Another FREEBIE!

But not really from me. Well, sort of. Let me explain. (If you're looking for the Christmas in Camo kit, etc. just scroll down to the next entry--but don't forget to pick up the freebie in this entry, too, and the one on Bethany's blog!)

So Bethany--THE Bethany, from Elegant WordArt by Bethany--asked if she could create a couple of pieces of word art from elements in my kit that we could give away for free, one on my blog and one on hers. Um, so yeah. Who would say no? Of course I said yes! How flattering! A famous designer (she sells at Scrap Orchard, by the way) wants to make word art from a freebie by a yet-to-be discovered designer, lol. I can't believe how fast she zipped these out. No sooner had I said yes than she'd emailed me with the two pieces. Jeepers!

Anyway, so here's one freebie:


Isn't she awesome? ***DOWNLOAD EXPIRED***

And here's the other:


***DOWNLOAD EXPIRED***

Oh, and before I forget, to all of you who have left me such sweet comments about my first kit--THANK YOU SO MUCH!

My First FREEBIE!!!

Yep, you read that right. I designed my first kit, and now I'm giving it away for FREE, along with a coordinating word art pack (which is also FREE).

A couple of weeks ago Scrap Orchard announced a designer call. Since I'd love to design for them, I whipped together a couple of kits so I could apply. I was actually extremely grateful my application wasn't picked...because I wasn't entirely happy with how the two kits turned out. They were okay...but not exactly what I had hoped for. So I decided to give it another try. Here's my first kit, just the way I like it (lol), with a separate coordinating word art pack:



Apparently the file was too large as it was, so I had to separate the alpha from the kit, lol.

Now available (still free) at my store at Digital Scrap Cafe: ***DOWNLOAD EXPIRED***

Here's a detailed list of what the kit contains:
1 uppercase acrylic-and-swirls alpha with numbers and most punctuation
10 papers (5 patterned and 5 solid with snowflake embellishing)
5 stitched buttons
1 acrylic flag
1 snowman
3 acrylic stars (with different colored swirls)
3 foil swirls (each in red and green, so 6 total)
2 elves
2 frames
3 wrapped gifts
2 acrylic snowflakes
4 embellished tags (2 acrylic and 2 paper)
1 heart-and-snowflake trim/border
3 ribbon wraps

And the word art pack contains 8 pieces of word art.

What d'ya think? Of course, I absolutely love it, but I'd really like to know what you think. So if you get a chance, drop me an email (suzyqscraps AT gmail DOT com) and let me know--the good, the bad, and the ugly, lol.

Like those swirls and grunge snowflakes? They were made from brushes by the awesome Silvia. Check them out at graphics-illustrations.

Since I plan on only designing kits I can use personally, I decided to scrap a page or two...and ended up with THREE!

Here's a LO of the man who inspired the kit, my awesome dad:

Credits here

I'm so grateful for what he's taught me about patriotism and love of country and supporting our leaders in the positions that they've been voted to fulfill (even if we don't particularly love the person--we can still respect the position they hold and be true to our beliefs).

And here's a LO of my adorable little boy when he was almost 11 months old (before his haircut, lol):

Credits here

And finally a LO of my sweet husband (yes, from Christmas LAST YEAR--I'm so behind, lol):

Credits here

Anyway, hope you like the kit and word art. I'd love your comments and feedback (on the kit, the word art pack, my drawings, my logo, etc., etc.). Thanks!

Quick Post

Just wanted to jump on and point you to SaraAmarie's blog here. She's doing a Random Christmas Countdown and giving away pieces of a kit each day. The kit will go up for sale in mid-December. Check it out!

Layout of the Day!

A LO I scrapped today was featured on the Layout of the Day Blog. WOOT!!! Here it is, using Sara's new collab with MandaBean, Warm Noses and Toesies (released last week at Sweet Shoppe Designs):

Credits here

I just love the colors in this kit. I'm sure I'll be using this one over and over...

Sara also released a kit a few weeks ago called Here Kitty Kitty. Here's my LO with it, showing my 2 kittens in September:

Credits here

And last week she also released a collab with Traci Reed and Heather Roselli called Flower Child. Such a fun kit to play with!

