Lizzy Went Digi

Utilizing my break- December '08 and part of January

2009-01-06T17:19:00.010-06:00

Ugg, I hate this blogger format. Anyone know of an easier way to do this?

I've been BUSY- trying to utilize my 6 week break the best that I can. So this post has a lot, but remember it will be more scarce once the 20th hits. :)

The above layout was one done for Tangie Baxter and SherrieJD @ Tangie Baxter Designs. Tangie also got a guest spot at Scrapbook Graphics for a few months, so hopefully it's more exposure for her! YAY! I'm going to be nice and include some links for ya because all my designers have been working their little tails off and have come up with just fabulous stuff!

Here's some using Tangie and Sherrie's stuff:

This one uses Enchanted Art Box- DST's HOT Product for January- I LOVE love LOVE this kit!!!!! It's HUGE!
Here's one using the January Mystery Case:
Another one using the January Mystery Case, Midsummer's Eve, and alphas from the Studio Remnants Collab:
I'm desperately trying to catch up on my 2007 album- I've already scrapped almost 100 pages and still have over 100 to go! YIPE! This kit uses His Royal Court and stuff from the October Mystery Case- now revealed:
I LOVE Tangie to death- I asked for a kit with red and blue and with a super hero theme since I have SOOO many boy pics to scrap. Boy did she pull through! She spent HOURS on this kit and had it for me the next day! Did I tell you she's awesome or what! The kit is called Super Duper, and it's in her store at Scrapbook Graphics.
I have one more layout that I did with Tangie's stuff, but the product is not in the store yet, so you'll have to wait on that one. :)

Now moving on to the gals at Pixel Gypsy Designs. I am so fortunate to be able to work with all the designers at this site- they definitely don't keep me wanting!

This one is actually for an upcoming challenge that I'm hosting, so check out their challenge forum for more details. I'll post the challenge on Friday. They also have this brand new challenge format where you can WIN THE ENTIRE STORE using a points system. This page was a scraplift I did off one of my other layouts, found HERE. I used Elise Hansen's Cowboy Cool and Abish Allen's Bright Day:
This is for the Selective Coloring Challenge- posted today. I used several different things on this- the template is a new release- Gypsy Couture- Lor- by Amanda Carlson. The kit is by Britt-ish Designs- I'm not on her team, but she has some darling kits! It's called Boys of Summer:
This used Elise Hansen's One Fine Day:
Here's one using a kit by Melissa Bennett and Micheline Martin- Room a Zoom Zoom. I used this template by Abish Allen:
Used Gypsy Couture- Laura by Amanda Carlson, her Used and Abused Alphas, and her Super Star kit
Used Sweet November by Elise Hansen:
I LOVE this layout. Thanks to my awesome friend Dana for taking our pics! Used Whit's Style Plate for the template and Celebrate by Amanda Carlson

Moving on to DeCrow Designs. Tangie's sister Molly sells at We Are Storytellers and I FINALLY had a chance to play with her awesome stuff!!!
This cute kit is called Baby It's Cold Outside and has a fabulous alpha to go with it!

Here's her 4th Hour: Music kit. For those of you that love High School Musical, I highly suggest this kit- it's fabulous! I've used it twice already and will probably go back to it over and over!
She also has started doing templates and they are fabulous! This uses her first one: Blueprint #1 and her kit Hip Junkie.
Blueprint #2 and her collab with Britt-ish Designs: Very Merry
Blueprint #3 and a combination of 4th Hour: Music and Bungalow Blossoms

Since I'm on a break, I was able to do a guest spot for Sara Ellis- I used to be on her team but had to quit due to time restraints. I love her- she's such a doll, and she has some great new holiday kits. This one is her Happy Blue Year:
This one is so fun! It's called Wonky Winter. Thanks so much Sara for letting me return!

I've done so much scrapping I've even had time to shop a bit and play in my stash!!! Here's some from different designers:
This one is from Gina Miller- I love love love her stuff and own nearly her entire store. The kit is called Frosting:
Here's one using Squee! by Flergs and Mgl designs:
This is also a Gina Miller kit:
Another kit by Flergs:
This is my mgl designs:
Gina Miller's Frosted Flakes:
Michelle Godin's part of Funky Junky Spring:
Whew! That's it for now! Thanks for making it to the bottom- if you did! :)

Getting caught up

2008-12-14T18:46:00.007-06:00

Been so long since I've had time to do anything but stare at my Anatomy book. I've been scrapping like crazy for the last week- these are all over a couple months, but I've done 7 or 8 layouts so far this week. 4 weeks left of my break, then probably no scrapping for a while after that. Anyway, we'll start with Tangie/Sherrie's layouts. As always, credits are in my DST gallery.

