A good news, and more good news

Some of the good news are mine, but this first one is for YOU, especially if you are a digi-scrap designer!

My super talented girl Rachelle (Rachness Designs) has a set of very versatile CU products out! This set is called "Say It Journal Mats" and is a Limited Edition doodle (vector- and hand-drawn) pack for commercial use containing 14 files total- 8 greyscale, layered (.psd) Photoshop files with 8 corresponding .png linearts. Take a look at these amazing preview images.

And below here is just a few samples of what you can do with the product!

The set is available for 10 purchases only. So if you're interested, you're gonna have to really hurry. It's on sale now at STS for only 3.99$ :)

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Now my good news. :) I was invited by Dúnia of duniascrap to be her guest CT for the months of October and November! Whoooopeeee!! If you read my last post you would have known how much her works inspired me. I'm so honored I was asked! I'm sure I'll have fun witn all her beautiful kits. Wish me luck!

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I also got a chance to play with a few more gorgeous kits for Fall collection at ZigZagScrap. Here are some of the LOs I made for the kits.

"Infallible"
Credits:
All papers are from Cozy paper pack by Lynne-Marie Designs
Button from Hoot! by CheekyMonkey Creative

"Apples and Leaves"
Credits:
All papers are from Cozy paper pack by Lynne-Marie Designs
Doodled apples, leaves, and squiggly line (used as clipping mask) from Loving Fall wordart by AnnaBV Designs

There are still many more layouts to come very soon, including Rachelle's new Fall kit which is absolutely FABULOUS!! Oh! And some freebies too!! Stay tuned!

About white space and my first free template

So many things to do in so little time.... where should I start?

Okay, white space. To answer a personal Frequently Asked Question; Yes, I do love white space very much, though not really to the point where I can't or won't do other scrapping styles! LOL!

It's true that for the last month I've been creating a whole lot of LOs with white background, but it's only because that's the theme I set for the family 2010 calendar project I was working on. We've been making desk calendars to give family members and friends every year since Neill was born. For the first few years we hired a professional for the job but frankly we didn't think the design quality was worth the money. That's one of the reasons why I started to teach myself GIMP a few years back. And then around the beginning of last year, I discovered digital scrapbooking.

So, last year was the first year that I designed the whole family calendar myself as a digiscrap project. It actually turned out quite alright, with one of the pages even won a templage challenge at ScrapMatters! (It was the first time I ever put a layout on any gallery. And I didn't even claim the prize coz I had no idea what to do with it!?! Here it is in SM gallery if you wanna take a look.)

I sent the project to print not long after that and only then I found something that made me want to redo the whole thing! LOL. It's Dunia's CD calendar! She is a fabulous scrapper and I have always loved her style: creative, clean and crisp! Her project (click to see it in her DST gallery) inspired me so much that from the moment on I decided that I had to do a white background calendar this year.

I'm not ashamed to admit that my calendar could be called a blatant scraplift of Dunia's, coz her works really impressed me and I believe that you have to learn from the best if you want to be better at something. Although I feel I still have to point out that other than the idea of white background (and the front cover that it's my intention to scraplift and credit Dunia for it--to show the reference), I took a lot of care and put in the effort to make the project my own. :)

Well, I just finished the last page late last week and now the project is in printing process. I saw the proof the other day and, if I may say so, it looked not bad at all! I'm sure the friends and family members are gonna enjoy them! So here it is: 26 pages for 12 months front and back plus covers. Thank you so much, Dunia, for the inspiration!

(click on each image for larger view -- all credits are in the one right below here)

Whew! Now onto the second matter at hand. My first template freebie!!!

Like I said in the previous post, I had such a good time with Rachelle (Rachness)'s kit Infatuation and was very satisfied with all 3 layouts I made with the kit. After giving away one as a quickpage freebie the last time, I was able to coerce umm.. coax Rachelle into letting me share another layout though as a template this time. :)

So here it is. You may click here to get it or just click on the image below. As always, please leave me something here if you like it enough to download. (A comment or some chocolate bars if you prefer that. LOL!!) And don't forget to go to Rachelle's blog or store to check out Infatuation as well. You'll love it like I do.



