Month: August 2014

A BIG WELCOME BACK to Karen Lewis!! I have been a long time fan of Karen’s clean, modern-with-a-shabby-edge design style! I find her patterned papers easy to scrap with and love how well they work together (less thinking on my part). Her contribution this month is over-flowing with digital goodness, including something just for pocket scrappers! Let’s take a closer look at “By The Seaside” that is included in The Digi Files this month:

This is ONE of SEVEN collections you get when you become a member of The Digi Game this month. You also get an interactive Playbook (in PDF and iBooks formats) that has lots of ideas for using the supplies including techniques, tips, and tricks! All of that, including access to exclusive collaborations every four months you are a member, for only $7.50 total per month! Here are some layouts created using Karen Lewis Designs’s contribution:

Layout by Vicki. Supplies: By The Seaside by Karen Lewis Designs.

Layout by Lauren. Supplies: By The Seaside by Karen Lewis Designs; Fonts: Typewriter and Monster Paparazzi.

Layout by Katie. Supplies: By The Seaside by Karen Lewis Designs; Template by TDD Life of Change.

Layout by SuzyQ. Supplies: By The Seaside by Karen Lewis Designs.

Layout by Jacki. Supplies: By The Seaside by Karen Lewis Designs.

You can see more layouts created with this kit on our “Team Inspiration” page.



I am Karen Lewis and I live in Perth, Western Australia with my husband of 15 years and our daughter Caitlyn who is 12.

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When I’m not designing at the computer I can be found in my art studio painting. I’ve had a love of art since I was very young but put it aside in my late teens when that inner critique took over and I told me I wasn’t really an artist. My graphic design work reintroduced me and reignited my passion for ART. At the moment I’m into painting vases, pots & flowers in a very shabby, textural, impressionistic, whimsical style.

I discovered paper scrapbooking in 2005. I was looking for a creative outlet and all the beautiful papers were enticing so I purchased a stack of supplies and sad to say I think I maybe did 3 layouts. Something just didn’t really resonate for me. I think I enjoyed buying the product more than actually using it. After about 6 months I switched to digital scrapbooking after coming across Shabby Princess’s site. Again the lure of beautiful papers sucked me in and before long I had a stash of supplies but at least this time I did actually create quite a few layouts.
After about 6 months though I was growing restless and I found myself more interested in learning how to create the digital supplies than using them in a layout. I did some google searching for tutorials and in February 2006 I started selling. Over the years I continued to learn about design & colour and I was fortunate to have some design opportunities come my way that enabled me to grow my business beyond just designing digital products. The biggest highlight was designing product lines with Pink Paislee from 2011-2013. Today I am a Graphic Designer & Artist who is living their dream.

I love colour, pattern and texture and I love seeing how I can put them together to create eye pleasing designs. Often a design can start from seeing a quote, a colour combination, a piece of art or fabric.

Computer: HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC with Intel Core CPU @ 2.20GHz

Program: I use Photoshop & Illustrator

Camera: Iphone & GoPro camera

Anything Else: Wacom tablet



A tip for designing – when designing papers it is important to make sure that the papers work together. You can have an awesome patterned paper but that doesn’t mean that it will compliment the other papers in the pack. So as I finish a paper it goes to a working Photoshop template where I will layer the papers and check that I have a good balance of colour, scale & what I call foundation patterns (think stripes & dots). If a paper doesn’t work I put it aside and recycle it for another kit.

This kit was made as a complementary digital addition for Pink Paislee’s Portfolio paperline. The colour scheme is stylish and timeless plus with a theme that is centered on capturing and scrapbooking everyday moments the kit is a great versatile addition to have.





You can’t go wrong with a classic boy kit and that is what makes it special and popular. The colours are stylish blue, green & grey which I chose because firstly I love that colour combination and secondly I think the colours are versatile to be usable for both baby layouts and then older boy layouts.





Here are some of my favorite products by Karen Lewis Designs:















Here are some more inspirational layouts using Karen Lewis Designs’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.











Go have a look in Karen Lewis Designs’s store! We will randomly select TWO winners to win $10 in product! All winners will be selected through the Rafflecopter widget below. There are several ways to enter and you can do ALL of them to gain more entries for yourself!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m so THRILLED to have Julia from Studio JMdesigns joining us, once again, in The Digi Files! I LOVE Julia’s whimsical hand drawings that she includes in her collections! There are just so many of them and they are all so unique! It was so much fun to read about Julia and how art is such a big part of her life and that includes her designs. Our team had so much fun creating with her contribution this month and I know you will too! Let’s take a closer look at “Beach Sketchbook” that is included in
The Digi Files this month:

This is ONE of SEVEN collections you get when you become a member of
The Digi Game this month. You also get an interactive Playbook (in PDF and iBooks formats) that has lots of ideas for using the supplies including techniques, tips, and tricks! All of that, including access to exclusive collaborations every four months you are a member, for only $7.50 total per month! Here are some layouts created using Julia Makotinsky’s contribution:

Layout by SuzyQ. Supplies: Beach Sketchbook by Julia Makotinsky; Fonts: The Distressed Duchess font by Heather Joyce.

