Getting Ready for Christmas! Freebies, Day 5
Well, I am sitting here in what I think will be the calm before the storm, in more ways than one. Right now, as I look out the window, it’s still calm out, but in true New England fashion, we are expecting a major Nor’Easter overnight. The best part about a Nor’Easter is that it could be 6 inches, or it could be 2 feet…one can never tell. Talk about a way to spend a Sunday morning…shoveling out of 2 feet of snow. Hopefully, we won’t get that much. Hopefully.
I feel like it’s the calm before the storm of Christmas as well. We are at an odd point where everything we can get done is done, and now we are just waiting. Waiting for the craziness to begin. It’s a double edged sword though. While I am waiting for the craziness to begin, I also want to enjoy this time because once it begins, it will be insane!
The newsletter is going out tomorrow, by evening at the latest. If you haven’t had a chance to sign up, please do so now. I am preparing your gifts, and I don’t want you to miss out.
So, today, I have another freebie for you. Again, today’s freebie is two quickpages made by my awesome CT. Check them out!
You can grab it HERE.
Well enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!!
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Happy Sunday!! Black Friday Announcement and a Freebie!!
Happy Sunday everyone!! I can hardly believe that it’s November 22nd already, or that U.S. Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Thanksgiving is great, but it has always been the day after that is the most fun for me. “Black Friday” is the best day for shopping, and to me signals the beginning of the holiday season. Luckily, we over at PDP understand that you are going to need a good digi sale to add to all the craziness.
This is a great opportunity to pick up some stuff that you may have not gotten during DSD a couple weeks ago. Plus, stock up…who knows when the 40% off sale will come again?! You can stock up your wish list now, as well as check out a new designer, over at www.polkadotplum.com.
Also, make sure that you subscribe to the blog on the right hand side of the page, and my newsletter on the left hand side of the page. The blog will be full of freebies throughout the holiday season, and there will be even more fun included in the newsletter when it goes out in a little over a week. You won’t want to miss out.
So today, I have another freebie for you. This alpha is a little old, a little glittery, and a whole lot of fun! Check it out:
You can download it HERE.
Enjoy your Sunday! See you later on this week!
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Scrapping Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: The Time Management Series, Part 3
It’s no secret that while I love designing, I still love to scrapbook as well. The problem is, however, trying to find the time among a day job, a family, and designing to actually preserve some of the memories I want to share. I have tried every way of getting myself “ready to scrap” and to “make time to scrap,” but these tips are the ones that have really started to make my scrapbooking more efficient and fun.
Get Organized!
There is nothing worse than trying to do a layout, and not being able to find the things you need to complete it, I have been there. A while back, I got a copy of ACDSee Photo Manager, and it has really helped me to get my scrap supplies in order. With ACDSee, I am able to “tag” all of my digi products. So when I get something new, I unzip it, and either “tag” it right away, or put it into a folder labeled “To Be Tagged.” I try to keep this folder as empty as possible, but sometimes life gets in the way.
I have tried a number of styles for organizing my stash. First, I started by renaming every file with the designer’s name, and the product name, and then tagging each separate item of the product: papers, ribbons, stitches, etc. What was good about this method: if I was looking for a red ribbon, I could click on my ribbon category and find a red ribbon that would work. Right on that file, I would have all the info I needed for credits, so I would be all set. What didn’t work: This method takes a while to get going, and can be time consuming. Also, I am usually a kit scrapper, meaning I usually use stuff from one kit for a layout. Therefore, tagging each item was just making extra work. Next, I decided that I would just tag the previews of each product and put them in categories such as kits, alphas, elements, templates. One nifty feature of ACDSeeis the “Go To File” Option. With this, I can click on the preview, and select “go to file” and it brings me to the folder that contained the preview, usually the kit folder (Here is a great blog post about “go to file”). What worked with this method: it was so much easier to tag everything and it fit my style better. What didn’t work: The categories were too broad, and if I wanted to look through my stash for just stuff by a certain designer, I couldn’t easily do that. That has led to the method I am using now. What I did was I took the organzing I had done in the previous method, and added some new categories. Each file is able to have multiple tags, so I utilized this to tag each product by the designer, by the specific product, and whether or not I have used it yet. Take a look at my categories
There are tons of other ways to organize with ACDSee. Over at DigiScrapInfo, they have extensive information about working with ACDSee, including sample organizing styles you can download. Check those out here.
Get Inspired!
So often, I find myself ready to create, but without much inspiration. We often hear around the digi world about someone “losing their mojo.” I have been there, and it’s not fun. When my mojo tends to run a little low, I have a few places that I look to for inspiration to get me going again.
Sweet Shoppe Challenges – The girls over at SSD do a great job of keeping scrappers inspired. There is a new challenge EVERY DAY. Sometimes these challenges are just what I need to get moving. Not to mention, there are some great benefits to participating.
Gallery Standouts – At Gallery Standouts, each day there is a blog post with some great layouts from around the digi community. I wait every day to see what will show up next. It’s a great way to keep an eye on the scrapbooking world around you, without having to visit 46 galleries everyday. You can just subscribe in your Google Reader (which I know you all set up after my last post), and beautiful layouts will be delivered to you daily.
My Scrapbook Art – If I want to venture to a gallery, I often peruse the layouts over at My Scrapbook Art. MSA is an open gallery, so there is a great mix of stuff from all the digi designers out there. Check it out, I am sure you will find something you like.
