Tonight starts our Days of December at DesignerDigitals.  We have a brand new item priced at just 25 cents and 250 random items marked down 25%.  Both of these are only available in the store until Wednesday morning at 6am EST.

And Katie has a chat tonight at 10pm EST on Random Inspiration you won’t want to miss.

The December desktop scrapbooking calendar is now available in the freebies section including an iPhone wallpaper as well!

“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

The subject for the last Heritage Challenge was “gratitude”.  Today our topic is “place”.  This can be a special place in your life where you can go to physically or in your mind to find a sense of home or heart ... a “place” that you give thanks for. Both of these topics are especially in our thoughts during the Thanksgiving season.  Place can mean the place where you return after a hard day at work, or the place a soldier comes home to after being at war. Place can mean a school room, a church or synagogue, the grandmother’s snug lap that held you as a child, a warm kitchen or a green meadow . . . the ocean or just looking up and seeing the yellow moon on a cloudless night.

{The term sense of place has been defined and used in different ways by different people. To some, it is a characteristic that some geographic places have and some do not, while to others it is a feeling or perception held by people (not by the place itself). It is often used in relation to those characteristics that make a place special or unique, as well as to those that foster a sense of authentic human attachment and belonging. ~ from Wikipedia}

Today Creative Team members Anna, Mel, Patricia & Elena have created layouts that convey a “place” that is close to their hearts.  I think that you will enjoy these pages as much as I have.  These pages use an amazing range of products from the Designer Digitals Store . . . I know that I’ve pulled great ideas from the way they have used these kits!

On This Path is a lovely page created by Mel {Britgirl} about a simple path next to her grandparent’s home.  A single photograph of her father as a teenager brings Mel’s memories of “place” to times when she was a small child and to thoughts of place being a continuing thread through generations.

Supplies:  Basic Paper Alphabet: Red, Letters Home Elements and Brushes, Letters Home Paper Pack, Clock parts No. 04, Collageables No. 01, Collageables No. 02, Passionaire FotoBlendz No. 01, ArtPlay Palette Mini Kit No. 05, Vintage Photo Frames Curled and Flat No. 02, Audubon Notebook Collection No. 01 & My Family Genealogy Family Trees Mini Kits.

Patricia {iUma} has lovingly found several “places” in the photographs she used on her layout. Patricia says, “My Grandparent’s Home” was a place of sensory delight, adventure and extreme difference from our suburban life. I treasured our visits and the stories I heard there.”

Supplies:  Digitally Pressed Petals No. 02, Digitally Pressed Petals No. 04, Digitally Pressed Petals No. 05, Vintage Journals, Vintage Journals No. 02, Vintage Journals No. 03, Vintage Journals No. 04, Buttoned Up: Numbers, Buttoned Up: Vintage, DoodleDo Corners No. 01 Brushes and Stamps, Book of Memories Layered Templates No. 01 , Eat Cake Element Pack, Powder Paper Pack, Garland Mini Kit, Wish Flower Kit, How’d They Do That? No. 05: Gradient Fills & How’d They Do That? No. 04: Selective ReColoring.

For her double page layout Anna {annaaspnes} has penned “lots of journaling in response to the Heritage Challenge this week. I (Anna) tried to conjure up the memories of the only roots I’ve ever had.” 

I love the way in which Anna has written her thoughts and memories of the photographs on her pages!  Be sure to take time to read the incredible journaling.

Supplies:  Love Blush Paper Pack, Joyeux Noel Solids, Love Blush Solids Paper Pack, Stitched by Anna White No. 1, Absolutely Acrylic: Elements, Letter Box Love PageSet & Swim Swim ElementSet

And finally, this layout from Elena {Elena} isn’t a new one, but one Elena created a few months ago.  Mud Hut is special because it is a “place” which Elena doesn’t remember herself ... but knows only from stories that her mother told her. 

Supplies:  Passionaire FotoBlendz No 01, Stitched By Anna White No 01, Stitched by Anna White No 02 , Ali Edwards Layered Template No 13, Botanicals Postage Stamps, Botany 101 Paper Pack, Krafty Cuts Frames No 03, Naturally Krafty No 07 Paper Pack, Roughed Up Krafty Paper Pack & Tied Fasteners .

I hope that you will create a layout about special memories that you have of a “place” in your life or in the life of a family member.  Post your pages in the Heritage Gallery so everyone can enjoy them along with us.

This week we added three new scrapbooking eBooks to help you with inspiration! All in PDF format for easy reading and printing.

Wendy McKeehan and her Team of designers have been designing up a storm with the amazing assortment of products available here at DesignerDigitals. And the result is this fabulous e-book 2010 calendar that’s packed with 365 never-seen-before, inspiring layouts and challenges that will get your scrapbooking productivity to new levels! Whether you scrap digital, traditional or hybrid, you’ll find this daily inspiration calendar to be an invaluable resource. Each month is in an individual PDF for viewing on your desktop. Or print it all out and have it bound for a creative reference. Either way you can’t go wrong!

Have you felt the disappointment of photos not being what you’ve envisioned? Are you craving more creative control of your camera? Our intent is to help you achieve just that by increasing your understanding of your camers’s settings. You will find step by step directions to help you move from auto and move to the semi-automatic settings or even manual mode.

This lesson centers around the use of the versatile Photo Cluster products, which can be used for multiple photos, single photos, or no photos at all. The major focus is on how to use the layered .psd versions of the Photo Clusters with a single photo, but it also provides tips on using the .png versions and several ideas of how to use the clusters creatively on a page.

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