Treasured Friends Forever Award

If it were not for Kyra at With A Russian/Dutch heart I don't know what I would do. She has showered me with another award!

This is the Treasured Friends Forever Award. The rules are simple: pass it on to five people who do not already have it.

1. The first person I am passing it on to is my very dear friend from work, Vanessa. She is just starting out in paper scrapping and she doesn't have a digital scrapbooking blog, but she does have a website. So go visit her at Vee Nice Make Up. She has been my ture friend during all these hard months for me.

2. The second person I am giving this award to is Jean at Dream Keepers Random Thoughts. Thank you for all the encouragement concerning my designs and also for your words of support about your own relationship.

3. Next I will pass this award to Tracy at Tracy's Scraps because she was the one who helped me get started with this blog by helping me (online) learn how to fill in a template.

4. Deborah at Misfit Princess gets this award as well. I always send her awards I get because she is very dear to me. She scrapped all 50 of my templates in the State Template Series. Maybe I should put her in my will as well!

5. And the fifth person I am passing this award to is IkeaGoddess at Scrapping With IkeaGoddess for always including my freebies in her wonderful list.

Country Chicken Kit Add On Freebie

If you liked the country colors of yesterday's Country Chicken Kit, here is the rest of the collection with more papers, eggs and tags.

Get the Country Chicken Kit Add On here.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by with your kind words during this rough time I am going through right now!!

It really HAS helped me!

Freebie: Country Chicken Kit

Here is a country themed collection based on a drawing of a chicken I found. I was trying to do something out of the ordinary...it may have worked or it may flop.

Only you guys can decide that!

Here is the Country Chicken Kit. Look for the add on tomorrow!

There are some eggs, some tags and lots of papers in this kit.

I hope you like it!

Shop 'Til You Drop Template: A "Black Friday" Freebie

Ok, so I am not a big shopper. I never have been. And with "my situation" this year I am having to really count my pennies every pay check.

However, I do realize that some of you LIVE for today...the first shopping day after Thanksgiving...affectionally called "Black Friday."So in your honor I am offering this Shop 'til You Drop Template as your digital scrapbooking freebie today. A lot of people go shopping in groups of family members or girlfriends or whatever. Take along a camera this year and take some photos of the fun you are having. Maybe it is a break for coffee or lunch. Maybe it is a picture of someone lugging around all their shopping bags.

Whatever you are doing, record your memories! You'll be glad later on that you did.

Happy Thanksgiving: Holiday Turkey Frame Freebie

As this Thanksgiving comes around I find myself in a very strange position. My seven + year relationship with someone I thought was a decent and caring man crumbled to dust in the span of four short months. This man was my best friend. However, I have never been betrayed this badly by anyone in my life...and my life has not been without its tragedies.

So at Thanksgiving I am asking myself what do I have to be thankful for? Well I can honestly say that there was some good to come out of all the pain and misery. Before this happened I would have said I don't really have any friends. I know people, but I don't go out or socialize with them and we don't talk for hours on end on the phone at night.

But when this upheaval occured I discovered that there are many, many people who care about what happens to me. People at work I thought were just my clients were actually deeply hurt that I was in pain. Several people I thought barely knew me have told me how much I mean to them.

And then there is the internet. I tried really hard not to go into details about this whole ordeal because I did not want my blog to become a bitter place that no one wanted to visit...even if I was giving away stuff for free.

I did mention something when it all happened because I knew my writing would reflect the sadness of my life. What no one knows is that for the last two months I had been trying with every ounce of by being to show my fiance' how much he was loved and how deeply I cared. This was based on why he told me he had left in the first place. He said he felt I didn't love him anymore.

He basiclly let me make a fool of myself the entire four months because there has been another woman and he, while telling me he loved me and wanted to make it work out and moving back in with me in September, was in the process of becoming engaged to her. Yes, we were both wearing his ring at the same time. And he was probably telling us both the same thing: "I love you." I slowly found out what was going on and two weeks ago I told him to leave.

Because he couldn't be a man and tell me the truth from the very beginning, he was a coward. He made me believe that we were going to be ok. If he had just left and said "I've met someone else" then it would have saved me these two months of torment and pain. I honestly believed he wanted us to work things out. Yes, he even made love to me during this time.

How cruel humans can be to one another.

