April’s HUGE Blog Train!

Welcome to Duchess Designs!  Those of you who are collecting pieces from this kit have a very big journey still ahead of you.  I’m station #3 on the Blog Train Express! 

And for those who’ve never been here before, let me tell you a little about Duchess Designs!  I started designing just over a year ago, and opened in my first store on NSD weekend last year.  I now sell at and run the site Get Digi With It and I also sell at Elemental Scraps!  Some things that have been happening around here:

- I am participating in Inspiration Lane’s Desire 2 Inspire Contest!  Currently I am in the very last challenge of the contest and up against some very tough competition. We’re all very excited about seeing how our last kits come out and learning the results from our 6 weeks!

- Elemental Scraps will be going through a very excited site re-design this weekend!  The entire site will be down from Friday until Monday morning, when we open up with a fresh new look, A GREAT new Color Play, and LOTS and LOTS of awesome new releases!  Until then, you can shop the blowout sales at ES where retiring products are only ONE DOLLAR!

- And in the Spirit of Spring Cleaning, I’ll be going through a re-design of my own around here!  Stay tuned and check back often!

-Get Digi With It is welcoming 3 new designers today and tomorrow!  Click to check out their stores: FoxyDesigns, Kristi Westling, and Deiuwke (link coming soon)

- Every Thursday there is a Freebie Quickpage posted here on the blog.  For the month of April coming up, every Thursday will feature a quickpage from an upcoming kit of mine called “Besties”.  It will be released on April 6th at both stores, and is a collaboration with my BFF, Silly Beans Scraps.  If you come on every Thursday of April, you will end up with the entire Quick Album.

-Every Monday we give a Duchess Deal!  Here at the blog you can pick up a coupon code to get the item of the week for only ONE DOLLAR!  The coupon is good for only that day, so you’ll want to snatch it up!

Well, those are the things that are making me busy lately. :)  If you’re interested in keeping up to date on these things, go type in your email just to the left of this post and click subscribe.  The posts made here will go directly to your inbox without you having to make a special trip over here! :)

And now for your April Blog Train piece from me!  Click the image to download! 

 

And your Next Station on the Express is Creative Victorian Designs http://creativevictorian.blogspot.com.

Have Fun!

Have you Heard?!

I’ve got a great new store!!!  As of yesterday, I am now selling my designs at Elemental Scraps!!!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamed of selling there and now Angie has been so kind to accept me on the team!!! 

And to Celebrate, I have teamed up with Angie Kovacs and ChrissyW to bring you a fantastically awesome new kit!  It’s called Spring Forward and it’s on sale for 25% off all week! 

Not only that, but I’ve added a little wordart pack that is free this week with the purchase of the Spring Forward Kit!  Just put both items in your cart and you’ll get the WA for free!

So come celebrate with me at ES and stick around for some fun changes here to the blog coming soon!

The Sunday Newspaper

I want to let you all in on some news and a new release that hit the store this week!

First….  I have some EXTREMELY exciting news!!!  It involves a store…  It involves a store I’ve been applying for since October…  It  involves a store I’ve been applying for since October that now has an opening for me to sell there!!!

Great news huh?  What?  You thought I was going to tell you what store it was huh?  Not a Chance!!!  You’ll have to check back to find out!

In addition to that, I did a collab this weekend with 2 awesome designers whom I respect SO much!  That Collab kit will be released on the day my store opens and I’m giddy to the bones to share it with you!!!

Okay, enough teasing now… ;)

This kit was released last week at GDWI.  If you don’t already know, last week marked a momentous occasion for me. One year ago on March 4th, I delivered to my very small blog audience, my first EVER freebie: a kit called Lucky Charm.  I was then known as Ferg Designs (Ferg coming from my last name, Ferguson) and I was eager to learn everything I could about the world of design! When I started selling at Digital Candy I changed my design name to Duchess Designs and my preview here reflects that.  Don’t remember the kit?  Here’s a refresher….

 

Well in honor of the anniversary of my first freebie, I revamped this kit!  The inspiration of the new Lucky Charm came from the colors of this kit, but almost everything else is not the same!  Trust me, It’s amazing how much you can grow in one year!!!  So here’s the New Lucky Charm, which is on sale for 25% off through tomorrow night!

Well good night y’all!!!

