Is it really the 17th today? WOW! This year is just blazing past me. And don’t think it plans on slowing down any time soon. Here are just a few fun finds from blogs around digi land.

Funtastic Friday — A great way to catch up on some of the new quality products, freebies, and tutorials in digi land every week. Thanks TDD!

Photography Class with Katrina Kennedy — Seriously, at first read my jaw dropped. Wow. Talk about terms I’ve never heard before. It made more sense the second time around. Definitely need to read it a few more times to digest everything. And try it out. Be on the lookout for a future blog post from me to prove that you can do it too!

Living on the Edge — Some great ideas in this post … I’ll need to create some layouts and post on the blog.

Altered Frame Tutorial — I’ve always wanted to try one of these … so maybe now I will.

Life In Pictures: The Things He Sees — Note to self: Give the camera to Caleb more often

4×8 Mini Book I Love You Today Because — I am so in love with this mini book and want to make one for my family. Soon.

That’s about as far as I got (I’m a bit behind in my “reading,” lol). And I must now stop reading blogs and get on to finishing a kit. Before I do though, a shameless plug for Iron Scrapper at SO. Here’s what I created for Challenge One.

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After I finish designing this kit … and create some graphics my sweet hubby needs for the new web site design (hooray!), I plan to work on the Iron Scrapper Facebook/Scraplift challenge.

Hi my favorite fans!

I have a fairly large list of blogs that I follow in my Google reader and I thought it’d be fun to share with you some of what I’ve been reading and learning. The list is completely random — in no particular order, a hodge podge of a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it!

• 4th of July Fun and Ideas from Katie the Scrapbook Lady — some seriously yummy options there
• Mixing Patterns from Ella Publishing — I really want to try this on a layout soon
• Creating Room to Write with Photos from Ali Edwards — AWESOME idea! I’m excited to try this one out too!
• Embellishment Tips & Tricks from The Daily Digi — Katie shares 5 reasons to use word art on your layouts.
• I hope you have chocolate chips handy from Bakerella — I buy the chocolate lover’s bag of chocolate chips at Costco for just such an occasion
• Bullet Journaling from The Daily Digi — Another fabulous article by Katie … this time sharing how to journal with bullet points
• Can Your Inner Child Come Out and Play? from Simple Scrapper — 7 ideas for summer fun … like being a kid again
• How to Have More Me Time from Organizing Your Waye — 3 strategies for making more room for YOU in your life (I definitely need this one, lolol!)
• Strawesome (technically a giveaway) on Simple Bites — I love straws and I think these are so cool … I just might be tempted
• Cranberry Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies from Life as Mom … because I am a fan of blueberries and I love oatmeal cookies!
• 5 ways to make your own ransom alphabet from Get It Scrapped — oh the possibilities!

And before I leave you for the night, I just wanted to announce July’s blog party!

The party starts Monday! Enjoy your Saturday!

I had never heard of Copic Markers until I started dabbling in hybrid, and while I have yet to buy any and try them out myself, I’ve been super curious about them and want to learn more. Just last week I stumbled across some great tutorials, so I thought I’d share them with you! (And maybe this weekend when I’m “in town” I’ll see if I can pick me up a couple and try out these cool techniques.)

First, though, what are Copic Markers? Straight from the source:
“Copic Markers are the original line of high quality illustrating tools, used for decades by professionals around the world. They are preferred for Architectural design, product rendering, and other forms of Industrial design. They are also popular among the hobby industry for use with models, ceramics and similar projects. We are proud to bring you the highest quality, longest lasting, most versatile markers available anywhere. With over 300 colors, replaceable nibs and ink refills, you will never need to go any further than right here for all your marker needs.”

Apparently they need to add “hybrid scrapbooking” to their list of hobbies.

Now for the cool tutorials. All of these tutorials are by Michelle Houghton and are available over at Get It Scrapped.

How to Buy Copic Markers
So glad I read this article, ’cause now I know what to look for as far as type of marker to buy (probably sketch) and I’ll be better prepared for the price. Love her suggestion to print out the color chart from Copic’s site to keep track of which ones you’ve already purchased. (What am I getting myself into?!)

How to Blend with Copic Markers
A marker you can blend?! How cool is that! I remember as a kid getting so frustrated that I couldn’t mix my crayola markers very well without ruining the paper. Michelle does a fantastic job of offering tips on inks and cardstock, and then goes through step-by-step on how to blend. Love the pictures that accompany each step!

Using the Blending Marker
Some possible uses for the Blending Marker.

And then 3 sort-of-color-by-number tutorials where Michelle provides the image and goes step-by-step through her process of coloring, so you can practice!
Copic Marker Shading with Printable Flower
Copic Marker Shading with Printable Rocket
Copic Marker Shading with Printable Heart

You can find all 6 Copic Marker tutorials together … and I *hope* she adds more soon. So excited to for all the possibilities!

I did a post a while back (In the Classroom) where I shared some of the MANY available classes online that I would LOVE to take.

First, I’d like to share that I am actually taking one of them. YAY ME! I just started my self-paced Illustrator 101 class from Carina Gardner, over at Jessica Sprague’s site, and I am surprised at how much I have already learned. I’m self-taught in Illustrator, so some of the information I already knew, but in each lesson I’ve learned at least 3 new things. Isn’t that cool? Just goes to show you that you can always learn something new. I super-excited for Illustrator 102, since it focuses more on the drawing tools I use and I would LOVE to learn some new tricks. The best part about these 2 classes? They’re self-paced, which is perfect for my schedule. Be sure to buy the bundle if you want to save.

