By Becca

New Blog Address: http://bybeccadesigns.com/bybeccablog/

2011-08-25T14:56:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone and happy Thursday. This is just a quick note to let you know that I have moved my blog to:

http://bybeccadesigns.com/bybeccablog/

To manually add the feed from my new blog to your reader simply subscribe to: bybeccadesigns.com/feed

I will no longer be maintaining this blog, so please follow me at my new home. I apologize for any inconvenience that may cause and I hope that you continue to follow me there. Thank you so much!

Monsters No More

2011-07-30T18:13:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update in case anyone is wondering.... my children are getting along *much* better in the last two days. DMan has turned his attitude right around in an effort to earn his screen time back and while he still slips up now and again, I can tell he is trying. That is fantastic and I am so proud of him. Yay little man!! Way to set a positive example for your sisters.

Little Monsters

2011-07-28T10:54:00.001-04:00

I usually try to keep personal stuff off of my blog. I’ll post a bit about the weather or our health, but generally speaking I look at this blog as the face of my business and I don’t want to put things here that aren’t business related. I think maybe that habit of mine needs to change just a wee bit now and again because designing is such a personal thing for me. My real family and real life and affect what happens with my designing, so maybe its ok to talk about it here once in awhile.

Today parenting has me down. I have four AMAZING WONDERFUL children. They are bright, talented, loving. Well, at least most of the time. Today they are mixing like oil and water. Except that there are four of them, so I really need oil and water and two other things that don’t mix with either oil or water to have the perfect analogy. I am an hour late for work because they could not stop screaming at each other or hitting each other this morning. I don’t know where these little monsters came from. I don’t recognize them as my kids. And I’m not sure what happened.

I decided I would turn the whole morning around and called for a pow wow. I sat them in a circle and ~~ordered~~ suggested that we go around the circle and say something that was special about each person. Goo, who is three, was all about that. She is always all about whatever I suggest since she is my Number One Fan. Kay was right there with me, too. And even Tiger, who is as sweet as pie but has developed the nastiest screaming habit EVER lately, was on board. But not the DMan. He sat there staring daggers at me.

If looks could kill, I’d be dead.

I chose to take the higher ground and ignore the looks of death. I figured he’d get in to the spirit and the day would be saved. No such luck.

The girls very enthusiastically praised one another’s strengths. DMan made halfhearted attempts for Goo and Tiger but by the time we got to special things about Kay he out and out said that there isn’t anything special about her. And of course I reacted by telling him I was sick of his awful attitude and he had better think of something. Maybe not my finest moment.

So I laid out a new law – until they can treat one another with kindness they have lost the privilege of screen time. Heaven help me, I’m not sure how I’ll survive without letting them spend a little time in front of the screen each day but darned if I will let the older ones constantly put everyone else down as though that is a perfectly ok thing to do.

It isn’t.

And like it or not, its DMan who sets the tone for the rest of them and so he must adjust his attitude and lead the way into …. well, whatever comes after this. He taught Tiger to boss the younger girls around and yell at them and I won’t have the younger ones following this same pattern.

I know that I expect a lot from him. I’m an oldest of four too and I know that sometimes expectations are too high. But the ones who come after him are following his example and I cannot, cannot, cannot, have his example be that its ok to constantly belittle your sisters. Kay doesn’t think he even likes her. Not ever. Definitely not ok and it breaks my heart.

I wish I knew what to do. I did not save the day with my powwow. If anything, DMan, Tiger and I are all MORE upset than we were before we sat down. The girl at daycare made a joke about my being late when I dropped them off and I burst into tears.

Tell me it gets better. And if you know the secret to fostering love among children and teaching them to treasure one another’s strengths rather than beating one another down I am all ears.

Sorbet Revealed

2011-06-17T09:11:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone! I hope that this Friday morning finds you happy and well and that the sun is shining where ever you are. I’m feeling sunny and cheerful. I just can’t help myself because every time I look at the palette for my latest release it lifts my spirits a tiny bit.

Sorbet is sunny and warm with the refreshing contrasts of fresh raspberries and crisp limes. It feels like a summer day, sitting on the porch and sipping a lemonade. Or limeade? Sorbet contains 42 original elements but a few alternate colors and shadowed versions. There are 12 patterned and semi solid papers and 5 solids plus a full alpha in four different colors. I just couldn’t decide which one I liked the best, so you get all of them.

Sorbet is 20% off at 9th & Bloom today and Saturday.

Coming off the highly themed Boardwalk I wanted Sorbet to be neutral and good for every day pages and judging from the pages that my creative team made, it is! They made amazing pages of all sorts and among them quite a few gorgeous wedding pages. I didn’t expect that, they are truly stunning.

Finally, I have a winner to announce! Thank you all for you lovely comments on my sneak peek. I hope that you like the kit as well as you liked the peek.

The random number generator gave me this:

If I’m counting correctly, that makes SharonKay the winner. Congratulations Sharon! Please send me an email to bybecca at live dot com or post your email address here and I will get you a code to download Sorbet from my shop.

That’s all for me today, I hope that the day brings you wonderful things.

Win Sorbet

2011-06-15T20:24:00.000-04:00

I know I've been quiet here lately, it is such a busy time of year for everyone. My kids finished up school last week and we had a very busy Memorial Day weekend. Somehow in between all the *have to do* stuff that has kept me busy, I stole a bit of time and put together something new with an eye toward summer.

Its called Sorbet. Isn't that delicious?

I'll even give you a tiny taste to whet your appetite.

So how about a chance to win it?

Just post a comment below and I'll be back to choose a winner on Friday morning. Good luck!

Boardwalk

2011-05-20T09:31:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago Helly and I started talking about our fourth collab. We kicked a few ideas back and forth and even made a couple of palettes, but none of them got us very excited. And then THE IDEA came of doing a boardwalk carnival kit inspired by old carnival posters and postcards. Not a vintage kit, but something with just a taste of of days gone by. Immediately we both started making lists of elements and creating. I think the result is something wonderful!

Boardwalk has 17 semi solid, patterned and scenic papers plus 7 solids, an old gold alpha (caps only) and more than 70 elements, including a few that are in alternate colors and versions.

The entire collection is 20% off today and tomorrow.

Just look at these stunning pages from my CT!

We found we couldn’t stop with just the kit, so we also made a ton of extras for the perfect finishing touches to your pages.

Boardwalk: Bonus Alphas

Boardwalk: Words

Boardwalk: Clusters

Here are a few pages using the bits from the various add ons.

Of course its all bundled together so that you can get a huge discount if you want to own absolutely *everything*.

Boardwalk: Big Deal

Thanks for reading today. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!

Becca

Color Challenge

2011-05-08T11:49:00.001-04:00

Good morning! Just a quick note today in the midst of all the iNSD excitement First off, a quick reminder that everything in my shop is still on sale Its 40% off today and 35% off tomorrow (Monday May 9). That’s it for my hard sell.

Mostly you are hearing from me today because I took some time this morning to design for fun – not because I have to, not to sell something, not to promote something. Just for the joy of designing. Its been forever since I’ve done something like this and I am so happy I did! I participated in a little color challenge at Enchanted Studio Scraps. There’s a soft spot in my heart for ESS since it was my very first digihome.

The challenge palette this month is right up my alley and I simply could not resist. Here is my little bit, yours for the taking. Enjoy!

Download here.

Have a wonderful day!

Introducing Fresh!

2011-04-29T09:30:00.000-04:00

Good morning and happy Friday! Just a short note today to let you know that I have released a new kit: Fresh. Its filled with gorgeous spring greens and yellows sure to delight the eye and lift the spirits and perfect for traditional pages and scenic pages alike. Fresh contains a full alpha, 16 textured papers and 56 unique elements. And its 20% off today and tomorrow.

Fresh by By Becca

And just look at the gorgeous variety of pages that were made by my CT and the CT at 9th & Bloom!

Aren’t they lovely?

Also, my Bloomfest Grab Bag was split into parts and each of the pieces is now available on its own in my shop, so if you missed Friday Afternoon, Scrapstyles: So Nancy, or Mask It: Painted Grunge, be sure to grab them up.

That’s all from me today. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful weekend!

Becca

Bloomfest! {Grab Bags and More}

2011-04-15T08:56:00.000-04:00

The forum is filled with challenges and games hosted by some amazing sponsors. The entire shop is 35% off. We’ve unveiled a brand new clearance bin where everything is half price. And there is an entire line up of fantastic, drool worthy grab bags of all sorts from the designers.

Without further ado, here’s mine:

It’s a bit different thank my usual soft and pretty kits, but I have to tell you – I think it’s a great departure! Now you know me, I can’t keep a secret to save my life, and so you get to see everything that’s inside.

You get Friday Afternoon (14 papers, a lowercase tile alpha and 37 elements)

Scrapstyles: So Nancy (4 layered templates in tif and png files)

and Mask It: Painted Grunge (4 BIG plain black png masks)

My fabulous CT and the talented 9th&Bloom CT did some amazing things this week that really show off the versatility of this kit – it can be tough or sweet, work for boys or girls, grown ups and little ones, grungy or pretty. Don’t you just love that?

Check these out:

This grab bag is available this week only – once Bloomfest is over, it will be broken up into its pieces. The total price on all of the products will be $11.49. But while they are still in the grab bag together you get pick up everything for just $4. Yay!

But there’s more….. I’m participating in a blog hop, too!

Welcome to my stop on 9th & Bloom's Bloomfest blog hop! We have fabulous fun things going on all week long in our forums -- games, giveaways and a ton of awesome grab bags -- please stop in and join us for the celebration. AND you also get to enjoy this special blog train filled with lots of fabulous quickpages!

Here is my quickpage for you made with my grab bag kit, Friday Afternoon:

Direct download here.

I hope you will enjoy this special freebie that Netta created for you.

I am the very last stop on the blog train, but if you picked it up somewhere along the way or missed a stop or two, you can get back to the beginning by heading over to 9th & Bloom’s Blog for a complete list of all the stops.

Thanks for sharing in our festivities this week, I hope to see you in the forums!

NEW CT ANNOUNCEMENT

2011-04-07T13:35:00.001-04:00

Thank you everyone for your applications. You are all so talented it certainly was difficult to make my selections. But I finally managed and here they are.

Please help me welcome my fabulous new CT!

By Becca CT Call

2011-03-27T09:45:00.002-04:00

CT Call for By Becca at 9th & Bloom
requirements:
one LO per kit, minimum of 2 LOs per month
posted to 3 galleries (DST, 9&B and choice)
enabling where appropriate

To apply:
send me an email to calls at bybeccadesigns dot com (include a short intro)
a list of current commitments
a link to your most complete gallery (not flikr please, something like DST)

I know that most designers don't post a big narrative after their ads, but I'm not most designers. My CT is essential to me and so I feel like I need to give a little more information than I can include in an itty bitty ad. Forgive me for rambling on a bit.

I've had quite a few inquiries lately about openings on my CT. I have answered everyone that I have no openings at this time. Well, things have changed and now I do have a few open slots. Not many, but enough that I'm looking for some fresh creativity. To be fair to everyone, I am putting out a general call to fill the openings. I don't have a call often -- the last one was in September -- so if you are interested, please apply. I will reply to everyone on receiving your email and once more after decisions are made.

For those who don't know me, I want to be sure you know what you are getting into. I never can figure out what to call myself stylewise. You can check out my shop HERE. My designs are pretty and elegant with a touch of whimsy. Lately I've been painting a bit. I don't do cute little animals. I really love muted colors and I am drawn to cooler palettes (though I'm trying to branch out, I swear!) I'm a girly girl. My CT is a part of my creative process and I rely on them for their honest opinions about my work in progress. I figure my work is better for having their artistic input.

Productivity-wise, I'm not a very fast designer. At the most I put out two new kits a month and some months I manage only one.

I am very involved with my CT, we are more than just a creative group working together, we are friends and a digifamily. I hate having calls because I always worry about disappointing people and them hating me forever, so please apply only if you won't hate me if I don't have room for you.

If you have any questions I will be happy to talk to you about them. And if you are still interested after reading this rambling note, I can't wait to get your applications!

Becca

More Romance and Ever After

2011-03-18T14:08:00.002-04:00

Hello scrappers and happy Friday!

Is it spring at your house? The weather is beautiful here today, so much so that I took my children to the zoo this morning so we could enjoy a little fresh air. It makes my blog post a little late today, but I’m sure that you all understand.

I released four new products today, all of them additions to kits that already exist.

First, I have three new mini add ons for Ashton’s Romance in some colors that were requested by my CT. Like the original add ons, these Romance minis contain all the colored elements and papers. The white, metallic and neutrals are available by purchasing Ashton’s Romance only. However, when you purchase the Ashton’s Romance kit you can choose one of the colored minikits for just $2. I hope that this will enable you to get the one that matches your palette perfectly.

