I am excited to welcome ErinInk with us this month!!  Erin contributed a template set to THE DIGI FILES this month.  I really love Erin’s unique templates.  The photo grids are super fun and can be used for papers too.  Here’s a closer look at Erin’s contribution:

Here are some layouts created by the team using Erin’s templates from THE DIGI FILES:

Layout by Karen, additional supplies: Dani Mogstad Just Stay Little kit; Fontologie Printing Primer and Free Refill fonts

Layout by Katie, additional supplies: Kaye Winiecki Back to Basics papers and Springaling flowers. Font is CK easy goin.

Layout by Tara, additional supplies: fonts – avenir LT 45 book & AmerType Md BT; kit – smile from Michelle Martins Designs;
cork alphas – Jen Martakis Designs

Layout by Trina

Layout by SharonS, additional supplies: kit by Danielle Engebretson, font: Traveling Typewriter

Erin Clayton, Seacoast New Hampshire

I am a wife, mother and artist. I spent 10 years as a graphic designer before I had my sweet and sometimes sassy little girl. Now am lucky to be home raising her and juggle swimming lessons, gymnastic and playdates with designing and scrapping!

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One thing that I often hear scrappers say is that they don’t know where to ‘put’ their journaling on their layout. One way that I alleviate this is by always (well almost always) writing my journaling first and then making it a component of the design. Now I can hear you all grumbling about how you don’t want to try and journal when you sit down to scrap, you want to SCRAP. I do too! SO what I do is whenever a story strikes me, I write it down. It is fresh in my mind then, so it may be an email to myself, a new PS or PSE document with JUST the journaling or on a piece of paper if I have none of the others. That way when I am ready to scrap. I have several topics to choose from and I don’t have to worry about my story. It is there and I know JUST how much room it will take up!

Back in May 2005, I went to a CK Show for the company I worked for. I was a graphic designer for them and they were thinking of opening a scrapbooking catalog. As I walked around I KNEW that somehow I would be part of this industry, but as hard as I tried I couldn’t do paper scrapping, maybe it was because I was so used to working on the computer. Fast forward to April 2008, I googled Digital Scrapbooking, downloaded some freebies and just didn’t stop. I felt that digi scrapping was a perfect fit for me and with an infant daughter and a love of photography, I was off and running. Within a year and a half, I had won a guest CT, been asked onto a perm CT and then in November of 2009, I opened my store as a designer, and have loved every moment of creating since then!

With a background in graphic design, after my daughter was born I tried to freelance to make a little extra to add to the budget. But then I found digiscrapping and all I seemed to do was scrap, so when the opportunity arose to design I was ALL over it. I had so many ideas and it was just awesome to be able to turn them into product!

I am constantly having ideas so when something pops up I will jot it down or do a quick sketch and then when I have time, I will sit down and expand on it. Most of the time I don’t know where I am going until I get there, I will play with things on the screen and just move things until they feel RIGHT. And when I am in the zone, the rest of the world in gone. I can’t tell you how many times that I have jumped and screamed when someone walked up to talk to me as I was designing. When everything is flowing, I am in my own little world!

My Macbook Pro, Photoshop, my Wacom tablet, scanner, color Inspiration pieces on my idea board, my many notebooks filled with ideas and the software ‘things’ that keeps all of it straight!

What kind of Computer? Macbook Pro 15” laptop with 4GB of ram

What program/s are you using? I use PSCS4

What kind of camera? Nikon D100, with my lovely 50mm 1.4 lens (it hardly comes off of my camera).

Anything else? I have a Wacom Fun tablet, which I really need to find the time to play with more. It is a WONDERFUL tool!

Here are some of my favorite products by Erin

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Erin’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Erin’s Store! We will randomly select a winner from the comments below to win $10 in product from Erin’s store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST to qualify)!

As a thank you to our readers, Erin has created this coupon to share with all of us!

I admit, I have a really hard time staying on top of the amount of papers that come into my home.  It gets to be very overwhelming at times.  I admire some of my friends that can get rid of a piece of paper almost as quickly as it comes in the house.  For those of us that aren’t as fast, I thought I would do some digging and find some solutions.

Leo from Zenhabits says this about paper piles:

Why stacking doesn’t work: Because it just piles up and then the pile gets a little intimidating and then before you know it you’ve got a huge pile that you never want to go through. Then you can’t find anything when you need it, and now you no longer have a filing system. I know some people think that their piles are organized into a kind of system, but piles are inefficient (if you’re not working on them at this moment) because you constantly have to re-factor what pile is for what and which documents are in each pile, and when you need a document, it takes too long to find it. Plus, it clutters up your desk, distracting you from your work.

