April 2009 – Page 4 – The Daily Digi

April 5, 2009November 27, 2013

Everything I Need To Know I Learned From My Sisters

I (Steph) am so excited to be here with today’s un-digi! 🙂 I grew up in a family of four girls. No brothers (my poor Dad, huh!?). Now, that we are adults, we have transitioned into a different kind of relationship. I don’t feel the responsability to take care of my younger sisters and protect them as much as I did when we were younger. Our age differences seem to become smaller as we get older. Each of them have talents and strengths that really help me out when I need it. I know if I need to remember the name of a restaraunt we went to on vacation together, I call my older sister. If I have a decorating question or fashion question, I call my sister just younger than me. If I have a nutrition, exercise, or Apple (as in Mac) question, then I call the baby (although, I’m not sure she likes being called that).

So, today, I thought I would put together some GREAT sites and things that I have learned from my sisters. If you don’t have a sister then for today, you can pretend you do and join or family of all girls –after all what’s one more?! If you DO have a sister (or two) then, maybe you will see something you want to pass on.

Everything I need to know about Allrecipes.com I learned from my youngest sister. I LOVE this site! It makes menu planning a snap. For those of you on the metric system, there is even a button you can click on to automatically convert the recipes! I love that I can add the recipes to my recipe box for future use, but my most favorite thing of all is the SHOPPING LIST feature! When I am doing my menu planning, I add the recipes to a shopping list (and my recipe box) and then I save the shopping list. When I save the recipe to a shopping list, all of the ingredients pop up on the shopping list. I can also go in and add things to the list that I might need. During Christmas, I put together a shopping list of our traditional Christmas Eve meal, Christmas morning, and Christmas Day recipes (and even added the items I would want for the chocolate fountain). Now, next year, all I will need to do is pull up that shopping list, print, and go to the store! I have done this with several week-at-a-time menus as well, it makes meal planning a no-brainer…who doesn’t need that!?

Everything I need to know about decorating I learned from my sister just younger than me. She sends me links to decorating blogs she finds and they have the best, affordable, easy decorating ideas. Check out this “uplifting notes board” by Joys of Home:

One thing that all of these decorating blogs have in common is the use of SPRAY PAINT!! I have even been inspired to pick up a can of black spray paint and “have a party”

Go check out all of the really cool things Sarah a.k.a Thrifty Decor Chick did with spray paint. I was shocked by the rocking chair!

flamocon_190h

Everything I need to know about blog feeds I learned from my older sister. You might have noticed if you subscribe to us in a reader that there are some fun new links in there at the bottom of our posts. Links for you to email this post, stumble it, or add to delicious to name a few. My sister taught me all about Feed Burner. Sometimes, I think I am the last to learn about these cool things, but if you don’t know what Feed Burner is, it is a site that you can redirect all of your feeds through, so you can see statistics on how many subscribers you have, how often the click, etc. Since there are far more readers out there than Google and Bloglines (although those are the ones our readers seems to like most) it’s nice to be able to see just how many of you there are subscribed to our feed!

I’m very blessed to have three great and talented sisters!

The last site I want to share is one I came across today that was so fresh and inspiring that I wanted to right-click and save almost every image on the site…so BEAUTIFUL and SO MUCH TALENT!!! Have fun being ispired!

steph_sig

April 4, 2009February 27, 2014

Around the Digi World

checkitout

As always, the digi world is full of new and amazing designs. Take a peek…you never know what you will find!

The Lilypad has their new Build Your Own Collab out for April. So much yummy stuff you can pick up. I especially love these painted papers by Kate Hadfield.

Also at the Lilypad Kaye Winiecki has these fun flowers

Mandabean, known for her super cool word art has this fun set out all about time. I sure could use some more time right now!

I adore this kit by Kristin CB over at Sweet Shoppe Designs. I seriously need to use that tree!

I am always looking for fun new ways to date my pages so I was excited when I saw these Stick It Dates by Darcy Baldwin.

This little kit by Baers Garten at Scrapbook Graphics is just too cute! It’s perfect for all those rainy day photos!

I also love this springy kit by Bluebell Designs, also at SBG.

springmorning

This kit by Aja Abney over at Scrapartist is beautiful. I love the spring theme with the deeper, rich colors.

Paislee Press over at Oscraps has these awesome Viewfinder frames. What a way to change up the look of your photos!

I just LOVE this alpha set by Kitty Designs. SO cool!

The detail in this Screen Printed alpha by Karah Fredricks is just amazing!

