FREEBIES - FAMILY LEGACY QP + CHRISTMAS MAGIC QP + FEBRUARY CALENDAR GRID TEMPLATE

So sorry, I missed posting yesterday.  My hubby is home on his two days off and not feeling well at all.  He seems to be fighting a mild flu-like syndrome, first chilly - then too hot, appetite is off, and I can hear some nasal stuffiness.  I'm happy to report that I am feeling 95% improved with my cold, and I don't really know which of the things I'm taking to thank for this.  I'd say it's the Vemma since that supplement is new for me!  I had a note from one of my lovely followers to recommend taking Airborne at the first onset of a cold and, though I know about that one, I don't have it stocked on my home shelves for the winter but am going to pick some up.  Thanks so much Eva, I love it when someone "talks" to me. 

Having missed yesterday, I'm going to bombard you today with all the FREEBIES which I have ready at the moment.  I may get to do at least one more live post before my travels, and from that point until my return on the night of the 28th, I'm going to try to set up some auto-scheduled posts containing the rest of the calendar grids for 2013 and some things I made for contests back in November that I can now share with you since that month has come and gone. 

Ok, hold on, here we go with today's goodies!  First up is my 2013 FEBRUARY CALENDAR GRID TEMPLATE - This, like the first one and all the rest of them, fits the lower portion of an 8.5 x 11 document.  You can scrap the top portion as you desire and, of course, add text or elements to the grid portion also.  I've included in all of these a basic black png file so you can use your own background papers with that, and also a basic jpg file with a white background; both are 300 dpi so you can resize them if desired.  Here is the February grid preview . . .

DOWNLOAD HERE or HERE or HERE

Secondly, I have participated in the December QP game at Ivy Scraps using a charming kit called Christmas Magic by Gail Valverde.  Our QPs should all be 12x12-inches at 300 dpi in a png format.  Mine is right here for you to download.  If you would like to gather up all the free QPs from this game, just visit the Quick Page Contest threads in the forum at Ivy Scraps where you will find the direct download links to all participants entries.  Visit their QP Contest Gallery to get a bird's eye view of all of them by the end of this month.  The links should remain in the forum threads for at least 30 days after the end of the contest, which means you can grab them for free until the end of January.  Here is my Quick Page . . .

DOWNLOAD HERE or HERE or HERE

Thirdly, I have also participated in the December Quick Page Game at Digi Scrap Station using a lovely vintage feel kit called "FAMILY LEGACY" by Karen Stimson - Wool Sweater Street.  At DSS we all make an 8-inch QP for the contest, but I am offering both an 8-inch and a 12-inch size here on my blog.  I am all about having options, as you probably know by now.  Again, like described in the contest above, if you would like to snag all the QPs from this contest, just visit the Digi Scrap Station forum's Quick Page Game threads for December.  All direct download links will be in the posts of each participant.  They should all be posted by the last day of this month and should remain available there for 30 days after the contest ends.  The QP Game gallery at DSS will give you an overview of all of our pages.  Mine, below, is 300 dpi in png format.  (PNGs are great because such a wide variety of scrapping software can use that format!)

DOWNLOAD 8-inch size HERE or HERE or HERE

DOWNLOAD 12-inch size HERE or HERE or HERE

Are you spoiled yet?  Wouldn't it be nice to get that many freebies every day?  LOL! 

I have to keep this short, I'm working with my own mental deadline on a ton of things.  I have some handwork gifts that have to be finished up and wrapped.  I pride myself on giving so much handwork, but it takes an enormous amount of time.  We are keeping the food production on the small side this week since both of us are under the weather, plus that helps me have more time to tie up my loose ends.  However, I did promise to leave my hubby with two homemade pumpkin pies in the fridge by the time of leave, and I never break a promise!  It's the least I can do for him since he has to stay here and care for our animals (mine and my daughters).  Not an easy task since she is a groomer and heavily involved in animal rescue and rehoming.  At any given time there can be a strangely large number of animals at her place.  I think right now there are 5 dogs, one rabbit, and one guinea pig.  I have only one male pup right now; she and I share Yorkie/Poodle brothers that were born on St. Patrick's Day this year.  I will post a Christmas Card I made of them soon for you to see here!

Hope your holidays are blessed and merry.  Be of good cheer.  Oh, I have to mention this:  One of my good friends posted to all his friends on FB that if they were sure the world was going to end on Dec. 21st, they could all drop off their valuables to his house for safe-keeping.  I really cracked up when I read that because he usually mirrors how I think, but he has the gumption to say it out loud.  I applaud!!

Do stop back in often this month to pick up the rest of the goodies I have for you!  I'm sorry to be dribbling these calendar templates to you one at a time, but I didn't begin designing them soon enough, nor have I found time to finish them up yet.  Would love to have had them all in one zip for you, but it didn't happen.

Stay safe!

TOOTLES!!

FREE CALENDAR GRIDS FOR THE NEW YEAR!!

