Design your life workshop

Finally, after some really busy days at work before Christmas, I can enjoy some lazy days off. And to make sure I don't get borded, I've signed up for Cathy Zielske's workshop "Design Your Life" at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The WS is starting on December 31st, so if anyone still wants to sign up, check out the page: Design Your Life workshop

I got a book by Cathy Zielske for Christmas last year: "clean & simple scrapbooking" and I love her - well - clean and simple style. It will be great to actually be able to learn from Cathy and to even ask her questions and chat to her!

Same template, different file type

Here is the template from my last post once more. This time I saved every single layer as a PNG file (except layer one, which is a 300 dpi, 12x12 inch jpeg).

PNG Files Template.zip

If you need help how to use this, there are tutorials (for different kinds of software) on the DSP homepage for how to use this type of templates (quick clicks):

Digital Scrapbook University

Just go to "using DSP products" and than to "Quick Clicks, using" and pick which software you're using.

A layered template and a plopper

I used my kit from the blogtrain to make this layout:

And because I liked it so much, I decided to turn it into a template so I can redo it more easily. And being busy with that, I thought a plopper might be a good idea as well. And because Christmas is coming, I'll give both to you (okay, I would have given them away anyway, Christmas is just an excuse for producing MORE freebies ...).

Download both in one file: ILR_Homespun Christmas Template and Plopper

I would so love to see some layouts done with these freebies (or with the corresponding kit)!

Little in between freebie

My grandmum used to have a tin box full of buttons that I liked to play with when we visited her. I've always loved the variety of shapes, material and colors and spent hours sorting them (it was a big tin box). My mum also has a tin box full of buttons. When she throws out old clothes that are too worn for charity, she cuts off the buttons and keeps them.

Did I mention I also have my own button tin box (although it's quite a little one in comparison)? It seems to be a kind of a family tradition.

Well anyway. Today I borrowed my mum's box and made a little freebie for you (300 dpi). Hope you enjoy it.

ILR_My Mums Red Buttons.zip

Lots and LOTS of Christmas goodies!

The Stuff to Scrap "Homespun Christmas" blogtrain is on! After downloading all the contributions you will have one HUGE beautiful mega-Christmas kit to scrap all those photos of kids frantically tearing up gift wrapping while the grownups enjoy the eggnogg. ;-)
I love the color scheme and I love being part of this blogtrain. Hope you enjoy the ride!!



Here is my download link:

ILR_Homespun Christmas

Links to other sites were removed.

A little bit of action

I often look at other designer's scrapbooking kits and wonder how certain elements were done. A lot of kits contain puffy felt elements and they are just SO cute. To tell the truth, I was too lazy to figure out by myself how to get that look, so I googled "puffy felt action". (In case you don't know what an action is and why it's great, just skip the rest of my babbling and click the link at the end!)

I found one, I bought it, I installed it, I started it ... and got an error message. And then another one ... and so on. What a disappointment!

After a bit of research I realized that the action doesn't work with my version of Photoshop because my PS is in German. SO WHAT NOW? Disregarding the fact that it would have most probably taken me less time to figure out some puffy felt style myself, I just didn't want to let it be.

A while back I had briefly tried recording my own actions for altering some photos but I never really looked into all the possibilities. So I did some more searching and FINALLY - I stumbled over a page, that explains it ALL. What an action is, how you install one, how you record it, how you play it step by step and *tataaaaa* how you alter it.

And because this tutorial (available for free) made it possible for me to alter the action I bought so that I CAN use it with a German version of PS, I need to share this with you. (And then I'll go back to Photoshop and make some puffy Christmas trees and baubles and whatever else I can think of...)

So here's the link: Photoshopessentials

And here's a single little freebie for you (made with the action I bought and using a freebie template by Twinky (twinkydezines).



Puffy Owl

Layouts with upcoming freebie kit

I took advantage of the miserable November weather and spent the weekend finishing my contribution for the "Stuff to Scrap" December blog train. I can't wait to publish the link for the freebie download. For now I made four quick layouts with the kit so you can get an idea.

Blogtrain Add On Pack

Here's a little add on pack for the ADSD blogtrain "Gingerbread Christmas". ENJOY!



ILR_Gingerbread Christmas AOP.zip

Gingerbread Christmas Blogtrain!!

The theme of the November/December ADSD blogtrain is "Gingerbread Christmas".
Here's the preview of my contribution. Have fun downloading it (link below).


My download link:

Gingerbread Christmas

(Blogtrain links were deleted.)

