Layouts & Cards, O My

Some catching up to do:

A Gallery Standout, I always feel so chuffed at those, "Freedom":



Everything mine (although I was very inspired by Lisa's use of Vinnie's template on her Day You Were Born layout!). Fonts: Teen & butterbrotpapier.

Journaling reads:

I love that you are growing up
willing and able to jump chasms
to leap, focused on some small asperity
I love that this rocky garden
is your back yard,
that your shouts of joy
tumble into the air
echoing these vast waves
I love that you know freedom so well

And today's, "Sticks At Six":



For the Clean & Simple Inspiration Challenge @ Pixel Canvas--inspired by Disiree (GavinsMum), "Random Gavinism 223".

Credits: Everything by Vinnie Pearce. Papers from Today, The Great Hunt, and Weathered Greens @ Pixel Canvas, and from Placid @ CatScrap. Stem from Old Things. Font: Minya Nouvelle Gaunt. Journaling reads: Sticks at 6: pencil * compass* cane* dam * all that and an imagination.

And you won't believe this, but since I was getting 40 free prints from Shutterfly because I opened a photo-sharing site with them, I decided to go ahead and get my holiday photos printed up (I'll attach them to folded cardstock):



(Everything mine)

And finally, just to REALLY knock you over, a couple of CARD cards:



Stamp by Enchanted Ink

and



My stamps at Art Neko

A Productive Day

A ton of layouts, and even (don't faint) a card!!

My favorite is this lift of Neat Freak (Lorraine)'s "Untitled". Mine's called "Celebrate Happiness":



Allen has recently discovered how much fun dandelion puffballs are, especially now that he can actually blow some air out instead of just making a hissing sound. *lol*

Credits: Everything Vinnie Pearce (Pixel Canvas). Page mask from Set 03. Little heart (recolored) from The Great Hunt. Word art from Moments of Special. Star spray from Paradiso. Flower from Preserve It (collab with Fei Fei's Stuff and Catherine Designs).

Then a page with all Sande Krieger stuff (I'm sorry I have to drop her CT!), Honey:



It's amazing how much more relaxed Eddie is with this new job. He still doesn't like me to take photos, though, so this is a surreptitious one of him while I was sitting next to him on a log on the beach. You know, you kind of angle your little point-and-shoot ever so casually up and wow what do you know, your finger slipped and took a photo. Whoops! ;)

Everything by Sande Krieger @ 2Peas. Buttons and labels from "Buttons, Buttons, Who's Got the Buttons" and Note To Self V.2. Little "spring" tab bottom right from All Seasons Tabs. Bottom border from Fanciful Edges. Background paper (including top border) from Party On Papers. Tiny little heart from Home Is Where The Heart Is. And the "Love you" word art is from Word Play.

This was a quick one about Allen's very successful birthday party, Bouncing Off The Walls (inspired by the April Inspiration Challenge at Get Digi With It):



Well, there was rain all day on Allen's birthday, but we'd planned for it! Eddie emptied and cleaned out the whole garage, and the kids really took advantage of being able to run around. The adults stayed far inside out of screech range (well, except for the "lucky" parents who took turns watching over everybody!).

Credits: Everything from my Rain kit (GDWI). Fonts: FD Buttercream and kevinandamanda.com. Journaling reads: "6th birthday + 6 kids + a whole lotta rain = 'bout what you'd expect"

And finally, a fun (if imperfect) snapshot from a new beach yesterday, Robbie:



We had a wonderful couple of hours yesterday at an unnamed beach north of Seal Rock where there's an exposed agate bed (i.e., you can find tiny bits -- the size of a pea, or a lump of butter if you're lucky -- of agates amongst the gravel). This is the Sheltie of the friend who showed me where the bed was. Such a sweet, old doggie!

Credits: Everything Designer Digitals (inspired by an IdeaBooks4U blog entry). Background by Katie Pertiet for a Color Challenge (021509). Letters filled by: "r" - Katie Pertiet, Botanical Fusion; "o" - Katie Pertiet, Buttoned Up Love; "b" - Anna Aspnes, Something Springy; "b" - Lynn Grieveson, Breezy Flowers; "i" - crochet flower by Patti Knox, Everyday Inspiration Challenge (030109); and "e" - Katie Pertiet, Digitally Pressed Flowers. Font: VTPortableRemingon. Journaling reads: ". agate hunting . a good friend . castenholz . how about this one . cracked bucket . shifting sands . tide’s coming in . wet pants . world’s smallest fossil . one foot territory . crow babies . weathered stumps . cracked rock . a day in the sun . good times . new beach . what speed limit . thank you . "

And also (wow, long post today!), I made a cool-even-if-i-say-so card for Vinnie, as it's her 28th birthday today:



Credits: Everything by me, most of it made today. The inside would read "How owld are you today again?"

And FINALLY, a little card I made today for the Asian Card Exchange over at OSA:



Just a simple card... Stamp is by Stone House Stamps, over a spritzed background (Ranger Adirondack Color Sprays and Moonglow mist) edged with gold Krylon, and mounted on yuzen washi over textured cardstock. Just took some gold embroidery thread and wrapped it around the card front.

Phew. Have a great weekend--hope you can be productive too!

