Simply Sarah

2012 Calendars

2011-10-29T15:15:00.002-05:00

Long time no scrap!

I wish I was saying that just to be cute.... but truly, it has been a LONG time since I've scrapped. I do miss it, and I'm about 2 years behind. But I figure it's more important to MAKE the memories than to hole myself away scrapping the memories. I assure you the photos have been taken and I'll catch up one day....

In the meantime, I've had a few people ask about the calendars. I always debate whether or not I'll do them. Truth be told though, they're also what I give for Christmas gifts, so I NEED to make them for my own list to be completed!

So.... here they are!

Here's a little example of what they look like with my family tucked into January. We've since moved completely out of snow country -- if it snows where we've moved, they may just kick us out of town!!!

I've given you a couple different options from which to choose. The first is a 12x12 option (at 300dpi). Obviously these can easily be shrunk down to 8x8 or maybe even smaller to make CD case calendars if you'd like.

To get your 12x12 download, please CLICK HERE.

The second option is an 8.5x11 option. This is the option I use, and I typically have had them printed at ArtsCow.com -- they're reasonable, the printing is good, and while the transit is a LITTLE LONG, I'll take the cost savings. If memory serves, shipping was exorbitant, so look for a free shipping code. The 8.5x11 option has a little bit more detail. I've added the "memo boxes" with interchangable titles -- memory verse, to do, special days, birthdays, memo, etc. Use one I've provided, or make up your own.

I've also included a Bible Verse for each month, which is standard on my calendars. It's removable should you choose. This year, I've also included quotes by various Christian authors, and these are on the "date block" pages.

To get your 8.5x11 version, please CLICK HERE.

I hope you enjoy! As we pass Halloween and enter into the holiday season, may God's richest blessings go with you!

Sarah

Quick Page - I Love You

2010-12-24T19:10:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

I sit here in my family room. Christmas Eve church service thoroughly enjoyed. New tradition of Christmas Eve pizza filling our bellies. New Christmas pajamas keeping us cozy. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" playing on the DVD player. Kiddos snuggling in our lap.

Aaahhhh... I love Christmas.

I pray you all are enjoying it as well!

Tonight I'm sharing with you a quick page I made a couple months ago. I didn't have any journaling with this picture -- just the kids messing around making "I Love You" in sign language. So I thought it would be cute to find multiple translations of "I Love You" and add it to the page. I couldn't begin to tell you which languages they are -- but so long as the translater page I used was correct, the words should be too! :)

I will give the heads up that this is an 8x8 template at 300dpi. It will print fine at 12x12, or you could do some fun layered papers under it, if you'd rather.

The Quick Page can be downloaded from 4Shared by CLICKING HERE.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Word Art - 4 Bible Verses

2010-12-23T01:42:00.001-05:00

(Please click image for larger preview)

This is the final collection of Word Art pulled from my 2010 monthly photo gifts. I hope you're able find a place to implement these verses into your designs!

The final 4 verses are also contained within one zip file. The verses are as follows:

Top Left: Surely there is a future and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:18

Top Right: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. Isaiah 43:2

Bottom Left: But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

Bottom Right: He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. Psalm 104:19

To download this 4 verse collection, please GO TO 4SHARED. Enjoy!

Word Art - 4 Bible Verses

2010-12-23T01:23:00.002-05:00

(Please click image to view larger)

I should probably be much more strategic about how I share these.... uploading one per day, creating a kit. I don't know -- there are probably a million better ways to share it. But that takes strategy and planning... and that's just not me! :)

My side of the family held an early Christmas about 2 weeks ago. I burned through and finished these gifts -- they're my favorite gifts to give. I do believe they were well received as well.

I kind of fell off the wagon in sharing these Word Arts. But I've hopped back on the wagon... so I'll keep sharing.

Included in this zip file are 4 different Bible Verse word arts, represented in the photos above. The verses are:

Top Left: The flowers appear on the earth. The time of singing has come. Song of Solomon 2:2

Top Right: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew 6:28-29

Bottom Left: The will will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat... and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6

Bottom Right: Your beauty should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 1 Peter 3:4

You can head over to 4Shared to download all 4 in ONE ZIP FILE. Enjoy!

Project 365 Templates

2010-12-21T15:11:00.001-05:00

By show of hands, how many of you participated in Project 365 last year? Raise those hands high!

My hand... not up.

I wanted to participate, really I did. I blame it on not having an iPhone. I also blame it on not having a plan.

I still don't have an iPhone, but for 2010, I do have a plan. I hope that by sharing this Project 365 freebie with you, you'll also be able to document your year!

The inspiration for this design was from the monthly photos of my kids that I make each year for my parents. I love the 4x6 format, because it's so easy to just print them off as photos and add to a standard album. I also kinda dig the little date stamps I created for my kids and have converted them for this purpose.

I hope that my take on Project 365 is versatile enough to fit your needs, yet provides a standard and cohesive look for your album, however you choose to use them. Included in the 25MB kit are the following:

365 Black Date Stamps -- Each month has its own PNG file, and there is a stamp for all 365 days of the year. I've consecutively numbered them -- and double checked my dates / numbers to make sure that I didn't miss any. The text around each stamp reads "January 1 Project 365" -- obviously each stamp will have its own date and corresponding number of the year.
365 White Date Stamps -- After creating the white background with black overlay, I thought the inverse might also look nice. If you would like a different color, simply open the PNG file, choose "Layer Styles" then "Color" and choose the color of your choice for the date stamp.
2 Black Lined 4x6 PNG Overlays -- one for the left side, one for the right side
2 Black Unlined 4x6 PNG Overlays -- one for the left side, one for the right side
2 White Lined 4x6 PNG Overlays -- one for the left side, one for the right side
2 White Unlined 4x6 PNG Overlays -- one for the left side, one for the right side

Below you'll see examples of each of the 8 overlays. Under the samples, you can see exactly what it is you'll be downloading.

Please CLICK HERE to visit 4shared and download Project 365. Enjoy!

Word Art - Psalm 34:5

2010-11-25T00:37:00.000-05:00

Last one for today! :) I hope you've enjoyed my little spurt of scrapping energy. I believe I've got 3 months of 12 down -- so 9 more to go. Where applicable, I'll continue to share the word art with you.

For now, enjoy a grin from my boy, who was 3 when this photo was taken.

To download the PNG file, PLEASE CLICK HERE or on the word art itself.

ENJOY!

Word Art - Matthew 13:16

2010-11-25T00:14:00.000-05:00

I wish I could say I was on a roll today... and to a degree I am. However, one more layout, and I'm out of layouts to which I'm adding verses. That simply means I must put together more layouts if I'm going to finish a year's worth of photos in time for Christmas gifts!

I hope you enjoy this one and have some beautiful eyes in layouts so that you can find great uses for it! You can download by clicking the word art, or CLICKING HERE TO GO TO 4SHARED.

Word Art - Psalm 91:11 - Angels

2010-11-24T18:28:00.002-05:00

I'm on a roll! Two freebies in one day! :) Watch out world. I used this word art for 2 pictures of the kids doing basically the same thing. The beauty of it is in the book they will be no where near each other (20 pages apart!), so hopefully no one will realize immediately that they're complete duplicates.

I thought Psalm 91:11 was the perfect verse for snow angels; I hope you do too!

You can DOWNLOAD FROM 4SHARED HERE. You can also click on the word art to get the link.

Word Art - Proverbs 12:10 - Animals

2010-11-24T11:30:00.004-05:00

Every year I give 4x6 photos to my family -- one for each month of each child. I've been compiling them in a 2-up photo album that allows us to look at each child's 1st month, 2nd month.... 40th month side by side to see the similarities in each one at each stage. It's really quite a fun book to see the comparison!

One of the things that I add to each page is a Bible Verse that I try to apply to the theme of the page or the look on their face. As I work through them, I'm likely to end up with some word art, which I plan to share with you.

Here's the first page I'm working on, and the corresponding Word Art.

To download the PNG Word Art file, please DOWNLOAD HERE from 4shared.

As with all of my freebies, they are for personal use only. Please don't add them to a quick page or something similar and distribute them as part of your work. If there's ever a question, please just ask (make sure to include your email in the comment, as I'm unable to respond without one).

2011 Calendar

2010-10-25T20:14:00.003-05:00

Wel... Another year is upon me. And another year where I'm going through the internal debate about whether or not I'll do a calendar. I'm over a year behind on my scrapbooking, so the idea of a calendar seemed kind of daunting.

However....

1) They're my standard Christmas presents. Without them, what would I do?

2) Someone asked. :)

So I got to work. I wanted to do them different than year's past. The result, and I'll apologize in advance, is ridiculously large file sizes that require you to download 4 separate files to get them all -- and each file is between 100-150MB. SO SORRY!

However, I do hope that they've provided you some flexibility as well. Here's a preview of what you'll be getting. I really love the style of a large background photo with a textured / washed out overlay -- it's kind of my "go to" scrapbooking style, if you will. So that's what I've tried to create for you.

Let me give you an idea of some of the features of these calendar pages (which may explain the reason the files are so big!)

- You can customize your colors. The background colors are their own layer, so you can choose the layer that best speaks to you the color of the month, or the color that best coordinates with your chosen photos.

- The texture layer is already set to "overlay" -- so you just have to drag your favorite photo into the layer between the background and the texture layers (marked in each file), and the effect will be applied for you.

- In years past, I've had requests for things other than Bible Verses. I personally want Bible Verses, and since I'm creating this for my own gifts, that's what I've included. However, I've made them their own layer, so should you prefer to remove them, that's easy for you to do.

- The "Frame" layers are movable and interchangeable. I've included a separate download just for the frame clusters if you'd like them. However, they're on each of the pages as well -- both ways work.

This approach almost is more of a quick page than a template -- not typically the direction I go. But I do hope that you enjoy it. Included in the downloads are some instructions for how to manipulate your large photos to make it work well with the texture overlay.

I've had people request in the past if they can use my calendars for gifts or church / school fundraisers. The answer is yes. However, I do request that you don't sell them as your own, and that you don't sell them to make a profit for yourself. That permission is granted for the printed calendar only -- not individual bits and pieces of the kits.

I hope that you enjoy it, and those who you're giving the calendars do too! I'd love to say I'll be back with some templates...but I can't promise anything. I do have a few scrapbook pages that I could probably convert to templates.... but honestly, I'm hunting for templates and quick pages right now, too, simply to catch myself up! My goal is to complete 2009 in time for Christmas gifts.... but I'm still on June. Who else needs life to slow down just a touch!?

Alright, so here are the download files. Again, my apologies for the large file sizes.

January February & March 143MB

April May & June 135MB

July August & September 136MB

October November & December 110MB

If you'd like the elements only, those can be found HERE. They are only 3MB. Go figure! :)

Enjoy!

Advent Calendar Hybrid Project

2009-11-17T11:52:00.000-05:00

I’m so excited about the Advent Calendar the kids and I have been working on. I grew up with an Advent Calendar as a part of our Christmas celebration. We eagerly opened each door to find the candy behind it. We’d read the Advent devotionals, light the advent wreath/candles each Sunday, excitedly anticipating Christmas Day and Jesus Birth.

This year I wanted to find a way to combine all of those traditions and point to the Savior each day. I didn’t care so much about the chocolate – I wanted something else to be “hidden” behind each door. I wanted the kids to seek Jesus. He is, after all, the reason for the season.

So this is the result of my quest to create the “perfect” Advent calendar. I hope you enjoy it! And I’d LOVE to hear about your Advent traditions.

To create the “scene” for my Advent calendar, I purchased a miniature Christmas tree (or will purchase one).

Under the Christmas tree, I placed 25 folded paper boxes (directions for how to make these are listed below). I numbered each box 1 through 25. So box 1 would be open on December 1st, and so on. Now I do realize that Advent traditionally begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas, but for simplicity sake, and so that we can reuse this from year to year, we’re doing it 25 days of December.

Within each box is a phrase, a Bible verse, and a symbol. I put the phrase and Bible verse for each day on the inside of the box top (i.e. Day 1 says, “We anticipate Jesus birth, just as they did many years ago.” The Bible verse, “Isaiah 11:1 Psalm 27:14” will immediately follow it.) I’m only putting the Bible verse reference on the box top – my purpose, especially as the kids grow up, is to have them look up and read each verse.

Within the inside of the box on the bottom is what the symbol for the day is (i.e. Day 1 says, “Branch.”) This reference corresponds to the symbol that will be inside. The symbol will be in the form of an ornament, which will be hung on the tree. For right now, I used clip art to make all the symbols. I cut them out in circles, laminated them, punched holes, and they will be ornaments. Moving forward, the kids and I will be on an ornament quest to find all of the proper symbols for each day in miniature to be made into an ornament.

Beginning on Day 18, we’ll build a Nativity Scene in front of the tree. So rather than ornaments, I’ll find a miniature nativity and put one piece in each box. The culmination, of course, will be Baby Jesus lying in a manger on Christmas Day.

I’m very eager to begin this tradition with my kids! We’re building and stuffing the boxes over Thanksgiving weekend. I welcome you to join me in this quest to point your children towards Jesus. Below I’ve listed each day, the phrase, the Bible verse, and the symbol. I’ve also included pictorial step-by-step directions for how to make the paper boxes. Please let me know if you decide to join me!

