Jill DZines digital scrapbook blog

Woo-Hoo!! I'm a Gingerbread Lady! (new FABulous shop!)

2012-01-25T20:08:00.000-06:00

I'm so happy I could just jump up and down! (Well, I don't actually do any jumping up and down these days, but if I could, I certainly would! LOL!)

My new shop at GINGERSCRAPS opened today! Ginger, Shannon, and the entire team there have all been so incredibly sweet and welcoming - they made me feel like a star! They REALLY know how to run a shop - SO organized and professional, and I am so proud to now be a part of it!

SO, here are my new goodies that became available today.

(You can click on the image to see full-size, and click HERE to go to my shop)

First is the "Puddle-Jumpers" Element-pack - these are part of GingerScraps "Buffet" where you can select coordinating products from different designers. The element-pack and paper-pack are sold seperately - but here's a hint for you: Wait until FRIDAY to grab them, because they'll be a GREAT deal then! :)

And next is my "Softly" kit, which is reminiscent of my old (retired) "Whisper-Soft" - which was one of my best-selling kits ever! This kit uses the same colors and style, but everything is all new.

And lastly, two Candy-Cane Alphas! Perfect for those last Christmas photos that you don't have scrapped yet! :) I'll just picture one set here - the second set is almost the same, except the stripes are red and green (with white background) instead of just red and white.

I'll have some more new stuff in my shop when new releases come out on Friday... and I'm hoping to have a little freebie to post soon as well, so do check back! :) Thanks for popping in and sharing my exciting news!

ScrapDish.com Closing sale... up to 70% off!

2011-12-04T15:20:00.000-06:00

Stop by my ScrapDish shop and grab some great deals before they're gone forever!

(click on image to see full-size)

Happy DSD! 50% off SALE and Not-So-Spooky FREEBIE! :)

2011-11-05T17:08:00.000-05:00

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day! :)

Just a quick post to let you know about my 50% off sale, AND I have a new "Not-So-Spooky" Halloween kit out today - which is also 50% off!! There's also a freebie for you...

OK - First, in celebration of Digital Scrapbook Day, everything in both of my shops (ScrapDish.com, HERE, and MyMemories.com, HERE) is on sale 50% off, from now until November 12th! Woot! Great time to stock up on all kinds of digi-goodness! :)

Then, I have a NEW KIT out! Just in time for your fun Halloween photos, my new "Not-So-Spooky" will be a lot of fun to use to show off those cute costumes and kiddos! In all the time I've been designing, I have never made a single Halloween kit! Because, you know, one can only use "so many" orange/black/etc. kits, and there are SO many every year, so I just never did one... but this year I really thought it sounded fun and so I was inspired. lol. I drew the cackling witch first, before doing anything else in the whole set - she's a lot of fun! All of the Halloween-themed elements (and papers) in this set are created by me in Photoshop and/or Illustrator - no commercial-use stuff and you won't find my elements in any other kits ANYwhere! (well, unless someone rips me off... hopefully not though) ;) Anyway, here's a look at the new Not-So-Spooky Collection:

They are currently available in my ScrapDish shop, but will be available in my MyMemories shop very soon! You can click on each image to see them full-size, and find them in my shop HERE.

Isn't that LICORICE alpha fun? I will be making these available in traditional licorice colors as well, probably within the next few days, so if you love the licorice alpha, watch for those! :)

And now, here is the freebie for you - it includes 2 background papers, a spider-webbed frame, a flower, and a journaling mat, as well as one 1-photo quick-page (none of these items are included in the for-sale kits - they coordinate with them though): (click on photo to see full-size image)

SO, you can find the freebies here:

MediaFire

4Shared

My Server (direct download)

That's it from me, for now! Hope you are having a fantastic DSD! Happy Scrapping! :)

Guest Blogger! How to Manage and Copy Scrapbooks on CD - also Not-So-Spooky SNEAK-PEEK!

2011-10-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday! :)

I recently received an email inquiry from Jared Briggs, of WTSDuplication.com, asking if I might be interested in having him write an article for my blog, regarding something that is pretty important to avid scrapbookers - making sure our beloved albums are properly backed up and saved from loss due to computer issues, or any other issues which might cause us to lose files.. Which, I guarantee, WILL happen to you at some point in your scrapping life!

I have been very fortunate that I've never had to deal with any big data losses - partly luck, and partly because I border on obsessive-compulsive on keeping my files backed up in several formats and locations! I have had more than one computer bite the dust (I'm going to guess three, if I remember right?) with complete loss of everything that was on the hard-drive, but the most I think I've ever lost is maybe a small number of recently-downloaded kits which I hadn't yet gotten copied onto my external-hard-drives. (Yes, that is "driveS", plural - I always have my data on at least 2 EHDs, besides my desktop and laptop computers, and I do regular DVD back-ups as well. See? Obsessive-Compulsive! LOL! I even subscribed to a couple of the back-up services (Carbonite and Mozy - not both at the same time!) for about a year or so, each. I *try* to make sure that I sync my PCs and EHDs every week or two, but sometimes it's closer to a month. But being this way has certainly saved me much heartache and many hassles. I always feel so bad for digi-scrappers who have had a hard-drive crash and lost their data - sometimes including all of their photos, layouts, and kits - ouch!! These kind of losses *can* be avoided, by taking some very simple steps. Jared's article might have some helpful ideas for you:

How to Manage and Copy Scrapbooks on CD

by Jared Briggs, of WTSDuplication.com

Whether you’re working with a paper or digital medium, there’s always that chance that a random power surge or spilled beverage can ruin every page we’ve spend so much time perfecting. Backing up our projects onto CDs or DVDs is an extremely important part of modern scrapbooking, and it can save us a lot of time and heartbreak should something unforeseen happen.

Of course, keeping scrapbook pages backed up in digital form is convenient for other reasons, too. It’s a lot easier to send friends and family a well-packaged CD than it is a complete scrapbook. And, of course, you can just keep making copies to send to as many people as you want.

Organizing Your Pages

There is a lot of storage space on CDs and DVDs, but that doesn’t mean you should just pour as many images onto a single disc as possible. If you take that route, it won’t matter how well you have labeled or tagged your images, it can become a real endeavor to find the exact ones you want.

Before you burn a new scrapbook CD, make sure that all of the pages follow the same theme. The more related the pictures and pages are, the more likely you will be able to find them when you need them. Make a CD of birthday pages, one of summer vacation pages, one of wedding pictures, and one for any other theme that comes to mind. Then, when you need to put together a special book for a special occasion, you’ll have everything you need right at your fingertips.

Creating and Copying Your Scrapbook CDs

Saving your lovingly created pages to CD is a simple process, and many of you have probably gonethrough it at some point or another. Make sure you have quality CD burning software and set it to create a data disc. This will let you organize your files just like you would on your computer before you hit the button to start the burning process. The same software should allow you to take that CD and reproduce it as many times as you want. Of course, if you have to do this a lot, you may find it a little tiresome.

There is always the option of having a professional help you out with your CDs. After all, if you spent so much time creating those great pages, why would you want to hand out copies that were nothing but a shiny disc labeled with a permanent marker? It is possible to get CDs reproduced in short runs that come with artistic labels and even cases that reflect the scrapbook you have inside.

Whether you are scanning hand-made copies into your computer or doing the whole thing in
Photoshop, make sure you take the time to copy it onto a medium that won’t be affected by power surges or mysterious disappearing data syndrome (though I’m not sure that last one is a real thing).

I hope that someone will find that helpful! I checked out Jared's website, and saw that they can make some really fantastic-looking discs - which might be fun for Christmas gift-giving, or "just" to share with your family and friends. :) Thank you, Jared!

And now, I have a SNEAK-PEEK! For as long as I've been designing, I have NEVER made a Halloween kit! I figure SOoo many designers make them, and you can only do 'so many' Halloween pages... and who needs a dozen black/orange/purple kits, right?? Well, despite that, I decided I really wanted to make one this year, just to do something a bit different (for me!). And I had a great time making some fun and unique elements (all of the halloween-themed elements are hand-drawn/created by me in Photoshop and/or Illustrator, not any commercial-use stuff). My favorite piece is the cackling black-paper witch riding her broomstick (you can tell she's cackling when you look at her big warty face and almost toothless grin in profile - I can almost hear her wicked cackle!) and she was actually the very first piece I made for the kit. I wish I could hit a button and make the actual element come shooting out of my printer, for me to hang up somewhere! Haha!

I'm just working on finishing up on packaging, and the alpha, and then will get this added to my shops at ScrapDish and MyMemories ASAP. :) (I will, as usual, also have a small coordinating freebie to give away here on my blog, so watch for that as well.) ;)

Hope you have a terrific week! :)

New Music Themed templates (on SALE!) & Loved Ones FREEBIE!

2011-09-04T23:35:00.000-05:00

Happy Labor Day! (tomrrow!) ;) And Happy Birthday to my mom, Arlene! (if she happens to visit)

We just came home from the lake today, closing it up until next spring. Summer goes by MUCH too quickly these days, and at the end of every summer I always wish I had made it down to the lake more than we did. Finally, last week-end, I decided to go down with my mom - just us, no hubby, no kids - and it was SOooo nice and relaxing! :) If that's what it takes to get there more, that's what I'll have to do more of next summer! :)

Now maybe I can get my head back into digi-scrapping/designing again! I've got a couple new music-themed templates at ScrapDish right now. Here's a look: (you can click on any of these templates previews to go to them in my ScrapDish shop)

And here are the two pages side-by-side:

(You can buy the 2 pages individually, or grab them both at a discount)

Here is the layout I made - these templates were made with my daughter, Eliza, in mind - she is an excellent pianist, playing her own compositions most of the time. (Click on layout to see in larger size)

The templates are on sale, 25% off, until Sept. 6th, so grab 'em quick!

Here is a bonus coupon for my blog-readers: MusicLover

(good at ScrapDish.com, for

an additional 10% off the sale price - you can also use it on anything else in my shop at ScrapDish!)

I've also got something new in my MyMemories.com shop - my "Loved Ones" Collection! Also ON SALE, AND I have a freebie for you, which coordinates with the Loved Ones Collection!

Here is the Collection at MyMemories:

(You can click directly on any of the images to go to my shop at MyMemories.com)

And (finally! LOL!) Here is a peek at the FREEBIE:

The Loved Ones Collection is on sale right now as well, so take a look at the close-up previews when you go GRAB THE FREEBIE!

OK! That's it for now! Thanks for stopping - hope you have a terrific week! :)

Celebrate Summer - 2nd FREEBIE is now available on MyMemories.com blog!

2011-07-17T10:16:00.000-05:00

Hey, we just got home from a mini-vacation last night, and when I got home, I saw that MyMemories.com has now got my "Celebrate Summer" 2nd freebie posted on their blog, SO, if you want to grab that freebie (it will coordinate with the Celebrate Summer freebie I posted here, a couple weeks ago), you can now get it! Here's a preview of the freebie:

SO, all you need to go is hop over to the MyMemories.com blog, and you can grab this freebie! ALSO, if you leave a comment there about what your favorite item is from my MyMemories.com shop, you will be eligible to win my entire shop!

>> HERE << is my shop at MyMemories.com, and >> HERE << is the link where you can go comment and grab the freebie! Enjoy! (Hurry though - contest ends July 19th!)

Hope you summer is going GREAT! :)

New Bits and Bytes at ScrapDIsh - Pink Lemonade - and FREEBIE!

2011-06-30T22:32:00.000-05:00

Hello! We have just released the new "Bits & Bytes" coordinating products at ScrapDish, for July - with fun, summery colors and theme ("Pink Lemonade") - and all products are very budget-friendly - AND on sale right now, 25% off, until July 8th! So they are a really fabulous deal! Here are my Pink Lemonade products:

AND, I made a little freebie that is designed to go with the alpha - a set of cute eyelets in multiple colors/styles...

You can find my products right HERE
and you can find the rest of the coordinating Bits & Bytes products right HERE

You can grab the freebie at ScrapDish, just throw it in your cart. You can also grab it by clicking right HERE! :) (That is a direct link - download will start when you click!)

That's it for now - enjoy! :)

Woot! Brand-new... Celebrate Summer! {Collection} and.. ahem... FREEBIE!

2011-06-06T16:12:00.001-05:00

Hey Ladies!

It's official - HAPPY SUMMER!! Yay!

First I have to congratulate my daughter, Eliza - she just graduated from high-school, and is now going on to the next phase of adventures in her life - she is planning on going into nursing, and will be starting work on her R.N. degree in the fall - we are very excited for her, and so incredibly PROUD! Eliza, you are an AWESOME, INCREDIBLE young woman, and we are so blessed to have you!    (I'm not sure how often she visits my blog, but I'll be pointing her to this post.) ;)

So, we had the big Graduation Party on Saturday afternoon, and were happy to have a GLORIOUS, beautiful day - Yay!! (cuz I don't know where I would have put all those people, if we had needed to be inside, instead of the back yard, where we had everything set up! LOL!) The tacos-in-a-bag that we served were a big hit, as where the 10-dozen (or so) cupcakes in chocolate, strawberry, white, lemon, and brownies!   If you've never had tacos-in-a-bag, here's the low-down: Get Nacho-cheese flavored Doritos, in individual bags - everyone grabs their own bag, crush the chips a bit before opening, then just add your taco-meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour-cream, black-olives, taco-sauce, onions, etc. - whatever you want to put in your bag - then stir it up with spoon or fork and eat it right out of the bag! We have these at my mom's summer lake-home a lot in the summer, and they are so yummy!

One of the really fun things about the graduation party was that all kinds of people were busy looking at our family scrapbooks - it really was fun to get the feedback, and hear how people liked them! I think scrapbooking (and especially DIGI-scrapping!) are one of the most rewarding of hobbies - with such a terrific end result that will be treasured for years to come, and possibly even generations to come!

And now I'm excited to show you my newest collection - Celebrate Summer!   AND I'll have a little freebie for you somewhere in this post... and there will be ANOTHER coordinating freebie very soon, in one of my shops! (I'll post again to let you know when that one is up!)

SO, I LOVE summer! All 39 days of it, here in North-Western MinneSNOWta!! Haha! I'm living in the wrong CLIMATE! LOL!

Actually, we do get more than 39 days, but it sure seems that short most of the time! Anyway, I just finished a fun Collection in honor of Summer - and it is a pretty big set! The Combo-kit includes 12 fun multi-color patterned papers and 8 textured solids (very much like Bazil® cardstock, for you paper-scrappers and former paper-scrappers), along with over 70 elements, plus an included alpha with upper-case letters, numbers, and fun extras as well. (You can see a full listing of elements in my ScrapDish shop and my SunShineStudioScraps shop - links up at top of page).   There is also (sold separately) at "Shabby Solids" paper-pack, which includes 8 shabby solids, in both the full 12-inch size, and each paper is also offered in a shabby-edged .png format as well, for a total of 16. And if you just want one part (or 2...), you can grab each part separately as well. SO, here are some previews:
(You can click on any of these images to see them full-size)

And lastly, here are the Shabby Solids:

Now, all parts of the Collection are on special introductory price SPECIAL, 25% off, for the next 3 days in my ScrapDish and Sun shops - after that they will go to regular price. They are not yet available at MyMemories, but when they are, they will also be on intro-special, 25% off, for one week. I will post again when they go live at MyMemories.com.

As a visitor to my blog, I have a special COUPON for you, to get another 15% off! Coupon is valid in my shops at ScrapDish.com and at SunShineStudioScraps.com. Here's the code: Celebrate15off!

(note that the exclamation mark IS part of the coupon code). And you can use the coupon for ANYTHING in my shop at SD and Sun! Coupon expires June 30th at midnight, but you may want to use it quicker, while the special intro-price sale is on too - for spectacular savings! :)

AND, lastly, here is the first FREEBIE for you:

You can find the freebie here:

4Shared

MediaFire

My Server

(That 3rd link is direct, and download will start automatically when you click on it)

Now, sometime within the next short while (I'm not exactly sure when), I will have ANOTHER coordinating freebie for you (a bigger one!), hosted by MyMemories.com - so I will post again here when that one is live. Hope you enjoy the samplers! :)

New 2-page templates! And.. Would you like to win a $25 shopping spree at MyMemories.com?

2011-04-15T20:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! :)

Just a quick note to let you know about a special give-away at MyMemories.com:

On Saturday (April 16th) and Sunday (April 17th), MyMemories.com will be giving away a $25 shopping spree, which you can use to grab some fabulous digi-scrap goodness from a TON of different designers - If you look at the designer list at MyMemories.com, I know you will find some familiar names among all the talented designers there! SO, here's what you do - click on this link:

MyMemories.com $25 give-away!

I hope someone I know wins! I'll be posting this at least a couple times on Twitter and/or Facebook as well.

Also, the owners have offered us designers a special promo-code for our customers and friends! You can use this coupon code to get 25% off any designs in the MyMemories.com shop: ADR25MM

OK! Now, I have a new 2-page layered template set, available at ScrapDish.com, and will be available at SunShineStudioScraps.com tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Here's a preview:

Find it HERE at ScrapDish, or HERE at Sun (after tomorrow morning) and it is on sale, 25% off for the week-end!

