Magical Moonrise Reprise - Free for a Limited Time!

Happy New Year 2014 to one and all in digi-scrapbook land! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season and are easing back into your normal routine.

I recently received an email inquiry about my mini-kit Magical Moonrise. So for Lisa and anyone else who may have missed it the first time around, I've brought it back once again - free to download for a limited time.

The kit consists of 5 12x12 inch papers, 2 solids and 3 patterned. The 12 elements are a frame, 2 paper flowers, a paper sprig of foliage, a knotted ribbon, a tied ribbon, a button, a journal tag, a glitter ribbon, a glass moon, a glass star banner and a sprinkle. All papers and elements were created at 300 ppi and are suitable for printing.

Download from skydrive here: [link].

Enjoy!

Grunge Overlay Pack1 - CU Freebie

I have a CU (commercial use) freebie for you today. It's a pack of 5 12x12 desaturated grunge overlays created at 300 ppi. Use them with any graphics program that supports layers (i.e. Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, PSP). Just place them in a layer over your paper or element and adjust the blend mode and --- voila, instant grunge and interest.

Just click on the preview above to access the download link. Enjoy!!

The Spider's Parlor MiniKit - Free for a limited time

I created a mini-kit for the October color challenge at theStudio [link]. It's a fun little kit called the Spider's Parlor. I love the color palette that Diane chose and I was further inspired by the awesome CU spider being offered by Tracy of ambowife designs (a designer at theStudio). It made me think of the children's poem "The Spider and the Fly" and the line "Welcome to my parlor," said the spider to the fly. Luckily I was able to find an awesome photo of fly. Once that was extracted, I had both of the main characters to create the kit!

In my mind, the spider's parlor was a little old-fashioned with furnishings just a little past their prime. That's the look and feel that I was going for. You get 6 papers and 18 elements. And as a bonus, I added a pre-shadowed cluster. The elements are: a frame, a ribbon, a bow, 2 paint splatters, a brad, a button, a lit candle, a pewter plate, 2 flowers, a leaf, a journal block, an old shoe, an old blouse, a feathered hat and the two stars of the kit: the spider with it's web and the fly!

Here's the preview. Hope you enjoy this fun little kit.

download from skydrive: [here]

If you like it, grab it. It's only going to be available for a limited time.

Free for a Limited Time - A Genealogist's Stay-cation

It's week 3 of the Next Designer Contest at the DigitalScrapbookingStudio and I once again entered with another mini-kit. This is the round where no commercial use products are allowed. In other words, the kit needs to be created from scratch with just the standard features of your software program(s) and your photos. This year CU4CU products (brushes, patterns, etc) were allowed as well, But I don't own these (at least not ones that would be applicable to the theme I chose). So I wound up using my own brushes, patterns, textures and layer styles in combination with the standard brushs, shapes, patterns, textures, filters and tools built into the software.

The theme for this round had to center around a "Stay-cation." I chose to create a kit suitable for genealogist/family historians with a focus on scrapping cemetery gravestones. But I think it is versatile enough for any type of heritage page and possibly even baptism/christening, confirmation, etc.

There are 8 papers and 16 elements. The elements are: 2 frames (one with "glass"), a ribbon, a bow, 3 balls, an ornamental stone disk, a stone cross, a tombstone, a flower, 2 foliage sprigs, chalk lines, a stack of old books and a journal card. The frames, journal card, chalk, and metal button on the ribbon were all computer-generated with some using scanned textures. The other elements were scanned and/or photographed and extracted. The graphics programs I used were Photoshop, ArtRage and LiveBrush - but primarily Photoshop.

The kit is pictured below and is free for a limited time.

Download links are available at the DSS gallery here: [link].  Sorry, link expired.

Thanks for looking and don't forget to check out the other great kits while you are there!

Free For a Limited Time - By the Sea Mini Kit

I was absolutely thrilled to do so well in the last week's NDC at the DigitalScrapbookingStudio, and entered again this week. The theme for this week was beach getaway and the requirements were to make a mini kit with 8 papers, 17 elements and 3 clusters. We also had to chose a beach photo for inspiration and the creation of a palette.

