Digi Pick of the Day

Digi Picks 4/29/08

Altered Project of the Day
I absolutely love hanging out over at Dani Mogstad's CT (Dani's Girls) blog called Girl Talk .  They have some of the cutest layouts, but my favorite part of the week is when they do altered projects!  This week's is one of the best so far.  Shrink plastic for making Mother's Day gifts.  I love, love, love this idea and I have always wanted to play with Shrinky Dinks but my mommy wouldn't let me, LOL.  Go check this out.  Very, very cool idea.

Layout of the Day

I remember the very first time I let little baby Gracie sit on the grass with just her diaper on.  She sat so incredibly still with her eyes wide.  She clearly wasn't sure if she liked it or not.  Then she grabbed a chubby little handful of the prickly green stuff and aimed right for her mouth.  I paused for a brief second while I decided whether to photograph this moment or stop her from eating potentially harmful stuff and decided on the latter.  Good Mommy Award for me!!  Anyway, this sweet memory came flooding back to me when I laid eyes on Barefoot in the Grass by Tater Tot.  First of all, don't you just want to bite his chubby little legs?????  The photo is really what grabs me on this one.  The close cropping really brings us to the focus of this memory. We get to see his adorable visage in the other smaller shots (nice touch) but the focal photo gives us the story. Love how it looks like he's going to start playing soccer at any second. Also love the angle and depth of focus on this shot. Really, really great shot.  Did you catch the way she ghosted the image over the textured background?   Very cool indeed!!!!

Need an Office? (Shameless plug alert)
I just happen to need to sell three more offices by tomorrow 9PM to meet my target for the month in my new job.  If you happen to be in the market for office space whether for temporary or long term use, check out our website at www.hq.com or email me at melissag@digipickoftheday.com.  I'd be glad to hook you up with something really cool. Oh, we're in almost every state and in 70 countries so we probably have something near you somehow, LOL.   

Digi Picks 4/25/08

Project Pick of the Day
I am hoping to get some paper crafting time in this weekend.  I've got the itch to print, glue, sand and ink.  I went to Michael's today and drooled over the KI Memories Sassafras Collection again.  OMG!!!!  MUST HAVE!!!  Anyway, I was looking for some fun projects to do and came across Adobe*Addict's Gift Tags .  How cute and what a great idea?  I really love home made gift tags.  It's just that little extra something y'know?  If you've got the urge to create, but lack the  mojo to do a big full blown project, you could sit down and pre-make a bunch of cute tags for various occasions and stash them away until you need them!

Element Pick of the Day
How adorable are these little critters and Happy Garden - Living Things from Weeds n' Wildflowers?  I love that you can create all kinds of looks with these guys by switching around the trails and the styles of bug etc.  Just soooooo cute!!!! 

Digi Picks 4/24/08

Sale at the Shabby Shoppe...new products...free stuff with purchase...well

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!!!

Visit the Shabby Shoppe

Here's what I got...this has Gracie written all over it!!!  (pix are linked)

I also got...

and

because I literally bought badge holders two years ago for the express purpose of creating cute little albums like the ones I saw in a magazine and I have been carrying those buggers in my scrap bag ever since!  I'm doing them this year darnit!!!  I'll give them as Mother's Day Gifts!!!!!!

What did you get????? 

Digi Picks 4/23/08

Layout of the Day
I find that now that I am a parent I think more and more about the future of our world.  I wonder what the planet will be like for my child and her children.  My actions reflect these thoughts more and more each day.  As you probably know, April 22nd is Earth Day and this "day" has now grown into a month long look at how we can leave this planet better than it was handed to us.  Joanne Briesbois' I Owe You sums up what we as parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc. can do for the next generation.  We owe them a better world and we truly can do it if we all start by taking small steps.  When you go grocery shopping this week why not remove one small item from your list and replace it with re-usable shopping bags?  How about turning out the lights when you don't really need them or maybe choose an organic fertilizer for your garden this season?  Thanks Joanne for a beautiful tribute to the spirit of Earth Day.

Tool Pick of the Day
The truly obsessed blogger over at Scrapbook Obsession may be questioning whether or not she truly needs the new Slice from Making Memories (really none of us really need another scrap supply of any kind, honestly) but she and I both agree on the wanting of this wonderful little device.  Check this puppy out!! I have resisted getting a Cricut because of its size and the fact that I have to buy cartridges.  I keep holding out for a Wishblade, but maybe, just maybe the Slice could be the perfect thing for me. Small, and not beholden to a certain size of paper.  It also looks like you would waste less paper than with the other machines...good for Mother Earth.  I think if the device is priced properly and the cartridges have sufficient designs per cartridge I could be persuaded on this one.   Hmmmm....what do you think???  Want One?