That's it for now - OH - except to say that the Red River did NOT flood us too bad this spring - we were all pretty worried, 'cuz it was looking pretty bad (we had 72 inches of snow this year!!!). Some of the small surrounding towns are still having a lot of trouble though, from some of the smaller rivers, and a lot of overland flooding in places where they've never had it before. So we're hoping things can settle down for them soon, and they can get back to normal life - instead of having to travel by BOAT to get to their homes! (I'm totally serious - there are tons of families in the surrounding area who's homes are totally cut off, roads washed out, etc., so they are really having to use boats to get in and out of their sand-bag-surrounded homes!)

Happy Scrapping!

Hey! Finally, something new from me! And... here we go again... major flood!

2011-04-01T00:40:00.000-05:00

Hey, I'm still alive! Haha! (I bet SOMEone, SOMEwhere was wondering!) lol! Well, as happens often (but I keep hoping to change), it has once again been SOoo long since I posted! I have just not been feeling very "inspired" recently, but I did finally manage to get a kit finished yesterday, and I have another little bit of news too. SO, I'll get right to that, and then tell you about our upcoming major FLOOD - again!

First, here is my newest kit - it is part of our new "Bits and Bytes" coordinating products at ScrapDish - this months colors and theme ("Flower Patch")were decidedly "Springy" which I love (being an official First-Day-Of-Spring baby!), so these were fun colors for me! AND... it is specially priced very low for the month of April, AND it's on sale 25% off for the first couple days - so the full-size kit is, right now, just $1.87!!

So, here's a look at what you get:
(You can click on any of these images to see them full-size, and you can find them in my ScrapDish shop, HERE)

and a look at just the papers, then detail views:

Close-up of papers, showing textures:

Here are the 4 "solids" (kind of "semi-solids" might be a better description? They each have at least a couple of colors):

And here's a quick look at a few of the elements, nice and close:

And here is the coordinating alpha:

Be sure to check out the rest of the April Bits & Bytes, HERE. There are about 25 coordinating products in all, and all at terrific prices! :)

And my new "News" is that I've recently been invited to join a new shop, which I'm pretty excited about - it is MyMemories.com. They have their own digi-scrap software (which is super-easy to use - great for new digi-scrappers!), so the kits you get there can be purchased and downloaded directly through the software, but it is also available in the "standard" format (.jpgs, .pngs, etc.) for use with other programs! The site is hopping and has been growing VERY quickly! You can find my shop at MyMemories right HERE. (I only have a few things uploaded there right now - am working on getting more added!)

OK! So that's the scoop with me - except for one other thing - please keep Fargo-Moorhead in your prayers - we're getting ready for another BIG flood fight just around the corner... this will be the 3rd year in a row of record-setting floods around here - and it's getting OLD very quickly! Two years ago we were SO close to having all of Fargo-Moorhead go under - it was just because of the incredible efforts of all the volunteers who sand-bagged and helped in other ways that we didn't! The weather/flood forecasters are saying we could be as bad or worse as 2009 (which was BAD), so we're hoping for NO rain and perfect melting conditions, to keep our homes from floating away! ;) Of course, my high-school kids are looking forward to getting days off of school so they can go sandbag again! LOL! They loved it last time... haha!

Hope your spring is off to a good start! :)

New Candy Cane Alpha - free Candy Cane numbers for you, and BIG freebie at TheDailyScrapper is here!

2010-11-20T10:28:00.000-06:00

Hello, again! :) I've got a fun new Candy Cane alpha just out at Sun, and promised a matching freebie (the numbers) to go with it, but first of all, some "old business"... :)

In my last post, I had said I had another freebie to be posted at TheDailyScrapper.com in the next day or two - but I had mis-understood the date, and I apologize for that. I was early - for once!! LOL! BUT, the BIG FREEBIE I mentioned is now available at TDS, and you can find it right here

Here's what you'll get (and it really is a BIG (full-size kit) freebie!

I hope you have fun with it! Don't forget, in my last post, there are previews of the rest of the Artful BLends Collection, and a coupon good for 20% off ANY purchase in both my Sun shop and my shop at ScrapDish!

And now, here's a preview of the Candy Cane numbers that you get today...

What do you think? I'm pretty happy with how these came out! I actually had planned these for last Christmas, but I couldn't get them quite right - they never looked real enough - round enough! But I finally fiddled around enough to get the effect I wanted, so now, one YEAR after I started them, they're here! LOL! Once I finally figured it out, they were really pretty quick and easy to make. :) You can find the full matching alpha in my Sun shop, right HERE. If you grab them TODAY, they are 30% off - AND you can use the 20% off coupon from my last post, so they are a real steal! :)

Here are the links for the Candy Cane Numbers - just pick one link - they're all for the same thing. ;)

4Shared
MediaFire
My Server

OK! That's it for now... I have to run to Best Buy and get my desktop computer taken care of before my extended warranty runs out!

My plans are for my next couple of projects to be Digi-Cuts (shapes for electronic cutting machines, like Silhouette, Cricut, etc.).... (if I don't get side-tracked yet again! LOL!)

Hope you enjoy the freebies! If you know anyone who might enjoy these, please use one of the links below to share this post! (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) ;) Thank you!

TWO digital scrapbook kits FREE! AND coupon for you...+ new shop, new designs...

2010-11-16T00:45:00.000-06:00

Hello! Boy have I got some great stuff to share with y'all!! :) I'm slow to blog, as usual... so this might be old news to you, but better late than never, eh? ;)

FIRST of all - I am SOOoo excited to have a new shop open at SUN! (SunShineStudioScraps.com - here) Woot!! All of the girls at Sun are so talented, and I am really thrilled to join them. I've got some fun new goodies in my shop there... the main ones being the first parts my new Artful Blends Collection! This Collection contains many gorgeous and artsy papers, in beautiful color combinations, with most of the papers being unusual, one-of-a-kind creations - with some in beautiful Batik, some with oil-painted look, some water-color, and more - just plain ARTFUL! :) This is a BIG collection, and actually still in-progress, as I have plans to add at least 2 coordinating alphas, and some artsy-solids and gradient papers as well! Right now you can find these parts in my Sun shop:

The paper-packs are split up so you can just grab your favorite color-combos - or, if you're a complete color-addict like me, just grab all 4! ;)

And finally, an element-pack that coordinates with all four paper-packs:

So, is there more, you ask? YES, there is! And you can find Artful Blends 2 - absolutely FREE - at TheDailyScrapper.com! Alice will be posting it there sometime on the 16th or 17th, and I will update this post at that time, so I can provide you with a direct link. Here is a preview of the kit you'll be able to grab at TDS:

and a better look at just the papers:

You still don't get the best look at these papers - I am especially happy with the way the purple-with-vines-watercolor paper came out - it really looks cool close up! Same with the red/yellow one on the right-hand side - really came out nice! When you get them downloaded you'll see what I'm talking about with the artsy styles and textures. :)

And lastly, I have Artful Blends - Part 3 - for you right here! Here's a peek:

SO, first I wanted to give y'all a coupon: TDS-20-off

This is good for 20% off anything in BOTH of my 2 shops!

Expires Nov. 30th at midnight!

And here are links where you can download my blog-gift (Artful Blends 3)

(all 3 links are for the same download - just pick one):

4Shared

MediaFire

My server

SO, you can go grab the freebie(s), and I do hope you'll visit my shops as well!

If you have friends who might like to grab the freebies, please use one of the sharing links below (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and share my blog-link so they can come and grab them as well.
Don't forget about the coupon, good for 20% off: TDS-20-off (exp 12-1-10)

Happy Scrapping! :)

"Memories of Home" is in the shop! (On SALE - 3 days only!) AND FREEBIE for subscribers tonight!

2010-10-04T13:38:00.000-05:00

Hello!
Hope y'all had a great week-end! :)

I wanted to let you know that the new collab with Correen Silke and myself, "Memories of Home" is now available in our ScrapDish shop! (HERE!) It is on special introductory-price SALE right now for just $4.19! (regular price will be $5.99) The kit is HUGE (just over 300MB) with 32 papers and over 80 elements!

Here are a few of the final previews - you can see more close-ups in the shop:
(you can click on images to see them full-size)

And here are some gorgeous pages my CT created:

And lastly, here is the FREEBIE I will be sending out to my subscribers tonight - probably sometime after midnight, Central time - so if you're not signed up yet, NOW is a great time to do so! :)

(look at the top left-hand side of my blog for the sign-up link, or you can click RIGHT HERE!)

That's it for now! We had a good trip, over the week-end, to visit my husband's family - always fun to go see them. :)

Thanks for stopping/reading!

Memories of Home - Sneak-Peek! Congratulations Karen H! New freebie on Monday!

2010-09-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

Hello! Just a quick post today, to congratulate Karen H. for her winning name choice for our new collab: "Memories of Home" - isn't that a great name?? Both Correen and I immediately loved it! A couple of other people did mention the same name, but Karen H. was the first to say it, so she'll be receiving the kit for free, as soon as we release it... which will be on SUNDAY after we get home! :) (My family and I are leaving for the week-end to visit Paul's mom, so we can't release it when I'm not here!) ;) Want to see the main preview? (You can click on the preview to see the full-size version)

Correen did a great job on this preview - because there is SOOOooo much good stuff in this huge kit! We will have some additional previews on Sunday, so you can get a better look. I think this kit will be my new personal favorite! :)

SO, that's it for now, but on Monday, I will be sending out a special subscriber-only freebie for my newsletter subscribers, so if you want that one, just click on my newsletter link on top left side of blog. :) (If you did not get the previous freebie from this kit, see my last post) ;)

Hope y'all have a fantastic week-end! :)

Help name our new collab and WIN IT! AND a FREEBIE for you, a $1 sale, and fun news!

2010-09-24T01:19:00.000-05:00

Good Evening! (Or, if you see this in the morning, Good Morning!

GREAT NEWS: I have finally gotten my part of a new collab kit with Correen Silke FINISHED! It is, right now, in the hands of our CT, and I can't WAIT to see what they do with it! It is a very LARGE kit! Actually, Correen and I both made pretty much a full-size kit, so it's more like 2 kits - but we will sell it at a nice ONE-kit price!

BUT, we have a little dilemna: What to name the kit?? The kit has a "home/family/every-day" kind of feeling/theme, and one idea Correen had is "Our House". But we decided it would be fun to see if our scrapping friends could come up with a fabulous name - and I have no doubt that someone out there WILL! And that person (or persons, if we combine more than one idea) will receive the whole huge kit as a "Thank-you for your help!" gift from Correen and I. I have done this with 2 kits in the past: Whisper-Soft and Wild-Thing - and both of those are my 2 favorite-name kits! So put on your thinking caps and see what you can come up with. Reply in the comments here, and please be SURE to leave your e-mail or maybe a user-name at DigiShopTalk, so that we can get ahold of you if you win.

Here is a little SNEAK-PEEK of the kit - hopefully this will give you enough of an idea of the "feel" of the kit:

(you can click on that image, above, to see it full-size)

AND, since it's been a while since I put up a blog-freebie, I made you a small coordinating freebie, to give you a little taste of the soon-to-be-released kit - though both of these papers are pretty light and soft, and you will find some more dark (and less feminine) papers included in the kit. :) Here is a peek at the freebie:

I'll give you the download links for this after I let you know about a couple more items of interest (well, HOPEfully they will be of interest to you! LOL!)

First, I am excited to let y'all know that I'm going to be featured in the October Issue of the ScrapStreet digi-scrap E-zine! How cool is that? I'm honored! Honestly, it has been a few months since I made my gift for that, so I really can't remember *exactly* what is in there, but I do remember making some Trick-or-Treat goodies, including both digi-scrap goodies AND some Digi-Cuts™ vector files for electronic cutting machines! (Cricut, Silhouete, etc.) Think spider-webs, pumpkins, and candy-corn! :) So, if you're not already signed up, or if you don't already read that monthly (free!) E-Zine, you can go here and find it:

http://scrapstreet.com/magazine/magazinehome.htm

You will want to make this a regular monthly (or more!) stop! They have a wonderful E-Zine, full of inspiration, and fun free gifts for readers every month! My reader-gift will be in the October issue.

THEN, I am so thrilled and honored to have a little guest designer feature in the next Winter issue of

Scrap-N-Art, an absolutely fabulous E-Zine for digi-scrappers, paper-scrappers-and-crafters, and hybrid artists, all rolled into one! This one again, I made my designer-gift a few months ago, so it's also a bit fuzzy what I included, but I do know that this reader-gift is ALL Digi-Cuts™ - and all with a Wintery/Christmas theme. So those of you with electronic cutters will want to check that out! :) Many of these magazines and E-zines have to be all prepared several months ahead of time, so I've been sitting on this news for a few months now, and glad to finally spill the beans! (Too bad I don't remember all the details now! LOL!)

Now, quick little ad while I've got you here - the ScrapDish designers are having our weekly $1 sale today (Friday - every Friday!), so please check out the special Friday Specials section at ScrapDish today! If you like text-paths in fun shapes, you will definitely want to grab all 3 of my $1 items! The store sale is for Friday only, but I'm going to extend mine through Sunday night.

AND... AND... AND... More news coming very soon about a brand-new (for me) shop that I'm so excited about! But you'd rather get to the download links, right?? ;)

Here you go - grab the freebie at any one of these links - just pick one - they are all for the same thing. (I like to include more than one link for those who do/don't like one file-sharing site or another.) ;)

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SO, please let us know, in the comments here, your name ideas for our new collab - Corren and I will pick a winner (or combination of winners) sometime in the next 2 or 3 days, and the kit will be released shortly after that. When we do release the kit, I will have another freebie, but it will be exclusively for my newsletter subscribers, so if you'd like to grab the next freebie, you'll want to sign up for my newsletter. (See link at upper left-hand side, with the flashing lights!)

Oh - one last thing - some of you may have noticed that I have just recently began including my "real" last name on my blog-header, packaging, etc. I decided that since my kiddos are both now old enough that I don't need to worry about some perv tricking them into going with them or something, that I could start using my real name again! For the last several years, since I started digi-scrapping and designing, I have not ever used my last name, because I had many photos of my beautiful kiddos in my galleries, and I didn't want anyone to be able to track them down. Now that Eliza is 18 and David 14, I decided I didn't need to do that anymore. Isn't it sad that we even have to worry about such things? Just thought I'd let y'all know why my packaging name has changed a bit. I'll still be using Jill DZines mainly, but thought maybe some of y'all would like to know that I have a "real" name too. LOL! ;)

Thanks for stopping! If you're so-inclined, I would love if you could hit one of those "share" buttons (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) below this post, to let your friends know about the contest and the freebie(s).

Hope you enjoy the freebie, and have a fabulous week-end!

Mini-tutorial: Save tuts (and other website pages) in PDF format - Quick, Free, & Easy!

2010-09-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

Hey Scrappers! Hope your week is off to a great start!

My kiddos (14yo freshman, David, and 18yo senior, Eliza) started school today - which is a really big change for us, as we have homeschooled up until now! Eliza started public school in 9th grade, so she's an old pro, but today is David's first day! He was a little nervous, I think, but also excited about a new adventure - and being able to see his friends more, which he's happy about. :) But me? I'm not sure yet... the house is awfully quiet... kind of lonesome, actually. But I should definitely have a little more free time during the day now, SO, I decided to start off MY new "schedule" with doing another mini-tutorial! Tuts are something I've wanted to add to my blog occasionally, for some time now, but never seemed to find the time to do them... Today I had time! :)

SO, I put together a quick little tutorial on how to EASILY make a PDF file out of any web-page you like. I have done this for some tutorials I've found online for Photoshop and Illustrator, digi-scrap tuts, etc., and I really like having them stored so I can do them anytime, even if I'm not online. (Be sure to follow any site's copyright, and do NOT share your PDFs with anyone - just give your friend the website's URL instead - sharing your PDF from a website could violate the site's copyright.) I originally started this tut using a fun little tut from Shelleyrae, posted on ScrapbookBytes, but then realized I would probably be violating their copyright, so I just re-did the first image using my own mini-tutorial on making a chart for PSCS5 keyboard shortcuts.

The first thing you'll need is some type of PDF software. If you have Adobe Acrobat, that works great... but if you don't, that's okay too, because there are free PDF-readers around that can do the job as well. Nitro PDF reader is one I found recently, that I really love! It is super-easy to use, and totally free! Find it HERE - and be sure to watch the little video about the features - I think you'll agree it's a fantastic little app for free!

OK! Now, if you've got your PDF software installed, just follow these 3 easy steps:
(you can click on the images to see full-size, if you want to see them larger)
Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

And that's it! The PDF should open for you as soon as it is finished (very quickly, unless your selection was very large) Another easy one, right? (Maybe y'all already knew how to do this, but I'm sure there must be SOMEBODY else like me, who didn't always know how to do this! ) ;)

I hope someone finds this useful! (If you do, please consider hitting one of the "share" buttons below this post, so others can find it as well) :)

OK, quick commercial: our Back-2-School Sale is still on at ScrapDish! I've got everything in my shop (excluding custom silhouette-portraits) marked 40% off (including CU items!)... AND, it gets even better: If you tweet this, or post on Facebook, about my sale, send me a link (jilldzines AT gmail DOT com), and I'll send you a coupon for an additional 20% off!