Peridot Romance

Obsidian Romance

and Scarlet Romance

Finally, I made an add on for Ever After and I am absolutely in love with it! It is whimsical and magical, complete with a glass slipper and a magic rose.

Ever After Again

These pages were all made with the minikit only, and the possibilities are nearly endless when the add on is combined with the original Ever After kit.

As always, everything new is 20% off today and tomorrow.

Thanks for reading today! I hope that you have a wonderful spring weekend.

Challenge Giveaway

2011-03-09T08:32:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone. I hope that March finds you well. At my house the weather has warmed up and snow is melting. Again. Hopefully this time it will stay away for a bit longer. Like until December, maybe.

Anyway, a few months ago one of my CT members, Nancy, approached me about possibly making a participation prize for a challenge she had signed up to host at Mousescrappers, a wonderful online community dedicated to scrapping all things Disney related. Now I adore all things Disney, so of course I agreed immediately. The participation prize needs be relate to Disney but of course not infringe on any Disney copyrights or trademarks. Between us, we decided that an add on to my fairytale kit Ever After would be perfect.

Here is the add on that I created:

It contains references to classic fairytales -- a glass slipper, a poisoned apple, a magic rose -- a total of 17 elements and 3 papers. It coordinates perfectly with the original Ever After kit. And you can get it for FREE by participating in Nancy's Mousescrappers' Challenge and completing the challenge requirements before March 15, 2011. What's more, if you complete the challenge, you get the prize and also a 20% off coupon for Ever After.

Cool, right? So what are you waiting for? Go scrap with Nancy. :)

Thank you so much for reading today!

A Little Romance

2011-02-25T08:50:00.005-05:00

I admit it. I have a romantic soul. I love old movies (Casablanca anyone?) and classic elegance makes my heart go pitter pat. And I love the idea of weddings. A wedding is the culmination of everything romantic all at once – the white dress, the gorgeous flowers, the music, the champagne….. sigh.
Did I mention I love weddings?

So much so that I’ve been intimidated by the thought of making a wedding kit, certain that I could never make something that would meet my expectations of all that it should be. I put the idea on a back burner for someday, when I felt like I could do it justice
.
Not too long ago I saw a post in the In Search Of threads at Digishoptalk from my friend Amanda, also known everywhere scrappy as Photocowgirl. Amanda and I have known each other for years, we were beginner scrappers together. But I digress. Amanda was looking for an elegant wedding kit with royal blue in it. Her sister Ashton is getting married and she was looking for something that matched Ashton’s palette. Amanda’s was the nudge that finally pushed me into making the wedding kit I had long wanted to make.

Ashton’s Romance was born.

As I was working on it, the idea crept into my head that the trouble with wedding kits is that they have to be neutral in order to have broad appeal, because, naturally, not everyone has, say, a royal blue wedding. I started to wonder whether I could create this kit in a way that I could make it work for any palette, for any bride. And I started recoloring things. It worked! In pink, in amethyst and then in champagne.

I decided the best way to handle the different colors was to offer each set of colored elements and papers as an add on minikit for Ashton’s Romance. This way you can choose the kit that best matches your palette, use the neutral elements from Ashton’s Romance and have a whole new kit. Each add on is available at half price when it is purchased at the same time as Ashton’s Romance, just $2 more to have the kit in the right color for you.

But I still hadn’t solved the problem of not being able to match every. single. wedding.
Until! I thought …. what if I color it to order? Sure, it will take a bit more time and I’ll have to ask a higher price for that, but I know that I for one would be willing to pay more for a kit that was made from my swatch and matched my palette exactly. What a perfect solution! I am thrilled to be able to offer Personal Romance – a unique kit colored to your wedding swatch and designed to perfectly compliment your day. It can be used for programs, invites, save the dates, not to mention scrapping the big day itself.

Allow me to share a few of the gorgeous pages that were made with the various versions of this kit by the talented artists on my team, at DST and at 9th & Bloom.

This one was made by Josette. Its meeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! So of course I have to feature it first. I will print this and hang it on my wall. I love it that much. Thank you, thank you my talented friend!

And look at these beauties (just a small sample, since this post is already so long. Check out my facebook page for the full album.)

And because this whole thing started with Amanda, she is offering a coordinated set of elegant templates in her store. Stunning, aren’t they?

I admit that I got a little carried away with this kit and concept and I love the way it came together. My CT got carried away right along with me and several of them offered to make freebies to go along with it. Rather than offer them all here, we’ve put together the first ever By Becca blog train in order to get them to you.

Every single one of the freebies on this blog train is being offered as a direct download because 4 shared has been nothing but trouble lately and we don’t want to deal with it. Please remember to thank the girls along the way, ok?

I am your first stop and for my freebie I’m offering one of Amanda’s gorgeous templates.

Download here.

From here you are off to visit Jenn – she has a beautiful cluster for you on her blog HERE.

If you get lost anywhere along the way, come back to my blog. Here is the full list:
Becca -- http://blog.bybeccadesigns.com
Jenn -- http://jenn33199.blogspot.com/
Nancy -- http://nancy-lilyspad.blogspot.com/
Holly -- http://www.hollyanissa.com/
Amanda -- http://photocowgirl.blogspot.com
Biancka -- http://biancka.blogspot.com
We are trying to have all of the posts up by 9 am EST but we are posting from several different time zones, so please be patient if one of these blogs is missing its freebie.
Thank you for reading today!

In the Mood for a little Purple Romance!!

2011-02-22T09:37:00.003-05:00

By Becca as a very special type wedding kit debuting this Friday the 25th at 9th & Bloom, where you get to choose your color to match all those wonderful wedding photos. I have a little purple sneak peek for you and scroll down to the previous post to get another sneak peek in the blue.

OKC FROM BY BECCA

2011-02-21T09:49:00.003-05:00

WOW! Don't miss out of this opportunity, BY Becca is having a one kit call on her upcoming kit a fabulous wedding kit. Not only that, but this is a special kit where you get to choose the colors you want to work with. You can get all the details at DST. I also have a little sneak peek for you.

More newness!

2011-02-18T01:01:00.000-05:00

Guess what? We have even MORE new designers making their big debut at 9th&Bloom this week. The store is overflowing with goodness and we are giving away more and more stuff. Yay!

I'm back to work and have a new kit all queued up and ready for you next Friday, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime though, please help me welcome SIX fabulous new designers to our team.

Welcome to the team girls! It is so exciting that you are joining us. :)

And of course we have to celebrate by sending that blog train around once more.

So here's my little freebie for you, a pair of quick pages made with my kit Champagne and Chocolate.

You can snag the direct download HERE.

From here you are off to visit Erin of Secret Stash on her wonderful blog. And remember, if you get derailed along the way there is a full list of the participating designers and all of the links in the forum at 9th & Bloom.

Thanks for reading today. :)

News and a Freebie

2011-02-04T07:51:00.004-05:00

Hello and happy Friday! I hope that I find you well. I’ve been ill for the last ten days or so with a nasty cold and no voice whatsoever, but I am happy to report that I am finally on the mend. Yay! And now I am trying to catch up with everything that has been going on while I’ve been buried with a box of tissues under a pile of blankets.

The biggest news is that 9th & Bloom has added some fantastic new designers to the team. Four of them are debuting their shops today and everything in them is 30% off, so be sure to stop in and check them out. I wish I could link them directly, but as I write this their stores are still hidden and so I have no access to their links. You can find them through the Designers box in the store: Agnesingap Designs, Chris Greiser, Mary Pop Designs and NatashaNaSt Designs. They each add something unique to the store and I am thrilled to sell with them.

There are a few other new designers joining as well, but their identities are still under wraps for a few more weeks while they take care of a few things. I can’t wait to tell you who they are. But that’s a post for another day.

To celebrate the opening of these first four stores, we’ve put together a fun little blog hop. If you are on the train already, you just received a fabulous freebie from Palvinka’s Blog.

I have a freebie for you, too! This is an add on to Snowkissed (just in case you missed that one, here it is again. )

The add on contains 3 papers and 5 elements. Here is the preview:

You can download it by clicking HERE.

The next stop on the blog train is NatashaNaSt Designs.

And just in case you got derailed somewhere along the way, here is the entire list.
[1st Stop] 9th&B Blog: http://ninthandbloom.com/blog/
[2nd Stop] Agnesingap Designs: http://agnesingap-designs.blogspot.com/
[3rd Stop] Mary Pop Designs: http://bymarypop.blogspot.com/
[4th Stop] Damayanti Studio: http://damayantistudio.blogspot.com/
[5th Stop] Palvinka Designs: http://palvinka.blogspot.com/
[6th Stop] By Becca: http://blog.bybeccadesigns.com/
[7th Stop] NatashaNaSt Designs: http://natashanastscrap.blogspot.com/
[8th Stop] Fizzy Pop Designs: http://www.fizzypopdesigns.com/
[9th Stop] Alissa Jones: http://pickapaper.blogspot.com/
[10th Stop] FruitLoOp Sally: http://sandraedwards.wordpress.com/
[11th and Final Stop] Chris Greiser Designs: http://sketchmeifyoucan.blogspot.com/

Please be patient -- we are trying to have all of the posts up by 8 am CST, but since everyone is in a different time zone, we may not get the timing exactly right.

Thank you for stopping by today!

New Release - Snowkissed

2011-01-21T08:04:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone!

I know a lot of you, just like me, have been extremely kissed with lots of snow and cold weather. So what better way to warm up than with a cup of hot coffee or chocolate, a few snow photo,s and my brand new winter snow kit, Snowkissed, released today at 9th & Bloom?

Snowkissed, with its soft shades of icy pink, chocolate brown and winter white reminds me of that time of day when all is quiet and the ground is covered in fresh snow. It contains 11 papers in a mix of patterns and semi solids plus a bonus of 5 solid cardstocks. There are 50 elements (57 with variations of color and design) and a full alpha including numbers and some symbols.

Snowkissed

Also, there are two additional coordinating alphas available separately (I just couldn't stop making alphas for this kit!)
Iced Alphas

Hurry over to 9th &aBloom where Snowkissed is 20% off on Friday and Saturday.

For inspiration, I leave you with some beautiful layouts from my fabulous Creative Team and the amazing creative souls at 9th & Bloom.

Thank you for reading, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Want to Get Snowkissed? Winner Announced!

2011-01-18T09:42:00.006-05:00

Thank you everyone for all your comments and the winner is:

Marion

Congratulations, Becca will be in contact with you soon.

Here is your chance to win By Becca’s brand new winter kit to be released this Friday at 9th and Bloom. All you need to do is post a comment here about your favorite thing to do during the winter time and you may possibly get “SnowKissed!” I will be back Thursday to pick a lucky winner. Good Luck!

Get a Sneak Peek of By Becca's Newest Kit

2011-01-17T11:03:00.008-05:00

Hello Everyone,
I'm Caroline aka luvmykids in the digi-scrap world and I'm really excited to be a part of Becca's new marketing/promo team.

Becca has been hard at work and has created a beautiful new winter kit that will be released this Friday, January 21st at 9th and Bloom, but for all of you here is a little sneak peek of this amazing kit, and remember to come back here tomorrow for a chance to win this kit before you can buy it.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-12-08T11:05:00.001-05:00

Cookie Recipe Exchange

2010-12-03T17:34:00.001-05:00

My holiday recipes are getting a little old and I need some new tried and true recipes to add to my recipe box. I’m thinking the best way to get them is to just ask around and see whether anyone has anything they want to share.

I started a thread at 9th & Bloom and my thought is that if lots of people scrap just one of their favorite recipes and shares their pages, we will all have a whole book of beautiful new recipes in a fabulous book that we can use over and over again for years to come.

Want to play? The details are HERE.

And here is my recipe. I just love these – they are so flaky and delicious that I usually have to make them twice each holiday season because we eat up the entire first batch in just a few days. **blush**

(linked for credits)

The deadline is December 17th, so start scrapping those recipes!

Joyeux Noel

2010-11-26T09:09:00.002-05:00

I hope that all of my US friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I’m writing from my dad’s house this morning, sipping coffee after a wonderful holiday with my grandparents, sister, cousins, aunts and uncles. I don’t see them often and it was such a blessing to enjoy the holiday with them. I have so much to be thankful for this year, not least of which are my wonderful digital friends.

And today – Black Friday! Where we in the US go crazy with doorbuster sales and rock bottom prices.

We are celebrating like crazy at 9th & Bloom!

I have a full kit available in the $1 section and two full kits in the $2 section PLUS bug sale prices on everything else including my new release from last week, Magic Moments, and a brand new new release especially for Black Friday, Joyeux Noel.

Joyeux Noel is collaborative project with Stolen Moments at Scrap Matters. I’ve always loved Amber’s style and was absolutely thrilled to have an opportunity to work with her on this wonderful kit.

Joyeux Noel is cozy and homey, with a hint of nostalgia for days gone by. It contains 18 papers, a full alpha (uppercase, lowercase, numbers and some symbols) plus 58 unique elements (71 elements when counting alternate versions and colors.) It is included in the Black Friday sale, but will go back to full price on Sunday.

