Creative Team Call!

Join us on the Digital Designer Shop's Creative Team!

Come over to the site, join us in the forum, and check out the kits and gallery to see if you love them as much as we do!


Click HERE to go to the forum, where, in the top section you'll find a downloadable PDF (like the one above) with all the details!

Parties and Dash Boards

{Supplies: Life Documented Papers and Sketch Paper Notes by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop}


{Supplies: Messy Hints Papers and Messy Borders by Honey Scraps at Digital Designer Shop; fonts: Pea Jamie B, Rockwell Extra Bold (and I used a tiny round brush to outline the bold font using my Wacom tablet}

With this one I took a picture of the Frapaccinos, because DH and I are addicted to getting them. I took the photo wide on purpose, and when I saw the picture, there was so much more to talk about than just the Frapaccinos. I did talk about those, but also the GPS and iPod adapters, DH's ABU shirt (the uniform shirt), the dash being something he looks at the 15 miles to work every day, my favorite button in all the truck- the one that controls the seat heaters! and his tattoo-and how DS2 thinks it looks like a dragon holding a cookie! (It's really a yin yang sign). All that from a pic of Frapaccinos!

Playing ball with Dad

I'm so glad that April Staker is designing again! WOO HOO!! I've used her kits many times, and I'm so glad she's making new stuff again. Her kits are so bright and happy!

{Supplies: Papers and elements from No. 7 Kit by April Staker of DigiApeDesigns, Fonts: Ck Ali's Hand, Elephants in Cherry Trees; based on a layout by Jessica Sprague in the Sept 2009 issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine}

Quick Fishing Layout

I'm really bad about scrapping events where I was not present. lol DH does a fishing trip each summer with his buddies. I always say I'm going to scrap it, and I don't think I ever have. I took most of these photos when we arrived, and I don't have any photos that he may have taken before that. Cilenia came out with this awesome new template- grungy and awesome- boy colors- so I just took it and clipped the photos to the template (and hid the flower layer!), added a title, and now it's done. For the right page, I used a Vintage action by Pioneer Woman, and liked the photo so much I wanted it to be the star! I made a new 12x12 document, pulled the background paper and two torn strips from the right page over to the new document and added my photo. I then added the names of the 3 guys, year, and location. That's it. Done!




{Supplies: Template by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop, fonts: Destroy (left page) and Bookman Old Style (right page) Aforementioned Vintage Action by Pioneer Woman. That's it!}

Art paper

This paper isn't even released yet! What do you think?


{Supplies: paper yet unnamed by Cilenia Curtis of Digital Designer Shop, font: Edwardian Script, I think) Photos by Nicky Hurt (that's me!)

New items at Digital Designer Shop!

Here are some of the new items at Digital Designer Shop!






This one is a freebie! Quick! Go to the link above and grab it while it's free!!

Glass Plates and photography

I've been playing around with Glass Plate overlays that Cilenia just put in the store. I think they have a nice effect.

Hatcher Pass, south central Alaska


Hatcher Pass, south central Alaska


Let's try it with a little bit of sun flare.

Little Susitna River, south central Alaska


And on people.

And my favorite: coastline.

Central California Coast


{Supplies: Pioneer Woman's Actions (vintage, PW's B&W, and Seventies); Glass Plates by Cilenia Curtis of www.digitaldesignershop.com}

More pink- and orange.

I made another layout with Raspberry Fire by Honey Scraps! I saw this idea in an email today (layering papers like this) and thought it would be a great way to use those super bright colors without scaring myself!




I took way too long on this layout. I don't like spending more than an hour on a layout unless I'm really excited about some technique I'm doing. Messing with text- not so much a favorite- so I can do it for a while, but after a bit of time, I get very, very bored.

Here's my first try:


I spent a ton of time putting "returns" in there, adding tabs and spaces, trying to adjust the text around the center photo. WHAT A PAIN!! And, you know what? It's NOT pretty! Not at all!!

Then I remembered about a tip card that was made for Designer Digital Shop. Here it is.(Look through the cards and find the ones you like!) I know several of us asked how to make text boxes that aren't rectangles. Of course, I remembered this card AFTER I went through all that hassle. So below is the first time I have ever used this technique. And you know what? I love it! I'm so playing around with this more!

There's another technique that I tried for this layout. Check out the title! I did that! Here's how:

I used the font tool and the font called Gill Sans Ultra Bold to type my name at about the size 100. Then I made a new layer. I Zoomed in to the title pretty close and chose the brush tool, with a hard round brush. I adjusted the size of the brush until I liked the effect.

Then I drew with my Wacom pen tablet. I traced the letters, making three passes on each side of each letter. I wanted it to look hand-drawn. Here's a close up of the title with the typed text.



