Personal News: Adopting!

Today's post is very personal but I really want to share it with all of my digi-scrapping friends & customers. Because, even though you might not know it, you guys are all a big part of the 'how' in this adventure in my family. So here goes.

We are adopting a little girl!

That's right! We started the process back in February. Our part of the paperwork is done. The home study is done & now we are just waiting on one document to come through & then we'll be sending our dossier off to China. At that point, we'll begin waiting for a referral.

Now that you know what is going on I'll give you some more details on the 'why' we are adopting.

When I look back on my life with my hubby I see how God has worked in our lives & brought us to this point. It's pretty amazing when I think about it. I think this whole process actually started 12 years ago with some volunteer work that my hubby & I did. We felt a burden for 'unwanted' children. Then we've had some amazing friends (you know who you are) that have inspired us. Then after have our 3rd baby girl the doc recommended that I not have any more children. We knew that this didn't mean we wouldn't have any more children. We actually said to each other, “Well, we can always adopt.....one day!” Then about a year ago, after a bible study that we had been doing, we really felt a call to some Bible verses: James 1:27, Isaiah 1:17 & Proverbs 31:8-9. Clearly God was speaking to us. How could we ignore these precious, orphaned, children when we knew God had given us the ability to love, provide & care for them.

We knew it was time. So we started the process back in February & here we are. We really do feel like God has given us all that we need to do this.....the love & patience to care for more children, the finances to be able to do this (this is where you guys come in), the strength, & the peace to know that He is in control!

So I want to personally thank all of you who have supported me over the past couple of years. I've been very blessed with this little business of mine. Our adoption has been, in large part, funded by my digi-scrapping business.

I hope you guys don't mind reading this super personal post but I thought you should know what is going on with me & my family. I'll keep you updated on the process. We are hoping we'll be traveling some time next year to go pick up our little girl.

 

Monday Sneak Peek & Giveaway

I've been hard at work! I think you'll take a look at this weeks sneak peek & see why. You can see it's packed with a BUNCH of templates.....and you can't even see half of them! So, as usual, if you want a chance to win them just leave a comment here telling me why you need more templates to add to your stash. I'll be picking a winner late Wednesday night.

Now before you leave I need to show you a super awesome deal that is going on this weekend at Scrap Orchard. Scrap Orchard is having their Summer Rewind Sale. You'll be able to snag some summer releases for 20% off. PLUS if you spend $10 you'll get an awesome kit for free! And if you spend $15 you'll get the add on too! You definitely don't want to miss out on this.

And just another reminder of this week's Make it Snappy. This week's prizes are going to be from Captivated Visions! You don't want to miss these.

And for those of you who might be around Utah or be going to the Original Scrapbook Expo you'll want to make sure to stop by the Scrap Orchard booth. There are going to be lots of fun prizes.

Just click on the image to get more info.

Just another FREE Template!

Since I didn't have any new digital scrapbooking products for you this week I thought you might like something FREE! So here's just a little gift to show you how thankful I am for each & every one of you!

I thought it might be fun to have a single page look like a whole bunch of small pages put together. I took inspiration from some of the template sets I already have in my store. What do you think? I think it turned out cute. If you use this please post a link here I can check it out!

Just click the pic to download.

It comes in psd, tiff, png & page files (for Storybook Creator Plus 3.0).

Download is Expired.

But you can buy it here.

Happy  Friday!

Cake Making Party Birthday Invite

My daughter's birthday is coming up. She'll be 9 next month *sniff sniff*. I won't get all mushy gushy on you but I do want to show you the super cute birthday invite I made for her. She wanted to have a cake making party & sleepover with two of her best friends. The cake making part is easy because my sister decorates cakes. So she's going to come over & do a little demonstration and help the girls decorate mini-cakes. I knew I wanted to make some kind of invite that had a cake on it. So I thought up this card idea & then made a template to go with it. I'm not going to spend a lot of time explaining how I did it but rather just show you the pics of the process. So here goes.

Here's the printed finished card. Just so you have an idea of where I'm going here.