Good Morning, peeps!  Wowzah!  Do you all realize we are only a week away from Christmas Eve?!!  That's right!  Seven days left, that's it.  I'm a procrastinate until the last possible moment on finishing up the things in my mind left to do, but then I work well under that intense pressure.  I've always performed my best with deadlines to meet and not enough time for most people.  I wish the sun would come back out; it's been gray here for a few days, and I don't do well on gray days.  I need lots of yellow sunshine!  I think I'll get out my bread machine today and fill 'er up!  That always makes the house smell so good, and I'm giving 2-pound loaves to my favorite neighbors as gifts wrapped in foil with red bows.  I can bake about 3 complete loaves in a day if I stay on reloading promptly.  Sounds like a good plan.  I've got to get things finished before I travel on Friday.  The clock is ticking, and my folks are so excited.

I do feel better of this cold today.  It's still there, but I believe I have whipped the worst of it for once.  The older I get the harder they are on me to shake it seems.  I generally try to stay out of crowds, especially during holiday shopping, to avoid contact with so many germs.  But try as I may, I've been around a lot of kids lately, and even if I don't go out much they will bring it in to me.  It's a no win situation sometimes.  My DH feels like he is coming down with something too.  More "chicken soup" please!! 

I promised to be back with a little something different today.  I've been wanting to make these so I could use them myself, so I figured I may as well get on the task of getting them done.  If you have never made a calendar for yourself or somebody special before, why not give this a try.  For your FREEBIE, I've made a transparent png template file in black so you can use your own background paper under it.  Also, in the download I've included a jpg file of this which has a white background.  It's ready to simply pop onto the lower portion of an 8.5 x 11" background, scrap up the top portion any way you like, write some special birthdays, appointment text, or holidays onto the blocks and then print it off on card stock or your favorite matt or glossy photo paper, your choice!  I like having the option to make the top portion of my calendars to suit myself, so I didn't do a whole page for you!  Today you get January 2013.  Come back tomorrow (hopefully) for February!  Here's the preview . . .

DOWNLOAD HERE or HERE or HERE

That's all from me for the moment.  I've have to get up and get busy on my day!  I have a few things to wrap, baking to do, and a few downtown chores to run.  My DH is off on Tues. and Wed., so that always slows me down right in the middle of my week; it's like his Sat. and Sunday and it really gets me confused sometimes!  Thursdays are like Mondays in this house! 

Stop by tomorrow for more goodies!  Have a great week Santasizing!  (A word used by my beloved departed eldest daughter who was always coining new words of her own, just was her thing to be funny.)

TOOTLES!!

CHRISTMAS TREE QPs No. 4 & 5 - FREEBIE

Hello, All!  I hope your Holiday preparations are going well!  I've come down with a dreadful heavy cold after not being sick for about three years straight.  And this, a week out from my travel plans!  Ugh!  What Irish luck I have!  The last thing I want to take to my elderly parents is a communicable illness.  I've been popping meds, vitamins, minerals, liquids, my own homemade Mexican Chicken Soup, fruits, and a Vemma (mangosteen + essential minerals) supplement as well as a few packets of Emergen-C daily for the last 3 full days.  My faithful standby OTC medication for the heavy, wet sinus headcold that feels like your head is so full of congestion that it's going to pop open is a little red pill, sold by many different brands, but the only ingredient in it is 30 mg. of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (which is a tip-top nasal decongestant).  I take two of those every 4-6 hours at the onset of misery, and they really help alleviate symptoms.  It used to be known as "Sine-Off" or "Sine-Aid" and also contained 500 mg. of acetomenophine (Tylenol) per pill, but nowdays you cannot find that combo.  But, you can substitute your own dose of Ibuprofen or the like along with the little red pills.  Plus, these days pharmacies keep this pseudoephedrine HCL up front in the store (behind the cash registers) and you have to ask them for it and show the clerk your driver's license because they track who buys and how much.  The reason for that you can probably guess, yes, it's the ingredient young folks were using to make meth at home.  Shame, shame!  Oh well, it may be a tad harder to get, but it's still worth it.  Enough said on my medical lesson for today.  I'm feeling lots better already, and I'm the type I keep going even when ill.

It was gloomy gray here today and drizzled a little misty type rain off and on, so I turned all the lights on in my house, turned on the music and cleaned a bunch of things.  I'm a "light-oriented" person, the more sunshine, light, or brightness there is, the better my mood is.  I made good progress!

Today's FREEBIE is two more of my 2012 Xmas Tree Series, #4 & #5, Quick Pages.  One has a green plaid background, and the other is a slightly textured solid sort of "plum" color.  Again, they hold 15 photos, and you can add as much of your own embelishment as desired.  Have fun if you're collecting these.  They'll be useful in the years to come, right?  You can do a different colored one each year!  They are 12x12" png files at 300 dpi.  (You can easily resize them down to an 8x8", etc.)  Here is the preview . . .

DOWNLOAD HERE or HERE or HERE

I'm getting sooo frustrated with 4Shared acting so goofy lately.  Am looking for a good third option.  I'm currently giving top kudos to OpenDrive and Box for giving totally flawless performance without hassle to the uploader or the downloader!  I also have DropBox, but the storage is small, so I use it more for personal things that I don't intend to leave in the account forever.  It works beautifully also.  Looked at plans by GoDaddy last night and will give that some thought, it looks more affordable than all the rest, and I've already seen how well it works from the downloading end.  LOL! 

