I received this Design Team Call in my inbox. DT call from Hip 2B Square ends July 31st. Good luck!

Image: Hip 2B Square

Hip 2-b Square is looking for fresh talent to join our talented Hip Kit Club Design Team. If you love getting your hands on brand new scrapbooking products and you enjoy sharing your talent with others - this design team call is for you!

Each month we unveil a brand new Hip Kit that is filled with fabulous products; patterned paper, cardstock, alphabet, rub-ons and other embellishments. In addition to our main kit - we also offer a monthly Add-On Kit that coordinates with the main kit. Our Hip Designers create scrapbook layouts, cards, and other mini projects with the products in our Hip Kits & Add-On Kits. We put a lot of time and thought combining the products that we include in each month’s Hip Kit. Together with our talented Design Team we inspire our Hip Kit Club members with creative and innovative ways to put the products together. This helps the most novice scrappers feel accomplished, and seasoned scrappers feel challenged.

Each Design Team member will receive a Hip Kit and an Add-On Kit each month at no charge ($50.00 value). You will also receive a free project pack each month ($20.00 value). Plus, we will pay the shipping.

Each Design Team member will also receive access to our Hip Blog where they can share their expertise with others. In addition our Design Team members will be featured on our Hip Designers Page with their photo, bio and a link to their personal blogs. Each designer will also have their own gallery on our website where their work will be showcased.

If this is something that interests you, this is what we need you to do to be considered.

Please note that your ability to submit clear scans or clear high quality photographs of your finished projects is a must. If you are photographing your projects, make sure that your flash is turned off to avoid reflections and over exposure.

All submissions must be emailed to kimberly@hip2bsquarescrapbooking.com by July 31st, 2009 at midnight.

SUMISSIONS:

• Create 3 single page layouts, and 1 double page layout. These pages need to be original artwork and should not have been submitted to other websites, publications or blogs. At least 2 of the layouts must include 3 or more photos. One page should be autobiographical - “All About You” showcasing things that make “you” - “you”.
• Create 4 different cards using the same collection of products.
• 1 mini project: mini accordion book, chipboard book or other project.
• 1 paragraph telling us about yourself, your experience, your style and your loves. Also, tell us why you would be a great addition to our Design Team - don’t be shy.
• 1 photograph of yourself that will be used on our Design Team page if you are selected to be a member.
• Include a link to a blog or an online gallery where you have posted your artwork. This will allow us to see a larger selection of your work.

EXPECTATIONS FOR OUR HIP DESIGNERS:

• Create a minimum of 4 single page layouts and 1 double page layout using the contents in our monthly Hip Kit and the coordinating Add-On Kit. (2 of the layouts must include multiple photos)
• Create 3 cards with the contents in our monthly Hip Kit & Add-On Kit.
• Create 1 mini project with the contents of our monthly Hip Kit & Add-On Kit
• Create an assigned project with the contents of your monthly project pack. It may be scrapbook pages, a mini album, a collection of cards or an altered project. We will give you a basic description of the type of project we want you to do with the products included in your project pack.
• Each design team member will need to post twice a month on our Hip Blog. One posting will include detailed photos and step by step instructions for your project created from the monthly project pack. The other posting will include a tip, technique or a mini project. Photos must be submitted and approved by Kimberly prior to posting. This keeps our quality and content consistent.
• A link to our website and blog should be posted on your personal blog.
• After your pages, cards and projects have been unveiled on our website - we would like you post your pages to 1 online gallery as well as your personal blog with a mention that your designs were created with our Hip Kit www.hip2bsquarescrapbooking.com in your posting. We don’t expect you to do heavy duty marketing - just a little word of mouth mention is good for you and for us.
• Design Team members must commit to Hip 2-b Square for 6 months. We ask that our Design Team members refrain from designing for any other kit club or online store that markets a kit club. Designing for manufacturers or publications, as well as teaching for your LSS are completely acceptable.
• If you submit any of your work for publication and a mention of our kit club appears with your artwork - you will receive a $50.00 credit to our online store.
• We may ask our Design Team members to do some extra design work for a few of our events during the year. (holiday season, anniversary and retreats) All of the product for your designs will be supplied free of charge.
• We look forward to announcing our new additions to our Hip 2-b Square Design Team on August 5th. If you have any questions about your submissions or our expectations please contact kimberly@hip2bsquarescrapbooking.com

I’m pleased to feature 5 digital scrapbook freebies from Molly n Max! Most of the freebies are laid out in a combination of photos, embellishments and a space for journalling.

To get you started, you can use these layouts for the most recent holiday — the 4th of July weekend photos! Record your memories in a creative ways and at no cost simply by downloading these free digital scrapbook templates

You can download the freebies by going to Molly & Max.