After that I was happy with my tracing, I hid the text layer, so that all you can see is the traced outline, as on my final layout. I think it's a very cool effect and really enjoyed doing it.

What do you think?


{Supplies: Pink/Orange papers from the Raspberry Ice kit by Honey Scraps at Digital Designer Shop, graph paper from the Natural Basics kit by Cilenia Curtis, and stitches from the Fancy Little Basics Elements kit, also by Cilenia; fonts: Bookman Old Style, CK Ali's Hand, Gill Sans Ultra Bold}

Honey Scraps, pink, and bicycles.

Guess what?! I know who the new designer is at Digital Designer Shop! She's amazing with textures. Her new kits this week are so loud, colorful, FUN!

So this layout was the hardest one I've made in a long time.

Because...

Her kit is pink and orange.

You may have noticed I don't scrap with much pink and orange.

I do have a paper layout ABOUT how I don't scrap with pink (I used pink to make it). Why would I do that?

Because I HAVE BOYS!

I scrap with blue. I scrap with green. And I scrap with brown. Sure I'll throw in red once in a while.

But pink and orange? I knew this layout had to be about me. I'm ok with that. I scrap about myself occasionally. Still, this is SERIOUS pink and orange. The texture is awesome, though!

So... I decided to scrap about my new bike. One of the papers in the solids kit is dark purple, and my new bike is purple and white. So here we go:



{Supplies: Paper (clipped on to the title and brush) from the Raspberry Fire Papers kit, and (background paper) the Raspberry Fire Grungy Solids paper kit by.... Honey Scraps!! (not much of a hint, is it?!) Overlay (grungy edge on the tan papers) from the Grungy Edges 01 kit by Honey Scraps. Swirl brush- well I'm not sure (I hate how Photoshop brushes are labelled within the brush palette. It's impossible to remember who made what unless you are just opening it for the first time!) but I'm sure it's from Brusheezy. Fonts: Renaissance and Pea Jamie*B*}

And I'll just spill it: Honey Scraps = Veevs!!! I love Veevs! Congratulations on slipping into the roll of designer & joining DDS! Cilenia is lucky to have you!!

PS, it's an awesome kit and I can't wait to use it again!

Renew and Imagine

My friend Cilenia, from Digital Designer Shop, is coming out with two new kits on Friday: Renew and Imagine. They are soft and beautiful.




I made this layout with her Renew Kit.

{Supplies: Papers and elements from the Renew digital kit by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop, fonts: Harrington and Colaborate-Bold}

And there is gossip that she's adding a new designer to her shop soon. For the record, I'm dying to know who it is!

And even more cookies!

Okay, this is the last batch of cookies for a while. ;)



I made daisy pops for my kids' teachers (they are the same ones I made in November for the fund raiser).



I also made these cookies.



Can you tell what they are? Please? I'll give you a hint- they are for a teachers' potluck on Friday.



No, they are not tomatoes.

The reasons I ask are this: I did not have a cookie cutter in the shape that I wanted for these cookies. And although I swear I used to own a leaf decorating tip, I couldn't find it for the life of me. So..... this is how they will be delivered. I'll add another pic today, when the icing is dry and I can stack them together to take pics.

Does anyone want to know what shape cookie cutter I DID use? A pumpkin!

Baby shower decorated cookies

We have 4 teachers who are pregnant at my kids' school. They had a baby shower on Friday, and when I heard about it, my ears perked up! I don't get the chance to make baby themed cookies very often!!

I didn't even have baby cookie cutters! I have hundreds of cookie cutters, but no baby ones! After a trip to Michaels with my friend, I made the dough, baked some onesies and baby carriages, and searched through my file of inspiration I have saved on my laptop. I NEED to find out where I found these (THIS is exactly why I use Tumblr now! When I save photos to my laptop I never know where I found them to give credit!) Anyway.... Here are the cookies I made.

(And if the person who did come up with this darling idea for the carriages ever were to read my blog, I will figure out and post where I got the idea from someday! I'm honest that way!)

Here we go!

[Note to self: Don't put the ugly ones in the front for photos!]

What do you think?

I think I learned a lot with each cookie I decorated!
And I think I love decorating cookies!
And I know that I love hearing that I did a good job!

Week in the Life 2010

I started my Week in the Life project for 2010. Monday and Tuesday are done. I have LOTS and LOTS of photos to edit for the rest of the days, though! I also want to show you the cookies I made the other day, but I'll do that in a different post.

First, Monday:



Then, Tuesday:



{Supplies: template and overlay by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop, journaling font: Century Gothic. That's it. I left the template plain because I didn't want it to compete with the photos.}