Oh! I forgot to put in the calendar credits that I did the calendar dates myself and had offered the files on the blog a while ago. I'll repost it here to make it easier for those who are interested and missed it the last time. (Comments, please?) Click here or on the image. Enjoy! :)

Infatuation and a free QP

I never used quite a lot of pink in my layouts. The main reason, of course, is because I have a boy. Plus I've never been such a girly girl anyway. So it actually came as a nice surprise to myself that I had SO MUCH FUN with Rachelle's (Rachness Designs) new kit Infatuation!

It's great to have a chance to challenge yourself with something you don't normally do. The result? I finished 3 layouts back to back using only this kit in less than 40 hours! That's a record time for me! And I'm very satisfied with them too, kinda proud of myself for coming up with the "stories" for each of them. :) Here they are:








Having a chance to play with Rachelle's gorgeous kit is already a reward in itself. But the good news didn't stop there. I was informed that the third layout (right above here - called Love Notes) was chosen by Fa Maura of Scrap Team Shop as Layout of the Day!!! Yippeeeeee!! You may click on the above image to see it in the STS's LOTD gallery.


Wanna play with Infatuation too? It's now on sale at STS for only $0.99 (down from $3.99) Can you believe that? You might have to act fast while it lasts.


Now something for you to leave the blog with. My personal angel, Rachelle (Rachness Designs) lets me turn the first layout into a QP to give away again. So if you're interested, you may follow the link here to download. Or just click on the image below! Please don't forget to leave some comments here at the blog or at 4shared. I'd love it here if you can manage. :) Enjoy!!

(Okay, now just a little "side bet" with myself. The last time I put up a QP freebie, Digifree came by the blog to "pick it up" in just 8 minutes after I posted it. You think they can beat the old record? :D I hope they do!)

Layouts galore, episode IV

And now, the end is near. :D Not too long now......

"Together"
Credits:
Inspired by Bouille's layout 'profiter de ce moment'
All papers and elements from Crazy Earth kit by Stephinette
Wordart by MazDesigns

Journaling reads:
Neill (6), Sinat (4) and Prima (6) have been friends since even before Sinat was born.
And although not attending the same school right now,
they still meet regularly to play and learn from each other.
Sometimes they fight. Sometimes they cry.
But everytime, the memory of laughter is what brings them back together.

"Captured"
Credits:
Most elements from The World of the Fairy of MDesigns
Except tag and wordart from Capturing the Memories kit by Maelia Designs
And Fairy Essence wordart (used as mask) from Designs by Helly

"Birthdays"
Credits:
All Papers and elements from Chris JK kit by Rachness

Just a birthday reminder for all family members :)
Yes, we are a huge clan, scattered around 4 continents!


Have you checked out Rachelle (Rachness)'s kit Chris JK yet? If you haven't, I really recommend going to her blog or the store to get it. I've already done 3 layouts and I hadn't even used up all the fun stuff or run out of ideas about what to do with the kit yet. (See my other 2 layouts using Chris JK here, and grab one as QP too.)


TTFN!!

Layouts galore, episode III

I'm kinda feeling like a one-girl factory right now. Haha. Anyway, life (and work) goes on.... So here they are, 3 more layouts I just finished.

"Extreme"
Credits:
Doodled frames, signs, wordart, and buttons by Julia Makotinsky of Little Dreamer Designs
Paint background from Bohemian Girl add-on kit by Pouyou

"Geared Up"
Credits:
All papers and elements from Street Spirit kit by Gouzinette and Akiloune

"School"
Credits:
Template by Michelle Filo (with love by mushy)
All papers, elements, and drawn title by Jaime Choi of Three Paper Peonies

Journaling reads:
July 2, 2009 - Neill was crowned Mr. Freshman of Satit Suan Sunandha School.
He performed Hip Hop dancing as his talent at the pageant.
His class teachers were noticably beaming.

Everything that looks good in this layout is because of the talent of Michelle and Jaime. Thank you so much! I feel that I did nothing more than pick and paste. Really.


Oh, and I normally put links in the credits to blogs or stores of all the designers whose products I used in layouts. Though I really haven't got much time right now. I promised I'll come back in a few days, after all these are done, to edit the links in. Please forgive me.