That’s the truth!  There are lots of other great tips in that same post!

eHow has some great tips to conquer papers

About.com has some really great information as well

HowStuffWorks has some tips you might find helpful

If only the real files and folders in my life were as easy to organize and keep organized as my digital ones!

Here’s what Lauren said about this layout: i just drew the swooshy shape, then placed text where i wanted to go and adjusted it to fit. then i added doodles to fill in the gaps.  if you want to get wild with fonts, i say GO FOR IT! to keep things cohesive, try sticking to a few fonts and use one as the major focus with the others used as accents.

papers, flowers & crown (altered), #s, buttons, tape by the (The Shabby Shoppe), ink brushes by nancy rowe janitz – (scrapartist); doodley bits, etc by me, Lauren Reid – (ninthandbloom); fonts: daily birdie by audrey neal (digitalhousedesign), elise, lamar pen, casual, freeze!, marcelle script (dafont)

Jenn likes to tuck text on little strips throughout the layout when there isn’t enough room for journaling:

Layout by Jenn, supplies:  Batter Up by Chelle’s Creations, Batter Up Blue by Chelle’s Creations, Boys of Summer by Brittish Designs (star string)

More text on strips by Jenn:

layout by Jenn, supplies: kids at Play by Scrap Matters Design Team, Font: Pea Alisha

Cover up bits of text with elements to give the layout a realistic feel:

Explore, Learn, Grow by Sahlin Studio, Enjoy the Moment add-on by Sahlin Studio, Around the World add-on by Sahlin Studio; Font: Pea Jack and Jane

On this layout, Jenn has the text coming out from the focal point photo (her cute son) just like rays of sunshine.

Psycho Magnet Reloaded & Crazy Stitches 1 by Flergs, In Bloom alpha (recolored), shadows from Flergs blog freebie (modified in places), glitter sparkle from In Bloom glitters. Jacki’s Hand font

Trina found these next two layouts for me (linked to gallery with credits):

Our team has lots of guesses on how the text is done on this layout, including scanning and a tablet.  If this layout is yours, please share in the comments your great text trick!  We have spent much time studying it!

This layout alternates colors in the list style journaling:

Melissa puts emphasis on one word here by its’ color:

This layout successfully combines 3 different fonts. One trick for combining fonts is to make sure they are different styles: she used 1) hand script font, 1) type font and 1) hand printed font.

There are soooo many fun things you can do with text on a layout and we hope to bring you even more ideas in this area during the coming months!  If you have some text tricks that you would like to share with us, please do just that in the comments!

As you all know, we released a new issue of THE DIGI FILES this week.  We also released another option for getting THE DIGI FILES with an accompanying Playbook.  The only way to get this Playbook is to purchase it with THE DIGI FILES.  One (of the many) great things about the Playbook is you will be seeing some of the layouts that will be appearing on the site during the month.  You really are getting a look at our confidential PLAYS that will be taking place on the site during the coming month!

This past week on the Paperclipping Digi Show, we give everyone a “Peek Inside Creative Teams”.  I visited with  Amy Martin from The Lily Pad and our very own Karen Becker.  It was a really enjoyable discussion!  If you have ever wanted to be on a creative team, been on a creative team, or wondered what a CT is all about, you will enjoy this show!  You can join in the discussion about the show after listening if you want.  Just listen below, subscribe in iTunes, or subscribe through our RSS feed.

We will soon be sending out an exclusive freebie to our newsletter subscribers, so make sure you are signed up!

Here’s what we have going on around digiland:

I was so sad to see the news that Songbird Avenue will be closing it’s doors at the end of this month!  Songbird will be dearly missed throughout the community!  Let’s send them out with a bang and share the digilove one last time with this kit:

Here’s another worthy cause:

Chelle’s Creations has a GREAT soccer kit that is on sale through Sept. 9th:

You can also get it in these colors to coordinate with your favorite team:

AND you get this word art for free when you purchase the kit:

LAST, Chelle has a tutorial on her blog:

Nitwit Collections has their annual sale going on, starting today:

Suzy has a deal going on where you can get the add-on for free when you purchase this kit:

Wimpychompers has her whole store on sale all month (discounts show at checkout).