Desire 2 Inspire

Boy do I have exciting news! I’m taking part in the Desire 2 Inspire designer contest at ~Inspiration Lane~! I totally love Inspiration Lane as a shoppe and have often found exactly what I was looking for there. I can’t believe I have this opportunity to learn from them and the *possibility* of selling in their shoppe!

The great thing about Desire 2 Inspire is that they are really teaching some very useful information that will help us all grow by leaps and bounds and learn plenty new techniques.

So I put together a pre-contest mini kit that I’m going to give to you all here…. but ONLY for 48 hours!! you have to hurry because after 48 hours has passed, I’m putting this mini kit in my store!

Plus keep checking back here often (at least once a week) because I will periodically pass these freebies on to you, and at least tell you where you can get them. I’m told that at some point during the contest, the # of people who download the submission will be helpful to me. So stick with me my awesome fans!

So here’s “Just Wanna Have Fun.” (Thanks for looking! sorry the download has expired)

I'm Chillaxin' at Sunshine Studio Scraps!

I made a new mini kit for the Sunshine Studio Scraps Project Sunshine designer contest! And it's toally the bomb too! I even had to extract some of my own elements for it and they turned out pretty good! I had to deal with a few camera issues first though! lol. But in the end I really like it! You can pick it up in my store! Sorry, download links have been removed.

And, just like last time, I made some QPs to give to you too! (sorry, link has expired)! Hope you like them!

(By The Way: I just thought I'd give a shout out to my girl ChrissyW who is the best template maker around! Both these QPs were made from her "Gotcha Cornered" template set and in addition, most of the QPs I make (as opposed to my team) are made with templates by Chrissy! Go check out her blog here!!!)

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day!!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day! Wow, there is so much fun to be had today, as we recover from the fun and sweets of yesterday's trick-or-treating! I have so many great pictures I want to scrap. Tonight, I hope to get some of them scrapped at the Speed Scrap at Get Digi With It! I hope you can join us tonight at 10 eastern. It's a lot of fun, and a lot of talk about food, LOL! Plus, you'll get a great participation prize!

It's also time for a new blog challenge! You challenge for Nov 1-15 is to create a layout or project using GLITTER!! It is so much fun to add a little bling to your layout, and Duchess Designs has so many products with that special sparkle. Happy Haunting has some great sparkly bats, perfect for those photos of your little spooks:

Girlfriends: Kathryne has gorgeous glittery flowers:

Not to mention the Glitter Fills for both Happy Haunting and Falling Leaves!

One lucky winner will be chosen to receive the Falling Leaves Glitter Fills! Be sure to post your layout in the Duchess Designs gallery at GDWI, then post the link your layout in the comments to this post by midnight Nov 15to be eligible for the prize.

Check out some glittery goodness from our FAB CT!! If you have time, please leave some love (images are linked).

Dawn:

Amanda:

Happy DSD!

~Carey

News, News, and... well... News

Well, it's just after 8am here and I'm trying to get everything done this morning that I need to. I had hoped I could get up early and scrap my VERY last page I need to for Elliott's first year book which is going to be 50 pages! but that will have to wait til later.

You see... I have a JOB interview today! It really was lucky I guess because I've been meaning to go to the daycare behind our house for quite some time to apply for a job but with dh's work schedule and me being with the little guy, it hasn't happened.... until yesterday. I went over there, and they weren't even taking applications. So I came back home and opened the phone book to "child care". The very first listing I called said they were hiring, quickly, for a couple of positions. I happened to be talking to the boss who said they had interviews set up for today and if I would be able to come too! (Did I say they wanted to hire quickly or what?!) So I'm ultra excited! This daycare center is one of the most reputable in town and has 4 locations. So wish me luck!

Then, this morning I got up and checked out a layout I posted yesterday to see my comments, and my cousin's wife had commented on it! Now here's the story on that...

My dh first got me interested in digiscsrapping by buying me a magazine last Dec on it. At the time, I was interested but I only knew about CDs you could get at Michael's (which, if you've seen them, you know they're a bit outdated). 2 Weeks later I saw Janel at our Family Christmas and she opened me up to the world of DigiScrapping online! It was amazing and never looked back! (Thank you Janel!!!) But, after all this time of meddling around online, I never knew my cousin's wife's screenname anywhere nor did I ever see a layout I recognized or anything. 10 Months!!! Can you beleive it?! so this morning after reading her comment I was FINALLY able to browse her gallery and look upon her daughter (who, by the way, is growing way too fast!) whom I haven't seen since last Christmas. Yay for me!

