Owner: Karla's Digi Kaleidoscope URL:http://karladigi.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 07:37:48 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Personal blog with resources for teachers and digital scrapbookers. Site statistics:Click here
Another Snow Day! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It's hard to believe, but it's snow day number two. I think it's been six years since we had back to back snow days. My son even slept past 7 AM- a huge treat for me. All in all it's been pretty great. My husband was a bit grumbly because he picked my driveway to shovel, and now I don't have to go to work. He shouldn't feel too badly though. We had so much snow yesterday that the county closed the roads, and even he didn't have to go to work! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our neighbor comes and digs us out with his snowblower again today. Looks like we got in the neighborhood of two feet. Yesterday I mentioned my emergent reader website. I launched it late last summer to sell the K-1 first grade readers that I've been creating for several years. I have been pleased with its start, and I'm looking forward to adding some new books very soon. I'm hoping I'll have the chance to update the site next week during winter break. I don't make any guarantees, especially if thin
Yes, a blog! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Okay, so I relented. I'm creating a blog. I guess my hesitation has been- who would want to read MY BLOG? But I'm putting that aside and starting one anyway. I'm not sure what direction this will take, but I'm anxious to see. Right now I plan to put my scrapbook layouts on the blog, and hopefully some day down the road I'll be able to post my own designs. I also plan on posting links to my new books on my emergent reader website.Today is our first big snow of the season. I can't believe we haven't had any big snows before this. I mean it's Valentine's Day for goodness sake. The best part is that it's also my first snow day of the year. I get to spend the day with my boys (hubbie and ds). Hopefully I'll pics of the big snow later. If it's not too cold I want to take my almost 20th month old son out to play while hubbie and I shovel out.Later in the day...I think this is a fitting layout for the weather we have today. These were taken a couple of weeks ago, when we had just e
My first doodles! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Well, I decided to try my hand at doodles today. I have been wanting to do a layout for my son that showed off his bird drawing and talked about his love of birds. I wanted to use doodles in my layout, and of course it needed birds! So here they are. Remember they're my first try at this. But I'd like to share them with you. Feel free to snag them while you can. Click the preview or here to download. If you download the files, please share your comments. Thanks!Here's the layout I made using my new doodles.
Treat Topper Template 1970-01-01 00:59:59 What's your outlet? Mine is creating things. Could be any kind of craft or digi project. Since, having my son I've leaned toward digi projects because I'm always afraid he'll get into my craft stuff and get hurt.I needed an outlet today because I needed an escape for the two feet of snow outside and the ten below zero wind chills. I also needed a little outlet after a little tiff with my darling husband, but that's another story!Since the weather outside is so cold, I decide to think spring. I create a template for a treat bag topper with a spring theme. The topper is sized to fit a standard zipper lock sandwich bag.Here's the example I made using the template. The papers and elements are from Traci Sims Cool Paisley Kit. She has amazing kits!You can click the picture to download the files or click here. I'd appreciate you comments if you download the file. Oh, by the way, thanks for the amazing response to my doodles yesterday. It was fun to create them and fun to share them to
Quilt Template 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I'm sure most moms out there can relate. You have very little time to yourself. I thought it was bad before, but it's gotten even worse since my husband starting working second shift. Not only that but he has to work overtime most weekends. This weekend he has to work both Saturday and Sunday to make up for the snow day they had Valentine's Day.I just want a few hours once in a while where I'm accountable to no one. No toddler playing in the next room, no toddler sleeping nearby. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I get a little of that this week. My mom said she'd take my son for a few hours one afternoon this week. I'm sure hoping it happens. I haven't had alone time like that since Christmas Eve.Okay, now on to the template. I was playing around the other night and decided to come up with a quilt block. I picked the Maple Leaf to start. Here's what it looks like with the papers added:I also tried replacing shapes with pictures. Here's what that looked like: Click the template Read more:Quilt
Yo-Yos 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The quilt template got me thinking of what other sewing and quilt related elements could I come up with on my own. That's how these yo-yos came about. You know those little circles of fabric that you sew a running stitch around and pull tight? These are the ones I created today. I think they came out pretty well. I used them to make my first quickpage. Both are available for download. If you download them, please leave me a comment. I love to know what you think of them.This is the layout I made with the quickpage. I plan on adding to it. This is one of my favorite early pictures of John and Gianni. DS is about a week old in the picture. He was always so alert as a baby, even when he was this little. He never missd a beat and still doesn't. Nothing gets by that kid! You know how they are as toddlers. They see something once and they copy it. So far it's been cute. Still waiting for the day he copies something we wish he hadn't!Click here to download the yo-yos and the quickpage.
