CT Spotlight Week 4

Hello everyone! Sorry I'm a bit late with the CT Spotlight this week. I'm a bit late with everything this week lol. We had to take a very unexpected trip out of town this last weekend. Heath had to go for a job interview a couple of hours away and we decided that instead of just heading down there for the interview and coming back, that it would be worth the extra gas money to go visit my in-laws, since they live so close. So we made it a weekend trip to stay with my in-laws and we had a great time. Heath had a very good interview and it looks like he'll be getting a new job. The new job might take me out of town for an extended period of time (3 weeks) and I'm not sure what I'll do with my designing in that time, but I'm going to try to take my work with me. I'll keep you all posted on that as I get more information.

This week I am spotlighting Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a very sweet girl, she's my youngest CT member at only 12 years old and she's amazing! Learn more about her:

Tell me a little bit about yourself.
My name Is Brooklyn I am 12 years old and I am on 5 teams including Pixiemama designs. I love to dance and dance 4-5 days a week!! I love cats and we have 2 in the house!

So how long have you been digital scrapbooking?
I have been digi scrapping for about 7 months.

Did you ever do any traditional paper scrapbooking? What made you switch? Do you still do any paper scrapbooking?
Yes. My mom showed it to me and I love it! Not really.

Do you have any other hobbies?
I dance 4-5 days a week.

What do you find yourself scrapbooking the most - your kids, pets, significant other, family, etc?
Well... I scrap my pets, my brother, and myself. : D

What couldn't you live without when you make a layout? For example, undo, a certain element, a program, etc?
I could not live without flowers or CTRL Z.

Do you gravitate towards any certain color or style when you make a layout?
Well, I do love bright colors and pastels.

Do you do anything on the side, such as designing, designer services, scrap-4-hire? Don't forget to include a link or something so we can pay you a visit!
I would love to design a kit but never really have.
I make some templates and QP's but nothing in stores.

Where's your blog?
http://newyorkscreations.blogspot.com/

Who's your favorite designer (other than Pixiemama)? Give them a plug - include a link to their shop!
I love JennCK designs. Here:http://www.inspiration-lane.com/bout...ufacturerid=93

Tell us one thing about yourself that very few people know.
I raise butterflies.

Tell us one thing about yourself that is unique or weird.
I am left handed.

What's your favorite layout that you've made?
well I like this one: http://www.browniescraps.com/gallery...51&ppuser=2065

Give us a link to a layout of yours that has very few comments so we can leave you a little love.
Lets see... this one: http://www.browniescraps.com/gallery...97&ppuser=2065

Anything else you'd like to add?
Nope nothing I can think of.

Today's CT Spotlight is a very short spotlight. I didn't include a photo because frankly - I'm lazy lol. The freebie is also going to be located at Brooklyn's blog this time so go ahead and head on over to download it here!

My first newsletter is going to be sent out shortly with an exclusive freebie inside. You'll miss my first freebie, but I have plans for more exclusive freebies so if you're interested in staying up-to-date on all my sales, freebies, newest releases, and special events going on, head on over here to sign up!

Also, my good friend Tiffany is the featured designer over at SDD - go ahead and go over to her thread at SDD and welcome her, she'll have a daily download coming up soon. Just by welcoming her you can earn challenge points good towards a gift certificate to the Scrappity-Doo-Dah store!

That's all from me today. I feel like I'm trying to play 52 Pickup just to get caught up - who knew that three days away could set you back so far?! I don't have any new releases that haven't been out for a while, but you can still head on over to my store to check out my items. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, SDD has a freebie with every $10 purchase, "Oops" by Scraps by Jenn. It's adorable so go over and check it out!

I'm trying to continuously put out new releases so keep coming back to keep up-to-date!

Chance to win Holiday Sugar Cookies bundle!

Hey everyone, I know it's been about two weeks since I blogged last. Time really catches up on me way too fast!

Christmas is coming up on us really fast. I can't believe it's only about 12 days until Christmas! Are you starting to gather Christmas pictures of putting up the tree and the stockings, or doing holiday baking? Do you need a holiday kit to scrap those photos with? Or are you behind on your holiday cards (tsk tsk!)? Want a chance to win my Holiday Sugar Cookies bundle (a $10 value) absolutely free?

