Sunday, October 31, 2010

Trick? or Treat?

Happy Halloween!!! Welcome to our Brownie Scraps Institute Blog Train!

My kit is called "Thankful for You" and it is dedicated to my sweet little boy and amazing husband!

This kit has 9 papers, 15 elements, 3 clusters, and 2 Word Arts. This is by far the biggest kit I have made, so I am pretty excited about it! :) Here is a preview of the whole kit:



So what is your "Treat" from me today? Today you get the papers to my kit!



If you would like to grab them, go HERE *Link Expired*

Make sure you check back in a couple of weeks for the elements, the clusters, and the word art!

Happy Halloween!

Here are the rest of the Blog Train Stops:

March
Ramona
Bethany
Charly
Natalee YOU ARE HERE! :)
Becky
Angie
Eileen
Shelly
Kathi
Ashley

Thursday, October 28, 2010

My Brownie Scraps Institute Final Project

So my Brownie Scraps class is over for this month.... :( I'm sad that class is out, but I'm really excited about all the new fun things I have learned.

I have turned in my final assignment, and I am happy with my results! Wanna see my final kit?? Well...I'll give you a Sneak Peak, but you'll have to come back in a few days when our entire class hosts a blog train!



You can see my entire kit then, and pick up a few freebies along the way!

See you in a few days!!!!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Brownie Bake Off

Have you been playing along with the Brownie Bakers this week?? Don't miss out! It's been tons of fun!

One of the "booths" at the Festival is the Brownie Bake Off. If you love to Design, you can enter your favorite Halloween or Fall kit along with a Quick Page to go along with your kit. Then at the end of the week, everyone votes for the best kit.

I have entered a Fall kit I have been working on called "Autumn Days". I will be giving the papers and elements away in November. Here is the kit:



If you are a Scrapper, you get to vote for your favorite kit, and also grab a whole bunch of amazing Quick Pages! So here is my Quick Page:



The link will be available until November 1st, and you can pick it up HERE

Remember to check back in November to grab the links for the full kit! And don't forget to VOTE!!! :)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Wild Thing Cluster Frame Freebie

This frame is for all of us Mom's who have "Demons" instead of "Divas". :) I was working on a layout with Angie's kit "Wild Thing" and decided that I would make my frame a cluster freebie to share with you!

Here is a preview of Angie's "Wild Thing" kit:



This is the layout I did:



and here is the frame:



if you want to grab it, go HERE - *Link Expired Thanks for Downloading!*

Have a great day! :)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Facebook Page



So I finally did it! I finally decided that I wanted to go full force with this design thing, and not just do it as a hobby! :) I am trying to establish a "fan base" and hopefully in time, get a store set up!

So the first step I took was to create a Facebook Page for my Designs. I am planning on posting about new kits, new freebies, and everything else that happens on my Design Road. :)

Eventually when I set up shop somewhere, my Facebook fans will have access to special deals and coupons, so you might want to start following me NOW! :)

Here is the link. I hope to see some familiar faces on my "likes" list!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Brownie Scraps 2nd Annual Harvest Festival

I LOVE Fall! Don't you? There are so many fun things to do that you can only do during the fall!

Pumpkin patches, corn mazes, colored leaves, hayrides, the list goes on and on! It's just a FUN time of year, and I have one more FUN thing to add to your must do Fall activities. Brownie Scraps Harvest Festival!

This is the 2nd year for the Festival, and it is sure to be just as fun as the first year!



We have lots and lots of fun things planned for the week of the 25th, so set aside some time to come play with us! :)

I am helping with the Cake Walk this year! My "job" was to come up with some prizes, so would you like to see one of the things you could win?

I made some Halloween Clusters:



Looks like fun huh? :) Head over to Brownie Scraps and get signed up! Hope to see you all there! :)

Saturday, October 16, 2010

My Daisy Team Needs YOUR Votes!!