The Lily Pad has a new BYOC collection (Build Your Own Collab) out this weekend and some new designers joining them:

Here’s some great stuff from Mscraps:

They also have this for free with a $10 purchase:

Jennifer Fox has a big sale going on, her store is 35% off through Sept. 5th (here’s one of my faves of Jennifer’s):

It’s Danielle’s half birthday so she has this for free with any $1 purchase:

Paislee Press has a couple of things for us:

This for free:

Dunia has a sale going on too:

Amy Wolff has this exclusive coupon for us on her BYOC goodies (LOVE them):

Lastly, we have this from ScrapOrchard:

AND ScrapOrchard is having a “Summer Rewind Sale” where all products that were released during the summer are being rewound to the new release price of 20% off.  Be sure to check out Tracie Stroud and mle Card’s stores (both are contributors to THE DIGI FILES this month)!

Now….I MUST shop! Have a great weekend!

P.S. BrendaE is the random winner slelected from yesterday’s feature on Tracie Stroud. Brenda won $10 in product from Tracie’s store!  Check your email Brenda!

I’m super excited to welcome Tracie Stroud to THE DIGI FILES this month!  Tracie has a very versatile design style with a definite FUN side!  I LOVE her contribution this month as it really does typify her style!  Let’s take a closer look at what you will find in THE DIGI FILES from Tracie:

Our team had a lot of fun with this collection too:

Layout by Katie, additional supplies: Template No. 16 by Ali Edwards. Font is Ali’s Hand.

Layout by Melissa L., additional supplies: Ali Edwards Hello Summer word art (day), Font is DJB How Cute Am I

Layout by Amy Wolff, additional supplies: font-Pea Donna

Layout by Tara, additional supplies: – sissy lynn by NeeNee designs

Layout by Trina, additional supplies: Calliope Template – Tracie Stroud, Font – Century Gothic

You can see many more inspirational layouts using this collection on the Team Inspiration page.

I’m Tracie Stroud, I live in Shreveport, Louisiana.  I share life with my husband of 10 years, 2 beautiful kiddos, and 1 on the way.

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Digital Layout (Sunshine in Your Smile) credits: Pocketful of Sunshine by Tracie Stroud
template: Sidekicks Pack No. 3 by Fizzy Pop Designs
stitching: All Stitched Up no. 5 by Tracie Stroud
alpha: A Bit Sketchy Alpha by Tracie Stroud
date stamp: It’s A Date no. 4 by Tracie Stroud

Because of the way digital cameras capture an image, even the best cameras put a slight “fog” on the photos. To help with this and give your photos a slight ‘pop’, you should run a ‘defog’ on each image. There are a few ways to do this, but I apply the following settings to each photo before I do any other editing:
Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask
Amount = 20%
Radius = 60 pixels
Threshold: 0

You’ll be amazed at the difference this very simple step can make! I created an action for it in Photoshop, and I batch run it on all photos as soon as I upload them to my computer.

I started traditional (paper) scrapping about 8 years ago. After my daughter was born, I didn’t have the space or time for all the supplies anymore. I didn’t know about digital at that time, so I just gave up scrapping altogether, which made me really sad. When I was pregnant with my son, about 4 years ago, I spent some time on the pregnancy boards, and everyone was raving about digital scrapping. I decided to try it, and I’ve never looked back! After scrapping for a couple of years, I really wanted to try designing. I had lots of ideas that I wanted to try out, and with some great constructive criticism from a couple of designer friends, I made my first kit. I started selling in January of 2009.

My kiddos. They’re so active and vibrant. Things they say, their energy, and just being around them are so inspiring.

I currently use a Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista and 3GB of RAM. I use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, both CS4. Right now I’m using a Pentax digital SLR, but I’d like to get a point and shoot soon, just for the convenience of carrying it with me while I’m trying to juggle 3 kiddos and all their gear. I use a Bamboo Fun graphics tablet for everything. I literally haven’t touched a mouse in 9 months!

Here are some of my favorite products by Tracie

Here’s some inspirational layouts using Tracie’s products. All of the layouts are linked to the originals with credits.

Go have a look in Tracie’s Store. We will randomly select a person from the comments to win $10 in product from her store! (Comments must be posted before midnight EST)!

As a thank you to our readers, Tracie has created this coupon to share with all of us!

We are so excited to kick off another fabulous month of THE DIGI FILES!! The Daily Digi Team has had so much fun working with these contributors products over the last month (they work a month ahead and are already to get started on October). The designers for September have knocked it out of the park and you will not be disappointed! We are so excited to be welcoming:

Tracie Stroud

ErinInk (templates)

Three Paper Peonies

Eva Kipler

MLE Card

Karla Dudley

Melissa Bennett

We are also very excited because now you can get the PLAYBOOK at the beginning of each month!! We have already completed September’s Playbook and it is filled with some of the layouts that will be featured on THE DAILY DIGI during September. There are some really great tips, tutorials, links, resources, and even a couple of surprises packaged inside. Some of the PLAYS we share with you in September are:

Altering papers
Layout Design
Creating your own journaling block
Hybrid projects
Title tricks
Drop shadows
Brushes

There are enough techniques and tutorials in this Playbook that you could do one per day during September and still have some leftover (for those days you might want to do more than one)

You can get the PLAYBOOK & THE DIGI FILES together for just $7.50! Are you wondering if it’s worth it?? Read yesterday’s post for some links to a couple of free Playbooks (check out the comments too and see what other readers think).

