Archive for the ‘Getting Started’ Category

Trying out digital

Friday, February 26th, 2010

The last few days I’ve spent most of my extra time dipping my toes into the world of digital scrapbooking. It’s becoming a mini obsession for me. I really don’t like being able to do something and do it well. And when it comes to digi scrappin’ I’m far from a pro.

I have been interested in exploring the world of digital scrapbooking for some time now. Awhile back I went as far as downloading all the free digi products I could get my hands on and even bought a considerable amount of templates, brush, digital embellishments. And then I did nothing with all of it.

I can’t imagine ever converting completely … I love to feel and touch the product as I create a page. But for practical reasons it makes a lot of sense. Since I travel. A lot. I often feel like I miss out on valuable crafting time. If I incorporated more digital crafting, I could craft on the road and not have to pack a single extra item.

I was listening to Paperclipping Roundtable on a flight a few days ago and Stacy Julian mentioned Nan Scott and her Web site. While visiting Nan’s site, I clicked on a PhotoShop Elements tutorial and thought I could manage to put together a page with Nan’s instructions. And I did. Here’s a look at my first digi page. Mind you, it’s my first. And I went a little nuts with brushes … but I wanted to try out a bunch of different tools. Pretty much everything on the page is House of 3, plus a freebie Ali Edwards had posted awhile back.



Don’t laugh at my page. It’s my very first try. I really had a ton of fun playing with all the tools in PhotoShop Elements and the goodies I purchase at House of 3. Since I have a background in newspapers and have done some design work, the basics of working in an Adobe product are coming back to be quickly. There was a time I was a whiz at using InDesign, but if you don’t use it … it leaks out your ears and is lost forever!

I also found a super helpful tutorial on the House of 3 blog courtesy of Rhonna Farrer (I love, love her work. She is beyond talented). This tutorial specifically uses a tool kit they sale at House of 3 *yes, I bought it … along with a truck load of other things), but the techniques can be applied to so many different things. Here are a few more pages I made this week … again all House of 3, Ali Edwards and a little Nan Scott Design Studios. Be nice … I’m new at this.


Shelby's 5th Birthday







Finally, I’ve repeatedly checked the various tutorials and articles Ali Edwards has posted on her blog regarding digital scrapbooking. All of her tutorials are straight forward, easy to follow and concise. Check them out here.

I think my vision for my personal digital scrapbooking would be to get a page started, print it out and then add embellishments for texture and depth. This would give me a chance to be more creative when I travel, stay caught up and still play with the physical page at some point.


Are you digitally scrapbooking? Do you have a go to site for tools or tutorials? Share … I want to know!



A Deal for New Subscribers

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

We love ours kits.

Let me say that again.

We love our kits!

Those of you out there who are already getting our kits each month love them, right?

Well, we’re pretty sure everyone would love our kits … but you have to get it first, right?

So to help you over the hump, get our kit in your hands and start what we know will be a very long love affair … we’ve come up with an offer you can’t refuse.

If you place an order this month (January) for at least 6-months then we’ll discount your kits to just $30 a month and we’ll even send you a free gift as well.

Thirty dollars for an awesome kit that is fill to the brim with the best scrapbooking supplies out there AND and mini-book. This is a steal of a deal!

If you are an exisiting customer, you can refer a friend to Crazy Daisy Kit Co. and be entered to win a fabulous Scrapbooking goody box valued at more than $75. If you send a friend our way and that friend joins the club and subscribes for at least 6-months, then you’ll be entered to win our goody basket. Send another friend and we’ll put your name in the hat again. There is no limit to the number of times you can be entered to win. Have your friend put your name in the comment’s field of their order and if you want to be extra sure you’re entered into the drawing, then email us at info@crazydaisykits.com.

Happy shopping!

A cool web site

Friday, January 15th, 2010

In my attempt to enter the world of digital and/or hybrid scrapbooking, I started looking for an online application I could use to edit my photos and add some simple treatments to them.