Gotta go grab a few hours of shut-eye before keeping on working!!!

Layouts galore, episode II

4 more layouts from me. I'm really trying to work as fast as I can, have to finish 26 pages before Sep, 15. Why the rush, and what the heck it is with all the white space in the pages??? I'll definitely answer all that later. Believe me, it's not all I can do! There's a reason for it!!!

"Self Portraits"

Journaling reads:
Neill can play with a camera for hours on end.
And his favorite object to shoot is none other than himself.
We're never quite sure whether he really loves taking pictures
or just enjoys looking at himself so much.

Credits:
Template by Michelle Filo (with love by mushy)
All papers and elements from So Funky by Chriscrap Designs
Red alpha by Chriscrap Designs

"Great Power"
Credits:
The Everyday kit by Megan Turnidge
Brush: HPsigns

"My Sunshine"
Credits:
Scraplift from 'Be yourself' by Valé of valeetjules.canalblog.com
Photo mask by Bouille
Textured overlay by Delicious Scraps
Flowers from Little Tweeters freebie by Lien Clickphoto Designs
Wordart by LieN Clickphoto Designs

"Love"
Credits:
All papers and elements from Winter Treasure by Akizo Designs
Love wordart by Choukette

This last two layouts are definitely the favorites of mine so far.
They came out just how I love it. Clean, simple, and focused.

Work! Work! Work!!!

Layouts galore!

I just finished 3 layouts back to back. So here they are:

"Spontaneity"
Credits:
All papers and elements from Kiki Designs mini kits Breathe and Cherry Blossoms
Wordart by Lien Clickphoto Spontaneity freebie

"My Heroes"
Flower from It's All about You kit by Kimla Designs
Papers, water color frame, leaf, pebble from Fresh up add-on by Seni
String bow from Ines Garden add-on by Seni
Blue paper frame from Sunny Sunday by Nenejardin
Background stamp from By the Blue Side of My Soul add-on by Bellisae Designs
Template by Digiridooscraps
Title and journaling (English and Thai) -- my son Neill's handwriting

"In Motion"
Credits:
Background deco mat from Maelia Designs Pretty Music kit
Wordart from Fei-Fei Stuff

Neill loves to dance.
He's at his happiest when he sings and dances for an audience.
I'm not saying that he's great at singing or dancing, but he definitely puts his heart into it everytime.
At the house we always watch his favorite shows together:
'So You Think You Can Dance', 'America's Best Dance Crews', and 'American Idol'.
And he would always ask,'Mama, would you go and stay with me in America when I win American Idol?'

Ummm, son, there's a few problems about that.
First, I don't know if the show is still on by the time you're old enough to compete.
And, second, you're not American!! :)

A quickpage and a seperate wordart freebie!

I was RAK'd by Rach!!!

Reading my blog, you should know by now that I'm in love with her. LOL. No, seriously. I LOVE her. Her designs are all so creative, her drawing so cute, and her writing is so witty. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that I was totally over the moon when she contacted me and asked if I could create a few layouts for her new kit. She said it's okay if I had to say no, she'd understand. Are you kidding??? I'd already have said How High? and you didn't even have to say Jump first, Rach! :D

So here is what I got to play with: Rachness Designs' new kit, Chris JK, for Scrap Outside the Box

There are so many great things in this kit that you can have fun with and it's perfect for what I had in mind. I've been Inspired by an old layout of Bouille called "vers l'horizon" for quite some time now, so for this first LO, I picked all the nice papers and cut them like crazy!! I really like the end result, so different than what I thought it would be, actually. :)

And now for the second layout, I wanted to play more with the cute elements in the kit. So here's what I came up with.

Being such a lovely and oh-so-generous lady, Rachelle let me turn this layout into a quickpage to give away for free as well! So you can just click on the image below, or click here, to download the free 12x12" 300dpi Precious quickpage plus a seperate Precious wordart (to use with or without the QP) by me!

Please don't forget to leave some love here if you like it enough to download, and go check out Rachness's blog and her kit at SOTB. Believe me, it's worth your time. :)

A "color" quickie

I only have time for a quick one.