I seem to find myself enrolling in lots of contests lately! :) I used to be completly terrified of them, but after entering a couple of them, I really LOVE doing them! I think it makes me a better scrapper to be challenged and scrap a little more out of my comfort area! You can learn a LOT being in scrapping challenges and it doesn't matter HOW long you have been scrapping!

I would encourage ANYONE who loves to digiscrap to enter a contest! It is really a fun time! :)

So anyway, my latest contest is over at DigiScrap Addicts or DSA. They are currently having a "Battle of The Creative Teams".

I am on Bethany's "Scrappin Daisies" team. This week was the first week. Our challenge was to follow a scrapping recipe. Our layout had to include the following:

10 hearts
9 flowers
8 stitches
7 buttons
6 frames
5 ribbons
4 papers
3 pictures
2 alphas
1 font

This is my layout for week one.




Our layouts were all due last night, and the voting polls are NOW open! SO....I along with the rest of my team, would really appreciate it if you would head over to DSA and take a look at all of our layouts, and if you feel so inclined...VOTE FOR US! :)

You can find all of our layouts HERE

You can find the voting HERE

Thank you!!! I can't wait to see what week 2 brings!! :)

Friday, October 15, 2010

Wild Thing

Angie from Down This Road Designs has a new kit out today for you! It's called "Wild Thing".



This kit is full of motorcycles, flames, metal, and anything else "BOY" you can think of! I LOVE IT!

Keric has recently become obsessed with Motorcycles, or as he calls them "Cycles". He loves to point them out on the road, or when he hears them outside! There was definitely not a shortage of pictures for me to chose from when I went to do my layout with this kit! :)

This is Keric "riding" his Handy Manny Motorcycle!




This kit is 25% off until Friday the 22nd! So hurry over to Brownie Scraps and grab it!

Have a great weekend, and of course...Happy Scrapping!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Divalicious Freebie

As promised...here is your Divialicious Freebie!



I made you a cluster frame to use with your Diva layouts because every Diva needs a Diva frame! :)

If you would like it, you can get it HERE (Link Expired Thanks for Downloading!)

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Scrapping! :)

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Divalicious

Do you have a "Diva" at your house? Are YOU a Diva? I have the perfect kit for you then! "Divalicious" is brand new at Brownie Scraps today! Divalicious is a Collab kit by Bethany from Scrappin Daisies, and March from Marni Designs.



This kit is SO girly and SO much fun! I love all the pink and purple and all the "Bling" that comes with this kit!

As you have seen from my other layouts, Keric is anything but girly, so I had to do a page about myself. We tend to forget to scrap about US, but I am trying to be better about doing a page here and there about ME too. :)

So here is my layout using Divalicious.



Right now this HUGE kit is 25% off!! So head over to Brownie Scraps and grab it before the sale ends!

Oh and you might want to check back tomorrow...because I just might have a really FUN freebie to go along with this kit...Just Sayin! :)

Have a wonderful week, and Happy Scrapping!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Smiling

Jackie has a new kit out called "Smiling".



Isn't it cute! I love how girly this kit is, and I LOVE the pink and black! Two of my favorite colors! :)

Here is the layout I did with this kit.



Head on over to Brownie Scraps and check it out!

Have a wonderful weekend, and as always....Happy Scrapping!!! :)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Playin with Papers

So I have been learning a LOT in my designing class this week, and I thought I would share a little bit of it with you. :)

We have been working on papers, and the thing I have learned the MOST is the importance of texture on your papers! I always put texture on them, but it seems like the textures I have are not great. Some of them hardly show up!

So I invested in some better textures, played around with overlays, soft and hard light and finally came up with some papers that I was proud of! :) I've turned in my 1st weeks assignment, and had so much fun making those papers, I decided to play the Brownie Unbaked Challenge and make a paper pack.

This is the paper pack that I made.



I'm eventually going to do a full size kit with these papers, but for now if you would like the papers that I DO have, you are welcome to them! :) You can grab them HERE

Now I guess I just wait for next weeks assignment!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Class is in Session!!

