Announcing - The Digital Celt DigiScrap Blog Shop!

I have been a busy girl! In addition to selling at Plain Digital Wrapper, I've just opened up my own wee blog shop! What's the big deal about a blog shop? You can shop without having to register! Shop - Point - Click - BUY!

The link is just above my picture on the top left of this blog....

The Digital Celt

DigiScrap Shop

I don't have a lot in the shop yet but I will be adding goodies almost daily so stop in often!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Here's a wee freebie for YOU!

Please do not share files...just send your friends to this page to get their own copy. By the way, now all my kits and freebies are Scrap-4-Hire (S4H) friendly!

Slainte! [Gaelic for "Cheers!"]

Random Artistic Inspiration

Have you lost your muse...can't seem to get any good ideas? Visit this random word generator designed for artists! The words, randomly generated from a database that visitors can even add to, will inspire tons of new ideas. If the word doesn't inspire you, you can generate another and another until you find one that clicks. You can also choose between different types of words: Actions, Colors, Emotions, Eras, Genres, Objects, People, Qualities, or Styles.

Not sure what a word means or want to find out more about it? Each word can easily be searched by Google or defined by Dictionary.com from a link on the right side of the page.

Try out this great tool brought to you by Valerie C...you'll be inspired again!

Happy Turkey Day!

(I can't take credit for this bouncy little bird...it was sent to me in an e-mail!)

Learn More About Five Highland Clans

Earlier this year, the BBC aired a series called The Highland Clans. It took a look at the history of five of Scotland's most famous clans: MacGregor (that's mine!), MacDonald, MacLeod, Campbell, and Fraser. I had heard that it was a terrific series but those of us not actually in the UK couldn't see it. Perhaps BBC America would air it or maybe PBS but we'd probably have to wait YEARS...accckkk!

Not anymore! Thanks to the internet and our love of sharing, The Highland Clans series is available to download free from multiple web sites. Some download sites say there are 6 parts but there are only five 30-minute segments according to the BBC website. Here's a link where you can download all five from the three different sites (reviewed below):
http://popperslist.blogspot.com/2007/08/highland-clans-macgregor.html

• Guba has hi-res (and BIG) files that can be watched on your
  handheld multimedia player (like my Zen Vision - love it!) or
  enlarged full size on your computer screen.
• Stage6 needs a DivX web player that is ActiveX, but will prompt
  you to install it if you don't already have it. It also offers hi-res
  files.
• Google Video has low-res files that are great to watch on your
  computer in the wee box your media player (like Quicktime)
  presents but are grainy if you enlarge them.

Happy viewing!

Autumn Freebie for You!

This is a cozy time of year with lovely warm colors everywhere. It's also my birthday month so I'm going to work on giving YOU some presents! The first one is this great Fall word art. It's a transparent png so it will go with any of your fall layouts.

Get your cozy Fall freebie here.

Please do not share files...just send your friends to this page to get their own copy. By the way, now all my kits and freebies are Scrap-4-Hire (S4H) friendly!

Slainte! [Gaelic for "Cheers!"]

Need a Virtual Assistant - in Scotland?

Have you ever wanted to do something in Scotland, but were unable to do it because you don't actually live in Scotland? Or, maybe you live in Scotland and want something done, but you simply don't have the time to do it. Now you CAN get those things done, with the help of this brand new wee service company.

Anything We Can Do For You In Scotland is based in Perthshire, the center of Scotland, making it ideally placed for them to travel throughout Scotland and accomplish any task for you. Their most popular service is the laying of wreaths or flowers on family and/or ancestors' graves. They will also provide photos and/or video footage and can arrange for a piper, drummer, or other musical accompaniment. Some other services are taking photographs of ancestral areas, hand-delivering gifts to family and friends, and sourcing and sending a specific gift to your home.

These "virtual assistants" offer a very personal and discreet service, tailored to your specific needs. If you give them a try, be sure to leave a note here telling us about your experience.

Create a Word Cloud T-Shirt

Here's a cool idea...a "word cloud" t-shirt! A "word cloud" is similar to a "tag cloud" but uses frequently used words instead of tags. What's a "tag cloud?" A tag cloud (or weighted list in visual design) is a visual depiction of the content tags or topics used on a website or blog. Topics are typically listed alphabetically and their frequency is shown with font size or color. This makes finding a topic really easy because they are usually hyperlinked to a collection of items associated with that topic.

You may have seen them on other blogs or websites...they look like this one I generated from my blog.

Snap Shirts creates a custom "word cloud" design made from any website or blog out there! They also let you decide which words to include and which ones to ignore, choose from three fonts, and multiple text colors. Click on my "word cloud" and give it a try...it's fun!

Oh, were you waiting for this?

In the past few months it seemed that I never had time to do my own digi-scrapping and I was getting a wee bit frustrated. Then my schedule got busy with work and home responsibilities so I took a leave from selling my designs. After a while, I finally started participating a couple of challenges at Scrapbook Graphics and a couple hosted by Betsy Tuma at Plain Digital Wrapper. I finally got my 'muse' back and completed a bragbook and a few layouts! Yay!

Speaking of getting my 'muse' back...I hope you all liked my special freebies for all those "Survivor Girls" out there. I will be expanding it to a full kit that will be available soon at...

Plain Digital Wrapper!

There you go - that's my secret! LOL! My designs will be available starting on DSD - Digital Scrapbooking Day - coming up on 3 November! To celebrate this first annual 'holiday,' PDW is having a great sale starting today! Here's the ad...

Happy Samhain!

Samhain (pronounced sow-in) is the word for November in the Gaelic languages. The Scottish Gaelic spelling is Samhainn or Samhuinn (for the feast), or an t-Samhain (for the month). The fire festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is generally regarded as the Celtic New Year.

The Celtic year was divided into two seasons: the light and the dark, celebrating the light at Beltane on 1 May and the dark at Samhain on 1 November. Therefore, the feast of Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, since it marked the beginning of a new dark-light cycle. The Celts observed time as proceeding from darkness to light because they understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground.

The night of Samhain [in Irish, Oíche Shamhna and Scots Gaelic, Oidhche Shamhna] is one of the principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, falling on 31 October - Halloween. It represents the final harvest. According to Celtic lore, Samhain is a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, at times even fading away completely, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans. It is the time of the year when ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored. It is still the custom, in some areas, to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night. (Perhaps this is where 'ghost' stories came from.)

Bonfires played a large part in the festivities celebrated down through the last several centuries, and up through the present day in some rural areas. With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly re-lit their hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well.

With Christianization, the Samhain festival became All Hallows' Day on 1 November by All Souls' Day on 2 November. Over time, the night of 31 October and the remnants of the festival dedicated to the dead came to be called All Hallow's Eve which was eventually shortened to Hallowe'en (Hallow's Evening) and then Halloween.

Samhain is one of the eight annual holidays (Sabbats) observed as part of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. It is considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four greater Sabbats. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is generally observed on 31 October starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by most Wiccans as a celebration of death and of the dead and often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets, and other loved ones who have died. In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities in a similar way to some of the modern Celtic practices.

A year of beauty. A year of plenty.
A year of planting. A year of harvest.
A year of forests. A year of healing.
A year of vision. A year of passion.
A year of rebirth. A year of rebirth.
This year may we renew the earth.
~Samhain chant