Scrap Your Word for 2010!

 

Have you scrapped your word for 2010 yet? We Digi Dare Ya

I can't believe I am really doing this, yet here I am - stepping down from the Digi Dares http://www.digidares.com after 11 wonderful, challenging, awesome months. Many many many thanks to the fabulous Traci Reed for giving me this opportunity, I am honored to call you my friend. 

I had started off a fan of the Effer Dares, being a "traditional" scrapper, which the Digi Dares were inspired by as well. I became a hybrid scrapbooker, and then eventually I was quite heavy into digital for a time. It was during that time that I applied to be a Darer. I had admired these ladies doing for the digi community what the Effer Dares did for the physical scrapping community, to take you out of your box, and give you a daring challenge. For someone like me, the fact that it was digital was always another dare in itself. I can't tell you how much in love I am in with my Darer Gallery either, and you can poll all of the Darers - and you will find they will say similar things, how our Dare Layouts are our favorites. The topics have ranged from "What Are Your Quirks?" to "Scrap About A Low/Confession" to "Scrap Your Collections" to "Scrap A Risk You Took."

I myself can't quite believe I won't be adding to that gallery as an official Darer again. Oh, I haven't told you all why. I can't give all the details yet, let's just say that I want to give 100% of myself to my current commitments without spreading myself too thin. I've been spread thin for a few years now, between being on digital teams, manufacturer teams, print magazine teams, then online magazine teams, and challenge blogs all at the same time. I have slowly let go of my digital scrapbooking obligations, I am amazed by you girls who can handle the workload, and I applaud you - because you all are so super talented and are so prolific. I found myself drawn back to paints, glue, real tangible vintage papers and ephemera from my flea market finds, and thus you've seen me posting more and more mixed media work and less and less digital. I still love digital, and so I hung on to the Digi Dares as long as I could, although each Dare meant several hours of work for me as I would have to research our sponsor(s), decide which of their product would fit into my dare layout, and spend my little GC they so super generously sponsored for us. It's been quite exciting to discover designers that I never would have known about if not for the dares. Yet, I have some things in the pipeline that I need to give all my energy to. Thank you very, very, very much to my Dare sisters, I've so enjoyed and cherished this  ride with you!!!!

So join us this week. my final week and end it with a bang: Have you scrapped your word for 2010 yet? We Digi Dare Ya

Dare #165 What Did You Do In 2009?

 

It's Digi Dare Day!

This week's dare is by darer Valorie, "I cannot believe that 2010 is here! Well, January is almost over for that matter!! Time is just flying by so fast. For my dare, I want you to scrap about what you accomplished or wished you could have accomplished in the past year. Seeing as how both my older childrens' birthdays were the 26th and 27th, I want to see 2 curly ribbons. My DD turned 12 (say what?!!!!) and DS is now 10!!! There is 2 years between them so let's do another 2 and use 2 alphas!! I cannot wait to see where this inspiration takes you!!

Dare Flair:

• Journal about your accomplishments (or ones you wished you could've done) for 2009.
• Use 2 different alphas
• Use 2 curly ribbons (yarn, string, hemp, etc)
• Let's see a LARGE BOLD 2009 on there somewhere!!"

 Join us and share your layout meeting the flairs by next Thursday at http://www.digidares.com

Credits: Paper- Seasons of Enchantment by Doris Castle; One Word Says It All by Jennifer Barrette; Oh So Happy by Amy Sumrall; Crush Alpha and Elements by Krystal Hartley; Ho Ho Retro Alpha by Gypsy Couture; Text Bytes No. 6 by Pattie Knox; Bad Sewing Maching -Don't Be Square by Traci Reed

WE DIGI DARE YA! #163

Today's DARE comes from our newest darer, Amanda!!  We are soooooo thrilled to have her on the team – you may know her as TaylorMade Designs over at Oscraps!

 THE DARE:

Change is inevitable. But “change” in its own right is not something I deal with very well. Even changes that totally benefit me can send me straight into a fetal position. Why is that??? Hahaha.