That's it for today! I gotta say - so many people left me such nice comments for the latest Blog-Train freebie - that really made me smile! Thanks for your nice comments! And thanks for stopping today - I hope you have a terrific rest-of-the-week! :)

Oh - one more thing - Do you have any specific things that you would like to see a tutorial for? (either in Photoshop, Illustrator, or for some specific digi-scrap technique). I can't promise I'll be able to do every request (because I obviously don't know how to do EVERYthing! LOL!), but if it's something I know, and not something that would take many hours to do, I'll see if I can get it done for you!

All Aboard!! Sept. Blog-Train Digital Scrapbook Freebies! AND a fantastic SALE!

2010-09-01T11:07:00.000-05:00

Woot! It's time, once again, for the Blog-Train! I love the blog-train because it brings me a lot of visitors who may not have been to my blog before - so WELCOME to y'all! :) I've got a nice little freebie for you, to go along with the rest of the blog-train, but first just let me tell you about my SALE!

(Image is clickable to my ScrapDish shop) SO (almost) EVERYthing in my shop is 40% off (excludes custom silhouette portraits)

AND if you TWEET about my sale (or post it on Facebook!), send me a link and show me, and I'll send you a coupon for an ADDITIONAL 20% off!! So get ready for FABULOUS SAVINGS! I've also got some retiring products that are just $1 each - and when they're gone, they're GONE for good! So check those out as well!

Just ONE more little thing before I get you to the FREEBIE! If you are not yet signed up for my newsletter, you can look up to the top left-hand side of your screen... notice the flashing lights and sirens?? LOL! (well, no sirens, but there really is something flashing!) When you sign up for my newsletter, and CONFIRM your subscription by clicking on the link you'll receive in your e-mail, you will AUTOMATICALLY receive download links for TWO free mini-kits! I do not (nor will I EVER) give my mailing list info to ANYone, and I hate spam as much as anyone, so I promise I'll not bombard your inbox with lots of ads. I usually don't send it more than once a month, though I'm going to try to increase that a little bit. ;) Subscribers get special coupons and occasional freebies that ONLY subscribers get. :) OK! End of commercial! :)
Here is my part of the September Blog-Train:

I really loved these colors, and had fun playing around with some different effects with the leaves, so you just get papers and leaves from me today! :) I hope you'll enjoy them!

You can download my part of the blog-train here - all 3 links are the same - just pick one:
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And here are the train links for you - You probably came from here:
Digital Designs by Darlene
Your next stop on the blog-train is here:
Snips & Snails Designs
And in case you get lost along the way, you can find the entire list right here:
The Blog-Train Blog
OK! I hope you have fun collecting parts today (and tomorrow...) Thanks for stopping by my blog - please do check out my ScrapDish shop, for some terrific deals! :)

And lastly, if you enjoy my freebie, please consider re-tweeting or posting on Facebook, etc., using any of the "share" links below. Remember to let me know if you re-tweet my Back-To-School Sale so I can send you a coupon! Thank you! :)

Photoshop CS5 Keyboard shortcuts - mini-tutorial - and free chart for you!

2010-08-10T23:28:00.000-05:00

Hey Blog-friends!

I just wanted to share a quick little tut - and a file as well. When I first upgraded from PS-Elements to the full version of Photoshop (PSE to PSCS2), I found a handy chart somewhere that had the main keyboard shortcuts all put together on a page that I was able to print out and put by my monitor - it was SOo handy, and really helped me learn the shortcuts (which really do save a LOT of time!)... but I recently (finally - YAY!) upgraded to PSCS5 (can I say I am officially IN. LOVE. with this software!! LOL!) and thought it would be nice to have a list of shortcuts once again, since there are so many new bells and whistles! I found a couple of sites that will SELL you one of their handy-dandy charts, but I'm too cheap (especially since I just forked out the money for PSCS5!) and really wanted to get the chart for FREE! SO, I did a little poking around in the software, and found the list! (Adobe is really very clever in how they tuck some of these things away, making you hunt them down!)

SO, I figured I must not be the only one who would like to have a handy-dandy shortcut chart, and decided to make up a super-quick little tutorial on how you can print out your own. (It is so easy, I'm almost embarrassed to call it a "tutorial" - but maybe someone else will be like me, not knowing how to get the list until now)

Basically 4 steps: (if you need to see this larger, click on it to see full-size image)

And here is what you should have open in your internet browser:

That's it! Easy, no?   Now I just took it one step further, and copy/pasted this into a new document, so that I could eliminate all of the un-assigned tools, etc., because the html page, copied into a document, was originally 27(!!) pages long!!   I don't have ROOM to post a 27-page chart by my monitor! LOL!! So I condensed it to just the main, pre-assigned shortcuts, cutting it down to just three 2-column pages.

I use Open Office (a free open-source software compatible with Microsoft Office (and possibly Word/Works?), so it should open for most of you (hopefully!) (In case you're looking for a FABulous free alternative for your documents - including word-processing, spreadsheets, and a couple other things, do check out OpenOffice.org - I'll never use the expensive stuff again, cuz OO is definitely just as good!) If you have trouble opening my document, please let me know (in the comments) and I'll re-save and re-upload as a Google document.

You can download my condensed version here:   (all 3 links are the same - just pick one - I like to give alternatives, as some don't like one site or another for file-sharing)

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OK! That's it for now... I've been working on a couple of projects for 2 upcoming E-Zine features with my designs, so I'll have some news on that before too long. ;) Am also working on a collab with the awesomely talented Correen Silke - I've always loved her beautiful and elegant designs, and am so excited to be doing a collab with her!   (and so thankful that she is extra-patient with my pokey self!! LOL!)

Hope your summer is going great!   I've been doing a bit of canning, and thinking I might post more about that - with pictures and recipe - my Mother-In-Law gave me her recipe for the MOST delicious red cinnamon-spicy pickles - they are SOoo yummy, and now I'm on my 2nd year of making them too. Hopefully as soon as I get the USB cord I need from Ebay (for a new-to-me camera that my son found while tubing IN A RIVER, at the bottom!! A waterproof Olympus Stylus Tough, with no info at all from the owner, so we have no way to know who lost it - and it works perfectly! David didn't really want it, so we worked out a little deal and now it's mine. :) ) I'll be able to get some of those canning pics into my 'puter and posted here. :)    Oh - and guess what else David found - a large Black Hills Gold ring, valued between $150 and $200! Again with no way to know who lost it, so he's the lucky boy, I guess!

I hope the keyboard shortcuts is helpful and handy for you! :)   If you find this helpful, please hit one of those "share" or "re-tweet" buttons below so more people can grab it - thank you! :)

And one last note - be sure to stop in my ScrapDish shop on Friday, when we have $1 day! Each of the ScrapDish designers can have 3 items on sale for just a buck - your chance to grab stuff at rock-bottom price!

What would you like to see more of (besides freebies! LOL!) Tutorials? Trends? Articles? Layouts?

2010-07-30T00:15:00.001-05:00

Hello friends!

I am just about to send out my most recent newsletter, with my lastest $1 sale items this week at ScrapDish (check it out, here: ScrapDish designers Friday $1 sale!)
and am asking my subscribers for a little help:

I have been wanting to be a little bit more regular in posting on my blog, and possibly send newsletters a little bit more often (right now I rarely send more than one a month), and I would really like to hear your thoughts on this.

What kinds of things would you like to see on my blog? Short tutorials? Articles about recent trends? Weekly $1 sale notices? Layouts made with my products - especially by my creative team? Of course I know you'd all love to see more blog-freebies, and hopefully I can do that as well, but I also want to know what other kinds of things you'd like to see - what makes you visit the blogs that you visit regularly?

Do you like to read about what goes on in designers' lives, or would you prefer that they keep it strictly business-related (which is what I have done, for the most part... I'm not sure that anyone would like to read about my basically boring life!!  LOL! Also, when you subscribe to a newsletter, how often do you like to receive it? Is once a month enough? Would you prefer slightly more often than that (maybe once every 2 weeks? or even once a week?) How much is just TOO MUCH?! I know I have unsubscribed to my share of newsletters due to the person just plain sending them TOO MUCH! (and I don't want to do that to any of you!)

SO, if you have any subjects that you would like to see me post about, or ideas for short tutorials, or any other kind of content you would like to see on my blog, could you please leave me a comment here, letting me know what you'd like to see?

And lastly, are there any ideas that you would like to see me doing with my Facebook Fan Page? (Do you even KNOW about my Facebook Fan Page?? LOL!) See the link in my left-hand side-bar, and sign up so you can get in on any special freebies and coupons that I do on a whim!

Please leave your comments here on my blog, so I can read them all in one place (if you send them to my e-mail, I might miss them - I just get too many e-mails to have a whole bunch of people do that, and I don't want to miss anyone.)   If you *really* want to send it privately, you can also send me a PM at DigiShopTalk.com.

I hope y'all will let me know what you would like to see more of - because I really would like to be a helpful resource for you, scrapping your precious family memories. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop, read, and hopefully comment! :)
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Editing to add: I KNEW it! I ALWAYS forget something and have to go back and edit my post!! ALWAYS!! LOL! I sat and thought and pondered, before I hit "Publish" so that I wouldn't have to do THIS, but I didn't think of it until right after I posted... of course! Haha!

I wanted to say, that everyone who leaves me a reply, with any input about the questions I asked, will be entered into a drawing to win my newest FULL collection, "Fresh!" - and if you already have it, I'll make you a coupon good for the same amount so you can choose something different!   SO, please be sure to leave an up-to-date e-mail with your post, so I can find you to give you your prize!

(apologies to my blog-subscribers, who will now receive this entry twice)

Woo-Hoo!! July BLOG-TRAIN is here! digital scrapbook freebie download heaven!

2010-06-30T23:59:00.005-05:00

LOTS of new stuff, favorite new kit, and new FREEBIE!

2010-06-10T20:31:00.028-05:00

Note - I'm sorry if you are receiving this twice if you're a subscriber - I have to edit the freebie links since they didn't show up as clickable links. :)

Hello!
Well, I've actually got a LOT of new stuff since I last posted, so hang on for a couple minutes while I show you the goods, and then I've got a fun new FREEBIE for y'all! :)

First of all, I have got some really fun new *TEEN BOY* elements - hard to find! But if you've got a teen (or pre-teen) boy who loves skateboarding, like my son David does, you will like this! I took about a hundred photos of David on his skateboard, and picked out the best of them to make full-body silhouettes - and they really turned out cool! I took my silhouettes to a scrapbook store and had them cut them out for me, to use as shapes and stencils to decorate David's bedroom wall (he is pretty darn happy with that!) I painted the walls blue, added swirls and hills in different shades of blue, and then stenciled David's skateboard silhouettes along the waist-high border of swirly hills. It really looks so cool, but Mr. D. didn't want me to put up a picture of his room online... privacy and all, so I can only show you one little corner of it. ;) (one little corner is fine with him! LOL!)
The orange in this picture is off a little - it's not quite that dark - just a little brighter. I took this pretty quickly, in-between coats of the skate-boarders, so not perfect, but you get the idea. ;)

I wish I had one of those die-cut machines myself! (I plan on getting one soon!) I think using these shapes with one of those cutters, to make vinyl cuts for his wall, would really work great! I'm even willing to re-paint the hills, etc., so I can put up vinyl shapes instead of the painted ones. I would probably even re-do some of the hills/swirls with vinyl instead of paint.

In this image, he happened to be wearing a stocking-cap that he thought was cool, and it actually did make the silhouettes look pretty fun. (only a couple of them have the hat). Here are the rest of the silhouettes: (click image to see full-size)

These are available in both my shops. :)

After I did these, I started doing some other silhouettes, and decided to offer a custom silhouette service... SO, if you would like to have any custom silhouettes created for you, pop in to my shop and take a look! These are all done very precisely with the pen-tool, so the edges are nice and clean, no jaggies, etc. Now that I've really gotten good with the pen-tool, it is definitely one of my favorite tools in Photoshop and Illustrator! You just can't get the same precision and clean lines any other way!

I am doing both full-body and classic cameo silhouettes, for both traditional digi-scrappers and for those who have the die-cut machines (Cricut, Silhouette, etc.) Here are previews

Both the Classic Cameo and the Full-Body Silhouettes are available for both scrappers and in Digi-Cuts™ format. I have seen these used in the coolest ways - the classic cameos look gorgeous matted and framed, or printed on canvas, and the full-body ones are great for vinyl-cuts for kids' walls, etc. Both are great for ordering custom-gifts, like cups, t-shirts, etc. You do need to have a good-quality image, high-resolution, in order to get good results. (Most web-pics and cell-phone shots are not going to be good enough to get the highly detailed images I aim for.)

AND now, onto my newest collection, which I'm pretty excited about, because I just LOVE the colors, and am happy with how the kit turned out - it is definitely my new favorite, of kits that I have made. I learned a couple of new tricks for re-coloring patterns in Illustrator, so I had a lot of fun making and re-coloring the patterns.

SO, here are the previews from my new "Fresh!" Collection - here are the patterned papers first:
and here is a close-up view of those papers:

The element-pack ended up so big I need to have 2 full previews for it, plus the detailed photo:
And here are the rest of the papers:
And finally, the alphas (includes full sets in all 4 colors):
I have these all on special introductory-price sale, but the best deal is if you grab them all in one set! Over 400MB of goodies for $5.99! (They are in my shop at ScrapDish.com right now, and will be at Inspiration-Lane this Saturday morning! I'm posting now though, because we're headed out of town tomorrow, so I needed to get some things done early.)

And of course I made a blog-gift that coordinates with the Fresh Collection...
You can grab the freebie here: (just click one - all 3 links are for the same thing)

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Now, before you go, one more preview - this is the coordinating freebie that I'll be sending out to my newsletter subscribers tomorrow before we go, so if you want to get this freebie as well, now is the perfect time to sign up for my newsletter! :) (See the flashing lights in the top-left corner of my blog! LOL!) There is also a special subscriber-only coupon in the subscriber-gift - another good reason to sign up now! :) (You will automatically receive the download links for both subscriber-gifts as soon as you CONFIRM your subscription.)

OK, that's it from me, for now! Thanks for stopping - hope you'll love the Fresh! Collection! :)

NEW stuff! Fun shapes and text-paths for digi-scrappers, Digi-Cuts™ and a digi-scrap FREEBIE for you!

2010-05-16T23:07:00.017-05:00

I've been busy today, making previews and a FREEBIE for y'all, and uploading, etc... SO glad to be almost done! :)

SO, I've got some new Digi-Cuts™ shapes for electronic die-cut machines (like Cricut, Silhouette, Wishblade, etc.) AND I've made the same shapes into layered files for digital scrapbooking, with custom text-paths.

First the new Digi-Cuts™ shapes, for electronic die-cut machines:

You can find the Digi-Cuts™ in my shop at ScrapDish.com, HERE, (and they are special introductory-price SALE right now, for just 2 days!) and they will also be available in my shop at Inspiration-Lane next week. (I-L was one of the many digi-shops that got messed up in the UCWebhost debacle this last week, with no FTP access, so I wasn't able to get them uploaded and set up over there in time for release this week.)

And since my "Curvy Clips and Paths" have been so popular, I decided to make these in a digi-scrap version as well, as layered templates with custom Photoshop text-paths and brushes for each shape (individual .png files are also included)... These are all available at ScrapDish right now, and Inspiration-Lane next week. (and also on SALE for just 2 days!). These are fine for both personal and commercial-use - you can use them for making journaling elements in your digital kits for sale! (See the store listing/description for TOU)
Here are a couple of previews with some examples of these shape templates in use:

And now for the best part... FINALLY a new FREEBIE on my blog!! YAaaaayyy!!! Hahahaa! (Yes, I'm probably as excited about it as some of you are!! LOL!) Here's a preview of the free sampler:
Inside the download file, you find a coupon good for 25% off anything in my ScrapDish shop - including the new Shapes and Paths sets! :)

Pick just one of the following links - they are all for the same file. ;)

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I've actually got another couple things that are almost ready to go, including some fun skateboard silhouettes, and more. Hoping to have it all in my shop sometime this week.

OK! That's it for me, for now. Thanks for stopping! Hope you have a terrific week! :)

Happy {inter}National Scrapbook Day! Sales, sales, sales

2010-05-01T13:17:00.005-05:00

Happy {i} NSD!

Of course I am having big SALES at both of my shops:

40% off everything in my shop at ScrapDish.com (and a coupon for another 20% off - use coupon-code: JDZ-NSD-Blog - expires May 15th
and 50% off everything in my shop at Inspiration-Lane.com!

I also have a couple new products - Digi-Cuts™ Curvy-Cuts (for electronic cutters like Silhouette, Cricut, Wishblade, etc.). These come in formats: AI, SVG, EPS, PDF, DXF, GSD, JPG, and PNG (should work for almost every cutter out there!) :)

AND.... the Digi-scrap version, Curvy Clips and Paths, which includes 17 layered .psd (Photoshop) files, with curvy clipping-masks/templates, and every one has at least one text-path - some have multiple paths to choose from:

These new products ARE included in the sale, so it's a great time to grab them! :)

ALSO, our good friend, and the master of Photoshop resources, Al Ward, is having a FANTASTIC special offer for just 3 days - right now you can get a full YEAR membership at Al's site, ActionFX.com (This is the absolute BEST deal I've seen for Photoshop resources, ANYwhere!) Al has literaly THOUSANDS of styles, custom-shapes, brushes, and SO MUCH MORE - and all of it is licensed for commercial-use! Whether you're a scrapper or designer, he has tons of great resources! So go check out his stuff - or if you know you want to sign up, just click right HERE. :)

OK! I hope you find lots of FUN stuff today and all week-end long! Happy Scrapping! :)

New Digi-Cuts ™ (for electronic cutting machines ) products & CT call!