DAY 1: We anticipate Jesus’ birth, just as they did many years ago.
Isaiah 11:1 - A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Psalm 27:14 - Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Symbol: Branch

DAY 2: The Bible teaches us about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
John 1:1-2 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Symbol: Bible

DAY 3: Jesus came because we are sinners.
Genesis 3:6-7 - When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
1Timothy 1:15 - Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
Symbol: Apple

DAY 4: Jesus paid the price for our sins.
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Hebrews 12:2 - Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Symbol: Cross

DAY 5: Jesus came because God loves us.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Symbol: Heart

DAY 6: Because of Jesus, we can have eternal life.
John 3:36 - He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
Symbol: Ring (eternal)

DAY 7: Jesus came so that we could join God’s family.
John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
Symbol: Family Photo

DAY 8: Our joy comes from the Lord.
Psalm 126:3 - The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 16:11 - You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Symbol: JOY Ornament

DAY 9: Jesus wanted to show us the way to the Father.
John 14:6-7 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Symbol: Compass

DAY 10: He is the Alpha and the Omega.
Revelation 1:8 - I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God," who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
Revelation 21:6 - And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
Revelation 22:13 - I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Symbol: Alpha and Omega Ornament

DAY 11: He is the Lamb of God.
John 1:36 - When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"
Symbol: Lamb

DAY 12: He is the Door.
John 10:9 - I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Symbol: Door

DAY 13: He is the Good Shepherd.
John 10:14-15 - I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Symbol: Candy Cane

DAY 14: He is the Light of the World.
John 8:12 - When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Symbol: Candle

DAY 15: He is the Bread of Life.
John 6:35 - Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:51 - I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Symbol: Bread

DAY 16: He is the King of Kings.
Revelation 19:16 - On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Symbol: Crown

DAY 17: Jesus Christ is the greatest gift.
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above.
2 Corinthians 9:15 - Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Symbol: Present

DAY 18: Jesus was born in a humble stable. (Begin to set Nativity Scene.)
Luke 2:12 - This will be a sign to you: “You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Symbol: Manger

DAY 19: Angels told the good news that the Savior was born.
Luke 2:8-14 - And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Symbol: Angel

DAY 20: Shepherds came to worship Jesus.
Luke 2:15-20 - When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Symbol: Shepherds

DAY 21: A star lit the way to Jesus.
Matthew 2:9-10 - The star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
Symbol: Star

DAY 22: Wise men came to worship Jesus.
Matthew 2:11 - And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Symbol: Wise Men

DAY 23: Jesus’ mother was Mary.
Isaiah 7:14 - Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Luke 1:30-33 - The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Symbol: Mary

DAY 24: Mary was to be married to Joseph.
Matthew 1:20-23 - An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us.
Symbol: Joseph

DAY 25: Jesus, the Savior, is born!
Isaiah 9:6 - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Revelation 22:16 - I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.
Symbol: Baby Jesus

2010 Calendar Version 2 - Bible Verses

2009-11-14T09:18:00.001-05:00

Ask, and ye shall receive.

This is actually the version I had in my mind to do from the start... it just took a bit longer to pull together than the month one I shared last weekend.

My primary goal with this calendar is to point to Christ. I want everyone who reads it to see Him in the words. To find hope. To find peace. To find light. To find purpose. To find freedom. For as the bottom middle verse (Acts 4:12) states: There is no other name by which we must be saved.

The style of this calendar is identical to the one I shared last week; the primary difference being the verses. The size (8.5x11), quality (300dpi), and file type (PSD) are all the same.

A couple people have asked where to print this. I used Lulu.com last year and honestly, I swore I'd never use them again because they printed it backwards (i.e. printed the calendar grid on the TOP and the pictures on the BOTTOM). (The reason for this is that they don't have a horizontal book option that's 8.5x11 and LANDSCAPE, so I chose an 8.5x11 PORTRAIT style book and rotated accordingly. The just rotated it 180 degrees from where I placed it.) However, I simply haven't found another place to print it as cheaply, so I'll probably go back there.

Lulu.com DOES have an option to print a calendar -- I haven't explored that option myself, but I believe you upload the photo side and use their grid. If you chose to use my templates to create that, you'd simply leave off the grid. That should work just fine.

Other people have gone to Kinkos, Staples, Office Depot and had them double side printed. I've also heard people laminate them and use a claw binding. You could also use page protectors and 3-ring binders if you desire. Lots of options!

Lastly, I have had a couple people ask if they can use these templates to create freebies. My answer is YES with the following 2 qualifiers:
1) Please give credit to Simply Sarah Designs and link back to this site.
2) Please email me to share that you've created a quick page/freebie so that I can show it here and link back to you.

And without further ado, go download the file HERE.

Enjoy!

2010 Calendar Templates / Version 1

2009-11-08T01:16:00.001-05:00

Wow! It has been SO long since I've scrapped or been in the scrapping loop that I didn't even realize it was National Digital Scrapbooking Day! Hope you all had a good one and found many wonderful treasures!

A few weeks ago, a lovely lady asked me if I was planning to do a calendar again. At that point, I hadn't even given it a thought. Then it hit me just how quickly 2010 was coming, not to mention Christmas 2009, and I hadn't even begun thinking of gifts.

So I told her that one would be coming.

Here it is!

However, it's only the first one.

I really wanted to do one with Bible verses each month, as I've done in the past. However, because I've been out of the scrapping loop, I just couldn't make the designs gel... at all. It was SO frustrating, and I was getting no where fast.

So I took a different approach to it.

One night as I was falling asleep, and idea came to me. I thought of wordle.net (go visit it, if you haven't already). I have Wordle to thank for the basic design of the pages. I did make a few minor tweaks, and I did redo all the fonts, but the credit for the font blocks goes to Wordle. What a fun program!

So anyway... here's where you get to have some fun...

I know you all went on a download frenzy today. And I just bet you got some amazing templates and/or quick pages. You see that "square" in the center of each page? That's for your favorite layout of each month. Or if you don't want to go that route, you can put your favorite picture of the month there. Don't like that either? Take out the block altogether and put in a large picture or design of your own. The possibilities are endless with this one! I hope you will to.

As I mentioned, this is version 1. Version 2 is coming. I was going to wait and provide them both together, but since it is National Scrapbook Day and all, I thought I'd play my part! :)

Version 2 will have the same basic design, but instead of the month blocks, there will be Bible Verse word art for each month. Bear with me. I've got 8 months left to go. Hopefully I'll have that done within the week, but I'll make no promises!

Hope you all had a blessed day, and found some wonderful scrapbook treasures... or more importantly, created some!

Oh yeah -- the templates. You can find them HERE. There are 24 pages (top and bottom for each month) zipped into one file. Each page is 8.5x11 and 300dpi. Oh -- and the olive color background is just that -- a background for display. It's not on the file itself.

Enjoy!

Layered Template 46

2009-08-01T01:48:00.002-05:00

I had such sweet comments with my last post. THANK YOU! I'm absolutely shocked that anyone stuck around because I was MIA so long. I literally longed for road trips, because I'd bring my laptop and scrap as my husband drove. That was the only time I had for scrapping. I love those car plug-in adapters!

I wish I could say I'm officially back. However, the pace of life hasn't slowed, so I'm not. However, I also have come to realize just how essential my scrap outlet is to my stress relief. So I'm going to make an attempt to get in a little bit of scrapping each week. When the layout is conducive to a template, then I'll have an update to share.

Even if it's 1:30 in the morning. Ugh! I'm going to pay for this one! :)

"Rexy" is the product of my late night desire to scrap a bit. Guess it was a stressful week. :) OK, it wasn't so bad, but sometimes scrapping late on a Friday night just feels good. Since everyone's asleep, I don't feel guilty... but in the morning, I better get my tail out of bed, so the guilties don't catch up with me!

I'm on a kick lately of using the photos as the background (as I mentioned with my last post). So I'm looking for new or different ways to do that. And my other priority is always journaling, so I've got to make room for that. Sometimes that's VERY challenging to do when the background is a photo.

I hope that you find this template to be very versatile. While I did put the title on the left, you could easily move it. And even though I journaled in the lower right box, it certainly could be a photo instead. I can also picture a really cool screened background photo in the top right. Maybe the journaling could go there, too. Like I said, I hope you're able to tweak this template so that it suits your style and photos!

You can download the template HERE.

Layered Template 45a and 45b

2009-07-30T20:56:00.001-05:00

Wow!

It has been AN ETERNITY!

Life has been a whirlwind for the past year and a half. It hasn't changed -- it's still a whirlwind. However, I recently carved out some time to scrap. And when I carve out time to scrap, I usually end up with a couple templates out of the deal.

So I have a couple templates for you!

Now I'm going to warn you about two things in advance...
1) They're all going to be 8x8 (300dpi) because that's how I scrap. And when my templates come as a result of the pages I'm creating, then that's the output.
2) I'm in the "hurry up and scrap" mode, because I dread getting one year behind! I was a month away from doing that, so I had to boogie! Now I'm caught up through November 1 -- so I've got just a tiny bit of breathing room. Not much though! Where I'm going with this -- the templates are a little bit "simple" -- which will provide you with a solid base to which you can add all sorts of fun elements and really twist it to make it your own!

These particular LOs are my favorite kind...

I love to use a big main photo as the background image, then position smaller photos around it to accent it. It's my favorite way to catch up! :) It's also my favorite way to not skimp on sharing pictures or focus on paper and elements more than the photo.

So the resulting template allows you to do the same. I'm even including the overlay I used (a photo of concrete with layer styles added to it) -- feel free to use it yourself to "tone down" the outer edges of your main photo. The overlay is a layer within each template and not a file of it's own.

So... you know the drill. Here's the pages. They're available in ONE zip file (about 35MB total) at 4Shared.

You can download Templates 45a-b HERE.

Layered Template #44 (5 Photo)

2009-01-11T15:01:00.001-05:00

Wow! It has been a LONG time since I've done a template. I've been using too many templates and quick pages myself, just to get caught up. But I had an afternoon where the rest of my family is sleeping, so I'm sitting in front of the football game and scrapping a little bit. Talk about the perfect Sunday afternoon! :)

Unfortunately, I must also add, "Don't get used to it." I'd love to tell you that my schedule has let up and that I have more time for scrapping. That would be completely untrue! I do have a lot of catching up to do though, so as the opportunities present themselves, I'll share the templates that come as a result of my own page designs.

So about this template... it is designed at 8x8 and 300 dpi. It will print just fine at 12x12, but I worried about enlarging it to 12x12 after I had created it at 8x8. Sometimes the upsizing digitally doesn't work as well as I'd like. So here you have it.... you may go HERE to download it. Enjoy! ;)

FREEBIE: Christmas Cards

2008-12-07T14:47:00.001-05:00

Did you think I had fallen off the face of the earth? :) No fear, I am here. I appreciate those of you have reached out in concern to ask about me. It has been quite a crazy year! I really can't complain, because it has been a GOOD year. I just haven't had any time to myself to do any hobbies. And what little time I did have, I'll admit, I was selfish and created for myself, but didn't get to the freebies.

The background, for those who don't know. In January we moved. In my real job, I'm a sales rep. In the past, I've always had an office in my home, because I was the only one of me in a given region. Well, the move we took in January put me in an office instead of home based. So now I've got a 20 minute commute each morning and evening, which isn't too horrible. But... what it really means working out of an office is that I've got basically 2-3 hours each night to play with the kids, cook dinner, and keep the house reasonable. I'll admit, I struggle to keep the house reasonable, and we've eaten a LOT more processed food than I would like to (and my waistline is paying the price for that). I definitely LOVE my job, LOVE my company, and have no desire to change either of those... but hopefully the next move/position will put me back in a home-based office! We shall see what He has in store for us.

Anyway, so I just finished up and ordered my Christmas cards for this year. And I thought I'd wish you all a Merry Christmas by sharing with you some of the cards I've used in years past. The top 3 versions are the actual cards I sent out. The collage is how I've tweaked them for you. Because the '07 and '08 cards used someone else's papers, I obviously couldn't share them with you like that.

This is our Christmas card for 2006. My son was 6 months old and my daughter was 28 months old. She needed to be bribed with a sucker to smile, which I Photoshopped out in that center photo! These photos were taken at the top of our stairs with a white bedsheet draped over the railing. I used Virtual Photographer to "glow" them a bit. I also bolded the "Christ" in Christmas, as a subtle reminder of just why we're celebrating. There are 4 PNG files available in the download: black, green, red, and red/green polka dot. I have taken the year out, so you won't be stuck in 2006.

This is the card we used last year. I couldn't seem to get a good photo of all of us at the same time, so I used a picture of each of us throughout the year. Again, I made "Christ" slightly larger to give it some emphasis on the card. The verse I chose is, "May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace." I provided for you a PNG file as well as a layered template so you can choose your own background. I obviously took our names and year off of there. The font I used is Arriere Garde, which is a free download.

And this is the card I ordered for this year. I used Vista Print to print them. I got 250 cards for under $50!!! And that's with envelopes, too. AND they print on the back in B&W for free, so we added our address and contact info on the back. They printed our cards last year too, and they did a really great job. I did get the idea for the love, joy, peace, and the verse from someone who I saw on Two Peas a few years ago (it's been in my inspiration folder ever since). However, I couldn't find it again to give proper credit. If anyone recognizes the theme and can tell me who did it, I'd love to give her thanks for inspiring this years card. Hers is a 4x6 and includes another greeting/verse, so is different, but the theme idea came from her. Anyway... I've provided you with 3 PNG files for this card -- one with a black background, white background, or red background.

You can download all of these HERE.

Enjoy the cards, and have a blessed Christmas!

"Hold On To Jesus" Lyrics

2008-09-15T09:24:00.006-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't had scrapping time to get some more freebies posted. I know that lyrics don't replace that, but I do hope they provide you some inspiration.

I discovered this song, by Erin O'Donnell, about a year and a half ago when I was working on putting all my layouts to video. It so beautifully puts to words and music the prayer I have for my kids. I heard it again on the radio this morning as I drove my kids do Day Care, and I actually had to choke back tears. I just love it! If you have a chance to listen to it, please do. (Here's a sample.)

"Hold On To Jesus" by Erin O'Donnell

You're a little piece of heaven

You're a golden ray of light

And I wish I could protect you

From the worries of this life

But if there's one thing I could tell you

It's no matter what you do

Hold to Jesus; He's holding on to you

The world will try to tell you

That might is more than right

That beauty's on the outside

And being good's a losing fight

But remember what I've told you

Because the world will make you choose

Hold to Jesus; He's holding on to you

CHORUS:

Hold on to Jesus

Cling to His love

Rest deep in His mercy

Whenever things get rough

Don't lose sight of His goodness

And don't ever doubt this truth

That when you hold on to Jesus

He's holding on to you

Hear me dear Jesus

Rock this little one to sleep

Keep her close when she's scared

And give her grace when she is weak

I know she'll stumble

But I know she'll make it through

If you hold on to her

Just like You said You'd do

Hold her Jesus

And she'll hold on tight to You

Give your kids an extra hug for me. I'll give mine some extra squeezes, too. They're precious miracles from God, and I'm sure you feel the same way I do -- completely humbled by the blessings and gifts that they are.