I would like to see a layout that portrays change in your life and what it means to you. How does it impact you? Do you welcome it? Do you seek it out? Do you hide from it? Do you react to it at all? How does its impact on you affect those around you? Dig deep. Be honest. Think back (or ahead) and really focus on your thought process. Focus on what you may have learned from change or any tendencies you may have when change is taking place around you. Then, boldly express that in a layout.  (All participants get a 50% off coupon to our sponsor's store -details on the blog at http://www.digidares.com)

Dare Flares:

• You must include a title and some type of journaling.
• You may use however many photos you like… even ZERO. (*Personal and stock photos are acceptable.)
• Use at least one clipping mask. (clip paper or photo… or simply use as is)
• Use at least on ink, glitter, or paint spatter.
• Have fun and be EXPRESSIVE!

Now for some inspiration from the dare team!

Amanda’s Layout:

credits:
glitter splat – jennifer fox (polkadotplum)
pop swirl clipping mask – fei-fei’s stuff (oscraps)
view finder 12×12 overlay – paislee press (oscraps)
alphabet soup stamped alpha – emily powers (oscraps)


Barb’s Layout:

Background paper: Flying Dreams kit by Lorie Davison
Girl: Happy Girl A2A mini kit by Wish Bliss Studio (Danielle Donaldson)
Title alpha, tree, mushroom, star, fence, and sky doodles: Under the Rainbow kit by Jennifer Fox
Damask Overlay: French Couture Overlays by Gypsy Chick
Globe and coins: Downloaded from the Internet
Starburst: Cosmic Glow by Amy Hutchinson
Word Art: Happy Place Affirmations by Danielle Donaldson
Twinkles: Fairydust 2 by Jennilyn Designs (retired)
Grungy Edge: Stand Up and Scrap collab
Font: Old Typewriter


Christine’s Layout:

Credits:
Beige Like Me & In The Moment by One Little Bird @ Catscrap.
Story Tellers Vol. 1 & Let’s Date: Square Stamps by Jennifer Fox Designs @ Polka Dot Plum.
Fun Stripes Alphas by Designs by Lili @ The Lilypad.
Fonts are Idolwild and Another Typewriter.


Valorie’s Layout:

Credits:
Oh So Studious by Jennifer Fox and Wild Dandelions
Scribble by Sahlin Studio

Sandra’s Layout:

Tape Alpha by Amy Teets
Steamer Trunk by Tangie Baxter and Amanda Sexton
CU Paint Overlays Vol 2 by Simply Scraps
Paper Washes by Christina Renee (retired)
I Robot by Sausan Designs


and My Layout:

Journaling:
2009 was a memorable year for us. It was a year of getting used to being together, both of us working at home, being underfoot of each other, yet having the ability and freedom to travel at will. It took some work, it still takes some work to balance the power and peace in our household. That was our first full year of you being home. And then the next major change that I am in denial about is that Marti has left our group of scrapbooking friends, as Kristin did too, moving South. We are still in touch on Facebook so it seems like she is not far, like I said I am in denial. Facebook has changed my life a lot this past year, for the better, bringing me full circle with my childhood friends. I wish for balance.

Credits: Leave Your Mark, Clip It Alpha, Composure, Mere Modesty by TaylorMade; Say It With Sparkle by Jennifer Barrette; m.m._theblues_glitterstroke; Maszyna Royal Dark

Good luck scrapping this week – don’t forget to post your layout by 10 pm EST next Thursday (upload it to a gallery and link to the Digi Dares blog!

We Digi Dare Ya - What Is Your Silver Lining?

This week's Digi Dare is courtesy of  Darer Barb Hogan:

Dare:
Have you ever found that an unfortunate situation ended up being a blessing in disguise? Well as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. For this week's dare, write about something that started out unfortunate, but ended up have some positive consequences. Tell us about your cloud that had a silver lining, your blessing in disguise.

