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In this issue
Letter from Team Digital -Margie Lundy
 It’s already 2010! This year I’ll have two 10-yr-olds, an 8-yr-old, and DSP will turn 6. That’s amazing! Something else amazing is the DSP community this year. Besides being over 158,000 strong, you pulled together through good and bad times, and showed that DSP is about so much more than scrapbooking.
You were so supportive on the forums, helping, teaching, asking, and answering. You rallied around members who sadly lost loved ones with cards, flowers, visits, and hugs (both real and virtual). Together you celebrated births, anniversaries, and layout publishings, and mourned computer crashes, broken cameras, and internet outages. You met together in different states and countries for a little scrapbooking, but mostly for fun. I was incredibly blessed to see many of you in Australia, New Zealand, and California. The Grannies dispensed wisdom, humor, and some things I’m too embarrassed to type.
In 2009, we started a Scrapolution and you focused on your scrapbooking goals, many with fun flair cards. Congrats to those of you who did it! And to those of us who fell a bit short (*cough*), it’s a new year! You shared wonderful layouts and photos in the gallery, including your creative P365 projects. In a tough economy, you stretched your scrapping dollars with the new value collections and bonus challenges. Around the web, you became our friends, fans, and followers, and you shared DSP with others. Thank you!
Like the popular flair says, DSP isn’t just a website, it’s a lifestyle. Thanks for spending 2009 with us. It was a great year and I loved spending it right here at DSP with my friends and family!
 Margie Lundy
DSP Ruler Extraordinaire
(Margie didn’t send a title, so editor made one up)
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Site News and Features
New to DSP?
New Member Information:
Are you new to digital scrapbooking or new to DSP? Join Digital Elite Team (DET) members Sands and Mars for a New Member Chat. The chat is every other Friday at 10 pm EST (1st, 15th, 29th January) - You'll find all the information here.
Here is a wonderful opportunity to ask questions about DSP and digital scrapbooking. Whether it’s a question about navigating the site or how to get started, someone will be on hand to give you the answers.
Posting Your First Layout:
Are you thinking about posting your first layout? There's a special first layout challenge each months for you. Post your first layout to DSP this month and you may be a random winner for a free page kit!! You'll find all the information here.
What’s Going On
If you need to know what is going on, you need the What's happening at DSP thread or the Calendar.
Welcome to DSP! We know you will love it!
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Upcoming 2009 DSP Crops and Events
Don’t forget, if you are planning a get together to put it in the Gathering and Support forum. There’s nothing like meeting DSPers in real life to learn new things, take great pictures and have a good laugh! Check out these upcoming gatherings!
Although there is nothing on the calendar as of yet, keep popping in, there may be a few in the works.
Please check n the Gathering and Support forum if you are interested in any crops that may be happening in your area.
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Member Spotlight: Sue a.k.a. sailingsue
 The January Member Spotlight is the simply amazing sailingsue.
With a gallery that is just simply packed with outstanding layouts, Sue believes her scrapping style falls in the graphic and fantasy categories, and admits she really likes a “grungy look”
Sue finds her inspiration (besides the important people in her life) in nature and the great outdoors.
“I find that being in the outdoors gives me both serenity and an appreciation of all of God’s creatures big and small.” Sue adds that she is “an extremely fortunate person who has been blessed with a wonderful family, invaluable friends, amazing careers and a love for nature and people that I get to share with others through my photography.”
Congratulations and thank you Sue for sharing you wonderful talent as our first DSP Member Spotlight of 2010. Sue’s Gallery is a must see, read more about her on the Spotlight Page and then take part in the Scraplift the Spotlight Challenge.
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Featured Designer - DSP!
The Designers were beyond excited and a little worried when Margie announced we’d be “designerless” for January. Responses ranged from ‘do we still all have jobs’ to “Margie is doing all the designing!” What Margie MEANT was that the designers had a month of working for the newsletter. Instead, we are featuring DSP in general.
What you might not realize is that the talent that goes into our CDs, Megakits and Club Digital is what keeps the site running, so every once in a while we have to acknowledge the amazing amount of work the designers put into these products so we can have our forums, our store and all the wonderful things that made DSP keep ticking.
Did you know that there is a monthly challenge for layouts done with Club Digital. You can earn a free month of Club Digital by participating just by doing a layout using any item for the latest month of Club Digital. How great is that!!
