November Designers Part 1

I've got THREE designers from MLAS to show off this month.  Samceline, Scrappy Towne, and Limequilla.

I've worked with Samceline's goodies before, and loved them! This month, I played with Autumn Moments and I Love Remembering.

Kit: I Love Remembering by Samceline
Font: Freebooter Script

I'm not sure how I missed this kit when I was playing with Samceline's goodies a couple months ago, but fell in love with it when I saw it this time.  I love the pink and green combo, and love the way it looks with this photo of my great grandma and her sister.

Papers: Autumn Moments by Samceline
Elements: Autumn Moments by Samceline
Template: November Template Challenge by Ohana Designs

I loved the contrast between the blues and the kraft and orange in this kit, and chose to play that up by tinting my photos to match. (One of the things I LOVE about digi---I can play with my photos if I realize they can be tweaked to look better with the products I'm using.)  This is also a template available as part of a challenge this month at MLAS.  The challenges have changed over there, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should! Challenges start all throughout the month, and last until the end of the month.

Speaking of challenges, have you checked out my hybrid challenge yet?  I made a couple different cards so that everyone can see just what's possible when creating cards with digital products.  I know hybrid can be a scary word, whether you are a paper-only or digi-only scrapper...adding a little of the opposite can be a fun way to mix things up!

These cards were made with Autumn's Kiss by Scrappy Towne. I love that she used teal with the traditional autumn colors. (It's my favorite color!!) We haven't unpacked the printer yet, so I haven't printed these yet, but I can't wait! (Who'd have thought two weeks after the move I'd still be unpacking boxes?!  I thought I set the challenge late enough that I'd have it done by now!)

I haven't played with anything from Limequilla yet, as she is still setting up her store...but I'll be back to show off her goodies when they're all ready. :)

Putting on my "Ad" hat

It's Tuesday again (how'd that happen so fast!), which means it's $1 and $2 Pixel Day at Gotta Pixel.  Lots of great stuff on sale for only a dollar or two!  Here's a layout I made with the Crisdam Designs kit that's on sale for $2 today.  It also includes a journaling box from the $1 category:

Kit: In the Hood by Crisdam Designs
Journaling block: Write it Down Templates by Crisdam Designs
Template: Scraplift with a Twist Template by Crisdam Designs

It's also the end of the Gotta Grab it event, which happened this weekend.  Isabel put together a beautiful kit with the color palette used by all the designers at the site.  I love GGI because I can pick up papers from one designer and match them with elements or an alpha from another designer.  Oh, who am I kidding...I usually pick up each kit piece offered by several different designers (and spend more in this one weekend than I spend the rest of the month combined!).

Kit: Morning Pleasures Papers and Elements by Crisdam Designs
Photoshop Photo Actions: Pioneer Woman

I can see myself reaching for this kit again and again, as I sure do love my coffee in the morning!

New Store, new challenge.

There's a "new"designer at Gotta Pixel.  Well, "new" only in the fact that now she has her own store! Danyale, now of Etc by Danyale, has a brand new shop for her alphas, word art, and extra little page embellishments.  I've used her word art sets on pages for other designers, but now she has her own creations coming out.

Word Art: Stuck in the 70's Word Art by Etc by Danyale
Alpha: Stuck in the 70's Alpha by Etc by Danyale
Kit: Glorious Mess by Z Pink Boudoir
Template from Songbird Avenue

This is a layout I did with her "Stuck in the 70's" Word Art and Alpha sets.  I used a kit I already had in my stash, popped in some word art, and that page was finished!  A Perfect title for the page, that I would have never come up with on my own.  (I'd probably have had a generic Halloween type title...but I like this much better!)

Word Art: Family Branches Word Art by Etc by Danyale
Kit: Family Branches Collab by Creations by Rachael and Inspirations from Day

This page was created with Danyale's word art that coordinates with another designer's kit. The word art immediately made me think of our move back to "home" and I used the kit that matches.