I used a variety of kits for this 2 pager- absolutely in love with this layout:

I did this one today using Tangie's "Me- Everything" kit, "Chipper Chatter- only available at Scrapbook Graphics, and the blue alpha from the December Mystery case over at the store:
Here's my sweet nephew and our first time holding him- used "Baby Bliss" and the mystery case alpha:
LOVE the "Sew Girlie" kit- it didn't appeal to me at first, but after seeing a few other layouts, I just fell in love:
For all you Twilight fans, Tangie's kit "Dazzle" was made with that book in mind. I love this layout:

Now for the Pixel Gypsy stuff. The store now has several designers, and I'm on the store Creative Team, so I have access to ALL of their awesome designs. The template was by Abish Allen, and the kit- "Spa Retreat" is by Angie Hinds:
Here's a template from "Whit's Style Plates", using "Jungle Boogie" from MElissa Bennett:
Amanda Carlson's "Tis the Season":
And the December Collab from Pixel Gypsy- "Mittens and Things":

Sherrie's Flannel Jammies Series:
Kit is Elise Hansen's "Touchdown"- love her alpha
This kit was created just for me! It's called Liz's Wine Cellar- inspired by the colors of my house. I love love love it! :)
This used Amanda's template and a custom kit for another one of our CT members- Jamie's bit of Whimsy:
A template from Sherrie and the kit is "Erin's Paisley Perfection"- another custom CT kit:

Last but not least are the last few layouts I did while still on Melissa Bennett's team. I had to drop her team- sooooo sad due to time constraints and my studying all the time. I miss her kits something fierce. :(

Thanks for looking!

LOTS of layouts

2008-08-11T16:38:00.007-05:00

Since I hosted the blog carnival, I didn't want to interfere with that, so I'm posting about 2 1/2 months worth of layouts right now. Summer school made it very hard to scrap- but now with the month of August free, I think I'm catching up. :)

First using products from Tangie Baxter Designs- all designers:

This is using stuff in an upcoming grab bag so be on the lookout:
This is using Molly DeCrow's "Let's Be Friends" for the Teacher's Pet contest at Funky Playground Designs. She made to round 3 so far! YAY!:
I LOVE Tangie's new kit- "Wee Lil Wise Guys":
and Molly's new "Hip Junkie" is sooooo fun!:
Here's another one for an upcoming challenge at the TBD loft blog, but the kit- County Fair is already in the store:
Moving on to stuff using Pixel Gypsy Designs, which now includes Sherrie Piegdon, Ami Collofello, and Amanda Carlson as designers.
This layout uses "Candy's Fairy Dreams"- one of the many of the customized kits for each member of the CT team.
Here's one using "Christine's Seaside Escape":
A mixture of products, but mostly Amanda's "Fantabulous"
Using Sherrie's "Urban Edge":
Using another CT kit- "Debbie's Camp Hilaka" and a template from Amanda:
The following 2 just use templates from the store:

Now for Melissa Bennett's stuff:
Fabulous kit "Grinalicious":
Collab with Robin Carlton and Manda Bean- "Dear Diary":
Using her collab for Live Out Loud Scraps:
Using "Little C":
"Katarina":
"Bianca":
"Tubby Time":
And here are a couple that I didn't use CT stuff for:

And last but not least, my last 2 from Merkeley Designs. I've been on her team for a year, but with my upcoming workload, I've had to reduce my creative teams. Over the last few months I've gone from 8 to 3. I will really miss working for her- she is so great to work with and I really enjoy her style.
This kit is called "Ziggin":
I love this kit- "Macho Flowers":

Thanks for making it to the bottom! I really enjoy sharing these! :)

Blog Carnival!!!

2008-07-14T23:31:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the July 15, 2008 edition of digital scrapbooking.

News

Karen (aka Karooch) presents Herald News :: Behind on your scrapbooking? Try digital scrapbooking with Karen of Scraps of Mind! posted at Chicago Herald News, saying, "And article I wrote for a friend's blog got taken up by a Chicago Newspaper. I thought that was pretty exciting so I wanted to share it with you."

Karen (aka Karooch) presents Scrapbooking is not a Waste of Time!! posted at Scraps of Mind, saying, "Do Mothers collect memorabilia out of some need to justify the time and effort they give to their families? I don't think so!"

Tutorials

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Photo Blending III - Photo Effects posted at TaylorMade Designs.

Karen (aka Karooch) presents Add a Great Effect to your Photos with a Layer Filter posted at Scraps of Mind, saying, "Try adding a Layer Filter to your photos for a cool funky effect."

Karen (aka Karooch) presents More Doodly Patterns from Weeds and Wildflowers posted at Scrapbook Ideas, saying, "Check out this gorgeous Hybrid Card. Together with the instructions to make your own."

Karen (aka Karooch) presents Quick Tip #14 Embedding Photos in E-mail using PSE Organizer posted at Hummie's World, saying, "Hummie's made this handy video tutorial for if you want to embed photos in your email using PSE Organizer."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of digital scrapbooking using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: digital scrapbooking, blog carnival.

New stuff

2008-06-22T23:15:00.004-05:00

My scrap time has decreased SIGNIFICANTLY. If I can survive June and July, I'll hopefully be able to catch up in August when I have a month off school. You know the drill- credits and journaling can be found in my galleries.

