|
In this issue
Letter from Team Digital - Nicole Young
 Ok, yeah so I am not THAT old, but in the *ahem* many years that I have had that yearly visitor (yeah, I am talking about BIRTHDAYS!) I have come to one conclusion….they get WORSE and WORSE the BIGGER and BIGGER the number gets! When I was little, I remember the build up to the big day was like waiting for Christmas! It was all I could do to contain my immense excitement for the balloons, cake, and of course PRESENTS! But as time passed, the presents grew less and less , the number grew more and more and pretty soon, I realized, ummm…. I am not looking forward to this birthday thing at all! The latest few years my presents have been flabbier thighs, grey hairs and little creases forming in my once smooth skin….SIGH! But wait, birthdays shouldn’t be that bad! And I will tell you about ONE birthday in particular that turns my NOT so great feelings about birthdays UPSIDE DOWN! What??? You don’t know what I am talking about??? That ONE birthday???? That SUPER, SPECTACULAR, SPECIAL one???? That one that means FUN, PARTIES, CHATS, PRIZES, SALES and GIVEAWAYS??? Ohhhhh then you are missing out my friends….cuz THIS birthday is the one that I DO look forward to!!!! Ok, ok, so it’s not MY birthday….but it’s the next best thing…..it’s……DSP’s SPECTACULAR 6th BIRTHDAY!!!!! And it’s going on NOW!!!! DSP is officially SIX years old! SIX years of fabulous digital scrapbooking products, SIX years of amazing layouts, SIX years of friends and fun!!! Now THAT is a birthday that I can ALWAYS look forward to celebrating!!! Hope you don’t miss out on all the fun it has to offer!!! Happy Birthday DSP!!!!
Nicole Young
Senior Designer
Nicole's Links:
Click here for her Team Digital Bio
Click Here for her Personal Gallery
Click Here for the CAF-E! Forum
Click here for the CAF-E! Gallery
Click here for all her products.
Click here for her blog
(back to the top)
Site News and Features
New to DSP?
Posting Your First Layout:
Are you thinking about posting your first layout? There's a special first layout challenge each month 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!
Time for New Kids on the Block!!
New Kids on the Block is a contest for those who are new to digital scrapbooking and want to learn more based on quality feedback and constructive critiques from experienced scappers. It is also a chance to meet new friends, become part of the DSP community and belong an alumni group when it's over.
You can find out more about NKOTB and eligiblity requirements HERE.
You can find out more about the current contest dates and signups HERE.
(back to the top)
Upcoming 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!
The New Zealand crop has been booked for May 30th. More information here.
Although there is nothing specific on the calendar, SO Cal will be posting some photo walk and crop plans in upcoming months, 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.
(back to the top)
Congrats DET 11
Finally, the DET contest is over and the Team has been announced. The D.E.T.! These are DSP's Digital Elite Team, an elite team of DSP members who participated in the DET Contest and were selected by the Designers to represent DSP products in very talented ways. They are team members who showcase DSP products throughout their term on the DET.
The following amazing scrappers are now part of the Digital Elite Team:
aj_trouble • flipjump • just-pjz • mcbowersox
ReneT • SilverHealer • stitchmich • TalyQ
terryl • TracyMHunt
Click HERE to find out more about our Digital Elite Team (DET) and our current members and HERE to see the amazing layouts they always produce. It takes a couple of days to get the bios on the new members, so be patient!
(back to the top)
Happy Sensational Sixth Birthday, DSP
If you are new to the site, you might not understand just how much FUN birthday week is at DSP! We kicked off DSP’s Sensational Sixth with a 24 hour chat, hosted by members from all over the world. There were TONS of freebies given away during the chats and bonuses given away for completing layouts during the 24 hours of chatting.
But Birthday week doesn’t end there. For a whole week, we have fantastic sales in the store. From the beginning to the end of the week, you can pop into the store and save all kinds of money on the best products in the world.
In addition, there are challenges, chats and games throughout the week in the fabulous and fun Birthday Forum.
