Please Donate For Baby Alphonse

One of my designers, Mye De Leon, gave birth to a sweet baby boy last month. His name is Alphonse. Joy turned to terror as he was whisked away from her for a number of hours, only later to find that he was born with a condition called Tetrology of Fallot. He has a hole in his lower heart chambers which doesn't allow for enough oxygen to get into his blood and lungs. It is NECESSARY to perform open heart surgery for him to survive, and cost of this surgery is $12,500! The De Leon Family does not have health insurance, so they have reached out to the public through friends, family, and the digital community. You can read all about his story here. ANY AMOUNT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!! You can leave monetary contributions through a link on Alphonse's site. Furthermore, over 100 Desginers have created a SUPER DOOPER HUGE KIT, with all the proceeds going to Alphonse. You will find it at Pixel and Company.

This is a GIGANTIC KIT, and it is only $20!. That's what I call a WIN-WIN situation…please get yours and support the De Leon Family at this tenuous time. Thank you!

Creative Team(s) Member--Yep! That's me.

Ok, so if you look at the date, you'll see that I have fallen quite behind again in my blogging efforts. Nevertheless-here I go again. In the past several months, things for me have changed quite a bit in the land of digi!

Many of the designers from Design House Digital have left and opened a new shop, under the direction of Gennifer Bursett. So far, it seems to be a HUGE success, and as a CT member there, I am doing my best to see that it is! I am still Gen's CT, but right now I am pleased to announce that I have a 3 month Guest CT spot for the STORE! That means I get to work with all the designers, as well as the ones I am already a CT for, chat it up in the forums, promote the store through Social Media, and participate in created layouts and blogs/challenges. The assignments are up for February, so I will be doing a photography challenge. I am pretty excited about that. OH, I TOTALLY FORGOT TO MENTION THE NEW STORE….IT'S CALLED PIXELS AND COMPANY, P&Co. for short. You will find the store here! It is sparkly clean, easy to navigate, and will only get better. New designers are coming on all through the month. It's opening day was January 1, 2013.

My current CT responsibilities are for P&Co. (my bio page) and (store), Gennifer Bursett, Mye De Leon,  Erica Coombs (all at P&Co.), and Juliana Kneipp (blog) and (store) at Sweet Shoppe Designs.  I would say it's enough to keep me pretty busy for now. How about I show you a smattering of some of the creations I've made lately…

*Credits: Tiffany Tillman-- Modern Masters Template Pack 29-32; Karen Funk--The Sweet Life Papers and Elements.

*Credits--Erica Coombs: En Route Kit Part 2 and En Route-Masks & Frames.

I used Mye De Leon's In The Meadow papers to create this gift box. The trick to using digital files is the paper. I use Epson 4-5 Star Presentation Paper. It's THICK--like a 65 lb. cardstock. Print at BEST quality, and you're ready for your project! An advantage of printing digital is you only need to print the dimensions you need to save ink--i.e. 4x4 in. instead of a WHOLE page of paper. I chose 4 patterns and printed them on 2 sheets, both front and back, because I knew they would show. Next, I chose a file from the Silhouette store by Lori Whitlock (3.5 Circle Box) and cut the papers using my Silhouette machine. I created a tag with sticker letters from Simple Stories, and topped the box with a flower I sprayed with Mr. Huey's Spray mist to match. I LOVE how it turned out! ! I hope these tips help you feel more confident in using your digital kits for hybrid projects. The options are endless…

This is probably one of my FAVORITES! I really dig SHE art! I got this Flower Girl-1 kit a while ago from Celenia Curtis, and just knew I had to use it with some sale items at P&Co. All the papers and elements are from Mye De Leon's Kit called Making Memories, EXCEPT for the Washi Chevron Kit and the Banners & Wordarts Kit by Guest Designer Juliana Kneipp. Fonts: Dancing Script & KG Call Me Maybe.

My grand-daughter, Emma, has the cutest smile and laugh, but you can't always get her to do it for the camera. This day she was being silly with her mom…LOVED IT!
Journaling reads: "When you smile...it's like a rose opening its bud and showing off its beauty--one layer at a time.  When You laugh…t's as though your petals are drifting and swirling around you…dropping bits of joy wherever they land."

*Credits: Rebecca Wagler/The Ardent Sparrow--Paper Strip Templates, One Fine Day Borders; Charlotte Pattern Papers, The Molly Clusters; Queen of Quirk--Right Round Kit; FONT--SS Play; Jennifer Valencia--Sharpen Up! (web sharpening action).

I used Mye De Leon's HUGE Christmas To Remember Kit to document my son-in-law reading The Grinch to his kids. Christmas stories are always a tradition at my house. You will find so many amazing Papers, Elements, Frames, Quick Pages and Smears to choose from!

I had to take a picture of my "lovely" footwear and socks to show how it really is in the morning for me. When I gotta go outside, I just grab whatever is closest-oh the shame! It got me thinking, and so I made a page about what I do each morning.

*Designer Credits:

Agnes Biro--Autumn Afternoon (foliage sprig, twine)

Erica Coombs--Autumnal Photomasks

Erica Coombs--Autumnal Elements_Bits+Pieces

Karen Funk--Torn Paper

Karla Dudley--Album Cards-embellsihments

Karla Dudley--Me Time-Full Kit

Karla Dudley--Muse-elements

Karla Dudley-Roycroft-Sentiments-bp

Karla Dudley-Cheers-Papers

Robyn Meierotto--In Stitches-Red & Cream

Mye De Leon-Falling Softly Elements (wire heart)

My daughter sent me some self portraits she took the other day. I had fun editing them, and just HAD to use one on a layout! It was perfect timing for the kit I am using--and the tag certainly describes her! 

*Credits: Juliana Kneipp--Sew Mama Sew; Chalk Wordarts

A photo of my oldest daughter and her 3rd baby on his blessing day. I actually

re-did this particular LO, and added more clustering and improved layer shadows.

*Credits: Juliana Kneipp-La Boheme Mini Kit, Frametastic Kit 1

When I came across this photo of my dad as a toddler, I just knew I had to do something with it. I mean, how often do you see a 3 year old in a cart being pulled by a goat?

*Credits: Julianna Kneipp & Vinnie Pearce- All The Time Colab

This summer was the huge celebration to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA. Juliana Kneipp's Ready>Set>Go Kit was perfect to capture the nostalgia and beauty of the photo! I did quite a bit of paper layering with the use of blend modes and masking. I love the vintage ephemera in this kit!

WELL, that about catches you up to speed with what I've been doing digitally lately. My goal for this year is to ACTUALLY DO Project Life. I have all the supplies I need--both digital and paper--and I really want to have a pictorial journal in this format! I'm only 3 weeks behind…that's not that bad, right?