FREEbie!

Hey! You can find some good news at the Little Dreamer blog! There's a FREEbie! Happy Digital Scrapbooking Eve!

P.S. I have some fun pages to share tomorrow!

Beach Finds

Guess what tomorrow is? It's Digital Scrapbook Day!! What are you doing to celebrate? I'm not sure what I'll be doing. I'm sure a lot of digital scrapbooking stores will have sales, challenges, and other fun things going on. I'll let you know if Little Dreamer or Michelle Underwood are having sales.

Speaking of Michelle Underwood, here's a page I created today using the Vintage Holiday set. One of the great things about digital scrapbooking is changing the colors of the products. You can change the color by adjusting the hue/saturation or by Image>Adjustments>Replace Color. It's really wonderful! This is one of the reasons I don't think I could ever go back to regular ole scrapbooking. Digital scrapbooking just spoils me too much!!

The pictures on this page make me laugh. Quent almost always wears his Detroit Tigers cap, so basically every picture he looks the same. So for photography/scrapbooking purposes we have to spice things up a bit! He is so supportive of my habit that he even bought this green rain jacket just for me to scrapbook! Yeah...we are weird! Ha!

Overlays

I am an overlay addict! I tell you, I just can't leave things alone, whether it's pictures, paper, embellishments, etc. I love to distress, texturize, and make things grungy! So when I saw these new overlays by Leora Sanford that will be available FRIDAY (that's tomorrow!) I was pretty much squealing!! These overlays are called Sun Flare and Bokeh Overlays. As soon as I have the link I will link ya'll to this amazing product.

Just as a little teaser I thought I would show a before and after of a photo. This is a picture Quent took of us at Lake Louise. It's an amazing photo all in itself, but the poor photo has to be manipulated by me! Bwhahahaha! Cough.


(Quent, thank you for letting me 'borrow' your awesome photo!)

And this is after. I love yellows! I love the sun flares!

And what's really great about these set of overlays is that Leora has included instructions and tips on how to make these overlays work for you. This is all new to me, so I found the instructions very helpful!

25 Days template from List Girl!

One of my favorite digital scrapbookers, and fellow dreamer from Little Dreamer, Christine, just opened up her own digital scrapbook product store this past weekend. She has a lot of really fun templates! She's amazing! She let me know the other day that she will be giving away a 2-page layout template geared toward the December Daily project. It's for those who want to put all 25 photos on a 2-page layout. I think it's a great idea! There are so many possibilities with that project! So keep a lookout for that template! Just wanted to share...

One $ Wednesday

It's $1 Wednesday at Little Dreamer! There are some fun paper sets and templates!!

Arizona/Utah Photobook

Yeehaw! It's finished!!! I JUST sent in my order with Shutterfly. Doing it this route instead of what I have done in the past with getting each page printed individually and buying and album for the pages, I saved $110.81!!! This is not a joke! Ha! And I saved just under $20 with the Shuttefly sale! Awesome!!

These two layouts were a struggle. Whew! Maybe my brain was tired of coming up with ideas (the pressure was on!), or maybe it was just the photos, but I think I redid these layouts 3x each. I think it was the pictures that I struggled the most with, especially with the 'going home' page. Yikes! But it all worked out and I am very pleased with the results!


I just love the colors on this page. Credits are here (I'll update this later).

This is the last layout in the book! Credits are here (I'll update this later).

The one thing I'm disappointed with is that I didn't do a lot of journaling for this project. I could kick myself. So with that lesson learned, I'm going to focus on journaling for our Montana vacation asap. It really makes a big difference for me to have the journaling done first. If I don't, then I'm just trying to fill in words. I don't want that because I want it to have meaning.

Here's the Photobook! Enjoy!

25 Days of Templates

A class...with templates...perfect for December daily...by Tiffany Tillman! Check it out!

December Daily

It's that time of year again, according to Ali Edwards! It's time to prepare those December Daily albums. Last year I created an album for my siblings in Michigan. It was the second year we didn't spend Christmas with them, so I thought it would be fun to send them the album a few days after Christmas so the miles between us didn't feel so far. It was fun putting the album together. I had even started one for us, but I don't know, my heart just wasn't into it as much. I kept thinking, "What's the point?" I was thinking that same thing this year when I thought of doing it again for us, but then when I saw Ali's posts, I decided I just might do it after all. This time I want to create the pages digitally. My thought is I scrap one picture for each day (25 days, December 1-25) and printing the pages and putting them in the album I had purchased last year. And because the album is so cute AND the pages won't take up a huge amount, I can just add pages each year. Then I feel like there's a 'point' to it.