TODAY'S "SHOW & TELL" INSPIRATION - - Below is my layout for PhotoShop Friday 2012, Week #50 over at the "Spragueground".  It features a total little angel boy (my nearly 7 yr. old extreme preemie grandson) playing a snowflake in his 1st-grade Christmas Musical.  Truly, he is such a sweetheart; mannerly, obedient, generally happy & good-natured.  It was so fun to get to the elementary auditorium bright and early at 7:30 a.m. to see him and his little friends sing and dance their hearts out.  He never missed a beat or a motion & seemed relaxed and happy doing this performance.  I took lots of pictures, had to use zoom, and the lighting wasn't great.  Luckily for me, the school filmed the whole thing professionally, so I'm sure the DVD I will receive soon will be better quality than my own photos turned out.  The cool thing about scrapping this page and having the PSF12 weekly class available - of course, the template from Jessica; but the technique she taught this week was the use of our own text as an overlay.  So after watching the class video (love those!), I gave this a few minutes of reflection back to the songs he had sung that morning, and I used the lyrics from one that was so cute to make the text overlay.  The little verse I remembered so well because of their annimated gestures as they sang went like this, "You take a little snow, mix in a little dirt, and what you get we call "SNIRT"!  So you can see how I've used this song overlaying my background paper.  Very cool.  Someday when he grows up and looks at these pages I've made for him, he will actually be able to see one of the songs he sang as a first-grade Snowflake!  The photos may not be my best quality, even with PSE tweaking, but my overlay is the BOMB!  We used two different fonts to make it.  Have a look . . .

BTW, the PSF2012 course is on a huge sale right now if you'd like to pick it up to work on throughout the coming year.  They are having the annual year-end sale, so that's just about everything going for reduced prices right now. 

I'm working on a gift for my folks, a 2013 wall calendar which I will home print on my Kodak and take to Office Depot to bind for me because I want a spiral binder with a metal hanger in the middle so it's easy for my Mom to flip the pages monthly.  She totally writes all over the blocks of her calendar, so many notes and appointments, etc.  This is basically a premade QP type kit I purchased on sale over at JS and it is by Pink Paislee.  It comes complete with a cover page and, of course, you can add text to the day blocks or fancy it up as desired.  I'll show you my January and February pages here . . .

That's my parents' home in the Appalachian Mountains of southeastern WV during winter snow; and February is all of the great-grandkids from my downline.  These are quick and easy pages to complete, so I'm on time with this one!  Yeah for me!  They always love this type of useful personal thing.

Check back tomorrow, I will attempt having something different for you!

TOOTLES!!
 

WORD ART + QUICK PAGE FREEBIES

MY OH MY!  I'm a little more than behind with the blog posting plans I had in mind.  Just goes to show that we are not really in charge, real life is in charge.  I'm preparing for the holidays and will be traveling for a week to visit my parents up North.  My daughter and her family will be making this journey also, and we will all be in time to spend Christmas Eve and Day with my dad, who is just shy of 90, and my mom, who is almost 85.  Their whole spirit lifted when we told them we would be there this year; they sounded like two little kids who all of the sudden had something wonderful to look forward to.  My DH doesn't have enough time off to make this trip, so he has volunteered to stay and care for all of our family pets.  This also means I will be away from my special preemie grandson, who is almost 7 years old now, and that will feel very strange to me.  We've been getting together on the weekends and having Christmas craft sessions to make up for the time with him I'll be losing.  So, it's just been a little more than busy around here. 

Last night my daughter took me out for my Christmas gift.  She kept the whole thing a total surprise, and we ended up at a new business here at the beach called "Wine & Design".  It was their Christmas extravaganza session complete with a wine tasting, fondue, and painting a piece of art.  There was even a musician playing guitar for us all evening.  We got there at 5:30 p.m. and didn't leave until probably close to 11 p.m.  Time flies when you're having fun!  I'll post some photos of that soon so you can see what we all painted.  Meantime, if you're curious, they have a website to browse, just dot com the name.

Okay, gotta keep this short and on track, not so much rambling.  I wanted to get the last two sets of my THANKFUL Divided Word Art out to you in November, but oh well.  Here it is now.  Set #5 and #6 is a little more whimsical, and #7 is more spiritual.  Again, these are basic black png files which you can resize, recolor, clip papers to, or apply a style to.  Below are the previews and download links for each . . .

DOWNLOADS:  Open Drive or Box or 4Shared

DOWNLOADS:  Open Drive or Box or 4Shared

Next up is another Quick Page in my 2012 Xmas Tree series, this one is #3.  It will showcase 15 photos, and you can add other elements, words, journaling, etc.  This is a 12 x 12-inch, 300 dpi png file.  You can easily size this down to an 8 x 8" if you prefer.  Here's the preview . . .

DOWNLOADS:  Open Drive or Box or 4Shared

I hope to post again tomorrow since I have several contest QPs to share, a recent template, and a printable card.  Also, I have a slew of different backgrounds on the above Christmas Tree QP to share with you in the days to come.  Stay tuned in!  Don't forget to leave some love if you download.  It's so appreciated. Also, unzip promptly; there's a discount coupon to my Etsy shop in each download.  If you've had your eye on something there, now is the time to go for it!

TOOTLES!!

GOBBLE QP + WORD ART FREEBIES

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY, ONE AND ALL!  I hope you have a blessed day with your loved ones making yet another wonderful memory.