Music – music plays a huge part in my creative process. It helps me set the mood I want to convey on my project, and keeps me going throughout the night. I have used Pandora before, which is a web app that plays music depending on what you select as your first song. More often than not, though, I spend my time listening to my own music collection with iTunes. I like to have control over what will be played next – I’m a control freak. My tastes are widely varied, and heavily influenced by my two daughters’ affinity to the Disney Channel. If you want to check out what I am listening to right now, you can hop over to iTunes, and see an iMix I made just for you guys: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=327730530
Get Knowledgeable!
For me, working with Photoshop (or any other program) is all about learning more and more about your program as you go. Luckily, there are tons of great people who offer FREE tutorials on how to work with Photoshop, either for digi scrapping or for other stuff. These are some of my favorite tutorial sites:
Photoshop Killer Tips
Hummie’s World
Tutorials at Digi Scrap Addicts
Get Resourceful!
I am very upfront with people: I use templates to scrapbook. I used to be really ashamed of that, thinking that people would think I was “less of an artist” because I used a template. It took a long time to get over, until I came to the realization: in 20 years, when my daughters are looking at my pages, they are not going to look at it and think “oh gosh. Dad used ANOTHER template for this one.” To me, scrapbooking is about preserving memories. By using templates, I am able to free up time to get to more stories, as well as the 86 other things in my life at that very minute. So there, I said it. Hi, my name is Aaron and I use templates.
I buy templates almost everywhere, but some of the ones that are really sticking out to me now are:
Designer Digitals Templates – all of the laides over at DD have great templates, in a variety of different styles. Right now, I am partial to experimenting with Katie Pertiet’s and Ali Edward’s templates.
Vinnie Pearce at Pixel Canvas – I was drawn to Vinne’s templates because they are so different than my usually scrapbooking style. Templates are a great way to experiment with other styles of scrapbooking without having to fry your brain.
Layered Up In You, La Grier – Over the last few months, La has released many sets of the Layered Up in You Series. What they are are template for mats, journal strips, shapes, and almost everything else you can imagine. The come with a shape to clip a paper too, as well as one of La’s characteristic doodles to outline the shape. While not a full template, putting together a layout is super easy when you use these as your base.
As a bonus for you, I have this free template for you to download and use!!!
Get to thePoint!
Like I mentioned before, I had to come to a point where I realized that I was scrapping to preserve our memories. What a relief it was to finally feel released from my “obligation” to scrap every event, every moment. Now, I only scrap what I want to share. I challenge you to ask yourself why you scrap? Once you do, you will be able to push away all of the “extra feelings” and focus on why you love this hobby in the first place.
BONUS!!! Today on The Daily Digi, Katie the Scrapbook Lady shares her method of “Power Scrapping.” I absolutely LOVE these ideas, and will be trying them out with my scrapping very soon. Read the post HERE.
Until next time
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Love is in the air…
I don’t know about you, but it’s about this time that I start thinking about Valentine’s Day. With three girls in my life, I really need to plan effectively. Man…I need to start scrapping! Luckily for you, I have begun creating some really cool Valentine’s Day products. Check these out:
these are my newest project. I had seen these felt ribbons in the stores and magazines, so I thought that we digi scrappers really needed them too. Plus, they are only $2.50! What a bargain! You can get them at myscrapshop.com. While you are there, stop into the forums and say hello. We really are starting to pick up there.
And I do have a freebie for you…this is another piece of the the felt ribbon that is not included in the pack.
You can get it here.
By the way…the stuff you see around the blog…it’s a sneak peek at my upcoming kit “you light up my life” coming soon.
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It’s A Party! Grab your gifts!
Have I got a surprise for you!
That’s right, this weekend I will turn the big 2-9. I was trying to think of fun things to do to celebrate my big day, and well adding more stuff to my store was a great way…then, I figured why not give you guys a gift too? So there it is, 29% off! Then, as a gift to me, pillowgirl got in on the deal too! $29 to her store can buy you a boatload of products, so make sure to make a purchase to enter that drawing. You can get to the shop here.
There’s a bunch of new products at the store. Here’s a look at some of the stuff I added:
Make sure you jump over there and check it out.
Plus, I was feeling even more celebratory (29year olds use big words like that, don’t they?). I have a FREEBIE to go along with all of the partying. 
Like the party penguin? Well here he is just for you.
Enjoy all the fun…plus, stop back by this weekend…you never know how generous I’ll get!
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I Told You I Had A Secret
So I guess it’s time to let you in on my little secret. See my friends in the picture above?? They are a few of the cast of characters in my first ever Mega Kit! My designs have been picked up, and will be sold on myscrapshop.com! This is a crazy expereince for me! I never would have guessed that by Christmas I would be designing for a digital scrapbooking store! It’s funny how the world works.
So these are just a little piece of the Winter Wonderland Mega Kit.
The whole kit is crazy fun colors, tons of felt and sparkle, and totally what I would want to scrap my winter photos. As a thank you to you, my loyal blogger friends, the whole kit is only $5.00! It’s crazy! Plus, I have mini kits that separate out the pieces of the kit so you can pick up only what you want, but at $5.00, how can you go wrong? You get check it out here.
I have to thank some of the people who have made this a reality. First, pillowgirl gets a big shout out for being such a good mentor, friend, an supportor. In that same respect, Sherah has always been a great sounding board, and was online with me as these characters came to life, and finally Amy W. who has been a great sounding board, and sage advice giver…plus, she can crank out a mean LO. Thanks to you three, and everyone else who has had some hand in this.
So, you have read on..you deserve a reward. Here’s a freebie that coordinates with my first kit:
The Winter Wonderland Alpha incorporates all of the key colors of the Collection. It’s also a little bit transparent, so you can see where the letters overlap. I think it’s totally cool. 
You can download it here. Pick it up now, it will only be around for the weekend, then it’s headed to the shop.
And don’t forget, head over to myscrapshop.com and check me out.
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