There are also calls for Club Digital and the current CD or Megakit in the Inspiration Station.
Not to mention a bunch of really interesting challenges where the DSP products can be used to double up. Check the “What’s Happening at DSP Thread” to see what you can double up on!
This month’s Featured Designer for the Featured Designer Challenge will be DSP!! You can earn prizes and have fun with the Featured Designer Challenge! where you can earn some free gift certificates for a draw and some great products. All you have to do is scrap with any of the Club Digital items, CDs or Megakits that were released for 2009.
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Some Useful Links:
 blogger  facebook  flickr  myspace  twitter
New Products Club Digital Events Freebies Tutorials Mentoring Terms of Use Contact Us
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Store News
Missed Em Monday Sales
Missed Em Mondays
Enjoy 20%-40% off Select Products
Missed 'Em First time around?
Here's your chance to grab some old but still great DSP products from past years by at great discount prices.
Grab products released in the past.
Discount varies according to the release date of the product.
Each month there will be a Missed 'Em Monday Sale where you can delve into history and grab some great bargains.
May you have an amazing 2010 from your DSP Store Staff
Club Digital
Are you a member of the club?
December 2009 Club Digital
 Enjoy January's issue of Club Digital. This month's Club Digital is a sophisticated blend of elegance and grunge in endlessly mixable muted browns, blues and greens. One page kit breathes romance and the other enchantment, along with an alpha that adds style and funk. The plopper provides an opportunity to plop two pics and add some journaling, or use the journaling spot for a blended photo while the Spots and Stripes Quick Click is an open-ended base for your imagination. The stamp circles are great for New Year or All Year and as always, there is a unique font and a fabulous set of word art to round out your layouts
Club Digital now comes in a choice of resolutions - Choose 200ppi or the new 300ppi version when you download.
January’s Club Digital content includes:
- Everlasting Love Page Kit
- Simply Irresistible Page Kit
- Something to Remember Plopper
- Gotta Grunge It Alphabet
- Going in Circles Stamps
- Just for YouWord Art
- DSP Font - DSP MurlieMac
- SpotsStripes Quick Click
Club Digital is the hottest club in town! Get your monthly fix of the best digital scrapbook products for an incredible price! Something to suit every style and level of digital scrapper!
Club Digital includes two page kits, one plopper or overlay, a quick click template, an alphabet, some wordart, a font, and png stamps!
As a Club member, you also receive an exclusive coupon for the DSP Shop and can enter an exclusive contest just for members (with great prizes)!
Over $27 in value for the incredible price of only $5.99/month! (Or as low as $4.99 with longer subscriptions!)
Club Digital is just $17.97 for three months ($5.99/month), $33.00 for six months ($5.50/month), or $59.88 for a full year ($4.99/month)!
Plus, Club members can WIN! Purchase a three month subscription and you're entered to win a free upgrade to a six month subscription!
Purchase a six month subscription and you're entered to win a free upgrade to a twelve month subscription!
Purchase a twelve month subscription and you're entered to win a $30 coupon for the DSP store!
Club Digital now comes in 2 resolutions. Choose either 200 or 300 ppi from the drop down box to select your choice of resolution.
File Size:
200ppi : 44.20MB
300ppi: 83.70MB
Welcome to the club!
Here is a selection of layouts created by the DSP Team Digital using this months Club Digital Selection.
Click here to find out more about Club Digital
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It's Shop Time!
Featured Product - Christmas Assortment Mega Kit
This mega kit is huge!!- It will make scrapping your Christmas
Memories so easy with its traditional Christmas colors, huge
variety of great elements in styles from traditional to modern
and funky- there is enough here for multitudes of Christmas Layouts
all for such a fantastic price.
Christmas Assortment Mega Kit
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WACOM with DSP Inside!:
Wacom introduces the new line of Bamboo products with multi-touch and pen input. Use finger taps and hand gestures to navigate and perform simple commands like zoom, scroll, rotate and more. Or pick up the pressure-sensitive pen for precise control to edit photos, make sketches and mark up documents in your own handwriting. No matter how you use your
computer, it just got a whole lot easier. http://touch.wacom.com
And Bamboo Craft has DSP INSIDE!!!
