Popping in quick with this week’s new release winner!

Congrats Teresa Bishop! You’ve won Bunny Imposters, and the FWP hybrid baskets! Please email me at suzyqscraps AT gmail DOT com to claim your prize.

And since there’s also a fun add-on to this kit, I thought it’d be fun to give one of those away.

Congrats scrappingramma! You’ve won Bunny Imposters {The Add-On}! Please email me at suzyqscraps AT gmail DOT com to claim your prize.

Thanks to everyone who played along — please join us next week!

Ever struggle coming up with the perfect title for your layout? Sometimes a title comes to me even before I’ve started the layout, but more often than not, I wrack my brain trying to come up with something relative to the layout, but at the same time clever and fun. After all, I don’t want to look through my scrapbooks and see that I titled every birthday layout either “{Age} Birthday” or “Birthday {Year}.” Here are nine fun ideas (in no particular order) for choosing a title, with real-life illustrations from my digital scrapbooks to prove I’m not making this up, lol.

(Note: I had to dig through some of my older layouts to find the right illustrations — I’ve linked you up to my galleries for credits, but please be aware that some of the products listed may no longer be available, and many of the designs are not by me, but are from some of my favorite designers.)

9 IDEAS FOR CREATING A TITLE FOR YOUR DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK LAYOUT

1. Play on words — This is probably one of my favorite methods, for two reasons — you create a clever title AND make someone laugh if they notice it. Puns are perfect for creating clever and catchy titles. My sister scrapped the first example, a layout of my little boy, and it makes me giggle every time I see it.

Credits: Lullaby Girl and Tickled Pink Alpha by SuzyQ Scraps

{Credits}

2. Book title — Book titles are fun, ’cause they can be taken at face value, or they can give layers of meaning to your layout. Now, my first example is a bit obvious, since the layout is actually about a book my son loves, and I used the title of the book for the layout. But think of the possibilities with titles like “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Little Women,” “Running with the Demon,” “Return of the King,” etc. Take a few minutes and write down a list of some of your favorite books … then keep that list handy when you’re looking for a title.

{Credits}

{Credits}

3. Slogans — Companies don’t spend oodles of moolah on marketing for nothing — take advantage of their catchy slogans.

{Credits}

{Credits}

4. Quotes — QT Susan did a fabulous post on using quotes on your layouts the other day — think of a way you can manipulate the quote to use part of it as your title.

{Credits}

{Credits}

5. Song title or lyrics — Basically the same idea as using a quote … but lyrics offer the added benefit of arousing a particular emotion or memory associated with the song.

{Credits}

{Credits}

6. Word art — A fun piece of word art, either from the kit you’re scrapping with or a separate kit or element pack, is a quick choice for a title.

{Credits}

{Credits}

7. Onomatopoeia — Just a fancy word for describing words that sound like themselves, like vroom, woof, boing … but these fun words are great choices for titles.

{Credits}

{Credits}

8. Cliches — Although forbidden in my English classes as a high school student, cliches were a must when tackling song-writing in my guitar classes. If artists get away with using them in song lyrics, who’s to say you can’t use them on your layout? We’re not in English class anymore, lol. Anything goes!

{Credits}

{Credits}

9. Foreign phrases — You never know when a foreign phrase might just say it all.

{Credits}

What are some ways you’ve come up with clever titles for your layouts? Link us up to a layout illustrating your suggestion … or if you use one of the methods above, I’d love to see what you create!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Are you wearing green? Are you feeling lucky?

It’s time for another episode of Digi World Wednesday, where I bring something from the digi world to you — like introducing you to a new-to-you digital scrapbook site, or perhaps reminding you of an old favorite. Since I’m sponsoring The Digi Dares this week, I thought it’d be a good time to post about them. I’ve been enjoying their challenges for a while now, though it’s true that in the recent past I’ve participated less often due to time constraints. I hope to get more organized and streamlined soon so I can play more! (Psssttt! You still have time to play along with this week’s dare, and get a coupon from me! Check out Digi Dare #171.)

The Digi Dares host weekly challenges that “[dare] you to scrap outside the box.” If you’re looking to be stretched, these challenges are for you! Not only are their challenges inspiring, but you also have a chance to win prizes! Each challenge is sponsored by a different designer, so a total of 4 designers each month. You’ll receive a discount coupon from the sponsoring designer for the week, just for playing along that week. If your layout is randomly picked as a winner, you’ll receive (2) $10 coupons from the darer/designer. And the darer’s pick receives a $10 coupon from each of that month’s sponsors! So play along all month for your chance to possibly win a $10 coupon to my store, plus 3 more coupons from the other March sponsors.

Here are the 3 layouts I’ve completed this year because of their dares. (I wish I had more time to play along — if I did, I’d be at The Digi Dares every week!)

For Dare #163:

{Credits}

For Dare #166:

{Credits}

For Dare #171:

{Credits}

I love how their challenges really do dare me to scrap outside my box. They stretch me and help me tell the stories that may have remained untold without their inspiration. (I even got a GSO with my Positive Change layout!) If you’re like me and have a hard time keeping track of all the fun things in digi land, you can add their site to your reader, or even sign up for their newsletter.

