Thank you, thank you.  Andrea here and I amazed by the response to our DSD  sale and activities.  We changed servers and upgraded to a huge new dedicated server six months ago and our site has been moving right along since we did that.  Until our DSD 35% off PU/25% off CU sale started!!! I am so sorry for those of you who have difficulties with our site slowing down.  And I can tell that there are many of you still trying to check out before the sale ends at midnight tonight.  Well guess what…

This sale has been extended until 6 pm pacific time on Sunday, November 8th–that’s an extra 18 hours.  We know that the site is moving slow and there have been some glitches along the way.  Thanks for your patience.  Please don’t wait until tomorrow at 5:50 to check out though–pretty please!!!

For those of you waiting for your paypal payments to clear, I am doing my best to get these cleared up quickly and to get your downloads to you.  Again your patience in this matter is appreciated.

Don’t forget to hop on our fantastic blog train, see the post below for more details.  Lots of great quick pages and freebies.

Welcome to our fabulous DSD Blog Train!!!  We’ve got 45 stops in all for you and you don’t want to miss a single one!  Hopefully things will go smoothly for you today, but if you should happen to get derailed, I’m including the entire list of stops here on the blog to make your life just a little easier   All of the items you will be picking up along your way were created with the gorgeous new collab kit “A Slice of Life” which is available *FREE* with any single $15 purchase through Monday!  There is also a coordinating set of hybrid printable cards and matching templates available for sale in the shop.

Here are your links:

1.  ScrapMatters Blog http://scrapmatters.com/wordpress/
2.  Andrea http://andilynn.wordpress.com/
3.  Kari http://karistamps.blogspot.com/
4.  Wendy  http://wendys-craftycreations.blogspot.com/
5. Liz: http://scrappinlegal.blogspot.com/
6. Fiona  http://mydigaddiction.blogspot.com/
7. Krisi http://adamandkrisi.blogspot.com/
8.  NeeNee  http://www.itzaneetdesign.com/
9.  Stacy  http://stacysbackdoor.blogspot.com/
10. Jenn H. http://jennamy82.blogspot.com/
11. Erica Zane http://zane-escraps.blogspot.com/
12. Kimbytx   http://kimbytx.blogspot.com/
13. Tater http://taterscraps.blogspot.com/
14. Cristina http://cristinascrap.blogspot.com/
15.  Haynay http://www.haynay.blogspot.com/
16.  Chelle http://www.chelles-creations.blogspot.com/
17. Melissa (Yzerbea19)  http://yzerbear.blogspot.com/
18. Sharon (skyezak) http://www.digitalcreations.typepad.com/
19. Tracy (Trixie Scraps)  http://www.trixiescraps.com/
20. Jeni H http://www.jeniscraftyblog.blogspot.com
21. LuAnn   http://livelaughcreate-luann.blogspot.com/
22. Chia  http://keepingupwiththekunzs.blogspot.com/
23. Maria  http://scrapmuss.blogspot.com/
24. Melanie http://melanie3boys.blogspot.com/
25. Denise http://denisebeattyoriginals.blogspot.com
26. Jen http://www.jenuineartistry.blogspot.com/
27. tgmousechick (Kimberly) http://geekydiva.wordpress.com
28. Amber http://stolenmomentsdesign.blogspot.com/
29.  Stefanie  http://stefgonedigi.blogspot.com/
30. Lori http://bearycutecreations.blogspot.com
31. Brittney http://brittishdesigns.blogspot.com
32. Cyndi http://cyndi146.blogspot.com/
33. Sarah  http://sarahtawisha.blogspot.com/
34. Li http://www.libeingcrafty.blogspot.com/
35. Suzanne (iisuzieii) http://purpletulipdesigns.blogspot.com
36. Erica (princess.erica) http://myscraptacularblog.blogspot.com
37. Jen D (jendavey) http://thedaveydaily.blogspot.com/
38. Melissa http://rxdawg97.blogspot.com
38. Krista http://sahlinstudio.blogspot.com/
39. Jennifer  http://www.jemenifer22.blogspot.com/
40. Ro http://maninthemoondesigns.blogspot.com/
41. Jen W.  http://www.wolfffpack6.blogspot.com/
42. Jaime http://simplyjstudio.blogspot.com/
43. Sya http://scrap-stuff.blogspot.com
44. Jill  http://chocolatekidsmommy.blogspot.com
45. Anna http://annabvdesigns.blogspot.com/

Hello Everyone! Amanda (panders77) with your Saturday Special for this amazing National Digital Scrapbooking Weekend! I hope everyone is enjoying the festivities!! So for today I am going to teach you one of my favorite editing techniques. And it’s my favorite because it takes very little time and really helps! Have you ever noticed the eyes in professional photos really pop? Well, they do this by doing all sorts of fancy editing techniques that I am still struggling to learn..LOL! But if I have a picture that the eyes just need a little boost and I want to scrap it this is what I do..

First here is my original picture(the eyes are good here and these are the best pics to use this technique on. It really just brings a good picture from good to great!):

Okay, so you want to do all your other photo editing first. The eyes should always be your last step! So, take your lasso tool and loosely lasso around the eyes.. this doesn’t have to be perfect. It will look like this..

Then we want to get those eyes in their own layer so duplicate it by pressing control J (in PSE)..

Then..

Now we want to get rid of those scary eyes. So we will change the layer to an overlay.

See? Now the eyes look sharper and brighter! Magic! Now for this photo I decided I wanted them to be a little more sharp so I duplicated the layer for this final result..

See the difference? It is subtle but defintely noticeable.

Here is my LO. I used Erica Zane’s Woodland Fantasy, Brittish Designs and Erica Zane’s Sprite, Erica Zanes Border Dates (Clipped to a paper from Brittish Designs/Sahlin Studios Land of Fantasy) and an Inspired by Mellisa Template by Brittish Designs:

And some awesome inspiration from our Creative team!

Christina used Erica Zanes DSD Grab Bag to create this great Fall LO!

Here are her before and after shots:

Amber used Everyday by Sahlin Studio and **NEW** Clips ‘n’ Bits and Doodley Doo’s Vol. 1 in Stolen Moments’ DSD Grab Bag.

Her before and after shot is REALLY impressive!! She duplicated the layer 3 times..

Now for the rules:
Remember:
**this challenge will run through Nov. 30. At the end of the month I will pick one winner to receive an extra point.
**No double-dipping; your LO must be unique for this challenge.
**You will receive ONE point for participating in the challenge and an additional point if you use a NEW ScrapMatters Product (released within the last seven days). Please be sure to tell me in the forum that you have used a new product to get your extra point!

Can’t wait to see what you create!

Amanda