Free Overlay!

To celebrate the fact that it is the end of the week - hey, I needed a reason and that one seemed as good as any! lol - I have put together a few freebies for you.

I have just started getting into producing Overlays as part of my first Digi Kit for E!dou. You wait until you see these Kits I am creating - wowser! Tons of free digi papers, all custom made designs. Plenty of Elements to go with them, plenty of newly designed Brushes and, of course, newly created OVERLAYS.

So what is a Digi Overlay?
Quite simply, it acts like a Paper scrapping overlay - a transparent layer that you place over the top of your Digi scrapbook Layout.

Here is my first Digi Overlay for you to download - if you’d like it, just click on the link underneath to take you to Mediafire and download it from there. Easy peasy! For those of you who are Hybrid scrappers, download the overlay, flip it in another program such as Word or Publisher or PS and then print it out to use in your paper scrapping LO’s.

http://www.mediafire.com/?wmfxtaxdjon

Here’s a sample of what the overlay looks like as a thumbnail:

Here’s what it looks like as an overlay over a photo:

Have fun and happy scrapping!

Sares x

Printing Tips

There are a few different types of inks and stamps out there at the moment and they can get a bit confusing - which type should you use? What stamp goes on which surface? etc etc

I have put together a few tips this week - back to the proverbial drawing board, as they say. The first technique is what I call “Negative Stamping” using alcohol and archival inks. This is not my original idea, I have to say. I’m just putting it together in a (hopefully) easy to understand, step by step method.

The second tip for stamping I have put together for you is called “Kiss Print Stamping“. Again, not my original idea, I am just putting together for you in a more easy to understand way. Kiss Printing has to be one of my fave new techniques - each time I do I get a thrill at the end result - I love it!

Sp take a look at the Tips and Techniques pages below, or click HERE and HERE for a quick peek at the new techniques and don’t forget to let me know how you go at trying them, ok?

Take care all,

Sares x

The Ice Woman Cometh

You didn’t expect that I would get back from the snow and you wouldn’t be bombarded with snow piccies, did you?

Let me just say that if you haven’t thought about going down to the snow this year (or ever), it is THE best place for photography. I don’t think you can take a bad photo down there. Just think! All that natural light bouncing off a perfect white background, with a bright sunny sky and kids with rosy cheeks. A photographers’ dream!

We arrived in Cooma on Tuesday to a lovely 1degree C. Pulled into the **laughingly described as a** hotel, took one look around at the falling down fences, the towels with holes in them, the broken heater and the potholes in the driveway and made hubby turn us around and drive until we found another hotel. If you are ever in Cooma DO NOT ever book into the Cooma Country Club Motor Inn. What a joke.

We found a hotel down the road willing to put us up for the night, and the owner found us a place to stay for the next two nights that was perfect. Two rooms (”Hey kids! Look! Nickolodeon!**sound of door slamming**)

We headed off to Mt.Selwyn the next day and arrived to a lovely coverage of snow and 4 very impatient kiddos wanting to dive head first into it. The sun was shining and we had a fabbo time scooting down the hill on our toboggans - although James had a bit of an impromptu ride when his toboggan slid down the hill without me on it - screaming the whole way down….AAAAAHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Poor kid was a bit traumatised, but nothing that a bucket of hot chips didn’t fix at lunchtime.

  

By the way, is there anything cuter than a little kid in a skisuit?? Sooooo cute I wanted to squish them like a big blue marshmallow.

  

The next day we headed up to Thredbo - after a long *ski hiring* session with Rul, the Belgian Ski INstructor (**sigh**) Wherever you are, Rul, my heart goes with you!

We hoped to get the kids a more full ski experience by heading to Thredbo and taking them to the top of Crackenback, but alas, it was not to be. Blizzard conditions at the top and -8 degrees - I didn’t fancy having Hannah blown off the chairlift and landing in New Zealand somewhere.

So we headed into the village on the shuttle to have some lunch - and all the while it was snowing, and snowing, AND SNOWING. It snowed so much and so hard that we had about 20cms while we were there. Oh! I just love snow. There is something about it that is so magical and romantic. Makes me feel quite frisky, really. Where is Rul the Belgian Ski Instructor when you need him?

  

  

  

There is no end to the lengths I will go to get that “RIGHT” photo - and it paid off. The next pic is my fave of all the landscape shots and I kid you not, it was taken WITHOUT any type of lens or filter or any fiddling with Photoshop. The landscape coming down the mountain was so picturesque I made hubby stop in the middle of the road so I could get this shot (sorry to all the patient people behind us :blush:

 

And yes, before you ask, I have already scrapped my first snow LO - being away from my scrap supplies for 4 days made me a bit desperate to get back! lol - I felt a bit refreshed in my brain, so I’ll take a pic and show you in another few days, ok?