Credits here

I haven't scrapped in a whole month, but today I managed to squeak out 3 LOs. It felt GREAT! Hopefully I'll have more LOs to post soon...

Pursuing Talents

Smudge turns 1 tomorrow. Wow! How fast the year has flown. I have spent some time reflecting over the changes of the last year--moving and a new job (for Hobbes) and motherhood (for me), on top of all of the adjustments to having another person in our family (Smudge, of course). Overall, I'd have to say that life is good. I wouldn't trade my life for any other, and that's the truth.

No recent scrap LOs to post--haven't had much time to scrap recently. Maybe I'll get Smudge's b-day scrapped next week. And I have a LO or two to scrap with some of Sara's new stuff.

Which brings me to today's title. Pursuing talents. Of all things, I'd have to say that this has been a year of reflection. I've thought a lot about me and what I really want in my life and what makes me happy, what I enjoy. I've had to take a step back and make some decisions about what I can and cannot do right now. All things have their time, right? One talent I've pursued since a child I've put on hold for a bit, tucking it in the back of my mind. It needs some time to brew. Over the years I've abandoned some talents, and one that I regret abandoning I've recently taken up again. Life experience has given me new appreciation for my abilities in this area, and I've also been able to recognize where exactly my talents in that area are so that I can better focus my abilities I what I can truly do. (I hope this makes sense.) And another talent that I've discovered I've been taking steps to improve. I've been working at it for at least a year, but must say that in past weeks I've learned so much. Perhaps this dream will become a reality.

That is all.

Wanna take a free class?

First, a little **TOOT** for myself--one of my recent LOs is on the Sweet Shoppe Blog! Check it out here.

Interested in a free class?


Jessica Sprague, a total Photoshop guru, is offering a free class on her web site. I totally signed up for it. It'll be a great class, and isn't just for digi-scrappers. Click here to sign up.

Now for a few recent LOs. First up, a LO with SaraAmarie's new Growin' My Own Veggies kit:



Credits here.

Smudge, now 11 months old, discovered drawing the other day...



Credits here.

A LO for last week's digi-dare, about a journey (with a GORGEOUS kit by Amanda Heimann and Christy Lyle that you can pick up on sale here) ...



Credits here.

And another LO with Amanda and Christy's fabulous A Place to Call Home:



Credits here.

FOBTY 10/16:

Halloween Candy Quiz





You are a Toffee Apple


Like the toffee apple you are sensible inside but mischevious on the outside


Find out which Halloween Candy you are at Quizopolis.com

Sensible, yes ... mischievous, no (which technically they misspelled, so maybe I am mischevious ...)

And FOBTY 10/24:

What Your Jack-o-Lantern Says

You are a gleeful, exuberant person. You enjoy a good party, and you even enjoy a good brawl. This Halloween, there is no question what you should be... a pirate! The candy you should give out: peanut butter cups

The Jack-o-Lantern Quiz

Hmm...definitely not a party person, and I'm not really fond of peanut butter cups--I only ever buy candy that I know I'll eat later, if I'm left with any, lol.

Ice Cream Personality

Wow, am I behind in blogging or what? Time to catch up!

First, a typing test, for FOBTY 9/25:

92 words

Typing Test

I know I used to type over 100 words per minute, but since I don't type much anymore, I'm happy with that score. (Also, it's harder to type fast on a laptop, lol.)

Last week's FOBTY, favorite fast food restaurant: Hmm...I sure don't eat out very often, but I think my favorite would have to be Arctic Circle. I've had some fun dates there with my dh, and I LOVE being able to get an ice cream cone or shake (to share) after a quick bite to eat. But since we now live in the middle of nowhere, we don't eat out very often.

And this week's FOBTY:

Your Ice Cream Personality:

You like to think of yourself as a fairly modest person. And it's true that you don't talk yourself up... but you're also pretty happy with who you are. You are incredibly cautious. You rather miss out on something than make a mistake. No one would ever call you wild... but they would call you responsible. You are a very open minded, liberal, and flexible person. You love many things. You tend to have tastes that range from down home to cosmopolitan. You tend to have a one track mind. You prefer not to multitask. You can be a big dramatic and over the top sometimes. You are bold in every way

The Ice Cream Personality Test

Hmm...some of this is totally correct, like being "incredibly cautious," but I don't think I have a "one track mind." And I'm definitely not bold or dramatic.