But back to what I was saying about the internet...there are so many of you out there who have stopped by to wish me well (four months ago when I first mentioned this and also now.) People who never visited my site before are saying they are praying for me to feel better.

How wonderful humans can be to one another.

So at Thanksgiving I have decided instead of feeling sorry for myself that some fool hurt me so badly, I am going to be thankful for my true friends who genuinely put themselves before me. A couple of you know who you are...you have heard every detail at least 10 times! But you never tell me, "You said that already." You just listen, and hold me and love me.

I can not thank you enough, so instead I am thanking God on your behalf.

Ok, enough with the sob story....this should be a happy time. So here is today's freebie. It is very small but it comes from the heart. Here is the Holiday Turkey Frame.

Pilgram Hat Alphabet Freebie

Here is another Thanksgiving freebie for you to use this coming weekend. It includes the regular alphabet as well as one with a Thanksgiving theme.

Get the Pilgram Hat Alphabet freebie here.

The other day I said there would be a special announcement today. I had intended on telling everyone that due to the ongoing problems in my personal life I was just not feeling up to continuing my blog at this point.

But Kyra at With A Russian/Dutch Heart actually took the time to email me and talk with me about my problems and I'm going to take her suggestion that I stick with something I love doing to help keep my mind off of other things.

Thank you to someone who doesn't even know me at all but who took the time to touch my heart when I needed it the most!

Happy Anniversary: Scrap Addict Template Freebie

Today is the one year anniversary of my first blog post. In celebration of this event I made a special template for everyone who scraps.

Most of us are busy scrapping pictures of our families or of special moments in our lives. Scrapbooking is a way to record our history for future generations to enjoy and to learn from.
So take the time to get someone to take a picture of you while you are scrapping and use this template to record how you are perserving those memories. After all, isn't what you are doing a part of those memories too?

Please pass this template link on to someone you know who is a scrapper. There isn't any reason why everyone who scraps should not have this page in their collection...because we ARE addicted to scrapbooking!!!!!!

Here is today's Scrap Addict Template. Thank you so much for all the visits to my blog over the last year. I really do appreciate every one of you very much!

Freebie: Thanksgiving Word Art

Since it is getting closer to Thanksgiving I am offering another holiday freebie. I know that once Thursday comes most of you will be off your computers and busy with the holiday, family and then shopping.

I want to make sure you get your freebies first so that you can sort of plan some photo opportunities around the digital scrapbooking elements and papers you already have.
Here is my Thanksgiving Word Art freebie.

Look for something totally special tomorrow and then a huge announcement on Wednesday. See you then!

Your Layouts!

Here is a layout from Jean using my Special Lady Template that was designed for her. Here is a link to her blog, Dream Keeper's Random Thoughts.

Thanks for the lovely layout, Jean.

Hungry Turkey Kit Add On Freebie

Here is a quick post to give you today's digital scrapbooking freebie. It is the add on to yesterday's post.

The Hungry Turkey Kit Add On is available right here and you can get the rest of the Hungry Turkey Kit from yesterday as well.

If you don't normally read my blog every day, please come back on Wednesday for a very special announcement.

Hungry Turkey Kit Freebie

I'm offering my first Thanksgiving freebie today. I find it hard to believe it is less than one week until Thanksgiving!

Here is the Hungry Turkey Kit freebie. Look for the add on to this kit tomorrow. I hope you like it.

Thanks to Delicious Scraps for her CU bow that I used for this kit. There's another color bow in the add on tomorrow.

Friday Freebie: Clipper Ship Elements

The idea for this digital scrapbooking freebie came to me when I saw these old fashioned tall ship drawings. I love this particular motif and wanted to try and offer it in a form that was usable.

I used the picture frame option on the image tab in Paint Shop Pro to get the tape and background effect. You could mount your photos in the same manner on your layout and they would match the elements.

I hope you can use these Clipper Ship Elements.

If you have a lot of nautical photos, try using my other nautical designs:

Nautical Alphabet

Nautical Symbols

Light House Alphabet

Light House Border Overlays

Ship's Wheel Collection and Add On

Ship's Anchor Collection and Add On

NHL ALL STAR Balloting Now Open

Now that the NASCAR season is officially over and we are waiting on the results of the Chex Most Popular Driver Award, it is time to place your vote for the 2009 NHL All Star Team.

