Hi!  SaraL here with a late November post – hybrid style!

I have a couple of ideas to share with you using one of Dani’s recent releases, the oh-so-sweet kit, ‘Babycakes’.  Its a beautiful and delicate kit full of lovely papers and images. Dani has also created a complementing brag book and a range of hybrid goodies for a baby shower or blessing!

Take a look at how I’ve used this kit.  One of the images in the kit was of baby blocks – so I used this as inspiration and created some baby block gift boxes:

I think these would make a sweet set to give to a Mummy-to-be or new parents, each with a small gift inside.  I decorated the top box with raised wings (as you may just be able to see, I used sticky foam pads to do this) and a colour coordinated button, threaded with a little raffia.  I think a bow of organza ribbon or a paper bloom with a button centre would look cute as alternate ‘real’ toppings!  …or you could simply select another image from the kit.

As you may have expected, I have also made a card with Babycakes to share with you today – but I deliberately avoided making it for a baby-occasion, and instead I made it to send to a sweetheart, far away:

As you can see, Babycakes isn’t just for baby-associated occasions! The background of my card was made in Photoshop, which made getting the alpha and the sentiment aligned very straight forward.  I printed the bear image separately onto card and snipped him out.  I inked the edges and then mounted him onto the card with sticky foam pads again (they are an essential part of my crafting supplies!). If you didn’t want to play with scissors, then the bear could quite easily be added digitally – but personally, I like the added dimension.

See you in December!

SaraL x

PS: All the papers and images you see in my pictures are from Babycakes.  The gift boxes were made using Heather Roselli’s Box Tower templates, and the font on the Miss You card was (very aptly!)  DJB Angelbaby.  All credits etc can be found in my gallery.

Hi everyone! Jill here, and I just gotta share with you that as a procrastinator to the extreme, I am never ready for Christmas at all. And with the holiday season approaching breakneck speed, I’ve got so little time to prepare for gifts for my loved ones, so thank goodness for hybrid printables!

For this year’s presents, I’ve decided to give away CD calendars to friends and family. Dani has a gorgeous 2010 CD Calendar recently released, and if you don’t know how easy it is to put together, Deanna has put together a great post with simple step by step instructions on putting this simple yet gorgeous project together.

Now, pretty gifts need pretty packaging to go with it, so when I created my calendar, I thought of creating the perfect gift box to go with it:

TADA! A CD Box using the beautiful Mistletoe Magic kit! I used a template by Lauren Meader to create this box, but it’s fairly simple to take the measurements of a CD jewel case and create and embellish a simple box out of plain cardstock.

As if that weren’t enough, I added that cute little personalized gift tag from the Mistletoe Magic Bundle. I’m sure my dad and stepmom are gonna love it! (they gotta put up with my ugly handwriting on the tag!)

And of course, no gift is complete without a greeting card. And just so they know that this pretty little goodie comes from the fabulous moí, I put my photo on my greeting card. LOL! The card comes from the Checkin’ It Twice Bundle.

Now I gotta keep it hidden coz my stepmom likes to snoop for presents. LOL Hope you guys have a fun and blessed holiday season!

Wow can you believe it, it’s almost December !! That means that a whole nother year is almost up and a brand spanking new one is just around the corner!!!  Hooray for new beginnings!!! Well on this fine November day I have for you a super cute desktop to grace your computer for the merry month of December!!! I used one of Dani’s new Christmas kits for the year called Mistletoe Magic, you really should check it out….it’s full of beautiful rich reds, greens and browns!!! It’s so very elegant!!!

**link expired**

Merry Christmas!!!!

. . . is just a little too late. Sorry! The day got away from me dealing with some crazy unexpected things (i.e. sick kids) and I forgot to hit the publish button. ::sigh:: However, I want to share the awesome layouts The Dani’s Girls have done with Dani’s adorable new kit Checkin’ It Twice. Darling. I’m in love. Just look at that cute little Santa face! Are any of you doing a December Daily Album? If so, you need this. Definitely.

AllieP

Shannon

Elizabeth

Keela

Melissa

Tracy

Kjersti

Debra

wvasweetness

Rachelle

Fairon

Dawn

Aren’t these Girls amazing. I feel so privileged to work with them and Dani!

Hi everyone!

