toot! toot! here comes the SBG blog train!

{chugga-chugga-chugga-toot-toot}

Finally, it's the day for SBG's "Santa Brings Goodies" Blog Train to stop on my blog. You should be arriving here from the blog of Doodelle Designs, or if you just happened upon this post, go back and check out the wonderful goodies she has to share with you!

I've been having a little trouble finding my Christmas spirit this year, but my boys have plenty, and I have to say... it is kind of contagious! This may be the last year my younger two actually believe in Santa Claus. They are 8 and 7 years old and in the 3rd and 2nd grades. Needless to say, plenty of their classmates are all too eager to tell them that Santa isn't real. But both Jace and Joey claim to still believe in him though, and while there are lots of questions and comments that make me think they are starting to doubt Santa's existence, it is also obvious that both of them still really want to believe regardless of what their common sense (and those obnoxious kids) is telling them. Sometimes I think it'd be easier if they knew the whole truth, but I don't want to spoil the fun for them just yet! Here's a quickie layout I created using a couple of photos from yesterday.

 
Credits: Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train Freebies by myself, Charlize Creations, Em-Ka Designs, and Flergs

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And here is what I know you've come here for, my GOODIE for the blog train...

 

download via 4shared
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download via mediafire

Hope you enjoy!

The next stop on the blog train is Anna's blog...

If you get lost, just go back to the Blog Train Stops posted on the SBG blog!

Hope you all enjoy the "Santa Brings Goodies" goodies, and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!!!

doodling + scrapping

Today the Studio Wendy Playday was featured over on the Studio Matters blog. I'd already helped test Wendy's ACTION: AI Doodle Tracer, but didn't have a lot of time to play around with it so was eager to put it to the test again and see what I could come up with for her Playday. I am completely aware of the fact that I am not really artistic in the least when it comes to drawing or even doodling (so please be kind! LOL), but my younger boys especially appreciate my attempts so I thought it would be neat to include some of my own personal doodles in their layouts (one day we can all look back and laugh together! LOL) Wendy's AI Doodle Tracer makes the process of transferring my doodles to something I can use in PS especially easy and quick, so I know this won't be the first time I use the action to create doodles/elements for my personal use. I can't imagine what the results would be for someone who is actually a talented artist!

First, here's an example of my original doodles and the finished results once extracted and finished out to create usable scrapbook elements. My good, black Sharpie marker has mysteriously disappeared so these were done with a blue Sharpie and changed to grayscale before running the action in Illustrator.

  

Below is my finished layout using my doodles (click to go to the gallery and see full credits):




On one hand, it's a little embarrassing to show how bad I am at drawing, but on the other I am quite proud of the finished results. The doodle elements are 100% clean and crisp. If I'd used my old method of tracing/extracting, I wouldn't be so confident in making that statement. Once I have more time to really sit down and try a little harder I'm going to see what else I can come up with, and I think it would be neat to have the boys draw some things for me to run the action on, just to see what happens. Once I do, I will be sure to share the results here. With a two week fall break fast approaching, we will have plenty of time on our hands to be crafty and do artistic things :)

Thanks for reading! I am off to scrap for a few minutes before hitting the sack.

my guest gig is almost over... last call!

EDITED TO REMOVE INVALID LINKS: I wrongly assumed my guest shop would be open through the end of the day. Two hours after I wrote this I was informed that my links aren't working. Apologies to those who clicked and didn't get where they wanted to go. Guess I should of done the last call yesterday or sooner. 

My Guest Studio at Scrapbook Graphics will be closing at the end of the day, or as soon as the switch is flipped off, so if you are interested in purchasing any of these designs before they are gone for good, hop on over and pick 'em up! Not that I will never sell my designs again, but I don't have a permanent home for my designs - real life is just too crazy/busy/stressful for me to make the necessary commitment to being a full-time designer at this time. I totally looooved being a Guest Designer at SBG though! Felt a little nostalgic to be back at my first digital scrapbooking store, getting reacquainted with old friends, and making some new ones, too! I want to be just like all of them when I grow up! Heehee! Fortunately though, when the month is over I won't be going far. I'm lucky enough to still a part of the ever fabulous SBG CREW.

Here is what I had in the shop this month...

