Digi Haven Challenger's Choice

We know how much our Digi Haven challenge participants love using free digis, so this week we're giving them their choice of ANY free digi that's free during the duration of the challenge! :) For the design team, on the other hand, we all used the same porcupine(?) image on our cards this week.

I'll admit this card was a challenge to make since I had no idea what kind of occassion this digi could be used for, so I made it sans sentiment and gave it a feminine feel by using floral background paper. This little guy is just too cute! Even though I have no idea what kind of animal he is... lol. :)

Sadly, this is my last challenge as a Digi Haven design team member. While I had full intentions of staying on the team for a much longer period of time, my school/work schedule this semester is a heavy load and I didn't want to take the chance of becoming an MIA design team member. Already after the first week of classes I'm pretty stressed, so I feel I made the right decision. It's been a pleasure being on the team and I will definitely come and visit! :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Ashley

Days Gone By

This week's challenge at Digi Haven is all about using a freebie vintage digital stamp on your project! Vintage cards simply terrify me because vintage is definitely not my style. I am so jealous of those who can pull off making beautiful vintage cards because I'm certainly not one of them! My style is definitely very modern, so I knew this challenge would be an actual challenge for me.

I used this freebie Drummer Boy image from Free Digital Vintage Stamps, which is a great place to go if you are ever looking for vintage stamps! They have a wide variety to choose from.

I used the most "vintagey" paper I could find in my collection, which turned out to be the perfect paper to match the digi. The sentiment is computer-generated and the buttons are from an old button stash, you should see some of the vintage buttons in there!

Thanks so much for reading, have a great weekend!

Ashley

Letting Kids Be Kids

This week's challenge at Digi Haven is all about kids!

Use any Free Interactive "Children doing something" Digital Image. As an example, a child walking a dog, smelling a flower, eating a piece of cake, praying, watering the garden, flying a kite ... etc. The images can be a forever freebie, limited time freebie or freebie of the month as long as it's free for the duration of this challenge. This Challenge ends on Thursday and the winners will be posted on Sunday.

I created a cute and simple easel card using a forever freebie found here of a boy catching a butterfly:

This was my first time coloring a boy digi and I love how the blue/yellow/green color combo turned out. It was also fun making an easel card rather than a typical square/rectangular card. The digi is colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Stop by Digi Haven to see the other design team member's creations and join us for this week's challenge! As a side note...

Starting in September Digi Haven will have a new challenge schedule. We will have a month long "anything goes" free digi challenge and two "themed" digi challenges that will last two weeks.

Have a great weekend!

Ashley

You're the Milk to My Cookies!

Digi Haven is going culinary! This week's challenge theme is "yummy in my tummy." Use any Free Food and/or Drink digital image. The image can be a forever freebie, limited time freebie or freebie of the month as long as it’s free for the duration of this challenge. There are a lot of Yummy in My Tummy Free Digi Images on Beccy's Place. Please be sure to link back to the original artist or website 
on your blog.  This Challenge ends on Thursday and the winners will be posted on Sunday.

I'm probably one of the most indecisive people you'll ever meet, so choosing what food to use on my card for this week's challenge was nearly impossible, until I came across this adorable, freebie cookie dig from StampFairy.

I typed out the sentiment right underneath the digi before printing it, and then colored it with Prismacolor pencils and used a corner punch to give it a more detailed finish. Added some white ribbon and brown papers and the card was complete!

Join us for this week's Digi Haven challenge and stop by the blog to see what other yummy creations the design team has for you!

Thanks for reading!

Ashley

Digi Haven Back to School Challenge!

It's time for a new school year this week at Digi Haven! This week's challenge is a 'Back to School' freebie digi challenge.

Use any FREE Back to School digital Image. The image can be a forever freebie, limited time freebie or freebie of the month as long as it’s free for the duration of this challenge.  There are a lot of terrific forever freebie images on Elizabeth O. Dulemba's site that will work perfectly in this challenge.  Check out her free digital images coloring pages HERE. Please be sure to link back to the original artist or website on your blog.  This challenge ends on Thursday and the winners will be posted on Sunday.

I normally don't decorate the inside of my cards unless I know when I'm making them that I'll be giving it to someone. Otherwise, I keep them all and go back and embellish the insides later once I know who it's for. Although I'm not planning on giving this card to anyone, I chose to complete the inside of the card. After looking at the photos, you'll see why. :)

I used one of Elizabeth Dulemba's images to make this card (which can be found here) and printed it a bit too big. When I realized I wouldn't be able to do much embellishing because of the size of the image, I decided to make a smaller card (4" by 4") and turn it into a lunchbox note that I thought would be really cute for a mom to slip in her kid's lunchbox. On the inside of the card I handwrote 'Time flies when you're having lunch!' <3 Mom, to show the purpose of the card. 

Stop by Digi Haven to check out what other back to school freebies the design team found to use on their projects for this week!

Ashley  

It's A Dog's World, After All!

