This Freebie Giveaway represents a first on a couple of levels. First, it is the first freebie from DigiScrapQuickPages.com. Second, the patriotic papers used for the “stripes” were made by ME! They are supposed to be reminiscent of Dad’s ties! With the help of some CU templates by JayaPrem and a glitter gel by Flergs! I also made the frame with a template by Flergs and actions by Amanda Rockwell and Atomic Cupcake.  As for all of the beautiful “white” accents….all the credit and thanks goes to Nikki Epperson!

In fact, you can thank her too because she has generously provided a 35% off coupon code for DigiScrapQuickPages.com visitors! Her templates are fabulous for learning to cluster, give them a try! A little disclaimer, I met Nikki last week in person because she is from my hometown and I recently joined her Creative Team!

You will find the FREE quick page designs in 12×12 and 16×20 formats on DigiScrapQuickPages.com. If for some reason a pop up window does not make it apparent where to go, then click on “Featured>>Nikki Epperson.”

I hope you have a Patriotic Dad in your family, I have a few in mine!

Note: If you want to create a gift for Dad with this year’s Father’s Day photos but don’t have the proper software then let me know and I’d be happy to help you on a Scrap For Hire basis. The design is already done, so I can fix you up at minimal cost!

This is a first for me! A page created completely for free thanks to a chat and a challenge! Thanks to Scrappin with Liz for the template, part of her “Heart Templates IV” collection. And, to Lauren Grier Designs for the “More Than Stars” kit!

So, if you are new to digital scrapbooking, here’s a hint….you get free goodies in chats!

Other Credits: Titles were made with Atomic Cupcake actions and the mask is by New Life Dreams.

Well, is has now been nearly a month since I did a “soft-launch” of DigiScrapQuickPages.com to Digital Scrapbook Designers. My goal was to sign up 25 designers for the site, the newsletter, and for them to upload some products. Plus I asked them to “like” my site or my Facebook page. Well, I learned a lesson….I made it too complicated! I came close to my goal, I have 23 designers registered at the site! Thank-you for making my launch a success!

But, I only had ten people that followed through on all of my way too complicated requests!

My month anniversary is actually Monday, but that is the same day the Shutterfly codes expire. So, I’m ending the contest today to give the winners a chance to use their codes. As mentioned in a previous post, Janet Lawrence won the first book.

As promised I did a drawing among the second set of five designers…and the winner is…

Designs by CRK

Next I decided to give all ten of the people who so patiently followed all of my requests a second chance to win! And the winner is…

Jill Dzines

Finally, I drew two more names among everyone who has registered for my site and/or newsletter.  The winners were:

Litabells

Sweet Tomato Designs

Congratulations to everyone! And thank you for supporting the launch of DigiScrapQuickPages.com

You only have through June 14th to redeem your coupons! I will email them to you! Thanks to Shutterfly for picking me to host a House Party and providing the gifts. I had extras which worked out great for all of you!

Kiki is bringing something fresh and new to digi-land. I can’t wait to share it with you. But, for now all I can say is she is looking for some new talent! Please think about applying for her CT, she is great to work with!

There is something about making a Dandelion necklace in Spring that brings back magical childhood memories. I remember playing in the woods at our summer cabin. (We lived the rest of the year in the Middle East because my dad was in the Oil Business.) And we would do things like fold notes up into tiny bundles and hide them in the knot of a tree. I remember actually believing a tiny little person might find the note.

When I watch my kids play I hope they are building lots of happy memories. This day I tried to show my four year old how to make a Dandelion necklace. She liked picking the flowers, but she was a little too impatient to learn how. I was happy to get her to lay down in the flower bed for this photo. I only wish I’d done it the week before when it was covered with little purple flowers!

To create the photo I played with all kinds of artistic filters and blending options. The middle of the photo was selected with a messy painterly mask and then I applied the woodcut filter. Then another copy of the photo on the layer behind has a couple of different filters applied. Next I clipped it to an aged piece of paper and also used that paper as an overlay.

I really wanted the necklace to pop, so I painted it back in from the original photo, duplicated that layer and applied another art filter. Then, I applied a shadow to the necklace layer. Dawn Inskip’s child-like doodles were the perfect finishing touch, they really helped capture the magic of playing outside in spring time!

Here is the original photo of my daughter Raeleigh:

Credits: Several kits from Dawn Inskip, Bokeh paper from MK Designs,  Sunburst Overlay from Spinky Dinky Scraps, Scallop frame from MMullens, glitter style from Flergs, Ribbons by Amanda Heimann

The designers in the digital scrapbook industry are forever generous, giving away kits and gift certificates. This time YOU get to be the winner!

The purpose of this contest is to promote the Beta launch of my new web property “DigiScrapQuickPages.com.” The site will remain in “Beta” while I promote it to the Designer community. But anyone can visit the site now! And even register to participate in voting and comments on the product.

Designers, please accept this invitation to go and check out what DigiScrapQuickPages.com has to offer your business. And, help me get the word out about this launch promotion! The odds rarely get better than a 1 in 5 chance of winning! For every 5 designers that complete all four steps I’m giving away a 8×8 Shutterfly coupon code. I have 5 codes left over from my House Party event. But, hurry, they expire June 14th! By the way, I have A LOT of designers that have done at least one of the steps but very few who have done them ALL! I’m thinking you did not see the announcements at DST or Twitter #digiscrap!

