Follow Your Heart Digital Designs by Lisa

Menu Plan Monday (on Thursday...)

2011-07-14T13:46:00.003-05:00

Just popping in to (finally) get my menu plan posted for the week.

I am so loving the Plan to Eat web site! It's really helping me a lot with my menu planning. I love how it creates a shopping list for me based on the ingredients in recipes I'm using, and I love having the recipes handy on my iPhone while I'm cooking in the kitchen. I just wish they had an app. Their mobile site works fine for me at home with WiFi, but when we go to my parents' house (with no cell reception for me), it won't be so great. Sure, I'll still be able to look up my recipes on their computer, but that's not nearly as handy as having them on my phone in the kitchen.

So here's the plan for the week:

Monday 7/11 - brats and hotdogs on the grill

Tuesday 7/12 - leftovers

Wed. 7/13 - Italian Chicken

Thurs. 7/14 - Crock Pot Chicken Thighs

Fri. 7/15 - Meatloaf, baked potatoes, corn, applesauce, and I might try Coconut-Pecan Sweet Potatoes

Sat. 7/16 - Chicken Crescent Roll-Ups

Sun. 7/10 - Crock Pot Bacon and Cheese Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

For more menu plan ideas, check out this week's Menu Plan Monday over at orgjunkie.com.

Getting organized...yet again

2011-07-06T13:37:00.004-05:00

Yes, I neglect this blog an awful lot. But here I am, trying to hold myself more accountable to getting organized (yet again). Step 1 is to get back into the routine of making a meal plan every week. Doing it any other way (flying by the seat of my pants, what do I have that I can make for dinner tonight) just hasn't been working out so well.

A number of people that I follow on Twitter have mentioned the Plan to Eat web site in the past few weeks. I finally went to check it out, and signed up for the free 30-day trial. After just a couple days, I can't believe how much I love it! It's a recipe file, menu planner and grocery list maker all in one.

So I actually have a meal plan (dinners, anyway) for the week. And yes, I know it's Thursday, and I'm just getting a chance to post the meal plan I'm following this week.

Monday 7/4 - Chicken and burgers on the grill

Tuesday 7/5 - Brats and hotdogs on the grill (These were super yummy! I left out the mustard and sauerkraut.)

Wed. 7/6 - Grilled Turkey and Cheese sandwiches

Thurs. 7/7 - Sloppy Joes, baked beans, apples, chips

Fri. 7/8 - Tortilla Pepperoni Pizzas

Sat. 7/9 - French Dip Sandwiches

Sun. 7/10 - Crock Pot Chicken Fried Pork Chops

For more menu plan ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday over at orgjunkie.com.

It's Challenge Thursday over at the Trixie Scraps blog!

2011-02-10T10:32:00.004-06:00

I love scrapping with templates, and I'm hosting this week's Challenge Thursday over at the Trixie Scraps blog, so I whipped up a free template for everyone.

Come play along with the challenge and you can be entered into the monthly prize drawing!

Here is a layout I made with the template for this challenge using Trixie's kit For the Girls and her For the Girls Glitter Styles.

You can get the template over at the Trixie Scraps blog. I'd love to see what you create!

December Desktop Freebie

2010-11-30T10:43:00.003-06:00

Can you believe that tomorrow is the first day of December? Are you ready? I know it's a busy month for our family. To save you a little time, we've got this cute desktop freebie for you (made with the kit Santa's Workshop) over on the Trixie Scraps blog! It comes in two sizes: 1280 x 800 and 1024 x 768. Enjoy!

Manic Monday and Desktop Freebie

2010-11-01T18:23:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! Trixie Scraps has a great way for you to start off your week today... a fantastic deal on a fantastic kit!

Today "The First Feast" is on sale for 50% off. But the sale is ONLY for today (Monday, November 1), so make sure you hop on over to one of Trixie's stores and grab it quick!

Trixie Scraps Store
ScrapMatters
Gotta Pixel
Scrapbook-Bytes

What a great time for this kit to go on sale with Thanksgiving coming up in a few weeks! This is definitely one kit you need in your stash for the holidays. Plus, you can hop on over to the Trixie Scraps blog and get this fabulous desktop calendar (made using "The First Feast") free!

Anti-Procrastination Tuesday

2010-10-12T12:38:00.004-05:00

It's Anti-Procrastination Tuesday with Amy over at New Nostalgia. Now don't fall over just because I've had blog posts two days in a row! :) I figure if posting my weekly menu plan on Mondays can help me be more consistent with meal planning, then maybe participating in Amy's Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays will help me, well...tackle some of the tasks I've been procrastinating.

The to-do list is long, so I'm just going to start by listing a few short-term and long-term projects that I need to remember to work on completing. Then I'll come back and cross them out. So, in no particular order, here I go:

~~Get bags of salt out of trunk and refill water softener.~~ (I needed to start with an easy one).
Clear off dining room table (aka storage space for stuff that needs a home).
Buy photo albums and page protectors.
Start printing out the backlog of photos just sitting on my computer. I can always do digiscrap layouts to add to the albums later. I need to at least have 4x6 prints in albums to enjoy.
Calendar gifts to give at Christmas.
Finish knitting youngest DD's baby blanket that I started knitting four years ago when I was pregnant with her. Didn't finish it before she was born, and, well, it's still not done.
Finish making felted purse for my niece. (I want to be done with it by the beginning of December so I can give it to her for Christmas.)
Knit and felt a pair of mittens for me. I keep making them for the kids, but have never made a pair for myself.
Knit and felt a pair of mittens for youngest DD.
Create family silhouettes to frame (see here and here).

