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) 

Summer Afternoon - Free for a Limited Time

Over at the Digital Scrapbooking Studio they are celebrating their Birthday Bash during the month of September with many special activities. And, of course, one of those activities is the annual next studio designer contest. There are some absolutely gorgeous kits being offered for free -- check them out in the studio gallery [link].

I didn't get around to entering the contest -- not a great time with school starting and hurricane Irene followed by a week of rain and flooding in our area. But they are allowing designers who missed the start of the contest, as well as those eliminated in round one, to enter the Second Chance Challenge. So I entered that for a chance at free enrollment in their design classes. And so all that is a very long introduction to my latest freebie - Summer Afternoon. For this challenge we needed to create a kit with 6 papers and 20 elements - including a cluster element. The kit name and theme (Summer Afternoon) as well as a kit preview template was provided. The designers could chose their own color palette and needed to make an "eye-catching" product name/label for the preview.

My kit has the required 6 papers - all 12x12 at 300 ppi. The elements include a rectangular frame, a perspective triple stamp frame, a double circle frame, a vine, a leaf spray, 2 flowers, a wooden butterfly, a wooden canary, a wooden teapot, a wooden button/brad, a lacy mat, a long curled ribbon, a short curled ribbon, a bow, an iron flourish, a rope with beads, a wooden sign/plaque, a line of cross stitches and a cluster frame (based on the double circle frame). So here is the preview:

Download links are provided in the gallery posting: [link].  Grab it soon as it will only be available for a short time. (Sorry - this freebie has been retired.)

Summer Afternoon was inspired by the rustic elegance of my Aunt and Uncle's "cabin" on the lake. I spent many summer afternoons there over the years. Here's a layout I created with the kit that shows some of outdoor scenes at the lake:

That's about it for now... thanks for stopping by my blog and hope you enjoy the kit!

Summer Dayz Mini-Kit (Free for a limited time)

Here's my latest free mini-kit. It's called Summer Dayz and was created for the color challenge at DSS [link]. It consists of the usual 5 papers and 10 elements, all created at 300 ppi. Papers are full-sized (12x12 inches). The elements include: a pleated ribbon and matching bow, a button, a fabric flower, a frayed fabric heart, a flower, an iron frame, 2 seashells and a stapled string. The color palette is soft greens, blues and a pop of yellow. It reminded me of a lazy summer day - hence the kit name and the "themed" elements. Here's the preview:

download from skydrive [link]. (Please let me know if there are any problems with this link - thx.) Sorry - this freebie has been retired.

American Patriot Part 2 - Free For a Limited Time

Well I promised a part 2 for my American Patriot Mini Kit series on or around July 4th. It's a little late, but it's here now! It uses the same color palette as part 1. (If you want part 1 and haven't downloaded it yet, do it soon as I will be removing the link shortly.) Part 2 has 5 papers and 10 elements: two bows, one folded ribbon, 2 frames, a stitched border of paper stars, a star circle, 2 flowers and a wooden fan. The papers are full sized (12x12 inch) and all elements and papers were created at 300 ppi, so resulting layouts are suitable for printing.
Here's the preview:

If you want the mini kit, download here: [skydrive-link] Sorry - this freebie has been retired

And to all of you in the USA - hope you had a great Fourth of July holiday!!

Whimsy Mini-Kit - Free for a Limited Time

I have another free mini-kit. This one was made for the color challenge at DSS. It contains 5 full-sized 12 x 12 inch papers and 10 elements. They include a circular frame, a string of pennants, a pinwheel, a fabric flower, a plastic flower, a crimped ribbon bow, a torn paper strip, a stitched rick-rack strip, a dragon fly and a balloon. I called it Whimsy because it's meant to be light and playful. For the most part the papers have sort of a water-color feel and the elements are meant to be, well, whimsical! And here's the preview:

If you like it, it's available for a limited time here on skydrive. (Sorry - this freebie has been retired.)

Tropical Vintage Mini-Kit - Free for a Limited Time

DigiDes came up with another great color palette for the color challenge at IvyScraps again this month, so I decided to join in. This kit has a vintage style with a tropical twist - hence the name Tropical Vintage! You get 5 full-sized 12x12 inch papers and 10 elements. The elements include: 2 frames, 2 rosettes, an iron grill, a brad, a curled two-tone ribbon, a tag, a lace mat and a hydrangea bloom. The elements and papers were all created at 300 ppi and so the resulting layouts are suitable for printing.

I am trying something a little new with the download. Instead of 4shared, I am giving skydrive a try. If you have any problems, please leave a comment and let me know. If this doesn't seem to work, I'll go back to using 4shared.

download-from-skydrive (Sorry - this freebie has been retired)

Thanks for looking!!

American Patriot Part 1 - Free For a Limited Time

I hope everyone in the United States enjoyed the Memorial Day long weekend. It is now (unofficially) summer in the northern hemisphere!! Originally called Decoration Day, the purpose of Memorial Day is to honor those men and women who died while serving in the military. In that spirit I am working on a kit called American Patriot.  Part 1 of American Patriot is now available as a free mini-kit. (Look for part 2 on or about July 4th). What you get are 5 full sized (12x12 inch) papers and 10 elements: a frame, a ribbon, a length of ric-rac, a bow, a leaf group, a flower, a puffed star, a folded paper butterfly, a wooden cross and a star scatter. The kit was created at 300 ppi so that any layouts made with it are suitable for printing. And here is the preview.

If you like the kit, you can download here from 4shared. (Sorry - freebie retired)

Enjoy!!