New Releases, Template Challenge, Layout and Freebie

NEW RELEASES
New from me this week at Scrapbook-Elements; Ocean View. As you know I have a ton of beach photos and I retired Beach Walk, my 'go-to' beach set earlier in the month. I quickly found I needed something new for my beach photos thus Ocean View was created. This set is inspired by the pebble and driftwood covered, often cloudy beaches of the Pacific Northwest.



A closer up view of the elements.



I also released a couple of brush sets. These brushes are great for adding a fun, geometric, visual aspect to your pages.
Round in Circles



Be Square Brushes



TEMPLATE CHALLENGE
I am the sponsoring designer of this week's Hooked on Templates Challenge at Scrapbook-Elements. To take part visit the SBE Hooked on Templates forum and download the template shown below.



Create a layout using the template and any SBE products. Post your layout to the Hooked on Templates gallery and link to it in the forum thread and you'll receive the template shown below via pm in the SBE forums. For instructions, download and gallery link see the Hooked On Template Forum.



LAYOUT: YOU MAKE ME HAPPY

This is my favorite photo of me and Jamin. Recently I've been on a journaling kick, but this photo really does speak for itself. A huge thanks to Holli Dunn for capturing his precious little giggle and the joy it brings me.


Credits: Photo by Holli Dunn Photography, Papers from About a Boy 3 to 5 Years, flower from High Impact, 'spirited' square from Starting in Style and circle brushes from Round in Circles Brushes all by me and available at Scrapbook-Elements

FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is a rub-on element I made from the Round in Circles Brushes as well as a frame and ribbon element I put together for the layout above. I titled the grouping Happy as that is the tone of the layout I made them for. Enjoy!

Reader's Showcase - Title Inspiration

Sale and Product Info

One note before I get to the Reader's Showcase - I've had several people ask where some of my products that used to be at Scrapbook-Bytes have gone. I've removed all my products from Scrapbook-Bytes, except the Grab Bag items and other products I will be retiring at the end of the month (now all marked 50% off). All the remaining products are either currently available in my store at Scrapbook-Elements or will be re-released there within the next two weeks. Some of the specific products that have been asked about include the About a Boy series (currently at SBE), Starting in Style (to be released on Sunday) and Classy (to be re-released 8/5).

By August 5th my entire inventory will be at SBE excepting those products now on close-out at SBB.

READER'S SHOWCASE

I chose title inspiration as the theme for this month's Reader's Showcase since it is an area in which I am always lacking ideas. Typically I pick from my favorite fonts, type the title onto the page and leave it at that. Lately I've been working more with alphas, but still lacking in the creativity department.

Thanks so much to everyone who posted links to their pages. Browsing through everyone's blogs and galleries provided tons of inspiration. Everyone puts so much of their heart into their pages and they are all so special and unique I find it impossible to choose one layout over another. However, I couldn't make this column 60+ layouts long either, so I selected a handful of pages with particularly creative but simple ideas for enhancing titles.

Here are some of the great ideas blog reader's shared (click on any layout to see the layout posted online with credits).

Incorporating Elements

Several readers submitted great title work incorporating elements such as Hit Me with Your Best Shot by wildblueeyez.



Laura Kockelkorn used a penny in place of a word in her Penny for Your Thoughts.



I thought the use of the cards to spell the key word in Love Cannot Be Measured by michellefilo was a great touch as was using the title and the measuring tape element to create a theme for the page.



Title Placement

Typically I put my title above or below the the photo or along the top or bottom of the page. I took inspiration from the creative and effective title placement in some of your pages.

In I Love My Poser, tape split the title between the top and bottom of the photo. The stamped heart border not only ties the two components together, but creates a visual path that guides the eye across the page and incorporates the journaling into the rest of the grouping.



I had to look for a few seconds to find the title in keepscrappin's Cherish Your Happy Moments, but once I found it written right on the photograph and tucked under that adorable face, it just seemed perfect.



I'm moving more toward two page layouts in my personal scrapping and I always force myself to chose one page or the other for the title. I'm going to take inspiration from Baskets & Boxes and do some two-page titles as well (Layout artist didn't use a screen name, but based on the blog link, I'm guessing it is by one Ms. McBride).



