Lots of goodies coming at you this month people! Don’t forget that all registered DNTS participants get a 35% storewide discount for the entire duration of the contest! Looks like the newsletter and new scraps will be coming at you on Thursday. Keep your eyes peeled!!

A DNTS spin on this week’s Q&A Day Friday. Keep your questions coming and I will answer you by email and post your questions on the blog to benefit everyone else.

KristyB asked:
How do we decide if we are an advanced scrapper or not?!? I’m not sure I consider myself advanced…but I’m not really a novice either….
If you are a digital or graphic designer or if you belong to two or more design teams than you are required to register for level 2. If you feel that you are beyond a novice scrapper but are on less than 2 teams you are still welcome to enter level 2.

Jaime asked:
design teams?? Does this mean creative teams or just for designers?
By design teams I also mean creative teams.

Noella asked:
Should we go by what teams we are currently on to determine our level? (not the ones we have been on in the past?)
The official ‘rule’ is that if you are currently on 2+ teams than you are required to register in level 2 however if you’ve been on 2 teams in the past, that’s a good indicator that you are at an advanced level and therefore should register in level 2.

Gabby asked:
I have two questions:
1. I’m assuming that there will be themes or specific assignments?
2. You said we can’t use free stuff ONLY, but I have purchased some of the previous monthly freebie kits, which you have made available in the shop. Does that count as not a freebie (but then you may not really have a way of knowing if we purchased it or just DL it), or to be safe should I purchase something that was never a freebie?
1. Each week you’ll get an assignment with both a theme and a design
challenge. You will incorporate both into your layout.
2. If you’ve paid for a kit that was formerly free, you are welcome to use it. I am able to check who paid for the kits and who downloaded them for free. You are still welcome to incorporate items from the freebies, I would just appreciate it if you didn’t participate in the entire contest using only items you’ve downloaded for free.

Registration for Digital’s Next Top Scrapper is now open!
Visit the Official DNTS Website to sign up!

Please note that you must have an account in the Peppermint Creative gallery to register for the contest. If you don’t have one, you can create one here.

What is Digital’s Next Top Scrapper?
It’s four weeks of scrapping fun! Each week you’ll create one layout based on a given assignment and then vote for your 2 favorite pages! The points you earn will add up from week to week giving you repeated opportunities to earn more points, improve your standings and improve your scrapping skills!

Contestants will be divided into two levels to give everyone a chance!
Level One – for beginner/novice scrappers
Level Two – for designers and anyone who is on 2+ creative/design teams.
Select your level when you sign up!

What do you Win?
The top 2 vote getters from each level will win a FULL YEAR OF PEPPERMINT CREATIVE PRODUCTS FREE!!

See the Rules & Regulations for complete details.

More questions about DNTS?
Post them in the comments section and I will answer them on the blog!

Don’t forget to swing by the DST Chatroom tonight at 8pm EST for a casual chat on anything you want to talk about.

Special thanks to Heather for leaving a helpful tip for Photoshop 7 users on yesterday’s Clipping Mask tutorial. In case you missed it, the create Clipping Mask the command is called ‘Group with Previous’ then you have to merge it down.

Today’s tutorial is on placing your text within a shape. Below I’ve posted a demo using a circle but this technique can be done with any of Photoshop’s custom shapes or even one you draw yourself. I hope you find this helpful!

TUTORIAL: CREATING TEXT IN A SHAPE IN PHOTOSHOP

See you tomorrow or hopefully tonight!

Join me in the Digishop Talk Chatroom tomorrow night at 8pm EST for a chit chat on…well, anything you want! If you have product requests, digital scrapbooking questions, non digital scrapbooking questions, helpful suggestions, opinions on who should win Hell’s Kitchen…whatever! Bring ‘em all to the chatroom for an hour of Minty fun. LOL!

As promised, today I have a tutorial on Clipping Masks for you. You’ll need them to customize your shapes and templates such as my EZ Elements. I hope you find it helpful!

TUTORIAL: USING CLIPPING MASKS IN PHOTOSHOP

Of course I can’t forget YouTube Tuesday! I LOVE stand up comedy and one of my all time favorites has to be Jerry Seinfeld. Here is a great little chunk from one of his comedy specials about the difference between men and women. Enjoy!

I hope that yesterday’s recoloring tutorial was helpful. Thanks to Jen who left instructions for PSE 5 users in yesterday’s comments:

RECOLORING USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5
1. Go to Layer->New Fill Layer->Solid Color
2. Select your color
3. Change the blend mode to COLOR
4. Press Ctrl-G

Once you’ve mastered the art of recoloring give Blend Modes a try! They are a super simple way to add an artistic touch to all sorts of elements – especially stamps. I’ve taken a stamp from Dictionary Defined v.1 to demonstrate just a few fabulous things you can do with Blend Modes.

TUTORIAL: USING BLEND MODES IN PHOTOSHOP

Check back tomorrow for a tutorial on Clipping Masks. You’ll find this helpful if you are having trouble using any of my EZ Elements.
Have a great day!