I did my portion of cooking yesterday and deposited my goodies to my daughter's refrigerator for overnight.  We will be eating with her family and a few friends, and will begin the day there with breakfast of belgian waffles, bacon and coffee as we watch the Macy's Day parade which has been a long-standing tradition in our house, young or old.  One year I was the proud mom of a performer in that parade, a memory I shall always hold very dear.   As the day progresses, our main meal menu includes our oven roasted 20-lb. turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry chutney, glazed carrots, broccoli casserole, baked pineapple, mashed potatoes, pumpkin quick bread, cornbread muffins,  iced tea, Moscato wine, apple cake, and coconut cream pie.  That should more than take care of anybody's hunger and desires.  We'll eat early afternoon and watch football and the Westminister Dog Show the rest of the day.  I'm sure the men will swarm the leftovers like hawks all day, too.

I'm auto-posting this so you'll have a holiday goodie in case you find time to stop by during your time off.

I'm taking part in the November Quick Page Game over at Digi Scrap Station in the forum, and we got to work with a cute kit called "GOBBLE" by Kathy's Scraps.  I designed my QP in both the 8" and 12" sizes at 300 dpi, png format.  You can collect all the other contestants' 8" QPs just by stopping by the DSS forum thread about the Nov. QP Game.  All participants will have a direct download link in their forum posting for you.  If may need to register in the forum first if you are not already so you'll be able to see the topics.  Here are the previews of the kit we all worked from  . . .

and here is my Quick Page for you . . .

12-inch Size DOWNLOADS:

Open Drive, or Box, or 4Shared

8-inch Size DOWNLOADS:

Open Drive, or Box, or 4Shared

Your second FREEBIE today is my own word art, Thankful #3 & #4_Divided Word Art.  Again, these are png files, basic black, at 300 dpi, easily resized larger or smaller, easily recolored, or apply styles to them, clip papers to them, etc.  I think you can read the message in the middle on the previews below.   Hope you can use these . . .

DOWNLOADS:  Open Drive, or Box, or 4Shared

I hope to be back on Friday with #5 & #6 like the above, only humorous; then Saturday with #7 which is more spiritual.  That will complete my current run of holiday word art for now.  I have another QP, a template, and a printable card ready for you the first of December.  So, do drop by often, and please let me know you were here by leaving some love in the comment sections.

I have one chore to accomplish on Black Friday morning at 9 a.m., and then my weekend should be nothing but peace.  Maybe I can scrap up some photos!  Chat soon!

TOOTLES!!

FREEBIES - THANKSGIVING WORD ARTS

Oops!  I missed posting yesterday, so today you get two FREEBIES.  My DH is off on 4-days vacation, need I say more!  I was washing up breakfast dishes when he started talking about what he could make for lunch!  UGH!  Do all men think of their stomach this much??  I don't think it's hunger, I rather think it is boredom.

My DD stopped in for coffee chat.  She has a lot going on and sometimes just needs to vent.  I've always been like a sister to my girls and an excellent listener.  She is in her mid 30's with two children and has gone back to school for yet another career.  I don't think we solved anything today, but we did get it out on the ironing board.

Add to that I did laundry, finished a knitting project that has a deadline this week, wrapped some gifts and went to my granddaughter's birthday dinner at Outback; you can understand why I never got to sit in front of my computer yesterday.  But it was a good day!  We all have to remember to LIVE life so we have something to compute about.  Right?  LOL!!

This first FREEBIE is a quirkey sort of grungy font spelling out "THANKSGIVING" and then through the middle it reads "Gratitude for Blessings of Health, Family, Friends, and Freedoms".  It is a basic black png file at 300 dpi, easy to resize larger or smaller, easy to recolor, clip a paper to it, or apply a style to it.  Here's the preview . . .

DOWNLOAD from OPEN DRIVE, BOX, or 4SHARED.

The second FREEBIE is a set of "THANKFUL" divided word art.  One reads "that we are together" across the center, and the other reads "for another year".  Again, basic black png files at 300 dpi as described above.  Hope you can use these in your scrapping.  Here is the preview . . .

DOWNLOAD from OPEN DRIVE, BOX, or 4SHARED.

I hope to be back to post another set of word art tomorrow which is a little more on the humorous side of being thankful, and I will have a Quick Page for you on Thanksgiving Day, even if I have to post it during the Macy's Day Parade! 

Take care, have a great week, and get those turkeys injected!!  I read they need 24 hours on one side, then flip over and 24 hours on the other side!!  (In the fridge, of course!)

TOOTLES!!

WORD ART FREEBIE - THANKSGIVING #1

"Where has she been?", you may ask yourself.  Long time since last post, I know.  Sorry for being MIA for almost a month!  Seems as soon as cooler breezes start flowing through this beach area, I become enamoured with my kitchen again.  I can't even begin to tell you how many recipes I've cooked up in the last four weeks; main entrees, soups, stews, & homemade bread from my bread machine (It makes the house smell like I know what I'm doing!).  I've even been sharing my food with some of my shut-in neighbors and now have requests to get my recipes down on paper to share.  Plus, November, for me, is chocked full to the brim with family birthdays!  It's just been a rat-race around here.  I'm off later today to my granddaughter's 7th birthday party which includes a trip with some of her friends to our local aquarium and then a pizza party after that.  She is only two months older than my preemie grandson but is a whole head taller than he, bless his little heart.  I get to take him along for the party, so you can bet my trusty camera will be in hand for lots of photo opportunities all day! 