The placement of the title in Blow Out by Sokkie serves as a prominent design element and keeps the bottom right photo the main visual interest on the page.



Featured Fontwork

These layouts featured some excellent, attention grabbing fontwork.

Lorigaud did an excellent job selecting different font types and sizes in her 5 Reasons layout. The choice to use a single color for all the words in the title prevents it from being too busy or difficult to read. A 'time out' page is on my list of to-do's for Jamin's album, I may just have to scraplift Lori's.



Buttercup 9210 did a terrific job making her comical captions 'pop' off the page in BUSTED!



The titlework in The Big Toy Story by snojewel really pulls off the theme of 'big boys' and their 'big toys'.



Finally I love the look of the single word scrawled font title overtop of the pretty papers and grungy cardboard in Bree's Eva. It creates and odd mix of unexpected elements that somehow works.



Thanks again to those who took the time to submit links. I really appreciate it. Have a great weekend everyone!

Back in Town

Jamin and I are back from our excursion to Sequim to the Lavender Photoshoot and Scrapfest. This was a two day event for area photographers and digital scrappers to enjoy (and photograph) the beautiful lavender fields in Sequim as well as participate in a host of other activities. Jamin and I left the house around 5:00am Tuesday morning to be in Sequim in time for a morning of touring the Lavender fields with the group. Jamin had a wonderful time running up and down the rows of lavendar. I thought he was just having fun running around until he told me he was 'chasing bees'. Ooops, not such a good plan! Fortunately Jamin and the bees made it through the morning unharmed. Several other attendees brought their kids as well and they all got along wonderfully. Though all the other kids were older than Jamin, they treated him so wonderfully - I was blessed to see him having a great time hanging out with the 'big kids'. The morning tour was followed up by crafting, a reception at Priss's house, a wonderful dinner (made by several of the men in the group), yummy dessert, musical entertainment (an acapella group and each time a song ended, Jamin would yell 'more songs' - totally cracked me up). Jamin and I stayed last night in a hotel and spent the morning having breakfast together 'grown-up' style (he's a great date) before heading back to the group where I got the honor of teaching a Photoshop workshop alongside Priss before we all made our way home.

I had a great time with everyone as well a many treasured little moments with Jamin. A huge thanks to Priss and the rest of her committee, Nicki, Connie, Dick, Rina, Andy, Nancy, Winona and Lisa for organzing the event. Also thanks to Caitlin, Kaitlyn, Conlon and Rebekah for being such wonderful friends and examples to Jamin. He is still talking about you guys!

I hope to have photos ready soon.

Free Sample
No longer available. Here is a page border and frame for you. Enjoy!

Announcement, Sale, Newletter, etc.

ANNOUNCEMENT
Happy Tuesday everyone! I don't have any fancy graphics today, but I do have a host of important information to share. With baby on the way I've been working to figure out how to continue with my design work while still making sure I have plenty of time to devote to family and home life. I've decided one of the best ways to streamline my work is to put all my designs in one store, so I am thrilled to announce that as of August 1st my entire inventory will be available at Scrapbook-Elements.

I have loved my time at Scrapbook-Bytes and all the designers and site team there have been wonderful. I wish everyone there at SBB all the best!

The only items remaining in my SBB store are the Grab Bag items and other products that will be retired at the end of the month. So....

SALE
If you haven't already, be sure to check out my Create Your Own Grab Bag section at SBB. Fill your cart with the items you want. Use coupon code createdmygrabbag at checkout to receive 75% off the posted price (or $.50 per grab bag item). Coupon is good for one use per account so make sure you grab everything you want.

Also check the rest of my store at SBB - everything except the grab bag items are 50% off and will be retired at the end of the month.

