Okay, so I was early announcing Earth Day. :) But hey, that's just me. I jump into things head first, on time or not.

We are getting ready for our first real vacation together, and things are starting to get real for me. We leave next weekend. Not this one coming, the following. Yikes! I really have to try and find my spring clothes. It's still spring out there, my father-in-law tells me. And there is still snow in the mountains, so I need to figure out how to pack for 2 different seasons. What a task. The last time I was in Oregon in May, it was the same thing. I had come from Arizona on a conference where it was 102 in the shade, and then went into the mountains in Oregon, where I needed warmer clothing. Layers. I keep telling myself, dress in layers.

So what's on the design front? Funny you should ask. I have a new kit that I've been working on for the guys in your life. Hope you will enjoy that one. Comes out the day after National Scrapbooking Day. And there will more new products in store at SBE before that for sure. I'll leave a little peak here for you tomorrow. I know you'll love it.

Happy Earth Day!

Well, it's been an interesting week. We are finally settling into our new apartment, boxes everywhere still, and I find myself realizing that we still need to purge more. How did I fit all this into a one bedroom apartment? I really don't know.

It seems that Spring has decided to boycott the Ottawa area this year. We went straight from Winter to Summer. It has been 26 degree Celsius the last few days, which is clearly summer weather. So, skip unloading the Spring wardrobe, and pull out the summer stuff. Which kind of bums me out a bit. I was just dying for a pretty, slow spring this year. I love the time of rebirth in this area. Great picture taking opportunities everywhere. Especially the Tulip Fest. All the same, the flowers and plants and trees still have to come out, so I'll have lots of photos to scrap!

Want to see what Spring inspired for me lately?

These are both at my store at Plain Digital Wrapper. I was feeling very springish before the move. This kit took a long time to design, but it was so worth it. And one of my lovely CT guests, Meredith, did an awesome job designing this bracket album don't you think? It just says spring is here!

I'm working on some more mature kits again, for men and older boys. Not having children, I am happy to scrap my husband's adventures, and we'll have plenty of photos to scrap of our trip to Oregon, coming up in 2 weeks. So I'm trying to get a head start on designing a few kits for those pics.

I hope you'll have a lovely Earth Day! Get out and enjoy it!

I've been tagged! My first tag! Thanks Patricia!

Just copy paste THIS and everything below up until my Five links.
I thought it would be cool to have a meme where we post links.
We can post up to five.
Then we tell five more people to share their links.
If we all share who tagged us, our links are sure to be seen!
They can be business links, favorite sites, affiliate links, whatever you want…
There are Five Rules:
1. MUST be clean. No R rated sites.
2. Only FIVE links.
3. MUST tell 5 people.
4. A link back to the person who tagged you
5. Lara’s Place is the meme originator. (an active link is appreciated)

Here is my list in no particular order.

Blog Carnival: I'm now the coordinator for the digital scrapbook carnival, which is a great resource for digital scrapbookers. You can find links to tutorials, trends and other interesting articles all on one blog post. The next edition is on Flerg's blog.

Our Little Universe: A great general board for gals who are big chatters like me. I found it from a wedding site where I was a member when planning my wedding, and it has a great forum for life journals, photography, finance, home decorating - just about everything.

Sunshine Studio Scraps: Let me just say that you should keep your eye on this site. What a fabulous team of designers and CT members. There's a weekly challenge too.

SJH blog design: This site was given to me as a reference for prettying up my blog. Haven't used it yet, but have every intention.

The Photoshop Roadmap blog: What an awesome site if you are interested in Photoshop resources.

Four people I'm tagging? Well now, that would have to be Amanda Kay, Monica, Nicole and Flergs.

Can't wait to see what's happening with those gals!

ACK! Just when you think things are finally looking up, life throws you a twist...or two. Wait, maybe there's one more!

