IN THIS ISSUE:

Hot Topics by Stacey Mann. . . 2

Articles & Announcements. . . 3
Featured Designer . . . . . . . . . 6
Color Blocking Tutorial. . . . . 8
Featured Scrapper . . . . . . . . 14
Featured Layouts. . . . . . . . . 16
Scraplifts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Gifts from our designers. . . . 21

digitalscrapbookpages.com February 2008, Issue 4

featu
daily rdeod designer &
Kat wnload
hryn
Estry
featured
scrapper
bigme
(Megan33
g
Hubbar
d)
color blo
PixelDcking tutorial
iva
our desi
g
ners giv
Eight B e
eaut
iful Gifts
 hot topics
Hot Topics with
Stacey Mann
Practice Safe Scrapping by Making Regular
Back-ups
If you have ever had a computer or hard
drive crash, you know the pain of losing your pre-
cious data. As digital scrapbookers, we can lose
memories including photos, completed layouts, and
digital supplies, some of which we may never be
able to recover.
There is no getting around the fact that all
hardware and media can fail at some point. Sooner
or later, it happens to most everyone. With that
in mind, we must do everything we can to protect
ourselves by making multiple copies of our most
precious files.
In Laura Oles’ book Digital Photography for
Busy Women, she suggests having important files
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such as digital photos and scrapbook layouts on
your hard drive and copied to at least two other
locations. I have mine on my internal hard drive,
an external hard drive (you can get a 500 Mb drive
for less than $150 these days), and on DVDs. If any
one of these fail, I have two other places to go to
recover them. Chances of all three failing, unless
the file itself is corrupt, are slim.
A good idea is also to have a copy of your
DVDs housed in a different location than your com-
puter. Even in a fire-resistant safe, the DVDs could
melt from the heat of a fire. Ask a family member
or friend to keep a copy at their house and offer to
do the same for them.
Of course all the back-up systems in the
world are no good if you don’t remember to write
to them often. I use Norton 360 which has a built in
back-up feature. I set it to a certain day and time,
usually when I plan to be sleeping, and it copies
whatever directories I specify to my external drive
each week at that time. The only drawback is that
you have to have all your programs closed which I
don’t always remember to do.
Another program I haven’t tried yet, but
comes highly recommend by Digitals Designer
Sophia Davies is called Second Copy. She says it
compares your files and only backs up what has
changed, and runs in the background while you are
doing other things. You can check it out here with a
free trial or buy a one-user license for $29.95.
If you don’t have the money for either of
these programs or just want to do manual back-
ups, set a date on your calendar to do it regularly,
like the first of every month, or every Friday, de-
pending on how often you are adding new files.
As in all of life, there are no guarantees, but
if you take these steps, you will be scrapping safely
and worry less about your data, freeing you up for
more creativity and fun!
 announcements

Welcome back, Designer

Christine Smith
My personal life focuses on my great fam-
ily — First, my husband of almost 17 years, my
step-son and his wife along with their beautiful new
baby, our six lovely and intelligent daughters, our
homely but loyal dog, and then my other interests
— which are volunteering at school, playing in our
church’s worship, and laundry (which must be my
hobby since I do it so often!)
I am pleased to offer my designs at Digitals
and look forward to seeing some of them in use in
the galleria!
Please visit Christine’s store, view her sam-
pler and get her bonus download.

Welcome Kelli Vander Veen

of Tallula Moon Designs
Please welcome our newest designer to the
Digitals team, Kelli selling as Tallula Moon Designs.
You may remember her as a contestant in our
Digitals Design Star contest last fall. Please check
out her sampler and products in the store!

My name is Kelli and I’m 35 years old. I live

in California with my fiancee and my 16-year-old
daughter. I also have a 17-year-old son. I have
been designing for about 2 years now, but have
only recently ventured out into selling my designs.
I love to cook (and eat), spend time with my family
and create with anything I can get my hands on. I
read a lot and am usually reading 2 or 3 books at
a time. I love ALL types of feedback for my designs
and love to see the LO’s created with them.

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 announcements

Wonderful Wednesdays Digitals is Listening to You!

Sales Begin!
Every Wednesday, our fabulous design-
ers are selecting some of their products to put on
sale for 30% off this one day only! You never know
what you will find, so come take a look! Browse
the specials section to see everything on sale each
Wednesday.
Crop Schedule
February 20
9pm EST - Over the Hump with DeDe:
Speed Crop
February 21
9pm EST - Scrap Therapy with Amanda & Glenda
We have made some improvements to our
store since the first of the year to make it easier
and more fun for you to shop at Digitals.
Now if you click on a designer’s name, her
products come up listed by the newest one first
(newest to oldest).
Also, if you are looking at a particular de-
signers’ products and fall in love with her designs,
you can click the link under her photo on the right
that says “Other Products” to instantly see all of her
things!
Last but not least, we know requiring you to
log in to browse was annoying, so we have changed
it so you only have to log in to use your wishlist or
checkout.
We hope you like the changes. If you have
any more suggestions, please email Stacey, the
store owner.