More stuff

2008-05-22T14:11:00.004-05:00

I took a 2 week hiatus from scrapping- it was actually nice. I thought I'd spend my 3 week break from school scrapping like crazy, but I ended up needing to recharge and simplify my life. I've made a bunch of drastic changes, some sad, some a relief, but come Tuesday, I'm ready to start classes again. Bottom line, there's not a whole lot of layouts but I'm getting back into the groove again.

Did this for a DigiDare Challenge using Tangie's stuff:
This was for a past challenge on Tangie's blog- she gave out a freebie that was really fun to work with!
Yet another Tangie layout- that woman never sleeps.
This used Melissa Bennett's and Micheline Martin's collab- So Whatever. LOVE it! I did this for a challenge at Sweet Shoppe designs. I had to take a non digital scrapbook page and make it into a digital layout. Here's what I used. And here's what I came up with:
I also scraplifted this one to help get my groove back: (Used Pixel Gypsy's stuff)
Using another one of Melissa Bennett's collabs:
And yet another:
Melissa Bennett and Pixel Gypsy's stuff:
As always, credits and journaling can be found at my DST gallery.

I didn't stop blogging

2008-04-15T23:21:00.007-05:00

I didn't stop blogging- I've just been so tremendously busy over the last 2 months, I don't even know which way's up. I have scrapped- in little pockets of time I've been able to scrounge up between homework, finishing that crazy PTA album, working 4 days a week, and being a wife and mother. ;) If I don't scrap though, I will lose it- this is my one patch of sanity. Yes, you're about to see a LOT of layouts, but keep in mind they've been done over a course of 2 months. I participated in the Amazing DigiScrap Race Season 3 this year- this was my first time doing it, and some of it was a REAL challenge for me. Both in finding time to do it, then to complete my requirements. I learned a LOT of new techniques, so I definitely consider it a success.

The other big news for me is that my DREAM CT spot had a guest CT call, and I applied, and got accepted as a guest, then after my month was up, was asked to be a permanent CT member for Melissa Bennett! I was so excited I couldn't sleep!

I guess to keep this easy for me I'll break it into my designers. They don't all have the same requirments, so some have more than others. As always, for journaling and credits, just go to my DST gallery on the sidebar, or click the thumbnail for an enlargement of the pic. :)

Melissa Bennett's stuff: (Mostly in this one, but had to use 9 other designers as well for ADSR)

Pixel Gypsy's stuff:

Sara Ellis- love this new collab!
Merkeley Designs:
Mel Herzog:

and Tangie Baxter:

This one is my masterpiece. I spent about 6 hours on it, and I'm pleased to say that it actually turned out like it was supposed to in my head. That rarely happens! The challenge for this was to include wings somewhere on teh page- so I used the duck wings. This layout I actually had a DREAM about- down to the design, colors, everything. It bounced in my head for a week before I finally had chance to scrap it:
I posted this one before, but I'm sooo proud of it- my first altered art attempt!
I can't deny this child:

If you made it down here all the way, thanks! :) I know it was long!

My first altered art project:

2008-03-27T21:40:00.002-05:00

Tried this out for the first time last night for ADSR. It's definitely FUN!

Tutorial- Blending an image into a background using ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta

2008-03-12T07:38:00.002-05:00

I just posted my very first tutorial at DigiScrapInfo! Here it is:

We're going to explore a few different ways to blend a picture into the background using ACDSee Photo Editor 2008. I was amazed to discover how easy it was when I learned how to do it. Ready?

1. Start with a solid background paper with some texture. I used the black solid from Tangie Baxter’s new “Timeless Masters” kit.

2. Drag and drop the image you want to use into your work area. We’re using a picture of my daughter from her dance recital.

3. I went ahead and reduced my opacity to 80% on the image, but this is optional.

4. Next to the opacity, click on the pull down menu next to Transfer. You will have the following options: Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Darken, Lighten, Difference, Burn, and Dodge. Play with each of these and select the option you like the best. For this example, I used soft light.

5. I did this first with the image uncropped to see what the effect would be. I will show you some other options as well.

6. I didn’t do this to this image, but you can also apply a vignette and manipulate that as well. Try playing with the vignette option by itself, as well as with the transfer option.

7. I didn’t end up liking the look of the uncropped image- the black didn’t blend in as well as I thought, so I decided to extract my daughter out of the background.

8. If you extracted your image, drag and drop the image onto your background.

9. We're going to apply a slight gaussian blur to soften the image a little. From the adjustments pull down menu to the right of your workspace, select gaussian blur.

10. Adjust the slider bar at the bottom until you’re happy with the result. Remember to go for a very slight blur- just to soften the edges.

11. Repeat Step 4 to blend the extraction using the transfer menu, and adjust the opacity to your liking.

12. That’s it! Here’s my finished layout:

I also ended up blending the ballet dancer jpeg into the black background as well.

13. Have fun with your blending! Remember that it’s a very broad field, and there are many different effects you can use to achieve the look you want. Play with it and experiment with different methods to find one that works best for you.

