Soggy Rain - Mini Kit

Hummie inspired me to create a little mini kit -- perhaps that will make the rain go away!

Download my soggy creation HERE.

This is the thread that inspired me.

I owe an update, but I'm one handed typing right now (holding my son) -- so I'll have to get back to you. Just know that God is good!

December Kit - Joy to the World

And here it is... the final kit of the Planner series! Whew! That's several months worth of you guys visiting me at my blog, encouraging me, praying for me -- what a wonderful, friendly, uplifting community the digital scrapbooking world is. Thank you to everyone for your support -- it has been a very fun ride!

As you all know, I have accepted a new position within my company, and we will be moving -- probably in January. Our goal is to have the house on the market by Thanksgiving (or at least the end of the month). I will probably be largely absent during the next two months. However, scrapping is my stress relief, and you can bet I'll have plenty of stress!!! But I'll likely just stick to templates for the near future. Who knows... maybe somewhere down the line I'll get the inspiration for another longer project such as this one. In other words, I hope you guys keep checking in, because I'll miss you if you don't! :)

One other reminder -- if you click on the "2008 Planner" link to the left side, you can see ALL the planner templates. Remember that at the beginning there were templates for the planner cover as well as the weekly filler pages.

And without further ado (and because I've got to go clean), HERE (link removed) is the December kit (62+MB). This one is paper rich -- 17 of them! There are 5 that are supposed to look like felt fabric. Then there are some plaid ones (with a sort of fabric texture), some stripes, polka dots, and grunge. Also there are some felt Christmas trees with embroidered ball ornaments. I converted the word art to look like it's embroidered as well (remember the original word art is included in the template). And finally, there are 15 chipboard word tags -- thanks to Atomic Cupcake for her chipboard action.

Enjoy!!!

November Kit - Thanks be to God

I'm wiped out! Last night was a LONG night -- I ended up sleeping next to my daughter in the hospital bed. It was the only way she didn't wake up panicked. And of course between her outbursts, the hospital beeping, the nurses in and out, and the plastic pillows -- lets just say I didn't get a good night's sleep. She's hanging in there, though she broke my heart this afternoon as we came into our house. Her painkillers were wearing off, and she whimpered to me, "Mommy, I don't want to be a big girl anymore. I don't want to be a princess." According to her standards, those titles require too much pain. I nearly cried, but instead just held her tighter. As we picked up her brother from the sitter, she told me, "Mommy, I not so happy right now," and "I'm not feeling so much." (that's how she says she's not feeling good). Poor kiddo! And of course, she associates eating/drinking with hurting her throat, so it's impossible to make her eat. Add to it that her meds (the pain killers) are nasty tasting, so she cries buckets taking those, too. I've been bribing her with Reeses PB Cups (the mini ones). I know... bad Mommy... but it's literally the only thing she'll eat.

*sigh*

Oh... then add to it that I changed the TCP/IP settings on my computer last night so I could log on to the hospital internet through the ethernet cable. I spent at least 2 hours trying to get it fixed. My ISP said they couldn't help, because it was with the router. I could SEE that the wireless was working and my work laptop was connected, I just couldn't get there. So tonight I was on with the router service tech. The nice woman had a super thick accent and talked impossibly fast. AND my office doesn't have a light in it (don't know why -- never put one there because I only work in it during the day). So I'm operating by computer light trying to read sereal numbers and all that good stuff.

In hindsight, I guess the day is quite funny -- and I hope you guys are giggling and shaking your heads! I know I will one day soon, because it is quite funny. But for now, I'm just worn out!

OK, so on to the good stuff -- or at least I hope it is! Here is November's kit. It's mostly papers, because I'm officially stuck (still) on elements. I did put a few chipboard journal tags (thanks Atomic Cupcake), and I had fun creating a painted look for some leaves and acorns. Also, the word art has a different take on it -- you get the converted, but I also included the original layered PSD (Photoshop) file. The reason for this is that there are so many different color combinations or effects you might want to use on the words, and I can't begin to guess them all. So with the layered file, you can decide for yourself what works best on your layouts.

I'll stop talking now... you can get the kit HERE. (link removed) (59MB)

October Kit - Bountiful Harvest

Thanks to my friends at Digital Simple Scrapbooks (YahooGroup) for the ideas of what to include in a non-Halloween-y Halloween kit! :) I'm working on a couple other things that may turn into an add on of my own -- but for right now they're ugly! (And I don't mean that in a good Halloween way.) LOL!

Included in this kit are 9 papers -- polka dots, textures, candy corn covered. Then there are 22 different "painted" stickers -- corn, apples, pumpkin, candy corn, suckers, packaged candy, hard candy. There are blank stickers as well, if you want to color your own. Also included are 5 varieties of the word art from the template.

