FREE INDEPENDENCE DAY MASK

Hi all!  I hope you are keeping cool.  We are now in our peak season of heat and humidity here at the beach, and it's cranking up past 100 degrees daily complete with intense humidity that literally knocks you down when you open a door to the outside.  I talked with my dear brother in AZ this evening who tells me his temperatures are at 112 daily but without the humidity, which he finds very tolerable for the most part.  One of his sons is in the military and stationed on the east coast right now in my home state, and he reports to his dad that he is literally melting away in the humidity because he is so not used to it at all, having grown up all his life in AZ.  We do somehow get used to it and just spend a lot of time in the water for the next few months!  There is always a breeze at the shoreline, so you don't notice the humidity there.  Sunblock applied daily is used as if it were a daily moisturizer!  I consciously prepare meals that are cool and refreshing by nature during this time of year.  And think how we save on laundry as we are always scantily clad!  It just has its good points.

Two nights ago back up North in good ole WV, my parents witnessed a powerful storm through the night with winds exceeding 75 miles an hour.  They are still without electric as are many hundreds of thousands.  My mom was almost hysterical when I got to talk with her by cell phone to ascertain any property damage they may have suffered.  Dad is 89, mom 84; and they tell me they have never seen such strong winds that made their trees bend halfway over and go in circles.  I've lived here in the south in hurricane alley since '95, so I've witnessed quite a few storms with winds up to 125/hr (which is where I draw the line to move out of the storm's path).  I do remember what it was like to see and stay through my first hurricane here and watch the winds build and blow like mom was talking about.  They live nestled in a deep valley town in the Appalachian Mountains, so that kind of wind and storm never happens there.  It's odd over the last few years just how much the weather patterns across this country have changed to be so radical.  My daughter and I have rustled up some strong young folks to go check on my parents and help them clear their two acres of the debri blown in by the storm.  That's where Facebook contacts come in so handy!!  What technical miracles we have at our disposal these days! 

Before I show you today's FREEBIE, I have to share another layout of my sweet Duffy and his brother Miller (who belongs to my daughter).  I whipped this one together last night using Katie Pertiet's weekly challenge template of 6-30-12 (Designer Digitals), and the kit used is "Good Dog" by Lady Bug Designs of Digital Design Den.  I love this kit so much I'm doing a whole album of Duffy using it.  This was Duffy & Miller's second play-date, and was after Duffy had his first groom by my daughter that same day.  Get a load of that larger photo on the top right!  Hysterically funny!

Alrighty then!  On to the FREEBIE I have made for you.  I wanted to give you something you could use when you scrap up those photos from our Independence Day holiday this week.  So after I made the layout above last night, I cleared my PSE screen and started playing around with one of my favorite things to make, i.e., clipping masks!  Below is what I came up with to start us off.  This is a 300 dpi png and is about somewhere between a 5x7" or 6x8" size.  You can easily resize this larger or smaller.  You can use it as a photo mat simply by clipping a paper to it and then popping your photo on top, or you can clip you photo to it directly as a mask.  Also, you can recolor this and probably also apply certain styles to it if you like.  In your layout, you can apply a drop shadow of your choice to it for depth as you desire.

DOWNLOAD AT BOX OR 4SHARED

I adore making masks and love to use them in my own layouts.  I made quite a few last night from my main idea above and they have to do with a summer theme.  Check back often as my intention is to package them up as FREEBIES to come to you over the next couple of weeks.

Have a wonderful INDEPENDENCE DAY celebration with your friends and loved ones!  Be back soon with more goodies!  Stay tuned in!

TOOTLES!!