Digital Scrapbooking Blog and Scrapbook Inspiration
from DesignerDigitals

Happy New Year, everyone! Are you as amazed as I am, how all through each year, week in and week out, Katie and all the Designer Digitals’ designers create new wonderful products to help us preserve our memories? Since we so recently said good-by to 2010, I thought it would be fun to feature three kits introduced one year ago in January. Maybe the kits are already in your stash and you’ll join us for this week’s 3 kits 3 Ways challenge or maybe you’ll want to take advantage of their sale price today and join us for the challenge. I hope you like the ideas presented by Elena, Lynnie and me using the three kits and I would love to see how you would use these 3 kits.

One year ago, Anna Aspnes introduced word art that made me want to immediately scrap a new page for this January, 2011. Sometimes, that is all I need to get started and I hope her word art inspires you, too.
New Beginnings WordArt No. 02

Photo Clusters No. 26 by Katie Pertiet was introduced one year ago. It’s my favorite series of frames for multiple photos.

What could be more basic and beautiful than the papers in the Just Linens Paper Pack series by Michelle Martin? Just Linens Paper Pack No. 02 was introduced one year ago.

Now, for the 3 Ways part of this challenge our tradition is to show you ideas from the DD Creative Team using the 3 Kits.

Layout by Elena

In her classic style of scrapping, lovely Elena created this beautiful page. She used the 3 kits, plus: 2010 Alphabet Tabs by Ali Edwards, LoopDaLoop Flowers No. 01 Element Set by Anna Aspnes and Pearl Accents by Pattie Knox.

Layout by Grandma Lynnie

Lynn’s page celebrates her impressive weight loss achievement. I am glad she found the words in Anna’s kit so perfect to help tell her story. Congratulations, Lynn! The symbolic butterflies Lynn added are from Torn N Tattered FlutterBy Templates No 01 by Anna Aspnes.

My Layout (digigrandma)

In addition to the 3 kits I used Zig Zag Stitched Frames: White 12 x 12 by Anna Aspnes; Collaged Hearts No. 01 by Katie Pertiet; and Peaceful Kit by Lynn Grieveson.

It’s your turn now! The challenge is to use all 3 kits and any additional kits from the Designer Digitals store to complete your page. Please post here in the 3 Kits 3 Ways Gallery.

Today is Day four of our Brush Sale at DesignerDigials where every Photoshop Brush is marked down 30% through Saturday, January 8th at 6am EST.

Today’s featured $ 99 cent Brush is Traveler Clusters No. 01 Brushes and Stamps which will be at that price through 6am EST on Thursday, January 6th.

Today is Day three of our Brush Sale at DesignerDigials where every Photoshop Brush is marked down 30% through Saturday, January 8th at 6am EST.

Today’s featured $ 99 cent Brush is Letter Box Clusters No. 07 Brushes and Stamps which will be at that price through 6am EST on Wednesday, January 5th.

The color you choose for a photo can impact the story as much as the words.

How do you decide which color conversion to use?  Selecting the color can be a gut feeling or a more deliberate decision based on the story you’d like to tell. Whether you choose a preset or an action, you have many choices available.

Using a Lightroom Hawaii 5-0 preset,  I’ve given my photo a 70’s feeling. A sense of nostalgia perhaps? Using this color conversion helps to tell a story when your memories of the moment aren’t as clear or a story comparing today to yesterday.

A deep black and white creates a dramatic feeling. It could work to capture your feelings about the moment. I like black and white when I want the entire subject to be important and not overwhelmed by the details of any of the colors in the photo. Consider using a lighter black and white conversion for a less dramatic effect.

My 5 year old son’s preference was to leave the color in. This is how his little literal mind sees the world, so it makes sense. Leave the color to tell his story in a way he remembers it.

I chose, to use Pattie’s Actions: Duotones to convert my photo to Sepia. I wanted to tell the story of this day and so many days like it.  I like the moodiness that sepia brings and that bit of nostalgia.

Join me in thinking about how your photos color conversion relates the True story you want to convey. I’d love to see what you decide in the PageKraft: Write True+Click gallery.

This past week marked the end of a decade.
Hard to believe isn’t it?
The first decade of the new millennium and it held lots of changes for myself and my family. As I went back through my old scrapbooks I was surprised to find that I was a hybrid scrapper back as early as 1998. Printing out my titles and journaling and coloring them in before adding to my pages. Definitely brought a smile to my face as I never really considered myself a hybrid scrapper. And I sat with Kelly and went through all the pages I had chronologically scrapped and happily saw the names of friends I couldn’t remember and all the places we used to go reminding me why I create and why I scrap. To remember.

Sadly, I also noticed I stopped scrapping after 9/11 for quite some time. It was a difficult time for us and I don’t know that I ever really documented about it. And then I was scrapping with the mojo in 2002 until I met my now husband and it looks like I was too busy keep up with scrapping until we married in 2003. Funny how things go that way! And then my scrapping got better to even include year in reviews. But there are gaps. And before there are too many gaps in my memory I thought it was a perfect opportunity to make a new album and Document a Decade.

Each week will be a new year, making the project a little less overwhelming. And I’ll actually be including 11 years starting with 2000 and ending with 2010. Considering my year in review books are 20 pages, compacting one full year into 2 pages was just too much for me so I’ve made it 4 pages so most things could be included. In the store you can pick up one or both templates, depending on what works for you. And years can be added or removed so you can mix and match to your hearts content. Each week new sets will be available until the book is complete! So, you in?

Wondering what you have to document about? I sat down and thought about where we’ve been over the past decade and came up with this list:
- 4 homes
- 4 dogs
- 5 schools
- new marriage
- countless trips to family
- 4 trips to disney
- 3 trips to california
- 2 trips overseas
- 2 grandchildren
and so much more, I think plenty to scrap about!
I scrap to remember and to leave a legacy. I want Kelly’s children and Emi and Lexi’s children to know who we are and how we lived and scrapbooks are a perfect way to do that! Sit down and make a list. How many homes? Children? Grandchildren? Schools? Pets? Jobs? Vacations?

Still not convinced to join in?

What about documenting general information?
in 2000:
- the cost of gas [$1.40/gal]
- popular music [U2, Baha Men, Britney Spears, NSync]
- news events [election]
- where you were working
- favorite tv shows [survivor, will&grace]
- movies of the year [matrix, little mermaid II]
- the olympics
- technology, did you have a cell phone yet?

Why not document the world around you in 2000 and do some journaling about how it affected you and your life. Were you embracing the new technology or steering clear? Were you on-line yet? Just starting your family or struggling with an empty nest? It’s important for yourself and your future generations to have a keepsake to look back on where they can gain insight into your life and know where they came from.
This project is perfect for that.

I picked the significant along with my favorites from 2000 for my pages.

details here and here

I hope you’ll join me on this photobook project and gather up your memories from the past decade!