February 25
9pm EST- Multi-Photo Layouts with Shawn
11pm EST - Diary of a Diva

February 26
Noon EST - Gettin’ to Know Scrappin’
with Karla & Diana

February 27
9pm EST - Over the Hump with DeDe:
Designer Spotlight

February 28
9pm EST - Leaving a Legacy
with Stacey & Jenn

March 3
11pm EST - ATC Crop with Beth & Pixel Diva

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 announcements

New Crop:
Leaving A Legacy
Join Digitals Designers Stacey Mann and
Jennifer Maceyunas on Thursday, February 28, at
9 p.m. Eastern time in our chat room for the first
in a new series of crops called Leaving a Legacy. It
will be journaling-intensive and have a theme each
month designed to encourage us to record a certain
segment of our memories for our family. These are
things we don’t necessarily scrap every day, but
thoughts/feelings, family history, and things that
may be even more important to our descendents.
We have a great theme picked out, and attendees
will receive a free mini-kit to download from Jenni-
fer’s Valentine’s Day Romance kit!
Starting in March, these will be on the sec-
ond Thursday of each month at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Valentines ATC Contest See you there!

Upload your Valentine-themed ATCs (Artist

Trading Cards) to the Digitals ATC Contest gallery
See Us All Around the Web
by Feb. 22. The only two rules are that they must
You can find Digitals branching out to several
be 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and they each must include at
new places on the internet so that we can better
least one product from Digitals.
interact with you, our customers. First of all, we
have an awesome store blog where you can find out
about our freebies, specials, and events. Starting
March 1, we will have an exclusive feature found
only on our store blog where you can get to know
our designers better as they are blog guest host-
esses for a week at a time. You will want to book-
mark it so you don’t miss your favorites!
We recently started a YouTube page where
you can watch free video tutorials on digital scrap-
booking techniques written by our talented team.
We have 6 tutorials by Digitals Designer Chris Bea-
sley uploaded, and we will be adding more. Be sure
to subscribe so you don’t miss new ones as they are
added.
If you are a member of Facebook, as many
digital scrapbookers are, we would love to have you
join our public Digitals group found here. We also
have a Scribd group, a Squidoo lens, and a Hub-
Page, all of which you can join or subscribe to keep
up-to-date on the latest at Digitals. See you around
the web!

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 featured designer

Featured Designer
Kathryn Estry
Tell us about yourself and your family.
I’m Kathryn Estry (aka Kathryn Mhire before I was
swept off my feet and married to the sweetest man
I know). My Robert and I live in Katy, Texas, with
our 3 kitties, Shadow, Jasmine, and Amber. Robert
is incredibly patient and understanding with me and
knows that every evening, at least for a little while,
I have to have my designing fix. He’s also a perfec-
tionist as well as an artist. What he can do with a
block of wood and a lathe is sheer magic.
I have 2 grown children who are both mar-
ried and living in Dallas and Fort Worth, about 5
hours from here. My son Tommy turned 30 in Octo-
ber, which is a little hard for me to believe! He’s a
computer engineer, and his pretty wife, Audra, is a
CPA. Her job will soon be taking them to Connecti- academic competitions, independent study projects,
cut for a couple of years. Tommy’s company will let AND I’m teaching them Photoshop Elements!
him work from home for that time. Sounds to me
like a perfect time for them to start a family with How long have you been scrapbooking
him at home, what do you think? (paper & digital)? I had really just started paper
My sweet daughter Brandi is also a computer scrapping when I discovered digital scrapbooking.
engineer and is married to Ryan, a college minis- That was in the summer of 2005. I started design-
ter. Ryan officiated when Robert and I got married ing in 2006 and have had so much fun with it that I
this past summer, and my kids organized the entire don’t scrap as much as I’d like.
event. Our wedding was also a week-long family
reunion, and it was fabulous having everyone here! What is your scrapbooking/design/craft
I have a special request in for grandkids as soon as background? I’ve always loved to sketch and to
the kids are ready and God has that in His plan. paint. My favorite medium (besides the computer)
During the week, I’m the Gifted / Talented is pencils. In my next life, I hope to do more with
Facilitator of 1st - 5th graders. I work with wonder- colored pencils as well as pastels. In the past I’ve
ful kids who keep me on my toes for sure. We do worked all sorts of crafts with scouts, had my own

