I am excited to welcome Audrey of Audacious Designs back to THE DIGI FILES this month!!  Audrey was one of the very first contributing designers in THE DIGI FILES #1!  I absolutely love Audreys use of color in her kits and can’t wait to show you what our team did with her contribution this month!  Here’s a closer look at what she contributed to THE DIGI FILES this month:

Here’s what our team created using this kit:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Janet Phillips Collection 49 template; Font is Steinem

Layout by Katie, additional supplies: Template No. 39 by Ali Edwards, Krafty bare paper by Katie Pertiet, DJB Tracy Script font.

Hybrid layout by Sunghee

Layout by SharonS (a reader), additional supplies: brush: R. Young, font: SF Katie.  Sharon made this layout to go inside her purse that displays layouts.  She decided it was ‘perfectly find to scrap my boys in pink when it’s for my purse’.  I love it!

Layout by Sharongrey8 (a reader)

Hi! My name is Audrey Neal. I currently design digital scrapbooking products under the name Audacious Designs at Design House Digital. Over the past six years, my articles and designs have been featured in numerous idea books and magazines, such as Scrapbook Trends, BH&G Scrapbooks Etc., Memory Makers, and Scrapbook Answers. As a writer, my work includes monthly columns with Memory Makers, Scrapbook Dimensions, and Scrapbook and Cards Today, as well as editorial positions with Digital Artist Magazine and Scrapbook Dimensions. Along with co-author May Flaum, I wrote a book about hybrid scrapbooking called Paper + Pixels, which features step-by-step techniques for beginning, intermediate, and advanced scrapbookers. I’ve also released two paper lines with Dream Street Papers and two stamp sets with Inque Boutique.
I live in western Kentucky with my husband, Chris, and two daughters, Cassidy and Cami. A former middle and high school English teacher, I currently work fulltime for a federal education grant at a local state university. When I’m not designing or scrapbooking, I love to read, take photos, travel, camp, scour flea markets and thrift stores, and attend concerts.

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Credits: everything from Audacious Designs: Winterberry (patterned and solid papers, elements, word art); Sketchy Stamped Alpha; TTV Frames; Pieces of Me (elements: notebook paper and messy stitches)

I started off as a paper scrapper. After I had my oldest daughter, I decided to create a small scrapbook album for her grandparents; we lived 6 hours from them and there were lots of everyday things that they never got a chance to see. So I gathered up some of my favorite photos of her and browsed the scrapbooking aisle at Wal-mart. This was back in 1997, so my options were fairly limited: brightly colored patterned papers, stickers, and a spiral-bound 6×6 album. It was nothing fancy, but it achieved my purpose. After completing that project, I didn’t scrap again until 2000 or so. I picked up a copy of Becky Higgins’ Scrapbooking Secrets book and decided to scrap our wedding photos. From that point on, I was hooked. I paper scrapped up until 2006. At that point, I was working with Scrapbook Answers magazine and had gotten a number of hybrid assignments, so I started playing around with some of the options that using my computer gave me. I co-authored a book on hybrid scrapbooking with May Flaum, titled Paper + Pixels, which really made me curious about moving further into the digital realm. Not long after that, I attempted my first digital layout. Slowly but surely (after once claiming that I’d never go digital), I started making the transition from paper to hybrid to fully digital.

Designing just seemed to grow naturally from that point, after I started really learning my program. I was just so excited about all the things I could do, and these ideas started forming in my mind. I started off making templates and handwritten word art, and then progressed to papers and elements.

I love color and pattern and the way that those two things can combine to tell their own little story. A lot of my kit ideas come from little words or phrases that I hear, that spark an idea. Then it’s a matter of finding the right mix between colors, patterns, elements, and those words or phrases. Honestly, I’m not nearly as talented, artistic or program-proficient as a lot of other designers out there. But I work hard to put together kits that take a common theme and add a little bit of humor or whimsy, feature a great color scheme, and keep things simple so that your words and pictures can be the main focus.

I scrap on an HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop with 3 GB of RAM. I also have a 500 GB EHD that we use for backup, and I have a Western Digital Passport EHD with 360 GB of storage that I use for storing my scrapbooking and design files – it’s perfect for the traveling I have to do because it is so small.

I use Photoshop CS (the original version) and PSE 5.0 for designing, as well as CorelDRAW. I know that I should upgrade at some point, but to be honest, there are so many other things that I’d rather spend the money on.

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50, which is essentially a hybrid – it’s more than a point and shoot, but it’s not quite a dSLR. It does give me the option to shoot in RAW, and I can change lenses on it. It has been a great transitional camera for me, but I would love to upgrade to a true dSLR.

I have a Wacom Bamboo tablet, but my oldest daughter uses it much more than I do. I’m very much a creature of habit when it comes to the way I work, so even though I have some fancier tools and programs available to me, I stick to what I’m most comfortable with.

My favorite product is probably my Chemistry collection (papers, flair, elements, word art, and grids).

It’s one of those instances where a color scheme and a phrase came together perfectly and melded into a really fun take on a love-themed kit.

Here are some of my favorite products by Audrey

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Audrey’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Audrey’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST)!

As a thank you to our readers, Audrey has created this coupon to share with all of us!