1. Register at DigiScrapQuickPages.com
2. Sign up for the Designer Newsletter, the link is in the FAQ
3. Upload at least one Quick Page or Template
4. Click the FB “like” button on my website’s home page AND/OR click the “like” button on my Facebook page. Note, evidently, if you click the button at my website I can’t tell who clicked it. So, I picked the first set of winners without this criteria. But, I’d really appreciate the Designers helping me get the word out by spreading the word to your friends on Facebook.

WINNERS WILL BE UPDATED HERE:

1. The first winner is Janet Lawrence of As You Wish Designs! Here are the screenshots from Random Number Generator:Congratulations to Janet and MUCH gratitude to her for her feedback about DigiScrapQuickPages.com to date!
2. TBD
3. TBD
4. TBD
5. TBD

In the middle of launching my new digital scrapbooking web property (watch for an announcement soon) I somehow volunteered to do a video scrapbook for my Father-In-Law’s church. Knowing I’d be crunched for time my husband suggested I make a single background design to match the music video that would play beforehand.

I didn’t get to watch the video and slide show, but I’m sure it was touching because the music video was fantastic. Here is the link to the “Thank-You Mom” video from “Sermon Spice.”

Here is the end of the video with only the photos from our family. Sorry about the quality of this web version!

Credits: Photo Corners-Mira Designs, Vintage Photo Frame-Katie Pertiet, Flowers/Butterfly-Kasia Designs, Glitter/Glitter Gel styles and “sparks”-Flergs, scroll stamps by BitBox, papers were by too many people that I can’t remember but they are un-discernible because it is about 5 blended layers.

Well, I missed getting photos in the Daffodils this year. But, I did get some quick snapshots with the Azealias. It was kind of impromptu. My sister called to see if we wanted to have a playdate while she watched my other sister’s kids. Danielle had worn this pink wig to school for “hat day” and I wanted a photo of her in it. So, I grabbed my camera as we headed out the door. Good thing, because I think the Azealias will be almost gone by next weekend!

This kit was a freebie collaboration that a slew of artists put together for Digi Shop Talk in honor of (inter)National Scrapbook Day. If you are a member at Digi Shop Talk and have at least 5 posts in the forum you can upload a layout using the kit by midnight tonight for a chance to win a fantastic prize. A lifetime membership to the forum where you will get a free kit each month.

The layout also uses a template by Bella Gypsy that I found on sale yesterday, and an AWESOME glitter gel style by Flergs. I love to use styles and actions on fonts because it is so much easier than grabbing one Alpha at a time to build your title!

My husband’s college buddy had a baby a couple of weeks ago. He is a basketball coach and high school Principal. And, just like my husband, a huge Michael Jordan fan. So, my husband went out and bought a cute set of Jordan infant clothes and he asked me to make a special tag with the baby’s name.

That day I happened to have seen a door hanger template….I’m sorry, I wish I could remember where. So, I thought I’d try and use it.

I gave the hanger a “stroke” and printed the stroke on the back of orange cardstock. After cutting it out by hand I ran it through the Cuttlebug to emboss the “basketball” texture. I put some orange distress ink on the embossing folder first, although it was almost the same color and you can’t really see it. I also cut a backing out of very heavy duty orange glitter paper.

The baby is from the Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge, and his face is a stamp by Peachy King. I found another newborn Jordan outfit on the internet and messed around with warping it until it would fit my baby. I literally made my Photoshop screen show “actual size” and kept holding the baby up there to the screen to check and see if the outfit would “fit” him yet.

The “crib” is actually part of a “fence”, I think from New Life Dreams? I clipped a blue polka-dot paper over it and played with blending modes till it looked right. After making the name tag I adhered it with a cute button brad. Then covered the backside with the glitter card stock piece.

Finally I distressed the edges and tied bits of ribbon around the top. I think it turned out adorable, although the “real” Beau has a beautiful thick head of black hair!

I’d been wanting an excuse to buy this fabulous Alice in Wonderland kit from Tangie Baxter called “Impossible Things.” So, when I needed to make a quick card for a friend on the same day I got a coupon from Tangie I knew exactly what I was buying!

This card is for Elizabeth Montgomery, a sweet friend who has an amazing voice. She sings her own music in little church concerts around the country. She also turned a poem about our son Gabe, written by my Father In Law Jack Nester into a beautiful song about his life in Heaven.

The words to one of Elizabeth’s songs surround the image:
“Now is the time to worship the Lord. Gathered together in one accord. No other place we’d rather be than in the Father’s Sanctuary. If we don’t praise Him the rocks will cry out. Heaven and Earth will lift up our shout.”

Here it is assembled into a card:

You can listen to the song on her Facebook page.

I thought it was appropriate for Easter. I’m just now posting it because I wanted to give it time to reach her in the mail.

Credits: Kit-Tangie Baxter. The skinny frame is by Christina Renee and the flower/jewel are Prima. Ribbon is Michael’s dollar bin. Elizabeth’s face is used for “Alice” instead of the face in Tangie’s kit.