How about this . . .

The idea is that you snag this button and see how much you can pass the kindness on! 

I'm going to get on my FREEBIE horse and try to bombard you over the next two months with lots of digi-goodies to play with!  I've got them, I just need to get them up on here!  I got side-tracked also with so much participation fun in International/National Scrapbook Day that I found myself downloading freebies, doing forum challenges out the ying-yang, and designing with all the goodies I'd collected.  Man, I was deep into it!  I don't even think I've looked at my housework the whole month of November!  I have some Quick Pages, printable cards, templates, word art, and papers to throw at you soon, so my goal is to be on here daily now.

Today, I'm sharing some of my own WORD ART hot off my PSE last night!  Since Thanksgiving is just next week, I whipped up 7 different holiday related word art pngs, so check in daily to collect them all.  I adore making the fancier, what I call "divided" word arts, so this first one is titled "THANKSGIVING_#1_DivWordArt".  It's a basic black png file at 300 dpi, so you can easily size it larger or smaller as you need and even recolor it to match your page layout.  Don't forget you can use things like this to make printable cards, etc.  Hope you like!  Here's the preview . . .

"Thanksgiving" is in the fancy lettering, and in the middle space it reads "time to reflect upon our blessings".

DOWNLOAD FROM OPEN DRIVE, BOX, OR 4SHARED

I like giving you options on where to download, so I'll do that until my accounts totally fill up.  Then I'll have to figure out something else.

That's it from me for now.  Gotta keep it short and sweet if I'm going to meet all my daily November activity deadlines.  My oldest grandson was chosen for our local city football All Stars team, an honor for him.  He is 10 yrs. old, and this was his first year playing in full dress with all the pads and protective gear.  It's been flag football until this year.  He did well; took his punishment and dished out plenty too!  Had to go watch his games.  It's finished up as of yesterday.  He and his sister both start basketball soon, and my other tike just finished swimming lessons indoors and signed up for 8 more.  I hope to get to the spa one evening to watch some of that.  Busy, busy, busy!!

Get your turkeys ready!!  Have you seen the late-night infommercials for the new Butterball Indoor Turkey Deep-Fryer??  I got up one morning and that was all over Facebook, everybody wanting one!  Southerners, in particular, love deep fried turkey!  We have the huge outdoor deep-fryer that has the open flame under it, and usually we have to fight the natural sea breeze to keep that thing lite.  If I only had more space in my house, that indoor one would appeal to me!!  Oh well.

Look for me tomorrow with another FREEBIE!

TOOTLES!!
 

SMELL MY FEET - QP FREEBIE

Surprised to see me back so soon?!  Me too!  LOL!  I have been workin' my digi-buns off - Today I have another Quick Page FREEBIE for you, this one comes through my participation in the October Quick Page Contest over at Ivy Scraps in the forum.  If you like to make QPs, jump in and participate in these kinds of challenges or contests.  The more the merrier!  The kit for this month's contest was free for all particpants that signed up to make a QP.  Then, as the month comes to an end, anybody can visit the forum or the gallery for the contest and collect all the QPs by way of direct download links that we provide there.  It's always fun and a cool way to collect a complete album to work with later. 

This month's kit was provided to us by LightningBug Creations and is called "SMELL MY FEET".  It's a mega kit and is an adorable Halloween kit!  Here's a preview of the elements and papers . . .

and here is a look at the 12 x 12-inch Quick Page I made using it . . .

I really went kooky and packed a lot of things onto this page, but all the elements were so cute I just got carried away and couldn't stop!  It happens sometimes!  LOL!  Hope you like this and can use it for scrapping up your little goblins this year!  I'm giving you three choices of where to download.

DOWNLOADS:

from Box, HERE

from OpenDrive, HERE

from 4Shared, HERE

For inspiration today, I'm going to share with you the last three layouts I've made in my 40Days of Purposeful Scrapping project over at Divine.  Don't forget to check out that particular gallery over there if you really want to send yourself soaring!

Day 15_Prompt:  "Legacy:  Touch Tomorrow, Today"

Day 16_Prompt:  "Authentic Living"

Day 17_Prompt:  "Through My Eyes"

Again, if you're interested in reading the journaling we've done on these, it's expanded in the gallery descriptions at Divine so folks can read it.  We've all tried to keep up with that because we are truly sharing our stories with each other.  It's been deep, emotional, good, fun, inspirational - just all sorts of things!  A really excellent and hugely worthwhile ongoing project! 

That's it for now, peeps!  Have a great week, and check back often; you never know what I'm going to be throwing at you next! 

TOOTLES!!

FREEBIE: HAPPY JACK-O STICKERS

You can tell from the post title I was in a rather whimsical mood when I created my latest Halloween digi-art!  I had a great time playing with various texturing, colors, fonts, and png forms.  I'm giving you a pack of 8 round stickers of various colors that are approximately 2.25 inches in diameter.  They are pngs at 300 dpi, so you can size them larger or smaller easily without loss of print quality.  I'm so happy with myself since I carved the jack-o-lantern's face myself!  LOL!  Hope you like and can use these to scrap up your little ghouls and goblins this year, or perhaps you can pop one on a Halloween card your thinking about printing for somebody!  Here's the FREEBIE preview . . .

