Digitally Sweet Challenge- Celebrations

"It's time to celebrate, celebrate, Dance with the music." OK so I have had this song in my head all week:)
We are celebrating this week at Digitally Sweet Challenges along with our sponsor Template Dreams. 

I took a bit of a different approach to the theme, "Celebration". Instead of focusing on the traditional sense of the word, I decided to use a "Winner's Circle".  And this year instead of doing a big vacation our family is doing day trips throughout the year. And amazingly we have a world renowned attraction here in Central Indiana...The Indy 500 and the Brickyard. 

We did a "Background Tour" of the Indianapolis Speedway which was a bit pricey but because we don't have the expense of hotels we decided to splurge. It was well worth it. We had a ride on a tour bus on the track, took our pictures on the finish line, and explored the race tower. And we finished at the winner's circle!

I used My Memories Suite 4 with Template Dreams "Go to the Races."

Just a reminder we have changed the rules of the challenge and it no longer has to be 100% digital, it just needs to include a digital image. If it is 100% digital you will get two entries into the give away.

Have a wonderful week! I am looking forward to seeing your celebrations:)

Digitally Sweet Challenges-Make it Masculine

Good morning! It is just beautiful outside:) It is so nice to have NICE weather instead of storms!

I am back with Digitally Sweet Challenges. I had to take a break while I dealt with some issues caused by my ex. and getting the new Hero Arts Release into the store. If you have not checked out the release yet, be sure you do. The new stamps are PERFECT for scrapbooking, stamping, and multi-media. Because this release has been wildly popular not everything is in the store, but we are putting things back in as soon as they are in stock. Be sure to check it out. And currently there is a 10% sale going on. Please use discount code MYSTORY10.

This week we are sponsored by Digi Darla. Check out Digitally Sweet Challenges for the scoop on what you may win! Be sure to check out her store. I had planned to use the Happy Hiker stamp

But the story of my life is that if something will go wrong it will. And it did. My scanner is having attitude. So while I have the digi colored and ready to go my scanner would not allow me to add it to the layout. So hopefully by next week  I will have resolved the scanner issue. I need to get my techie son home from Purdue to give it a look over.

Our theme this week is Make it Masculine.

My Memories Suite Forest Whispers

You ask why flowers on a masculine page? Well first of all I had planned to put the Happy Hiker in place of the vine. The vines were lost without the flowers. But the photos were of the boys and I used masculine colors for the papers. It works well. The boys felt it was masculine and they would know! LOL

And now a little about Brown County /Nashville, Indiana. This area in the Cumberland Mountain Range (yes Indiana has mountains)  is famous for it's Artist Colony. Filled with shops,including two scrapbook stores, it is a mecca for those looking for that handmade gift. In the fall the turning leaves are so beautiful you need to get reservations 2 years in advance!

We went in May during the week to avoid the crowds. While we were not able to go into the historical pioneer cabins due to the museum only being opened on the weekend, the weather was great and we had an enjoyable time shopping. In the evening we went back to our cabin at the Brown County State Park and enjoyed an Indoor Water Park.

This is a great vacation spot:) We had a wonderful time!

Have a wonderful week! I am looking forward to seeing your masculine works!

Digitally Sweet Challenge-Photo Inspiration

Ohhhh...Check out the photo inspiration this week for Digitally Sweet Challenges....doesn't it just make your mouth water?

Forget the challenge I just want to go play in the candy store! LOL

So here's my take on the photo inspiration. I used My Memories Suite 4 Roy G Biv

We ran across this telephone booth in Gatlinburg, TN. You should have seen the look on the boys' faces! LOL They were clueless as to what it was. They couldn't believe there was a cord on the telephone and the fact that it couldn't text! LOL My children are clueless!

Challenges:

Child's Play Challenges: Matchbox Cars (I used the colors)

Have a week filled with enjoying old fashioned things!