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 featured designer
wood cutting and painting business, sewn for oth-
ers, decorated cakes (another little business), and
I’ve shown my students how to incorporate scrap-
booking techniques (paper and digital) into their
independent projects.
What software do you use? I love Pho-
toshop Elements 5.0. I love the challenge of con-
vincing the program it really can do all (well a lot
of) the tricks PS can do. I use key combinations and
logical thinking like it’s going out of style, and it’s
so much fun! Not everything works, but that’s the
nature of the beast.
How many layouts do you average per
month? I usually get in one or two, but some
months don’t even see that. I love designing too
much!
Why do you like to create elements/
kits? It’s like a painting or a story you’re writing. I
get an idea, a theme, and seeing it all come togeth-
er is magic. I much prefer full kits to just papers
or elements or even designer templates because of
the story the kit tells and the ideas it will spark in
others.
How would you describe your style? My
designing style is sort of evolving as I’m learning,
but I really like clean and either super cute or super
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gorgeous. I like the challenge of creating realistic
elements for my pretty kits, and I’m delighted when
I see pages made with my cute characters.
Who/what inspires you when you cre-
ate? I seem to be constantly looking around me for
kit theme ideas ~ something I haven’t seen before
that others might find fun to work with. I love color
combinations and sometimes just start there. After
doing this for some time, I have a hard time look-
ing around me without thinking of how the things I
see might work in a kit. So many of my photos are
of random things in great colors or of textures I find
interesting. It’s a fun life!
What is the best thing about scrapbook-
ing? It’s such a wonderful way to preserve your
memories. The photos are snapshots of life, the
journaling helps tell the story of that chapter, and
the scrapped page gives it personality. Ten people
could scrap the same photos of the same event,
and you’d get ten totally different pages. That’s
what makes scrapbooking so special to me.
Show us your favorite of your own lay-
outs. Sisters, Brandi and Ryan’s Home, He Survived
the Great White, and Tommy and Audra ~ Feelings.
Be sure to check Kathryn’s products as they are
discounted 30% February 20-March 4, and she is
providing the Daily Download as well.
 color blocking tutorial

Color Blocking Technique Using Photoshop

by Brigid Of PixelDiva DesignZ

One of the best things about this time of the year is that we can scrap about each other’s love af-
fair. Albeit a love affair with your significant other, your kids, grand kids, even the family pet. We all have a
love of someone. So let me help you use a simple (so simple you would be amazed) color blocking tech-
nique I used to create a layout for my darling hubby for a Valentine’s Day gift to him from me. For this
tutorial I will be using Photoshop as my software program choice, but if you are familiar with your own you
will be able to duplicate what I am showing you here to your own program. I am also using my new kit
Funny Valentyne Collection in the store now.

First we open a new document size 12x12 inches, at 300 ppi. Then open 4 papers you would like to
use for your blocks.

... continued next page

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 color blocking tutorial

Tip: when trying this technique for the very

first time, choose one main color and then look
for interesting patterns and various shapes as this
gives your layout great visual interest. Once you
have opened all 4 papers, in Photoshop we are
going to turn on our rulers. To do this we go View,
then scroll down to Rulers and click on it. Then go
to EDIT, PREFERENCES, Guides, Grids and Slices,
then select GRIDLINE every 1 inch and SUBDIVI-
ONS every 4. See screenshot at right.
Tip: this will be extremely important for
when we need to start creating our blocks. Okay, so
let’s start having some fun. We have on Paper 1 my
solid red paper, and on Paper 2, I have red polka
dots.
Be sure you have Paper 2 selected. Using
your Rectangular Marquee tool, start at your up-
per left corner of the grid, and draw a square to 6
inches across by 6 inches deep.
Tip: In Photoshop holding the SHIFT key while dragging out to a point, helps you to keep a perfect
square). Now once you have done that, go up top to the MENU tabs and be sure that you have selected
the box that says “ADD TO SELECTION.” We need this to be selected as we are going to draw another
square perpendicular to the one we just made.
... continued, next page

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 color blocking tutorial

Once you have both squares selected we are going to go to SELECT, INVERSE, and then hit DELETE
(Command + X on a mac). Now we should have 4 squares.