One Life to Love

2008-09-11T08:24:00.004-05:00

As I was driving into work this morning, a song touched my heart. I always listen to the lyrics to see if scrapbook inspiration can be taken from, and this song this morning definitely would fit the bill. The song is called "One Life to Love" by 33 Miles (from their One Life CD). The chorus is the part that I think would be a great addition to a scrapbook page:

"You only get just one time around,

you only get one shot at this

One chance to find out the

one thing that you don’t wanna miss

One day when it’s all said and done

I hope you see that it was enough

This one ride, one try, one life to love."

~ "One Life to Love" - 33 Miles

An important lesson to remember -- we do only have one life to LIVE and one life to LOVE -- so make each moment count.

HERE are the full lyrics for anyone interested.

Follow This Blog

2008-09-05T15:47:00.003-05:00

So I was reading Hummie's Blog today, which actually explains this a LOT better than I'm about to....

Anyway, she introduced me to this cool new feature called "Follow This Blog" -- so I decided to try and add it to my page. If you like to visit my site and come back from time to time, please consider adding yourself to the "Come Scrap With Me" link on the left hand side. I'm just curious what the little gadget does and how it looks in action. I promise I won't put you on a SPAM list or anything like that! :)

ABC Book Template

2008-09-05T15:38:00.003-05:00

I'm just moving this to an actual post rather than having it permanently stuck to the top of my website.

In a previous post I mentioned that I was doing an ABC book using animals and bible verses as a fundraiser for our local homeless center. I've made TWO template books: one with the animals listed, one without the animals listed. They are designed to print full-bleed at 6x9 (300dpi) -- I used http://www.lulu.com/ to print these.To get these templates, click on the DONATE link on my left hand side panel. Donate $5 and put in the memo, "ABC Book, please." Easy as that!

2009 Calendar - Layered Templates - Limited Time Only

2008-08-17T14:06:00.006-05:00

Well, I thought I'd work on another fundraiser for the Homeless Center. My goal would be to have people be able to add their own photos to this, but I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet! Perhaps if I just simplify a couple of the pages....

Anyway, for a couple days, I'll have this calendar available for free. Then it will move to the donation basis, similar to some of my other designs.

Here is an example of how I've done the month of January. The "spirals" are in there just to illustrate what they'll look like together -- they're actually two different pages.

Included in the download are 24 different 8.5x11 files (actually 8.75x11.25 for printers' trim margins). They're created at 300dpi. I created them using http://www.lulu.com/ 's dimentions and trim requirements. My intention for my personal calendars is to have them spiral bound using lulu. Certainly you could choose other methods. Each page also has a Bible verse on it along the bottom of the frame. The "outline" is done in two layers, so if you choose to remove the Bible verses, you can fill in the holes left where the words were.

For a limited time only, you can download the layered templates (sorry, link removed). The templates are now available for a donation of $5 or more using the link on the left.

Layered Template #43: 2 Pager, 11 Photo

2008-07-23T22:54:00.001-05:00

I just realized I had a 2-page template waiting to be uploaded! It's been sitting in a folder for about 3 weeks just waiting. Oops! You can tell how busy it's been at our house this summer!

Let's see... other things going on (other than being nuts busy).

I finished my family's 2007 scrapbook album! Now to wait for a coupon for printing it. I filled up all 100 allowed pages at Shutterfly! Definitely can't afford to pay for it until there's a sale!

I also just finished an "ABC: Jesus Loves Me" 6x9 book for a fundraiser for the Homeless Center. I put A-Z animals and A-Z bible verses together into this little booklet. I got news today that it has shipped (the first sample) -- so we'll see how it looks!

The other project I'm in the midst of is making a book out of the blog I have about my kids. Since February 2007, I've been trying to document all the silly things they say and do during our daily life. So I'm basically "writing a book" with a picture here or there to fill the space. I know that blogs won't be around forever, but hopefully the Blog Book will be around for the next generations. It's been a fun trip down memory lane. Also some of the quickest/easiest scrapping I've ever done, because I can just cut/paste!

Alright, that's it for me. I got sucked into "Project Runway" and am up much later than I intended as a result. But it's nearly over, so definitely time for bed!

HERE is today's template download link.

A Little Vacation - but I'm back!

2008-07-14T11:03:00.000-05:00

I've been M.I.A. lately... sorry!

Actually... no I'm not! I took the kids to my parents' house (see photo above), left them there, then spent a week at meetings (Mon-Wed), then in Chicago with my husband to celebrate our 10th Anniversary.

It was a wonderful weekend away -- wish we could do it more often! I certainly missed the kids a TON (it was the longest they've been away from both of us at the same time). But spending alone time with my husband was a blessing.

We were able to take in Cirque de Soleil, a Cubs game (go, Cubs, go...), and "Wicked" while we were there. In some ways too short, in other ways, it's good to be home.

However, now I've got a backlog of work to do... so we'll see when we can catch up on some scrapping! :)

Play Ball Title Word Art

2008-06-23T14:59:00.003-05:00

OK, this is a test to see if this will actually work. I've "emailed" this small PNG file to my blogger account. I'm hoping that you can click on the title link and download it from here, rather than having to go to 4shared.

So test it out... does it work for you?

Click on the image, then when the "Play Ball" comes up in a new screen, right click on it and choose "Save As" -- it should come up to save as a PNG file.

Let me know how it worked! 4Shared is great for big files, but kind of annoying (in many ways) for the small ones.

So about this little piece of word art. I needed a title for a LO of my kids playing catch (I'll have to find/share that one, too). I wanted to make a "baseball" looking word art of the words "Play Ball", but I wasn't really sure how to do that. Then the lightening bolt (er...ball) hit me in the head...

The picture above is made of a close-up photo of an actual baseball. I just positioned the letters over the strings so that it would vary a bit for each letter. So when you look at the letters up close, you can see the real strings, the leather texture, as well as the holes and accompanying cracks in the leather of each individual stitch. I thought it turned out pretty cool.

This particular set of word DOES have a drop shadow. Since I layered them on top of each other, I thought it needed something to create some differentiation in the letters. I hope you aren't too annoyed by the shadows (note: I don't typically add shadows to elements/word art, because that does usually annoy me).

I feel an alpha coming on....

Enjoy!

Layered Template #42 (back on numerical track)

2008-06-21T16:04:00.001-05:00

Well... it was inevitable... last night my daughter showed signs of blisters on her hands, feet, and mouth. Great. Our Thurs/Friday trip to a family wedding next week may end up being out of the question. Even if they're better, we may be too shot to make the 9+ hour drive!

Anyone want to babysit on Tuesday/Wednesday? Both my husband and I have work commitments we really shouldn't get out of. I want my Mommy! This is when it's really rough to be new to an area... no support system in place!

But.... scrapping continues to provide a good outlet! :) So, you guys benefit as well.

In this LO, each stamped frame, each photo, and each word in the title is a separate layer. So there are a LOT of layers. But it also allows you to put a LOT of pictures on the page. This is another instance where I didn't want to leave out these pictures, but none of them were wonderful in and of themself.

With the title -- yes, it says "I love Maryland" -- but each word is its separate layer, so you can delete "Maryland" and add your own word. The font that I used is called "Digs My Hart" and is free at various places. To get the sticker effect, I selected the text, then expanded my selection by 5 pixels. I moved that selection to its own layer and filled it with white.

So enough of my mini tutorial -- not my forte! ;) Instead, I'll share the link for the template. Go find 17 photos to fill it! HERE is the link.

Layered Template #35 (really should be 44)

2008-06-20T13:43:00.001-05:00

OK, here's another template that got misnumbered and I don't feel like going in to change it -- so there are officially two #35 layouts.

This template actually started as a "What in the world am I going to do with all these pictures that are just too cute not to include, but don't really warrant a page of their own?" thought -- yes, I think in complete run-on sentences! I was surprised and happy with the outcome of what I thought would certainly be a boring LO.

D-man's orange shirt probably helped to bring some excitement....

Anyway, a couple friends hinted that they'd like for this to be a template. Easy enough. So HERE it is! Enjoy!

Layered Templates 33 & 34: 7 Photo

2008-06-19T10:56:00.002-05:00

***Added June 20: Oops! You caught me! These should actually be templates 42 and 43. I noticed that last night, but Jody noticed it, too. I was hoping no one would! :) I had created 33-41 on a different computer and didn't save them on this one. So when I was titling them, I just went with the most recent. It didn't "feel" right to me, but I didn't see others.... so in a sleep deprived state, I went with it. So these two and one other (coming soon) will be duplicate numbers. I won't care if you won't care! But I'm sorry if it caused confusion. I just gave away how spacey I actually am! :) ***

You know... why is it that the only scrapping time I get is when one of the kids is sick!? It's D-man's turn. Lucky guy got Hand/Foot/Mouth from one of his day care friends. I was called to get him yesterday, and because there's nothing to do for it but let it run its course, we're stuck at home until it's out of his system. So I'm getting some good scrapping in!

Thankfully he appears to have a mild case of it. He has one teeny blister on each palm, and his left foot has 5 pea-sized blisters, but his right foot is clear. I can't see any in his mouth, but the day care director thought she could. He's drooling like a fool though -- his shirt is literally drenched from neck to waist within half an hour of dressing him. Yuck! He doesn't seem to be in pain or bothered by it, so that's a good thing! Now lets hope we can contain it to JUST him.

So anyway... here are two LOs I did recently, which I created templates for. They're essentially the same, which is why I grouped them. One is just made to house a horizontal primary photo, the other is designed for a vertical primary photo.

I hope you enjoy it! You can find them HERE.

Wedding Album: Last 4 Pages

2008-06-14T15:07:00.001-05:00

It's done! And as of yesterday, we're officially at 10 years!

Get the last 4 pages HERE.

Wedding Album: 4 More Templates

2008-06-07T08:35:00.001-05:00

We're nearing the end!

Why is it that the weeks are so busy that I can't upload the freebies for you all? The days just slip away so quickly.

These 4 templates include word art on them -- two pages of which you haven't already received in the word art freebies. I hope to get them added to a word art only download, but for right now, grab the word art via the templates!

You can get these 4 pages HERE.

Digital Scrapping with Non-Digital Photos

2008-06-06T08:52:00.002-05:00

I had a question regarding how I used my non-digital photos to create my wedding book. I thought perhaps others may be curious as well, so here's my response.

I tried scanning old photos a couple years ago with an album I did for my Grandparents. But I really thought the scanned images came back grainy and low quality -- not to mention it took FOREVER to do!

I discovered then that photographing them with my digital camera worked much better. So when I want to "scan" non-digital pictures in, here's what I do:

1) Find a window in my house with a nice sunbeam coming in
2) Set the photograph in that sunbeam -- perfect indirect light
3) Turn off my camera's flash
4) Turn on my camera's macro setting
5) Snap away

I usually take a few photos of it, because sometimes it doesn't focus quite right. But if you're good with your manual settings (I'm not), you may be able to correct that yourself.

Wedding Album: The Wedding Party Templates

2008-05-31T11:15:00.001-05:00

Getting these uploaded is proving to be more challenging than creating them! I will say that I'm DONE with my book! That's good news for you, because it means you'll get all the pages! :)

I think I've decided not to put "through the years" pages on there... mostly because I don't know that I can find the pictures in time to take advantage of Shutterfly's Father's Day sale. What I was GOING to do is put one picture per year on a total of 3 pages, then our 10 year Anniversary picture on a fourth page. If I can find pictures of each year, I may still do it.... but I'm not sure. I'll get my husband's input, too!

So anyway, I've got a full day, so without further ado, HERE is the link.

Pictures, Paper Detail, and an Update

2008-05-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

I hope you were all able to enjoy a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We feel blessed to be "only" 10 hours from family (we've typically been 17+. So we took a trip "down south" to visit my husband's family for the long weekend. You can see how much my kids and their cousins LOVED the time with each other. These guys are going to be thick as thieves if given the opportunity. And you can also see how much Grandma loves her Grandkids, too. The kidsare oldest age 5, middle age 4 (as of a couple days ago). Then mine are 3 (4 in September), and 1 (2 in June). There's another Granddaughter missing -- she's 1. So in a month, the Grandkids will be 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1! What fun! If you don't recognize them, my little kidlets are the curly blonde and the littlest boy. My daughter and the older boy are 3 months apart.

I wanted to answer a question that I had from a couple of you regarding my background paper from the wedding album. It's actually a freebie paper from Michelle Coleman's "Frosted" kit, found here. It's not that color in the kit -- I added a black background and changed the blending layer from Michelle's kit to get that effect.

How many of you have laptops? I absolutely love mine -- it allowed me to get DONE with my wedding album (I think). I do want to go back in and add some word art to some of the more "plain" pages. But the skeleton of the book is complete. YAY! Now I have to get them converted to templates, previews, and then upload them. Be patient -- I've got a busy week! :) But they ARE coming.

A question for you: I'm debating having photos from each of the 10 years of our marriage to "close" the book. What do you think? I don't know if this should be a strictly wedding album (which it is now), or a "this was then" and "this is now" type look at our marriage. I guess first I should see if I can find 10 years worth of pictures that are good enough for scrapping! :)

Wedding Album: 6 Family Templates

2008-05-20T21:47:00.001-05:00

So.... you know all that "time" I had earlier this week to work on my Wedding Album. Well, I got it, and I worked on it late into the night. But then I didn't get any more "time" to actually upload it! So the result is that you get 6 templates in one today.