NEWSLETTER AND COMMUNICATIONS
Starting in August, I will be releasing a weekly newsletter containing information about new product releases, any sales, challenges or other events, creative team layouts and links to selected blog posts. You can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking on the 'Misty Cato Designs Newsletter' icon in the sidebar, or just click here, and enter your email address. This newsletter will not be as extensive as the previous 'Inspired to Scrap' (which I have not been able to find the time to continue publishing). Those previously subscribed to Inspired to Scrap will need to sign up again if you'd like to receive the weekly newsletter.

Please note, the weekly newsletter will be a comprehensive summary of all my design activites that week. If you are a daily blog reader or subscribe to the blog feed all the material in the newsletter will be redundant. Reading the blog will still be the best way for up-to-the-day information. However if you want a summary all in one place without having to wade through my commentary on the daily escapades of Jamin - the newsletter is the way to go.

BLOG UPDATES
My blog remains my favorite way to communicate with scrappers, customers and share things with the digital community. Up to this point I've tried to update daily, however there are always a couple of days a week that I end up posting a 'Not much today' sort of update. For now, I am going to try to forego posting on the weekends (no Friday night and Saturday night posts). This will allow me to ignore the computer on the weekend without feeling guilty while freeing me up to write more meaningful commentary and create more fun freebies for the other days of the week. So don't worry about me if you don't hear from me on the weekends - I'm just out playing with my family.

I'm off to Sequim in the morning for the Lavendar Photoshoot and Scrapfest. I don't know if I'll have internet access, so it may be Wednesday night before I post again and I'll definately be back Thursday with the Readers' Showcase. If you haven't sent me your links, it's not too late. Read this post of more information (scroll to bottom of post).

New Release and Free Sample

Released today at Scrapbook-Elements - High Impact, available as a paper pack, element pack or full page set.



A closer up view of the elements.



While the set turned out to be rather girlie, it was inspired by Jamin (like pretty much everything I do).

I had these photos of him playing with a streamer and wanted a fun, bright set to scrap them with.



The individual pages closer-up.





FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is a sampler from the new set.

Day Out with Thomas

Just a quick post tonight as we spent the day taking Jamin to "A Day Out with Thomas". We had a wonderful time and I already scrapped some of the photos.

The journaling reads - We took Jamin to the ‘Day Out with Thomas’ at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. He had a great time exploring all the activities centering on his favorite playtime toy. He looked so bewildered the whole time – it was a kick. The event included music, food, big tents full of train tables for the kids to play with, appearance by Sir Topham Hat, a large gift shop full of Thomas stuff and the train ride, which ended up having a terrific view. Jamin did it all, ate pizza, danced to the music, shook Sir Topham’s hand, picked out a new Thomas shirt, played with the train tables and, of course, rode Thomas, yelling “all aboard” just as we left the depot. Barron and I enjoyed seeing Jamin so enamored by the event.


Credits: On the Go page set and the alpha that comes with the On the Go brag book, Misty's Templates - So Many Photos, all at Scrapbook-Elements, glitter swirls from High Impact available at SBE 7/22/07

I'll be back tomorrow with a new product announcement and free sample.

Soccer Week 2 and Call for Reader Showcase

Jamin and I had our second Mom and Me soccer class today. It went pretty much the same as the first one except today it was pouring down rain and I couldn't convince him to leave his hood up. I did manage to take a few photos though.

We started with the 'Find the Right Color Flag' game. We did great - Jamin loves this part.





Here come the soccer balls. Come on Jamin, kick the soccer ball to the flag!



Jamin has a 'better' idea.



Jamin says 'no more pictures.' So I took one last shot and put the camera away.



READER'S SHOWCASE

Every now and again, I'd like to do a column featuring reader pages. Next week's Reader's Showcase column will be on the theme of 'Title Inspiration.' I'd love it if you left a comment with a link to a layout you've created that has your favorite title-work. I'll pick a few and showcase them in next week's column. The page can be using any supplies (i.e. they don't have to be mine.) The only guidelines are

1) You must be the creator of the layout,
2) When you link me to your page, make sure the gallery or blog post has the layout credit information and
3) By posting a link to your layout, you grant permission for the layout to posted here on the blog should I choose it.

So let me see your pages. Please don't be shy, I love seeing a variety of styles and topics. Thanks in advance for participating!

