Online photography course

I am really excited to be able to participate in CJ's free online 12 Days of Christmas photography course. As you will know if you read my blog regularly, I treated myself to a Canon EOS 1000D a few months ago, but I have barely used it and I really need to! So I thought this would be a great thing to do. Over the next 12 days I will be doing a photography assignment per day and I will share those photos with you. The first isn't part of the course, it's just a festive self-portrait for the forum. This is mine - the light is awful and as always, I hate photos of myself, but here it is. Check back tomorrow for photo number two :) TTFN.

Dollar bin additions

I have added a bunch of older kits to the dollar bin. So if you see anything you like, it's linkable to store to buy. These are next step to retirement, so they won't be in store much longer, although I can't say for certain when they will retire - probably sometime early next year. Grab them while you can!! TTFN.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

Remember to love yourself!

I am really guilty of not having photographs of myself. I am a shocker when someone has a camera - I hide behind things, run away or just plain put my hands in front of my face!! I truly hate photos of myself - I am not the most photogenic person in the world, despite the fact that I always have that huge grin on my face!! LOL! So a few weeks ago, when Kirsty took my photo and I looked pretty good (for me), I was over the moon because it meant I could update my avatar to a current photo. So, that got me thinking and I guess there are lots of others out there the same as me - we are the ones behind the camera, so we don't have many photos of ourselves and probably, there are only three or four that we actually like and would show anyone! That's when I figured, why not make a kit that celebrates us as women and helps us to scrap those very few photos that we like to preserve them for the future. So, I obviously had to have pink in the kit - hey, we're girls right? But I put some deep red and green in there too so that it's not too girly, girly! I also put in a little tag that says 'Scrapping Queen' - which we all are so that not only can we scrap ourselves, but we can scrap our hobby at the same time! Before we take a look at the kit called Love Yourself, this is the layout that I did with my new photo:

I'm really happy with the layout and won't mind people seeing it because I love the photo. I really do need to embrace photos of me and start learning to love myself on the outside too! So, this is what 'Love Yourself' looks like and it's only available at Plain Digital Wrapper (my guest store) for a limited time. It's just $3 today, but will be $4.50 tomorrow, so if you want this kit, you should jump on over there now to pick it up :)

And take a look at what my GORGEOUS CT have done with the kit - beautiful hey?

And I have a guest CT this week - you may know her from around scrapland, she has become a dear friend and we have chatted on the phone a couple of times - it feels like we've always known each other - Sylvia. She's in the photo in the layout and it's just beautiful - showing that you don't need the pink in your layout if you're not girly! Thanks Sylvia - your layout is fantastic and the photos are just perfect!

Finally, I have a freebie for you. It's a cluster frame that I made to help you kickstart your layout with the kit if you get it. Download it here and please leave a comment to let me know what you think! TTFN.

Retro Revival with a freebie!

Hi everyone - happy Friday! It's the weekend for me as I am not working today. I am having a very lazy start to the day before walking the dogs and then heading off to my parents for the weekend. I am thinking that I may start some Christmas shopping this weekend. I wouldn't usually start this early, but everyone else seems to be so organised that it's making me worried that I should get on with it!! LOL! Is everyone really organised already, or am I just being paranoid? Leave a comment and let me know!

Back to today and I have a new release kit. This one has some really retro colours in it and a great retro scrabble alpha (which I personally love)! I also have the alpha available separately if you love it too and want just that part :). Take a look at the full kit - Retro Revival:

And take a look at what my CT have done with it - they have fully embraced the scrabble alpha which is fantastic!

You can buy Retro Revival for the limited price of $3 here and if you just want the alpha, it's $2 here. There are some pre-shadowed clusters that you will get free with your purchase of the full kit, so it really is great value!

Now to the freebie - it's a small wordart - download it here! I hope you enjoy using it. TTFN.

Exciting news and a new kit...

Well, actually they are connected :) I was asked by Lisa a few weeks ago if I would like to guest at Plain Digital Wrapper. YES was my answer - of course! I am really excited that someone would ask me and how could I possibly say no? LOL! As you know, Scrap That Idea is my store (along with the other girls), but it's a real learning curve to see how larger stores do things and to be involved in a new 'community'. I am very impressed with PDW - they have stringent quality control checks in place which ensures you are getting the best quality product you can buy and they have some great designers over there. So, my very first kit for my guest spot is called My Family and you can buy it for $3.50 for today only at PDW (it will go up to $4.50 tomorrow). This is what the kit looks like:

And let's have a look at some of the layouts that my CT have made with it - I can't wait to see what the store CT make too! The first layout is from Kim H - look at that tiny little face of her beautiful daughter and her son is gorgeous too!

This is from Gina - beautiful clustering and such sweet poses from her daughters!

And Kim B, the queen of clustering made this beauty:

This layout is from Sharon - she is on loan to me from Mel's CT for a little while - it's great to have her!

And Dawn made this lovely layout - that photo is just so precious hey?

