Art Journal Cover

I decided to challenge myself and join Tangie Baxter's Art Caravan. It will take a couple of hours a week but I decided to take the plunge and make the commitment. (WISH ME LUCK!) hehe

So here's my attempt to make a cover...

This is a big mess of
Tangie Baxter's Steamer Trunk, Lorie Davison's Flitting Fall, Phuong Ton's September, Autumn's Kiss, Art Photo Masks, Art Mask Add On, Collaboration About by Creashens, Something Blue Studios, and K Studio, and Shabby Miss Jenn's Art Class.

Word art by Studio Maya - Quirky Quotes, Existence.



As I posting my layout, I saw this gorgeous cover. Okay, how do I make something like this? This is awesome! Very creative cover by Bec.

Great Tutorials!

Miss rocking "Miss Behaving" posted a great photo treamtent tutorial on the ScrapbookGraphics Blog.

Original Photo:



Cotton Candy effect:



Vintage effect:

Layouts I Found

What a weekend! My son's 6th birthday party was this Saturday and organizing events for 20 or so kids plus their parents was no easy feat! But PHEW my husband and I managed to pull it off and we're still standing. It's actually not that bad but twice a year is pretty much all I can handle.

I found these wonderful layouts and ideas on the ScrapbookGraphics Gallery today from our awesome Studio Crew.

This is a really great idea from Karen Bowers.



Here's a beautiful one by the talented LovelyMissKait.



I LOVE this double pager by LynnZant. It's just gorgeous.

Art Journal Caravan

I am very intrigued (and intimidated and excited all at once) with the Art Journal Caravan by Tangie Baxter and Amanda Sexton. It's a 52 week commitment and I cannot do quirky for the life of me but I don't think that's a style requirement. It's meant to incorporate your own style.

I read this in the frequently asked questions section and it is what draws me to this amazing project.

"Why Did You Start This Project?
For me the mission in this is to teach people that while leaving behind a family scrapbook of everyday family activities and memories like Christmas traditions and outings to the zoo are exceptionally important...I feel it's AS IMPORTANT to leave behind a legacy of who "we really are" through our art journals-our children, our families want to know what we feared, what we loved, what we dreamed...it's a treasure beyond price. That being said, they are also just for us in the here and now, a place for us daydream, vent or plan. The amazing thing about Art Journaling is that by taking some time for ourselves to journal, we find more self-awareness through our creative expression, which in my opinion makes us better moms, sisters, friends & human beings."

The secret word is CRYPTOLOGY

The Secret Word is…

CRYPTOLOGY

Enter CRYPTOLOGY into our keyword search engine at Scrapbook Graphics.

The results returned will reveal a list of products available at very special prices…
at least 40% off!

Tuesday Dec. 15th only.

Some more Layouts

Here are some more layouts with the December Kit.

A beautiful one by Lilja. What a fun scene!



A warm family Christmas tree by Leda. Makes me want to cuddle up and drink hot cocoa in front of the fire. :)



Calling all cat lovers! Here's a cutie for you by Lorraine.



She also created this lovely card.

Funday @ ScrapbookGraphics

Download the Decoder HERE. :)

Snow Flowers

I was browsing scrapbook galleries this morning and stumbled across this at Oscraps by sung1203. It's so pretty!! So I followed the link to her blog (http://www.creativityinprogress.com/blog/snow-flowers/.

I have most of these supplies at home already so maybe I should work on this project this weekend. (If I don't have to come into work..sigh)

Autumn Leaves Layout

I'm scrapping again.. in between the kids being sick, deadlines at work, and well, at least I could put off the housework for now. Who wants a super clean house when they can have layouts done! Sometimes it's the only way I can unwind. Tuck the kids into bed, have a warm cup of tea, cozy up on the couch, and scrap away. It really is my only way to relax a bit from these last few hectic days.

I hope you're finding a way to relax as well. It is important to have some "me" time to maintain some sanity.

Thought I'd share a personal layout with you.


