Can you believe that Christmas is already here?  I know that I say this every year . . . but time flies . . . and it seems to me that it could not possibly have been twelve months since Christmas of 2010!  I am turning back my clock to a special Christmas in my life . . . the holidays of 1968.  I have surprised myself at just how much I remember about that Christmas season.  Do you have a Christmas past that you particularly remember?  Was it because of a first in your life . . . because of a special Christmas tree . . .  or a fondly remembered tradition?  If so dig out those old Christmas photographs that are turning yellow in your album and write down your memories about one of your favorite photos.  If you don’t have a photograph of your memory or tradition, you can make a terrific scrapbook page with some of the wonderful elements in the Designer Digitals store!  Join Carol (Carolee), Laura (laura grimes) and me (readstoomuch) and share your memories with your DD friends and you own family!

Carol fondly remembers traditions of Christmas when she was a child . . . from the silly hats to her Dad on the floor playing santa!
Supply list:  Holiday Cheer Word Solids & Stars, Worn Page Edges No. 02, Christmas Village Kit, Messy Stitched Borders: Golden No. 01, Measured Words No. 02, Edge Overlays No. 02, Notebook Edge Photo Masks No. 07, Hinge Pack, Remembering December Tags No. 02 and Make Your Own Postmarks Pack No. 05.

Laura created her eye-catching page as she remembers her grandmother’s flocked Christmas tree!  I love Laura’s tltlework created with this perfect Wooden Alphabet from the store.
Supplies:  Layer Works No. 123, Gingerbread Runaway Solids Paper Pack, Christmas Village Kit, Postmarked Holidays Brushes and Stamps No. 02, Sweet St. Nicholas Kit, Letters Home Elements and Brushes, Wooden Alphabet No. 06 and Botanical Christmas Tag Pack.

My layout returns to Christmas 1968.  We were living in Germany and were spending Christmas with our first child . . . our new baby boy who brought a new dimension to our holidays!  Being away from home for the first time in my life and halfway around the world could have been sad for us . . . but because of wonderful friends and our new baby we celebrated a Christmas to remember always!
Supplies:  Clean Stitched Rounded Corners: Red No. 01, Cut Ups: Christmas, Layered Memories No. 83 and Santa Land Papers (I think that these papers look so retro . . . just so 60’s).

Lynnie, my Heritage Challenge partner & I hope that you will draw inspiration from Carol, Laura and me this week for a Christmas Memories Heritage Challenge.  We would love to see one of your Christmas Memories scrapped in the Heritage Gallery here at Designer Digitals.  I hope that your favorite childhood dresses will grace out Heritage Gallery too.  Remember that your pages should use products from the Designer Digitals Store and feature memories from the 1970’s or earlier.

When thinking about our families, many emotions can surface: love, sadness, joy, frustration. At this time of year, though, when we are approaching Thanksgiving in the US, those are often feelings of thankfulness. We are thankful for all our families have given us, materially and spiritually. We are thankful for those who came before us and those we are watching grow up. For this month’s Heritage Challenge, the Creative Team was asked to think about how their families make them thankful. Sara and Esther responded to the challenge with some fabulous layouts!

Sara’s layout features some wonderful photos of Thanksgivings past. She has used an array of great Thanksgiving elements to showcase her photos. Isn’t it adorable?

Supply list:
Cardstock Banner Alphabet
Autumnal Artistry Kit
Metal Clip Assortment
Thankful Memories Kit
Stitched Word Blocks: Fall No. 01
Monarchy Kit
Really Big Leaves No. 01
Thanksgiving Celebrations Element Pack
Stitched Word Strips: Autumn No. 01
Botanist Notebook No. 25 Mini Kit
From My Bookshelf Paper Pieces: Fall No. 01

Esther recently completed a slideshow of 180 photos for her and her husband’s 50th birthday celebration. It made her appreciate all the good times she has had and how lucky she is. She was thankful that her father took lots of color slides. She used a ton of those slides to create a wonderful two page layout featuring their first 50 years. What a great idea (and a ton of work!)

Supply list:
Katie Pertiet:
Photo Clusters No. 37
Taped Together Overlays No. 01
Classic Cardstock: Pear Perfection
Ali Edwards:
Holidays + Celebrations Hand Drawn Brushes
Words Of Beauty Brushes and Stamps
Maplebrook Studios:
Jelly Alphabet No. 21

Ww are looking forward to your layouts featuring your thankful feelings. Be sure to post them in the Heritage Gallery.