Ok, so let's say you have no idea about hockey and you really could care less. Ok, I accept that. Here's my point of view: I am more than happy to design digital scrapbooking things and giving them away free. I really enjoy it. I ask for nothing in return.

Well, now I am asking something. I would really love to see my favorite player, Rod Brind'Amour, make the team. And since this is all about fan voting, I'd like to ask you to take the time while your freebie is downloading and click on the link in my sidebar and vote for him.

It is really simple and you can vote every day. He is listed under the Eastern Conference as a forward. I'm pretty sure you have to vote for all postions so you can just pick a neat sounding hockey name for any of the other players. It really isn't all that hard.

Thanks in advance for helping out here. I'll let you know if he makes it. The game is in February.

Most Valuable Player Tennis Template Freebie

Here is the 6th template in the Most Valuable Template Series. I hope that this series has offered something unique that you might have been unable to find anywhere else.

Thanks for all your comments and for dowloading the other five templates! Here's the last one: Most Valuable Player Tennis Template.

Most Valuable Player Soccer template is Digital Freebie Today

As promised, here is the next template in my Most Valuable Player Template Series. This is number five out of six.

You can download the Most Valuable Player Soccer Template here.

I know there aren't many soccer themed elements , papers or templates out there so I hope this comes in handy!

Tomorrow is the last in this tempate series so make sure you have all six of them by then.

This would make a great holiday gift to the grandparents if you made them digital scrapbooks of the grandkids at play!

Football Template Next Up In Most Valuable Player Template Series

Today is the 4th installment of the Most Valuable Player Template Series.

I'm offering the Most Valuable Player Football Template this time.

Remember, you can take any layer from my templates and copy it to a new page and use it as an element on another layout.

I showed you how to do this with the baseball overlay yesterday, but it can apply to any element you want to use! Just save the layer as a .png so there is no background to it.

Tomorrow I will offer the soccer template and Thursday the series ends with the tennis template.

Most Valuable Template Series Freebie #3: Baseball Template

The Most Valuable Player Template Series continues with another template today that will look great with all your baseball photos.

Get the Most Valuable Player Baseball Template right here.

There is an overlay in this template that can be copied and pasted to a new page and you can make your own papers from it.

Remember to go to the layers palette and click on the blend mode to the right of the layer description after you have pasted the overlay on a new colored page.

Here is an example of before and after:

Also, if you'd like to use the template minus the title, you can always delete that layer and use the text tool to make up your own heading.

There are three more templates after today so make sure you visit my blog each day to get your freebies!

#2 in Most Valuable Player Template Series: Hockey Template Freebie

This is the second installment of the Most Valuable Player Template Series.

This is really where the whole idea for the series was born. I had been doing some hockey freebies and when I started this template I thought about the small amount of sports themed freebies out there.

Here is the Most Valuable Player Hockey Template .

Look for the other four templates in this series in the coming days.

Most Valuable Player Template Series Begins With Basketball Freebie

Today begins a new series of templates that honor your favorite player in many different sports. A lot of comments I get say that there is not enough sports themed digital scrapbooking stuff out there.

Today's Most Valuable Player Basketball Template freebie is the first of six sports themed templates. I hope you enjoy these!
Other sports that will be featured are: hockey, baseball, football, soccer and tennis.

Add On Freebie : Groovy Green Collection Add On

This freebie today is the add on to yesterday's download: the Groovy Green Collection. This kit and today's add on are full of textures and depth.

The Groovy Green Collection Add On has three additional papers, 2 tags and another peace sign.

Starting on Saturday I will be offering a new series of templates. Come back and see what they are!

Groovy Green Collection is Freebie For Today

Today is a kit that I have had on hold for a little while because I wasn't sure if I liked it. When I opened it up after not seeing it for a few weeks I decided it was good enough to offer.

Here is the Groovy Green Collection. Look for the add on to this kit tomorrow.

If you like themed things like this groovy collection, then check out my 70's Psychedelic Set and Add On I offered in January.

Hockey Bear Set Add On Freebie

Here is the second half of the hockey freebie I offered yesterday. This is the Hockey Bear Set Add On.

As promised, here are the numbers you can use to honor your favorite star! Just use the ones I made up (zero to nine) or you can take the bear from yesterday's Hockey Bear Set and add the stand alone numbers from today's add on and make whatever number you need.