I think I'll stop there. That's overwhelming enough for now. So what tasks/projects are on your to-do list that you keep procrastinating?

Menu Plan Monday

2010-10-11T11:32:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to be more consistent about planning our family's meals. Life goes much smoother around our house when I don't have to decide what's for dinner on a nightly basis. And when the kiddos ask me the inevitable question, "Mom, what's for dinner?" at least I can give them an immediate answer (whether or not they like that answer LOL).

I've been following Laura over at "I'm an Organizing Junkie" for a few months now. My menu planning has been rather hit or miss (some weeks I do, some weeks I don't), so I thought if I started posting my weekly menu plan on my blog it might encourage me to be more consistent with my planning. Every week, Laura posts her menu plan for the week, and her readers link up to their menu plan blog posts. It's a fabulous resource for finding new ideas and recipes (which I seem to always need with all of the picky eaters in my house)! So this week, I'm finally joining in on the fun for the first time.

Here's my menu plan for the week:

Monday: Meatloaf

Tuesday: French Dip Sandwiches

Wednesday: One-Dish Chicken Bake

Thursday: Chicken Fried Pork Chops

Friday: Leftovers or sandwiches

Saturday: Breakfast for dinner (probably French toast)

Sunday: English Muffin Pizzas

Sometime this week I'm also going to try this pumpkin bread recipe. I already have a pumpkin bread recipe that I love, but this one caught my eye and is different from mine.

Do you know what's on your dinner menu for the week? Head on over to Laura's web site and check it out!

A new hat to wear!

2010-09-04T11:08:00.006-05:00

I am thrilled to let all of you know that I was asked by Tracy of Trixie Scraps Designs to join her CT (Creative Team) as her Special Agent Team Captain! This happened back in August, but between being so busy getting started on her team, and going on family vacations, I just haven't gotten back over here to blog about it! I've always been a huge fan of Trixie Scraps Designs, and am having a blast working with Tracy and the rest of the ladies on her team.

You can find Trixie Scraps Designs at ScrapMatters and Gotta Pixel, and today is her grand opening over at Scrapbook-Bytes! And to celebrate, she is having a 30% off sale in her brand new store all month long!

As we get ready to head into a new school year, I've been doing a little scrapping to catch up on years past. I created this layout using Trixie's kit "Love My Guy" and the Back to School 4x6 photo template freebie I created for the 8/19/10 Trixie Scraps Stars team blog challenge.

I hope you've had a fabulous summer and are ready for fall. It's hard to believe that the summer went by so quickly! Our family had a great time, and one of my goals is to actually get some of our vacation photos scrapped sooner rather that later. I'd better get started because I certainly took enough pictures! We went on a week-long vacation, and even with two SD memory cards along (1 GB and 2 GB) I still had to find a Best Buy so I could buy another memory card for the last couple days!

Hanging up my design hat for now...

2010-07-28T17:36:00.002-05:00

For the past few months I've been working on figuring out how to best balance everything in my life. I'm at a point in my life with my husband and kids where I need to re-prioritize, which means for now I've decided I need to step down as a designer at FaithSisters. If you use the coupon code farewellsale_54 you will get 65% off your purchase of $3.00 or more in my FaithSisters store. The coupon will expire July 31, 2010, as my store is closing at the end of July.

I have loved working with everyone over at FaithSisters! I will certainly still be out and about in digiland, just doing some of my own scrapping for now. I'm sure I won't stop designing altogether, so you'll probably see an occasional freebie or two here on my blog. And this poor neglected blog of mine will probably start to have posts on some of my other interests in addition to digiscrapping. So I hope you stick around!

iNSD sale 2010 at my FaithSisters store!

2010-05-02T14:20:00.003-05:00

I hope you are enjoying iNSD weekend 2010! Just popping in quick to let you know that you can use the coupon code nsd2010_54 to get 50% off any purchase of $3.00 or more at my FaithSisters store through Monday, May 3, 2010!

Happy scrapping!

Enter to win my newest template set!

2010-02-03T09:06:00.005-06:00

Well, I’m back from an unexpected hiatus, and I decided to give my blog a makeover. What do you think? Do you even remember what it used to look like since it’s been so long? I still may do a little more tweaking, specifically with the new header, but it works for now.

I finally gave in and signed up for Twitter a few days ago. Kelleigh and Pam wrote about speedcleaning on their blogs last week, and that was the final push I needed. As Kelleigh says on her blog, "The idea behind #speedclean is that you clean as fast as you can so you can get on to doing the stuff that you love to do. Just get it over with." So if you’re on Twitter, you need to check out #speedclean. And if you’re not on Twitter, go sign up so you can check it out!

This year I decided to give Project 365 a go. The idea of taking a picture a day for an entire year is a little daunting, but how cool will it be at the end of the year?! So far, so good…I’ve only missed a couple days. But now I need to scrap my January photos. Have you?