Dare flair:
Use at least one photograph
Use some thing silver on your layout
Incorporate some sparkle on your layout
Incorporate a cloud of some sort on your layout
Use your favorite journaling font to tell us about your blessing

To participate:

• Create your digital layout meeting the dare flairs above, and upload it to an online gallery
• Post a link to your layout on the Digi Dares blog by Thursday, December 17th for a chance to win the sponsor's prize
• All participant's get a coupon code to our sponsor's store!
  

My layout:
The Silver Lining
Journaling: I was totally humiliated in class when the teacher announced to everyone that I failed due to carelessness, our first assignment junior year, Michigan State University Interior Design. She asked to see me in her office to explain myself. Well, that didn't happen again. In fact, my final project for her class was so inventive that she submitted it to Interior Design Magazine (a magazine for the trade) and they published it August 1992, title of the article: "Student Work: A Portfolio of Universal Design Projects", which can still be found online.

Credits:
Whatever the Weather, and Paintity Doodah Alpha by Traci Reed Designs; Scrap Simple Tools Glitter Metals Styles 4102 by Cheryl Barber; Font 1942 Report; Stock photo from sxc.hu

Do you dare?

Layout by Julie Ann Shahin 

This week’s Digi Dare challenge idea from Leora!

He Said, She Said!
I always think it’s fun to get a male perspective and a female perspective on certain topics. For this week’s Dare, pick a question to ask, and write down your own answers. Then ask a member of the opposite gender (your DH, DS, partner, friend, etc.) the question and write down their answer. Then let’s scrap a page about it!
Dare Flares:
*include one or two photos.
*use speech bubbles to journal each person’s answer to the same question.
*make your question the title to the page, and make it really big!

Layouts are due by 11:59pm on Thurday 11/19 by uploading your layout to a gallery and linking it on the blog.  Can’t wait to see yours!


My parents came into town Thursday for an early Thanksgiving Friday evening. And I've been creating art, just not able to share yet! If you like digital scrapbooking, try the dare, all participants get a coupon to this week's sponsor!

xoxo,
ja

We Digi Dare Ya - VIP

The new Digi Dare is up!

The dare by Alice Gourdon:

Who are the VIP in your life ?
The other day, with my little brother we had a great conversation about the people that counts a lot in our life and why we admire them. Now, i want to know who are the people who counts the most for you ? This week i challenge you to create a LO about all these important people in your life, and to write about why you love and admire them.

Dare flair :
- You should have one picture for each VIP of your life.
- You should write a few lines about each of them.
- You should only use paper and no elements. If you want you can clip your paper on a shape, but no element.
- You should frame your pictures in an original way.

Credits:

Shapes: Custom Shapes Tools Set Serene 3801 by Diane Miller; ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Windows by Valerie Randall; Scrap Simple Paper Templates On The Edge 2 by Syndee Nuckles; Brocadelicious by Kerry Veale; Different Strokes Papers and I Love Alpha (recolored) by Karah Fredricks. Fonts: Bulky Refuse Type and Aquiline.

 

Tempting New Digi Dare

The challenge…


Celebrate your failures. We learn more from them than we do from succeeding. I honestly believe in that sentiment because I see this everyday in my classroom. With each failure, a student learns to get better at just one more thing. In fact, what they take from that failure is what helps them to succeed the next time around. Sometimes you have to strategically help them to analyze and break down this process, but they do get it. Don’t get me wrong. I know…failing stinks. It’s not fun and sometimes, it really hurts. It’s okay. It’s all part of the process. Think back to a time when you failed. How did you feel? What happened afterward? Did you try again? Tell me about your failures so that I can celebrate them with you.

Dare flair:
*The color orange is often used to symbolize success. Use orange anywhere on your layout
*Journaling is a significant part of this assignment. I want you to highlight at least 4 words within your journaling that describe how you felt or how you are feeling now about the experience. You can do this by underlining, changing the color of the font, “painting” over the word to highlight it, etc.)

