A Letter from Team Digital

I cannot believe it's July again - a very special month for me. Last year's July was a breathtaking swirl of pain and happiness - our Arina was born on the 9th. A really hard day for me yet full of so much joy… And what? It's gonna be her first birthday party now! And I have a lot of preparations ahead of this… more than I've had ahead of our wedding.

That was my little gemstone who started all that. I took a picture of every smile and grimace, every gesture and every movement of her tiny fingers. The first smile, the first laughter, the first tooth (yep these were hard) are in our family albums making us laugh to hiccups! It was the beginning of the year that I've made a decision to try to scrap a ton of these charming pics of Arina. Not a single thought of how to do that. Not a single idea how to use the software. But I HAD to make it before my Mom's birthday - to give her that album as a gift.

I was attacking Photoshop - no better word to express this - making my thorny way through digiscrapping. God, how could I ever imagine I could be a designer when I stared at those DSP products in a wow-what-an-awesome-stuff-amazement?

It took me 2 months to get into it - I started drawing. The album was ready in time. And… my application for DSP also - wasn't it daring?.. But I thank God it worked and I hope DSP would never feel sorry for that decision!

…I remembered the art school classes when I was a child. We were taught to apply shadows, to position objects, to use light and to give them realism. Sure that was fun and not a profession at all - now I just feel amazed at the mysterious ways Lord moves in. But realism was the key word for me!!! I wanted to design realistic elements.

Now I thank DSP - both Team Digital and the members for their appreciation. For the chance I've been given to express myself in my designs. For your wonderful support and comments which give me so much strength to design more and better.

Maybe I'm too messy… : But I'm glad to have an opportunity to say this to you ahead of wonderful Christmas In July festivities. That was exactly my case - Christmas miracles happen not only in December.

Don't you ever give up!
You can make a wish and it will be yours.
Especially in hot summer Xmassy July :

With love,
Irene V. Alexeeva,
A happy mother and a DSP designer

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New to DSP?

Are you just joining the DSP community? Welcome! We've got lots of wonderful resources, fantastic activities, and fun challenges. Let's start with posting your first layout to DSP. If you post your first one in July, be sure to check out this challenge and you could win just for posting!


Have questions? Then be sure to join DSP Designers Beth Nixon and Elizabeth Weaver in our monthly chat for new DSP members. Questions on how to navigate the site, challenges, how to post a layout? This is a great place to ask and meet some new friends!!

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Christmas in July

It's July - time to think about carols, snow, presents, decorated trees and every other holiday tradition. It's time for DSP's annual Christmas in July celebration!

As always, the week is packed with chats, challenges, freebies and sales. For a full list of what's happening when, check out the Events List.

Merry Christmas!

Scrap Pink

Mark your calendars now for Scrap Pink - September 29th! Watch for details, events and prizes.

Bring a friend, and create projects celebrating the special women in your life. Layouts created will be eligible for a national contest.

Proceeds will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

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2007 Scrappy Awards

The Scrappies are DSP's answer to the Oscars - a showcase for the best of the best! The judges pored over 796 layouts in 10 categories from over 100 scrappers - and chose the following winners.

Journaling - sssnoo
Comedic Layout - kitscrapper
Graphic Style Layout - busybeemommy (now Nicole Young)
Paper Style - Bocca
1-2 Photo Layout - lbfpebbles
6 or More Photos - lbfpebbles
Heritage Layout - sssnoo
Quick Click - sailingsue
Photography - *love2scrap*
Word Art - flrbareba
Best Overall Layout - lbfpebbles: Violet

Check out their winning layouts, and the other nominees here. And if you want to try your hand at scraplifting them (why not learn from the best?) there's a forum post here and a gallery here.

Club Digital
Are you a member of the club?

Ever wished for a monthly fix of the best digital scrapbook products money can buy delivered direct to your inbox? Well now you can have it. Club Digital is the hottest club in town.

Each month you receive a wonderful selection of scrapbooking products. Something to suit every style and level of digital scrapper.

You will always receive two complete page kits, one plopper or an overlay and an alphabet, some great word art and more - a font and a set of png "stamps" for your scrapping pleasure, and don't forget the quick click template included in each club digital pack. Now club digital subscribers get an extra gift of an exclusive coupon for use on future purchases in the store.

All this for the incredible price of $5.99 a month or even less!!!

See more samples and sign up for the club here.

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Member Spotlight

The July Spotlight Member is Lynnette, better known as FormbyGirl. You can read more about her here.

Then be sure to check out her gallery and join the Scraplift the Spotlight challenge.

She has a great style and you'll definitely find some inspiration in her gallery!!

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Featured Designer: Becky Soto

It's July, and here in America that means summer. Hot days, pool parties, BBQ's, and most especially Fourth of July celebrations. Fireworks, food, and fun for all. We take tons of photos, and may scrap like mad to get them all in our books. But how many of us take the time to think about the reason for this holiday?

I know as a child I looked forward to the parades, pie-eating contests, three-legged races, and the banana split I was allowed to have at the end of the day. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of the day, but while you're scrapping those memories be sure to also include why this holiday is so important. How do you celebrate the holiday and what does it mean to your family? 

May you enjoy this month with all its celebrations and all that summer fun!

Becky Soto
Designer

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DSU Information

We have another great line up of classes for August! If you would like to register for any of these classes, click here!

