State Template Inspiration (and freebie!)

There are no new releases this week, but since there were several US state templates released last week, we thought we would give you some inspiration with these templates.   I found some great examples in Liz's Scrap Orchard gallery.

Helen used the Colorado template with the small blocked clipping masks to display photos and journaling spots.  Her layout documents a trip to Colorado.  She got 10 photos on this page!

Ellie used the large Kansas shape clipping mask and outline to highlight an amazing photo of the countryside, and added small photos and elements along the edge.

Heather used the Arizona template with the large blocked clipping masks, and filled them all with photos, recording the memory of her friends' visit and sight seeing tour.

I, Tiffany, used the California shape clipping mask to create a simple home decor project.

Bethany used the Nevada template with the small clipping masks to fill in with photos and patterned papers, creating a patchwork quilt look. She also included the banner state title.

Helen used the Utah banner title, using it as a clipping mask for a single beautiful panorama shot of Bryce Canyon.

WendyN used the Colorado banner title on this amazing page, using separate photos to clip to each letter.  And if you look closely, you'll see the paper behind the letters is a map!  What a perfect detail for this photo record of their road trip.

And finally, here is an amazing and dramatic page by Kristi8004, highlighting her love of her home state, Michigan.  I adore the heart paper filling the state shape, and the subtle effect of the title on the right side.

I'll be attending Digiscrap-apalooza, so I see the Nevada template in my future!  And I'd love to scrap some more about my home state, California. Here are a couple web resources I found with US State statistics and facts, such as the state symbols and historical information:

http://www.infoplease.com/states.html
http://www.50states.com/

Here are all the state templates that have been released to date:

Alaska Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Florida Georgia Hawaii Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas

Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Michigan Minnesota Missouri Montana Nevada New Jersey New Mexico New York

North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon South Carolina South Dakota Texas Utah Virginia Washington Wyoming

Liz had a little voting going on on her facebook and it looks like New York got the most votes. So here's a New York Template for you! Just click the pic to download the freebie! She also got suggestions for the next batch of templates....it looks like West Virginia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Mississippi, & Wisconsin will be in the next batch, which will be out in the next month or so!

*download expired

Life with Liz - Mask Video Tutorial & Coupon!

Another Tuesday, another post....hope you aren't getting sick of these. I thought I would do a quick video tutorial to show you how to use my new Fun with Opacity Masks. It's short, sweet & simple.

Here goes......

Here's a list of a few other masks I have that would work well with this tutorial:

I Heart You Masks

Faded masks

And here's my finished page. I used a gorgeous new kit from DeCrow Designs called De*light.

I know you are used to a sneak peek and a giveway.....but I have some sad news for you. Don't worry! It's not that sad!  I just don't have any new products coming out this week. I'm gearing up for the month of March and let me tell you, it's going to be AWESOME! Grab Bags, Collabs, & MORE! So instead of a sneak peek and a giveway here's a coupon for everyone to save $3 off in my store with a purchase of $6 or more! That's 50% savings! It expires 2/25/11 so use it now!

Coupon Code: swl_3off6222

Masks, Templates & States - New From Scrapping with Liz

Liz has been super busy this week! Not only does she have some awesome templates and masks for you, but 7 (yes seven!) State Template sets! The CT has been busy as well so I'm going to get on and show these fabulous new releases! As usual these are 20% for one week only!! AND, if you buy the Fun with Photos Templates, you get the Fun With Opacity Masks FREE!

First up, here's the new State sets...

Next up are the templates...

And finally the masks...

And don't forget the special:

Here's some pages from the CT...

By Carrie

By Christine

By Dagi

By Ellie

By Sarah

By Sarah

By Tiff

By Britanee

By Carrie

By Christine

By Ellie

By Knautie

So you see these have many different uses, and can be used over & over!
Thanks for stopping by,
Ellie :)

Life with Liz - My Love Story

Yesterday was Valentine's Day so I thought it would be a perfect time to share a little bit about my "love story." Not too much though, because it's kind of boring! Maybe I'll just show you the scrapbook page I made instead. I actually scanned in a wedding photo.....'cause you know, way back when (12 years ago) digital wasn't really around! I've actually been wanting to do this for awhile. I really need to scan in some of my other wedding photos. Oh well, another project for another day. At least I got one digital wedding page done. If I really wanted to have fun with you I would drag out my wedding album that I made 11 years ago and share it with you....but I must admit that I'm kind of afraid to do that!

Onto the page I made. It's a photo of me and my hubby on our wedding day.

