Design House Digital

Posts Tagged ‘DHD’

Hybrid Light Covers – 20 Days of Christmas

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

December is here and it’s time to decorate!

I hope you are feeling festive today because I have a really fun way to decorate your indoor lights! We will be creating Christmas Light Covers! I originally saw the idea for a Halloween theme on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect to use for Christmas as well!

So here we go! It’s really easy! The first thing you need to do is pick a bold colored Christmas kit – I chose Shannon Hegartys’s Peppermint Papers because, well,  they looked so yummy!

Additional supplies:

*small paper cups (I used dixie-type cups)

* a string of Christmas lights

* craft knife

* scissors

* black marker

* double sided adhesive

I used PSE 7 for this tutorial.  So here’s what you do:

Choose three different patterns from your paper stash.

Open a letter size document (8.5×11) and drag the first pattern to it.

Save as a .JPG and print the  image.

Repeat above for the other two patterns.

You should have three sheets printed. This will make 12 cup covers.  If you would like a longer strand of 24, then print out three more sheets.

Take one of the small cups and very carefully peel it apart. Start with the rim at the top and uncurl it and then carefully rip the seam. You should have a nice curved template of the side of the cup. Discard the bottom piece. See photo below.

By tracing your template close together on the back of each sheet you should be able to trace four cup covers.

Cut out each one using scissors.

Each cover will fit very snuggly around the paper cup. Use strong double sided adhesive to seal.

Now slice a tiny X on the bottom of each cup using a sharp craft knife.  This will allow you to feed the light bulb through the cup cover so don’t make the X too big as you want a snug fit.

Now just string up your adorable light covers on a window or fire place mantel!

*frame from Shannon Hegarty and elements from Lori Whitlock

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Have a Merry Christmas!

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration, PSE & Photoshop, Tutorials | 9 Comments »

4 play

Sunday, November 27th, 2011

Hi
It’s Anna here with my first 4 play challenge as a host.

Each week we choose 4 kits to mix & match exclusively.The challenge is to ONLY use items from the 4 kits that were chosen.
I decided to choose kits that either have my fave colour combos or elements that I always use while digi scrapping (i.e. stitches and masks and brads and brushes). It was difficult to limit myself just to four as there are so many great kits in store but finally I came up with the following ones:



 Agnes Biro – Renewed Spirit elements
Sara Schmutz – ABC paper pack
Robyn Meierotto – In Stitches – Bright Basics
Tiffany Tillman – Artistic Photo Masks – set 1

And here’s what my great girlfriends at DHD created with these kits with some short summary of their work process.

First one by Aria:


Aria said:
Being my first 4play submission, it took me awhile to figure out how I wanted to put everything together. I absolutely loved the kits that were chosen this time, especially the artistic photo masks by Tiffany Tillman. I made the photo black and white to blend with some of the neutral colors of the paper and elements and clipped the photo to one of the artistic masks. It was so fun to use Robyn Meierotto’s stitching to embellish around the title and other elements!

Another one is from Celeste:

Celeste explained:
When I saw Sarah’s ABC papers, I immediately thought I should scrap about something my son’s teacher said at our conference. I decided to use Tiffany’s photo mask clipped to some patterned paper as a little splash behind my paper and photo grouping. I lessened the opacity a bit to make it more dreamy looking. This element pack of Agnes’ is just brimming with goodies. it was hard to choose what to finish my page off with. Always a lover of buttons and brads, I gravitated towards those! The icing on the layout comes from Robyn’s stitches, if you don’t have them in your stash already, I suggest you RUN to the store and pick them up!

And next is Tiffany:

Tiffany shared:
I loved how easy and flawlessly I was able to combine two pattern papers using Tiffany’s masks. I used yet another of the masks to blend the photo into the pattern paper photo matt. I loved the old fashioned feel of this photo of my niece with her cousin and combined the old fashioned elements of lace, stitching and buttons with the pretty paper flowers to compliment my page design. I was thrilled with the way that these four kits worked together to complete my layout.

and finally me:

As I mentioned I love the colours of the kits so I decided to find a photo that would match them and I chose one of my fave blue bowed ballerinas. I processed it with a photo action by Coffee shop to make it look more dreamy and made it square as I liked this format best. Then I added a perfect for square format white Polaroid like frame and some brads and stitches which I can’t scrap without. I also used some script brushes from Agnes’ kit and two of Tiffany’s masks to add interest to the background. I changed their colours into blue and played with blending modes and opacity to blend them well together. Finally I looked for a quote that would match the page ;-) and found one I liked – hopefully you’ll find it inspirational too. I love using quotes on my pages as I’m not a great journaler myself but I’m very fond of collecting the words that I find encouraging and inspiring so I put them on my layouts to remember them.

