A Custom Kit from Dianne Rigdon!!

Ok, I have to do a HUGE PLUG on my blog for designer Dianne Rigdon. And once you read this post, you'll understand why.

Although I consider myself to be pretty darn proficient at digital scrapbooking, I'm afraid the world of designing is a complete mystery to me. Yes, I can make a few elements with techniques I know and using actions, but I have NO IDEA how they create what they do. And even if I did, somehow I've never been very good at putting together color schemes and different pattern paper and stuff like that. So I use kits and am happy to do so. But sometimes, I just can't find a kit that has what I want.

The first time this happened was when I was creating my daughter Afton's book. Her nursery was painted plumb, lavender and lime green. We bought some really cute bedding for it with bugs and stuff. But I wanted a kit that matched that bedding. So I pretty much created my own kit--I scanned in her recieving blankets, parts of her quilt, and other things to create my own elements, ribbons, etc. It worked pretty well. Here are some pages from her book:

But now I'm expecting twins, and I'm stumped again. This time I wanted to do the room in red, lime green, and white. Strange colors, needless to say. As one of my twins will be named "Scarlett," I had to use red! But so few colors look good with red, and so I chose a lime green for my other twin, Ripley. I found this bedding online, and absolutely loved it. Love it. And there are NO KITS that look remotely like it that I could find.

My sister and I decided that, due to the $450 price tag on this bedding (x2 for twins) I would try to make something similar but not actually buy it. So I bought some similar material online and at fabric stores, going with a beautiful red and white damask and green vine from Fabric.com. (And let me tell you, switching from my comfortable medium of paper to that of fabric was very difficult for me!)

We spent the weekend sewing baby bedding. And it turned out so cute! Here's a picture of what my half-finished nursery looks like now:

Scarlett's bed is on the left, and Ripley's bed is on the right. So cute!

So now I really want a kit that matches my new color scheme. But there's no pre-made bedding I can scan in. All my things like recieving blankets are the same ones I used for Afton. There's nothing to really scan in that I can make a kit out of. And I'm not talented enough at designing to start from scratch. What to do?

So I went where all savvy digital scrappers go when they have a question about digital scrapbooking--the Twopeasinabucket message board. This site has a lot of digital scrapbooking stuff, but my main use for it is the message board. It's awesome. Scrappers from all over the world get information there, and if you have a question, I gaurantee someone will answer it within minutes.

I did a thread about designers taking requests. And that same day, I got a reply from Dianne Rigdon, a designer for Two Peas. You can see her shop here. Dianne offered to create me a kit, if I would send her any pics and scans that inspired me. I was thrilled! I sent her scans of the fabric I was using, some photos and ideas I had, and then--magic. Within a few weeks she had created an amazing kit! I was so excited! She took my ideas and turned them digital and original. And now I have this gorgeous kit! I'm so excited because as I'm will be creating TWO FULL BOOKS with this kit, now I have lots of options! I've made a few add-on elements myself--recoloring things I like from other kids and adding it to my stash. I haven't scrapped anything yet, of course, because I have no babies yet! But when they get here, they will get some amazing books! Here's the link to the actual kit if you want to see/buy it. It's called Ma Bebe.

Thank you, Dianne, for making me such a beautful kit! I absolutely love it!