Letter Frames Freebie

Hello everyone - this week is just flying by! I wish I had some funny anecdotes or something interesting to share, but it has been a utterly normal week filled with little more than playing with Jamin, trips to the grocery store and working on the computer. All fun things for me (well maybe not the trips to the grocery store) but they hardly make for interesting blogging.

Saturday Barron and I are taking Jamin to 'A Day Out with Thomas' at the Snohomish County Train Museum and Tuesday and Wednesday Jamin and I are going to Sequim, WA for a event with area photographers and digital scrappers, so hopefully I'll have more interesting commentary next week. At the very least I'll have more fun photos to scrap.

No longer available. Meanwhile here is a little freebie. This is a set of two small frames intended to be used to accent letters or words in titles and journaling. The words in the preview aren't included, but are there to demonstrate possible uses for the frames. Enjoy!

LO: Walking in Water

When Jamin visits my parents in Oak Harbor there is almost always a trip to the beach involved. I have so many photos of him on the beach that his album is going to be full of them. I just couldn't resist scrapping these of him wading in jeans and sneakers on a cool windy day. He loved the shallow streams and pools in the sandbar area when the tide was out.



Here are the individual pages a bit larger.




Credits: Everything is mine and from About a Boy 3 to 5 Years and 5 to 9 Years as well as the now retired Beach Walk. The font is a custom handwriting font by Terry Maruca, Scrapbook-Elements

Notes from my Journaling Workshop

Today I started getting materials together for a workshop I'm contributing to at the Lavendar Photoshoot and Scrapfest next week and was reminded of a journaling workshop I did last year. It's over a year later and I still have to constantly remind myself how important journaling is.

The workshop was 'hands on'. I asked participants to bring at least two photos; one of a person they loved and one of a specific moment or event. We then went through a free writing exercise where I provided a series of prompts and people wrote whatever came to mind as they looked at the photo. Once we finished freewriting, participants looked back over their writing and highlighted sentences, phrases or words that they might want to put on their layout. From there we worked on incorporating the chosen journaling into our layouts.

While this exercise is probably too time-intensive for every page, it is a worthwhile exercise every now and again for that special page or whenever you know you want to include some journaling, but don't have an idea what to write.

I thought I'd include the list of freewriting prompts here for anyone interested in giving it a try. These are just a starting point. Feel free to take your writing in any direction that feels right.

Journaling About a Person
- What feeling does this person evoke it you?
- What is it about them that makes you feel this way?
- How do you feel about yourself when you are with them?
- If you could only say one more sentence to this person, what would it be?
- How have you changed since you met this person? How has your life change since you met?
- What changes have you seen in this person since you met them?
- What is your dream/hope/prayer/wish for them?

Journaling About an Event
- Why is this event significant?
- What instigated the event? What led up to it? What caused it?
- How did the event make you feel? Did it touch your heart or spirit? If so, how?
- What were the results of the event?
- Who else was there?
- How did the presence of others effect your experience?
- Ten years from now, what do you think will remain with you from this event?

Creating an Overlay

Blog reader sherryd left a request for a tutorial on creating overlays, thus inspiring today's post. Overlays are images of varying opacity, usually grayscale than can be placed over background papers to achieve various effects (grunge, texture, etc.). Overlays can be created using many tools including brushes, photographs and text. For this tutorial I will be using the Waterstain brushes from Obsidian Dawn.

Start with a 12x12 inch, 300ppi canvas. Create a new empty layer; Layer -> New -> Layer or keystroke Shift+Ctrl+N.



Set you foreground color to black. If you haven't already, load the brush set you'd like to use. For a tutorial on installing and loading brushes, see the Installing Photoshop Brushes Tutorial from Obsidian Dawn.

Choose your brush tip and set the desired size and opacity in the options toolbar at the top of the screen. For best results choose a brush opacity between 10 and 90%.

Click on your canvas to 'stamp' your brush image.

Create another new layer; Layer -> New -> Layer or keystroke Shift+Ctrl+N. Change your brush by changing the tip, orientation and/or opacity and stamp again one or more times on your canvas.

