New Release, Sale Reminder and Freebie

New from me this week, Brave Soldier, perfect for creating pages to honor men and women in the US Army. A special thanks and blessing to all those serving in the Armed Forces this holiday season.



The papers and elements are also available separately.





Brave Soldier, along with most of my other products is on sale through Wednesday, January 2nd during SBE's Customer Appreciation Days. Blog readers can receive an extra 10% off by using coupon code MCATO_10-off at checkout.



FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is a sampler from the new Brave Soldier set. Enjoy!

Free Template and Quick Page with Purchase

Today only at SBE receive the template and quick page set shown below with purchase of $20 or more at Scrapbook-Elements (products from any designer). Details in the forums.

Customer Appreciation Days at SBE

Scrapbook-Elements is having a store-wide sale for Customer Appreciations Days, December 27th through January 2nd. Almost everything in the store is 25% off.

Just for my blog readers, receive an additional 10% off the purchase of my products by using coupon code MCATO_10-off at checkout. Valid through January 2nd.

If you plan on stocking up during the sale, be sure to keep an eye on the Customer Appreciation Days forum at SBE for information on how you can get this template and quick page set free with purchase (and I recommend saving your purchasing for Friday). I'll also post the info here on the blog when it is available.

A Belated Merry Christmas and Gift

A belated Merry Christmas to you. We had a wonderful Christmas. We went to a candlelight service Christmas Eve and had family over Christmas day. My brother and sister-in-law even prepared the whole Christmas meal, so I didn't have to do a thing.

Jamin loved passing out all the presents and, of course, opening his own. He got books, a race car set, the Cars movie, a construction set, an airport play set, pilot teddy bear and tricycle among other things. Mya got a few gifts herself, but mostly she just slept through all the festivities. Here they are in their Christmas PJs (my husband call Jamin's his 'Dr. Suess' pajamas).



GIFT
No longer available. Here is a paper pack and a few coordinating elements for scrapping your holiday photos. Enjoy!

Playing Catch-Up

I haven't got around to blogging all week but I have been able to spend lots of time enjoying the kids and the Christmas season. I've even gotten some scrapping in. Although I make lots of quick pages, I rarely scrap with them as I enjoy the process of creating stuff from scratch, but with baby pictures and photos from our Christmas preparations piling up - I've found my quick page stash to be quite handy.

Anyway, here is a week's worth of blog stuff in one post.

First a question from a reader:

acash writes, You give great tutorials!! I had to ask this question though - I love frames. But placing the photo under the frame, I was informed is not as good as "merging" them. I am not sure what that means...

I'm not exactly sure what your adviser is referring either, but I'm guessing it has to do with the what happens when you apply layers style. "Merging" refers to combining multiply layers (in the case a photo layer and frame layer) into a single layer. My advice - the choice to merge the frame and photo depends upon the type of frame you are using. In the case of paper frames that are meant to look like they are part of the photo paper itself, for example the vintage frames that are popular now days, you'll want to merge them prior to adding any layer styles.

In this screen shot, I've kept the photo and frame in different layers and added a drop shadow to the frame. You'll notice the drop shadow appears around the perimeter of the frame and along the inside edge.



In this screen shot I have merged the frame and photo and then applied the drop shadow. Now the frame appears flush with the photo and the drop shadow is only on the outer perimeter of the frame. Typically this is the preferred effect for paper-type frames.



Now in the case of a bulkier frame like the one shown below, I'd leave the frame and photo in separate layers and apply my drop shadow to the frame layer, since a bulky frame is not flush with a photo and would case a shadow along the inner as well as outer perimeter.


A COUPLE OF LAYOUTS

Mya's hair continues to grow. At this rate, she'll need a hair cut before she is 6 months old. The text doesn't show up well on the web, but it reads, "A short and spikey 'do is the look for our trendy baby."


Credits: Young Beauty Quick Page by Misty Cato and Mrs. Wresh and additional elements from Young Beauty by Misty Cato, Distressed White Alpha by Misty Cato

I had a wonderful time making cookies with Barron and Jamin. Jamin was so proud of his cookie creations too.


Credits: Hand-Made Christmas Quick Pages, Hand-Made Christmas Alpha and additional elements from Hand-Made Christmas by Misty Cato

NEW RELEASE

I released a new template set at Scrapbook-Elements this week. Each template incorporates circles into the composition.



FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. This template was previously given away as part of the Hooked on Templates challenge at Scrapbook-Elements. The challenge is over now, but here is the template for anyone who may have missed it.

New Release - Baby It's Cold Outside

New from me this week - a page set for scrapping those cold weather photos.



Here in the Pacific Northwest we don't get much snow, but I fully intend to use the pastel papers for scrapping pretty little Mya.



The elements are also available separately.



There are quick page available, separately or with the combo pack for added savings.



Here is a page I put together of my sleeping beauty.