Need a little inspiration? Here are a few pages from my creative team, Amber’s team, and the fantastic girls at 9th & Bloom.

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful day!

New Release – Magic Moments

2010-11-19T08:44:00.001-05:00

Good morning everyone! (or afternoon, or evening depending on where you are. I love the way we are such an international community.) I woke up the morning to a sprinkling of snow on the rooftops. Snow has been in the forecast on and off for a few weeks now, but this is the first snow of the year. I love the first snow. Everything in fresh, magic and sparkly. Sure, I get tired of it as the winter drags on and on, but that first snow, well, its magic. I swear it’s a complete coincidence, but I think it’s a fitting one that I am releasing the first of my new holiday kits today.

Magic Moments is all about this time of year and the holidays just around the corner. It is fresh and sparkling with winter whites, shimmering golds, soft mints and bright punches of cranberry. I am very proud of it.

Magic Moments

There are more than 50 unique elements (60 elements in all with the alternate versions and colors) and 11 softly textured papers with a full alpha as well (upper and lower case).

And I couldn’t resist playing with it, so with the help of the talented Josette and Lisa I also put together a pack of wonderful clusters. These are in shadowed and unshadowed versions just waiting to be dropped onto your page. There are four frames, two stand alone clusters and a gorgeous border overlay.

Magic Moments Clusters

And to make things even better, there is a bundle pack with both the kit and the clusters available at a discounted price.

Magic Moments Bundle

Every little bit of magic is 20% off Friday and Saturday, including the already discounted bundle.

I like to leave you with some marvelous inspiration from my talented creative team and the amazing team at 9th & Bloom and once again they did some wondrous things.

Thank you so much for reading today. Have a wonderful weekend!

Becca

DSD! New release and more!

2010-11-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be writing today because I can’t wait to share all the fun and exciting things that are going on this weekend.

The Big Sale

I don’t put my store on sale very often, but every. single. thing. is on sale beginning Friday and running through Monday. New releases, old releases, bundles, add ons, alphas, bits and pieces too. On top of that I’ve added four full size kits and a mini to the special $2 section of the store, so those items are on an even bigger discount.

The Bonus

But wait, there’s more! Each person who spends at least $10 in my store over the weekend (all on one invoice, otherwise I may miss it) will be added to a special drawing to win every new release that I create between now and next DSD. Plus by spending $10 at 9th & Bloom you get the free with purchase kit that the other designers and I created as a special treat for shoppers this weekend.

More Chances to Win

And there are still more opportunities for goodies! I am hosting a chat in the chatroom at 9th & Bloom and Saturday at 2 pm EST. Sometime during that chat I am going to give one lucky chatter a $10 gift certificate to my store. Plus I’ll be offering random discounts to my facebook fans all weekend long.

New Release

In preparation for all of the DSD fun, I’ve put together a wonderful new kit called Love Grows Here. This is the kit that came out of the Suggest It, Win It contest that I held last month. Serena suggested this palette and asked me to use it for a homey, mushy kit that wasn’t necessarily related to a particular holiday but could be used for all those special home moments. The resulting kit is elegant and rich and I hope that its everything Serena was thinking of.

Love Grows Here contains 11 papers, a textured metal alpha and more than 50 elements and it is included in the 35% off sale.

Here’s a little inspiration from my team:

I’m also rereleasing Wishes since several people have asked about it recently.

Wishes is soft and elegant and contains 14 papers and more than 50 elements for gorgeous holiday pages.
Wishes is on sale as well.

9th & Bloom Happenings

9th & Bloom is launching a YouTube Channel this weekend and I’ve posted a little hello video there as well as a tutorial for making curved text paths with the pen tool. There are lots of fun games planned with more prizes, that fabulous collab that is free with purchase, a speed scrap or two and a few surprises, too.

Thank you so much for reading today…. I hope to see you there!

Champagne & Chocolate

2010-10-30T11:23:00.003-04:00

Yum.

Together. Separate. However I can get them. Love, love, love champagne and chocolate.

Despite that though, this is the kit I never planned to make. This week’s challenge for the Battle of the Creative Teams involved using a monochromatic palette. My girls chose brown as their color and then started talking about what qualifies as brown – rather than rust or some of the other colors that are close to brown, but not. They decided that the best way to make sure they were using the right color was to create a palette of browns and then use that as the master for recoloring things.

I am always looking for ways to help them with these challenges, so I made this:

And then I started pulling brown things from my kits and recoloring other things to the palette so that they would have a few papers and elements all ready to go. Before I knew it, I had made them ten papers and more than fifty elements. And really, that was all I planned to do with this.

But then their GORGEOUS pages started rolling in. gasp! They were stunning!

And then a few of my other creative artists asked if they could download the kit too.

And so, with much encouragement from my team, I decided to package it up and make it available to everyone. And that’s how Champagne & Chocolate was born.

Once I put it in the hands of my entire team I knew it was a good decision to put it in the store. Just look at these masterpieces:

Champagne & Chocolate is 20% off through the end of today.

And I have a gift for you as well as a request.

Request first. My girls need your votes. Its really easy. Just go to THIS POLL and vote By Becca before the end of the day on Sunday.

Then the gift – a gorgeous cluster made by the very talented Jenn using bits and pieces from Champagne & Chocolate.

Vote here.

Download here. I know some of you had trouble with last week’s link, but a few people have tested this one and it seems to be trouble free (fingers crossed).

Thanks for reading today!

A little help

2010-10-23T10:08:00.002-04:00

Good morning! I want to take a few minutes of your time this morning to shout the praises of my creative team. As you know, five of my girls are participating in the Battle of the Creative Teams at Digiscrap Addicts. We are in week two now and their challenge this week was to lift two of their team mates. They rocked the challenge and now they need some support. Can you help us out please?

Vote for By Becca in THIS POLL (we’re second from the top).

Please allow me to share their pages with you.

Holly

Nancy

Candace

Biancka

Jenn

We need – and appreciate! – your votes before Sunday night.

As a special thank you for your support, Holly has turned her page into a Quickpage for you.

The download is HERE at box.net.

Edited to add a new link for the download -- apparently so many people have downloaded from me this month that I've exceeded my band width. Eeeeps! Try this one: http://www.bybeccadesigns.com/freebies/bybecca_BOTCT_2.zip

Thank you for supporting By Becca and my Creative Goddesses!

Winter. Again.

2010-10-22T11:18:00.000-04:00

Snow is in the forecast at my house this week. It seems way too early since so many of the trees still have their gorgeous fall foliage, but it wouldn’t be the first time we had snow in October, so I’m preparing myself mentally. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like snow and can appreciate a good snowstorm from inside my strong warm house with a fire roaring in the hearth. But winter is just a wee bit – ok, a couple of months – too long. And once it begins, I know I’m in for the long haul. Boots. Warm coats. Scraping ice off the car before I can go anywhere. Sigh.

On the plus side, winter kits start showing up in the store! For starters this year, I am rereleasing Wintersong. This is my favorite of my collabs with Helly and one of my favorites of my kits. I can’t bear to let it go, but it seemed silly to put it in the store at 9th & Bloom in August, so I’ve been holding it. With snow in the forecast this week, I feel like I can finally put it back in the store. Yay!
I’ll bet there are a few of you who haven’t seen this kit yet since my following has changed a bit in the last few months. (If you have seen it already, thanks for bearing with me!)

Wintersong

My amazing CT always does wonderful things with my kits and a few of them just worked with Wintersong for the first time. I want to share some of their gorgeous pages with you.

By Nataliya

By Natalia

By Jenny

By Kay

I am in awe of my girls. They are amazing!!

Wintersong contains 2 alphas, 18 papers and more than 50 elements. It is wintry and frosty and beautiful. And it is 20% off today and tomorrow!

In other news, my CT rocked the Battle of the Creative Teams again this week, so I’ll be begging for votes again tomorrow.

My homey kit from the Suggest It, Win It contest is moving along nicely and will be released for Digital Scrapbooking Day the weekend of November 6th. I’m also hosting a chat that weekend and I would love for you to stop by the chat room at 9th & Bloom to keep me company and maybe even win a gift certificate.

There is a freebie coming your way tomorrow, so be sure to check back then. For the time being, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

Shameless Begging

2010-10-16T14:05:00.001-04:00

The Battle of the Creative Teams at Digiscrap Addicts started this week. Five fearless members of my creative team braved the first challenge and it was….. well…. challenging at best. I swear a few of them are still crosseyed from counting hearts and stitches. Despite the challenge of the challenge they did an amazing job and now they need some support.

Can you throw a vote our way? You can only vote for one designer’s team and it has to be done before midnight on Sunday.

VOTE HERE (linked) for By Becca

Just look at their gorgeous pages:

Candace

Nancy

Biancka

Holly

Jenn

Thanks for looking and for voting! That link once more (just in case ;))

VOTE HERE (linked) for By Becca

We have a Winner

2010-10-09T10:00:00.000-04:00

Wow! I love so many of the suggestions that I received for my suggest it and win it contest. I've been pondering them over for a few days now, trying to assess what suits my mood and style the best. I loved so many of them -- the vintage ballet kit, the silk and pearls kit (its my anniversary today), the boy kit, the washed out vintagey one, the purple and green one, the several gorgeous winter palettes -- all of these were wonderful options for me. Thank you all for sharing your creative ideas!

In the end though, the one that struck me the most is this one from Serena:

I think it would be a great kit with the theme of home and love.. something mushy that you could use family stuff on. Like Home for the Holidays or something but without too much exact holiday reference so we could use it for Thanksgiving or Christmas or Valentines.. type thing.. just a thought.

I've already begun and I think it is going to be stunning. Congratulations Serena, and thank you!

Suggest It to Win!

2010-10-05T09:23:00.000-04:00

I am coming off of a brief illness and now that I am starting to feel better I am having a little bit of trouble getting my creativity flowing. I have a few palettes and ideas on the back burner, but nothing that I'm super excited about. I was thinking that maybe some of you have suggestions for palettes and ideas for me? If you do, please post them here. You will get the kit for free if I choose your suggestion. You can post them here, on facebook, or in the forum at 9th & Bloom.

Bring 'em on!

Walk in Splendor

2010-09-24T07:55:00.003-04:00

Fall is my absolute, most favorite time of year, hands down, bar none. I love the way that it thrills the senses with its glorious riot of color, its fresh crisp air, the cool nights, the golden quality of the light. I love driving on our country roads and seeing the hillsides painted with an artist’s brush. Did I mention I love fall?!?

And so I simply had to make a new fall kit this year. I took a break from my usual palettes and relished in nature’s palette. I’ve spent weeks on this kit, but loved every single moment. The results are truly glorious. I know I’m probably not supposed to say that about my own work, but I just can’t help myself!

Walk in Splendor

It has more than 55 unique elements, 13 richly textured papers and a full alphabet, all created at 300 dpi for quality printing.

I also put together a pack of clusters and word art (thank you Nancy and Lisa for the help!) – they are gorgeously layered and clustery and make scrapping a breeze!

Walk in Splendor Clusters

AND you can get both together at a discounted price. Yay!

Walk in Splendor Bundle

Everything is 20% off for Friday and Saturday.

My CT has been working with this all week and I’ve got to tell you that I am stunned by their gorgeous creations. Usually I narrow down the pages to a few before posting, but it was impossible for me to narrow these down…. thank you for indulging ALL of these pages. I am absolute AMAZED by the amazing artists that I am privileged to work with.

And you know I can never release a kit without giving my readers a small gift. This week its a stunning cluster frame made by my dear Holly – thank you love, its stunning!

Download HERE at box.net.

I hope you love this kit. Thank you for reading today!

Sneak peek and a chance to WIN!

2010-09-20T11:48:00.001-04:00

Good morning good morning!

It has been a crazy busy month around here. I was finally able to narrow down the amazing applicants to my CT call -- a nearly impossible task -- and get back to my favorite part of being a designer. The designing! I'm just putting the finishing touches on a brand new fall kit. I absolutely love it. I know I have to say this because its mine, but truly, its one of my favorite fall kits of all time.

Here is a peek:

And I'm offering a chance to win it! Just check out the instructions in the forum at 9th & Bloom (linked).

I'll choose a winner on Friday and be back with a full reveal and some absolutely stunning pages from my CT.... plus maybe a little giftie, too! See you then.

CT Call!

2010-08-28T11:59:00.002-04:00

CT Call for By Becca at 9th & Bloom
requirements:
one LO per kit, minimum of 2 LOs per month
posted to 3 galleries (DST, 9&B and choice)
enabling where appropriate

To apply:
send me an email to calls at bybeccadesigns dot com
include a short intro
a list of current commitments
a link to your most complete gallery (not flikr please, something like DST)

I know that most designers don't post a big narrative after their ads, but I'm not most designers. My CT is essential to me and so I feel like I need to give a little more information than I can include in an itty bitty ad. Forgive me for rambling on a bit.