I guess it's more of a cupcake rather then a cake. But hey, it's still cute!

Here's the .jpg version of the card.

I used the kit It's My Birthday by Julie Bullock Designs.

It's a super cute kit with LOTS of goodies in it and it was perfect for making this card for my daughter.

 I printed the basic layers each on their own. Here's the cupcake liner .jpg image.

 Then the background paper.

 Then the cupcake/frosting layer with the text & decorations.

I was able to print 2 on each sheet of 8.5x11 paper.  

 I cut the layers out.

 Glued the sides and bottom of the cupcake liner paper to the card. My daughter helped me. Actually she did most of the cutting & gluing. She was so excited about these invites.

 We glued a pink ribbon on the top & then all you have to do is slide the cupcake/icing layer into the liner and you are good to go. You could easily just make this as a flattened image and print it out but I wanted something that you could touch & feel & play with a bit. I thought it might be a little bit more fun for the girls.

Plus my daughter really enjoyed working on them with me.....always a plus!

 So here's the template for you to play with. It's super simple but still fun!

Just click on the image to download.

And if you aren't a digital scrapbooker you could also easily use this template with your traditional scrapbooking supplies. Just print out the .png layers individually and trace them over your scrapbook paper.

If you make an invite please share it with me. I would love to see it.

After her party I'll come back & share more pics with you . I'm sure I'll get a lot of fun ones. Plus I might make some other hybrid goodies that I'll just have to share with you!



Coming Soon & Other Fun Stuff

I wanted to let you all know that I won't have any new releases this week but not to worry! I'm gearing up for some fun stuff that will be happening during September. Which includes, but is not limited to, a guest designer spot, lots of free templates & an awesome album template set that includes over 20 templates! So you definitely don't want to miss what is coming up & just to whet your appetite I have this sneak peek for you. Which includes a little bit of everything that is coming up in the next couple of weeks!

So be sure to keep an eye out for all this awesomeness! And if you want to make sure you don't miss anything then follow me on facebook because that is one place that I'll share everything that is going on!

Now before I leave you this Monday I wanted to show you something else! Remember this post: Help me Choose & Word Art Freebie  Well, I finally got my prints after a bit of a shipping mishap which had nothing to do with Persnickety Prints at all but rather the U. S. Postal service.  Persnickety was very gracious and sent my prints again! So here are 2 prints all finished and framed. You can see what I decided to go with. I loved the bold print for our "school" room....which is more like a school/play/basement/exercise room & then I like the softer one with the shadows for the living room. Although I haven't decided for sure where, exactly, I'm going to hang the big one but I thought I would show you the finished product anyway.

What do you think? Very different looks, huh?

Here's the small one sitting on a little bookshelf in our basement.

That's it for today but be sure to come back tomorrow. I have a super fun birthday card that I made for my daughter & I'm going to show it to you & there will be a freebie to go along with it!

New Calendar Templates

Seak Peek Winner: Monday's winner is Hally! Congrats Hally, you just won all 3 of

Liz's new calendar sets. Be sure to send her a message so she can get you your calendars!

New Releases:  Are you starting to think about making some gifts for the holidays? Or are you ready to start planning for 2012? Liz has three new calendar template kits just released in the shop, perfect for all your calendar needs. If you enjoy hybrid or want to give it a try, these are great projects too. The new releases are CU/S4H friendly and priced at 20% off through 8/25.

First up is Framed Calendar Topper Templates. This set of templates contains twelve 8.5 x 11 inch calendar toppers. Each is a completely different design and incorporates a bold presentation of the month name and various photo spots to personalize each month with your own memories. In addition, there are twelve 2012 monthly grids, provided in png format.

Framed Calendar Topper Templates

If you want a smaller, table-top display for your calendar, then CD Case Templates are the right choice.  This set features clean blocked designs with dainty element decoration.  There are four separate designs in a mix of single and multi-photo options.  Mix and match the four designs with your digital kit stash to build your twelve month calendar.