Yes, my last few weeks have been nutso! I expected some downtime from the internet with my recent move. Who doesn't. We can't honestly expect a well-paid, over-charging internet/telephone service provider to be anything but punctual and courteous now do we? :)

I didn't have internet or phone service at my new apartment for nearly a week. I was informed that they don't do Sunday phoneline transfers, when originally I was told they did, and then they apparently had trouble reading my file or something, because I was told that the line would be activated Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday. Come Wednesday I was informed that I had an inactive line and a technician would have to come to the neighbourhood to install a new line, but I wasn't required to be home. Good thing. I am NOT taking a day off work to have someone take all day to get there, take 5 minutes to work on the outside of the house, and then pull every last hair out of my head because I really wasn't required to be at home. Wednesday I asked to speak to a supervisor, because I certainly was not going to be inconvenienced for one more day. I was promptly put on hold, and not so promptly (30 minutes later), cut off. Nice. Finally they sent someone to my home on Friday. I was told I would need to be home, so I arranged for a 5:00 p.m. visit with the supervisor. Upon arriving at home at 4:30, I picked up the phone, and voila! We had a line. Apparently, as I suspected, I didn't need to be home. The line was fixed from the outside at 9:00 a.m. that morning. Internet connected, I frantically surfed. :) Until the next twist came along.

The next twist was the demise of my LCD monitor. It started to flicker, and then wave, and then by Tuesday, it started doing the Macarena. Icons were no longer visible. Text was unreadable. I frantically backed up my hard drive to my new EHD (remind me to buy a computer with eSATA next time), and hoped for the best when bringing it into the shop last night. Turns out, it's not my motherboard, as I suspected. It's definitely the monitor, which is still under warranty. My sweet brother lent me his humungous 19 inch CRT monitor until I get mine back. So I am once again with internet, able to read, see icons, and heaven forbid, I might actually get to scrap today.

The reason I am so anxious to scrap? Well, I recently was announced as one of the Sunshine Sweeties!!! I'm one of the lucky ones, and I'm dying to work with Ellie Lash's products and also enjoy some of Monica's lovely stuffs.

Now, onto the blog carnival news. The next carnival is being hosted by none other than the lovely Flergs. You'll really enjoy the next edition, and remember, if you find any great articles on a blog somewhere, submit the article using the widget on my blog here so that other can enjoy it as well.

Thanks for reading my internet/phone rant, and keeping up with the news! Have a great weekend!

Welcome to the April 1, 2008 edition of digital scrapbooking. Sorry for the delay of one day. I was supposed to have internet access at home on Monday, but still don't have it up. Thank goodness for borrowing internet time from work on break!

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Jane's Make A Matchbook posted at www.janebradbury.com, saying, "Learn to make a hybrid matchbook layout"

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Creating text on a Custom Path in ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta posted at Digital Scrapbooking Info, saying, "Learn how to make a text path in ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta"

Hummie presents a new Hybrid challange posted at The Hub, saying, "This hybrid box is just so cute!"

Hummie presents >Colors and Kuler posted at Scrapin and Stampin with Savitri.

Other

Lori presents Digital Chatter - Heaven Graphics posted at Digital Chatter - Heaven Graphics, saying, "Resource. All completely free printables, digital scrapbook papers and graphics for download"

Trends

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Photoshop Friday! Designing with Rings posted at Jessica, saying, "Layouts using rings"

Tutorials

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Glitter Tutorial posted at Welcome to my world, saying, "Learn how to use Flerg's glitter styles"

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Altered Notebook Tutorial (Hybrid) posted at Scrapbook Ideas, saying, "Hybrid Notebook Tutorial"

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Fun with Layer Masks posted at Misty Cato Designs, saying, "Layer mask tutorial"

DreamScrapper presents How to Make Great Scrapbook Titles Using Digital Alphabets and Layered Text Boxes posted at Lettering Delights - PRWeb Press Release Account Feed, saying, "Article appropriate for hybrid scrappers as it details how to layer elements in Microsoft Word to create effective titles."

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents IOD Build a Frame tutorial posted at IOD, saying, "Video tutorial to build a frame"

Kelly-Ann Halbert presents Tutorial- Blending an image into a background using ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta posted at Digital Scrapbooking Info.

Hummie presents Tut: Weathering and Antiquing posted at Scrapin and Stampin with Savitri.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
digital scrapbooking using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Wow, hard to believe it's almost here. On April 1st, I'll be hosting the blog carnival for digital scrapbooking! I'm so excited about it. There are some great articles and tutorials that people have submit. If you find any others that you would like included in this carnival, please submit them via the widget on the right of my blog. It's easy as pie to do, and so many people will appreciate it.

