Sneak Peek & a Chance to Win!

It’s been a while since I’ve had a new release, so I’m excited that I have not just one sneak peek for you, but TWO!  And, I’m offering you an opportunity to win one of them for free, so be sure to check out the information at the bottom to see how you can increase your chances! 🙂

This week’s first new release is a fun new kit that will go into my GingerScraps store:SP1

Plus, I have a new template pack that will go into my Brownie Scraps store:
SP2

If you would you like to win a copy of one of these new products for free, just leave a comment below by tomorrow night, Thursday January 17th, at midnight.  Make sure and leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner. Your comment will earn you 1 entry into the drawing. You can earn extra entries by making a post to your Facebook, Twitter or Blog. Simply leave a separate comment, with corresponding links, for each entry.  I’ll will be back on Friday to announce the lucky winner!

Ready?  Good – go comment!!!

Layout Spotlight for January 10th

The week has just flown. My kids have been busy finishing up end of term projects and studying for tests, which translates into “mom, I need your help!”. We also got to celebrate my oldest daughter’s 15th birthday on Tuesday.

With birthday on my mind the layout “10!” posted by SweetLittleNothingness really caught my eye in the gallery. I love how she used the word strips in her journaling and how the birthday elements just pop off the page. I also loved her idea of 10 balloons above the doorway for his 10th birthday!

10-JDLbday2-2012

SweetLittleNothingness used three different Blue Heart Scraps products:

My Cake Day Kit My Cake Day Kit

My Cake Day Word StripsMy Cake Day Word Strips

and finally the template “In Stitches” found at Brownie ScrapsIn Stitches by Blue Heart Scraps

Congratulations SweetLittleNothingness!

Tuesday Treats Freebie!

It’s a new year, and with that I always get the bug to get organized! I always have big goals to get lots of scrapping done every new year and this year is no different. I have years (and years) of pictures yet to scrap. At times it feels a bit overwhelming, and I have to remind myself that I can’t expect to get it done all at once and I just need to take baby steps.

Baby step #1 is getting organized!  Half way through 2012 I decided I needed to come up with a plan to help me spend more time focused on scrapping and less time in my file folders trying to search for the perfect pictures to go with the latest kit. Here is what I did:

#1 – I found myself a 3-ring binder. I tried it before with a spiral bound notebook and it disappeared somewhere in my house never to be seen again. With my new 3-ring binder I slid a sheet of paper in the clear cover that reads “Mom’s Scrapbook Folder Please Don’t Touch”, just in case someone was tempted to slide it into their school backpack. So far so good, the notebook has stayed safe and my kids love to tease me about it by touching their finger to the cover.

#2 – I grabbed some line paper and at the top wrote the year I wanted to organize. (I organize the photos on my computer by the year they were taken)

#3 – I divided the lined paper into four different sections, “Folder” (for all the folders I have within my “year” folder), “Subject”, “# of Photos” and finally “Files”.

#4 – I got busy and went through my folders and wrote down the pictures I wanted to scrap. I didn’t write every picture that was in my folder, just those that were scrap worthy.DSC_1171

So how has this info helped me scrap more efficiently? Now when a new kit from Blue Heart Scraps comes out I can quickly go down my “subject” column and find pictures to go with it. Also when a new template comes out I can go down my “# of photos” column and find the right number of photos that goes with that specific template. Voila, I just saved myself an hour of searching!

Today’s freebie can help you take that first baby step. Here is a replica of my photo organizing system using the Oh Scrap! kit collab. Happy Scrapping!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Layout Spotlight for January 3rd

It’s hard to believe the holidays are over, the new year is in full swing and my oldest is already back in school – but all of the above are true!  I hope you all had a fantastically wonderful Christmas and an incredible start to 2013.  🙂

There hasn’t been a proper Layout Spotlight around here for a while, so it was fun to view several pages of gorgeous layouts in my designer gallery at Ginger Scraps.  I know I’m a bit biased (since those layouts are using at least a portion of my products), but still…that gallery is full of some incredibly beautiful layouts!

One fun layout that I want to spotlight today is this one, created by Missi:

The layout is adorable.  The clusters are fantastic, and I love the stacked papers — but I am such a sucker for babies (and cute, adorable babies eating candy for the first time!), I just can’t help but smile every time I love at that adorable little face! 🙂

Missi used my Sugar High kit:

Make sure to upload all of your beautiful stories told with Blue Heart Scraps’ products into my gallery.  I LOVE seeing what you create and I love getting the opportunity to spotlight and share your lovely pages!  Have a wonderful day and happy scrapping!  🙂

Clean & Simple

Good Friday morning to you!  Christmas is just 4 days away, and I am quite excited about that.  The joy and excitement of the holidays are in fully force, which is fantastic…(but I’m also kind of ready for it to be over with, too.  It’s busy and stressful and, well, I’m kind of ready for the ‘normal’ to return, ya know?!)…and my kids can’t WAIT for Santa to stop by with presents!

  I’ve not had a lot of time for designing lately, which is sad.  I miss being lost in Photoshop for a while each day.  Hopefully, when the holidays are over and life has settled back down a bit, my creativity will just pour out!  I do have two new releases at Brownie Scraps today, though!  But, before I show them to you, have you heard about the fun coming to Brownie Scraps in January?  If not, let my introduce to you The Scrapper:

Have we piqued your interested yet? 😉  More information is coming, so stay tuned!

And, now for today’s new releases.  These template packs, designed for a minimalistic approach to scrapping, are some of my favorite ones yet!  I love beautifully clustered pages just overloaded with gorgeous elements.  But, sometimes?  The clean and simple approach highlights the pictures and journaling far better than all the clustering in the world.  And, these templates? Are perfect for those layouts!

