Wednesday Quickpage Freebie

Well, it's Wednesday already. The week is going faster than I expected it to go. However, the kids at school were sailing today. They were definitely acting like a storm is coming. We'll have to wait and see if we actually get one tomorrow or not. They're predicting rain and freezing rain for tomorrow night.

Remember that today and tomorrow are the last day's to enter your submission for my name the kit challenge. See my post below for details. I'll be announcing the winners tomorrow night.

Today's freebie is a quickpage using the pansy kit I posted yesterday. You can get the freebie by clicking here or clicking the preview. Enjoy!

Tuesday Freebie

Well, I've been back to the grind for two days, and I still managed to post freebies. I'm pretty impressed with myself. I have to say it's an excellent stress reliever. I'm just avoiding getting other things done like school work, housework, my books to do my taxes, etc.

I'm all set to post the link to purchase my winter kit on Thursday or Friday. Remember I'm still taking entries in my name the kit challenge. Scroll down to yesterday's post for details.

Today's freebie is a mini kit called Pansy Passion. My mom loves pansies and collects items with pansies on them. So this kit is dedicated to my mom who always encouraged my creativity and taught me crafting skills from a very young age.

Click here or click the preview to download.

Monday Freebie and Name the Kit Challenge

Okay, now that download issues are resolved it's time for a freebie. Today's freebie is a mini-kit with items from my upcoming winter kit. The mini-kit includes 1 paper, 1 snowflake element, 1 fiber, and 1 frame.

I am also looking for some help in naming my upcoming kit. Here is a preview of some of the items in the kit.



The person who submits the winning name will win the kit free. I will also be picking a 2nd place winner who receives the elements, 3rd place who receives the frames, and 4th place who receives the papers. I will be accepting entries until March 1st. You can email your entry with Kit Name Entry in the subject line.



Okay time for the mini-kit! Click here to download or click the preview.

Last day of break :(

Remember when you were a kid and how you dreaded the last day of a break from school? Well, I have to tell you it's the same for teachers. At least for this teacher it is. I've really enjoyed my week off. Gianni and I have had lots of time to play, and he's been good to let Mama have some time on the computer too.

My winter kit is starting to take on a life of it's own. It just keeps growing.
Today I have a quickpage that I made using some of the materials from the kit. I'm not sure how many freebies I'll have this week being back at work and all. It really depends on how well Gianni transitions back to his normal routine. I have a feeling it's going to be hard to get him to bed the next few nights.

Here's the layout I did with the quickpage.



You can download the quickpage by clicking here. Please post a comment when you download. I love hearing from you!

Wow! Another huge day

I'm still overwhelmed by the number of hits I've had in the last two days. It's just incredible and extremely flattering. I'm so happy everyone is enjoying the freebies. I've really caught the designer bug. I haven't had the time for crafting in general since Gianni was born. I find myself moving more and more toward computer crafting. First of all I can do it anywhere without the mess of supplies all over the house. Two, it should be cheaper ;) It's too soon to tell about the latter though.

I've been working more on my winter kit that I mentioned yesterday. I'm challenging myself to create a kit that I can use for another snowman layout for Gianni. I want to create a layout that is made entirely from my designs. I'm well on my way. I have about 5 papers made, an overlay, some wordart, a frame, some elements, and a tag. I'm going to give away parts of the kit here on the blog. When I'm done with the entire kit, I'm going to put it up for sale in my ebay store. I have my emergent readers listed there along with other things I've made. I figure it's the best place to try things out.

Speaking of my emergent readers! My plan for this week was to get my spring collection written and posted on my website- www.emergentreaders.net. But like I said I've got the designing bug. I haven't even done one book. I have to admit I'm having writer's block. I just can't seem to come up with any ideas this week. If you are a teacher of young children, have young children, or know any teachers of young children, ask them for ideas please! I'm running a challenge on my Teacherlingo blog asking for ideas as well. The top three idea submitters will get the spring set free. The books are for K-1 readers, so they have a predictable sentence pattern. Okay, I promise I'll stop babbling now and post my first freebie from the winter kit in progress.

You get the tag and the felty snowman. The snowman was so much fun to make. I'm very happy with how it turned out. Click the preview to download.

Thank you! Gemstone Animals

Thanks everyone to the wonderful response I received yesterday. Thanks to posts on Amy's site and then later in the day by IkeaGoddess things were really hopping around here. To say thanks to all of you who downloaded items yesterday or just stopped by to check things out, I'm giving away gemstones that match the animal charms.

