I have been a huge fan of Tricia Curtis and her amazing actions, layer styles and everything else that she creates for a long time.  I tracked her down at www.digidesignresort.com and was seriously drooling at her shop.  Right now my wish list is sooo long.  I was able to pick out a product that I fell in love with:

It is her Sweet Beginnings kit.  I loved it for several reasons.  The fact that it included papers and elements for both boys and girls was a huge plus (since I have one of each) and the fact that you can buy all of the components of her kits separately in her store was a nice feature too.  This one is going on my wish list for sure. 

I have a busy weekend coming up. I am having a girl’s night with my mom (yup, no kids. Just me and my mom for some serious shopping and dinner. My son couldn’t understand why my mom would want to take me out to dinner (especially without him.)  I patiently explained to him that I am Grandma’s daughter and once and awhile Grandma likes to take me out to dinner like I like to take him out to dinner. This was still a little foreign to him, LOL. Then, on Monday I get to register my daughter for Kindergarden and then go and be a helper in her Pre-K class. Wow. I can’t believe how the time is flying.  Next year I am going to have two kids in school. I can’t believe it.  Needless to say, I am going to have lots of stories to tell this week. What stories are you going to tell ?

Mary

If you think that’s cute, just take a few minutes to browse the JennCK store at Sunshine Studio Scraps! She has some really great kits available and I think this one, called Shimmer, is gorgeous. I love the color palette and the metal embellishments are perfect. Plus it’s got glitter, which I just love!

I also want to share with you today a great layout I found in the gallery at Stuff to Scrap! I think it’s a really clever way to crop a picture and it makes the journaling quite powerful. This is In My Daughter’s Eyes by Beth:

Well I’ve been thinking about basketball lately and sort of missing it.  My son was a starter on the high school basketball team and before that he has played  on an organized team since he was in 2nd grade.  But he graduated from high school last year and this winter has been quiet.  I hadn’t realized how much of hubby and my social winter calender was built around those games until this winter when I began to feel that something was missing.  It seemed as though there was something I forgot to do or a meeting that I was supposed to attend.  I finally understood why I had that feeling.  For the past decade, every winter was filled with games to attend and a team to cheer on. 

I had scrapped most of my pictures of those games, except for the exhibition game between the seniors (both boys and girls) and the teachers (from both middle and highschool).  Did I say exhibition?  Well that would imply a relaxed atomosphere.  Ha!!  Those teachers were thirsty for a win and nothing was going to stop them - except for the senior class of 2009.  The game was fun but intense, fouls were made and not called, teachers were sweating their little black socks off and seniors had something to prove.  All in all, it was one for the scrapbook.

Here’s a layout made with my son,  Joe #15, aiming for the basket :)  Notice the score on the bottom right, the seniors won by 1 point!!

Sometimes one page doesn’t tell the whole story.  Here’s a few more with a bit of journaling so that in the years to come, we can look back on the game and remember the details.

And a few “before the game starts” shots. I always love to get a picture of the boys while they’re waiting for the Star Spangled Banner to start.  They look so restless, but respectful at the same time.

I’ll be uploading these to MyPicTales as singles to be printed.  Notice that I left a little space around the edges of the layout for bleed.  After I get these printed, I’ll simply put them in a photo album that I have here at home that includes the rest of the basketball memory book layouts, but I could just as easily have MyPicTales make the photo album for me.  They’re fantastic at creating custom memory books that would make any basketball starter proud

Now for a little shameless, self advertising.  If you’d like the basketball kit you can buy it here or here, it’s on sale for the next few weeks.

Hugs,

Snackpackgu

This “not your ordinary museum” was the first one I saw! Don’t you love it??  I saw it and was blown away, I had to go and search out more:

This is Through the Roof and I just squealed when I read the description!  I want a mini coop! so so so bad!

I hope you go and look at the magnificent work Stefdesign has, there is so much more!!

Lately, my free time for scrapbooking has been practically non-existent. During those times, I find it extremely helpful, and a big time-saver, to use a template. If you’re not familiar with templates, they are a great tool to jump-start your creative process. I have lots of favorite places to get them, but one of my favorite template designers is Chrissy W. and she sells at Elemental Scraps. She often has a free one available in her store, but she also has bundles at a great price. I took a quick look through her store, and thought these would work great to make a brag book to get printed at MyPicTales. Don’t forgot there is free shipping on any order over $50.00 right now!

If you haven’t used a template before, it’s really easy and you should have any trouble finding a tutorial on it! You can also rotate them to get different looks too! They are very versatile, and are just a starting place, so don’t be afraid to put your own twist on it.

And now for the Layout of the Day! I took a quick look at the recently uploaded layouts in the Elemental Scraps Gallery and this one immediately caught my eye! I love everything about it. The title is fabulous, it tells a great story, and the kit used is perfect! Plus there is a lot of great clustering, which I love. This is Kisses from a Bee by kim21673:

I hope you have a great Sunday! Thanks for reading,

WOW, free shipping until April 15th — what a great time to get your projects sent in!  My favorite layouts are of my grandchildren, but a close second place would be heritage layouts.  I’m fortunate to have old photos to scan and share with family.  So I’m thrilled with this month’s Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild kit, Origins.

What’s not to love about this layout — give her some love here.  Gather your photos and create photo gifts for yourself or family — scrapbooks, baby photo albums, memory books — head to the PicTales design center for ideas, then upload!  Free shipping!