I just released Volume 1 of my 2010 Project 365 Template series. Just in time to get those January photos scrapped. Each set in the series will include interchangeable week and date specific page borders. So this first set includes a solid border, borders for weeks 1-4 and date specific borders for the first four weeks of the year (i.e. January 1 – 7, 2010).

You could win my new Project 365 Templates, Vol. 1. What do you need to do to enter? Two things:

1 – Follow me on Twitter.

AND

2 – Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this blog post with your Twitter username.

I will randomly select one of my Twitter followers to win on Saturday, February 6. And in the meantime, if you just can’t wait, Project 365 Templates Vol. 1 is 20% off until February 8, 2010 at FaithSisters and My Life and Scrap.

Challenges, Challenges!

2009-11-05T13:41:00.004-06:00

I'm hosting some really fun challenges right now over at Faith Sisters and My Life and Scrap!

The current Mystery Lift Challenge over at My Life and Scrap goes through November 15.

And this week's Faith Sisters Template Challenge goes through November 11.

Homecooked Happiness...FS Blog Train

2009-10-24T15:39:00.008-05:00

It's time for a FaithSisters blog train! We picked a theme and a color scheme, so as you go blog hopping to get each of the mini kits you can compile your own "Homecooked Happiness" mega kit! These will only be up for a limited time, and then they will all be turned into a collaboration kit that will be available for free with purchase at Faith Sisters!

With these freebies we are also doing a really fun recipe exchange. Everyone who participates will receive all of the recipes and recipe cards made by each of the participants.

LINK HAS EXPIRED. THE ENTIRE COLLAB WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON IN THE FAITH SISTERS SHOP.

And here's a map of everyone's blogs, in case you get lost. :)

Audra's Little Scraps: http://audraslittlescraps.blogspot.com
Busy Mama Designs: http://somuchtoscrapbook.blogspot.com
Designs By Angel: http://scrappingwithangel.blogspot.com
Dielle Designs: http://diellesdarlings.blogspot.com/
Digital Compilations by Cinda: http://blog.digitalcompilations.com/
Digital Designs by Lisa: http:/digitaldesignsbylisa.blogspot.com/ ***YOU ARE HERE***
Eyelet's Scraps Designs: http://eyeletsscrapsdesigns.blogspot.com/
Kris Mazy: http://www.Scrapwarrior.com/blog
Meredith Cardall: http://meredithcardall.blogspot.com
Robin Willson Designs: http://robin-giftsyoucanfeelgoodabout.blogspot.com/
Scrap Quest: http://www.scrapquest.com/
Sweet Tomato Designs: http://sweettomatodesigns.blogspot.com/
TMA Designs: http://themathematiciansassistant.com
Willro&co: http://willrownco.blogspot.com/

LAST STOP: http://faith-sisters.blogspot.com/

Speed Scrap and a freebie!

2009-10-12T02:11:00.003-05:00

Anybody else have kids home sick lately? DS#2 is finally going back to school today after being out for four days last week. Fever, cough, stuffy nose... Thankfully nobody else in our family got the fever part. But it sure has been going through his class at school. If we're already doing this in October, I can't wait for winter. Sheesh.

I've been so busy and off kilter with him home sick that I completely forgot to blog about the speed scrap I'm hosting later today over at My Life and Scrap (Monday, October 12 @ 2:30 p.m. Eastern/11:30 a.m. Pacific). And I'm providing the participation prize, too! It's a fun little pumpkin alpha. (Each pumpkin is approximately 1.5" tall.)

And I also have a brand new freebie template for you! Grab it quick before it goes into my store! If you use it for any layouts, please come back and link me up so that I can see what you've created with it! You can download it here.

The new MLAS Mystery Lift challenge is up!

2009-10-03T15:23:00.002-05:00

Come on over to MLAS and check out the new Mystery Lift Challenge for October 1-15, 2009! And be sure to check out the rest of the MLAS challenges here!

Speed Scrap tonight at MLAS!

2009-09-25T17:04:00.002-05:00

We're celebrating all weekend over at My Life and Scrap now that the site is back up and better than ever!

It's almost time for tonight's speed scrap (9/25 @ 7:00 p.m. EST). The posting prize is by me, so go on over and win it before you can buy it. It will be in my store soon!

Plus there are more speed scraps this weekend, too:

Saturday, 9/26 @ 11 a.m. EST
Saturday, 9/26 @ 9 p.m. EST
Sunday, 9/27 @ 4 p.m. EST

And we're playing Bingo on Saturday, 9/26 at 3 p.m. EST.

Head on over for some fun!

I actually made some time to scrap!

2009-09-10T01:02:00.004-05:00

I actually made some time to scrap using my Template #6 (scroll down to the previous post) and this amazing new collaboration between MKC and the Hybrid Kid. It's available starting today over at The Digichick.

MLAS update, challenge details & a freebie

2009-09-06T17:10:00.005-05:00

Everyone is still working like mad behind the scenes to get My Life and Scrap back up and running. We've hit a few snags due to it being Labor Day weekend, so it's taking a little longer than we initially anticipated. But look out! When we come back up it will be EXCITING! You won't want to miss it! So stay tuned!