2010-04-16T11:04:00.010-05:00

Hello!

I have a new product line coming out, Digi-Cuts™ - created especially for paper-crafters and hybrid scrappers who have an electronic cutting-machine (like Cricut, Silhouette, Craft Robo, Wishblade, Pazzles, etc.). Here is a preview of my first Digi-Cuts™ product - hand-created flowers, stems, grass, and leaves. Each design is created in Illustator as a vector image, then put through a multi-step process to clean up and smooth the paths, optimizing and formatting them in the file-formats required by most of the cutters on the market!

You can find this set today in my shop at ScrapDish.com, (right HERE)and will be available tomorrow at Inspiration-Lane.com!

(click on image to see it full-size)

This set is on introductory-price special, 20% off right now through Sunday night at midnight - and as an extra bonus for my blog and newsletter subscribers, here is a coupon for you to get an additional 15% off - which you can use on my first set of Digi-Cuts™ AND/OR anything else in my shop!

Coupon-code: JDZ_Digi-Cuts
Expires April 22nd at midnight.

(The digi-scrap version of Bloomers is available in both my ScrapDish.com and Inspiration-Lane.com shops)

SOoo, now I'm looking for a couple of ladies to join my Creative Team! Please click on the image below to see it full-size, and if you are willing to post your work with my products (Digi-Cuts™ and - optionally - my digital scrapbook products) in 3 online galleries, please send me an e-mail! (see image below for e-mail info).

OK! That's it for now - thanks for looking!

Spring and Birthday Sale! 50% off ALL

2010-03-23T14:42:00.004-05:00

Hello!

Just a quick note to let y'all know I have a FABulous 50% off SALE going on right now! Pretty much everything in my shops at ScrapDish and Inspiration-Lane are on sale 50% off! Ends March 26th at midnight, so don't wait too long! :)

(You can click images below to see larger version)

TODAY ONLY! ONE-DOLLAR Sale!

2010-02-05T14:08:00.009-06:00

Hi Friends! Just a quick note to let you know about my ONE-DAY, ONE-DOLLAR SALE today!

Don't miss my ONE DAY ONLY $1 SALE on "Loved Ones" Quick-page sets!

You can find these in my shops at ScrapDish.com - and Inspiration-Lane.com
(click on images to see them full-size)

AND, everyone needs a FAB set of solids that you can go to for beautifully textured canvas backgrounds... Make this your "Go-To" set for just a buck! :)

Don't miss the ONE-DAY ONLY ONE-DOLLAR SALE!

Thanks for looking!

Saying good-bye, Saying Hello, new alphas, and digi-scrap freebie for you!

2009-10-03T10:59:00.013-05:00

Good Morning! (and yes, I'm still alive! lol!)

I know it has (once again!) been way too long since I've updated my blog, and I have some news to share!

I was so happy to be accepted at ScrapBook-Elements a few months ago - it is a wonderful store, fabulous designers and owners, and I am so very appreciative of the time I've had there... but, the time has come for me to step down at SBE. Mainly just because of how slow I am - I've discovered it doesn't work very well for me to have a shop that requires exclusive products, as I have a hard time putting new items in 2 shops with all different stuff - at least that is (and will be) the case during the remaining time that I am homeschooling David. (Big sister Eliza is now at the high-school, and we thinik this will probably be David's last year home with me.) SO, regretfully, I have decided that for now, I need to say good-bye to the wonderful folks at SBE - at least for now. You never know what the future might bring. ;)

This means that everything in my SBE shop is on sale, 40% off! (excludes items normally priced under $2, by store policy). SO from now through Oct. 20th, you can grab my SBE products at wonderful prices - I hope this is fun news for someone who may have their eye on something there! :)

Along with that change, however, comes a new, fun and exciting opportunity - I have just opened a new shop at Inspiration-Lane, with those fabulously talented gals!! WOOoot!! You can see my new shop at IL right HERE. I have a couple of brand-new items in my shop there, including 2 set of "Fun Dough ALphas" (I have a couple sets at SBE as well - these are different style/font) Here's a look at the new sets:

And I have another brand-new (and super-fun!) alpha there today too - it is a customizable chipboard alpha - so you can coordinate the alpha with pretty much any kit or page you make! It is sure to become one of your favorites, with so much versatility!

This set includes an action (works in Photoshop, but not in Elements, so Elements-users will have to go through the normal steps of using clipping masks or other layered templates) to make customizing the letters super-quick and super-easy! This is the personal-use version - it is also available in commercial-use. It comes in layered .psd format, with the white layer being a clipping-mask for your paper. Isn't that fun? I have always loved chipboard, even when I paper-scrapped, so I love using chipboard alphas especially!

SOOoo, to celebrate my new shop opening, I have got all of the new alphas (at Inspiration Lane, and I'll be adding them to ScrapDish ASAP!) and my "Magical Morning" Collection on sale (at both Inspiration-Lane and ScrapDish) for 30% off - but just for the next 3 days (beginning Sunday, Oct. 4th, and ending Tuesday 10/6 at around midnight! So if you want to get this fun collection, now is a great time to grab it! (Here's a quick peek of the combo-pack - you can see more detailed previews at Inspiration-Lane and ScrapDish):

And I decided to make a little freebie, since I haven't had one for a while, AND I missed out on this month's Blog-Train, as my desk-top (main) computer was down with a virus last week - I had to do a total restore to factory settings! Ugghh!!

2 lessons learned from last week's virus attack:

1. When your anti-virus software vendor sends you an e-mail saying you need to update, do NOT put if off, even for ONE stinkin' day!! (Yep, that's what it took for me to get hit!)

And Lesson 2: When you purchase a new computer, ALWAYS either make or HAVE made (definitely the easier choice! lol!) a set of restore discs, even if they tell you that you won't need them due to most computers now having a 2nd, smaller 'restore' disk built in. Because in some cases, your 'puter can get so messed up that you can NOT restore from the 2nd hard-drive, and the only way to do it is from the 'official' restore discs. I learned this lesson last year when my laptop got hit with something, and it was not able to be restored from the built-in restore disc, and since I let Best-Buy talk me OUT of getting restore discs made, I had to take it in there to be restored to factory settings, costing me over $100, and I didn't even get back all of my original software! SO, when I bought my latest desk-top, I insisted that I wanted restore discs, even though they tried to talk me out of it. Sure glad I didn't listen this time!!

ANYway, I digress... lol! Now that I've got the desk-top running again (though I'm sure that I still have not installed and re-activated even half of my software yet!) I'm pretty happy. Cuz my 'puter is running SMOOooth and quick! And I didn't lose ANY data at all, since I have everything backed up on TWO external hard-drives AND much of it on DVDs as well. (So maybe that's Lesson 3 - Always make sure you have at least 2 back-ups of all of your important files, so that WHEN (not "if") you have something go wrong with your computer, it's just a minor pain-in-the-butt, and not a full-fledged disaster. ;)

OK! So here is the freebie I made for you - just a simple and basic pack of clean card-stock, that coordinates with my Magical Morning Collection. Not even the tiniest hint of shabby. (which was really hard for me! Lol!) But every once in a while, don'tcha just want to have some nice, clean, textured cardstock for a change?? :) Here's a look:

You can grab this set at any of these 3 links (all 3 are the same, so just click one) ;)

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That's it for now! Thanks for stopping by! :) Hope you'll visit my new shop at Inspiration-Lane! (I will still be at ScrapDish, so you can still always find me there as well)

Loved Ones released at SBE - and another freebie!

2009-08-16T12:55:00.014-05:00

Happy Sunday!!

My new "Loved Ones" page-kit (and all invidual parts) are now available in my shop at ScrapBook-Elements. I won't post all the previews again, as you can just scroll down a bit and see them, but here is the main preview, with everything included:

My little creative team (I love these girls!! I only have a few, but every single one is WONDERFUL and I really appreciate them!) have been working hard, making pages with the Loved Ones set. Here are a few of those:

By D.J.

By D.J.

By Mel

By D.J.

I will probably have a few more layouts to post sometime later this week. :)

Now I am currently working on some quick-pages, and possibly a brag-book as well, to (hopefully!) be ready for next Sunday's release.

But, right NOW, (Besides showing off some gorgeous pages!) I mainly came to post the new FREEBIE I promised! This is one of 4 freebies that coordinate with the Loved Ones Collection. (See my previous post to find out where all 4 freebies are, and you'll want to hurry and sign up for the ScrapBook-Elements newsletter if you haven't done so yet - that is where you'll receive a FULL-SIZE coordinating kit, "Loved Ones Add-On" - you can sign up for that HERE!) ;)

Here's a peek at today's freebie:

SOooo, now would be the perfect time to hurry and grab the full Loved Ones page-kit, as it is on introductory-price sale, 25% - but only for today and tomorrow (Aug. 16-17).

Here are links for downloading today's freebie - there are 3 links, but they are all for the exact same file, so only pick one. :)

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OK! That's it for now! Thanks for stopping - don't forget the 25% off Intro. Price special is only today and tomorrow - and makes the kit very affordable, at just $4.12!!! (yes, really! lol!) With the page-kit and all the coordinating freebies, you could easily make a LARGE album (or 2 or 3!) with no 2 pages alike, and I think you will find the color-palette, papers, and elements to all be quite versatile, for use on just about any page you want to create!

Hope you have a great week! :)

SO, I've got a new FREEBIE for y'all! (finally! lol!)

2009-08-12T22:53:00.006-05:00

If you happened to read my last post (for the August Blog-Train), you might have seen the part about the freebie at Promos4DigiScrappers, where I'm in the Spotlight for the month of August. Just go to their home-page (HERE) and you'll find a digi-scrap freebie that coordinates with a new Collection I'll have coming out at ScrapBook-Elements.com this next Sunday. And, now that I've finally got that collection all finished, uploaded, and just waiting to debut, I have had time to finish the additional coordinating freebies - yay! First I'll give you a sneek-peak at the new kit that will be out on Sunday:
Lots of fun stuff in there, but my favorite pieces are the metal hearts border and frames - they took forever to make!

Here's a better look at the papers:
And the elements:

And the alpha...

I designed this set with lots of hearts, for love, and some word-art pieces about family, as that was my main focus. I wanted to create a kit that would be easy to use for every-day family life, and show-casing our photos that show our families and the love in them. With a rich color-palette that will work equally well for masculine and femine layouts, and a large variety of fun elements, I think this will be one of my most versatile kits to date - I know *I* will be using it a lot! I love the metal hearts groupings. There are 2 borders (one with hearts in a line, all squished together, and the other with the hearts hanging from metal wires at the top) and a rectangular frame in this collection, and you will find more metal heart pieces in the blog-freebie I have today, as well as the one I'll be posting on Sunday, when the kit is released... AND, there are a couple more very cool metal heart elements, including an oval frame, in the add-on kit that I will be giving away in the August ScrapBook-Elements.com newsletter! (If you're not signed up for that yet, go HERE and do it so you don't miss this download!)

A bit after I'm done posting here (give me at least 15 minutes - I need to switch out some laundry! lol), I'm going to be posting a give-away in The Happy Place so if you'd like a chance to win the Collection before it is released on Sunday, be sure to pop in there and post in my thread! (It will only be open until Sunday, when I will use the integer-generator to pick a couple numbers, and whoever posted with that post-er number will win the collection!) Not sure what time Sunday, as I'll probably be out of town, so whenever I get home is when I'll post the winners. :)

And finally, here is a preview of today's digi-scrap freebie:
I hope you'll enjoy using it! Don't forget to grab the coordinating one at Promos4DigiScrappers.com, and come back on Sunday to grab the last freebie in this set!

Here are download links for you - all 3 links are for the same file, so just pick one. I've gotten some good feedback on posting different links so y'all can choose which one you prefer, so I'm going to try to keep doing that. It's also nice because then if a lot of people are downloading at once, the load is spread out a bit so you should get pretty good speed at which-ever link you choose. :)

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Enjoy and Happy Scrapping! :)

August already!! BLOG-TRAIN FREEBIES!!

2009-08-01T11:43:00.009-05:00

Hello Blog-Train-Riders! :) Woo-Hooo! Time for another fabulous blog-train! I just counted at the Blog-Train Blog (HERE!) and came up with ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR participating designers!!! With a fun primary-color palette, and a "Back-to-School" theme, this will be just what you need for those "back-to-school" pics (or any other kid-themed pages!)

My little part of the blog-train includes 2 modern hounds-tooth papers, and some word-art for 1st through 6th grade. Hope you will enjoy using them!

Be sure to check out the rest of my blog, as I have a large number of free samplers you can check out. If you look at the top left-hand column, you can see a preview of a free mini-kit you can get free by signing up for my newsletter! (Don't worry, I will not bombard your inbox with tons of e-mails - rarely will I ever send anything more than about once a week or so - probably less; I hate excessive advertising e-mails just as much as most other folks!) ;) I have the list set up so that as soon as you confirm your subscription (by clicking on the link in the confirmation e-mail you'll receive), you will receive an e-mail with the download link for the free mini-kit. :)

Also, if you go check out the home-page of Promos4Digi-Scrappers (HERE!), I'm in the Spotlight this month, and I have another freebie for you there! AND... be sure to keep you eye on my blog for the next few days, as I will be adding another freebie that will coordinate with the one at P4D... AND (Yes, ANOTHER freebie!!) if you are not yet signed up for the newsletter at ScrapBook-Elements.com, you might want to get signed up for that as well, as I will have ANOTHER coordinating freebie coming out in August's Newsletter at SBE!! (you can register for that right HERE! - always a great newsletter, as each month several of the SBE designers offer freebies that you can download - links are in the SBE newsletter.)

And here is the preview for my part of the Aug. Blog-Train:

SO, here are links for you to download my part of the August Blog-Train - all 3 links are the same, so just click on one of the links:

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OK! That's it for now - don't forget to watch for the next freebie I'll have on my blog, and the SBE newsletter! :)

Hope you have a wonderful rest-of-the-week-end!

EDIT to add: Geeeeezzz... if I EVER post on my blog without forgetting SOMEthing or other, I'll probably have a heart-atack!! LOL! Here's another little piece of information you might want for the blog-train - the next blog you want to visit is here:

http://carolzeitz.blogspot.com/

And if you get lost anywhere along the way, you can visit the Blog-Train blog, here:

http://blogtrainblog.blogspot.com/

Carry on! :)

Swirl-Bits (photoshop) Brushes - Comm. Use - and FREEBIE!

2009-07-19T22:21:00.005-05:00

Hi Ladies!

Well! I just finished sending out my very first newsletter! (at least I HOPE it went out!! lol!) In case you didn't see, I've added a link at the top left-hand column where you can sign up for my newsletter, to receive updates for new products, sales, coupons (including some only for subscribers) and subscriber-only FREEBIES! You're not too late, though - you can sign up any time - and you'll receive a cute mini-kit when you confirm your subscription.

OK... next...

I have a new designer-resource in my ScrapDish shop!

Swirl-Bits is a set of 14 SLEEK and SMOOTH plumes, swirls, and strokes that you can combine to make your own UNIQUE flourishes and swirls. I created the shapes in Illustrator, so they are super-smooth - no jaggies or stray pixels!

Set includes 14 mix-and-match "swirl-bits" for you to make your own totally unique flourish/swirl brushes, elements, and assorted other goodies with. Some swirls, some graceful and gently curved pieces... some wide and some skinny, to enable you to make a wide variety of elements like no one else's! Each piece is included in both .png and photoshop brush (.abr) format for your convenience. Brushes are LARGE - most are at least 2000px, but can easily be scaled down with no loss of quality/clarity. (They may need slight sharpening if you down-size them quite a bit.) All pieces were created by hand in Illustrator, so they are vector-smooth and clean, with no jaggies or stray pixels - just beautiful, clean and graceful lines and curves. This set is specially priced as well, to give you great value for your money! For personal AND commercial use, no credit required.

The brushes are ON SALE - 25% off, now through Wednesday only! So right now they are just $1.49!!!

Here is a look at just a TINY few ideas of what you can do with the brushes:

I have packaged these up as a FREEBIE (keep reading for the links!)

I also have a SALE going on this week in my ScrapDish shop! All of my quick-page sets, bracket-albums, and brag-book are on sale, 50% off!

OK! Here are links for you to grab the freebie - there are 3 links, but they are all for the same thing - so just click one. ;)

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Hope you have a wonderful week! :)

Want a cute FREE mini-kit? Just sign up for my newsletter!

2009-07-15T15:25:00.005-05:00

Hello! :)
I have had "start newsletter" on my "to-do" list for some time now, and I have, at long-last, finally gotten everything set up! (I THINK!!?? LOL!)

I plan to send it approximately once a week, or possibly less - depending on what new products or special promos I have going each week. I promise I will not flood your inbox with tons of unnecessary e-mails, and will keep them to a minimum - just enough so you'll know if I have something new, or a new freebie, sale, etc. (I hate excess e-mails just as much as y'all prolly do!) ;) My plan at this point is to send it out on Sundays, but that may vary somewhat.