It’s October! For those of us in the US, that brings cooler weather, fall foliage and thoughts of Halloween! Halloween has been celebrated around here for many many years so it seemed an appropriate subject for this month’s Heritage Challenge. I think you will agree with me that Linda (earlofoxford) and Elena did a great job of starting us off with some layouts that will really inspire us to get scrapping those old(er) Halloween photos and memories!

Linda used some delightful photos of her sons from the 70s. I think you will find it interesting, as Linda did, that several of these 70s costumes are popular again today! Check out the spooky tree she included and the awesome shadow she created.  I love Linda’s journaling also!

Linda’s Supply list:
Maplebrook Studios
Layered Memories No. 119
Katie Pertiet
Haunted Woodlands Kit
Assorted Messy Stitches: Red No. 01
Frightful Element Pack
(staple)
Fine Lines Border Lines Brushes and Stamps No. 08
Wire Rimmed Charms No. 02
Drop Shadow Styles Collection
Art Warehouse
Trickery Brushes and Stamps
Lynn Grieveson
Inky Dink Page Borders
Cassie Jones
How’d They Do That? No. 13: Bending Shadows

I just love Elena’s photo of her brother from the 70s! The stack of vintage frames she used with it is perfect! Elena found the perfect quote too!

Elena’s supply list:
Katie Pertiet:
Curled Journal Spots No. 05
Filed Photo Frames No. 05
Flourishing Leaves No. 01
Messy Stitched Borders: Brown No. 01
Wild Horses Kit

Lynn Grieveson:
Worn Page Edges No. 02

Maplebrook Studios:
Emery Solids Paper Pack
Just Linens Paper Pack No. 29
Michaela Solids Paper Pack

I hope you will feel inspired to rummage around in those stacks of old photos and find some Halloween photos to share with us. If you don’t have any photos, Halloween stories and experiences can make terrific layouts too! Mollie (my partner-in-heritage) and I will be waiting to see your creations in the Heritage Gallery!

Hey girls . . . it’s September . . . can you believe it?  Are your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and neighbor’s children back in school?  Do you remember how excited you were about returning to school in the fall of the year?  Or, do you remember how happy you were when your children started back to school!

This week we are remembering those “Back to School Days” from years gone by.  Perhaps you have a story to share about yourself from one of those long ago school years.  Or you might have a cherished photograph from one of your parents or even from a grandparent about their school days.  We have created four scrapbook pages that tell school days stories from four perspectives.  We have stories about a grandparent, a parent, one about ourself and one of one of our children . . . four generations of family from the 1920’s through the 1970’s.

I will begin with Jana’s [Jana Morton] page that tells a sweet, sweet story about her grandmother, Millie who attended a little German school in Minnesota in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  I love the pretty row of butterflies and the wooden rulers that Jana used to give her page a nostalgic feeling.

Jana used these Designer Digitals products for her lovely layout:  From My Bookshelf Blendables No. 02, Alandia Meadow Collection, Gallery Photo Frames No. 01, Artistry de Azul Kit, Wooden Alphabet No. 08, Monarchy Kit, Little Shores Kit, New Discoveries Mini Kit, Little Snips Alphabet No. 02, From My Bookshelf No. 02 Kit, Letter Box Garden Song Kit, Alandia Paix Collection, Clipped Alphabet No. 01, Hinge Pack, In Stitches: Wings No. 01, Pencil Line Twists Brushes and Stamps No. 01 and Felt Board Friends: School Box.

Lynn [grandma lynnie] went looking for a photo of her mother that she remembered and found a treasure trove of memorabilia from her father!  What a treasure this photograph is, Lynn . . . I know that you were thrilled to find these things of your fathers.

These products from the DD Store look wonderful as Lynn has used them for her page:  Today Layered Template, Clipper Paper Pack, Basic Twills: Definitions No. 02, Assorted Messy Stitches: Brown No. 01 and Brad Bonanza No. 01: Digital Fasteners.

You are going to love looking over “Too Cool 4 School Clothes” from Debi [beehive50]!  What a treat it is . . . I love that Debi found this really, really cool photograph of this high school outfit!  You are going to get a big kick out of Debi’s journaling too.