Lol, I couldn't help but hear the tune of "It's A Small World" when I started typing 'It's A Dog's World' as the title of my post, and added the 'After All' just for kicks. :) Anyways! 'It's A Dog's World' is the theme of this week's challenge at Digi Haven!

Use any FREE dog digital image. The image can be a forever freebie, limited time freebie or freebie of the month as long as it’s free for the duration of this challenge. Many of the sites we list on the Free Digi's tab have really cute "dog" images. Be sure to check them out. Please be sure to link back to the original artist or website on your blog.  This challenge ends on Thursday and the winners will be posted on Sunday.

I found this cute teacup pup here on the ScrapHappy Paper Crafter website.

Stop by Digi Haven to see the other design team member's dog-inspired cards and even enter your own card featuring a freebie dog digi into this week's challenge - you might even make the Top 3!

Have a great weekend!

Ashley

Fanciful Fairy

It's all about fairies this week Digi Haven! This week's 'Fanciful Fairy' challenge is to use any FREE Fairy or Winged Cherub digital Image. The image can be a forever freebie, limited time freebie or freebie of the month as long as it’s free for the duration of this challenge.  Please be sure to link back to the original artist or website on your blog.  This Challenge ends on Thursday and the winners will be posted on Sunday.


Although I think fairies are beautiful, I had never used one before on a card. As a kid, I was never into the super girly stuff such as fairies, princesses, etc. I much prefer the cute, cartoon-like fairies such as Tinkerbell versus the more elegant, vintage/shabby fairies, simply because cute and fun is more my style than shabby. That's why I chose to use one of Elizabeth Dulemba's fairy images for this week's challenge:

I colored the fairy with my Prismacolor pencils and paired her up with some fun, winter-themed paper and added some sparkly snowflakes in the corners of the card. I accidentally printed her a bit too big and decided to make her the main attraction of the card rather than pairing her with a lot of embellishments. She's also propped up with some pop dots. :)

Stop by Digi Haven to see what other fanciful fairies the design team used on their projects for this week's challenge!

Ashley

Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Fun In The Sun Beach Blog Hop, brought to you by the fabulous design teams of Made Especially For You and Digi Haven! 

These two design teams have joined together to create some fun in the sun beach-themed projects! Inspired by the concept of the Digi Haven challenge blog, all of our creations we have for you today were made using free digis! 

If you just came across the hop and would like to start at the beginning, you're in the right place! :)

For my fun in the sun card, I found this adorable swimmer girl here from ScrapHappy Paper Crafter. They've got some awesome free digis!

I used some fun, summer-themed paper from an Echo Park paper pad (I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head - sorry!) and added a seashell die cut from the Create a Critter cartridge as a fun accent on the card. The 'Splash' sentiment is also from the Create a Critter cartridge - I love using cartridge phrases as sentiments when I can! I added some white rhinestones to the shell and green rhinestones on the digi and there you have it! :)

This card is also serving as my design team creation for this week's Fun In The Sun Digi Haven challenge! All you have to do is find a free summer-themed digi to use on your card and you can enter the challenge. :)

We have some wonderful sponsors giving away prizes for those who comment on each stop of the hop! Let's see what they have to offer...

As Cute As A Button

$25 Gift Certificate

Paper Piecings by Nikki

$15 Gift Certificate

Scraptastical Kreations

$20 Gift Certificate

The Stamping Boutique

3 images of the winner's choice

You must comment on every stop of the hop to be eligible to win a prize. Hoppers have through Sunday July 15th to comment. Winners will be randomly chosen and announced on Made Especially For You on Tuesday July 17th. 

Your next stop is Denise's blog.

Here's the entire lineup in case you get lost along the way:

Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com

Denise - http://www.scrappycardsbyd.blogspot.com/

Karen - http://simplyfrenzied-karen.blogspot.com/

Eileen - http://www.scrappingactuary.blogspot.com/

Krista - http://kristadesign.nl/

Cyndy - http://arcyscraps.blogspot.com/

Tammy - http://tampatha.wordpress.com/

Robin - http://www.thecricutscrapper.blogspot.com/

Candice - http://stampinpearls.blogspot.com/

Kristy - http://scraptasticalkreations.blogspot.com/

Dana - http://iwycd.blogspot.com/

Susie - http://www.susiecrafthappy.com/

Sandy - http://sandyscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Pam - http://scrappinfabpam.blogspot.com/

Sandra - http://crea-sandra.blogspot.com/

Laura - http://scrappinaroundtheclock.blogspot.ca/

Jeannie - http://dragonflyjourneys.blogspot.com/

And don't forget about Made Especially For You's 7 Days of Facebook Giveaways happening now through July 16th! Each day of this week (July 9 - July 16) one randomly chosen Facebook fan per day will win a prize IF they post on our wall telling us their favorite part about Made Especially For You. Click here for more information.

Happy Hopping! :)

It's Christmas at Digi Haven!