DOWNLOADS:  Open Drive, HERE - Box, HERE - 4Shared, HERE

More inspiration from my "40 Day" project at Divine . . .

Day 11 Prompt:  "Significant Other"

Day 12 Prompt:  "Hope Of Our Legacy"

Day 13 Prompt:  "Family Ties"

Day 14 Prompt:  "Forever Friends"

I'll show you some more layouts next post!

I'm happy today for I sold a beautiful hand crocheted purple bucket-style lady's hat from my Etsy store, and it just makes me happy when somebody loves my handwork enough to purchase it.  I do so love to keep my hands busy with making pretty things.  Don't forget that you, my scrapping buddies, have a monthly discount coupon in your download files from me to use in my Etsy shop if you see anything you want or need.

Have a wonderful Sunday and week to come!  Talk soon!

TOOTLES!!

AUTUMN SPLENDOR QP FREEBIE

Happy October!  Seems I've been MIA a few weeks.  Been busy lately.  DH had 10 days off and used it to get some dental surgery done.  UGH!  I can think of a trillion better ways to spend vacation time, but sometimes the necessary evils must be taken into harness!  Alas, it's behind him now and I am busy figuring out an endless string of "very soft" dinner menus for who knows how long.

Today's FREEBIE is a Quick Page I made from the kit, "AUTUMN SPLENDOR", by Panda Bear Designs and is a result of my monthly participation in the Quick Page Game over at Digi Scrap Station in the forum.  It's a really colorful Fall kit, and it was a pleasure to work up this page.  If you would like to collect all the participant's pages, simply visit the forum under the Quick Page Game thread; all the direct download links will be there for you.  Here is the kit preview . . .

and here is my Quick page preview . . .

I'm providing this QP in both the 8-inch and the 12-in sizes, so you can take your pick!

DOWNLOADS:  8-INCH QP - HERE or HERE

DOWNLOADS:  12-INCH QP - HERE or HERE

For today's inspiration, I'll show you a few more layouts I've completed in Royanna Fritchmann's 40 Days of Purposeful Scrapping project over at Divine Digital.  We are rolling right along in this guided endeavor, and the gallery over there for the 40 Day project is simply gorgeous and very moving.  We scrap around Royanna's daily prompt and inspirational message, so a lot of thought goes into what we create.  I'm picking up here with my Day 7 . . .

Day 7 Prompt:  "I Love Me, Myself & I"

Day 8 Prompt:  "Solitude"

Day 9 Prompt:  "Where My Heart Is"

Day 10 Prompt:  "Sacred Space"

Most of us are trying to expand our journaling in the Divine gallery description so that our stories are readable for others.  We are all into sharing quite a bit of ourselves with one another on this amazing scrapping journey.  I'll show you a few more each time I post as I get more done.

Tune in again tomorrow as I will have another FREEBIE for your stash of digi-goodies!  Leave me some love if you like my gifts to you.  It means a lot in the process.

Chat soon! 

TOOTLES!!

REMEMBERING WITH LOVE - PLUS FREEBIE

Remembering my Lorie with love on her birthday . . .

She would have been 41 today.  The wound of her absence still feels fresh to me, even though it's been three years now.  Her son, whom she struggled so hard to have, is now a lively 6 year old first grader.  Remembering this "factoid" for those of you that knew her:  She long ago nicknamed herself L-(squared) by making her fancy cursive L and placing the little 2 up to the right of it.  She was fun-loving and did this because both her first and last name began with "L" and was truely a tongue-twister for some.  People really used to either laugh or stare unbelievingly when we would say our last name; then they would ask us to spell it to make sure they had heard right.  She had a way of coining her own descriptive words such as "crusty" or "crusting" which meant getting comfy clothes on and getting ready to lounge about.  She loved to watch movies.  She loved the ocean.  Countless minuscule facts and memories run through my mind about her each and every day.  I'm thankful for that and the gift of having had her in my life for almost 38 years.  Spiritually, Happy Birthday my Angel!

I've been scrapping almost daily along with Royanna's "40 Days of Purposeful Scrapping" prompts and inspiration over at Divine Digital in the forum.  So have a ton of others by the looks of the gallery there!!  It's just awesome!!  The prompts and gifts are daily from Sept. 15th through Oct. 24th.  I've gotten 6 pages completed so far, and I already showed you the first two in a previous post.  Following are the other 4 to date . . .

Day 3_Prompt_"Seize The Moment & The Memory" (which I felt DH & I certainly did when we had a nontraditional wedding on the beach) . . .

Day 4_Prompt_"Overcome Adversity" (which I related to my family pulling together to help my Mom get through open heart surgery for an aortic valve replacement at almost 82 yrs of age) . . .

Day 5_Prompt_"Bloom Where You Are Planted" (which happend to be the theme of my two 6 yr. old grandkids' kindergarden musical performance this May) . . .

Day 6_Prompt_"Inspired" (which brought back a phase of my life when I was truly inspired by somebody and learned how to paint with oils) . . .

So sorry these web images are so small I know you can't read the journaling on them here, but if you visit the 40 Day gallery at Divine, most all of us are typing out our journaling in the gallery photo description so others viewing can actually read it.  We are having a ball doing these pages with a purpose with Royanna leading the way.  She even tells us not to make it complicated, keep it simple.