I know these pages are pretty "plain" with no elements or extra stuff. I really was going for the "clean and classic" look, which I hope you'll find appealing as you use them. I just wish I had more candid wedding shots that would be fun to play with as background. All of our wedding shots are SO traditional. But... even if they aren't the kind of pictures I'd like to have TODAY, they were what we chose THEN. And they're full of wonderful memories, precious family and friends -- some of whom are no longer with us.

As my husband so "lovingly" told his parents (he was joking, of course), "I guess she finally thinks our wedding was important enough to scrap." He was joking in his statement, meant to give me a hard time that I wasn't placing enough significance on it -- but in reality, I think it also indicates that he's really pleased that I'm doing so. Of course, that makes me happy! :) Sometimes I know he resents my hobby, because I can tend to shut out the rest of the world (i.e. him) as I'm focused on it. And I know that I really need to be careful about that and cut back sometimes. So it really makes me happy when I know he's pleased with a particular page or project.

Anyway... enough rambling... HERE are the downloads. ;)

Wedding Album: The Groom Word Art

2008-05-16T20:44:00.001-05:00

I had some fun with this one. It may seem "frilly" for masculine LOs, but remember that it's supposed to "match" the rest of the word art and the rest of the album!

My husband and kids are asleep -- allergies are hurting them! And my heart goes out to them, but I'm also happy to have a couple guilt-free hours of scrapping time! So... hopefully by the end of the night I'll have my family's page done in the album. And if things go smoothly, maybe even my husband's family page!

Cross your fingers!

And if you can click with crossed fingers, the word art download is HERE.

Wedding Album: Word Art

2008-05-15T11:41:00.001-05:00

Here are the first two pieces (pages?) of word art I've created for the Wedding Album. I tried to do all the same two fonts that I was and will be using in the album page. My thoughts were that I needed to keep the same fonts for the consistent feel. The fonts used are Porcelain (free at dafont.com) and Century Gothic.

For now, I'm just going to do Bible verses for each page. If I can't think of verses, I'll solicit quote ideas later!

The "Our Wedding" Word Art can be downloaded in PNG file HERE. There are 3 Bible Verses included -- the long one I split into two parts for if you want to put it above and below a picture (and I couldn't make it flow nicely if it was one big block of word art).

The "Bride" Word Art can be downloaded in PNG file HERE. There are 5 different Bible Verse included with this one.

Wedding Album: Answering Questions

2008-05-15T08:40:00.003-05:00

A couple questions came to me last night via the comments....

1) The font I've used in the frames is called Porcelain, and it's a free download at dafont.com (LOVE that site!)

2) I will be continuing to make my own wedding album pages and sharing them with you as templates -- so you can see how I'm using them! I think my comment about not having all the pages in my own album may have led you to believe I'm not going to continue.... but I am!

Let's see... my next pages will probably be: Our parents together, my family, my husband's family, and then I'll move on to the wedding party.

I think I'm "full" for the week though, so I may not get to them until this weekend.

Be on the look out for some word art! That's easier to do a quick freebie on than a whole page!

Wedding Album: Page Frames

2008-05-14T16:49:00.001-05:00

Well, you guys sure came up with some great ideas for the wedding album pages! I tried to use all my ideas, all your ideas, then brainstorm some more, and I've come up with a list of 65 different pages for the wedding album!

This download has a total of 131 PNG files. There are 65 different pages, and I've done a "right" page and a "left" page. Then I also did a "blank" page for if there's a page title I didn't include. I just know that my wedding will never have all the "things" in it than many other weddings do -- for instance, I had no flower girl or ring bearer. I couldn't even find a picture of me BY MYSELF! In other words -- no getting ready pictures! Not even a good picture of "the dress." So... I hope that these page frames will help you to make a cohesive book, even if I don't provide EXACTLY the page you need!

You can get the PNG files HERE. They're all squared up for an 8x8 page.

Changing Things Up...

2008-05-14T11:56:00.002-05:00

Alright... as you all know, I do freebies because I like to, and because I have NO desire to do this on a "for pay" basis. Background story:

In college, I went to school on a choir scholarship. My whole life, I loved music, loved to sing, play piano, listen -- music was my stress relief, my hobby, my enjoyment, my relaxation.

Because I was on scholarship, music basically became my "job" -- I had to do 2 hours of choir rehearsal a day, weekly lessons which obviously required daily practice, yada, yada, yada. In short... I dropped my scholarship my Senior year because I was absolutely burnt out. I hated singing, hated playing piano, hated everything about music.

To this day, though I own a piano, it hasn't been played in a couple years. I was on our church's praise team for about a year -- but that was almost 3 years ago (2 moves ago!). While I do enjoy music again, it's no longer a stress relief, a love, a relaxation... all those things that made it wonderful.

As a summary... my experience with getting paid to do something you love, for me anyway, results in resenting and potentially hating the thing that brings you stress relief and enjoyment. It was a costly but valuable lesson -- and a mistake that I don't want to make for myself with digital scrapping and design.

So... where am I going with all this rambling? As soon as I finish this post, I'm going to go in and remove the links to all the template freebies. I still have all the templates on my computer, so they're still available, just no longer as free downloads.

Why this change?

Well... my husband recently took a job as Executive Director of a non-profit agency. I mentioned it a few posts back. This agency is 100% donor funded -- including his salary! Now obviously, he didn't get into the non-profit world for the money, but being able to feed the family is a nice thing! So.... moving forward, I'll originally offer the kits as freebies, but then convert them to a "for donation" basis. So if you give $1 or more to my husband's organization, I'll give you the link to the kit.

We'll try that for a while and see how it works.... :)

For those of you interested in finding out more, THIS is the organization to which 100% of the donations would go.

Wedding Album Templates - First 3 Pages

2008-05-12T21:52:00.005-05:00

********** DIP Users -- Please note. I didn't store the PNG file correctly, so for right now, the DIP file doesn't work. Only the PSD file is currently working. I'll see if I can't figure it out shortly and will let you know when it's fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience!**********

Well... I've had time to play... but I haven't had time to upload! So you're getting 3 for 1 today. I'm really disappointed with the quality of my wedding photos, the lack of digital, and the glaring absense of candid shots. So I'm trying to do "Photoshop Magic" so that I can get the "feel" of the book I want without the type or quality of photos I need to achieve that. So I guess from that regard, I'm glad I waited 10 years to do my wedding album!

Anyway... here are the first 3 pages...

For those of you using DIP, I've included PNG's as well (I hope I did it right). I've designed these specifically to fit into Shutterfly's 8x8 Photo Book. If you haven't used their Photo Book services, I highly recommend them -- they turn out absolutely FABULOUS!

The link is HERE:
http://www.4shared.com/file/47399224/d0449fa1/SS_Wedding-Bride-Groom.html

Wedding Album Cover

2008-05-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

I told you the bug has bit me! I had to come home, figure out where in the world we packed our wedding photos (bingo! Glad my husband pays attention to these things -- he told me right where to look), then start scrapping.

I can't really do a template for you on this one though.... I can, however, tell you how I did it.

1) Select a cool background (if you'd like) -- this one is from Michelle Coleman's "Frosted" kit

2) Write your last name in a nice font -- I chose "Porcelain" (I believe it's a free download at Dafont.com)

3) Write your first names just below it in the same font (or a different one) -- add the date below that.

OK... you're saying, "Duh, Sarah -- that was the easy part!" OK, OK, OK... I know. :)

So for the photo -- find a cool photo that you like.

4) Play with the levels, blur, or easier yet, run a "Virtual Photographer" filter over the photo to get a "dreamy" sort of feel to it. Virtual Photographer is a fabulous free download program that really helps "fix" a lot of less-than-perfect photos. It works especially well when you're working with older photos, scanned in photos, etc. It fixes a world of problems... much better than I can do myself.

5) This one was cool of my husband and I, but the background was pretty busy, so doesn't work well in a normal frame -- it looks much better when we're cut out and "blurred". So I took a fuzzy eraser brush (because I wanted soft edges) and erased around our silhouettes.

And that's it.... really easy peasey, but it's my favorite kind of look for a LO. It took me longer to figure out where to place the words than it did to create the LO!

I'm still thinking on template ideas and the order of the pages.... so stay tuned. As I finish pages of my book, you'll get templates for yours....

Wedding Album Template?

2008-05-08T10:49:00.002-05:00

Alright... with wedding season upon us, I'm getting the "bug" to start designing a wedding album template. It's motivated by selfish thoughts: I want to do a gift for a friend of mine getting married in August, and I also will be celebrating my 10th anniversary and would love to "relive" the day by propperly scrapping it. If only Digital Cameras were the norm back in 1998....

So anyway.... if I were designing YOUR wedding album (which ultimately could be the truth if you wish to DL the freebies), what would be the "must haves for pages?

Here's what I'm thinking are the Must Haves:
*Title
*The Bride
*The Groom
*Brides Family (Parents, Grandparents, Extended)
*Grooms Family (Parents, Grandparents, Extended)
*Bridesmaids
*Groomsmen
*Flower Girl
*Ring Bearer
*The Flowers
*The Vows
*The Rings
*Unity Candle
*The Kiss
*Introducing Mr. & Mrs.
*The "Getaway" Car / Just Married
*The Cake
*Back Cover Page

These are the nice to haves (but not essential):
How We Met
Proposal
Engagement Photos
Showers
Invitation
Rehearsal Dinner
The Church / Location
Ushers
Personal Attendants
Musicians
Minister
Other Honored Guests
Father Giving Away Daughter
Bubbles/Rice/Flowers
Cutting the Cake
First Dance
Toasts / Champagne

Anything missing? And how about verses, quotes, scripture that you'd love to see in a wedding kit album? I'm all ears!

So... the Update...

2008-04-15T14:51:00.003-05:00

Sorry I didn't take the time to actually write anything with my last post! I wanted to get the kit loaded onto the forum, but didn't have time (or hands) to type out our update.

The short version, as I eluded to: "God is Good!" And life at our house can settle down and define a new normal.

The long version: Last week was AMAZING.

On Monday, our relocation company accepted the "fix it" invoices and officially bought our house It took 2.5 months longer than it should have due to the extensive "fix its" required -- totally unanticipated and not in our budget, either from the amount of work required or the extra months of mortgage required. I'm so thankful that we've been faithful in our investing and that we took much of Dave Ramsey's advice to heart, because truly that made it possible to really not freak out with the stress. Also, my annual bonus and a higher than normal tax refund fell into this time frame... by the grace of God, we stayed in the black, despite the fact that our output during the last three months was significantly less than our input.

Then on Wednesday, my husband was offered the position as Executive Director of a Homeless Center. This center isn't a homeless "shelter" as one would normally define it. Rather, it's a facility/organization that provides the wraparound services and fills the "gap" -- providing computer training, GED, and other life skills necessary to help the homeless population get their life back on track. Having previously worked with troubled kids (i.e. potentially on the road to homelessness), this is a total shift in the population he has worked with in the past.

This truly is the biggest "Praise God" and evidence of how He puts people, places, and experiences in your way to prepare you for what is to come. In our last home, I had two back to back Ladies Bible Studies was really the message to "wait on God" and to "give God control." I won't reiterate myself, but THIS POST details the whole thing. Suffice it to say that it really was an exercise in trust and faith, and God has again proven himself faithful.

Not only was my husband offered the job, but they came with an offer significantly higher than we anticipated. And they also are providing flex time (they don't have budget for tuition reimbursement) so that he can go back and work on his Doctorate -- and the college literally across the street from the facility has the Doc program he'd like to pursue. So the doors that are being opened simply by our willingness (though terrified in doing so) to hand over control are just absolutely blowing us away.

His first day was yesterday. We feel like we can figure out our new life in our new state and really begin to breathe again and enjoy life again.

Strangely enough, my husband getting a job also means that I should be able to start scrapping and/or designing again. With 2 kids and a full time job, I'm not exactly sure what exactly that time will look like... but hopefully it will also begin to define itself.

Anyway, so that's the whole story. As I said, "God is good!"

By the way, thanks to so many of you who have sent in little messages in response to my original update regarding giving God control. I had so many people say, "I really needed to hear that today," or something similar. That's really just another testimony to how God really puts people in place to get His message across when someone needs it most. Can I say again, "God is good!"

Thanks so much for all the support and encouragement you have offered along this little journey! They have uplifted me many times.

Soggy Rain - Mini Kit

2008-04-13T15:05:00.001-05:00

Hummie inspired me to create a little mini kit -- perhaps that will make the rain go away!

Download my soggy creation HERE.

This is the thread that inspired me.

I owe an update, but I'm one handed typing right now (holding my son) -- so I'll have to get back to you. Just know that God is good!

I Finally Had Time to Scrap!!!

2008-03-20T22:03:00.001-05:00

Oh, how good it feels!

I haven't scrapped since December. I missed it SO much, but I just haven't had time with the move and everything. Well, my husband's parents have been here all week, so my husband is working on his motorcycle with his Dad, his Mom is sewing, the kids are sleeping -- which means I'm scrapping! Sure, there are many other things I COULD be doing, but scrapping just sounded so inviting.

I didn't do any designing -- this was a purely selfish scrapping day for me. OK, so a scrapping hour. But I'll take it!

Since I scrap chronologically and refuse to go out of order unless I get the "perfect" photo that just needs my immediate attention, these photos are from last June when we visited my parents. My son especially doesn't even look the same anymore! How time flies. Quick note: My son's page is a complete scraplift of "Carver" at 2Peas (aka Veronica Ponce). I just love her work!

Anyway, no freebies and nothing to report... just wanted to check in with a couple LOs of my wonderful kidlets. Hope you're all well. Have a blessed Easter weekend.

Calendar: June Revisited

2008-03-11T22:04:00.004-05:00

Boy, I wish it really were June! :)

I had a few people this week ask me to reupload June, because the link wasn't working right. No idea what happened to it, but I deleted the old file and put in this new one. Here is the fixed file. (link removed)

Sorry to my faithful friends -- but this isn't a NEW link/template -- just the old one fixed. I WISH I had time to scrap, but I'm still not there yet.

OK, for those of you who asked for life updates....