I used a fabulous new kit from Lyndsay Riches called Love Affair. I also used my I Heart You Masks and then a freebie Word Art from Anna BV Designs that you can snag here.

Okay, I'll give you a few details of my "love story" too ...maybe just the really short version.

Here goes:

We met in high school.

Knew each other for a few years.

Started dating after a friend pretty much begged me to go on a date with him (Thanks Nerissa!).

We went ice skating.

He wanted me to be his "girlfriend".

I said no!

After a few more dates I decided I would be his "girlfriend" and nobody else's....because I realized how wonderful he was!

We went to different colleges a couple hours apart.

Got engaged at the beach while the sun was setting.

Got married a year later.

2 years later had a beautiful baby girl.

Another 2 years later had another beautiful baby girl.

About 2.5 years later had yet another beautiful baby girl.

And who knows what will be next!

It's been a great 11...almost 12 years!

Wow, that was fun to type out. I really should make a digi-page with that on it....oohhh, I got it, I'll make a another page to go with the one I just made. It'll be the perfect double pager.

Tangent....must get back on track here.

So now onto the part of the Tuesday blog post where you have to share something with me in order to have a chance to win my new releases. Let me tell you, you don't want to miss out this week! Some exciting new stuff....lots of exciting new things! A new template set, a new mask set & 7 new State Templates!!! That's right, I finally made some more State Templates. Woohoo! But I honestly think I'm most excited about the Masks. Here's a little sneaky peek of everything.

So what should I have you share with me this week. Hmmm, well, since I was scanning in photos I was wondering how many of you have ever scanned in stuff for your digi pages or if there are some things you would really like to scan for your digi pages. If you have some pages with scanned stuff go ahead and share them with me. If not, then let me know what you would like to scan in eventually. I would LOVE to scan all my wedding photos one of these days!

Leave your comments here and I'll choose a winner at midnight on Wednesday!

Templates for Albums

Hi!  I (Tiffany) usually have my layouts printed in yearly albums, but I know that a lot of people like to make smaller albums - for events like weddings, family reunions or vacations or just as a stand-alone project separate from other layouts. And photobooks are so affordable now. They are a great gift option for friends and family - or a gift for yourself!

Although everyone's style and preferences are different, it's common for the pages in an album to have a consistent look. It helps create continuity and flow and a connection between all the pages. Templates are a great tool for building an album. Sometimes you can find a template set with a lot of pages, but you can also put several collections together to create your own set to pull from as you build each page.

I want to share with you a small album project that I completed in January.  I wanted to put together a mini-album of my family's December activities, and I used three sets of Liz's templates to create all my pages.  These will go into my 2010 book with the rest of my December pages, but I will place them all together so they create a little "chapter" of my 2010 story.  Here are the pages I made (all use a Christmas kit by Gina Marie Huff):

I used the following templates sets, and I think they all go well together.

With those three sets, plus the coordinating freebies that Liz gave out, I had 15 templates to work with - perfect for building a multi-paged album.  You could easily make a 30 page album with 15 templates to pull from.

Another large set Liz has (and one of my personal favorites) is this:

And these two would go well with it, for building a larger album:
Those are just two examples of how you could combine Liz's templates to create a larger set. And I'm sure there are many more combinations that would look great together. If you have completed an album project with Liz's templates, I'd love the chance to see it. Please feel free to link me up to your gallery or blog in the comments below.

Year in Review & Round Borders - New This Week!

I love the templates Liz has for you this week!! If, like me, you're behind on your scrapping pages, then I'm sure you'll like to know that Liz has some new Year in Review templates in-store! She also has some Round borders that will add a little something to any page. These are both 20% off until the 17th of February. Oh and before you go on be sure to stop by Liz's store tomorrow because she's having a retiring products sale that will start tomorrow! Over 22 products at 60% OFF (templates, CU, alphas & more!) that will never be seen again! She'll have a list here on her blog tomorrow so you can see what is on sale.

 Note: These were previously included in the Jan 2011 Digi files.

I personally love these templates as instead of squishing 12 small photos on one layout, you get decent sized photos over a double page spread. And don't be intimidated by the thought of a 2 pager - remember if you get stuck you can always contact the team or go and ask over in the Scrap Orchard forum where there's always someone ready to help :)

Here are the Round Borders, which as I said before can really be added to any page!

And here's what the CT have created this week...

By Britanee

By Britanee

By Christine

By Christine

By our February Guest - Dagi

By our February Guest - Dagi

 Those are all using the YIR Temps, here's some using the round borders...

By Heather

By Knautie

By Sarah

Don't you think they're fab pages?!
Thanks for stopping by,
Ellie :)