Digitally Sweet Challenges-Once Upon a Tome

Welcome back to another fantastic challenge at Digitally Sweet. This week the theme is "Once upon a Time," Choose a fairy tale or legend to ton inspire your layout.

I had fun with this one. Our cat Dustbunny thinks she is a princess. So a layout about her was a given. We are forever interpreting her "looks" with language so I did something I have never done before on a layout added a speech bubble!

This was done with My Memories Suite 4 and the kits Princess and the Frog and Butterfly Days

Challenges:
Aud Sentiment Challenge: For a Child, what child doesn't love fairy tales?
Digitally Sweet-Once Upon a Time

Wishing you a week filled with Fairy Tale Moments!

Digitally Sweet Challenge# 26-Lost in Time

Welcome Back! Has it been a week already? And what a week it has been! This year at this time we were outside in shorts! This year we are digging out from the biggest snowstorm of the year! And I had a chuckle. I told Scott to get out of bed and move his car or he was going to get plowed in. And do you think he did it? Nope! Instead he laid in bed.  And then I got to watch him spend almost two hours digging out his car while I scrapped. (My scrapbook room faces the street.) Oh how I love natural consequences!!! LOL

This week at Lasting Memories we are "Lost in Time!" We want to see a watch or a clock in your design.

I used My Memories Suite 4 Remember When by C. Prince. I fell in love with this kit, especially the background papers. They are great for masculine pages.

This week we are sponsored by Cedar Chest Designs.  I just love their digital papers and stamps. One lucky person will win a $5.00 gift certificate.

Challenges:
Anything Goes Challenge- Make it Manly (It's a page for James)
Deep Ocean Challenge- For A Boy
4 Crafty Chicks- You've Got Me in Stiches-use stiching


Have a wonderful week catching those precious moments in Time!

Digitally Sweet Challenges Let's Have a Birthday Party

I am late, I am late for a very important date! And what's worse I am the one who called for this Party! I am so sorry! Scott had a medical emergency and I just haven't had time to post to the blog.

But better late than never, right? So this week at Digitally Sweet the theme is "Let's Have a Birthday Party!" And in my house we celebrate the boys' birthdays together because they are a day apart!

I used My Memories Birthday Balloons Digital Kit. This was such a fun kit.  Scott is on the left and James is on the right.

This week we're being sponsored by Digi Darla Designs!

DigiDarla is the brain child of Kim Eskola and her daughter Emilea.

"Emilea and I both enjoy creating and when the idea of creating digital stamps came up, it sounded like the most wonderful way to earn ever! There was only one problem! We are both shy and dislike the center of attention! As a way of "hiding behind the scenes" and avoiding having one spokeswoman, DigiDarla was born! Working with Emilea on this project has been a wonderful blessing and has stretched both of us. Emilea is a busy teen with her passion for art and training our 2 horses, piano and violin lessons, and squeezing in high school classes somewhere in between! She is also the oldest daughter in a family of 11!"

One lucky winner this week will win 5 images from Digi Darla Designs!!

 

 

I can't wait to see your birthday celebrations!

 

 

Digitally Sweet Challenge-Anything Goes

Oh this is my favorite challenge this week at Digitally Sweet! It's Anything Goes!

Can you tell Mischief has "Catittude"? Just this morning as I was trying to get breakfast he smacked me a good one because I forgot to fill his bowl. LOL

I fell in love with this kit from My Memories called "Meow."  The embellishments are darling, lots of kittens getting into mischief.

Looking forward to seeing your creations!

Digitally Sweet Challenge #18- Inspiration Photo

Good Morning!

What a week of accomplishments! My New Year's Goal is to get my crafting life more organized. And so far it is working.

So here's my new schedule with the hope of that by Thanksgiving I will have all of my gift crafting done:) I found out this past year that a2z Scrapbooking Supplies gets REALLY BUSY from October-December so I really need to work ahead, because my crafting time is limited then.