Credits:

Lorie Davison's new kit, Before the Snow. Gorgeous and fun as always! Paper is from Lorie Davison's Flittering Fall Fairies. Word art by Vera Lim's Brother 2. The frame is Christina Renee's Negative Frames.

Studio Lorie Sale!

Lorie Davison is having her annual sale. She is incredibly talented and her kits are unique and full of imagination. I truly believe Digiscrapping is lucky to have a talent such as her. Yes, I have no shame, she is my idol LOL. :)

This is the best time of the year to grab a kit by Lorie if you have been drooling over one.

Some Layouts

Time to post some layouts! The holidays are a very busy time for most of my wonderful ladies (and me too) so we're a little slow at posting this month. Hope you understand. :)

Tammy's beauties,



Also a card for the troops by Tammy (so thoughtful of her!)



Danesa painted this Santa. Isn't that neat.



A precious one by Michaela,



I can almost smell the pine on this wreath. So festive.



Some festive holiday ones by Tammy D. I really want a little girl so I can buy pretty holiday dresses for her too!





And last but not least, this beauty by Magda.



Hopefully I'll be back soon to post more ideas for you!!

Frame Clusters 1

Frame clusters are all the rage. This is a set of simple frame clusters. It is a set of 6 clusters (1 with 2 versions). They are already pre-shadowed.

Winter Sonata (December)

Yay, it's in the store! :)




Winter begins on winter solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is the season with the shortest days and coldest weather.

This is the last of the monthly kits. The theme for this kit is winter and celebration of the holidays. It's jam packed with fun elements, bursting with gorgeous flowers, frames, bead spray, and versatile embellishments.

There are 22 papers, 1 8x10 December Calendar (2009), 1 cd size (4.6x5.4) January 2010 calendar, 2 glitter overlays, 2 snow rain overlays, and over 100 elements.

Elements include
- a snow border, an icy snow border, and icicles
- 2 magical background elements
- a holiday home, bench, and North Pole sign
- basket, 2 bells, 2 brads, 13 single frames, 1 multi frame
- gift bag composite, 2 gifts
- 2 worn journal strips, 1 journal stamp
- 1 hook, 3 ornaments
- holiday lights border plus 1 lit one
- 5 ribbons/bows, 2 ribbon wraps
- 1 double staples, 2 tapes
- 2 tags with tagties
- 1 tree drawing element, 2 vintage cards
- 3 word art, 7 December titles
- 1 gorgeous bead spray
- 2 sets of berries
- 1 branch, 1 winter branch
- 1 cone, 1 set of small cones
- 11 flowers, 2 digital holly sets
- 1 glitter leaf, 2 branches with berries
- 2 gold glitter leaves, 1 silver glitter leaves
- 3 pine branches
- 3 snowflakes, 1 snowflake float
- 1 weed
- 1 12x12 window (3 versions frame, frosted, glass only)

Sneak Peek

How about a little sneak peek? Coming out by Friday. These previews are not so great. The image service I am using shrinks them to a smaller size and sometimes it ends up looking funny. I'll come back and repost better images when I have uploaded them to the server.

This is the last of the monthly kits so I wanted to include lots and lots of items. Not everything is shown here because I can't fit it all. There is a beautiful overlay that is not shown plus a huge window. Elements include icicles, a border of icy snow (cool stuff), and lots of goodies. Great for simple fantasy layouts and traditional scrap pages. There are at least 20 papers, 100 elements, calendars (including January 2010 quick page calendar cd case size, why not!), and overlay.

Candy Cane Alphas

I have a couple of alpha sets in the shop in time for the holidays.

The background used in the preview is from the December Kit that will be coming out next week. :)

This is a set of 2 candy cane alphas. (Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers, Punctuation, and European characters).

A set of red and white candy cane alphas and a set of red and green candy cane alphas. European characters are included in both sets.

Also comes with a couple of extra sets in a thinner type that includes upper, lower, and numbers only.

There are four folders total. Each element is in its own file. There are full sheets included as well for your convenience.



This is a set of red and white candy cane snow-topped candy cane alphas.

Includes upper, lower, numbers, punctuation, as well as European characters.