In the meantime, I don't want you to forget about working on the Mystery Lift Challenge. I know you will all be flooding the gallery with your Mystery Lift layouts in a few days when MLAS comes back up. (Scroll down to the post from September 2, 2009 for more info.) Here are the details about the September 1-15, 2009 Mystery Lift Challenge so you can be working on it over the next few days:

YOU WILL NEED:

* 1 neutral (solid, texturized) background paper

* 1 horizontal photo (Duplicate it two times and close the original.)

* Enlarge the first copy of your photo so that it covers the entire layout.

* Place the photo over your background paper.

* Play with the blending modes of the photo layer to blend the photo with the background paper until you achieve a look that you like (the "soft light" and "overlay" blending modes are often a good place to start, but don't be afraid to play!)

* Resize the second copy of your photo to 4x6 (horizontal).

* Put the 4x6 photo near the lower right corner of the layout.

* Tilt the photo slightly (left side down, right side up so it's not sitting perfectly horizontal).

* Put a frame around the photo.

* Add some elements, ribbons, ric rac peeking out from behind the photo and frame.

* Attach one element to the upper right corner of the photo.

* Attach two elements to the lower left corner of the photo.

* Then place a tag over those two elements. (One should be peeking out from above the tag, and one should be peeking out from below the tag.)

* Put your title on the tag.

* Begin your journaling in the upper right corner of the layout (2-3 inches from the edge) and continue down the side of the page, stopping slightly above the photo & frame. (The journaling is a 2-3 inch wide column of text, right-justified.)

* Don't forget to add the drop shadows!

And now that you've completed your MLAS Mystery Lift Challenge, you've earned a little gift! :) ***SORRY, LINK EXPIRED.***

I created a template for you to use to help pass the time while we wait for the site to come back up. Be sure to grab the template now because it will only be available as a freebie for a limited time. Then it will be going into my store. (***SORRY, LINK EXPIRED.***) Please leave me some love if you download the template, and of course come back and link me up to any layouts you create with it so I can see what you've done!

MLAS is growing so much...

2009-09-03T16:51:00.003-05:00

...that we're bursting at the seams! You may have noticed that the site went down today. We've grown so much that we outgrew our old server and we're being transferred to our own dedicated server. Woo hoo!

As Carolyn, one of the MLAS owners, put it, "We're really excited about the transfer, we're just sorry that it happened unexpectedly and we couldn't give anyone any warning. We're anticipating 48 hours of down time, but these things are time consuming and it's possible it could take longer, so please be patient. We're REALLY sorry for the inconvenience and we appreciate you're understanding while we continue to grow."

So there's the scoop. Be sure to check back for more info...and I might even be back with a freebie to help keep you busy scrapping while we wait for the site to get back up and running. :)

Contest winners, & new MLAS challenges

2009-09-02T02:00:00.004-05:00

I'd like to start by saying a special thank you to KajunKJ, zeee and miss_mom for playing along in my August blog contest. KajunKJ was the winner of the $5 coupon to my store. And just 'cause I'm such a softie, zeee and miss_mom will also receive a little something from me as a thank you. :)

The new challenges for September 1-15, 2009 are up over at My Life and Scrap. Of course, I'm partial to the Mystery Lift Challenge, LOL, but they are all a lot of fun!

We have an extra special incentive attached to the Mystery Lift Challenge this time around. Linda (MLAS co-owner/site manager) has said that if we get at least 30 mystery lift layouts posted in this thread by September 15, 2009, she will walk up and down HWY 27 in Davenport, FL with a sandwich board that says www.mylifeandscrap.com and wave at the traffic while her DH takes photos!

I know I'd love to see those photos! How about you?!

So c'mon! Let's get going on those Mystery Lift Challenge layouts!

Challenges, a contest & a freebie!

2009-08-06T13:25:00.004-05:00

August is in full swing and that means new challenges are up over at My Life and Scrap. These challenges are a fun way to get some scrapping done, and you can earn points towards free stuff from MLAS while you're at it, too!

My favorite is the Mystery Lift challenge, but that's probably because I'm the host. :) You can find all of the details about the current Mystery Challenge here.

And be sure to go check out the rest of the challenges! They're a lot of fun!
(And keep reading for another reason to do the challenges this month…)

Font Challenge

Gourmet Scrapping Challenge

Scrap Mix Challenge

Scraplift Challenge

Template Challenge

Hybrid Challenge

Lyrics Challenge

This month, in addition to the points you can earn good for coupons at the MLAS shop when you complete the challenges, you could also win a $5 coupon to my store! (And I’ve got some great new products that will be going into my store during August!)

Here’s how you get entered for a chance to win a $5 coupon to my store:

Every time you complete a challenge at My Life and Scrap this month, come back to this blog post and leave a comment linking me up to your post in the appropriate challenge thread over at MLAS. Your name will go into the drawing once for every challenge layout you complete over at MLAS. So the more challenge layouts you complete in August, the better your chances to win! Plus if you use any of my products, including any of my past or current freebies, in your layout, your name will go into the drawing twice for that layout! (Of course, be sure to include a list of all products used to create your layout when you upload it to the gallery.) But you have to remember to come back to my blog and link me up. The deadline to post your links here on my blog will be 11:59 p.m. (Central) Monday, August 31.

