It’s that time again, time to play with some more of the terrific templates in the Designer Digitals store. This week I chose this very elegant layout by Anna: MultiFoto Single Layered Template No. 11

Lynn used the template to showcase some beautiful flower photos and used Katie’sBotanist Notebook No 22 kit. I especially love how she added her journaling.

Steph layout is so fresh looking and her daughter certainly looks adorable with her newly pierced ears! She used Anna’s Fall ART Prints No 03 paper pack
and her Oversize Hipster Plumes No 01 :

And finally, my take on the template. I also went with the whitish background, and documented a fun girls weekend in Colorado. I just love Mindy’s new kit: Itty Bitty Robots kit

I’m looking forward to seeing your take on this template—don’t forget to post your version to the Template Challenge gallery!

Good morning again from the Mollie half of the M & M 3 Kits 3 Ways Challenge duo.

A few weeks ago on October the 12th, in the General Digital Talk section of the DD forum, Crissy asked this question - “What was your first purchase here?” If you didn’t read this thread then, you might enjoy clicking on the link and seeing what some of our members have in their stash.  I am using three of the products from my very first order for today’s challenge kits.  That order was placed on Sunday, July 2nd 2006, and was for 13 items.  I hate to say it, but it was the first order of 14 pages worth of treasures in my Account!

For the challenge this week, I have chosen three of my favorites from that first order, and hope that you will enjoy using them just as CT members Debi {beehive50}, Mel {Britgirl} & Jill {luv2cre8} have for this 3K3W challenge! 

Remember, that you can add other products from the DD shop to these three, and recolor, resize & mix them up to your hearts content!

First is Clock Parts Element.  I love the old clock face, the gear, and the assorted hands . . . and, love that this element is such fun to use.

Next, I am using Brown Digital Stitches Element.  This series of basic stitches is perfect to give a handmade touch to your digital project.

You will enjoy using the Jefferson Paper Pack.  This great set of 5 patterned papers and 4 coordinating solids has a historical flavor. A kraft paper base and vintage maps, patterns and alphabets in yellow, red, blue and green.

Melanie {Britgirl} has used the three challenge products and several extras to complete this sweet page using a wonderful photograph of three of her children.  Memory Captured is just the perfect title for Mel’s page. 

Extras used by Mel are:  Alandia Collection (postage strip), Have a Heart Felt Vol 02, Coin Clusters brushes-n-stamps,Worn Page Edges, Distressed Tool Set No 07, Loosely Labeled Dates, Stamped Blocks No 05, Dirty words & Worn Edges mixed {both coming soon}.

And, what a timely page Jill {luvs2cre8} has created in Election 2008, by using the three products with great extras!  Jill took her camera to the polls last week . . . you will love looking at Jill’s photographs!  The clock face is certainly a great element to use for this day that has become a part of our history.

Jill’s extras are:  Stacked Dates Brushes, Filmed Layered Template No 06, Jouets Collection, and Botanist Notebook No 4 Kit (staples).

Debi {beehive50} has created another of her wonderful “signature” soccer layouts using a minimum of products for a great simple and effective page.  I would love to be able to create “simple” like Debi does!

Debi only used two extras:  Flossy Stitches - Brown, and Digital Date Stamps No. 02.

Thanks so much for stopping by the 3K3W challenge this week! If you’d like to join in on the challenge, we’d love to see your work. Just remember to post it in the 3 Kits 3 Ways Gallery.  Melanie, Debi & Jill will post their layouts in the 3K3W Gallery.  Merrilee and I will be posting ours there also!

Ready, Set… Go!

The Speed Challenge is on! Over the next 5 weeks we are going to complete a year-in-review photobook for 2008 that will be ready to drop in your christmas pictures and be done by the end of the year!