And how COOL is this template set by Creashen over at Catscrap? I LOVE it!

creashan

Isn’t this mini kit by Laurie Ann adorable?

AND…you definitely need to check out Songbird Avenue this month!

***********

The digi world is filled with SO MUCH talent! Enjoy your own little trip around to see what’s new. Be sure, however, that you scrap as much as you shop 😉

janet_sig16

April 3, 2009November 27, 2013

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT — Jacque Larsen

Spot Lit Wall

If fun, fresh, and FABULOUS is your style of digi product…then today is your day! We are so excited to have Jacque Larsen with us here at THE DAILY DIGI this month. Jacque is known for her great hand drawn/cut/colored paper pieces. They add just the most wonderful handmade look to your pages. And they almost make me want to get out my paper and scissors again! Look at what she made for THE DIGI FILES 3!

Isn’t that just SO CUTE?? When I first got the set I didn’t know what I was going to use it for (since I have yet to start a garden…plants just seem to die with me doing nothing but walk past!) But then just last week I went with my kids on a field trip to a place called Little Farmers. There, they got to plant carrot seeds, pick bok choy, and feed the animals. This set was PERFECT!

Before we take a look at all the other cool stuff in Jacque’s shop, let’s get to know her a bit better!

alittleabout-copy8

My name is Jacque Larsen. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico with my beautiful family. I have 4 happy and healthy children and one very supportive husband. We also have an english mastiff we call Shrek. Although, I rarely claim him. And not to leave any other pets out… my son is whispering over my shoulder to include his bearded dragon ‘skipper,’ his 4 neon tetra fish, and 2 snails. 🙂

STORE: Jacque Larsen at The Lilypad

BLOG: Crazy Scrapper (there are sometimes freebies!)

I started designing May 2007 and opened shop at my first store TDC on June 1st, 2007. I started making my paper creations after being inspired by one of my daughters favorite children’s book ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’ by Eric Carle. That book and another one of her favorites ‘Goodnight Moon’ were the result of my very first paper pieced set ‘Little Luna’. Truth be told to what triggered my desire to sell was little/no cash for all the NSD sales in June.. teeheehee

See above 🙂

I was FIRST a traditional paper scrapper. Making my first album after my oldest daughter was born. That was over 12 years ago. After 4 kids and relatively no time to scrap I tried digital scrapbooking when my youngest was almost a year old. That was in December of 2005. I haven’t touched a piece of paper since! WELL, not including the papers that I paint, cut and piece to create ALL of my digital designs.. ROFL!

layoutbyjacque1

question4

I probably spend about 2 hours a day. Whether it be painting, cutting, gluing, scanning, cleaning up my images, answering emails, sneaking in to scrap a layout or peeking into online forums and galleries. I’d like to say I spend 14-20 hours a week actually ONLINE… however, most of that is just wasted time in the forums, looking at layouts or messing around in Facebook. ROFL! Each set I create really only takes me a couple hours from start to finish.

Oh man… Every time I make something new, I say it’s my new favorite. ‘Little Luna’ has always been one of my favorites. (Now retired because it never sold well, but I still love it and use it quite often…) I also love most of my collabs with Kate Hadfield, but my NEW favorite set would have to be these 2 sets from the November BYOC.

HOLIDAY FRIENDS

FROSTY FACES

I don’t know FOR sure what my best selling product is… My pieces are so ummmmmmmmmm. unique. And I really try to appeal to a HUGE variety of scrappers. But I do remember shortly after my debut at TLP I put up this alpha in the March BYOC.

I sold SOOOOOOOOO MANY (and still sell quite a few to this day). It is so funny to me, because I was just experiencing with watercoloring by hand on some cardstock and didn’t really like the way they turned out. I NEARLY trashed this set. But my husband encouraged me to just try and put it up in the store. We get a giggle out of that every time one sells. Just goes to show, you never know…

10thingslove-copy

1. My beautiful children
2. My wonderful husband
3. My camera
4. A clean home
5. Scrappin’
6. Chocolate Cake Batter
7. Summer
8. Caramels
9. Diet Coke w/ lemon
10. Going out to dinner

10thingsbug

1. Crumbs in the butter dish
2. Dishonesty
3. Cold (I HATE being cold or having cold feet!)
4. Mornings (I’m sooooooo not a morning person)
5. Little boys not lifting up the toilet seat.
6. People on cell phones while standing in line at the post office, or cash register…(SO RUDE!)
7. When my husband eats in bed. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
8. Road Rage – Careless Drivers (kids not in seatbelts..what the heck?!)-happens a lot here in NM. sadly.
9. Unmade beds.
10. fingerprints on my mirrors or windows..

