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Friday Freebie: Explore Your World Add-On

Happy Friday! As you read this, I'm helping my husband load up the truck and we're heading out with the girls for a weekend camping adventure! We're meeting his brother and his sister and their families in Hoosier National Forest in Indiana for three days of hiking, canoing, bike riding, tent sleeping, s'mores eating, bug slapping, weenie roasting FUN, and I can't wait!

Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter -- we are rapidly approaching the date for the first issue to go live. (Please note: If you do sign up, you won't recieve the download link for your free gift until I return on Monday. Thanks for your patience and understanding.)

In the meantime, make sure to grab today's freebie. It's a quote that I love, along with a few text frames, and it gives you a great sneak peek at what my House Party kits are going to look like next week. Make sure to join us for the House Party at Design House Digital on the first of each month, where participating designers release coordinating kits that you can mix and match. There are great challenges, too, and we're getting ready to kick off our August Dollar Days as well. Lots going on that you won't want to miss!

(click on the image below to download this week's freebie)

 

 

Friday Freebie: Handpainted Alphabet Add-On

Happy Friday everyone! Today's the day I get to pick Cami up from her first summer camp; she went to a conservation camp sponsored by the Fish & Wildlife Department about 45 minutes from here. She's spent the week in classes like swimming, archery, canoeing, outdoor survival, firearm and hunter safety, nature, and more! She's been looking forward to it so much, so I really hope she had a great time. I know we've missed her around here, so it will be nice to have her back home.

I finished Summer Morning, Summer Evening by Ray Bradbury last night, and when I was done, I just had to sigh at the beauty of his writing. He's one of my favorite authors, and his passing took a light from this world, I truly believe. This short story collection is actually all the leftover bits and pieces that got cut from Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer years ago. (I really wish I had known about the signed limited editions that Subterranean Press offered when it first came out). It's the perfect little book to read during the summer months, and I particularly was drawn to this little passage. It's called "The People With Seven Arms," and it's a conversation between Grandfather and Douglas:

"It came late," said Grandfather. "For Tom. It started early for you and it's still going on. Discovering things, looking at things, smelling, sniffing, tasting things. Hearing things. It should never stop. It stops for most people, but they shouldn't let it. Don't let it. Keep it up all your life. I do. I do keep it up every day. Like with the lawn, and the dandelion wine. See, hear, feel, touch, smell, know, and you love. Put out your hands. God gave you seven. Your two regular ones, plus nose, mouth, eyes, ears, skin.

"When you stop knowing you stop loving and when you stop loving you're not living, and when you're not living, Douglas boy, you might as well be dead."

I had to stop and read that two or three times. For me, that passage says so much about how we should experience the world, and how I think Bradbury experienced it right up until he passed out of it.

To finish off this Friday post, I've got a freebie for you. This set of numbers and signs coordinates with my Handpainted Alphabet, which is available in the shop. There's also a set of Handpainted Adjectives, and you can purchase the two of them separately or as a bundle -- if you don't already have them, of course.

(click on the image below to be taken to the download link)

 

 

Friday Freebie: Daily Overlays

I love adding frames and notes to my photos with Photoshop -- it's one of my favorite things to do to add a little "something extra" to my pictures, especially when the plan is just to post them to my blog or Facebook, rather than scrapbooking them. I particularly love the look of low-opacity words or images laid over my photos, so that the colors and images can still peek through. That's why I decided to offer up a set of Daily Overlays for this week's Friday Freebie -- these are perfect for using in Project Life, on your blog, or as part of any other memorykeeping projects you might be working on.

They are super-simple to use. They're already sized to 4x6 inches, so you just need to open your photo in Photoshop (or whatever editing program you use), and then drag and drop the frame on top. The opacity has already been lowered for you, but if you want it lighter, you can make that adjustment yourself. Want it darker? Just duplicate the layer (so that you can have two copies).

To download the freebie, just click on the preview below. 

Friday Freebie: Daily Frames

We're celebrating with family this week, which means lots of photo opportunities! Here's a quick freebie for you to download (just click on the preview to be taken to the download link) -- simple frames for every day of the week, in both vertical and horizontal orientations, sized at 4x6. Enjoy, and don't forget to stop back by on Sunday for a sneak peek at what's coming soon, plus a chance to win!

Friday Freebie: Whiz Kid Scatters

The 4th of July holidays are upon us once again! This is the time of year that my family really looks forward to, because it means we get to spend time with Chris's sister Debbie and her family. They live in Michigan, so we only get to see them about twice a year. Ask the girls and they'll tell you that six months in between visits with their cousins Kendall and Connor are almost too long to bear!

