Tuesday, March 27, 2012

It's ready for you, flower patch template 1!

Alrighty scrappin friends, I think I'm ready to go with template 1. I only have a few layouts to share, but will hopefully have more examples on the way, so keep your eyes peeled for those. Here are a few layouts done with this template:


Check this one out from Sharon, Thanks for sharin, Sharon, that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it LOL:




2 stunning ones from Ann!



This beautiful one from Michelle!




Here is one from me as well:

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Out of commission for a few days

I am going to be away from my computer for a few days, but I wanted to leave you all with something to look forward to!! a little sneek of a kit I'm working on. I have to get some photos to finish it. My aunt took some gorgeous ones while she was here visiting and I'm hoping to hit her up for a few of them, so it's a ways off. Here's what I'm hoping for, this kit is WAY different in color palette for me (you know I'm all about the boys LOL) So I need a little reassurance that people will even want to work with it. It's a lot to make a kit and I love doing it for my friends, but I want to make sure my time isn't wasted on anything they wouldn't like so here is a sneek if you are interested in me finishing it, Let me know:)Thanks so much!!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

One more quick share then I'm off to lala land :)

Here are a few of my layouts from some amazing designers, Zlata made this kit, but sadly she won't be designing PU any more, but if you are a Designer, keep your eyes on her she may have something fun in store for you in the near future!!



Here are a few from a New Designer i just discovered Princess Designs- LOVE HER!




And a couple from my sweet friend, Vanessa (Xcenedra Designs) who is amazing and guesting at Scrapbook Art Avenue


Saturday, March 17, 2012

No more confustion :)

I'm going to add the newest freebies to the side bar in my blog, that way any new comers will be able to find them more easily. Have a wonderful day!

Friday, March 16, 2012

How about a template!!

Are you feeling lazy today, I surely hope I'm not the only one out there! I have been in a lazydazy mood lately, and I made these templates a couple weeks ago, and thought they might be fun for someone else who is in a lazy mood and wants a quick start to a layout :) I know they aren't the typical little cluster templates that everyone is doing, but hopefully some of you will find them useful anyways:)




Here are some samples done with the templates:

Template 1:

From my sweet, sweet friend Maca who is always so kind and encouraging:


and one from me:


Template 2:

from me:


From Amber Morrison this super cute example:


Template 3

From the sweet and amazing designer Ann Dahlberg


Template 4:

Ann Dahlberg and her amazing art!!


this precious layout from Verena:

Monday, March 12, 2012

Trying something new- need some advice!

You know It's not like I don't have a kazillion things going on in my life, so I am completely baffled by my mind's ability to get bored even when I'm so busy I can't see straight! Can any of you relate, or am I floating out here in the sea of nutty, nutty nutcake all by myself??

Here I am 2 days away from a major art competition at school, with dozens of elementary, jr. high and high school competition entries to get bagged and tagged. I'm trying to get my own lazy boys to get their projects done, trying to get grades ready because they are due tomorrow, needing to clean my kitchen sink, where by the way, my cup doth truly run over- as does my sink, my dishwasher and my counter tops) And what am I doing? Piddling on the computer, trying to learn how to make scrapbook pages with kit items that are more paper-like. Seriously I wish I could rewire my lefty brain, so I could prioritize better,and stay focused on the task at hand! However, since I'm pretty sure that's a lost cause, I'm going to ask for a little advice from my paperly scrapper friends out there.

Here are some layouts that I've done for digiridoo, now mind you all the products are quite gorgeous, but not the photo-realistic style I typically work with, and may I just say, I am less than happy with my results, as a matter of fact, I think they are quite doodyish!! So please, please, please tell me what I'm doing wrong.. Any advice you all could give me would be a HUGE blessing!( and I am NOT fishing for praise here, I need some hard core advice!!!)

From Sarah Barber:


From: Truman Studios, Honey Bee, and Feli:


From Digiridoo Colab:


From Dana's Footprint:


From Feli:


From Dana's Footprint:



From Viva Artistry Snaps and Scraps:

Friday, March 9, 2012

What not to do!

Since I've had so many notes from aspiring designers thanking me for passing on my lessons learned the hard way, I thought I would upload the "offending" product. I figure maybe it would help some of you out there in cyber land learn what not to do:) These frames are not large, and not suitable for anything you are going to have published or use on your CT layouts, but they might be fun for use on a personal layout if you need a small but rustic frame. I think they are cute, and I can see them used in small clusters :) hope you'll find a use for them, Hugs, friends!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Where's the Freebie!!

I am so sorry that some of you haven't been able to find the freebie link. If you'll look up at the top, there is a link that says free gifts for you. Click on it and you'll see a preview of the kit and links to the kit. Sorry bout that. Hope you enjoy!!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Confessions of a Designing Dummy!

Well, I've been debating on whether to share this or not, so I did the old pros and cons thing and well the pros won out, so I have decided to just "let it all hang out" so to speak.