Here's my newest revelation. We lived in our last home/state for 2.5 years. We didn't really like it there all that much. The people were wonderful, but it just never felt like "home" to us and was really a challenging 2.5 years for us for many reasons. We felt like God led us there, but never really understood why.

As we were preparing to leave, I felt that the reason why He had us move there was because during those 2.5 years, I was very conscious of His presence in the daily things. You know how you can look back over your life and see His fingerprints on it, but you can't always see them when you're "in the moment?" Well... in our last home, despite the challenges, I could always see His fingerprints in the moment. There were so many immediate answers to prayer; both mine and those of friends around me who blessed me with sharing it. So that's why I thought He moved us there -- so we could be witness to and of His constant presence.

But now I think that was only part of it.

We've now been in our new home for about 2.5 months. My husband has been here 5.5 weeks. During that time, he's probably put out 100 resumes. He really has had ZERO calls back. He was offered a position back in December in his field (he works w/ troubled kids). However, the pay was ridiculously low (i.e. couldn't pay the bills), and the position was one he could have done in his sleep (though he would have enjoyed it). He turned them down and it has been quiet ever since.

It has been a frustrating time for both of us... my husband not understanding why no one is calling, and me not quite knowing how to respond, offer hope, help without annoying, etc. God gave my husband a VERY strong provider gene, and I know that's a gift from God -- one that He will be faithful to fulfill. But when?

And that's what I realized tonight that I learned at our last home: to trust God for His perfection, His timing, and His plan. If we try to control things in our own time, will, and comfort zone, we'll get things done... but they'll be good, not great. However, if we wait for God, we have limitless possibilities.

So about a week ago, my husband went to a staffing agency, which really wasn't the direction he wanted to go. One of the places he went was doing pro-bono HR work for a non-profit homeless shelter. They're looking to hire an Executive Director/CEO. Within his field, that would have been his next step, but this is a whole different non-profit realm than he's ever been in. Is this the challenge, the "greatness" that God wants to use Jon to do His work? He had a casual interview today to see if he was still interested after hearing their spiel. Then he'll be called in later for an official interview.

Who knows if it's what God has in store... what I do know is that in our old home, almost every Women's study I did dealt with waiting on God's timing. Not taking control into our own hands -- in doing so, we close the door on God's greatness. I'm proud of my husband for being patient even in the face of doubt and frustration. This move has been the most stressful one to date (it's our 6th state in 9.5 years of marriage). It's the move that has us saying, "This is it -- we're not moving again." Yet... if God moves us... we'll listen and obey.

Anyway... that's a WHOLE lot more than the June you asked for! :) Blessings to you all...

Checking in with a photo

2008-02-09T21:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry, no freebies today, as I haven't had time to actually scrap. We've been SO busy! But here's an update.

My husband joined us in our new house a week ago Friday -- drove through some crazy snow storms to get here, but he made it safely (if not stressed!). We were all SO happy to have him here.

Our furniture was delivered on Tuesday of this week... in the middle of a rain/hail storm. It was the day of all the tornadoes in TN, AR, MO -- we were far enough removed from it that all we got was heavy rain and a small burst of hail. No damage, no injuries for us. We haven't unpacked it all (or even close), but so far, so good.

This is a picture of my husband and kids taken this afternoon. We had some decent, sunny weather, so we went down to the dock. My daughter is using the stick "to catch a whopper." With no line and no bait, she didn't... :)

I really do hope to get back to scrapping again soon... but things have to calm down a LOT before I'll have a chance. I did design a friend's wedding invitations last week for her, and also did a "spoof" slide (Power Point) for a co-worker for next weeks' team meeting presentation. But I havn't had time for any "me" stuff at all. One of these days.... :)

All Out of Order

2008-01-25T10:50:00.000-05:00

To simplify things for myself, I created the last 10 templates back in November (?), uploaded them all to 4shared, then posted them as drafts to blogger. I did all of this on December 11. I thought that the date reflected on the website would CHANGE to the date that I launched them live.

It didn't. Oops!

So as an FYI.... I JUST uploaded Template #42 (9:52am CST on Friday, January 25), and I upladed Template #41 on Wednesday night, January 23.

So go grab them! :)

Happy Scrapping!

Just Checking In...

2008-01-23T23:04:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone -

I've had several "how are you" and "just checking to see if you're ok" messages lately... so I should probably drop a quick note to say both "Thanks" and "I'm ok!" :)

The kids and I have been "roughing it" in an empty house for 2.5 weeks now. The closing of our house went very smoothly and we really LOVE our new home. It hasn't been updated since it was built in 1982, so I've been in deconstruction mode: tearing down wallpaper, putting up paint, etc.

Our old home is still on the market for the rest of January, at which point my company is offering a buy out. My husband is wrapping up his job there and will join us down here at the end of next week. He was here over the long weekend, which split the 4 week stint in half. It was wonderful to have him down here -- even though we're still all on airmattresses with no other furniture!

It has been interesting trying to cook meals for 3 with no bowls, pans, pots, knives, etc. I have an electric skillet, a microwave, and a can opener.... and that's about it! We lived with a dorm-refrigerator and no washer/drying for 1.5 weeks, until our newly purchased appliances arrived. The other stuff I'm really unwilling to buy, simply because what we have is perfectly fine -- it's just not here yet! Furniture and all other household goods are delivered February 4-5.

The kids are doing well and are adjusting as expected to their new daycare. My daughter was in "corporate" daycare for 2.5 months when she was really small, but other than that, neither have been in the corporate setting. We were so blessed to have an in-home care giver who watched only our kids and her own daughter. But not having that down here, we opted instead to put them in the corporate setting. Their teachers are wonderful -- but mass kids are still mass kids, and after a week there, we ALL got sick and are fighting terrible colds. Even I feel like my head may explode from the sinus pressure. It's pretty miserable. That meant that they both missed time from day care, which is my biggest gripe about the corporate setting -- you pay for a full week, even if you're only there a day. And without a support system in place yet, sick days get VERY stressful. I had a couple of "breaking point" days last week. But we got through them all, and this week is better.

The job itself is going well. I really enjoy my new team, office, responsibilities, etc. I still love my company. :)

All in all, life is good. Hectic, but good. I don't have my "design" computer down here -- I left it at our old home, so that my husband had some mode of communication and relaxation in the evenings. It's also so that I would actually get some work done down here! So far, all 3 main bedrooms have been painted, as well as the accent wall of the living room. There are a lot more to do -- but I'm really limited to about 2-3 hours each night (which I don't always take, because cleaning up paint is such a pain), and late nights on the weekends while the kids are asleep.

Anyway, thanks for checking in on me. Now that I'm logged into blogger, I realize I've got a few more templates that are just "hung" waiting for me to release. So check below -- because I uploaded them back in December, and for some reason, they still release with that date order. If I remember, I'll get the rest of them launched this week!

Hugs all around...

Help me choose!

2007-12-28T11:47:00.000-05:00

I'm making a gift for my babysitter as a thank you and a good-bye present from us. Our last day at her house will be next Friday. We will miss her terribly. Let me first share with you how we found this wonderful woman:

I had my daughter in a national child care facility. It was nice, the people were nice, etc., however, she was sick ALL the time and I was missing a ton of work. It was way too stressful for all of us. She was 8 months old.

I was looking through the classified ads, and one came up who was looking for 1-2 children. I called her; she was calm, quiet and "motherly" sounding, unlike many of the "flaky" people I had called from other ads. I arranged to meet her. My husband and I sat in her driveway and I prayed, "God, make this obvious, because I can't take much more." We went in, met her, and within 5 minutes, she had told us the reason she moved to the city was because God planned to save her here. That was it. Sold! I didn't even call to check references. The kids have been there now for just over 2 years -- she has been a blessing to us many times over. We will miss her terribly.

So this gift is for her. The little girl in purple is my daughter, the little girl in red is her daughter. They are running ahead of us at the zoo. The words around the edge and on the path are adapted from "An Irish Blessing" -- the one that goes "May the road rise up to meet you..."

My question to you -- which one is your favorite!?!?!?

Layered Template #41 - 9 Photo

2007-12-11T20:27:00.001-05:00

As promised -- but much delayed -- Here is template #41. (link removed) There's ONE left to release. :) Stay tuned!

Layered Template #42 - 11 Photo

2007-12-11T20:25:00.001-05:00

Here is the LAST of this series of templates. I really didn't intend to take this long to get them all out to you -- my apologies for that!

I have to say -- I'm itching to get back into scrapping. Painting walls in my house is definitely NOT going to take scrapping's place as my hobby of choice! LOL! My "fun" computer will be joining me at our new home exactly one week from today. Yay! Unfortunately, that means that painting will probably come to a screeching halt -- so perhaps I need to devise a system where I "reward" myself with scrapping time for each room I get painted.

At any rate, I hope you've enjoyed this series of templates. They are the set that were inspired by the screensaver I saw at Cincinnati Children's Hospital when my daughter broke her collar bone -- and that was way back in September! (At least I think that's when it was -- it was SO long ago it seems). She's all healed now, with not even a bump to show where it broke. Resilient little miracles, aren't they? God is good.

So feel free to download this last installment here. (link removed) Once I get my computer back, I'll see what else I can't come up with in the way of templates.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Layered Template #40 - 7 Photo

2007-12-11T20:23:00.001-05:00

Here I thought I was being all smart and posting the templates en-masse about a month ago, but not activating the links. Instead, they're still posting on the day that I originally sent them, instead of the day I "went live." So if you understood that garbledy-gook, my apologies for the out-of-order posts! :)

Here is this new template (link removed), which isn't showing up on my computer right now. I'll try to fix it later -- but it "matches" the others in the recent series. :)

Can you tell I'm short on time and taking a little break? :) I don't have time for silly glitches! :)

Layered Template #39 - 6 Photo

2007-12-11T20:22:00.001-05:00

I had someone ask me to share with you my family's Christmas card. Sorry it's so late, but here it is. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas; I know we did. Thanks so much for all the private messages you sent me wishing us a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This digi-community is just so caring, and I feel blessed to be a part of it!

Also, thanks for all the votes on the pages I made for our babysitter. I ended up printing both 2 and 4 to see which looked better in print. I think originally I was leaning toward 2, thinking that the words would be more readable on paper than on screen. I was wrong -- even at an 18 point font, that choice was just too small for reading. And number 4, I ended up taking down the opacity a bit more on the words, so that they're still legible, but not taking too much away from the girls. I'm happy with the printed product -- if I think of it, I'll take a photograph of it before I give it to our sitter.

I've forgotten that I had some more templates to upload! Sorry! And HERE is the latest (link removed)...

Layered Template #38 - 7 Photo

2007-12-11T20:21:00.001-05:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..... and the gifts are NEARLY done!

I want to give two quick plugs. I used two "new" (to me) printing services this year, and was really quite happy with both of them.

1) http://www.lulu.com/ -- I used this for printing planners and calendars as gifts for family. Amazingly good price! I printed a paperback book instead of a photobook for the planner, and it cost me just $14.95 (if I remember right) for one (plus shipping). And that was without any discounts! I was very happy with the print and book quality -- the only complaints I have are my own doing (I didn't read the trim specifications -- actually, I did, but decided I didn't care enough to go redo it!)

2) http://www.vistaprint.com/ -- I had my Christmas cards printed her. LOVE them! They have a cool feature where they can print the front AND the back of the card -- so the front has our normal greeting on it, and the back has the kids with a little extra blurb. Free envelopes came with the order. My only complaint about them was that the quantities went from 100 to 200, and I needed 150. There was no way to add just 50 more. However, I called their customer service, and they were very helpful and got the order just right. They arrived yesterday, so now I'm off to the PO to buy stamps!

Enough of my plugs -- HERE is the next template! (link removed)

Layered Template #37 - 7 Photo

2007-12-11T20:20:00.001-05:00

For Christmas, my husband and his siblings bought an iPod for his parents. It's what they asked for -- fully loaded with songs. Somehow, loading it with songs became my responsibility. We do have an iPod... but we haven't used it in probably a year! I've been fighting with the stupid install/upgrade for about 2 hours now! I'm about to retire and give the job to someone else. I'm feeling very technically challenged today! AND the kids are nearly done with their naps and I need to shower for dinner! LOL!

Anyway, HERE is the template for today. (link removed) I hope you enjoy it! ;)

Layered Template #36 - 7 Photo

2007-12-11T20:15:00.001-05:00

So I got home last night.... WONDERFUL to hug my family again.

Since we're moving right after the new year and spending Christmas at my brother's, I decided to forego a Christmas tree this year. I figured the kids were young enough that they wouldn't realize what they're missing.

On the way home from the airport last night, my daughter said to me, "Santa's coming! He's going to bring us a Christmas tree!"

Guess I was wrong... :)

Thought you'd get a kick out of that. And also, HERE is the template. (link removed)

Happy FRIDAY!!!

Layered Template #35 - 7 Photo

2007-12-11T20:14:00.001-05:00

Have another template! :) I'm sitting in my hotel room watching Project Runway, and thought it was a good filler!

So today... had the house inspection. One major snaffu, but the seller is taking care of it tomorrow, without even seeing the inspector's report! It's amazing how things fall into place when they're right. We have certainly felt and been aware of God's presence each step of the way in this process. He is good!

Another cute story that I'm SO bummed I missed. Last night my husband had his work Christmas party for the kids. Because I wasn't home, he took our kids. The party was at a roller skating rink. My daughter, age 3, is very cautious and a bit of a chicken. She ASKED to roller skate. Not only did she ask, but she loved it. My husband had to actually make her take them off! She wasn't any good, but that's not the point -- she tried it! :) And of course.... he didn't have a camera. Nor did anyone else. Bummer!

OK, so the template: HERE it is! (link removed)

Layered Template #34 - 7 Photo

2007-12-11T20:10:00.001-05:00

Alrighty.... I meant to continue with these a MONTH ago when I made them. Oops! Guess we've got other things on our mind. :)

Anyway, here I am in a hotel far, far away from my family, so I'll do some uploading so you can play with more templates.

