QUICK PAGE FREEBIE !!

Hi all! I'm back with a quick update of my May 15th post. The nifty Quick Page design contest is underway over at Cool Scraps Digital, and there are a total of 44 contestants entered this month. All of the Quick Pages will be posted in the gallery for viewing as they are completed by each person, and the free download links will be posted in the forum under the thread about the May Quick Page Contest.  Each page designer will make an individual post in that thread which will contain a link to the gallery view, a link to her blog, and a direct download link for her page.  If you haven't visited Cool Scraps Digital before, you will need to register in their forum before you'll be able to see everything I'm talking about.  Registration is free; just a user name and password.  To recap a bit for you, we are working from "FLORAL SURPRISE" kit by Created by Jill.  Here's a look at the kit . . .

My method of madness is my own.  I'm always excited to get a free kit to play with, so I download, unzip it and get right to work on my first impressions without looking at any other person's work at that point.  That way, I know my creation is inspired by my own observations in the kit and what impresses me first.  Here's the first Quick Page I did at that point and the one I am submitting as my freebie . . .

I hope you like it well enough to hop over to the forum at Cool Scraps Digital, pick it up and collect any of the other 44 that intrigue you.  You'll have a great opportunity to make a wonderful Quick Page Album totally free!  All pages have been instructed to be at the 8 x 8" size, 300 dpi, png files so that folks can print at home if desired.

I've grown very fond of this particular monthly challenge as I find it works completely as I had always hoped a challenge of this type would work!  I plan to be a part of it every month, so you can watch for my monthly quick Pages or, better still, follow my instructions above to start collecting the entire QP albums!  Clear up some room on your hard drives!

Hope to be back soon with some more of my own freebies for you!  Until then,

TOOTLES!

PENCIL SKETCH - DIGI STYLE!

I came across a cool technique while browsing forum posts at my favorite playground, Jessica Sprague.  Anyone who hangs out there much will come to know a fellow named "Earl", and he's such a sweetie to share so much knowledge.  I immediately dashed over to Earl's blog and watched the videos in his May 7th posting and then tried this out for myself in PSE6.  It worked beautifully!  This is all about how to take a digital photo and transform it into what looks like a "pencil sketch".  Of course, you can tweak it until you are happy with it, and results will be better on some photos you use than others.  I had a recent photo of my folks at a beach-front stop-off we like to use, and I just liked how they were positioned in the picture, so I played around with turning it into a pencil sketch and then made a layout using that as a large focal point.  Here's how it turned out . . .

Mind you, this is my first attempt but I was happy with how it turned out.  The technique is simple enough and  gets rather addictive as you go along.  LOL!  You'll find yourself wanting to try it on all kinds of your photos.  I'll show you another layout below so you can see the original photo I chose to work this technique on.  The original photo looks quite good and just appealed to me.

The pencil sketch was done using the top right photo above, a couple of easy steps to follow, and you can see the results; very cool!  The above layout was my submission for the 15th Template Tuesday challenge over at Jessica Sprague using the template provided by Monica Lifferth and the kit is "Strawberry Lemonade" by Jessica Sprague.  I just love using templates for a jump-start, so I love getting free ones on top of the ones I design myself.  If you are interested in collecting free templates or getting into doing the Template Tuesday challenges, the templates are posted each Tuesday morning for download on the JS sister blog, Digi Lovely.  After you complete 10 and post them to the gallery, you have earned a $5 off purchase of $10 gift certificate good in the JS store. 

Okay, I'm off.  My scrapping juices are flowing, so I'm going back to that for awhile.  Just wanted to share.  Be back soon!

TOOTLES!

MAY NEWSFLASH!!

Hello my peeps!  Spring brings warm weather very early on here at the beach, often as early as mid February.  Our early warm weather combined with spring breaks in schools and colleges allows for the flow of personal company to begin in my home during the month of March, and I've been so busy I'm just coming up for air.  I apologize for the length of time between my posts and freebies lately.  My very dear elderly parents were here for Easter this year which was such a family treat.  My 88 yr. old dad got to take in a Pelicans baseball game with his granddaughter and great-granchildren while here, so what a treat for him!  To prove how small the world really is, the nice couple sitting next to him struck up conversation and were from a small city we know very well only 30 miles from where my folks live up north.  They had lots to talk about in common, the weather was perfect, and the Pelicans won the game!  Yeah - a great day for Dad!

