Using Digital Scrapbooking templates to show off my new grandson!

A little catching up, since it's been a crazy couple of weeks! What an exciting and tiring time we've had. Since Eli has arrived into our world, my DH has been working with my brother in London (Ontario) during the week. My DD struggled with mastitis again, our church's family night program has wrapped up for the season, I've helped with a fundraiser, I've been sick, and we had a crazy wind storm! Whew!!

Hubby's work in London has been going well, however, he's strained his back, and he's resting it right now.

Thankfully, the doctor that saw my daughter believed her this time about the mastitis. With her first child, they told her she didn't have it, and did not offer any other help. Normally, a nurse will come to the house to see how new moms are doing, and especially if she's having difficulties, but the H1N1 flu was going around at the time, and there was no help for her. She ended up giving up breast feeding. In the long run, it was better for her and the baby, the pain stopped, and the baby was happier too.

But this time, the doctor prescribed antibiotics, and she was back to normal in a few days. And of course, the timing was impeccable, as that was also the day of the wind storm. Many homes were without power, and their house was one of the unlucky ones to be without for more than 24 hours. The house was too cold for a new Mom and a new-born baby. Even better timing, it was her hubby's first day back to work! She came to our house to get warmed up, as our power was back on after about 10 hours.

With them living in a more rural area, they are on a septic system, and without electricity, their basement flooded too!

There was so much damage to hydro-electric poles, trees, houses, and roofs. I've never seen it that bad! You could hardly drive around anywhere with there being a tree or pole crossing your path.

We are very thankful that we had no damage to our own house!

Now that we are healthy again, and the Internet is back up, and life is getting back to normal, I can get back to scrapbooking!

Using templates for digital scrapbooking is a great time saver! You can still use a lot of your own creativity, and have a lot of freedom to choose papers and elements in your layout, but the big choices, the layout itself, is done by a "highly skilled professional" lol.

One of my very favourite digital scrapbooking designers had a recent freebie posted on her blog. She gave away this delightful template! I was just looking for a template to show off my new grandson, and there it was in my inbox! aren't newsletters great? Whether it was the timing of the newsletter, or the great photos in the example, I don't know, but I loved this one right away, and got to work right away too!

Sahlin Studio

This is the layout I've done with it, using some pictures of our new grandson. These were taken the day he was born.

 

 

This layout uses products that I've designed, for the most part. 

The ribbon is a freebie I grabbed from a blog train a while ago, called "grandma's quilt" It is by Valerie Steinkoenig @http://www.geniabeana.blogspot.com

I put together a kit specifically for photographers to use to design cards and birth announcements. Its called "baby soft"

Available at Etsy

And this one I did, using Sahlin Studio products, that I intend to submit as part of the May template challenge:

Don't I have an adorable grandbaby!? I love him so much already!

Templates are a great way to get some of those layouts done that you've been meaning to get to, but haven't got around to it yet!

Thanks for stopping by,
Happy Scrapping!
Marlene

Random Acts of Kindness Challenge for me: a freebie for you

Our Pastor challenged us to do a Random Act of Kindness this week.

Sometimes we don't even realize how many we do in the natural course of our day, opening doors for people, holding the elevator, letting someone in line in front of us at the grocery store. I guess those are all good and kind things to do, but I believe he wanted us to step it up a bit, and do just a little bit of a bigger RAK.

• Should we count picking up our uncle from the hospital, and rearranging his furniture, so he can move around the house in his wheelchair? Nope, we would have done that anyway!

• What about cooking meals for same said uncle? Nope, we would have done that anyway!

• Or cooking for all the good folks at church on Wednesday, (I think we had at least 70). Nope, we would have done that anyway! 

• What about taking our grandson to the petting zoo, even though the ground is all soggy, and there weren't any animals there yet? Nope, we would have done that anyway! Sure was fun!!

My DH is a youth leader at our church, they met the challenge by handing out Hershey's kisses to strangers outside of the Canadian Tire store, instead of doing the fun things they love to do as a group.
Funny how some people won't even take a free Hershey's kiss from those eager young people! What's up with that?

I have to admit, I was a bit stumped this week. What to do, what to do!?


I just finished 2 new kits. I decided that all the work I've been putting into designing birth announcements should be put to good use! I gathered up what I'd created, made a few more elements, worked on the psd files, to make them into templates, and made a bunch of papers.