Per usual, my templates are done at 300dpi in an 8x8 size. They can easily be resized up to 12x12 if you do it prior to adding photos.

So besides my template, here's the other update: we found a house! It's a perfect "dream" house for us. We're very excited. Now pray that my husband finds a good job.

And now for the template, find it HERE. (link removed) I didn't take the time to add pictures to it for an example, because I didn't bring any photos with me on this trip! Oops!

Answering Some Questions

2007-12-05T12:42:00.000-05:00

I get lots of questions in the comments pages that I'm not always so good at answering. Sometimes I try to answer, but there's no email to respond to because of blogger defaults. So, I'm going to take a few quick minutes to answer a couple questions. Feel free to ask more, and I'll answer what/when I can!

From Stay-at-home Mom: I am really anxious to get into digital scrapbooking myself, but I have such a hard time sitting down to get started. Any suggestions? When do you typically work on your digital scrapbooking and how long does it take you per page?

The great thing about digital scrapping is there are no “messy” supplies. It’s as versatile as you can allow it to be. You can spend 5 minutes or 5 hours and the preparation and clean up take the same amount of time. I love that I can just shut my laptop to clean up my mess! That’s essential with two small kids. Sure you can’t “touch” it like you can with paper… but for me personally, I don’t care! I didn’t like touching it! J

I typically do my scrapping after 8pm when the kids go to sleep. Right now, I have very little scrapping time, because of preparing to move. But evenings are when I do it. Or naptimes. A favorite is to bring my computer with me on road trips (while my husband drives, of course), plane trips, or even car service waiting rooms!

The length of time spent on a page varies. Sometimes a LO just flows and goes together quite easily. I’m not very good at the “paper scrap” approach, and therefore those LO’s take me longer. It usually takes me just as long to pick the perfect font as it does to create the LO. I’m a “font snob” – it has to be just right!

I have two pieces of advice:
1) Start a “blog” or a journal of the daily things you want to remember, or you want your kids to know and/or remember. I’m about 4 months behind in my scrapping, but the blog I’ve created with their little stories will jog my memory when it comes to scrapping the pictures associated with that time. For me, journaling is the most important part of scrapbooking (because they are my kids’ baby books) – and the blogs help the journaling to be more timely. Sadly, I’ve already forgotten the stories from a month ago, but the blog helps to jog my memory.
2) Use templates. This isn’t a plug for my design, but they really help you “catch up” – especially with those every day events that need to be documented, but perhaps don’t justify a “super-special” design. Especially as a beginning digi-scrapper, templates help you get a feel for your program and get the designs started. They’re great jumping off points!

From Tom From Georgia: Hope you are moving to a warmer climate, but do not know where you live now.

While I won’t disclose exactly where I live now or where I’m moving to, we’re moving in the southern direction and will be exactly smack dab between my parents (South Dakota) and my husband’s parents (Texas). As it’s snowing today, a warmer climate sounds wonderful! We’ve only lived here (Ohio) for 2 years and have no family here. We’ll miss our friends, certainly, but we’re excited about the change.

From Anonymous: Regarding the video you have on your site. I would like to send it to a friend but I am not that computer savvy. Would I be able to do that?

You know, that's a good question! I have really no idea either!I think you could probably click on the video and go to the site thathosts it. (http://www.videocodezone.com/videos/c/chris_tomlin/amazing_grace.html)

In looking at it, I don't think you can email the video, but you cansend her/him the link to it.

Hey.... here's another one:http://www.musicjesus.com/song_41889_Chris_Tomlin-Amazing_Grace__My_Chains_Are_Gone_.html

Christmas Gifts

2007-12-02T17:08:00.000-05:00

I was asked to share my Christmas gifts. As you've seen, I'm doing the calendar/planner. But I'm also continuing a gift that I started last year. I purchased 4x6 Photo Albums that had two holes on each page. Amara, being my oldest, got the "top" slot; Dominic got the "bottom" slot. The opening page holds each of their birth announcements (which I created at 4x6 when they were born). Then each consecutive page has a LO from their first month, second month, third month, etc. Again being older, Amara has more pages than Dominic. However, it's neat to see each child next to the other at the same/similar ages.

So these are the "filler" pages to add to the book which I started last year. I have just been digging out old LOs and "cropping" them down to 4x6 for simplicity sake. Unfortunately, I'm only caught up w/ scrapping through May, so I won't be able to "cheat" on the last ones. I still have a few months (5) to go to get current, but this is what I've got so far.....

Actually.... let me change that. This slide.com show includes both what I've got so far this year as well as what I gave them last year (minus the birth announcements).

I'm still here!

2007-12-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

Don't worry about me, but thanks for asking about me! :)

I'm just checking in to say hi -- nothing new created though. I'm trying to get Christmas presents done, so designing is on the backburner. Why I feel the need to do homemade gifts at a crazy hectic time like this is beyond me! LOL!

House was listed on the market on Thursday, so we're on the move here. Unfortunately with a slow market, no one has looked at it yet. We do have a "realtor tour" on Tuesday and an open house next weekend.

We're heading to our new city on Thursday through Sunday to look at houses and put in a bid. Every house we've had, we buy in a weekend, and we have every intention of doing that again this time. The speed with which we're moving is a bit stressful, but it's much easier to just push through quickly so we can return to normal just as quickly. (That's, of course, assuming we were normal in the first place!)

The kids are both doing well. They had colds, but they have made it through to the other side for the most part. Amara definitely understands that something is going on, but can't quite wrap her head around what. She's sure that something must be wrong with this house if we're going to buy another one -- so she's decided that this house isn't "long enough!" The minds of children... :) Dominic's just his crazy lovable self.

Amara's big thing is she's really struggling with Mommy being gone. Thankfully, it hasn't been a lot, but enough to throw her sleep schedule off. While I'm gone, she'll wake in the middle of the night. When Jon gets her, it takes her 3 hours to get back to sleep. If she wakes when I'm home, she goes back to sleep in minutes. Routine has been broken. She'll wake up and yell, "Mommy.... I mean, Daddy!" because she realizes I'm gone. She's a resilient kid though, and I know things will be fine on the other end.... but doesn't make going through it any easier.

A friend suggested giving her a picture of me to keep with her at all times -- to show her that "Mommy's always with you." So I'm going to do that this time while we're gone. Hopefully it will work!

And besides that, nothing is new! :) Just keepin' on keepin' on! And really looking forward to Christmas! :)

Versions of Photoshop

2007-11-19T23:55:00.000-05:00

I just got home from a day of training and why I was possessed to check my email, I have no idea! I should be hightailing it to catch some precious ZZzzzz's.

However, dear sweet Grambie's email caught my attention. I'm always touched by Grambie's words -- she's such a source of inspiration, strength, encouragement, and prayer. Her emails never fail to light up my day.

Tonight was no exception. This is an excerpt of what she wrote in her comment from Layered Template #33: "To ALL OF US WHO HAVE BENEFITED FROM YOUR DESIGNS, I propose a donation of love from each one of us to help Sarah defray the cost of an newer version, even if it is from Ebay. Many have said that they bought version 7 real cheap, and then later upgraded. She can do the same. But at one time, they would accept the lower grades below 7."

Thank you SO much for thinking of me in such a sweet and generous way -- but I really must clarify! In my Layered Template #33 post, I referenced Photoshop 5.0, which I WAS using to create that template (and a few other templates while I travelled). However, I DO have Photoshop CS2 loaded on my computer. I just use Photoshop 5.0 when I can't travel with my personal computer (because I share it with my husband and don't take both my personal and work computer with me on business trips). Photoshop 5.0 I just have as "barebones" to use on disc with my work computer, because I can't load programs onto it. So while I truly do appreciate your thoughtfulness and generousity, I've got a great version of Photoshop already. If you were next to me, I'd give you a big huge hug! :) I'm so sorry for the confusion! :)

(And yes -- scrapping with just Photoshop 5.0 during my first 6 months of digital scrapping was agonizing! No PNG file usage is nearly debilitating! But it made me a better designer, because while I couldn't use others PNG files or export mine, I could still make elements of my own! And that's how I had to do all my designs when I first started, since I couldn't use anyone else's elements. Probably also why I have a love for paper! It's all I could use at the beginning.)

OK, now that that's cleared up... I'm going to bed! G'night all!

Layered Template #33 - 7 Photo

2007-11-13T23:42:00.001-05:00

Alrighty, here's the first of the 10 templates I'm working on. All of these have the same "feel," so could potentially make a really cute set for a book (hint: more Christmas gift ideas).

A few things about each of these to keep in mind:

1) The white grid lines and border are a layer unto themselves -- very easy to remove if you want no grid lines.

2) If you want to have no borders on the edges, just select all layers and expand it so they're off the page.

3) Each template can be rotated, so you can really have 4 different designs. Or flip them for even more "looks" to the design.

As I've mentioned, I'm not really an "elements" scrapper -- I can just never make them work. Also, the Photoshop I'm working with is version 5.0, which doesn't support PNG files -- makes it REALLY hard to scrapbook! And the computer I'm on is definitely not intended to do graphics. In other words, it keeps crashing. So my LO in the example is for example only -- I'm definitely going to spruce it up when I get the chance. That said... if anyone else has examples using this template (or any)... include a link in the comments section, so that I (and everyone else) can see how you used it! Inspiration is a wonderful thing! :) I'd especially love to see how you work papers and elements into these designs.

Download the file HERE. (link removed)

(Let me know if there are problems with the file -- as I mentioned, I'm using an old version of Photoshop.)

An Exciting Update

2007-11-12T22:30:00.000-05:00

Well... I'm away from my family this week....
BUT...
I figured out how to bring Photoshop WITH me without loading it onto my work computer.

And what does that mean for you, you ask?
TEMPLATES!!!

I don't have any ready tonight, but I will by tomorrow (I hope)! I'd like to do LOs with each one, as I've done in the past.... but I'm just not sure that I'll be able to swing that one. I didn't bring enough photos on my thumb drive (I don't think). Anyway, these are the templates I sketched out back in September. There will be 10 of them. They're all very "color blocked" and could go together to make a really great book.

OK.... and now for news on the home front -- hold on -- vent coming! :)

My daughter, as you know, had her tonsils out on Monday of last week. Monday and Tuesday were both really rough. She did sleep all night Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Wednesday, she had a reasonably good day with me. On Thursday, I sent her to her babysitter (the sitter has just my kids, so I knew it was OK -- if it was a center, she wouldn't have been ready). She had another good day. Friday, same thing. Each of these days/nights, she took codeine in the morning and evening only, and used regular strength Tylenol during the day.

This weekend: complete 180. Ugh! The doctors warned us that tonsil recovery is a bit of a roller coaster. However, I thought that when she was doing so well early on, that perhaps we wouldn't get the downsliding. You know.... I really don't think tonsil removal is any easier for kiddos. I think the difference is that they don't remember the pain. But my poor girl is miserable and she just doesn't understand why. So instead, she's whiney, crying, clinging, completely annoying -- and I know WHY she's doing it, but it still drives us nuts. It was a miserable and challenging weekend for all of us -- especially since we were trying to do major house-prep.

Add to it the fact that the anesthesia made her nose itch. When her nose itches, she rubs it in her sleep and ends up scratching her face. It has happened many times over during her life. Once she gets a scratch -- she keeps scratching. Soon she's got a nickel sized sore on her face. You got it: that's what she did. Right on the bridge of her nose. It's huge and gross and painful looking.

So this weekend -- both nights she woke at around midnight because her throat hurt and she was coughing. Then on Monday, I had to wake up at 2:45 am to catch my flight out -- she woke at 12:15. Yes, I'm beat tired! I called my husband when I landed to ask how the rest of the night went. She apparently woke at 6am -- 1-2 hours earlier than normal. She has scratched her sore again and blood was literally running into her eyes.

Then the sitter called and said that her daughter has a cold and we can bring the kids if we want to, but we don't have to. Yeah... Jon's a single dad this week and has got to wrap up his programs before we leave, too. For his own sanity, he took the kids. They probably already have been exposed to the cold anyway, since they were there last week.

So I called tonight to check in again. Amara's throat felt a bit better today (thank God for small mercies), but now she has "a boo boo on my bottom." Because her diet has been so weird due to the surgery, she's constipated! So off to the store for children's laxatives.

Can I just tell you how thankful I am for my husband and his hands on approach. He's totally my Rock, and I don't know what I'd do without him. God is too good to me for His gift of my husband. Anyway, obviously keep my daughter in your prayers, but keep my husband in your prayers as well -- he's got a long week ahead of him!

Piggy Back Kit - December

2007-11-12T22:10:00.000-05:00

I forgot to link you all to Lisa's kit! I'd ask where my mind went... but I know where it is, and it's not in my head! :)

Lisa did a great kit as an add-on to December's Joy to the World. I was just over at her blog, and she's got a bunch of other wonderful freebies there, too -- all new! Many templates and kits for your pleasure! :)

Give her a big shout of thanks for all her great work!

HERE is the link to Lisa's add on.

December Kit - Joy to the World

2007-11-08T19:48:00.002-05:00

And here it is... the final kit of the Planner series! Whew! That's several months worth of you guys visiting me at my blog, encouraging me, praying for me -- what a wonderful, friendly, uplifting community the digital scrapbooking world is. Thank you to everyone for your support -- it has been a very fun ride!

As you all know, I have accepted a new position within my company, and we will be moving -- probably in January. Our goal is to have the house on the market by Thanksgiving (or at least the end of the month). I will probably be largely absent during the next two months. However, scrapping is my stress relief, and you can bet I'll have plenty of stress!!! But I'll likely just stick to templates for the near future. Who knows... maybe somewhere down the line I'll get the inspiration for another longer project such as this one. In other words, I hope you guys keep checking in, because I'll miss you if you don't! :)

One other reminder -- if you click on the "2008 Planner" link to the left side, you can see ALL the planner templates. Remember that at the beginning there were templates for the planner cover as well as the weekly filler pages.

