Friday, October 10, 2014

Promotional Post: October New Releases Over at Fresh Brewed Designs

In case you missed it, Monday, October 6th, saw the release of a whole new line of images. If you haven't seen them all yet, let me introduce you to them...

Sir John A. McDonald Public School recently had a Dress Up Pageant for their 2nd grade students.  Many of the children participated and there were 12 in particular who went all out with their costumes.

Lily started off the pageant with her home spun cotton candy outfit.  Her mom did such a great job creating it.  Doesn't she look so sweet?!
 

Bradley was next up on stage sporting his dinosaur costume.  He is quite a fan of all things dinosaur related.  He is planning on having a rip roaring good time today.


Joy buzzed up onto the stage next with her cute little Bumblebee outfit.  She flitted here and flitted there ensuring everyone got a good look at her costume.  It really is the bee's knees isn't it?!  Although, the judges better watch out if she isn't on their best dressed list.  Joy packs quite a punch with that stinger!

TR went up next.  He decided to dress up as an alien as he just loves all things science fiction.  In fact, it is his favourite genre.  His costume looks out of this world, right?!


Jenna and Joshua are next door neighbours and have been playing together since they were both in the crib.  Their parents thought it would be cute to dress them up as a little bride and groomThey traipsed up on stage hand in hand while the wedding march played in the background.
 

Bruce plans on being a doctor when he grows up so he figured he would get some practice in today, not only looking the part but practicing the art as well.  He has been busy all day dispensing out apples to help prevent his friends from having to go and see any other doctor.


 
Yvette is very active in general and has the tendency of popping up all over the place.  So, it was only fitting that she dress up like a container of popcorn.  It is a bit cheesy but that is only because she sprinkled on some fake orange flavouring at the last minute to give herself a bit more colour.


Jeremiah is always being told to settle down in class and stop clowning around.  Therefore he thought it would be fitting to show up for today's pageant looking the part. Although I would advise staying away from that flower on his chest if you plan on staying dry.


Hannah just loves fairy tales and always pictures herself as the princess when her dad reads to her each night before bed.  Spending today dressed up as an ice princess is a dream come true.  She had fun waving to her subjects as she walked across the stage.


Brian's dad is a fireman and Brian tries to emulate his father in everything that he does.  Thus, he decided to dress up just like him for today's pageant.  Later on tonight he'll be taking a picture with his dad in uniform when he comes off shift.  He can't wait!


Lindsey is the tiniest girl in the class and she decided that she wanted her costume to stand out; so, she decided to dress up as a strawberry.  Of course in hindsight, that may not have been the best idea.  Her costume turned out so realistic that people have been trying to take a bite out of her all day.

Finally that leave James.  If you haven't guessed yet, this young lad's favourite season is winter.  Dressing up as a snowman is his tribute to his favourite winter pastime and of course to his favourite fictional character, Frosty.

So, there you have it.  Twelve adorable children all dressed up in a wide array of costumes.  As each of the outfits was so different and unique, it was only fair that they were all deemed winners that day, each receiving a special badge. 

Why not share one of these sweet images on a card for a special child in your own life?  Whether for Hallowe'en or paired up with one of the fabulous new sentiments that Heather has come out with, any child in your life would be lucky to receive a special card from you featuring one of FBD's latest images. 


Be sure to go and check all of the new costumed cuties available in the Fresh Brewed Designs store.  You can find them all in the Dress Up Kids section.  Clicking HERE will take you to that area of the store.  To locate any of the new sentiments click on the watermark above or HERE.
 
At Fresh Brewed Designs we always have a fresh pot of creativity brewing. So stop by and join us for a cuppa whenever you want!




Have a great weekend everyone.  Until next time,


Monday, October 06, 2014

Card Design: October New Releases at Fresh Brewed Designs

It is time for some brand new releases from Fresh Brewed Designs.  This time around we've been invaded by the most adorable little kids playing dress up.  I'll be back on Friday to introduce you to the whole new collection but for today, I'm going to show you the creation I made with the image called, Snowman Dress Up If you click on the watermark, it will open up the home page over at FBD where you can find this cute image and all the rest of the new releases...
http://www.freshbreweddesigns.com/
 General Information:
  • Even though this little tyke isn't actually a snowman but rather playing dress up, I still couldn't resist the opportunity to create another Christmas card.  I think he is just such a cutie and matches up with the sentiments I chose, perfectly.