Digital Card and some Layouts

Here's a digital card I made with a stamp from Art Neko (the woman), and the elements from my Chinoiserie kit:



And a layout, Tangled:



Everything mine--Background and matting papers from Paired Papers 1 (Get Digi With It); horizontal cord from Chinoiseries (GDWI), and vertical rope from Cowboy 1. Title alpha is from the Grit Alpha Pack (blog freebie). Font: Courier. Journaling reads:


"I am much a hermit
my shyness sharp and spiky
(my hair
used to be that way too)
after 47 years
I’ve got some well-honed
defenses. Yet
here you’ve come
and twined yourself
around my purpose
and my heart
and your beauty
grows through me
in wondrous forms
and I like it"

And Vinnie has come out with another amazing kit, Safari Street (at CatScrap):



Font: hlmt-rounded

And a rare, if not first ever, double layout with Sande Krieger's lovely Daily Grind V. 1 templates for the 365/52/12 project:



Larger version here

Not that I plan to take part--I scrap almost every day, or at least I used to before I had all these design projects pressing on my brain!--but Sande's template was way cool.

Layout Catch-Up

Phew! It's been a busy week -- not so much on the digiscrapping front, though! Made some cards, have been working on a commissioned drawing (very much not my usual style, but it's been super-interesting to do), a couple of logos, a newsletter for my DH's clinic... plus a lot of school for Allen!

Here are some of the latest, though. I really am pleased with the one I did today--I started off with the photos (both from inside the car through the windshield, but one focussing on the raindrops, the other on the background), and then started adding some elements, and all of a sudden it came together! The green of the stoplight, the "green" in the text, the streetlamp element echoing the streetlamps in the photo... I like it when my subconscious gets to work! *lol*



Credits: Everything by Vinnie Pearce (Pixel Canvas). Background shot is blended with a paper from her Naturals kit, and all the elements (clouds, helicopter--though I added "Coast Guard" in tiny letters on the side and colored it in--street lamp, stop light), and the alpha, from her Engines Ready kit. Fonts: Twentieth Century MT Condensed and 1942 Report. Journaling reads: "there is a price to pay / for green / rain / rain / wind / rain / and gray".

I continue to be amazed by Vinnie's talent and creativity. She's just amazing--and an incredibly sweet person to boot!

Here's a quick Christmas (ACK!) card I made with some adorable templates Mother Hen of 3 Pixel Chicks put out for World Card Day (hope you had a good one, btw!):



Credits: everything from 3 Pixel Chicks. Template from the 2008 World Card Day Template pack. Background paper from Spring Chick Papers; other papers from Seasonal Canvas Papers: Watercolors.

And here's a fun re-scrap of a photo I used when I was just starting out doing digital scrapping--a really beautifully pastel sunset. I did this in response to a 2Peas challenge--get inspired from packaging. Not being one for much packaged food in our house, I went searching on the web and found a great blog (The Die Line) for packaging design (a very cool subset of design, btw), and they pointed me to the Zull wine website with these funky striped labels, which I then used as part of my design. Anyway, long intro for just one layout!



Credits: Everything mine, I guess, except the font: 20th Century MT Condensed. I loved the lines and writing on the Zull wine labels I found online! They reminded me of sunsets, so I went ahead and looked for the right pic... The waves and sand dollar are based on stamps I've made for Art Neko.

Gosh, I haven't updated for a while... too many layouts! So I'll just show one more -- I was thrilled that it got mentioned in the Gallery Standouts!



Credits for "Balanced": Everything by Vinnie Pearce at Pixel Canvas, except for frame (Katie Pertiet, Designer Digitals, Open Up Frames No. 2). Background paper from the freebie Today kit. Other papers from First Bike kit (green paper was grizzled with a mask from the Distressed Photo Masks - Set One) as well as the stitching. Square sequins and black heart from She's A Doll Element Pack. Glass pebble from the Glass Pebble Element Pack. Red heart beads and wire from Dangles - Girly Things Element Pack. Ricrac from Woodland Boys kit. Font: 1942 Report. Journaling reads: "sometimes / it is only the smallest pebble / that keeps everything / balanced / without you / we / will be off- / kilter."

Etsy Shop!

I cannot TELL you how many times I have been *nagged* to get this thing going... *grins* And I finally got the motivation (see yesterday's post, heh), plus a new set of skills. Much of what I'll be offering will be digital based! Not much up there yet, but it's a start... http://heathert.etsy.com/ ! But here's my favorite:

3 Pixel Chicks

Guess what? I'm on their Creative Team! I'm so excited to be on my first CT team. I hope to be on another soon, too, but that's not quite set up yet...

3 Pixel Chicks have a really extensive and fun set of papers and embellishments, as well as a cute alpha for back to school stuff, or, in our case, first day of school stuff! Here's a little card I made for their The Chick's In The Mail August Challenge:



It's coming up, I'm nervous... =) More nervous than he is, I bet! Credits: Everything from 3 Pixel Chicks. Card template for the August 08 challenge, papers from the Chick Your Grade Paper Pack, and most elements as well as the alpha from the Chick Your Grade embellishment pack (other doodles are from the card template).

Go check'em out--their prices are more than reasonable, too!