You can click on the link on my blog (look at the top of the left-hand column) or just click HERE. Once you confirm your subscription, you will receive a download link for this cute FREE mini-kit! Perfect if you happen to be a coffee-lover, but definitely still use-able even if you don't love sweet coffee the way I do! Done in subtle cream, tans, and rich browns, these pieces will be suitable for many different pages. Here's a bigger peek at the free mini (which will be exclusively available to my newsletter subscribers):

Included are 2 solid and 2 patterned backgrounds, stitched coffee applique, 2 word-arts, stitched fabric swirls, slightly coffee-stained note-paper, ribbon-wrapped frame, and fun hanging tags/photo element.

I will also be making special coupons and additional freebies available to my newsletter subscribers, so you don't want to miss this! :)

Please do not share the link with friends, but instead direct them to my blog so they can sign up for their own copy - thanks!

OK! That's it from me, for now! Thanks for stopping - I hope you'll sign up so I can keep you up-to-date on my latest happenings! :)

Fun Swoopy {Acrylic} Swirls - and FREEBIE / Sampler!

2009-07-13T11:00:00.007-05:00

Good morning!

I have a couple of brand-new super-fun items in my shop at ScrapBook-Elements.com! These semi-transparent and colorful swirls will add delightful whimsy and fun to many of your pages! (previews below are click-able) With the multiple colors in each piece, they are sure to look great with a wide variety of backgrounds and/or other embellishments!

Swoopy {Acrylic} Swirls - this first set is "Girlish" with fun and bright colors to go with many "girlish" kits:

And a second set of Swoopy {Acrylic} Swirls made especially for boys, with bright, primary colors. (Of course these can be used on girl pages as well)

Each set comes both with and without drop-shadows. AND they are ON SALE right now - for just $1.64 each!! (reg. $2.19 each, TODAY is the LAST day at $1.64! But if you find this too late, shoot me an e-mail and I'll get you a coupon!)

And here is a peek at the FREEBIE/sampler:

And you can find the freebie / sampler at the following 3 links: (all are the same file - just click on one)

MediaFire

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Thanks for looking! Hope y'all have a great week! :)

Amazing $1 Whisper-Soft SALE! and I believe in miracles!

2009-07-09T12:57:00.006-05:00

Hey Ladies!

Just a quick note on a great $1 sale on my very versatile Whisper-Soft collection! This collection has beautiful soft colors and rich textures, and is perfect for vintage, every-day, sophisticated, and even baby pages! You can (today and tomorrow only - Thurs. and Friday) - pick up my Whisper-Soft Collection at a terrific savings!

You can get the (loaded and LARGE!) Element-pack or the Paper-Pack for just $1 each, OR get the Combo-set, which includes Element-Pack, Paper-Pack, AND free alpha (along with a bracket-shaped mulberry-paper mat) for just $2!

Here's a peek: (previews are clickable to my ScrapDish shop)

and the paper-pack:

and the alpha:

AND the bracket-album:

And here is the combo-set - elements and papers, together with the alpha and bonus mulberry-paper mat included for FREE!

Don't wait too long! Sale ends Friday night!

And another little note - I am getting ready to start my own weekly newsletter, and will be putting a sign-up link here on my blog, very soon! When I do, there will be a fun free gift for those who sign up for my newsletter - I will post soon with more details! :)

And, for anyone interested in a bit of family news and a MIRACLE... (you can skip the rest if you're just interested in digi-scrap stuff ;) We had an incident almost 2 weeks ago, that we are SOOoo very thankful didn't turn out worse than it did! Our 16yod, Eliza, was at work, taking garbage out to the parking lot, and she got literally RUN OVER by a van!! The driver didn't look before backing up, and knocked her down (left a big dent in his van - and he didn't even feel it or know he had hit her!), and then DROVE OVER HER FEET!!

Thank God the janitor was outside, and yelled at the driver, because driver did not realize he had hit her, and would have kept backing up, and probably would have killed her! We spent about 6 hours in the E.R., where Eliza was X-rayed head-to-toe about 3 times each body part, and she had only ONE small fracture/crack in her right pelvis, and it is above the weight-bearing part of the bone, so she did not need anything done - no surgeries, no casts... just a pair of crutches that she used for about 3-4 days because her hip was sore (ya think???) AMAZING and an absolute MIRACLE in my book! The ER staff were all surprised and amazed that she came out as well as she did too! (in fact, when we went back for a dr. appt. to re-check her hip, the dr. (who was the assistant of the one who saw her in the E.R.) said, "OH - you're that girl who got run over by the VAN with no serious injuries!!" (apparently it was a topic of conversation among the docs who saw her! hahaa!)

You don't even want to know how I panicked when I got a phone call saying she had been run over, and that her feet had been crushed... talk about the WORST phone call of my life! David (13yos) and I jumped in the van and headed for the hospital, and I was so crazy I missed THREE exits on the way, and had to loop around a couple times to finally get to the hospital! (a little stressed, maybe??) LOL! (yeah, I can laugh NOW, but I sure wasn't laughing then!) I imagined her needing multiple surgeries on both feet, and was terrified for her, as I know how terrible foot surgery can be! (have had a couple myself, and the last one was almost worse than my major back-surgery!)

The docs were thinking about keeping her overnight just to make sure she didn't get "compartment syndrome" from the crush-injuries to her feet, but they decided she didn't need to, as after several hours there was still NO SWELLING at all of her legs, so they thought she'd be fine. I actually was thinking it might be better for them to keep her overnight, just to be sure, but they re-assured me that everything looked amazingly good, considering what had happened. My poor kid was in pain though, for several days, on pain meds and stayed home from work, hung out on the couch. She really did amazingly well though, and now, just a couple weeks later, you'd NEVER know she had been RUN OVER by a VAN!!! AMAZING and a MIRACLE, if you ask me! We are so thankful that Eliza is okay!

Other than that, we've been going to the lake several week-ends, and headed there again this week-end, as my brother and his family will be there. They couldn't be there for the 4th, so we'll be celebrating it again this week-end! The kids/cousins all have such a great time together! :)

Thanks for looking! Hope you are having a wonderful week!

New HoundsTooth Papers and Alpha at SBE! (and FREE SAMPLER for you!)

2009-06-14T11:55:00.011-05:00

Hello!

Just a quick post about my new-releases this week at ScrapBook-Elements.com! I have a new paper-pack and alpha, and if you like "Houndstooth" patterns, you will love these!

The paper-pack has 15 different houndstooth-patterned papers, in a mix of classic houndstoothe and some more modern houndstooth patterns, in a wide range of colors. There is sure to be something to match your pages! (and with just a couple of tiny tweeks, you can, of course, easily change the colors of the papers as well!) All are beautifully textured with a linen-like texture that is so realistic you can almost feel it when you look at them!

Get the paper-pack HERE.

These papers coordinate with my Slightly Shabby Essential Solids (also at SBE, HERE)

And here is the alpha - coordinates with the black-and-white paper:

Find the alpha HERE

The alpha includes a silver chain (18" - long enough so you can hang it diagonally across a 12" page if you want to) and an O-ring, which you can "weld" onto the alpha pieces. I left them un-connected so that you could use the letters both with and without the rings, AND, if you do attach the rings, you can place them however you want, so you can hang each letter at whatever angle you want, and still have it look realistic (like it is hanging at the correct angle, depending on where you place it). I have included a mini-tutorial on how to attach the O-rings so they look like they are attached, or soldered/welded together.

Both sets are available at ScrapBook-Elements, HERE.

They are on sale with introductory-price special, today and tomorrow, 25% off - ends Monday at midnight!

And I have a sampler for you! It includes 2 of the modern houndstooth patterned papers, and a word-art piece I made with the alpha - I have included it both with and without O-rings attached, so you can hang it (or not) if you like.

OK! That's it from me, for now! If you didn't see my post yesterday, take a look at that one, as there is another freebie posted there too. You can download this sampler here: (all 3 links are for the same file - just click one!) ;)

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Hope you enjoy these! If you make any pages using them, I'd love to see them! Thanks for stopping by today - Hope you have a wonderful week!

New Houndstooth Designs for CU, and free sampler!

2009-06-13T03:07:00.010-05:00

Good morning! I have just added some Houndstooth Designs for CU to my ScrapDish store, and I have a little sampler for y'all too! Here is the new houndstooth-for-CU set:

and a closer look at some papers made with the 3-layer template and some of the other overlays/templates (I used them as clipping masks):

3 of those are made with the layered template, and the rest are papers that were made with the other templates/overlays, and are included with my new 'Houndstoothe Heaven" paper-pack that is coming to my ScrapBook-Elements shop tomorrow!

And, I have put together a little sampler of 3 papers made from the layered template! They do not coordinate with each other, as I wanted to show some of the variety of looks that can be achieved with the template, but hopefully someone will find some use for them! One of them would look great on a July-4th page! They look like this:

You can grab the sampler by clicking on the image(s) above, or HERE.

And HERE is an alternate link for you as well! (same stuff - don't click both!) ;) This is a rather large file (a bit over 60 MB), as 2 of the papers are the "tattered and worn" style that have to be saved in .png format rather than .jpg, resulting in larger files.

The Houndstooth Designs for CU is on special introductory price sale, for just 3 days, 25% off! So grab them while they're reduced-price (sale price = $4.49, regular price = $5.99) and start making many varieties of houndstooth papers and elements! :)

Okay! that's it from me for now - but I'll be posting again tomorrow (Sunday) with a couple of fun new things that will be released in my shop at ScrapBook-Elements.com! I will also have a little tutorial on "welding" a metal O-ring to metal-rimmed alpha elements, to turn them into charms!

Hope you have a wonderful week-end! Thanks for popping in! :)

$1 Sale! Glitter-Edge Layer-style (CU OK!) AND NEW Quick Clean-N-Trim Action - on sale too!

2009-06-05T12:14:00.004-05:00

Happy Friday! :)

Just a quick note about a couple of sales! Today is Fabulous $1 Day at ScrapDish, and I've got one of my Glitter-Edge Layer-styles (CU OK) on sale for a buck! This one:

(click on image to go the item in my ScrapDish store)

Be sure to check out the dollar-bin as well, cuz I've got lots of stuff in there too!

AND, I've got some new ACTIONS that I'm very excited about! First is a set for Photoshop - Quick Clean-N-Trim Action Set:

(You can click that one to go to my shop as well)

This set of 2 actions makes is SUPER-quick to trim your .png elements - fabulous time-saver for designers! One action simply trims your element, leaving a 3-pixel space around it, so you won't have any parts of your elements cut off (no more cut-off straight edges on buttons!) and the other action also trims your elements, but it also includes stops, instructions, and a brush pre-set for cleaning up any stray pixels and/or jaggies in your element, and THEN it trims and saves them for you in a flash! (also with a 3-pixel space to protect your edges and shadows, etc. from being cut off) SO handy! I use these on all of my elements when putting them in kits. The Clean-N-Trim one is my final quality check before I package up stuff.

These actions are tested and work in PS-7, and PSCS through CS4.

AND... I've got a similar set coming out very soon for PS ELEMENTS users! This will REALLY be helpful for Elements-users, since Elements does not include a "trim" command/feature - but it works in the action!! So this can REALLY save a lot of time for you Elements gals! Hopefully I'll have the Elements Action-Set in my store either later today, or tomorrow. I'm just waiting to hear back from one tester before I upload to my shop. They work in PSE-4 through PSE-7, and I'm waiting to hear about PSE-3.

Besides being great for designers, they are nice to have, because not all designers do trim their elements, but rather they leave extra space around them. All that extra space adds up, and ends up taking a lot of extra space on your hard-drive. SO, if you have many .png elements that are not trimmed properly, these actions can save you a lot of space on your hard-drive!

OK! End of commercial! Hope you have a wonderful week-end! :)

Want to win a one TERABYTE EHD??? (I know I do!! LOL!)

2009-06-03T02:02:00.003-05:00

Check out this fun contest at DSA:

Cool, huh? I'll never win, cuz I just don't have enough time to post that often, but someone is sure going to win a great prize! Good luck! :)

I'll be posting tomorrow (later today, really - it's almost 2 AM and I'm going to bed now!) about my new action set for trimming .png elements and a quick-clean-n-trim for designers - great time-saver! See y'all in the morning! :)

New 2-page template -Project 365-friendly! And... June BLOG TRAIN!! (freebie!)

2009-05-31T21:26:00.011-05:00

Good Evening, Ladies!

(note to subscribers - I am so sorry you are probably receiving this more than once. I needed to correct the BlogTrain link, and add the next designer's link, which I somehow managed to FORGET!! Sorry about that!) :)

I decided to go ahead and post my blog-train post a tiny bit earlier than planned, as I would rather be a couple hours early than fall asleep without getting it done, and then be late (and have frustrated train-passengers! lol!) First I just want to show you my newest product - just one 2-page template, perfect for Project 365, but of course will work for any multi-photo layout!

It is in my shop at ScrapBook-elements AND on special intro SALE 20% off, so just $1.72 today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday, June 1) only!

Here's a peak:

The large flourishes make this template SUPER-quick to work with, as it really does not need a lot added to it - but of course you can dress it up as much as you like!
Sale-price ends Monday at midnight!

A bit closer look at the layout:

Layout above is made with my "Shabby Little Man" set, also at ScrapBook-Elements:

And some fabulous pages by Sunni and my CT made using the template - first is Madae's adorable "Six Cute Cousins" page:

She used my "Sassy" kit at SBE

Then Sunni made this gorgeous page using Rina's beautiful "Sea Spirit" (see it HERE)

And Mel made this wonderful layout using ONLY the template! No kit needed! lol!

SO, that's it for new stuff from me for now! I've been spending most of my last 3 days backing up files and haven't gotten much else done! But hey, at least I'm backed up! I found a good sale on a new EHD at Newegg.com - a 650 Gig Hitachi "EasyDrive" - was on sale for $59 and with FREE SHIPPING! I ordered it and it got here in under 3 days! Can't beat that! So now I've got my EHD and a second EHD, along with previously made DVDs. I plan to keep copies of the DVDs at my mom's house (or somewhere else, other than my house) just in case of some catastrophic thing like a fire. I had been using Comodo, but am not at all happy with the service, and would rather have my files safely backed up in MY hands rather than trust them, when only 30Gigs backed up in a YEAR's time!! (and on a good fast connection!) Not acceptable IMO!

ANYhoooow.... you are looking for links for the fabulous and huge June Blog-train! And I have links for you! :) I have uploaded at 3 different places, so hopefully one of these will work well for you! (all 3 links are for the same file, so don't click them all) ;)

Here's a preview of my part of this train:

You can grab my part...

HERE (4shared)
or HERE (MediaFire)
or HERE! (my domain)

And your next stop is here:
MoonDesigns http://moon7x4.blogspot.com

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Please remember: This blog train is 77 participants long. We are from all over the world in many different time zones. Please allow a full 24 hours for all blog train links to be completely active. You may visit

http://www.blogtrainblog.blogspot.com/

for links to every contribution. Thank You.

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Hope you enjoy! (I know I'm going to be collecting some of this one too - great colors for a "guy" kit!)

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful week!

New 3-D Alpha at ScrapBook-Elements.com! (and FREEBIE for you!)

2009-05-10T11:14:00.006-05:00

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope y'all are having a great week-end and a wonderful Mother's Day! We're just about getting ready to take my mom out for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, but I have *just* enough time to squeeze in a quick blog-post (and freebie!) :)

I have a fun new 3-D Alpha in my store at ScrapBook-Elements.com, HERE.
The full set includes a complete lower-case alpha, numbers, and some punctuation/symbols. Each characters comes both with and without custom cast-shadows - so you can use mine for quick-and-easy, or make your own so they lay exactly how you want them! Here's a preview: (click to see full-size)

And, I made a little sampler for you to check out:

You can find the freebie here (all 3 links are for the same set, just giving you some choices!) ;) Remember to use AdBlock Plus and NoScript if you use 4Shared! I've seen some more recent posts again about possible virus problems at 4Shared - but if you use these 2 Firefox add-ons, you should be okay - as long as you also have current firewall and anti-virus running! And, of course, always scan everything you download with your anti-virus program, just to be safe!

4Shared

MediaFire

DigiScrapDZines

OK! That's it! (told you it would be quick! LOL!)

Hope y'all have a fabulous week! :)

My BIGGEST SALE EVER!! Many $1 and 50% off most everything! (CU included!)

2009-04-30T17:23:00.006-05:00

Hi Ladies!

Well, I'm ALL DONE setting prices at ScrapDish for my BIGGEST SALE EVER! Just about EVERYTHING in my shop at ScrapDish is 50% off - except for the 25 items that are on sale for $1!! MANY great deals to be had, including my newest product, my Magical Morning Collection!

You can grab this whole collection - over 600 MB!! - for just $3.99! AND, if you know where to look - {my blog- cough-cough - see my previous post!} - you can find an ADDITIONAL 20% off coupon!

(The coupon is good for EVERYTHING IN MY SHOP!!) You definitely do NOT want to miss this one! I doubt that I'll ever be pricing this low again together with a coupon!

So run on over to my store at ScrapDish and grab the stuff you need while it's at a SUPER-LOW price!

And TOMORROW, my store at ScrapBook-Elements.com will be 40% off as well! AND, I will have More **$1** goodies there! (ALL different from what I have at ScrapDish!)

Hope you all have a wonderful {inter}National Scrapbook Day!