Realize that the numbers and the bear are made using the watercolor script in Paint Shop Pro and are supposed to be a little "blurry" for effect. The tag also has a slight blurred effect. So there is nothing wrong with the download! LOL

I hope these and my other hockey freebies have filled a hole that was out there for digi scrappers with hockey needs!

More Hockey Freebies: Hockey Bear Set

There was much intrest in another hockey type of download amongst my faithful few. So I have designed a whimisal kit with a hockey theme.

This will go just super with the Mites or Pee Wees. Even female hockey players might like this. In case it isn't "tough enough" for the older boys, there are some textured papers and tags that might go well with their photos.

Here is the first part of the Hockey Bear Set. Look for the add on tomorrow. The add on will include a set of numbers you can use "as is" or create your own to match the number of your favorite player!

You can get my other hockey freebies here.

Special Lady Template Freebie

Several days ago I posted a layout from one of my blog followers that really touched me. Jean was using my Iris Collection from the Flowers Collection Series to pay a specail tribute to her Mother-in-Law.

That got me to thinking and I thought I would design a template dedicated to the very special women in our lives...no matter whose mother they were. My own mother passed away unexpectedly when I was in college and I miss her more and more every year!

Here is my Special Lady Template which I dedicate to my mother by making a layout for her.

In this template you can use the following instructions to help you fill in the fan element. Simply use hint #2.

If you want to display your tribute then please send me your layout and I will make a very special post of it!

Don't wait until it is too late to let someone know how special they are!

Sock Monkey Kit Add On is Sunday Freebie

Here are three more papers, a button and another version of the sock monkey in today's digital scrapbooking freebie: the Sock Monkey Kit Add On.

It isn't a large add on, but two of the papers do not have the monkey on them in case you just like the colors/textures.

You can always download the add on and just delete the parts you don't think you'll use. But hopefully you'll like the whole kit!!!

Get the entire sock monkey set by downloading the Sock Monkey Kit from yesterday as well as this add on.

No More Butterflies...

For those of you who have mentioned that you think the butterflies on my webpage were messing with your computer, I have removed them.

PLEASE let me know if you are still having problems...if it isn't the butterflies I want to put them back! Please email me and let me know.

Thanks for visiting my site even if you do have some trouble with it. I want to try and make it interesting, but not at the expense of the people trying to read it!

Freebie: Sock Monkey Kit

Did you ever have a sock monkey when you were a kid? My sister had one. That was back in the early 1960's.

It seems that now days the sock monkey has made a return to popularity! I saw a crib set with the sock money theme on line.

Here is your freebie for the day: the Sock Monkey Kit. You can use it for modern photos, or for those snapshots taken "back in the day."

I hope this brings back happy memories of a more simple time!

Don't forget to get the rest of the kit tomorrow in the Sock Monkey Kit Add On.

Your Layouts!

Thanks to Karen and her Mom for sharing their Hockey layouts! These pages were made with my Hockey Papers freebie.

Don't forget to grab the Hockey Alphabet as well!

And GOOD NEWS to all hockey fans...I am working on a hockey themed kit. So look for that next week!

Vintage Fashions Freebie

Today's digital scrapbooking freebie goes back to the 1950's for its inspitation.

Here are some Vintage Fashion embellishments that would go great on a heritage or vintage photo page.

There are seven different dresses represented here, all of which were popular in the 1950's. I love this type of fashion so I figured I'd offer something to help you design your layouts for those pictures that need something a little different to make them stand out.

There is even a wedding dress offered if you need something from the 1950s for a wedding layout!

Award Time...Excellent Blog Award

This morning on my blog comments I got a note from Lady Shannon. She has a blog at Memories Made Easy. She is also an administrator at CU Freebiees Only Forum. The message was...an award for me!!!

This is the Excellent Blog Award and this one comes with NO RULES. (I like that!) All I have to do is pass this award on. It doesn't even say how many blogs I should honor so I will pick 5 like Lady Shannon did.

1. RAKScraps

2. Scrappy Deesignz

3. Dusty Bear

4. The Five Corners of My Mind

5. Urban Dragon Digital Art

Congratulations to these great blogs! Check them out when you have time!

Something Different: Collection of Candles Freebie

I was playing around with the scripts in Paint Shop Pro and stumbled on this "look" that I thought was a little different. So I thought I would offer today's freebie using this particular design tool.