The Long Haul was my totally brand new kit for the month. Don't let the camper and canopy fool you. Despite a couple of theme-y elements, this kit is completely versatile! It's on sale, 31% off! Example layouts and additional (and larger) previews can be seen in the product description. (image is click-able and will open in a new window) 

  

These products are from last year - I added them for the Oldies but Goodies week, but decided to let them hang around for the rest of the month. The are on sale from 44%-54% off regular prices. (all images are click-able and will open in a new window)







I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all my long time friends, supporters, cheer-leaders, and to my customers. Your faith and support over the years means more to me than you could ever know. Thank YOU!
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If you hung around Scrapbookgraphics throughout the past month, you are aware of all the fun that was had during the Summer Soiree celebration. Who went to the all day scrap chat? LOL *raising hand* I did! I did! I spent most of the day there. What a blast! But the party isn't over just yet! You still have most of the day to get in on some fun challenges for chances to win prizes! Prizes range in size from total store access to adorable posting bonuses for playing along. The challenges are EASY, too. The best part is that you have pages done to add to your family album or pieces of funky artwork to add to your portfolio.
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Now on a more personal note... all I can say is WOW. I can't believe it's the last day in August already! I am attending the first set of parent-teacher conferences for my boys this afternoon. Already?! Yes. The month has flown right on by, and although I have a lot of half-finished and barely started projects leftover (which make me sort of feel like an unaccomplished slacker), I am excited for what September will bring: a family get together or two in honor of Labor Day, the beginning of cross country for my younger teen, fall baseball for my two youngest boys, cooler weather (or so we hope), my baby's 7th birthday, my older teenager will start a new after school job (fingers crossed!), and hopefully more good things! I want to keep it simple. No real life drama, please! I don't want to make empty promises, but if I can get my act together I will attempt to wrap up some of these half finished projects that are digi-scrap related and possibly add them here as freebies. Not much else I can do with them, eh? ;) Just need the TIME and motivation to finish those.
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Last, but not least, if you are the praying sort my family could use your prayers. My Aunt Sherry (Dad's sister), who never smoked, was recently diagnosed with lung cancer after going to the emergency room for chest pains, they discovered blood clots in her lungs which led to the discovery of a tumor. The tumor is too close to her aorta for operation, so she has begun chemotherapy. Her PET scan last week revealed that the cancer has metastasized to her liver and bones so she is in stage IV. Aunt Sherry is seriously one of the toughest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and loving, so she will fight this with everything she's got, but she could certainly use your prayers, wishes, and good thoughts. Thank you very much! 

guest designer @ sbg, new designs, and old designs

I am a huge slacker. Can't believe is is August 13th, and I haven't gotten around to blogging about this yet, but I have some kinda big news folks! If you are an active member of the digi-scrap-o-sphere then you have probably, no doubt, already heard about the recent activities @ ScrapbookGraphics. If not, then check this out... (image is clickable)



I have to smile every time I see my name on the list! Right there squeezed in between all those talented, creative souls. The festivities will last all month long, and even though the party has already started it isn't too late to jump into the mix. Join one of the games or challenges. You have a chance to win cool prizes! There are also some great giveaways coming soon, so keep watching SBG on Facebook and/or Twitter to stay informed.

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I've just added my first guest kit to the shop @ SBG!

 
 
 
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A little about how The Long Haul came to be...before Maya  even invited me to be a guest for August, I saw this post on Etsy's blog. Something about the campers stirred something up inside my head, and it immediately crossed my mind that I needed to open Illustrator and see if I could make my very own lil' camper. A few days went by and then Maya invited me to be a guest for August. I knew right away what direction I would be heading in with my first kit. To tell the truth, in the beginning it was going to be a full camping kit, but I changed directions after I was a few elements into creating it. I only wish it hadn't taken me so long to pull it all together. In my defense, we have had quite a lot of other things going on which kept me from being able to devote much time to design. But my boys are off to a good start at school and things are flowing somewhere smoothly for the time being.

*If you like what you see and are interested in purchasing The Long Haul, better hurry up and pick it up before the month is over, because it won't be available afterwards. I am not ready to jump back into being a full-time designer, and therefore I don't have a permanent home for my digital goods.

Now to inspire you, here are a few layouts created by my wonderful scrapping friends.


Model Camper? by Kim


Journey Together by Melinda


Memorable Moment by Melinda

 
in it for the long haul by Melissa C.


Memorable Moments by Raji



Long haul by Tania


Photography by Flor

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What else is going on over at ScrapbookGraphics? Check out this amazing sale... so many wonderful deals in there!