Note: The brushwork in the lower left corner of my canvas looks green, but it is an artifact of my screen shot program; really it's all grayscale.



Continue stamping various brushes at varying opacities on your canvas. Putting each new image in its own layer allows you to adjust the layer opacities of each one individually, should you wish to make adjustments later. Or if you don't like a particular part of the brushwork, you can delete those layers without starting over.



Once you are satisfied with your image, delete the background layer by dragging the background in the layers palette it to the trash icon at the base of the palette. Merge the remaining layers; Layer->Merge Visible or keystroke Shift+Ctrl+E. Save the overlay as a .png file.



Open a background paper. Click and drag the background onto the canvas with your overlay and drag the paper layer to below the overlay layer in the layers palette.



Click on the overlay layer in the layers palette to set it as the active layer. Click on the down arrow to the right of the word 'Normal' in the layers palette and select 'Overlay' from the drop down menu.



The stain overlay effect has now been applied to my solid paper. Feel free to play with the other blending modes for different effects. You may also want to lower the opacity of the overlay to make the effect more subtle. For a more dramatic effect, you can duplicate the overlay, thus increasing the original opacity.



This tutorial is just one take on the possibilities of overlays. Also, the Creating Texture from a Photograph tutorial is essentially using a photo as an overlay, so check that one out for a slightly different approach on the same topic.

Soccer Related Freebie

No longer available. In response to yesterday's post about my budding young soccer star, one reader mentioned she would be on the look out for soccer kits. I'm not sure I'm ready to venue into sports themed kits yet, but I did make a couple of little stickers to scrap our new adventure onto the playing field.

Tiny Tot Soccer and New Release

My son and I took our first "Mommy and Me" soccer class yesterday. Here's how it went -

Activity 1: Mom is suppose to point to a color on a pre-printed page and tot and mom are to find the matching color flag on the field.

Jamin was a wiz. Aside from confusing blue and purple, he had that game down.

Activity 2: Tot gets a ball to kick around.

No problem here too. Kicking things is fun.

Activity 3: Mom is to point to a color on the page again and tot is to dribble the ball to the corresponding flag.

Here is where we got stuck. Jamin loved the matching colors game. And he understood he was supposed to get the ball to the correct flag. However he didn't like the idea of having to kick the ball over to the flag when carrying it was much faster and easier. I couldn't convince him to kick it. Oh well... we'll keep working on it.

Activity 4: Kick the ball into the goal.

He got the hang of this one too. What he didn't understand is why he had to kick the ball from 5 feet away from the goal. He kept picking up the ball and putting it back down six inches from the goal, kicking it in and then proceeding to clap and cheer madly for himself. It was hilarious.

We both had a wonderful time and he continues to ask to go back out and 'play soccer' so I'd say the lesson was a success. The group running the classes has a wonderful approach and focuses on making sure the kids have fun while learning and being active rather then trying to get them to follow all the rules. So it looks like I have soccer practice on Friday afternoons through the end of August. Next time I'll have to get some photos.

NEW RELEASE
This week's new release is a quick page album based on my Sweet Summer Song set. In addition to the 10 page (5 facing page pairs) there is a cover, coordinating alpha and 10 piece embellishment set all included so you can personalize the pages.

Nothing New Today

I stayed up late watching a movie and can't think of anything of interest to write about, so I'll just wish you all a good weekend!

Creating Pattern Paper

I've had several requests asking for a tutorial on making patterned paper. There are a myriad of approaches to creating pattern in Photoshop including, brushwork, hand drawing and using a pattern style layer. This tutorial will describe how to create a basic pattern tile and apply the pattern your paper as a style layer. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will create a very basic pattern, but once you know the technique you can develop more complex patterns. This tutorial was written for the full version of Photoshop, as most PSE versions do not allow you to add a pattern style layer (the final steps in the tutorial). PSE users may want to take a quick look through comments where several people have suggested alternative methods for Photoshop Elements. I really appreciate all those who have added their comments and tips.

