Summer's Eve

I can not believe that tomorrow is the first of August! I am a bit sad that the summer is going by so quickly! I love this time of year and the warm days and cool evenings! We didn't take any fabulous vacations this year, but we did enjoy a wonderful Staycation this past week!

At Brownie Scraps, we have just released our brand new Designer Collab. It is a combination of 6 mini kits with the same fabulous color palette! It is entitled Summer's Eve. I also scrapped a layout with it of my son playing with his water gun! I made it into a quickpage so feel free to download and use it with your own pictures!



Download HERE

This Collab kit also includes a Vacation album and all you have to do is insert pictures and print!!



To get this kit, you only have to spend $10.00 in our store! Instructions are HERE of how to pick up this collab!

Last of all, I have a fabulous blog to tell you about and send you to! Not only is she having a great drawing right now, but she has some awesome stuff on her blog. She does beautiful paper work! As a digital scrapper, I have the greatest respect for the work of paper scrappers! They inspire me in so many ways! But the best part about this amazing blogger, is that she is my neighbor! Yep, she lives right next door and one of the best neighbors ever! She puts up with all my rugrats, so that alone makes her amazing! So, go check out her beautiful stuff and sign up for her drawing!

I Love Pretty Paper

Have a great evening!

Sweetness

I have another amazing kit and freebie to share with you tonight. Actually, I have a lot of stuff to tell you about, so be prepared for quite the read! So many fun things are coming up. I hope you are ready!!!!

First of all, I had the privilege of working with an amazing kit this past week. March is one of our new designers at Brownie Scraps, and I just love her work. She has a very unique and cool style. Almost all of her elements are made herself and I love that! Her new kit is so pretty and girly! I just had to scrap one of my daughter's favorite photo's with it:



I liked it so much, I made it into a quick page to share:



Download HERE

Here is what the kit looks like, you can click HERE to go to March's store and buy it. She has it on sale for less than $3.00!!!



The next thing I have to tell you about is our birthday celebration that is coming up in September! Brownie Scraps is turning 1!!! I can't even believe it. I have so many mixed feelings as I look back over the past year. Opening this store was such a dream of mine. Soon after I got the ball rolling on it, I found out I was pregnant. Little Noah was a complete surprise to our family (a wonderful gift) and I was nervous, but determined to keep things going as I dealt with pregnancy, birth and a newborn. I was blessed to have a wonderful team to help me get through it all and I love them for it! So, now we want to celebrate with a BANG!!! We have created an awesome birthday bag, full of goodies! There is a product for every day of September. We will also be posting a challenge that goes with each product, every day during the month of September. You can buy the bag now (well, actually starting August 1st) for only $5.00. The price will go up to $10.00 once September gets here and after September, the products will be sold separately. It's a great deal that will come with a lot of fun! Here is a sneak peek of just a few of the items available. I may show more throughout the next month, and some of my designers may give sneak peeks as well, so check out their blogs!









As soon as it is officially in the store, I will post the link here, so check back often!

The last thing I have to tell you about is Brownie Scraps is hosting Designer Survivor! It's a design challenge, loosely based off the popular reality show (one of my fave's). I have been working on the ideas for this since January and can't wait to get started! There will be freebies and lots of fun as we go! I will post more about it tomorrow!

For the Love of Dirt

I'm so excited to tell you about this amazing kit! Leslie is not only one of the designers at Brownie Scraps, but she is a very good friend! She and I met a year and a half ago on a digiscrapping board at ivillage! I've always loved her work and was so excited that she would want to come sell her designs at Brownie Scraps! I love getting to CT for her because her product is so fun to work with. She released her new kit today, and it is so much fun! I even made a quickpage with the kit, for you to use!



Download HERE



Oh, and I almost forgot! Leslie has a brand new design name that is just awesome!!! She is now our one and only Punky Princess at Brownie Scraps! You can check out her new and darling blog, as well! Go there and leave her some love!!!

Free Word Art

I have a little freebie to give you today! It's a Word Art in three different layer styles! You can use it for lots of your romantic layouts! Here are examples of just a few that my CT girls did:
















Download HERE

Ramona and Her Brothers

My second part to last week's kit is finished and in the shop! I'm really excited about this little gem and thinks it makes a nice addition to the Sister's kit I gave out free!



Buy it Today for only $3.15!!!

I'll be back tomorrow with a freebie to go with this kit!

Part Three...