Credits: Different Strokes Papers by Karah Fredricks; The Junk Yard by SherrieJD; My Wish for You by Aja Abney; Phineas Comes to Tea by Studio Tangie; I Am Artistic by Crissy Armstrong; Kabloom transparency strips and Let There Be Light by Emily Powers (all retired); Date Stamps by Amber Clegg; Font Century Gothic and Tekton Pro

Journaling:

It’s not if you fall or not, it’s if you get back up when you fall that makes you great.
Anonymous

It’s pretty fair to say that I’m one of those persons who enjoys pursuits that I can master well. If I’m not that great at it, I might not stay with it, unless I really really really love it. If I’m just average, then usually I end up discovering something else that I can do instead that I can be really great at. For instance, when I started tenth grade we were the incoming class to the high school. I was also in a new-to-me school district, and I knew getting involved would help me make friends. I decided, perhaps because I’d tried all other sports and had been just average, to try out for the swim team. I had never been on a swim team, never raced before. I didn’t even know how to do one of those flippy-spinny things they do at the end of the lane, a somersault pushing off the wall – the basic freestyle flip turn.

At the same time, I started taking dance lessons after school at one of the many local dance studios. I had never had any training before unless you count the few weeks of tumbling and tap I attempted when I was about 5 years old. It was 1975 way back then, and little pre-school me thought I was going to be taught by John Travolta, so I wasn’t into tap, tap, tap, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. I had been a cheerleader for 2 years so some of the skills easily transferred to dance. I seemed to be a natural.

Competition time: At our swim meets, in my individual events, I rarely placed above 3rd place, and I never expected too – I was always just grateful to make it to the finish line. I did participate in my team’s relay race, summoning up my courage. Our team tied for 1st place at the end of the season at our tournament.
Competition time: At our dance competitions, I had more expectations than I did for our swim meets because my teacher and other thought I was talented, or told that to me. I was moved out of my group into an advanced competition group, a smaller group. I ended up discovering for the first time in my life what it was like to be a big fish in small pond at home, and a small fish in a big pond when we went to Nationals. After the first few competitions, and judge’s remarks that took away my over-confident cockiness, I continued dancing for the love of it, to teach it to children, and for the opportunity to choreograph for my studio’s recital.
I had left the swim team after that first season. However, at the end of that year, the Coach gave me an award for Most Improved Team Player.

I never won a dance competition, however, I did get to take dance classes in L.A., I was in a production of the holiday favorite The Nutcracker, and a dancer/chorus person in our high school production of the musical Grease, all before I graduated high school.


To participate, create a layout based on the challenge, meeting all of the flairs. Upload to a gallery and post a link on our blog http://www.digidares.com/ by Thursday, October 22. 

Hello, It's Me: A Scandalous Introduction

If we are meeting for the first time, hello!

SCANDALOUS: Guess what? Don't forget your Gmail/Blogger password and your secret question because Google makes it impossible to retrieve your password. I have more than one Gmail account, and unfortunately forgot my password after taking a break from blogging. I've tried a about six times to retrieve my password filling out forms but Google's security is stronger than Ft. Knox. I have no idea how I am going to inform all my followers from my former blogs http://jshahin.blogspot.com and http://everydaydigitalscrapbooking.blogspot.com so if you found me here, a million hugs and kisses and smooches!!!! xoxoxoxoxo

(goodbye old blog, boo hoo hoo)

WELCOME TO MY NEW BLOG!!!!
WHAT TO EXPECT:

• DIGITAL SCRAP LAYOUTS CREATED IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
• PAPER & GLUE TRADITIONAL SCRAPBOOK LAYOUTS
• PHOTOGRAPHS OF ME AS A WIFE & AN AUNTIE, MY HUSBAND, OUR DAILY LIFE AND TRAVELS, PLUS OUR EXTENDED FAMILY
• FREEBIES
• COLLAGE ART
• CREATIVE JOURNALING AND ART JOURNALING
• TRENDS
• DIGI DARE CHALLENGES
• TUTORIALS, WRITTEN AND VIDEOS
  

