Meet Jack & Jill - Kits for Charity

Drum Roll please......

I'd like to introduce Jack & Jill. These kits are the first offerings from Benevolent Boutique, a digiscrap store in the making. Benevolent Boutique will feature a forum, gallery, chat, store and of course a blog. The best part of Benevolent Boutique is the name represents the store's philosophy. All kits sold at Benevolent Boutique are created for to raise money for a charity.

For the first kit, the fearless organizer, Crystal from DigiScrapalicious chose the Make-a-Wish Foundation as the charity of choice. This was due in part to June being Potty Training Awareness month (I know, who knew???). I happened upon the BB blog while she was looking for designers and applied and now I'm a part of history. The idea of creating for charity really appeals to me since I don't want to sell kits, but I really welcome the challenge of creating something spectacular. This was a great learning experience and I think my latest freebie (Spring Swing) was a result of the growing process that occured during the creation of Jack & Jill. I was fortunate to contribute to both kits, and they both have many possibilities for creating many LOs of your little man or princess.

Check out the fab designers who pitched in to create these kits...

Contributing designers for Jack: KimB, Elegant WordArt, DigiScrapalicious, By God's Design, Sweet DigiScraps, Sarah Belle, & My Digital Moon.

Contributing designers for Jill: Raspberry Road Designs, Elegant WordArt, DigiScrapalicious, Sarah Belle, My Digital Moon, & Farrah's Creations.

To whet your appetite, I created some QPs. Pick them up and then head over to Benevolent Boutique and check out Jack & Jill.


Pick up the Jill QP HERE
Pick up the Jack QP HERE

I won't be able to participate in July's kit, as I am being inducted (sounds serious right?) as our Mother of Multiples newsletter editor and its a big deal and I want to do a super job as I take over the reins. I'm going to modify the style just a bit, so I need to spend some time doing graphics & layouts and deciding what program works best for a newsletter. I tried Publisher, but it made my e-mail go CRAZY, so I won't do that again. Any suggestions?

And another little toot! for me. My Spring Swing kit was selected as the Digi Pick-o-the day at Scrap N' Art ezine today! I hadn't even stumbled across Scrap N' Art until I got the notice, so you can just imagine my socks were blown off. Sometimes you need a little validation from a complete stranger to make you realize that "WOW, I am doing ok at this". Now just to win the big prize they are offering just for subscribing to their emagazine, and I think I'll have had a huge run on good luck!

Wrinkled Toes

I was so thrilled with how this latest kit turned out I just had to use it! I think I made a real design breakthrough and I really want to thank those that left comments with ideas. While all the elements really don't necessary follow a single theme, getting input really made my creative juices start pumping.

To make the picture "pop" I selected the girls feet that are in the middle of the photo and sharpened them so that the wrinkled part really stood out. For the title work, I typed the title, added a cumpled brush, then simplified the layer. Using the marque tool I "cut" each letter, then moved into place and rotated it. This way the text stays together in one layer. Other than that, it was just standard fair, with one custom shadow under the photo.



Page Idea by Maggie Holmes, June cover of Creating Keepsakes magazine
kit - Spring Swing by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Font - Arial

A BIG thank you to those that were kind enough to leave comments on the paper pack, I hope these elements allow you to create something wonderful. I truly hope that that this kit is LO worthy and that you'll let me know when you create something. Please leave me a comment with a link to your gallery or my e-mail is included in my TOU. It would mean so much to see something you've created. I also think this preview turned out pretty good too.


Pick up the element pack HERE.
pssst - there's an add-on below.
double pssst - the coordinating paper pack is in the previous entry

Again, comments are disabled in 4shared, so leave a little love here.

Once I started my scraplift for this page I needed a few extra things, which turned into a Add-On for the kit. No time for a preview, but it includes: 3 scalloped frames, 4 gem brads, 4 photo prongs, an alpha and a flattened quick page (from my LO).
Pick up the Add-On HERE.

Swinging Under the Sycamore

Great inspiration this week over at the Sweet Shoppe for some photos I took while we were back in Missouri. My dad planted this tree when I was in grade school, and now it's big enough for my girls to swing under it. My parents are trying to sell the farm, so we may not have many more chances for the girls to fly under this sycamore.