Here are the random winners selected from those that commented in yesterday’s post:

Tiffany
BrendaE
Cintia
Amelia
Sheri
Rebecca
Donna U

They each won $10 in digital digital scrapbooking product from one of August’s contributing designers. Check your email, codes have been sent!!

We would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to August’s contributors:

Dysfunctional Designs
FeiFei’s Stuff
NeeNee’s Designs
Flergs
Captivated Visions
Amy Wolff
Hazel Olive Designs

We are at the final stretch for THE DIGI FILES#20.  Today is the last day to grab ALL of this digital goodness for just $5 total!  You can see detailed images on our awesome designers page.  It’s unbelievable, I know, but it is TRUE! After today, all of these products will go home with their designers and be added to their stores for full retail value!

Since THE DAILY DIGI is an ad-free site, THE DIGI FILES are the way we support what we do.  It’s because of these designers (and our fabulous customers) that we are able to bring you such great content and resources!

THE DIGI FILES are also a great way for you to try products by new-to-you designers or styles at a very low risk!  It really is a win for everyone!

If you haven’t grabbed August’s Playbook, be sure to download it as well for the tricks, tutorials, and play-by-plays for creating the layouts you saw on the site during August.  Be sure to snag July and June’s as well, they will be gone soon

We would love to hear something new that you learned from any of the Playbooks we released this summer!  Leave us a comment and SEVEN people will win $10 in digital scrapbooking products each!

This past Spring, Kim Lund joined us for a series on creating a Travel Journal. It’s the kind of project that can take as much time or as little as you want.  You can use her printables if you are short on time, or her layered templates if you want to use your own supplies.  If you are really running low on time, you could just use her prompts and put them in Evernote or a Word Doc.

I thought it would be fun to share a Vacation Journals, all put together, and maybe even inspire you to finish one up for any last minute trips you have coming up (here in the US, we have a 3 day weekend coming up ).

MandaK created a very cute travel journal, using Kim’s templates along with some digital supplies.  She also gives instructions for assembling it the way she did on her blog:

Didn’t that turn out adorable!?  I LOVE the little camera she added.

Katie just got back from a cruise to Alaska (she and I were both in Seattle at the same time with our families for a couple of days and actually ended up staying one block away from each other…imagine our surprise!  We did get together for a photo op, I’m sure we will share soon).  She made a Vacation Journal before leaving, here’s what she did:

It took me a day to get everything already to go.  I used this cute kit:

As well as Kim’s layered templates for this project, which are available exclusively here at THE DAILY DIGI (visit each class session to download the printables and templates).

I decided to enlarge my journal so it would fit in a 3 ring binder. I wanted to collect newsletters, menus, brochures, and other items during our trip and put them directly in the binder to keep them nice and neat. I turned each 5.5 x 8.5 template into a standard 8.5×11 inch size in PSE 8 by using the following steps:

In Photoshop Elements, select Image> Resize> Canvas Size, in PSCS select Image>Image Size. Change settings to 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall.

Then select all layers that you want to enlarge. If there are any locked layers, you will need to unlock them. Just click on them to unlock them. (In PSCS, you will need to select the layers FIRST and then resize).

With all desired layers selected, grab the edge with your mouse and stretch until they fit the canvas. In this case, you will have to stretch a little on the sides since it doesn’t fit exactly. This may cause some distortion in title work. The template shapes will be fine though.

You can resize the title work to make it proportional again. I hid that layer on mine because I decided to use a font instead.

I also modified most of the templates to fit my own content. Just move the squares around as needed.

I’m really loving how it turned out (click to enlarge images)! (Note: There will also be a tutorial showing another way to do this in the September Playbook)

I decided to use a font (Gil Sans MT) instead of the included titles so I could customize my pages a little more. I also like how it goes with the pages I have scanned from our cruise brochure materials. I used page protectors throughout my binder for these layouts, and stocked the binder with plenty of extras so I could include maps and other items as I got them.
So far, this has been a very rewarding project. My children have appreciated knowing more details about our trip and they have looked through our book several times. I imagine that it will be a well-used tool throughout our trip! I will be sure to include more details, photos, and pages after our trip is over.