Don’t forget that today only (ends Monday at midnight PST), you can get each of these kits for only a dollar, and one is even FREE! So go grab them, and then play along. Upload a layout using these four kits to the DHD gallery by Sunday, then come back here and post a link to it. Not only will you learn to stretch your kits, but you could win a gift certificate to DHD!

(Congrats to janfrn, last week’s winner!)


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 4 Play, Blog | 8 Comments »

4 Play!

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

Hello everyone, it’s Decorator Jennifer Valencia back with a 4-Play for you! Since I chose greens last time for my 4-play, I went with some bold blues, reds and blacks. When I pick 4-Play ensembles, I try to pick a quartet of kits that a) have some papers, b) have some elements, and c) have something funky and interesting.  I also try to choose colors that will be appealing for many different kinds of pages, for boys & girls, etc.  So hopefully this selection appeals to YOU.   Here are the four kits!


I Love Boys digital paper by Robyn Meierotto

Be You Elements by Karla Dudley

Real Simple Newsprint Alpha by Jen Allyson

Grunge Brushes by Sara Schmutz

I absolutely LOVE the chunky newsprint alpha by Jen Allyson.  This page with primary reds and blues  matched well with it, and I used the alpha to make a large word on my layout.  Sarah’s grunge brushes are prefect to layer behind other elements; I clipped one of Robyn’s bold geometric papers to the brush and it ended up as a perfect patch of color to break up all the squares of my page.  Speaking of Robyn: I used several of Robyn’s striking papers for pops of little wow-boxes on the page to set off my black and white photos.  And Karla’s element pack gave me lots of choices for extras to soften up edges and add visual interest.  Karla has this knack for creating the perfect assembly of elements, I think!  And so it all came together like this, in a layout about my daughter and her friend playing Angry Bird Towers with City Blox and stuffed toys.

Image by Jennifer Valencia

Next up is a fantastic layout by Audrey Neal, who is both a Decorator AND a designer here at DHD.  Audrey says: “I really liked the four products that Jennifer pulled together; the brushes add to the grungy feel of the papers, and that’s echoed again in the newsprint alphabet. I wanted a simple layout that focused on a composite photo I created in PSE and a lengthy bit of journaling, so I used one of Tiffany Tillman’s Simple Snapshots templates. I clustered the grungy brushes from Sara, elements from Karla, and patterned paper strips from Robyn to create a visual triangle; this allowed me to create layers of texture and pops of color to accentuate the main focus of my page.”

Image by Audrey Neal

And here we have a wonderful layout by site Decorator Jennifer Papadimitriou.  Jen says:  “I love the colors Jen chose for her kits, and they matched really well with the elements too! I used a grungy brush for the background and clipped a pattern paper to it.I wanted to keep it simple as my main focus was the photo frame which I let hang from a brad. I added a bit of flowers, some word art and the letter “i” from the alpha in the corner of the frame for her name (Isla).”

Layout by Jennifer Papadimitriou

And finally we have a layout by Gennifer Bursett, one of our site designers.  Gen says: “I absolutely loved the kits Jennifer chose! I used them to showcase this hilarious photo of my niece, who has the most amazing sense of humor… and she’s not even two yet! I used different blending modes for the text and graphics so they’re not just “floating” in a solid color, one of my favorite things to do this in white space of photos!

Layout by Gennifer Bursett

Don’t forget that today only (ends Monday at midnight PST), you can get each of these kits for only a dollar, and one is even FREE! So go grab them, and then play along. Upload a layout using these four kits to the DHD gallery by Sunday, then come back here and post a link to it. Not only will you learn to stretch your kits, but you could win a gift certificate to DHD!

(Congrats to Liz, last week’s winner!)


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 4 Play, Blog, Sales And News | 13 Comments »

September Artist of the Month

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Carey here, and I’m so excited to be able to introduce the September Artist of the Month at Design House Digital! Congratulations to jbarksdale, a.k.a Jennifer Barksdale for being selected. Her gorgeous layouts caught my eye -  check out her gallery and you can be wowed too!