Bamboo Craft is designed specifically for the interests of hobbyists and crafters who benefit from Pen Input, along with the comfort of Multi-Touch for navigation. Bamboo Craft includes valuable tools for memory keeping and art projects, including inspirational ideas, a training DVD, creative software and much more. http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/bamboo_craft.php
 A few of the great resources inside the Bamboo Craft:
- Software DVD (containing Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7.0 Win/6.0 Mac, Corel® Painter™ Essentials 4.0, Nik® Color Efex Pro™ 3.0 WE3)
- DVD with 26 scrapbooking lessons from Jane Conner-ziser and a library of digital craft embellishments (FROM DSP!)
- Offer for free 8" x 8" photo album from Shutterfly
- Offer for free online store from Café Press
- Offer for free one-year subscription to Scrapbooking & Beyond Magazine
- Offer for free online training with DigitalScrapbookPlace.com
Be sure to watch the videos of the great touch features. You'll love them!
You might even find more surprises from DSP inside the box!
See the DSP Forum HERE
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My Memories Suite:
My Memories Suite is a premium digital scrapbook application that allows users to make beautiful scrapbooks that can be enhanced by music, narration, video, and the Internet. Create digital albums in minutes using one of many designer templates, or design your own pages using page kits (click here for a tutorial). Share your albums as beautiful hard bound books, print individual pages, watch them on a DVD, or view them on the computer as an interactive CD. You can even share them on an iPod or turn your pages into printed greeting cards that can be mailed directly to family and friends. The robust features of the software provide the graphic tools to make beautiful digital photobooks, while at the same time keeping all your memories—your pictures, videos, and music—preserved in one place.
It is the ideal tool for the beginning scrapbooker who wants to get started and create some awesome albums AND the sophisticated scrapper who wants to create something a little different and very special.
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Shop Time Inspiration
It’s time to SHOP… let’s get those baskets at the ready.
The beginning of a new year and time to make some scrapping resolution!!? Time to commit to participating in Project 365. Check out the forum and the gallery for loads of great inspiration. There is also a wonderful Project 365 category in the store.
Inspiration Station Calls for January will include:
You know you can do a search for any color you want, it's so easy to find just the right products when you do a color search. Search for product for your project by color. Or check out the themed categories lately, you’ll find lots more kits plus some awesome word art, ploppers, alphas and wow – loads more ideas. It’s always really great to have some general page kits that can be used for just about anything!
Gift Certificates Send anyone the perfect gift!! Gift Certificates are a wonderful way to say - Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, I Love You, or even Just Because!
Did You Know...
...you can get to the store by typing shop.dsp.me in your browser URL bar? Get to the store even faster!
Do you love the product you just purchased and want to tell others? Please consider doing a review ... pass the good word along! We love to hear from you.
Happy shopping
Inspiration for New and Advanced Digital Scrappers!
Digi-Scrapper Inspiration by Mandy
Do you dream in Black & White?
Scientists theorize that if you lose one sense, your other senses become more acute to make up for the deficit. In a world swathed in color why on earth would you want to work in black and white? Surely it is like losing a sense?
It is a question my father used to ask – growing up with only black and white photography at his disposal, he loved the reality and bold vividness of color photography. For me though, not only is black and white timeless and classy, it is a medium that allows you to instantly look the world from a different perspective. Not simply a loss of color, but more a hyper focus on the remainder… you strip away color and suddenly the world becomes a place of rich texture, contrast, movement, emotion, drama and detail.
But here is the thing, why should you have to choose to make your photographs either color or black and white? We are digitalscrapbookers, we can create our own perfect image, going for the drama of black and white but pulling through a select color or colors to shift or add to our focal point. In short, we are able to add drama to the dramatic. Just as you would add that “pop” of color to a monochromatic layout, you can add that “pop” of color to your photograph using a layer mask, selective painting, tinting or recoloring.
Keep the idea in mind when you consider black and white photo opportunities. The flowers in a brides bouquet or in a child’s hands, the textures and contrasts of buildings, street scenes, architecture and landscapes, the action of sport or the emotions captured on a person’s face… and then look for the opportunity to add that dramatic splash or soft hint of color that can pull the photo into a new dimension.