By the way, the first website Janel ever gave me was to Blue Flombingo, Karah Fredrick's personal store.

Alright, now I suppose I better get to some business too.. lol. The last bit of news I wanted to tell you is about Get Digi With It.

Our First Annual Halloween Party is starting to wrap up. The last challenge will be posted today and on Halloween, we will know who the winners are! The layouts are SO incredibly cute and so you should definitely check them out! You can find the gallery here! I tell you, our members are SO creative and inventive, the keep me rolling on the floor!

The GDWI Speed Scrap I host has been growing like a weed! our first week, we had 5 people show, and this past Saturday, there was 17!! They are so fun and addicting and I hope you come join us and help that number keep getting bigger! You can find our speed scraps here on Saturday Nights at 10pm EST. Don't miss it!

And finally, there are LOTS of digibits being earned at GDWI, which, if you don't know, are points that earn you gift certificates to the store! You earn them by completing challenges, winning Feature of the Week, and posting more times than the Posting Diva! Find out more about the DigiBits at GDWI here.

And one of the challenges we have is a template challenge hosted by Amy of the Creative Team there. This month she made 2-page templates for us both times! Here's the template currently for the challenge.

The deadline to submit this challenge is October 31st and it earns you 4 DigiBits. Click the image above to be taken to the challenge thread!

Challenge Winner!

Congratulations to Jody (hifam) for winning the Oct 1-15 blog challenge! Check out her fabulous layout, using the Happy Haunting Alpha!



And, as winner she'll receive the blingalicious Happy Haunting Glitter Fills, that coordinate perfectly with the participation prize! Everyone who participated will receive the Happy Haunting kit!
And, check out the layout Christie made for the challenge!

Be sure to check out the current challenge, & post your layout to snag the participation prize & be eligible to win!

Need a way to get a layout done FAST?? Then join in the Speed Scrap tonight at Get Digi With It! There's a participation prize AND it's so much fun! Hope to see you there!



See you tonight!
~Carey

Winner!

I just finished the Speed Scrap over at Get Digi With It! It was so much fun, but now my eyes are drooping! So, I'm posting this before I head off to bed! The winner of our Sept 16-30 QP Challenge is....EyUpDuck! She's won the Buddies: Kooper mini kit!

Check out her great page & infectious photo & leave her some love!

I also wanted to show you the layout Amanda (aka, arasband) made. I think it turned out fabulous!

Both of these ladies will receive Photo Therapy #1 just for participating!

Congratulations & thanks for participating. Don't forget to check out our current challenge!

And before I go, I justed wanted to share this layout with you. It's by our CT member Ruby. I really love this - it's one of my favorites! Please go give her some sugar!

Don't forget, today's the last day to apply for our CT Call! Check out the details here.

Have a great week!

~Carey

National Cardmaking Day

Did you know that October 4th is National Cardmaking Day? I didn't either! well, My creative team manager had to tell me so, so I guess she knew it was. and probably a handful of you did know too.

Well I decided to make some card templates in honor of National Cardmaking Day! It'll be my perfect excuse to get some Christmas cards made.... or the slew of birthday cards I always have to send out at the end of the year.... lol

k, just so you understand this end of the year birthday rush I have, let me enlighten you... ;) First off, my birthday is Dec. 28th. Not a biggie though because I don't have to make a card for myself... then, my nephew was born on Dec 30th. 3 years later my son was due on Christmas day but ended up coming on Jan 3rd, and he shares the birthday with my cousin who shares the birthday with his girlfriend. now, 2 years later, we're expectig yet another Nephew on or around December 28th... and if you'll remember, that's my birthday. Now THAT'S a lot of birthdays! It makes me exhausted just thinking about it!!!

Now to get back to this whole Greeting Card business....

Here's a pack that has JUST been released right this morning! How's that for hot off the press?! And for today and tomorrow ONLY they will be just $1.99! Take a look:

And, just for you my faithful blog readers, I've made an extra card for you to have for free! This is a 4"x6" greeting card perfect for any occasion! (Click the image to download)

So be off, and spend today making a card for someone special on this National Cardmaking Day! (Hey does anyone want to make a birthday card for me???)

