Digi Pick of the Day

Digi Picks 5/27/08

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOMMY!!!!!!
Today is one of the greatest days in history.  My mommy was born on this day in 1941 and the world is a much better place for it!  You all know her from her frequent commenting here as Michele Angelo, so be sure to send her good thoughts today ;-)

Kit Picks of the Day
Yes, that is a plural up there in the title.  I went shopping over the weekend somehow thinking I'd have all this digi scrapping time.  Anyway I hopped over to the Sweet Shoppe and picked up Raggedy Annie , an adorable collaboration from Robin Carlton, Kay Miller and MandaBean.  I loved the fact that it is a tomboy kit with lots of pink, but plenty of brown and green and some snails thrown in.  That is so perfectly Gracie.  While I was in the collab shopping mood I picked up Her Royal Highness by Dani Mogstad and Emily Merritt.  Great colors and lots of fun elements abound in this one.  Again perfect for my little princess.  I actually used this one on the layout below...so I did manage to get something done this weekend!

Everything is from Her Royal Highness by Emily Merritt and Dani Mogstad except for the photo corner from Shabby Princess' Wild Love.

Really Cool Photoshop Action of the Day
Somewhere along the way this winter I came across the coolest action from Addicted to Design.  The Lomo Action is a freebie from this awesome creator and I highly recommend giving it a try and then going back to purchase some of their other cool stuff.   You can see it in action, pardon the pun, below on the only other layout I got done this weekend ;-)

The background is Amy Wolff's from Garden of Whimsy, the two torn papers are Kay Miller from Light of my Life.  The incredible quote and word art is from Weeds and Wildflowers' Follow Your Bliss.

New Post Up at Melissa Thinks Out Loud

Head on over there now and Find the Happy...

Digi Picks 5/21/08

Kit of the Day
Want to say "awwwwwww"  out loud? Then go check out Mary Fran's Noah's Ark .  The animals are just to die for!!!  How freaking cute are they?  The good news is that one of my dearest friends is going to have a baby in September (I'm seeing her tonight woo hoo) and my neighbor across the street is already past due.  So I could totally justify this purchase by saying that I am going to make baby albums for them to just pop their pix in!!  Yes, I am indeed a clever girl.  This would also be cute for a Sunday School teacher!  I'm really digging the border she made.  Reminds me of my nephew Jimmy's nursery which was totally tricked out in Noah's Ark decor.  Oh, just realized there is a quick page collection designed by Kay Miller!!!

Layout of the Day
I really want to do a mini-album of all the things I love right now.  I like to imagine that Gracie would keep it and my ancestors would look down at my diet coke layout with pride in their heritage, LOL.  Also it would just be nice to scrap about myself for myself!  Scarletheels  32 Reasons I love Tea  is a great example of this type of layout.  I'm totally in love with her font work with this journaling.  It takes a very basic and simple page and makes it eye catching!  I also like how she included the thumbnail of herself.  It really helps to balance out the large "32" in left corner of the picture. Great page!

Digi Picks 5/19/08

Kit of the Day
I really feel like I need a kick in the butt today.  It's been so hard to get going and keep going.  Anyway, I was scanning around looking for something bold and inspiring and I found it!!!!  Electric Attitude    by Eva Kipler is sure to bring some energy and spunk to your pages.  I love the boldness and the cloud and lightning bolt would be perfect for some of the attitude storms that happen around our house, LOL. 

Really Cool Card Pick
I'm running behind and I absolutely have to leave the office on time, but I don't want to go without sharing with you a gorgeous and cool card idea from Cayla73.  Bloom is just so adorable and such a cute idea.  I'm totally stealing this idea.!!!!  Okay, gotta run!

Digi Picks 5/16/08

I am so ready to go home!  It is a rainy Friday afternoon and I think I'll be here late tonight waiting for my tour that is scheduled to arrive at 5pm ;-(  Forgot to bring my laptop to work so I can't even sit here and scrap after 5. Oh well....I'll just surf!!!!

Layout of the Day
Eva's 26 Secrets jumped out at me as soon as I saw it in the gallery!  I just had to click to see what was going on here and I'm so glad I did.  Gorgeous composition and as many of the commenters have pointed out, the blocking is wonderful.  It's not exactly perfect, which is a great touch.  I really love the pictures in black and white.  I'm totally going to attempt a scraplift of this. I've done about me layouts before, but this one has a really nice feel that I think I can have fun with!!!  Awesome job Eva!!!!!