You NEED to check out DigiScrapGiveaways. It's a brand new site that is having a 12 Days of Christmas special...you could enter to win some great gifts from some fantastic designers. And for the next couple days it's my turn to give away some stuff!



You have four chances to win my entire Holiday Sugar Cookies bundle (preview above)...go to the website and leave 4 comments (remember to leave these comments at the DigiScrapGiveaways blog, that's where the contest is running!):

For your first entry, leave a comment with your name.
Example: Mary Green

For your second entry, visit The Pixie Mama Designs Shop and check out all of her gorgeous products. Then, come back to DSG and leave a comment with your name, your favorite Pixie Mama product, and what you love about it.
Example: Mary Green: I absolutely love her homespun holidays! It went straight to the shopping cart. :)

For your third entry, post in your Facebook status that you entered to win free digital scrapbooking supplies from Pixie Mama Designs at http://digiscrapgiveaways.blogspot.com and leave us a comment telling us you did so.
Example: Mary Green: Facebook

For your fourth entry, become a follower of Digital Scrapbooking Giveaways and leave us a comment telling us about it!
Example: Mary Green: Follower

That's all you have to do, isn't that easy? Winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 16th so be sure to check back to see if you were a winner. If you weren't lucky enough to win, don't fret...there will be a special coupon given on the blog after the winner is announced so you can still get the bundle at an incredibly cheap price.

I also have a beautiful new release for you. In 2010 I will be bringing you monthly PU grab bags...my first released this weekend at Scrapable and even I have to say...it's gorgeous!



The best part is that these grab bags will be completely revealed! I don't buy a grab bag unless there are no surprises...I'm a picky designer and scrapper and sometimes there are just too many surprises in what you're getting. I don't believe in wasting my hard-earned money! Therefore here are all the items you will be getting this fantastic bag:



The close-ups are resized down slightly to save space but you can see the full-sized version of all the previews under the detailed images in the shop. This grab bag will only be $4 until January 12th and will be seperated and put into the shop on the 15th, when the February PU grab bag will be revealed. (And it will be beautiful, too!)

Go here to grab it, and check out all the other Scrapable designers' new releases while you're there! They have some gorgeous items all for 25% off until midnight tonight!

Speaking of Scrapable...they kicked off their 12 Days of Christmas special event on Friday...today is Day 3, check out the forums to see what all fun is going on today...it may be challenges, a speed scrap, a giveaway...you just don't know until you visit! (You must register for the forum to participate!)

Also if you like to see inspiration from any of my CT members, you should check out either my CT Blog or the Scrapable Galleries. My CT members and the Scrapable Hula Girls have created some BEAUTIFUL pages with some of my products...they make me so proud!

Here's a layout I made with some of the products from my Jan. PU grab bag:



(Please note that the stitches are NOT included in my grab bag, those are from Mira Designs.)

The grab bag colors were the exact colors of my wedding so I ran with that and loved the result! The photo action ran on the photos is one that will be released by InspiredbyDominic Designs very soon, keep checking back at Scrapable, Scrappity-Doo-Dah, or Inspiration-Lane to find out when!

Speaking of Tiffany, I have to leave you with a little bit of a plug. She has come out with this brilliant new action for designers - but it would also be invaluable to scrappers! Ever bought a kit or CU item and weren't sure about the quality? Or question something of your own that you've made? Wanted to check it BEFORE it went through the embarrassment of a failed quality check at your store? Now you can and I highly recommend it!

Her CU Quality Check action is only $5 and is an amazing investment in both your scrapping and designing. It checks for size on a 12x12 canvas, gamut (color when printed) issues, strays and jagged edges, trims your element to save space, blurriness at 100% and checks your element at print size. It will also check papers for these same things. I can tell you that I've had it for about a week and a half, and I've used it hundreds of times now, on different elements, and it's helped me improve so much on quality, especially with gamut. I didn't know how to check this before, and this action has made it 100 times easier to put out quality product. It takes about a minute to run the all-in-one action, and it allows you to stop in between to make any corrections and pick up where you left off. Trust me, it's amazing! You can find that here, here, or here! Also, Tiffany has a freebie up at her shop at Scrappity-Doo-Dah, find that here!

