Fairly Simple Templates + 35% OFF SALE

It's Scrap Orchard's Birthday!!  The whole store is on sale for 35% off through April 1st, including new releases. And there are free with purchase offers too - if you spend $10 you will receive a special collab kit, and if you spend $15 you will also receive some coordinating extras.

Liz's brand new release is a set of basic templates called Fairly Simple Templates. They're decorated with layered paper strips and have just a bit of extra embellishment so that the focus stays on your photos and memories.

Also new in the Market are two collections of templates and journaling mats that were past freebies (check your stash before you buy). The Recyclables 10 are a great sampler of Liz's products, and the Journaling Mats & Masks are must-have basics to have on hand.

Lastly, here is inspiration from the team.

Just a little reminder! This is what you'll get FREE if you spend $10 this weekend at Scrap Orchard!

And if you spend $15 you'll get an additional add-on!

My March Pages

It's the end of the month so it's time to show you what I've scrapped this month. Be warned....I've scrapped a lot (a lot for me anyway!) and I have a lot of pages to show you. If you don't remember my 2012 scrapping goal you can read more about it here.

I'll start with showing you the pages I scrapped this month from March 2011.

Submerged by Dream Big Designs
Template from Recyclables 9

Spunky Chick by Laura Banasiak
This is from a new template pack that will be released tomorrow!

Spunky Chick by Laura Banasiak

This is from a new template set too! You are going to love these. They will both be available tomorrow in my store.

Smile Sunshine by Laura Bansiak
This template isn't available in my store yet but it will be soon.

Smile Sunshine by Laura Bansiak
A Life Expressed Mega Alpha Stash by SuzyQ Scraps
I do believe this template is going to be handed out at tonight's MIS over at Scrap Orchard!

And now here's starting with current 2012 March pics.

Vroom by Chelle's Creation
Okay, guess what?!? I scrapped this page with no template. I haven't turned it into a template yet but I will soon!

Capture Life: March by Tracie Stroud
Candy Store Washi Tape & Sunshine in My Soul Washi Tape by Tracie Stroud
I also scrapped this page without a template!!!! I know, I'm doing things a little crazy, aren't I?
I will be turning this one into a template soon!

Snow Pals Bundle by Meredith Cardall
I used Double Album Templates II

Here is the double layout close up.

Making the Grade by Tracie Stroud
Using Fun with Envelopes Templates

Under Construction by SuzyQ Scraps and Laura Banasiak.
This was a template that had been given away as a freebies but it will be available in the store this week as a Recyclables set, just in case you missed it.

Under Construction by SuzyQ Scraps and Laura Banasiak.
This is the same template as above, I just rotated it.

Nature's Goodness by Faith True Originals
Using Double Album Templates III

Another close up.

I even scrapped a page from Vegas! I would like to scrap a few more but at least I got one done.

I used a free kit that was passed out for Digiscrapaplooza attendees BUT if you missed out there is going to be a fabulous Free With Purchase this weekend when the new products are released. You won't want to miss it!
And the template is from a template set that will be released this week.

And here are two recipe pages I made this month to add to my recipe book that I'll be printing at the end of the year.

My 8x8 Recipe Album Templates
Freshly Baked by Captivated Visions and SuzyQ Scraps
Numbers from Laugh the Rainbows Alphas {Chocolate} by SuzyQ Scraps

I did pretty good this month, didn't I?!? Let's see if I can keep this up for April. So far I'm right on track with completing my 2011 album by the end of this year and if I keep up with my 2012 pages I'll even be able to print that at the end of this year! Oh yah and my recipe book! Yippee.

So how are you doing on your scrapping goals this year?

Liz

Sneak Peek & Giveaway

I'm back and trying to catch up from my trip to Vegas. It was so fun to meet my digi-scrapping friends and to get a little break from my normal stay at home, homeschooling mom life...but of course I wouldn't trade it for the world. It just made me realize how blessed I am to come home to a husband and children who love me tremendously and who I love more then anything in this world. Okay, enough emotional rambling on, I'll get down to business here. This weeks sneak peek has a few things for you so take a close look.

Some of it might be familiar to you but some of it is brand new. If you want a chance to win it then just leave a comment here telling me if you've ever met any of your digital scrapbook friends in real life. I'll pick a winner 3/28 around 11pm EST. I'll announce it here in the comments and on my facebook page.

And look who's sponsoring this week's Make it Snappy at Scrap Orchard!

You won't want to miss it!

Also there's something big coming up this weekend that you won't want to miss.

It's Scrap Orchard's big sale.

PLUS there are going to be some awesome games and prizes to go along with it!

That's it for now folks. Yes, I know it's Monday but I hope it's a good one for you!

