Designer Apprentice Challenge 1 Freebie Mini Kit

I'm so excited to be participating in Digiscrap Addicts' Designer Apprentice Season 2. I thought I'd share my Challenge 1 entry with you here! The challenge was to extract a minimum of two elements for the kit. Here's what I came up with. :-) The image is linked to the DSA gallery, where the download link is. :-)

Chugging Along--August Blog Train Stops Here For a Fabulous Freebie!

Happy August! I love this month--it's such a wonderful time of transition when summer gracefully bows out to fall, new school-year magic is in the air, and around here, it's also full of fun things like the county fair. I think the palette chosen for this month's blog train encompasses all that is wonderful about this month simply with color. And with an open theme for this month, I chose to give homage to lady summer and bask in its warmth for these last few weeks before it gets cold...again.

Anyway, enough of my musings! You have probably arrived here from BZB Designs and your next stop will be the blog of the wonderfully talented Designs by Connie Prince . If you happen to get lost along the way, you can always head back to The Blog Train Blog for a full itinerary of the stops along this journey!

And finally, here's the mini I created just for you!

Elements

Papers 1

Papers 2

Enjoy, and happy, happy scrapping!

~Sarah

Oh, Baby! New Releases for 7/31!

Today I'm releasing two kits all about babies! I have a TON of baby photos to scrap still, and I really love having a variety of baby kits for all of the photos and milestones. I also love journaling about my babies' firsts, milestones, check-ups, etc, so I created little journaling strips to go along with the kits! And I went a little unconventional with the girl kits and used purple rather than pink...because quite often I find myself wanting something other than pink baby kits when I'm scrapping my daughter's baby photos. :-)

Anyway...enough of my babbling! :-) Check out these kits and the journal and word art packs. All available at my shops (images are linked). I also have a girls' bundle with the kit and additional packs, as well as a boys' bundle--a little savings if you want the whole shabang. :-)

 

And, one of my creative team girls, Brandi, has created a quick page freebie for you all! Please visit her blog and snag it! :)

Templates: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em?

Just recently I've found a love for templates. I haven't been digiscrapping all that long, especially compared to seasoned scrappers, but from the beginning I had an aversion to using templates. I'm not exactly sure why. It may have been because I felt like the resulting layout wasn't truly mine or that I was somehow stinting my creativity by using templates--maybe both. In spite of my feelings, I've used them a few times, whether for CT assignments or template challenges in forums, but just recently I bought a pack and used a couple of templates simply out of time constraints. Since I've started designing, I really haven't had much scrap time--something that I definitely need to find balance for because I still really love scrapping.

So just yesterday I was using these templates I'd purchased, and I discovered something wonderful. It's something that lots of people say--that templates are simply meant as a guide to help you construct your layout, but that concept finally sank in for me as I started with the template and slowly worked it into my own layout. The foundation was there, but with my added touches, it truly became my layout. I've also realized that having really amazing templates (used templates from  the very talented Sara aka Zinnias and Swallowtails and Marie H Designs) did wonders for my attitude toward them! I was so pleasantly surprised.

Any template lovers out there? Who are your favorite template designers? Any template haters? On the fence? Tell me what you think! :-)

New Release!

I have a fun new release for you today that's 30% off at Misses BeeHaven! This whimsical kit is summery and doodley and full of fun. There's also a corresponding add-on and word art pack. And of course, you can get them bundled and save!

And here are few layouts created with it :)

By Audrey

By Brandi-who has a lovely freebie QP of this kit for you on her BLOG.

By Sarah

Speed Scrap 7/09!

I'm hosting a speed scrap at Misses BeeHaven tomorrow (9 pm EST)! 7 Instructions, 60 minutes, fun chat and a participation prize! Everyone who completes the speed scrap will get a $3.00 off coupon for In The Small Things! Head to the MBH forum to play!

Blog Hop and more Freebies!

So one of my very favorite designers, Pretty in Green, is celebrating her one year anniversary of designing! There are so many fun things in the celebration, including a blog hop and the awesome (and FREE) mini kit she's offering on her blog.

Here's my portion of the hop. Feel free to snag it and then continue on to catch the awesome freebies the other creative team members made for you! :-)

A set of six 6"x4" brag book pages created with Pretty in Green's Pet Shop Goldfish:

DOWNLOAD HERE

And a cluster frame created with Pretty in Green's Chilly Delight:

DOWNLOAD HERE

And be sure to check out all of the other wonderful goodies! :)

  Pretty in Green
  Sarah
  You're Here->Sarah I <-You're Here

Kimmy
 Jacque
  Colleen
Missi
Donna