Sorry for the long blog entry...things seem to build up if you don't blog for a while lol! I think that's all for today...have a great weekend!

New Mini Kit, A Freebie, and A Layout Made By Me!

Hey everyone! How is everyone's Tuesday going? Wish mine was going better. My jaw's starting to act up and I'm getting the beginnings of a horrible splitting headache. Heath had to go in to work for a couple of hours because someone called in, so I'm getting some things done so later I can do some scrapping and spend time with him.

I just popped in to let you guys know that I have another new product in my stores. My little hiatus did me quite well. :)

The new kit is a mini kit called Strawberry Margarita. Sound familar? It's one of my entries from The Next Best Thing contest, it's redone and way better. I tried out some new techniques I learned in this one, still perfecting them but it turned out quite well. As per usual, for the rest of August this mini is not the regular price of $3.99, but on sale for $2.99. On September 1st, it will go back to it's regular price. You can grab the mini kit at both of my stores, K-Joi Studios and Scraps With A Mouse.


I also have a freebie quickpage using some elements in the kit. There is one quickpage in both PSD and PNG formats, for use in multiple programs. You can only get the quickpage freebie at K-Joi Studios, so head on over there to grab that.

To wrap this up, I have some more new products coming out soon. Hopefully in the next couple of days. I have some CU products planned. :) Look for me starting to put out some CU overlays very soon. Keep checking back.

Also, my CT Call is still running. Come on guys, I need some CT members! I have lots of fun things planned for the blog and stuff, but I need CT members to help implement them. I'll be retiring some old products to possibly redo them, and putting up tons of new stuff before Christmas, so I need some CT members to help make layouts for those kits. You can grab the details in the last couple of posts. :)

Speaking of layouts...before I go, I wanted to show you guys this layout I made with Beachy Keen. This is my son, Isaac, right before his first birthday, enjoying a bath before bedtime. Doesn't he look like he's having fun?


I used a free template available at A Cherry On Top, and like I said the kit I used was Beachy Keen by me, you can pick that up at K-Joi Studios or Scraps With A Mouse (remember: it's on special as well, for the entire month of August it's only $2.99!). The glitter style used on the title is by Inspired By Dominic Designs, from her Storybook Slumber kit, which you can grab at any of her stores. (Links at her blog.) Coincidentally, some of the papers and elements in Beachy Keen were made using elements from her July CU Grab Bag. You get 5 product packs in her grab bags, for commercial use. Her July bag has already reverted to regular price, but you can grab her August Grab Bag right now for a FANTASTIC special for only the month of August. Some of the products in that bag were used to create Strawberry Margarita...you should go check it out, trust me it's a fantastic deal!

Alright I'm out to go work on some more stuff until Heath gets home. If you made it to the end of this post, you SO deserve that freebie. Head on over and grab that. Later!

IBDD's New Products - Saturday at IL!

Hello everyone! I'm just stopping by to let you all know that if you're a fan of Tiffany from InspiredbyDominic Designs that she will have some new products being released at Inspiration-Lane on Saturday. You should definitely go check them out. These new products are SO fun, and SO perfect for summer. I just love them. You can only get them at IL.

Here are some layouts I created with her new products (and also her freebie that was put out in the IL newsletter - if you're not already, go sign up - more about this in a minute):




Now, onto that newsletter...the designers at IL are having a contest to see who can pimp out the IL newsletter the hardest. Now I'm positive that Tiffany is the best P-I-M-P-er (lol) because I know her, but right now she's heavily outweighed. SO...if you go over to IL and sign up for their newsletter (again, right here), could you please go ahead and sign up for the forum as well, and then go post in this thread saying that Tiffany from InspiredbyDominic Designs referred you to the newsletter? She can win some really cool stuff to help her design, so if you'd like to see more of her designs, help pimp her out!

And...I shouldn't forget to mention this! Tiffany now has a newsletter! Her first edition of the newsletter will be coming out this weekend, and she's showed me the goodies she's planning on packing into it...you'll definitely want to go sign up! She has lots planned for it so head on over to her blog to check it out and sign up!