I am happy to welcome the amazing Emily Powers to THE DIGI FILES this month!!  Many of us will know and recognize her from her beautiful photography work.  She also has some great digital scrapbooking products!  She contributed some really fun products this month that you can get in The Digi Files EXCLUSIVELY (this will be your only chance at these products):

Look at the really fun things my team created with these products:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Dani Mogstad Just Stay Little kit; Ali Edwards word art; Anna Aspnes stitches

Layout by Katie

Layout by Jenn, additional supplies: Explore, Learn, Grow by Sahlin Studio, Font: CK Jot, Chalk Dust

Hybrid project by Sunghee, detailed instructions for this project will be found in July’s Playbook which will be out July 27th.

Layout by SharonS (a reader), additional supplies:  Papers, word art, ribbon: Two Little Pixels Collab, Template: Janet Phillips, Photo overlay: Emily Powers, Acrylic heart: Nikki, Flowers and pearls, Hero Arts, Font: CK Journaling

John Newton once wrote, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” I’m a mom, a wife, an artist, a dog lover, a photographer, a writer, an eternal optimist, a teacher, a limping worshiper, a storyteller, a dreamer, an entrepreneur, a night owl, and a bibliophile. I’m spontaneous, determined, loyal, whimsical, smart, eclectic, organized, passionate, creative, generous, ordinary, and resourceful. Mostly, I’m just me, Em.

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Photo dates are a free and fun way to grow as a photographer. Your community is an oyster; there are pearls hiding in the most unassuming, ordinary places. Grab your camera, head out solo and capture the world around you. Want to experiment with modern portraiture? Invite a significant other, child or friend to model for you. I like to occasionally schedule a photo date with another camera enthusiast and take turns photographing each other’s families; that way I’m in a picture once in awhile too!

Go on a photo date each month and your skills will dramatically improve as you wade outside of your comfort zone and photograph new people, places and things in new ways. Classes, books and workshops are helpful, but they cost money and nothing compares to self-discovery; get out there and engage the craft!

I’ve been scrapbooking, in one form or another, since high school, but I started digital scrapbooking and experimenting with photography in January of 2006, six months after my daughter was born. My sister-in-law, Angela, stumbled onto digital scrapbooking while browsing online. She introduced me to the concept and we both said goodbye to our paper scrapbooking supplies and never looked back.

Addy was my creative catalyst. Every day she changed, grew, moved on to something new and memories slipped between the cracks. I think it’s important to look back at where we’ve been in order to see where we are going. This is one of the primary reasons that I document our journey through photography, art and storytelling. One day, Addelyne will look back. She will know that she was loved and wanted from the very beginning. She’ll be able to trace the themes and stories that crisscross her life. She’ll know where she’s been and that will set her free to see where she’s going.

About a year after I dove into digital scrapbooking and photography, my entrepreneurial mind began to spin. Deann McDaniel, a close friend of Nancy Rowe Janitz, emailed me and suggested Angela and I contact the ScrapArtist owner about selling templates in her store. Long story short, Two Sisters Designs was born. When Deann decided to open her own store, we joined her team of storytellers. At that time, Angela and I also started individually designing digital scrapbooking products. After {We Are} Storytellers closed, I took a six-month hiatus, but then decided to join my good friend Liz Tamanaha at Oscraps.

It’s always been important to me to love what I do and do what I love! I agree with interior designer, Summer Thornton: “If you don’t love what you do, do something else. Even if you have to take a pay-cut, even if you have to ’start over.’ Do whatever it takes to do what you love.”

I’m inspired by my family, particularly my husband and daughter. Matt is my heartbeat. We’ve been high school sweethearts and best friends since the 10th grade. It’s stirring to wake up to your soul mate every day. My daughter, Addelyne Raine, is four-and-a-half. She’s a 3’6” adventure. If Matt is my heart, Addy is my soul. She’s taught me to live moment-by-moment with my eye’s wide open.

My Abba inspires me most of all.

“Welcome, child,” he said.

“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”

“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.

“Not because you are?”

“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

“For a time she was so happy that she did not want to speak.”

(From Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis)

Blogs are never-ending source of inspiration. There are many blogs I like to pop in and visit every day.

Computer – MacBook Pro, Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Memory 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Programs – Adobe Creative Suite

Camera – Canon 20D

Printer/Scanner – Epson Stylus Photo RX580

Tablet – Wacom Bamboo

The Hybrid@Home, PHOTOLOGY, Expectantly Yours Kit + Album lines are all my favorite. One example from each is shown below.

The PHOTOLOGY line

Here are some of my favorite products by Emily

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Emily’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Emily’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST tonight)!

Emily will be leaving digital designing and closing her store at the end of July, the products in THE DIGI FILES this month will not be avilable in her store (so grab them while you can).

As a thank you to our readers, Emily has given us this coupon code to share with all of you!

DD50%OFFEMILY

AMOUNT: 50% OFF YOUR PURCHASE

EXPIRES: SUNDAY, JULY 25

ONE TIME USE.

GOOD ON ALL EMILY POWERS PRODUCTS.

EXCLUDES COLLABORATIVE PRODUCTS.

INCLUDES CU PRODUCTS.

COUPON CODE FOR TWO SHUTTER SISTERS:

DD50%OFF2SIS

AMOUNT: 50% OFF YOUR PURCHASE

EXPIRES: SUNDAY, JULY 25

ONE TIME USE.

GOOD ON ALL TWO SHUTTER SISTERS (ANGELA + EMILY POWERS) PRODUCTS.

EXCLUDES COLLABORATIVE PRODUCTS.

