Another FREE class from Jessica Sprague

To celebrate 6 years running, Jessica Sprague and team have posted a free class to get you hooked!! Photo Editing: Frame Ups & Special Effects 1. And you will be hooked! I adore her teaching style!! Her classes are filled with an incredible amount of information and tons of free digital STUFF!!! I highly recommend the classes found here for beginners & advanced users both.

Quick'n EZs .png FREEBIES

Cleaning out my digital files and came across this neat little freebie! They are both in .png format, so just drag & drop into your Photoshop Elements or other editing software and add you own photos and a bit of text if wanted...and viola! Instant 12x12 scrapbook page! Enjoy!

Download Quick'n EZs here!

3x4 Journaling Cards Freebie

The earlier link for this file was closed, however, since I procrastinated in removing the files as well...you benefit! Yay! I am reposting the original file containing the Art Cards and will keep them here as freebies for you as long as my blog is around.

Free Digital Journaling Cards

ReDeaux... Celebrate Everyday Life Mini Freebie

Life is certainly unpredictable. That's a good thing, I think. So, I'm only a month late with a quick freebie. Hope you enjoy every moment of today and celebrate everyday life, every day!

Celebrate Everyday Life

New Year, New House, New State, New Everything

What a time our family had in 2012! 

We have since moved from my beloved home state of Texas to the gorgeous North Carolina. WOW. Luckily, we have documented most of our move & shenanigans with iphone photos & Instagrams, so I am looking forward to creating some memory pages! In the mean time, I wanted to update some of my freebies.

I have fallen in love with the Smash Book way of life & ideas by K&Co. I love the art journaling aspect of all of it! And I have come to sincerely appreciate Becky Higgins Project Life. So excited about her & Jessica Sprague doing a Digital Project Life class! Fun!!  This is a perfect class for beginning digital scrappers!! Using templates & ready made backgrounds, Jessica Sprague leads the absolute beginner in Photoshop Elements or one of the PS Creative Suites to creating some fast, easy & fabulous memory pages!

So, since the craziness of last year & not being able to produce digital designs, (instead it was all real life stuff!) I will be repackaging & redesigning & revamping my existing kits for a digital project life kit & posting here ...most of them for free for you! Because I really want to see these designs used.  Check back toward the end of the month of February for links to download my freebies.

April Showers brings May Flowers...

Just as a follow-up post to our Spring BlogHop...I would dearly love to see any pages made with our freebie kits! (Even if you added some of your own stash) Send me a note letting me know where you have posted your layout! Seriously! I would love, love, love to see where your imagination took you with these papers and elements!
~Crystal

Thanks for stopping by!

BONUS!!

Just a quick note of thanks to all who have dropped by & picked up the latest FREEBIES from our Art of Digital Design II Spring Blog Hop!

As an extra bonus for checking back with me, here is another mini-set of elements to add to your Spring kits! Enjoy!

Download the Tape & Tags Here

In case you missed the download earlier this weekend, I have updated the links...and kept each kit pack separate, in case you did.

 Download the Journaling Cards Here

Download the Paper Pack Here

Remember, you still have all of today to let your friends know about the awesome kits you have picked up through our FREE blog hop! Just keep them clicking on the sidebar & go down the list to visit the designer sponsors!

Be sure to make a note of your favorites & support them at their digital store. We hope you have enjoyed all the extras. Happy Digi-Scrapping!

Yea! It's Here!!

Spring BlogHop is Here!

So excited to participate in this Spring Time Fun! Welcome to the Art of Digital Design II class sponsored blog hop! There are several designers, such as myself, who have put together a complete set of incredible digital & printable goodies! Just to share with you! :) Here is a preview of my take on this Spring theme. Enjoy!

Download Papers Here

Download Artists Cards Here

Check the later post on MAR 31 for the updated links!

I've included in this mini-digi kit 6 papers and 12 Artist/Journaling cards (all created at 300dpi, .jpg & .png included). These can be used for any Project Life you are currently working on! 