I had a hard time getting started with this because I didn't want it to be a re-hash of my "Sailor's Moon" kit from last year. So I really did my best to avoid using the same or very similar elements - which was a little hard to do as I was looking through my beach-y photos and stash!

My inspiration photo of the Salty Dog is one that I took when we were at Hilton Head, South Carolina back in the summer of 2008. In keeping with that, I was going for slightly shabby and weather-worn -- but still a little sparkly!

There are 8 papers, 5 painterly/patterned and 3 in coordinating solids. The 17 elements are: 2 frames, 3 flowers, a grass sprout, a foliage sprig, a tag, intertwined ropes, a ribbon, a nest, a shell, driftwood, a letter in a bottle, dangling shell charms, a glitter spray and a sand splat.

There are also 2 frame clusters and a driftwood cluster. All are pre-shadowed.

If you like it the download links are in my description on the gallery page at DSS [link].  Sorry, link expired.

Grab it soon because it will only be available for a short time. You can also grab some of the other great kits while you are there!

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Free For a Limited Time - Back Road Treasures Mini-Kit

Yes, I haven't posted here since the beginning of the year... But I'm back now with a new free-for-a-limited time mini!

This is another one for the next designer contest at the DigitalScrapbookingStudio. A color palette was provided plus the theme of "Road Trip." Also required exactly 12 elements and 5 papers (3 patterned and 2 solid).

My take on this was a leisurely drive on a Sunday afternoon. No highways, staying on the back country roads where there are more farms and fields than houses. And you just never know what treasures you may find! Thus the kit: Back Road Treasures.

What you get is five papers, 2 "painterly" and one more traditionally patterned and 2 textured solids.

The 12 elements are a battered wood frame, a green grill, a car, a berry sprig cluster, a paper flower cluster, a battered road sign, a cluster of 2 glass bottles, a butterfly, a mulberry paper tag, a stitched and pleated ribbon, a strip of washi tape and a "textury" paint smear.

The paint smear was created in ArtRage, the other papers and elements were made using Photoshop CS5. My biggest challenge with this kit was the transparency on the glass bottles. Hopefully I achieved something close to realism! And without further ado, here's a preview of the kit.

To download, you will need to go to the gallery at the studio [link] where download links for skydrive are provided.  Sorry, link expired.

Grab it quick if you like it!

Thanks for looking!

Happy New Year 2013!

I've been in a bit of a scrapbooking slump lately. Just was having a hard time getting inspired and motivated to create anything. But hopefully that is turning around. We recently went to the Poconos to visit relatives and I took some photos of the lake and the woods blanketed in snow. I love the silvery/white/grey winter themed scrap kits and decided to create one of my own. It's a work in progress that I'm calling Winter Dream. I just couldn't resist making a New Year's card with it. So here's the card along with a belated New Year's greeting to all!

Art Journaling - Heritage Style

For the last month or two I've been seeing "art journaling" layouts and kits and I've been wanting to give this style a try. Since often times art journal pages have no photographs and I have no photos of my "distant" ancestors, it occurred to me that an art journaling style of scrapbook page might fit really well with genealogy/family history scrapbooking. So I spent some time (too much time LOL) the last couple weeks, trying to learn more about creating a "painterly" feel to my background pages. And the timing couldn't have been better since I was inspired by Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge and an email received the day before from a distant cousin to write a blog post about Anna Maria Reinert - a 4th great-grandmother of mine.

I shared the resulting page on my genealogy blog and am posting it here as well. I am working on an art journaling pack/kit to use to create additional, coordinating pages.

Moonlit Oasis - Free for a Limited Time

I made it to Round 3 of the Next Designer Contest at DSS. This is traditionally the no-CU round. This year it was a little different. We could use CU, but only what was provided in the Grab Bag for winning the previous round. We were also told to add an accent color to the provided palette, and that part of the judging criteria is supposed to be how accurately we are able to colorize gray scale CU elements. In addition, we needed to list out what tools we used to create our elements. Once again, there need to be at least 10 papers and at least 24 elements. The inspiration for this round was another gorgeous photo from Captain Kimo. And here is my entry....