Some other scrap related news - I have been given a “Call Back” for my DT application from Chatterbox - YAY! Check out their Blog entry HERE. All I have to do now is wait until I receive a package from CBX and a deadline and see how we go from there. I would love to add CBX to my DT spots - I have always loved their papers and their product versatility. Fingers crossed!

I have another bit of exciting news too - I have been accepted as one of the first Designers for the newest Digital Scrapbooking Online site - E!dou. I am soooo excited to be able to share some of my more intricate digi scrapping designs with you all on that site and I am flattered to be a part of the new team. Thanks Louise for having faith in me!

If you’d like to sheck out E!dou, simply click on this link:

www.eidou.com

Now I am off to finish up some more designs for E!dou and for Upsy Daisy. Thanks for reading this epic - catch up with you soon!

Take care,

Sares x

  

Goodbye Term 2, Hello Holidays!

Urgh! Thank goodness that Term is over. I was just about at my limit, let me tell you. The kids were acting up, the dog was acting up, the cat was acting up - even I was acting up! lol - we were all pretty tired and in need of a rest.

Which is why we have decided to drive 800kms to the snowfields for a mini break That makes sense, doesn’t it? LOL - the girls in my next Saturday class may have to teach themselves - I might be a wee bit out of it when we get back on Friday!

So, as I posted a few days ago I have finally finished all my stuff for the Masters. Saved to CD and posted. Phew! What a relief and a huge weight off my shoulders. I get these ideas and then kick myself because it took soooooooooooooooooooo long to finish them. Idiot. I love to make things harder for myself, don’t I?

In between doing the Masters stuff I have searched Newcastle for costumes for the school play and kitted everyone out for the snow by visiting EVERY SINGLE op shop from here to the Central Coast. Not recommended with kids in tow, let me say that now.

“Mum…..(whine)  Can I get this toy?”

Me (getting a wee bit edgy): “No! For Pete’s sake, don’t you have enough of that stuff at home? Why on earth do you need a broken plastic Hotwheels car anyway? Don’t you realise it’s just going to get trodden on in about a NANOSECOND of being in the front door, then kicked under the couch where I will, no doubt, rediscover it a year from now in a fit of vacuuming frenzy? Why, oh why must you have it?”

Kid: (whine looking crushed) “Because…. I just like it…”

Me: ((Sigh………)) Oh allright, just go and ask the old lady how much it is. And try and walk with a limp! And say your father is away at sea! And take Hannah with you - maybe if she’s cute enough she might get it for free….”

Husband looks at me sideways with accusing glint in his eye…

Me (looking wounded): “What? Don’t look at me like that! Anyway, you can’t say anything, you’re at sea, remember?”

 

I shudder to think what kind of skills I am passing on to my kids.

Speaking of other skills, I have recently updated the Upsy Daisy Blog THE DAISY DIAIRES with a new LO using their wonderful CUPCAKE range of papers and rub ons. Our task was to create a few LO’s with a summery theme to theme, which was a bit of a challenge during winter, I have to say. But, thanks to Global Warming, we are having a mild winter and I was able to make the kids go outside and play for a while

In the meantime, I have also had a play with some photos I took on the same day as the Upsy Daisy ones - here is a pic of James that I absolutely LOVE:

And here is one of Ryan that I also love - and, by the way, did you know that steel wool from under the kitchen sink is a great substitute for fibre on a boy’s LO?

Just staple it on - the staples won’t even be seen within the steel wool anyway.

The next LO was my version of the awesome sketch Kim provided is with for the July sketch comp at KSK - there’s so much you can do with a great sketch!!

What’s funny is that Yvette and I produced a LO with the same title in the same week - maybe we are running out of titles! lol

Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Until the weekend - I’ll be thinking of you all while I am hip deep in an icy creek, pulling one of my kids out by the ankle after a freak tobogganing accident.

Wish me luck!

Sares x

Finished!!

Just a quick post to celebrate the fact that I am FINALLY finished all my projects for the Masters and if I have to see another bit of scrapbook paper again I will spew.

Until tomorrow.

LOL - some more good news to celebrate tomorrow too - but you’ll have to wait! MWA HA HA HA HA

In the meantime here’s a few printable titles I have made in PS - just click on the thumbnail for the larger version to show up ans “Save IMage As…”

Until tomorrow!

Sares x

Brilliante awarde!

Thanks to Hanny I received this Award for being a ”Brilliant Weblog”. I’m very honoured Hanny - thankyou!