OH WAIT!!! I almost forgot! Tonight is our weekly Speed Scrap at Get Digi With It! Come join us at 10pm EST in this forum for all the fun!

News at Get Digi With It

Duchess Designs has put up her latest kit ~Happy Haunting~ and not only is it on sale...


this week only, you can get the matching glitter for FREE!

Here is a Trick or Treat LO by Hillary:

Have you ever done a Speed Scrap?  Have done a couple myself and am hooked.  Honestly, the first one had me so stressed out (didn't help all my scrapbooking items were on 30+ different c.d.'s!  An EHD is the next best thing to sliced bread!).  So here is the BEST NEWS!  No more waiting until next month for the next one.  Now Duchess Designs is hosting a Speed Scrap EVERY Saturday night!  Join us at 10 p.m. EST at GetDigiWithIt.com for some of the most fun you can imagine.

Can't wait to see you there!!!!

CT Call!!

Duchess Designs is having a CT Call!

We're looking for permanent members & guests who like to have fun & want to work with a friendly & successful team!

If that sounds like you, then here's what to do:

Create a layout using the provided freebie here. At least 70% of your layout must be from this kit.

Post your layout in the Duchess Designs gallery at GetDigiWithIt.com

PM Carey at GDWI or email her at imascrapper@embarqmail.com with the following info:

Your name, link to your best gallery, current galleries and forums where you post, your username(s), and why you would like to join the Duchess Designs team.

Call ends Sunday, October 5th! Good luck!

You're Invited to a Costume Party!

We're having a Costume Party at Get Digi With It!!!

Each week, for 4 weeks, there will be a new scrapping challenge! and the catch is: you have to remain anonymous! Every Layout created must use 100% gdwi products so as not to spoil the anonymity of the "party guests".

Each week the layouts will be judged by blind voters, and at the end, the user with the most layout points from the judges for all 4 weeks will be our winner!

1 winner will receive a $15.00 GC to the GDWI store, and 2 runners-up will receive a $10.00 GC each!

All you have to do to participate is email me (Maria) at duchess.designs@live.com (duchess [dot] designs [at] live [dot] com) to register! I will email you back with a random and anonymous username at gdwi to play! then keep an eye out for the Costume Party thread to open and start having some fun!

See you there!

Big News!!! A sale and a Freebie

Okay, I know you are eager to know what the big news is.  This is really really big, a big move from our very talented designer Maria. Duchess Designs is having a new new NEW STORE and that's in GetDigiWithIt!!! She will still be selling at Digital Candy. The store is now live, you can check it out and see for yourself.

This move is very timely. GDWI is having its Grand Opening this weekend from September 12-14. There will be a 25% off sale across the store, games, challenges, prizes and lots of fun.

And... Maria will be hosting the SPEED SCRAP on Saturday night at 9PM EST. Everyone is invited to join, get your friends and families to come with you and join the fun. There is an awesome participation prize awaits you!!!

Hmmm... did I forgot something... there's so many things going about the royalty palace... let me see... ahhh... here, you should see this new gorgeous blinkie of Duchess Designs...

Now, here's one fun challenge, grab the blinkie, snag the blinkie, wear the blinkie in your blog (no hot linking, up load the blinkie in your own image storage), post about this BIG NEWS, tell the world that Duchess Designs is now selling at GDWI and GDWI is having a Grand Opening. Don't forget to link the blinkie to her store: http://getdigiwithit.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=31. After you do those things, come back here and leave a comment and the link to your blog so we can check it out. One of maybe two lucky winners will receive a special prize from the Duchess. You will love it!!! as always. Winners will be announce on Sunday, so keep checking the blog, it could be YOU!!! This is so exciting, so get your blog ready and start!!!

Oh yeah, before I forgot about the freebie, one of the Royalty girls have come up with a fantastic Quick Page free... so thanks to Hilary!!!

> DOWNLOAD <

This QP is made using Buddies: Kooper Mini Kit by Duchess Designs. It's ready for you to grab at GDWI.

 

Enjoy!!!

Ruby

Sooo Behind! Sooo Sorry!

Holey Snapple! I've been so behind with posts lately and I have a lot of cathing up to do!

The first thing is that I've been tagged!!! How cool is that?! So I was supposed to do this tagging thing last week and I'm so sorry Christy that I didn't. So here's the scoop:

I was Tagged by Christy at Simply Sweet Tutorials.