The gorgeous inspiration photo by Captain Kimo, from which our palette was derived, was of twin mosque towers in Bahrain. As I was thinking of a theme and title, I was inspired by the mid-Eastern subject of the photo. I started thinking about the Arabian desert and finally settled upon Moonlit Oasis as a title and theme.

My kit was created in PS CS5. There are 10 papers and 24 elements. The added color is violet.

For the papers, I combined standard PS brushes and textures with my own overlays, textures, brushes, patterns, etc and with the overlays supplied in the CU gift. 

The 24 elements are as follows:

those Created by me in PS using standard brushes, shapes, patterns and filters and CU as indicated:
pyramid, stone wall, stone well, palm tree (palm fronds are based on one of the CU leaf templates), two unique border elements, circle frame (decorated with swirl from CU notecard pack), film strip frame (used modified CU style), glitter flourish (used CU glitter style), leaf sprig (used a modified CU layer style), moon and clouds, rolled flower (used a modified CU style), tag (string extracted), pearl scatter, and washi tape.

those recolored and decorated/styled from CU gift:
butterfly clip, Journal block and pocket, 2 striped ribbons, square frame 

those extracted from my own photos/scans:
flower, fabric flower (button center from CU pack), stitched bow, stitched knotted ribbon 
[not many extracts in this week's kit, burned out on extractions last week, LOL]

And here is the preview:

Download links are available in the DSS gallery [link]. Sorry, download links expired.

Thanks for looking and don't forget to check out the other awesome entries!

Sailor's Moon - Free for a Limited Time

I made it to Round 2 in the Next Designer Contest at DSS!! This week we chose our own color palette from an inspiration photo. The kit needed to have at least 10 papers and 24 elements and have something to do with the moon. (The moon is the common thread throughout the competition this year.)

I went with a nautical navigation/sailing theme. My kit was inspired by the sailors of yore who sailed across oceans by the light of the moon and the stars! I  included sailing and beach elements.  I can see this kit being used for beach vacation layouts and maybe even heritage/immigration layouts!

You get 10 papers, including solids, traditional patterns and "artsy." All are 12x12 at 300 ppi and suitable for  printing. The 24 elements are: a weathered square frame, a decorated round frame, a lighthouse, sailing word art, a full moon, a metal moon, a metal star, a tag, a button, 3 unique flowers, tied grass, a knotted ribbon, ribbon ropes, a captain's wheel, an old compass, a telescope, a life preserver, a barrel cluster, a post cluster,  a fence, a bow and coiled rope. And here's the preview:

If you like it, you can download it from the studio gallery [link]. Sorry, download links no longer active.

While you are there, take a look at the other great kits being offered!

Free Minikit - Magical Moonrise

I've been on a bit of a design hiatus lately as I was focusing more on genealogy. But it's that time of year again and DSS is holding their annual Next Designer Contest. Round 1 started on September 1 and ends tonight at midnight. The theme of this round was Moonrise with a palette that included various shades of purples and blues. The requirement was to create a mini kit consisting of 5 papers and 12 elements. I wasn't planning to participate, but in the end I just couldn't resist! So here's my entry for Round 1: Magical Moonrise.

The kit consists of 5 12x12 inch papers, 2 solids and 3 patterned. The 12 elements are a frame, 2 paper flowers, a paper sprig of foliage, a knotted ribbon, a tied ribbon, a button, a journal tag, a glitter ribbon, a glass moon, a glass star banner and a sprinkle. All papers and elements were created at 300 ppi and are suitable for printing.

If you like it you can download it from the DSS gallery: [sorry download expired]. The download link will be active at least until October 1. While you are there, check out the awesome kits!

Enjoy!

Layout with Journey to America Kit

I'm working on a new kit called "Journey to America." I designed it with the idea of creating layouts pertaining to immigration -- so I definitely had the genealogist scrapper in mind! Since the kit is nearly finished, I decided to scrap a page or two to see how the elements work together. This is something I almost always do when I create a new kit. I was pretty happy with the layout, so I thought I would share it on this blog. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when the kit is finished - maybe another limited time freebie since that worked out pretty well with the American Patriot kit. In any case, here's the layout "Daisy's Journey."

