Celebrating National Scrapbooking Day with BasicGrey!!!

Join me on Saturday, May 5th - 12 noon CST! on the  BasicGrey Blog

[inter] National Scrapbook Day – Blog Hop Freebie!

I have always been excited by the fact that a hobby that I love has it's own special day. I think it ranks right up there with Mother's Day in my house. My family has already been instructed that I will not be available to them all day.... This weekend is [inter] National Scrapbook Day, and as part of the celebration at Design House Digital, we’ve got an awesome collab kit from the Design House Designers, Retrospect :

 Did you know that you can grab it for free? YES FREE! And, to make it even easier, it’s right in the shop at DHD, and all you have to do is follow along on the blog hop to grab the coupon code, and then download at your convenience. So fabulous, don't you think? So, if you wandered in to my blog first, you need to stop, head back to the beginning and start collecting your letters!

I also want to share with you a little tip I use when I am creating. Do you love to add a little bit of pop to your photos or elements, but don't always like the idea of adding a shadow? I do - so I stroke it...a pretty simple way to give it a little something. I am using Photoshop Elements 10.0 and all you have to do is select the layer you want stroked, Edit > Stroke Selection. You can adjust the number depending how much you want added. I usually stroke the inside, but you can try outside as well and see what you like better. In my layout, here, that I created for the Retrospect collab kit, I stroked the photo, outside, at 16 to give it the white outline.  I also use a lot of white backgrounds, so I typically stroke the layout as well to give it a little border.

Now a little contest from me...do you want a chance to win a $10 Gift Certificate from Design House Digital?. I created an alphabet (with some bonus words) that you can download HERE.

You have two ways to be eligible for the Gift Certificate, leave a comment here and for a second entry  use the freebie alpha on any layout (recoloring it is fine) and post a gallery link here on my blog for a random chance to win! simple!! You will have until 11:59 PM (EST) on Tuesday, May 8 to be eligible.

Don’t forget to grab your letter, because you’ll need that to get the amazing Retrospect kit free!

If you are participating in the layout challenge, my prompt for you is to: Use a fastener (tape, staples, stitch, etc.) to attach your photo.

Now, head on over to Jen Flaherty's blog to see what she has in store for you!

Happy International Scrapbooking Day!!

Design House Digital Blog Hop

**WINNER** - tapeMar 13, 2012 05:55 PM
congrats! I will send off your GC this weekend! thanks everyone for playing along.


we are starting off March with a bang at Design House Digital. Join us!!

We are also doing a blog hop today including some tips, tricks and freebies. Make sure you visit all the blogs today and collect all your featured letters. Take those back to the correct page at Design House Digital, everyone who correctly enters the letters will be entered into the drawing for a Wacom Bamboo Capture tablet. Contest entries must be received by Wednesday, March 14th at 11:59 PM MST. CONTEST CLOSED.

I love working with templates and decided today to share one I created with you along with a few tips on making it your own.

Here is the layout I created today with it:

a few other ways to use the template would be to flip it, rotate it, resize it and even switch up the layers.

Rotated:

Resized:

Flipped:

Remember, a template is just a starting point, you can do so much to really make it your own.

Here is the template freebie for you to download. If you do download it, please leave me a comment. Those who leave a comment by Wednesday, March 14th at 11:59 pm (est) will be entered into a drawing for a $5.00 DHD Gift Certificate.

DOWNLOAD HERE

thanks for stopping by.

Mary
brought to you by the letter M

other DHD bloggers today:

Liz
Anna
Aria
Audrey
Carey
Celeste
Celeste S
Erica
Gennifer
Jen A
Jen P
Karen
Katherine
Lori
Mandi
Robyn
Sarah
Shannon
Tiffany
Wendy

Project Life and My catch up post : )

love the challenge of keeping up with this project. I am journaling a little bit every day, taking my photos and recording the bits of our life. February is winding down for me, which after the past three weeks of crazy is a good thing. We have had a ton of hockey games, a tournament this weekend and then off to The Soo for State Finals. Madison has been sick with a UTI that is finally getting better and I had to deal with recall attempts, Circuit Court dates and Township Budget prep, but I am getting it done and after the Presidential Primary next Tuesday I will be able to breathe a little sigh of relief.

and tomorrow, we will be celebrating!! I married my best friend 27 years ago!! crazy...just doesn't seem possible that it was 27 years ago.

so, as I said I am loving the challenge of keeping up with my Project Life album. I am sharing weeks 3 thru 5 below. week 6 is almost done and 7 is in my head.

enjoy!!!

Week Three - Jan 15th-21st

Week 4 - Jan 22nd thru 28th

Week 5 - Jan 29th thru Feb 4th

Basic Grey - Scarlett's Letter

When I was asked to create a layout for the Basic Grey blog based on the fabulous design of marieetmichael I knew exactly what photo and kit I wanted to use.  Basic Grey's Scarlett's Letter is still one of my favorite lines.  It worked perfectly with our recent family photo.

 

SUPPLIES : [SCARLET’S LETTER] SCR-D066 Starter Kit, SCR-D067 Patterns,  SCR-D068 Textures, SCR-D069 Elements, SCR-D071 Notes, SCR-D074 Trims, SCR-D075 Baubles, [VAGABOND]  VAG-D219 Quick Page Word Art, [BLITZEN] BLI-D622 Starter Kit.

Project Life. Week Two

My week 2 is complete! thanks for letting me share : )

Supplies:
Becky Higgins Templates (jessicasprague.com); Shannon Hegarty - Secretary Papers (designhousedigital.com); Karla Dudley - Today Stamps (designhousedigital.com); One Little Bird -  Check It Card 5 (oscraps.com); Paislee Press - Today I am Stamp, 2012 Calendar Calendar kit, Round about now (oscraps.com); Sue C - Everyday Life word (oscraps.com); Becky Higgins - Clementine Elements journaling tag, stamp 2 (jessicasprague.com); Viva Artistry - Pocket Freebie (thedigichick.com); Font - CK Mini.

Project Life. Love.

I love the idea and really it is the way I have scrapped my pages over the past few years.  Sharing a little bit about us, telling our stories and sharing the photos.  Now I am committed to the project in its entirety with Project Life.  Becky Higgins explains the memory keeping method on her website.  Several of my scrapping friends are doing the project and I just couldn't resist.  Some are doing the core paper edition, some are doing a hybrid version and some like me are doing it the digital way!  There are so many fabulous digital products out there that I knew this was the way I was going to go.  And even though I was tempted to purchase the core kit and do a paper version it just isn't me anymore and I knew I wouldn't be happy.  The hardest part really was deciding on the templates.  I really love these and bought a few to start and then decided I wanted my project to really look more Project Life-like so I went with the templates by Becky Higgins offered at jessicasprague.com .

Here is my completed Week 1 - I love how it turned out!

Supplies:
Becky Higgins Templates (jessicasprague.com); Shannon Hegarty - Secretary Papers (designhousedigital.com); Karla Dudley - Today Stamps (designhousedigital.com); One Little Bird -  Check It Card 5 (oscraps.com); Paislee Press - Today I am Stamp, 2012 Calendar Calendar kit, Round about now (oscraps.com); Viva Artistry - Pocket Freebie (thedigichick.com); Font - CK Mini.