INCLUDES CU PRODUCTS.

I am very excited to finally welcome Queen of Quirk, Jan with us in THE DIGI FILES this month!!  I have long admired Jan’s work as a designer and as a philanthropist (she is co-founder of Songbird Avenue, the only official digital scrapbooking charitable organization). The Queen of Quirk line is a very clean and crisp line of products with a bit of an artists twist to them and very unique.  Here is a closer look at her contributions to THE DIGI FILES this month:

Here’s some inspiration created with Cirqu du Ciel by Jan:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Queen of Quirk Scrap Canvas: Off Kilter template

Layout by Amy Wolff

Layout by Melissa L, additional supplies: Kristen Rice stitching; font is 1942 Report

Layout by Katie, additional supplies: Template by Sine. Traveling Typewriter font.

Layout by Heather (Queen of Quirk CT)

You can find several more layouts created by the Queen of Quirk CT, TDD readers, and our CT in the Team Inspiration category!

Hello there. My name is Jan and I live in Germany with my hubby and 3 daughters, Lara, Mia and Norah. We always joke that we should have had 2 more kids, Oprah and Paul, so we could just yell “LMNOP!!!” whenever we wanted all of them. We’ve lived in Germany and England since 2003 and it’s very much starting to feel like home over here. We get to travel all over (when volcanoes aren’t acting up, of course) and experience new cultures and new people. It’s very exciting and lends itself to widely varied inspiration that creeps into every aspect of our lives. When I’m not buried in Photoshop, designing digi goodies, I am either baking, sewing, gardening, painting or finding that millionth other hobby I haven’t tried yet that I just can’t wait to sink my teeth into. It’s not hard to do with 3 little girlies in the house. They’re always up for anything crafty. The next projects on my to-do list? Vintage pillow case skirts and a pirate birthday cake for my oldest daughter.

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Many times when I feel stumped creatively, I go on a little scavenger hunt through my scrap stash. I find 6 random things that I love and I make them work for whatever project I have at hand. Because I only buy what I really love, most of the papers and embellishments I own are right up my alley and coordinate anyway. I always love challenging myself to see if I can make something work. And unexpected pattern and color combinations are always to stumble upon.

…. Like a lot of other designers and scrappers “back in the day” I fell in love with digital the minute I saw Shabby Princess’ designs. With 2 sticky-fingered princesses of my own running around, my paper scrapping days were a bit hectic and disheveled. I started using digital more and more and by the time our 3^rd princess arrived I’d started selling my own designs. I actually stopped selling for a while and was a freebie designer for over a year before I was inspired to start Songbird Avenue, a charity site, with my good friend Meredith Fenwick. It’s a job I love and am very proud of. I now sell my designs at JessicaSprague.com and couldn’t be happier. It is a fabulous site, full of friendly faces and inspiration.

Everything around me, especially our travels. We’re lucky enough to have been all over Europe and I am inspired heavily by the places I’ve been to and the places I dream of. I love color and eccentricity. I find that the more something seems askew, the more I am drawn to it. I love a bit of wonkiness and so when I design anything I try to bring that quality to the table. I love a “collected” look and I try to achieve that each time I sit down to create.

Although I love using my tablet and Illustrator, I haven’t forgotten about my 2 first loves: my Sharpie and my scanner. I’m also seriously addicted to sketching in my notebook. I’m pretty old fashioned when it comes to execution. As much as I love technology, it’s also nice to just head downtown and pull out my notebook and sketch in a café. It’s very “no-fuss”, which I crave.

Currently I am working on our 4 year old laptop while our “BIG DADDY” computer is being repaired. My husband built it but we’re having issues with the graphics cards. When it’s up and running again, I’ll be coasting along quite nicely with 4 gigs of RAM. Can’t wait.

I just upgraded to CS4 last year so I’m sticking with it for a little while longer. I find there are new things to learn every day and I’m not in any hurry to have the latest and greatest. I’ll probably upgrade again sometime around CS7 or so.

We purchased a Canon a couple of years ago. We love our 40D. The lens is bigger than my head and I’m just in awe of the photos we get out of it.

I have a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet that I love. My kids love it, too. They think it’s magic, of course.

Here are some of my favorite products

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Queen’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Layout by Dunia, supplies: You Are Here Collab by Queen of Quirk and Paislee Press

Go have a look in Queen of Quirk’s Store here and here and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST today)!

As a thank you to our readers, Queen of Quirk has created this coupon to share with all of us!

I am uber excited to welcome the very talented Valorie Wibbens to THE DIGI FILES this month!  I asked her to join us several months ago after discovering her store.  I love her artsy-with-a-touch-of-craftsy style.  She does some very unique and fun things! Here is a closer look at her contribution that you can get along with everything else in THE DIGI FILES this month:

Here’s what our team created with “Beauty Within”:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Also used Valorie Wibbens Topography Template No. 26

Layout by Dunia

Layout by Amy Wolff, additional supplies:   font-CK ali
also used Valorie’s topography #34

Layout by Jenny, additional supplies: Template by Tiffany Tillman (from the Summer Templates class), Fonts: My Own Topher and Century Gothic

Layout by Sharon S (a reader), additional supplies: Template: Merkeley Designs, Fonts: KA Phraseology, Century Gothic, JWFullofHeart

You can see many more layouts created using this collection in our Team Inspiration section of the site.