Team up the photo with kits or elements in a similar accent shade, or with kits that are neutral or black and white and add your pop of color with an element or paper matte, the result should make an eye-catching layout.
Scientists also maintain that some people dream in black and white, while others dream in color. They theorize that it has to do with whether a person grew up with black and white or color television. (Which leads to the question: did people not dream before TV?) I dream in both black and white, and color… but then I live in a Photoshop world!
Example:
Just the way YOU are
Digi-Scrapper Inspiration by Meg
Are you Afraid of Black and White
 I have a confession to make. I am completely afraid of using black & white photos. I look through the DSP galleries and see so many beautiful, artistic, creative layouts filled with stunning black & white photos, and I'm overwhelmed. You see, I'm a color girl. I simply don't know how to do a layout without a color photo on it. So, to dip my toe into the black & white waters, I thought I'd try a page with both black & white AND color photos on it. Can I do that? Is it legal to mix the two? Well, I went looking and found other pages that successfully (and beautifully) managed it, so I figured I'd get away with it!
To help my brain make peace with the idea, I not only used the two styles of photos; but also used them to illustrate my frustrations with posed portraits of my kids, as expressed in the journaling.
I used my black journaling and the black & white photos to start a simple gradient, easing into the colorful photo below and glitter element at the bottom of the page. The punch label style element on top of the color photo helps to connect the lower half of the page with the top. Using a neutral background helps keep the focus on the mix of photos, so that the black & white elements don't get lost in a sea of color.
(Side note: Did you know that aqua/turquoise tones are a terrific neutral? They look good with nearly every color, providing an excellent background without falling back on whites, greys, or browns.)
When mixing black & white with colored photos, remember that the viewer's eye will naturally be drawn to the colors on the page. You'll need to create balance through the placement and sizes of your photos, other elements on the page, and your choices of supporting colors (in photos, background papers, and elements).
DSP Team member Sharon (shazzt) created these layouts:
The first has a distinct focal point in the large color photo, with the black & white supporting photos creating a border along the bottom of the page. Keeping the journaling in a simple font in white on a black background helps to unite the page, as well. The second uses a grid to mix the black & white in amongst the small color photos. The viewer's eye moves easily throughout the page, with the black & white photos acting almost as neutral space next to the strong colors.
DET member Jeanet is one of those members whose ability to use black & white photos intimidates me. Here are a couple of hers that mix her gorgeous photos in with (equally gorgeous) colored ones:
In the first layout, she repeats the one photo, effectively framing it with black & white versions above and below. Your eye is drawn right to that main photo, the black & white ones reinforcing the importance of the photo. (And did you notice the turquoise background? Look how great it looks with both the black & white and colored photos!) The adorable second layout again uses the same photo more than once. In this case, desaturating, enlarging, and cropping it to focus on the little baby parts she loves so much. Jeanet used selective coloring to keep his baby blues bright, but the idea is the same: the black & white photos balance and support the main colored photo.
I hope this helps those of you who, like me, find black & white photos beautiful but challenging. Remember, there are no rules, mix and match to your heart's content! And have fun!
--
Create a great day!
Meg
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Artful Activities: Creating Moments into Memories
When you first join DSP you want to devour every little bit of information there is and it seems a bit overwhelming at first but the absolutely best place to visit first off is the 'What's Happening' page, it's packed with useful information to help you choose to participate in a designer run challenge or contest or make a date to be at one of our awesome chat sessions. To find out the daily and weekly fun at DSP check out the calendar of activities, there's never a dull moment at DSP and you're sure to find something to your taste to challenge you artistically
Coming Events:
Keep watching for other upcoming events in January...
Contests, Challenges and Chats
- Designer Exclusives: Our Designers are the best there are and they are really generous, if you enter one of their challenges you’re more than likely to receive a chat and/or posting bonus just by using their nominated kit for the challenge. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain – like more stash for less bucks with these great challenges.
- Inspiration Station (IS News)
This is a call to all dedicated DSP scrappers to ‘strut your stuff’ and inspire us with your creations. Just choose any or all of the calls for layouts the current month and you could be showcased in our Newsletter or Blog. We have a few rules so check them out and then join in the fun. Check out the current edition of Inspiration Station News or here for Previous Issues
- Project 365 - a project for how YOU scrap. Check out our Project 365 chats and the Project 365 store category.