Christmas Card Count to date: 22
FRONT
Digital Image Details: 
  • Snowman Dress Up: Part of the new release collection of Dress Up images coming out today.  You can find all the new releases over at the store right now by clicking HERE.
    • This image was coloured in and grounded using Copic Markers.
Digital Sentiment Details:
  • I love this ticket shaped sentiment from Scribbles Designs.  Click on the watermark to find it in the SD store.
http://buyscribblesdesigns.blogspot.ca/2012/09/019-let-it-snow-quote-100.html
Embellishments:
  • The fabric snowflakes are Crafts brand purchased at Dollarama.

INSIDE
Digital Sentiment Details:
  • Another great sentiment from Mudmaven.  Don't forget to check out her blog for more awesome freebies. 

OVERALL
Paper Products: 
  • Card, image and sentiment base: Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, white.  
  • Patterned papers are from Recollection's Bright Christmas paper pad. 
  • Matting is from Michael's open stock scrapbook paper. 
Challenges I am hoping to enter...

Just a reminder about our current challenge...
Don't forget, you have until Tuesday, Oct. 14th at 11:55 p.m., to enter our current challenge with the theme, "Tags". Just click the image below to be taken to the link up!
 
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my card and one of the latest new releases over at Fresh Brewed Designs.  Remember to come back on Friday to meet the rest of the new dress up kids.  I hope you have the chance to take some time for yourself, grab a cuppa and relax while browsing through the store.  Maybe one or two of Heather's wonderful images will find their way back home with you.  

At Fresh Brewed Designs we always have a fresh pot of creativity brewing. So stop by and join us for a cuppa whenever you want!


You can also find FBD on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Until next time,


Motivational Monday: Lord Give Me Strength

If you are new to my blog and would like to know why I started Motivational Monday, please go HERE.

Have you ever had one of those weeks?  One where you just wanted it to end and hope that after the week had ended that your life might just go back to normal if you were lucky and prayed really hard?  Of course in my case it is more like a 10 day span.  

As some of you know, I have been battling a rather sore mouth.  What first the dentist suspected was an abscess might now be an infection related more to my gums than to my teeth but she won't know for sure until she drills in--which won't be for over over a month since I can't get an appt. until the second week of November because she is so busy.  Then of course there is still the emotional trauma I'm dealing with from watching two of my neighbours lose everything they own due to a devastating fire which I talked about in last Monday's post.  Their lives will never be the same and it has really affected me.  A person's life can change in an instant and it was a clear reminder that we cannot take anything in our lives for granted. 

Well, Friday I was dealt with another little challenge.  When I first opened my eyes, as I adjusted to get out of bed, my first thoughts were: "God is smiling down on me and this is going to be a good day".  I stood up, took one step and got my right foot caught up in an electrical cord.  As I careened forward and started my decent, I slammed my head and neck into the TV and my left hand smashed into the wooden cabinet (which is at the bottom of the bed).  According to my husband who was downstairs in the living room, that was the first thump.  Then I basically slid down and slammed into the floor.  According to my husband that was the second thump.  Let's just say it took me a while before I was even ready to get up off the floor, even with my DH's help.  All in all, I managed to hurt my right ankle, my left shoulder, my left hand, and tore up two of my fingers which has left me typing one handed.  I also hit my head and the left side of my face pretty hard developing some nice green splotches here and there.  Over the last couple days I have also developed quite a bit of soreness in my ribs and back.

I think if I were to check my biorhythm or horoscope, it would probably be in the toilet!  According to a good friend, apparently Mercury is in retrograde and when that happens, bad things happen.  So, I'm blaming some of this on Mercury. ;)  My hubs said that because I praised God saying it was going to be a good day, the devil had to smack me back down.  You know, I'm getting awfully tired of his antics.  I swear something out there is trying to bring my positivity to a crashing halt but I'm DETERMINED to not let it.

So here is my positive spin on this:
  • I didn't take out an eye on the way down
  • I didn't lose consciousness
  • I didn't break any bones
Things could have been a WHOLE LOT worse and I just thank God that they weren't.   There are people out there going through significantly worse than I am and I do recognize that.  It is just that all of this has set be back AGAIN and there are so many people counting on me to get things done:  reply to emails; get things sent out to people who've patiently been waiting all week for them; getting DT work done; getting kits ready for challenges I am sponsoring, etc.  I hate disappointing people but right now between only being able sit about an hour a day at the computer and only being able to to use one hand when I do, I'm really struggling to accomplish anything!  I'm really looking for things to turn around and get back to some semblance of normalcy!  I can't afford for my stress level to go up any higher and each hour that I can't work, it effectively does!!!!!!