Start by creating a new file File -> New or key Ctrl+N. Set the width for 1 inch, height 1 inch and 300ppi.



Use the color picker to select a background color for your pattern. Select the Fill tool from the tools palette (looks like a paint bucket) and click once on the canvas to flood the area with your selected color.



Create a new empty layer; Layer -> New -> Layer or keystroke Shift+Ctrl+N.

Use your color picker to select a color for your pattern shape.

Click on the custom tools icon in the layers palette (looks like a blob) and use the drop down menus in the options tool bar a the top of the workspace to select a shape to be repeated across your page. I've chosen the star shape.

Click and drag on your canvas to draw your shape. Center it on the canvas. You can center it visually, use the rulers to gauge center or use Photoshop's alignment tools. For an introduction to the alignment tools, see the Using the Alignment Tool tutorial.



Go to Edit -> Define Pattern.



Give your pattern a name and click 'OK'.



You can now minimize your 1x1 inch pattern. You won't need it again for this tutorial.



Create a new file; File -> New or key Ctrl+N. This one should be 12x12 inches and 300ppi (or whatever size and resolution you would like for your background paper).

Right click on the background layer in the layers palette and select 'Layer from Background'.



Click on the layer styles icon at the base of the layers palette. The layer styles icon looks like a circle with a script f in it. Select 'Pattern Overlay' from the pop up menu.



Click on the small down arrow to the right of the 'Pattern:' box and select your newly created tile from the drop down menu.



Adjust the 'Scale' slider to control the size of the pattern. I've moved my slider to the left to make the stars smaller.



When you are satisfied with your results click 'OK' to close the style layers dialogue box. Your pattern is now tiled across the page.

Resource - Action FX and free download

Today's freebie comes courtesy of Al Ward from ActionFX. ActionFX is filled with tutorials, downloads and tips for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. The site caters to PS and PSE users of all sorts, but there are plenty of resources for digital scrappers and designers including layer styles, framing actions, custom shapes and brushes. You can find a sample of what's available in the free area. Membership fees run $14.95 for a two week trial to $49.95 for a full year. I've heard wonderful things about the site from some of my fellow designers and have a year membership myself, but I haven't yet had a chance to explore all the resources on the site. If you are a subscriber to ActionFX, feel free to leave your thoughts as a comment to this post.

No longer available. The download contains two sets of capital letters and numbers. Note each set comes with all the letters on a single sheet.

PSE Work Around for Drop Shadow Tutorial

Thanks to all the other moms and grandmas out there who assured me my son is probably just going through a growing spurt. He slept in again today although not as much as yesterday and this time I slept in too. Barron and I measured him last night - 35 inches. We will measure again in a month and see what happens. He's pretty small for his age, so Barron his hoping for a growth spurt. As for me, of course I want him to grow, but I like that he still fits perfectly curled up in my lap.

As I mentioned in my post a couple of days ago, I received several notes from PSE users who tried the Drop Shadow tutorial and got stuck on the last step which requires using the Warp tool. Apparently Photoshop Elements doesn't have a warp tool. With thanks to Meisie and other blog readers, here are two possible methods in PSE that are alternatives to the warp tool.

In the sample image below, I've followed the drop shadow tutorial through the use of the wave filter and using the arrow keys to move the shadow slightly down and to the right.



Option one involves using the distort transformation in place of the warp. While the distort transformation doesn't allow you to bend the shadow like the warp tool does, the previous application of the wave filter has added a bit of bending so the distort transformation is a workable substitute.

With the shadow layer active, go to Image->Transform->Distort.



Set your cursor on the upper right corner of the bounding box. Click and move the box slightly down and to the right. Next set your cursor on the lower left corner of the bounding box and move it slightly down and to the right. Finally move the lower right corner of the bounding box up until it is close to the edge of the photograph. The end result should give your photo the illusion of being slightly bent.

Finally lower the opacity slider in the layers palette to 45-65% depending on the darkness of the background.



The second method uses the liquify tool to bend the shadow. This requires a little more finesse, but has the potential to produce even more realistic results.

Go to Filter->Distort->Liquify.