... continued next page

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 color blocking tutorial

Next we are going to use the Rectangular Marquee tool again and draw a ¼ inch line going horizon-
tally where the boxes meet up and color fill with WHITE. Duplicate that layer and go to EDIT, TRANSFORM,
Rotate CW 90. Then move the line to line up vertically by where the boxes meet up.
Okay, so now we have 2 more papers. Let’s call them paper 3 and paper 4. With paper 4 as your
active layer, please repeat the process we did earlier with the rectangular marquee tool, and create 2
squares. Once you have done that merge Paper 3 and paper 4, so now they become Paper 3.
Now we are going to make a CIRCLE using the ELLIPTICAL MARQUEE TOOL. Draw a circle and then
go to SELECT, INVERSE, then hit DELETE.

... continued next page

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 color blocking tutorial

Still keeping the circle selected, go to SELECT, MODIFY, EXPAND. Here I used a value of 40. Now
create a layer in between Paper 2 and paper 3. And on that layer be sure that your foreground color is
white, then press ALT and backspace and you should have a created a white circle behind the 4 blocked
circles.

... continued next page

Page 12
 color blocking tutorial

Okay, so let’s go back to the first circle with the 4 blocks in it. We need to turn Paper 3 a bit and to
do this we go to EDIT, TRANSFORM, ROTATE CW 90. Once we have that done you may need to use your
MOVE tool to nudge the circle back into place. Once you are happy with how the Color boxes all line up,
you can then begin adding your photos, your elements, your Title and your journaling.
I hope you have enjoyed a new Layout technique and if you have by chance tried this technique
out please feel free to PM. My screen name is Pixel Diva DesignZ. Until my next tutorial, keep on scrapping
and chatting with us at Digitals.

Page 13
 featured scrapper

Featured Scrapper
Meg Hubbard (bigmeg33)
Tell us about yourself and your family.
I am 34 years old and live in Stafford, Virginia. I
grew up just outside of Boston, MA and I love the
warmer weather in the south! Before kids, I was
an avid golfer and gardener; now I enjoy spend-
ing time with my family. My husband, Travis, and I
were married 4 years ago. We have 3 kids – Troy is
9, Zack is 2.5 and Zoë is 1.5. I work part-time as a
home-health care physical therapist, full-time as a
Mom and devote most of my free time to reading,
sleeping or digi-scrapping!

Where do you find your inspiration

when making a layout? I spend a lot of time
browsing galleries and magazines looking for neat
details that I like about each LO and then it gives
me ideas for combining many of those ideas into a
LO of my own.
Name one element you couldn’t scrap
without. I’ve got to pick 2… glitter and stitching.
How many layouts do you average per
month? Wow, really! You want me to count??!!
50+
What is your favorite thing about digi
scrapping? It is so much more versatile than pa-
per-scrapping. It really allows my creativity to shine

... continued next page

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 featured scrapper

through and I love that I can undo until I get it
right!
Tell us 3 random facts about yourself.
My favorite food is sushi, I am a gold belt in Chun
Kuk Do, and I can’t carry a tune!
What is your favorite:
color: orange
movie: Days of Thunder
book: there is no way I could ever pick just
one… I’m a “readaholic.”
TV show: CSI
subject to scrap: that’s an easy one… my
kids
Do you blog? If so, hook us up with your
blog addy. www.sunflowerstudio.com
Show us your favorite of your own
layouts & why is it your favorite? Love at First
Sight. I love the simple, soft feel of this page and
I feel that the journaling will be something my
daughter can treasure for years to come. I didn’t
get to see my son right after he was born, and I
treasure those few short moments I got to spend
in the OR with my daughter before she went to the
NICU. I will hold onto the memory in this picture
forever. Take a peek at Meg’s gallery.

Page 15
featured layouts

Designer Brigid of PixelDiva DesignZ is fea-

turing a layout done by EAL-Designs, simply
called Wedding. Brigid writes, “EAL scrapped
her layout on her wedding day to darling
hubby on November 26th, 1988.  I loved how
she used the bold crumpled red fabric as her
background choice, and her choice of ele-
ments really compliments her layout well. She
used my Funny Valentyne Mega Kit to make
this gorgeous layout. This kit is currently on
sale for $2 each collection (or combined for a
megakit price of $6).