OK, funny story and I'll sign off. My kids are going as Dora and Diego for Halloween. I was making Dominic's Diego vest (out of a deconstructed pair of cargo shorts). Since Dominic was already napping, I had Amara try it on to make sure it was constructed right. I told her she could be Dora (she wanted to switch roles). I also told her she could put hers on after her nap. So she just woke up as I type... and guess what she's saying: "I want my Halloween!"

Download Part One HERE. (link removed)

Download Part Two HERE. (link removed)

September Kit - Train Up a Child

I'm really excited about how this turned out, and I hope you are, too.

This kit has 12 sheets of 12x12 paper (300dpi). There are 8 solids and 4 striped; all heavily textured. Some of the solids really ended up with some cool marbling of other colors in them. I love playing with textures -- it's amazing what different filters can do to a given image.

A fun "designer" challenge for you. I think Hummie is the one who first got me excited about textures. Admittedly, I didn't do much with them initially, but they're essential when designing. Some of the strangest things make the best textures: carpet, stone, brick, rusty old cars, paint, water spots. The possibilities are endless! Anyway, take a photo of some cool texture and make it grayscale, then duplicate the image a couple times and rotate them in various directions so they're all different angles on top of each other. Then play with the layer properties -- I change mine from Overlay, Multiply, Color Burn, Screen -- each layer can have a different property. Then add a color to it. Keep playing with the layer properties, just to see the different amazing patterns that come out -- seemingly from nowhere! It's so much easier than I ever thought it would be!

Anyway... back to the kit...

I've also included 5 realistic pencils (I photographed a pencil and colored them various colors -- so they BETTER look real), 5 colored scissors (ditto on the scissors), 6 rulers (this one I created to scale myself -- 12 inches long, 1 inch wide), and 5 file folder labels. There is one sheet of wrinkled notebook paper, 12 "chalk" words related to learning (check that -- it's 10 words, and that's a mistake on the preview -- guess my mind drew a blank), and 1 word art in 6 colors (as seen in the layered template).

ENJOY!

The download is available HERE. (link removed) (43.5 MB)

Unfortunately, October won't be ready until the end of the week at the earliest -- maybe next week (who knows what's in store?!) -- regardless, I've got to travel for work this week, which means Photoshop doesn't get to make the trip with me. I wish.... :)

August Kit - Lazy Summer Afternoons

What is it about August? It's always been such a "just there" month for me. Kind of bittersweet actually. I live for the summer, love hot weather -- it just feels so carefree. And August has always signaled "the end" for me. So I really struggled with what to add to the kit. I pictured just lounging back by the pool or lake and taking in the last beautiful days of summer. But I couldn't really come up with any elements that fit that mood, so I went with more "standard" elements instead. In the end -- I probably should change the name of the kit! LOL!

Included in this kit are:
5 bold colorful papers, good for both boys and girls
4 striped papers
3 large polka dot papers -- all polka dots have pretty intense textures, which you can see in a few of them on the preview
Papers are in download one.

Download 2 holds the elements.
12 "glitter" words -- I don't know that they're exactly glitter, but that was the only description I could think of!
5 inked edge tabs (thanks, Atomic Cupcake)
5 chipboard frame clusters -- these range from 3 to 6 photo spaces in 5 different colors
1 Word Art in 5 colors

I hope you enjoy it!

Download the papers HERE. (link removed) (42MB)
Download the elements HERE. (link removed) (13MB)

July Mini Kit - In God We Trust

I have to admit: this kit amused me. I kept going back to create more paper -- and each one ended up with more stars! So rather than continuing to repeat myself, I called it quits and went for quality over quantity! LOL! However, I hope you'll find this kit to be very fun and versatile.

Included:
7 papers - 2 are solid, 3 are stars, and 2 are stars and stripes
3 journal blocks - 2 are chipboard, one is paper
1 gemstone flag (approx 6x4 inches)
5 felt stars
5 embroidered stars
(these stars can be mixed and matched together if you want to stitch them to your paper for a kinda cool effect)
3 pieces of Patriotic Word Art (not previewed -- it's a surprise!)
1 Biblical Word Art -- seen in my sample planner page for July

And that's it.

Just as a heads up -- Lisa has already sent me her preview for her contribution to the July kit! I'll post it tomorrow -- I think you'll be very pleased! Lisa is one of the ladies who inspired me to do some freebies (Hummie's the other one). And Andrea has teased ME with her ideas for the July kit, but I haven't seen them yet. She assured me I'd be surprised -- so now I'm excited! :)

Anyway, download my July kit HERE (link removed)-- it's a 42.5MB file.

June Kit - Beach Comber

Happy Friday night, and welcome to the weekend! YAY!!! I wish I had a beach to enjoy this weekend... but a beautiful warm fall day will have to suffice.

Instead, you can create a beach with this kit. Included are 13 papers in various shades of "water" and "sand." I also included pictures of my seashells, extracted and made into PNG files. I knew a "fish" bathroom would come in handy one day! :) The word art you saw on the calendar template is also included in 6 different colors.