Hi there! My name is Valorie Wibbens and I live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in beautiful Colorado. I feel very blessed to be a stay-at-home-mom for my 3 kiddos- ages 14, 12, and 4, and have been married for almost 15 years now! Besides digital scrapbooking, I love photography, stitching, knitting and crocheting, the snow, the beach, the color green, art, lattes and anything handmade!

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I think most of us are afraid of bold backgrounds and as I DO know how it feels I wanted to share that it’s actually a fun way to challenge yourself! I love to challenge myself and find that I use bold backgrounds more and more on my layouts these days! I like that it seems like a “naughty” thing to do! Haha! Not ALL bold backgrounds will go well with ALL photos but the trick is to place the photo on the paper and see if they visually compete with each other. If you’re having a hard time focusing on the photo (which I think is the most important thing!), then it’s probably not a good match. Before you give up on that photo/paper combination, though, try changing the scale of the photo or maybe turning the photo into a black and white. I find that if the photo is “busy” with a lot going on, you probably will want a paper with a bolder, larger scale motif. I also find that the bolder backgrounds like a simpler designed LO. Another big thing to consider is contrast. Contrast in color, “busy-ness”, pattern, and of course scale, between your paper and photos is what will make using bold backgrounds work! Ready to give it a try? Hope so! I think it’s fun to challenge ourselves and try something different! Ya never know……

I’ve always done the artsy and crafty thing and even physically scrapbooked here and there throughout my life. We’re not gonna talk about those scrapbooks though, because they are omygoodness BAD! As with many of us, as I started having kids, my love of photography grew. After getting my degree in Fine Art, we moved to Colorado and it was here, that I began playing with my photo’s and their stories through scrapbooking. I think I saw my first digital scrapbooking magazine in 2006 and was completely in awe and dumbfounded! I knew I had to learn how they do that! For Christmas 2007, my DH bought me the most incredible gift of a new Mac and my first photoshop, CS2! I quickly taught myself digital scrapbooking through various tutorials and I was officially HOOKED! By the end of 2008, I started entertaining the idea of designing and opened my first shop in February 2009!

Definitely color! I actually love looking at designed rooms and pulling color from them! It just makes me happy!

I use a Mac with 2GB of ram, CS4, Illustrator, and my Bamboo Tablet.

My camera is a Nikon D70 with a kit lens 18-70mm, 50mm 1.8, and 60mm 2.8.

Hmmmm…this one (included in THE DIGI FILES), Beauty Within -haha!

That’s a tough one too…I’m gonna guess- Smile!

Here are some of my favorite products by Valorie:

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Valorie’s products. Layouts without credits are linked to the originals.

Layout by Dunia, supplies: Kitchsy Kamera and An Easy Way 5 – Layered Template by Dúnia at ZigZag Font: 2Peas Artsy

Go have a look in Valorie’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST today)!

As a thank you to our readers, Valorie has created this coupon to share with all of us!

I am excited to have Michelle Batton here with us in THE DIGI FILES this month!  I really admire the unique elements that Michelle includes in her kits.  Michelle designs everything from cute, themed kits to more sophisticated with a touch of whimsy (like her contribution this month).  Here is a closer look at her contribution to THE DIGI FILES this month:

This is just ONE of the kits that is included in THE DIGI FILES for only $5 for ALL of the contributions!  Here are some layouts to inspire you as you create:

Layout by Karen

Layout by Jenn,  A Beautiful Beginning by Michelle Batton, The Chosen One template by Sya’s Blueprints Font:Pea Jack and Jane

Layout by Katie, additional supplies: Template by Angela Powers. Font is Century Gothic.

Layout by buggie185 (Michelle’s CT)

Layout by c0r1nn3 (Michelle’s CT)

There are many more layouts created by Michelle’s CT and our readers in the Inspiration section of the site.

My name is Michelle and I’m a thirty-something, wife to John, and stay-at-home mom to three wonderful kids: Andrew (6), Emma (4) and Leab (1). I’m originally from Southeastern Wisconsin, but currently live in a small town just outside of Peoria, Illinois. I have a degree in Sociology and worked in the Human Resources and Benefits Administration field before starting my family. And just a few months ago I became the proud owner of Funky Playground Designs.

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Adorable – Using About a Girl, Collab by Michelle Batton and Simply Scraps Designs

Pay attention to the little details – whether it’s in your photographs, your designs or your scrapping. Too often we get too busy looking at the big picture and we miss all those tiny little details that make things special. Cherish the little things!

I’ve always been artistic and a keeper of memories. When I was a little girl I kept scrapbooks with all those little mementos, you know ticket stubs, playbills, school programs, etc. Then when I was in high school I started researching my family history – collecting documents, photos and stories. My husband brought home a copy of Photoshop and I got hooked scanning and restoring my family photos. After I had my oldest child I discovered that I could use Photoshop to digitally paint and draw and got very involved in an online art community. It was during that time that I ran across digital scrapbooking and decided that to try designing and then not long after I started scrapping too!

Everything really – nature, my kids, art, fashion….and I have friends and customers make requests too.

I have a HP Pavilion laptop running Windows Vista 64-bit with 4 GB of RAM and a 320 GB harddrive. I use two, 320 GB Western Digital portable harddrives for additional storage and backup. I also have a custom-built desktop that my brother-in-law put together for me a couple years ago.

My go-to program is Photoshop CS2, but I also use Corel Painter X. Once in a while I use Art Rage, but not very often.

