LOTS of new hybrid printables

I was asked by Krista of Sahlin Studio a few weeks ago if I wanted to work on a back-to-school hybrid collab with her. Ummm... yes. No-brainer... I love Krista's work! We have back-to-school printables up the wazoo for you today. They were all created using Krista's Explore.Learn.Grow. kit. Okay, here we go...

First, whip up a gift with these printable boxes and cards. Super easy... just print and assemble. Instructions are included.



Next we decided to create a whole back-to-school set complete with book labels, backpack tags, and composition notebook covers. LOTS of different options here.



I think this last one is my favorite. There are 30 different variations of notes in this set that you can surprise your child with while they are at school. My kids love it when I leave one of these notes in their lunch bag or backpack. You can leave them anywhere for them to find... on their pillow, on the bathroom mirror, in their school bag, lunch box... wherever!



Can't decide which one to get? We created a bundle of the three so you can get all three at a great deal!!



Check back later and I'll post some pictures of some of these all printed out so you can get a better look!

fall cards winner

Announcing the winner of my latest giveaway! The winner of the set of fall cards is:





Congratulations, Sharon! Please e-mail me your snail mail address and I'll get those off to you this week!

Also, one of the winners from the last giveaway hasn't contacted me yet. Mareda, are you there? If so, e-mail me so I can get your calendar to you!

manic monday and another hybrid giveaway

Manic Monday is going on at ScrapMatters today... lots of good deals! I have this hybrid box template on sale for 50% off today only. If you want it, grab it today because it goes back to full price tomorrow.



I also thought it would be fun to do another hybrid giveaway. One lucky winner will win this box (made with the above template) filled with fall-themed cards created using Feeling Fall by wm[squared] Designs (love her stuff).



To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post before Friday, August 20, 11:59 PM (MST). Do you want some extra chances to win? Post about this giveaway on your blog, facebook, or twitter, then come back and leave another comment with the link to your post. **Note: This is a physical product that I will mail, so please only enter if you live in the U.S.**

birthday calendar winners

Thanks to everyone who entered! The winners of the birthday calendars are:

AND

Congratulations, Vicki and Mareda!! Please e-mail me your snail mail addresses and I'll get those off to you this week!

layout to share

Holy moly... I actually made time to scrapbook. I made this page a couple weeks ago before my son turned 9. These are pictures I took of him near his 8th birthday. I was really happy with the way this turned out.


(Click on the page if you want to see the supply credits.)

Also, the giveaway posted below ends today, so make sure to comment on that post if you want to win one of the calendars!

birthday giveaway!

Hi! Over the last few weeks I've been tinkering with my blog layout and design. I recently added the icons over on the right to make it easy to find me. You can e-mail me, add me to a reader, "like" me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter. I'm new to Twitter, so you won't see much there yet, but stay tuned! :)

There are only two days left of the ScrapMatters birthday bash sale. It ends on Thursday, so make sure you go check it out. This kit put together by the SM design team is FREE with a $20 purchase.



Also, there are two freebies I've posted in the last week (a quick page and some movie ticket brushes). Make sure you snag those if you want them... they will only be free through this week! (They are in the August 6 and August 7 posts.)

I thought it would be fun to end the birthday celebration with a giveaway. When I started designing for ScrapMatters, I was purely a hybrid designer (I now offer digital designs as well). I have a lot of fun hybrid templates and printables in my shop. One of my favorites is this perpetual birthday calendar:


It is a fun calendar that can be used to keep track of birthdays from year to year. Since it's perpetual, you don't have to buy a new one each year! I printed one for myself and then used my Bind-it-All to add the wire rings. I really liked the way it turned out, so I created some extras. I have two printed, bound calendars to give away today!



To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post before Friday, August 13, 11:59 PM (MST). Want some extra chances to win? Post about this giveaway on your blog, facebook, or twitter, then come back and leave another comment with the link to your post. **Note: This is a physical product that I will mail, so please only enter if you live in the U.S.**

happy birthday blog train

Welcome to stop 3 on the ScrapMatters birthday blog train! This birthday celebration has been timely for me as my son just celebrated his birthday this week. I posted yesterday about his movie party we had this year. Last year he had a fun bowling party, and we took a bunch of his friends to the local bowling alley where we had pizza, bowled and had a great time. I made each of the kids bowling t-shirts with their names on them as the party favor.