Be sure to stop by all the other blogs to download a fresh, fun new kit for your digital stash!

 Your Last Blog ...Michele

Your Next Blog ...Erica

(by the way, Erica is a fellow homeschooler with an incredible blog filled with insight, love, & creativity to encourage your journey of schooling & life!!)

If you happen to lose your way, here is a complete list of all the blogs to visit!

http://ajanise.blogspot.com

http://www.bytheshoredesigns.com

http://crumpledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com

YOU ARE HERE! 

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.com

http://scrappingdownalane.blogspot.com
http://prairiewomandesign.com

http://elaineanjos.typepad.com

http://foosamoon.blogspot.com

http://jeaniesdesigns.blogspot.com

http://www.lanakoopman.com/blog

http://nadidesigns.blogspot.com

http://rosanissenbaum.blogspot.com

http://www.stockhopstudio.com

http://www.simplyshayla.com

http://www.threeowlsinanest.com

http://hundoghand.blogspot.com

http://www.passport2creativity.com

READY to Hop?!!!

It's almost here! The Art of Digital Design2 class sponsored BlogHop will start tomorrow morning! Yippee! Be sure to visit all of the awesome designer's blog for loads of Spring Freebies!

Starting Bright & Early Thursday Morn!

Art of Digital Design 2 Spring Blog Hop

Join us in hopping from blog to blog and gather some awesome new mini-kits along the way!! 

Mark your calendars & set a reminder to check back here on the 29th of March!! This will be my first blog hop to participate in & I'm really looking forward to some fun, fun, fun! 

December Digital Dailies!!! Beginners Start Here!

I found the coolest sites, links, inspiration and resources this morning!! Like most of the digital scrapping community, everyone is asking one another...'Are you doing the December Daily with Ali Edwards?'  Just click the link to find out what that is all about!!

Be sure to read down Ali's post and click the link for the

FREE Digital Scrapbooking Manual from the Daily Digi with LOADS of wonderful information in PDF form about how to get started from the get-go with Digital Scrapbooking written by a host of veteran scrappers! Just what everyone wished they had known from the beginning...where to start...vocabulary that you have no idea what it means---EXPLAINED!...shopping...organizing...and more. Great place to start! Thanks so much to the wonderful folks at the Daily Digi for putting this together for free!

And another link to the Daily Digi's

Digital Scrapbooking Guide to December Daily !!!! Fabulous!!

And here is another free tutorial from the Daily Digi about making some awesome Christmas Cards with the School of Scrapping!

Making Custom Christmas Cards

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day!

Did you even know there was such a thing?!? We also have a National Scrapbooking Day here in the US (it's in May) kaBoks is celebrating, along with most other digital scrapbook stores online, and we are having a SALE! Yep. Just enter the code:  DSDAY  at checkout and receive 30% off your entire purchase Sat Nov4 and Sun Nov5!  Going along with the theme of the day, here is a freebie that goes with all of my Chantilly Collection. Click HERE for Clipping Mask. Enjoy! I love comments, btw. Really, I do.

Chantilly Collection

Yea!! My Chantilly Collection is now available in the store! Go check out kaBoks or here specifically to see my new complete set!

Creative Team Designs

Melanie is one of the kaBoks Creative Team members and she just posted this layout she made using the Collab Kit!! eeeeee! Love it!

Can you find some of my pieces? 

New to Digital Scrapping? Read On...

Ok. Here's the deal. None of my family or friends...my real life, honest to goodness real people that are in my circle of influence,  know how to scrap digitally, with the exception of one daughter. Yea, Miriam!! Anyway, for me to promote and be excited about this new store and what is happening for CloudyChais, I either need to educate everyone I know or get new friends. Blah! I love my friends!! Hence, my next statement. Class, get settled. And, please. This is me. So, ask whatever question you want, because that's what I did, too. *only I had to ask a bunch of strangers*

Here's what you need first. A photo editing software program loaded on your computer and a few pictures, too.