American Patriot 2012 - Free for a Limited Time

Last summer I created a kit called American Patriot. I released it as a freebie in 2 parts - the first for Memorial Day and the second for the Fourth of July. This year I decided to revisit the kit. I added new papers and elements and reworked others. I am releasing the entire kit as a freebie for 1 week in celebration of the Memorial Day Holiday here in the United States. Here is the preview:

The kit contains 12 full-sized (12x12 inch) papers and 24 elements: a metal frame, a paper frame, a stamp frame, a wooden cross, a straight ribbon, a folded ribbon, a length of rick-rack, a stitched paper star border, 3 unique flowers, 3 unique bows, a wooden button, a wooden arch, a butterfly, a firefly, a puffy star, a circle of stars, a scatter of stars, a tag, a leaf and a sprig of foliage. All are created at 300ppi and suitable for printed layouts. While patriotically themed for Memorial Day, the kit is versatile enough for a variety of layouts.

If you like it, there are 3 zip files to download accessible from [this link]. Grab them soon as they will only be available for a week.  Sorry, this freebie is retired.

Enjoy the kit and the Holiday!

Some Recent Layouts

The Art Paper that I made back at the end of January has been the inspiration for an ever-expanding and evolving kit that I have been using frequently for my personal scrapping. In February I created a heritage layout for the 151st wedding anniversary of my 2x's great-grandparents Charles and Emma James. I posted that one on my genealogy blog. I liked that layout so much that I used it as the basis for creating a wedding page of my niece's wedding. I first altered the color tone slightly and then modified the cluster. Both versions appear below. (I know that I could have used a different background paper and different elements, but I just really like the original and wanted to make a new page quickly!)

And the last layout I wanted to share is another heritage page. It was made with my current free mini-kit, Spring Is In The Air.

Thanks for looking -- and don't forget to grab Spring Is In The Air!

Spring Is In the Air - Free for a Limited Time

Well, it certainly has been a while, but I decided to join in the color challenge at the Studio and create a mini-kit this month. The kit contains 6 papers (12x12 inches) and 12 elements: three unique flowers, a frame, 2 unique intertwined ribbon sets, a button, a tag, a bead scatter, a bead chain wrap for the frame, a paper butterfly and a torn paper border. Here's the preview:

This kit can be downloaded at skydrive: [link] but it will only be available for a limited time - so if you like it, grab it soon!

Sorry, freebie retired.

Creating "Art Paper" from Photographs

Teri Hanson of DigiZines by Teri has (for one more day) an Art Paper challenge on her blog [here]. Basically, she has posted a short tutorial on creating "art paper" starting with a photograph and overlaying texture and digi-scrap papers and elements. I gave it a try, and came up with this:

If you like it, check back in a few days. I am planning to incorporate it into a free mini kit. In the meantime, hop on over to Teri's blog and join in the challenge.

Blog Facelift and New Facebook Page

Well it seems like forever since I last posted to this blog, so I thought an update was in order. Since winning the Second Chance Contest at theStudio I've been plugging away going through the tutorials and videos at the digi design academy. It's been a lot of fun and extremely valuable watching Sherah. She not only demonstrates the mechanics of designing various kit components, but the videos also give insight into her design philosophy, digital organization and work flow and processes. I've definitely picked up some new ideas and techniques which I've incorporated into a new kit that I'll be posting here very soon -- so check back for that.

In the meantime, I've implemented some of the "marketing-type" changes -- including the redesign of my blog header to add clickable buttons as well as the creation of a facebook page for designs by jmdt. I'm working on getting the facebook page integrated with my blog postings, so hopefully that will happen beginning with this post. (Next on my list is integration with google+)

That's about it for now -- I'll be back soon with a blog freebie!