I've had quite a few inquiries lately about openings on my CT. I have answered everyone that I have no openings at this time. Well, things have changed and now I do have a few open slots. Not many, but enough that I'm looking for some fresh creativity.

To be fair to everyone, I am putting out a general call to fill the openings. I don't have a call often -- the last one was in February -- so if you are interested, please apply. I will reply to everyone on receiving your email and once more after decisions are made. I will be away from September 3-6, so if you don't hear from me during those days, please be patient!

For those who don't know me, I want to be sure you know what you are getting into. I'm not a very fast designer, at the most I put out two new kits a month and some months I manage only one. I am very involved with my CT, we are more than just a creative group working together, we are friends and a digifamily. I involve them in the creative process and rely on them for their honest opinions about my work in progress. I figure my work is better for not having just made a kit on my own and then thrown it at them. My style is pretty and elegant with a touch of whimsy. I don't do cute little animals. I really love muted colors and I am drawn to cooler palettes (though I'm trying to branch out, I swear!)

I hate having calls because I always worry about disappointing people and them hating me forever, so please apply only if you won't hate me if I don't have room for you.

If you have any questions I will be happy to talk to you about them. And if you are still interested after reading this rambling note, I can't wait to get your applications!

Oh -- and the calls at bybeccadesigns dot com is a brand new email address at a brand new domain, so would someone please post here if their message comes back undeliverable?

Fading Summer

2010-08-25T11:17:00.002-04:00

Just a short post from me today. I want to tell you that with much encouragement from my CT I decided to re-release Fading Summer. This is an older kit, but one of my all time favorite kits and palettes. It has been updated, redesigned and supplemented into something that I think is really pretty. And after all, pretty is what I do best! Tee hee!

Here it is:

Fading Summer contains 15 lightly textured papers including the perfect mix of patterns, solids and semi solids. It also includes 45 beautifully executed elements and two full alphas including upper and lowercase, numbers and some symbols. Everything was created at 300 dpi for ideal printing results. It is S4H and S4O friendly.

And if you have the original (I know that at least a few of you have been with me that long) I also made an “additions” pack with everything that is new or changed since the original release:

Of course my faithful CT rocked out a bunch of amazing pages for me at the last minute and I want to share a few with you for inspiration.
By Candace By Nancy

By Josette By Holly

By Gemma By Lisa

By Kay By Britt

And a few from a one kit call (since I was so last minute!)
By Helen By Lisa

By Mary By DK

Beautiful work by everyone, yes? I totally <3 every page!!
Both kits are 20% off today and Thursday. Thanks for reading today – I hope the last days of summer treat you well.

Ever After

2010-08-18T07:48:00.005-04:00

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a princess. All my doodles were of fancy dresses and castles and I devoured fairy tales like they were the last stories on earth. I loved them all: Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Rose Red, Snow White, The Six Swans…. well, you get the idea. If there was a princess in adversity I was enthralled. Of course I grew up, but I never outgrew that fascination and to this day I still harbor a penchant for a good fairytale. In fact, I’m trying to instill that same magic in my own daughters.

My latest kit, then, is a tribute to my fairytale dreams.

Ever After has everything a princess has to have: a carriage, a magic wand, a castle and towers, fairy dust and a fairy, fairy wings, a perfect tulle skirt, a crown and a sparkling tiara. All of this is set in lush pinks, purples and turquoise sure to tickle the fancy of every princess out there.

Ever After
Isn’t it pretty? It is filled with little bits of my princess dreams. :)

And its 20% off through Friday only!

I made this with it:

And my CT made gorgeous pages too!

By Holly – this is her gorgeous daughter, college bound this fall:
By Lisa:

By Josette:

By Kay:

I received a TON of gorgeous pages from my CT and I don’t want to make this post too long, so I hope its ok if I share a few more in a slideshow:

View Full Album

I’m hoping that link to view the full album works. I’m writing for the first time with Windows Live Writer instead of directly in blogger and when I test that link, nothing happens. Eeeeek! I’ll come back and post them in a new post if it doesn’t work after I post this
.
And finally, you know I can’t release a new kit without giving you a little taste of it for free. This time around its a wonderful cluster inspired by my page above. This cluster is preshadowed, but the elements in the kit are not preshadowed.

Here is the freebie:

Download it at Box.net here. Remember please that box.net doesn’t permit comments, so if you’d like to leave a comment you need to leave it on the blog.

That’s all for me today – I hope you have a great one!

We have a winner!

2010-08-17T09:58:00.000-04:00

So I'm a day late.... sorry about that, seem I never can quite get to things as quickly as I think I will.

Thank you all for sharing your favorite fairy tales with me. I know that it was a tough question, I don't know if I would have been able to choose a favorite. Maybe Beauty and the Beast? Love the idea of an enchanted castle.

Anyhow, without further excuses or ado..... drumroll please!

The way I count it (and I surely hope my counting is accurate!) Doodlebop (Erika) is my winner. Congratulations sweetie! I'll get in touch with you through 9th & Bloom for your prize.

Everyone be sure to check back tomorrow for the full reveal of my latest kit. :)

Win It!

2010-08-12T14:36:00.000-04:00

So I have a new kit all packaged up and ready to go just dying to get out there. BUT at 9th & Bloom New Release Day doesn't come around again until Wednesday August 18th. Sigh.

Right now the kit is in the able hands of my CT and they are doing a fantastic job with it, but I am getting a little tired of waiting. So to make things a bit more interesting for me, how about a chance to win it before you can buy it? Sounds great, yes?

Oh wait, what was that you said? You want to SEE it before you decide if you want it? Well that's no good, I can't give the whole thing away. I know! How about a sneak peek instead?

How about now? Are you interested now? Yes?

Then here is what you do: leave a comment on this post telling me you favorite fairy tale and why you love it. On Monday August 16th I will pick a random winner or two and they will win this kit. Yay!

I will post the winners here and then make arrangements to get the prize into your hands. Be sure to leave your name (or screen name) with your post otherwise I have no way of telling who won.

Thanks for playing!

Yay!! Its time!!

2010-08-05T08:38:00.002-04:00

Oh yes, the much anticipated day has arrived! We've been waiting for WEEKS to share this beautiful new site and store, and we can't believe it's finally here! You'll find an incredible lineup of designers in the shop!

Bunnies & Bows by Amy Rose
By Becca
Clever Monkey Graphics
Damayanti Designs
emeto designs
Emily Ann Designs
et Designs
Fizzy Pop Designs
Fly Pixel Studio
Holly Designs
Kasia Designs
Kelley Mickus Designs
Lauren Reid Designs
mk Designs
Palvinka Designs
Vera Lim Design

Oh wait... who was that second from the top?? Oh that's right! It meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Can you tell how excited I am? LOL! Seriously, I am so proud to be a part of this amazing team and there are great things in store. I'm working on a few things I am super excited about, but I did find time to make a little minikit for the opening Oh Happy Day!

Oh Happy Day and everything else in my store is on sale at 35% off the celebrate the grand opening of 9th & Bloom.

And not only that, but there are FIVE guest designers that are just gonna blow your socks off with the gorgeousness that they are sharing at Ninth and Bloom. We are calling them the Fab 5 and they will WOW you!

Be sure to stop by and see us for challenges, games, RAKs . . . oh yeah . . . and the Blog Hop!

I am so excited to share with you the Quick Page created with the 9th and Bloom Collab Memories . . . Captured. This page was made by the fabulous Josette!

Download it HERE.

I'm so glad that you stopped by and hope you enjoy the free quick page! Don't forget to visit all the blogs to find other beautiful freebies. Your next stop will be Wendy's gorgeous blog.

Changes are coming!

2010-07-19T17:56:00.001-04:00

It is a bittersweet day. I am sorry to share that I am leaving ScrapMatters after seven wonderful months. I am sorry to leave such a wonderful store and fantastic team -- my experience with all things related to Scrapmatters has been nothing but positive. My store will close the last day of July and some of my current products are retiring indefinitely.

BUT I have been offered an **absolutely amazing** opportunity that I could not possibly decline. I am over the moon and beyond excited to have been included in an amazing new venture that is coming very soon!

Drift Away at ScrapMatters!

2010-07-03T11:59:00.000-04:00

Hooray! Drift Away is at ScrapMatters now! And EVERYTHING, including the bundle, is 30% off through Monday. Which means that you can get every little Drift Away bit for just $7.00 all weekend long.

Here are the links -- just click on the images to get there.

Drift Away

Drift Away: Shell Alpha

Drift Away: Word Art

Drift Away: The Sweet Deal

Let me share a few more pages with you, too.

New Release -- Drift Away

2010-07-02T11:46:00.001-04:00

Its the time of year when my little ones practically live in their bathing suits, my house is filled with sand and all of us are a darker version of our pale winter selves. So when my CT girls asked me to try a summer escape beach kit, I was all for it! This was a long time in the making.... it seems like something was constantly popping up to derail the design process and eventually my sweet friend Jen Graham stepped up and offered to help me get it finished. Knowing there was a real possibility that it wouldn't be ready until August unless I accepted her help, I took her up on it. In all honesty, I was a bit worried about how our styles might mix, but I shouldn't have worried! Its a little bit me, a little bit Jen and has something for everyone.

Drift Away is filled with bits of the shore: sea glass, a sand fence, bits of shells and sand, drift wood and bits of shimmer. There are 20 papers, more than 50 unique elements, and a full alpha all included at 300 dpi for professional printing results. Not everything is shown in the preview.

Drift Away

But we didn't stop there! We also created a stunning Shell Alpha:
Drift Away: Shell Alpha

And a pack of word art:
Drift Away: Word Art

AND! You can get all of that together in one big bundle for one low price and if you do, well then you get a pack of 8 tattered and worn papers as an added bonus. Sweet deal, right?
Drift Away: The Sweet Deal

Now.... a word of warning.....

We had a slight snafu at ScrapMatters this week. We moved to bigger and better servers, but as a result our new products aren't visible in the store right now unless you access them through the direct links. They *should* be there on Saturday. However, you can get to these products in my ScrapMatters store by clicking on the direct links here in the newsletter, OR you can run over to Jen's Gotta Pixel store where the products were released today. Here are the links for the products at Gotta Pixel:

Drift Away
Drift Away: Shell Alpha
Drift Away: Word Art
Drift Away: The Sweet Deal

Here are a few pages for inspiration!

By Candace (this paper will be a freebie on my blog this weekend!)

By Holly

By Lisa

By Candace

By Josette (this is an RAK for me! Thanks Josette!)

By Valerie (on Jen's CT)

And you know I can never put out a new release without a little gift. This time its that gorgeous paper from Candace's page and a word art on a string. Here is the preview:

The download is at box.net, and you can't leave any comments there, so if you like it, please let me know by posting here. All of the elements used to make the freebie word art and paper are included in the full kit.

Thank you for reading today -- for my USA friends, have a wonderful holiday and stay safe!

Giveaway!

2010-07-01T15:47:00.000-04:00

Just a quick word today before my new release tomorrow. I am giving my newest kit Drift Away to one lucky poster on my facebook fan page tomorrow morning. Its a collab with Jen Graham and I think you'll love it. So if you aren't with me over there, maybe its time? You can find me on face book HERE.

See you tomorrow!

Feeling a little summer....

2010-06-29T17:31:00.000-04:00

'Nuff said. ;)

June Color Challenge

2010-06-12T10:33:00.000-04:00

My kids finished up school this week and as of today it is HOT at our house. My DH just ordered a load of mulch (and then some) for the house and the office, so I think I'll be spending most of the day manning -- um, er -- womaning? a shovel. Eeeeeps! I'm sure by tomorrow I'll be moaning and groaning about my achy breaky back. And yes, I *know* I'm supposed to shovel with my legs, but I also know from experience that my back will be stiff and sore by tomorrow.

Anywho, its been a few months since I was able to make something for Kim's color challenge that was not a page, but this month I managed to get one done. Yay me! Another interesting thing to note is that it was last June that I made my first every freebie for the challenge and boy, have I come a long was in that time.

I like to use the color challenge to try something new to me, to break out of my usual box a little bit. the color challenge is great for that, because I only need to design a few things, so I can get a taste of something new without having to work it into a whole kit. This month I bought Illustrator and I'm battling with the learning curve on it. So of course I had to use Illustrator to make something for the June challenge. I decided to tackle a 3D alpha. No templates here baby, this one was all me! Now it may not be the greatest alpha ever, but I certainly think its a fair first try. You get the caps only, but maybe someday I'll make the lowercase and the numbers so that there is a complete set. And, because the alpha looked so lonely, I made a few papers as well.

Here's the preview:

The preview is linked to a 4shared download, otherwise you can download from box.net HERE.

That's all for today. So long!