Christmas cookies

As I didn''t manage to include a single gingerbread element in my kit for the "Gingerbread Christmas" collab-kit, I thought I should at least give away some cookies.



Cookies for you

All about autumn page kit

A while back I realized that I adore layouts with element clusters. And quite often these clusters contain scanned (or photographed) items like flowers, bows etc.

So my latest kit is quite different from what I've been making so far.

I hope you enjoy this quite big freebie kit. Please leave some love here on my blog if you download it. (And don't forget to tell your friends! :-))

If you're doing a layout with this kit, I'd love to see it, so give me a shout!

All about autumn kit

Comic Style Layout and tutorial link

For a weekly challenge at Scrapbookgraphics I was finally able to finish a comic style layout that I had been playing around with for a while. And I really like the way it turned out:



The really good tutorial that helped doing this page can be found at:

http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2007/09/13/give-your-photos-a-retro-comic-book-effect/

Yes I am kinda busy

I just wanted to leave a line or two here that I'm still alive and kickin' although I couldn't provide any nice freebies lately (I will again, SOON). In my OTHER life (yes, the real one) my husband and me have started looking for our first flat (or house if anything affordable comes up). As we live in a very touristy area the economy crisis didn't have any impact on the real estate market so far. Everything is awfully expensive and there's not that much around to buy anyway. So I spend most of my time going through newspapers and searching real estate homepages ... (Most of you have been there I guess ...)

I really enjoyed scrapping lately (as opposed to "designing") and I found a great page with adorable kits and weekly challenges:

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/

For a challenge there I also tried my first "altered art" layout. Which is quite different from the type of layouts I normally do. See for yourself:



I promise to be back with some freebies soon!

Get framed!

Okay, it's a bit of a lame title. But I've got something for you and I'm so excited about it that I can't wait until tonight to give it away!

Here is one of those element sets that you'll be using over and over again: Basic bent frames!

And because I like them so much myself, I made SEVEN basic frames. And for your convenience I've added them with shadows, without shadows and in a beige paper version. Isn't that great?

(Preview only shows the white frames with shadows.)

So download them and leave some love if you like them!

http://www.4shared.com/file/111739216/7d12fa81/ILR_Bent_Frames.html

Did I mention that there is more? I also made a layout with these frames that you can download as a layered Photoshop template AND as a quick click (for those with other programms):

http://www.4shared.com/file/111739825/c2a17d2e/ILR_Bent_Frames_Layered_Template_and_QC.html

And here's a quick layout that I did with the template (just to give you an idea). The background paper is from a past SNL kit, the brushes on the paper are from 500ml brushes.

It's been a while but here we go!

May was a very busy month for me, in a very good way. My parents in law came all the way from South Africa to visit us for a bit more than two weeks. Which resulted in extreme-sightseeing here in Austria with a short trip to Italy and two daytrips to Germany. So not much time left for hanging around in front of the computer. I did start making a whole album of their visit, but it's not finished yet.

After they returned home safely I went to Vienna for a week for work (we took part in an exhibition there). It was strenuous but I also had some time to meet up with friends and stroll around the city.

Today I'll have to get out of the house as it's the most beautiful summer day you can imagine, BUT before I do that I still wanted to publish the link to my "Extraordinary Page Kit" (that you can see in the post below).

I gave it away as a freebie at the SNL birthday chat already, but it wasn't downloaded that often. I'm currently working on some more elements that go with the kit (I just love the bright and fun colors).

AND tonight I'll post another freebie, which is just about finished (I always become VERY creative when I ought to do housework :-)).

So have fun with my "Extraordinary Page Kit"!

http://www.4shared.com/file/101117751/13daf1d/Extra_Ordinary_Page_Kit.html

Posting Bonus for Sunday Scrappers Chat

Sunday Scrappers Chat at DSP is running another challenge (deadline: May 10th) and this is my latest fresh and fun kit that you will get as a posting bonus if you do a layout! Voilá my "Extra Ordinary Page Kit":

For more information have a look at the chat's forum:

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?p=659456#post659456

The chat is on every Sunday at 3pm DSP time which is 8pm UK time! Lots of very nice people, so just pop in if you have a few minutes! It's one of the few chats that is scheduled conveniently for us European working class scrappers. :-)

All those yesterdays - Freebie kit

I always think it's a shame to design a kit and to stash it away in a drawer shortly afterwards. Therefore I've decided to give away a kit I made a while back for SNL at Digital Scrapbook Place. For those who've never heard of SNL: It's a group of people who started designing their own scrapbooking kits, sharing them with eachother every month, trying to improve their skills.