-Liz

Social Templates 20% OFF

Liz's new Social Templates are a lot of fun!  They are inspired by the visual presentation of social networking sites.  You can create pinboard layouts to show off your household treasures, your recipes, or your favorite movies and books.  Or you can make a timeline inspired layout to showcase your family, friends and activities.  Portray your life right now in a fun and visual way!  These are 20% OFF through 3/29.

Here's what the team did with these.

My Scrapping Workflow

I'm about to get on a plan on my way to Vegas for Digiscrapaplooza but before I go I thought I would share with you my new scrapping workflow. I'm hoping to be doing some major scrapping this weekend and I think with this new workflow that I've got going I'm going to get a lot of pictures scrapped.

I've been scrapping A LOT lately. Since I've been spending more time scrapping I've changed up my workflow a little bit and it seems to make scrapping much faster and more relaxed for me. Not to say this is the only way I scrap but it's what has been working for me lately and maybe it will help you. Here goes.

1. I start with my pictures. I'm usually inspired by current pics and I want to scrap those right away. It seems like when I scrap the photos I really want to scrap first then I'm inspired to scrap some of my older photos as well.

Here are some pics I just took last week. It was a beautiful day and we decided to take our schoolwork outside on the front porch.

This is my 4 year old. She can usually be found tagging along side
of  her sisters doing something quietly on her own. Today she found
an umbrella from the garage and was playing with it on the porch.

Here's my 7 year old reading out loud to me.

And here's my 9 year old reading up on George Washington.
I was just sitting on the porch watching my 4 year old and listening to my 7 year old.
I did let my 4 year old take a picture of me but I'll spare you. ;)

2. Once I have my pics chosen I pick out my template. I'll have a good idea of what kind of template I'll need since I already know what pics I'm using. I'll know if I'll want lots of photo spots, journaling, big photos, little photos, lot of elements or just plain and simple. I decide to go with my new Fun with Envelope Templates because I'm thinking I want to kind of tell a little bit what our homeschool day looks like and I can maybe do it in a letter writing format. (Plus I really wanted to use these new templates!) So I'm going to take the bottom right and the top left template and kind of combine it so that I'll have 3 photo spots and a journaling spot.

3. Once I have my pic and my template, I'll edit my pics and then add them to the template, just like so. You can see I combined the templates a bit.

4. Okay, now that I have that done I'll usually put together a few more pages like this. Photos, template, add pictures, save my .psd file....photos, template, add pictures, save. You get the picture. I usually do this in one night. I'll get about 5 pages started. Is that weird?

5. Then once I have a decent amount of pages started I'll go find the perfect kits to use with my pages. Usually when I scrap a bunch like this I have a good excuse to go buy some new stuff....there's always an excuse, right? So I'll go shopping and find the stuff I want to use.

This is the kit I chose to use for this page.

6. Then comes the fun part of actually placing paper, elements, journaling, etc... on my page.  Once I have everything where I want it I'll go through and tweak my shadows and save it and then I can start on the next page that I had previously started (see the photos and template have already been chosen and the page laid out for me). This way I don't have to think about what photos or template I'm going to use next. I just have to open my kit and page and finish it up. For some reason I think doing the pages in batches like this helps me be a faster scrapper.

Here's my finished page.

I've already gotten 5 pages done for March 2012 (yay, I'm on top of things this year) and I've scrapped all my May 2011 photos as well (which was one of my goals at the beginning of the year - to scrap the previous month's photos). So this system of picking photos, then a template, placing photos in the template and repeating that over and over again before I finish the page seems to help me stay on top of my goals. Don't ask me why, but it does.

What's your scrapping workflow? Do you have one? Do you need to work on a system to get those pages scrapped? Hope this helps you and inspires you to find a system that works for you.

I'll be back next Wednesday to show you all of my March 2011 and March 2012 pages.

Liz

March GSO Winner!

Please join me and congratulating Rebecca (aurian) on winning this month’s GSO!  Rebecca competed against some gorgeous competition but you the voters chose her stunning layout of her son as the best. We loved this layout for it’s stunning photos, quirky numbers, element peak-outs, bright colors, alpha/font mixed title and the pure energy! 

We got a chance to ask Rebecca about herself and this is what she said...

How long have you been digi-scrapping? 

I started digiscrapping in 2009 after making the leap from traditional scrapbooking (which I enjoyed, but was reluctant to use up all my favorite supplies, plus the mess factor...!). I've always enjoyed playing in Photoshop with the pictures I take, and to find that I could use it for scrapbooking thrilled me no end. 

What is your favorite thing to scrap about?