Images courtesy of Molly & Max

Beach and water fun for summer is the theme this week . This brings back memories of “the ole swimming hole” on the farm where I grew up.  Two brooks joined in the pasture and made a pool deep enough for Mother to teach us four children to swim.  There we cooled off after a day in the hay fields or working in the garden.

Image: sxc.hu

On family vacations, we often visited my aunt and uncle and spent a day or two at York Beach, Maine…my aunt’s favorite beach.  We had a taste of swimming in salt water and looked forward to this experience each summer.

I have photos to accompany these memories and should incorporate them with the stories in a journal, a scrapbook, or a digital scrapbook.

What memories do you have of beach and water fun?  What memories are you making with your children?

Write these down, combine them with photos, create scrapbooking pages.

The Fourth of July is our theme for this week, in our summer series of activities for my posts under the Blisstree Parenting section. 

July 4th - Image: sxc.hu

What are you doing for this holiday weekend, which in our tourist area of New Hampshire, constitutes the beginning of the summer season?

What family memories are you creating?

How are you recording these memories for your family history? 

• Scrapbooking,
• Making photo CDs
• Journaling,
• Taking videos
• Developing special traditions
• Incorporating family members of all ages into these activities

Share with us your Fourth of July traditions!

Call for DT member ends Midnight PDT Friday July 10, 2009

Image: DigiShack

The DigiShack is looking for 5-6 fresh faces to join the Maui-Wowies and a guest designer for the month of July! Think you have what it takes?

Please read the following information CAREFULLY! Any applications not meeting each of the application requirements will not be considered for the position(s).
You will need to submit the following:

• A paragraph about yourself that showcases your personality and who you are and most importantly why you want to be a Maui-Wowie.
• A short statement or very short paragraph about why you love digi’s
• Tell us how you plan to promote TDS
• A link to your blog and or online gallery
• 3 original cards showcasing your VERY BEST work
• 1 original scrapbook layout (Either 8×8, 8 ½ x 11 or 12×12 only) with photos.
• 1 original 3D item you’ve created or altered using images, papers, etc.
• List any current or past DT positions held
• List any message boards you are an ACTIVE user on and your username

Each photo submitted MUST be 640×480 in size. We require one photo of each of the items being submitted (6 photos total). You must be able to take clear photos. With that being said, you must have a digital camera. NO SCANNED artwork please.

In order to fully appreciate and promote digi images you have to have some experience with them. Not saying you have to be a digi-holic or digi-guru but it is helpful if you have worked with them in the past.

To be considered you must have a blog to promote The Digi Shack or be very active in an online community and have a photo gallery that is updated regularly.

What is expected of our DT members? As a Maui-Wowie you must:

• · update your blog regularly. A minimum of once a week. More is always better.
• · supply at LEAST 5 samples of items created each month. One of which MUST be a scrapbook layout with photos.
• · be willing to submit your creations to TDS on a set day each month in a specific format.
• · Be willing to promote TDS through online blogs, galleries and forums
• · Be able to work well under pressure and supply us with samples sometimes on short notice.
• · participate on our DT blog by posting your ideas, creations, suggestions and so forth
• · be required to participate in each weeks challenge (sketch and color)
• · agree to a all of the above requirements for a term of 3 months.
• · Be willing to give at least 2 weeks’ notice if you can no longer fulfill your obligation as a DT member. Although you will not be paid monetarily you are still receiving payment in the form of free images thus your term should be treated like any other job
• · have a sense of humor.
• · Be able to follow instructions! This is CRUCIAL to being part of the DT!

As a Maui-Wowie, you will not be compensated monetarily but you will be compensated with free images. We let you choose your images because we know that you can only be so creative with images you don’t necessarily like. Instead we want you to LOVE the images you use to create your samples with so we let you pick your images. We do release images monthly so the new monthly images will be sent to you to use without you having to request them and of those new image we do like you to use them for our release events.

You will have access to our DT blog.
You will receive a blinkie for your blog to show off your DT status!

You will have the opportunity to be asked back as a SR. DT member based on your term as a DT member and having met all of the requirements while on the DT.

Email all of the above requirements to thecoconutshack@gmail.com with DT CALL in the subject This term for the DT call is for 3 months, from July 15, 2009 to September 14, 2009

Why not make a scrapbook dedicated to Dad for Father’s Day?  You may not have it made for a gift today, but why not start one?  It can take many forms.

• For the dad of young children in the family.
• For grandfather…his life, achievements, and hobbies
• For uncles who play a special role in your children’s lives.
• For someone who has like a dad or grandfather in your family’s life.

What do you include?

• Photos of special events
• Photos, journal entries and memories
• Photos of an unfolding life
• Contributions from various family members

This can be a fun family project that recalls fond times and hard times and draws families closer together. 

I need to do one about my dad for family members, so children will remember him and his achievements.  I also must pull together photos and incidents from my husband’s life so our daughter and her children will know more about him.