And now for reading all of that info, here’s a freebie for you! This is actually a sneak peek at one of the new products coming soon to my store. My Frame It Up templates are 5x7 templates for use with a 4x6 photo. Use them as a quick yet elegant way to frame and mat a photo to hang up at home, give as a gift or use in a layout. You can either use the included black or white background, or dress it up by adding one of your favorite digital papers instead. Or you can take the text border and photo mask and use them on their own in your next layout!

Here are a few examples of the template in use:

4x6 photo with text border

5x7 photo with text border overlay

4x6 photo on white 5x7 mat

4x6 photo with added background paper (from my Neutral Set #1 Paper Pack)

5x7 photo with text border overlay

And as always, if you download the sampler I’d love to see how you use it! So be sure to come back and leave a link in the comments!

Happy scrapping!

A FaithSisters blog train...Live, Laugh, Love!

2009-07-27T08:00:00.006-05:00

It's time for a FaithSisters blog train! We picked a theme and a color scheme, so as you go blog hopping to get each of the mini kits you can compile your own "Live, Laugh, Love" mega kit! These will only be up for a limited time, and then they will all be turned into a collaboration kit that will be available for free with purchase at Faith Sisters!

***The blog train is now over. But if you missed it, you can still get this great collab kit free with purchase in August over at FaithSisters.***

And here's a map of everyone's blogs, in case you get lost. :)

4 Shades of Blue: http://4shadesofbluedesigns.blogspot.com/
Albums to Remember: http://albumstoremember.blogspot.com
Audra's Little Scraps: http://audraslittlescraps.blogspot.com
Benilda Scraps: http://benildascraps.blogspot.com
Busy Mama Designs: http://somuchtoscrapbook.blogspot.com
Camie Designs: http://camiedesigns.blogspot.com
Chelly Scraps: http://chelsant.blogspot.com/
Claudi Designs: http://www.scrapnfun.de/
Designs By Angel: http://scrappingwithangel.blogspot.com
Digital Compilations by Cinda: http://blog.digitalcompilations.com/
Digital Designs by Lisa: http:/digitaldesignsbylisa.blogspot.com/ ***YOU ARE HERE***
Dragonfly Beach Designs: http://alumnaanimi.blogspot.com/
Eyelet's Scraps Designs: http://eyeletsscrapsdesigns.blogspot.com/
Eva Lindqvist Designs: http://everything-eva.blogspot.com/
Kreative Karma: http://thekreativekarma.blogspot.com
Lifesong Kreations: http://lifesongkreations.com
Merchi Makes It: http://www.merchimakesit.blogspot.com
Meredith Cardall: http://meredithcardall.blogspot.com
Michelle Batton: http://www.blog.mellowbutterfly.com/
Michelle Boroni: http://biabellascrapdigital.blogspot.com/
Robin Willson Designs: http://robin-giftsyoucanfeelgoodabout.blogspot.com/
Simply Susan: http://www.simplysusangodfrey.blogspot.com
Scrap Quest: http://www.scrapquest.com/
Sweet Tomato Designs: http://sweettomatodesigns.blogspot.com/
TMA Designs: http://themathematiciansassistant.com
Willro&co: http://willrownco.blogspot.com/
Dielle Designs: http://diellesdarlings.blogspot.com/

LAST STOP: http://faith-sisters.blogspot.com/

And we hope you will join us in celebrating Faith Sisters’ 2nd birthday in August! Be sure to sign up for the FaithSisters Birthday Bash Newsletter to be sure you don’t miss out on any of the fun!

A new template freebie!

2009-07-17T01:56:00.002-05:00

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged…still trying to figure out some kind of schedule to carve out time for my designing/scrapping while the kids are all home for the summer… But of course the kids and summer get priority. I know they won’t be this age forever and I don’t want to miss out!

Thought you’d like to know that I’m hosting the Thursday Template Challenge this week over at FaithSisters. You can check out all of the details here. Come grab the free template and play along!

Happy Father's Day weekend!

2009-06-20T15:41:00.008-05:00

I hope you all have a happy Father's Day weekend, and especially a wonderful Father's Day tomorrow. I am so thankful that my husband is such a caring and loving father to our children! (He's great as a husband, too!) Our tradition is to surprise him with breakfast in bed on Father's Day. Typically french toast or pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice and milk. We have been doing this for him every year for the past few years, so I'm not sure if it's really a surprise anymore or not, but even if it's not he still acts like it is for the kids.

Here is a layout I did a while back, but it seems appropriate to share it with you now since tomorrow is Father's Day. Credits can be seen here.

And in honor of Father's Day, we're having a sale over at My Life and Scrap today and tomorrow (Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21). 35% off all personal use products storewide!
So be sure to go check it out!

Grand Opening Sale, and a free template!

2009-06-11T16:33:00.008-05:00

Hi, everyone! Wow, it's been busy lately! Have I got plenty of news to share!

First off, I'm so excited to announce the grand opening of my new store at My Life and Scrap! It is such a fun place! We have plenty of challenges going on in the forum every month, so if you haven't been by, be sure to come check it out. You can come have some fun getting some layouts scrapped, and earn points toward a gift certificate to the My Life and Scrap store at the same time!

To celebrate the grand opening of my new store at My Life and Scrap, everything in my store is 30% off through Sunday, June 14, 2009.