Next week will be the last installment of this kit, and I hope you've enjoyed it, so far! I have really enjoyed creating it. I will have a new theme and kit for Mondays in August. I kind of like doing it this way, in pieces!

When I think about Pioneers, I think of heritage and those who have paved the way before. It can be for anything in our lives. Those who came before often made choices and sacrifices that make our lives richer and fuller. So, this quote seemed very fitting to me. Just yesterday, I was talking to my kids about their grandfather, my father. My dad is a wonderful man with a huge heart! He joined the LDS faith when he was in high school. He went through a lot of criticism and misunderstandings from many of his family, but with his younger brother and sister, they forged forward into this new faith. He was a pioneer in his family, and my life and the lives of my children are better for it. As I shared with my children little stories from their ancestor's past, they were captivated and hung on every word! There is just something so endearing to one when they learn of someone who lived before and shares their blood. It's an amazing thing.

So, my challenge to you all this week, is to think of those who have lived before, who have affected your life in any way, and share their stories with your children, grandchildren, neices, nephews, etc. Help keep them alive and their legacy strong in the hearts of our youth.



Download HERE

Sneak Peek

This is just a little sneak peek to the second part of my sister kit! I'm still finishing it up and will have it in the store by Thursday! It will be half off on Thursday, so be sure to snag it then!

Freebie Friday

I try to post a freebie, every friday, on our store blog! I decided to share it with you here!

I have a template that I put together for you! It's simple, but those are my favorite kind!



Here is a layout I made, using this template! It's so easy to use, and I literally created this layout in less than 5 minutes!



So, just click on the template above to download! And if you like the kit I used for my layout, you can find it in the shop HERE

Tutorials

First, I want to start off by wishing my sister, Lynette, a very happy birthday, today! It's also my nephew Waylan's birthday. I live far from both of them, so I won't get to see them! However, I will be thinking of both of them!

I really hope you all enjoyed my "sister's" kit! I am working on a part-two to match this kit, called "Ramona and her brothers". I know, I know, in the actual Ramona books, she didn't have a brother. However, not only have I been blessed with 2 wonderful sisters, I also have 2 brothers! I'm hoping to at least have a preview and maybe a quickpage of the new kit in the next day or two!

Over at my shop, Brownie Scraps, every Thursday we have tutorials posted on our blog. Tomorrow is my turn! So, you can check it out and see the step by step directions to get a vintage look in a photo. Or, you can download this set of actions to achieve it with the push of a button! I also included actions for a sepia look and a b&w look. Now, I'm no master of actions. In fact, these are the first 3 that I have written, so they are very simple. However, if you're like me, when I'm scrapping, I like shortcuts! So, hopefully you'll find some use in these.



Download HERE

The Differences of Sisters

I really like this word art for today! It shows that although we all have our differences, we are from the same place! Sometimes I laugh when I think of how different I am from my sisters and probably most my family. They probably wonder where they found me! Growing up was no different. I was the dramatic one, the one who was constantly writing a new play (or the adapted screen play for a Nancy Drew novel, in 4th grade) and coercing my siblings into participating. I really don't know why they put up with me! One of my favorite memories was when I decided that it was time to leave home. I knew more than my parents and I was ready to face the future on my own. I was 9. I did my fancy talking and convinced Rachelle to join me. I told her that I would do the dishes every night and she could watch t.v. whenever she wanted. Granted, I had no t.v. I didn't even have dishes I could have washed! Needless to say, she followed my crazy plan and we both packed up our stuff. We set up "house" in an old barn back behind our home. It didn't even belong to our parents, so I'm not sure what the actual owners thought of it all! We were happily independent for a total of 2 hours. Then I had to use the bathroom and decided to repent and go home!

But even for our differences, at the end of the day, we all enjoyed the same quiet childhood. We cherish the memories and feel thankful we have each other.






Download HERE

Sisters

With the release of this new kit, I thought it only appropriate to share a few FREE wordarts and memories about sisters! As I mentioned previously, I have two wonderful sisters. But, I have to admit, we didn't always get along! We certainly all had our moments. Just to prove what a pest I was, my sister Rachelle (2 years younger) tells of a memory when we were younger where I would sit and brush my long hair and say "you will never be as pretty as me, you were adopted, mom and dad will never love you like they do me." Now, she is the only one with this memory, because I certainly don't ever recall doing anything like that!