Take a look at these gorgeous layouts created with today’s two new template packs:

Gorgeous, right? 🙂

On the 11th Day of Christmas! {Freebie}

Have you been following along with Brownie Scraps‘ 12 Days of Christmas Celebration?  If not, you’ve missed some beautifully gorgeous new releases and freebies.  Today is the 11th Day in their Christmas Celebration, and I’m honored to be the featured designer of the day there — and I’ve got some fun new goodies for you!  🙂

First up, I’ve got two new releases today, In Stitches and Blocked In.  And, with my special One Day Only sale, if you buy any 3 or more template packs from me, you can pick them all up for just $1 each! (discount applied at check out):


Plus!  All orders of $5 or more in the Brownie Scraps store today (either from my store, or from any other designer) will earn this gorgeous new Christmas-themed template pack free! 🙂

But, before you dash off and stock up on some fantastic new templates from the oh, so talented designers at Brownie Scraps, I have a freebie!  🙂  This fun little cluster template set can be placed on top of any background to create a beautiful layout (or used along to make a fantastic new forum siggy!)

Click Here To Download

Tuesday Treats Freebie!

To say the past few weeks have been crazy would be putting things mildly.  Between the stress and craziness of the end of the semester, exams, sickness that made its way through the whole family, and other personal issues, I feel like I’ve barely been treading water for far too long.  Luckily, I took my final exam this morning, so I’ve got a break for about 4 weeks.  I came at the perfect time, too…because I am exhausted! LoL!

I do have a new freebie for you today, though.  The weather here has taken a chilly turn.  Highs last week were in the 70s, and now they’re in the 40s.  That makes today’s freebie that much more appropriate! 🙂 This adorable Facebook Timeline cover, created using my paper and element portions of the December Buffet at GingerScraps, is sure to give a gorgeous wintery feel to your Facebook page! 🙂

Click Here To Download

Snowball Fight, $1 Bake Sale & a freebie!

It feels a bit strange to post about snow themed goodies this morning, since our high for the day is set to be around 70…but everything’s so incredibly adorable that I can just pretend to be snuggled under the covers with a cool chill in the air, right? 🙂

It’s December 1st (I know, it’s crazy how fast the year is going!) and that means a new GingerScraps Buffet…and with it, tons of GORGEOUS new goodies!  This month’s theme is snowy, winter weather, and I am so incredibly excited to bring you 7 gorgeous new packs which are just begging for your snowy pictures! 🙂

Are you in love with it all as much as I am?!  🙂  There’s an element pack, a plain paper pack, a patterned paper pack, fun clusters, beautiful border clusters, an adorable little brag book qp set and 5 lovely stacked papers!  Don’t forget to check out the rest of the December Snowball Fight Buffet while you’re at it –  lots of other GingerScraps designers have gorgeous coordinating packs that you don’t want to miss! 🙂

The first of the month doesn’t just bring a new Buffet, though.  It also brings a new $1 Bake Sale – and this month, I’ve loaded 8 packs to bring you tons of great savings!

There’s my Funky Christmas Element Pack and Funky Christmas Paper Pack, perfect for fun holiday scrapping.  And, because I figure there’s probably several people working hard to finish fun holiday scrapbook presents, I added 8 template packs to the bake sale to try and make your year-end scrapping just a little bit easier! 🙂  There’s Across the Line, Building Blocks Vol 1 and Building Blocks Vol 2, My Cake Day Templates, Reading Room Templates and What’s Your Angle Template Pack.

I have layouts from both my talented CT and the ladies at GingerScraps using my Snowball Fight Buffet goodies:

and, last but certainly not least, a freebie!  Created using my Snowball Fight Buffet goodies:

Download the Snowball Fight QP Freebie Here

Tuesday Treats Freebie!

Yes, I know it’s actually Wednesday, but yesterday got away from me.  And, besides, I figured a freebie is good ANY day, right?  🙂

Today’s freebie was created by Crystal using my latest collaboration kit with Luv Ewe Designs, Building Hope.  I have to admit, the colors we used were a bit out of the ordinary for me…but I LOVE how it turned out!  It’s so uplifting and full of hope and happiness and promise.  And, couldn’t we all use a little more of that in our lives?

Click Here to Download the Building Hope Freebie

And if you haven’t picked up the full collab kit yet, I highly recommend it.  Just look how pretty it is! 🙂

Black Friday Sales & New Releases!

Happy Start of the Christmas Holiday (at least around here!) – the hubby and I enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving with my mom, the boys and a few other family members.  Then we headed out last night to spend tons of money, and boy did we succeed! 🙂  We’re not done, yet (because we showed our age and just abandoned a few of the stores with crazy, insane waiting lines, lol), but we have two little boys who should be quite happy on Christmas morning! 🙂

I have a new release this morning, but before we get to that, let’s talk about sales!

Not only do I have a 50% off sale on ALL items in my GingerScraps store, but there’s also the GingerScraps Coffee Shop that’s already loaded with tons of gorgeous products! 🙂

I currently have these 5 products loaded into the coffee shop (all for $1 each!!!), but that may change throughout the weekend, so be sure to keep checking back! 🙂





There’s also great deals to be had at BrownieScraps!

And last but not least, today’s new release.  Ho! Ho! Ho! and Merry Christmas! It’s that time of year! Deck your halls, trim the tree, send your letter to Jolly old St. Nick. Merry and bright, all things naughty and nice! Spread the cheer to all those near with Holiday Joy!

Holiday Joy Kit       Holiday Joy Clusters       Holiday Joy Stacked Papers

Holiday Joy QuickPages

OR, Buy the Holiday Joy Bundle and save even more!!!

And two fun freebies, to help make the holiday weekend just a bit more beautiful! 🙂

Download the Holiday Joy Cluster

Download the Holiday Joy Word Art