Mainly my family and our happy snaps. I have a son who will be turning one in a matter of weeks, and I have spent a lot of my scrapping time in the past couple of years documenting my pregnancy and his first year of life. I also enjoy scrapping my Project365 pictures, I've participated in a photo-a-day project in some form or another for the past six years (yep, true story! This year I'm doing an Instagram P365).

What is your favorite Liz product?

Tough choice, as I love so many of her products - I really like how Liz's templates are a great springboard for creating your beautiful layouts easily, and can be as simple or as complex as you make them. Some of my favorites I use again and again are:  Photo & Journalling Starters, Double Album Templates II, Chopped Paper Templates, and Cut Up Templates.

If you were any digi-scrapbook item, which one would you be?

Probably something whimsical (like a scatter) or something doodly. My pages almost always have a doodled element on them somewhere. :)

If you love this layout check out Liz's List Templates and create your own gorgeousness.

(image is link to the gallery; click on image and leave some love)

Coming 3.22.12 - Sneak Peek and Giveaway

This week's new templates are super fun! They were inspired by something I think we might all be familiar with and they can make some memorable pages for the "social" times we live in. If you know what I mean. ;)

So if you want to win these little goodies then just leave a comment here letting me know how much you want these and I'll come back and pick a winner sometime LATE Wednesday night. I'll be in Vegas getting ready for Digiscrapaplooza. Hope to see you there!

And don't forget this week's MIS. It's brought to you by the wonderful SuzyQScraps.

-Liz

It's all in the Angle Templates - 20% OFF

The new It's all in the Angle Templates are so much fun!  And I love how they feature big photo spots.  They also have plenty of paper layering, big bold titles, and just a bit of scattered decoration and elements tucked among layers.  As usual, they are 20% OFF for the first week (through 3/22).

Here are some fabulous inspirational layouts from the team.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Another Hybrid Canvas Print

My lovely SIL asked me to make a poster print for her boys' room. She told me what she wanted it to say and so I went shopping for the perfect digital scrapbook kit.

I found this kit by Faith True Originals and mle Card called  KAPOW! It had the perfect starry paper and some cute elements that I thought I would use. I also picked up Super Alphas to use as the main letters in my poster print. Faith True and Emily so graciously allowed me use their kit for this poster. :)

I ended up making these two mock-ups in 11x14 size: 

One with a few superhero elements,

and one without.

My SIL decided that she liked the one without better. I sent her the image and instead of going for the 11x14 she decided she wanted to try the 12x12 faux canvas print from wal-mart. Click here to see my previous canvas print. The 11x14 looks like it worked fine on the 12x12 canvas. She told me she really loves her print! Yay! She took a few pictures for me so I could show y'all (and that's exactly how she would say it with her southern Memphis accent).

So just another little nudge for you to go and gather some of your favorite digital scrapbook kits to make some hybrid home decor. ;)

Liz

March GSO -- Time to Vote!

February was full of love, LOVE for your wonderful layouts posted in the Liz Gallery! We have selected our favorites and now its time for you to vote to select the winner! Check out these fabulous, gorgeous contenders nominated by Liz and the CT Team; which is your favorite? Click here to vote and return the love! Then check back here on 20th to find out the winner.

Carol (Iowan) created this beautiful layout of a young cheerleader using a Thursday Template Freebie.  This layout is pure Zip, Boom, Bah with its multi ribbons from the bottom, the large mix of alpha and elements along the left, the awesome photos, the mixed font/alpha title and the bright orange against the white and black.


Cheer-ific!

Rebecca (Aurian) created this adorable layout of her son at 10 months using the List Templates.  We love the stunning photos, the quirky and whimsical numbers, the element peak-outs, the bright, happy colors, the alpha/font mixed title and the pure energy of the layout.


Beyond Cute!

Jeri (GlitterQueen) created this stunning layout of a lovely young lady using the Fruity Templates.  We love the wonderful textures and patterns and how the eye travels around the page with all the variations of fabrics, embossed papers, glitter and stitching.


Superb!

Nikki (Nowens) created this fun layout of a cutie-patootie little girl using the MIS Challenge Template.  She picked the a perfect template to showoff a photo series of an everyday moment.  We love how she translated the simplicity of the event into the layout creating a fun, light layout.


Wonderful!

Angie (Angiepangie) created this super cute layout of her son using the February Template Challenge.  We love the bright large photo and all those patterned papers.  Her journaling is perfect for documenting the little things that mark the milestones of growing up.


5 Stars!

Ophelia (Navaja77) created this gorgeous layout of her daughter using the Miscellaneous Templates I. We love this layout for its great photos and clean feel that focuses on the photos but still has plenty of fun, lucky elements and wonderful journaling.


Precious!