITI (you choose the charity and the amount)!  Make sure you read FOR THE LOVE OF HAITI if you haven’t yet.

Ali Edward’s did a series of posts this week all about digital scrapbooking, be sure to read them for some great tips and information:

Scrapbooking With Your Computer: Day 1

Scrapbooking With Your Computer: Downloading, Unzipping, and Organizing Digital Elements

Scrapbooking With Your Computer: Opening, Recoloring, Adding to a Photo, Loading Brushes

Scrapbooking With Your Computer: Digital Product Definitions & Suggestions

Scrapbooking With Your Computer: Creating Layouts With Layered Templates (video tutorial)

Here’s some other things I’m loving:

P.S. Sharon S. is the random winner from our post yesterday, she won a $10 GC to Vinnie’s store and this is what she had to say about Vinnie’s stuff:  “I love Vinnie’s photo masks, especially Grunge Floral Masks 01! I’m really thinking of making a purchase today!”  Check your inbox Sharon.

Over the next couple of months you will see some changes around here.  Some will be really big and noticeable, others will be more subtle.  Today is a smaller change.  We have been doing the monthly “More With Four” challenge since the first Digi Files went live almost a year ago.  We are changing the name to “From The Files” and instead of four products there will be ONE product from EACH collection in THE DIGI FILES that month (even the hybrid project by Mel this month ).  The rules are mostly the same:

• use all of the supplies listed somehow on your layout
• do not use any other supplies
• you may use any fonts or templates you want (this may change from month to month depending on our contributors)
• post the layout somewhere (gallery, blog) where we have access to view it
• come here and add your information in the McLinky tool below (the link to the layout and your email address in case you win)
• do all of this before midnight on December 20, 2009

Here are the supplies straight from the files this month:

Here is what our team did and some explanations on some of their tricks:

Layout by Karen: I did a few things with this… I changed the color of Nancy’s paper a few times. I cut the frame down to hold a single photo. I also cropped Mel’s paper block to a smaller strip and extracted the button from the Wetfish flower…

Layout by Katie: I duplicated the frame 2 more times and merged the layers to form the background mat for my photo. I also erased the word “date” and just made it say “Today” since I didn’t know the date of this old photo from 1982. Additional credits: Template by Kelly Mize Font is CK footnote.

Layout by Jacki:  I extracted stripes from the plaid paper and button from the flower. Made a new layer on the flower and recolored it and gave it a little opacity. Recolored Nancie’s paper a couple times. Font is Typewriter.

Layout by NeeNee: Font is Pea Dana Anne

Isn’t it amazing to see all of the fun things that can be done with the same supplies? Now, it’s your turn!  We can’t wait to see what YOU do!!

We have been busy on Facebook and Twitter giving away gift certificates to our sponsors stores.  Congratulations to the people that won a $10 GC (they have already received their gifts)

Twitter:  MrsMKnight, klbsgb, wetfishdesigns, judet95,  and FeAlves

FaceBook: Tracey, Kelly, Angie, Jodie, and Lisa

It’s that time of month again…time for another MORE WITH FOUR challenge!  What can YOU do with just FOUR products?  This month’s challenge calls for really stretching your creativity as you have just one paper, a few elements, and one awesome alpha!  I can’t wait to see what you can do!

Here is the basic set of guidelines:

• You will be given four digital products.
• You are to create a layout or hybrid project using these four products only
• For a digital layout, in addition to these items you can use staples, paper tears or tearing actions, and fonts
• You can alter the items shown as long as the item is still recognizable.
• You need to use some of each of the items.

Here are some layouts from THE DAILY DIGI artist team!

Layout by Karen: I recolored the paper, cut up the stitches and resized the flowers and branches a few times…

Layout by Jacki: To achieve a darker look to my LO I used ‘linear dodge’ and ‘hard light’ on some of the flowers and the alpha. I also darkened some flowers, ‘burned’ the edge of the paper and darkened the stitching a bit too. Font is Pea XOXO from Karen.

Layout by Janet: I selected a small part of the leaves and enlarged them to create the flower stems.  I extracted the leaves from the branch element and added them to my flowers.

Now it’s YOUR turn!  Create a page with the MORE WITH FOUR challenge papers/elements from THE DIGI FILES 9 and have a chance to win a set of coupons from our sponsoring designers!  Post a link to your layout before Saturday!