These are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So Here are my Random Facts:

1. Neither of my parents were born in the United States where I was born

2. I don't like chocolate... :(

3. But I'm addicted to Mountain Dew

4. I had, at one time, been in college with the intention of becoming a pediatric neurologist.

5. I've worked with kids who have special needs for more than half of my life.

6. I have a panic attack phobia of spiders

7. both of my dSLR cameras have dead batteries right now... :(

And now I'll pick the 7 that I'm tagging:

Tanyia (Pretty Pixels)

Shannon (from my CT)

Carey (from my CT)

Christie (from my CT)

Karen (from my CT)

Lyndsay (from my CT)

Marta (from my CT)

So there you have it! I was also graciously chosen to receive the "I Love your Blog" award!! woohoo! I will do that later on this week though as I may choose many of the same people! lol!

On to some other things. I want to tell you about some things that are happening with all the other candy girls!

MickyB put out a new kit on Thursday called Out Back! Click the image to find it in the store.

Pretty Pixels is having a great new contest on her blog to win her new kit to be released Friday. Click the image to go to her blog where the contest is happening.

Trish H. just released 2 new beautiful kits. Plus she's having a sale til the end of July to celebrate her birthday! Click the image to go to her store.

So that's what's happening around Candy Land! Come back a little later to learn about what is being featured today for Duchess Deals!

Grab That Bag!!

Have you gotten the new Duchess Designs Grab Bag yet? Well...what are you WAITING FOR??? Let me tell you, there are some awesome new products in there! It's only $3.00 until August 1st - after that it will be $11.45 to get all this great stuff!

And, don't forget to check out the current challenge for your chance to win product from Duchess Designs!

Sign Up!

Alright! It seems as though it's time for another subscription bonus!!! So here's the Deal:

You enter your email in the box on the left (under all the photos) and click Subscribe, and I will give you a fantastic Freebie! PLUS one random subsriber will also recieve their choice of one product from my store to receive free also!!!

Winners will be chosen on Thursday and emailed on Friday!

What are you waiting for??? Subscribe!

Oh and Don't forget about Duchess Deals going on TODAY only!

Ready, Set, Go! I Dare Ya!

First, I want to announce the winner of last week's Scraplift Challenge. Congratulations to Jody ("hifam")! Check your pm at Digital Candy for your prize - the Vanilla Dreams Quickpages! Here's Jody's adorable layout - click on it for credits & to leave some sugar! Way to go Jody!

Now, for this week's challenge! I DARE YOU to create a layout using at least three photos, three stars, one ribbon, some bling (glitter, rhinestones, sumthin shiny!) and some swirls. You're free to use more of these items, and any others, but must at least incorporate the listed items. Here's what we've created, let's see what YOU can do!

Carey

Amanda
Once you've completed your layout, please post it in the gallery at Digital Candy and provide a link to your layout in the comments to this post no later than MIDNIGHT Pacific time on Saturday May 24th. One layout poster will be randomly selected to receive an awesome prize from Ferg Designs and have the layout featured here on the blog!

How DARING are you??

Ready, Set, Go! Scraplift Challenge!

Happy Mother's Day! It's time for a new challenge! This week I am challenging you to SCRAPLIFT the following layout:

You can do a 2-page layout, choose just one page to scraplift, or squish the design into one page! Flip it, twist it, make it your own!

Once you've completed your layout, please post it in the gallery at Digital Candy and provide a link to your layout in the comments to this post no later than MIDNIGHT Pacific time on Saturday May 17th. One layout poster will be randomly selected to receive an awesome prize and have the layout featured here on the blog!

If you'd like a little help with the challenge, this layout was created using Template Pack #5, available at the Ferg Designs store at Digital Candy and ON SALE for 40% off this weekend only! (sale ends tonight - so grab it quick!)

(image is clickable)

Here's Deb's take on the challenge:

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

And The Winner Is...

twobusyhands!! Congratulations on winning the Ready, Set, Go! challenge and a gift certificate to the Ferg Designs store at Digital Candy! (check your pm at Digital Candy for the code) Check out her stunning layout below, and click on it to go leave her some love in the gallery!

Check back Sunday for our next Ready, Set, Go! challenge here at Ferg Designs, and you can be in the running for a great prize!

Be sure to check out the other great challenges this week - time is ticking so get your entries in!