Last chance to win

2010-05-24T07:46:00.001-04:00

Good morning everyone. I hope that you had a wonderful weekend. We enjoyed beautiful weather yesterday and spent most of the day outside trying to get the place in shape. We polished the day off with a super fun game of duck duck goose with our little ones. What a blast!

I want to remind you that there is one last chance available to win an RAK of Ephemeral Soul. I am giving one away today on my facebook fan page. So if you haven't won yet and would like one more chance to win, run on over there and post -- I'll be putting the contest up there as soon as I finish posting here.

I want to share one more page with you from Helly's CT member Elena. It is absolutely stunning work and I can't stop admiring it.

Isn't that beautifully rich? Ephemeral Soul is still on sale, 20% off until Wednesday only.

Ephemeral Soul

2010-05-21T08:19:00.000-04:00

I have always been inspired by collage and altered kits -- kits with muted colors and unusual elements, sometimes vintage, sometimes not, with lots of interesting blends and textures. I don't consider myself to be an altered artist, I don't quite get what I'm supposed to do, but I love, love, love the way that these kits can become anything you want them to be: funky, pretty, intensely personal, you name it. Some of my own favorite pages have been made with kits that are this style.

So for the last six months or so I have been pondering the idea of trying to make that kind of kit. Its a little bit outside my usual box and so I have been intimidated by the idea and a little afraid to try.

A few weeks ago Helly (Designs by Helly) and I got to talking and she said she was kind of in a design rut and maybe it was time for us to collab again. I love working with Helly -- we inspire each other and each of our collabs has turned into something more, something better, than either of us could make on our own. So I threw the idea for this kit at her to see if she would be willing to give it a try with me. Helly has such great vintage style that I thought she could do this really well and that with her help I would be brave enough to take the leap and give it a try. And so Ephemeral Soul was born.

Ephemeral Soul is huge! We wanted it to be something with a little bit of edge but still mainstream enough to be used for normal, every day pages and once we started designing we had so many ideas that we just couldn't stop. It contains more than 90 elements, 20 gorgeously textured papers, two alphas and a complete set of 90 or so word snips (on individual png files and one big sheet) all at 300 dpi for professional printing results. Not everything is shown in the preview because I simply did not have room for everything. Its S4H and S4O friendly and its 20% off until Wednesday only.

Look at the fantastic work my CT, Helly's CT and the ScrapMatters CT has done with this:

By Holly

By Candace

By Me

By Lisa

And more and more!

Also, there will be three chances to win it! Watch for a thread at DST and keep an eye on Helly's facebook wall (today!) and my facebook fan page on Monday.

Ouch! and a sneak peek

2010-05-20T16:42:00.002-04:00

I totally fell down the stairs at my office today. Ouch, ouch and double ouch. My arm is bruised and banged up, and my hip, and my leg. I think I need a drink!

And do you know WHY I fell down the stairs? Because I wasn't holding on to the nice sturdy rail. I was carrying a file and I was all riled up because the DH and I had a bit of ... not seeing eye to eye ... last night and my secretary made an error that made me look like an idiot. And I was wearing sandals because its finally summery here and my toenails look nice. Well apparently I misstepped, no doubt due to the sandals, lost my balance and my file went flying everywhere. Its completely out of order, everything is scattered and I can't even remember why I was carrying it down the stairs in the first place. Now I've never been graceful, but I'm usually able to handle walking without falling down. Or at least I used to be. Did I mention how I'm in pain?!? Lesson learned: do not file when riled.

I'm embarrassed. And stiff and sore. And I just *know* its going to feel worse tomorrow.

But, on the bright side, something new is coming tomorrow. Its a project that I am very excited about and have been contemplating for a long time but was too intimidated to try. I have a sneak peek for you:

Its a little bit vintage, a little bit funky, has a touch of grunge and some fantastic textures... definitely worth checking out! Its all I can do to not start posting about it now, but I'm trying to exercise a teeny bit of restraint. Tomorrow's post will be huge -- I'm releasing Ephemeral Soul and Chaos Lounge and Graham Like the Cracker have new releases too. Oh, and so does Helly. But that's because my new release is hers too. Its our third collab together and I can't wait to share it.

I hope you stop by tomorrow to check it out!

Oooops.....

2010-05-07T07:12:00.002-04:00

I'd like to extend my apologies to those people who tried to snag my iNSD blog train freebie after 10:30 pm EST on May 5th. I mistakenly thought that they were absolutely, positively to be taken down no later than midnight that night so they could be bundled into the store. Turns out that I was a day too early. It was a genuine mistake, I wasn't trying to prevent anyone from getting my little bit of word art and I had no idea that a small mistake would lead to such hard feelings and nasty comments. I feel just awful.

I can't put that word art back up now due to my commitments at ScrapMatters, so I'm offering this little bit made with my iNSD kit Wistful instead. Almost the same, but not quite.

Download here (from 4shared). Sorry about the mixup!

Sale Extended

2010-05-03T07:54:00.001-04:00

ScrapMatters is extending its 40% off sale due to the many server errors experienced over the weekend.

We feel terrible and want to fix it anyway we can. Also, there is a coupon code in the forum at ScrapMatters for an additional 15% off your entire order from my store including my grab bag, so if there is anything at all that you want, now is the time to get it. Hurry hurry! its good for the first ten uses only!

Surviving [i]NSD

2010-05-02T10:23:00.003-04:00

Are you surviving the weekend?

Did you get everything you were after?

My iNSD sale is still on!

Have you snagged my grab bag yet? No? Want to see it again? Check out this post for a complete look at everything that is inside.

I know that the servers at ScrapMatters have been having a touch of trouble... please be patient and try again a bit later if you can't get into the store or make purchases. The techie guys assured us this wouldn't be a problem, but I guess they weren't anticipating this much traffic. The problems appear to be resolved for now, but I don't know if they will pick back up as traffic increases later today. Please be patient and try again a little later if you are having trouble.

If you are unable to buy the grab bag (or any of my products) at iNSD prices this weekend, please shoot me a quick message through my email and I will make sure that you get the products you want at the sale price. There is a link for my email address on the right side at the top of my blog.

Now that the technical stuff is out of the way, I want to congratulate Candace who got a GSO at DST for her page from my grab bag! Yay Candace! Here is her page.

And a few other pages I want to share with you.

By Lisa

By Kay

By Melissa

By Chel

By Kim

And Nancy made a freebie to share with you from Silver Bells and Cockleshells. Look at the gorgeous cluster photo:

You can snag it on Nancy's blog. Isn't it gorgeous? I love Nancy's style.

That's all for today. I hope your weekend is going fantastically well!

Moments that Matter

2010-05-01T09:00:00.004-04:00

Hello and welcome to your next stop on the ScrapMatters iNSD blog train! If you're riding the train already, you just came from Chelle's Creations. If this is your first stop, welcome aboard!

The theme of this year's gorgeous iNSD kit is Moments that Matter and we thought that it would be a little fun to share one of those moments at each stop along the way. I'm sure you've seen stories about engagements and births, birthdays, graduations and all the big moments that make life special. And they truly do! But I want to share a smaller moment with you, an everyday moment.

The snow at my house started melting in March this year and like all of those who live in the frozen north, we were all anxious to get outside. I took the little girls out in their spring coats and boots to enjoy the thaw. They stomped in snow melt puddles, caught the drips from melting icicles, and started uncovering some of last year's plants in the garden. My youngest pulled a long piece of ornamental grass out of one of the planters and started tickling herself with it. Her little nose wrinkled up and she couldn't stop tickling herself, laughing and giggling. It certainly felt like spring! I was able to snap a few shots of the moment, one of those that matters to me.

Here she is:

And of course I also want to share my little bit of word art coordinating with the Moments that Matter collab.

Sorry, these links have been removed because the download is no longer available. You may purchase this and the other blog train goodies through the store at ScrapMatters shortly.

From here you are headed to Melissa's blog, YB Designs. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the ride!

{inter} National Scrapbooking Day

2010-04-30T11:21:00.001-04:00

International Scrapbooking Day is officially May 2, but things are already a humming all over digiland!

KimB has a HUGE sale! You know her stuff is gorgeous, so if there is something of hers that you don't have yet, now is the time to grab it -- everything is a steal at these prices, even her CU is on sale!

ScrapMatters has all kinds of fantastic things going on.

Everything, and I do mean everything, in my ScrapMatters store is on sale, 40% off all weekend long and the 30% off for most of next week and there is a gorgeous free kit with a $20 purchase anywhere at ScrapMatters. I contributed to this kit and it is really lovely!

I have an iNSD Grab Bag full of four brand new, never released products that is only available until May 5 before it will be broken up and sold in pieces. Right now its just $4.00.... it will cost a whole lot more once its broken up, so don't miss it!

Here is what you will find inside:

A gorgeous springful kit called Wistful which started as a mini but kept growing and growing! It has 7 papers and 33 elements and my CT has been making magic with it all week.

Two retro alphas that coordinate with Wistful but will stand very well on their own. One is a gold metal alpha and the other is made of stacked papers.

5 swirly and twirly text paths. All the hard work is done -- all you need to do is change the font, the color and the text to fit you page and put it on your layout. These work in Photoshop (after 7.0) and Photoshop Elements and I believe they will work in Gimp as well, though there have not been tested in that program.

four layered templates. You get the layered tiff files and a separated subfolder for each template that contains each layer as an individual png file. My uber talented CT made three of them and I made the fourth, so you get something from me, from Chel, from Karli-Marie and from Nancy.

Look at the amazing things my CT has put together:

By Nancy (using a template, an alpha and the kit)

By Holly (using the kit and alpha)

By Karli-Marie, who managed to use a bit of everything!

By Josette (using the kit and a path and featuring my youngest daughter. Thank you Josette, what a wonderful surprise!):

Boy this post is getting long.... I'll post a few more tomorrow (I have so many gorgeous ones that I didn't post today) along with my freebie for the ScrapMatters blog train. Now stop reading and go join the fun!

Its Bloomin' Time

2010-04-23T17:31:00.000-04:00

I know its not usually my thing to post a short post on new release day, but I am exhausted. I think that with International Scrapbooking Day just around the bend all designers everywhere have been working double time. Me, of course, but also the designers I CT for. I know it will be worth it, but oh me oh my am I worn out!

So today I'm going to hit quickly and then go relax with my family. Forgive me, ok?

I'm proud to announce that today I released a brand new kit inspired by my creative team member nancy and her love of gardening. That, combined with all the time I've spent outdoors lately led me to create something fresh and floral with a little bit of the nitty gritty of gardening mixed in. The result? Silver Bells and Cockleshells. I needed a soothing garden as an escape from my hectic every day, so you'll find this palette to be calm and soothing, just like the garden I'd love to curl up in with a good book.

There is also a fantastic word art pack because there are so many wonderful things to say on the topic that I couldn't cram it all in to the kit. BUT if you buy the kit before Wednesday the 28th of April you get the word art pack for free. Its also available separately if you prefer.

My CT has been working on this frantically, I didn't give them much lead time this go round. I feel awful about that, but they stepped up to the plate like they always do. I am so blessed in my amazing team! Here are a few of the pages that they put together for inspiration.

By Kat

By Holly

By Jenn

By Candace

By Josette

I made two versions and can't decide which I like better. And my CT is divided, so I'm posting both. Tee hee!

And my wonderful Jenn made a little gift for you, too. Check it out.

You can download it here.

That's all for today, I'll be back this week with more goodies and all kinds of stuff to share for iNSD! Happy scrapping!

Something Beautiful

2010-03-25T23:30:00.002-04:00

Spring is just around the corner here in Pennsylvania. We have had a bit of a warm up, the snow is melted, hopefully until fall, and the spring rains are starting to wash away the salt, silt and drab that winter left behind. I took a walk with my girls yesterday and we saw crocuses starting to peek up and heard spring birds filling the air with song. My children have been drawing with chalk on our sidewalk and I've had to dig out the bubbles and the baseball gloves. All of this has inspired a kit of renewal and rebirth, everything washed clean and sparkling. Something Beautiful After the Rain.

Something Beautiful After the Rain is filled with beautiful water lilies, lily pads, boots, puddles and umbrellas. Its got a bit of sparkle and the bright saturated colors of spring. You are sure to be thrilled with the pages you create. A total of 58 elements and 13 gorgeously textured papers plus two complete alphas are all included at 300 dpi for professional printing results. Not everything is shown in the preview. Its S4H and S4O friendly and its 20% off through Sunday.

Need a Little Inspiration?
Here are a few pages from my amazing CT and the talented ScrapMatters CT to get you started!

Finally, I have a small gift for you today. This includes one paper, one word art and the rainbow.

Download it here.

Thank you for reading today! Happy Scrapping!

Merry A Round

2010-03-21T09:32:00.000-04:00

It has been such a busy month! My son lost his first tooth, we celebrated a birthday or two and I have been sick, sick, sick. And so have the kids. We've been to urgent care twice for two different kids and are on our second round of amoxicillin. Its kept me hopping!

But I have managed to find a little time to design and I'll be releasing a brand new kit on Friday. Hooray!