I have a Canon Rebel XT.

I have a 6×9 Wacom Intuos 3 pen tablet that I couldn’t function without, lol, it’s actually being held together with duct tape at the moment and really needs to be replaced. I also have a Canon CanoScan 8800F that I love.

Here are some of my favorite products by Michelle

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Michelle’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Michelle’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST to qualify)!

As a thank you to our readers, Michelle has created this coupon to share with all of us!

I first became acquainted with “Listgirl” in January 2009 shortly after The Daily Digi launched and Janet featured one of her layouts (screen name Supertwinkle).  I love her layout and her style (and she shares my obsession of a good ‘shave ice’, so what’s not to love?!  She has brought that same unique style to her template line and we are all so lucky!  Here is a closer look at Christine’s contribution to THE DIGI FILES this month:

You get this AND 6 other collections for ONLY $5 in THE DIGI FILES!  It really is the best deal in digital!! Here are some layouts created with the templates included in July’s issue of THE DIGI FILES:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: OScraps The Big 04 kit; Font is Traveling Typewriter

Layout by Jenny, additional supplies:  Squishy Dots by Karah Fredericks, Simple Pleasures by Sweet Shoppe Design Team
Doodled Paper Arrows by Kate Hadfield, Enjoy The Moment Snippettes by Sahlin Studio, Vintage Linens alpha by Shabby Miss Jenn, Love Me alpha by Dilo, Vellum Tags by MickeyB Designs,Circle brushes by B Silvia, Font: Pea Nancy

Lauren Reid/Lauren Grier Lift Me Up, Ali Edwards You word art, Font is DJB How Cute Am I

Layout by Ami Collifello (Listgirl CT), additional supplies: Papers, Elements, Alpha – Sticky Sweet Collab by Amanda Carlson Designs and Jaclyn Baernardo Designs

Layout by Steph, (waves from template included in The Digi Files) additional supplies: Kristin Cronin-Barrow’s Tropical Hideaway

You can see more inspiring layouts using these templates on our Inspiration page.

My name is Christine Newman. I’ve been digi-scrapping since April 2006 and I’m known in the digi-forums as “supertwinkle”. I chose “Listgirl Designs” because I’ve been blogging for years as “Listgirl”, which started because of my love of making lists. I love digital scrapbooking because looking back on my memories with the people I love makes me so happy and thankful! It’s also such a great artistic outlet for me, combining my favorite hobbies of photography, scrapbooking, computers, internet, and writing.

I’ve been married to my fantastic husband Todd for 16 years. I work full-time as a financial analyst for a high-tech company. My job keeps me busy, but I’m very thankful to have a job and to work with great people. We live in sunny southern CA where we enjoy outdoor activities like running, hiking, and rollerblading. I have run a full marathon, two half-marathons, and a few 5K’s. I enjoy being active and I try to exercise regularly, because I love to eat! I also love to read, knit, make cards, and hang out with friends. A couple of more interesting things about me that people might not know… My husband surprised me with skydiving on my birthday a few years ago. I jumped out of the plane at 13,000 feet with only two hours of mental preparation! It was super-fun at the time, but I’m too chicken to do it again. I’ve also worked as a background actor on a few episodes of the TV show “Veronica Mars”.

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Did you know you can sample colors from outside of Photoshop? I just found this out myself! Being the color lover that I am, this is very handy for sampling colors from anywhere on your computer or browser. Just open up Photoshop and open a file, any file. Click on the eyedropper tool, then move your mouse to sample a color on the file you just opened. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the eyedropper around. You will see that your foreground color in Photoshop is now changing as you drag your mouse around with the left mouse button held down. Now just drag your mouse outside of Photoshop onto anything else on your desktop or in your browser and the eyedropper tool is still there, sampling all the colors! Pretty neat, huh?

I started paper scrapping in 2003, when I made scrapbooks as Christmas gifts for family and friends. I made 13 scrapbooks (they averaged about 12 pages each) in a span of 2 months, and I was so sick of it that I never picked it back up again. To add insult to injury, I didn’t have a scrapbook myself, after making 13 for family and friends!

In April 2006 I was trying to make some scrapbook pages in Photoshop Elements 4.0 by myself. Then I googled around and found the wealth of information out there and even pre-made kits from Shabby Princess and Gina Cabrera of Digital Design Essentials. I was hooked! They were my first digi-loves. After that I stuck with the hobby, eventually trying out for creative teams at the beginning of 2008. Being on creative teams and making friends with fellow scrappers was probably the most fulfilling thing for me. Having pages that I was proud of and told stories was icing on the cake.

Eventually I felt like I needed a new challenge, so this seed of an idea started sprouting in my head. I had been giving away freebie templates on my blog for over a year, so I thought I would try my hand at selling layout templates. I opened up my personal little blog store www.listgirldesigns.com on Nov. 1, 2009. It was a lot of fun and also a lot of work to get my store ready. Sales went pretty well, and I started selling also at Little Dreamer Designs in February 2010. I have recently started designing kits as well. I really love and enjoy the whole creative process of taking an idea and developing it into a full product.

I love looking at color combinations. When I read magazines and look at print or tv ads, the colors are the first thing that jump out at me. I also get excited to create when I learn a new skill or trick in Photoshop or Illustrator. I love learning new skills and trying them out. Fashion and fabric also inspire me. I love looking at patterns and colors and thinking of new things to draw/create.