I figured it would be easier to use a simple online application in the short term and brush up on Photoshop or Photoshop Elements in the long term. I’m hoping to take some sort of Photoshop class in the near future and am looking forward to a series Ali Edwards has planned for next week on digitial scrapbooking (she mentions the series at the bottom of this post).

I found this site that I’m currently loving … it’s called Picnik. As it says on the homepage of the Web site it’s designed to make photo editing fun – “Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It’s fast, easy, and fun.”

The cool part is, it’s free. You can sign up for a paid version of the site, but all of the basic tools and tons of fun goodies are free. I’m testing it out for free right now and will decide if I want to upgrade to the paid version later.

So what can you do on the site? Let me show you. Here is a raw, unedited photo of my sweet baby Cooper. It was taken on a cell phone, so it’s not the very best quality. However, it’s adorable and I’d like to be able to tweak it a little so it could be used for either a scrapbooking page or a blog post.


0112001633

 

Here’s the photo after I made some basic fixes to it thanks to Picnik. One of the things I like best about this site is that every time you apply some sort of action (like adjusting the exposure), there is a mini tutorials that pops up on the screen and explains what the action is, why you would make adjustments to it and how you’d make changes.


CooperColorChange


And now here’s the photo after I add some of the cool effects and features. For this particular example, I applied the “holga-ish” effect and then added the museum matte frame. There are all sorts of free effects and frames you can use. There is a Polaroid frame that makes your photo look like it’s, umm, a Polaroid!  Try it out, it’s tons of fun.


CooperFrame


Next up for me … I want to try some of the cool digital items that you can purchase at House of 3. Have you seen Heidi Swapp’s latest endeavor? Her new site, House of 3 offers all sorts of down-loadable goodies that you can either print out and use on a physical scrapbooking page or you can use them digitally. How cool is that?


A little deal

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Welcome all you Donna Downey readers.

Since only one of you can win the giveaway over on Donna’s site, we wanted to offer each of you a little something for coming on over to visit our site.

If you place an order for a 6 month subscription before Thanksgiving, we’ll give you $10 off your first month.

Enter the code “jointheclub” to get your discount.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Blog post of note

Friday, November 13th, 2009

I was scanning crafty blogs between meetings, and I found a blog post on Craft Gossip I just have to share:

10 Reasons why you may want to join a Kit Club

I totally agree with the whole list, but especially wanted to point out my favs on the list:

2. If you’re busy with work, home, kids or school (or all of the above) it’s easy to grab your kit and get creating when you have some free time.

3. If you’re looking to think outside your creative “box”, a kit can challenge you with products you might not have chosen for yourself.

8. If you don’t live close to a Local Scrapbooking Store or a craft store, a kit club can meet your supply shopping needs.

9. A kit is a good way to use your scrapbooking budget while ensuring you are receiving the newest and hippest products


Is it really Monday?

Monday, October 19th, 2009
Emma, Grace and Shelby - Jen's girls and my little one playing (they played while their Mamas worked)

Emma, Grace and Shelby - Jen's girls and my little one - playing (they played while their Mamas worked)


It feels like time is flying by. I had a busy, busy weekend. Jennifer and I worked like mad woman to create some very exciting goodies you’ll be seeing soon. And on top of that, I have two sick kiddos. Runny noses, coughs and cranky attitudes. I can take the first two symptoms, but the crankiness just grates on me! But crankiness aside, I’m excited for a new week.

So what’s new?  One of our awesome design team members, Grace Tolman, had a mini book she created using our August Main Kit accepted for publication by Scrapbooking Trends. I can’t wait to see her mini book in the pages of Scrapbooking Trends. How cool is that?

We have some cool one-time-purchase kits that will be debuting later in the week. Jennifer and I spent nearly the entire weekend culling through the best scrapbooking goodies out there. You’re going to love what we put together.