On Sale Today at Scrapbook.com

I have this paper pack from DCWV and it is awesome!!!!  It's nearly impossible to find in a store anymore, especially in the 8x8 size, which I love.  So go grab it now!!!!!

Die Cuts with a View - Rock Star Collection - 8X8 Paper Stack
Scrapbook.com

Digi Picks 5/15/08

Well I survived Taste of the Nation NYC last night!  It was at the Roseland Ballroom and it was PACKED!  It was so hot in there at one point I had to get out of the crowd. Overall the food was excellent but the liquor left a little something to be desired.  I did discover one new wine from Sicily called Rocca something-or-other.  I'l have to look it up on Wine Library. My faves of the night were the two cheese tables.  Artisanal Cheese Center is on W. 37th but they also have a website!!!  I'm so excited!!!  Awesome aged sheeps milk cheeses and a very mild soft goat that I liked even though I like my goat a little funkier ;-)  The other cheese table wins hands-down for practicality and presentation. Vermont Butter and Cheese  had a little cardboard plate that held a slice of crusty bread with a bit of fresh butter, a communion cup with a creamy soft mild goat w/honey, an aged goat with raspberry chutney on a water cracker and a solitary mound of their aged goat.  A little cardboard plate of Melissa Heaven!!!!  I had 5 of them....not even remotely kidding.  With that wine from Sicily....YEAH BABY!!!

Element of the Day
Okay, I know you didn't come here to read about my love of stinky cheese.  So, here's a link to a very cool alpha in both png and abr format from Lisa Sisneros.  Her  Cracked Rub On Alpha  is a great realistic looking alpha that will mimic the effect you get when you use rub-ons that either don't quite go on all the way or have been in your scrap bag for way too long!  I'm one of those strange people who loves it when her rub ons look a little rough, LOL.

Need some NSBR Inspiration?
Don't forget about my new blog.  I hope it will bring you hope, inspiration and at the very least laughs.  For now I don't have a fancy name so you can find it at Melissa Thinks Out Loud. 

Digi Picks 5/13/07

Wow. The middle of may is already here!  How did that happen. I've been in my new office for 6 weeksish (that's so not a word) and I love it.  The hardest thing is finding ways to fill my day.  I should be writing or something because there's no way I can do 8 hours of solid work even if I network my brains out.  Once I start going out on the road, I'll get busier I'm sure.  It's just a very strange feeling after running a marathon everyday for 19 months!  The good thing is that I get to spend time checking out the digi galleries.  You've all been very busy!!!

Layout of the Day
I love it when Gracie butchers a saying.  We, of course, adopt her phrasing and a new family joke comes to life.   Cindys732003 has captured one of those great moments in her Perfect Makes Practice .  Great title work!  Also love the action shots coupled with the great shot of her looking at the camera.  We get a taste of the movement as well as a good look at the girl who finally accomplished a very hard motor skill.  My daughter still pumps her legs in the wrong direction, LOL.  I love how she used the sun element as the journaling spot. Great job!!!!

Digi Picks 5/9/08

I'm so Happy ;-)
I'm so happy today for so many reasons.  Not only is it Friday, but there is a water main break at the Metropark Center, which is where I USED to work.  Today it is not my problem and I am beyond grateful!!!!!  Another reason to be happy is that tomorrow Memories Expo comes to New Jersey.  Krista and I will be there when the doors open and we will be hooking up with Robin.  The Vendor list appears to primarily be scrap stores from nearby states and direct marketing companies like Creative Memories and my favorite Top Line Creations repped by my buddy Judy.   I'm really hoping someone is going to demo the Slice and maybe have a show special on it for when its ready to ship in June.  After the show we are heading back to my house for a little cropping time and my scrapping buddy Patti is going to join us.  Patti has recently gone digi so we'll get to spend some time  giving her some tips and tricks.  So I am one very, very happy girl today!!!!