Layout by Vicki. Supplies: Beach Sketchbook by Julia Makotinsky.

Layout by Sula. Supplies: Beach Sketchbook by Julia Makotinsky.

Layout by Anne. Supplies: Beach Sketchbook by Julia Makotinsky.Fonts: Courier.

You can see more layouts created with this kit on our ”
Team Inspiration” page.



I’m Julia Makotinsky or JMdesigns in a digiland. I’m russian and was born in Moscow, but have been living in New York for the past 22 years now. I graduated from FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) as an illustrator in 1998 and been designing ever since. Art was always my passion in any form, even as a child I was always going to some art schools, but I think it was planted in me by my parents as they both are an artists themselves. Besides drawing for my kits, I also enjoy knitting, felting, designing jewelry, photography or finding something new… I’m not a morning person, but I guess most artists are the same way 🙂 most of my creativity comes later in a day, but I always enjoy the process, and try to learn new things, techniques as I go.

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Like I said I’ve graduated from FIT as an illustrator, and these are just some of my paintings I’ve done and wanted to share. I don’t have as much time to actually paint lately, but I do use actual paints and sketches for my digital kits sometimes. Usually I just sketch and paint straight on my computer, but those are the paintings I’ve done using oil paints, watercolor, acrylic and some other media.

Well, I was always into photography and been designing and printing my own photo books using other designers digital kits, and then I’ve decided to try and design my own stuff. As I was learning how to do that, I’ve actually tried and submitted my work to two digital supplies stores to see if I can get into, but nope…being a no name designer/beginner I was declined 🙂 It only encouraged me to learn more and try harder with all the pointers I was given by those stores and I’m grateful for them. Then in 2008 I applied and completed an apprentice program at “Little Dreamer Designs” with Michelle Coleman. For about 4 weeks we were given different tasks to complete with instructions and tutorials from Michelle, and that’s where i really learned A LOT, and been accepted as a designer. I will always be grateful to Michelle for all the tips and pointers she gave me and taught me through out my stay there. She was always a great inspiration and remains to this day!!! After that I’ve joined an amazing team at Scrapbookgraphics.com in 2011 and it’s been my home ever since. I enjoy my staying there, it’s a wonderful place to be, with amazing group of talented designers, very easy going, professional and fun store to be a part of.

Every day stuff, books, something I see on the streets, walking the beach ( I live right by the beach). Pinterest ofcorse, Anthropologie catalogs, or any other design catalogs that catch my eye…

Computer: I’m a PC girl, I use DELL, it’s about 5 or 6 years old. I’m not into technical stuff, so when I bought it I just told the guy I need fast machine with lots of memory 🙂 well actually my husband helped to choose it, but I told him what I said above 🙂

Program: I use Photoshop as long as I can remember, Illustrator (can’t live without it), ArtRage, SketchbookPro (what I used for all my “Sketchbook Series” and I absolutely LOVE it). Oh, and wacom tablet with all the above programs, can’t be without it 🙂

Camera: I have SONY SLR camera, but been using my iphone camera lately A LOT 🙂 with all the photo apps now, I just enjoy playing with it. But if I really really want a good camera for something in particular I take my brother’s Cannon 🙂 It’s huge and heavy but photos are just yummy…

Anything Else: I also use Epson Perfection scanner…got to have it for when I doodle something on paper and need to transfer it into photoshop.



When I draw or extract an element, once I’m done I always apply a black stroke around it to see if I have any stray or unwanted pixels so i can see them easily and erase or remove before i save it. If it all looks clean I just remove the stroke and save it. I also use a lot of shortcuts, it saves a lot of time!

I always loved Halloween, ALWAYS 🙂 and designing Halloween kits is such fun for me. This particular kit is just one of Halloween kits that I love for the colors and all the fun elements in it.






Christmas kits are always popular, I guess what makes this particular kit popular are the bright colors, not your most traditional one, but fun and playful. I did have a lot of fun sketching all the characters in it and it turned out to be cheerful and festive at the same time.






Here are some of my favorite products by Julia Makotinsky:
















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














Store-wide sale! 30% OFF
Julia Makotinsky’s store with the code jm30off
now through September 20th.

Go have a look in Julia Makotinsky’s store! We will randomly select TWO winners to win $10 in product! All winners will be selected through the Rafflecopter widget below. There are several ways to enter and you can do ALL of them to gain more entries for yourself!

a Rafflecopter giveaway