Exciting news

2008-02-26T23:47:00.002-06:00

I have had a few people ask me about what they can do to get started with Digital Scrapbooking. Well, I have the perfect opportunity for those that are interested in giving it a go.

How would you like to be able to try something out for 3 months, without having to pay for any software or anything? ACDSee is releasing a Beta of their updated Photo Editor Program- ACDSee Photo Editor 2008. This program is very user friendly and very easy to work with and learn quickly. I switched to this after using Photoshop for a while and not really getting the hang of it. With this one, I found a BUNCH of free tutorials over at DigiScrapInfo and was making scrapbook pages within minutes of downloading.

Anyway, I get off tangent a lot. Basically, since they're coming out with this beta, it means that anyone and everyone can download it for 3 months for free. (It's a $50 program normally). It's the full version, so everyone who downloads it can play with it and learn on it, and give feedback back to the company. For those that have been digi-scrapping for a while, that's a great feature since there are a lot of specific things we want our programs to do. For those just starting out, this is a FABULOUS opportunity to do so.

Here's the info as to where you can download the program:

ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta Release

If you're interested and want to experiment with it, or just see what it's all about, I will be more than happy to help you. I've been using this program for almost a year and completed over 400 pages last year, and have finished and printed 5 albums since making the transition from paper to digi. And I am part of DigiScrapInfo, which is a tremendous resource, as some of you may already know.

This is a FABULOUS opportunity to try out a program (hopefully get hooked ;) and give feedback to ACDSee. They are such a great company and listen to US and our needs, which is so nice. From what I understand, ACDSee is gearing this program more towards digi-scrappers. That is so cool to me to have a program that's designed with our needs in mind!

Please try it out, even if you're thrilled with the program you're using currently. It can't hurt- it's free for 3 months, and you can provide feedback back to the company. I already listed the feedback link, but here it is again:

ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta Feedback

And don't forget, if you ever get stuck, check out DigiScrapInfo. We have forums, a blog, tutorials, and now that our team is larger, we have more resources to help YOU!

More, and new releases

2008-02-08T01:20:00.000-06:00

I think I've finally settled into a routine where I can do both my schoolwork and my scrapbooking. Oddly enough, my housecleaning sometimes falls by the wayside. It's weird.

All my designers have kept me busy with new products coming out.
I scraplifted this one- kit is by Mel Herzog:
This is the February OScraps Collab- it has some fantastic elements! :)
My sister and her husband: I'm not thrilled with this one, and may go back and tweak it later. This is using Jill D-Zine's New "Whisper Soft:"
Here's a sneak peak at some of the items in Tangie Baxter's "Mystery Case #2." Seriously, there is some awesome stuff in there! :) This will also be in public galleries tomorrow with the release of the mystery case!
Another new release hitting shelves tomorrow from Sara Ellis and Amy Sumrall's new Playful Hearts:
Pixel Gypsy's Tattered Spring:
I love love this kit from Pixel Gypsy- it's called Love Bug.
This is probably one of my favorite layouts to date- I tried out a new photo colorizing technique that I haven't played with yet. I did it in ACDSee Photo Editor in all of about 10 minutes. This is using Tangie Baxter's new "Her Royal Court" kit.
Another layout using "Her Royal Court", done for the very first Tangie Baxter Loft challenge!
One more using Mel Herzog's Broom:
Hope you all have a good night!

Layouts for the week

2008-01-27T09:06:00.001-06:00

Here's a few I've done this week. I've actually done 2 more, but I can't post them yet because I took the plunge and decided to send some off for publication! :) There's a very high chance they won't get published, but I'm at least making myself do it. We'll see if anything comes of it.

Using Tangie Baxter's stuff- Extra Extra Read All About It, and Takayama mini kit, and a bunch of others for the embellishments:
Used Mel Herzog's Guy Thing:
Sara Ellis' new mega collab with Rachel Donald- Party Pants
Sara Ellis, Jill D-Zines, and Pixel Gypsy Designs

I DID get my VioVio Book back - and I will post pics, just not now. I have to start getting ready for church, so check back in a few days.

In other news, I am participating in the Amazing Digiscrapping Race this season! My friend Kristi and I are racing together! :) She is also on the ACDSee team, so we'll be participating with that. This blog is our team blog, so our layouts will be posted here too. :)

Have a great Sunday!

Come to a party!!! DigScrapInfo is turning 1!

2008-01-17T15:17:00.000-06:00

Come join us! We have tons of games, prizes, 8 different chats, and FUN FUN FUN! (image is linked)

January To Date

2008-01-11T00:31:00.000-06:00

Thought I'd do as much as I can this month before I start school on Monday. Here's what I have so far, minus about 6 pages, that I just don't feel like resising right now for the web....
You know the drill, credits and journaling linked on the sidebar.