Paper Pack of the Day
Anyone who has seen my paper scrapping knows I have developed a love of sanding and inking.  I sand everything including my pictures, embellishments, stickers..whatever I can sand, I sand it ;-)  I try sometimes when doing my digi work to create the sanded effect, but it's not as much fun as it is in real life.  So I was super excited when I saw the debut of Jacque Larsen's Sanded Papers .  The sanding effects on the papers looks very realistic and I like that she didn't just do the same exact effect on each paper so if you use them together it will look very organic.

Layout of the Day

I love it when I get really cool ideas from other scrappers.  Mamanan's Beginning of a Fairy Tale is both a gorgeous layout and a great idea.  I love what she said in her description about starting a fairy tale book for her daughter.  I really think I would like to try that.  Then I could upload it to Shutterfly or I could print it out and make a cool chipboard book with all kinds of charms and ribbons!   Beautiful work on this layout.  Just stunning!

Digi Picks 5/6/08

Kit of the Day
About 6 months ago I added my all time favorite quote to my email signature as an assertion of my beliefs and a reminder to myself.  The quote is now the title of a gorgeous new kit from Weeds and Wildflowers.   Follow Your Bliss is the most cheerful kit I have seen in a long time.  I absolutely love these colors!!!  The word art is perfect for some inspirational layouts and projects like wall hangings and cards.  I love, love, love the black and white polka-dot alpha and all the polka-dot elements in the kit ( you know how I love the dots!!)   The highly textured solids are a great complement to the bold  and whimsical elements.  Love it!!!

Layout of the Day
I take a ton of pictures.  Especially on holidays, vacation and birthdays.  I want to document many of them but I also don't want to end up with 20 layouts to commemorate some events.  The solution is obvious, put many pix on one page.  The question is how to do that without looking like your EHD exploded onto your page.  ReSales' Zoo is a great example of multi-photo scrapping beauty.  The pictures are balanced out by the white space and journaling on the right side and she gets to showcase some of her favorite shots.  I love that she even managed to get a ton of journaling on this page.  The flow is perfect and that's what makes it all work.  I tend to get all linear when working with multiple photos, but this is a wonderful reminder not to go all blocky on my pages!!!!  Gorgeous!!!!!!

OMG Coolest Paper for Digi Printing EVER!!!!!

I am so freaking out right now.  I found THE COOLEST PAPER for digi printing ever!!!!!   Paper.com has a whole line of papers by Moab designed to be printed on inkjet printers but they have amazing fine art finishes.  I think I'm going with this first one, but the whole Moab line looks very, very cool!!!!  I tried linking the pictures but it was opening in teeny tiny windows.  So just cick on the paper.com link above or right here ;-)

Anazazi
True weave canvas with a highly engineered inkjet coating to produce exceptional prints flexible enough to be stretched. Suitable for both art reproduction and original photos..


Somerset
A truly authentic artist paper capable of producing outstanding results with a good inkjet printer. The paper is made using quality materials to give an archival sheet and buffered with calcium carbonate to help protect prints against attack by atmospheric pollutants. Somerset Enhanced is ideal for fine art reproduction and fine art photography producing prints which look and feel like an original piece of art.

Colorado Fiber Satine 245

100% alpha-cellulose paper reminiscent of a true air-dried F-type 'pearl' paper. The smooth surface of Colorado is enhanced with a slight fiber texture and feel.

The Colorado papers feature a whopping 2.4 dmax* and a glacier-like white surface yielding the ultimate in dynamic range and gamut. Colorado truly takes digital printing capabilities to a new level. If you yearn for the look and feel of a traditional darkroom paper and don't want to sacrifice brilliant colors and velvet blacks, then Colorado is the answer.

Digi Picks 5/2/08

Toots
My first toot is for myself and it is totally NSBR.  I was one of only 24 managers in the Northeast Region to meet my deal target for April.  I'm pretty stoked about it because this is my first month in the position and didn't actually start until April 7th!!  I'm very, very happy and feeling good about my decision to change roles in the company. 

Another toot is for my buddy Robin who co-wrote an article on Surviving NSD in the May issues of the DigiShopTalk Insider.  They've got lots of great tips which will come in hand when the madness descends at midnight!!!

Kit/Sale of the Day
I'm trying to be organized about what I buy, but as soon as I got the Shabby Miss Jenn Newsletter a few minutes ago I went nuts!!!  All I can say is.....$1.00
I'm sure you're already gone so there's no point in my writing anything else ;-)    Have a great weekend and enjoy your shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!