Click the image or HERE to go straight to the Golden Oldies sale category. Look for my three Golden Oldies, too! I put up Unamused Boys V2.0, Primarily Educational 2, and Freestylin' Fall. And once you're done shopping you can go HERE to read everything else that is going on at SBG right now. In addition to Twitter and Facebook mentioned above, the SBG Studio Matters blog is another place to go for current, up-to-date info on our Summer Soiree.

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That's all for today! Happy Friday the 13th!

life + lots of layouts to share

Wooohooo! Baseball season is underway for Jace and Joey! We are truly enjoying it this season, and I have to say that I am impressed with how much Jace has improved in just a few weeks compared to how much he learned last fall during "Fall Ball" (which was both boys' first season of playing baseball). Good coaches and lengthier practices seem to make all the difference. Joey has the same coaches as he did during Fall Ball, and we think they are great. Very enthusiastic and encouraging, which is just what Joey needs.

So between two sets of practices (and as of Saturday, two sets of games) life has been busy over the past weeks. But I have managed (some might say selfishly. LOL) to squeeze in some scrapbooking time here and there. And although I am frustrated because I need a new lens just for sports photography (and I know I have a 99.5% chance of NOT getting one), I am looking forward to taking many, many baseball pictures this spring and creating lots of baseball pages!

Speaking of creating pages, here are my latest layouts, oldest to newest. Links underneath each one will take you to the pages in my gallery at MyScrapbookArt if you are interested in supply credits or would like to leave a comment.


see page @ MSA


The above layout made it to the Gallery Standout blog on March 13, 2010! Totally made my day! see page @ MSA


Joey was a little sad because I "never make pages for him" (not true), so I wanted to make something special to show him when he got home from school that day. He was pleased with my usage of green (his fav color) things and told me he loved it. That's enough to warm my heart for a while.
see page @ MSA


My oldest took a turn to ask me to make a page for him, and I was very flattered (at first.... read on) he'd ask me to do such a thing (after all he is embarrassed easily and is too critical of photos of him). Scrapping to his taste makes it easy for me to keep a page very clean and simple. Oddly enough, clean and simple is hard for me, but I like a challenge every once in a while! I also took the opportunity to do a bit of journaling, because it's been a while since I wrote him "a letter" so to speak, and felt like there were things I wanted to say to him. Mainly, that I love him but other stuff, too. ;) The sort of bursting-with-pride-feeling I had after completing this layout was busted when I showed it to him the next afternoon. He said "That's cool, but I meant that I wanted you to make me a web page."  LOL. Teenagers, I guess! See page @ MSA

see page @ MSA


Before I wrap up this entry, do you remember the Girlfriends Collab kit (<---click for inspirational layouts) that I contributed to last year? Well, it's on clearance, so this is your last chance to buy it and it is 50% off until the end of the month. Only a few days left!!! It is a fabulous kit which was created with a lot of love by REAL friends! If you support friendship, then you should buy this kit (heehee) or if you like the fact that the kit will work fabulously with your Spring/Summer pics... you should buy it! 50% OFF!!!



Hope your week gets off to a wonderful start!

a "girlfriends" collaboration

I got together with a few of my friends and put together this fun new collection called Girlfriends! We've just released it, and it's on sale now 25% off!!


You can buy the alphas, papers, elements, or templates separately, or buy the whole thing and SAVE even more!!    EDITED to remove invalid links.

Girlfriends is brought to you with love by great friends: Amy Knepper, Jessica Bolton, Kim Jensen, Melinda Staley, Robin Cabana, our friend Rose, Tania Shaw, and Tracy Blankenship.

Check out these fun layouts!
by Raji (rsk)

by Robin (rmcabana)

by myself, Jessica Bolton




The following two layouts use templates from the kit




Hurry over now!!  Sorry, it's no longer available.

Freestylin' Fall

Today's entry will be short and to the point. My heart is just not into blogging/writing much today, but for those who do still read and get updates via the blog, I wanted to do a quick post about the new kit in my shop, Freestylin' Fall.

And here's some wonderful, freestylin' inspiration from the Eclectic Team...

Hope you enjoyed seeing their eye candy as much as I did!

If you'd like to help spread the word about the kit and/or my designs in general please send your friends to my blog and/or to my newsletter because I have an exclusive newsletter/blog discount that will take an additional 15% off Freestylin' Fall: fallnluveclectic [you must have the above digital kit in your cart for the discount code to work.]