This year, Deb and Bill have plans to spend Saturday and Sunday with us here in Murray at Freedom Fest before heading on down to Bartlett. We've got lots of great plans for the weekend, including the annual parade, the farmer's market, a barbeque competition, a zipline across downtown Murray, a community band performance, inflatables in the park, the new splash park, and a fireworks extravaganza. Whew! I'm worn out just thinking about it all!

To kick off the celebrations, I'm offering you a set of free scatters that coordinate with my WHIZ KID kit. Even though the kit is academically-focused, there's so much in it that can be used for 4th of July and other patriotic pages. Plus, this weekend is a great time to purchase since my shop will be 25% off!

(Just click on the preview image of the scatters to be taken to the download page for the freebie).

Here's a look at the WHIZ KID kit from some of my creative team members.

By Celeste:

 By Rachel:

by Jen H:

Tuesday $$ Deal: Timeline Templates + Sneak Peek Freebie

Wow. It looks like I'm being very alliterative today, doesn't it? HA! The sign of a true English teacher, I guess.

Anyway, I've got a great timesaving product up for sale in the shop today as part of our Tuesday Dollar Deals promotion. These Timeline Templates make it easy for you to personalize your Facebook cover photo.

Just drop in your favorite photos and digital papers, accent them with a couple of digital embellishments, and add a quote or word art; the results are gorgeous! Take a look at this example from House Decorator Katherine, who opted for a photocentric layout with a pop of red -- one of the flair buttons from my recent collection. 

Here's the same template from House Decorator Rachel. You can see how easy it is to create a completely different look, just by varying your papers and elements -- Rachel used various kits from our June House Party collaboration. 

House Decorator Jen Hignite used my Whiz Kid kit (just perfect for patriotic holidays, but flexible enough for LOTS of other projects) with the starburst template, which is my favorite. I love those lines of stitching.

Finally, I created a quick little freebie to share with you (just right click on the image and save to your computer -- you'll be able to upload it directly as your Facebook cover photo without having to make any changes). It's a sneak peek at a couple of the items coming your way on Thursday; I've teamed up with Sara Schmutz for a new collaboration kit, and there are a couple of great add-ons you don't want to miss either.

 

Friday Freebie: Embellished Words for I DO kit

A recent addition to my shop is this lovely flower-filled set of papers, elements, and alphabets called "I DO." It's the perfect kit for celebrating weddings or anniversaries; I love the simple elegance of the papers and tiny flowers (and it actually coordinates quite nicely with my Family Rules kit and tags, too).

Here's a peek at some recent layouts from the Design House Digital gallery featuring this kit -- you'll see just how versatile it really can be.

by me:

by Celeste (the frames and journaling cards in the kit are perfectly sized for Project Life):

from Katherine:

I've created a set of embellished words that you can download (just click on the preview below) to use along with the rest of the kit. To make things even sweeter, use the coupon code "IDOfreebie2012" to pick up the full kit for 25% off the full price through the weekend. (Code expires 6/25).

 

 

(inter)National Scrapbook Day: Blog Hop Freebie!

We're kicking off the (i)NSD festivities at Design House Digital with a blog hop, a free kit, and a layout challenge! So let's get started with a look at the most recent collaboration from the DHD Designers, Retrospect.

This kit is FREE for you if you play along with our DHD Blog Hop, which starts on the DHD Blog. From there, just hop from blog to blog, picking up letters along the way, which you'll plug in at the end to grab a coupon code which will allow you to download the full kit from the shop. My letter for you is: 

I was lucky enough to participate in the April 2012 class at Masterful Scrapbook Design recently called Artful Embellishing. As I was preparing my layouts for the course, I spent a lot of time thinking about scrapbook embellishments and digital kits. I'm a one-kit scrapper, for the most part, and I've talked before about the pros and cons of scrapping with just one kit. I keep an ongoing list of stories that I need to tell, with photo notes alongside, so that when I get a creative team assignment or just some time to scrap on my own, I have stories ready to be scrapped. 

But what do you do when you're faced with a themed kit (perhaps by assignment, or perhaps simply because you just LOVE the kit too much not to purchase it) and no photos that fit it? Here are some tips for using themed-kits for non-themed layout pages.

FOCUS ON THE COLORS: 
I pretty much buy any kit that uses the colors red, white, gray, and light blue because those are my kids' school colors. Both of my girls are involved in multiple sports and other extracurricular activities, so layouts with papers and elements in these colors can come in quite handy. The layout above was made with a Christmas kit, but you'd never know that by looking at it. (Here are a couple more that use Christmas kits for sports pages: Run Like You Mean It and Run Like Girls.)