Credits: Baby It's Cold Outside and Distressed White Alpha both by Misty Cato, Scrapbook-Elements (alpha and frame recolored)

FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is a sampler from Baby It's Cold Outside. Enjoy!

Mya is 1 Week and Freebie

Today is Mya's one week birthday, so of course we did a little photo shoot to celebrate. Her cheeks are already starting to fill out and the ends of her hair turn upward, which I'm hoping means curls are on the way. I haven't had time yet to properly scrap any of her photos, but here is a little 'mini-scrap' of one of today's pics.


Credits: The Promise of Mya and Birthday Labels both by Misty Cato

FREE SAMPLE

No longer available. In honor of Mya's one week birthday, here is a set of birthday labels, great for documenting age, years married or any other anniversary.


SBE NEWSLETTER

Additionally, I've put a coordinating set of Month Labels in the December SBE Newsletter which will be coming out mid-month. Unfortunately the mailing list was lost a couple of weeks ago with the crash of the forums, so if you haven't already, you'll need to resign-up to receive it. You can do so here.

Baby Weight Winners

Here are the winners in the guess baby's weight game. There were several guesses of 7lbs 13oz and the winners are those of them who guess closest to 20 inches in length.

The winners are ...

Mary E (7lbs 13oz; 19.5 inches) - please email me at mistycato(at)mistycatodesigns(dot)com for instructions on claiming your prize.

A second winner sent in a guess of 7lbs 13oz and 20.5 inches via email - I've emailed you back an the address from which you sent your guess.

Our whole family is doing well. For those of you who commented on my energy level - well, I'm laughing, because I'm pretty exhausted. One good thing about having a baby is that you get 8-9 months to get ready. I have all the new designs and freebies done in advance and really just stop by the computer each night to scan emails and leave a note or photos on my blog. Today I spent most of my computer time reading all of your wonderfully encouraging comments. Thanks, I appreciate each one of them.

Liza in NC, congrats on your new addition! How neat that our babies have the same birthday.

Welcome Baby Mya (new releases and freebie too)

Our little Mya was born Wednesday, Dec. 5th at 3:43pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 13oz and measured 20 inches in length. Her full name is Mya Charisse Cato.

We are home from the hospital and enjoying time with our new little one. She has already captured all of hearts. I'm so very blessed. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.



Much to my relief, Jamin adores his baby sister. She is the first person he looks for when he gets up in the morning. If she starts to cry in her little chair, Jamin runs to me saying "get Mya out." He lavishes her with kisses and hugs and keeps trying to engage her in peek-a-boo.




I'll be going through the baby weight/length guesses tomorrow and will post the winners tomorrow night.

I released a new element pack at Scrapbook-Elements today. Framed 3 contains 7 frames and 6 frames clusters. I've used them above to showcase the photos of Mya and Jamin.



Also Mrs. Wresh and I have released a quick page collection with each two-page spread inspired by a particular month.



The two-page spreads are also available for individual purchase. Here is a close-up of the October set.



FREE SAMPLE
No longer available. Here is one of the single frames from the Framed! 3 set.

Thanks and Guess Baby Weight Take Two

A huge thanks to everyone who has emailed or left comments of encouragement, support and blessing. We are off to the hospital tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning and if all goes well I'll be holding my little girl by lunch time.

As many of you know, Scrapbook-Elements had a server crash a week ago that resulted in the loss of the forums. The forums have now been restored, however all previous posts were lost including the guesses of those who played the "Guess Baby's Weight" game. Unfortunately I won't be able to select a winner based on those guesses. I apologize to those of you who took the time to join in and invite you to repost a guess as a comment to this post. Here are the guidelines:

1) Guesses should be by weight in ounces and length in inches.
2) Winner will be the person who come closest to guessing the weight. In the case of a tie, the length will be used to break the tie.
3) Your guess does not need to be unique, it is ok if you duplicate the guess of a previous commenter.
4) Please only one guess per person.
5) In order for me to identify you as the winner, you need to leave a non-anonymous comment (screen name is ok) or email your guess to mistycato(at)mistycatodesigns(dot)com.
6) Deadline is midnight PST Friday Dec. 7th.
7) Winner(s) will receive my The Promise of Mya page set or product of choice of comparable value.

When I get back and settled in and able to post photos and baby details, I'll post the name of the winner(s) with instructions on how to claim your prize, so check back early next week to see if you won.

Have a terrific week everyone!

New Release and Freebie - The Promise of Mya

My latest release, The Promise of Mya, was created in honor of the pending arrival of my baby girl.



Here is a closer look at the papers ...



and the elements...



Quick pages are also available, on there own or with the Combo Pack for added savings.



FREE SAMPLE
Here is an add-on that coordinates with the Promise of Mya Page Set. These items are not found in the page set, so even grab the sample, even if you plan on purchasing the set.