ABOUT ME

How long did you resist scrapbooking or were you one of those people who were a scrapbooker all along and didn't know it like me? I started saving photos and scraps/memorabilia in elementary school during the 1980's. I have volumes and volumes of personal journals. I studied art and design in school and college, with a B.A. in Interion Design from Michigan State University. Then 5 years ago in June, I made the conscious decision to jump into this hobby with both feet a few weeks after my wedding. My cousin, Amanda, one of my bridesmaids, hand-painted and decorated the cover of a honeymoon mini-album as a wedding gift. Since I had made my invitations, and all the programs and decorations for my wedding - it was a natural progression for me.

My style today reflects my artistic background and eclectic interest in vintage goodies, collage and color. I love whimsy, storytelling, and artistic expression.

MY GALLERIES

my portfolio
{we are} storytellers
my scrapbook art
digishoptalk
twopeasinabucket

MY LATEST PROJECT
The below layout is for the lastest Digi Dare - a challenge blog daring you to scrap outside the box. This dare comes from Barb:

It’s that time of year again, school is starting. With the start of school comes lots of memories for me of classes, sports, dances, teen angst, and teachers! This week I’d like to challenge you to write about your favorite teacher. Tell us why he or she was your favorite and if he/she inspired you to try new things or helped you through a tough time. If you don’t have a favorite teacher, tell us about your least favorite teacher. I happen to have both and I remember them both vividly.

Dare Flair:

• Photos optional ~ we might not have pics available for such a layout, so don’t worry about it if you don’t.
• Use Primary Colors ~ try the ROYGBIV thing….Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
• Use at least one element that is school related
• Use a handwriting font for journaling
• Try to incorporate paper or an element that looks like looseleaf notebook paper

Happy Back to School!

It is also Roben-Marie’s turn to be sponsor. Anyone who participates will get a 30% coupon off her store! Link your layout meeting our dare by Thursday midnight on our blog.

Check out her store right now!!! I could buy it all.

Here is my take on this challenge. I was one of those weirdo kids who loved school, well - I loved learning is more specific. If I had to recall many happy times in school, there weren't a lot of those yet I loved learning new things. I was shy, quiet, and smart which made me the candidate for being the teacher's pet quite often. There weren't many teachers though who saw through that quiet, shyness except for Mrs. McCormick. She worked in our elementary school with the advanced students, pulling them out in groups to read mythology, or to work on independent projects such as creative writing. I remember when I gave up on a project she recommended a self-help book for my mother to invest in - not sure if it was for my mother or for both of us. My mother ignored the suggestion nonetheless. All the same, I did flourish that year. I emailed Mrs. McCormick with a copy of this layout, surprised to find her still in the same school district. She retired last year, and our school district pulled her back in this year to work at the High School as a Guidance Counselor.

Journaling: I owe a lot to Mrs McCormick who was a very special soul. Like several teachers in Ontario, I first met her in Elementary school. It was her goal to help my confidence and social skills. I felt smart, like I could do anything. I’ll always remember her extra efforts.
Inspired, that year in 5th grade I received straight A’s and my classmates voted me most likely to succeed. This faculty photo was taken about 3 years later at Ontario Middle School.

Credits: Journal Clusters by PaperBag Studios/Roben-Marie Designs; Vintage Schoolhouse by Kelly Sauvage; Watercolors Paperpack by Angela Woo (retired); Embrace Life by Sande Krieger; Spring Frippery by Rhonna Farrer; Rockabilly by beAUDacious Designs (retired); 1st Hour English by Emily Powers (retired); Summerville by Heaven’s Gate Designs (DAM June 09); Viva La Blooms Alpha by Julie Mead; The Artist’s Canvas Brushes by Emily Powers and Angela Powers (retired). Fonts: Pea Scrap Brandy and Rough_Typewriter.