So, I'm going to leave you with a couple of sentiments that you can 'download' if you'd like.  I'm going to reflect on each of them daily myself until I get through this latest mini crisis of mine.

First and foremost there is...

Font Information:
  • Clicker Script font created by Astigmatic One Eye Typographic Institute
  • Sexsmith font created by Ray Larabie

and then for a little humour there is this one...
Font Information: 

If you are one of those people waiting for something from me, I do ask for your patience during this difficult time.  I'm doing everything I can to get back on track but it is going to take me several days to do so.

Until next time,



Additional Information: 
Please be sure to click on the image to bring it up into the lightbox in its proper size before saving it.  Click on the font name to take you to a download location.  All these fonts were listed as free for commercial use at the time each of these project were made, and as such, it is my understanding, that I am within my rights to use these fonts in my creations and offer them to others.  Please refer to my full terms of service for what you can and cannot do with these digital creations.  

These word art creations are in png format and published at 300 ppi. They are quite large in order to accommodate different programs that people work with.   If you are a card maker you can always resize them smaller without distorting the quality. 

Credit Notes For This Creations
© 2014, Lisa L. Décosse. PUO. However, you are allowed to use the sentiment on handmade projects that you intend to sell on a small scale basis provided credit is given. You also need to include a credit note and a link to this blog should you use any of my images in your creations and post them on your blog. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with my full terms of use found in the 'Download Instructions & T.O.U.' tab at the top of this page. Of important note:  Please do not share my images with family, friends, etc. Additionally, do not post any images to file sharing services like Box®, 4-Shared®, etc. Instead, please direct people to my blog(s) so they can grab the image for themselves. If you would like to post a watermarked version of the image, please contact me to obtain one.


Sunday, October 05, 2014

I'm Sponsoring...613 Avenue Create

http://avenue613.blogspot.ca/
It is my pleasure to announce that I am sponsoring the latest challenge over at the 613 Avenue Create Challenge Blog.  This is my fifth challenge sponsorship this year.
 

The current challenge starts today and the theme is Anything Goes.  The challenge is one week long and ends on October 11th at 7:00 p.m. I created a brand new kit for this challenge and I can't wait to see what the DT members created using my goodies.  Actually, the kit has one more section and several more goodies than usual plus a full uppercase alpha (including numbers and symbols) because I was having so much fun putting it together and didn't want to stop.  

Here are the prizes up for grabs!







  • One person will receive the full mini kit.
  • One person will receive all the papers (12 patterned and 12 textured).
  • One person will receive both element sets (floral elements and general elements).
  • One person will receive the frames, the tapes and the alphabet.
That is a total of four different prizes!  I hope that you'll consider playing along in their challenge.  To help provide some incentive, I am offering up one of the washi tapes from this kit as a freebie.
https://app.box.com/s/kdq8khescd94bq7peutr
To grab this tape click HERE or on the preview above to be taken to a download location.  In the zip folder you will find a copy of the tape, its preview sheet, the credit information and my terms of use which are standard to all my folders.  This tape is in png format and published at 300 dpi.   

You can find out all the details you need to enter the challenge over at the 613 Avenue Create Challenge Blog Are you up for the challenge?

Until next time,

Friday, October 03, 2014

Card Design: Pattie's Creations Challenge #101...Embossing

http://pattiescreationschallenge.blogspot.ca
Happy Friday everyone!  It is time to announce the next challenge over at Pattie's Creations Design ChallengeThis time around for Challenge #101, the theme for the next two weeks is Embossing.  
 
Here is my card, I hope that I haven't forgotten any important details:


General Information:
  • Once again, since this theme is pretty open it allowed me to get an extra Christmas card created for this month.  One more card to add to the Christmas Card Pot to help me avoid the yearly Christmas Card Panic.  

