Calling All Insomniacs and Night Owls!

If you're up late (or early, depending on your perspective) and want to shop in the comfort of your pajamas, don't miss our own Renee Pearson on the Electronic Gifts show on QVC Sunday, November 30 at 2 AM Eastern Time. She'll be demonstrating Adobe Photshop Elements 6. It promises to be the most exciting thing on TV at that time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing our U.S. readers a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Pssst... if you're going shopping for Black Friday deals, check out this site. It shows most of the major ads ahead of time so you can plan your attack. :)

Do you understand your digital SLR?

I confess. I understand a little bit about my camera, but not much. Wikihow to the rescue!

renee

Festive Holiday Gift Idea

Tis the season... to start thinking about holiday gifts. If you're looking for fun gifts to make, we've got a great idea.

Gather your favorite photos and digi kits and create a photo cube. It's quick & easy to personalize for coworkers, neighbord, family, and friends. Featured in our “Gear and Gadgets" column in the December/January 2008 issue, this cool cube can be made easily using the free templates on our site. They're simple to use, and your gift recipients will never know it took so little time to create such an impressive gift! (Don't worry - they won't hear it from us!)

and the winner is...

A big congratulations to Aggie Aviso, the winner of Wacom's first Penscrappers contest!

If you missed this contest, don't pout. According to Wacom, season two is coming soon, with more prizes to be won.

renee

tumblogging along...

"What's a tumblog," you ask? Well, according to Wikipedia:

A tumblelog (also known as a tlog or tumblog) is a variation of a blog that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging.

And that's what we'll be doing with this blog. We'll scour the web looking for the latest and greatest items of interest to the "modern memory keeper." (That would be you.) When we find something, we'll immediately report right back to you here. And if you find something, be sure to let us know by posting a comment!

Since this first post is all about tumblogging, here's a find for you, the tumblr site that hosts only tumblogs. Cool!

Don't worry that we've abandoned the meatier posts. I'm sure, from time to time, Jennafer will enlighten us with something substantial. In the meantime, enjoy the tumble posts!

renee

What's the Next Step?

As most of you have heard by now, Digital Scrapbooking magazine will cease the print portion of its offering after the February-March 2009 issue, which will be on sale January 13, 2009. (If you haven't heard, the official announcement is here.)

To say we're disappointed in this decision would be a huge understatement. We're heartbroken. We have worked together as a team to bring you two years' worth of magazine issues, trying to ensure that each issue was even better than the last. You've been loyal supporters since from day 1, and we've loved reading your letters and seeing your creative pages and projects. And although it was nothing but the economy turning along with rising costs that made this decision necessary, it's still very discouraging.

Despite this disappointment, however, we're working on a plan to continue DSM in some form. We still want to bring you inspiring ideas and tutorials for your scrapbooking and memory keeping, and we want your ideas to make it happen. We made each issue of the magazine with your input at the forefront of our thoughts, and we want to make sure we're including your ideas while we plan the next step.

What would you like to see DSM become? An e-zine only? A dynamic e-newsletter with tutorials and inspiring ideas? Something completely different? As we work on these next steps, we welcome your ideas. Leave a comment here or send us an email at editor@digitalscrapbooking.com.

Thanks for your support of the magazine these past two years, and your support of the team these past two weeks. We really appreciate you!

Survey Says... well, you tell us!

Do you find yourself cropping alone since you switched from paper and scissors to laptop and mouse? Would you love to have someone show you in person just how to get those cool digital effects you see in layouts in magazines and online galleries?

Well, you're in luck! Our team is planning the first-ever Digital Scrapbooking Magazine live event, and we want to know what you'd like to see there. What kinds of classes; what level of instruction; which top-ranked teachers; maybe even what you'd like to have for lunch!

Stop by and take our quick survey to help us plan the event. As a thanks for sharing your opinion with us, we'll be giving away a free one-year subscription to DSM. Thanks for speaking your mind; we can't wait to hear from you!

Scrap Beyond the Page with Rhonna Farrer

Hey everyone! It's Rhonna Farrer! I'm so excited to do a 'guest blog post' today at Digital Scrapbooking Magazine's blog! Thanks for letting me play!

I thought it would be fun to share some inspiration ideas of how crafters/artists can use digital scrapbooking kits to create festive holiday crafts!

Digital kits make it so easy to create one-of-a-kind decorations! Here, I created a Halloween pillow to spook things up at home!

Digital candelabra brush + plain pillow+ Ink Jet Iron on transfer paper + computer/printer= cool piece o' decor!

And how about funky Treat Jars!

Digital brushes+ digital kits+ various glass jars + Ink Jet Sticker paper + computer/printer = irresistible treat jars!