CD Case Templates

Finally, the last option is a Perpetual Calendar - which is a listing of all the days in the year, and you can write in all of the important dates (like birthdays or anniversaries) so you never miss any of them.  There are four separate designs with small clipping masks for papers or even photos if you like.  Mix and match the four designs with your digital kit stash to build your twelve month calendar.  

Perpetual Calendar Templates & Grids

Team Creations: Here is some inspiration from Liz the the team.  All of these examples use kits from Scrap Orchard.

Using CD Case Templates

Using Perpetual Calendar

If you get started on these now, just think how ahead you'll be when December gets here!  Thanks for stopping by!

More Hybrid - Banners, Tags & Charts

I've made a few digital scrapbooking/hybrid projects this summer and I thought it was about time I showed them to you. Even my creative team member, Helen, made a really cute banner that I'm going to show you.

So I'm just going to begin, first with some hybrid tags I made for Father's Day. My sis made the cupcakes ('cause that's what she does) and I made the tags. I thought it turned out super cute and they were super easy to make. Look at the digi-shadows on the tags! I just love how digi stuff can look three dimensional.

This is what I used to make them and I just grabbed some digi-paper to clip to the layers, printed them out, cut them, punched a hole in the corner and tied a ribbon through them. Super easy, the way I like hybrid!

Now I'll show you what Helen made. She made this banner:

Using this product.

Didn't her banner turn out cute? I love how you can use these to have a personalized banner.

Now onto a more recent project that I made.

I  made some school charts toward the end of last year with these:

I updated them a bit for the beginning of this year. I searched around for a post about the older charts but I can't seem to find it....maybe I never actually did a post with them. It's quite possible! Sometimes my digi-projects sit in folders just waiting to be blog posts and then they get lost somewhere!

Anyway, here are the updated version that we are using this year. I printed them out and put them in page protectors so the girls could mark off the things they did each day and then we could erase them and start fresh the next week. Just a note for people who might be scrutinizing my schedule (LOL!) and seeing that history, science, art, etc... is missing. Don't worry! These are individual schedules for the girls. We do several subjects together as a group. Oh and if you are interested, Ashlyn is in 4th grade this year and Emmie is in 1st grade. So naturally, Emmis has a lot less "seatwork" then Ashlyn.

Here's a close up of what it looks like.

These were their printed out schedules from last year. I'm doing this blog post late at night and realized that I never took pics of the new charts in their page protectors and to be perfectly honest, I'm too lazy to get up and go take a picture for you. So this is going to have to do to give you an idea of how it looks printed out and in the page protectors.

My girls had a lot of fun helping me "decorate" their charts with digi-supplies. Ashlyn wanted purple and Emmie wanted pink. I went straight to SuzyQ's store because I knew she had these wonderful kits that were monochromatic. Here's the collection but you can also purchase the kits individually.

I hope some of these projects have inspired you to try some easy hybrid.

Calendars & Giveaway!

I have something releasing this week that has been in  the works for probably a month now! I've been dying to show them to you all.  My CT and I have been making some awesome things with these templates and we'll show them to you later. Seriously, you guys don't want to miss out on them. I think you already know what they are. 

So here's the deal. I have 3 new products and 3 sneak peeks. For a chance to win all 3 of them just leave a comment here telling me what your favorite month is and why.  My favorite month is probably July. I love summertime and all the things that go along with it and July is right in the middle of that. Not to mention it's the month of my birthday.

And just a little reminder about this week's Make it Snappy at Scrap Orchard. It's always Wednesday night at 10pm Eastern and this week's prizes are frum SuzyQ Scraps. She's got some great stuff!

I almost forgot! You guys know how much I like the Daily Digi, right? Well, if you don't already subscribe to their newsletter you might want to, just sayin'. They give away lots of freebies from around digi-land *wink-wink*. Plus they'll keep you updated with lot's of digi-happenings. I think I gave you enough of a hint!

That's it for now! Have a happy Monday!

Cut Outs & Iron Scrapper Temps, Freebie

Monday Sneak Peek Winner : It's Jennifer O'Halloran! Congrats Jennifer. Email Liz at lizatscrappingwithlizdotcom to claim your prize! Be sure to check out next Monday's Sneak Peek and Giveaway. It's going to be all about calendars!

