What matters…

“SAY it with BLING” starts today!! Gorgeous daily download!!

(The image is clickable)

Go check out the ScrapMatters blog today…I wrote today’s entry and I think it is really important info for scrapbookers.  Sometimes we need the reality check of why we are doing it in the first place.  I love the creative part and that really is a huge portion of why I scrap too.  But, ultimately for me it is the story.  I see so many layouts that are creative and artistic and technical, but lack the story. Now if art is your reason for scrapping and you do it to fufill your own creative needs rather than leave your family legacy for your kids or future generations, then disregard my comments and scrap away!

I have seen so many extracted, shadowed, fairy girls with glitter swirls and surreal backgrounds dancing around the page with their quadruplet or septuplet siblings…LOL.  These are stunning and beautiful, but what does that say??? It says mom is a talented scrapper!

Will it be as sentimental to someone in 30 years?  Will anyone know who the cutie pie even was?  Now was that Sara or Susie?  (disclaimer…I am exaggerating and I DO appreciate these LOs for the art, but they do not fit meet my goal for why I scrapbook. Certainly we all have our own reasons we create!)

Now don’t get me wrong, I have seen amazing storytelling in some very technical work… take for example Julie’s (greenpalm) LO “True Companions”  and her LO Beckoned (which is out for publication here).  WOW!! What talent!  Don’t forget the story:)

On a lighter note, Chrissy W’s taking part in the Elemental Scraps Dollar Deals – TODAY only 8/25 with four items that are $1 each…2 items are template packs!

Also there is a ScrapMatters Speed Scrap coming tomorrow!

That’s -
6:00 PST/7:00 MST/8:00 CST/9:00 EST
and 11:00 am Wed AEST (Australia Eastern Standard Time)
Hope you can all make it. As always you will get a new instruction every 10 minutes for the first hour and then have an hour to complete and upload your LO. You receive a lovely gift just for playing by ELLIE LASH!!!

DID you see?

Candice Wong’s Lightroom Presets and everything else are on sale 40% off at digigirlsdesigns

We are wrapping up the ScrapMatters Grand Re-opening party …many fun challenges! Plus sales (sale prices will show up in the cart) and grab bags…HURRY over:) it all ends tonight!

This one uses Matahati’s grab bag by the way:)

and this one uses the Friday Flea Market Mega kit…your’s free with a $15 purchase…HURRY!

Hop on the Blog Train! It’s the ScrapMatters’ Round-the-World Tour

Hello, Krista here. Welcome to Iowa, the Midwestern part of the United States.  I grew up in Los Angeles and lived in California until 5 yrs ago.  We LOVE it here in the Midwest!  No traffic, no smog, great schools, friendly people…and wide open spaces when you want them. LOL

This is the 21st stop on the SM Round-the-World Blog Tour.  You are almost done:)  If you follow all the links, you’ll now have a fabulous brag book made with our Mega Collab kit, “Friday Flea Market.” These are all 5×7 pages, each saved as a png file, ready for you to place your photos and finishing touches.

Here’s mine…hope you like it!

Here is your link

Your next…and final stop (#22) … is Lisa at www.kandykanekreations.blogspot.com

The first stop on the tour was the ScrapMatters’ Team Blog, so if you missed it you might want to backtrack to the beginning or loop around at the end!

So to sum it up…The stops so far have been
1. The ScrapMatters Team Blog  2. Andilynn Designs Blog  3. Britt-ish Designs Blog  4. Erica’s Blog  5. Sya’s Blueprints  6. Katie’s Scraps  7. Happy Scrap Girl Designs  8. Tater Scraps  9. Scrap ‘it by Breeza  10. Digi Keepsakes by Monica  11. Jeni’s Crafty Blog  12. Stacy’s Back Door Designs  13. Wendy’s – WM2 Designs 14. Neeceebee Designs  15. Strange Brewings  16. Ellie Lash Designs  17. Matahati  18. Haynay’s Blog 19. Sassy Pixie Blog  20. Heather’s JOYrevisited

Thanks for playing along and helping us celebrate the grand re-opening of ScrapMatters!  Have a great weekend and don’t forget to come by for our cool challenges all week as part of the celebration!

WOW …it’s been forever:)

I have been so busy lately… scrapping, working, travel, kids out on summer vacation.  However, I could not stay away with some exciting news.  I have been chosen to be part of the new Scraps Matter Gang over at ScrapMatters! 

I was sad that my 6 month CT position at ScrapMatters will be ending August 31, so I applied.  I am pleased to stay on with this super scrap community as part of the team.  These are some rather exciting times at ScrapMatters, new designers, exponentially growing community, awesome challenges, famous speed scraps, and … check this out!