Our local annual Blue Crab Festival is in progress this weekend along with a Harley Davidson Spring Bike Rally, and our local seams are bursting.  We took in an early morning soccer game and then headed for the festival which is full of a multitude of yummy food and wine vendors as well as arts & craft vendors from near and far.  Music, entertainment, tantilizing food scents, and the buzz of happy people fills the air for the entire weekend along our Intercoastal Waterway front where there is always a gentle breeze blowing to cool you down some from the heat.  Everyone comes out to feed and browse around for the entire weekend.  You've never seen so many happy people in one place!  It's a sight; a good one!

Okay, but I've popped back on here to tell you about the May Quick Page Contest over at Cool Scraps Digital.  If you're a digi-scrapper with a blog, you'll want to hop over to check this out in the forum there.  The contest has it's own thread in the forum, you'll see it.  You need to register in the forum if you haven't been there before, especially if you think you may want to participate in this contest.  Sign-ups to participate started on May 14th and run through May 18th.  The kit to work from is FREE and will be given to you on May 18th.  You simply design one 12 x 12 inch Quick page at 300 dpi and post it to their gallery with a download link.  You'll be able to collect all the Quick Pages as the competition progresses and even after it is over.  Last month was totally awesome!  This month's kit is "FLORAL SURPRISE" designed by "Created by Jill".  Have a look . . .

So cool, right?  How could anyone not want to get involved?  This is such a wonderful contest, it's so fun to make a Quick Page, the kit is free, and you have a chance at some great prizes too!  Head on over there and check it out for yourself!  I'm in, so I'll be back soon to show you my own Quick Page with this kit.

Alrighty then, that should hold you for a few minutes if you're looking for something free and fun to do.  I promise to get back on my own blogging schedule with plenty of my own freebies to come your way very soon.  I just need to sit for awhile to get them organized, the hardest part of anything we do . . . the organization end of things! 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend and enjoying some great weather where you live!  Be back soon!  Until then, Happy Scrapping!

TOOTLES! 

FREE MOTHER'S DAY CARD!

I'm back with this FREEBIE just in time for you to print and send!  Divine Digital has a brand new monthly challenge in their forum this month!  That's right!  They have a suggestion box, and some of us suggested they have a monthly card challenge with templates provided to make it fun and easy for us to design and print.  It saves so much over going to the store, plus you can say what you want to say for a change!  Princess Lala Designs was kind enough to take on the job of hosting the first card challenge and provided us with two templates we can use.  Head on over to the forum and pick up yours!  I chose to use one of the templates to create my Mother's Day card for my own Mom, and I used a mini add-on kit called Bright & Eclectic by Willow Grace Designs, also of Divine.  Without further mish-mash, here are my card previews:

Here is a closer look at my front,

And, here is a closer look at my inside,

Wow!  Sorry I didn't put a thin black border around that inside preview so you can see the edges of it better.  Oh well.  Can't think of everything.  Here's the scoop:  My front measures 6 inches wide by 4 inches tall.  You can easily use the jpg file and even make it your own desired size in your program.  It would easily resize to 7" wide by 5" tall, or 8" wide by 6" tall.  My inside measures 6" wide by 8" tall, simply print and fold in the middle horizontally at the 4" mark across.  Have fun!  See what you can do with it.

DOWNLOAD HERE

I hope you're having a great month of May so far!  April was super busy for me with lots of company and the Easter holiday.  My last company left today, and I'm a little sad now going back to just the solitude of only my DH and self in here!  Always shifting gears and changing pace.  Just remember the old saying that "nothing is constant except for change".  How true!

I'll be back soon with more free goodies for you digi-scrappers.  Meanwhile, don't forget to check out my Mason Jar and things on my other pages using the tabs above.  I'm adding layouts, photos, recipes, and some needlework patterns for those that want to hang out here and peruse the pages. 

Have a great week, weekend, and to all you Mothers, HAVE A BLESSED MOTHER'S DAY!  I hope you can hold your dear ones near!

TOOTLES!