A few pics...let's start with 3.  Put these photos where you can find them. What does that mean? If I asked you to show me the pictures on your computer, would you know where to go? You could even make a new folder on your desktop (right click anywhere on an empty space on your desktop and choose 'New Folder'), name it Scrapbook Pictures (or whatever you want) and put the ones you want to work with inside the folder.
If you need help doing this, send me a note or comment & let me know what you are working with...PC or Mac...Vista or XP or OSX... Ok?

Now, you need the software. This part is easy. Adobe lets you try before you buy with their downloads and you can try this for 30 days. This LINK will take you to the Adobe website page that gives access to the all the downloads available from Adobe. You are looking for Photoshop Elements 10...it is at the bottom of the right hand side. Just click TRY. The next page tells you the system requirements and the Trial FAQs & all. You should see a yellow button that says 'Download Now'. After loading the latest Adobe AIR and the Adobe Download Assistant...I know, I know...which will ask you to make an Adobe Login Name & password...(email & pswrd) The Adobe Download Assistant downloads to your computer and then starts downloading the trial software. Since I already had a few downloads from Adobe, I had to look around the Assistant to find my download. It was at the bottom of the window, I clicked Photography on the left drop down menu and then I used the left & right arrow in the right hand window to find it...

Again, don't download any of the CS5 stuff! That is the full version of Photoshop (PS) & will be crazy to try to learn, especially since most of the tutorials online are using PS Elements. And, if you decide you really like what you have created after your month trial, the Elements software is around $70-$100 bucks, unlike the full version which is ...i don't know...really expensive. And attention all teachers, homeschoolers included...Adobe offers an educator discount. Either check out their website or buy from a store that offers those discounts as well.

Whew! That's a lot of info and we are just getting started. More to follow...promise. Oh! And this download will probably take a really, really, really long time. :)

30% OFF until the 30th of October

So excited about the store opening and the possibilities. Seriously, I only have a few items posted from my 'Espresso Yourself' kit and the collection should be up by Wednesday, so check back. Also, the Chantilly Collection should be up by then, too.

Check out the BLOG for kaBoks  and sign up for the newsletter & you will get a link to the huge collab kit for FREE!! Yea! Then, of course, post your LOs made in the gallery and you might even win the grand prize!

We also have a coupon code that will give you 30% off on all products in the kaBoks STORE:

GRANDOPEN

This coupon is valid until midnight MST on the 30th of October.

Lots of free tutorials

After talking with a few acquaintances today, I realized not many people in my life know that I am a graphic designer...or a digital scrapbooker...or what a digital scrapbooker even is. Soooo, now I have at least several blog posts scheduled to help explain a little bit. But not now...I am exhausted. :) In the meantime, if you are interested in learning a little more about this, I am posting a few great free resources to begin your journey into the Digi World.

A favorite of mine is JessicaSprague. This is a great couple of lessons to get you going. And free items to go along with the lessons! Dive in!



Before I forget...

                 5StarDigitalScrapbooking
I came across this neat site today and thought I had better share! They have about 29 free tutorials, some advanced in techniques and knowledge, but others at beginner levels. They looked great!

Here's another blog with a few tutorials that you should check out...

SimplyKellyDesigns is a fellow classmate from the Art of Digital Design and she has some great products in her Etsy store as well as some great tuts!

I will keep posting the free tutorials because that is how I began learning!! It is sooo much fun!

More from Shimelle's

Such a great class so far! Lots of stuff to do and tons of inspiration! The video today was just the thing I needed to start USING all of the scrapping supplies I have hoarded over the years. As a matter of fact, that is why I started doing Digital Scrapbooking...just so I wouldn't have to cut any of my pretty papers. But now, I see that I have a similar view with Digi supplies and this was just the thing to get all the creative juices going strong!!

Looking for a way to use all your beautiful paper that you have stashed & organized?
Join me @ SHIMELLE's (she's so cute) for a Pretty Paper Party! The class started yesterday, but you have access to all the prompts & materials...and we are just getting going! Awesome for hybrid, traditional, and my fav...digi!