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!

Aren’t these scrappy pin cushions adorable? There is a tutorial on the Craftzine blog. Have you checked out Craft? There are some awesome ideas and really cool inspiration on the Craftzine blog.

I’ve started listening to a new podcast, Paperclipping Roundtable. It features a panel of professional scrappers, including Noell Hyman, Ana Cabrera and Stacy Julian to name a  few. It’s informative as well as inspirational. Download it and listen to it while scrappin, driving or working out. You won’t be disappointed.

While at CHA (actually, the consumer SuperShow before CHA), Jennifer got a new sewing machine. We did a bunch of fun make ‘n’ takes at various booths sponsored by the National Sewing Council. We both left itching to sew more. I really want to make my daughter some fun little skirts and hopefully teach her to sew, just like my mama taught me. I think I’m going to try this skirt (picture below).

I was reading a bunch of tweets today (I’m a Twitter junkie … you can follow me @crazydaisykits). Someone mentioned this old blog post of Ali Edwards‘ that caught my attention because the link to the post was proceeded by “one of my fave posts of all time. refer to it all the time.” Now that I’ve found it, I will be refering to it often as well.

Another one of my favorite scapbooking blogs that I read regularly is Donna Downey’s “Simply Me.” She’s a phenomenal artist. Her regular Wednesday feature, “Inspiration Wednesdays,” always leaves me in awe. I love, love, love everything Donna does. You have to check out yesterday’s post and the canvas she created.

Last but not least, I am really loving Craft Gossip. It’s a one stop shop for all things crafty. They find all the cool tips and tutorials around the Web and post them in one convenient location. Looking for inspiration or ideas … head to Craft Gossip.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Last year I read all about her “Word of the Year” idea, and I even think I picked a word. But for the life of me I can’t remember what that word was. For 2010, I’ve picked a word and I am serious about it.

Me.

My word is me.

I’m one of those people who gets very caught up in everyone else. I am a mama and my kids always come first. Even if I’m the bathroom, my daughter will walk right in and start chatting away.

If I have a flight to catch at noon, then I’ll be up before dawn so I can pick up the house grocery shop, pick up dry cleaning for my husband and take my baby to a doctor’s appointment.

In all of this I often get lost. I forgot to take care of myself and usually I tend to have an explosion. Every so often I’ll break down, cry a lot, maybe even scream. And then I’ll be okay … until my next melt down!

In 2010 I’m going to focus on taking care of me. Doing things for me. Taking time for me. I’ve been told that if i do this, then everyone in my orbit (my husband, kids, friends, etc) will benefit. Is their an old saying that goes something like this: if mom is happy, everyone is happy.

I’m hoping that as I focus more on me that I’ll make better decisions for my family and my life. I’m looking forward to a more productive and creative year. I’m excited at all the possibilities ahead of me.

Did you pick a word? What are you focusing on for 2010?

The Crazy Daisy scrapbooking bag you could win ... with some goodies inside!

Wanna win a Crazy Daisy Scrapbooking bag with some fun scrappin goodies inside?

Well, here’s your chance. This weekend we’re giving away out very last July Main Kit over on Ali Edwards’ blog. And since just one person can win with Ali’s giveaway, we didn’t want the rest of you to feel left out. So, we’re gonna give away three goody bags. All you have to do is leave us a comment and tell us what you’d really like to see in our kits each month. A stamp? Ribbon? Paint? What would you love to see to as a regular component in the monthly main kit?

We’ll announce the winners Monday (July 13) morning. So comment away!

My sweet baby boy, who is hanging out with me in my office.

So this is what I’m doing right now.:

      * Still in my PJs, working away in my office

      * Prepping for a workshop in Atlanta next week. My first post baby business trip. Coop will be heading out on the road with me.

      * Cooper is loudly snoozing away in his swing (also in my office)

      * Cassius, our dog, is curled up in a patch of sun and taking a nap of his own.

What are you doing right now? This would make a great scrapbooking page. Take a photo and then use your bullet items as your journaling. It’s a perfect snapshot of your daily life. I love it.