That's all from me tonight! Very tired and having toddler sleeping problems right now, but I just wanted to let you guys know about Tiff's new products, because you'll definitely want to pick them up. Night night!

Mother's Day part 2 - Papers

Hello everyone, hope you're all having a good night so far!

I came home to a wonderful present this afternoon - apparently, even though I didn't know such a thing existed, it's Creative Team Appreciation Week! Over 100 designers are taking part in this, and have made a HUGE - I mean it, HUGE - kit that is free to all us CT members! And Tiffany is one of the designers! Haven't gotten to play with it, but I'm going to get to that in just a few moments!

Speaking of Tiffany, if you've got little kids or boys in the house or just to scrap, you'll want to check out Tiffany's blog in the next few days. She's got some new products coming out - I've seen them, and they're fabulous!!!

About the elements to the kit - I've decided not to release them. They're not up to my standards. But I've got some time this next week since Heath's on vacation, and I've got a few special things in store!

Alright here they are! Hope you enjoy them and I promise to put out something special to make up for the lack of elements to this kit!Download Here

NSD - Pastels and Polka Dots - Part 2

Before I give you the link to part 2 of my NSD Mega Freebie, I want to take this opportunity to promote some things going on this weekend. There's a ton of stuff!!!!

First, Tiffany is having a major sale on some brand spankin' new CU items in some of her stores. She has put out a brand new CU Grab Bag which is totally revealed, and it has some awesome stuff in it. I'm telling you, if I wasn't on her CT, I would totally be picking this up. And the best part...for this weekend only, it's on sale for over - get this - 90% off!!!!! This will never be on sale again for this low of a price, so you need to head over to her blog, check it out, and she will provide you the links for all of the stores it is carried in. If you also scroll down a post, she has another blog train freebie....I picked up all the blog parts today and they are beautiful. What do you have to lose? Freebies and a mega sale on CU items? Just get going!

Also there are a ton of things going on at K-Joi and Inspiration Lane starting tonight. IL has up a ton of challenges, a fun name that kit game, and a designer appreciation challenge. Not to mention the wonderful sales going on in their store. K-Joi's fun starts tonight and to kind of kick things off there is a speed scrap going on tonight hosted by Oase of Panda Bear Designs...the scrap will last one hour and at the end you will have a beautiful layout. It's also a possibility that I will be there helping co-host...I haven't confirmed that yet, but I know I will be there participating. There is also a speed scrap tonight at IL hosted by Shannon of Silly Bean Scraps and who other than Tiffany, and I should be participating in that also. Well, I will participate if I can keep up with both lol. K-Joi's will start at 8PM EST, and IL's at 9pm EST. Come join us, should be exciting!

Also, you should stay logged on to K-Joi all weekend when possible, because the Prize Princess just might catch you doing something good (posting in the forum/gallery, leaving comments, participating in chats, posting to challenges, etc.) and gift you something fabulous!!!

Ok, enough of that, I know you just want your freebie lol...here's part 2. Hope you enjoy and if you make something with it, I'd love to see it!

Download part 2 Here

P.S. Wanted to let you know...I noticed while doing a layout and the preview that the journaling strips are quite small in comparison to everything else. I apologize for that. I have noticed that if you do enlarge them, there isn't a ton of quality loss in them. But if anybody else downloads and has problems with quality loss, let me know either in email to lilplayb0ybunny69@hotmail.com or in a comment on my blog (any post!) and I will gladly redo them and post the link. I apologize for this again, I'm just still getting used to paying attention to how big my elements are in comparison to the papers. And thanks for downloading!

IT'S UP!

Those were Tiffany's exact words to me last night lol...

But she should be excited! And so should you! Because the secret is out! Her new store is...

*drumroll please*

INSPIRATION LANE!

And through May 4th (which is the Monday after NSD), she's having a 35% off sale at her new store in Inspiration Lane. She has several exclusive things up already, and Jamie's Rainbow is up there if you're interested in picking that up. Pick it up while it's on sale! Help Tiffany get settled into her new store!