Now on to the new challenge:

I'm hosting a hybrid challenge at MLAS for the rest of this month.  It's a card challenge, starting out small.  All you have to do is use something digital on a card front.  It can be as simple as creating (or used a premade) word art that you print and add to a paper card front, or it can be created completely digitally.  Come on over and check it out! (There's a participation prize just for playing.)

Speed Scraps

Gotta love'em at Gotta Pixel!  And why do I love the speed scraps at Gotta Pixel so much?  Because they're not quite so speedy.  Oh, I try to finish my layout in an hour, but it's not the same hour that I'm in the chat room!  The other thing I love is that even if I miss the chat (like last night) I can still participate in the chat, as layouts are not due until noon Eastern, the next day!  Best of both worlds!

Here are the layouts I created for the last two speed scraps at Gotta Pixel:

Kit: Sunset Blues by Litabells Designs

Kit: A Day in the Life by Connie Prince

Harvest Spice, Captured, and For the Love of...

The move is finally over!!! (Well, close enough that I choose to ignore that there is still one more load of trash at the old house, and there is stuff EVERYWHERE in the new!)  Here are some layouts I've done for Crisdam Designs over the last two weeks.

Kit: Harvest Spice by Crisdam Designs
Border: Doodle Do Page Borders by Crisdam Designs

This one uses a picture of my husband and his friends the night before most of them raced in a 24 hour mountain bike race.  One of these days, I'll put a mini-album together with more of the pictures he took.  There is another picture of them at a restaurant the evening after the race was over...a very different picture, indeed!  The excitement on their faces here is replaced with pure exhaustion.

Kit: November Grab Bag (Captured) by Crisdam Designs

When I saw the doodled words in this grab bag, I immediately thought of these pictures I took of my son several months ago.  He was just learning to push his chest off the ground, and I love the smiles I was able to capture.  A perfect combo, for the kit and the words!

Kit: For the Love of by Crisdam Designs

My daughter LOVES riding her bike, but I remember very clearly the day my husband decided to teach her to ride without training wheels.  Of course, I was there with my camera to catch the frustration and the success.  This photo perfectly captured the feeling of moment. Maggie was frustrated and a little scared, but all it took was a little pep talk and encouragement from Daddy, and she got right back up on the bike. By the end of the afternoon she was riding without training wheels, albeit a little wobbly.  I advertise to friends who have trouble teaching their little ones to ride that my husband has the perfect technique...a grassy hill and an afternoon was all it took to get our Nervous Nellie off her wheels!

Expect a flood of posts this week, as I catch up posting everything I've done since Halloween.

Free. WHAT?

It's been a while since my last post, but then I warned that might happen. Between moving and life, I've been squeezing my creative time into the wee hours of the night. I did get to spend a little time playing games this weekend, as it was Digi-Scrapbooking Day on Saturday and both My Life and Scrap and Gotta Pixel had loads of games and events going on.  I've done a little scrapping since my last post, but today I have a little something different.

Every six months or so, Jessica Sprague offers a new class. For free. That's right, free.  I've already signed up, as I have for even available free class for the last two years. This is how I was introduced to digital scrapbooking, and also the site I took ALL my classes to learn Photoshop, photo editing, and a few other new things. (I am not paid in any form by Jessica...in fact, I regularly SPEND my money here.) I consider this website and community my homebase, even if I don't get to check in every day.

Click this image to be taken to JessicaSprague.com and more information about the course.

This class should be fantastic. 10 days of inspiration and projects. There is very little photoshop knowledge required (as in, if you don't have the program, you should still be ok.  If you've never opened it, you'll also be fine).  Here is the description from her website:

In our 10-day class together, we'll cover five different paths to inspiration:

• Words
• Music
• Art
• Tools
• Play

For each of the themes we'll have a project to make, and different techniques to call your creative muse, no matter WHAT kind of art you make!

The other great thing about these classes is that even if life gets in the way and you can't finish (or start as the case may be) the class during the scheduled time, you still have access to all the materials FOREVER!  Makes it easy to not stress about life. (Or easy to procrastinate, as I have a habit of doing.) 

I'll be back later this week with the pages I've made for all my designers, but wanted to share this class as it should be fun!