And if you're like me, I love to make things to wear for the holidays...but, also recycle! Try taking an old white tee shirt (with a few stains here or there...come on..I KNOW you have some of those) and pair it with digital brushes + digital kits + Ink Jet iron transfer paper + computer/printer = one of a kind tee shirt! Of course, you'll notice here that I got a little creative with the placement of the iron ons!

Now, how DID that stain get on my shoulder? I'll never know!

There are so many wonderfully creative things you can do with digital scrapbooking kits! It's not just for scrapbooking, ya know!

And...who can resist a huge sale over at Two Peas in a Bucket to tempt you with the kits!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking!

Rhonna Farrer
RhonnaDesigns.com

Celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day with Digiscrap 101!

Hi everyone! Kayla from Digiscrap101 here to share with you some of the fun things we will be doing for Digital Scrapbooking Day.

I don't know about you, but all the Digital Scrapbooking Day fun happening here (DS Shoes, Laptop Skins, and Challenges) have made it difficult to work to finalize all the fun things we have planned for Digiscrap101 and DSD. (All those fun challenges make us want to just sit at the computer and PLAY!)

However, we are staying focused and busily getting ready for the big day! It is like Christmas for digital scrapbookers all over the web - and the party at our site won't disappoint!

On Digiscrap101 we have teamed up with some great designers, online stores and manufacturers to bring you all a fun combination of Tutorials (lots of learning), Freebies (so much it will probably keep you busy until Christmas), and Prizes (Feelin' like a pirate with all this loot! lol).

Outside of your site this blog is the ONLY place you get the big secret of WHERE to go to find all the DSD fun. To be ready for DSD on DS101 you need to sign up as a member of DS101 and then ADD Digital Scrapbooking Day as a friend -

This sets you up to be able to read Digital Scrapbooking Day's blog and get all the videos, links and chances to win.

Those of you who are busy and won't be making it to the computer on Saturday, don't fret. At Digiscrap101 we realize you all have busy lives so we are keeping the fun posts and freebies up through Saturday November 7th. Keep in mind that some freebies are available in limited amounts and may run out before the end of the week so the earlier you stop by the better!

Prizes on DS101 will be drawn and announced during the day on Saturday and also throughout the week - we just can't party for one day - we like to draw it out as long as possible!

One last fun surprise - we talked a Digital Scrapbooking Magazine Editor into doing some tutorials you won't want to miss - word is she brought a prize that any digital scrapbooker would love!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day! We hope to see you all on Digital Scrapbooking Day on Digiscrap101!

Tricks and Treats!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day! Today we've invited some of our favorite digital scrapbooking superstars to share the excitement of the day with you. Our first guest blog post is from Celeste Rockwood-Jones of pcLayers. --Molly

It's hard to imagine that I truly discovered digital scrapbooking little more than a year ago. As a designer my days are spent sitting at the computer, and now that i'm juggling two toddlers my nights are often consumed with work as well, so i wasn't sure that spending more time at the computer in my off hours sounded anything but exhausting. Then along came Lori Gardner with a convincing pitch for me to design products for pcLayers.com. BAM, I was suddenly thrown head-first into the middle of this inspiring world and haven't looked back.

While the designer in me still loves the feel of an actual printed page at my fingertips, there's a lot to love about digital: the instant community, the ease and accessibility of an array of products and inspirational galleries, the bang for your buck, and most of all (for me) the environmental friendliness of this blossoming craft! Consider me smitten.

In the spirit of Halloween I wanted to whip up a special treat using the "Jack" kit, so last weekend I got busy creating an 8x8 QP to share with all of you DSM blog readers. Problem was, my adorable photo wasn't quite the right colors to match the papers in the kit. But wait, this is digital! Changing the color and hue of a pattern is merely a few simple steps away.

To complement the photo I wanted to replace the orange hues in the patterned paper with blues to match my photo. First I chose Select > Color and used the eye dropper tool to select the oranges.








Then I selected Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, and I played with the sliders until I had just the color I wanted. Voila! An easy trick for instant color cohesion.

What are your tricks for altering product colors to match your photos? Leave a comment here on the blog and on Tuesday November 4th we'll use the random number generator to pick a WINNER to receive $10 to spend at pcLayers.com!



Get your own copy of the "Jack" QP used to create this cute layout. (File is a 10MB PNG.)














For more sweet treats be sure to check out the pcLayers home page on Digital Scrapbooking Day to download a freebie mini album (created by the lovely and talented Natalie that spans an entire year! Here's a sneak peek of the gorgeous cover featuring 7gypsies digital product.