Check out what Ellie did for Dare #171:

What are you waiting for? Go check out this week’s dare … and be inspired every week! (And go make someone’s day lucky!)

to play along in this week’s dare from The Digi Dares — that’s Digi Dare #171 to be exact. I’m the sponsor for this week’s challenge, and if you play along, you’ll receive a discount coupon to my store. Plus, the darer’s pick winner each week receives a $10 coupon from each of the 4 sponsors for the month. So play along all month for your chance to win a $10 coupon! How cool is that?! You can use anything in your stash to create your layout! (You’ll have to read through a bit about me before you get to the challenge. )

Here’s the layout I created for the dare:

{Credits}

What are you waiting for? Head on over to The Digi Dares to check out this week’s challenge by Barb. And be sure to stay tuned next Wednesday for some more info about The Digi Dares.

Hey everyone! Sorry I’m late with the winners! I went to bed early last night and forgot to email Ellie the results. Thank you SO much for all your wonderful comments. I’m still reading through all of them … it’s just so wonderful to remember the good things, isn’t it?

Since I released 3 new products this week, I decided to have 3 winners!

Winner of Serendipity … #15! Congrats Pam!

Winner of Lucky You Alpha … #37! Congrats Leeann H!

Winner of Hybrid Birthday Goodie Box … #5! Congrats Erin!

Pam, Leeann, and Erin — please send me an email at suzyqscraps AT gmail DOT com to claim your prize.

Thanks again for being fans and leaving comments on my blog. Keep your eyes peeled for next week’s sneak peek — it’s a super duper cute collab, and I’ll be giving one away to one of you!

Digital images often get a kinda muddy appearance, and this a method to sharpen up your pictures and make them look crisp. Here’s a before/after shot to show you the difference defogging can make.

I first learned about this technique in a photo challenge at SSD a long time ago, but I found this video by Bonnie Creevy that explains how to do it very nicely. (Note: If you use Elements, you will find the Unsharp Mask by following this path: Enhance>Unsharp Mask. The settings are the same.)

How to Defog Your Photos

Feel free to adjust the settings to your liking. As Bonnie says in the video, the settings she provides are the most typical settings. But you can adjust them, especially when you’re trying to sharpen up a blurry picture.

And an additional tip from me. I defog as a final step after I’ve completed my entire layout — just so that I don’t question whether or not I already defogged and do it again. So once I’ve done all my shadows and everything, I defog my pictures, save the file, and then save a web-friendly version so I can post my layouts in galleries. (I do all of my photo editing once I’ve started a layout — like cropping and adjusting levels on my pictures — which leaves my originals intact.)

Hope you find this tutorial helpful!

P.S. Tips & Tricks have been officially moved to Thursdays, switching places with the Sneak Peek posts. You still have time to entire the drawings to win one of my new releases this week — check Tuesday’s post.

(Just a minor note … I’m posting the Digi World Wednesday post today, even though it’s Monday … we’ll have a QT spotlight and free template for you on Wednesday. )

Get Well Soon Mailbox created by fabulous hybrid artist Andrea, a member of my CT.
Visit her blog, Playing with Paper — you won’t be disappointed.

Ok, back to the somewhat irregular program! I’m in the process of dabbling into some hybrid projects. This is a somewhat scary venture for me, as the whole reason I do digital is because my paper scrapbooks lack any sort of beauty. So I’m a bit afraid that my hybrid projects may follow the path of my paper scrapbooks. Despite my fear, I am going to push forward and give paper, scissors, & glue an honest try. I have 2 personal projects I’m working on — one is a simple card, and the other is my 10 Things album I didn’t finish (ok, barely even started) for February’s portfolio at SSD. I know I can’t complete it to earn points, but I am determined to complete it for myself. I promise I’ll post both on my blog at some point in the (hopefully near) future — even if they turn out ugly.

I decided that I’m probably not alone in my hybrid fears … and maybe some of you would find some hybrid resources helpful. Or maybe you are AWESOME at hybrid like some of my CT members and have some suggestions for resources. So, here’s a quick list that I’ve compiled. If you know of any more, link me up in the comments and I’ll check them out, and maybe even add them to my Resources page. (All of the links below will be added to my Resources page by the end of the week.)

All About Hybrid

What Is Hybrid? (Jessica Sprague)
Hybrid Scrapbooking 101 (Scrapbook Ideas)
Hybrid Help (The Daily Digi)
Hybrid How-Tos Master List (Sweet Shoppe Designs forum)
Adhesives (Andrea on the Sweet Shoppe Designs blog)

Other Sources of Hybrid Inspiration and Help

Hybrid Chatter (Sweet Shoppe Designs forum)
Hybrid Help blog category (The Daily Digi)

Some Galleries with Hybrid Inspiration:

DigiScrapAddicts
My Scrapbook Art
Scrap Orchard
Sweet Shoppe Designs
The Digi Chick

And with those lists, I will now leave you to (hopefully) finish up a hybrid printable for release this Friday. Please leave me comments with suggestions for future hybrid posts, and of course links to hybrid resources if you have them.