My colors for this LO came from the cute flowers & birdie that I got with some of my winnings at the digichick. Then I needed red & green to pull the colors out of the photo and next thing you know I'm making papers - which is good for everyone because here comes my next little kit.

The only little tricks I played on the template were to use the layer->modify->contract and then apply a stroke on that contracted border so that I could erase the stroked line and get that cutout look. I use the contract/expand and stroke combo on quite a few things now. Then I made a custom shadow for the tree so it looked like it had a little more life in its leaves.



Template #35 from Cookie Decorating 101 by Cindy at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Paper from Spring Swing by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Kraft Paper from Backs:Brown by Amanda Heiman
Paperbag frame from You've Been Framed by Lindsay Jane Designs
Ribbons from Give it to me Straight by Amanda Heiman
Flower & Bird Embellishements from Sugar in Heaven by Jeann Gaidecki
Paper Overlays from Grungy Overlays by Misschifis Scraps
Stitching from Stitches by Jasmin Olya
Glitter Frame from Strawberry Delights by Flergs
Glitter Style from Glitter Freebie 1 by Flergs
Action - inked edges by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Aubrey, CK Ali's Writing, Century Gothic

Being able to make your own stuff is both a curse & a blessing I've decided. I love to make it and truly customize my LOs, but I hate not to share my creations so I spend a lot of time creating other items to actually make it worth sharing. Its good practice for me I guess, but it does take additional time to do the packaging & whatnot. The papers for this seemed to come together really well and I actually like this preview.


Pick up the Paper Pack HERE.
Now to see what I can come up with in the way of embellishments - I'd love to hear some ideas in the comments. They are disabled in 4shared, so please leave them here for me.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girls

Seems like its been forever since I've scrapped. It's been a busy past two weeks between the girls birthday followed by a trip back to Missouri to visit all our family. Good news is that I my scrapping juices came back quickly - the first 5 minutes or so I got a little scared because I was actually having to think about PSE commands.

I finally made my own scalloped mats - I just made a circle brush and drew the outside and then filled it with a rectangle - a littler easier than I thought it might be. Then I made the template, so it was easy then to find some papers that coordinated with the picture and then just clip away. I fiddled around some with the elements - didn't have anything that just "went" so I had to do some creating and modifying there. The paper kit I used was a Christmas one and I made the black papers using an overlay and brush. Right after I finished the template I thought, I'll be able to do this with just a few things, but now that I've finished the credits I realize that it didn't end up very simple.

I have two bits of "news" that I need to share. Originally this blog was just for me, but I have a few loyal readers now and hopefully they will be excited for me too.

I try to participate in at least one challenge each week at the digichick. In April, anytime you completed a challenge your name was entered in a drawing where the prize was a $10 gift card from 19 digichick designers - and I won!!! I found right before we left on vacation so hopefully tonight I'll be able to go shopping and get lots of fantastic stuff. So head over to the digichick challenges - they really do provide lots of inspiration. My favorites are the color challenge and scraplift challenge.

The other tidbit is that I'm going to be part of a design team at Benevolent Boutique designing kits for charity. The first kits are scheduled to be released in June, benefitting the Make a Wish Foundation. There are going to be two kits - one each for boys & girls, with toddlers in mind since June is National Potty Training Awareness Month (who knew?).



Page Idea from You are so Handsome by ZaCola3 at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit - Silly Seasons by Zoe Pearn
Sequins from Sugar in Heaven by Jeann Gaidecki
Brush from Paper Damage by Adobe
Overlay from Grungy Overlay by Misschifis Scraps
Glitter Styles from Chocolate Berry by Flergs
Stitching by Circle Stitching by Natali
Button ties from Lots of Button Ties by Designs by Shannon
Buttons - scanned in & edited by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Actions - Pristine Chipboard by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Tangerine, Pea Kate

Our Little Tomboys

I really took some shortcuts with this LO. During one of my earlier visits to Sweet Shoppe Designs Gallery for inspiration I noticed a LO and added it to my favorites for a future "lift". To my great surprise, the LO was chosen to the the cookie (template) of the week, which made it even easier to lift. It's almost an exact duplicate of the original because I already had the same kit that Kay Miller used in the original LO. So no originality here on my part - just knocking out another LO using one of my favorite pictures. I think its the outfit in the picture as much as anything - I loved those brown cords and that jean jacket, and they still love to wear Daddy's ball caps.