A lot of my most recent LOs have been for Christmas presents, so I don't want to post them here. Bummer! Some of them are really cute.

I guess I can show these 2 LOs. They were using SaraAmarie's 2 newest kits: Sweet Silly Monkey and Silly Monkey, respectively:


Credits here
Isn't my niece adorable?

And my little boy:

Credits here

Could You Be a Vampire?

Sheesh! I haven't blogged in a couple weeks...oops!

Let's start with FOBTY, shall we? Last week we were challenged to take a quiz to determine how "real" we are. Here are my results:

You Are 10% Real

Well, you probably feel like a real fraud. At least you were real with yourself when taking this quiz. Break out of your fake persona and show people who you really are. Even if they don't like it, it's liberating to stop living a lie!

How Real Are You?

Hmm...depressing...but I think the quiz isn't totally accurate. However, I do know that I don't often show all of the "real" me to people. I'm shy, and I'll admit it--I'm often afraid of what others will think of me.

Today we were challenged to take a vampire quiz. (I guess one of these days I'm gonna have to read those oh-so-popular Twilight saga.)

You Could Be a Vampire... If You Had To

Like most people, the thought of being a vampire has crossed your mind. But you're not sure if you'd do it, even if you could. Living forever doesn't sound half bad, if you could live forever with the people you love the most. But do vampires even love? And would the vampire version of you even be you? It's all too much to contemplate. Luckily, the chances of you ever becoming a vampire are astronomically low. What you would like best about being a vampire: Living forever What you would like least about being a vampire: Blood stained teeth

Could You Be a Vampire?

Ha, ha! Pretty funny.

Fall is my favorite season, and it's just around the corner. I live on a ranch in the desert, and I'm so grateful for the few trees that are planted around our home. I just noticed yesterday that the green leaves are starting to turn gold. And the cooler weather is divine!

And here are a few recent LOs...

Last week Sara teamed up with Eva Kipler to create Saturday in San Diego. Here's one LO that I did with it:


Credits here

This LO was for a scraplift challenge at The Digi Chick, and I really love how it turned out. It's one of my favorite pics of my little boy when he was a newborn:


Credits here

Recently, I've been using some of the challenges at different web sites to scrap my wedding pics. I did a paper scrapbook of my wedding, but I wanted to do a few digi pages too. Here's one I did the other day (a Paper 2 Digi scraplift):


Credits here

I Am a Certified Color Genius

At least, according to the Crayola Color Quizzer. I haven't looked inside a box of 64 crayons for a long time, but I managed to finally get all 64, with only 17 mistakes. And somehow that makes me a Color Genius. If you'd like to give the quiz a try, you can find it here.

Smudge is learning to walk. He's been pulling himself up on furniture and has started walking along furniture. He even tried to take a step on his own, only to discover that gravity is stronger than his balance right now. This kid is determined to walk and be just like Mom and Dad, so I'm sure it won't be long...

I finished my month as a guest for Amanda Heimann. I had so much fun promoting her products. Here's the last LO I did as a guest on her CT, using Coconut Tree:


Credits here

SaraAmarie released a new kit last week called Teddy Bear's Picnic. Here's a LO I did with it (the background is actually from Basically Embellished Papers):


Credits here

And here are a few LOs I've done recently that I really like.


Credits here


Credits here

And I think this might be my new favorite:


Credits here

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll be back this weekend with a LO to showcase Sara's newest kit.

Spelling Mistakes

Today for FOBTY at SSD, we were challenged to take a spelling quiz. Here are my results:

Your Common Spelling Mistake Score: 95% Correct

Your spelling is excellent. You don't fall for common spelling pitfalls, and you spell almost everything correctly.

Do You Make Common Spelling Mistakes?

I hate when I misspell a word--I'm forever finding typos in things. I couldn't believed I missed one, so I went through the entire quiz and discovered a TYPO in the quiz. No matter what I chose between questionaire (misspelled) and questionnaire (spelled correctly), I still got 25%. So obviously, there's an error in the quiz. How ironic.

I'm behind on my FOBTY posts, so let's catch up.