Dedication page for my 2006 family album, which, as of today at 2:30 pm, is OFFICALLY being manufactured from VioVio! I can't wait!
The next 2 go in my 2007 family album. I have a funny feeling that I have a LOT more pictures of the baby than I do the other 2...
This one used some stuff from Gina Arzaga:
CT layout for Merkeley Designs:
I just love this one. It uses Tangie Baxter's new Spring Forest Floor kit, which is breathtaking. I did it for last weeks Digi Dare, only to find that I uploaded just barely too late. :(
Christmas Day 2006- part of the 2006 album- 2 page layout:

Christmas Eve 2006- 2 page spread:

Last page in our 2006 album.
I can't wait to see my layouts in print! I have had a few books printed, and I just love them so much. This will be my first actual album, not mini album, or themed album. Hopefully it will get here FAST! I am very impatient when it comes to waiting. Can't do it!

Well, I'm off to bed as I have to work tomorrow and I told my husband I'd be in bed almost an hour ago. :(

It's Officially Official! :)

2008-01-02T23:30:00.000-06:00

So I have been DYING to post this blog since September, but all in good time!

A few months ago I posted on a thread about a certain product that is popular in the digi world. I mentioned that if they wanted to see something in use to take a look at my gallery. That lead to a very very exciting opportunity for me, that has taken a few months to get off the ground, but as of January 1st, it's official.

I am now a "Specialized Product Evangelist" for both ACDSee Photo Manager and ACDSee Photo Editor! I am stoked. I will be working very closely with Heidi and Connie, the ACDSee Goddesses who own DigiScrapInfo.

Basically what that means is I help keep an eye out for any ACDSee questions on forums- answer them if I can, and field them to Connie and Heidi if I can't. A few other gals were brought on also to help market both the Photo Manager and Photo Editor and get the word out there for the company.

This is something I've been super jazzed about and have just been waiting for it to be official with the company before I said anything. You may have seen me posting in ACDSee threads a bit more, as well as sporting blinkies. That's why! :) Being a huge fan of the products paid off!

Anyway, I'm going to be featuring tutorials on this blog from time to time, as well as working very closely with Heidi and Connie on the DigiScrapInfo Blog as well.

I just wanted to share that- I've been so excited about it.

Drumroll Please....

2007-12-31T00:16:00.001-06:00

Back in January, I had just started Digiscrapping. My first project was a calendar for all the extended family. I knew very little, but was very excited to get back into scrapping after a 3 year hiatus- looonnngg story that I'm sure you don't want to hear. I set a goal to scrap 200 pages in 2007. I honestly didn't know if I would make it at the time- especially since I hadn't scrapped for myself in so long. But this became my new passion, my sanctuary, my creative outlet. I had no idea how much I would end up loving it. This is coming from the person who SWORE she would never try digital since I had so much money invested in the paper scrapping/crafting world.

I am pleased to say that on September 4, I met that goal of 200 pages for the year. So I upped the goal a little bit to 250. Well, the last few months have been awesome, and all the CT's I'm on have enabled me to create...

401 Pages!

Yep, that's right. As of tonight at 11:53 p.m, my page count hit 401!! I am psyched!

I am also soo glad to be back in the groove- I forced myself to take a break this month after finishing the Christmas album, and I've been so grouchy without it! I finally figured I just needed to create something again. It worked!

My goal for 2008 will not be as lofty due to the fact that I will be starting school in January, and will probably go full time in September. So I'm still trying to figure out how many I want to do next year.

Anyway, now I'm rambling. Here are the pages I've done since Christmas. As always, credits and journaling are linked in the sidebar to my gallery at DST.

Final Lifts With a Twist Challenge entry:
I scraplifted this one to get back in the groove again:

These got out of order. This is what my 8 year old daughter created all by herself! :)
I just did this tonight- This will be the cover and first page of my 2006 album. (13 pages left by the way!) SO close to being done!
I did these 2 tonight also. It's a 2 page spread of my son's blessing at church- he was blessed New Year's Eve last year:

I love love love this one:

Well, this is probably my last digi blog entry of 2007. Happy New Year everyone!

Blurb Review and Pics

2007-12-28T11:06:00.001-06:00

Now that Christmas is over and everyone recieved their books, I can finally post some pics. First off, a review of the publishing service I used.

I went with Blurb.com this time around- they had the best price for what I needed- I was printing 5 copies of this book for Christmas gifts, and that can definitely get pricey, especially since most companies charge by the page after 20, and this book was 68.

Their price list is very reasonable- you can choose either hardcover or softcover. What I like about them is that you can have a book made that has up to 440 pages for less than $100.

They offer 4 different sizes- 7x7, 8x10, 10x8, and 13x11. I chose the 7x7 for this Christmas album.

To use their service, you have to download their Booksmart program. It's free, and fairly easy to navigate. It took me a while to figure out how to upload my jpegs and not use their templates, but once I did, uploading went very quickly. I had already figured out which pages would be where ahead of time, so I was able to just upload and go. After I pieced the book together, it did take several minutes to upload to their site, and even timed out on me once, so I had to start that process again. I don't think that was their fault however- I think I accidentally messed it up while trying to do something else. So I tried again, went and ate dinner, did the dishes, then came back and it was done.