Just a layout 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I should be sleeping. I'll be sorry tomorrow I'm sure. I just decided I wanted to work on a layout
tonight. I was playing around with doodles again. I would have been done MUCH earlier, but the blocks just weren't cooperating. I guess I'm going to have to read up a little on PSE. I'm such a trial and error kind of gal. I have learned all my computer skills just by doing. However, I think I could have saved myself some frustration tonight if I just would have given in and read some tutorials or something. Oh well! Here's my layout despite my frustration. I wanted to do something different. I was feeling like I was getting stuck in a rut. I'm still not sure how I feel about it though. It's one of those layouts where you have to let it sit for a few days, and then come back to it. If you want to let me know what you think, I'd love the feedback. The great doodled, stitched arrows are by Kate Hadfield.Don't forget to scroll down for my freebies!
Tag Freebie and I'm tired 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Okay, I'm tired
. I stayed up way too late. Even though DS slept until 7, I'm exhausted. I'm really looking forward to a nap this afternoon. I'm so glad Gianni still naps.My project this morning was to create a tag. I had some great help from some tutorials and Photoshop actions. The tag shape itself was created using Misty Cato's tag tutorial from her blog. You have to scroll down to her 2-12 entry for the directions. They are very easy to follow.Once, I got the tag shape I used four great actions by Atomic Cupcake: Weathered steel and gemstone which I used to create the star element, and painted edge for the tag base, and vellum for the center paper. It was easy and a lot of fun. If you want to try your hand at creating your own digital materials, I highly recommend Atomic Cupcakes site.Finally, I used a tutorial by Jamie Rousselle at DSP on how to create the fuzzy fiber. Once I located the dune grass brush, it was super simple!Here's my finished tag. It's saved in png format.
Textured Paper Pack Freebie 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Don't forget to scroll down to previous posts to see other great freebies you can download!Today I learned about creating textured papers. You get the benefit of this learning experience too in my first paper pack freebie. The papers are all based on tin ceiling tiles. As you may have guessed from my digital creations so far that I love vintage things. Someday I really hope to have a tin ceiling in my new kitchen.Right now I'd be happy for heat! It appears that the pilot light has gone out on the furnace. Hubby works second shift and won't be home until 12:30 AM. Until then, Gianni and I are stuck with a couple of electric space heaters. Thankfully Gianni is all snuggled up in bed dressed in an Elmo fleece and sweats instead of his pjs. I'll be heading off to bed too after I post this entry.Tomorrow, if we get the heat situated, I have to work on my taxes and hopefully some layouts. Gianni and I made our first snowman today. I'm looking forward to that layout. It should be nearly
Fiber Freebies! Fiber Freebies! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Scroll down for previous freebies!I'm happy to report that we have heat. Thankfully last night was much "warmer" than the ones last week where we saw below zero temps. The house managed to stay around 50 degrees. I tried to keep Gianni in bed as long as possible but try explaining to a toddler you have to stay in bed to stay warm! So finally I had to relent and let him get out of bed while we waited for the repairman. Gianni couldn't figure out why I was making him where his snowpants indoors!The repairman showed up around 10:00ish. Luckily it just needed a small part, and it was a quick fix. We were back up and running within an half hour. Hopefully that small part means a small bill?!?!Now on to today's freebies. Today I created some trims. You get all the trims you see in the preview- two wires with beads, two fuzzy fibers, and three ribbons. I guess I had blue on the brain from watching Gianni play in the snow in his blue snowsuit again today.Click the preview to download the fi Read more:Fiber