****************

Now let’s see some of Jacque’s super creative designs… I had such a hard time choosing because I love them all!

And here are some fabulous layouts created with some of Jacque’s designs…

layouts2

************

Jacque, you’re awesome! I love EVERYTHING in your store and can’t wait to play with more of it. My head is spinning with ideas on how to use yoru unique designs in oh-so-fun ways! Thank you SO MUCH for being here with us this month!

And Jacque has a special THANK YOU to readers of THE DAILY DIGI

tddcoupon

janet_sig16

April 2, 2009February 26, 2014

Brushes-Beyond the Basics

wheretostart3

Since I (Steph) did the post about brushes a while back, I received many comments, emails, and even a phonecall (haha) from people wanting to know MORE about using brushes. So today I have some links to really GREAT tutorials all about brushes. From these tutorials you can learn AS MUCH or AS LITTLE as you want and have time for. I learned quite a bit from these, for instance, did you know in PSCS you can use the dynamics settings to brush with TWO brushes AT THE SAME TIME!? Remember that even though these tutorials may have not been written for your EXACT program or version, they will often work in many programs. Please, don’t let the fact that they were not written for digital scrapbookers scare you, these principles can easily be applied in digi scrapping! 🙂

Photoshop

35 Tutorials for Mastering Brushes (scroll down until you see ROTATING BRUSHES, this is the first tutorial in the list. Each tutorial is listed with a screenshot and link in the title). I learned several new things from the tutorial on Brush Dynamics.

Paint Shop Pro

There are many tutorials for PSP on this site, scroll down until you see the three sections for PAINT BRUSHES.

PhotoImpact

I have had a hard time finding PI brush tutorials, but did find one here that might be helpful.

I hope this will help those of you that are still struggling with brushes!

steph_sig

P.S. Janet got me with that silly April Fool’s post too! I was looking through the scheduled posts a couple of days ago when I saw one called “SAD NEWS” and wondered what the sad news was, so I read it. I kept thinking, “I can’t believe she didn’t tell me!’ HAHAHA!! I think she does owe all of us a freebie! 😉 🙂

April 1, 2009November 27, 2013

Some Sad News

I think that the digi world is full of people who are trying to “do it all.” Women who are at home with kids, taking others to school, scrapping, designing, living. They are trying to be a mom, wife, friend, daughter, designer, scrapper, CT member, PTA goer, soccer mom, and much more. We try to juggle it all and at times the balls just start dropping. It is then that we realize that we can’t do it all.

I have definitely been in that place. I AM in that place. I try so hard to do so much. When I originally envisioned this site, I wanted it to be a place where people could come to get great information and inspiration. I wanted to help people spend less time on the computer and more time in front of the people they loved. And I think I was able to accomplish some of that. People have written to say how thankful they are for the site and to say how appreciative they are of the great information we have been able to give.

However, in the process, I have lost some of me. I have spent so much time trying to help others that I have forgotten to take care of myself. And as I look on the things that I care about most, I realize that I have let some of those things slip away. I have let this site take the place of other things in my life…and that isn’t right.

And so it is with great sadness that I announce that April 15th will be the last day of THE DAILY DIGI. I am sad that it lived such a short life and feel like I have let down and will disappoint many. I was hoping that this was something that could bring the digi world together…a way for us to be united and want to learn and grow as a community. But I have to always keep my priorities straight and right now, I feel that I just have too much going on. I can’t be all things to all people. I am very sorry.

For the next two weeks we will continue to show bring you posts…each and every day. We have some great designers lined up that we still want you to get to know. And we have some other great articles that we hope will help you in your scrapping journey. Thank you so much for your support over the last three months. We are so thankful to all of you!

janet_sig16

P.S. Just wanted to say…

untitled-2

He he…THE DAILY DIGI isn’t going anywhere! Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. I don’t think I have actually ever tried to pull an April Fools Day joke on anyone. As I was writing this post I got all nervous…my heart started beating fast. LOL! But no, THE DAILY DIGI isn’t going to stop. In fact, we have some NEW and really EXCITING things in the works. We are working hard to make this site MORE of what we want it to be and more of what YOU want it to be. We will be posting a survey next week to get some detailed feedback from our readers so we can know how to make this site the best it can be! So be ready with your input, ideas, and suggestions!