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop running on Windows Vista. It has Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz processor, 3GB RAM. I have two internal hard drives: a 500GB for running the OS and applications, and another 750GB for data. I also have a 500GB Western Digital Passport external harddrive for backup, as well as Carbonite online backup.

I have a ASUS laptop as well. It has Windows Vista, Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz processor, 4GB RAM.

I use primarily my desktop to scrap and design. I sometimes use my laptop to design, but it’s mostly for surfing the web and forums while I’m on the couch next to my husband. J

I use Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator CS3 to design. I also use Art Rage for painting and glitter. I use Adobe Lightroom 2.0 to process and tag all my photos. I have used ACDSee Photo Manager in the past to tag my scrap supplies. I’ve fallen way behind on that though!

Right now I have a Canon SD850 IS. I keep it in my purse at all times and bring it with me everywhere. It’s how I completed Project 365 in 2009! But I’m saving money for a Canon T2i DSLR. I hope to buy one within the next few months.

It’s very close between 2009 Year-In-Review Template:

and Artsy Fartsy Template Set:

Here are some of my favorite products by Christine:

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Christine’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Layout by Jenn, additional supplies: Paper Blocked Template #4 by Listgirl Designs
Everything else from Jennifer Barrette (Summer Reading, Boys Are Trouble, Growth Spurt, Boys Toys, Techtronic)
Font: mtf Cutie Patootie

Layout by Katie, additional supplies: Listgirl template A. Solid Papers by Amanda Heimann. Text is Traveling Typewriter

Go have a look in Christine’s Store here and here come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST)!

As a thank you to our readers, Christine has created this coupon to share with all of us!

I am so excited to have Chelle’s Creations in THE DIGI FILES this month! I had been watching her store for several months when she sent in an application. Chelle creates wonderful themed kits that are still versatile enough to have many scrapping uses (as you will see below). I really love the balance she has between doodles/drawn elements AND the real ones. Let’s take a closer look at Bug Catcher:

Many of my team members have commented that the alpha in “Bug Catcher” is now one of their favorites! You can get the alpha and this entire kit as well as 6 other large contributions for only $5 in THE DIGI FILES. Each contribution has a minimum retail value alone of $5 and you get them ALL for that price! Take a look at the fun my team and I had using this kit:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Fonts are Fontologie Howie’s Stamps and Printing Primer

Layout by Jenn, additional supplies: Printing Primer Abundant font

Layout by Jenny, additional supplies: Template by Scrapping with Liz, Brush by Designs by Spencer, Drop Shadow Layer Styles by Megan Turnidge and Katie Pertiet. Fonts: CK Jot and LD Cute Curls

Layout by Steph, additional supplies: font, fontologie giggles and traveling typewriter

Layout by iciclelady (a reader), additional supplies: Font is DJB ALL THE COOL CHICKS by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe Designs), Inspired by nikkiARNGwife’s Daddy Love page at SSD

You can see even more layouts in our team inspiration section

Hi! I’m Chelle. I live in a small rural community in Northern Utah with my husband and four of our kids still living at home…two are away at college. No pets. Six kids keep me plenty busy. LOL!

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I love using journaling elements and making my text look like I wrote right on the lines. In photoshop and photoshop elements you can adjust the spacing between the lines by adjusting the leading. It’s a little like single space or double space in word processing, only much more accurate.

First…I type my journaling in a text box with the same number of lines as my journaling element. Then with all the text highlighted, I experiment with the number in the “adjust the leading” box until the text sits exactly on the lines.

You can find a tutorial with screenshots on this here

I’ve been scrapping forever. In my first scrapbooking class I was taught to mat my photos with construction paper and attach them with rubber cement. LOL! Over the years I’ve filled 45 albums…but most are one copy for the family and one copy for each of my children. Yes, that was very time consuming with paper scrapping. About 7 years ago I became disillusioned with scrapping trends…it seemed to be more about putting a lot of “stuff” on the page than about the photos and the story. I didn’t scrap anything for two years. When I came back to scrapping a few years later, I did printed books with just pictures and story and a few basic papers and elements I’d created myself. Then two years ago I accidentally stumbled on ScrapMatters and found that I could BUY digital scrapbooking supplies. I was in heaven. But I still liked creating some of my own papers and elements. In 2009 I competed in ScrapMatters’ DesignStar competition and was offered a design position there.

My photos are my main source of inspiration…I usually design kits that I need to scrap my own photos. But I see ideas everywhere…”check out the pattern on those shoes…that would make a great paper”. LOL!

I design on a MacBookPro with 4GB Ram. I design primarily with Photoshop CS4. I’m still learning to use my Adobe Illustrator CS4 and my Bamboo Fun Tablet. I use my Cannon CanoScan 880F to scan doodles, things to extract, and pre-digi photos. I’m still learning about using my Nikon D5000 in manual mode. LOL!

I always seem to like my most recent kit, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be “Sunny Side Up”

Here are some of my favorite products by Chelle

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Chelle’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Chelle’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST)!

As a thank you to our readers, Chelle has created this coupon to share with all of us!