Luck (or some variation) seems to be the word right now — and is most definitely the theme in a lot of digital scrapbook kits hitting the market, including one coming from me this Friday. But catching a leprechaun has nothing to do with luck — it’s about being cleverer than the leprechaun, so you can catch him and make him give you his pot of gold. If leprechauns actually existed, and I was actually clever enough to catch one and get his gold, this is what I would buy with it:

Kinda selfish, I know. But I’ve wanted a truck most of my life … and I’ve wanted a Chevy Silverado for over 10 years. So if I happened to capture a leprechaun and his stash of gold, I know I would use that unexpected cash to buy me one of these.

What about you? If you could catch a leprechaun and use that gold to buy anything you’ve really wanted, what would you buy?

Have a fun Saturday!

Just popping in real quick to let you know you can download this freebie at Log Your Memory:

It’s an add-on to the full kit I created especially for Log Your Memory, which will be available in about a week. Read Today’s Your Lucky Day at Log Your Memory for details on how you can earn downloads to this kit and receive the entire kit for free.

Be sure to join me at the chat tonight at 9 pm Eastern in the Log Your Memory chat room — free template, prizes, and the chance to earn an alpha that coordinates with the add-on and the kit.

And for a chance to win my new release, see the next post!

As promised, I am here to share with you a really cool site: Log Your Memory. I love their tag line … “Log Your Memory … to later jog your memory.” Isn’t that clever? A great description of their community in a nutshell. Here’s what Kristin shared with me to give you a basic overall of what they do: “We are a community that supports real life, everyday scrapping and storytelling through our Memory Logbook, friendly forum, gallery, etc.”

Let’s take a closer look at what this site has to offer you.

Memory Logbooks — Log Your Memory offers a very unique series of products in their store to help you record and “jog” your memories about your life, to help make your scrapbooking not only easier but also more meaningful. The All-in-One Memory Logbook is a scrapbook planner, idea book, journal, and sketchbook — all wrapped up in one book. This book is PACKED with great stuff — monthly & daily calendars; space to document daily memories, jot down ideas, or create lists; a “story list” so you can track the important/pages and stores you haven’t shared yet; weekly pages for sketching layout ideas; weekly challenge questions; inspirational real-life layouts; annual & monthly questionnaires; & monthly worksheets for documenting holidays, birthdays, and other celebrations. If you’re just interested in one particular month, you can buy the monthly version of the logbook. Or, if you just want the challenges (like me), you can buy the Real Life Challenges Logbook. Not sure which one to buy? Try comparing your options.

If you’re interested in purchasing a logbook, please don’t miss the coupon from Log Your Memory at the bottom of my Saturday blog post. (Please note that the coupon is only valid in their on-site store for the download-able versions of their logbooks. If you’d like to purchase a bound, physical copy you can do so through their sister site, but the coupon won’t work.)

Book Club — Once you’ve bought any version of the logbook, you can become a member of the Book Club, which includes special access to exclusive activities and programs. One new program they’ve started, just for Book Club members, is a weekly chat each Monday to help you with the weekly challenges. I definitely need this motivation, and I’m so excited to be the guest designer this month so I can provide you with a FREE template each week. If you can’t make that chat, that’s okay — you’ll be able to access the template for a limited time in the private Book Club forum. Each week, if you complete your layout by Thursday, you’ll receive a free download with pieces to a kit I created for Log Your Memory — so if you participate all 5 weeks, you’ll have the ENTIRE kit, for free!

Blog – Log Your Memory’s main page is their blog. They post new content nearly every day, with a huge focus on real-life scrapbooking. They provide information, challenges, and inspiration, among other things. I’m a big fan of scrapbooking everything about my journey, not just the fun vacations, birthdays, and other major events, but also the nitty-gritty everyday life … and the hard things. And this is what Log Your Memory is all about.

Community Forum & Layout Gallery — This is the place to make friends, share your layouts, and receive encouragement and motivation on your scrapbooking journey. They have a very friendly community, so make yourself at home!

Challenge Chats — I already mentioned the chats for Book Club members, but Log Your Memory also offers chats for all registered members on Thursday nights (registration is free). Here is March’s complete challenge schedule. You may want to make particular note of tomorrow, March 4th, at 9 pm Eastern. I’ll be hosting a template challenge, which of course means a free template. But I’ll have other prizes as well, including a free alpha, so you won’t want to miss it. Hope to see you there!

You may remember that I mentioned the 14 journaling challenges at Log Your Memory a few weeks ago in a blog post. Well, they’ve extended the deadline, so you have until the end of March — which is so great, ’cause I ran out of time to play along last month. I have this obsession with office supplies and I want those pens. You can read more about the deadline extension on their blog, as well as information about the challenge series.

So, if you’re interested in a community to help you scrap your everyday, real-life journey, you should definitely check out Log Your Memory. There’s still time to register for the Book Club and play along in the challenge to receive the first download to a super fun kit from me. And be sure to stop by tomorrow night and chat with me.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!