Magical Morning is here!! (And FREE Sampler for you!)

2009-04-24T17:53:00.022-05:00

Hi Ladies!

HAPPY FRIDAY! Hehehee!! We just got home from our regular Friday night family trip to Burger King! Yeah, I know, not very fancy, but the kids like it, and it's relatively easy on the budget, so it's a tradition for us! And it's a nice relaxing time for ALL of us, since no one has to set the table, clean-up, or keep getting up to grab some forgotten thing... lol! With my kiddos getting older - 1 teen (16yod) and 1 pre-teen (12yos - will be 13 TOMORROW! Meaning I'll have TWO TEENAGERS!! Pray for me, y'all!! LOL!) , I have increasing appreciation for these family meals together.... Seems like so often the kids are busy with activities that take them away from home, so we don't eat together every single night like we used to - and I am missing that! Why do they grow up SOOoo fast??

Well, GOOD NEWS! The 2nd crest of the Red River ended up being lower than expected, and put us in NO danger this time - whew!! The Red is STILL REALLY, REALLY high, and there is still a lot of overland flooding happening throughout the Red River Valley and North Dakota, but my town is no longer in danger. It is such a relief to not have the big worry in the back of my mind all the time! We have now put all of our basement stuff back downstairs, so now we can even move and walk around again upstairs! LOL! I really appreciate all the kind words of support, and the prayers, during the floods - I do believe that the lower crest was an answer to prayer!

OK - enough family stuff - you came for the scrap-stuff, right? ;)

********

Magical Morning is finished!! YAaaay! (and ON SALE AND with a coupon!)

I am SOOoo happy to finally get this baby finished and in my shop! I have been working on my new "Magical Morning Collection" for what FEELS like weeks! But I am really happy with the final results - and hopefully some of you will like it as well! It is a HUGE collection, with 6 different parts, and also available in one money-saving JUMBO-Combo-Pack! (Over 600 MB in all!!)

Magical Morning was inspired by the beautiful sunlight in the morning. That light that makes everything seem to glisten and sparkle! So it has a lot of sparkle in it, and fresh, clean colors! Even though there is pink in the color palette, I have taken great care to make many pieces that have NO pink in them, for those of you who have "all-boy" boys to scrap for. :)

Now, I've got them all uploaded in my store at ScrapDish (right HERE) and they are on special introductory price, 20% off... AND, in the freebie you'll find in this post, there is another 20% off COUPON! So it will really be a great deal! :) The coupon is good through May 31st, but will be disabled during (Inter)National Scrapbook Day - so the savings you can get now are equal to what will be then. (Just sayin... so you don't have to wait...) ;) I am planning on making coordinating quick-pages and possibly a brag-book and/or bracket-album, so if you like those, you might want to check back in a couple/few days! I will plan on offering another freebie once I get those set up in my shop!

Here are previews: (you can click on the images to see them full-size)

Preview number 1 from the MEGA-Element-pack (there is too much to fit on just one preview, so I had to do 2!). The element-pack also includes one bonus-background - a soft yellow paper shown behind all the goodies here:

.... and preview 2:

and here ia a close-up look at some of the elements:

Patterned papers:

Whole-page view of all 12 pieces:

and close-up detail view (about 1-2 inches each square):

THEN... a set of very shabby (tattered and worn!) semi-solids:

and close-up/detail view of the shabby semi-solids:

AND... some fancy-cut solid cardstock mats (these make it SO quick and easy to make some really super-cute pages!!):

And some really fun themed word-art - all related to either morning or sunshine:

and, finally, the alphas - yes, PLURAL! There are 2 complete upper-case alphas in the set, with numbers, some punctuation and fun extras - every character comes in both a pink/yellow blend and a blue-yellow blend... The characters are incorporated into fun circular charms, and I have included several stitches and ribbon-stitches in multiple colors, with which to attach the charms - really super-fun, IMO! The letters that spell "ALPHAS" are full-size, as appearing on a 12" background. (The rest are slightly scaled down, to fit them all on the page)

And, a close-up/detail view of the alphas and stitches:

SO, this is why I've been scarce lately... I feel like I've been in hibernation, only coming out for occasional meals and showers! LOL! But as soon as I'm done posting, I'll be making quick-pages - the fun part! :)

Now, besides the 20% off introductory price for the next few days, you will want to find the COUPON inside the download file for the FREEBIE! (AND, just so you know - If you DO purchase this collection, or any parts of it, you'll still want to be sure to grab the freebie, because it has 2 backgrounds and some elements that are NOT included in the sets in my shop - and, in fact, has one of my VERY favorite backgrounds in the whole Collection! Very glittery/shimmery and colorful!

If any of you make pages using the sampler (or collection!), I would LOVE to see them, and might even post them on my blog, if you give me permission to do so! I am really liking how this kit turned out, and can't wait to see some fun pages created with it! My little CT are working on some right now, but I didn't give them much time before I decided to go ahead and upload and post! I know they will do awesome things with it!

AND... speaking of CT... I am thinking I would really like to add a couple of new girls - probably as guest CT, for a 2-month stint, so if you love my designs, and would like to help promote them - while getting my kits for free, please shoot me an e-mail (jilld123 AT gmail DOT com)! Please include links to your most active gallery/galleries, list any CTs you are currently on, and tell me a little bit about yourself! I would also LOVE to see any pages that you may have created using my products - this would tell me that you really do like working with my designs! ;)

And now (FINALLY! LOL!) Here is the Magical Morning Sampler for you:

Preview:

and links -

I've got 3 different download links for you! I know some are still leery about using 4Shared (be sure to look at my post on March 3rd, HERE, for some helpful info about protecting your 'puter from viruses that some folks think are coming from 4Shared)... So... I've also uplaoded to another file-hosting site (one I'm really liking so far - no ads, decent speed, no waiting, FREE... :) , as well as to my own new site/domain. (I'm doing 3 links because I'm not sure how much bandwidth I'll use up if everyone downloads from my site - and because if you experience problems or slow download speeds at one place, you can try one of the others.) ;) Here are the links:

4Shared
(http://www.4shared.com/file/100757814/9bc997c2/JillDZ_MgclMrngSmplr.html)

MediaFire
(http://www.mediafire.com/?31mkmjngnbu)

My new domain -DigiScrapDZines

OK! That's it - FOR NOW! I've been working on a very 3-D alpha (think "refrigerator magnets" - nice and thick and very dimensional - that will be going into my store at ScrapBook-Elements as soon as I can get them previewed and uploaded - hopefully soon, now that I've finally got this one done! Remember to check back for Magical Morning quick-pages, brag-book, bracket-album - and thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I appreciate how busy people are, and really am honored that you come and pop in to visit me! :)

I hope you have a wonderful week-end! :)

Easter Treasure Hunt and SALE! Many $1 items!

2009-04-11T13:46:00.005-05:00

Hi Ladies!

Hope you are all enjoying beautiful SPRING weather! We are between crests of the Red River, hoping that we can manage to stay dry when the Red crests again this next week. It has started rising again now, so when it starts getting close to what it was last time, I'm going to go take some pictures this time! Last time we just wanted to get the heck out of town, and the massive traffic congestion due to most bridges closing made it nearly impossible for me to get to the bridge to take pictures. THIS time, though, our city had time to build some contingency dikes, so they are *hoping* to be able to avoid any evacuations this go-round - unless we should happen to get anything more than just a little bit of rain!

My SIL sent me a link to a site that has some GREAT photos, though, in case any of you are interested - all from the first crest. Look RIGHT HERE. The most amazing part of the whole thing is all of the HUNDREDS of volunteers who jumped right in and made the difference between a flood and a major disaster. If not for all of the volunteers, we would have all been SOooo much worse off! All of those sand-bag dikes saved literally HUNDREDS of homes, if not thousands! Even though we only had about a week's notice that the flood was going to be as bad as it was - and every-other day the weather service RAISED the projected crest by a foot or two (it felt like every time we turned around, something else went wrong - we'd have the dikes barely finished and an hour later they would raise the crest prediction... then we got a BLIZZARD that dumped nearly 16 inches of snow on us, in the peak of the flood!!) we were able to escape with a relatively small number of homes going underwater. I'm not minimizing the losses that occurred, as there were many flooded basements and homes lost, but it would have been about a hundred times worse without the incredible efforts of the people in and around my community. And not only from the immediate area - some volunteers took time off work, got in their cars and drove several hundred miles to come and help us! (especially people who were originally from this area - many of them came back to help!).

SOooo, now we are just hoping that we can escape major disaster again this next week... please keep the Red River Valley (along ND and MN border) in your prayers! As of right now, the projection is for 39 feet, which is not bad, compared to the first crest (40.82). But that is a "best-case" scenario - a heavy rain could quickly put us well over that - so we really need nice DRY weather for the next week! And because of some variation in which rivers flow into the Red, and which will leave their banks, causing new overland flooding, some areas that did not get flooded the first time, WILL be flooded this time - and other areas that DID get hit the first time, may be high-and-dry this time - no one knows for sure. - In other words - we'll still take all the prayers we can get! :)

OKAY! Enough of THAT! The reason I came to post was to let you know about this FUN treasure-hunt that we are having for Easter, at ScrapDish! 15 ScrapDish designers have made some special treats for y'all, and set up a fun treasure-hunt for you to follow the clues to find the freebies! I have only managed to get to the first few so far, as I've been a little busy - but I can say you WILL have FUN doing this! :) SO - one quick word about my SALE, and then I'll give you the FIRST CLUE!

I have got everything in my ScrapDish store on sale for 35% off (Commercial-use products included!) - except for the many items I have marked at ONE DOLLAR! Check out my sale RIGHT HERE!

And here is your first clue....

(And HOPEfully y'all can figure out who "Jack's hilltop friend" is!! LOL!)

Once you figure this one out, you'll find the next clue, and so on. If you get stuck anywhere along the way, you can visit the ScrapDish forum for help - RIGHT HERE. Hope you have fun and find all the goodies! :) And I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Easter with your loved ones!

Choo-Choo!! Woo-Hooo!! April BLOG-TRAIN is here! (FREEBIES GALORE!)

2009-03-31T23:08:00.006-05:00

This blog train is 91 participants long. We are from all over the world in many different time zones. Please allow a full 24 hours for all blog train links to be completely active. You may visit www.theblogtrainblog.blogspot.com for links to every contribution. Thank You.

Hi Ladies!

I'm so excited to be joining in the DST Blog-Train for the first time! With all the flooding going on in my town, and us evacuating and just getting home again yesterday, I was afraid I was not going to be ready in time, but I made it! :)

You may have seen a lot of Fargo-Moorhead in the news lately, for the epic battle we are fighting against the Red River. The Red crested on Saturday, a full foot lower than expected (YAY!!!) and is now on the way down, S-L-O-W-L-Y - but get this - we had SIXTEEN INCHES OF SNOW TODAY!!! And more snow coming in a couple days! It reminds me of the song, "This is the song that NEVER ENDS.... yes it goes on and on my friend...." lol!

Well, we will just have to deal with floods and sandbags for a couple more weeks, and then HOPEFULLY we can all start to get back to normal around here! Lord knows I am SOOo ready to be done dealing with it all! We still have most stuff from our basement up on the main floor, which we did as a precaution, and we have all our basement drains plugged - to guard against the sewer back-up that we were warned about (and I am SOoo glad we had them plugged! Many people did experience sewer back-up - I can't imagine anything worse than having my home flooded with raw sewage!! GROSS!). So I have to go to the laundromat tomorrow to wash clothes - but I can bring them home to dry, so not much to complain about there. And we escaped with NO damage to our home or neighborhood, so we are blessed and very thankful. I feel so sad for the people who lost their homes, or even "just" their basements, whether from river-water, overland flooding (which was just as bad as the Red River this year!), or afore-mentioned sewage back-up! But I am so incredibly PROUD of my community, and how EVERYONE pitched in and helped each other - with sandbagging, feeding sandbaggers, delivering supplies, donating food, sandbags, sand, other supplies... it was so amazing to see the HUNDREDS of volunteers so willing to jump in and help. I love my community!

Well, enough about THAT! You came for the blog-train, so I won't hold you up any longer. :) There are SOOOoo many designers participating this time around - and TONS of fabulous digi-treats for you to download! Here's my preview:

This was such a beautiful color-palette to work with - I may just have to make a full kit to match! (Of course, no one would buy it because everyone will have MORE then enough in these colors! LOL!)

You can download my part of the blog-train right here

(Normally, I have started hosting my freebies on my new domain/site, but I wasn't sure how it would handle the large amoung of bandwidth that will be needed for the blog-train, so decided to use 4Shared for this one. Don't forget that you can add No-Script and Ad-BlockPlus on to your Mozilla browser if you are worried about any virus problems - I have not had ANY further problems at 4Shared since adding these 2 Firefox add-ons) :)

I hope you enjoy my little part of this HUGE collection! I have also included a 30% off coupon in my download file, good at my ScrapDish.com store, HERE. Coupon expires April 30th at midnight.

Thanks for stopping! Now on to your next stop - go next to visit:

Inspired by Dominic

Have fun! :)

Quick post about flooding in our area

2009-03-23T09:25:00.003-05:00

Hi Ladies!

Just a quick note, then I'm headed to Wal-Mart to grab some things we may need. We have been given a new flood forecast in our area, and the situation is not good at all. You can read my post at DST about it, here:

http://www.digishoptalk.com/boards/showthread.php?t=182088

with an update in post #23

Please keep us in your prayers! Thank you! :)

Final Sweet & Sassy Freebie!

2009-03-07T20:58:00.004-06:00

Hi Ladies!

I just finished uploading the last of the Sweet & Sassy gifts for y'all! I have really enjoyed this week, and posting new freebies each day. I'm really going to try to do this more regularly... it's just so easy to completely forget to do a blog-post, or to say "I'm just too busy right now!" - but I really do like it, so I need to figure out how to give myself a kick to get it done!

Anyhooo... here is a preview of today's freebie:

(click on the image to see full-size)

I made the "Cutie Patootie" word-art from the *new* Sassy Alpha (available at ScrapBook-Elements.com, HERE - along with the rest of the *NEW* Sassy Collection!)

Not much else to post today, as I've been slacking and don't have anything new coming out in the next few days. (actually, maybe "slacking" isn't entirely accurate! LOL! I've been working on learning some HTML and CSS so I can actually DO something with my new site and domain!) I've also been playing around in both Illustrator and Xara, trying to find out how to achieve a certain 3-D look, but having no luck so far. I'll get it eventually, and it's fun trying, so I'm not too upset. ;)

SOooo, here is the link for you to download today's freebie - click HERE. :) (file is hosted on my site and will start downloading as soon as you click on it, so no worries about viruses at any file-sharing sites) ;)

Hope you have a great rest-of-the-week-end!

Last part of Sweet & Sassy Alpha (FREEBIE!) and $1 sale

2009-03-06T14:48:00.005-06:00

Hi Ladies! Here is the last part of the Sweet & Sassy alpha freebie for you - right after I let you know about the $1 sale at ScrapDish today! Until just midnight tomorrow (Saturday) night, you can grab my Glitter-Edge Layer-Style, Set 3 for just $1! Set 3 is the one with gold and silver glitter mixed in - preview:

(Click on image to see it full-size)
You can grab it in my ScrapDish store, HERE. This style works in Photoshop, but not Elements, unfortunately. It is fine for commercial-use, and is fully adjustable, allowing you to set the size/width of the glitter border, the scale/size of the glitter itself, whether it adds the glitter edge to the inside or outside of your element, and whether the edges have crisp, sharp corners, or rounded ones! Truly a *very* versatile style! It also includes a special drop-shadow action to help you add drop-shadows quickly and easily, and of course you can customize that as well (or leave the settings I have it at - the action will stop and give you a chance to set the shadow how you like it).

And here is the link for the last part of the Sweet & Sassy alpha, HERE. (Today's link is for the lower-case letters. If you haven't seen the rest of the S&S alpha and other goodies, look through my other posts this week - there are freebies for each day!)

Hope you enjoy it! Tomorrow (Saturday) will be the last day for the Sweet & Shabby freebies (although I will leave the links up - just won't add any new ones after Saturday) ;)

Have a great week-end! :)

Sweet & Sassy Alpha, part 2 (FREEBIE!)

2009-03-05T15:08:00.005-06:00

Hi Ladies! :)

I have the next part of the Sweet & Sassy alpha for you, but first wanted to show you the adorable keyhole album that CindyLou made with the new Sassy Collection Keyhole Album!

Aren't those cute? This will make a fabulous gift for Grandparents or other relatives (maybe even friends! LOL!)

And the 2nd set of pages...

You can find the Sassy Keyhole album at ScrapBook-Elements, right HERE. :)

And now for today's freebie! I thought I'd get it posted a bit EARLIER today, for once! Today's download includes the upper-case letters from the old "Sweet & Sassy" kit. (The *new* "Sassy" has an all brand-new alpha, which you can see here.)

And you can download today's part right HERE. (You can see a preview of the alpha in yesterday's post.)

Thanks for stopping! Tomorrow (Friday) I will have the last part (lower-case alpha) of the alpha, and then I'll prolly come up with something else for Saturday, to finish out the week.

If you know someone else who might like the freebies on my blog, please send them here to download, rather than sharing my links - thank you! :)

More Sweet & Sassy Stuff! (another freebie!)