I already knew ahead of time the deadline I needed to order so that it would arrive by Christmas. I uploaded a day before the deadline- December 9th. The next morning I received an email that it was being processed and would ship on the 17th, just in time for Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it shipped early, and arrived at my door ON the 17th! Very prompt! It was packaged nicely- each book was individually wrapped in plastic, and then they all came in one box. Shipping was also very reasonable- I paid about $95 total for 5 books plus shipping. Price wise, they're the best. I think shipping was $8.99.

Out of the 5 books I ordered, there was 1 that the printing process messed up on the cover and placed it about a quarter inch too low, so I have a white border on the top. Everything else was ok. I don't know if I'm going to bother notifying them of it- I had to get them sent off, and truthfully, I don't think my husband's 87 year old grandma is going to notice the difference.

The binding is glued together- there's no stitching, stapling, or anything else. Just glue. That was a little disappointing, but for $16.95 per book, I guess I can't complain too much. I did order softcover, so maybe the binding is different on a hardcover.

I'm a little disappointed in the back cover- I did a simple solid background with my picture at the bottom left corner, and included a "Album made with lots of love by Liz". The barcode went right over my name, so it just says Album made with lots of love. Fortunately, my family knows who I am, but next time I'll do that a little higher.

The page quality is pretty good. It came on a semi glossy surface which has a very nice feel to it. I don't remember if there were any options for page choices or not. There are a few pages where if you look VERY closely, you can see some pixellation in the pictures. The camera used was a 6 MP I believe, so I don't think it was the photographer. But, it's very minimal, and like I said, you have to really be looking for it. I resized all my layouts to the exact specifications that Blurb put on their site, and there were a few pages that had very minimal cropping, but I think it helped a lot that i resized to their specs, instead of sending in a 7x7 size.

Overall, I'm very satisfied and will use them again. If you're printing multiple copies of a book, I highly recommend them. I love looking at the pages- it's so neat to see my work in something other than a computer screen.

There are a couple of things that I want you to be aware of when using this service. They have a "slurp" feature so you can import your blog and turn it into a book. It's the coolest thing and goes very quickly, but for some reason, my pictures were apparently too low quality to use in print, so if I want my pictures, I need to upload them myself. I don't know if that's Blurb's fault, or Blogger's, but I'm tending to lean toward Blogger's, based on my experience with them.

Another thing is that Blurb will create a PDF of your book, but it's only the first 15 pages. I thought that was a little strange- I like to be able to preview the entire thing to make sure I did it correctly. Now, I remember there being some PDF option to check at the end, and I don't think I checked it, so maybe that's why I only got 15 pages.

With the softcover album, you can customize the cover, as you can with the hardcover. However, I couldn't find a way to customize the spine with softcover, so it's just a plain white spine.

Anyway, that's my review of Blurb. Like I said, I will use them again, and am really hoping they come out with a 12x12 size. They do have a 13x11 size, which would leave a slight border around my 12x12, but I've heard of people doing that and it looks quite nice. I don't know if I'm going to use them for my 2006 album yet or not. I think I'm leaning towards VioVio at this point, since they can do a 10x10.

Thanks for reading! Now here's the album pages, then down below, the actual book.

Winter Cleaning

2007-12-17T23:20:00.001-06:00

I noticed the other day that our 192GB server was down to 10 GB. And yes, about 85% of that full space is mine- pictures, scrap stuff, and my Photo Editor Documents. So I freaked a little, and started deleting like crazy. Thanks to my awesome ACDSee (which, by the way, if you haven't upgraded to 10, DO IT!!!!! You won't regret it!) I can burn them to dvd's, delete them off my harddrive, and ACDSee still keeps them tagged so if I do decide I end up wanting it, I just put in the dvd. How's that for a run on, fragmented sentence?

Anyway, I am proud to say that I deleted almost 10GB off my hard drive! YAY! So I cleared a little room. My scrapbook pages alone are up to 25 GB, so I'm going to be burning all my photo editor documents to DVD and deleting them this week.

The bad news is, I just unzipped all my latest goodies, and it was 10 GB! So I essentially just made room for my new stuff and am back at the same spot. Uggh!

I haven't scrapped in a couple of weeks- it's completely intentional. After finishing my Christmas album, I needed a break and was starting to get a bit stressed with the holidays coming up. Come January, I'll start back up again, maybe sooner. I just need to recoup- I've averaged 32 layouts per month for the last 5 months, which I think is amazing. So I gave myself permission to focus on other things. Thankfully my CT's all pretty much said to take a break this month anyway. (LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!)

I got my books back from Blurb, and I'll post pics in a few days, along with a review of the company. I'm just too tired tonight.

We finally got our tree up tonight! Now I just have to spend the rest of this week finishing my Christmas shopping, wrapping all these presents, cleaning my house mega time for company, preparing 2 big meals, and trying to get caught up in the black hole that is my laundry. Not to mention everything at work.

Nah, I'm not stressed. Nope!

