and of course I came up with the challenge. So last week I decided that it was time to let the other Dani Girls know what the mystery challenge was going to be and I had some other things in mind…but when Dani started letting us have some sneak peaks into her new CD collection This Love I thought it was amazing how they all were so easy to work with. So I purposed a challenge to show everyone that we could take 1-2 items from each kit and make one layout. But I had to make it even more interesting…I wanted to do something different. We all know that we love our kids, husbands, pet, family, etc. But sometimes we have a passion/love for something else and we don’t scrap about it..so I asked the ladies to do a layout about something not human.

So I am up first…If you don’t know by now my middle name is coffee. I found this drink when I was pregnant with my third child, but of course it was de-caf. non-fat and no extra caramel. That all changed once my little one was born. So here you go..

So tune in tomorrow for another wonderful layout.

I’m a day late this week–sorry!  It has been a very crazy week for me.  Part of the craziness has had to do with getting my very first kit up for sale in Dani’s store!  Check it out here.  I’m also running a special freebie and contest on my blog in honor of my first kit, so be sure to check that out, too!  *Phew*  Now onto this week’s challenge!

I don’t know about you, but my friends are constantly sending me those email questionaires.  You know, the ones where you are supposed to copy the questions into a new email, answer the questions yourself and then forward it on to all your friends.  I always have fun reading my friends’ answers to the funny, interesting questions and often end up learning things about them that I never knew.  But I am guilty of never sending them on with my own answers.  I always think, “Who wants to read about me?”   Well, when it comes to scrapbooking, the answer to that question is: Your kids!  Your grandkids!  Future generations of loved ones!

 The challenge:  This week, grab one of those questionaire forwards, answer the questions and use it as journaling on a page with a favorite picture of yourself.  Or, if you never get those forwards, make up your own questionaire.  What are some interesting things about you that most people probably don’t know?  Make questions that will allow you to tell those interesting things.  In the following LO, I made up my own questionaire.  I tried to think of all the things that are “me” (I love turtles and tea and the color purple), and all the things that are unusual or interesting about me (I’ve lived all over the US, and had a ton of random jobs ranging from Starbucks “barista” to marketing associate) and I made questions from those answers.  Or, if you’re shy and you don’t want to talk about yourself, make a questionaire for your best friend, or your grandfather.  What are things you want to know about them?  Make a questionaire layout of them.  Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

 As always, post links to your layouts here by next Thursday for your chance to win a $5 gift certificate to Dani’s store!  That’s $5 you could use towards her AWESOME new CD collection!!!

  Credits: Dani’s Metro Girl Kit, fonts are MA Sexy, Sansumi and Angelina

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Can you believe 6 kits for $25.99 for three more days!!! I know that Dani is very proud of this collection and so are we. She worked long and hard on this collection and each kit is amazing. The detail of every paper and element is wonderful! Ok I don’t need to tell you anymore..just buy it you will be so happy.
So starting on Monday I will be posting layouts that we have been working on. When the collection was finished I thought to myself that a lot of us only use one full kit on some of our layouts and don’t step outside the box and use other kits. So the challenge for the ladies was to use 1-2 items from each kit and do a layout. I have seen some of these wonderful layouts and they are amazing.

Oh and I forgot to add one other thing about the challenge…the subject could not be human…very interesting twist! Remember to check back Monday.
Congrats Dani on 5 wonderful years!!!

Thanks to ALL who participated in July’s Recipe Swap. There were some yummy dishes submitted. Keep checking in at Girl Talk for the next Recipe Swap! A Flyer will be posted the first Monday in August. The assignment is “The Breads we Love”… So be thinking of what recipe/recipes you want to submit, here are the recipes from July.

Posting bright and early this morning!  Congratulations to Debbie, winner of last week’s journaling challenge!  Check out the layout she submitted here.  Remember, winners are drawn randomly–so enter!  It could be you next week!

I am writing this challenge from my hometown in Michigan, where I’ve been visiting for the past week and a half.  I lived here for the first 22 years of my life, so when I come home to visit it always brings back strong feelings and memories of my childhood.  I’m always determined to take tons of photos of the house I grew up in (where my parents still live), and the cute little town I lived in, hoping that somehow I’ll capture all these feelings in a picture.  I’m seldom able to accomplish that, but this time I took one picture that I really feel evokes those feelings.  I made a layout of it, and looking at the photo, I journaled what it was about that photo that felt like home to me:

“There is something romantic about a midsummer rain in Michigan.  I love to sit out on the porch and listen to the lulling sound of the rain dropping from the eaves, to enjoy the sweet-smelling breeze that cools the summer heat, to watch the earth soak up the rain, replenishing the summer green all around.  I snapped this picture of the front porch at my parents’ house, with the vibrant geraniums that Mom hangs every summer, and a delicious summer rain falling in the background.  Just looking at it recalls all of the sweet summer memories I have of growing up here.  Though home for me is wherever Bobby and Mia are now, no place will ever replace the sense of home I feel when I am in Michigan.”