I will also be attending the Casual Blogger Conference that’s only 10 days away! I’m only able to attend the Friday portion, as I have family conflicts on the Saturday, but I’m way excited. And, I found out my sister-in-law (who lives next door!) is going to the same conference, so we’re going to carpool in together. What a sweet surprise!

And I just purchased Design Workshop, an ebook by Lisa Dickinson available at Ella Publishing Co. I’m hoping to delve into it this afternoon. Never heard of Ella Publishing? Try a free sampler from Ella’s ebooks.

Do you have classes on your “to do” list? Have you taken any of them? I’d love to hear about your experience. If you haven’t yet, what’s holding you back? How can you make it happen?

Now that I’m dabbling a bit in hybrid, I remember why I love digital — if you mess up you can start over without ruining any of your supplies. LOL! I must admit that I’ve never been very good at card-making. Generally, I just don’t even know where to start. And I thought — you know, there are free templates and sketches for creating scrapbook pages. I’ll bet some peeps make sketches for cards too. So I hopped over to my QT Andrea’s blog (Playing with Paper) to see if she had any resources before trying a Google search. She has tons of fun blog links in her sidebar. Under “Join In” she lists several sites with card challenges — I picked just 3 to take a peek at. So I thought I’d share these sites with you, since maybe you’re like me and a bit timid about hybrid. Here they are, in no particular order:

CPS-Card Sketches
CardPatterns
Friday Sketchers

I’m adding them to my hybrid resources list so I can refer back to them the next time I need to make a card for something. If you have any other favorite card sketch sites, let me know!

I’m a sponsor over at Simple Scrapper this month, so I thought I’d share with you a little bit about this site and why I like it and became a sponsor.

Simple Scrapper is the brain-child of Jennifer Wilson. She is “passionate about helping people find more time for creativity and memory keeping.” Simple Scrapper’s focus is to “help you fit digital scrapbooking into your super-charged life, with creative ideas, quick tips, simple layouts and guides to the designer community. … Simple Scrapper will always offer essential nuggets of wisdom that you can trust.” Read more about Simple Scrapper. You might also want to check out the FAQ.

Simple Scrapper’s blog covers a variety of topics: Community, Organization (I definitely need this one!), Photography, Productivity, Storytelling, Techniques, and Tools. Here are some articles I’ve enjoyed:
Get More Done with the Rule of One
How to Find Joy in Journaling
8 Innovative Ideas to Spark Your Scrapping
Get a Grip on Freebie Madness

I choose to stay updated thru Google Reader, but you can also get daily updates by email. Check out the sidebar on her blog to subscribe to her feed — you can also follow her on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook. I’m also signed up for the monthly newsletter, which includes bonus templates, tutorials, and tips for subscribers only.

If you’re just getting started with digital scrapbooking, you’ll want to check out DigiScrap 101. I see several resources on her list that I need to add to my list.

Love templates? Check out her growing list of template freebies. Love freebies in general? Subscribe for daily updates, which grants you access to the subscriber-only archive. (It’s free!)

Stop by Simple Scrapper and see for yourself what a cool resource it is!

I’ve been meaning to do a Digi World Wednesday post on Scrap Orchard for a while — and what better time to do it than right before our big birthday sale?!

We’ve got some fun things planned this month, and we’re starting off with a fabulous 35% off sale — April 1-6. Even the new goodies will be 35% off instead of the normal 20% off, and they’ll be hitting the stores tomorrow just in time for the start of the sale. YAY!

I love Scrap Orchard, and not just because I sell my designs in their fabulous store. I’ve been a member of their site almost from the beginning. I tend to be more of a lurker than an active participant, but Scrap Orchard has always made me feel welcome. And above that, Scrap Orchard is just a FUN place to be.

5 Things To Do at Scrap Orchard

1. Hang out in our community. We really have a lot of fun (& nice!) people at SO. So supportive too. Come play in our forums.
2. Be challenged. SO posts a new challenge every day — from hybrid to photo to template to scraplift to mystery, SO has something for everyone. And when you play along each month, you earn points toward discount coupons. Plus you get double points if you use 90%+ SO products on your layout. YAY! Check out this month’s challenges.
3. Twitter/Facebook Tag. You never know when the Orchard Girls are going to give away free stuff on Twitter/Facebook so make sure you’re a fan or follow us. You can find all our blog/newsletter/Facebook/Twitter info here.
4. Lose weight. I’m totally serious — SO has a supportive community of gals like you who are trying to get in better shape. Come get trim with us!
5. Shop. Who doesn’t love adding to their stash of digi goodness? And at Scrap Orchard, we have something for everyone — traditional and fantasy and everything in-between. Go browse the store — you might want to wait to buy until tomorrow, when the store is on sale.

Suzy here with a super quick post, ’cause I have some deadlines coming up and I am WAY behind! (But you’re going to love what I’m working on … keep your eyes peeled the first weekend in April!)

Photoshop Essentials is a super cool resource to help you learn Photoshop. I first stumbled across it when I was just beginning my scrapbooking journey. I was trying to put together a Christmas present for my in-laws and wanted to turn a photo into a sketch, but didn’t know how. My Google search led me to Turn a Photo into a Sketch, and I’ve been a fan of the site ever since. I subscribe to new content via email, but you can also subscribe in your reader.

Here are some of my fave tutorials:
Understanding Layer Masks in Photoshop
Faking a Layer Mask in Photoshop Elements
Making Selections with the Pen Tool
Easy Plastic Text Effect

And here are some I still need to read:
Photoshop Brushes — The Brush Dynamics
Mapping a Texture to a Face
Telling Stories with Shadows
Photoshop Jigsaw Puzzle Effect

I’ve really just scratched the surface on all the goodness at Photoshop Essentials. Go check them out!

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:

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For Dare #166:

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For Dare #171:

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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!)

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!