Andilynn Designs has a great bowling kit in the shop, and I created a whole set of printables for his party using her kit. These are available for purchase in my shop, and now would be a great time to pick them up while they're on sale. The set includes an invitation, 2 thank you notes, party bag topper, and t-shirt iron-on.


Speaking of the sale... everything is 30% off right now. And, with a $20 purchase, you receive the collab kit Cupcakes & Candles for free! My gift to you is a quick page made using this kit. Here's what the quick page looks like:

Click the image below to download this QP for free: Download link expired.

Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop on the blog train is Maria of Scrapmuss Designs. Click on her blinkie below to go to her blog.


If you get lost or derailed, stop by the ScrapMatter blog here to get a master list of all the stops.

new release and a freebie

One of my friends told me that for her kids' birthdays she hangs pictures of them growing up all over her house. I loved this idea and decided I wanted to do the same thing. Then I saw this post from Liz of Paislee Press on her blog a couple of months ago and loved her grid format. I did this for my son's birthday this week. It was so fun for him to have the pictures up and fun for everyone who came over to see them, too. I hung a birthday banner and foil stars around the pictures to add to the party atmosphere.


For his birthday party, we are having a "late night" with friends. He had a specific idea in mind of what he wanted for the invitation to his party, so I had him sit down with me to sketch it out, and then I created a digital version of it. Here is what we ended up with:

We were both happy with the result.

It's going to be a night of hot dogs, marshmallows, games, a movie, and lots of 9 and 10-year-old boys having fun! At the end of the night they get to take home these "Movie Packs" that are filled with popcorn packets, a drink, and some treats.


Okay, now on to my new release... I created a template for the banner, and it is available for purchase in my shop today.

You can get it (and lots more) right now for 30% off at ScrapMatters during the big birthday sale!

This banner template includes 3 different sizes and can be used for any occasion. Here's a baby banner created using the itty bitty version of the template.


Last but not least... a freebie for you! I created some brushes using the ticket I created for the invitation for my son's party. Click on the image to get them for free! (Please click "follow" over on the right to follow my blog before you download. Thanks!) Note: This is no longer available for free but can be purchased in my shop by clicking on the image.


Come back tomorrow for another freebie as part of the ScrapMatters Birthday Blog Train!

the one with all the cakes

Some of the cakes I've made for my kids over the years. I have definitely gotten my money's worth on that star pan!

it's a month of birthdays!

August is going to be a fun month. First, my oldest son celebrated his 9th birthday yesterday! ScrapMatters is celebrating their 3rd birthday this weekend (stay tuned for lots of fun stuff to come). I started designing at SM a year ago. Okay, technically I started in July of last year, but July was crazy busy, so we'll celebrate now! I love to organize and plan birthday parties for my kids, so I thought I would share a few ideas of themes, cakes, games, etc. this week.

One of my favorite parties I had for my son was a "Knight Party". I got the idea from Family Fun magazine.

To start we created "Royal Proclamation" invitations. We rolled them up and tied them with string before delivering them.

I made a fun dragon cake. The instructions for this cake can be found here.

For one of the games we held a "Ye Olde Knights Tournament" which was really just an obstacle course we set up in our backyard. I made castle turrets that were part of the obstacle course. For the party favor, my husband helped me make swords out of pool noodles. We handed these out before the Tournament, and kids were able to take them home at the end of the party. I made the stick horses out of a dowel, paper sacks, polyfill, and googly eyes. They worked great.

At the end of the tournament we handed out ribbons. This was a last-minute idea, but if I'd had more time I would have printed the center circle. It would have looked nicer, but 6-year-olds didn't care.

Here's an easy idea for a birthday banner. I created a 12x36 document in Photoshop and had it printed at Costco. Super quick and easy.

This party was tons of fun and my kids still talk about it 3 years later! Here's a page I made about it back in my paper-scrapbooking days.

I'll post some more birthday ideas if you want to check back later. Better yet, if you follow my blog (over to the right of the page) then you'll know when I update!

Also, don't forget to check out ScrapMatters this weekend for a great sale!

new release