Digi Picks 4/22/08

Kit Pick of the Day
I'm sure you have all seen the threads on various forums that start "you know you are a scrapper when..."  Well today's kit pick is one of those moments for me.  Upon seeing the ad for Mary Fran's adorable new kit Spaced Out I was bummed because I didn't really have a use for it and thus could not justify buying it.  Then my wheels started turning.  We're heading to Orlando in October for a vacation.  Why not visit Kennedy Space Center?  Gracie will be 5 by then, probably a good age to learn about NASA and satellites and space shuttles, right?  Problem solved!!!  Yup...I've got problem, but I love it!!  I really love the retro look of the space rocket and cool ray gun that Mary has created.  The little Martian dude is just the cutest.  If you have not given Mary Fran's work a try yet, I highly recommend it.  It's very hard to make a bad page with her designs ;-)

Layout of the Day
I really like the simplicity of Happy Birthday Slade by luckymomX7.  The clean design and tightly cropped photo really help us to get the emotion of this photo.  His concentration is evident and I just know he is loving that new guitar!  I also like the enlarged words that jump out at us in the journaling giving us the highlights of his special day.  Digging the acrylic 8 on the photo too.  All very well thought out.  This will be a great addition to Slade's memory book ;-)

Checkout My New Blog

As I may have mentioned, I've got some more time on my hands and damn it feels good!! For the first time in a long time I have time (could I say time one more time?). So I plan to put all this time to good use.  I've got some thoughts rattling around in my brain and I'm starting to put them down on ...uh....the internet, LOL.   So check out my latest endeavor...

Melissa Thinks Out Loud

I'm Baaaaaaackkkk!!!!! The Return of the Digi Pick

Well hello there.  There has been a great change in my life since we last spent time together.  I got a very nice promotion at my day job, which has taken me out of the craziness of Metropark and moved me into the serene and light-hearted environment that is our Freehold Center.  I am now a General Manager and my primary job is sales.  Almost no accounting.....Woo Hoo!!!!!  I've been down here for two weeks and I am loving it!  My hours are more regular and my days are more organized and manageable.  As a result I can actually focus my brain a bit on my other endeavors in business and in life! 

As a result I have had time to reconsider the Digi Pick of the Day.  So I will be making a return to picking with a few changes from my previous format.  My favorite part of doing the picks has always been finding fun, unique and meaningful layouts to share.  As I always said, they fly off the front pages of the galleries so quickly that I feel many get missed.  So I will be picking layouts daily or as close to daily as I can.  What I won't be doing as much of is picking kits, elements etc.  When something truly catches my eye, I'll be sure to share it with you, but you may not see them as often as I used to pick them. Part of my decision is time-based and part is based on what I perceive as a trend towards the generic in the digital industry. 

I see so many new kits that look like other kits.  I think in large part this is a result of the growing trend towards using commercial tools.  I think there are almost as many people designing tools for designers as there are designers designing kits!  So the patterns, templates and textures are becoming repetitive.  Mind you this is not any kind of indictment, it's just an observation.  Just because a designer used commercial tools doesn't mean that the end result cannot be unique and original.  It's just that I see a tendency towards sameness.  Don't feel bad, though. It just means we've become mainstream, LOL.  I have the same problem when shopping for paper scrapping supplies.  Everyone hops on the same color bandwagon at the same time, or decides that grunge is great.  For a while everyone was copying the SEI style, then it was Basic Grey, now I can't tell real Daisy D's and Cosmo Cricket from the knock-off's.  The end result is that I am very picky about what I buy both in paper and digital scrapping. My policy has always been to pick things that I personally would buy so that's what I will continue to do.

Also I will most likely not confine my picks to digi picks.  There are so many of you joining me in the bi-scraptural (hybrid) world that I want to make sure you know about all the cool goodies out there in paper scrapping land as well!!

Sooooooo.......are you ready for the picks?????

Element Pick of the Day
I'm loving Kaboodle by the way.  I see things and just click that awesome little toolbar doodad on my browser and poof I can remember to buy it when I have the paypal funds! 
I have been drooling for months over the awesome doodle art that Kate Hatfield has been creating.  Today she released another winner called Fast Food Doodles .  This is perfect for BBQ season!!!  That jukebox and the diner doodle are perfect for me to capture some of my fondest college memories.  Yeah, I spent way too much time in diners in college ;-)

Layout Picks of the Day
Had a hard time just picking one for my triumphant return, LOL.  So first off I've got a sweetie from LilCameronsMommy that just cracks me up.  Super C embodies what I love about this hobby.  This precious picture has been elevated to memorable moment with some clever mousework and a great cultural reference.  This is so going to show up when he brings a date home, LOL!!!

Now from the WOW department I bring you Secret Garden by New Life and inspired by Rebecca by Camilia Marie.  I love both of these layouts and I think I might attempt to scraplift both of them, LOL.  I love the texture on CamiliaMarie's original and the butterfly on the little girl's hand in New Life's is such a sweet touch.  Try to branch out into this style of creating every once in a while.  It can be so much fun!!!

So there you have it!!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you Monday ;-)