, Freebies
Animal Charms and My Baby Turns 20 Months Old 1970-01-01 00:59:59 First of all I have to send Amy W at AmyW.'s Scrap-A-Lot a huge thank you for listing me on her blog in her freebie section. When you're starting something new, it really helps to have a little help getting the word out there. I hope everyone who has visited today as a result of Amy's post will come back often to pick up my latest freebies.Today my little bumpkin is 20 months old. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday he was living in my belly and doing somersaults 24/7! He's so much fun at 20 months. He never fails to crack me up. So today's freebie is in honor of him. Right now Gianni loves, loves, loves animals. I designed charms and clips for some of his favorites.Click the preview to download. Please leave me so love if you download them. Read more:Animal
, Charms
, Months
Thank you! Gemstone Animals 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Thanks everyone to the wonderful response I received yesterday. Thanks to posts on Amy's site and then later in the day by IkeaGoddess things were really hopping around here. To say thanks to all of you who downloaded items yesterday or just stopped by to check things out, I'm giving away gemstones that match the animal charms.Click the preview to download.Last night I started working on some new papers and elements to use in a layout for Gianni. I hope to be able to share some of those with you soon. The way we're going it might be my first kit!This was the layout I did for Gianni's snowman building experiece. After watching me the day before, he really had the hang of it. You can check out my gallery at Gotta Pixel for the complete list of credits. As you can see I used some of my fibers in the layout. Read more:Thank
, Gemstone
, Animals
Wow! Another huge day 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I'm still overwhelmed by the number of hits I've had in the last two days. It's just incredible and extremely flattering. I'm so happy everyone is enjoying the freebies. I've really caught the designer bug. I haven't had the time for crafting in general since Gianni was born. I find myself moving more and more toward computer crafting. First of all I can do it anywhere without the mess of supplies all over the house. Two, it should be cheaper ;) It's too soon to tell about the latter though.I've been working more on my winter kit that I mentioned yesterday. I'm challenging myself to create a kit that I can use for another snowman layout for Gianni. I want to create a layout that is made entirely from my designs. I'm well on my way. I have about 5 papers made, an overlay, some wordart, a frame, some elements, and a tag. I'm going to give away parts of the kit here on the blog. When I'm done with the entire kit, I'm going to put it up for sale in my ebay store. I have my eme
Last day of break :( 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Remember when you were a kid and how you dreaded the last day of a break from school? Well, I have to tell you it's the same for teachers. At least for this teacher it is. I've really enjoyed my week off. Gianni and I have had lots of time to play, and he's been good to let Mama have some time on the computer too.My winter kit is starting to take on a life of it's own. It just keeps growing.Today I have a quickpage that I made using some of the materials from the kit. I'm not sure how many freebies I'll have this week being back at work and all. It really depends on how well Gianni transitions back to his normal routine. I have a feeling it's going to be hard to get him to bed the next few nights.Here's the layout I did with the quickpage.You can download the quickpage by clicking here. Please post a comment when you download. I love hearing from you!