Each element is in its own file. Full sheets are included as well for your convenience.



Credits:
Used Natali Designs' gorgeous Merry and Bright Bundle and my Snow-Capped Candy Cane Alphas.

November Desktop

I don't have very many updates this week, but I wanted to share a couple of layouts that I've worked on.

I love making desktops! This one is made with Autumn's Kiss & those 2010 stamps I was giving away at DSD. I distressed the stamp.

It looks a little dark on the small sample but I love how it actually looks on my laptop. I can see all the details. Desktops are a fun, small, and leaves me feeling like "I finished something" lol.



I actually finished one layout this week too (Yay!).

Credits: one of Anne Aspnes's Magic templates (LOVE THESE!), Natali Design's Sea Kit, ON Designs' Hey Boy, Birgit Kerr's Urban Summer. I used some photo actions from MyFourHensPhotography.com, from Subtle Sweet.

Songbird Charity Kit - Toys in the Attic

Created with love by The ScrapbookGraphics Designers, The Queen of Quirk, Meredith Fenwick, Janet Phillips and Amy Wolff. Funds raised (minus Paypal fees) from this kit will be donated to Toys for Tots.

Songbird is a non-profit organization that helps raise funds for charities by selling digital kits. These kits are exclusive to the organization. Here is the FAQ section of Songbird.

From the Toys for Tots website:
"The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted."

My family donates to this organization annually. My husband and I take our children to the toy store, let them each pick out a nice toy, and each of them takes the toy to the Marine(s) that are in the store.

Free 2010 Monthly Stamps for DSD

Here's a set of monthly calendar stamps for 2010 (in English only right now). It's free for DSD. Please click on the link, it will take you to ScrapbookGraphics. Enter 0 as the price and download. No minimum purchase is required.

Happy International Scrapbooking Day, everyone!

DSD Challenge 1

I think I'm going to be trying out various challenges for DSD, maybe even do some store challenge hopping. I need some inspiration! :)

Here's the first one I finished. I was supposed to use an Impressions of collab, but I didn't read the instructions first.. Fortunately, it's from my kit so I am okay to use it. I asked myself for permission and I gave myself permission. UM yeah. I must be high from all the DSD shopping today!

Here's my tumbler. You download the template from Wendy. Link is in the forum post. Then make your page. This took less than 10 minutes. Then you PM her. It's a fun exchange, and great gifts for teachers!

DSD Enabling 1

Did you see this at ScrapbookGraphics? Lorie Davison is giving away this gorgeous alpha ...for free...for DSD only! So hurry on over and grab it while it lasts!



So I've been picking up items for DSD and wanted to share them with you. I am not on their CT or anything. Just a major lover of all things scrappy. lol. These kits I have opened, drooled over, and just love.

I picked up Natali Designs' bundle Open the Door Magical Time



Lorie Davison's Don't Eat Worms World



Holliewood's Kitchen Counter



Alrighty, back to SHOPPING!! hehe

Simply Sepia Tutorial

"Miss Behaving" posted this fun tutorial on how to turn a photo



into this



in a few steps, without the use of actions or anything. It's a great learning tutorial for those that use Photoshop. Here's the LINK.

40% Off Entire Studio Nov. 6-9

I will post freebies on DSD (Saturday) so please drop by then. :)

Scrapbook Graphic's DSD Sales

Are you planning your DSD shopping?

Here's a list of DSD Sales at ScrapbookGraphics.com. There are some GREAT sales coming!

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=149

Hybrid Cards

I was browsing the ScrapbookGraphics blog today and was excited to see new posts by Patricia Komara. She's an incredibly talented hybrid artist. Please check out some of the more details and other great examples HERE on the SBG blog. :)

Yes, yes, I am biased because she used my papers lol. I'm just a big kid.

Here are a couple using Autumn's Kiss.





This one is from the ScrapbookGraphic Collaboration, Impressions of Tradition. I'm posting it here because one of the papers (floral one you see) is from my contribution. Hehe.



Don't forget to drop by and check more out!