Well, I've been surfing around the web a bit and have found some interesting new things. Have you seen the Sunshine Girls blog yet? It's awesome. What a great group of designers! I absolutely love the kits that they are producing. Something just says wonderful when I look at them. They are full of whimsy and style! Check them out! And they are having a CT Call. Get in on this one gals! Don't forget to participate in their challenge this week! You can get this fun kit for playing:



I've found a few designers that are going to fill up my Kaboodle soon! Ellie Lash has a fresh style that I just love. Where has she been? Well at least I'm glad I found her now.

Plain Digital Wrapper is doing something really cool right now, and you should definitely check it out! Build Your Own Grab Bag!



How cool is that?

And if you've been like me, you've been dying to try hybrid but don't know where to start. Well check out Digital Scrapbooking TV. Jen Caputo and team show you from start to finish how to do a hybrid layout. Very cool stuff.

So that's what I've found this week. Come back and check out the blog carnival on April 1st. People who visit, and give me their honest comments about the carnival will be entered into a draw for a $10 GC at my store at SBE or PDW (winner's choice). And if you've loved the carnival and submit a new article for the next carnival, you'll be entered in a draw for $10 Paypal money. Let's keep this resource alive and kicking for all to enjoy!

If you've been keeping up with me, I'm moving this weekend, so things are a little slower for me at my stores, but there's nothing stopping you from having an amazing weekend!! And have a great week!

Well the blog carnival is going smashingly well! We have lots of new hosts, and so far we have a few very interesting articles that I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Be sure to submit an article when you find something that will be of interest to digital scrapbookers. Just use the widget on the right side of my blog, where it says "Submit an Article" and fill in the information. Don't forget that you need the link to the actual article and not the link to the blog.

Thanks and looking forward to what you will all submit!

Well, exciting news all! I'm the new owner of the digiscrapping blog carnival! What's a blog carnival? It's a fun collection of interesting resources, tutorials and articles about digital scrapbooking, all hosted on a blog.

Here's a tutorial about how to submit an article, tutorial or resource to the blog carnival. You can submit articles here, or use the widget on the right bar of my blog, or go here.

This is an awesome opportunity to get some resources, tutorials and trends listed - which can help you and fellow scrappers, as well as designers, find resources in just a few clicks.

I hope that you'll submit the latest cool article, tutorial or resource that you found!

Well it's been an up and down week. We are getting ready for our move at the end of the month, and I'm already tired of packing. That and visitors tromping all over our apartment to see if they want to lease it. Ugh.

So while it's been hard, I've been having fun designing my latest kit: FIERCE! I hope you like:



Fierce is perfect for your rocker chicks or rebels! Dark, grungy and full of tribal influence. Comes with a barbed wire photomat that can be used as a clipping mask on any paper to give your paper a rebellious tone. 8 grungy 12x12 papers designed at 300 dpi with lots of texture and blending. 2 tribal flourish cut-outs, 2 grosgrain ribbons printed with barbed wire, a tribal rusty frame, rusted barbed wire page border, and 3 large tribal brads will all give your teen layouts an edge. And for the rocker chick, there's also a tribal heart tag, and torn and tattered flower. Rounding out the kit is a paper label, old journal paper, clustered frame, old paper frame, foil leaves, and an old staple and paper clip.

You'll find it at my store at Plain Digital Wrapper. It's one of my first full kits there, so enjoy!

It's been a very very busy time. I'm moving at the end of March, and am in apartment search mode. :) It's rough trying to find someplace that takes 2 cars, 2 cats and 1 dog (which we don't have yet). But we think we've found one now, with the exception of the 2 cars. We'll see. Everything should be firmed up tomorrow or Tuesday. Then I can actually work on getting some new elements done, some mojo flowing, etc. Take a look at the latest I've done.

Available at Scrapbook-Elements.com:





And coming next weekend to SBE - a special preview of my new paper pack:



And now at PDW I've added two cool new element packs. You love foil. Admit it. It's cool on a layout. Well now it can be feminine, edgy or fun. Take a peek:




I hope you enjoy the new stuff. Don't forget to sign up to the Everyday Living Challenge at SBE. This past challenge, the participants received their own foil flower element pack as a posting gift.