Debi used the following for her darling layout:  Messy Stitched Borders White No. 02, Assorted Messy Stitches:  White No. 03, Stitched Up Frames No. 05, Little Snips Alpha No. 02, Little Plastic Flowers No. 02, Katie’s Pencil Thin Font, Just Linens No. 30, Everyday Sentiment Strips Brushes and Stamps, Hello School Brushes and Stamps, In the Swim Alphabet and Staple Its!.

The last layout is my own [readstoomuch].  I have only a few photographs from our third son’s kindergarten year from 1977 . . . I’ve used one of them on my page in order to write down a memory or two from that special time in his life.

My supply list:  Fine Line Page Titles No. 09, Gator Crossing Kit, Ledger Botanicals Kit, Pencil Lines Twists Brushes, and Teacher’s Pet Kit.

Lynn aka Grandma Lynnie, my Heritage Challenge co-writer for the blog & I hope that you will draw inspiration from Debi, Jana and the two of us this week for Heritage Challenge No. 44. We would love to see your back to school pages in the Heritage Gallery along with ours.  Remember that your pages should use products from the Designer Digitals Store and feature memories from the 1970’s or earlier.  Some of you may be surprised that you are considered “heritage” girls!!!

It’s here. The “Dog Days of August.” I’ve heard this saying many times and really had no idea what it meant. But when I was thinking of an idea for the August Heritage Challenge, that phrase popped right into my head. Why not scrap some of those great photos of the pets of our (or our children’s) youth?  When I asked for helpers, Patricia, Amy and Mollie spoke right up and delivered three awesome layouts to inspire you with this challenge.

Thankfully, Patricia decided to research the “Dog Days” phrase and include the information in her wonderful layout about her childhood dog, Curry. Now we don’t have to wonder what “Dog Days” means anymore AND we’ve been introduced to the “Dog of her heart.”

Supply list:
Katie Pertiet
Thin Chip Alphabet: Dusty Blue
Cloudscapes No. 01 Paper Pack
Crated Blossoms Paper Pack
Filed Photo Frames No. 03
2nd Hand Memories Kit
one of my favorite envelopes……
Botanist Notebook No. 23 Kit
Assorted Tapes No. 04
Botanist Notebook No. 06 Kit
l’Automne Element Pack
dog sticker…without the stick.
Book of Memories Layered Templates No. 06
used the mapped hearts from there……
Mindy Terasawa
Assorted Tapes No. 04

I love the sweet story Amy tells of her adorable dog, Barney. I also love the great color combo she used and those awesome waves that are included in her layout.  I wonder which one of those bathing beauties is our Amy!

Supply list:
Katie Pertiet
Ride the Waves Layered Template
Defined Value Pack No. 01
Everyday Pets Borders Brushes and Stamps
Bracketed Paper Pack No. 02
From My Bookshelf No. 01 Kit
Sealife Memories Paper Pack
Pencil Lines Borders No. 01 Brushes and Stamps
Banner Strips No. 03
Basic Paper Alphabet: Teal
DoodleDo Circles Brushes and Stamps
Lil Bit Tags

Lynn Grieveson
Chilling Kit
Beach Huts Mini Kit
Worn Strips No. 05

Pattie Knox
A to Zoo Kit
Absolutely Acrylic: Rainy Days

Mollie chimed in with a great layout about the turtle pet that her son enjoyed many years ago. I’m so glad she did because this may spark memories in some of us of other kinds of pets we may have had through the years! I love the adorable photos Mollie has included of her little one and “Tirt-ee!” I am also impressed by all the details she remembers!

Supply list:
A to Zoo Animals Add-On – Pattie Knox
Dotted and Dashed Brushes and Stamps – Cathy Zielske
Ingrid Kit – Maplebrook Studios
Inked Strokes: Leaves No. 01 Brushes and Stamps – Maplebrook Studios
Inspired Layered Template (photo frames) – Katie Pertiet
Jelly Alphabet No. 11 – Maplebrook Studios
Photo Corners: Colors No. 01 – Katie Pertiet
This One Brushes and Stamps (arrow) - Ali Edwards

Mollie (my partner in Heritage) and I will be looking for all your wonderful memories of pets in the Heritage Callery. I’m excited to meet these special creatures!