Meanwhile, I'm also hosting this week's Thursday Template Challenge over at FaithSisters. You can find all of the info here in the FaithSisters forum.

You can download the template in the FaithSisters shop.

There will be two winners chosen this week. I will choose my favorite layout, and I will also choose one random winner. Each winner will receive a coupon to my store at FaithSisters.

Here's the scoop! To be eligible to win:

* use the template. Feel free to flip it, turn it, adapt it, make it your own!

* at least 50% of the products used in your layout should be from FaithSisters. (Anyone's products from FaithSisters. They don't have to be mine!)

* Post your layout in the Template Challenge gallery for June 11, 2009. Be sure to list the products you have used in the credits for your layout.

* Link us up to your layout by posting in the challenge thread which can be found here.

This challenge ends Wednesday, June 17, 2009. I will announce the winners over in the FaithSisters forum on June 18.

Have fun! I can't wait to see your layouts!

Another SYTYCD free kit by me!

2009-05-21T12:40:00.005-05:00

Well, I made it to Week 2 of SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Design) over at Digiscrap Addicts. Woo hoo! Our challenge was to create a kit for Project 365. But I’m a week overdue in posting this on my blog, so I can already tell you that I didn’t make it through to Week 3. I had a great time creating this though, and you can still go over to DSA and grab my Project 365 mini kit here.

The kit includes:

*14 papers
*7 acrylic words (Sunday - Saturday)
*Circle word art frames - Seasons in English and Spanish, Days in English and Spanish, Months (English only...ran out of time)
*Page borders - Days, Months, Seasons (all in English and Spanish versions)
*Journaling Strips
*2 journaling tags
*Chipboard alpha (upper & lower, numbers, symbols, and some international characters)
*Tile alpha (Upper, lower and numbers only)

Photo of my cat NOT included. ;)

Click the image below to head over to Digiscrap Addicts to get my free kit. Be sure to go here to check out all of the other amazing Week 2 entries!

And oh my goodness, everyone that made it into Week 3 has really stepped it up a few notches this week! You have got to go here to check out all of the Week 3 digi goodness…kits inspired by songs by The Beatles!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

2009-05-15T02:02:00.002-05:00

Time for another blog train! A few of us that participated in the Design Star contest over at ScrapMatters a couple months ago decided to put together a free summer collab kit. I think it turned out great!

Here's a preview of the entire kit...although it was impossible to fit everything in the preview. But this gives you a really good sneak peek of what's inside.

And you can click the image below to get my portion of the collab.

Your next stop on the blog train is DigiRobyn.

And here's the entire blog train list, just so you don't get lost. ;) Please be patient if someone doesn't have their freebie posted yet. It will be there soon!

CPZ Designs

Designs by Jill

MHK Scrap Bytes

Green Box Creations

Designs by Hillary

Genia Beana Scraps

Digital Designs by Lisa *YOU ARE HERE*

Digi Robyn

Merchi makes it!

Jude's Scrapping Blog

Jen Wolff Designs

A free kit from me over at Digiscrap Addicts!

2009-05-08T10:51:00.004-05:00

I found out last Saturday that I got accepted to participate in Week 1 of SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Design) over at Digiscrap Addicts. Woo hoo! There are some amazing designers in this contest, so I am thrilled just to be in their company for Week 1. (Even if it is a wee bit intimidating.) We were given four different color swatches to choose from, and had to create a kit/mini kit. Entries were due last night (Thursday, 5/7), and I just squeaked mine in. Whew! I had so many ideas of what to put in the kit, and just ran out of time to create any more for it. We’ll find out on Saturday who gets to move on to Week 2.

You can find my mini kit, Baby Bliss, here.

The kit includes:

*14 papers
*1 frog
*1 frame
*2 journaling tags (1 with pin, 1 without pin)
*13 baby tags (1 - 12 months old, plus one blank tag)
*10 silver metal word art pngs (Baby, Baby Bliss, Baptism Day, Blessed, Family, It's a boy!, It's a girl!, Love, Nap Time, Sweet)

Click the image below to head over to Digiscrap Addicts to get my free kit. Your comments on my entry are very much appreciated. I love reading all of them! And go here to check out all of the other amazing Week 1 entries!

FaithSisters Blog Train Freebies!

2009-04-27T01:00:00.012-05:00

It's time for a FaithSisters blog train! We picked a theme and a color scheme, so as you go blog hopping to get each of the mini kits you can compile your own "It's for the Birds" mega kit! These will only be up for a limited time, and then they will all be turned into a collaboration kit that will be available for free with purchase at Faith Sisters!

Sorry, the blog train is over and the link has expired. But if you missed the freebies, you will still be able get the collab kit free with purchase over at FaithSisters!

Your next stop on the FaithSisters blog train is Dragonfly Beach Designs!