Alrighty then, enough about me.  Since this is my 150th post since beginning this blog, I decided I couldn't just pop in here without a goodie for you.  So today I have a FREEBIE MASK.  In thinking of my daughter today, I decided it would be a good day to give you my "ANGELIC" photo mat / clipping mask.  Get creative with it, and show me how you used it.  Link me up or email me.  This is a png file, 300 dpi, easily resized larger or smaller.  You can recolor it, clip photos to it, clip papers to it, then pop a photo on top, etc.  Lots of options.  Here's the preview . . .

DOWNLOAD HERE or HERE or HERE

Three different options on download sites so I don't run out of bandwidth on you.  (Teehee!)  I really like Open Drive and Box because I don't think you get any hassle when trying to download from them, no pop-ups, etc.  Thanks to those of you who take a few seconds to leave comments, I'm reading them all.

Okay, I'm finished rambling.  I'm promising myself to get up and have a productive upswing kind of day today even though it's extra tough today.

Catch you later.  Have a great week!  Visit often!  Oh yeah, I have some new items in my Etsy shop, link at the top of this page if you want to visit there.

TOOTLES!!

NEW TEMPLATE FREEBIE

As promised in yesterday's post, I'm here today with my latest new TEMPLATE FREEBIE for you!  I think it's a doozie!  I hope you'll think so too!  I made this for the template exchange going on all month long over at "The Studio" as we call it (Digital Scrapbooking Studio).  It's their site's birthday month, and they are sponsoring lots of fun events all month long.  The designer challenge is going on all month, and you can hop over to their forum and/or gallery and load up on all the free kits from each week's contest.  There is a layout contest happening all month, and there is a template exchange going on all month.  Do get over there and load up on all the free templates.  You'll find download links in either the gallery descriptions or the specific event thread in the forum. 

Okay, now here is my 12 x 12" goodie!  I'm providing in my download zip a psd file, a tiff file, and the png files to this design so everybody can use it, no matter what program you scrap in.  I'm also providing three download sites in case I run out of bandwidth at one or more due to popularity, etc.

DOWNLOAD HERE or HERE or HERE

The first link is Open Drive, the second is Box, and the third is 4Shared.

Now hop on over to The Studio and gather up some more free templates for yourselves!  Go to the forum and dig deep into the "Birthday Bash Events" thread for tons of free goodies!

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back soon with more digital sweetness! 

TOOTLES!!

EVENT - 40 DAYS OF PURPOSEFUL SCRAPPING

Happy Monday, everybody!  I'll try to keep this a short post as I have errands to do at the moment.  Just wanted to pop in and let you know of a super scrapping event going on right now and for the next 40 days!!  If you are an avid digital scrapper, like me, you'll want to take full advantage of this.  It's free, fun, and meaningful to boot!  Royanna over at Divine Digital is leading us through 40 days of meaningful scrapping.  It's all in the forum thread HERE.  She makes a daily post filled with helpful information, inspiration, a daily quote, and even a free gift to download and use if you wish.  The idea is about helping us to express ourselves through our digital layout pages.  None of us are in love with journaling, but this will help simplify that process for you.  This 40-day event started on September 15th, and even though I missed getting started on time myself and missed the 1st day's gift, I jumped in on the 16th and was inspired to catch up.  So you, too, can jump in anytime.  Go visit the thread in the forum and the matching gallery of photos and see what you think!  Here are my layouts so far . . . .

The first day, 9/15, the prompt was "I am an Artist", so everyone did their take on that idea and what that meant to them.  Here is mine . . .

I've always had a problem scrapping about me, myself, and I; but with Royanna's inspirations this came together quite easily.  If you can't read the journaling, have a look at it in the gallery at Divine where we typed out our journaling in the page descriptions.

The second day, 9/16, the prompt was "Why Do I Scrap?"  Now, for me, that's a very loaded question with over a million answers; but Royanna said keep it simple and journal about 5 reasons why you scrap.  She even gave us this free template to use if desired.  Here is my page . . .

Again, my journaling can be best read by visiting the gallery at Divine where you'll find it typed out in the page description.  Also, credits for the papers, elements, etc. that I used are in those page descriptions there.

Okay, I'm finished rambling for today.  Just wanted to pass this along to you.  There will be 40 days of fun scrapping with direction, purpose, and freebies each day!  It's like taking a digi-class for free!!  It doesn't get any better than that, folks!

I'll be back hopefully tomorrow with a free template for you, so pop back in!  I think it's a beauty!

TOOTLES!!

FARMER'S MARKET QP FREEBIE

Good Day, my peeps!  Imagine Minnie Pearl with that tag hanging off her hat giving you a big, long "Howdy" as only she could.  That's the mood I'm in today.  Don't ask me why.

My three grandchildren have returned to school after the Labor Day holiday weekend of fun at my house, the last hurrah of summer.  The oldest, who is 10 and a 5th grader, loves school and always looks forward to starting back each fall.  However, the two younger ones, who are both 6 and first graders, have already prompted notes and phone calls home by the teachers.  Seems they are both having a hard time settling back into the school saddle and giving up the summer fun.  I hope they can get adjusted and settled in soon to the daily school drill.  If not, coming to Mimi's house could be nipped in the bud, as coming here is considered one of their privileges.  Yikes!!  Poor little tikes!