Monday Freebie and Name the Kit Challenge 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Okay, now that download issues are resolved it's time for a freebie. Today's freebie is a mini-kit with items from my upcoming winter kit. The mini-kit includes 1 paper, 1 snowflake element, 1 fiber, and 1 frame.I am also looking for some help in naming my upcoming kit. Here is a preview of some of the items in the kit.The person who submits the winning name will win the kit free. I will also be picking a 2nd place winner who receives the elements, 3rd place who receives the frames, and 4th place who receives the papers. I will be accepting entries until March 1st. You can email your entry with Kit Name Entry in the subject line.Okay time for the mini-kit! Click here to download or click the preview. Read more:Monday
, Challenge
Tuesday Freebie 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Well, I've been back to the grind for two days, and I still managed to post freebies. I'm pretty impressed with myself. I have to say it's an excellent stress reliever. I'm just avoiding getting other things done like school work, housework, my books to do my taxes, etc.I'm all set to post the link to purchase my winter kit on Thursday or Friday. Remember I'm still taking entries in my name the kit challenge. Scroll down to yesterday's post for details.Today's freebie is a mini kit called Pansy Passion. My mom loves pansies and collects items with pansies on them. So this kit is dedicated to my mom who always encouraged my creativity and taught me crafting skills from a very young age.Click here or click the preview to download. Read more:Tuesday
Quickpage Freebie, Kit Launch, and Name Challenge Winner! 2007-03-01 21:49:00 I love Thursdays. It's almost the weekend, and it's my favorite night of television. So many choices, so little time. Thank goodness for TIVO! Today is also extra special because you are getting a second quickpage freebie using items for my new kit. I am also announcing the launch of my kit and naming the winner of my Name the Kit Challenge
.Okay, here we go! First of all, I'd like to congratulate Dianna on her winning entry. She submitted the name Wintry Wonders for my winter themed mega kit. Thanks Dianna for so many great ideas. It was hard to pick for all her great ideas, but I finally settled on Wintry Wonders.Now for information on the kit launch! Wintry Wonders is now available for purchase. I'm listing it at my www.emergentreaders.net site just for my own convenience. Here's the link you need to get to the kit page.Here are two previews of the kits contents.Note that not everything is in the pictures. The kit includes 10 papers, 1 overlay, 3 wordarts, 3 chipboard titles, 5 Read more:Launch
Wednesday Quickpage Freebie 2007-03-01 01:33:00 Well, it's Wednesday
already. The week is going faster than I expected it to go. However, the kids at school were sailing today. They were definitely acting like a storm is coming. We'll have to wait and see if we actually get one tomorrow or not. They're predicting rain and freezing rain for tomorrow night.Remember that today and tomorrow are the last day's to enter your submission for my name the kit challenge. See my post below for details. I'll be announcing the winners tomorrow night.Today's freebie is a quickpage using the pansy kit I posted yesterday. You can get the freebie by clicking here or clicking the preview. Enjoy!
Woohoo! It's Friday and a great tractor themed freebie 2007-03-03 03:26:00 I'm so glad it's Friday
. I've really been looking forward to this weekend, because it's the first weekend my hubbie has had off since the beginning of the year. He's had to work at least one day if not two days of every weekend since early January. Hopefully we'll get to have some quality family time. I'm not really sure what he has in mind. It would be nice just to spend some time altogether.I am so behind on my layouts it isn't even funny. Since I got bitten with the design bug, I haven't done many layouts at all. I really need to get caught up again. I intended to start scrapping tonight, but I got thinking about making a tractor
kit. I have looked and looked at digital sites for a tractor/farm kit to use to scrap pics of Gianni on Grandpa's tractor. This kid loves, loves, loves tractors. It was one of his first words. Since, I haven't found a kit with a tractor I liked I decide I guess I'll have to make my own. So tonight I've been playing around. I have two papers dow