What is home?  “Home” can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people.  Is “home” the place you grew up, or the place you chose to live when you became an adult?  Does “home” reside with a loved one, or is it something you carry with you?  The challenge this week is to define what “home” is to you.  Try to pick out the concrete things about your “home” that make it so special to you—is it the way your child smells that feels like home, or the plush armchair in the front room that you love to curl up in with a good book on a rainy day?  Looking at a photo might help you—be as descriptive as possible! 

Upload your layouts to your favorite gallery and post a link here by next Thursday to be entered to win a gift certificate to Dani’s store!  Also be sure to check out Dani’s gorgeous new CD collection, available for pre-order now (for sale in the shop on July 28^th)—I used one of the kits in it to make the layout above!

Today’s swappers are Christel and Laura… they both created such bright and fun LOs, I am excited to share ‘em with you today! Their common elements were Dani’s new a la carte items, the Flashy Fun flashcards (soo cute and unique… find them here) and Fuzzy Felt shapes (found here). With those two common elements in hand…and the trickiness of using TWO photos… they were off! First up is Christel, who created a very fun LO using Dani’s Cabana Boy kit

Isn’t that darling? I love the scratch out on the flashcard- what a great way to personalize! She was also a girl after my own heart with those buttons… just love a good button! LOL! Laura used Dani’s Cool Aid kit, and created an equally fun and bright LO.

I love the stitched circle- what a great way to reflect the theme of her LO! So… another day of fabulous swapped LOs! Check back in again tomorrow to see what we have in store for you!

Happy Tuesday! We have photo swap LOs today from Genevieve and… me…. gulp! Tee hee…. Our common elements were Dani’s Acrylic Alpha (just love those, find them here) and an index tag from Dani’s A Year of Memories line. The tag we used came from the July page kit, found here. Okay, on with the show… first up we have Genevieve. I sent her a pic I had been struggling with (but LOVED), and look at the gorgeous LO she created using it!

Breathtaking, isn’t it? I just love the scalloped border, and the simplicity. Perfection in a LO may have been achieved, here. Next up we have mine- surely not in the same category! LOL! I recieved a darling pic from Genevieve, and used my two elements plus Dani’s Cabana Boy kit to create this.

Cute, eh? Check back in tomorrow, we have some great LOs from Christel and Laura coming up!

Good Morning! Hope that all of you had a fun weekend…. The Dani’s girls have been very busy around here… swapping photos! I will be posting one or two of the LOs I have collected each day this week. I also tried to make it a little bit different for us, too, so I challenged each set of swapping partners to use TWO common elements. My partner and I chose an alpha and a tag… but some teams have even used the same kit. It is so interesting to see how completely different two LOs can turn out, even using common elements! I have to tell you, though- this was my first ’swap’ and I was really nervous! Something about scrapping for someone other than myself- stressed me out! LOL! Okay… enough chatting! I am sure you want to see some layouts!We are starting out this week with Jacque and Amanda… For their common elements, they chose Dani’s Cabana Boy kit (Here) and Dani’s new Fuzzy Felt Shapes (Here) Now… on to the LOs! First up, we have Jacque, scrapping a darling photo of Amanda’s daughter, Abigale (an excellent subject, if I do say so myself) Seriously… How cute is that??? That crazyscrapper… she’s got talent, yes she does, she’s got talent…. Sorry, got away with myself there! And next up is Amanda, working with a great pic from Jacque, this is what Amanda came up with Yep, definitely a WIN-NER! I really love the buttons down the center, and the stamp is the perfect touch! Perfection! So, now that I have your interest, check back for more each day!

First, let me start by congratulating Tiffany, winner of last week’s journaling challenge.  You can check out her layout here.  Remember, winners are selected randomly so next week it could be you!

 This week’s challenge is journaling strips.  Not every layout needs to have a journaling disertation, and for layouts where short-but-sweet journaling fits the bill, journaling strips are the perfect way to make your journaling stand out on a page.  Here’s my layout using journaling strips:

*Credits: PP and elements from Dani’s Hopscotch kit

Tips for creating and using journaling strips: Keep in mind that the stips will take up more space than your journaling would by itself, so keep your journaling short and sweet, and allow plenty of space for the strips.  An easy way to create the strips is to do your journaling directly on the paper you want to use for the strips, but add extra spaces between each line of journaling.  Then use your marquee tool to frame each line one at a time and copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) them onto your layout.  This usually works out better than creating the strips first, and trying to fit the journaling in later.

Change it up:  Once you have your strips on your layout, try different things with them.  Tuck their edges behind your main photo, or rock them for a random, irregular look.  Try lining them up in order around the edge of your layout.  Use a bunch of short strips, or just one or two long strips.  Make them different lengths, and widths, or make each strip a different paper.  The possibilities are endless, so show me what you can do!  Upload your LO to your favorite gallery, and then post a link here.  Remember, one randomly drawn winner will win a gift card to Dani’s shop!   Can’t wait to see your layouts!

While i was at Dani’s we got creative and made these. We used t-shirt transfers to transfer our digi lo to the canvas and then altered from there! They are soooo much fun to make and the possibilities are endless.