So here's the big reveal! My 5 items that were in the Mardi Grab Bag!







They are now all available individually at Plain Digital Wrapper and you can get my Crack Me Up Frames for only $2 today, because it's in the Friday Favorites! Enjoy!!

Are you ready for it? It's my biggest grab bag yet! Over 140MB of new goodies valued at over $19 for only $2!!!



Honestly, you can't afford to miss this grab bag! It's full of rich textures, satiny goodness and grungy appeal.

You can find it here at my store at Plain Digital Wrapper.

AND I've got a treat for my blog readers! Some extra savings!

Have you seen my girly kits? If you haven't, you are missing out!


This mini-kit is available at Plain Digital Wrapper!



Twinkle Toes is available at Scrapbook-Elements.com!

Got way too many Valentines kits and feel guilty buying more? Well, this is a guilt-free addition that will compliment any existing valentines kit you have! And at only $2, it's such a deal!! Get it now, here, at my store at Plain Digital Wrapper.



And as an added bonus, you could win a gift certificate with the purchase of this little beauty at Plain Digital Wrapper:

Due to the OVERWHELMING RESPONSE to our Friday Promotion, we are thrilled to announce that we will continue sending out gift certificates for the amount of the order to EVERY fifth customer whose order is over $20 & contains at least one product from the New Releases Category through the end of the day on Monday!

We truly appreciate our customers!

Oh news, news news!!! How great is PDW? Look what special contest we are having for our customers!

We're having a GREAT day at Plain Digital Wrapper and we want to share it with you!!!!

For the remainder of the day (Friday, January 18th until midnight MST)
every 5th order over $20 that contains at least one item from the Friday's Favorites category, will be sent a gift certificate to the store at PDW for the amount of their order!

It's just our way of saying Thank You for being the best customers in the whole world!
With warmest regards,
Betsy Tuma & the PDW Designers

That's right folks! I'm having a CT call for guests, and if I find the right people, some permanent members too. Don't be shy. Apply before the end of the week. My requirements are simple. 3 layouts in 3 galleries per month. So if you love my products, and want to work with them, send in your application.

Ah, it's been a sad week. It always seems that life gets back to 'normal' too quickly after the holidays. Or even worse, it gets busier. So what inevitably happens in January is...I have to find more team members. So you should be seeing a call for my CT coming out very soon.

We have had the weirdest weather here for the past week. It's gone up to 11 degrees Celsius for nearly a week, so all the snow that we received before January (which incidentally was actually more than we got all of last winter), is almost all gone again. Wow. It's really hard to believe. And almost on the 10th anniversary of the famous Ice Storm that had hundreds without access to their homes for weeks. I just hope that we don't have a sudden cold snap. At least today there is some sunshine!

And it's time for me to start scrapping the past 2.5 years with my hubby so that I can get my Shutterfly book ready in time for our visit out West to see his parents in May. I want to try and get a book made for them, and possibly his brother as well. Much of the book will be our wedding and reception, since they couldn't come. So with that in mind, you might very well see a new wedding kit from me shortly.

I hope you have a great week!

Okay, I know that I've said this many a time before, but I really loved making this new kit! I love it! I have a rugged man that I never scrap enough, so it's about time I got to it. I hope you like this kit as much as I do. It's coming out next Sunday at SBE.



So keep your eyes on my store there, and you'll see it soon.

And you'll see my latest paper pack, Fireside Nights at Plain Digital Wrapper this weekend!



Hope you are having a great weekend!

It's official!

My store is now open at Plain Digital Wrapper! And to celebrate, I've got an opening special for my blog readers! Use the coupon code KikiNewStore and you'll save 25% off my products. The coupon is good until Saturday, January 5th. So go check out the few things I have there so far, and enjoy!

Well it's a new year, and there's lots of change in the air. Today, I've got my products debuting at Plain Digital Wrapper. I hope you'll visit. I'm not in the list of designers yet, but they are working on it. :)

Here's a preview of some of my new products there:






And now, here's a little freebie for you too. It coordinates with For Sarah.



You can download it here.