September Blue

Designer Discover Contest Update + Freebie

I never got around to giving you an update on the Jessica Sprague & Echo Park Designer Discovery Contest that I entered. Thank you for all who voted for my entry. I did make it to the Top 10 and below is the freebie that coordinates with my "Let's Hear It For the Boys" kit that I promised to give away if I made it that far! It is 4.5x4.5 png file that is perfect compliment for a boy's end of year athletic season or graduation. Click the link below the photo to download the file. Enjoy!

Download SeptBlue_BeenFun

If you missed what my entry looked like check it out below. I will be expanding this mini kit into a full size kit and will offer it for sale SOON!!! I know I keep saying that I will have my store up and running, but it's almost ready! So excited!

I did not win the overall contest-that honor went to Laura Passage for her "Best Friends" kit (totally adorable!!!). Congrats to Laura! I can't wait to see her kit in print! 

Weekly Word Art Titles Freebie Bundle + Graduation Card Example

I meant to have this posted yesterday but I either had the 24-hour flu or a touch of food poisoning from dinner the night before and I was out all day long! But for those of you who have been following my blog and doing Project Life, you know I fell behind a bit it my Weekly Word Art Titles. Well, I have bundled weeks 20-26 for you in one zip file-which actually puts me ahead a little bit! Each week has two Word Art Titles to coordinate with either the Clementine or Cobalt Collections. Click the link below the photo to download the bundle.

Download SeptBlue_WordArtWeeks20_26

Last week I mentioned that I had a creative day in my studio with the goal of making a Father's Day Card and a Graduation Card. I shared with Father's Day Card in my last post (it was a freebie) and now I want to share with you the Graduation Card I made for a friend who graduated from Stanford University over the weekend:

I made a business-sized "coupon" for her to "redeem" the next time she is in town and attached it to the inside of the card using two small photo corners.

Father's Day Freebie + Designer Discovery

Yesterday I traded a day at the gym for some creative time in my studio. I was on a mission to make 2 cards-one for a friend who is graduating from college and the other for Father's Day. I will share the graduation card with you over the weekend, but with Father's Day just two days away, I had to share the card I made today! Why? Because I am giving it to you for free so you can make one, too!

If you recall from my last post, I mentioned when I design, I like to create things that fill a void. What I mean by that is if I see that there is something in "everyday life" that doesn't have a product in "digital-design-scrapbook-community" to represent it, I like to create something for it! And that is what I did with the Father's Day card I created for my husband.

While looking at handmade Father's Day card examples online, I noticed that they were made with the intention to be given to our dads. Which, of course, is totally fine! But what about making a card for our husbands-the father to our children? I saw a void and decided to fill it.

The card is super simple to make. Just download the .jpg file by clicking the link below, print, cut and assemble! The file will fit on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper (it actually measures 8.5x5.5). I printed mine out on Staples Brand Double-Sided Matte Photo Paper. It is my favorite paper to print projects such as this on! Enjoy!

Download SeptBlue_FathersDayCard.jpg

I included a mustache "seal" for the envelope! 

Also, please, please, please don't forget to vote in the Designer Discovery Contest sponsored by Jessica Sprague and Echo Park Paper Company. My mini kit-"Let's Hear It For The Boys" has made it to the Top 25 and voting is going on now to narrow the Top to the Top 10. The administration teams at Jessica Sprague and Echo Park will choose the overall winner from that Top 10! In order to vote, you need to be a registered user and logged into your account at JessicaSprague.com. Voting ends at 11:59pm EST tomorrow night! The photo below is the preview for the kit I created. To see more detailed pictures click here.

Remember, in order for you to vote, you must be a registered user and logged into your JessicaSprague.com account. Not registered yet? Here's how you can register:

 

Go to www.jessicasprague.com

In the upper right hand corner of the page, there is a small file card with a person on it. Click it to register your name. I believe you will then get an email and you have to click the link in that email to confirm your account.

Once you confirm, log into the site by typing in your username and password in the boxes in the upper right hand corner of the page.

In the menu bar go to Gallery and scroll to "Designer Discovery Top 25" and click on the photo. You will now arrive in the contest gallery.

Scroll to the very bottom, and in the blue-gray bar click the number "2" My entry is on the second page. "Let's Hear It For The Boys". Click on the photo (not my name-the photo).

This next screen will show you all of the elements that I have in my kit. Scroll all the way to the bottom and under the "Vote for This" section, click the very last star. 