Oh and I should also mention, you should check out Tiff's blog while you're at it. She's thrown in a little extra special gift for you, just to sweeten the pot. Because she's just that awesome :) But you'll have to go check out her blog to figure out what it is!

I have some good news and some bad news. You need the good news first. I have come up with a different idea for my NSD freebie kit. It's MUCH better and it's actually something I would probably scrap with. I don't know cause I haven't tried yet lol (and heaven help me if I try to, that I don't absolutely hate it and want to trash it again!)...the bad news? Oh yeah. Ok well I'm stuck. My designing skills are still very limited you see, and there are a lot of things I can't do. So it won't be a total vast array of elements that are all unique from each other. This will be more of a...how would you say it?...add-on, to other kits by other designers. There are still elements that you could do a whole page with just this kit, but I know the way I scrap, I just need a variety of elements to work with. I just need to get a little bit more under my belt. But it will be ready for NSD!

Before I go, I want everybody to go back to that link to Inspiration Lane. Then I want you to head to the forums. Then I want you to sign up. They are starting their NSD festivities almost a week early! That's right, they are holding NSD festivities all week starting today. They are holding Wish-For-It days all week, challenges and some other fun stuff you don't want to miss. Then also, you should check out K-Joi on NSD, they will be holding some uber fun stuff as well. And us over at Tiff's CT may have something in store too, who knows? (Don't get your hopes up, no plans yet :D ) You'll just have to go check out all of Tiff's stores to find out!

I'd better go, I have to work today lol :P Have a good day all of you!

Short tonight

Tonight's blog entry will probably be very short. I'm sort of at a loss for words but feel the need to blog. I guess I could start out with a little bit of advertising.

Tiffany's 25% off sale ends tomorrow. You definitely need to go to her stores at K-Joi, DigiScrapStation, or Digital Paper Hearts and check out her new kit, Creating A Dream. This kit was inspired by the dream she has to one day become a Kindergarten teacher, and the fact that she's going through the schooling she needs to fulfill that dream. She's almost through all that schooling and I know that all of us, her CT, are so very proud of her, and I'm sure her family is so proud of her as well. I'm not sure that all of her stores are at 25% off, but I know that K-Joi is, so you definitely need to check her out there. There are also a ton of other designers there who are having sales. And once again, you NEED to sign up for the K-Joi newsletter before May 2nd, because there are a ton of NSD events planned for Sat, May 2nd. More about NSD in a moment...

Also, I just must advertise Katie at JustSoScrappy. Right now, on her blog, she has a freebie a day event going on. Her current freebie is a Tinkerbell brag book, which is made to fit the Abby Blackboard album by Cosmo Cricket. She is putting out one a day, and has just tonight put out day two. I've downloaded each one and they are fantastic! I'm a big fan of Tinkerbell - I collect Tinkerbell memorabilia, and when we start working on my scrapbook room on the front porch, my spot of the room will be Tinkerbell themed, with accents in teal and purple and a little pink. I have Tink shirts, a doll, a clock, just tons of stuff. She also has put out a kit and a set of quickpages. The kit is just CHOCK full of stuff. I just bought it tonight and it's great. And you will not believe the price. But I'm not going to tell you, because I want you to go to her blog to find out. She has a ton of kits there and they are all VERY reasonably priced, and chock full of wonderful, high-quality stuff. GO!!!

Up until today, I thought I would be here for most of the day on NSD, BUT...now I'm not so sure. My mom just told me today that she was thinking about going out of town an hour away to the scrapbook store there. Scrapbook store on NSD? Yeah. You know I can't resist that. I'm so very fortunate that I didn't offer to host a chat or anything for K-Joi, because I was thinking about it. I will still be able to make probably one of the chats, at 10am, because my mom has to work that day until about noon. So we will probably leave town around 12:30 or 1, unless she gets off early. It also kind of depends on whether my grandmother will have to reschedule her hair appt for that day too. It would be kind of nice to go. Even though I love K-Joi, I haven't gone out of town to the scrapbook store in quite a while, and I will have a rather large check that weekend...and it IS NSD.

I have to go, I have to get up early in the morning for work. We'll see about NSD when it gets closer. Have a good night!