Birthday Celebration! Sneak Peek, Giveaway, Coupons, Prizes and MORE!

Guess what?!? Today is my 32nd birthday so I'm going to celebrate by giving you all a coupon, playing some different games around digi-land today, giving you all a FREEBIE and more! You'll want to make sure you keep up on my facebook page because that's where I'll be keeping you posted on what is going on. 

To start things off I have a sneak peek and giveaway for you. This isn't any ordinary set of templates! There are 27 templates included in this set. I bet you can guess what they are. Let me just say that I've already used every single one of these templates, completed a book and had it printed and I LOVE IT! I'll be showing it to you later on, so keep your eyes open for that. Enter the giveaway below and I'll be choosing TWO winners this week...just because it's my birthday!

And now here's your coupon. It's good for 32% off in my store and it expires tomorrow so go grab something that's been on your wish list or just go ahead and grab it all! ;)

And if you are wondering what I'm doing in real life to celebrate my 32nd birthday, I'll tell you, in the form of a digital scrapbook page!

Delightful by Design by Designs by Megan Turnidge
This template will SOON (sometime today) be on my facebook page in part of my birthday celebration!
I'll let you know when it's posted!

I actually already celebrated it yesterday. Today my girls are going to "grandparent's camp" for a few days and so we decided to do a little celebrating last night while everybody was home. Here's the journaling from my page:

I celebrated my 32nd birthday with a dinner out with my family and then some ice cream from McDonalds, the Rolo McFlurry is my fave! We brought our ice cream home and sat on the front porch swing and ate it. Then the girls got up and played outside and Shawn worked on his guitars. I grabbed my camera and made sure I took pictures of it all.

It was a simple but great birthday and I think what's even better is now I get to spend a few days at home all day by myself! What on earth am I going to do with myself? Hmmmm, catch up on my scrapbooks?!?


a Rafflecopter giveaway

-Liz

Speech Temlates with FWP Doodles & Masks

Liz's new Speech Templates is a fun set of digital scrapbook page templates for scrapping conversations, funny sayings or quotations, and other snippets of everyday life. If you are participating in Scrap Orchard Iron Scrapper, you can use them for the Week 4 challenge of scrapping with bubbles (speech bubbles included).

Even better, if you buy Speech Templates this week, you'll receive the Speech Doodles and Masks for free!  They will be added to your cart automatically after you add the Speech Templates.  The Free with Purchase offer and the introductory 20% off sale are valid through 8/2.

Here are the Free with Purchase Doodles and Masks.  You can purchase these separately if you choose, if you want to add them to your stash of basic supplies.

Here is what the team did with these fun templates:

Thanks for stopping by!

Making Template Layers Look Like Elements

Lately I've been having a lot of fun playing around with the different clipping masks on my templates when I've been scrapping. Some templates come with special clipping masks. Take my Envelope Journaling Masks for example, they have clipping mask layers that look like an envelope. Sometimes with these more unique clipping mask layers you might want to do more than just clip a piece of paper to it. So I'm going to show you how I do that.

Here's my before page with just paper clipped to the envelope and to some of the other layers.

Here's my completed page. You can see I played with the envelope, date tag, scalloped trim and banner to make them seem more like an element that you might find in a kit.

I used my Envelope Journaling Templates.

And Megan Turnidge's Kit Delightful.

So here's the video tutorial showing you how I did it and below is a written tutorial with a few pics!

I used Photoshop CS3.

I use an inner shadow to give the layers on my templates a more realistic look. I'm sure there are bigger and better ways of doing this but it's the way I do it. 

1. Double click on the layer that you want to edit. Make sure you are not on the paper layer but on the clipping mask layer.

2. Click on Inner Shadow.

3. Set your distance and choke at 0 and play with your size. It will be different depending on the size of the element you are playing with and the look you are going for. 

4. Play with the blending modes. I usually use Overlay as my blending mode but sometimes I'll change it up. There's no right or wrong here....whatever looks good, at least that's what I say.

You can go back and play with the size and opacity until you get just the right look. Don't be afraid to play with the other layer styles too, it can be a lot of fun.

-Liz

Sneak Peek Time & Win Both of My New Products!