March Madness Hoop Kit Freebie 2007-03-04 22:46:00 Well, the weekend hasn't turned out exactly as I planned. Gianni hasn't felt like himself all weekend. Yesterday he barely ate and had the worst meltdowns/temper tantrums ever. So I didn't get much computer time. I was able to get this layout done using a recent freebie template from Scrappin Thomsen's blog.I really like how it turned out. It's G wearing daddy's glasses. He's at the stage where he's starting to pretend. It's really cute.I had intended on working more on the tractor kit I started the other day. (Thanks for all the great feedback, by the way.) I also intended on working on making a bragbook album using Wintry Wonders. I did start it, but somehow I got sidetracked and started a basketball kit instead of finishing my other projects. The Hoops Kit is today's freebie. I figured it's almost MarchMadness
time and lots of moms out there probably have kids' basketball photos to scrap, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. I really like how some of the papers turned out Read more:March Madness
Brag Book Freebie and Wintry Wonders Album 2007-03-07 01:14:00 I can't believe how exhausted I am and it's only Tuesday. I'm definitely going to bed after this post. Gianni hasn't taken a nap for his father the last two days, so when I get home from work the kid is exhausted and cranky. Not fun!Well, I finished my Brag Book album for Wintry Wonders
. It's now available to my blog readers for $.99. You can click the link below or on the sidebar. The pages are 4x6, perfect for brag books or a card. They were really fun to do. I really am pleased with how they turned out.I really have to get back to scrapping this week. I feel like I'm really falling behind. My best friend is giving me pics of her daughter to scrap. That should be fun. Gives me a chance to do some girly layouts for a change. It will be a new change of pace from the little boy pages I'm used to cranking out. I'll finally be able to use some of those great girl themed freebies I've been collecting.Okay, here's the preview picture of the album pages. You get all ten in the kit. Read more:Album
St. Patrick's Day Treat Topper Freebie 2007-03-10 01:12:00 True to my word here's my freebie. I decided to make up a St. Patrick
's Day treat bag topper. It fits a regular zip top sandwich bag. You get the template as well as the completed topper below. I hope you like them. I'm not a St. Pat's drinker, so I'll have to stick to the chocolate in a treat topper :)Click the previews or here to download.
Sorry to be MIA...freebie coming this weekend 2007-03-09 12:35:00 Sorry to be lost in action this week. I've just been exhausted and Gianni hasn't taken a nap all week! I think dealing with a cranky toddler has worn me out. I have also spent my nightly computer time updated my beginning reader website- www.emergentreaders.net. I wanted to update the pricing on the complete sets. I'm almost done. I just have to add the winter books that didn't make it on there for some reason. Then I'll be ready to finish my spring collection to get that up sometime in the next week or too. Editing the html hasn't been any big deal just tedious. I don't know how my hubbie does it. I'd much rather be scrapping.Well, I have to go finish making Gianni spaghetti. Apparently it's the only thing he wants to eat today. Picky toddlers. Oh boy! So check back later in the weekend. I'll have a freebie. Not sure what it's going to be. I just know I really want there to be one!
Tractor Kit Freebie 2007-03-11 03:10:00 If you're a freebie addict like me, your digital scrapping supplies are overwhelming your computer. DH and I have decided we need to look into getting me an external hard drive to keep my digital supplies on, since they are taking up so much space on the computer. It will be very useful too when we finally get a laptop. I'll easily be able to go from the computer to the laptop with my files.I don't know when I became such a computer geek. I know a lot of woman that can't wait to come out and buy the latest fashions. I'm much more into getting a better digital camera, a laptop, or some new software. I guess I've never been very good at being a girly girl. I guess that explains all the power tools in the basement with my name on them...lol. Oh well, it's what makes me, me.On to the freebie! Well, I finished my tractor kit today. And that was after over an hour of unzip freebie files and organizing them into my scrap folders. I should be working on my spring books and the
St. Patrick's Day Card Freebie 2007-03-14 01:08:00 I don't know why, but it's taking me longer than usual to adjust to Daylight Savings Time. Usually it's not a problem. I don't know whether it's because Gianni still isn't napping and I'm dealing with cranky boy in the evenings or what. He didn't nap for his father again today. However, he was in a good mood and went to bed at 7 with no complaints. I had to get him out of the tub a little early because he looked like he was going to fall asleep!Well, I haven't gotten much done in the way of freebies this week. I am posting a card later in the this post. It comes with the chipboard shamrock frame as a separate file in case you want to use it in another layout. I feel like I've been spreading myself thin with my computer time this week. I've been working on layouts for my best friend and trying to get more spring books done. The process has been slow on both. Here are the layouts I've finished so far...It's been fun scrapping someone other than Gianni, but it's b Read more:Patrick