Who gets the “Brilliante Webblog Award“?

Websites and blogs of your choice for their designs that are especially noteworthy.

Here are the Award Rules:
1. The winner can take the logo
2. Place a link to the person that send you the award
3. Give the Award to at least 7 other Scrapbooking-Blogs, which by its currency,
the issues of choice and for their designs are especially noteworthy
4. Put a link to these sites on your Blog.
5. Write a comment on their Blogs that they’ve won an Award

I’d like to give the Award to these wonderful weblogs:

Janine Kaye: For her lovely, classic, bright and cheerful LO’s and her wonderfully warm and generous nature.

Jill Geraghty-Groves:  Jill has a style that amways makes me look twice - combines with brilliant photography.

Jaimie Emmerton:  This chook never ceases to amaze me with her wonderful LO’s and she is also a mad crazy person like myself.
 
Scrapwitch:  aka Lisa because she is willing to try anything and she has an eye for colour that is awesome!

Petrina McDonald: This woman amazes me with her photography and her sense of colour and design.

Belinda Venables: Being a fussy scrapper I admire anyone who can achieve a fabulous look without cluttering up the page - Belinda does it with style every time.

Marnie Sanford: Marnie has a hip and funky approach to her LO’s that I love.

What else have I been up to this week. Up to my NECK in Masters stuff before the deadline next week. You should see my studio - eek! what a mess. I just cleaned up my computer desk so that I can type this message and said a prayer for the rest.

I have done a few “normal” LO’s apart from the masters stuff - one was for a 20 minute challenge I was trying to get one of my classes to complete. This LO was done in just under 10 minutes, which nearly killed me, but it was good exercise not to get too bogged down in the “little stuff”, iykwim?

I completed my projects for Upsy Daisy last week, so now I can finally show them off to you…

 

All of these Layouts and OTP’s have used the “VROOM” paper line from Upsy Daisy - which is a perfect line for boys because of it’s funky colours and little cars vrooming all over the place.

This stuff below is a set of “Party Stationery” such as the Invitation, the Lolly Bag and the Novelty Photo Frame that would go with a three year old party theme.

And (sorry for the bad photo) this last LO was just done very quickly during the two minutes of sunshine we had last week. We ran outside in our jammies, played on the bikes for 5 minutes, got rained on and then came inside again. That was it for the week.

 

Anyway, I am going to keep my head down for the next few days working on getting the rest of this Master’s stuff finished off. Oh! And by the way, I have had some acceptances from Scrapbooking Memories and Creations this week - I have a heap of things being pubbed over the next few months, which is always very exciting.

Take care all,

Sares x
 

Creative Splurge

I spent so much time last week fiddling about and achieving nothing that I have had a creative “splurge” this week and I have finished off about 50 projects I had hanging around, waiting to be done. Don’t you hate that? I got snowed under with other family stuff and these piles of “projects” just sat there waiting for my procrastinating ass to get back on track.

Well, I’m back on track.

So far this week I have done 6 full size LO’s, several A4 Lo’s, made three cushions, a fabric book, some doll’s clothes, painted and decorated my eldest son’s bedroom, cooked two roasts and created two OTP’s to hang around the house - which I LOVE - I love having those precious photos surrounding me - even better if they are scrapped.

I nipped down to the local framers the other day (big mistake) and managed to flirt enough with the guy behind the counter so that he’d give me some of the matt board off cuts. I’m not talking the usual scuzzy stuff you find lurking in Kmart - I mean the REALLY quality canson board. Then I found some cheap frames and voila! Here’s the result…..

The one of the family….

And the one of my brother and his wife on their wedding day…

I’m in love with those 3D frames - watch out my Cessnock girls, are you ready for a suprise in one of our next classes?? Hint hint.

Remember that one eyed photo I took of James last week? It deserved to be scrapped in a bit of a funky LO, so here it is:

But my fave for this week is one that I have had floating around in my head for a while. I found this old photo of my great uncle John, and fixed it up in Photoshop - it was crinkled and crushed to blazes.

Then I have printed out some of the Digi elements from Katie Pertiet over at Designer Digitals (love that place) and here is the result…..

Here’s a close up of the digi leaves that I printed out - aren’t they divine? They are called Ledger Leaves on the DD site, if you are looking for them.

.

Speaking of Digi, I have finalised membership on a site so that I can upload my Zip files - that way I can give you guys some digi freebies as zipped files, rather than .pdf’s. I have already created quite a few sets of digi brushes and stamps. Now I am developing whole sets - woot!

So to celebrate the fact that I can now upload my brushes on my blog, here is the first set of brushes for YOU for FREE!