And without further ado (and because I've got to go clean), HERE (link removed) is the December kit (62+MB). This one is paper rich -- 17 of them! There are 5 that are supposed to look like felt fabric. Then there are some plaid ones (with a sort of fabric texture), some stripes, polka dots, and grunge. Also there are some felt Christmas trees with embroidered ball ornaments. I converted the word art to look like it's embroidered as well (remember the original word art is included in the template). And finally, there are 15 chipboard word tags -- thanks to Atomic Cupcake for her chipboard action.

Enjoy!!!

Color Scheme December - Joy to the World

2007-11-07T11:44:00.000-05:00

Predictable, I know. But here are the December colors. I'm all about the "traditional!" ;)

Layered Template - December 2008 Planner

2007-11-07T11:33:00.001-05:00

We're almost there! The last month, the last template, and you may just be able to finish your Christmas gifts before Thanksgiving! Now wouldn't that be nice!?

I have to laugh at mine - these pictures are from LAST year, so I'll need to take some Christmas-y shots here soon, so that the planners aren't 2 years old by next Christmas.

In good news, my daughter slept pretty much all night (woke up at 9:30pm is all). She's doing alright with lower doses of pain meds today, which is great, since I can't get her to take them anyway! Now just to get her eating/drinking some more! Thanks for all your prayers!

And now for the December Template: HERE it is! (link removed)

November Kit - Thanks be to God

2007-11-06T21:01:00.001-05:00

I'm wiped out! Last night was a LONG night -- I ended up sleeping next to my daughter in the hospital bed. It was the only way she didn't wake up panicked. And of course between her outbursts, the hospital beeping, the nurses in and out, and the plastic pillows -- lets just say I didn't get a good night's sleep. She's hanging in there, though she broke my heart this afternoon as we came into our house. Her painkillers were wearing off, and she whimpered to me, "Mommy, I don't want to be a big girl anymore. I don't want to be a princess." According to her standards, those titles require too much pain. I nearly cried, but instead just held her tighter. As we picked up her brother from the sitter, she told me, "Mommy, I not so happy right now," and "I'm not feeling so much." (that's how she says she's not feeling good). Poor kiddo! And of course, she associates eating/drinking with hurting her throat, so it's impossible to make her eat. Add to it that her meds (the pain killers) are nasty tasting, so she cries buckets taking those, too. I've been bribing her with Reeses PB Cups (the mini ones). I know... bad Mommy... but it's literally the only thing she'll eat.

*sigh*

Oh... then add to it that I changed the TCP/IP settings on my computer last night so I could log on to the hospital internet through the ethernet cable. I spent at least 2 hours trying to get it fixed. My ISP said they couldn't help, because it was with the router. I could SEE that the wireless was working and my work laptop was connected, I just couldn't get there. So tonight I was on with the router service tech. The nice woman had a super thick accent and talked impossibly fast. AND my office doesn't have a light in it (don't know why -- never put one there because I only work in it during the day). So I'm operating by computer light trying to read sereal numbers and all that good stuff.

In hindsight, I guess the day is quite funny -- and I hope you guys are giggling and shaking your heads! I know I will one day soon, because it is quite funny. But for now, I'm just worn out!

OK, so on to the good stuff -- or at least I hope it is! Here is November's kit. It's mostly papers, because I'm officially stuck (still) on elements. I did put a few chipboard journal tags (thanks Atomic Cupcake), and I had fun creating a painted look for some leaves and acorns. Also, the word art has a different take on it -- you get the converted, but I also included the original layered PSD (Photoshop) file. The reason for this is that there are so many different color combinations or effects you might want to use on the words, and I can't begin to guess them all. So with the layered file, you can decide for yourself what works best on your layouts.

I'll stop talking now... you can get the kit HERE. (link removed) (59MB)

Piggy Back Kits - October

2007-11-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

I almost missed this one! I am so far behind from vacation (300+ emails), and I was tempted to mass delete. I'm so glad I didn't, because I'd have completely missed this fabulous freebie by RCMama. It's only her 2nd freebie, but isn't it wonderful. I just love the swirls and rich textures. My favorite is the super-realistic ribbons. That's a weakness of mine, because I'm absolutely awful at ribbons!

Head over to RCMama's blog HERE to grab her freebie!

Piggy Back Kits - October

2007-11-05T21:37:00.000-05:00

Andrea has given you a beautiful freebie full of papers to coordinate with the October "Bountiful Harvest" kit. She's had a busy month herself, so special thanks to her for sharing her talents with us!

Please head on to Andrea's blog HERE to grab this great set of papers!

November Color Scheme - Thanks be to God

2007-11-05T19:55:00.000-05:00

Here is the color theme for November. I realized a bit late that it's nearly the same as October's was, but hey, that just means you get an extra big fall kit! I hope to have it uploaded (the kit, that is) sometime tomorrow.

Layered Template - November 2008 Planner

2007-11-05T19:38:00.001-05:00

Well, she did it! She's a trooper and the surgery went well. Thank you so much for all the prayers. The only time she even asked for food was when she discovered a wayward M&M in the car and when the nurse asked what foods she likes for recovery. Other than that, she didn't ever even mention she was hungry. Amazing! And now she's in recovery watching "Cinderelly" and eating a popsicle. All things considered, she's doing wonderful. Hopefully the coming days will be speedy recovery as well!

And another hurray -- I have an internet connection in the hospital. That means I can upload the November Calendar page! Wohoo! :)

So HERE it is. (link removed) We're almost done with the year!

Quick Check-In

2007-11-04T22:01:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to quickly check in and let you know I'm still here!

We took a family vacation from the 26th til today (just got home) -- and it was blissfully full of friends and internet free. So I haven't even checked email yet -- and probably won't be able to until Monday or Tuesday.

I did get a good start on November and December -- so those should be up by week's end. Yes, BOTH of them! Then the travel of a job transfer begins in earnest.

Quick prayer request: My 3 year old is having her tonsils out on Monday at 2:45EST -- lovely time. Try telling a 3 year old she can't eat after 6:15 am! Yeah... that will work well! Anyway.... if I can get wireless at the hospital, I will!

Piggy Back Kits - September

2007-10-23T19:23:00.000-05:00

Here's another Add-On from Andrea for September. As her box says, "Check out that texture!" My favorites are the cool swirls in the papers. I always love swirls. :)

You can find the kit over at Andrea's blog, head over HERE.

The Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-23T17:08:00.000-05:00

I don't usually share my personal pictures on this site (outside of the ones on LOs), but I had a request for pictures of th e kids at the Pumpkin Patch. So here's my favorite of the two of them together. Being that we were the last group on the hayride for the day, the pumpkins were pretty picked over (this isn't where they grow, it's where they're placed for us to pick them). Also, we had a horrible drought this summer, so the pumpkins didn't look as good as normal -- lots of brown and green on the normal orange! But the kids still had fun.

Also some crazy good news from my outside world. I got a promotion! The down side is that we'll be moving within the next 2-3 months, so it will be high stress time. I'm definitely planning to finish November and December, but I'm VERY thankful that I'm nearly done with that, because if I were just starting this little project, there's no way I'd be able to finish. On the good side -- it will also mean that MY Christmas presents will be done, so I can focus on the move!

I know what everyone's going to ask: So you're going to uproot your whole family? Won't that be hard? Well.... yes, it always is. But this is our 6th move in our 9.5 years of marriage. Sixth state even! So while we don't enjoy the actual move/planning/stress of it all, it's always very exciting for us! And no, we're not military, believe it or not!

Anyway... that's just a heads up that I may be severely MIA over the next couple months!

And sorry... the other question you'll ask: What do you do? Who do you work for? Not going to answer that one other than to say "sales." :)

Have a wonderful night. I'm off to feed the kidlets. :)

October Kit - Bountiful Harvest

2007-10-22T14:53:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my friends at Digital Simple Scrapbooks (YahooGroup) for the ideas of what to include in a non-Halloween-y Halloween kit! :) I'm working on a couple other things that may turn into an add on of my own -- but for right now they're ugly! (And I don't mean that in a good Halloween way.) LOL!

Included in this kit are 9 papers -- polka dots, textures, candy corn covered. Then there are 22 different "painted" stickers -- corn, apples, pumpkin, candy corn, suckers, packaged candy, hard candy. There are blank stickers as well, if you want to color your own. Also included are 5 varieties of the word art from the template.

OK, funny story and I'll sign off. My kids are going as Dora and Diego for Halloween. I was making Dominic's Diego vest (out of a deconstructed pair of cargo shorts). Since Dominic was already napping, I had Amara try it on to make sure it was constructed right. I told her she could be Dora (she wanted to switch roles). I also told her she could put hers on after her nap. So she just woke up as I type... and guess what she's saying: "I want my Halloween!"

Download Part One HERE. (link removed)

Download Part Two HERE. (link removed)

October Color Scheme - Bountiful Harvest

2007-10-21T19:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm going at this kit from a different angle.

It's a Halloween kit, but not a traditional Halloween kit. I personally enjoy Halloween for the "fun" it provides, and choose to look at it that way. However, I also realize that there are many people who choose not to celebrate Halloween, or they have church "Fall Festivals" on Halloween night, or various other Christian celebrations instead of the typical Halloween. So it's with that spirit that I came up with the theme for this kit.

The title is "Bountiful Harvest," which in this case, I was thinking more in lines of "harvest" of candy. And the Bible Verse I've chosen is Psalm 119:103, "How sweet are Your words to my taste." I went to http://www.biblegateway.com/ and looked up the word "sweet" -- again, referring to candy, but searching for a Biblical reference to what is truly sweet.

Anyway, I had fun with ideas for this kit. Getting them to paper/computer is a bit of a struggle, but a little challenge is good for a person, right!? :) So I'm pluggin' away, and hopefully I'll have a finished product for you tomorrow. I'm kind of stuck on elements again! LOL!

(Oops -- I wrote this Sunday, but it got stuck in cyber space -- so I'll sit on the kit another day!)

Layered Template - October 2008 Planner

2007-10-21T14:45:00.001-05:00

Well.... I got more done today than I intended. I had planned to take the family to the pumpkin patch today, but the kids REALLY needed a nap after church. So we came home and I put them down for naps at about 12:30, hoping they'd be up by 3 and we could leave. They didn't wake up until 3:50! I thought the farm closed at 5pm, but that was just the doors -- the farm was open until 6pm. So we had a fun day at the pumpkin patch. At least the kids and I did. Jon went because I asked him to -- but he hates things like that. In the end, I think he enjoyed himself though, too -- it's always fun to see things through your kids' eyes.

Anyway, as I listened to football today, I got a pretty decent start on October's kit, as well as the template for October 2008. So today, you can grab the planner layered template. Hopefully I'll have a chance to upload the kit tomorrow -- if not tomorrow, by midweek it'll be up!

You can download the template HERE. (link removed)

Piggy Back Kits - August

2007-10-21T12:52:00.000-05:00

Oops! I forgot to upload this. Andrea sent it to me back on the 15th, and it totally slipped my mind! Sorry.

So for those of you who haven't already discovered her wonderful add on to the Beach Comber kit, head on over and grab it now!

Andreas Blog is HERE.

Also congratulate her for making the CT for Weeds and Wildflowers! She's super pumped!!!

Piggy Back Kit - September

2007-10-20T07:42:00.001-05:00

Sue has blessed us again this month with a wonderful add on to the September kit. Looks like a cute alphabet border, some great papers, and terrific bows for you to use!

Thanks so much, Sue, for sharing your talents with us again!

Head over to SUE'S BLOG to get this freebie! :)

Piggy Back Kit - September

2007-10-20T07:40:00.000-05:00

Boy, I've been MIA this week -- sorry! The time and commitments got away from me. Today isn't looking much better, but hopefully I'll be able to scrap some tomorrow!

This first Piggy Back Kit comes to you from Lisa Minor, who is always so generous with her freebies. Thank you, Lisa! I just love the scalloped borders and the eyelet/ribbon edge. Looks like a fun and unique alpha is included as well.

Head over to LISA'S BLOG to download her add on to the September kit. And leave her a little love, too!

September Kit - Train Up a Child

2007-10-15T12:42:00.001-05:00

I'm really excited about how this turned out, and I hope you are, too.

This kit has 12 sheets of 12x12 paper (300dpi). There are 8 solids and 4 striped; all heavily textured. Some of the solids really ended up with some cool marbling of other colors in them. I love playing with textures -- it's amazing what different filters can do to a given image.

A fun "designer" challenge for you. I think Hummie is the one who first got me excited about textures. Admittedly, I didn't do much with them initially, but they're essential when designing. Some of the strangest things make the best textures: carpet, stone, brick, rusty old cars, paint, water spots. The possibilities are endless! Anyway, take a photo of some cool texture and make it grayscale, then duplicate the image a couple times and rotate them in various directions so they're all different angles on top of each other. Then play with the layer properties -- I change mine from Overlay, Multiply, Color Burn, Screen -- each layer can have a different property. Then add a color to it. Keep playing with the layer properties, just to see the different amazing patterns that come out -- seemingly from nowhere! It's so much easier than I ever thought it would be!

Anyway... back to the kit...

I've also included 5 realistic pencils (I photographed a pencil and colored them various colors -- so they BETTER look real), 5 colored scissors (ditto on the scissors), 6 rulers (this one I created to scale myself -- 12 inches long, 1 inch wide), and 5 file folder labels. There is one sheet of wrinkled notebook paper, 12 "chalk" words related to learning (check that -- it's 10 words, and that's a mistake on the preview -- guess my mind drew a blank), and 1 word art in 6 colors (as seen in the layered template).

ENJOY!

The download is available HERE. (link removed) (43.5 MB)

Unfortunately, October won't be ready until the end of the week at the earliest -- maybe next week (who knows what's in store?!) -- regardless, I've got to travel for work this week, which means Photoshop doesn't get to make the trip with me. I wish.... :)

September Color Scheme - Train Up A Child

2007-10-14T19:55:00.000-05:00

I totally forgot to upload September's colors! OOPS! :) The good news: I'm traveling this week, so those of you designing with me will have time to catch up! Sorry I haven't been posting these til the last minute! I love these bright, primary colors... I hope you'll enjoy them, too.