It’s hard to believe that we’ve got less than 6 weeks until Christmas! And even harder to believe that we are already wrapping up 2009 and will soon be heading into 2010!

The holidays always bring a long list of scrapping-related projects for me, but my favorite project of the season – of the year! – is always a hybrid calendar to give as gifts. This year I am doing both large, bound calendar and small, desk calendars. The desk CD calendars are what I’m hear to show you today!

Anyone fan of Design by Dani knows that her calendars are THE coveted calendar sets each year! Think about it… with her calendar set(s), you get a little taste of 12 different Dani kits throughout the year – paired with your favorite pics. What’s better than that?! And Dani outdid herself this year with her 2010 calendar sets – they are gorgeous!

The CD calendar is by far my favorite of the calendar sets – it’s functional, but small – and it comes in a little CD case package. So cute!

Check it out in the store.

The best part of the project – other than the finished calendar – is how quick and easy it is. Check out the materials list – 4 items, and 1 of them is optional!

MATERIALS LIST
- A CD case, can be either regular or slim
- Scissors
- Printer / Printer Paper
- Optional: hybrid items, such as ribbon, glitter, buttons, etc.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
1. Purchase and download the CD Calendar. Each calendar month is basically a quick page so that you can simply lay your photos underneath.

2. Choose your photos. Here is the breakdown for how many photos you will need for each month:
January – 1 photo
February – 2 photos
March – 3 photos
April – 1 photo
May – 1 photo
June – 2 photos
July – 2 photos
August – 1 photo
September – 1 photo
October – 1 photo
November – 2 photos
December – 1 photo
Cover – 1 photo

3. Start “assembling” – digitally, of course! Open each monthly calendar and the photos you plan to use for that month. Be sure to do any photo editing before you drag the photos to the month.

4. Arrange your photos underneath of the calendar month quick page and save as a JPG.

5. While I’m working on my calendar pages, I also keep open a page that is 8.5×11″ in my design software. That way, once I finish each calendar month I can flatten the image and drag it to the 8.5×11″ page for printing. You will be able to fit two calendar pages per 8.5×11″ sheet. Once I have two calendar pages on the 8.5×11″ page, I save it as a high resolution JPG as 2010CDCalendar_PRINT1.jpg.

6. Once you are finished, you will have 7 pages to print – 6 pages of calendar months (with two months on each page), and one page for the cover. If you are making multiple calendars, duplicate the cover and print two covers on one sheet to save on paper.

7. Print your calendar pages. I prefer double-sided matte or satin-finish paper, but since these will only be seen from one side you can use whatever you prefer!

8. Cut out your calendar pages. At this point, your calendar pages are finished (if you want them to be). To add little extra touches, you can embellish your calendar pages as much as your heart desires with buttons, ribbons, glitter, you name it!

9. Optional: Embellish your CD case.

10. Slip a calendar month into the cover (top part) of the CD case.

I have seen several posts around digi-land about how, exactly, the photo goes into the CD case…. Simply take the cover of the CD case and pull it towards the back. It will snap (and will sound like it broke!) – but then the cover will stand up straight if you are using a regular CD case, or will tilt backwards if you are using a slim-line case.

From start to finish – from adding photos, to printing, cutting and embellishing, I completed my CD calendar in less than 2 hours. If you are making multiples, you could make several CD calendar gifts in just a few hours time. Here’s how mine turned out…

If you’ve been thinking about trying out a CD Calendar as a gift, or maybe as a gift to yourself!… or if you’ve been thinking about trying out a hybrid project for the first time – give this super simple CD Calendar a whirl. I promise you won’t be disappointed! And be sure to link us up to your finished project – we would love to see it!

Happy creating,
Deanna

Hey Everyone…Rachelle here with the November Tumble Challenge! First let me announce our random winner from the October Tumble Challenge. Our winner is….eggshell1976 with her Happy Birthday layout. Congratulations! Please contact Dani here to claim your prize.

Now on to our November Tumble Challenge. This month we are tumbling Elizabeth. Another amazing gallery for everyone to chose from. You can find her gallery here. Remember to link your layout back to this post.

Here are a few layouts from the team to inspire you. 

Tracy lifted Boo 

Deanna lifted Little Monster

Kjersti lifted Sweet Son

I (Rachelle) lifted And They’re Off

I can’t wait to see what everyone’s layouts!  Another reminder to remember to link your layout back to this post.  Have fun!