I'm sure you can guess that from the title of this post that this week's challenge at Digi Haven is all about Christmas! Christmas in July, to be more specific. :) I love making "off-season" cards throughout the year since the cards and projects I make tend to always be seasonal. It's fun to change things up a bit and make a card you normally wouldn't make during that time of the year, such as a Christmas card when it's a hot and sunny 90+ degrees here every day. :)

This card was the first project I made using my brand-new Elegant Edges cartridge that came in the mail last week. Not only am I in love with the cartridge but I'm also in love with the free candy cane digi I found on Elizabeth Dulemba's site - it looks good enough to eat! 

Stop by the Digi Haven to see what other freebies the DT ladies found for this week's Christmas challenge! Who knows, your submission might just make it in the top three! :)

Ashley

Happy Birthday Digi Challenge

Happy Friday - it's time for another free digi challenge at Digi Haven! This week's challenge is to use ANY free birthday digi you can find on a project. It can be a forever freebie, a limited time freebie, or a freebie during the duration of the challenge. The choice is completely yours! Make sure to always give credit when credit is due, and link back to the artist/site where you found the digi. :)

My birthday digi for this week's challenge came from the wonderful coloring pages of Elizabeth Dulemba - all of her images are SUPER adorable and her site is definitely a fav of mine when it comes to searching for free digis.

I tried to stick to using only the "basic" colors on my card since those were the colors in the background paper. Whenever I use a digi I always make sure it'll match whatever papers I'm using so that I can incorporate the colors from the paper onto the digi. The lighting in the picture dims the card down a bit, but it's definitely a more brighter, bolder card in person, I assure you. :)

Stop by the Digi Haven challenge blog to see what other birthday inspiration the design team has created. We'd love if you'd join us for this week's challenge! :)

Ashley

Digi Haven Challenge #3 - Summer

Digi Haven is back with their third-ever weekly challenge! So far the challenges have been a big hit and it's so fun to see what participants create using free digis they find. If you've never heard of Digi Haven, it's a brand new weekly challenge blog that requires using a free digital stamp on each project.  As a design team member, I've had a lot of fun searching for free digis to use for each of my challenge cards.

This week's challenge is all about summer, and what food says summer more than watermelon?

The final turnout of my card didn't turn out exactly the way I had originally pictured it, but when does it ever? :) I found this cute and simple watermelon digi here and paired it with some polka dot paper and a fun sentiment. 

Seen any free summer-themed digis lately? Print 'em out, give 'em some color, and enter them into this week's challenge! :)

Ashley

Free Floral Digi Challenge @ Digi Haven

It's time for Digi Haven's second challenge! Thanks so much to all those who participated in our first challenge last week, it was a huge success and we enjoyed seeing all of your creative projects! Now onto this week's challenge...

The Challenge:

Use any FREE digital Flower/Floral image you wish. Pair it up with another Free digital image (i.e. add a toad, fairy, butterfly etc.) if you wish. The image(s) can be a forever freebie, limited time freebie or freebie of the month as long as it’s free for the duration of this challenge.  Please be sure to link back to the original artist or website on your blog.  This challenge ends on Thursday and the winners will be posted on Sunday.

There are SO many fun, free, floral digis out there, but I couldn't resist using another one of Elizabeth Dulemba's images and chose to use this a flower coloring page, which can be found here

I love the color combo on this card, it's very springy/summery. The background paper is by Recollections from the Bold Basics paper pad (one of my new favorites - I'm ADDICTED) and I used the April Showers Cricut cartridge to cut the butterfly, which I then embossed with my Cuttlebug using the D'vine Swirl embossing folder. I used some twine to make the card a little more fun and then attached the sentiment. The colors look a little washed out in the picture, but the card is much bolder in person.

Come play along with us at Digi Haven and show off your coloring skills by finding a free floral digi to color and enter in our challenge!

Ashley

New Digi Haven Challenge Blog!

I'm extremely excited to announce I was chosen to be on the design team of the new Digi Haven challenge blog! The Digi Haven challenge blog is all about creating cards using only free digital stamps and images. Each Friday there's a new weekly challenge theme where you must find a free digi to go along with the theme. Make sure to include in your post where you found the digi! :) You can enter up to 3 cards for each challenge as long as they each have their own post on your blog.

This week's Digi Haven challenge is a "Forever Freebie Digi" Challenge.  Choose any free digital image you can find that is a forever freebie.  Images that are only free for a month or for the duration of a challenge are not considered forever freebies.  We have a page (see the Free Digi's page) with a nice plump list of sites that offer forever freebies. 

For my challenge card, I found this adorable forever freebie mermaid image from Elizabeth Dulemba's coloring page site. She has super cute images that can easily be shrunk and used as digital stamps. 

I colored this cute mermaid digi with my Prismacolor pencils and adhered her to the card. The seaweed accent is from the Create a Critter cartridge and is cut at 3". The 'swimming by to say hello' sentiment is computer-generated. I had so much fun making this card and am in LOVE with the color combo and fun background paper! 

Stop by Digi Haven to see what other inspiration the design team has created and join us in this week's Forever Freebie challenge!

Ashley