I’ll be using the Year-in-Review Layered Template Set in the store at DesignerDigitals. There are other sets that can be easily adapated for your books as well. This Year-in-Review book has the ‘07’ dates on a separate layer that you can easily remove and replace with 08. Or you could use the Year-by-Year Set and change the titles or Made to Remember and add in month titles or even the Made of Dreams Book with the addition of month titles would be perfect!

For this series post your pages in the 10 Weeks 2 Treasure Gallery and we’ll be able to easily enjoy everyone’s books!

To keep up with the challenge, 3 months a week will be the pace. We’ll get to do part of December’s pages and leave a few spots to drop in our christmas day memories. And the last week we can create out covers and upload to Shutterfly to wrap it up!

So, are you ready?

I’ve gotten my first three months done and realized this year got off to a slow start in the picture-taking department! We were going through a lot of transition with our house for sale and getting ready to move so the rest of the year is more packed with pictures--I could do a few spreads for a few of the months, but I’m just going to pull out the highlights of each month to be able to have a good summary of the year! This is the third year I’ve done a year in review photobook and I wish I could go back and remember month by month for years past but instead I’m going to look forward to dozens of years to come and keep up with my picture taking!

January 08

Layout details here and here

February 08

Layout details here and here

March 08

Layout details here and here

I can’t wait to see all your year-in-review summaries!
And remember, the quarterly sale starts Thursday night with 30% off storewide, so that’s a great time to pick up the template set you want to use if you don’t have it yet!

Did you see this layout by Kirsty (aka krjd1985)?

Delightful is the title and it definitely is that. Great use of Katie’s lovely Jouets kit - and I love the descending vertical design, complete with hanging charm.

Here how it inspired Sarah, Wendy and Jodi:

Credits: layout by Sarah, His Valentine mini-kit, All you need overlays, Nursery Paperpack, Folded Up overlays, 12 x 12 stitched overlays and backgrounds, Little bits alpha, Just Chillin Kit, Itty Bitty alphabet beads.

Credits: Layout by Wendy, Vintage reveals paperpack, Botanical usion No.1 paperpack (coming soon), Paraiso Azul paperpack, Skimmer Boy pageset (stitching), Vibe alphabet brushes, Worn stars, Photo wraps no. 14.

Credits: Layout by Jodi, Shimmer Me tidbits - Splattered and Hoppy Birthday pageset by Pattie Knox, Krafty Blank safety pin tags, Chipboard alpha, Krafty Boy paperpack, and Little Bits Alpha by Katie Pertiet, Celebrate pageset and 12 x 12 zigzag frames by Anna Aspnes.

Looking forward to seeing how it inspires you!

~ Lynn

Time for another fresh look feature - yay! As the holiday season approaches, I’m thinking about family....and that’s what drew me to this layout by Heidi2008

Let’s see what the team was inspired to come up with for this one.

First up is Linda - I just love what she did to make the photo look aged, and the details she added just bring a beautifully classic feel to this page.

Supplies: Stitched Labels, Bookplate Notes, Stitched by Anna Brown No.1, Worn Photo Edges No.2, Worn Strips No.2, Cozy Crochet, and Botanical Fusion Paper Pack and Embellishments (coming soon)

Next is Debi’s fresh look - I just love the use of white space and that metal accent is awesome!

Supplies: Naturally Krafty Paper Pack, Naturally Krafty 02 Paper Pack, Aged Perfection Paper Pack, In the Post Kit, Gloriously Paper Pack, Staple Its! No.2, and Cherished Moment LT (coming soon)

And finally - my fresh look layout. Heidi had some wonderful journaling on her original page, but I decided to go with a quote that I found about generations.

Supplies: New Growth Brushes-n-Stamps No.3, Vintage Photo Frames No.12, Autumn Glory Kit, and Softly Patterned Autumn Paper Pack

I know I say it every time - but it’s just so fun to see what everyone does to give the original layout a fresh look. If you’d like a fresh look for one of your pages, post a link at THIS THREAD. Have a great weekend everyone!