Ali's posts about December Daily are here.

My blog-friend Courtney talks about her plans for it this year here.

And my pages from last year are here (scroll down a bit).

Will you join me?

This album can be whatever you would like it to be.

I'm going to just add one picture per day.

It can be as simple or as complicated as you would like.

Vintage Holiday

Michelle Underwood came out with a new digi-kit today called Vintage Holiday. It's a beautiful kit that's full of lots of vintage and worn elements (which I LOVE)!! It can be used for holiday or for the 'everyday' kind of life.

Some of you may recognize these pictures from here. I've been thinking about that first page for awhile now and I decided to change it. I don't normally do that, but when I was looking at a winter scene picture to scrap for these amazing elements, I knew which pictures would be perfect.

This is a page I created with the same kit, but not a winter scene. These are some pictures from our Arizona/Utah vacation. I love the worn look on this page!

I'll be back with another post later!

Newspaper Rock & Wild Flowers

Here are a couple of more pages I created for our Arizona album. I'm trying to work on the rest of the pages so I can get in on the sale at Shutterfly.



Credits here
These pictures were tricky to scrap, but I like what I came up with.

A very colorful page! Whew!

Holidays in Hand

Hello!

Want to join me for a FREE class from Jessica Sprague???

Click on the image below for more information. Registration is easy and it starts today!!

Class runs from November 16-23!

Countdown

Can you believe it's November 1st!!??? This year is going by so fast!!

I'm excited though because today starts the countdown to some fabulous holiday product from Little Dreamer! Whoohoo! The Holiday Preview week is November 15-22. There will be FREEbies, giveaways, and lots of amazing inspiration. Stay tuned to the Little Dreamer blog!!

Credits here

This is a page I created using all product from Little Dreamer's In Good Company kit which hasn't been released...yet! It's such a fun set! An amazing Little Dreamer designer, Leora Sanford, got together with one of the designers from Paislee Press and they designed this set together. We were told that there will be add-ons for this kit, too! I can't wait!! Once they have the links ready for this digi-kit, I will link you to it.

Credits here

This is another layout I created using In Good Company. I also used one of Tiffany Tillman's templates (that's where the swirls came from).

Baby Love

I've been posting a lot of pages of Tigger, so I think it's time to post one about Shadow. Shadow is (usually) camera-shy, so we don't have as many pictures of her (she hates the flash). I was inspired by a page I saw in Creating Keepsakes. It's on page 85 of the November 2009 issue. The 'inspiree' was Joscelyne Cutchens.



This page was created using a combination of products/designs. Most are from a new digital set from Little Dreamer called Paislee (but it's not out yet--I'll be posting more pages using the digital set soon with a link). The butterflies are my design (except for the wording on one of them). The buttons are from the free set called Bright Smiles by Michelle Underwood from www.twopeasinabucket.com. The curly font is called Cupcake from Little Dreamer.

Michelle Underwood Designs

About a month ago I saw a dream team call out on Michelle Underwood's blog. So of course I jumped at the chance. And then she sent me an email inviting me to be on her team. Whoohoo! I'm so excited! It was so hard to keep the news to myself, but she asked that I not tell anyone until today.

Here are some pages I created with her free kit from twopeas.

I feel so honored and blessed to be designing layouts for Michelle!

Shutterfly

Hello! It's almost tomorrow enough for me (haha) so I thought I would post this right now. Today I got an email from Shutterfly telling me they are having a sale and free shipping through November 4th. I'm *this close* to being done with the Arizona/Utah layouts, so I'm really motivated now to finish them up before the sale. It's 20% off hardcover 12x12 albums, so I'm hop-skipping-jumping to get 'er done!

The first and only time (so far) that I've had a photo book printed through Shutterfly was for our 2008 Alaskan vacation. I LOVE having the pages printed in the books because it condenses the pages down to having a 1/2 inch book instead of 3-4 inches in a regular album. I even packed the book with us on our Montana vacation this year to show our friends. It was great that it fit into our luggage with no problem! And if I lose it or I spill something on it, I can just order a new book. It's wonderful! This is now the reason of why I am torn about having my pages printed individually verses a photobook, or doing hybrid pages. Shutterfly just makes it so easy! And it's cheaper! I figured out that it was a lot cheaper doing it this way than having all of the pages printed individually and buying an album to put the pages in (not to mention page protectors). I was very pleased with the quality and customer service from Shutterfly. It was practically printed the same day I sent the order in and then I got it within 5 days...in the mail...to Alaska! Can't beat that!!