Keeping it short and sweet for you this week. I have a couple new products coming your way this week. One is a super fun set of templates. The other...well, you'll just have to guess. ;)

I'm trying a new entry form here....I need to try out all my options and see what works best!
Let me know how it works for you. I'll be announcing the winner at midnight on 7/25. You have until then to enter.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

-Liz

Multi Photo Fun Templates

Liz's new Multi Photo Fun Templates are now live in the Market. As the name implies, all of the templates in this set have several photos.  In fact, they all have at least five (which makes them perfect choices for your Week 3 Iron Scrapper layouts). One template is very clean and geometric and the other three are a bit funky and playful with cascading photo spots, peek-a-boo layering and a variety of photo sizes. These are 20% OFF through 7/26.

The team loved these and had fun with them.  Take a look.

My Newest Digi Gallery Wall.....and Adoption Update!

Do you remember awhile ago when I wrote a blog post about My Walls? Do you remember that lonely, empty wall I showed you at the bottom of the post? Well, it's not empty anymore! Now that things are rolling along with our adoption I decided it was time to finish up that wall for our newest little girl.

Of course I had to use some kind of digi products to decorate that wall. I found this cute kit called Spring-A-Ling from Tracie Stroud, Nikki Beaudreau, and Sabrina Dupree. I started by making this 8.5x11 page in photoshop. Then I printed it on my home printer and placed it in a frame.

The color is off a little on the print (most likely my cheapo printer). 

I had been collecting different things (for several months) that I wanted to hang on her wall so I just kind of arranged them all how I wanted (on the floor first) and then hung them up.

Let me explain the pics a little bit. The top left, with the little girl praying, was a picture that used to hang in my room as a little girl. The 3 ladybugs that you see surrounding her name were made by Lydia's older sisters. They each made a ladybug out of traditional scrapbook paper. It was super easy. Just cut a big circle, cut it in half, cut a somewhat smaller circle for underneath the bigger circle and then cut a little circle for the head and glue it all together. They each signed their name on the bottom right hand corner of their ladybug picture. The right hand picture was given to my by my mom (a long time ago). She loves Bessie Pease Gutmann prints. And then the little ornate frame on the bottom right has an L made out of buttons (you know, like the ones you see on pinterest, at least that's where I got my idea).

Here's a corner view. The ABC picture came from Target.

And wouldn't you know it, I was planning on doing this blog post this week for you all and just yesterday we got an update on our little girl! Just in time for this blog post. So here are a few updated pictures. She seems to be doing really well. She's a favorite among her "aunts" and they say she's a sweet little girl. She seems perfectly healthy. Which is kind of crazy since she's considered special needs because of some issues she had early on but right now all seems well. Isn't she a cutie? We'll be going to get her soon!

No more lonely walls in my house! Just a lonely bed that will be filled soon.

-Liz

July GSO Winner!

Please join me and congratulating Carol (Iowan) on winning this month’s GSO!  Carol competed against some tough competition of unique and lovely layouts but her's shined the brightest for you the voters! We love this layout using SO Template Tuesday Freebie for its GORGEOUS large photo with unique angle, kit colors that match the photo colors perfectly and the ribbon the flows through the beautiful page long cluster.  It is so Cherry-ful!

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

How long have you been digi-scrapping?
I have been digi-scrapping since 2009 - four years now - starting with a book I made about my great-grandmother. I never was a paper scrapper but I did make bunches and bunches of cards.

What is your favorite thing to scrap? My beautiful grandkids. They are the cutest (just a little bragging here) and so they are so willing to have their pictures taken. I’m lucky.

What is your favorite Liz product? 
I love the Play a Game Templates. My team used it for the Rumble in the Jungle contest and had such fun with it.

What element is a kit incomplete without?
Strings of all sorts - they really tie (ha ha ha) the layout together.

What layout are you working on now or plan to start? 
I’m planning to start a heritage book on my mom and one on my in-laws. I have been planning this for years, so I need to get serious about it.

Thank you to all you voters! Random-dot-org selected number 24, Tanya (sunflowersbaby), as the winner of $5 to Liz's store in the Vote and Win drawing!