Here are 12 candles from actual photos that have been transformed by the colored chalk script in PSP. I call this the Collection of Candles.

I hope you like this set of unique elements!

Our Famliy Template Freebie

Back in August I offered a Stamp Template that had instructions right on the template as to where to put photos, journaling and elements. It was a very popular download!

So today I am offering a similar freebie. The Our Family Template has directions for the photo and journaling boxes OR you can ignore them altogether and put the picture in both boxes to give the layout a little off centered look.

Either way you use this template you'll have a wonderful way to perserve your favortie family photos!

Election Day: 2008 Election Freebie

Just a real quick freebie today in honor of this historic election. If you aren't visiting my blog from America it might not mean all that to you, but as an American I know how significant this particular election really is.

Some of these 2008 Election buttons can be used for any patriotic event like 4th of July, Memorial Day or Veterans Day. So show your support of our great (but flawed) country by downloading them now.

AND MAKE SURE YOU VOTE TODAY!

Time To Pass On Another Award

Wow, once again Kyra over at With A Russian/Dutch Heart has honored me with a blogger award.

Here are the rules for this award:

I will have to tell you in short 7 things I love and then pass the award to 7 other people.

So here are the seven things I love (in no particular order:)

1. My family (Jeff and Matthew)

2. Designing digital scrapbook freebies

3. Watching hockey

4. NASCAR

5. Reading a whole book at one time

6. Traveling to historic places

7. Teaching Pilates

And here are the seven people I am passing the award on to...

1. Redjuscrap

2. Gypsy Chick

3. Scrappy Cats

4. Mega-Doodle Inspired

5. Misfit Princess

6. Gypsy's Clipart

7. Snowraven's Cave

100 Buttons Freebie

Here is a freebie that everyone should download! There are 100 Buttons in this set and I am sure you can find at least one or two that you can use in your digital scrapbooking!

I am going to put a few buttons on here with a large preview so you can see the detail upclose (like I did with the Curled Ribbons.)

Many thanks to Delicious Scraps for the use of her CU Button pattern. The buttons were designed using styles from Photo Shop CS2.

If you still need more buttons like this you can go to my Fall Scene Kit and there are two more buttons in that kit.

Day 2 Hockey Request: Hockey Papers Freebie

I'm offering another hockey themed digital scrapbooking freebie today. I try very hard to fulfill as many requests as my talent can offer. Sometimes someone will ask for something and I just do not know how to design something like that.

My apologies for anyone who can't use this Hockey Paper download because the colors aren't right for their team!! If you have enough experience in your scrapbooking program you can use the magic wand and delete the background color and add your own.

If you don't know how to do what I am saying then email me at the link in my sidebar and I can walk you through the directions.

It was my intention to put some neutral colors in the pack so that you could at least use some of the papers.

If this download and yesterday's download, the Hockey Alphabet, are popular I can always make more hockey designs.

PLEASE let me post the layouts you make with theses papers. Who knows, one day your hockey star might be a huge NHL star and we will have had a layout of him/her when they were just a Pee Wee! Imagine what that would be worth!!!

DON'T FORGET: TIME CHANGES NOVEMBER 2

(Image coutresy of Popsyfox Clocks)

Please remember that the time changes tonight/tomorrow morning, November 2. I say tonight because I always change my clock when I go to bed the night before.

I remember my Momma changing all the clocks in our house the night before so we would be on time for church the next morning.

Make yourself a note right now and put it on the clock you use the most!

By Request: Hockey Alphabet Freebie

A while back, when I was complaining about not getting a lot of traffic on my blog, someone asked for more hockey themed scrap offerings. Today's freebie, the Hockey Alphabet, is in response to that request.
As you can tell from my blog, I am a huge Carolina Huricanes fan since the days I used to work for their orginazation back in the early 2000s. My favorite player is Rod Brind'Amour! He is one good looking man (in a rugged, man-with-a-stick kind of way!!!)


This alphabet is really a 2-for-1 deal because I added in the plain letters (not attached to the hockey puck) in case you aren't a hockey fan. That way, you can still use the alphabet.


Come back tomorrow for some hockey themed papers and if you missed my other hockey themed freebie, the Stanley Cup Template, you can get it here.