Organizational Plan

Sunday-Clean my scrapbook room. I do clean up after each project- but this is related to deep cleaning and organizing. I am hoping I will come across more stuff and get it used rather than gathering dust.

Monday: Layout Day/Lasting Memories Design Work

Tuesday: Digital-Learn a new technique/skill, Digitally Sweet Design work This is the day I am most excited about. I am hoping to be able to start doing tutorials later in the year to help beginners.

Wednesday: Making gifts

Thursday: Cards

Fridays: Class Day-OK so I am guilty of taking a ton of classes and never having the time to finish them. This is going to be my get caught up day!

Saturday-Layout/Blogging Day

Digitally Sweet Challenge:

Our challenge this week is to use our Inspirational Photo chosen by our Design Team Sister Ali

Here's my interpretation:

When I first saw Ali's inspirational photo I instantly thought of this unusual duck we saw at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It's hard to see in the photo but there is red around it's bill. We have never seen a duck like that!

And at first I had the chains perfectly balanced on the blue mat, but I didn't care for the look. I thought having it slightly off-balanced gave it more interest. And this is the first time I used a white background with digital scrapping. In the past I wasn't sure how to use the different background papers-now that I have discovered shapes I am looking forward to all of the possibilities!

I used My Memories Software and Cedar Chest Designs Bloom and Bird Pattern Paper. To get the matted background I used www.picmonkey.com

I decided to concentrate on learning how to use My Memories Software as my first goal. I was bouncing between PhotoShop, Craft Artist and My Memories and I wasn't feeling comfortable with anything. So this week I concentrated on using shapes and coloring them with paper and using paper from another company.
And since this week we are sponsored by Cedar Chest Designs it was a perfect fit!

And our wonderful sponsor this week is Cedar Chest Designs. One lucky participant in this week's challenge will win a $5.00 gift certificate. Have you seen the darling holiday reindeer?

Have a Scrappy Week!!!!

Lasting Memories Challenge -Inspired by a Book

Welcome back to Lasting Memories Challenges. Happy New Year!

I had a family emergency so I was out longer than I expected, but I am so happy to be back.

Are you inspired by a certain quote, author, storyline?? 

Show us a layout based on a quote, author or storyline. One of my favorite boos is by Dr. Seuss "Oh the Places You Will Go."

One of the boys favorite restaurants while we were in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge was "The Alamo." It sat at the top of a hill and it had a beautiful view. We went during lunch and had a coupon making the meal reasonable. One of my favorite vacation tips is go to the more expensive restaurants during lunch. Same great food and much more economical.

Digital Software: My Memories Cinco de Mayo
                                       
Don't forget:

Monday - Monday Mojo (see all the DT Talent!)

Wednesday - Winner of our Month In Review Challenge and a new Month In Review challenge starts!

 

My resolution goal this year is to get more organized and hopefully have my Christmas gifts done ahead of time.  I am determined not to get myself into another time mess.  So I analyzed the situation and realized one of the problems was keeping my craft space clean, so I could find things when I needed them. So Sundays are now my cleaning/organization  day. We'll see if this works. 

 

I am actually looking forward to cleaning today, it's kind of scary, lol. It's raining on top of the snow, so that should convince me to stay inside and clean, LOL!

Have a wonderful week!

Digitally Sweet Challenge Steam Punk

   I am back! I apologize for being gone so long!  The store became very busy and I have had a family emergency.  So a belated Happy Holidays to everyone.

We are going Steam Punk this week at Digitally Sweet Challenges.

This was created with My Memories Software. And check out the team's new watermarks ( ice cream cone) made by our Denise! Isn't it wonderful? Denise is so talented, I just drool over her layouts and every week. And she is a very supportive friend too. I am so blessed to have her in my life!

Be sure to check out a2z Scrapbooking. There are a ton of new Hero Arts products and we are adding more every day. The new inks are in. My personal favorites are navy, cornflower and passion flower. Use code HEROARTS15 to get 15% off your total order. And if you spend $50 or more you will get a free gift! No code needed.