Click HERE to leave some love for Carol on this stunning layout!

Sneak Peek and Giveaway....as usual!

I hope you all had a fun weekend! We took an unexpected trip down to Stone Mountain, Georgia. We had  friends give us tickets to the park and so we decided to pack up really quick and go on down there. It was a such a fun surprise for the girls. When they woke up Saturday morning and we told them what we were doing....they were all like, "Right now, we are leaving right now. Right now, really?!" They could hardly believe it. We had such a fun time and I have TONS of pictures to scrap of our short trip.

I thought I would show you a pic of my girls and I at the top of the mountain. We hiked all the way up and all the way down. Here we are at the top and you can see my girls are pretty worn out but I'm so proud of them for making it all the way to the top.....with pretty minimal complaining. ;)

Okay, okay...now onto what you really want to see. It's my new template set for this week. These are a bit unique. I usually design templates first and then make pages with them. Well, with these I scrapped the pages first and then made templates with them! I can't wait to show you all of my pages. They are really fun templates and you'll be sure to scrap LOTS of pictures with these. The entry form for the giveaway is below. I'll be announcing the winner here on this post and on my facebook page on Wednesday night after 11 pm EST. You have until then to enter.

Giveaway Expired.
Thank you all for entering. It looks like lots of you went on recent trips that you need to scrap. Well these new templates will be perfect for you and all your photos. They are my new Multi Photo Templates and they are perfect for scrapping lots of photos.


The winner was Amie (comment #36) and she said: We went to Silverwood & Boulder Beach Theme park yesterday! And...no I haven't scrapped anything yet- just getting caught up on the laundry that happens after a day at the theme/water park!! ;)


Amie - boy do I know how much laundry even a one day trip can make!


Be sure to check out these templates while they are 20% off.
I'll see you again next week for another sneak peek.


-Liz

Envelope Journaling Templates

Liz has a new set of envelope templates in the Market, (inspired by the original Fun with Envelope Templates).  Envelope Journaling Templates are tailored for storytelling - with papers, text boxes and embellishments tucked inside the envelopes. Use these to write letters to your loved ones or to yourself, or use them as a fun way to present your journaling.  You will also find banners, fancy scalloped clipping masks, paint splatters and one design with a faded clipping mask. Envelope Journaling Templates are 20% OFF through 7/19.

The team had a great time with these.  Check out the inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!  And don't forget about our July Blog Challenge. Go grab the free template, then scrap with it using any products.  Link up your layout in the comments of that post and you might win $5 to Liz's store.

Invites, Thank You Cards and FREEBIES!

Last month was my daughter's 5th birthday. She's really into ponies, cowgirls, etc... So of course I had to do something with that sort of theme. Since I like to start my party planning by making the invitations first I went on over to Scrap Orchard and searched for western themed digital scrapbook kits. I found Life is Like a Rodeo (talk about perfect!) from Captivated Visions and I already had Chelle's Cowgirl Up kit from a previous project. I used these to make my invite.

My daughter and nephew *almost* share a birthday so we combined their party and this is the invite I made. Cute, huh?

I turned it into a template for y'all. ;) I did previously give this away on my facebook page but wanted to post it here in case you missed it. Just click the image to download.

(and if you already have it....don't worry, look below for some more FREEBIES!)

Download is Expired

After the party I decided to use the same kits to make thank you cards to give to those who came to the party and for those who gave gifts. I made one with a picture of my daughter (for family members who mailed gifts to Kyla).

And I made one with pictures of both birthday kids (for those who came to the party).

I just wrote little notes on the back of each card telling everyone how thankful we were that they helped celebrate her birthday and to thank them for the gifts.

And of course I had to turn them into templates for you!

Just click the image to download.

Download is Expired

And here are some pics of the birthday kids. Kyla loves ponies and I have a super sweet friend who has a pony and she let us come to her house for the party. Kyla got her birthday wish, to ride a pony.

Here are both birthday kids. Not the best of pics but it was over 100 degrees outside that day and I just wanted to make it through the party!

I hope this will help you make some personalized digital scrapbook invites....and don't forget those thank you cards!