Our southern beach weather could not have been lovelier over the weekend, and it continues beautiful this week.  I'm sure we will be having a long Indian summer here at the beach.  The nasty humidity of July and August will abate now, and the days will be warm, crisp and clear.  Last evening at sunset I saw the most gorgeous cloud on the horizon with a silver-pink lining.  It was just breath-takingly beautiful, and me without the camera in hand. 

One of my BFFs is having her gallbladder removed today via laparoscopy hopefully.  I will be waiting for her hubby to call and let me know it's over and she's doing okay in recovery.  It had been kicking up causing her quite a lot of pain lately, and the doc said it was full of large stones.  I'm hoping she will feel her old self once this is over.  My mom is 84 and hers gives her bouts of pain in the spring and fall, but she still keeps it.  My daughter is just 36 now, and hers is starting to give her fits of pain depending on her dietary intake.  I know she will not let it annoy her long before she decides to have it out.  She won't want the pain to slow her down.

Today I have another FREE QUICK PAGE for you.  I joined in the September QP Game over at Digi Scrap Station where the featured kit is "FARMER'S MARKET" by Scrappy Cats.  The kit is free for committing to design one 8 x 8" QP and post it during this month.  Here is a preview of the full kit . . .

I made my page in both the 8-inch size, as required by the DSS forum contest, and also in the 12-inch size in case you like to scrap in that size as I do.  You can take your pick, or take both sizes.  Here is the preview of the page I designed . . .

and  here is a sample layout using it . . .

 

DOWNLOADS

 



8-inch QP, HERE or HERE

12-inch QP, HERE or HERE

If you would like to collect all the QPs from the September game, just visit that forum thread at DSS.  Direct download links are provided within each post by all of the contestants in the game.  Everybody has until the last day of the month to get their page made and posted, and then the links are good for 30 days beyond that.  It's a great way to get premade pages for an album!  The kick I get is getting to see how varied all the pages are though we are using the same kit.

I'll show you one more layout for inspiration.  I scrapped my sibling set of grandkids going to the first day of school with my PhotoShop Friday Series, Lesson 34 template and technique.  We learned to use text in a decorative masking technique to help decorate our page with typography.  Note the journaling above the photo in the layout below . . .

I was pleased with how that turned out when I finished up.  The PhotoShop Friday 2012 series is available at Jessica Sprague by subscription or individually.  My background paper is from one of my favorite JS kits, Fleuriste by Cosmo Cricket.  The kids were color-coordinated.  Isn't that cute!

Alrightly then, I'm off to start my daily grind.  Be back soon with more new goodies for you, so stay tuned.  Thanks to all who are leaving me comments!  I read and appreciate them all.  Chat soon!

TOOTLES!!

LABOR DAY FREEBIE - A DOZEN JOURNALING CARDS!!

Happy Holiday Weekend, one and all!  No doubt it will be a busy day for all of us, and I hope your weather is cooperating with whatever your plans may be!  Here is the South, it rose to 100 degrees yesterday on my shaded back porch!  Whew!  Humidity was intense, and it was another perfect pool day.  I'm hoping for the same today as my grandchildren will descend upon my house early today and stay until bedtime for a day of fun and food.  We will feed the ducks and turtles around the ponds, watch the fountain spray in the big pond, ride bicycles, play corn-hole, swim, eat lunch at the pool, dinner on the patio, play games on the Wii, swim some more, and whatever else we can think up.  If Pawpa and I are feeling super-energetic, we may get out some of our watercraft and the necessary gear and take them all to the river or the ocean's waterway, both fun places to get totally wet!  The kids are so cute in their life jackets bobbing around!  Nothing beats this type of free fun.

Because you're special, I have a really cool FREEBIE for you today.  I designed some JOURNALING CARDS recently during one of my inspired moments and ended up making oodles of them because it was addictive.  Today you get Set #1 which contains 12 neutral cards with a sharp outline and word on them.  They are sort of a jump-start for your bit of journaling on a layout.  These are 3.5" x 4.5" in size and are 300 dpi, png format.  You can easily resize them larger or smaller as needed.  They should work nicely in any scrapping program.  I'll dish out several more sets in different colors with different words in the weeks to come, so don't miss out snagging them up as they appear here.  Here is the preview of today's set . . .

DOWNLOADS:

From Box, HERE

From OpenDrive, HERE

From 4Shared, HERE

Thanks to those of you who take time to leave some love!  I read and appreciate each and every comment. 

I'll be back soon with another FREE QP for you as I have signed up to do the September QP Game over at Digi Scrap Station.  The kit is free for participants, and it's lots of fun and good practice.  You should get involved too!

I hope to soon start showering you with some FREE TEMPLATES.  I've made lots of them but haven't found enough time to organize the files for uploading and downloading.  I will try to focus on that part as my next "project" of discipline.  LOL!

In my handcrafts, I've been making more birdhouses this summer, designing different wine bottle cozies, and have recently begun knitting up a storm again!  I'll be adding some of these newbies to my Etsy shop probably this month.  Check it out when you have time over a cup of coffee.  Just click on the Etsy link at the top of my home page here to go to my craft shop easily.  In your downloads, you will always find a discount coupon good for the current month at my Etsy shop, courtesy for all my digi-scrap buddies.  I've come to know so many wonderful folks in this online digi-community!

Have a great Monday holiday and a wonderful week!

TOOTLES!!