As most of you know, I have been officially digitally scrapbooking since June, (yes those who have known me for a long time know I dabbled years ago when I was a paper scrapbooker)but as far as giving up paper (mostly) and becoming a real part of the digital scrapbooking community I started in June. A few months later, I decided to try my hand at designing and decided I loved it so I offered my first freebie. Maybe some of you remember it was called Magellan.

Much to my surprise, a dear sweet friend of mine gave Magellan to a well known store owner who reviewed my kit and said that while I showed promise, my extractions weren't clean and I needed improvement, SO I went back and learned how to make everything perfect. I figured out that if I checked each element on a white, black, and red, background I couldn't go wrong!!! Then I threw Magellan out to the masses and had an amazing response.

Shortly there after, the phenom known as Kasia Kimla contacted me with an invitation to design at her brand new high end store Scrapbook Art Avenue. I was thrilled and in awe that she would want me and promptly got off the computer did a very embarrassing happy dance in front of my family then gave her a resounding yes!

She sent me a contract clearly outlining the dos and dont's which I skimmed over-I mean really who cares what it said, I would probably have signed it even if it directed me to shave my head, drape myself in sack cloth and roll around in a pile of dirty uniforms at the local boys locker room! I wanted in!!

So, thus began my illustrious designing career.

Okay this is getting a bit long winded so I'll skip through all the boring parts where I scratched my way through wind and rain and dead of night trying to produce kits worthy of the amazing Kasia which, of course, NEVER happened. Seriously,that would be like Rosanne Barr trying to jump up and reach the bar that Marilyn Monroe set! In your dreams sister!

So, yesterday morning I wake up, the sun is shining through the crack left by the warm taupe damask drapes hung over the bedroom window, the sweet little songbirds have been fooled by the amazing weather to believe it's spring and are merrily singing their happy song, and my youngest son has crawled into bed with me for his morning snuggle (ya- when you tell your friends this story you can leave that part out Spencer is like a little skunk sweet and adorable unless you aggravate him.)ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh life is good!! So I hop out of bed whistling along with the songbirds and head to the kitchen for my morning cup of joe. I sit down and contentedly sip on my morning salvation, as I lovingly call it, and decide to see what's going on in cyber land. Hmm, April at the Color Room thinks my layout is sweet, awesome-your so kind April, Matt reminds me Samuel is going to Supercross, thanks, Matt, you know how bad my memory is, oh and look a message from Kasia- now what does that subject line say? My eyes are still a bit blurry first thing in the morning, so I squint and focus in, "Quality issue" oh how sweet she wants to spend some "quality time" with me.

As I begin to read I become keenly aware that the lovely weather outside is taking a quick change for the worse, the storm clouds are gathering as the ominous sound of thunder crackles in the distance, the songbirds have stopped singing in lieu of seeking shelter for the impending storm and what were once the sweet sounds of pre-dawn quite now become an unsettling and nearly insufferable silence which leaves a pit in my stomach and the nape of my neck burning like overexposed skin under a hot summer sun. -okay, I suppose I'm being a tad overdramatic here, but doggone my great day had been shot to craps and I felt like I could PUKE!

Kasia's email was to inform me that I had put out a product that was well- SUCKISH for lack of a better word, and that she had received a rather bad report from a very dissatisfied and valued customer, further more she wanted to see the photos I extracted from because they appeared to have been found online. Gulp! I felt a pressure in my chest building like a balloon being squeezed to the point of explosion.

Um, yes, Kasia it is true, I am to stupid to do my research and realize you can't use online photos for extractions, and yes, Kasia, the quality of that product is indeed Suckish and shouldn't have been done at 2 in the morning with the hopes of getting something in this week before the deadline, and yes, Kasia, I understand you have to let me go because you are a brand new store trying to make it in an oversaturated market and you want only the highest quality and best reputation...
I think you are getting the gist here. I got the boot!! and rightfully so, Kasia is building an amazing store with undeniably the BEST designers and highest quality products in the industry.

So, what does this mean to you all, Well first of all any of you who are thinking of designing, I hope you will learn 3 lessons from my mistakes,

1. NEVER use anything in your extractions but your own photos.
2. Quality over quantity always double and triple check your product and if you are doing CU items make them HUGE so the designer can tweek them without worrying about clarity.
3. DO NOT become a designer until you have been doing this for a long time and researched the ins outs ups and downs of the industry. If I had gone searching for the information that I have been scouring the internet for since yesterday to see where I went wrong before I started designing, I never would have made the costly mistakes that I made.

Okay I'm going to add one more thing, I spent literally hundreds of hours and allowed my house and children to suffer for what amounted to a few hundred bucks and a big heartbreak, in hind sight, the loss of losing my designing dreams is really a gain for my family! Be sure you aren't sacrificing the time you should be giving to the things that really matter the most like God and your family for the things that NO ONE will care about in the end.

I love you all and hope the best for each of you! Especially Kasia who gave me a chance and even though I flopped miserably it was an exciting adventure for me!! I hope you will all check out her amazing store, I can assure you she stands behind everything she sells!!!! Scrapbook Art Avenue