-Liz

July GSO -- Vote and Win!

It's Tracy here and it is time to pick the July GSO! Make sure to vote, HERE, by this lucky Friday the 13th and you will receive a 30% off coupon to Liz's store* and you will be entered into a drawing, where one lucky voter will win $5 to Liz's store!! June had some gorgeous layouts with a wide variety of subject matter including, photo-less, pet, travel and family...it was hard to choose but here are our top seven!

(and don't forget to leave the nominees some love, the titles are linked back to their gallery posts)

Blossom by Carol (Iowan)
We love this layout using SO Template Tuesday Freebie for its GORGEOUS large photo with unique angle, kit colors that match the photo colors perfectly and the ribbon the flows through the beautiful page long cluster.  Cherry-ful!

Snap by Sharon (Shazzabess)
This is a fun self portrait using the Simple and Sweet Album Templates. We love the onomatopoeia of her title and the offset placement of the letters, her fantastic clustering, and the fresh light feel of the patterned background paper. So Snappy!!!

Breathe by Hannah (Hannah.Banana)
This stunning photo-less layout, using the Big Title Templates, was chosen for its beautiful simplicity and fabulous clustering -- don't you just love those flowers and colors?  Breathtaking!

NYC Cover by Donna (djp332)
We love this travel/places layout using the iNSD Challenge Template Freebie. We love that the album cover was scrapped to look like a Monopoly board with elements depicting the sights of New York City AND the fabulous map image in the center. Ingenious!

Life's Lessons by Jennifer (jmljensen)
We love this bright, happy layout that deliveries some of life's more important lessons.  Using the June Blog Template, the journal strips are so striking over the patterned papers, it looks clear and uncluttered even though there is a lot going on.  You just can't help looking at it again and again. Superb!

Koda by Carla (carla)
This sweet puppy layout, using the Traditional Templates II, stands out with its contrasting striped background and circular mat. The journaling and clustering are equally beautiful and how cute is that heart in Koda's name?  Adorable!

Maria by Ekasyr

We love this layout of Maria, using the Wall Templates, for its realistic shadowing, reverse cut on the paper mats and the heart-warming feel of the layout.  We don't understand the journaling but we know it must be full of memories about this sweet looking lady.  Sweet!











*restriction apply

Happy Monday! Sneak Peek & Giveaway

It's that time again! This week's new release is so much fun. You should see the lovely pages my creative team has been making with these babies. Wow! I had a lot of fun making them and I think they've had a lot of fun using them. I can't wait to show them to you all....but for now this is what you get.

If you would like a chance to win them just enter the giveaway below. I'll announce the winner on 7/11 after 11pm EST....you have until then to enter the giveaway. Hope you have a happy Monday!

Giveaway Expired!


I had over 100 comments! Thank you all so much. The winner was number #29 (thanks to random.org) and that was Jhari and she said:


I love using template because it makes life in digiscrapping easier for me - which is more fun because I save time, meaning I can create more layouts.


Be on the lookout for an email from me Jhari!
And everyone else make sure you come back next Monday because there will be another sneak peek and giveaway!


-Liz

Big Banners, Blocks and Recyclable Templates

I'll get right to the new releases - there are three!  First up is Big Banner Templates, featuring big bold banners, or bunting, and are decorated with pretty floral clusters. The banners evoke movement and mirth and are perfect for scrapping birthdays, block parties, the country fair, patriotic celebrations, or your summer activities.  If you're participating in Iron Scrapper, they'd be perfect for the first weekly challenge, too!

Next is Blocks, Blocks, Blocks Templates, which was a previous freebie in the Scrap Orchard newsletter. This set features classic arrangements of square and rectangular clipping masks. With small photo spots you can fit in a lot of pictures, and there is still plenty of room to tell your story. These designs work as single page layouts or paired up to make double pages. Team member Rebecca said she loved these for scrapping Instagram photos.

Finally, Recyclables 12, a collection of past freebies.  This collection is filled with a variety of playful templates, mostly with multiple photo spots. Two of the templates feature a numbered motif and work together as a double page design.

And here's the Iron Scrapper Grab Bag Week 1!

You can see full previews in the store.