I got all of my images from brochures and internet sites since they were put together BEFORE we actually took the trip.

Here are some photos of the travel journal I took during our cruise.

I used a standard 3 ring size binder from an office supply store that had a clear pocket cover so I could slide the cover page right into it. I will make a cute label for the spine so we can see the subject while it is sitting on our bookshelf.
This travel planner/journal ended up being such a big part of our trip! I filed all of the cruise newsletters, formal portraits, maps, postcards, and information sheets we collected from all of our stops. It was a great way to store the photos and memorabilia so they didn’t get ruined in transit. It also felt like we were creating a scrapbook while we were vacationing and that was fun for all of us. My hubby even started looking for things to put in the binder. I definitely will do this again in the future for our bigger vacations.

Standard size page protectors were a great way to store postcards we bought. I even bought some small 5×7 prints at Pike’s Place in Seattle that I didn’t want to get bent so I just slipped them in the book.

I feel like I don’t have to create a whole new scrapbook about this trip now because I have this binder. I will keep most of it intact. I will remove the postcards because we hang those on a wall in my son’s bedroom. I might frame some of the cruise portraits, but most of the contents will live permanently in the binder. I will have access to all the information when I choose to create some digital scrapbook pages, but I don’t feel a lot of pressure because I was able to put together the creative framework for this project before we ever left town. So fun!

Speech bubbles for a birthday party photoshoot by Elle Belle:

I love the Nester and she shared these chalkboard rocks from Potterybarn (in her Potterybarn Hacks for Fall post):

Nester also shared this chalkboard globe (love!). I couldn’t find directions for the globe, but I’m thinking spray with chalkboard spray paint, use a die-cut (think cutting files for a personal cutter) to trace the map….might work?:

Centsational Girl has instructions for how she created this CUTE chalkboard:

Outdoor Chalkboard on Angry Chicken (via CraftyCrow):

Thrifty Decor Chick shows step-by-steps for creating some fun and extremely inexpensive labels (and if you used to be a paper scrapper, you can even use your fun edged scissors ):

Stampin’ Up has these really cute chalkboard labels (I think I need to order some but the product description online doesn’t give dimensions or quantity, if you know, please leave a comment) :

How fun is this at Apartment Therapy?:

I also did a quick search in Etsy to see what fun chalkboard finds there were (I just couldn’t resist), here are a few fun things:

Some really fun upcycled jars:

LOVE this upcycled piece of chalkboard art:

This is fun chalkboard artjournal:

I can see some teenagers having almost too much fun with these colored chalkboard speech bubbles and portable banner (bubbles are also sold separate from the banner):

Modern June has been on The Daily Digi before, but I LOVE her stuff and can’t choose just ONE chalk cloth product, so be sure to check them all out:

Last, Martha Stewart tells us how to make chalk paint in any color (using supplies found in your hardware store):

Happy Sunday!!

In just a few days I am going to the good ‘ol US of A…for the first time in over two years.  My oldest daughter and I will have two whole weeks to eat, shop, read, spend time with family and…scrap!  As I was cruising the gallery looking for some inspiration, I was not disappointed.  I can’t wait to stock up on some digi supplies this weekend and think of all the pages I hope to scrap while on vacation.  And since I am so inspired, I thought I would share some of these amazing layouts with you.

(All images are linked to original gallery posts.)

I adore this layout — the wide frames, the white space, the smatterings of paint, the great use of an alpha.  LOVE it.

This layout is AMAZING.  I love the colors, the use of word art, the fantastic element placement, and the cool kid quotes that were preserved.

What an adorable layout.  Who doesn’t love little girl pigtails??  I love the clean and graphic placement of the photos along with all the imperfect touches like the ripped paper, messy stitching, and doodles.

Clean and simple with a pop of color.  My kind of layout!

It’s no secret that I love EVERY. SINGLE. LAYOUT. that Kayleigh does.  This one is no exception. Incredible design, fun subject, super cool stitching, and great color.  Love it.

This is such a fun P365 layout.  I love the bright colors up against the kraft paper background.  And all the journaling, well, make me swoon.

Clean, graphic…perfection.

Incredible.  Fabulous way to save a child’s artwork, amazing use of alphas, so cool.  Looks totally handmade!

I love this layout!  The colors are so bright and cheerful and the design is so eye-appealing.  But even more, I love the subject matter.  I love pages that tell of the little things that make us who we are.  What we eat is definitely one of those things!

Another super fun and colorful layout!  I love the hand-drawn doodles and the rainbow of colors.  What a treat this layout will be in years to come!

I hope you are as inspired as I am!  Here’s to a great weekend full of….SCRAPPING!