The October Add-on Kit is now sold out. Thank you so much to all of you who purchased this cute kit. We are super excited to hear what you all think of it and our other add-on kits, so please do share. Because we’ve been selling out every month, we’ve decided it’s time to expand our kit selections. In November we’ll have four kits! Yep, four kits! We’ll have our traditional main kit and add-on kit, as well as an add-on kit with a kick and a patterned paper kit. Seriously, I am so excited to show off the November kits. We’ll give you all a little sneak peek later in the week, so keep checking back.

I’m still working on my collage project. I haven’t gotten as much done as I’d like (sick kids and Crazy Daisy work slowed me down), but it’s moving along. I did a cool crackle paint technique using Elmer’s Glue and acrylic paint. I used this for the background of the collage. Next up, I’m going to use tissue paper and paint to create a little green hill and of course some cool texture to my collage. I’m having a lot of fun with this project, even if it’s taking me forever to do.

I was reading the latest issue of Scrapbooks Etc. this morning and was feeling the urge to have a power scrapping session. Later this week I’d like to create a bunch of quick and easy layouts using some of the sketches they have in the magazine.  It would be so awesome to get lots (and lots) done in one night and then compare what my pages look like versus the examples in the magazine. Who else wants to power scrap with me?

And last but definitely not least … a little inspiration. There are still a few October Main kits left, so if you’re on the fence about joining the fun, here are some layouts using the kit that might inspire you to jump in.

Here’s some layout goodness from Jackie. Check back later in the week to see what Kim Whitten has been up to with her October kit.

“So Pretty”





I love the little swatch of felt that came with this months kit! I used mine to make a cute flower, I then added a pretty button for the center! All the buttons, brads and metal embellies were awesome to work with! I applied a fun rubon to my ribbon, this works really well with thick satin ribbon!I also used my white gel pen to outline the velvet pattern on my paper! This is such an easy technique, and adds so much to your layout!


100 % boy




This is a layout of my Nephew Rylin. I love the funky layered frames that came in this months kit! I separated mine and added some patterned paper on top to make a base for my title! And because every month the kit is packed with such scrappy goodness, I always have supplies left over!! So I used some fun rub ons from the September kit. Then finished the layout off by adding stickles to my title!


“Cheeky”





Okay as soon as I seen this photo of my Nephew I knew I had to scrap it! This was during a visit when he was posing for the camera…and showing his cheeky side! I love love love the chipboard alphas in this month’s kit!!! I have a weakness for chipboard and buttons…. and Kimberly and Jennifer definitely know how to pick out all the gorgeous supplies that I would pick for myself! And the decorative chipboard strips framing the patterned paper “Be yourself” is packaging from the chipboard alphas from Chatterbox! My little Nephew Harley is such a cheeky monkey.


“Tasty”


"Tasty" a layout by Jackie

"Tasty" a layout by Jackie


“You may be wondering ‘Why is there a layout about a fridge?’ Well, I am making an ‘All About Me’ book with some friends and this was one of the subjects that I had to scrap about! I’m actually glad to scrap about this … my eating habits have changed so much the past few months! I am trying to get my family to eat healthier … so my fridge is stocked with different foods from a few short months ago! This fun, bright patterned paper paired with a funky large button in my stash were perfect for this layout!”


New and improved

Monday, July 20th, 2009

crazydaisy_2

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’ve made a few changes to our Web site. The homepage has been updated and looks awesome! We added a slide show of the homepage to feature layouts from our guest designers and the design team members. We’ve also added blog headlines to the homepage as well, that way as soon as you hit the site, you’ll know if there is something new to read on the blog.

I think the best and most important improvement to the site is on the “How it works” page. If you’re not familiar with scrapbooking kit clubs, the whole process of joining the club and getting a membership can be confusing. We think we’ve made it a little clearer to understand with our updated “How it works” page.

The one thing you all need to know is that if you order a subscription, you don’t have to return to the site each month to order your next kit and pay. We’ve reserved a kit for you (for the length of your subscription) and we’ll automatically bill your credit card on the 5th of each month. When you’re subscription runs out, we’ll email you a reminder …so you’ll never run the risk of missing a kit. 

We love it. Tell us what you think … do you love it too?