DSU110 – Adobe Photoshop: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking

DSU160 – Adobe Photoshop Elements: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking

DSU170– Pixel Magic: Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking (Formerly Scraps of Digital and HP CSA)

DSU192– Introduction to Graphics Tablets ***REGISTRATION LIMITED- SIGN UP EARLY*****

DSU195– Introduction to Creating WordArt (2-week class)

DSU211/311– Adobe Photoshop: Creating Digital Elements for Beginners and Advanced Users (self-paced)

DSU221– Adobe Photoshop/Photoshop Elements: Montage (Pre-requisites: DSU 110/160 , DSU 220/270)

DSU241– Corel/Jasc Paint Shop Pro: Montage

DSU261 –Adobe Photoshop Elements: Creating Digital Elements for Beginners (Pre-requisite- DSU 160 or similar experience)

DSU290– Exploring Digital Design Styles

DSU312– Adobe Photoshop: Creating Digital Elements for Advanced Users 2 (Pre-requisite DSU211)

DSU331– Corel/Jasc Paint Shop Pro: Creating Digital Elements for Advanced Users (Pre-requisite DSU231 or similar experience)

DSU350– Photography: Creating a Home Photography Studio (Pre-requisite DSU151)

Be sure to visit our classes page for more information regarding these classes and our other great classes at DSU!

We would love to hear your suggestions on future classes! Send your suggestions and comments to me at dsu@digitalscrapbookplace.com.

We’re also looking for qualified DSU instructors! If you would be interested in teaching, please contact me for more information.

Amber, Dean of DSU
dsu@digitalscrapbookplace.com

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Challenges/Contests/Events

Check our Calendar of Events and the Events & Activities Links thread for a complete list of all events and challenges. Here are a just a few of our exciting Challenges!

The All for One with Linda Challenge is a weekly challenge/chat hosted by designer Linda Rechtin on Wednesdays, 9:00pm ET. Every week Linda gives out a chat freebie, and assigns a featured kit for the week. In the chat there's loads of fun with talk of everything from upcoming kits and scrapbooking, to chocolate! Members have one week from the date of the chat, midnight, to purchase and create a layout using the featured kit and then post it in the All for One with Linda Gallery. After that, she sends a PM with a posting bonus to all participants! This way, members end up with all three items - All for One price! Be sure to check out the All for One with Linda forum for the latest featured kit and freebie previews, along with some great inspirations in her gallery.

DET Bootcamp
Join in to stretch your scrapping skills in a friendly, supportive atmosphere. (Come join even if you don't plan to enter the DET contest - the Bootcamp is open to all!)

Our Heritage Chat with Meryl at 10.00p.m. every Wednesday, join us to work on your Heritage album – each week we have a new challenge and award a page kit voucher as a prize.

Tea for Two & Two for Tea with Meryl at 11.00 a.m every Thursday – each week we tackle a different scrapbooking technique, and your prize is a sneak preview of Meryl’s latest products.

Little ZuZu Challenge with René Bross- Use the new Little ZuZu Page Kit in a LO and you will get the Little ZuZu Add-On Pack for FREE!

Super Bonus Bingo- every other Friday night with René Bross. Every one who attends will get a bonus freebie and if you get a Bingo, you'll win René's latest page kit!

Beginnings with Bethy
July brings this side of the world perfect summer picnic weather. So get those pictures taken and join DSP Designer, Beth Nixon and save your memories with the first featured kit of July, Watermelon Picnic. Check out the forum to see how you can get the coordinating alpha as a free posting bonus just for using the featured kit! All the details are here.

Then stay tuned for the second part of the month when the featured kit will be Bright Memories (in the store soon). You can see a sneak preview of the kit and the posting bonus in her blog here.

Props and Prompts
DSP Designers Elizabeth Weaver and Beth Nixon team up for their monthly challenge: Props and Prompts with Z and Bethy for another fun challenge!  See the details in the forum.

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Newsletter Challenge!

We are striving make our newsletter more interesting and useful. If you have an idea, let us know about it! If it's an article idea, a feature, even something you'd like to write, shout it out to us. If we incorporate your idea into the newsletter, you could win a free page kit! So, put your thinking caps on and come up with some new features, article ideas, or something fun you'd like to see in our monthly newsletter. Then email it to comments@dsplace.com. (Please type "Newsletter IDEA" in the subject line of your email.) We can't wait to see your ideas!

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Item Of The Week (IOTW)

Each week a new item goes on sale for only 99 cents. Check out the IOTW challenge starting each Sunday. Buy the kit, use it to make a layout, post it to the IOTW gallery and the designer will have different prizes for you! It could be a posting bonus, a random drawing, chances at a free fonting, you never know! Check it out this week! The Item of the Week for July 8th is the Fabarooni Page Kit by Lauren Bavin.

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What's New in the DSP Store?

Scraps of Fun - Destination: USA Scraps of Fun - Destination: USA (downloadable)	Scraps of Words - Road Trip Scraps of Words - Road Trip (downloadable)

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The Newsletter Desktop Calendar Plopper

A newsletter exclusive! Specially designed ploppers for your computer desktop. This month's offering is by Becky Soto, using her Fairy Dust Page Kit.

Download the plopper:
Both 1024x768 & 800x600 are included.

And just like any of our ploppers, put your photo on a layer underneath the desktop plopper. Angle and size it as you please, add journaling, and save it as a jpg. Then update your desktop wallpaper background by browsing to your new image! Voilà! Favorite photos matched with this month's calendar to help keep you up-to-date all month! Look for a new one each month in our newsletter!

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