I’ve had the opportunity to use the Mega Kit…WOW is it amazing!  Many surprises to come with the grand re-opening…

 

Chrissy W is going strong now at Elemental Scraps she also is hosting a regular template challenge on her own blog.  There are a few freebies there now, so check it out.  Here is one of her newer template sets for sale and her new 12×4 templates are super for borders and layering.  PLUS All of her products are 35% off until Aug 5th…so hurry.

 

Candice Wong has the most amazing Adobe Lightroom Presets…they make your pictures pop perfectly!  She has her own site digigirlsdesigns.com but also sells at Purple Paper Flowers.  She makes many element packs and paper packs too.

 

Other news, Jessica Gorny has returned to designing after a many month hiatus due to pregnancy.  She is selling at Pickleberrypop and has several new kits out.  She asked if I would still CT for her:)  Also she is part of the Teacher’s pet program over at Funky Playground Designs. The first challenge was to create mini-kits to give away in the FPD Gallery that were considered to be trendy in today’s scrapping world. Head over to the gallery to pick up her kit for free and check out all the other contributers too. Each zip file is password protected and you need to sign up for the FPD Newsletter to get the password to unzip them.  Hurry because these will be going away soon.  Here is Jessica’s…

and here is one of her new kits for sale…she also has a grab bag going on:) both at Pickleberrypop

I’ll be scrapping some LO’s catching up after our trip to Las Vegas and Orange County… enjoy your Sunday!

This is not an illusion…

Well, I can’t seem to get the hang of the blogging thing…lol. Since I know I am really writing this for myself (since no one even knows it is here Big LOL!), I really have not tried to be good about posting regularly…busy? sure! but no excuses.

Since my last post I have joined the ScrapMatters Creative Team and have a guest spot for Mira Designs for March and April.  I have busily been creating for all three places.

Wanna see?

Sure, this is using Mira Designs’ – Sophisticated Blues available at Scraphead.com

Credits here

 And this next one is from ScrapMatter’s Britt-ish Designs – Dreams Do Come True Mega Kit available at scrapmatters.com and scraphead.com

Credits here

And this one with Candice Wong’s contribution to the PPF Collab Simple Goodness available at digigirldesigns.com

Credits here

If you look through my gallery I have been very busy!  I also participated in the Oscraps birthday party and completed 7 LOs in 7 days there:) FUN

TFL!

BYE:) 

PS- I do have a challenge coming out on Tuesday with ScrapMatters…and a darling free participation gift made by Brittney of Britt-ish Designs…It’s title is “springtime for krista”…LOVE it!

Lightroom is in my future…

Yippie…Just found out that I was selected to join Candice Wong’s CT!  I’m so excited to use her delicious papers, but also she makes many Lightroom Presets, so I may just have to splurge so I can use them too!  You can see her designs at Purple Paper Flowers or DigiGirlDesigns and see what I mean.

 Also I did a page with one of the pictures from the snow day… getting ready for V-Day too:)

Credits here in my gallery

SNOW day!

 Yesterday was a snow day here in the Midwest…we got about 10″ and the kids had a blast!

The kids played outside for probably 3 hours with all the kids on the street…making snow forts and digging tunnels etc.  It was a relatively warm day about 30 degrees F  and the snow stopped by noon with the sun arriving and making for a beautiful day.

I got a chance to scrap a bit and work on Boxtops for school.  It really felt like a weekend:)

Off to work I go…

Settling the debate:)

I saw this cool new feature in action on Donna Rafferty’s Blog  and had to try it for my own family… Go ahead and try it yourself http://www.myheritage.com/look-alike-meter

 Our DD 

Our DS

It’s been forever since my only blog entry, but I am wanting to try.  Let’s see how this goes:)

Hello world!

I think WordPress gave a perfect title, so I’m keeping it…  This is a bad sign if I am feeling unoriginal already LOL.

I’m starting memories from the middle because I have been caught by the digi scrap bug…in a big way… and well, I live in the middle of the United States!  My family moved 3 1/2 years ago from the suburbs of Los Angeles to the Iowa (by choice).  We are still loving being here, despite missing family and friends from Cali.  We have found a great community here and simply a better place to raise a family (for us).

I started lurking and finding freebies last August when the kids went back to school. Then in September I learned Photoshop through tips on blogs, tutorials, and searching for techniques in help!  I spent my winter practicing and dabbling in design.  By March I was doing LOs for Di Hickman to show her gorgeous templates in action.  And in April I joined the Scraps for Charity CT.

I had thought “I can do that” about being a designer, but then realized how much time it would take and all the administrative stuff…yikes.  I decided I was probably better suited to be a consumer (and give back any random spurts of creativity to others via RAKs or blog freebies).  Good Karma!  Thus I needed a blog, LOL!