And a question: What is it about Sunday's?

I think the Devil just needs to leave his barbs in the day. Sunday's are just SO chaotic for the kids, especially my 15 month old son. He takes two 2-hour naps each day: 9:30-11:30 (or so) and 2-4 (or so). Well, guess what time church is? Yep, smack dab in the middle of his morning nap: 10am.

So we get to church, put him in the nursery, where he plays instead of sleeps. No big deal -- he won't sleep in public or being held (neither of our kids will) -- and we know that. However, he often falls asleep on the way HOME from church. Then he won't transfer from car to crib without sleeping -- or if he does, it's a short nap, because he wakes up starving.

Then his nap schedule is all off, because of the oddly timed morning nap, so his afternoon nap also ends up abbreviated.

Of course, that makes him ultra cranky, which means he hits his sister if she even walks close to him. I know... we need to work on his temper/aggression. But that being true, it all stems from getting out of synch on his morning naps. By Sunday nights, we're just frazzled and SO thankful that our kids are good sleepers and go down easily at 7pm -- because we need the rest of the night to relax!

And at the end of the day -- we're so very grateful for our two amazing blessings -- chaos and all. :)

Layered Template - September 2008 Planner

2007-10-14T19:51:00.001-05:00

We're almost into the current month (for next year)! Sadly -- I haven't taken even ONE photo yet this month. With Halloween right around the corner, I know I *will* take some, but sheesh -- get on the ball, Mom! :)

September's template got flipped horizontally by me again for my LO. I also rotated the center photo so that it's vertical instead of horizontal. I'm tellin' you -- that's the beauty of templates -- they just give you a good starting point!

You can download this template HERE. (link removed)

August Kit - Lazy Summer Afternoons

2007-10-13T14:38:00.001-05:00

What is it about August? It's always been such a "just there" month for me. Kind of bittersweet actually. I live for the summer, love hot weather -- it just feels so carefree. And August has always signaled "the end" for me. So I really struggled with what to add to the kit. I pictured just lounging back by the pool or lake and taking in the last beautiful days of summer. But I couldn't really come up with any elements that fit that mood, so I went with more "standard" elements instead. In the end -- I probably should change the name of the kit! LOL!

Included in this kit are:
5 bold colorful papers, good for both boys and girls
4 striped papers
3 large polka dot papers -- all polka dots have pretty intense textures, which you can see in a few of them on the preview
Papers are in download one.

Download 2 holds the elements.
12 "glitter" words -- I don't know that they're exactly glitter, but that was the only description I could think of!
5 inked edge tabs (thanks, Atomic Cupcake)
5 chipboard frame clusters -- these range from 3 to 6 photo spaces in 5 different colors
1 Word Art in 5 colors

I hope you enjoy it!

Download the papers HERE. (link removed) (42MB)
Download the elements HERE. (link removed) (13MB)

A note from 4Shared

2007-10-12T07:57:00.000-05:00

Well, last night I contacted 4Shared about their suggestive ads. I did get a positive response already this morning from one of their people (see below).

A couple things I'd encourage you to do: (1) Write to 4shared. Let them know that you don't appreciate the ads that their ad agency is including. (2) Download a popup or flash blocker. I didn't even realize there were ads on 4shared, because mine blocked them. Most are free and do a good job. I'm not going to suggest any, because I haven't really studied which are good/bad, which have spyware, etc. But do a bit of looking and get a blocker on your computer. (3) When you see a 4shared suggestive advertisement, take a screen shot, note the site/link, and send it to 4shared.

Here is the message I sent and received from 4shared:

(From 4Shared) Hello,We do not actually manage advertisments on our site, but an advertisement company does. We would be very grateful to you if you send us links to those advertisements and also make a screenshot when you see it next time. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will try to fix the problem as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Olga
support@4shared.com

(My Message) Original message: I have had a few people mention that there are sexually explicit ads included when they download files I'm sharing. I will say that 4shared is better than most, however, I'm disappointed that the "filters" are slipping. One of the files I uploaded was titled "filmstrip" and was blocked, because of the word "strip" -- with that type of censoring (which I was thankful for), I expected more from the censoring of ads. People I've asked have said that they're seeing more and more "questionable" ads on 4shared. I encourage you to keep it clean, as you have done in the past. Thank you. Sarah

August Color Scheme - Lazy Summer Afternoon

2007-10-11T20:33:00.000-05:00

Oh my -- this one is killing me! LOL! I've got the papers complete -- those were fun and fell into place rather easily. The elements though.... oy.... not coming at all! I just spent about 4 hours and have NOTHING to show for my work! I keep saying, "ICK!"

Don't worry... I'll get there... or it will be a paper kit and I'll rely on my friends to fill in the element blanks! LOL!

Layered Template - August 2008 Planner

2007-10-11T20:28:00.001-05:00

Happy August! :) I had fun with this word art -- I hope you enjoy it, too. And a little note about the photo of the kiddos -- lets just say I love Photoshop! This is 2 photos compiled together so both kids are on the slide together. It's amazing what you can do with a little photo manipulation! LOL!

I have a serious question for you guys... when you're on either my blog or the 4shared site, do you see ads? Either pop-up or on-site? The reason I ask: a person left a comment at 4shared that essentially said, "I love your kits, but the porn isn't my thing" (she described the image). I'm appalled that somehow someone may see anything even remotely offensive/sexual attached to my site/work. So first off: I apologize! But second -- has anyone else had porn thrown in their face when visiting my site? If so, please let me know further details (where it came from, what kind, etc) -- because I absolutely want to address it with either Blogger or 4shared (or wherever it's coming from). That's appalling to me, and I'm deeply sorry if anyone has seen something they didn't expect to see. I absolutely don't endorse that either!

Anyway... August can be downloaded HERE. (link removed)

Piggy-Back Kit - July

2007-10-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

When I came up with "In God We Trust" as a theme for July, I immediately thought Independence Day, America, Red White & Blue -- all those AMERICAN Patriotic things that, for me, automatically go with July. Silly me, just assumed EVERYONE thinks Red White and Blue with July.

Andrea reminded me of the obvious -- People from the USA think RW&B with July -- but the rest of the world doesn't. So my sincere apologies for my American Arrogance. :) Andrea, I know you weren't trying to humble me or anything -- but I appreciate it all the same! :)

Anyway... take a look at Andrea's fabulous add on. What a great way to combine Canadian patriotism with US patriotism. What a fun kit!

Head over to Andrea's blog HERE.

Piggy-Back Kit - July

2007-10-09T20:28:00.000-05:00

Wow! Lisa is FAST!!! She was actually done before I was. Way to go, lady! :) Look at these great textures and shimmers to the ribbons. I love the word art, too. Great addition to "In God We Trust."

Get your copy HERE.

Also, remember for you DIP users, the calendars are converted over at Lisa's blog, too -- so go grab them! :)

July Mini Kit - In God We Trust

2007-10-09T17:46:00.001-05:00

I have to admit: this kit amused me. I kept going back to create more paper -- and each one ended up with more stars! So rather than continuing to repeat myself, I called it quits and went for quality over quantity! LOL! However, I hope you'll find this kit to be very fun and versatile.

Included:
7 papers - 2 are solid, 3 are stars, and 2 are stars and stripes
3 journal blocks - 2 are chipboard, one is paper
1 gemstone flag (approx 6x4 inches)
5 felt stars
5 embroidered stars
(these stars can be mixed and matched together if you want to stitch them to your paper for a kinda cool effect)
3 pieces of Patriotic Word Art (not previewed -- it's a surprise!)
1 Biblical Word Art -- seen in my sample planner page for July

And that's it.

Just as a heads up -- Lisa has already sent me her preview for her contribution to the July kit! I'll post it tomorrow -- I think you'll be very pleased! Lisa is one of the ladies who inspired me to do some freebies (Hummie's the other one). And Andrea has teased ME with her ideas for the July kit, but I haven't seen them yet. She assured me I'd be surprised -- so now I'm excited! :)

Anyway, download my July kit HERE (link removed)-- it's a 42.5MB file.

Layered Template - July 2008 Planner

2007-10-08T09:29:00.001-05:00

Yes... I'm putting up a Cubbies LO right after they lost.... Nobody go rubbing that in now, OK? :)

Here is the layered template for July. You can see from my LO how easily "edited" it can be. I've had a few people email me and say, "I changed it a bit from the template; I hope that's OK." I answer with a resounding YES!!!! Feel absolutely free to change the templates for your LO (just not for redistribution as templates). That's the beauty of templates and sketches. They're jumping off points -- they get you started and save immense amounts of time for you to create your OWN masterpiece. I'm absolutely tickled when someone shares a link to a LO using my template -- and it's completely unrecognizable to me! Way to go!!!

So HERE (link removed) is the link for today's template.... to tweak or not-tweak... that is the question! ;)

Piggy-Back Kit - June

2007-10-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

Andrea was busy this month! Look at all these alphas she's pulled together. And there are some really fabulous papers here, too. She also had a request from someone to "transform" some of my word art into metals, gels, etc. I have given her the express permission to do this (since I didn't feel like doing it myself and she's better at it!), so also look for the word art collections avaliable on her blog! :)

HERE is the link to Andrea's blog.

Piggy Back Kits - June

2007-10-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

Lady Sue has blessed us all with a beautiful add on to the June "Beach Comber" kit. My original kit is pretty sadly lacking in elements, and Susan has made up for that with some great ribbons, buttons, and some more papers as well. I'm sure you'll be as happy as I am to add this to your collection! THANK YOU, SUE!!!

I think she and I may be working at the same time in uploading onto blogger. I was just there and the download wasn't yet up -- but check out her blog HERE, and soon the links will be available.

Enjoy!

July Color Scheme - In God We Trust

2007-10-06T13:28:00.002-05:00

Alright, I had to go somewhat "Red, White, and Blue," but I didn't want to be completely predictable, either. Yet... I probably still am! Oh well. I like the colors, so I don't care! I haven't made the kit yet, but I'm guessing you'll see stars there as well... predictable! But it's JULY -- that's what you're supposed to see! :)

I hope you're having an enjoyable weekend. It's 90 degrees here, which it totally NOT typical October weather. Would you believe that my husband proposed to me 10 years ago on October 13 -- in the middle of a blizzard! Granted, that was in South Dakota, and I'm miles from there now. But I'm still more surprised by 90 degree October weather than I would be surprised by an October blizzard. Since I prefer hot weather to cool though -- you won't hear me complaining! :)

Thank You!

2007-10-06T06:07:00.000-05:00

I have had this on my heart, so indulge me, please. :)

This past week, I put in over 15 hours of windshield time. It was an exhausting week, and I'm happy to be home. I have an iPod, which I thought I would use a lot, especially as I travel. It sits, dusty, on a shelf. I'm addicted to Talk Radio. So for these 15 hours, I channel surfed and listened to as much Talk Radio as I could. Some I agreed with, others I did not -- but it kept my mind stimulated.

This week, both Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham had interviews with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas regarding his new book, "My Grandfather's Son." Laura Ingraham's interview especially was captivating. He is her former boss, so she knows him on a different level than most people do. I can't recommend the book, as I've never read it.... but I hope to. Judging from the interview, it provides a world view, perspective, and set of values not seen much anymore in today's society. (I think you can listen to 1/2 hour of her interview here.)

One of the things Justice Thomas mentioned was "The Litany of Humility," which I'd never heard of, but it piqued my interest. So I looked it up. And I'll post it below in just a second. But first I want to thank you all.

When I started out on this freebie stuff, I told you I didn't care if you left comments. I still do feel that way, as I still do "create" simply because I enjoy it. However, I'm so grateful for all the wonderful comments I've received, and for all the layouts you've shared with me. There are so many wonderful people out there, and I've so enjoyed reading your comments, advice, and encouragement. Some of you consistently send me little messages that really just make my day.

I apologize for not writing back to everyone. I would love to take time with each one of you to read, write, and get to know you. Unfortunately, time simply slips away, and I know I've neglected responding to many. I still have them all, and I hope to get some responses out soon. So my apologies if you feel neglected by my non-response! That's certainly not my intent.

I also want to single out one person who has made my day over and over and over again. Grambie graced me with her presence at the very beginning, sending me the most beautiful, heartfelt notes of encouragement, faith, and love. Many times I've wanted to email her to thank her, but there's no response email in the blogger comments. And that's OK -- certainly I appreciate everyone's privacy, as I'm the same way! But Grambie, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You always make me smile and have just the right, beautiful words for me. You are often in my thoughts and prayers, and I just want you to know that.

Now back to the "Litany of Humility." I hope you enjoy reading this as well. Some of these I feel I've got under control, others I definitely need to keep in prayer. But it is certainly something I should keep at the forefront. It is something that Justice Thomas apparently keeps top of mind and has passed on to others. Don't you wish all public officials would do the same? Below are the words:

Litany of Humility
Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should…

June Kit - Beach Comber

2007-10-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday night, and welcome to the weekend! YAY!!! I wish I had a beach to enjoy this weekend... but a beautiful warm fall day will have to suffice.

Instead, you can create a beach with this kit. Included are 13 papers in various shades of "water" and "sand." I also included pictures of my seashells, extracted and made into PNG files. I knew a "fish" bathroom would come in handy one day! :) The word art you saw on the calendar template is also included in 6 different colors.

I think that's it. Enjoy your weekend! :)

Grab the kit HERE. (link removed) (46MB)

Layered Template - June 2008 Planner

2007-10-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow's Friday... tomorrow's Friday!!! Hear me singing!? :) What a long week. I'm so ready for the weekend.

Alrighty... here's today's template. I hope you enjoy it! We're halfway through the year now! WOW! Bit of news: I'm only done with calendar templates through July. That means I better get crankin! :)

A little tidbit about this word art.... Well, first... All the word art I tried to match the "theme" of the verse with the "theme" of the month. So I went for the whole summer thing with this one. Then the other thing: when I created it, it was one block. I had to split it to fit the template. SO... that means that you can really do it either way to make it work for you.

ENJOY! And download it HERE. (link removed)