You get to meet new friends, catch up with old ones, earn great free stuff, save on product in the store sales. I’m telling you, there is NOTHING like BIRTHDAY WEEK.
(back to the top)
Member Spotlight: Brenda a.k.a bendipez
Kind, generous, hardworking and loyal are all words that describe this month’s DSP Member Spotlight: Brenda - yes, it is the one and only: bendipez!
The lady who also says she is “kinda reserved at times, awkward around people and tends to talk way too much (“but my DSPeeps seem to be fine with that”) says she was “very shocked, surprised and honored to be named a DSP Member Spotlight”.
Brenda says her inspiration comes from almost anything. “A while back I had kinda a nasty bruise and what did I do? Yep, took a picture because the colors and texture would make a cool background !!”
With her style still evolving, Brenda says she tends to use only one big picture and tries to have the picture tell the story. “I am starting to play with different styles and see what happens,” she says. We can’t wait to see what happens either, but we are sure you will find some wonderful inspiration in her gallery.
So be sure to check out Brenda’s Gallery and read more about her on the Spotlight Page and then take part in the Scraplift the Spotlight Challenge. Congratulations, Brenda, and thank you for sharing your talent with us as the current DSP Member Spotlight
(back to the top)
Featured Designer - Lauren Bavin!
 On April 1st 2004, a baby was born. It was rather a large baby already and its parents had great dreams and aspirations that it would grow and turn into a leader in its community.
That baby was DSP, and now 6 years later I can definitely attest to the fact that it has achieved and exceeded many of those aspirations.
It certainly has grown!!- We now have a community of over 160,000 who share their passion skills and knowledge with each other.
We are a leader in our community. Certainly the largest and most active digital scrapbooking store on the internet with top of the line quality product in and endless variety of styles and themes to tempt the customer.
We couldn’t have got there without you! You know who you are!! You are the members who come day after day, week after week – competing in contests, challenges, enriching the lives of friends you have made and are yet to make with your wonderful layouts.
You who feel DSP is your home as much as we do-- and it is – your home .
DSP is YOU!!!
You share your joys, your sorrows, your passions, your grief with us and we are honoured .
We still have dreams and aspirations for our child DSP – for it still has a lot of growing to do.
We hope that we can grow DSP over an even wider network with more live get togethers, for one of the true joys of internet friends is in meeting in real life.
Any of you who have experienced a DSP laptop crop will know exactly what I mean. Its not like meeting strangers for the first time – its like meeting up with life long friends and its an experience like no other.
Happy Birthday DSP!!-- Now lets party!!
Lauren Bavin
Head Designer
Note from the News Editor - Lauren has provided a wonderful desktop calendar and a newsletter freebie, so check them out.... AND you can earn free posting bonuses in this month’s Featured Designer Challenge!
Lauren's Links:
Click here for Lauren's Team Digital Bio
Click Here for Lauren's Personal Gallery
Click Here for the Gimme More Crops with Lauren Forum
Click here for the Gimme More Crops with Lauren Gallery
Click here for All Lauren's products
Click here for Lauren’s blog
(back to the top)
Some Useful Links:
 blogger  facebook  flickr  myspace  twitter
New Products • Club Digital • Events • Freebies • Mentoring • Contact Us
Forum Search • FAQ • Site Map • Team Digital • DSP Blog • Tutorials • DSP Calendar • DSP Terms of Use • The Shop
Product Information • Shop Site Map • Store Search • What's Happening at DSP • Challenges and Contests • Questions
(back to the top)
Store News
The following is a small sample of some themes for this month. Be sure to check out our theme calendar for sales and fun!
Follow us on Twitter!
**************** April Themes *****************
fun days this month (lots more!!)
National Garden Month
National Humor Month
**************** A Few Daily Suggestions *****************
**************** Sales *****************
Missed Em Monday Sales
Missed Em Mondays
Enjoy 20%-40% off Select Products
April 29th
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.
Featured Designer Sale - Lauren Bavin
Save 20% on Lauren’s products April 12th through 14th.
Club Digital
Are you a member of the club?
