New Quick Pockets are here!

Hi all! I'm here today to show off two new sets of Quick Pockets I created using the Storyteller Collections by Just Jaimee. These pocket cards include frames, pattern papers, paint and other embellishments all in a simple .PNG file so you can just drop them in your pages and add photos, journaling or any other tidbits you like. It's a super fast and easy way to pocket scrap, while still having all the fun product on your pages!

First up is Quick Pockets 4 (Storyteller Reed Add on):

I used this set for my Week 23 project life spread, as well as other pieces from the Storyteller Reed collection:

Quick Pockets 5 (Storyteller Hadley Add on) was created with the latest Storyteller collection and is perfect for summer stories, but can work for other seasons as well.

I put these cards to good use, along with a few other cards and bits from the Hadley Storyteller Collection, for Week 25 of my project life:

And of course, if you snag these sets today you can get them for 50% off!! It's a steal for sure. Thanks for stopping by, and happy scrapping!

Quick Pockets + Frames

I'm excited to share my latest creation! Surprisingly, it isn't a scrapbook layout - it's a scrapbook product. I teamed up with Just Jaimee and used her Storyteller Bryce collection to create some fun frame clusters.  These are available as pocket cards for pocket pages, or stand alone for more traditional layouts.

I used a few of these on my latest Project Life spread. I also used some of the other new releases created by a some of the other Just Jaimee team members.  You can check out Stacked Pocket Cards v. 6 and Stacked Pocket Cards v.7 as well.

Left side:

Right side:

The best part is that using all these cards helped me put together my pages in record time. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to scrap, be sure to check these out!

5 Things: Where to Start?

Earlier this week I shared 5 ways to jumpstart your scrapping when you're stuck in a rut. Check out the post over at My Scrapbook Art. Happy Scrapping!

Who Me?

Wendy (aka WM[Squared]) often makes templates using original layouts from team members.  And this weekend, she released the first pack featuring little ol' me! These templates are all based on layouts I made using Wendy's products over the past six months or so.

It's really fun to see some of my layout designs in template form.  And it gets even better... they are on sale in the Farmer's Market for just $1!

xoxo,

Linky Love

I'm always on the lookout for great scrapbooking products. I'm not quite the freebie collector I once was, but I can't pass up something that's beautiful and free. There are a lot of digital freebies out there, but I've found you have to be rather picky to find the good quality stuff. Some of the best stuff I've found lately come as exclusive gifts for liking designers' facebook pages. (Once you like their page you can click on the exclusive tab to find the download.) For example:

A full (gorgeous!) kit from Sahlin Studio:


Another big & beautiful kit from Secret Stash:


These pretty papers from Micheline Martin:


I also found this template that would work great for Project Life pages, or others, on Amy Jaz's blog:


And I found these sweet little stickers from Vinnie Pearce on her website:



So if you haven't already, go grab yourself these digital treats! And remember to say thanks! :)

xoxo,

Capture Your Holidays

I'm taking an online photo class called Capture Your Holidays by Katrina Kennedy at Get It Scrapped. I've taken another class from Katrina and would highly recommend her photography classes, she's great. This class just started yesterday and the first lesson was about photographing lights to get a bokeh effect and a starburst effect. I had a lot of fun playing around with this and thought I'd share some of my results here.

Just lights:



Our elf, Fritz, with bokeh. Pretty magical, huh?




Here's the starburst effect. This look is achieved by leaving the shutter open for a long time so you have to have a steady surface or a tripod to eliminate movement. I don't have a tripod, so I had to settle for the angle I could get from my coffee table. I would love to play around with this more and get a closer shot with a different angle.



And one more bokeh, with my son in there too. I really like the look of the colored lights - we found these on a tree in the waiting area of a restaurant we were at this morning.



Have you ever tried shooting bokeh? I love the look, and it was a lot easier to achieve than I expected. I'm hoping I can keep up with all the lessons over the next two weeks, and get some really good holiday photos to scrap!

xoxo,

Catching Up

First, a few new layouts:


{papers and elements from Somewhere Over the Rainbow collab kit by Dunia Designs and Studio Basic; Howser, Century Gothic, and Love Ya Like a Sister fonts}


{Embrace Simplicity Vol. 2 template by Dunia Designs; alpha from Alphabet Soup - girly by Dunia Designs; papers and elements fromOne Love collab by Dunia Designs and Sugar Fancy; Century Gothic font}


{Duo (Stripes) templates by Dunia Designs; papers and elements from A Boy's Diary kit by Dunia Designs and Ju Kneipp; Pea Sarah Cute and 4990810 font}