Just finished a layout for DSC's "designer spotlight" challenge. This month the spot is for Sabrina of Sabrina's Creations and her new and deftly named kit "In the Spotlight." She is also giving away a huge add-on kit for us to make layouts from. Go check it out fast.

The layout is called "color." I got the idea from the kit's color combo, it just makes me think of grandparents.

Credits: All from Sabrina's Creations 'In the Spotlight' Add-on

"de·ter·mi·na·tion"

Jaime at Three Paper Peonies has another free IttyBitty kit out and yes, another fun challenge! Her new kit is called Whimsy, it looks fabulous. The 3 winners (by random) of this challenge will get the full kit for free, isn't that great? For the challenge, you have to scrap a page that sums up your family; special traditions or things that you enjoy together. So, that means one thing for us: golf. :D

Credits: All from Three Paper Peonies (Jaime Choi)
Frame from School IB kit
Grass stamp from Grass IB kit
Deco mat (used as clipping mask) from Whimsy IB kit

Journaling reads:
The Knights are serious about their golf games. They will play golf every chance they've got and everywhere they are. They like to start young too. On his second birthday, Neill received 2 real clubs as birthday presents. He's hooked from the get-go.


I'll be back very soon with a freebie. Stay tuned!!

Rachness's Doodly Party Games: Guess What Word Am I

I mentioned the Doodly Party of Rachelle (Rachness Designs) in a previous post. If you're also following her blog for the past month, you'd know that she has given out 5 mysterious letters already for the "Guess What Word Am I" game. In her latest post, there're 3 last letters to be collected: T, E, and O. I put them together with the previous ones (S, E, D, T, and B) and tried my best working this anagram, and came up with the word......

"BESOTTED"

Umm, Rachelle, is that wedding bells I'm hearing from your direction? Considering she's also hinting in the blog about how she missed having kids around the house and needed to start making her own, I think this must be it! :D So I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this in advance, "Congrats, Rach!! I'm so happy for you!!!!"

And while you're looking around her blog, why don't you check out her new sweet products as well. She has a new fabulous collab kit out called "Follow Your Dreams" with Joyce Paul of Shabby Pickles Designs. If you have girls, or love pastel colors, or enjoy stories with fairies and such, this kit is definitely for you. Plus, if you buy the kit, you'd get Rachness' CU doodled element templates for free as well. So, hurry up!




What do you do when you have so many ideas and photos to scrap but not enough hours in a day to actually do it? :(

"Now you see them! Now you don't!"

I was trying to scrap a page that looks like something Neill would have done himself, and I thought this cute little kit - Four Season by Ing - would be perfect for it. So when I finished this page I showed it to him. He just shook his head in silence and walked away. Obviously he wasn't too appreciative of my effort. :D

Credits:
8/4 Tuesday Template Challenge by Scrapmuss Designs
All papers and elements from Four Season MiniKit by Ingrid Lim
Yellow pencil zigzag line by AnnaBV Designs

Journaling reads:
- June 20, 09 -Neill went to see the dentist and had his first (already wobbling) bottom front teeth removed. The whole process lasted less than 5 minutes but he was crying non-stop for almost an hour. Just when we're about to drive out of the clinic, though, he turned around to stare at his Mama with his still-teary eyes and said,

"I think that went quite well, huh, Mama?"

I'm off to bed now. My throat is so sore it's killing me. Urrgghh!

"you"

This is gonna be just short and sweet. I'm logging in from a mall, waiting for Neill to finish his homework.

I made a layout for DSC's latest Clean&Simple challenge. They're giving away 2 fabulous templates by Fe Marini.

Here's what I did with the first one.

Journaling reads:

People always say you've got your Mama's eyes and your Papa's nose. But I'd say you've got our hearts.

Credits:

Template by Fe Marini

All papers and elements from Aprilisa Designs' part in kit Remember When

Wordart from Citrus Breeze freebie #2 by Lien Clickphoto Designs

DSC are also having this "What's in the coffee cup?" challenge, where you have to scrap a layout that has all items listed in the coffee cup! What fun! I'll try that one soon.


TTFN!