I have created 14 Digi Brushes using Adobe Photoshop CS2 around the theme of “Father’s Day” - lots of clocks and footy teams, car emblems and so on. Here’s a preview:

Just click on this link here My Digi Brush Sets Page and it will take you to the page where you can click on the file and follow the download procedure from there. They are about 1.3 MB in size. Just click on the file to download, then “Save” the file to your Adobe Presets - Brushes file. It’s a zipped file, so you’ll need to extract it with Winzip (or whatever) after that.

That’s all from me, folks. I am off to have some quiet time while the boys are all at the football - bliss!

Sares xx

 

New Spot for Tips!!

Well, I always wanted a bigger audience for my Techniques, so I applied to Julie over at Inspirational Blogs and asked her if I could be considered for a spot on her team. She said yes - WOOT!

So now I get to add a funky new blinkie to my widget and be a part of a team that shows off a whole bunch of cool tips and techniques each week with a bunch of talented designers.

So, if you get a chance and need something to inspire you, head on over to Inspirational Blog or Inspirational Blog Tips and Techniques - you won’t be disappointed!

I’ll also leave you with a pic of my LO published in Scrapbook Creations this month - called “Pasta Disaster” featuring her noodleness, Hannah Banana trying to twirl pasta and failing dismally!

Heads Down Bottom Up

The title best describes me at the momemt - getting ready to send in some applications for various companies and also fulfilling some contract work for the mags PLUS fiddling with my stuff for the Masters. Phew!

I am all scrapped out. Well, not really - God almighty! Wash my mouth out with soap!

We are at the beginning of a very big week for us - we are taking James to school tomorrow for his first interview with the Principal for enrollment. I can’t believe he is getting ready to go to school - I mean, kids going to school are so tiny and he is certainly smaller than most!

On the flip side I have Luke growing older (and taller) by the minute and asking me if he can have tickets to the Footy and a Mobile Phone. What the? I actually found myself saying, “Just because other kids have them, doesn’t mean……” OMG I am turning into my mother.

Ryan has spent the entire weekend going to birthday parties - that kid has filled up the entire top shelf of the pantry with lolly bags. He is so good, though. For most kids, the temptation of those lolly bags would be incredible (Luke would have polished them all off and then left the empty bags up there in the hope I would be fooled). But Ryan just comes to me each time and asks permission for a lolly. He also wants to “look after” James tomorrow and make sure he is “careful” with the bullies on the bus. My beautiful, sensitive, darling boy.

Here’s a couple of LO’s for you to have a peek at from last week. I went a bit nuts with the Bollywood Braids and Trims stuff on this LO of HB.

I haven’t even been able to photograph the stuff that I have completed this week - for two reasons. One: the RAIN - just plain old ordinary photos. Two: plain old laziness. I got the camera out for the first time this week yesterday, thanks to the flu. I just HAD to take some photos of Mel’s bub in yesterday’s class - she is just soooo cute!

I had a great time playing with the images in Photoshop. Woot!

Then there’s Nene’s little boy who is so gorgeous and has the most wonderful nature.

And then of course, there’s James, who raced around like Mercury saying, “You can’t get me!” while I tried to take a photo of him. So all I got was this…..

((SIGH))

Actually, truth be told I quite like it - I’ve already printed it out ready for scrapping, lol!

Take care all and have a great week - I’m off to start dinner and get baths started.

Sares xx

Yours for Free!

Well, I didn’t win the “Design - a - Range” competition over at Scraplounge, so the next best thing to do is to offer all the papers to YOU for freebies!
The two ranges I sent were both 2nd and 3rd respectively, and congratulations goes to Claire Bremner who won with her lovely range called “Charlee’s Kitchen”.

So, without further ado, here is the first of the two collections I created - this collection is called “Disco Teen 1″ and it will hopefully add a dash of colour and dynamism into your teen or tween LO’s.

disco-teen-paper1-by-sarah-gladman1

disco-teen-paper2-by-sarah-gladman

disco-teen-paper3-by-sarah-gladman

disco-teen-paper4-by-sarah-gladman

disco-teen-paper5-by-sarah-gladman

disco-teen-paper6-by-sarah-gladman

Again, these are only small files for those of you who would like to work on some mini books this weekend. Just click on the file link for a slightly larger version.

And while I am in a giving mood (and because I have got the flu AGAIN (the 4th time this year)) - here is a Digi Mini template for those of you who are feeling a bit lazy at this stage of the long weekend - it’s a template with a “pretty, old ashes of roses” kind of feel to it. I have only made it small for those of you doing Mini albums this weekend.

rose-template-digi

Take care all,

Sares xx