Designer Jennifer Maceyunas is featur-

ing a LO created by Michele Brandt (aka
mmbbear) entitled B-R-R-R. Jen writes,
“This layout just popped out at me as soon
as I saw it in the gallery. I was immediately
drawn to the large photo as the background
and how Michele made it look so soft; it re-
minded me of fluffy snow. I also loved how
she added in the smaller “action” shots in the
collage frame along the bottom and decorated
it with the snowflakes for a little extra pizazz;
it really brought the whole page together!”
Journaling reads: “Snow jacket, snow boots,
snow pants, snow suits, snowflakes, snow
storm - snow is cold but we feel warm!” ~
Helen Moore. Credits: Collage Frames - Win-
ter Edition by Jen Maceyunas and Jen’s Winter
Wonderland Add-On Kit by Jen Maceyunas

Page 16
 featured layouts
Desinger Shawn Walter is featuring a layout
she did entitled Sandis’ New Sunglasses, May
2003. Shawn writes, “I created these QPs for Glen-
da but I just had to use them myself! I loved the
bright, fun colors and whimsical accents - they were
perfect for these photos of Sandis being silly with
her new sunglasses.” She used The Most Wonder-
ful Place on Earth - Quick Album - Set 2 by Glenda
Ketcham.
Page 17
Designer Silvia Romeo is featuring a layout by
Demetria White, aka ladydsw00 entitled The
Gift of Affection. Silvia writes, “What I love about
this layout is the composition. Demetria created this
layout with such talent, it’s amazing! She used a
large amount of elements and the layout isn’t clus-
tered at all. Actually, this layout is a vivid proof of
her love for Digital Scrapbooking. Way to go, Deme-
tria!” Demetria used Silvia Romeo’s Romanza Kit.
 featured layouts

Designer Amanda Thorderson is featuring Car-

lita’s Love designed by ct member twinsmom-
flor. Amanda writes, “I love this layout that Flor
made of her sweet daughter mothering her stuffed
animals. The photos are adorable and are accented
beautifully by the frame, the clustering of elements,
and the horizontal line of strips and ribbons. I love
her other added touches—the ric rac flowers at the
bottom and the little corner cluster as well! Beauti-
ful feminine layout, Flor! Flor used my new designs
Shabby Sheik Collection. The collection, as well as
the individual items, are on sale for a huge discount
February only.

Page 18
 scraplifts

Cristina Guillermo scraplifted a LO by Sunstream. Cristina writes, “Sunstream’s layout, “Sweet

Dreams,” caught my attention because of the simple title and simplicity of how just a few photos told a
story. As digital scrappers there is a tendency to scrap with lots of the gorgeous digital embellishments
available and sometimes forget that our focus should be on the photos. I wanted my layout, “Purr-
fect Love,” to do the same as Sunstream’s... tell a story in a few words (the title), the rest with photos.
Credits: Background, mat, and fiber bow from my Wild Love Kit. Ribbons and background used to create
smaller folded frame from my Handy Hearts Kit. Fonts for title are DieDieDie and Artistamp Wet Jumbled. 

First Responder erica922 scraplifted a layout by liliassm called Love. Erica used First Crush kit by
Angela Sharrow, Overlay by Lynne Simmons; word art by Lilach Oren; Shabby Sheik frame by Amanda
Thorderson.

Page 19
 scraplifts

Designer Lynne Simmons scraplifted a layout called Love Gramma by Priscila Barros. She writes, “I just
love this layout by Priscila. The swirl work is fabulous, and the tied ribbon draws your eye right to the
adorable picture. The butterfly decoration in the corner is just the perfect accent to tie it all together! My
scraplift uses Sohpia Davies’ new kit, Simplicity. I have to tell you, a kit hasn’t “wowed” me more since my
own kit, Days Gone By...lol. I fell in love with this kit the minute I saw it! The colors are just fabulous! The
low-resolution preview doesn’t even do this kit justice. Thank you to both ladies... Priscila and Sophia, for
your inspiration and creativity!”

Designer Amanda Thorderson scraplifted a LO by Nighty called Unbekannter Flattermann. Amanda writes,
“I love this layout by Nighty. It is so elegant and simple and beautiful. It has a minimum of elements but
all the elements draw your eyes to her beautiful photos. (hummingbird moths—how cool is that?!) I decid-
ed to make a layout focusing on my sweet daughters. I loved the photo of them, so decided to show it in
triplicate. I used my new collection, Shabby Sheik, for my layout. It is on huge discount this month. I liked
the layout so much that I made a freebie quick page for you! You can get it in this newsletter!
Page 20
gifts from our designers

Amaryllis Frame Desktop Calendar Freebie

from Kathryn Estry from Nini’s Notions

First Crush Quickpage Funny Valentyne freebie

from Angela Sharrow from PixelDiva DesignZ

Page 21
gifts from our designers

Hugs & Kisses Quickpage Gift from

from Jennifer Maceyunas Lifesong Kreations

Shabby Sheik Quickpage Hawaiian-Style Quickpage

from Amanda Thorderson from Maddy Fernandez

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