And here's a map of everyone's blogs, in case you get lost. :)

4 Shades of Blue: http://4shadesofbluedesigns.blogspot.com/
Adriana Hollenbeck: http://adriscreations.blogspot.com/
AEDesigns: http://www.aedigitaldesigns.com/
Albums to Remember: http://albumstoremember.blogspot.com
Ana Flor: http://anaflordesign.blogspot.com
Audra's Little Scraps: http://audraslittlescraps.blogspot.com
Camie Designs: http://camiedesigns.blogspot.com
Chelly Scraps: http://chelsant.blogspot.com/
Claudi Designs: http://www.scrapnfun.de/
Cre8tvlyYrs by Gina: http://www.cre8tvlyyrs.blogspot.com/
Dielle Designs: http://diellesdarlings.blogspot.com/
Digiscrapalicious: http://digiscrapalicious.blogspot.com/
Designs By Angel: http://scrappingwithangel.blogspot.com
Digital Compilations by Cinda: http://blog.digitalcompilations.com/
Digital Designs by Lisa: http:/digitaldesignsbylisa.blogspot.com/ ***YOU ARE HERE***
Dragonfly Beach Designs: http://alumnaanimi.blogspot.com/
Eva Lindqvist Designs: http://everything-eva.blogspot.com/
Eyelet's Scraps Designs: http://eyeletsscrapsdesigns.blogspot.com/
Glayce Cavalcante: http://glaycecavalcante.blogspot.com
Julie Marie Designs: http://juliemariedesigns.com/blog
JZDesigns: http://jbzwick.blogspot.com
Kreative Karma: http://thekreativekarma.blogspot.com
Lifesong Kreations: http://lifesongkreations.com
Merchi Makes It: http://www.merchimakesit.blogspot.com
Meredith Cardall: http://meredithcardall.blogspot.com
Michelle Batton: http://www.blog.mellowbutterfly.com/
Monique Drost: http://moniquedrost.blogspot.com/
Robin Willson Designs: http://robin-giftsyoucanfeelgoodabout.blogspot.com/
Sarah Morgan Designs: http://sarahmorgandesigns.blogspot.com/
Scrap Quest: http://www.scrapquest.com/
ScrapWarrior: http://www.scrapwarrior.com/blog/
Simply Susan: http://www.simplysusangodfrey.blogspot.com
Sweet Tomato Designs: http://sweettomatodesigns.blogspot.com/
TMA Designs: http://themathematiciansassistant.com
Willro&co: http://willrownco.blogspot.com/

LAST STOP: http://www.faithsisters.com

And don't miss National Scrapbooking Day weekend at FaithSisters!

A new mini kit freebie!

2009-04-07T09:34:00.001-05:00

I’m participating in the Capture the Flag design contest over at Funky Playground Designs. My mini kit for this week’s assignment is called 100% Boy. It’s a great kit for the boys in your life! But even though it may be called 100% Boy, a lot of it can still work for the girls in your life, too!

I have plenty more that didn’t get included in this mini kit (including an alpha), so be sure to check back for more info! I’ll post again on my blog as soon as I have it all packaged up.

Click the image below to head over to Funky Playground Designs to get my free kit. And be sure to check out all of the other fabulous Capture the Flag entries while you’re there, too!

Exciting News!

2009-04-03T00:34:00.004-05:00

Woo hoo! I was asked to join the design team over at FaithSisters. I will gradually be adding more products to my store, but I have two products available so far. The first is my Backyard Explorers Element Pack. The second is Template #1. And both are available for 20% off April 3 – 5!

New goodies from the Hybrid Kid!

2009-03-28T15:49:00.012-05:00

If you are looking for my free kit April Showers, scroll down to my previous post. Thanks!

But today I want to let you know about some fabulous new goodies by The Hybrid Kid (aka Melissa Wilson) available at The Digichick. She's come up with some super cute and super fun projects to go along with Eric Carle's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

In my effort to become a designer...

2009-03-23T13:34:00.005-05:00

I made a new kit! I’ve entered a design contest over at FaithSisters. There are 23 entries, so that means 23 different free mini kits for you! And since we all had to use the same theme and color swatch, you can go build your own coordinating mega kit! All you have to do is register over at FaithSisters and be logged into the gallery.

Voting is from now until March 29. If you feel inclined (and yes, I hope that you do…), you can go to the gallery page here and scroll down to cast your vote. You have to be registered and logged into the gallery to be able to vote, and you only get to vote once. And since this is my blog, I’m going to go ahead and say that yes, I hope you will vote for my kit! ;) Scroll down to my kit preview and underneath the kit preview you will see a link to click on that says “vote.” My kit is called April Showers, and my username at FaithSisters is lovemy4kids. (Just to help you double check and make sure you’ve found the right kit. LOL)

Wish me luck!

Click here to see the gallery with all of the kit previews for the Product Design Team Applicants at FaithSisters.

Click on the image to go directly to my mini kit at FaithSisters:

ABC Book from The Hybrid Kid

2009-01-16T02:25:00.010-06:00

Love this little ABC Book from The Hybrid Kid! The kit contains pages for all 26 letters of the alphabet in upper- and lower-case, 15 sight words, a cover, a blank cover, a blank lined page if you want to add more of your own words, and all five colored backgrounds, plus all the cards in pdf format for easy printing. I got my badge holders and book rings at Office Max, and the pages fit perfectly. But be sure to check the size of your badge holders just in case you need to resize the pages before printing. I created three pages of my own using the blank lined page so that my son can also practice tracing/printing his first, middle and last name. Now my daughter wants one, too, but she has requested that her book be all words instead of the alphabet. :) We have these wipe off markers, but wipe off crayons would work, too.