Great news plus Just for Fun Mini - Free for a Limited Time

First of all, I have to say that I am totally thrilled about winning the Second Chance Contest at DSS! I thought all five of the designers in the final round created awesome kits so it was quite an honor to be selected. The prize is a scholarship to their Digital Design Academy. I am hoping that what I learn from the Academy combined with the skills I've been acquiring from the ps4all learning group and various online photoshop tutorials will enable me to really kick my designs up a couple of notches!

With the contest being over, I have deactivated the links for the three kits I created: Summer Afternoon, The Way it Was and Dancing Under the Stars. So if you have come here from a freebie engine and are looking for one of those kits, I apologize for the inconvenience. However, for the next month or so I have a new blog freebie - Just for Fun. It's one of my standard minis consisting of 5 papers and 10 elements.

I created Just for Fun to try out some new techniques and actions. It's a bit of a departure from my usual style, but I'm actually very happy with how it turned out. It's got the look and feel of paper scrapping. The elements are: a frame, a clip, a bow, rickrack, a stencil, a curly ribbon, a paper bird, a rolled paper flower, a paper leaf and a button. The papers are 12 x 12. All elements and papers are 300 ppi so that completed layouts are print-quality. And here's the preview:

If you like it, it's available on my skydrive account: [link]  Sorry, freebie retired.

Dancing Under the Stars - Free for a Limited Time

Here is my entry in the final round of the Second Chance Contest at DSS. The requirements for this round  were to tie into a theme of midnight, include an alpha and create a kit of with a maximum of 14 papers and 40 elements. Other than that, it was a free-for-all. This round was particularly hard for me because it takes me much longer than 4-5 days to create a kit of this size. I also had several other commitments this past weekend, so time was a very limiting factor.

My midnight theme was "Dancing Under the Stars." I recently read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Beautiful and the Damned" and "Bright Young Things" by Anna Godberson. Both are set in New York City in the jazz age of the 1920s. So I was thinking of speakeasys and flappers and cigarette girls as inspiration. The kit mixes glamour and romance with a little bit of shabby.


You get 12 full size papers, 28 elements and alpha (upper case, lower case and numbers). The elements include: 3 bows, 2 button bows, 2 curled ribbons, a disco ball, 2 dress forms (one plain, one with a dress), 3 flowers, 3 frames, a glitter border, the moon, stars, iron flourish border, 2 pins, ribbon lace strip, pleated ribbon lace, a pocket watch, a 6-pointed star, a tag and a candle. I created several of the elements (including the dress and dress form, the moon, stars, candle and disco ball) entirely in photoshop. And here's the preview.

Download links are in the DDS gallery here: [link] Sorry - this freebie has been retired

Enjoy and download soon as it will only be available for a short time!

The Way It Was -- Free for a limited time

Yeah! I made it to the next level in the Second Chance Contest at DigitalScrapbookingStudio! As a result, I needed to make a mini-kit of 4 papers and 10 elements with no CU at all - no brushes, actions or stock photos for elements and textures. Also the theme was to be "evening news" and the style vintage. So here's what I came up with:

Here's the description: 

Famous news anchor Walter Chronkite used to sign off his broadcasts with the phrase, "That's the way it is." As a take off on that, I decided to call my mini-kit "The Way it Was." It's a vintage kit with a news/media theme.

In keeping with the contest rules, no CU was used in the creation of the kit or the packaging (including my designer button). 

The kit contains four textured papers, 2 with subtle patterns. For the elements, I tried to do a mix of photoshop generated and extracted from my own photos. 

The elements are:

- flower w/ button center (flower and button extracted, thread generated)

- film frame and square frame (both generated)

- journal stack (newspaper, flower, leaf extracted, note paper generated but distressed with overlay 

that was created from a photo)

- foliage (extracted)

- postcard (extrated; curl added in ps)

- radio (extracted)

- ribbon (generated)

- rivet/brad (generated)

- tag cluster (key, string extracted; tag generated)

The download link is available in the kit description in the dss gallery [link]. (Sorry - this freebie has been retired) While you're there, check out the other free minis -- there is some gorgeous stuff to be had!!

Hope you enjoy! (if you like it, download soon it will only be available for a short time)