Here is the book cover. See that tail swishing around?

Yes, Tigger, I see you!

The one thing I have to keep in mind when designing pages is that I don't want anything too close to the edges because the binding could cut things off. No biggie though! Just a little pre-planning.

And if you would like, check out the whole book here. Enjoy!

Back 2 the Basics

It's not very often that I create a scrapbook page without pictures. Yesterday I had a lot on my heart & mind about the subject I wrote about on this page, so I thought I'd just make a page. I really want to focus on scrapbooking those things that I want to document. The journaling happened first and then the rest of the page came together. These are things I will look back on later in life and see how much I have changed/grown. Lizzy talked about that yesterday in her post. This was important for me to scrapbook/journal about right now. It was really fun and theraputic!

Hanging up my hat

The time is creeping closer to the date of my official resignation from Stampin' Up! Just a few minutes ago I was unpacking my bags from my last workshop. I will no longer need the extra catalogs. I will no longer have to plan for demonstrations. It feels weird, but it also feels good. I'm hanging up my hat and I'm ready for it!

We go through so many changes in our life. And through those changes WE change. We can fight the changes, or we can 'go with the flow'. Christmas is just around the corner and I keep on thinking about what I want our Christmas card design to be this year. But it's really strange because it's like I have no desire to stamp our Christmas cards. I'm thinking about designing our Christmas card digitally and having them printed. *eyes bugging out* Part of me thinks that's not allowed...that I *have* to stamp. But a bigger part of me is like BRING ON THE DIGITAL! What's happened to me? Haha!

Recently I posted the page I did called 'Goodbye Loft'. We should be moving into our new house in a few weeks. I have a room picked out for my creativity. I would say stamping, but after thinking about it for a long time, I think it will be the room that houses the computer AND my craft table. (I sure do hope the room is big enough!) Sometimes I even catch myself wondering how much I'll stamp in the future. I know I go through creative spurts, but lately I haven't been as interested in the stamping part of creativity. I've even thought of buying cards...GASP!

That's all I'll say for now.

P.S. The reason Tigger was trying to get my attention earlier was because there was no food in his bowl. Oops! And my hair turned out great! More on that later...

Where is the bridge?

Good morning! I thought I would share another layout from our southwestern vacation we took in the spring. I have used some of my own designs on this page. The picture orginally had a lot of dark greens in it, so I changed the photo to sephia (?) so it would work better. Me and colors! Ha!

I'm heading to a hair appointment this morning to get my hair highlighted and layers trimmed. It needs it desparately! The lady I first went to after we moved to Ketchikan recently moved to Washington. I found that out when I called to make an appointment. I'm so bummed because I really liked her! *frown* It's not often that you find someone who respects your wishes by showing you all on her own how much she actually trimmed in her fingers before proceeding to cut more. So I'm hoping I like the new lady. I've had a few scary stylists in my life, so I'm always hesitant. Ha!

When your cat sits RIGHT in front of the keyboard/screen, I think it means that he wants attention. *cough* I better get to that! Have a great day!

Climbing Bridges

I thought I would just jump in and post two pages today instead of just one. I started both of these pages a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't ready to work on them again until today. I love the freedom of leaving pages undone on the computer and then just coming back to them again later. No messes!

Credits here

I really like the 'tag' on this page with the title. It reminds me of a clothing tag. I surprised myself by using navy since I don't normally scrapbook with blue. I'm also thinking that the shirt I'm wearing in the pictures might need to be dyed pink, orange, or brown. Haha!

Credits here

Please click on the picture to see the bigger version of this. (I wish Blogger would make it easier to upload BIG pictures) I surprised myself again by using rainbows on this page. I think creating layouts for Little Dreamer has really helped me to use more embellishments on my pages.

All of the products are from Little Dreamer. I'll come back later and link these pages after I post them on the Little Dreamer gallery.

Goodbye Loft

Hello! It's been a few days since I've posted. My last stamping workshop was this past Saturday. I didn't think the projects I did were very impressive, but it was a really nice time to see everyone. They were so sweet to give me a card, a gift, and a 'goodbye' cake. I was really touched by all of that. (Thank you!) I didn't cry, but I probably could have. I'm really going to miss getting together with them to make Christmas cards this year. It just won't be the same without them.

I thought I would stick with the 'goodbye' theme from this weekend and share a page I created recently talking about packing up the loft. The loft is where I stamped, scrapbooked, and created all of those 'etc.' type things. I really miss it! So here's to that amazing place that will always have a special place in my heart:



{All products are from Little Dreamer}