Sharon is one of the designers that I have known for a long time (we’ve been on creative teams together in the past and started out in digiland at the same site) and I’m so happy to have her in THE DIGI FILES this month.  Sharon is one of our “down-under designers” and if you haven’t discovered her yet, let me introduce you!  Let’s start by taking a closer look at her contribution to THE DIGI FILES this month:

I love the soft patterns and textures in her papers. There are also TWO QUICKPAGES included!!  This collection is one of SEVEN you get for only $5 when you purchase THE DIGI FILES!!  It’s a great way to try out some new-to-you designers AND such an AMAZING deal since just ONE of these collections would cost more than the $5 you would spend!  Here are some layouts created using butterfly breeze:

Layout by Carol (Sharon’s CT)

Layout by Jodie (Sharon’s CT)

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Creashens Torn Bits; Anne DeJong scribbles; Cathy Zielske word art

Layout by Jenn, additional supplies: Additional Credits: Botanical Garden Vol. 11 by Redju, You Define Me wordart by Chelle’s Creations, Pea Christen Font

Layout by Kristi B (a reader)

You can see even more inspirational layouts by readers and Sharon’s team members on our Team Inspiration Page!  We love seeing our readers layouts!

My name in the scrapping world is ksharonk, but you can call me Sharon. I live just north of Sydney, in Australia.

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Credits: Butterfly Breeze minikit, by [ksharonkdesigns] at twolittlepixels. Fond: DJB AmandaG

Share what you have done … It is such a shame to spend so much time creating art, and then not sharing what we do with those around us. We save our work on our computers and safely back it up, and often don’t share it with our families and friends.

Each year, I have all the layouts I have created during that year made into a coffee table book/photo book. This means I have a permanent record of my creativity for that year, and my family enjoys seeing themselves in print, and seeing what I have done.

Of course, I also create photo books for special occasions, for gifts and birthdays etc., as well. I have used www.photoblurb.com for many years and have always been more than satisfied with how easy the process is, the service I get and the value for money.

I started paper scrapping over ten years ago, when I was invited to join a group of girls from work who met each week to scrap … and I was instantly in love with the whole idea. I was surfing one day in October 2003, and came across Scrapbook-Bytes, and realized that this way of scrapping was very appealing to me. I packed all my paper products up, installed Photoshop on my computer, and I was off and running. I still scrapped with my girlfriends, but I took my laptop instead of paper products. Now almost all the paper scrapping girls have ‘turned’ digi!

In June of 2006, I thought I would like to start designing, so I began to work through all the tutorials I could find in the digi-world, and offered little freebies on my blog, which proved to be quite popular. Then pickleberrypop offered me a position as a designer, and I began my ‘career’ as a digital designer at the end of 2006.

Everything around me … I love ads, and magazines, digital/paper online galleries, blogs … everything in the design world and around me I find helps me in my creative.

I’ve been a PC girl since the beginning, but at this year I treated myself to a 27’ screen MAC and 8 GIG of RAM, and wow! I’m a MAC girl now!

I use PS CS4, Illustrator and Dreamweaver.

I have a Canon 450D, and adore it.

I have a Wacom tablet, but I’m not very good at using it.

I love creating papers, and this is such a pretty pack … I often use it.

My Simple Sets are my best sellers, and this one would probably top the list …

Here are some of my favorite products by Sharon

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Sharon’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Sharon’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST tonight to qualify)!

I am really excited to have the super talented Karah Fredricks in THE DIGI FILES this month!!  I have been SOOO inspired by reading Karah’s interview and seeing her AMAZING layouts below!  She really can rock Photoshop!  Here is a closer look at her contribution to THE DIGI FILES this month:

You can see all of the kits we have revealed so far on our contributors page OR in the detail images in the store.  This is just ONE of SEVEN collections you get for just $5 in THE DIGI FILES!!  You get far more than your monies worth and it helps keep the site running.  With the sells from THE DIGI FILES, The Daily Digi wouldn’t be here!

Look at the amazing layouts our team creating using “Green Thumb”:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Janet Phillips template; Fonts are Audrey Neal Inky Birdie, Pea Muggy Girl

Layout by Jenn, additional supplies: Boys Vellum Strips by Sya’s Blueprints, Font: mtf Sketchie

Layout by Katie, additional supplies: font is DJB Tracey Script

Layout by Amy W, additional supplies:  template by Gina Miller, fonts- Sketchit and Pea Lis

Layout by SharonS (a reader), additional supplies: Template: KH Blog, Fonts: SF Haven, Ali’s Doodles

Hi! I’m Karah and I’m a stay-at-home mom to four crazy kids! I’ve been married to my high school sweetheart for 10 years and we live in sunny southern California. I have been scrapbooking for 16 years but finally made the switch to digi in April of 2006. I haven’t looked back since! I started designing a few months later and I LOVE what I do!

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People are always asking how to do shadows. My biggest tip is to hold REAL objects up to see how the light hits them. If your light source comes from the left, then all the shadows should point to the right. And there will be a difference in the type of shadows between a photo and a flower.

When I was 14, my mom was an avid scrapbooker and would go on scrapbooking retreats and would have “crop till you drop” parties frequently. One weekend, she hosted one at our house and I was bored and had nothing better to do so I decided to do a layout. And the rest is history! I was hooked. I paper-scrapped for 12 years and SWORE I would never try out that digital scrapbooking thing.

One day, I was thinking about pulling out my scrapbooking supplies when I realized that I had NOWHERE to scrap. My kids were 5, 3, 2, and 1 and there was nowhere in my house where my scrap supplies would be safe from little hands. Yet I was behind over 2 years in my albums. I started to feel very discouraged when I had a little nagging thought that maybe I should just TRY doing a digital layout. Just one to see how I liked it. I was in love.

