Congratulations to CCofOhio. Her layout 2 wheels has been selected as the featured layout of the week where she won a $ 5 DesignerDigitals Gift Certificate for product of her choice!

Another great week of photos! I’m posting my favorites this week while Mel’s away. I’m holding on to the last bit of summer posted in the gallery!

1. garden bench monday 228/365, 2. sunset silhouette, 3. Caramel Apples, 4. Bonnets in the breeze, 5. 08.17.10 POTD, 6. 230/365 Eight Cupcakes

Every now and then a layout in the gallery makes you do a double take, and this week’s inspiration page by Ellan is a beautiful example:

I love the unexpected bold, black title (made with Katie’s fabulous Messy Stamped Alpha No.06) paired with the pretty, pastel papers and flower.

Not only does the black draw attention to the black of Jessa’s coat, it also takes the page out of the ordinary in a very special way. Often, when creating our digital scrapbook layouts, we go for the “obvious choice” - in this case perhaps a refined pastel alpha to go with the rest of the page. But experimenting with the unexpected can often have amazing results, as this gorgeous tribute page to a much-loved companion shows. So, sometimes, try being brave and being bold!

But, you might also be inspired by the flow of the photo, elements and journaling down from the top right corner of the page. If you ARE inspired to lift Ellan’s lovely page, don’t forget to post in the Saturday Scraplift gallery alongside these by me, Linda and Sarah:

Credits: layout by Lynn, papers from “Totally Trashed No.01” (coming soon) and In Distress No.03, flower from Sweet Marie kitstaple from Sunshine Ahead kit and Funky Dates by Lynn Grieveson, Collageables no.03 and Messy Stamped Alpha No.06 by Katie Pertiet.

Credits: layout by Linda, Worn Photo Edges No.04: Golden Years by Lynn Grieveson, Stitching by Anna Aspnes, Worth Repeating Expressions No.05 (coming soon), Messy Stamped Alpha No.06, Touches of paint paperpack Pressed Flowers: Brights, Sticky Notes no.01, Dog park element pack and Nana’s Buttonsby Katie Pertiet.

Credits: layout by Sarah, Summer Set kit by Andrea Victoria, Stitched Words No.01 by Anna Aspnes, Jelly Alpha 16 by Michelle Martin, Whimsy Words No.05 and Sea Life Memories Solids by Katie Pertiet, FeltBoard Friends School Friends by Pattie Knox (all coming soon!).

I was astonished to see how you all were inspired by the last challenge. So many fun layouts in our very own AJ gallery!!
Before I continue with this week’s message - I want to point out two of the many wonderful pages inspired by Adryane. I had a hard time choosing.
I think h_ryfa took this challenge into her two hands and created a spectacular page. I am in awe.

And Jana Morton‘s page blew me away too. How fun is THIS??  She did a fantastic job on this. I love the humor in it.

This week I have an important message for you all:  The Art Journal Challenge will take a few months break. I am studying for an upcoming important exam and rather unwillingly, I have to admit - that my professional life needs to take precedence over my hobbies. Trust me, it is NOT easy to let go of my private computer and art-time. I do hope to be back with new challenges later this fall, once my stress levels concerning the exam have subsided.

So for this week, I am leaving you with an open challenge. An open challenge to continue finding your inner artful voice in using digital products. Some days you might want to layer stuff on your page, tape, “glue”, stamp, journal and paint. Other days, perhaps the right thing is a small photo and a simple embellishment. Whatever it takes to let your creative juices flow and release those emotions ready to burst inside. The fun thing about this - it is limitless. There are no rules. Do you have lots of products you never seem to find the right scrapping page for?  Well, use it on an art journal page! Seek out those products you *love*, but have never used - and art journal with them. And here is my page for this week:

I have these wonderful Mixed Bag brushes by Katie Pertiet that I love but seldom find the right page for, but this week I had a perfect use for one of them. I love how the color and worn look of the Crumpled Cardstock Overlay make me think of a an old, squeaky, used wicker chair. I used Jesse Edwards’ Deco Borders no.4 to make a space for the chair and used two lovely papers from her Eclair paper pack (coming soon!). I chose these because they have a bright and busy pattern, to symbolize… well, a bright and busy life. Then a break, with a chair to relax in, and then the continuation afterwards of more bright and patterned “life”.  The title is perhaps superfluous, but I think it declares what the intention of the page is.
There you have it.  So now, go forward and create artful pages!!  Don’t forget to post them in our gallery. Until next time - don’t forget to have fun while art journaling. Take care.      ~ Aino.

Welcome to the Just Finish It Challenge!

This week’s challenge is to get ready for the December holiday season. Yep, you heard me right. We’re getting ready for the holidays in August. But why?

The answer is simple. By the time you start thinking about the holidays, it’s mid-November, school vacation is upon you before you know it, the shopping season is in full swing, family is traveling for Thanksgiving for those of you in the states, and you’re overwhelmed.

So, we’re going to plan it now. Or at least start planning it now. Designer Digitals recently finished a Christmas in July sale event so you probably even have some new holiday supplies to play with.

Here’s a couple of things you can do now:

1. Choose a template set.
2. Choose background papers.
3. Choose an alphabet or a font.
4. Decide on the layout design - daily December, a photo a day, weekly pages, one-page spread or two-page spread, etc…
5. Start a file for your album with empty pages for each layout, labeled with the date and page number.
6. You can even load each background paper into your album for each day of your album.

Even if you took 30 minutes, you could start your album today. Add in 30 more minutes next week and you might have the beginnings of an album before September even gets here! And what a relief that will be when November and December roll around.

To get you motivated and inspired, here are some amazing holiday albums from our Creative Team.

Angie’s 2009 album is simply beautiful. Here’s her book cover.

Angie’s advice is to keep “[I]t really simple using the same background and colors for each page. I also tried to complete a page a day in order to keep up.”

Katrina’s 2008 Christmas album inspired a whole lot of kraft-loving holiday albums! It’s beautiful. Here’s a sample page.

Katrina has this advice for planning your album:

1. Keep it simple
2. Select a template set and papers and stick with it. Change up your embellishments as you work through the month if you need it for interest.
3. Journal as you go, daily if possible
4. Keep your camera with you all of the time and snap snap snap
5. Don’t try to scrap every photo, just the most important
6. Enjoy the process (and the holidays)

I hope these books and tips have inspired you to take just a little bit of time to organize your holiday album!

~Steph