I think that's it. Enjoy your weekend! :)

Grab the kit HERE. (link removed) (46MB)

May Kit - Spring Garden

Well, this one started off slow, but once I found the groove, I just kept going. I hope you enjoy it, too!

There are 16 papers included in this kit are (15 shown). Six are solid colors with texture, 5 are polka dots, 3 are floral, and 2 are striped. I had fun making brushes and learning how to do patterns other than just polka dots with this one.

For elements, there are 6 different jeweled flowers, but there are also 6 different jewels, so you can make flowers or patterns of your own. There are 4 chipboard flowers (thanks Atomic Cupcake). And there are also 5 felt flowers with 5 felt centers so you can mix and match. I also found this cool grass brush by Katikut, and made a cool grass overlay for you to use. Then I played some more with the chipboard and made a frame with 3 flowers on the corner. And finally, I made 6 different note cards with scalloped flower edges. The white one has little blue lines for you to write on.

All this became huge, so you've got 2 different downloads.
Elements are found HERE. (link removed) (46MB)
Papers are found HERE. (link removed) (22MB)

And now... back to football! :)

April Mini Kit - He is Risen

Well, this one proved to be a challenge for me. I was not very inspired, especially after realizing that Easter hits in March in 2008! Oops! Then I read on Andrea's blog that she's really excited about April's colors, so I figure the two of us will balance each other out this go-round!

I've mentioned before that I scrap very little with elements -- I'm a papers girl. So it's the elements that are lacking on this kit. I made a stained glass butterfly for you, some word art that I'm really happy with, and some journal borders and frames. I was reading a "Family Circle" magazine on the plane last week, and they used these scalloped borders or lines around some of their articles or mini-snippets. I thought it would be cute to implement into a scrap kit. So you see it here!

The papers, I think you'll be happy with. I used a brush designed by 3zehn.org and removed the butterflies from the background. Then I added some textures, and you can see the 10 different papers that emerged. The butterfly papers are HUGE though, so you'll have to download this kit in two pieces. The first group has everything BUT the butterfly papers. The second group has just the butterfly papers.

Download group one HERE. (link removed)
Download group two HERE. (link removed)

March Mini Kit - Lucky Me

And without further ado, here's the mini-kit for March. I hope you enjoy it! I actually had fun making this one. Now of course, I'm stuck on April.... Hmmmm...

Anyway, this kit is created at 12x12, 300dpi. All elements are 300dpi and do not include drop shadows.

Included in this kit:
5 heavily textured papers (thank you www.textureking.com)
5 heavily patterned papers -- I had a bit of fun with Photoshop! :)
5 Polka Dot overlays -- you can "make" your own papers with these (please don't redistribute as your own).
1 Gold Chain and 4 Charms -- I did these both with and without the links. The links have the space cut out where they hook to the chain.
4 Chipboard Shamrocks (thanks www.atomiccupcake.com)
4 Stamped Shamrocks (thank you again, www.atomiccupcake.com)
4 Sticker Shamprocks
4 Stamped and Doodled Shamrocks (thanks once again, www.atomiccupcake.com)
1 Word Art (6 color schemes) -- of my favorite Bible Verse, Philippians 4:13.

This is a 48+MB kit. You can download it HERE. (link removed)

February Mini Kit - Chocolate Covered Cherries

It's so funny to me doing hearts -- I never use hearts! LOL!

Anyway, here's February's kit. I got a little stuck in a "heart" rut. There are 5 pretty cool polka dot papers, 3 stripey/plaid papers, 3 "silk" look papers, and 5 papers with a scalloped edge and hearts punched out of it. There are also some decent sized tags perfect for matting or journaling. I made 2 chocolate hearts -- one is solid chocolate, the other a chocolate drizzle. Originally, they were going to be bronze metal, but I think I got hungry! My favorite part of this kit: the stitched felt heart stack. I've been trying to do felt for a long time, and I finally made one I was satisfied with! Oh, and there's word art as well, but it's not in the preview. I have 5 different color versions of the word art, which you can see in yesterday's template.

This kit in total is about 53MB, so I had to put it in 2 uploads.
Download HERE. (link removed)

January Mini Kit

Well... without further ado, here is my first attempt at designing a mini-kit of my own. I'll admit -- I prefer making templates! I'm a "minimalist" scrapper, so elements are really challenging for me. I think once I've finished the calendar year, I'll retire from designing kits! LOL!

This kit is actually 12x12 papers at 300dpi, so you get the full size! I may do my templates smaller, but I like bigger papers so that I can crop them down to size as I like them!

OK, so what's included, you ask?
4 scalloped borders/ribbons
4 scalloped papers
8 patterned papers
1 set of word art in 4 colors (not pictured -- seen in January calendar page from a couple days ago)
18 glitter snowflakes
18 chipboard snowflakes (thanks, Atomic Cupcake, for the action!)
18 chrome/silver snowflakes

The total file size is 49MB. You can download it HERE. (link removed) I'd love to hear what you think of it!