Click the preview to download.

Last night I started working on some new papers and elements to use in a layout for Gianni. I hope to be able to share some of those with you soon. The way we're going it might be my first kit!

This was the layout I did for Gianni's snowman building experiece. After watching me the day before, he really had the hang of it. You can check out my gallery at Gotta Pixel for the complete list of credits. As you can see I used some of my fibers in the layout.

Animal Charms and My Baby Turns 20 Months Old

First of all I have to send Amy W at AmyW.'s Scrap-A-Lot a huge thank you for listing me on her blog in her freebie section. When you're starting something new, it really helps to have a little help getting the word out there. I hope everyone who has visited today as a result of Amy's post will come back often to pick up my latest freebies.

Today my little bumpkin is 20 months old. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday he was living in my belly and doing somersaults 24/7! He's so much fun at 20 months. He never fails to crack me up. So today's freebie is in honor of him. Right now Gianni loves, loves, loves animals. I designed charms and clips for some of his favorites.

Click the preview to download. Please leave me so love if you download them.

Fiber Freebies! Fiber Freebies!

Scroll down for previous freebies!
I'm happy to report that we have heat. Thankfully last night was much "warmer" than the ones last week where we saw below zero temps. The house managed to stay around 50 degrees. I tried to keep Gianni in bed as long as possible but try explaining to a toddler you have to stay in bed to stay warm! So finally I had to relent and let him get out of bed while we waited for the repairman. Gianni couldn't figure out why I was making him where his snowpants indoors!

The repairman showed up around 10:00ish. Luckily it just needed a small part, and it was a quick fix. We were back up and running within an half hour. Hopefully that small part means a small bill?!?!

Now on to today's freebies. Today I created some trims. You get all the trims you see in the preview- two wires with beads, two fuzzy fibers, and three ribbons. I guess I had blue on the brain from watching Gianni play in the snow in his blue snowsuit again today.

Click the preview to download the fibers. Comments are appreciated!

Textured Paper Pack Freebie

Don't forget to scroll down to previous posts to see other great freebies you can download!

Today I learned about creating textured papers. You get the benefit of this learning experience too- in my first paper pack freebie. The papers are all based on tin ceiling tiles. As you may have guessed from my digital creations so far, I love vintage things. Someday I hope to have a tin ceiling in my new kitchen.

Right now I'd be happy for heat! It appears that the pilot light has gone out on the furnace. Hubby works second shift and won't be home until 12:30 AM. Until then, Gianni and I are stuck with a couple of electric space heaters. As handy as I am, I have no idea how to light the pilot light. I'm not sure John does either. Thankfully Gianni is all snuggled up in bed dressed in an Elmo fleece and sweats instead of his pjs. I'll be heading off to bed too after I post this entry.

Tomorrow, if we get the heat situated, I have to work on my taxes and hopefully some layouts. Gianni and I made our first snowman today. I'm looking forward to that layout. It should be nearly as fun as making the snowman.

Okay, here's what you've been waiting for...the freebie! I hope you like these papers. If you choose to download them, I'd love to hear from you.

Click here or click the preview to download.

Tag Freebie and I'm tired

Okay, I'm tired. I stayed up way too late. Even though DS slept until 7, I'm exhausted. I'm really looking forward to a nap this afternoon. I'm so glad Gianni still naps.

My project this morning was to create a tag. I had some great help from some tutorials and Photoshop actions. The tag shape itself was created using Misty Cato's tag tutorial from her blog. You have to scroll down to her 2-12 entry for the directions. They are very easy to follow.

Once, I got the tag shape I used four great actions by Atomic Cupcake: Weathered steel and gemstone which I used to create the star element, and painted edge for the tag base, and vellum for the center paper. It was easy and a lot of fun. If you want to try your hand at creating your own digital materials, I highly recommend Atomic Cupcakes site.

Finally, I used a tutorial by Jamie Rousselle at DSP on how to create the fuzzy fiber. Once I located the dune grass brush, it was super simple!

Here's my finished tag. It's saved in png format. Click here to download or click the preview.

Just a layout

I should be sleeping. I'll be sorry tomorrow I'm sure. I just decided I wanted to work on a layout tonight. I was playing around with doodles again. I would have been done MUCH earlier, but the blocks just weren't cooperating. I guess I'm going to have to read up a little on PSE. I'm such a trial and error kind of gal. I have learned all my computer skills just by doing. However, I think I could have saved myself some frustration tonight if I just would have given in and read some tutorials or something. Oh well! Here's my layout despite my frustration.