This is a new idea, I put these together specifically to make cards or small projects. The sizing is a bit unusual. I'd love to get some feedback about that! Is it something useful to photographers? Is it too different for the digital scrapbook folks? I guess time and comments will tell!!

Here is the first one I completed, it's available for sale at Etsy. I just love these bright colours! Very springy!

 Available at Etsy

So I guess my RAK isn't really that much of a stretch for me, because I finally decided to give away a brand new kit! I think I'm crazy to give it away, it has a lot of goodies in it.

It will only be free for a limited time, get it soon, it will be listed at Etsy on Monday!

This one is specially designed for the DIYers out there. It's everything you need to put your own 5x7 birth announcement, thank you or promo card together in beautiful soft neutral colours. It's also great for post cards, or brag books!



This kit contains:

• 12 300 dpi papers, in jpg format, in 5x7 size (take note of the size, it's for small projects!)
  
• 24 elements, 300 dpi, in png format, including word art, and 2 photo masks 
• 2 complete alpha's
• 1 ready made template, fully layered psd file.
• colour swatches

Click on the links below the picture to download.

The first one is the kit, it has three folders in it,
1. the Alphas
2. The Elements
3. the Papers
The elements folder has the word art and photo masks in it.

The second link is to download the template.

*by downloading these files, you are agreeing to the Terms of Use

Freebie Expired

Available at Etsy 

Every good and perfect gift is from above! Although not heaven sent, I do hope you enjoy this gift!

Please leave a comment if you download. 

Designers work hard to offer these freebies, it's nice to know it's appreciated!

Thanks,

Happy Scrapping,

Marlene

Using digital scrapbooking kits to design birth announcements

Our daughter is expecting a baby in about 2 weeks! 
(update: baby Eli Thomas was born on April 18th 2011, and what a cutie he is!
Click here to see him!) 

We are excited to be grandparents for the second time, no doubt about that!

A while ago she asked me to design a birth announcement for her. She wanted one that was gender neutral, and that she could send as an e-card, after her new-born photo shoot. She'll be getting professional photographs done, and they will be perfect for a birth announcement!
I hadn't really thought about designing birth announcements before, but this got me thinking.
It's not that different from designing a scrapbook page layout. The same principals for design apply. However, what's great about a smaller overall size, is it's a little more focused, with fewer embellishments.
It's not necessary to overload the page with elements, for the focal point should be the baby's picture!

I started off by designing one in brown and green.

Available on Etsy

And then another one. This one more green than brown.

Available on Etsy

I just love the bright colours in this one, and my DD did too! She chose this one, but not for a birth announcement, but as a promo card for her Etsy shop, Koole Knits.

Koole Knits on Etsy

These I started from scratch, making the "paper", scanning some ribbon, extracting parts from the ribbon, and so one. (except for the "flower", I had that one already)

Then I thought that I should use one of my favourite kits that I designed, "Snow Day" as the starting point. The colours are very appealing to me. I didn't have to use all the "snowy" elements or paper, some of the plain papers would look great. This kit has some fun elements, flowers and a tag I thought could be useful here.

 

Available at Etsy

So this is what I came up with.

Available on Etsy

Available on Etsy

If you've resisted purchasing themed, or holiday specific digital scrapbooking kits, because you want them to be more useful for everyday projects, there is a way to stretch their usefulness. Many of the elements or papers can be used over and over again in your everyday layouts, or projects.

This fits into the category of "thinking outside the box"!

4 things to look for:

1.   colour: Sometimes I'm attracted to a certain colour palette in a kit. This is a great place to start. It's not necessary to overlook the entire kit because of it's theme, if the colours are appealing to you.

2.    basic elements that can be used for many different layouts, like corners, stitches, buttons, staples. Really, anything in the kit that's not completely specific to a theme or holiday. In my "Snow Day" kit, I have several elements that don't have snow on them, journaling blocks, buttons, stitches, frames. They match the colour scheme, so they can be used in all kinds of layouts, especially if the colours are appealing to you. I used a few of them in designing some of my birth announcements

3.   plain or patterned paper: A lot of digital scrapbooking kits will usually have some solid papers, and patterns that would look great in any project. Depending on the palette you are working with for your own project, adding a complimentary, or analogous colour from another digital scrapbooking kit can look fabulous, and add visual interest.

4.   elements that can add some interest, they don't even have to "match", but just add a punch of colour, or a sense of "hmmm, that's interesting" Using elements in a new way, something that would be out of place normally, but may have a dual meaning to it.

Update: I have created a digital card making kit that has been quite popular.