As Ever,
Pam

My son is thrilled that Spring training has started and he can watch his beloved Philadelphia Phillies again.  He has been known to swipe my phone to find out the latest score of a game or to find out if the game is on tv.  He also loves to throw a soft baseball in the house which does drive me crazy.

All of this sports talk leads to my pick of the week.  It is from the Nov. 2009 Mega at Scrap Orchard.  This mega has a wide variety of sports and also mini kits for cooking, theatre, dance and scouting.

I was so excited to find a mega that had a lot of the sports that my family is crazy about.  It is going to be perfect for brag books, scrapbooking layouts and hybrid projects.  What Grandma wouldn’t love a soccer or baseball brag book of her grandchildren? (Shhh, don’t tell my mom is she’s reading this she might get one soon ) I could also see this kit working in a calendar format since a lot of the sports take place over different times of the year.

Well, I’m off to enjoy the weather before it starts to rain and I’ll leave you with one of my favorite questions - “What Stories are You Going to Tell?”

Mary

Well I’m counting down the days until Spring Break … which is next week.  I’m an assistant librarian at a very large middle school and starting next Monday, I’ll be off for an entire week.  Yahooo!  And as an added bonus, my two younest (who are in college this year) will also be off.  And to make it even sweeter and more rare, my husband is also off.  He’s a professor and his university usually takes their break at a different time than the public school system, but not this year.  So we’re all going to be together.  Not sure what we’re going to do as it’s too cold to go anywhere and we can’t take an extended trip without our dog and our 5th wheel, but we’ll think of something, I’m sure.

Last year I was having a pity party because my friends from work were all flying somewhere warm - Mexico, the Bahamas, etc.  As it turned out, I was incredibly thankful that we didn’t go anywhere.  Not that we could have anyway, hubby was working.  But the week I was off, it started to rain and rain and rain and rain!  The ground was still frozen and the rain started a small lake around my house.  As bad luck would have it, the rain started seeping in the basement windows and within a few hours, we were flooded.  Carpets were ruined and tempers were hot.  It wasn’t pretty.  Since I always try to look on the bright side, as hard as that is sometimes, I viewed the mess as a chance to clean out the bottom floor.  So not only were carpets purged, but so was all of the ‘junk’ that I thought I needed to save because I just knew that someday I might want it.  Gone!  It’s been a year and I haven’t missed any of it yet, lol.

Spring break brings always brings to mind the actual season of spring, be that far away in this northern state.  I found a wonderful layout by my good friend Bernie over at Rakscraps..  It’s simple and sweet and shows that we don’t always need to scrap photos of people.  Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make an impact on us.  She scrapped her favorite tree.  It’s touching and I’ve chosen it as the Layout Of The Day.

Until next week,

Hugs,

Snackpackgu

We thought you’d enjoy learning a little more about JennCK, MyPicTales’ featured designer for March. So, here are a few questions, both silly and serious, that Jenn answered for us.

Tell us a little about yourself, your design career, family, etc.
I am 36 and live with my boyfriend and kitty. I’ve worked in technical development and project management for over 15 years, but left the field over a year ago. I’ve officially been designing since September 2009 and am a long time paper crafter. I am also a dedicated digital layout artist and am creative for many teams and publications in addition to designing.

Do you create your own layouts? How do you share them? (digitally, traditional albums, photobooks)
I create my own layouts and I share them digitally about 95% of the time. I do print brag books and other gift items using my designs (such as blankets, mugs, t-shirts, calendars).

What is your favorite MyPicTales product?
I love the calendars!

What is your favorite creation?
My favorite kit I’ve made is Shimmer. It speaks most to my personality.

What is your favorite product by another designer?
That’s really tough because I truly love so many things. Since I have to chose, I’d say INDUSTR*E: Full Kit By Flergs. That is my go-to kit when I make gifts for my boyfriend. I’ve made cell phone backgrounds and special desktops for him and he constantly shows them off.

What is your favorite color?
Green

Who is your favorite author, musician or artist?
My favorite author has long been Jane Austen. Her stories are timeless and I love the sarcastic wit.

What hobbies do you have apart from scrapbooking?
I love to travel and we do so frequently. I’m also very passionate about animals and have a little rescue shelter in our backyard where we take care of animals people left behind.

What type of computer do you design on? What programs do you use?
I have an HP desktop and laptop that I use. I’d say I do 85% of my designing on the desktop, though. The monitor is much larger and better calibrated for truer colors. I use Paint Shop Pro x2 and Photoshop Elements 8.

What is your favorite restaurant?
Hands down, The Melting Pot!

What is your favorite holiday?
I enjoy them all, but I look forward to my Christmas Tree every year.

What is on your desk right now?
A very long to-do list and a root beer.

What is your favorite TV show or movie?
We don’t watch much TV and don’t even want or have cable. I usually catch TV shows only once they’re on DVD. We watched season 1 of Lost and had to buy the entire series. We also stream Top Chef.

What is your favorite font?
Goodness. This one is tougher than the favorite kit by another designer. I literally have over 1000 fonts. I think Ray Larabie creates the coolest ones!

What is your favorite sports team?
I don’t watch sports or have a favorite team.

Share your favorite recipe, quote or song lyric with us.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

What was the last thing you ate?
Pizza

What is the last photo you took?
I took a couple photos of my crafting workspace.

What was the last kit you downloaded?
One that I’m sure will become my new favorite… Clementine by Shabby Princess.

Thank you Jenn for telling us a bit more about yourself! Stop by the Design Center to purchase Jenn’s kit Wish while it is still on sale!