From 8/21, we were challenged to take the "Who You Were in High School" quiz. Here are my results:

You Were the Brainy Kid

In high school, you were acing AP classes or hanging out in the computer lab. You may have been a bit of a geek back then, but now you're a total success!

Who Were You In High School?

Yeah, that's about right. I was always too serious, too focused on academics to have much fun in high school. Same in college too, I guess.

And on 8/14, we were challenged to take an accent quiz:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Yep, that's me. I live in the West.

And there we go. All caught up with the silly quizzes, lol.

Drag Racing, Purses, and Haircuts

Interesting title, I know, but I'll explain everything.

We were out of town for a week, attending a wedding, spending time with my Dad (who recently returned from Iraq), and seeing my brother off on a mission. Crazy busy, with all the activities and all the shopping we needed to do. Since we leave in a rural area, trips to "town" require a lot of planning as far as purchasing needed supplies and groceries.

Last Monday we went to Lagoon (an amusement park) with my family. I was so surprised how well Smudge (9 months old) and my nephew (21 months) did. They were such happy little boys and barely cried. And thank goodness Lagoon has quite a bit of shade. We were there most of the day. Dad wanted all the guys to be able to do some drag racing there (which you have to pay extra for). They had it all set up--3 groups of 2, and the winner from each group would get to drive in the final race. However, only 2 of their 4 cars were running. And Mom had already bought the tickets. And my bro-in-law's friend was still at Lagoon-a-Beach with his fiance, so my oldest sister got to ride in his place. They still ran the 3 groups of 2, deciding that those who got the best times would get to go again (two of whom would get to ride at the same time, and the last person would have to race against one of the workers).

My sweet husband was one of the winners, and he gave his ticket to me so that I could have a turn. I was the lucky driver who was going to get to race one of the workers, but my Dad decided to buy an extra ticket, and I ended up racing against my brother. You get 3 runs. (It's relatively safe and simple. No steering required, as the car is on a track. And you only get to shift once before you reach the finish line and it automatically brakes for you.) Before I raced, my sister had the best time out of everyone. I didn't care what times I got--I just didn't want to look like a fool. I tried to follow the advice of my dad (and brother, and husband, and sister, and brother-in-law). As soon as the light flipped green, it was left foot off the brake, right foot slamming on the gas. And I ignored the "shift" cones, instead listening to the engine for when I should shift. (I use to drive a stickshift, so I'm not an idiot.) I did all right on the first run, barely beating my brother. We were going almost 70 mph when the automatic brakes kicked in. What a rush! I have to admit, I wasn't paying close attention on the 2nd run, and my brother totally beat me (which was probably good for his ego). But on my 3rd run, I was determined to do AWESOME. I didn't shift until probably 3/4 of the way down the track (way past the "shift" cones). The resulting speed slammed me back into my chair--HOLY COW! Not only did I beat my brother, but I also got the FASTEST time (of our family, anyway). Although I know my brother was disappointed that he didn't win, I don't think it bothered him too much, because he was so PROUD that I got the fastest time. He kept reminding me how fast I was the rest of the time we were visiting.

Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to post soon.

My brother is so awesome. I love him so much, and I'm going to miss him and his sense of humor while he's serving his mission these next 2 years.

Next up--purses. Oddly enough, given my gender, I am so not a purse person. I can never find one that I like. I tend to forget them. And they just get in the way. I've had 1 or 2 that were close to perfect, but just not quite. I got in the habit of just carrying my credit and debit card in my back pocket. Not safe. So then I bought a man's wallet. But I soon discovered that the pockets of women's jeans are mostly for show, and entirely useless in functionality. This year, I decided to get more organized, so I've been using a planner as my wallet. But it's hard to shop while you're carrying a planner. And I didn't ever want to set it down in the cart (mostly because I was afraid I would forget it, and slightly because I was afraid someone would steal it). So while we were in town, I set out to find a purse. Once again, I found one that was almost perfect at Wal-Mart, one that was casual and could fit my planner. Since it was on clearance, I decided to go ahead and purchase it, thinking it was the close I would ever come to finding the right purse. Boy, was I wrong. While I was shopping at Ross for some jeans for dh, I happened to wander through the purse collection (just in case), and there, hanging all by itself, was the purse of my dreams.

