Old School, Bella Scraps, and new Shoppe and a FREEBIE!

I have so much going on these days that I have totally been neglecting my blog. Here it is in a nutshell:

Mitch has been in Boston since Sunday and I am SO ready for him to come home tonight. I'M ready, but the house isn't. Hee, hee! I've got some work to do!

The September issue of the DST Insider is in the final stages. I'm so excited!! The Insider is free to anyone with a membership to Digishoptalk (and membership is free), so make sure you go over there and register so you can see my first issue as Editor-In-Chief!

Dianne Rigdon released some projects I had been working on at her store at ScrapbookGraphics. See?




They were pretty fun to put together!!

So, last night I thought I would make a notebook for Grant to practice his letters in:



Isn't it CUTE!? I love how this turned out! I put together some brag books with another of her AMAZING paper packs, and I'll let you know when those are released. SERIOUSLY gorgeous. Perfect for baby pics.

Hmm . . . what else? Oh, yeah. Bella Scraps Magazine (an online mag) contacted ME and asked me to be an Instructional Team Member!! That means that I will contribute to the magazine by writing tutorials along with taking pictures of my projects. I get THE BEST free kits. Seriously. All the best designers are featured in Bella Scraps!!

So, to celebrate, I will be giving away one August issue of Bella Scraps Magazine!! I'm not in there yet, but it is GORGEOUS!! You'll come away seriously inspired! Just leave me a comment here in this post by midnight Sunday (Pacific time), and my random number generator (or maybe Grant) will pick one lucky winner, which will be announced on Monday!

If that's not all, I've been working on even MORE projects (when hubby's away, Kelleigh will play!) that I get to post tomorrow, including a truly hybrid layout that I just love, and a few cards.

And, this is perhaps the biggest news of all, I will be selling my templates in a SHOPPE! I'm going to be putting together card templates, mini album templates and regular ol' page templates. I'm so excited! I have SO many ideas whirling around in my head right now. The shoppe will open at the beginning of September (oh, my gosh! That's next week!!), and I'll BE SURE to let you know when that happens!

In the meantime, I thought I'd give you a little freebie to show you the type of thing I'll be putting together.

Here is a card template. (ETA: This template has been removed! Thanks for downloading it! You made my day!)



This is a standard sized card, meaning that it is 5.5 x 4.25 and you should be able to fit 2 of these cards on one piece of 8.5 x 11 paper, which makes these cards VERY economical! Use these templates as you normally would in digital scrapbooking, then flatten and drag the finished product onto a new 8.5 x 11 canvas. Turn the cards so they open correctly. Print. Done. OR, go a little nuts like I did!


Click here for credits.

On this card, I just printed, cut out a little element from the kit, added my own, blue background paper, eyelets and red card base.


Click here for credits.

On this card, I didn't flatten. Instead I merged my paper layer and template layer (clipping mask) and then dragged it onto my page to print. I did this for each layer of the template. I cut out each piece of paper, inked the edges, then glued them down and added my own embellishments.

I DID fit both of these cards on one sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper, thus saving paper, ink and money! Pretty cool, huh?

So, feel free to download my template! I'll be taking the link down on Monday, so HURRY! After this, you will only be able to get the template in my shoppe! (No, I'm not spelling that wrong!)

If you use the template, link us up!! I would love to see what you do with it!

More cards and a freebie!

Check it out:



credits here


credits here


credits here


credits here

The first 2 cards were creating using my first card template freebie (HERE), and the last two are new designs! I had so much fun making these that I decided to share with you again!



Click HERE for a link to the download!

Don't forget to leave me a comment when you download and let me know if you use these templates! I would love to hear from you!

New projects and a freebie!

I always love Thursdays because that is when I get to post my new layouts and projects that I created for The Digichick!

First up is this adorable (in my opinion!) mini album that I made out of Red Robin coasters. It was a fun and fairly easy project. I originally made it with the idea that I would be donating it to our church's auction, but then I fell in love and decided to keep it for myself. I figured that the people who saw it probably wouldn't understand how much time I put into it, and it wouldn't bring in much money anyway. No guilt for me!

Anyway, I created the pages in Photoshop, shrunk them down to fit the coasters (3.5 x 3.5), printed them, added some elements that I later cut out, glued it all down, then added pictures. (Of course, I wrote all of that on my picture, right?)

I just LOVE these pictures of my boys!


Of course, I was so inspired by these baby pictures that I HAD to look at them again. So, I did this layout:



I love that boy!! (By the way, that would be Grant. I usually mark their layouts with an initial so that when I'm 80 and can't tell which is which, I can look for the "G" or "C". Call it a trademark. Kind of like how Thomas Kinkaid hides initials in his paintings!)

AND, I was so inspired by these GORGEOUS papers that I had to keep creating. I'm a little obsessed with this designer - Sugarplum Paperie: Nicole Seitler. I've actually begged to be on her CT. I've never done that before. So far, I've been denied. (Kind of. She didn't actually have any room on her CT.) Now, she is having a hybrid call and I am BEGGING to be on her Creative Team!! The suspense is killing me. I've never actually asked a designer to be on her CT when she hasn't been having a call. I've never been denied when I have applied for a call. My mother tells me that I need to be rejected by a designer just once so that I will learn some humility. (Lord, please don't teach me a lesson this time!! I really want to be on her CT!!) BTW - Nicole said she was going to start subscribing to my blog, so hopefully she will see this post.


Anywhoooo . . . Here are the cards I created:




And, I created some template as I was making these cards, so I decided to share these with you! Here is the link to pick up your freebie!




Please leave me a comment if you download them, and link me up to your creation if you use them! I would love to leave you some love!

Try it Hybrid #1 Freebie!

I had such a blast really going hybrid with this most recent layout. I created a template that I want to share!

Basically, it is an 8.5x11 template that you add your pictures, journaling, digital papers and embellishments to, and then you print it out on your standard sized printer. Next, you follow the instructions and sketch included in the download to complete a layout that is similar to this. Of course, when you use different supplies, your layout will look totally unique.

I hope that if you use this template you will let me know so I can see what you have done with it! Just leave me a note in my comments!


Click here to download the freebie!

And, here is my layout!