FOCUS ON THE SHAPES AND PATTERNS:
Just about every kit comes with a set of common patterns (stripes, dots, chevrons), along with patterns that are more thematically-focused. If you focus creating a certain mood with your paper choices, themed kits can still be extremely useful. In the case above, the patterned paper and elements are from a 4th of July kit, but the circles and stars help capture the movement and energy of the photos. The hand-drawn, comic-book touches also tie in nicely with the track photos. 

FOCUS ON THE WORDS AND STORIES:
For this layout, I was assigned to work with a spring/Easter-themed collab. Sadly, we've almost outgrown the Easter bunny at my house, so I didn't really have anything that fit. When I was flipping through the elements, I found a word art that said "Faith" and was inspired to tell the story of my oldest daughter's youth group, her family in faith. Word art, titles, quotes, and other textual elements from themed kits can be a great starting point for a layout about a variety of topics. Here's a link to a page I did where I was inspired by the "Start the Journey" elements to use a travel/vacation kit for a graduation layout. 

Leave a comment on this post and share with me a link to a layout you've created (or one you've been inspired by) that uses themed products for non-themed layouts. I'll choose a winner via random.org and that person will recieve all of my May product releases for FREE! That's right! Each week when the new releases go live at DHD, you'll get a coupon code allowing you to purchase them for FREE!

Want additional chances to win? Here's how:
1. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter and post a link to your tweet in the comments.
2. Update your Facebook status with a link to this giveaway and then post a link in the comments here.
3. Blog about the giveaway and then link me to your blog post in the comments.

THAT'S 4 WAYS TO WIN! All comments must be posted by midnight EST on May 6th, 2012. I'll post the winner on Monday.

If you are playing along with the Design House Digital LAYOUT CHALLENGE, to be entered into the drawing for a digital photo frame, you will need to complete a layout meeting all 26 of the challenges by Tuesday, May 8 at 11:59 MST. These challenges should be gathered as you visit each blog for the iNSD blog hop. Here's my challenge for you:

Now you're ready to head over to the lovely Gen Bursett's blog for a great post on what to do with your layouts once you've finished them, plus another letter and layout challenge. HAPPY iNSD!!!

march madness and girl vs scrap

Well, almost the entire state is celebrating UK's win in the NCAA tournament (I say almost because I doubt there is much celebration happening in Louisville). But even though March Madness is over, that doesn't mean we're finished with our Mad March Memories celebration at Design House Digital!

In addition, voting has started for our Digiscrap Competition winner, so cast your vote here; you can vote once a day until the April 6th deadline. We've got 24 gorgeous layouts to select from, and one lucky voter will also win a class from ReneePearson.com. 

It's time to kick off the April round of Girl vs Scrap over at One Story Down today, too! This month your challenge is to:

Here's the layout I created:

credits:
Photograph tab and leaf doodle (recolored): Photobooth by Paislee Press
alphabet: Candyland by CD Muckosky
page border: Storyteller by One Little Bird and Paislee Press
all other papers and elements: Tell Me A Story collaboration by One Story Down designers
font: Olivetti Type 2

Upload your layout to the gallery and then post a link on the blog or in the forum by 4/30/12; just for playing along, you'll get this lovely freebie from Tickled Pink Studio:

 

upcoming: this weekend

Just a few announcements for the weekend, before I log off and finish out my Spring Break weekend as unplugged as I can get.

My Count Your Memories collab with Erica Coombs is 25% off through the weekend. We're also chatting at 4 pm CST on Sunday at the DHD Chat Room -- freebies will be involved. Come hang out for an hour or so!

Speaking of freebies, I've got a couple of card freebies for you on this blog post. Just click on the link and when the image opens up, right click and save it. It's just a .jpg file, so you can print straight from that image, no fancy programs required. 

Everything in my shop will be 25% off this weekend, so if you've been eyeballing something, now's a great chance to get it at a discounted price. I've got some free and $1.00 kits available as well: Tribal elements is free, and Orange Crush, Jar of Hearts Papers, and Small Talk Bubbles are all $1.00 through Sunday night.

One last thing: I've got a new article up on Ella Publishing's e-zine, Scrapbook Ellaments, about using your favorite TYPES of books for scrapbooking design inspiration. I guest posted there almost two years ago on a similar topic, so it was fun to revisit the idea of using books for inspiration. I hope you'll give it a read and let me know what you think. 

Now, I'm off to finish up some laundry and dishes, take the recycling to the drop-off center, and grade a handful of essays. I'm taking Cass to see The Hunger Games this weekend, and I've got two novels I'd like to finish before Spring Break is over. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you at the chat on Sunday!