A couple of weeks ago, I "enrolled" in the Brownie Scraps Designing class that is going on this month.

School is in session, and my teacher Bethany has already given us our first assignment!

Our colors are these:



Our theme is: Thankful.

So I decided that the name of my kit is going to be "I am Thankful for You!" This kit is going to be more of a masculine looking kit, and will be dedicated to my little man Keric and his Daddy! :)

Our assignment this week is to come up with 4 patterned papers, and 5 solid papers. So I have been working on my papers tonight! They aren't due until Friday, so I am going to sleep on it...and decide if I LOVE my papers in the morning. A couple of people have already posted their papers, but since I have until Friday I am going to hold off a little and make sure they are EXACTLY what I want. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist...

The twist to the class is this we just found out today is that at the end of class our teacher picks one of the 5 students in her class to be a guest designer at Brownie Scraps!! EEEEKKKKK!!!

So, seriously this is my DREAM! I had no idea that this was part of the class when I signed up, I just really wanted to learn from who I look at as some of the BEST!

I want to be a Designer there so badly! So I'm now I am totally nervous about my kit! I hope I get the guest spot, but even if I don't, I'm sure I will have learned a TON to make me a better designer in the future!

Wish me luck! I'll posting the different parts of my kit as I finish them. Feel free to give me some feedback! :)

Friday, October 1, 2010

Scrapping "Tip"

I have no idea how many people check my blog, or "read" it but I wanted to change things up a little. :) Instead of only doing previews of new kits, or freebies, I also wanted to add a few little scrapping tips that I have learned along the way. The great thing about digital scrapping is that we have all started in the same boat! Somewhere along the way we decided we wanted to put our papers away, and try our hand at the computer. We didn't know where to start, what program to use, or even what we were doing! Somewhow, we ended up with a few layouts, and a lot of knowledge on the way!

One of my favorite things is when a friend of mine asks me "How do I get started in digital scrapbooking!" Why is this so fun for me? Because I am a teacher! I taught school before my son was born and I LOVE teaching people new things! So I am going to try to teach YOU a few of the tricks I have learned in the past year and a half of digital scrapbooking.

The first lesson I want to teach you is to JOURNAL!!

We all are really good about TAKING the pictures, and about getting them scrapped, otherwise we wouldn't be here in digi scrap world! However I think many times we forget about the writing part of a layout.

Journaling is my very favorite part of a layout. I think of journaling as the "Cherry on top" of each of my layouts. Journaling tells the story. It explains why you took the picture. What was going on that day? Why was this moment important enough to pull out your camera, save the picture, buy a kit to go with it and then scrap it?

Let me give you an example. We'll call this the "bad" example. :)

This is one of the very first pages I ever did:



It's a fairly cute page, but what's the story? Why did I spend so much time on this page, and why did I think it was important enough to include in my son's first year scrapbook?

When I started scrapping, I didn't journal at all, I only scrapped the picture. But I realized that I myself was starting to forget why I was taking these pictures. The only reason I remember what this picture is about, is because I happend to blog about it also. :) This was his very first time eating peaches, and he loved them. You don't know this by looking at the layout though.

So here is a better example:


Now maybe you don't want to journal that much! That's ok! You don't have to! You can still put two or three words on a page that still tell a "Story":



When I am doing a layout, I obviously know the story behind the picture and the reasons why I am scrapping it, but I have to remind myself that each of my scrapbooks has a reader. That reader doesn't know the answers to those questions, and I want them to. The most important reader is my son. Right now he is two, and chances are he isn't going to remember alot about his life right now. I want him to KNOW who is was, what life was like, and why I took the pictures I did. :)

So don't forget the cherry on top of your layout! Remember, your child may not remember this day or picture. Make sure you tell them the story! Every little boy and girl loves story books. Wouldn't it be great if their scrapbooks were story books too?

Have a wonderful weekend, and Happy Scrapping!