Let’s get to know Jennifer a little better.

Name: Jennifer Barksdale

What camera do you use? Canon 40D. My Canon Rebel died on me earlier this year, :( so I’m hoping to get a second one in the near future for a backup.

How long have you been digital scrapbooking? In the beginning, I started using digital products as accents for my paper layouts. But the more I worked with it, my interest in digital grew and I began to create a layout here and there for last two years. I’ve been consistently digi scrapping since February 2011.

How would you describe your scrapbook style? Hmmm. I’m still trying to figure that one out! I think my layouts vary between sophisticated and playful. I like to add a bit of humor if I can, too!

Where do you create, and when? I mostly create in the morning or late at night, and it’s usually at my desk or on the living room couch.

What’s your ‘go-to’ technique or trick? I tend to use “mists” on my layouts and I also like to use templates to take the guesswork out of creating a new design.

What’s your favorite color combination? Right now, almost any color with yellow and gray. Teal, white, yellow, and gray would be cute!

Do you prefer movies or books? I don’t do much of either, but I do watch movies more than I read books.

What’s your favorite snack? I recently found some yummy chocolate-covered pretzels that I’ve been snacking on for the last week!

What type of music do you like? I listen to all types of music. I like more of the older music, like soft rock, 80′s pop, or slow jams.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Okinawa. We were stationed there for four wonderful years. I miss the atmosphere and the food.

What five adjectives describe you best? I had to ask my husband and daughter and here’s what they said: predictable, obsessive, perfectionist, creative, introvert.

Looking Back by Jennifer Barksdale

Looking Back by Jennifer Barksdale

This layout, “Looking Back,” is one of Jennifer’s favorites from her gallery. Jennifer said, “I love this layout because 1) the photo captures the personality of each of my children and 2) I fell in love with this kit as soon as I saw it.”

Thank you so much, Jennifer, for sharing your work with us and letting us get to know you better. Congratulations!

Would you like to be an Artist of the Month? It’s simple… post your pages, using DHD products, in the gallery and you could be next!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, DHD Artist of the Month | 1 Comment »

4 Play

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Hi all! Decorator Shannon here with your second week of 4 Play. I’ve picked four different kits that we’ve mixed and matched into 4 unique layouts. Using multiple kits is one of my favorite things to do. I hope you’ll play along with us!

The four kits I chose this week are:


(Remarkable elements by Karla Dudley, Clear Essentials 1 by Karla Dudley, Oceanside by Robyn Meierotto, Barely There Masks by Tiffany Tillman)

Layout by Shannon Dombkowski

I love the bright colors in Robyn’s kit and wanted to play them up by pairing the papers with more neutral kits. The colors make me think of having fun outdoors so, naturally, I chose a picture of my daughter playing outside. And I love using Karla’s clear elements because they add a bit of decoration without needing to add any more color.

Layout by Allison Waken

Allison says: “It was fun playing with these 4 kits and seeing them in new ways! I chose to keep my layout pretty simple while still adding some fun elements here and there.”

Layout by Jen Papadimitriou

Jen says: “Combining these kits made it super easy to find enough product to create my page. There is something so freeing about being told what to use! I loved the silver rimmed tags – it reminded me of my ‘old school’ stash, so I clipped a bunch of patterns to each one. I then used the grid brush behind everything to add some texture and finished it off with an awesome word art!”

Layout by Renee Fink

Renee says: “I loved the challenge to combine kits that, at first glance, didn’t seem to match. I tend to be a kit scrapper and don’t mix and match kits very often but found the challenge to match the papers and elements to be interesting. I was able to combine the red and white papers with the navy element to create a page that doesn’t resemble any of the kits that were part of this challenge. After adding the grid brush element and a set of staples this page is ready to put into the album.”

It’s awesome what you can come up with when you limit the supplies you use.

Don’t forget that today only (ends Monday at midnight PST), you can get each of these kits for only a dollar, and one is even FREE! So go grab them, and then play along… Upload a layout using these four kits to the DHD gallery by Sunday, then come back here and post a link to it. Not only will you learn to stretch your kits, but you could win a gift certificate to DHD!

(Congrats to MamaBug, our winner from last week! You’ve got a gift certificate coming your way!)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 4 Play, Blog | 8 Comments »

Go Back In Time