Thanks for your continued support :)

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some designing is better than no designing...

I didn't blog about it here, but last month everyone in our family of six came down with the flu and for some reason I have been having a heck of a time catching up and getting back on the ball (if I ever was "on the ball" to begin with LOL) with everything. Laundry, other housework, paperwork, email, designing, and the list goes on. Yesterday I took another little time out from spinning in circles and sat down to do a little last minute designing in order to have a new product out for Lost & Found Thursday @ FPD. So without further ado... "mixed paints alpha" is brand new in my shop today! It was made to match last week's release, Primarily Educational, although it could very easily be recolored to match whatever kit you're using. The best part about today's release is that mixed paints alpha is just $1 for today only!




And look! I scrapped a page to boot! Unfortunately my patience with my camera early in the morning is not so great, but I did what I could to fix the kiddos' back to school pictures so I could scrap them. Gotta love Photoshop, huh?

This layout shows mixed paints alpha in action, and also used in this layout is last week's release, Primarily Educational...




The above layout uses a free template created by my good pal, Tracy B.! Find it on her blog!

Thank you for reading, and may you have a wonderful rest of the week and a happy weekend! I'm off to match up socks, scrub the tub, and do lots of other not-so-fun stuff. 'Til next time!

it's all about the education!

I have been wanting to redo one of my much earlier kits, Primarily Educational, for quite a while now so when my friend Tracy requested a boyish school themed kit I knew that the time was right to finally "make it over", and this was the end result:


(click the image to head to the shop, where additional preview images can be found)

Only two of the papers and less than a handful of elements from the original kit made their way into this one (in new and improved versions), so it is basically a whole new kit. I'm a paper kind of girl myself, so this one is bursting at the seams with gorgeous backgrounds in a variety of textures, patterns, and prints - such a wide variety that you'll be able to use this kit for your kiddos in kindergarten all the way up to your highschoolers! There are also some hand-drawn doodles, ric-rac, divider tabs, see through ruler, buttons, felt stars, tape, and a frame. Honestly, it seems to be too light on the elements so I feel that an add-on pack will be coming soon as long as I can work the school theme back into my design schedule ;)

For anyone who would like to take this kit for a test run, or those who just love a good, clean quick page... here's a little something for you! Click the image to be taken to the download page. Also, please remember that my freebies are for personal use only.



(Update: link has expired, sorry!)
Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great day!

inspiration from jessie's girls

Is it just me or is this year going by way too fast?! I can't seem to keep up with everything and it's probably time to admit that I still haven't learned how to juggle four boys, husband, housework, designing, promoting, email, etc... Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get it.

So, on a much happier, scrappier note I have some amazing CREATIVE TEAM INSPIRATION to share with you all today! As you probably know, five members of my creative team are competing in the Battle of the Creative Teams at Digiscrap Addicts! Here's a preview of the layouts Jessie's Girls have created for week four of competition using only 'Eclectic Scraps':

[click on the image below to be taken to the threads containing full size previews of their layouts as well as a links to the gallery where you can find supply lists]

Please help me show support for my team, Jessie's Girls, by placing your vote HERE.
[Please note: If you voted last week, you may have to clear your cookies before the voting system will process your vote this week.]

Last week I took a mini break from "work" as my family was adjusting to our back to school routine, but Jessie's Girls didn't miss a beat! I couldn't be more impressed with the dedication, perseverance, and creativity these five have shown throughout this competition. Here's a look at their BOTCT week three layouts:

[click on the image to be taken to the threads containing full size previews of their layouts as well as a links to the gallery where you can find supply lists]






I would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to Jessie's Girls for doing an outstanding job using and representing my work during this contest! GOOD LUCK to my girls and most of all I hope you had a blast playing in the challenges!!! You are more than just team members to me. I consider you all to be my friends and I love you tons, girlies!!!

new-to-fpd kits, CT inspiration, and more

Wow. I honestly cannot believe that another week has come and gone! None of the issues that I've been having with my computer have been solved, which is still frustrating. It's difficult to devote time to issues with my machine when all I am aiming to do each day is spend as much time as possible with my boys before they are back in school again. Eight days to go 'til the first full day?! And just like that... summer vacation is over!

Needless to say, today's blog entry will be all digiscrap related, quick, and to the point. Most, if not all, of my readers won't mind, huh?

=====NEW to FPD=====

I have added another "new-to-FPD" kit to my shop at Funky Playground Designs: Love This Guy ...