And I had the chance to work with a gorgeous new kit from KimB that she released just two days ago. Its called Merry A Round and in true Kim fashion it is filled with amazing artistry and glorious details, bits of popcorn, cotton candy, a full carousel and all its pieces, two AMAZING carousel horses, bubbles, lollipops and on and on. What a treat!

Here is the preview:

Its a steal this week at 35% off in Kim's store at Digiscrap Obsession.

I LOVED working with this. The bits and pieces reminded me of one of my favorite pages from my dear friend Josette, Sunshine, who graciously allowed me to lift it. In the end my page looks like mine and not Josette's (more's the pity, since I *wish* I could scrap like Josette) but it has her structure and line. I guess that's the point of a lift after all. I definitely see her page in mine. And I even got a GSO at DST yesterday which totally made my day. OK, if I'm being honest, it made my week. ;) Check it out.

I've turned this into a quickpage to share with anyone who would like it. Here is the preview:

And you can download here.

That's it for today. I'll be back later this week with my new kit and another little gift. Enjoy your weekend!

Good intentions

2010-02-25T15:12:00.003-05:00

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and I'm afraid that is the walk I've been walking this week. Seems there is never enough time to get everything done that I want to! And since I haven't managed to blog at all this week I have a few things to say, so bear with me.

First off -- HUGE congrats to my CT. Candace, Holly, Josette, Kay and Nancy all got gallery standout mentions at Digishoptalk or ScrapMatters or both for their Taste of Provence pages. The praise in much deserved since every one of them did some gorgeous work with this kit. Actually, if it were up to me ALL of my girls would have received GSOs this week. Their work was outstanding.

Here are a few more pages that I have to share with you.

Nancy

Lisa:

Gemma:

Melissa:

Jenn:

Tiffany:

Aren't they fantastic?

Taste of Provence is still on sale, but only until tomorrow, so grab it fast!

Next up, I contributed to this month's collab at ScrapMatters, Captured Romance.

Isn't it stunning? I had to work with it right away and made this page which is also being offered as a quickpage at ScrapMatters:

So here's the deal -- When you spend $20 in the Scrap Matters shop you automatically get 20% off your purchase of the Captured Romance Kit! 02/19 - 03/05. Hard to go wrong there, isn't it?

And I have a gift for you today! My bit for KimB's color challenge at DSO. This months palette was warm and inviting, very cozy, and the submissions that I've seen are awesome! Definitely check out the color challenge at Digiscrap Obsession if you want to grab up a few more minikits that match mine. Here is my part:

And you can download it HERE (text linked). A few of you have mentioned having trouble with 4shared so this one is hosted at MediaFire. I hope that works better for you.

I'm thinking of getting into custom blog design. I've always done mine and I recently did a design for Helly. Would any of you be interested in that? I'd love some feedback on the idea.

Taste of Provence

2010-02-19T08:23:00.000-05:00

February is always a tough month around here. the snow has been around just a little bit too long, the holidays are over, and spring seems much too far away. I've been dreaming of warmth and sunshine lately and all of my wishing and dreaming has led me to create a kit that is a bit outside my usual box. Taste of Provence is sun-filled and warm with colors taken from the gorgeous fabrics and flowers of Provence France. I can almost feel the sun and smell the flowers and earth. It transported me away from the last dreary days of winter and I hope it does the same for you.

Taste of Provence is filled with beautiful flowers, ribbons and unique elements, such as a bicycle, basket and rooster, and capturing the colors and feel of traditional fabrics of Provence you are sure to be thrilled with the pages you create. A total of 67 elements and 14 gorgeously textured papers plus a complete distressed metal alpha are all included at 300 dpi for professional printing results. Not everything is shown in the preview. Its S4H and S4O friendly and its 20% off this week.

Need a Little Inspiration?
Here are a few pages to get you started!

By Josette

By Tiffany

By Me

By Candace

By Kay

By Holly

I'll be back with a few more tomorrow and a little gift as well!

Boy Blue

2010-02-05T12:23:00.000-05:00

Thank you for all of your lovely comments about Baby Mine! Several people have asked me about a blue version of that very pink kit, and so by popular demand I release Boy Blue. Now you can scrap your little angel in pink or in blue. Boy Blue is new in the ScrapMatters store today and its on sale this week only.

Boy Blue from By Becca

Boy Blue Word Art from By Becca

Need some inspiration? Check these out!

February goodies from Kim

2010-02-02T10:08:00.000-05:00

Oh boy ladies, its like Christmas morning if you are a fan of KimB (and who isn't, really?)

She has her February Grab Bag up with 6 Brand NEW Full sized products for only $5. It has 49 original elements to design or play with and all Quality Checked for your peace of mind. About half of it is going into the kit I'm working on right now (tee hee!) so Kim's timing could not have been better!

Available at DSO and at DSV
from 02 Feb - 09th February 2010 only.
Don't miss it.

100% close up detail of some of the goodies in the bag.

Also, the DSO Ladies have collaborated this month to bring you a fantastic surprise! A DSO Mega!
This mega isn't like the old mega kits of the past where you were stuck with downloading a huge kit containing parts you knew you would never use. This time around YOU get to choose the bits you want! All ranging from only $1 - $2.25

All of the Feb Collab, titled Forever & After can be found in the DSO COLLAB category in the store.
Here is Kim's *Chapter* for the Collab-

Forever and After Element set.

Forever and After - Worn and Torn Matts.

Forever and After- Plains and Prints all previews are clickable.

And in case you are wondering, my CT call is still on but will probably close this weekend, so if you haven't applied yet, now is the time! All the details are in the post before this one. Have a terrific day!

CT Call

2010-01-29T14:56:00.000-05:00

Every now and again I get inquiries from people who like my designs enough to want to be on my CT. I am always terribly flattered when I get these inquiries, makes me feel all warm inside! But when I get them, I nearly always say I'm not looking to add to my team right now, but when I AM ready, I'll post a call on my blog and at DST.

Well, its time. I'm ready. So here we go.... I'm having a CT call!

The call will close when the spots are filled. So bring on those applications -- I need some more talent!

A little this, a little that

2010-01-25T21:14:00.001-05:00

The last few days have been super busy! We took all the kids to the movies -- together -- for the first time ever on Saturday night. This was definitely an adventure. They did pretty well! The two older ones were of course fine, but the younger two didn't do quite as well. About twenty minutes before the end of the movie (that's a guess, it seemed like an eternity!) my two year decided she wanted to go home. She is a very stubborn little thing and wouldn't let that go. Every thirty seconds or so she announced that she wanted to go home. I kept shushing her and sending her over to her daddy, but she kept coming back over to make sure I knew she wanted to leave. And then the four year old had to go to the bathroom five minutes before the movie ended. She was miserable because she didn't want to miss the end and she was miserable because she couldn't wait any longer. Poor hunny. And then the six year old decided she needed to go too. I ended up taking all three girls out during the last minute or so of the film. The boys gathered our coats and my purse and met us in the hall after it ended. All in all it was an adventure and I think its safe to say that all of us, even the littlest one, enjoyed our trip and will do it again.

Yesterday I had a hideous headache and got absolutely nothing done. Today my two year old is miserably sick and I've spent the better part of the last day snuggling with her on my lap and getting a crink in my neck from turning my head sideways to look at my computer.

In the midst of all of this I managed to get a few things done. First, I have a brand spanking new fan page on Facebook. There is not a whole lot there yet as I'm still learning the ropes, but I have a few fans already. Actually, I shamelessly begged my friends to become my fans so I wouldn't look like a total loser. Thank you to everyone who answered the call. As we sit I have 57 fans (yay me!) and room for lots more. So, if you are on Facebook and want to get all the latest scoop on my designs and a special offer here and there, become a fan! You can do it through the link above or through the handy dandy Facebook fan box over there in the right sidebar of my blog.

Next up, I have a few more pages to share with you from Baby Mine.

Crystal

Josette

Candace

Kim

And guess what? I finally found some time to scrap! I made this today for my friend Jen (Graham Like the Cracker) for her latest release Letters to Juliet at Sunshine Studio Scraps. I have always admired the perspective layouts that I've seen others do, particularly my creative team member Candace who rocks perspective. I've halfheartedly tried it a few times and given up before I got it figured out. This time around though, I decided to actually follow through. I'm not sure I got it "right" but it is by far my best attempt so far. What do you think?

And I made a page of my youngest who was busy playing with a pair of sunglasses yesterday and let me snap a few shots.

I made this using Sweet Sixteen from Chaos Lounge.

The kit is geared toward girls who are much more mature that my two year old, but I thought it was perfect for this punky photo and I love the result. I checked with Chaos Lounge who gave me permission to offer this one as a quickpage for download. So if you like it and have a glamour girl of your own, feel free to snag it.

Download here.

A word on that -- your time to to leave a brief comment is greatly appreciated if you download. It takes just a second to leave a kind word and it makes a huge difference! It can be frustrating to post these and see hundreds of people download then but just three people leave a comment. :(

To those of you who have left comments lately, thank you! Especially those of you who said that you were glad I wasn't leaving designing altogether, just changing stores. Totally made my day!

That's all for now, see you soon!

Oh baby!

2010-01-22T06:00:00.002-05:00

I'm sure its no secret by now that I am kind of a girly girl. I love pink, flowers, bubble baths. Some of these things are a little tricky now that I'm a mama to four -- I find myself sharing my bubblebaths on occasion, and at the very least small hands are usually scooping the bubbles out of my tub. I guess my daughters inherited my love of good smelling stuff! In fact, we overflowed the tub the other day and Jeff had to come upstairs to make sure we hadn't burst a pipe. . . . oh my! But I digress. The point is that I'm a girly girl. And actually that works out for me because I have three little girls to share the girly things with me.

I was overjoyed when I was expecting my first daughter -- all that pink, all those cute little ruffles, silky satins, soft cottons. I love all things baby girl! And so I've been mulling over a baby kit in my head for the last month or so thinking that it was almost time to make one. As luck would have it, one of my CT girls is expecting a new baby girl very soon and that gave me the inspiration that I needed to get to work on it. I am so glad I did! I had a ton of fun working on it. So much fun, in fact, that I could stop at just the kit and made a pack of word art. And THEN, my talented CT helped me to create a twelve page brag book as well!

Each piece is available separately.

Baby Mine has 12 gorgeous papers and 60 elements, many of them absolutely one of a kind.

Baby Mine: Word Art is the perfect complement to the kit and to many other types of pages as well with 15 stunning word arts and decorative bits.

And finally, the Baby Mine: Brag Book, consisting of twelve 4x6 pages carefully built at 300 dpi, preshadowed and just waiting for your photos.

And everything is also available as a discounted bundle so that you can have it all, guilt free!

Need a little inspiration? Here are a few pages from my CT.

From Jenn:

From Holly:

From Tiffany:

From Nancy:

There are a ton more, but I don't want to overwhelm you and I'd love to save a few for later in the week.

And as always, you know I can't release a new kit without a little freebie. This time its a brag book page made by my wonderful Holly! It looks like this:

Download here.

That's all for today, much more to come this week including another brag book page or two! Thanks for reading.

Saying goodbye

2010-01-19T21:01:00.002-05:00

There is change in the wind. After wrestling with the decision for some time, I finally decided that it is time to hang up my wings and resign from the fairy fleet and the design team at Enchanted Studio Scraps. I hope that I made the right decision and I hope that time will tell, but regardless of the outcome this is bittersweet for me. I have formed wonderful friendships at ESS and without question would not be a designer today but for my time there and the opportunities that ESS offered to me. For this ESS will always hold a special place in my heart. I can't leave it altogether and I will continue to CT for Chaos Lounge who still sells there, but I know that it won't be the same which saddens me. With that though, I am excited about a new opportunity and hopeful that it will be a success! I'll still be designing, but I can't tell you where just yet.

My store closes on January 24th. Until then everything in my store is discounted and 20% off. The discounts will show in the cart only. Some of the products currently for sale will retire forever when this store closes, so if there is anything you've been thinking of getting and haven't, well, now is the time.

In other news, my dear KimB released a gorgeous new kit to day, Passions Blush.

It is filled with lush rich papers and beautiful elements suited to many types of pages.

I made this one and I am terribly flattered that it was mentioned in the Gallery Standout thread at Digishop Talk today. Yay!

And I've turned it into a quickpage for you to download if you would like.

Download here.

I'm off to watch Season 2 of the Tudors while my little ones are asleep.... ok, maybe not the whole season, but a few episodes anyway. Gotta love Showtime On Demand! So long for now.

Frost. Snow. Ice.

2010-01-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

It seems a bit ironic that I'm pimping a frost kit this week since I've spent the last 7 days being pummeled by snowstorms. I have been stuck in my own driveway three times in the last week and my husband got stuck once. So that's four times for the family. In seven days. Gotta love the frozen north! Actually, I don't think I'd mind it if I never had to go anywhere or if I could walk everywhere I go. It really is very pretty and my backyard, house, even my little town all look like postcards. Which *almost* makes up for constantly getting stuck and having to shovel and blow snow, but not quite. lol!