I had previously started my own photo invitation/announcement business and also had a small photography business on the side so I was pretty well-versed in photoshop so it seemed only natural that I should try to create my own products. I created my first RAK kit one month following my first digital layout and began selling in my first store one month after that. And here I am, 4 years later, still going strong! This month actually marks my 4 year anniversary as a designer.

My kids, mostly. I only create products that I know I will scrap with and since most of my pictures are of my kids, I create products with them in mind. I love pulling colors from the clothes they wear or finding inspiration from a particular series of photos that I took of them.

Well – my husband is an uber computer geek and he built me a screaming system for Christmas. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about it – other than the fact that it’s AWESOME. LOL. Ok – I just looked it up and it looks like I have 3.25 gb of ram on this baby.  I mainly just use Photoshop CS4 but now and then I will jump into Illustrator as well.  I have a Canon 50D. It’s a great camera and I’ve been very happy with it. Although I would love to add a few more lenses to the mix I also use a Wacom Graphire tablet – it’s the only mouse I use! I can’t stand to hold a mouse now that I’ve been using the tablet pen for 3 years!

Ugh – this is like choosing between my children!! I honestly couldn’t pick just one so instead I picked the product that I use the MOST on my own layouts.

Here are some of my favorite products by Karah

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Karah’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Karah’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST and must include a product name to qualify)!

As a thank you to our readers, Karah has created this coupon code to share with all of us!  It’s good for 30% off!  Have fun!

dailydigi-karah

I am so excited to have Kristin in THE DIGI FILES with us this month!!  Kristin’s little critters are so adorable and have brought a smile to my face on more than one occasion (especially her birds… and I’m not even a bird person).  Here’s a closer look at her contribution that you can find inside THE DIGI FILES this month:

This is ONE of the kits that are included in THE DIGI FILES for only $5!!  The designers that contribute to THE DIGI FILES each month are chosen for their quality designs, they do not pay to contribute.  We hope that our readers will enjoy trying some new-to-them designers and/or styles at such a low risk!!  Here are some fun layouts created with “Night Owl”:

Layout by Jenn, Font: Pea Christen

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Tracie Stroud stitched border

Layout by Jacki, additional supplies: cloud from Kristin’s Farm Kit

Layout by Katie

Layout by Irina (Kristin’s CT)

Hybrid Layout:

Hybrid layout by Sunghee

You can see several more layouts on the ‘Team Inspiration’ page of the site.

My name is Kristin Aagard. I am married to Alan, an electrician for almost 11 years. We have two little girls, Ashley 4 and Sophie 2. We live in Salt Lake City, Utah which is just on the west edge of the beautiful Rocky Mountain Range. I design and I am a mommy full-time.

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I carry a small notebook with me at all times. When my kids say something funny or I realize that I will want to scrap that moment, I get out my notebook and jot down some quick notes. I find that this makes my journaling so much more meaningful because it is written from my emotions in the moment and because I can add my children’s own words to the page.

I started paper scrapping after my daughter Ashley was born in 2005. I was instantly addicted! After I had Sophie in 2007, I couldn’t seem to find the time to drag out all of the papers, scissors and glue without having little fingers in everything! I have been messing around with Photoshop since I got Photoshop 6 in 2000 or 2001. I decided that I would create digital photo journals so that I wouldn’t have to give up scrapping. At the time, I actually had no idea that there were stores where you could buy beautiful kits so I started making my own elements and papers.

I feel so lucky to have found the ideal job for myself. I get to stay home with my kids and create using Photoshop. I couldn’t ask for anything more!

My kids are my main inspiration. They are so curious about their world and the newness of it all is fascinating to them. I also love animals and the outdoors and I’m heavily influenced by that.

I use a PC with Windows 7 that my hubby built for me. It has 8 gb of RAM, an ATI Radeon 4870 HD video card. It has an AMD 940 3.0 GHZ quad-core processor. (PS hubby had to dictate all of that to me, because I really am clueless about my computer, other than I know I have serious LOVE for it!) I use two 24″ Samsung high definition monitors. I use a Cannon CannoScan 8800F scanner. I also have a super ergonomic Microsoft keyboard that is the savior to my wrists!

I’m getting ready to upgrade to CS5 this summer. Can’t wait!! Right now I use Photoshop CS4 and occasionally Illustrator.

I have a Canon PowerShot SX10IS. I really want to upgrade to a full DSLR camera, but with my tiny constantly moving munchkins, it’s all I can manage just to get the camera out and shoot some quick auto shots these days. I rarely even touch the manual settings. My goal is to upgrade and enroll in some great digital photography classes by the end of the year.

I do all my drawings using a mouse and Photoshop. I have tried using a tablet, but I prefer the good old mouse and pen tool.

My favorite product is one of my newer kits On the Farm. I love the fun little animals, the happy farmers and the bright colors.

My best selling product is Zoo Day, which is another of my very favorite kits. I love drawing animals!

Here are some of my favorite products by Kristin:

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Kristin’s products. All of the layouts without credits are linked to the originals with credits.

Layout by Jacki, supplies: Zoo Day

Layout by Jacki, supplies: Camp Out kit

Go have a look in Kristin’s Store and come back and tell her what you like, we will randomly select a winner from those comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST Thursday to qualify)!

As a thank you to our readers, Kristin has created this coupon to share with all of us!