 Enjoy April's issue of Club Digital. This month's Club Digital is soft and elegant in pretty spring like tones . The two kits coordinate beautifully for wonderful heritage or feminine layouts with one kit being in a slightly more modern tone and one being elegant and more heritage in its style . There is a versatile Spring themed plopper and a delightful peachy pink candy alphabet . Add to that a super swirly quick click , some wonderful colourful spring word art and some journalling stamps featuring brackets and of course the unique font and you have a great product to get your spring layouts off to a great start.
Club Digital now comes in a choice of resolutions - Choose 200ppi or the new 300ppi version when you download.
This months content includes
- Rosy Memories Page Kit
- A Brighter Spring Page Kit
- Spring Day Plopper
- Pink Candy Alphabet
- Bracket Stories Stamps
- Simple Pleasures Word Art
- DSP Font - DSP Cheryl
- Beautiful Flourish 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 300ppi from the drop down box to select your choice of resolution.
File Size:
200ppi : 41.80MB
300ppi: 80.10MB
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
(back to the top)
It's Shop Time!
Featured Product - DSP Sensational Sixth Birthday Mega Kit
See the downloadable 200dpi here and the 300dpi here
This exclusive and elegant DSP Designer mega kit is packed with super backgrounds and elements to create the most wonderful birthday layouts for your family. The fun and trendy tones of Pink, blue brown and cream make this kit useful for masculine and feminine layouts for people of all ages.
Mega Style, Mega Fun, Mega Value!!!
Mega Kit contains:
- 36 wonderful backgrounds
- an alphabet
- Over 100 quality unique elements
(back to the top)
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. See it in our store NOW!!
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. See it here...
 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
(back to the top)
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 April 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.
CD Spotlight
Click on the CD images to see the CDs in the store!!
Happy shopping
Inspiration for New and Advanced Digital Scrappers!
Digi-Scrapper Inspiration by Meg
Choose Mini or Maxi for Impact!
From dresses to cars, fast food to scrapbooking: any time you take a design element to an extreme, it will make an impact. I'm not referring to anything wild and crazy, simply the idea of playing with size and proportions. In most cases, the photos on our layouts are the primary focus. With digital scrapbooking, we have a freedom to easily size our photos however we wish, with just a click and a drag of the mouse. Deciding how big (or small) to make them comes down to personal choice and the emotional impact we want our pages to have.
Biggie Size It:
Filling a layout from edge to edge with a photo has an immediate effect on the viewer. Though my journaling is touching, it is definitely secondary to the sparkle in my daughter's eyes. This page achieves exactly what its title proclaims: It is a Snapshot of Age 9. This picture was taken on her birthday, and I wanted to have a page in our family's scrapbook that I could later look at and remember her exactly as she was that morning. The adjectives and journaling round out the story, but it is her face that pulls you in.
"Going big" captures a specific moment or place, and triggers emotional response by placing you (the viewer) into the scene. Your eye does not tend to move around the page until it is done absorbing the photo. Be it of a person, beautiful scenery, or interesting architecture; your photo will be conveying the bulk of your layout's message. These photos ought to have clear focal points, without too many background distractions. In addition, you rarely need very many elements on layouts of this type. They, and the color scheme you choose, should provide balance and framing for your photo.
Make it Mini:
Layouts with these itty bitty photos seem to be fairly unique to digital scrapbooking. Again, it comes down to having the ability to quickly enlarge or shrink things without physically cutting them. For this layout, I used the exact same main photo, journaling, and adjective strips, but stuck 'em in the dryer until they shrank!
For layouts such as these, you need to be very careful when choosing the background. Your photos and elements are tiny, don't choose a busy background that will swallow them up! The foundation of these layouts is white space. There is plenty of room for your eyes to "rest" between elements, creating a calming experience as you seek out each little element. Crop your photos tightly, as you are creating a very small focal point. Because everything is so much smaller and the background is neutral, you can easily use a lot of grouped elements. On this page, there are at least five separate elements surrounding each of the two tiny photos. These also give both focal spots balance and weight, nothing appears to be floating in the open without purpose.