My sister, Lynette, is eight years younger than me, so I don't really remember fighting with her as much! I just remember her as my curly headed sister who always had a big smile! She worked hard to keep up with us, and SHE remembers a few times where we would send her in to ask mom for permission and then ditch her. I really don't think we ever did...

So, in honor of sisters everywhere, the good moments and the bad, I made this word art!


Download Here

I'm also excited to announce the First Every Designer Survivor coming to Brownie Scraps:



It promises to be a lot of fun, so spread the word and sign up today! Also, here is a blinkie for you to wear in your siggy and feel free to link it to our Designer Survivor Blog



Blog

Part Two of "A Stone Rolls Forth"

I'm so excited about this freebie today! This is the second part to the paper pack I posted 2 weeks ago. I love this scripture that the word art is taken from, and I hope you will find use for this word art in hand outs and other church related things. It probably won't work great for a layout, unless you are doing pioneer pictures. This time of year is a great time to think about the early pioneers and the sacrifices they made to help the church grow and this work move forward. I'm so thankful to all of those brave and women who gave their lives and worked so hard to follow their faith. Each one of us, have our own trails to forge and work to do and I hope that I can face it with the same courage and faith as these early saints.



Download HERE

I also want to apologize for not putting the right link up for the email updates. Sometimes all this computer stuff confuses me and I put in the wrong code! It's all fixed now, so feel free to put in your email so you can get an email when I update the blog!

The Sister kit is still available, so feel free to download (if you haven't yet) after signing up for the emails!!!

Ramona and Her Sisters

I'm so excited by all of you who have visited my blog, clicked on the "follow" button and signed up to receive email updates when I post. If you haven't done either of these things, please do! It will be the best way I can get updates to you, freebies and lots of other fun!

I thought about individually emailing the links to this kit, but then I decided that I'd rather spend that time designing! So, I'm going to trust that if you download the kit, you sign up for Feedburner and click the follow button!

I will leave the links up until Wednesday night, then it will go into my store for sale! So tell your friends to come get it now!

I'm also curious how many of you read the Ramona books when you were in elementary school? I, of course, read them all because I was so excited that she shared my name! I was also teased mercilessly throughout my childhood as Ramona the Pest. Of course, no one could think of the other Ramona books. I mean, why couldn't I have been Ramona the Brave? Or Ramona Forever! That would have been so much better! Oh well, now that I'm almost 40, I decided I would embrace my hated nickname!

Feel free to leave me a comment and share your favorite book from childhood. I have always loved to read, so it's fun to discuss the favorites!

But now on to the good stuff! Here is the kit and the download links! When you create layouts with it, feel free to post them in my gallery at Browniescraps. I would love to see them and give you lots of love!



And here is a layout I created of, of my two little girls!



**Links are now expired**
However, it is for sale in my shop!

Welcome to my new blog

I am so excited about my new name and my new blog! I know that it's a pain to transfer from my old one, but I really wanted to make a fresh start! But, let me tell you the good news! I have a FREE kit, just waiting to give out to all my loyal followers! It is my first kit to be sold under my new name! And in the spirit of the Ramona books, I entitled this kit "Ramona and Her Sisters". In the Ramona books, she only had one-Beezus. However, I have been blessed to have to wonderful sisters! In my life, I was the oldest, so I got to be the bossy one. I'm sure I was more than a pest, many times-but in a different way! So, this kit is dedicated to my two sisters and the differences that make us who we are! Growing up, we were either playing house with our dolls, or playing church on the stairs or out building forts in the great unknown behind the house! We could be girly one minute with our Sunday dresses and ringlets (I remember those curlers every Saturday night) and grungy the next as we dug for worms or did our best to outdo our boy cousins! Both of my sisters were blessed with athletic talent-I was not, however, I have always been in admiration (and a bit jealous) of what they can accomplish. I'm proud to say that my sister, Rachelle, who also has six children, just placed first in the 5K on the 4th of July back in our home town. Not only that, she achieved her personal best time in running it. It goes to show that we can all accomplish anything, no matter where we are in our lives! It is never too late!

So, to honor them and thank them for many great memories and lots of great laughs, I created this kit:



And I will give it out FREE to everyone who signs up for the little newsletter on the side (click next to the orange button) and clicks the "follow" link! You have to do both, so I know how to find you to give you the kit! My goal is to get 100 followers over the next week. Do you think we can do it? Tell your friends, send them this way, and they can also get this kit! It comes with 9 papers, each unique and 30 elements. The kit is a little girly and a little grungy--just like my sisters!