Hey, hey Girl Talkers! Leigh here with a project I meant to bring you back in September?!? Somehow, my brain de-railed and I missed my post, so here I am today bringing it to you!

For this project, I used Dani’s kit “Pop Goes the World,” which I love, love, love! It is so versatile and easy to use…the elements and papers work together so nicely for a variety of seasons and themes!

Now that it’s fall, one of Dani’s delicious fall kits or even her newest Christmas kits would rock, too! Just wait until you see the newest Christmas kit she has in store for next week!!

I digress. Back to the project at hand!!

There have been plenty of occasions in my life where I need a simple correspondence card for writing a thank you note or personal communication. I don’t always want to buy a whole pack of notes for myself, though.

Well, here’s a simple solution! I made my own card in about 30 minutes that ended up being perfect! I even made the envelope and box to match using this template.  I’ve also made these note cards before to fit envelopes I bought from my local craft store. Either way, you are going to love making your own notes!!

I created a canvas the size of the card I wanted. On top of that layer, I created a blank white canvas and lowered the opacity to around 50 %.  I also reduced the size to give the card a nice half-inch border all the way around the edge. This creates the illusion of a semi-transparent note area.

Then I added some embellishments to my page and printed.

Once I cut them all out, I was ready to make my envelope and add the embellishments! Easy peasy!

I can totally see myself making a set of these for a friend  or relative! A set would make a great gift that folks can use and love!

So, that’s it! I hope you give it a try and remember, come back next week to see Dani’s new fantastic Christmas kit! I promise…you won’t want to miss it!

Hugs,

Leigh

I’m beginning to work on my Christmas gifts.  Don’t worry, it’s the small ones.  I haven’t even started our Christmas card or cut out the jamma material.  :)  Dani’s newest kit was just too inspiring though!!  Our family is overflowing with wonderful aunts, uncles, cousins and many blessed friends.  I love to give little handmade happinesses and with digital scrapbooking it is easy to duplicate, duplicate, duplicate.  Perfect too for my little helpers that find some of the exact same things in their stockings.  :)

I love to add some comfy, cozy recycled bits to my gifts.  Watch as cardboard, broken crayons, a few goodies and Dani’s latest Christmas kit turn into some cheery recycled yumminess:

First I created some labels using Dani’s Mistletoe Magic kit.  This kit is sooo gorgeous and festive.

Then I packaged up some chocolate chip cookies, truffles and mint candy bars (my fav!).  I wrapped the cookies in the packaging from the lining of a 2 1/2 dozen egg pack.  The cardboard is all ruffly and thin enough to wrap.  Fun wrapping and gift-making material can be found in so many places.

These are not the exact ones we will be giving at Christmas.  I just had to make cookies and buy candy for you all to see how they are done, no??  ;)  A fresh batch will go to the uncles come Christmas Eve party time.

Now, speaking of recycling, I recycled the digital file for the labels from the mint candy bar toppers and made some recycled chunky crayons for some little ones.  The instructions for making the “crazy crayons” can be found on Martha Stewart’s website.  I received lots of help peeling crayon labels and breaking them up even more to melt – so fun!  The crayons are also lots of fun to color with.  We just packaged them up in bags, stapled the label to the top with a little more cardboard and finished up our recycling yumminess.

Enjoy your holidays and may they be colorful and yummy.  :)

*smiles*

Becky

What a gorgeous day it is here in Southern California. A nice crisp morning, the sun is shining, the trees are all still full of leaves…it’s hard to know that it’s Autumn! Thankfully I got to go back east to Washington DC and New York last week and saw all the gorgeous fall colors. Some of the leaves were already gone, but there was still a lot of beauty to take in.

So, today I have a little freebie for everyone. An Autumn tag that is made with Dani’s kit Family Roots at SSD. This kit has always been one of my favorites, and is in the Penny Candy section, so it’s 30% off right now! A perfect time to pick it up!

(image is linked)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you enjoy this little freebie!

 

 

Rochelle here just reminding you all that we have a challenge going on right now featuring this great template made by Allie.  Here’s a reminder:

To download the template, just click here to go to Allie’s original post.  Then just scrap a page using Dani’s goodies and post a link to your layout in the comments of the orginal post by the end of the month for your chance to win.  Can’t pass that up, right?  Happy Scrapping!