Both of these pages pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I love how they affect me differently. The first makes this mother's heart feel tender and wistful, the second makes me smile and laugh. Either way, they made an impact. So have fun wearing your mini skirt, driving your huge SUV, biggie-sizing your french fries, and playing with size and proportion in your scrapbook pages!
Create a great day!
Meg
Digi-Scrapper Inspiration by Mandy
Memory bottles
Funny how something like a children’s book can capture your imagination.
 While browsing the children’s section of my local bookstore, one book jumped out at me: Memory Bottles by Beth Shoshan. It tells the story of why Mr McAllistair has shelves of colorful bottles in his shed… “Red ones, frosted ones, tall ones, round ones, twisty ones, double ones, super-skinny topped ones.”
“Memories!” Mr McAllistair says to his shed full of bottles. “Each bottle holds exactly one of my most special memories. So when I’m old and I can’t remember things I just open a bottle and everything comes rushing back!”
Sound familiar? When people wonder why you do scrapbook layouts, doesn’t this story of a shed full of magic memory bottles explain it perfectly. Like Mr McAllister’s bottles, our layouts take many different forms, but they have one thing in common we open a page and memories come flooding back.
Whenever you are battling to do a layout, think of Mr McAllister’s bottles of memories. You want that page to transport you to a different time and place. Just as he would uncork a bottle and take a sniff for the magic to remind him, you want to keep in mind the details you would want to remember later, or even to set the scene for someone who was not there at the time, possibly even for future generations.
Next time you are thinking of doing a “Why I scrapbook” layout – particularly for your children… try doing a first page that is a bottle of memories layout… explain that these are the memories you would like to capture in a magic bottle to be opened later. I really like the idea of doing a mini-album with a bottle of memories theme where the journaling is the key. Where you describe the memory in great detail – perhaps even like a letter to that child. Personalize it, choose a few of your favorite memories with or about that child - and I think your children or grandchildren will be captivated…
You could even take the idea beyond a layout and get a few special bottles, for example choose a pretty one for Easter and then each family member gets to write about what they want to remember about that Easter and those memory pages tied with a ribbon and placed into the bottle to be sealed away for the future.
Perhaps like the book, you can keep one special bottle, a tall skinny one, tucked in the corner waiting for you to pop in the memory of today.
(back to the top)
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 this month...
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!
(back to the top)
DSU Information
It’s not too late for these April classes! Late registration is open until the 5th. To register for these or future classes, please visit the DSP Shop!
DSU110 – Adobe Photoshop: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking
DSU130– Corel Paint Shop Pro: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking
DSU195– Wacom & Creative Fun
DSU211/311– Adobe Photoshop: Creating Digital Elements for Beginners and Advanced Users (self-paced)
DSU220 – Adobe Photoshop: Brushes
DSU221/321 – Adobe Photoshop: Montage and Advanced Montage (self-paced)
DSU270 – Adobe Photoshop Elements: Brushes
DSU350 – Photography: Creating a Home Photography Studio
Be sure to visit DSU for information regarding these and our other great classes!
We would love to hear your suggestions on future classes too. Send your ideas to dsu@digitalscrapbookplace.com.
We’re also looking for qualified DSU instructors! If you’re interested in teaching, please contact us for more information.
DSU Dean
www.digitalscrapbooku.com
(back to the top)
Desktop Calendar Plopper
A newsletter exclusive! Specially designed ploppers for your computer desktop. This month's lovely calendar is by Lauren Bavin. Download the plopper here! (Sizes: 1280x768, 1440x900 and 1650x1080 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!
(back to the top)
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!
(back to the top)
Newsletter Freebie
Exclusively for our newsletter readers, DSP Designer, Lauren has created this fabulous Plopper in 2 sizes, 12x12 and 10x8. Grab the 200dpi HERE and the 300dpi HERE!
Thanks so much, Lauren!
(back to the top)
Many thanks to the newsletter Team:
Kim, Lauren, Lynnette, Meg, Mandy, Nicole 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!
You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive it at www.digitalscrapbookplace.com.
You can subscribe or UN-subscribe from this newsletter on our site.
|