Look what I did:

2007-12-10T23:28:00.000-06:00

My sisters' many fabulous craft nights left me feeling very sad that they don't live around here so that I could make stuff with them. :( So tonight I saw a thread at DST about these button Christmas trees. They were so cute I ran to Hobby Lobby immediately and picked up some supplies. Here's my button Christmas tree, which, is the first Christmas decoration I've managed to put up! :)

FINALLY!

2007-12-09T22:55:00.000-06:00

I finally finished my Christmas album for the family. 68 pages! Dang! I will post pictures after the family sees them at Christmas time, since some of them read this blog. :)

I ordered from Blurb.com. They have a 7 x7 size that you can do either softcover or hardcover. Their prices are amazing. Here is their price list:

Blurb Prices

I am debating between them and VioVio for my 2006 album. It's 12x12, and neither company has that size, but for the prices, I'm willing to make adjustments. VioVio can do 10x10, I just can't customize the cover. Although I did hear that they will put an adhesive sticker of your cover design. Blurb's largest square size is 7x7, which I feel is too small for all my journaling. But they do have a 13x11- there will be a 2 inch margin on the side, and I've seen some with that that look really good. So I'm undecided.

But, in 18 pages, I will be done with my 2006 year! YAY! Now that the Christmas album is over, I can get back to work on it. I miss really creating- I used templates from Janet Phillips for all the Christmas pages to help it go faster. It did, but I don't really feel like I put "me" into the layouts. But I'm still really pleased with them. Hopefully the books will turn out just as well. :)

I have one more digi project to do for Christmas, and at some point, I should actually START my Christmas shopping. Uggh!

Anyway, that's my little update. I will post more layouts when I have some regular ones done- the Christmas album was ALL I've been working on. I'll post those too, just later.

Have a great week!

Finally figured it out

2007-11-28T00:11:00.000-06:00

I figured out what I'm doing for my Christmas project. I'm excited- it's also a way to use the 25+ Christmas kits I've had sitting around, and that I just bought. LOL- nah, I don't have a problem! ;)

I would post pictures, but I have family members that check here every now and then, so you're going to have to wait until after Christmas.

I also did my Christmas card yesterday. Ordered from Winkflash, and now I'm just waiting for them to arrive. But the dilemma I'm having now is this:

I made my cards as a 5x7 picture card. I want to send a letter out too, not to everyone, but a few. Do I also get and actual Christmas card and put them all together, or can I just send the photocard as the card? Does that make sense?

Any advice would be appreciated, for the 2 people that read this. :)

I'll post some layouts when I'm done with my Christmas project. Right now it is consuming ALL my evening time. I'm trying to finish by December 9th so I can order by the deadline. I'm ordering from Blurb.com- trying them out.

Anyway, it's late and the kids have school tomorrow. I better get to bed. Hopefully I can sleep.

Last Week's Layouts

2007-11-19T23:37:00.001-06:00

So now I have to figure out what the heck I'm going to do for Christmas presents. I have done a calendar the last 3 years, but I think I want a change. I wanted to print out my family album as a hardbound book for the people who usually get photo stuff, but then I realized that the album I'm working on is 2006. Thought that might not be the best idea. I thought about doing a year in review album- month by month and doing a 2 page spread for each month. But I'm still on the fence with that.

The kids are getting their Christmas Photoshoot tomorrow with my friend, so I may just make that into an album. I don' t know. Either way, if I do go with some sort of album, it will be from Blurb.com. Have you checked them out? Their pricing is fabulous! :) Up to 440 pages for less than $100 and they'll do a blog book too! I may end up even just printing off my blog with pictures and give that out. I don't know. I'm kind of stressing though. Whatever I decide needs to happen FAST!

Anyway, while I ponder that, here are my layouts for the week. As always, credits and journaling can be found at my DST gallery- link on sidebar. And if they're for a CT, their store link is also in the sidebar.

Used OScraps November Collab- O So Thankful. I included some of the song lyrics from one of my favorite songs in our church children's songbook- I'll Walk With You.
CT layout for Tangie Baxter using 3-4 different kits and element packs:
CT layout for Sara Ellis- I had a bout of Scrappers' block, so I found a random quiz for MySpace, took it, and posted my answers.

BTW, I'm sooo loving these folded paper templates from Karah Fredericks!

CT layout for Tangie Baxter using Sweet Bliss Confectionary. This one gave me fits, I messed up, and the file size was too large to re-open with my Photo Editor (we're talking 139MB!!!!), so I had to figure out how to edit it. Thankfully I fixed it and am now happy with it.

CT layout for Buzy Bee using Pinkalicious. I sooo love pink! Also done for last week's Hodge Podge challenge.
CT Layout using Merkeley Designs Mocha and Pistachio kit. (Simply delicious by the way!). I also did this for last week's Digi Dare Challenge. I love the way it turned out!

This was a 3 birds with 1 stone- Buzy Bee using Guy Thing, current Hodge Podge, and current Lifts with a Twist challenge:
The next 2 are for Gina Miller's template challenge. I love love love this template and plan on using it for at least 2 more layouts that I can think of off the top of my head. The pictures below were all taken by me, my sister, and my 8 year old daughter. I still have a lot to learn, and this was my first "photoshoot" but I'm really pleased with them.