Available at Etsy

Use your creativity, I'd love to hear about some of the ways my fellow scrapbookers have used their digital scrapbooking kits in different ways, and for different projects besides a scrapbook!

Thanks for stopping by,

Happy Scrapping!
Marlene

Snow Day kit is finished

I've completed the Snow Day digital scrapbooking kit! Yay, it's done! I'm very excited to share this news, I've been working very hard to get this completed. I've used a great colour palette,  with neutral tones, a lovely cool shade of blue, and a beautiful purple colour.

Thanks to M for sharing her layout of Willow in the snow!

Please go to Etsy to purchase this kit!

And a few of my own layouts:

My brain is already on vacation!

Here's a sneak peak at the Snow Day digital scrapbooking kit I've been working on. It will be available for purchase at Etsy soon!

If you would like to receive this kit for free, just leave a comment with your email address, or just email me at figmentgraphics@gmail.com. The only thing I ask in return is that you do at least 2 layouts with it, and email them to me, and I will post them here on this blog!

This is a limited time offer!

I'm super excited to get this done, and quite proud of this kit. I'd love to get some feedback!

Thanks for stopping by,
Marlene

Busy, Busy, Busy

So how has your week been? I can't believe how fast time seems to fly by!

We didn't have a snow day this past week, even though there was quite a bit more snow last Saturday night, weekly activities continued on as normal.
My hubby and I are blessed to be able to have our grandson come to our house every Tuesday, Wednesdays are busy for both us, Thursday was weird, not getting stuff done that I wanted to get done, and well here it is Friday again already.

I went with my daughter and grandson to "Books and Babies" at our local public library, a free story-time program, this morning. He loves it, it's a lot of fun, with songs, stories, and play, and making a few friends too.

I'm looking forward to getting my hair done later today, and then a quiet evening at  home, digital scrapbooking!

In between the busyness of everyday life, we also managed to finish a puzzle that's been on the table for a couple of weeks, it was a doozy!, and I also made some headway on finishing most of the new kit I'm working on.

I'll bet you're looking for a freebie! So as not to disappoint, here it is, a mini add-on kit for Snow Day

So how has your week been?

 Download

Snow Day, a sneaky peak, and a Freebie

I have a love/hate relationship with that cold white stuff. I really dislike the cold, and being outside in the winter is not something I do willingly. So when it snows, I shiver, both from the cold and the anxiety of being out in it.
This past Wednesday, my usual cooking at church day, a snow storm blew through the Niagara region, along with a good chunk of North America. I'm sure there were a lot of people affected by it. There I was, shivering again.

I usually go to "coffee break" a women's Bible study, every Wednesday morning, then out for lunch with my friend, grocery shopping and cooking in the afternoon, eat supper at church, and another Bible study in the evening. Whew! It's a long day, but Wednesday's are my favourite day.

I wake up every Wednesday morning with a thankful prayer, and wooo hooo! that I can use my gifts in service to the Lord, and in a way that I absolutely love doing.

However...I knew there was a snow storm coming our way, and that Coffee Break was already canceled. What I didn't yet know was that if Family Night was also cancelled. I sure hoped so, 'cause I didn't want to be out in it!

Yes! the call came in, it was officially a Snow Day! Schools were closed, school buses not running, many activities also canceled. I was immediately inspired to start creating a new digital scrapbooking kit called, what else...Snow Day.

So that's where the love is in my love/hate relationship with the cold white stuff. I love being able stay indoors where it's cozy and warm. Love to curl up with a good book, a mug of hot chocolate, and watch the world get covered in beautiful white fluffy snow. I love creating, I'm having so much fun designing digital scrapbooking papers and elements, and having the extra day to do that was an unexpected blessing.

Here is a little sneaky peak of my new digital scrapbooking kit, with this Freebie snow man element, great for any of your snowy layouts. I'll post the kit as soon as it's finished, it's turning out to be bigger than I had first anticipated!

Thanks for stopping by, I love reading your comments, so if you download, please take a moment to leave a comment!

Happy Scrapping!
Marlene

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Every good and perfect gift

"Every good and perfect gift is from above" James 1:17a.

Everybody loves a freebie, right? I've just put the finishing touches on this mini digital scrapbooking kit, an add-on to "Denim" Click on the link to download, leave a comment if you do.

Though this particular gift may not be heaven sent, I do hope you enjoy it in any case. Love to hear from you! Thanks for stopping by.

Today's Freebie:

 

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