(Well, almost. I would have preferred a dark blue to bright red, but color isn't really that important.) Since I really hadn't used my new purse, I bought the red one, and hoped that I could take back the other to Wal-Mart. I didn't have the tags for the Wal-Mart purse, so I was fairly certain they wouldn't take it back. But they did! And that's why I like shopping at Wal-Mart. And now I have the purse I really, really want that I really, really like that I'll really, really use (and hopefully never lose).

Haircuts. This is about Smudge, not me. So my little boy has the most adorable curls. But his hair was getting so long and unruly. I was adamant that I wasn't going to cut it until he turned 1 year old. So I started using hair gel to keep it curly and out of his face. That worked for a while, but his hair continued to grow, and soon even the gelled curls were hanging in his face. And then it started losing some of the curl because it was too heavy. So I broke down Sunday and gave him a trim. It's still long, but at least it's manageable. I'm fairly certain he'll need a few more trims before his 1st birthday, since it's almost 3 months away.

To end this super long post, I just want to share 3 LOs I've done recently.

This LO features Sara Amarie's newest kit, Namaste:


Credits here

I think this next LO is my new favorite. It was for a scraplift challenge. I used Amanda Heimann's new collab with Eva Kipler, A Mojito Kinda Day:


Credits here

And this is another new favorite, using Amanda Heimann's collab with Lauren Grier, First Bell (and stealing Snickers' advertising slogan):


Credits here

Grease

Time to update the blog again. I had no time this weekend, so I didn't get some LOs up like I wanted to. First, though, it's time for another FOBTY at SSD. Last Thursay, we were challenged to take this quiz. Have you ever seen Grease? (Maybe it would be better to ask who hasn't seen Grease.) Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but I had a sister that used to watch it almost daily. I guess some of it sank in, because I got 12 out of 15. Don't know if I should be proud of that score or not...

Next up, recent LOs. These are some of my favorites from a couple of weeks ago.

I love how this LO turned out. It used some of Sara Amarie's awesome products (Basically Embellished: Papers, Set Free):


full credits here

The background in this next LO is also from Basically Embellished: Papers. The rest of the products came from Cari's Day, which is a super cute kit:


full credits here

This LO used Set Free, also by Sara Amarie:

full credits here

I just love this LO of my dad (using several of Sara Amarie's products):

full credits here

And this cute LO of my little boy (using more of Sara Amarie's products):

full credits here

I used Amanda Heimann's Just Ducky 2 kit to do this LO:

full credits here

And finally there's this LO, featuring my brother (using products by Sara Amarie and Heather Roselli):

full credits here

I didn't get any scrapping done this weekend, but I'm sure I'll get to some this week. Hopefully I'll have some more LOs to post in a day or so. (I really need to get a slideshow set up, lol.)

Make a Wish!

08-08-08...must be a lucky day! I wish for...(don't tell anyone, or it might not come true!).

Sara has a totally fabulous kit coming out tomorrow. I was her "Sneak Peek" gal this week, so go check out her blog for a little peek at the kit.

I have been a busy little scrapper recently. Below are several of the LOs I've done.

Another Bryce Canyon LO (yes, this is from a trip in 2006--I'm behind in my scrapping, lol), using products by Sara Amarie (Naturals Collection: Canyonlands, Naturals Collection: Clod Alpha, Like a Zebra Alpha, Basically Neutral: Papers):


full credits here

I used Sweet Darling Sara for this LO (a Triple Dip kit at SSD by Sara Amarie, Lauren Grier, and Shawna Clingerman):


full credits here

This LO used several different products by Sara Amarie:


full credits here

This one used products by several designers:


full credits here

I've also done several layouts using Amanda Heimann's products (I think I mentioned before, but I'm a guest on her CT this month).

This was with Grape Soda and Sunshine (fun name for a BEAUTIFUL kit--just love the colors):


full credits here

The next 2 LOs were with Lazy Daisy (another fun kit):


full credits here


full credits here

And this was with a new kit she has out this week at TDC (The Digi Chick), called Summerset:


full credits here

All right, that's it for now. I'll try to post some more LOs tomorrow (my faves from last week).