So here's my "All those yesterdays" kit:


And here's the link for downloading it:

http://www.4shared.com/file/98079651/bc8ffcc2/ILR_All_those_yesterdays.html

Here's a layout that I did with the kit and that I've always really liked:

Springtime and project 365

It's hard to believe that within two weeks it turned from brrr...still snow to 25 degrees in the afternoon: I love spring, always have. When you live in a country where winter might last from November until March you start craving for some sunshine and warmth and for wearing short sleeve T-Shirts. Well, I do. It's on purpose that I didn't mention the smell of cow dung wafting through my window, there has to be SOME downside ...

What's new except that I enjoyed the sun instead of making some freebies? I've got a new mobile phone. And I need to brag about it, because it's not just simply a phone but it's the latest (in Austria anyway) Cyber-shot phone. Which will allow me from now on to take photos anytime anyplace (too much trouble to carry my camera around all the time).

And therefore I've decided I'll try to take part in "Project 365" at DSP:

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37829

I think other sites call it PAD - photo a day.

I felt like the first three month of this year passed so quickly. Often enough when someone asks me what I did last weekend I have to think hard before I remember. So I'll try to take one picture at least every single day from now on and then make weekly (or monthly) layouts and post them in the DSP gallery for the project.

So one day I can look at all the small, everyday things - and remember.

Baby got the blues papers

I've been really busy at work lately which basically means that I dropped into bed every night before 9:30 and didn't even think of switching the computer on at home as well to do some scrapbooking.

I still have a little goodie for you anyway, just a few blue papers. If you like them, leave a comment!





And here's the link: http://www.4shared.com/file/94130668/6a0a473e/ILR_Baby_got_the_blues_papers.html

No luck this time

With such a huge number of great layouts, I didn't make it to round two in the DET contest this time. So I can only take part in the next contest in 6 months' time again. The good news are: I'll have more time for designing. Still wanted to show my layout here:

ADSD 2009 March Blog Train

And here we go: The ADSD 2009 March Blog Train is running!!

Here's the preview for my kit:




Click on the following link to download it: Spring Thing Page Kit.zip

Follow the Train to More Fabulous Freebies... the ADSD 2009 March Blog Train!

(Links have been removed.)

Blog Train starting on March 1st

The blog train by ADSD (Aspiring Digital Scrapbooking Designers) will be running from March 1st and I decided to be part of it! Well honestly, I hope this will work out as I'm going away for a long weekend with my sweetheart. Can't tell you where to, as I haven't told HIM yet (it's his birthday on Sunday), but I'll let you know when we're back.

The blog train topic is "Hurry up and get here spring".

As I said: You can't download my contribution YET but here are two quick layouts that I did with my kit:









Be sure to check back here on Sunday!

Freebie: Date me - Timewheels

A while back I took part in a design competition at Digital Scrapbook Place. I didn't get very far but I learned a lot. I made two page kits for the contest which I still want to redo. One of them contained a timewheel (ok I really don't know the proper term for it, but hey, it's my kit so I can name it however I want to :-)). As I might not redo the kits THAT soon I'm at least giving away a small variety of my timewheels as a freebie.

The file includes the actual discs (two with years and month on it, two with weekdays and days of the month) and the arrows for marking the dates/years.

Please note: While the discs already have a drop shadow, the arrows don't (so you can place them anywhere and add your own shadow.)

And here's the download link: http://www.4shared.com/file/84751857/f6095520/ILR_Date_me_Time_Wheels.html

Please leave a comment if you like it!

Freebie: Jolly Holidays Page Kit

Here's the preview of the kit that I've been working on lately. I want to try to make two kits every month this year - one for SNL and another one extra.

Download it from: http://www.4shared.com/file/82455480/beff9769/Jolly_Holidays_Page_Kit.html

Would be great if you could leave a short message if you like the kit!

And here are a few layouts that I've already done with the kit:

I can't believe I did it!

Wow, one of those "I can't believe this is working" moments. I've got my own blog now!

It's far from finished, ladies (and gentlemen), but it's a start. And as soon as I find out now how to add links and slideshows aso. I'll give away the Scrapbooking Page Kit that I just finished and that I used to do this page's (still very basic) design.

Welcome!

This is my first attempt for having my own scrapbooking blog. So please be patient with me, it might take a while until everything looks the way I want it to look!!