, Day Card
Time Scrapping Goes Too Fast 2007-03-15 01:52:00 It seems like time scrapping flies by. I put Gianni to bed an hour and a half ago. It seems more like a half hour. I really have to go to bed after this post. I just wish I needed less sleep! :) What I really need is a day to scrap with no interruptions, but I know that's not going to happen!I have to say running across the top digi blog list was awesome. I think I stumbled on it around Christmas time. Since then I've started my own blog, grabbed hundreds of amazing freebies, and met some amazing people. Today I found a great tutorial blog through links on someone else's blog. You may already know of it, but if you don't you have to go there. She has the most amazing Photoshop tutorials. The blog is Sprague Lab. So I ended up fooling around with some of her tutorials tonight and really got off track from what I should have been doing! Oh well. It was so much fun though. The tutorial I ended up spending the most time on was Photo Overlay + Journaling Block in One "Mod Read more:Scrapping
March Madness is here and so is a quickpage freebie 2007-03-16 00:57:00 I love the NCAA tournament. MarchMadness
is so much fun, especially the first two rounds of the tournament. I love that feeling that anything can happen. You cheer for the underdog; you hope your team wins. The excitement of the players and fans is contagious.So today's freebie is a quickpage made from my March Madness
kit. Click here to download.
Vintage Frame Freebie 2007-03-18 21:16:00 Where did the weekend go? It seemed shorter than usual. Let's see yesterday we shoveled the driveway, cleaned the living room, tried to figure out where the leak in the leaky pipe was, and went to my MIL. That killed Saturday. Today we had to go and pick up my car and get groceries, another day pretty well erased. The house is a wreck. I didn't watch much of the first two rounds of the NCAAs. I didn't finish my spring book collection or read the book I was supposed to read for work. Hmmm, not a very productive weekend. I'm trying to blame the messy house on the water problems, since it's turned off at the moment so the puddle in the basement doesn't get much bigger.Okay, I'll stop rambling. I needed an outlet this afternoon, so I came up with these frames with a vintage Easter theme. I hope you like them.Click here to download.Here's a layout I did using one of them. It's Gianni last Easter. Love the expression on his face. The papers are by Melany VioletteDesign Read more:Vintage
, Frame
Field and Flower Freebie 2007-03-24 12:31:00 I can't believe it's been a whole week without a post. It was just one of those weeks. I really had very little time to do any designing. Work was especially stressful and Gianni still isn't napping. It's very frustrating when you come home and your normally cheerful little boy is fun and giggles for about an hour before the crankiness sets in. My hubbie just doesn't get it. I told him I was considering taking a day off on Wednesday. That's the day Gianni is with my mom all day. I figured I'd get some down time. John's oh so sensitive, understanding idea is to move Gianni's day with Grandma to Monday, since I'll be home to watch him on Wednesday. Why doesn't he get it? Okay, I've vented! On to the freebie.Today's freebie is a spring weeds and wildflower paperpack called Field
and Flower.Click here to download or click the preview.
Zipper Freebie 2007-03-28 00:03:00 Well, I'm taking tomorrow off. Call it a mental health day. It's not a toddler/hubbie free day like I had hoped. Actually that whole thing turned into a huge fight. I tell you two first borns makes for a fiery relationship. We're both so stubborn. Oh well, I hope we've got things back on track at least, despite me not getting any free time to myself.Here's my latest freebie. It's a set of vintage zippers. Judging from the packaging, I'd say they're late 60s/early 70s. I like the bright colors. You get all the zippers pictured here. I got them from my mom to make Gianni a zipper book. I just haven't had the time to sew it yet. It goes back to that no free time thing :). I don't dare get the sewing machine out with Gianni around. Maybe this weekend or next I'll finally get around to making the book. Then I can make a layout with the zipper files. Until then, I'll just share them with all of you! Click here or the preview to download.
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