In the liquify screen, set the brush size to 600 and brush pressure to 50. Click on the bloat icon on the left side of the screen. The bloat icon looks like an oval with arrows pointing outward.

Place your cursor just outside the shadow at the middle of right side. Click and drag up and down along the outside edge to press the shadow 'inward' toward the center. Repeat this along the bottom edge. It takes some playing around. If you make a mistake, click 'Revert' and try again. Click OK when you are finished.



You'll see the shadow flairs outwards at the top right, bottom right and bottom left creating the illusion that the photo corners are curling slightly upward.



To enhance the effect, select the move tool and click and drag on the lower right corner of the bounding box to move the corner slightly right and down.



Finally lower the opacity slider in the layers palette to 45-65% depending on the darkness of the background.

Sleepy Day

Jamin usually goes to bed around 8:00pm and gets up between 6:30 and 7:00am. He still naps for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. Today he slept in until 11:30am when I finally woke him up to make sure he was okay. He still took an afternoon name and slept for over 3 hours until again I woke him up worried that if napped too long he might not go to bed tonight. However he went to bed again at 8:00 without any trouble. I suppose I should have enjoyed my quiet day with a sleeping child, but I spent most of it worrying about why he is sleeping so much. I checked his temperature a zillion times - no fever, his appetite is okay and he seems his normal happy self when he is awake, so I guess his body just needs some extra rest. We will see how tomorrow goes.

No longer available. I did get some time work up a little freebie. A blog reader also forwarded me a great PSE5 tip, so I'll get that typed up for tomorrow.

New Releases and Freebie

Sweet Summer Song is my new release today at Scrapbook-Elements. The color palette is inspired by summer skies and lavender fields in bloom. Paper and element packs are also available separately.







I also put together a brag book album from my son's favorite set.



Here are a few of the pages I put together for Jamin's album. He gets so excited every time he sees these pages as they are full of stars and trains. When I scrap, I know I am documenting things he will appreciate one day, but it has been really fun making some little pages he appreciates now.



No longer available. Here is a free sampler from the On the Go Deluxe Brag Book Album. Enjoy!

Responding to Questions and Comments

Anonymous wrote, Is there somewhere I can get some ideas for layouts from your About A Boy 18 mo - 3 yrs kit? I'm using it quite a bit and don't want all my layouts to start looking the same.

I'm so blessed that you are finding lots of uses for the kit. Here are some pages my creative team did with the set.

Rockin' Birthday by Lisa Campbell


Party Time - two page layout by Vickie Weers




The World is Full of Wonders by Laura Kockelkorn


Fun by Summer


Pacific National Exhibit by Marlie


Two pages by Claudia




Oak-Oh by Marie Diaz


Brooke - in Oregon wrote, Do you have a favorite site for finding good quotes?

QuoteGarden is the first place I look for quotes. I find it easy to search and large enough to cover most topics but not so huge that I get overwhelmed by options.

Regarding the Realistic Drop Shadows Tutorial Karen wrote, I have PSE 5 and the tut worked until the last warp step. I didn't get a grid, or find the tools at the top.

I received variations of this question from several readers. I don't have PSE5 to test this one out. Are there any experienced PSE 5 users out there who can let me and other readers know if there is a warp tool or something similar available in that version of the program? If so, just leave a comment to this post. Thanks in advance!

Angel wrote, How did you learn to make your own kits? I'm wondering if you still follow tutorials at all and if you can point me in the direction to some good ones. I know the basics, but I'm looking for some good-quality tutorials to make detailed edged and elements with some effects similar to yours.

I learned to make my own kits by spending lots of time playing around with my program and trying every tutorial I could get my hands on. I've also been blessed to learn and get tips from several other talented designers. I am still always on the look out for new tutorials, tips and techniques I can try. As far as recommended tutorial sites, if you use Photoshop, there is no better tutorial site for learning to create your own supplies than the ones Tandika posts weekly at DigiScrapDesigner. There is an annual subscription fee of $35 to access the tutorials, but it is the best investment you can make if you want to make your own stuff. Her tutorials cover everything from techniques for texturing and distressing paper, making cardboard, notebook paper, several different types of ribbons, metals, etc. Even more importantly her tutorials have really helped me to get to know the in's and out's of Photoshop. I still refer to them on a regular bases. It is also worth looking at the extensive tutorial section at Scrapbook-Bytes, which contains several tutorials on creating various elements. I used many of them when I was first starting out learning to design.

