Winners Announced!

Ok... so none of you will be reading this post, so I'm tempted to just go on and on and then slowly but surely weave in the name of the winners so that you HAVE to read this post, but then I think that all of you will hate me even MORE than you already will because I have been nominated to be the bearer of both the good AND the bad news of our So You Think You Can Design contest. . .

SO... without further ado... congratulations to not ONE, not TWO but THREE new designers who will be coming on board as the newest Orchard Girls!

Congratulations Kit Designers:

Tabrizia - Franziska Altmann

PDPlum Amy - Amy Brever

and our newest Template Designer:

Sine!

Welcome ladies! We're so happy to have you join us! For those of you who we were not able bring on board, we want to give you a huge pat on the back and a great big thank you for all of your hard work! We saw you all grow as designers and we're sure that it's just a matter of time until we see your gorgeous designs in stores everywhere!

We hope to continue to see you around the Orchard and we're always here to help in any way we can!

Aloha!

Shauna

Scrap Orchard Site Update: (seriously, this could ONLY happen to ME!)

Of all the nights for our site to go down...this might have been the worst! So here is the update from our Server Host:

From Doug Erwin:
This evening at 4:55pm CDT in our H1 data center, electrical gear shorted, creating an explosion and fire that knocked down three walls surrounding our electrical equipment room. Thankfully, no one was injured. In addition, no customer servers were damaged or lost.

We have just been allowed into the building to physically inspect the damage. Early indications are that the short was in a high-volume wire conduit. We were not allowed to activate our backup generator plan based on instructions from the fire department.

This is a significant outage, impacting approximately 9,000 servers and 7,500 customers. All members of our support team are in, and all vendors who supply us with data center equipment are on site. Our initial assessment, although early, points to being able to have some service restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday. Rest assured we are working around the clock.

We are in the process of communicating with all affected customers. we are planning to post updates every hour via our forum and in our customer portal. Our interactive voice response system is updating customers as well.

There is no impact in any of our other five data centers.

I am sorry that this accident has occurred and I apologize for the impact.


Um... so basically... our server has NO power because of an explosion! LIKE SERIOUSLY??? LOL!! If it weren't such bad timing I MIGHT just laugh!

Kami, Kim, Mel and I are working hard to come up with a plan on how to deal with the SO SUNny Scavenger Hunt, and when to post the announcement for our winners of the Design Contest.

As for the hunt (and the two great kits that are the "prize") we've decided that the hunt will start at Sunshine Studio Scraps tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. EST, and hopefully the Orchard will be back up and running to join them! If not, then we'll host the other half of the scavenger hunt ASAP after our site is back up and working!

As for the announcement of the contest winners, some of us say we should post here to get the news out, others say that might not be fair to those who might not know to check here... SIGH... should I post a POLL? LOL!) But as soon as we can figure this all out I'll let you guys know....

BUT I DO KNOW THIS! WE WILL ABSOLUTELY KEEP THE "SYTYCD" FREEBEE LINKS UP LONGER SO THAT EVERYONE HAS A CHANCE TO DOWNLOAD THEM! Have no fear! I've got your back (wink)!

I'm so sorry that this happened ladies... hang tight! I'll post here when I can!

12.15.08 - GRATEFUL! & Some Changes

Ok! I continue to start each blog post with thank you's for your words, support, advice and overall warm wishes...today is no different! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I hope I didn't mislead some of you into thinking that I wasn't going to post freebies anymore! That's not the case at all, but I have decided to make a few changes to leave me a bit more time for home, friends and family, especially before this big move in a few months.

So, I'll either be posting "smaller" freebies like a nice element or two, OR I'll continue with kits, but I'll post the papers one day, elements the next, alphabet the third etc. OR I'll post a tutorial AS the freebie (perhaps with an item or two to be used with the tutorial if it needs it.)

Then, I will leave the links for the freebies available for a specific period of time from the date of posting ( a few days as a rule, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but I will always let you know) and then, if appropriate, I'll move the "freebies" to my store at digital candy. This was my compromise to my dh who would like me to be (and I quote) "better compensated for my time" LOL! Whatever... for you my faithful readers who visit my blog on a regular basis it actually might be better, as the kits will STILL be free and they'll probably be even bigger so that I can move them as full kits to the store!

Also, I've made the decision with my dh that perhaps EVERY day freebies are bit too much right now, but CERTAINLY more days a week than not is my plan!

Lastly, I also want to post my freebies a bit earlier each day so that it's posted and taken care of before the busiest time of my day starts (dinner, bath, homework, bedtime stories etc.!) It will still be late for most of you however with the time difference, but I just thought I'd mention it!

In the spirit of my new rules, here is today's freebie! It's the start of a mini kit that I am calling "Grateful" as in how grateful I feel to have such wonderful people in my little blogging life!

Enjoy!

This post has been edited to remove the active link. 

Click HERE to visit me at Digital Candy

p.s. I AM so grateful for you all!

BIG SURPRISE!!

So sorry for no posts or freebies for the past two days, but I've been working diligently on my latest surprise for you all! I've put together my first kit! The colors are similar to my last two layouts, so you can use it with those pages, but it will have tons of great items including papers, elements and even a Christmas Card blank for you to use! I have everything created, but I have to put them all into zip files and post them. I'll add the papers later today and the Elements etc. on Friday before my family and I leave for the beach for Thanksgiving week (while we won't have a white Christmas, there ARE some benefits to living in Hawaii!!)

Please check back later today or tonight for the papers and then again tomorrow for the elements for this kit! I can't wait to see if you all are as excited to use my first kit as I was to make it!