    Christmas Card Count to date: 21
FRONT
Digital Image Details:  
  • Winter Mittens:  I just love this image.  Those mitts look so warm and cozy.  You can find the image in Pattie's Etsy shop by clicking on the name or watermark linked below.
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/168904691/winter-mittens?ref=shop_home_active_3
    • It was coloured in with a combination of techniques.  The mitts were paper pieced using one of my papers (details below). The other aspects of the image were all coloured with Copic markers.  I added some green glitter to the ruff of the mitts as well.
 Embellishments:
  • The half pearls are Crafts brand and were purchased at Dollarama. 
Digital Paper Products:
  • The paper used to digitally paper piece the mittens is from my Holiday Hoopla collection, Paper Set 1.
INSIDE 
 
Digital Sentiment Details:
  • One of my own.  You can still find it for free HERE.  I made it red like the one above and also in black so you have a choice.
OVERALL
Paper Products:

  • Card base: Michael's Recollection's cardstock, red.
  • Image and sentiment base: Michael's Recollection's cardstock, white.
  • Matting behind sentiment is from Michael's open stock scrapbook paper. 
Embossing Folder:
  • The small dots on the card base were created with a Goosebumpz embossing folder using my wonderful Big Shot machine.
Challenges I am hoping to enter...  
I really hope that you will join us sometime during the next two weeks.  Don't forget that along with all the typical rules that apply to the majority of challenges out there (please click HERE to become familiar with all the rules), you MUST USE A DIGITAL OR STAMPED IMAGE to qualify for the drawing (unless stated otherwise).  We would absolutely love to see you use a Pattie's Creations (PC) image on your card, but you are allowed to use other images.  If you do use a PC image, you will gain an extra entry in the draw and will have a better chance to WIN!  You can enter twice per challenge and of course MUST follow all the challenge requirements that are posted for each challenge. Easy Peasy right! 

As always, I hope that you will also check out what my fabulous teammates have offered up for inspiration and pop over in two weeks time for the next challenge brought to you by Team Pattieboop.  Oh and don't forget...Pattie offers up a new freebie the first Friday of the month; so, be sure to pop over today and check it out! 

Until next time, 

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Scribbles Designs Challenge #21 Midway Point

It is the first of October.  There is a deep chill in the air, the leaves are starting to turn and a week this coming Monday it is Thanksgiving here in Canada.  Yup!  Fall is definitely here. 

Today also marks the midway of the latest Scribbles Designs Challenge. 

There are two whole weeks left for you to come on over and enter. In case you've missed it, the theme this month for
Challenge #22, is Counting Sheep Have you met Mr. Wool?  Well, over at Scribbles Designs, we have another beloved character and his name is Mr. Wool.  He also has some friends and they can get up to a lot of mischief.  We are dedicating this month to Mr. Wool and all the other cuddly sheep out there.  So, make sure to include a sheep on your project this month.  One sheep or two, it is completely up to you!

Entering is super simple!  You do not need to use a Scribbles Designs image; however, if you do, your name gets entered into the draw twice.  You can purchase your Scribbles Designs images HERE or you can also find one for a limited time on the challenge blog HEREAlso, be sure to check out our special Freebie Friday posts as it is another great way to build your Scribbles Designs collection.  You can find the rest of the rules and information regarding winners in the sidebar on the challenge blog.  You have until 9pm PST on October 14th to come over and play with us.

FRONT
Digital Image Details:
  • Mr. Wool Smiley:  It is just so fun using Mr. Wool.  I love his cheeky attitude.  Clicking on the watermark below will take you to its location within the store. I flipped him horizontally before printing, for the purposes of this creation.
http://buyscribblesdesigns.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/704-mr-wool-smiley-250.html
Digital Sentiment Details:
  • My own.
Embellishments:
  • The button was part of a collection picked up over at The Dollar Tree. 
  • Cross stitch yarn is from my stash.
Embossing Folder:
  • The texture on the small pennant underneath the button was created with a Goosebumpz embossing folder using my wonderful Big Shot machine.

INSIDE
Digital Sentiment Details:
My own.

OVERALL
Paper Products: 
  • Card Base:   Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, Neutral Collection.
  • Image and sentiment base: Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, white.
  • Matting:   Michael's Recollection's Cardstock, Preppy Beach Collection.
  • Designer Paper:  Recollection's The Sweetest Thing Paper Pad.
Challenges I am hoping to enter... 
http://buyscribblesdesigns.blogspot.ca
So put on those thinking caps and design a project that fits our Counting Sheep theme. If you need some images to help you out you can check out all wonderful ones that are in the Scribbles store (you can click the image above to head there now).  Remember there is still two weeks left to enter at the Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog, so I hope to see you there. If you have some time, I invite you to go and check out the wonderful inspiration offered up from my colleagues on the DT.  With so many possible projects to create, the ideas are boundless.  We always look forward to seeing what you come up with for each month's theme!
Until next time,