Here it is in its entirety. I used the template for both sides.
CT layout for Pixel Gypsy Designs:
Well, that should do it for a while. I've also done some more work on my son's ABC brag book of his trip with his aunt last summer. I'm hoping to have that done by Christmas, but it may not happen, given that I still haven't figured out what I'm doing for the rest of my family! OY!

SUAS, and layouts galore!

2007-11-10T17:15:00.001-06:00

Well, things have been just a hair on the busy side since I last posted! On top of throwing 2 large parties, helping with a PTA carnival at our school, going back to work part time, and now studying for my placement test so I can start school in January, I'm not exactly sure how I've managed to do it all! :) If I didn't make time to scrap, I would literally be in tears and go insane. This is totally my outlet- done after the kids are in bed. I guess that's why I've become a night owl lately- I savor that time when the house is quiet, and it's just me, my creative juices and my computer. :)

I finally finished the profile pages for my pregnancy album. Now to move on to the rest of it. As always, my gallery at DST is linked in the sidebar for credits and journaling, and my CT stores are on the side as well if you want to check them out.

I used Pixel Gypsy's Boyish Charm in this:

The following are all layouts I've scrapped since my last post.
This one was done for a Digi Dare Challenge, using Tangie Baxter's "Way Too Stinkin' Cute" kit. And it is too!
CT layout using stuff from Merkeley Designs and Jill D-Zines: This is my best friend- do you see any resemblance to me at all? We're not related!
CT Layout for Pixel Gypsy, and also for her blog challenge:
2 page layout using Tangie's Winter Forest Floor kit:

This is my first attempt at blending and extracting. It looks like I missed some stray pixels, which I tried to pick up, but still missed it. I'll have to fix that. This used Gina Arzaga's new fall stuff:
Jill D-Zines and Sara Ellis:
Tangie Baxter's Mystery Case for DSD, and for a Digi Dare Challenge
Another one for Pixel Gypsy and her blog challenge:
I used Buzy Bee Scrapper's Pinkalicous Mini Kit in this:

Since SUAS is now officially over, I can now post my layouts for the public. I did not win, nor did I come anywhere close, but I did produce some layouts that I put a lot of work into, and am very proud of. I do think I won't do a contest like that again- I don't like knowing that I came in somewhere around the bottom, as I think it's all a matter of perspective. I will probably do Digital's Next Top Scrapper Again, and I really want to do the Amazing DigiScrapping Race the next time they do it, but I doubt I'll do SUAS.

Anyway, here they are for your viewing pleasure:

More Layouts

2007-10-23T23:27:00.001-05:00

Man, it's been crazy. I went back to work part time this week, my son turned one last week and we had a huge party, we're having a Halloween party this week, busy busy busy! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted.

I'm getting close to finishing my 2006 album- I still have several pages left, but I'm at least in November now. I still kind of hop around because different challenges, CT requirements, etc, I get to pick and choose a little bit.

As always, my gallery at DST is linked on the sidebar if you want journaling and credits. My CT's are also linked.

Let's start with what is now my favorite layout to date. This was done for a blog challenge at Pixel Gypsy designs, using her newest kit Petit Bebe. It's GORGEOUS!

CT layout for Buzy Bee using Little Princess, also done for Lifts with a Twist challenge:

CT layout using Jill D-Zines' glitter line:
CT layout for Sara Ellis- I've done a lot of 2 pagers lately!
I finally got ahead with all my CT stuff- haven't been behind at all, but haven't had a chance to work on my pregnancy album in a while either:

CT layout for Gina Arzaga and current Hodge Podge challenge:

Layout for current Digi Dare challenge:
CT Layout for Sara Ellis using Sweet Water Taffy- her newest collab with Jeannie Papai, also for last week's Hodge Podge Challenge:
2 page spread using OScraps October Collab:

Hope you like! :) I'm off to bed- have to work tomorrow.

Stand Up and Scrap

2007-10-16T00:10:00.000-05:00

Man this contest is kicking my behind! LOL! I am amazed EVERY week by the insane amount of talent that is out there! I purposely don't look at the galleries until after I've done my layout- it's just way too intimidating, and I'm having a hard time not comparing my work to others. Usually I can do that without a problem, but it's just crazy all the fantastic layouts that are out there.

I must say though, I'm so glad I'm participating. I don't expect to win by any means, but those challenges are making me really work hard and boy, they are challenges. I have never spent so much time on my layouts as I have for this contest! But, I'm soo proud of my work when it's done. When I participated in Digital's Next Top Scrapper, I felt I created some of my best work. I'm getting that this time around too. I can't wait to be able to post them in public and see who is who in the gallery- I love the whole anonymous aspect of this contest!

So, if you're in the mood for some serious inspiration, check out this week's gallery. The challenge was to associate a color to a person, feeling, etc, then scrap using that color in a monochromatic scheme.

Week 4 Intermediate Gallery

Week 4 Advanced Gallery

Enjoy!