2009-03-04T23:10:00.005-06:00

Just a quick post to let you know what I've got for you tonight! When I re-made my old "Sweet & Sassy" kit (new kit is called "Sassy" and is available at Scrapbook-Elements, HERE), I made a whole new alpha, so I thought I'd pass along the old alpha to you! It includes full upper- and lower-case alpha, numbers, and some punctuation. I've broken it into 3 parts, with the first part being the numbers and punctuation, and a background. Here's a preview of the whole alpha:

I will post the upper-case alpha tomorrow and the lower-case alpha the next day - so be sure to step back so you get the whole set!

If you haven't seen the new "Sassy" set (coordinates with all of the freebies this week), scroll down a bit, or take a look at my top slide-show along the right side-bar, OR you can go check it out at Scrapbook-Elements! :)

Hope you enjoy the set! Download the first part right HERE. :)

Here is the 2nd Sweet-&-Sassy Gift for you!

2009-03-03T23:28:00.003-06:00

Hi Ladies! :)

Well, I just had the best 5 minutes of the day! LOL! I came to post here, and found a bunch of COMMENTS! That really does make my day - thank you gals! For some reason I didn't receive an e-mail notice that there were comments on my blog (going to have to look into that! maybe I just don't have it set up correctly yet, on this new blog!), so I had no clue until just now when I got here! And you put a big grin on my face. :) I'm glad you like the Sweet & Sassy stuff. I'm glad to have a way to give it out so it just doesn't end up in my recycle bin, now that these older pieces are officially "Retired". ;)

I have just finished uploading the 2nd set, and have a link for you!

But first I just wanted to share a little more info with you on computer security. I previously mentioned the big discussion/thread at DigiShopTalk about the virus problem, etc., and DaisyQ pointed out, last night, that I had kind of left IE users in the dark, since my post the other day was pretty much only about what you can do if you use Firefox. It honestly never even dawned on me that I should include some info on Internet Explorer, but I'm sure she's right - there prolly are lots of people who still use IE, who wouldn't benefit at all from my pro-firefox post... SO... she shared some very helpful info, and I asked if I could copy it and post it here, but I haven't heard back (yet). So I figured I'd just link y'all up with her comments, as it really looks very helpful for those of you who do use IE. Anything to prevent more people from getting their computers trashed! You can find DaisyQ's helpful post right here:

http://www.digishoptalk.com/boards/showpost.php?p=1824994&postcount=191

Great info, and thanks for pointing that out and sharing your knowledge, DaisyQ! :)

OK - now here is the download link for day 2 of Sweet & Sassy gift - click right HERE. Hope you enjoy!

ETA: oops! Sorry - forgot the preview! Here you go...

Another freebie/gift for you!

2009-03-03T00:51:00.004-06:00

Hello! I am sorry I'm late with this. Meant to get to it earlier in the day but had lots going on, then I couldn't log onto my server for the life of me!! I am brand-new to the world of having my own site/hosting, and don't know what in the world I managed to do wrong, but could NOT get the FTP account to hook up - using the exact settings I used yesterday! Auck! Anway, I finally gave up on that and went to the main account (which maybe I should have just done in the first place?!! LOL!) and now it is uploading as I type! By the time I finish this post I'll have the download link for you! (well, HOPEfully, anyway! LOL!)

SO, want to see what you're getting? (I would if I were you!) Hahaa! Here's a preview...

This is from my old "Sweet & Sassy" kit - which (of course!) coordinates with my new "Sassy" at ScrapBook-Elements.com (right HERE) (and you can see all the previews from that by scrolling down to the previous post).

So, here is a link so you can grab it - right HERE! And I will have more pieces for you tomorrow (Tuesday - even though, technically, I'm posting this on Tuesday, since it's after midnight here!) I again apologize for getting this up late - hope you enjoy it!

(In case you didn't see my post yesterday, I am now hosting my freebies so y'all don't have to take chances on going to any of the free file-sharing sites that may expose you to malware - so clicking on that link with start the download directly!) :)

Sassy! and Glitter-Edge Layer-Styles, FREEBIE! and about 4shared and file-hosting

2009-03-01T17:39:00.019-06:00

Hello! I've got new products at both ScrapBook-Elements.com and ScrapDish! (and afore-mentioned freebie as well... in a bit!)

When I asked my CT if they thought I should retire my old "Sweet & Sassy" kit, I got a very firm "NO" from them, with some saying it was their favorite kit of mine, ever! SOOoo, I decided I would just do some updating. What I ended up with, though, is an almost brand-new kit! I pulled out all of the old solids, and replaced them with new ones that I like much better (more character, depth, and style, IMO!), and I added 7 new patterned papers, and keeping just a handfull of the old papers. I made several new papers that don't have any pink in them, so that the kit will be more versatile for those who have boys to scrap as well as girls, and I changed MANY of the elements in the kit as well. SO, the old "Sweet & Sassy" has been re-vitalized, with lots of new goodies, a few favorites got to stay, the color-swatch is the same, but a bit less pink all-around, and is now named simply "Sassy!" (and it IS Sassy!) SO, I figured that I would give away some of the old pieces here on my blog this next week. My plan is to post something each day this week, from the old "Sweet & Sassy" - all of which will coordinate with the NEW "Sassy!" Collection! BUT, first of all, today I have a different freebie - more on that later! ;)

Here are previews from the new Sassy Collection, available today at ScrapBook-Elements.com, right HERE. First is the paper-pack - with 14 yummy papers in all! (You can click on any of the images to see them full-size).

Then the element-pack...

and a brand-new alpha (which I think would work fabulously on a whole bunch of different pages, with it's simple but super-cute sticker format that can be easily re-colored to match just about anything!)...

and last, the cute new "Key-Hole Album". This is designed to fit the Basic Grey Chipboard Key-Hole album, and would make a fabulous and special gift for Grandparents, teachers, even children! (When you assemble on of these chipboard albums, if you coat all the pages with Mod-Podge, they are very nicely protected and can be enjoyed by even young kiddos without too much worry!)

Isn't that fun? There are 8 complete pages and 6 solids and/or semi-solid papers included that you can use for more photos, journaling, front and back covers, etc. Whatever you need!

You can grab any of these kit parts individually, or grab the whole collection at one low price! Right now, through Tuesday, since new releases are 25% off at ScrapBook-Elements through then - so right now, you can grab the whole collection for just $5.99!!

OK! Now on to the next item of business!

I made some fun new layer-styles that I think are super-fun - and I don't think I've seen any quite like them! I've seen plenty of glitter layer-styles, but mine are a little different. These will not turn your entire layer/element into glitter, but instead, they will make a glitter-edge along the outsides of whatever element/object/letter you choose! The width/size of the glitter border is completely adjustable - you can change the size of the border, choose whether it goes on the outside of your piece, or on the inside, and that will also determine whether you have crisp, sharp corners , or rounded corners! You can also adjust the size of the glitter itself! Cool, huh??

I have included screen-shots and easy-to-follow instructions/tip-sheet so you can get the borders looking exactly how you want them - AND - I also made a special drop-shadow action to merge the layer-style with your object and get the drop-shadow to work properly for you! (If you don't merge the layer-style with the object, you'll have trouble getting your drop-shadows to look just right - but the action takes care of that for you, and also fully customizable, so you can set the shadow exactly how you like it - easy-peasy! :) (Special instructions also included for using the drop-shadow action to get perfect results!)

SO, here are the glitter-edge layer-style sets (hang on... the freebie is still coming... keep reading!) ;)

Set 1, with 14 solid glitter colors...

Set 2, with 11 GORGEOUS "Rainbow" glitter-edges. These glitters are made with blends of 2 colors, and they are really dazzling!

And set 3, which has glamorous gold and sliver glitter mixed in with the other colors:

Aren't those cool?? I love the silver and gold sparkles!

You can also grab all 3 of these sets in one money-saving bundle - and they are on sale, 30% off, special introductory pricing, for just a few days! Right now you can get the entire bundle - with 37 glitter-edge styles in all (plus the drop-shadow action, pattern-files and the seamless glitter tiles for non-photoshop users) for just $6.29 (regular price for the bundle is $8.99) You can find all of these in my store at ScrapDish, HERE!

OK! While I was making the previews for the glitter-sets, I made a few elements to show how they looked, and I've got those all packaged up for you as a gift! Here is what they look like:

(click on image to see full-size)

Aren't those fun? Most of the pieces are made with papers from my "Shabby Little Miss" and "Shabby Little Man" sets (find those here at SBE), so if you have those sets, you will really love these pieces! (But even if you don't, you'll prolly be able to find some fun use for these!)

And now I've got some really FABulous news! If you do any visiting at DigiShopTalk.com, you've probably seen the thread about so many people getting hit with some nasty virus/trojan/other-stuff in the last couple weeks, and many think that they seem to be coming from 4shared (where SOOoo many digi-scrap designers - including me - host their freebies!)... WELL, I have good news for you! (2 pieces of news, actually!) ;) The first is that there IS a way to go to 4shared without having to worry too much about getting hit with malware. First you have to use Firefox for your browser - it is more secure, and you can add a couple of add-ons that give you some really nice extra protection: No-Script and AdBlockPlus. (Of course it goes without saying that you MUST have a good firewall program and good anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed, operating correctly, and UPDATED REGULARLY - at least once a day!)

I use Avast anti-virus - it is excellent, and FREE, available at Download.com. For firewall, I use Comodo, another excellent program, also free and available at Download.com. I scan with MalwareBytes, another excellent and free program! But this past week (after I got hit with the pesky virus and spent hours cleaning my machine!) I also added the Firefox add-ons, No-Script and AdBlockPlus. No-Script allows you to block and/or enable any and all scripts that would try to run on your machine when you visit a site. You can allow different permissions for different sites, and edit them at any time - wonderful program! Find it here. AdBlockPlus is also fabulous, and allows you to set preferences as to which sites you want to allow to show ads. (I always love seeing the banner-ads at DST!) The reason AdBlockPlus helps with your PC security, is that some malware is able to enter your machine through pop-up ads, flash and other ads, etc. Some malicious users are hi-jacking some of these utilities, and finding a way into computers through them. If you have the ads blocked, the malware can't get in either. :) (You should also make sure that you always keep all of your plug-ins up-to-date as well. Malware-creators like to find security holes in these applications, and use them to make your life miserable. Be sure to check for updates regularly on things like Adobe readers, Flash, media players, etc.) OK - so, if you do all of the above, you can probably continue going to 4shared without too much worry. Since I added these applications, I have been to 4shared several times and uploaded several files for my CT, with no problems at all. (I have a paid membership at 4shared, so I'm able to give my team direct zip-file links, so they don't have to go there at all if they don't want, but I really do think it's pretty safe if you add these security add-ons to your browers, and make sure you SCAN EVeRYTHING with your anti-virus before unzipping too!)

BUT, what if you still don't dare go to 4shared? I've been seeing a lot of people say they are "just DONE" going there - ever. SO what's a designer to do, so you can still get free samplers? Many are switching to different free file-hosts... but I think that they all can have the same vulnerabilities and problems, so that might not be the ideal solution either. So, I decided to finally bite the bullet and purchase my own hosting-package/domain, specifically so that I can host my own freebies! That means, that from here forward, I will just link you up directly to the freebie - when you click on my links here, the file is hosted on my site, and will begin downloading immediately when you click! (beginning today! It will take me a while to move all of my older files, so those are still at 4shared right now - I'll move them as I have time). PLEASE do not abuse this and share my link - kindly send people to my blog where they can click on the link themselves, okay? ;)

Whew! That was LOoooong, wasn't it?? lol! Now I think if you have read all that, you have EARNED this freebie! LOL! Remember to check back all this week, as I'll be giving away some of the old pieces of my "Sweet & Sassy" kit (which all coordinate with the newly revised "Sassy!" at Scrapbook-Element.com!) Todays freebie can be found right here. :) Thanks for coming by - hope you enjoy it!

TWO new kits, a fabulous and LARGE paper-pack, AND a free alpha for you!

2009-02-08T12:31:00.002-06:00

Greetings and Salutations! :)

I have actually got TWO new kits out today, both completed in ONE week - along with a HUGE pack of slightly shabby solids - definitely a WORLD-RECORD for me!! LOL! (I'm such a slow designer!) I have also made 3 alphas that coordinate with the kits - one of them (my favorite, actually!) I will be giving away free, here on my blog, for just 2 days. After that it will be going up in my SBE store (along with the other 2 alphas), available next Sunday when the next new releases come out. So if you read this after Tuesday, Feb.10th, you can still grab it in my shop next week.

Both kits are in my new Scrapbook-Elements store, and my wonderful little CT has had a chance to work with them already, so I can even show you a few cool pages made with each kit! Each of the kits have 4 out of the 6-7 main colors in common, so the alpha matches both kits, and some of the kit-parts coordinate with each other perfectly! The papers (and some of the elements) in both kits are beautifully textured and lightly shabbi-fied - just the perfect amount for a softly "worn" look! (not grungy)

You can click on any of the images below to see the full-size image. All can be found in my Scrapbook-Elements store, HERE.

First is "Shabby Little Man" in nice fun and clean colors, perfect for boys of many ages, but especially younger ones.

Element close-ups:

Paper close-ups:

And next is "Shabby Little Miss" in beautiful and mostly-soft colors, just perfect for little girls and any other feminine pages!

Element close-ups:

Paper close-ups:

And I have to show you a few of the pages my CT came up with!

(You can click on these to see larger images as well)

The first 4 are all by Madae. I love how she used the round glitter-frame, cutting it up and using as an accent around the page - so creative and cute! And her 'blocking' on the bottom right-hand page looks so awesome - love it!

Now the next 4 - the 2 on the left-hand side are by Cindy-Lou, and the 2 on the right-hand side are by DJ. Both of these ladies have been with me almost since I started designing! I love how Cindy-Lou accented her photo with the glitter frame and the various papers and flowers drawing your eye right in to the center, to the picture! And I love DJ's page on the right, with the ADORABLE photo of her grandson! Doesn't he look like he is thinking up some mischief??!! LOL! Love how she used the stitching to kind of 'frame' the photo - looks super!

And lastly, Mel made a fabulous little note-book type hybrid project! (I want her to come to my house and make a few of these for ME!! LOL!) She printed out all of her pages and used a binding system she just got, called Zutter 'Bind It All' - doesn't that look awesome?

OK! Now, on to... the (LARGE!) paper-pack

Because everyone needs a great pack of solids in the digi-scrap wardrobe! Papers are beautifully textured and lightly distressed, for that perfect, comfy-and-slightly-worn look! (but not grungy) Pack includes 30 different papers - each one is unique, they are not simply re-colored! Something perfect for every layout! :)

All of the new releases are on sale, 25% off, Today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday) ONLY, so grab 'em quick! You can find all of the above HERE.

And if you happen to grab either (or both) of the "Shabby Little" kits, you will love this alpha, which you can grab FREE here (today and tomorrow only!). It matches both kits! :)

After Tuesday it will be going into my store at Scrapbook-Elements, and will be available there next Sunday. For right now, though, you can grab it right (link removed - will be available in my ScrapBook-Elements store on Sunday, Feb 25th)

Thanks so much for looking! Hope you have a wonderful week!

WILD-THING $1 Week-end Sale - and my new store at SCRAPBOOK-ELEMENTS.COM!!

2009-01-22T23:12:00.000-06:00

Hi Ladies!

I have a ONE-DOLLAR week-end special in my stores at ScrapDish.com and NDISB.com! Starting right NOW, you can grab my "Wild Thing" Brag-Book for just $1!

Check it out: (click on image to see full-size)

(Image above is linked to my ScrapDish store - you can also find the same great deal RIGHT HERE at NDISB!)

For $1 you can have an ADORABLE little album - perfect for gifts and great for both boys and girls! Includes 10 pages AND 4 solid backgrounds in light colors which you can use for extra photo pages or journaling!

AND NOW...(drum-roll please! lol!)... I am SOOoo excited (thrilled would be more accurate!) to announce that I'm going to have my first products - Crystal Frames and Crystal Flakes - in my NEW STORE at ScrapBook-Elements.com this coming Sunday!! SBE has been right at the top of my list of "Fabulous shops I'd like to be in!" list for SOOooo long (prolly since WAAaaay back when I was on Misty Cato's CT and she was just starting at SBE!), and I finally got the courage to apply a few weeks ago... and was BEYOND THRILLED when I was accepted!! Sunni and John, and ALL of the uber-talented designers at SBE are just wonderful to work with - everyone has been so friendly and helpful - they've made me feel very welcome already, and I'm looking forward to a long and happy relationship with them all! Plus, now I will get to stay in-touch more with the sweet-and-fabulous RINA, who is a dear friend of mine, since back before I was on her CT, before she went to SBE!

SO, I thought I'd give you a sneak-peek of my new Crystal Frames and Flakes! These are perfect for any "Fairy-Tale" and fantasy-style pages, as well as (of course!) your frosty-cold and WINTERY photos, and they will match MANY kits/pages/layouts. These sparkley treasures will definitely set your pictures off and make your pages and photos look extra-special! Here are the frames (and honestly, these low-resolution previews do not do them justice!) (You can click on any of these images to see them full-size - AND, if you have not seen the freebie from these sets, scroll down my blog to the previous entry (or click HERE), and you'll find a link for my Crystal Frames and Flakes FREE SAMPLER!!)