New Releases: First up is a a brand new set of templates, Cut Outs Templates, designed with the idea of depth in mind. Each template has stacked paper layers with cutout shapes peeking through to more layers below. The cut out trend is very playful, and the tilted papers and photos and peek-a-boo layering in this set play right into that look. Three of the templates include custom text paths or fills, and the fourth has a faded mask.

Cut Outs - Templates

Iron Scrapper Templates are not brand new, but were included in the Scrap Orchard 2011 Iron Scrapper Challenge kits. These four templates were inspired by the changing seasons and scrapping your memories tied to those times of the year ... the scattered leaves of fall, the snowflakes in winter, the renewal and bloom of spring, and the brightness of summer.  In this set you will find a full range of photo and journaling presence, even including a photoless design for your narrative style layouts.  Other custom features are doodles, circular text fills and custom scalloped shapes.  The 2-page layout is presented in 12x24 format.

Iron Scrapper Templates

These new releases are CU/S4H and CT friendly and are 20% off through August 18th.

Team Creations:  Here is some inspiration, made by the team using kits from Scrap Orchard

Cutouts Templates 

Iron Scrapper Templates

Did you get the Newsletter-exclusive freebie that coordinates with Cut Outs Templates? Be sure to subscribe!! Have a great weekend.

How to Scrap on Mac - sbcStudio Tutorial

First it's time to catch up on a few things. First I need to announce the winner from last weeks My Memories Suite giveaway. The winner is Allyson! Allyson send me an email at lizatscrappingwithlizdotcom and I'll get you all the info you need to get your free copy of My Memories Suite.

And I know some of you are waiting to see my finished Word Art project and I'm really hoping to have it ready to show you next week. I'm waiting patiently for my prints....there was a little mishap with the shipping so I'm waiting a bit longer and hoping to have them here sometime this week.

Now onto the main reason for today's blog post. Some of you know that I just recently started offering .page file templates with my templates. These are compatible with Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus 3 (SBC+3). You can also use the png files but the .page files are already layered and ready for you to use. For those of you using Mac computers, Creative Memories has another program called sbcStudio and unfortunately the .page files do not work with this software but the png files do. Leslie has a great tutorial showing you how to use the png files in the sbcStudio. I thought I would share it with you. I really want to have my templates available for all digital scrapbookers and all the different programs and computers. So I hope this will help a few of you Mac users.

Oh and I don't want you all to miss out on this. I have a freebie all ready for my newsletter that will go out on Thursday. It was such a fun template that I just had to use it right away. Heres the page I made with it! Just thought I would give you a little teaser ahead of time. So be sure to be signed up for my newsletter so you can snag this freebie.

Urban Attitude by Laura Banasiak & AnnaBV Designes

See you soon!

Monday Sneak Peek & Giveaway

It's Monday! That means it's time for a sneak peek and giveaway.....one good reason to look forward to Monday, right?  This week I have two releases for you. One is brand new (the first sneak peek below) and then I'm releasing my Iron Scrapper templates for those of you who might have missed them during Scrap Orchard's Iron Scrapper contest. Both of these sets are really fun. The first one having some unique "cut out" layers and then the Iron Scrapper set is just a great mix of templates for you to have in your stash. Soooooo....if you want to win BOTH of these sets then just leave a comment here and I'll choose a winner on Wednesday night 8/10 at midnight!

And what's a Monday without me sharing some fun stuff going on over at Scrap Orchard? I don't want you guys to miss out on all these wonderful chats, challenges and PRIZES!

Wednesday's Make it Snappy has prizes from Irene Alexeeva!

And if you've been participating in the Iron Scrapper contest then you don't want to miss out on this. I'm going to try my hardest to be at this chat. I want to see who won the iPad and all the other awesome prizes that will be handed out.

And last but not least there's a chat going on on Saturday with prizes from Faith True being handed out.

Have a happy Monday!