I have more pages to share with you today and a quickpage, too!

Josette got a GSO mention at DST for this gorgeous page:

Britt made this:

Kim (who is on the Scrapmatters CT and made this for me!)

Crystal:

Nancy (love this!)

Christy:

And Tiffany (who is guesting on my CT this month, lucky me!)

Tiffany also made her page into a Quickpage and you can snag it on her blog. Here is the preview, its linked to Tiffany:

Cool, eh? Well, that's it for today, I have to do some work at my real job. So long for now!

Snow babies.

2010-01-08T07:00:00.005-05:00

Are any of you still reading? I know that you've probably lost hope of me ever putting out anything new, but I'm about to end that cold streak.

Are any of you December or January babies? We have lots of December birthdays in my family, mine and my son's at the beginning of the month, my mom's is Christmas Eve. My son was actually born six days early, but he was dues December 16th. While I was pregnant one of my hormonal worries was that his birthday would get lost in Christmas and only his family would pay any attention. I was sure he was in for a lifetime of "combination" birthday and Christmas gifts, that his birthday decorations would be Christmas lights. . . well, you get the idea.

So my CT and I got to talking about how us poor winter babies get kind of neglected. Everyone gets wrapped up in the magic of Christmas (or the scramble of trying to get everything done!) and December and January birthdays seem to take a back seat. They suggested that the palette I was working on would be perfect for winter celebrations -- NOT Christmas -- but WINTER celebrations. And I think they were right!

And so, Frosted Jubilee was born. It releases today at Scrapmatters exclusively, so if you want it, be sure to look for it there! Also, its 20% off for this week only, then it goes back to regular price. You get three alphas (upper and lowercase, plus one set of numbers), fifteen papers and more than 60 unique elements.

Frosted Jubilee

I have some fantastic pages to share with you, too!

From Nancy:

from Jenn:

From Candace:

from Holly:

from Jenn:

one from me:

Since I don't want to overwhelm you, I'll post more of the beautiful pages from Frosted Jubilee tomorrow.

In the meantime, here is a small limited time freebie for you to give you a taste of the kit.

Download it here.

So long for now, see you in a few days with more! (and maybe take my Christmas clothes off my blog, eh? oooo boy!)

New Year News

2010-01-02T15:02:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I have not one, but TWO exciting things to share with you today. The first is the announcement that I promised a few days ago. I have an amazing opportunity this month that I am super exited about. . . . I have been invited to be a guest designer at Scrap Matters for the month of January! woo hoo! Here is a link to my store: Becca's Store. Not much there yet, but I'll be rolling out several new products during my stay including a full kit (or two, if I can get the second one done.) I'm already settling in and I have to tell you that there is a great group there. I can't wait to get to know them better!

The other big doings going on is that January is the one month birthday at Enchanted Studio Scraps and there are all kinds of big doings going on. There are special challenges and big sales and promotions, a special new kit and all the usual stuff too. This week everything is 35% off and there are different specials and sales planned throughout the month. Be sure to check it out!

Coming Up for Air

2009-12-31T14:53:00.001-05:00

Wow. December 31st. So the month ends and the year ends and I've barely had time to breathe for the last few weeks. The holidays were very busy at my house in that wonderful way that a houseful of children is at Christmastime. We had Christmas treats to bake, presents to wrap, open houses to visit, Santa lists to write and a houseful of guests. My last guest of the season (love you daddy!) left this morning and despite it being New Year's Eve we are already settling back down. We'll be staying in tonight and grilling steaks in the Pennsylvania snow before we snuggle up in front of a roaring fire to watch the year fade.

I've not had time to scrap or design and I've missed it much. And so I'm preparing for a wonderful January. I have a new kit already in the hands of my CT ready to release on the 8th and some other goodies planned for this month as well. l also have exciting news, but I have to keep it to myself for one more day. I hate secrets, but I think I can keep this one to myself just a wee bit longer.

I'm going to take one more deep breath and I'll be back tomorrow to post the first news of the year.

Have a wonderful night, have fun and be safe!

Just Married

2009-12-12T19:46:00.003-05:00

First off, my apologies. I guess I missed the boat, er, train, on this one. I thought this brag book train was going up on the 4th and when the fourth came and went and I still didn't have any information, I just moved on. Apparently I really dropped the ball, so please accept my apologies! Just in case anyone is still coming by, here is my brag book page for Just Married new and fabulous from Misty O'Brien and Wyld Web Designs. Now, since I never got the info, I'm not sure how you got here nor can I link you to your next stop, but my fingers are crossed that you can pick up the train from the stop ahead of mine. Did I offer my apologies already? I'm usually way more on the ball than this. No really! I am! (stop that snickering, would you?)

Here is the preview for my page:

And you can DOWNLOAD HERE.

Oh look! I found the list!
Misty - http://scrappaperie.blogspot.com
Charmaine - http://wyldwebdesigns.com/wordpress/
Jane - http://littleredscraps.blogspot.com
Becca http://cherishandcreate.blogspot.com <---- You are here!
Sharon - http://quietangelsb.blogspot.com
Lisa - www.fairydustscraps.blogspot.com
Christie Dawn - http://mrsbowien.blogspot.com/
Monica - http://scrapwithmonica.blogspot.com
Juli - http://juliandbrett.blogspot.com
Dana - http://iamscrappingirl.blogspot.com
Irma - http://iscrapandco.blogspot.com
Adriana - http://adrianascafe.blogspot.com

Sugar Cookies -- Yum!

2009-12-01T07:00:00.010-05:00

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. We got our first *real* snow last night -- the kind that covers the grass and sticks to the roads a bit. In fact, its still snowing. And the calendar says that its December 1. . . . which means the season is upon us!

To help kick it off, I am participating in a HUGE blog train this week. I've seen most of the previews and I have to tell you that this has become one fantastic kit!! Here is my little bit:

Download here.

And here's a slideshow of the whole thing:

If you are on the train already, you arrived from Pixie Mama Designs. Didn't Letitia do a great job for you? Grab the next gorgeous piece from Janice at JW-Digiscraps.

This is quite a piece of logistics and designers are participating from all over the world in many different time zones, so please be patient and give us time to get all the pieces up. I promise we are doing our best to get them all up at approximately the same time, but it may be 24 hours or so before everything is up everywhere. Oh -- and we all appreciate a little bit of loving in exchange for sharing our time and freebies. *wink*

If you get lost at any point along the way you can find the entire list of participating designers HERE. Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the ride!

Wishes

2009-11-23T17:30:00.012-05:00

Its the time of year where we start thinking about wishes. My children have already started their wishlists for Santa and I've started thinking of mine as well. There are always lots of things that I wish I had -- a scanner, better camera lenses, a wii and wii fit, more money, a chimney liner for our fireplace -- but when I really sit down and think about it, I have all I could wish for. I have four beautiful children and a warm and happy home. Its not always clean. It could use a little fixing up here and there. But it is filled with the sounds of running feet and joyous laughter. My children are happy and healthy and my husband and I both have jobs. What more could we wish for, really? Of course this year we will make our wish lists and do our best to make wishes come true, but for me . . . I already have all the big things.

All this thinking about wishes has inspired my new holiday kit in my favorite pinks, whites and greens. Wishes is a bit self indulgant. It reflects my taste for the holidays, a wee bit elegant, a touch of the old fashioned and traditional with lots of sparkle!

I really adore this palette and I hope that you do too! My CT worked hard this weekend to make me a few pages. I only gave them a few days and they really stepped up to the plate.

Holly

Jenn

Laura

Candace

Nancy

And one from me!

I really loved working on and with this kit and I think I probably have a few pages left in me.

In the meantime though, I want to offer you a little limited time freebie addon:

This addon contains one paper, the scattered sparklies, a cluster frame (shadowed) and one word art just to give you a taste of Wishes. I hope you enjoy it! (I'm sorry, the link has expired and this download is no longer available.)

In case you missed them, the coordinating masks for Wishes are still in the store and still on sale as well.

I hope that you like Wishes. And more than that, I hope that all of your dreams come true this season. Thanks for reading today!

Testing. . . .

2009-11-21T14:50:00.003-05:00

Yay! This is a test post to make sure I got my new signature to work. I am hopeless at coding. LOL!

Hats

2009-11-21T10:09:00.002-05:00

Oy, its been quite a week. I'm afraid my real life has been interfering far too much with my designer life lately.... I've had to spend a lot of time in my mommy hat, my wife hat, my daughter hat and my granddaughter hat. I love all of these hats and I dearly love the people who make these hats mine, but I'm glad to be dusting off my designer hat a bit.

Let's see... some news from my designers.

Kim has a gorgeous new kit in her store at DSO called Christmas First. Its stunning whites and golds and I'm going to scrap with it today or tomorrow, I swear it! When I do, I'll make a quick page for you, but in the meantime, you surely want to see the preview:

Absolutely stunning Kim! I love your style! The papers and elements are detailed and unique and there's a pack of word art available. Also, there's a freebie on Kim's blog and I think you'll also find links to freebies from other CT members who haven't been as neglectful as I this week.

Jenni released a new kit today. She's been working on it for a long time and I'm thrilled to see it in the store. Its Paws-i-tively Purrrr-fect! (What a delicious name!)

These cute kitty elements and papers (cats not in the paper pack) are available separately or as a bundle and all of it is discounted this week. There's a freebie on Jenni's blog to go with it.

I released a new pack of holiday masks this week that coordinate with my holiday kit Wishes. Wishes isn't in the store until Monday, but the Mask It: Wishes is in the store now and will not be included with the kit.

Finally, the promised and neglected Wintersong word art. My wonderful CT Jenn made this freebie for you and I've been promising it for a week but haven't had time to sit down and put it together until this morning. Its finally ready for you and I hope that you like it and enjoy it!

This link has expired and the download is no longer available.

So long for now -- have a wonderful weekend!

More Wintersong Goodies

2009-11-12T14:35:00.005-05:00

I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I have to rave about it again -- my CT has really outdone themselves with Wintersong.

Holly has spent the last few days making a gorgeous set of holiday cards and I just added them to the store. Holly is one of the most meticulous and conscientious scrappers I know and that really shines through in her card designs. They are multilayered and preshadowed just waiting for your photos and text. I'm eyeing them up in case I don't have time to design my own card this year! And they are 20% off this week.

I also want to share some more CT LOs with you!

Here are two from Jenn:

Lenca:

Amanda:

Another from Britt:

Candace made two also:

And she is generously offering this one in a free quickpage version also! Fantastic!

I'm sorry, this link has expired and this freebie is no longer available.

That's it for today -- see you soon with Jenn's word art!

The Smell of Winter

2009-11-11T18:00:00.010-05:00

Winter is in the air at my house. This morning everything was frost covered and I had to drag out the warm coats and hats and mittens before I could send my little ones off to school. Winter comes.

And in celebration of the beauty of the season, Helly and I have put our heads together and created a new kit, Wintersong.

Here is a preview:

And just look at the pages I've received already!

From Britt:

From Holly:

From Laura:

And I couldn't resist scrapping a bit with it either:

Its in my store at ESS now and Helly's at Scrapbook-Bytes and it is 20% off until Thursday. AND newsletter subscribers -- you *are* a newsletter subscriber, right? -- are getting a little something extra in their inboxes tomorrow. Woot woot!

You know me, I can't release a new kit without handing out a freebie, LOL! The Wintersong freebie has two papers, the cluster frame from my LO and a gorgeous bit of word art from my CT member Jenn. Jenn made a few more word arts as well and I'll post them for you this weekend. Here is the preview for my freebie:

Sorry, the download has expired and is no longer available.

Helly has a freebie for you on her blog as well (if its not up yet it will be shortly!) so be sure to check her out.

Come back in a few days for the rest of Jenn's word art and a bit more eye candy as well. Have a terrific evening!!

Digital Scrapbooking Day

2009-11-06T09:35:00.002-05:00

November 7 is Digital Scrapbooking Day, and everyone knows that means sales, sales, sales! I'm having one too, and its running all weekend long.

Everything, and I mean everything! is 30% off AND on Saturday only if you spend $10 anywhere at Enchanted Studio Scraps you receive a $3 gift certificate that can be used in the store of any Enchanted Studio Scraps designer. Too good to pass up right? I think so too!

We also have some fun stuff going on in the forums and there are a few freebies to snap up there as well. Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday Kim!

2009-11-04T17:57:00.003-05:00

This is going up later than I'd hoped, but its still the right day at my house even if Kim is already asleep at home. Happy Birthday my friend, I hope that your day was all that you wished for and more besides -- you are a wonderful blessing to all who know you!