And the Crystal Flakes:

SO, grab the brag- books NOW, while they're just a buck, and watch for the new-releases at ScrapBook-Elements on Sunday! (OH, and don't forget that New Releases are 30% off at SBE, just for a SHORT TIME, so grab them right away on Sunday and you won't miss it!

And just one more little note... I am working on re-decorating my blog (You may have noticed that the scenery has changed a bit here!) and working with a new 3-column template, trying to get it JUST right... It is all on a private test-blog right now, but hopefully I'll get things wrapped up very soon so I can un-veil the new format! I've been working on learning some HTML so that I can customize the template for my needs (well, WANTS is prolly the right word here! LOL!)... and I have found a couple of AWESOME resources on-line for learning to customize your blog! The first one is Blogger-Buster. It is an absolutely FABulous site for learning how to customize your blog - and you'll prolly learn a few other things along the way as well! And the other is Web-Tech University, a site that offers FREE courses in HTML and PSP. I'm taking the "HTML 101" course right now, and it is really excellent. They even assign you a personal tutor to help you - the tutors are all volunteers, and my guy, Andy, is the BEST! (Thanks, Andy, in case you happen to stop by here!) ;)

OK! Just thought I'd throw in that info, in case anyone else is also trying to learn some of this technical mumbo-jumbo...

Thanks for looking! Hope you have a fabulous week-end!

A Snowy Gift for you, and a Super Year-End Sale, and a SECRET!

2008-12-27T21:06:00.000-06:00

Hello!

I hope y'all had a fabulous Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my mom, then spent Christmas Day at HOME relaxing with just hubby, me, and the munchkins and pets! (for the first time since we got married! It was WONDERFUL!)

I had started working on a set of acrylics for Christmas, but my project veered off into what became my "Christmas Ornamental" Collection instead (Element-Pack, Paper-Pack, and brush-pack, as well as a CU brush-pack). SOOOooo, now I've got a pack of fun, glittery and sparkly acrylic snow-flakes to give away instead! There are 10 different snowflakes, each included both with and without drop-shadows. (I know drop-shadows on acrylics can be so tricky!) I hope you'll enjoy them! (preview down below)

I also wanted to let you know about my BIG SALE at ScrapDish! EVERYTHING in my store at ScrapDish is on sale, 40% off! (Including commercial-use products!) I've also moved several items into the Dollar-Bin, so there are even MORE great deals! Here's a little look at
just a few of my sale items:

(You cam click on the image to see a larger preview, or just go to
my ScrapDish store, HERE to see them all FULL-size!) ;)

There are LOTS more great goodies in my store! ALL at 40% off through January 2nd!

Now, just ONE more little (Haha!) thing before I give you the freebie link... I am absolutely THRILLED and super-excited to be joining a new (to me!) store shortly after the New Year. (It is NOT a new store - just new for me!) I can hardly wait to get settled in there, but want to get at least a few brand-new products ready before I open shop there. As soon as I've got my store set up there, I'll post a big happy announcement (and a new freebie!) ;)

OK! NOW I've got the Snowy-Gift for you! :) Here's a preview:

They are fun acrylics with sparkle glitter inside! You can grab them right HERE! I hope you enjoy them - and hope you have a Wonderful New Year!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

FREEBIE for you, and Christmas Ornamental Brushes for Commercial-Use

2008-12-13T13:34:00.001-06:00

Greetings!!
Sorry, I know I mentioned a freebie the other day and I'm a day late with it. It is taking me a little bit longer to finish up my Crystal Flakes and Crystal Frames than I thought! BUT, I will go ahead and post the free sampler for them today, and then add another little coordinating freebie when I get the sets in my store - so you'll want to check back if you like the sampler! ;)

For today, I just finished putting my "Christmas Ornamental" set in my shops, for Commercial-Use! AND, they are 25% off for the first couple days! (Look down the page a bit for a look at the brushes - it is the same exact set, but with Commercial-Use license included for use in digital scrapbook kits - any use outside of digi-scrapping would require a special license, so contact me if you plan to use them for other things.)

SO, here is a sneak-peek of my new Crystal Frames and Crystal Flakes (2 seperate products - will also be available as a set, with a nice discount) ;)

The sneak-peek is the preview for the freebie! (You can click on the preview for a full-size view)

I'm hoping to have the 2 sets in my shop just a little bit later today - will post again when they're there! You can grab the free sampler right HERE.

Hope your week-end is off to a great start! :)
Jill

FREEBIE for you, and Christmas Ornamental Brushes for Commercial-Use

2008-12-13T13:34:00.000-06:00

NEW Christmas-to-Go! Cards and Newsletters made EASY, QUICK, and inexpensive!

2008-12-11T12:50:00.001-06:00

Hello again! :)

I have another new Christmas Collection out today -
Christmas Letters To Go and
Christmas Cards to Go!

These will help anyone who is trying to hurry up and get their Christmas Cards and Newsletters out. If you're anything like me, and sometimes wait until the last minute, then you will appreciate how easy and quick these sets will make it for you! Some of the pre-made Christmas Cards to Go are in a traditional photo size (6x4, 4x6, and 5x7), so they will not require a special-order from your photo lab - the can be finished processing/printing in as little as 1 day at many photo labs, so you can STILL get them done in time for Christmas!! And if you use both, your cards and newsletter will coordinate! How fun is that? :)

Here they are (you can click on the images to see them full-size):

(You can grab both sets together at a discount)

You can find them *exclusively* in my AnnTheGran store, right HERE

Thanks for stopping! I'm planning on having a new freebie on here tomorrow (Friday) so please check back! :)

NEW Christmas-to-Go! Cards and Newsletters made EASY, QUICK, and inexpensive!

2008-12-11T12:50:00.000-06:00

Christmas Ornamental FABULOUS $1 SALE - and NEW FREEBIE FOR YOU! Photoshop Brushes and more!

2008-12-09T01:43:00.001-06:00

Greetings!!

Yes, I'm still around! Just have had a LOT going on, and nearly a month of computer issues I was dealing with. Now, after finally getting my desktop computer all fully restored to factory settings (for the SECOND TIME in ONE MONTH!!), I am finally starting to catch up! And just in time, cuz I have
a sale right now that you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!! :) For just TWO DAYS, you can grab my brand-new "Christmas Ornamental Collection" for HALF-PRICE - just $3 - OR you can get any of the 3 individual parts for $1 each!! (same thing, but broken up for those who might not want the whole collection) ;)

AND, I have a FAB FREEBIE for you too - but you gotta get through this other stuff first, cuz if you miss it, you'll kick yourself later! LOL!

I have been working my TAIL off on these sets! Especially the brushes - they took many, many hours, and I made them first, as I used many of them in creating other parts of the Collection. SO, I may as well show you the brush-pack first!

(You can click on any of these images to see them full-size - I'll link you up down the page a bit!)

(Yeah, that tree in the middle looks wierd, doesn't it? I just cut off the bottom 2/3 in order to fit it on the preview while still showing close-up detail - it isn't really that deformed! LOL!)

Those ornament-shaped frames and solid brushes (perfect for journal mats) will work fabulous all year round! And the fancy ornaments will look super on your Christmas newsletter and/or Christmas cards - and of course your digital scrapbook pages! ;)

I'm using the brushes for decorating our Christmas newsletter this year - this will be the first time ever that I'm actually kind of excited about doing it - cuz I think it will be fun with all this cool stuff! Haha!

(Don't even bother trying to read it - it's some Latin mumbo-jumbo that I grabbed so I wouldn't be posting our family secrets all over the internet!) ;)

And here is the coordinating Element-pack:

And, last-but-not-least, the paper-pack (which has 8 papers, and 6 of them can easily be used all year-round as well)

And one last preview - for the entire collection. (In case anyone misses the GREAT SALE on this Collection for the next TWO DAYS, you may want to grab the Collection at a nice discount over the individual kit-parts, later on, when you realize you made a mistake by not grabbing it at HALF-PRICE! LOL!!)

(And did you notice that cute girl above?? She's MINE! And so is the DOG!! Hahaa! Man, I must have drank too much pop tonight, I'm feeling awfully silly!)

Now, here is where you can grab the Christmas Ornamental Collection:

NDISB.com

GottaPixel.com

ScrapDish.com

And, here is a preview of the freebie I've got for you.... OH, DANG!!! I just realized I never made a preview for it!! LOL! Off to do that now...

Here you go:

I just made that paper too - cool, huh?? Going to have to use a variation on that pattern again - I like.

SO, FINALLY I'm going to tell you where to get the freebie: Right Here! :)
Enjoy!

....Okay, now it's WAaaaay past my bedtime, but I really wanted to get this posted before I went to bed... and I had to make a preview... SO, I guess my ads will have to wait until morning. LATE morning. Hahaaa!!

Thanks for stopping! Hope you are here in time to catch the FAB $1 SALE! (But the freebie will remain indefinitely, regardless) ;)

Have a great day!

Christmas Ornamental FABULOUS $1 SALE - and NEW FREEBIE FOR YOU! Photoshop Brushes and more!

2008-12-09T01:43:00.000-06:00

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day!! 50% off SALES! (and a freebie tomorrow - Saturday!)

2008-10-31T14:56:00.001-05:00

It's almost here! (International!) Digital Scrapbook Day! Woo-hoooo! I've got my list all ready for the sales tomorrow (and some today, some Sunday, and some all week!) I've got my eye on a few things that I've Kaboodled, so I'm all set, just waiting for the clock to hit the right hour! :)

I will be having sales in all of my stores - as follows:

ScrapDish.com - 50% off everything (even CU!) ALL WEEK! (Nov. 1-7th)
GottaPixel.com - 50% off everything (including CU!) on Nov. 1-2, and 40% off from Nov.3 through the 7th!
NDISB.com = 50% off everything Oct. 31-Nov 2!
Digitals = 25% and more off everything, Nov. 1-? (I can't find it!!LOL!)

AND, I'm so happy to finally be able to let the cat out of the bag... A group of the designers from GottaPixel have been working hard, as we will have a new store opening soon... it was hoped it would open today, but the site has experienced some technical difficulties that have caused a delay, so hopefully it will be within the next week anyway! We are all excited to partner with this site, as it is a BIG site! You can check it out here (but remember, the digi-scrap section is not yet open or viewable):

AnnTheGran

ALSO: tomorrow (Saturday, Nov 1!), the GottaPixel designers are having a Blog-Hop! Come back tomorrow, and I will have a fun FREEBIE for you, and a list of other designer blogs who will also have some fun gifts!

Hope you have a wonderful DSD week-end!! :)

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day!! 50% off SALES! (and a freebie tomorrow - Saturday!)

2008-10-31T14:56:00.000-05:00

Going for a world-record 3 posts within 24 hours! LOL! (and a boy-freebie!)

2008-10-20T01:54:00.001-05:00

SO, I'm doing a little bit of cleaning on my EHD, getting ready to burn some back-up DVDs, and I found this little piece that I made months ago, intending to do a set of girl-ones and a set of boy-ones, but the inspiration has long left me. So all I've got is this one little lonely piece of word-art/cardstock-lace/template, very much like those new "Wordles" (except I *think* I made mine before they were cool! LOL! AND I used many fonts, too! hehee!)

Anyway, I thought instead of just deleting it, I'd post it here as a quick freebie, in case anyone might have use for it. It is 12" wide (300ppi) and about 4" high. It will come all by itself as a .png file, no TOU or anything. You can use it for any non-commercial use you want. Hope someone will enjoy it! :)

©2008 Jill DZines

Just click RIGHT HERE to download - it will start automatically. Easy-peasy.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Going for a world-record 3 posts within 24 hours! LOL! (and a boy-freebie!)

2008-10-20T01:54:00.000-05:00

Got my 4 scrappers already!

2008-10-19T22:30:00.001-05:00

Hello (again!)

I got my 4 scrappers for the hybrid-project already! They were quick! Thanks so much for your interest!
Jill

Jill DZines digital scrapbook blog

Woo-Hoo!! I'm a Gingerbread Lady! (new FABulous shop!)

ScrapDish.com Closing sale... up to 70% off!

Happy DSD! 50% off SALE and Not-So-Spooky FREEBIE! :)

Guest Blogger! How to Manage and Copy Scrapbooks on CD - also Not-So-Spooky SNEAK-PEEK!

New Music Themed templates (on SALE!) & Loved Ones FREEBIE!

Celebrate Summer - 2nd FREEBIE is now available on MyMemories.com blog!

New Bits and Bytes at ScrapDIsh - Pink Lemonade - and FREEBIE!

Woot! Brand-new... Celebrate Summer! {Collection} and.. ahem... FREEBIE!

New 2-page templates! And.. Would you like to win a $25 shopping spree at MyMemories.com?

Hey! Finally, something new from me! And... here we go again... major flood!

New Candy Cane Alpha - free Candy Cane numbers for you, and BIG freebie at TheDailyScrapper is here!

TWO digital scrapbook kits FREE! AND coupon for you...+ new shop, new designs...

"Memories of Home" is in the shop! (On SALE - 3 days only!) AND FREEBIE for subscribers tonight!

Memories of Home - Sneak-Peek! Congratulations Karen H! New freebie on Monday!

Help name our new collab and WIN IT! AND a FREEBIE for you, a $1 sale, and fun news!

Mini-tutorial: Save tuts (and other website pages) in PDF format - Quick, Free, & Easy!

All Aboard!! Sept. Blog-Train Digital Scrapbook Freebies! AND a fantastic SALE!

Photoshop CS5 Keyboard shortcuts - mini-tutorial - and free chart for you!

What would you like to see more of (besides freebies! LOL!) Tutorials? Trends? Articles? Layouts?

Woo-Hoo!! July BLOG-TRAIN is here! digital scrapbook freebie download heaven!

LOTS of new stuff, favorite new kit, and new FREEBIE!

NEW stuff! Fun shapes and text-paths for digi-scrappers, Digi-Cuts™ and a digi-scrap FREEBIE for you!

Happy {inter}National Scrapbook Day! Sales, sales, sales

New Digi-Cuts ™ (for electronic cutting machines ) products & CT call!

Spring and Birthday Sale! 50% off ALL

TODAY ONLY! ONE-DOLLAR Sale!

Saying good-bye, Saying Hello, new alphas, and digi-scrap freebie for you!

Loved Ones released at SBE - and another freebie!

SO, I've got a new FREEBIE for y'all! (finally! lol!)

August already!! BLOG-TRAIN FREEBIES!!

Swirl-Bits (photoshop) Brushes - Comm. Use - and FREEBIE!

Want a cute FREE mini-kit? Just sign up for my newsletter!

Fun Swoopy {Acrylic} Swirls - and FREEBIE / Sampler!

Amazing $1 Whisper-Soft SALE! and I believe in miracles!

New HoundsTooth Papers and Alpha at SBE! (and FREE SAMPLER for you!)

New Houndstooth Designs for CU, and free sampler!

$1 Sale! Glitter-Edge Layer-style (CU OK!) AND NEW Quick Clean-N-Trim Action - on sale too!

Want to win a one TERABYTE EHD??? (I know *I* do!! LOL!)

New 2-page template -Project 365-friendly! And... June BLOG TRAIN!! (freebie!)

New 3-D Alpha at ScrapBook-Elements.com! (and FREEBIE for you!)

My BIGGEST SALE EVER!! Many $1 and 50% off most everything! (CU included!)

Magical Morning is here!! (And FREE Sampler for you!)

Easter Treasure Hunt and SALE! Many $1 items!

Choo-Choo!! Woo-Hooo!! April BLOG-TRAIN is here! (FREEBIES GALORE!)

Quick post about flooding in our area

Final Sweet & Sassy Freebie!

Last part of Sweet & Sassy Alpha (FREEBIE!) and $1 sale

Sweet & Sassy Alpha, part 2 (FREEBIE!)

More Sweet & Sassy Stuff! (another freebie!)

Here is the 2nd Sweet-&-Sassy Gift for you!

Another freebie/gift for you!

Sassy! and Glitter-Edge Layer-Styles, FREEBIE! and about 4shared and file-hosting

TWO new kits, a fabulous and LARGE paper-pack, AND a free alpha for you!

WILD-THING $1 Week-end Sale - and my new store at SCRAPBOOK-ELEMENTS.COM!!

A Snowy Gift for you, and a Super Year-End Sale, and a SECRET!

FREEBIE for you, and Christmas Ornamental Brushes for Commercial-Use

FREEBIE for you, and Christmas Ornamental Brushes for Commercial-Use

NEW Christmas-to-Go! Cards and Newsletters made EASY, QUICK, and inexpensive!

NEW Christmas-to-Go! Cards and Newsletters made EASY, QUICK, and inexpensive!

Christmas Ornamental FABULOUS $1 SALE - and NEW FREEBIE FOR YOU! Photoshop Brushes and more!

Christmas Ornamental FABULOUS $1 SALE - and NEW FREEBIE FOR YOU! Photoshop Brushes and more!

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day!! 50% off SALES! (and a freebie tomorrow - Saturday!)

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day!! 50% off SALES! (and a freebie tomorrow - Saturday!)

Going for a world-record 3 posts within 24 hours! LOL! (and a boy-freebie!)

Going for a world-record 3 posts within 24 hours! LOL! (and a boy-freebie!)

Got my 4 scrappers already!

Want to win a one TERABYTE EHD??? (I know I do!! LOL!)