The Shabby Shoppe Sale

Head on over to The Shabby Shoppe today and you will find yourself in digital scrapbook wonderland.  They are having a 25% off sale for almost every item in the store.  I have been wanting to purchase a few of the kits, but just hadn't taken the time to sit down and order and download them yet.  Well I'm glad I "waited"...because I just got everything I wanted and more at a 25% discount.  And those who know me know I can't resist a good sale!  The last file just finished downloading and I must say that I am in love with the kits I bought.  I decided on Bounce, Smarshmallows, and Sandbox just to name a few!  I can not wait to use this on some new layouts and can't wait to share them with you!  If you still aren't certain that you are ready for digital scrapbooking and don't want to commit any money to it yet, check out their free kits here.  I've downloaded just about everyone of these and LOVE them!  You will too!
The Shoppe sale ends on October 4, so hurry and check it out!

Beginning Digital Scrapbooking from a Beginner!

I have a confession to make about Photoshop.  C bought Photoshop Elements 8 for me as a Christmas gift.  I was so excited to get it out of the box and install it.  As soon as I opened the program for the first time, I was completely overwhelmed by it's capabilities!  There were so many tools and effects that I didn't even know where to begin...it doesn't even come with a manual.  So I opened a new file and tried to get right to work creating my first digital scrapbook layout.  I worked on it for about 20 minutes and gave up!  I had no idea what I was doing and was so disappointed.  I had seen the extravagant layouts with beautiful layers and perfectly placed pictures...I just knew I could do it!  But it turns out I couldn't!  So I gave up for quite a few months.  I'm sad to say that I didn't even open Photoshop for a good three or four months!  The little Photoshop icon on my computer stared at me every time I turned on the computer...taunting me even.  And then my digital scrapbooking world completely turned upside down.
One afternoon I was browsing the Shabby Princes blog and stumbled upon a free template.  I had no idea what it was or how to use it, I just knew it looked cute and I wanted to figure it out and quickly!  At the bottom of the post, it linked to a tutorial on how to use the free template.  Please take the time to look at this, you will be amazed at how simple and easy it really is!  So I downloaded it and got right to work.  I opened it in Photoshop, opened up one of my free digital kits that I picked up here and got right to work.  I made this layout in about 20 minutes. 

The most time consuming was picking out the digital kit to use.  I used the Happy Go Lucky kit from the Shabby Princess website...did I mention that these are FREE!  There are so many digital freebies out there, I have yet to pay for any download!  Most of the digital kits come with a few papers, a few embellishments (ribbons, buttons, clips, etc.) and sometimes an alphabet...everything you need to create a wonderful layout!  Look at the wonderful layering and shadows on the layout, that's all built into the template.  All you have to do is open your digital papers and elements (buttons, ribbons, etc.) and the photos from your computer.  Basically drag and drop and your layout is done!  I love it...this is exactly what I was looking for!  I hope to eventually have enough knowledge to create my own templates and "from scratch" layouts, but for now I am perfectly happy with others doing the hard part! :) 
Here's another layout that I worked on recently.  I also used the Happy Go Lucky kit for this one, it's one of my favorites.

So there you have it, my Photoshop confession.  Wow, I feel so much better getting that off my chest!  Now what are you waiting for, check out those sites and get to work.  I would love to see what you create!

One of my favorites...

I love, love, love checking out Kevin and Amanda's website.  I  find so many great things there, things that have helped me turn this blog from drag to fab.  Love the blog post fonts?  That's Amanda's font Pea ScrapBrandy.  You can download it for free, along with so many others.  See my header up there?  I created it in photoshop with the free digital scrapbooking kit "Spring" from the website.  I could spend hours scrolling through the posts and finding inspiration.  You should too!