And even if I'm a tad bit late of the birthday wishes, Kim's birthday Sale-abration rolls on! She has a special personal use only Grab bag for this event and its a secret BUT I can tell you that it has a full kit, a gorgeous set of glitters, a full alpha and some awesome templates. And its all tied up in a neat birthday bundle that you can get at DSO only HERE for just $3.50 through November 15th.

I used the kit to make this page of my darling girl:

And also a Free Quick Page:

Download the QP here.

Oh look, there's an itty bitty preview of the kit there and that glittery arrow might just be sporting some of the glitter from the grab bag as well. Shhhhhh!

So that's it for tonight, but Kim as a few CU grab bags as well and I'm going to carve out a bit of time in the next few days to make you a little gift with those as well, so be sure to come back.

In the meantime, once again -- BEST BIRTHDAY WISHES to my KIM!

News!

2009-11-03T11:12:00.002-05:00

Good morning and happy November! There is a ton going on this month and I am looking forward to updating you on everything. First off, I now have a Newsletter. Woo hoo! There is a link over on the right if you'd like to subscribe or you can subscribe right here. I plan to use the newsletter selectively to announce new products and promotions. I will sometimes include special gifts for subscribers only and I promise not to send anything if I don't have something to tell you about.

Secondly, KimB's birthday is this week. She has all kinds of good stuff planned and I'll be offering a freebie or two made with her goodies as the week goes on, so be sure to stop in here and at Kim's blog.

Finally, I'm working on another collab with my dear friend Helly. We were thrilled with the response to Lightness of Being, so now we are turning our collaborative hands to a winter kit full of magic and sparkle. Look for that one around mid-month.

Have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon with some goodies!

Guess How Much I Love You

2009-10-26T17:26:00.010-04:00

Hello Digiworld! Long time no talk! I've been buried in my photoshop and barely coming up to feed my kids and clean my house. I think in the end it was worth it though, because today I uploaded a brand new kit to my store at Enchanted Studio Scraps. The whole time I was working on it, I was worried that it was too pretty, but it simply refused to go in any other direction. LOL! So its pretty. Actually, I think its better than pretty and my CT tells me its my best work to date. I hope they are right.

Here it is: Guess How Much I Love You

There are 12 detailed and textured papers and 50 elements and its just $4.00 this week only. Want a closer look? Check 'em out.

I also couldn't resist making a set of clustered frames. These are in the store also and on sale this week for just $2.25.

I gave it to my CT at the end of last week and they have been very busy creating beautiful things.

Look at this from Candace (isn't her daughter beautiful?)

And I love what she did with persective and these boxes:

Laura made this one:

And Crystal made this stunner:

Speaking of beautiful daughters, my CT girls have a few more. Hehehe.

Here is Holly's daughter at prom:

And Jenn's daughters:

Jenn has a gorgeous sister, too:

I am absolutely thrilled with these pages and I'd love to see more.

Also I have a freebie for you to coordinate with the kit. Here is the preview:

Sorry, the download has expired and is no longer available.

Please, please, please do not take my kit or freebie and upload it somewhere else for people to download. If someone wants the freebie, send them here. I was the victim of piracy with my last freebie and it makes me a bit uneasy. I love to share freebies with my new releases and the ONLY thing I ask in return is that people come here for them. Oh, and I love a little bit of loving, too. ::grin::

Thanks for reading today!

Lightness of Being

2009-10-12T07:42:00.005-04:00

Good morning and Happy Monday! I hope that you all came through another weekend relatively unscathed. We were very busy since my sister and her family are staying with us this weekend. As part of the entertainment for all six of our little ones we went to a pumpkin farm extravaganza on Saturday complete with enormous slides, a pumpkin slingshot, hay rides, a hay bale maze and a giant corn box. Everyone, adults included, had a blast and I got some great photos. Then yesterday we had a birthday part for two of my girls. As I write everyone else is still asleep and I have a few quiet moments before the chaos begins again.

This gives me just enough time to share my brand new kit with you. Lightness of Being is my very first collab and I couldn't have asked for someone better to work with than my dear friend Helly of Scrapbook-Bytes. From the very first day that we sat down and talked about it, we saw eye to eye on where this should go and we think that the result is spectacular!

Lightness of Being is jammed full of gorgeous papers and light and sparkly elements which we know will be perfect for all sorts of pages. Just look at what my CT has put together:

Candace

Nancy

Holly

Sheri (who is not on my CT but did me the wonderful favor of creating this gorgeous page!)

Jenn

Crystal

And I couldn't resist doing one myself, too!

The kit is in my store at Enchanted Studio Scraps right now and will be 20% of there and in Helly's store at Scrapbook-Bytes through Tuesday the 20th.

AND I have a little freebie for you, too!

Sorry, the download has expired and is no longer available.

OK -- I wasn't fast enough -- everyone is waking up now so I'd best sign off. Thanks for reading today!

Fall Festival ESS Designer Blog Train

2009-10-04T09:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my little stop on the Fall Festival Designer Blog Train. I hope that you've enjoyed the freebies you've found so far and that you like the little bit that I'm adding.

I also hope you found a chance to swing by my store at ESS where everyting is on sale. A fantastic sale, in fact. 40% off. That's right. . . . 40% off!

Cheaper than anything of mine has ever been on sale before and everything, everything is included. The discounts are taken at checkout, so if you don't see the sale price listed, don't panic. LOL! If you didn't grab Autumn Approaches (or any of my new releases) at their new release prices, here's your chance to get 'em!

And here's my bit for the blog train, my Fall Festival freebie -- definitely more fallish than spooky.

Download it here.

Next you are off to visit Amy ----> http://starryeyeddesignsbyamy.blogspot.com

If you get lost or want to check out the whole list of participating designers you can get the scoop on the ESS Blog. Have a fantastic fall!

Lovely Fall Blog Train

2009-10-03T08:00:00.002-04:00

Fall has definitely arrived at my house. The leaves are changing and the weather has turned as well. I had to turn on the furnace this week. No doubt about it, fall is in the air. This is my favorite season -- I love the crispness of the air and light and the glorious riot of color in the countryside nearby. I love having leaf fights with my little ones and watching them jump into piles of leaves. Snuggling up under a warm blanket, sipping a mug of warm cider. Heavenly!

In honor of the new season. I'm taking place in two blog trains this weekend and having a mega sale all week long!

Sale prices are honored today as well.

The first blog train was put together by Anna of AnnaBV Designs. If you are following it already, you arrived here from http://rambelingsofascrappingdealseekingmom.blogspot.com/.

Here's my QP:

And you can download it here.

The next stop is Dida's blog. Thanks for stopping by!

The mice will play. . . . .

2009-10-02T13:06:00.003-04:00

Guess what? Its KimB's 20th wedding anniversary this weekend. Yep, she's really really old. Nah, she was just married young. **wink**

Anywho, the point is that the 20th anniversary is the emerald anniversary and Kim has put together a wonderful, gorgeous, romantically green (though not quite emerald!) kit to commemorate the ocassion. Heartsong is just $2 right now at DSO.

Here's the preview:

And my page:

I guess Kim's husband didn't think releasing an anniversary kit was much of a celebration, so he decided to go a slightly more romantic route and has whisked her away for a romantic vacation. Woo hoo! Which means. . . she's not here to guard her stores. Hehehehe. And so, everything is on sale in all of her stores for a whopping 45% off. Yay!

The deals won't last long -- when she gets back they are gone, so grab 'em while the grabbing is good.

And be sure to come back this weekend because all kinds of fall blog trains are going to be rolling right through my blog. See you then!

Hooray for my CT!

2009-09-21T11:53:00.005-04:00

BIG HUGE congrats to Crystal and Candace my wonderful CT girls who both won Layout of the Day at Enchanted Studio Scraps last week for their My Charming Boy pages. Both of those pages are posted in my Boys, Boys, Boys post last week.

This is the last day to get My Charming Boy at its new release price of $3.00 for the full bundle. That includes all the papers, all the elements and the full block alpha in three different colors. Quite the deal, if I do say so myself. lol! Tomorrow the sale is over and the price goes up! Just in case you are still on the fence, I'd like to share a few more pages with you.

Look at these gorgeous heritage pages from Nancy:

And this from Mari:

And from Christy:

Thanks for reading today, I'm working on some exciting new things, so be sure to stop back soon!

Happy Friday

2009-09-18T07:31:00.009-04:00

Good morning! Its Friday at my house and I just woke up, so hopefully my fingers will type the way that I want them to. Please forgive any typos or grammatical errors, I've not even had that first cup of coffee yet. I'm working today and pressed for time but before I start running around like crazy trying to get my four kids and myself out the door I want to share a new CU Grab Bag with you. This is a collab from KimB and Disasterpiece Studios and it is brimming over with goodies.

You can get a itty bitty peek in the preview here:

And another peek in the QP I've made for you using only goodies from the bag:

Download the quickpage by clicking on the image. Have a great weekend!

Boys, Boys, Boys

2009-09-15T12:11:00.007-04:00

Those of you who know me at all know that I'm a bit of a girly girl. OK, even more than a bit of a girly girl. My style has always been pretty and that works out just fine because I have three beautiful girls to scrap. Of course, I also have a handsome boy and this results in him getting the short end of the stick. In an attempt to try to rectify the disparity, I decided to make a boy kit. It turned out a little bit pretty, but I think its boyish enough to get the job done. At least I hope it is!

My Charming Boy is in the store today and will be 30% off for the next week. Here are the previews:

The alpha is available separately or bundled with the kit. It contains a full set of wood block letters, each letter comes in three colors.

Here are some fabulous pages from my CT!

from Crystal:

from Britt:

from Holly:

from Candace:

And, as promised, a freebie. This is also the freebie for KimB's color challenge at Digiscrap Obsession, so you can head over there to get more coordinating goodies.

Sorry, the download has expired and is no longer available.

ESS Color Challenge Freebie

2009-09-14T17:15:00.009-04:00

I'm releasing a new kit tomorrow (for boys!!) so a bigger post tomorrow and more freebies later this week, but for today I'd like to gift with you this little freebie for the ESS color challenge.

There are more coordinating kits available at Enchanted Studio Scraps, so be sure to pop in and check them out.

Tutorial: The Art of Paper Shadowing

2009-09-04T15:19:00.004-04:00

I've been hosting the Designer's Choice challenge for the last two months. I love a challenge that makes you think a bit or teaches a new technique and so I've been writing tutorials to go along with each challenge. This month I asked my CT what topics might be good for this and someone suggested custom shadowing. Perfect! I am not the foremost authority of shadowing, not even close, but I know a thing or two and the ladies at ESS found this helpful, so I'm posting it here as well in case any of you might benefit from it.

Let's focus on custom shadowing for papers. (Let me apologize in advance to users of programs other than PS. I'm hoping that you can find the right steps to achieve the same end result in your program but I have no idea how to do this technique in other programs or even if it can be done.) Helly gave me a few notes for doing this in PSP, I've added them in where they fit.

I don't put a custom shadow on every paper I use, but I do put one onto most of them because I think it adds that extra bit of realism since "real" papers never lie entirely flat on the page and cast a uniform shadow. Wanna learn how? Great!

Ready? Here we go!

1. Add a standard drop shadow. In PS its pretty easy to add a drop shadow. I think most of us use the drop shadow command in the style palette or even have some saved shadow styles that we go to again and again. In my example I started with a shadow angled 45, distance 8px, spread 0, size 20.

2. Put the shadow on its own layer by right clicking on the little "f" symbol in the layer palette and choosing "create layer". (PSP: To put the shadow on it's own layer, check "shadow on new layer" in the drop shadow effects menu.)

Now the layer palette should look like this:

3. Now you are ready to work some shadow magic. Make sure the shadow layer is the one you have selected. Now let's add some shape. The easiest way I've found to make the shadow wave slightly is to use the wave filter. Find it under Filters -- distort -- wave

(PSP The wave filter can be found under Effects>Distortion Effects>Wave. Warp is also under that tab, so PSP has all the tools. The setting in PSP are completely different, so ignore mine and try to figure out what works for you.)

The settings you want to use for this vary depending on how large your paper is, so don't be afraid to play with the sliders to find the look that you want. Here are the settings I used:

And here is the result:

See how the paper doesn't look flat anymore? Cool, right?

4. Now, for a final touch (and this step is completely optional) let's lift up one of the corners, that bottom left one, just a wee bit.

Make sure you still have the shadow layer selected and select the move tool. Make sure that the transform controls are on. Now click any of the corner points just once. Up in the tool palette you should now be able to see the warp tool. Its the one that looks like a windshield like this:

Click the warp tool. Now the paper looks like this and you can adjust any of the sections that you see.

For our purposes, we want to grab one of the bottom corners and pull it down just slightly so that it looks like the paper is lifting off the page. When you like the look, click ok and your custom shadow is complete.

Here's my final page:

Everything on my page (except the photo of my daughter!) is from Fell From Heaven from Designs by Helly. Gorgeous isn't it? If you want it, you can pick it up by clicking on the preview.

Thanks for reading today! Have a wonderful weekend.