And of course I have a freebie for you - click here to download and remember to check out the full kit here. TTFN.

Big blogpost with a freebie!

OK, this really is going to be a quite big blogpost - I have a bit to tell you today! First up is my latest kit in store called 'Coming Home' - it's a mix of blues and greys but with a bit hit of orange to tang it up. It has a bit of a country feel to it, but the orange seems to make it more modern - I don't know, what do you think? Anyhoo - this is what the kit looks like.

And if you buy it in store, you get these two quick pages free with it just to kick start your scrapping. Remember, you don't have to use the QPs as they are, you can add some more elements and use the alpha to add your title. You can still make it unique even with the base that I've made :)

And these are some layouts from my creative team and the layouts from which I made the QPs - check out the eye candy - thanks girls!

Next up is a request (well actually, a desperate plea) for votes! My team, as you know, are totally awesome and their scrapping skills are second to none, but that doesn't mean that we can be complacent and hope people vote for us, we need to drum up some support and let the world know how great we are! This challenge was quite complicated - the girls had to use TEN different kits of mine, have a list of 10 things on the layout, no photos and no frames allowed!! They rose to the challenge fantastically, take a look at these GORGEOUS layouts and vote 'A Work in Progress' here!

And have you seen the latest collaboration kit at Scrap That Idea? It's one of my favourites EVER - it's called 'Family Life' and is bright and fun! This is what it looks like....

It's available in store for a mere $4 here. And this is what my creative team did with it - check out the other girls blogs to see their CTs gorgeous creations too.

And, if you like the STI collabs, check out our Digital Scrapbooking Day sale which is happening all weekend long. You get any of our collabs half price - the price is discounted automatically - no coupon required (Family Life not included). Just head on over to the store and grab yourself a bargain here!

OK, well, you've got this far and so you definitely deserve a freebie!! This is a cluster frame that coordinates with Coming Home. I hope you like it - you can download directly from my blog here. Enjoy!! I also have some photos to show you that I took today, but you'll have to check back for those - this post is already big enough I think!! LOL! TTFN.

Various things....

If you're looking for the blogtrain, check here - if you're here to read my blog, read on :)

So, I have had a mega busy weekend spent with some fantastic friends at the GoGo Getaway. I have to say it was the best retreat EVER - we spent it here...

Gorgeous hey? Well, we didn't realise it was haunted (even though I have been there 3 times before) and I spent some of my time ghost hunting which was so much fun - needless to say, too much giggling for the ghosts to appear!! I also taught a hybrid class - it was a calendar which I hope everyone loved because I really did. Just want to say a huge thanks to Janice and Lorraine who own ScrapaGoGo - they have been fantastic friends to me after a chance meeting on a plane going to CHA in 2009. I sadly have decided to leave them because I am finding it so difficult to keep up the juggling of so many things in my life! It was so sad to say goodbye to them on Sunday, a few small tears were shed :( However, I am heading to the retreat as a delegate in March, so I will see them again in 5 months! YAY!

Another great thing about the retreat was that I got to spend some time with the other DT members. I love them all - they are such great friends and we all have such a laugh. It was the first time I met Sarah and she is absolutely lovely - we really gelled and spent 3 hours chatting when I drove her back to Bristol station to catch her train home to Plymouth. And I also spent a lot of time with Kirsty who is just so funny, I don't think I've laughed so much in ages! Anyhoo - Kirsty persuaded me to have my photo taken and so I relented eventually even though I had no makeup on GULP!! This is one of the photos she took that I totally fell in love with - it looks like me, but it makes me look nice!! LOL! Kirsty - you're a legend!

Back to today and I wanted to show you my CT layouts using Sweet Candy - they are so gorgeous!

You can pick it up here for just $3 this week and if you spend $5 in the store in November you get a free kit - don't miss a bargain like that!! That's it for today - back soon! TTFN.

November blog train - The Orient!

A special warm welcome to any newcomers to my blog. This is the first time I have participated in the blog train and I'm really excited to be involved!

Before we get to what many of you will have come for, as I have been away this weekend, I wanted to show you my latest kit in store this week called 'Sweet Candy' - it's a step out of my comfort zone with the pastel palette, but I am really pleased with the result - take a look and if you like it, you can buy it here for just $3.

And here's a layout I made with it featuring my beautiful goddaughter:

I will post some more CT layouts and another freebie add on tomorrow, so be sure to check back for those. In the meantime, down to blog train business.....

CC's digital designs - you probably came steaming in from here
A Work in Progress - Designs by Vicki - this is where you are now
Royanna Fritschmann - Studio RA Designs - this is your next stop on the train

**Note - we are all over the world, so some parts may take longer than others to appear**

The kit this month is called 'The Orient' and this is what my part looks like:

You can get a full list of everyone participating right here just in case you got lost along the way and see a slideshow of all the parts too!

Remember to leave some love along your journey for all the incredible hard work put in by the designers. And finally, download my part here direct from my blog! TTFN.