In the interest of full disclosure (since you mentioned you were interested in creating some the same effects I do), over the past year I've developed quite a library of Photoshop tools, action, plug-ins, add-ons and commerical use tools that I use in my designing. Many are time-savers, but a few help me accomplish things I couldn't do otherwise. Some of my most frequently used tools are Atomic Cupcake actions, Mr. Retro Machine Wash Filters and several of the actions that were available via my subscription at DigiScrapDesigner most of which are now for sale via the DSD store.

Brooke - in Oregon wrote, Remind me, when is your Move-in date? and you should be finding out pretty soon that you are carrying a little girl right!

Our move in date is August 3rd or 4th - it's coming up fast. I keep thinking 'oh I have a month', but it is going to sneak up on us fast. I had a check-up just the other day and doctor says the heartbeat is strong and everything looks great. She said it will still be another 3 weeks before they do an ultrasound and can tell us the sex. That puts it... oh... right out our move day. The first week in August is going to be an exciting week.

4th of July Layout

I scrapped some of my 4th of July photos and thought I'd share the layout.

Journaling reads: We spent the 4th of July in Oak Harbor where we could enjoy the parade, carnival and other Whidbey Island 4th traditions. Each year the highlight for all of us (Barron, myself and my parents) is taking Jamin to the parade. This year I was particularly excited as Jamin had developed a fondness for fire trucks, police cars and airplanes all of which are featured prominently. Jamin was excited too; practicing his ‘candy dance” (photo left) and drinking most of Mamma’s frozen mocha as we awaited the start of the parade. However once the planes flew overhead marking the parade’s beginning, Jamin asked to sit in his stroller where he remained quiet and still for the majority of the event. I couldn’t even coax him to do his candy dance, although several paraders left candy on his stroller, which Jamin faithfully deposited in the candy box we brought. When we got home he quickly sacked out for a long nap. However, upon waking he went on and on about the fire trucks, cars, planes and ‘parade fun’. He enjoyed the bounty in his candy box and was all smiles the rest of the day. I guess he enjoyed the parade after all.



The individual pages so you can see them a little bigger.




Credits: Allegiance Page Set and Glitter Pack by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Elements, Font - Times New Roman

Quick Freebie

We are back from our 4th of July activities. We all had a great time. Jamin loved the parade, but more than anything he loved spending time with his grandparents. I hope to have some photos scrapped to share tomorrow.

No longer available. Meanwhile here is a template for you. This is the same composition I used in my Raincoats on the Beach page I shared awhile back.

Early Happy 4th of July

I probably won't post tomorrow as we will be driving up to Oak Harbor to celebrate the 4th of July with my parents. Oak Harbor is a military town and celebrates the holiday in a big way for a small city. I'm looking forward to taking Jamin to the parade. Right now he is excited about anything that moves and has an engine. Planes, tractors, fire trucks and police cars are cause for squeals of excitement and great celebration - so I'm thinking he will really enjoy the parade. After the it will likely be off to the carnival where his grandparents can fill him with cotton candy and introduce him to the world of kiddie carnival rides. Yeah - I'd say he's in for a treat.

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. No longer available. Here is a little something in honor of the holiday.

Layout: Petting Zoo

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Jamin took a long nap today so I got to spend my Sunday afternoon scrapping. Here is the page I made.

Journaling reads: Jamin was all excitement and laughter on our visit to the petting zoo in Forest Park. He loved all the animals, but on this particular day the baby goats were his favorite. He watched them play and fed them as they rested in the shade. When the goats were full, Jamin simply sat down next to them in the shade and enjoyed the delightful summer day.


Credits: Allegiance by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Elements, fonts are Anhedonia (title), Times New Roman (journaling)