=====CREATIVE TEAM INSPIRATION=====

Five members of my creative team are competing in the Battle of the Creative Teams at Digiscrap Addicts! Here's a peek at the layouts they, Jessie's Girls, have created this week using only my designs... [click on the image to be taken to the threads containing full size previews of their layouts as well as a links to the gallery where you can find supply lists]


Please help me show support for my amazing team by placing your VOTE for Jessie's Girls HERE.
[Please note: If you voted last week, you may have to clear your cookies before the voting system will process your vote this week.]

It's too late to vote for the week one layouts, but I wanted to share them anyway. If you have been collecting my designs for a while, I know you will appreciate more eclectic inspiration. If you ask me, these ladies are the Queens of Mixing-and-Matching!

=====SAVE $$$ IN MY SHOP THROUGH AUGUST 2=====

I hope that after seeing all that creative team inspiration you are in the mood to shop a little :)

Please use this code: jessiesgirlsrock for 30% off your purchases through Sunday, August 2nd. Enjoy!!! And may you have a day full of eclectic and funky scrapping very soon!

let's review monday!

What happened to my Monday?! Normally, my absolute least favorite day of the week, but it wasn't so bad overall... it just went by way too fast and I wasn't able to get around to everything on my To Do list.

So, in no particular order, here's my Monday in a nutshell:


=====the boys=====

Jace has been riding on two wheels for several months now, but he is.... was... still rusty when it came time to put on the brakes, getting around obstacles and what not. And Joey always complained about his training wheels being "all messed up", so we took the training wheels off his bike on Sunday and more or less told him that it was time to make the leap to two wheeling. That it was now or never. It took a LOT of help and encouragement at first, and then I spent a good part of today watching them both practice in the driveway and up, down, and around the backyard. But by the end of the day they had progressed to begging me to let them take a ride around the block. I caved (secretly, on the inside I was in total panic)...


I'm a bad scrapbooker! I haven't taken pictures myself yet, but I managed to snag one off of hubby's phone. There will definitely be more bicycle pics and/or layouts to come!

(mini layout credit: Ready 2 Go by Tania Shaw Design)


=====my creative team=====

Six of my creative team members are competing in the Battle of the Creative Teams at Digi Scrap Addicts! Check out their amazing layouts for round one and please help me cheer them on!!

Tania, Kim, Kimberly, Robin, and Melinda are designing for me via Team Jessie's Girls, in the designer category. You can see all of their amazing layouts HERE. And Jenn is designing layouts for the Studio Crew, in the store category. See Jenn's and the rest of the Studio Crew's layouts HERE.

Find links to vote for your favorite team HERE.


=====my computer=====

It sucks. My internet sucks even more. Enough said.

No seriously. I am considering purchasing a new EHD, dumping all my stuff in it, and reformatting my hard drive. I've never done had to endure a reformat before, and I'm not sure if it will help with the issues I'm having, but right now multi-tasking is out of the question and it's very frustrating trying to do just about anything that involves running more than one program at a time. As much as I'd love to toss this laptop out the window, I can't afford to splurge on a new one right now. What to do, what to do???

=====around the house=====

Since my computer isn't playing nice, it is easier to avoid the stress and focus on something else. So my focus has been on housework the past few days. There has been lots of de-cluttering and flinging and making time for those once-every-couple-of-months chores like cleaning the ceiling fans, vacuuming the mini-blinds (OK, I honestly do not clean the mini-blinds more than twice a year), dusting off the tops of doorframes and windows, etc... and then of course the neverending pile of laundry and trying to keep dishes clean (by hand even, my dishwasher also isn't working the way it should! grrrr!). It's almost to the point of resorting to FlyLady techniques, but for now I am holding out hope that the mundane things, like housework, will flow a little more smoothly once the boys are all back in school and we have a little structure added back into our daily lives. Just a few more weeks!


=====designs=====

Needless to say, there has not been an opportunity for me to create new designs so my focus has simply been on redoing previews of my older (although most favorite) stuff and getting those things added to my FPD shop. Like everything else involving my computer, that seemed to be easier said than done when it came time to upload the zips. Grrr! More frustration! But I did make the deadline with my half of Whatever Mama!, a gorgeous collab Tania and I worked on together good while back.


More favorites to be added (and possibly...hopefully more blogging!) in a few days on Lost & Found Thursday!