Do you have any special projects surrounding the Dads in your life?

Since I started scrapbooking, I can’t bear buying commercial greetings cards. I’d prefer to make them myself. I have no excuse really given that I’ve got tons of materials (and complete tools) to make my own card. For Father’s Day this year, I am making a card for my Dad.

Image: Star of May

While I was looking for inspiration, I found this tutorial from starofmay:

Love it!

Starofmay used the following materials:

• Making Memories Girl Just Chillin’ 6×6 paper pad
• Making Memories Girl Just Chillin’ trims
• Art Warehouse Background Journaling stamp set
• American Crafts Red Metallic embossing powder
• Sassafrass Lass Fancy Schmancy Tags stamp set
• Heidi Swapp alphabet stamp set
• White gel pen
• Stampin’ Up! Loads of Letters chipboard (heart)
• Stampin’ Up! card stock vellum
• Stampin’ Up! corner rounder punch
• ColorBox chalk ink

There’s a new Design Team Call from ScrappinMojo. It’s not for a permanent role though. ScrappinMojo is looking for a guest designer. Submissions are due 20 June. Good luck!

Image: ScrappinMojo

Summer has arrived and we’d love to see you showcase your best summer themed layout.

Rules for Guest Design Team Member Contest:

1. One (1) layout entry per person.
2. Layout must have a title, photo(s), journaling and include your interpretation of the theme in your design.
3. Entry should be a NEWLY CREATED layout for this contest and should not be posted anywhere on the internet. After the contest is over, you may post your layout anywhere you’d like.
4. The deadline for the contest is June 20, 2009 at midnight EST so we may announce the winner by June 21, 2009.
5. Please upload your entry in our gallery and then into the contest thread in the forum.
6. International entries are accepted, however if you are chosen we ask you pay shipping costs.
7. You must not have been a Guest Design Team member at ScrappinMojo for the last 3 months. If 3 months has passed, feel free to enter our contest again.

If chosen as ScrappinMojo’s Guest Designer:

1. You’ll be notified via email and PM at ScrappinMojo. You will have 2 days to accept the position after notification.
2. Your photo and bio will be featured in our newsletter and on our website Design Team page.
3. You will receive a kit of products from our monthly sponsor and will be required to submit at least 3 layouts/projects to the Sponsor Design Team Reveal thread.
4. You will post weekly challenges on Friday afternoons during the month of your term. All challenges need to be submitted to the Guest Design Team coordinator before the 1st Friday of the month (this does not include your sample layout, only your challenge ideas).
5. You will begin at least 5 new discussion threads per week on the message board as well as comment on other board members layouts posted to the gallery.

We are excited to see how you showcase your style. Good luck!

Scrapbooking and relating family stories appeal to many Alzheimer’s patients.  Even though they can’t completely follow these activities, whether in their home or a nursing home, they do enjoy the times they are focused.

Image: sxc.hu

I’ve taught scrapbooking and family history activities at a local nursing home and enjoyed this experience as much as the patients seemed to.

We made a scrapbook with a page for each resident who attended the sessions.  Using photos taken by the nursing home staff over a period of time, an activity coordinator and I arranged the pictures, chatted with the residents about them, and encouraged each patient to choose colors and embellishments.  Each did as much or as little as they could.

We kept the procedure very simple. using materials I compiled.  I also provided a family history questionnaire that we filled out with the patients as they finished the scrapbooking page.  They really enjoyed chatting about the memories these questions evoked.

The scrapbook we produced was kept at the nursing home, as something the residents could look at again and again.

Does anyone have similar experiences they would like to share?

(I do put together the supplies for these scrapbooking and family histories, along with instructions, so others, in their home or in nursing homes, can become involved in activities of their own.)

For Father’s Day, why don’t you let your kids write a note to their Dad and use it as the journaling for your scrapbook layout? This then becomes a craft project that involves your kids. Isn’t this a sweet Father’s Day gift? This technique is what Lisa Swift did on her layout below.

Image: Lisa Swift

Lisa placed her daughter’s sweet journaling overlapping two of the blocks and added rub-ons and stickers to the others. This page is guaranteed to melt Dad’s heart!

SOURCES Cardstock, brads, flower: Bazzill Basics Paper. Patterned paper: Karen Foster Design (father), Heidi Grace Designs (red), KI Memories (white dots), Sassafras Lass (green dots), Imagination Project (lined). Die cuts: Cricut by Provo Craft (stars), KI Memories. Stickers: American Crafts. Rub-ons: Doodlebug Design (hearts), Autumn Leaves (“Est. 2001”), Karen Foster Design (title), We R Memory Keepers (“Family Ties” circle). Pens: Signo Uniball. Ribbon: Michaels. Button: Autumn Leaves.

Source: Scrapbooks Etc