I can't wait to see your steampunk creations:)

Digitally Sweet Challenge 9-Sketch

Welcome back to our Digitally Sweet Challenge! Just follow this sketch (LO's only this week) .  This sketch is Denise's very first attempt!  Isn't she amazing?

 You are welcome to turn it, reverse it or flip it, just make sure we can tell it is still the sketch:)

Scott and I went to the apple farm a couple of weeks ago. He was enthralled with the bee hive exhibit. I used My Memories software.

I had a hard time finding bee embellishments that weren't cutesy or girly, so I ended up keeping this very  simple for a masculine look. How I wish designers would keep in mind that many of us have older boys/men too!

Loooking forward to seeing all of your wonderful sketch LO's!

Have a scrappy week:)

Digitally Sweet Challenge--Positvely Paws

Wow this past week has flown by! This week at Digitally Sweet we are "positively all paws: regarding our pets. We want to see your pets or if you have no pets any animal picture will do:)

This week I changed to a 8.5 x 11 format because  when I went to print my 12 x 12 digital layouts I received a message that the layouts were too large for the pixels. But the catch is that you have to be careful about embellishments because they overwhelm a page fast.

 If there is anyone out there who can give me a hand and tell me what I need to do to be able to print those layouts, I would deeply appreciate the info. Also if there is a printing company that does 12x12 that you prefer, I would love to hear about them too:)

Software: My Memories Suite (Isn't that little dog cute?)

I am looking forward to seeing your pets:)

Have a wonderful week!

Digitally Sweet Challenge 2-Flowers Blog Candy Winner

 Time for our second challenge at Digitally Sweet! This week it is all about the flowers.

So this week I learned how to make embellishments a different size in My Memories Suite 3. Same as in Word click on the edge of the boxes and wait for it to turn to a single arrow and then slide your mouse to desired size and let go.

Supplies:
My Memories Suite 3: Kits: Under the Boardwalk, Lil Mermaid, Something Fishy

Ober Gatlinburg (Tennessee) for the most part was a disappointment for us. The little zoo was not worth the $7.00 admission price that was on top of the tram price, but the otters were adorable. The tram was scenic, but we didn't feel it was worth the price either. It really was one of those places we could have skipped. Now if we were skiers or snow tubers it would have been a different story during the winter. But May really didn't have much to offer for the price.

And the blog candy winner is True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 4 

number 4 is Ann Cuts who said,"Hi Elizabeth. A great start to the challenges - love what you've done here. That tyre mark is so cool.
Ann xxx"

Ann won a $20 gift certificate to a2z Scrapbooking.

Congratulations Ann! I will be in touch!  

Looking forward to seeing your flower creations at Digitally Sweet Challenges:) Have an "otterly" wonderful day!

Digitally Sweet Challenge -Anything Goes with Multiple Photos

Drumroll please! I am soooo excited to announce that I made the Design Team for the new Digitally Sweet Challenge! What an honor! And today is the first challenge- Anything Goes with Multiple Photos! Challenges will be weekly running from Friday at 8am EST to Thursday 9pm EST

So without further ado here is my layout using My Memories Suite's Rules of the Road.

 Journaling: He has died and gone to heaven!

 BLOG CANDY


You'll want to make sure you visit each blog as we're giving away a little candy this week! Each of us will draw a winner from our personal blogs and winners will be announced with our next challenge! All you have to do is leave a comment for a chance to win! Good luck and have fun!

In celebration of Digitally Sweet's Kickoff  I am giving way a $20 gift certificate to a2z Scrapbooking. Please leave a comment to be entered:)

That old fashioned Coke Machine is making me thirsty! I need to find a Diet Coke ASAP, LOL

Happy "Birth" day Digitally Sweet! I am honored to be part of the inaugural team!