I wanted to do something different. I was feeling like I was getting stuck in a rut. I'm still not sure how I feel about it though. It's one of those layouts where you have to let it sit for a few days, and then come back to it. If you want to let me know what you think, I'd love the feedback. The great doodled, stitched arrows are by Kate Hadfield.

Don't forget to scroll down for my freebies!

Yo-Yos

The quilt template got me thinking of what other sewing and quilt related elements could I come up with on my own. That's how these yo-yos came about. You know those little circles of fabric that you sew a running stitch around and pull tight? These are the ones I created today. I think they came out pretty well. I used them to make my first quickpage. Both are available for download. If you download them, please leave me a comment. I love to know what you think of them.

This is the layout I made with the quickpage. I plan on adding to it. This is one of my favorite early pictures of John and Gianni. DS is about a week old in the picture. He was always so alert as a baby, even when he was this little. He never missd a beat and still doesn't. Nothing gets by that kid! You know how they are as toddlers. They see something once and they copy it. So far it's been cute. Still waiting for the day he copies something we wish he hadn't!

Click here to download the yo-yos and the quickpage.

Treat Topper Template

What's your outlet? Mine is creating things. Could be any kind of craft or digi project. Since, having my son I've leaned toward digi projects because I'm always afraid he'll get into my craft stuff and get hurt.

I needed an outlet today because I needed an escape for the two feet of snow outside and the ten below zero wind chills. I also needed a little outlet after a little tiff with my darling husband, but that's another story!

Since the weather outside is so cold, I decide to think spring. I create a template for a treat bag topper with a spring theme. The topper is sized to fit a standard zipper lock sandwich bag.



Here's the example I made using the template. The papers and elements are from Traci Sims Cool Paisley Kit. She has amazing kits!



You can click the picture to download the files or click here. I'd appreciate you comments if you download the file.
Oh, by the way, thanks for the amazing response to my doodles yesterday. It was fun to create them and fun to share them too!

My first doodles!

Well, I decided to try my hand at doodles today. I have been wanting to do a layout for my son that showed off his bird drawing and talked about his love of birds. I wanted to use doodles in my layout, and of course it needed birds! So here they are. Remember they're my first try at this. But I'd like to share them with you. Feel free to snag them while you can. Click the preview or here to download. If you download the files, please share your comments. Thanks!

Here's the layout I made using my new doodles.

Another Snow Day!

It's hard to believe, but it's snow day number two. I think it's been six years since we had back to back snow days. My son even slept past 7 AM- a huge treat for me. All in all it's been pretty great. My husband was a bit grumbly because he picked my driveway to shovel, and now I don't have to go to work. He shouldn't feel too badly though. We had so much snow yesterday that the county closed the roads, and even he didn't have to go to work! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our neighbor comes and digs us out with his snowblower again today. Looks like we got in the neighborhood of two feet.

Yesterday I mentioned my emergent reader website. I launched it late last summer to sell the K-1 first grade readers that I've been creating for several years. I have been pleased with its start, and I'm looking forward to adding some new books very soon. I'm hoping I'll have the chance to update the site next week during winter break. I don't make any guarantees, especially if things go like yesterday! Hubbie hogged the computer for hours playing Warcraft.

In celebration of the snowstorm and the launching of my blog, here is a freebie for you. I'm giving away my Let's Make a Snowman book. The predictable text focuses on the sight words I, have, and the. Get the download while you can and don't forget to check out my website here.

You can click the link above or the picture to get your free copy of the book. I hope you'll leave a comment if you download the book.

Yes, a blog!

Okay, so I relented. I'm creating a blog. I guess my hesitation has been- who would want to read MY BLOG? But I'm putting that aside and starting one anyway. I'm not sure what direction this will take, but I'm anxious to see. Right now I plan to put my scrapbook layouts on the blog, and hopefully some day down the road I'll be able to post my own designs. I also plan on posting links to my new books on my emergent reader website.

Today is our first big snow of the season. I can't believe we haven't had any big snows before this. I mean it's Valentine's Day for goodness sake. The best part is that it's also my first snow day of the year. I get to spend the day with my boys (hubbie and ds). Hopefully I'll pics of the big snow later. If it's not too cold I want to take my almost 20th month old son out to play while hubbie and I shovel out.





Later in the day...

I think this is a fitting layout for the weather we have today. These were taken a couple of weeks ago, when we had just enough snow to cover the ground. Unfortunately, I couldn't take Gianni out today because of the windchills. I may have lost him in the snow if I had!