A Year in Review template set

2009-01-05T03:31:00.005-06:00

One of my New Year’s resolutions? To be a better blogger! :)

I have a new set of free templates available. Each template gives you the option of using either the white border with text or a solid white border without text. Please leave a little love via a comment here on my blog if you download it. And be sure to come back and link me up if you use one of the templates. I’d love to see your layouts! Thanks!

***Link Expired***

Jessica announced her newest class!

2008-10-10T10:13:00.004-05:00

A lot of you who actually read my occasional blog posts will already know about this, I'm sure, but just in case there are one or two of you who missed it, Jessica Sprague announced a new upcoming class, and it's free! So be sure to go check it out! If I did this right, you should be able to click on the image below to go to her web site. And if not, just go to JessicaSprague.com for the details. All of Jessica's classes are fabulous, and I'm sure that this one will be no exception. Can't wait!

A new mini kit

2008-08-15T17:34:00.002-05:00

This week I made a mini kit called Little Sweetie for the Teacher’s Pet Challenge over at Funky Playground Designs. Enjoy! (Be sure to leave a little love if you download it. Thanks!)

Little Sweetie Mini Kit

Backyard Explorers freebie

2008-08-08T13:15:00.004-05:00

Well, I didn't make "the cut" from more than 100 participants down to 50 after week 1 of the Teacher's Pet challenge over at Funky Playground Designs, but everyone that's participating gets to keep playing along as long as we keep up with the weekly assignments. How cool is that? So as they narrow down the field in search of a designer or designers to join their FPD team, the rest of us get to keep learning (and posting our freebies)!

For week 2 we had to hone our extraction skills and submit a realistic element pack made using items we had extracted from scans and/or photographs. So if you click on the link below, it will take you to the page where you can download my element pack "Backyard Explorers." It will be available to download until 9 a.m. EST Monday, August 11, 2008.

Backyard Explorers

Relaunching My Blog ;)

2008-08-01T15:37:00.010-05:00

Well, it’s time to re-launch my blog! Between life and a hard drive crash a couple months ago, my blog kept ending up on the bottom of the to-do list. I’ll try to do better. Promise. But that’s why you’ve subscribed to my blog, right? So you will get an email any time I finally have a new post. :) And consider this your reminder to go back up everything ASAP. Please. Back up!

My latest challenge has been designing a mini kit for the Funky Playground Designs Teachers Pet design contest. Who'd have thought a year ago when I started digi scrapping that I'd ever do something like this? Not me.

My kit is called “Memories”. The link will take you directly to the page over at FPD where you will find the info about downloading my kit. (You do have to sign up for the FPD newsletter to get the password for the zipped file though.)

And you can see all of the free mini kits here. Just scroll down and click on the Teacher's Pets category. There's also a gallery where people can post layouts made with the Teachers Pet kits. If you make a layout with my kit, please link me up! I’d love to see it!

Memories Mini Kit

Well, today's the day...

2008-03-26T14:54:00.028-05:00

Today's the day that I finally "reveal" my blog to the world. :) I never thought I would want to do a blog, but here I am. I finally caved. Although I'm going to tell you right up front, you won't find much personal stuff here. This is primarily going to be a place for me to share some digi freebies that I create. I’m not sure how often I will be posting freebies…I’d like to post at least once a week. But knowing how life can go, it may only be a couple times a month. So be sure to go over and subscribe to my blog. That way you’ll never miss a freebie, and you won’t have to keep coming back here wondering, “When is she ever going to get around to posting a new freebie?!” And hey, go ahead and grab the blinkie I made, too, while you’re at it. :)

I started digi scrapping in June 2007. Didn't mean to do it...we only got PSE 5 because it came bundled with Adobe Premiere Elements for doing video stuff. So I started playing around with PSE. Googling for tutorials led me to Designer Digitals where I found Jessica Sprague's First Layout Tutorial for Photoshop Elements, and I was able to create my first digi layout! Then I discovered Jessica's web site, and life hasn't been the same since! I took her Up & Running with PSE class in August 2007, Now We're Rockin' with PSE class in October 2007, and now I'm anxiously waiting for next week to get here so I can start her Digi: In Deep class on Monday!

So in honor of my blog's "Grand Opening" I have three free templates to share with you. (Some of my friends from over at the Jessica Sprague message board have already seen the first two.) And yes, these are pretty simple, straightforward templates. There’s plenty of room to add to them and embellish to your heart’s delight. But the way I figure, if a template saves me even 5-10 minutes, that’s 5-10 minutes more for me to spend scrapping! :) So grab ‘em if you’d like. If you do use them, I’d love to see any layouts you make with them. Link me up to where you have your layout(s) posted! Who knows, maybe I’ll post a few reader layouts here on my blog.

You’ll notice that although there are three templates today, there are six previews (two versions for each template). That’s because I can’t decide which preview I like the best. So take a look…do you like Preview 1 (on the left) or Preview 2 (on the right) the best? Be sure to post a comment and let me know. I’m going to tally the votes to help me decide which way to do my previews in the future.

Thanks for dropping by my blog! I hope you’ll stop back sometime.

(The links are below the previews.)

Two Hearts Template

Heart on Grid Template

Template Freebie 3