- Scrapolution – It’s a DSP evolution, a scrapping revolution, and our New Year’s resolution:
It's a SCRAPOLUTION!!
It’s all about YOU, our members, our friends, making scrapping goals and Team Digital supporting, guiding, encouraging, joining, and cheering you on every step of the way. Check out the current themes and prompts.
- Scrap with the DET – Digital Elite Team and DET Alumni
Our past and current Elite group of scrappers have some great challenges going at the moment and you’re sure to get well chosen CC should you need it – learn from the best
- Elite Challenges - be sure to check out the challenges run by our DET Alumni and DET.
- The Grannies If you’re a Granny or a Granny In Training (GIT) or just a Wannabee, you might like to see what other Grannies are up to, what challenges they have going. There is never a dull moment when you join this happy band of digi scrappers.
- IOTW - Item of the week – Abby
The Item Of The Week is priced to sell and generally costs only a few cents; so create a LO using only the IOTW and be in a draw to win a free kit.
- SNL - Saturday Night Live - MarsOlson & Debbers
This is where anyone can create their own digital scrapbook kits to share with other SNL’ers, from elements and papers to word art.
This is just a small selection of popular challenges that DSP currently has running but be sure to check all of them out here. And we have a special blinkie to place in your signature to always remind you where to find the best scrapbooking challenges on the web. Check the end of the first post in the What's Happening thread for the blinkie code.
Happy Scrapping!
Challenges you may have missed” - Challenges hosted by the DET Alumni
Elite Challenges • Hosted by DET Alumni, open to everyone! • Gallery
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DSU Information
Time to gear up for coming year and learn new and exciting ways of scrapping. Make it your resolution to sign up for one of our fantastic classes with our highly-skilled and amazing instructors.
To read more about any of our classes, please visit our classes page. To register for any of our classes, please visit the DSU registration page.
January Classes
DSU110 – Adobe Photoshop: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking
DSU130– Corel Paint Shop Pro: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking
DSU160– Adobe Photoshop Elements: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking
DSU195– Wacom & Creative Fun
DSU198 – Storytelling
DSU220 – Adobe Photoshop: Brushes
DSU221/321– Adobe Photoshop: Montage and Advanced Montage (self-paced)
DSU270 – Adobe Photoshop Elements: Brushes
February Classes
DSU130– Corel Paint Shop Pro: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking
DSU160– Adobe Photoshop Elements: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking
DSU195– Wacom & Creative Fun
DSU211/311– Adobe Photoshop: Creating Digital Elements for Beginners and Advanced Users (self-paced)
DSU261– Adobe Photoshop Elements: Creating Digital Elements for Beginners
We would love to hear your suggestions on future classes! Send your suggestions and comments to me at dsu@digitalscrapbookplace.com.
Amber
Dean of DSU
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Desktop Calendar Plopper
A newsletter exclusive! Specially designed ploppers for your computer desktop. This month's lovely calendar is by Lauren Bavin using DSP products. Download the plopper here! (Sizes: 1280x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900 and 1680x1050 are included.)
Add your pictures, angle and size them as you please, add journaling, and save it as a jpg. Then update your desktop wallpaper background by browsing to your new image! Voilà! Favorite photos matched with this month's calendar to help keep you up-to-date all month! Look for a new one each month in our newsletter!
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Newsletter Challenge
We are always striving to make our newsletter more interesting and useful. If you have an idea, let us know about it! If it's an article idea, a feature, even something you'd like to write, shout it out to us. So, put your thinking caps on and come up with some new features, article ideas, or something fun you'd like to see in our monthly newsletter. Then email it to comments@dsplace.com. (Please type "Newsletter IDEA" in the subject line of your email.) We can't wait to see your ideas!
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Newsletter Freebie
Exclusively for our newsletter readers, DSP Designer, Erica has created this fabulous Monthly Splatter Deluxe Word Art. Grab the 200dpi HERE! and the 300dpi HERE!
Thanks, Erica, you are AWESOME as always!
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Many thanks to the newsletter Team:
Amber, Kim, Lauren, Lynnette, Meg, Mandy, Erica not to mention our fearless leader, Margie!
If you're not a registered member of our site why not Join Now!
All new members receive a free gift. Feel free to pass this on to your friends!
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