{stripe paper from Walkin on Sunshine by Traci Reed; red paper from Celebrate by Gina Miller; graph paper from Celebrate kit by Digital Scrapbook Memories; dotted paper (recolored) from Somewhere over the Rainbow by Dunia Designs; Crayon, Crayoff alpha by Denise Beatty originals; label from School Rules kit by Something Blue Studio; leaves from Fruity Fizz by Flergs; crayons from Creative Minds by Sherry Ferguson; flowers from Story of Everyday Life collab kit (from the Daily Digi) by Misty Cato; template by Jenn Lindsay; Century Gothic font}

Second, I'm still keeping up with most of the Project: Love, Me prompts. This month I made three pages, and I'm hoping to squeeze in the fourth soon. The theme for June was iCreate. Prompts for July have just been posted, with the theme iCelebrate. They've also changed it up so that all the months prompts are posted at once which gives a bit more time to get them done. Here are my iCreate layouts, everything used is from the iCreate bundle:







Third, I have really been enjoying listening to podcasts of The Digi Show (formerly The Paperclipping Digi Show). I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but I really enjoy them. They make mowing the lawn go by a lot faster! And best of all they're free. You can find out how to subscribe and listen here.

And now I think I'm caught up here.. phew!

xoxo,

New DSM Kits

One of my favorite digi scrapping sites, Digital Scrapbook Memories, have recently added two new downloadable kits to their shop that I absolutely LOVE. This one is called Young Love.



Here are the layouts I've created with it (so far):





This one is a huge MEGA kit... isn't it so fun? Perfect for all parties & celebrations, called Celebrate:





And a couple of my layouts using Celebrate:






xoxo,

Project: Love, Me

I'm really excited about this new venture: for the year 2011 I will participating in Project: Love, Me hosted by Ziggle Designs and Suzy Q Scraps. What is Project, Love: Me? Well, I'm so glad you asked...

Basically it is a version of Project 52 (in which you scrapboook one layout per week for the year) but it is focused on you, so you'll end up with a really cool All About Me album at the end of the year. There are themes for each month, with prompts for each week, and the best part is SuzyQ and Ziggle Designs will be releasing a big collection - with papers, elements, templates, wordart, etc. - each month that coordinate with the theme!

From today, 12/2, through 12/8 you can get a subscription to all these collections for an amazing deal.


I am excited, and somewhat nervous, to be putting so much of myself into one big project, but I think it will be a great experience for me personally and a wonderful thing for children and grandchildren. I am hopeful that I will be able to keep up and post four layouts a month, but I will for sure be participating in at least two a month as part of the creative team. Also, you certainly don't have to purchase the collections to play along (although they are gorgeous!) you could just play along by following the prompts. Won't you join in the fun?

xoxo,

Free Kit!

I know there are tons of digital scrapbooking freebies out there in digi land, but this one I really thought was worth sharing. Through the month of September, Digital Scrapbook Memories is offering this very cute "School Rules" kit for FREE:



You might recall this is the kit I used to make this paint bucket project. Once you pick up the kit, be sure to enter any layouts you create with it in the School Rules Challenge at Digital Scrapbook Memories. I plan on using it again next week as soon I send my Kindergartner on his way! ;)

xoxo,

Lots Going On...

There's some fun things going on around digi-land, I thought I'd share some of it with you.

First off, SuzyQ Scraps is having a "back-to-school" themed party on her blog and at her BlogFrog community. Of course this coincides with the release of a ton of cool back-to-school products from Suzy. Even though it's been going on for a couple of days already, there's a lot of fun things going on:



Here's an ad for the upcoming speed scrap (tonight!). If you have never done a speed scrap, you should try it. It's a lot of fun and a great way to get a layout done quick. Plus, there's always a great participation prize! (I think the prize tonight is the new back-to-school wordart pack.)



What else... oh yes! There's also a cute FREEBIE on the blog as well. (Just scroll to the bottom of the post.) :)

And in other news... Kelley Mickus designs, one of my all-time favorite designers, has moved to a brand new shop. You can find her at 9th & Bloom. They are having a big grand opening with everything on sale, a free collab when you purchase $10 or more, and all kinds of games and prizes going on in the forum. Check them out, it seems like a really cute shop. Sadly, with this move Kelley has discontinued here personal creative team, so I will no longer be part of her team, but I'm sure I'll still be using her products a lot!

xoxo,

Imagine My Surprise...

...when I opened up my Google Reader this morning and saw one of my blog posts featured on The Crafting Chicks blog! Have you heard of them? They post daily with all kinds of fun, easy, and (of course) crafty projects, tips and ideas. I actually know Brooke, one of the chicks, through digital scrapbooking. She kindly featured the candle from my Teacher's Gifts post I did a few months ago. Right now they are doing a whole series of posts for back-to-school. Be sure to check them out!

xoxo,