I did want to share a little tip I use for naming files. I start each file with the year the picture was taken followed by the month then a title. So this one is filed as "2006 10 Our Little Tomboys" In this way all the files are orderly and I can use the files to quickly organize a book since they are already in chronological order.



Template by Aggie Adviso for Cookie Decorating 101 at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit Haute Spring by Zoe Pearn
Demin from Spring in Denim by Dnadryad
Glitter by Flergs
Actions - inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
Font - Mom's Typewriter

Building the Swingset

My scrapping has really slowed down now that the twins are in a big bed. I've lost about 3 hours a day of "me" time due to earlier wakeups, shorter naps, and later bedtimes. I'm sure in time it will straighten itself out, but now I'm still adjusting to being tired again, so there are some days all I get done is check e-mail and other critical tasks, and never make it to my scrapping. I miss it.

This LO doesn't strike me as one of my best, but its ok. A month ago I had never used a B&W photo, now I think I have done three LOs with B&W. Odd - but on this LO it really helped tie the pictures together because they were all different colors and it was hard to find papers that worked for everything, so changing them to B&W fixed that issue.

I'm also trying to challenge myself by using a single kit, in this case a mini-kit. I think it helps me better understand what people might want in a design. This is also a color combo that I normally wouldn't use, and it was a good test to feel a little uncomfortable.



Page Idea from May Page Maps by Becky Fleck
Papers from Renewal Sampler by Michelle Coleman
Screw Fastners by Simka
Stitching from Basic Stitching by Britt-ish Designs
Action - Medium Bottom Tear by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Soopafresh, BlackJack, CK Ali's Writing, 28 Days Later

Now for the my latest freebie kit - sorry its taken so long. It's been ready for a few days, but with our swingset project this weekend I just didn't have a chance to get a LO scrapped and my DH is traveling out of the country this week.

I'd like to say a big THANKS to those that left comments with the last kit, and especially those who left comments between freebies - those truly warm the heart.

Please, if after you open the kit, you think "Darn, I could use this if it just had _____", then come back and leave a comment and I'll try to put together an add-on with the requests. I could always keep adding to a single kit, but I don't want to put all my design eggs in one basket.


Pick up Little Athlete HERE

This weekend is the twins 3rd birthday - they are so excited - they ask every day to go pick up the birthday cake! Hopefully I'll get lots of good pictures this year.

Take Flight - Kits for Charity

Songbird Avenue has undergone an overhaul on their site and it's awesome. They are also offering a super fantastic kit for May and their charity is the Susan G. Komen Foundation. It's Songbird Avenue's 1st Birthday and they are celebrating in a big way. May Guest Designers...Shabby Princess, Dianne Rigdon, Gina Miller, Robin Carlton, Carrie Stephens, Nancie Rowe-Janitz, Amy Wolff, Jenna Desai, Kate Hadfield, Jacque Larson, Michelle Coleman, Shabby Miss Jenn, Susan Bartolini, Kate Teague, Leora Sanford, Meredith Fenwick, Jan Crowley and Janet Phillips.

Included in this kit are: 46 papers, borders, word art, journalers, labels, ribbons, lace, brushes, doodles, paper pieced items, frames, buttons, epoxies, flowers, an alpha and a template. This kit totals over 335 MB and is six individual downloads.

You can get this beautiful kit for just $8.00 at Songbird Avenue. So buy a beautiful kit and support a worthy cause.

Dripping with Goodness

I finally made a LO using a bracket thingy - they are everywhere in the galleries and so I had to use a template to get inspired, but I did it!

I also don't think I've ever done a LO just using two colors - it almost seems Valentine's Dayish, but I wanted to use some of my next kit I'm working on to make sure it would work for LOs. I always start these things with one idea and then they just seem to morph into something a little different. This was a good test, even though its a simple LO, I'm going to go back and add a few things to the kit.








Template - Template Challenge #10 by Chrissy W
Kit - Little Athlete by Scraps from Sarah Belle (available soon here!)
Actions - Chalk by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Aubrey, CK Ali's Writing, IKHIOOGLA3

I did another little test with the kit - I made some desktop calendars. I had hoped to get these done before May 1st, but my kids had other plans. There is so much more than is showcased in these two desktops - but still a little more to complete before I roll it out.


You can pick up the desktops HERE