That should be it!

The overall winner will be chosen by Jessica Sprague and Echo Park Paper Company, so the person in the Top 10 with the most votes is not necessarily the overall winner. The winner will be announced on June 22 and will receive $1000, and Epson Picturemate Printer and Echo Park will print and distribute the winning kit worldwide. Wish me luck! I really have no high hopes of winning, but I am excited to know that two of my favorite companies in the industry are taking the time and reviewing my work :)

Thanks for reading! Oh! By the way! For those of you who are wondering the status of my Project Life Weekly Word Art Circles, I will have weeks 20-26 for you on Monday!!! (I worked a few weeks ahead!)

Have a great weekend!

 

 

Designer Discovery Contest + Freebie

It's been one month and two days since my last blog post. What can I say. Life gets a bit crazy at times and unfortunately some of my favorite activities get interrupted and put on the back burner. But in my opinion, the reasons why I haven't been able to blog lately are all good! Over the next few weeks I'll be catching up with Project Life and blogging about the events that were going on for weeks 20-24 (I was back in the U.S. visiting family and friends). But during those weeks I was busy with something and didn't want to share with you until now.

I'm sure those of you who scrapbook are familiar with Echo Park Paper Company. Their kits, both traditional and digital, are of the highest quality and are tops in the industry. They, along with Jessica Sprague, have teamed up together and are sponsoring a Designer Discovery Contest. The winner of the contest will receive $1000, an Epson Picturemate Photo Printer and will have their mini theme printed and distributed by Echo Park. Contestants were to create and submit a mini kit that consisted of five 12x12 papers, a sticker sheet and a 12x12 journaling/border sheet for one of five different themes. The admin team at JessicaSprague.com then chose the top 25 designs that are now up for a public vote to narrow the designs to the top ten. The winner will then be chosen from that top ten by the admin teams at JessicaSprague.com and Echo Park. 

I was happy to wake up this morning to see that my design made the top 25!!!!!

The above photo is the full kit preview for "Let's Hear It For The Boys." I am pretty happy with the way it turned out! To view the previews (paper, journal/border paper and sticker sheet) and to vote you can click here and you will be taken to my entry in the gallery. In order to vote you have to be a registered user at jessicasprague.com and logged in. Take your time and look through the gallery! There are some AWESOME kits in there! You are allowed to vote for more than one kit, but you can't vote for the same kit more than once (I hope that makes sense!).

While I was attending art school one of the requirements I had to do as a student when presenting a project to the class for critique was explain why I chose to create what I did. We had to discuss color choice, fonts, themes, etc. Feeling a bit nostalgic for my art school days, I thought it would be fun to discuss a little bit about my process do with this project:

Theme: There were five themes that Echo Park wanted us to choose from: Scrapbooking, Girl Friends, Pals, Girls and Heritage. As much as I would have loved to create something "girlie," there is a lot of girl stuff out there already. When I design, I like to design things that fill a void. There is not a whole lot of boy stuff out there, let alone boy stuff geared to older boys. That is why I chose to work around the "pals" theme.

Color: Since I wanted a kit that was targeting scrappers with older boys and not necessarily toddlers or elementary school kids, the colors needed to reflect the "not-so-innocent-side" of boys! Sure there is a lighter blue in the mix, but I think it balances out the brightness of the orange and the bold brown. The light blue adds a softness for those scrappers that want to show their older son's vulnerable side!

Fonts: It's a fun mix of distressed, slab serif and sans serif letters. Normally I wouldn't mix 3 or 4 different fonts together, but in this case I think it worked out okay. I like the rugged look of the distressed fonts while mixing in a slab serif to give the peice a modern look.

Pattern: My patterns are simple, which I feel will help to showcase the photos and story a scrapbooker will put on them. Sometimes patterned paper can get too busy and the photos/stories get lost. The simplicity of the papers will also enhance the stickers, journal cards and boarders. Also the patterns are generic enough that they can be used for other themes as well. For example, the star paper can be used for a birthday celebration while the chevron paper can be used for a winter or autumn page.

I could go on, but I hope that gives you some insight to my thought process when I was creating my mini kit!

For making the top 25, I want to celebrate by giving you a vertical and horizontal journaling cards that you can use in your Project Life album. The fonts and colors reflect those from my entry. Click the link below the photo to download! If I make the Top 10 (they will announce them on June 19th), I will have another freebie to share as well! Enjoy!

Download Sept Blue Real Story Journal Cards