One Amazing Summer, and One Amazing RAK!

Hi and happy very-tail-end-of-summer, everyone!

It's Nikki here with a special challenge, and a chance at a gift code for the Plum Dumpling Designs' store...

As we're all looking forward into fall, we wanted to take one last look back at summer and our favorite summer memories. We want to hear what made 2011 "one amazing summer" for you... a big or small thing that made this summer memorable. Leave a comment with your summer memory on this post to be entered for a chance at that gift certificate!

For a second entry, create a "summer memories" themed layout using Plum Dumpling Designs products--leave another comment here with a link to your layout. It can be a "summer in review" type page, like mine below, or a single special memory... and it can be from summer 2011 or any other year! Let's say "see ya next year" to summer with a celebration of summer layouts!

(I used A Photo A Day, The Open Road, I Scream, Serendipity, He's My Valentine, Family Fun, and the Adventures in Reading type alpha)

To give you a jumpstart, I created this "One Amazing Summer" postcard for you, using Mary's fabulous Vintage Postcard Creator. Just fill in your own photos or favorite summertime papers behind the letters for an eye-catching page title.

DOWNLOAD FROM 4SHARED HERE

DOWNLOAD FROM MEDIAFIRE HERE

Enjoy the freebie, and we look forward to hearing your amazing summertime stories! Entries will be counted and a winner drawn on Labor Day, Monday, September 5!

Give Away Monday

It is that time of the week again! Wendy here...can you believe it is Monday already? I do not know where the time goes but it sure has been flying by real quickly. Just think pretty soon it will be Christmas! Ack, now that is a scary thought! Let me get my focus on to today's posting, a freebie using Plum Dumpling Designs The Open Road

I love this kit. I love the coloring of the kit as well as the fun road trip elements that she included. This is one of those kits that are very versitle. I used it to scrapbook about our recent road trip to Mount Rushmore, which turned in to driving the extra six hours to Yellowstone National Park.

**please click here for credits and journaling**

To go along with my road trip theme this week, I created this wonderful frame cluster using Plum Dumpling Designs The Open Road

Which you can download here through either 4shared or Mediafire

Thanks again for stopping by today. I hope to see you real soon!

Throwback Thursday - Terrible Two's

As a parent, we all have those not-so-awesome days when our child is more trying than other days. I know I do. My kids are great but they have their days. Days when they scream, cry, fall on the floor......and still it's a perfect time to snap a photo. If you're like me, then you'll need this kit - Terrible Two's. It's not limited to just toddlers. It's perfect for any meltdown photos that you may still have unscrapped.



Here's a recent layout that I did for the Extreme Makeover challenge at ScrapMatters.


Here's another recent layout in the Plum Dumpling Designs gallery at ScrapMatters using this kit.


-Ophelia :)

Inspiration Wednesday

Hello Fellow Bloggers! Heidi here to bring you this weeks Inspiration! It seems like 2-page layouts are all the rage...well fortunate for all of us, Mary's got a super template pack to add tons of photos and have a 2-page LO done in no time!! Hopefully one of these templates will help you when you feel like you're in a rut and you need a little help! This way you get more pages done at one time!!

Have a super week!! Happy Scrapping!!

Giveaway Monday

Hi everyone!! I hope that you are having a great start to your week today. Lately I've been doing some little school hybrid projects, and one of them is this binder cover. I'm using plain binders to organize my daughter's school work by subject, but there is nothing fun about a plain old white binder so I decided to give it a bit more personality and for the science one I used Mary's Hypothesis kit to make a cool cover for the front.

I love how it turned out!!!

I hope you like it too, :) You can download it HERE.

Have a great week everyone!!

I Scream Party Inspiration and a Freebie

Happy Thursday! It's Nikki here with a little inspiration and a freebie for you!

If ever there was a perfect kit for end-of-summer birthdays (or just celebrating the end of summer!) it must be Mary's fabulous I Scream! I loved using it for my son's birthday bash! Paired with bright colored dollar-bin favors, festive pinwheels, M&Ms, and a table runner of polka dot wrapping paper, it made an easy, fun party display.

I purchased the oversized french fry favor boxes and simply added a "You're So Sweet" tag to the front of each (punched out with a 2.25" scalloped circle punch).

I've put together a freebie for you to download and print, to start up your own I Scream party! The download includes a sheet of six "You're So Sweet" tags, ready to punch (each with a different I Scream treat on it!), and a sheet with two "Thanks" cards. Simply cut between the two cards and fold them in half for two 4.25x5.5 cards like this:

DOWNLOAD HERE

Enjoy the freebie and enjoy all your end-of-summer days!

A Little Inspiration!

Hi!  Lynett here to add a little inspiration to your Wednesday.  I don't know about you but the summer is not complete for my family without one trip to some kind of amusement park or fair.  Plum Dumplings has the perfect kit for all your fun filled pages.  Thoroughly Amused by Plum Dumplings and Haynay Designs.

Here is a recent layout I did using it of my two boys enjoying a ride at Disneyland.

And more layouts from the gallery at ScrapMatters!

Vintage Postcard Creator Tutorial (Clipping Masks)

Today I'm going to show you how I create clipping masks to use in scrapbooking. This trick is perfect to use with my new Vintage Postcard Creator. This tutorial will show you how to create a mask so that you can place a different photo in each letter. You can also use this technique to fill odd shaped frames.

This tutorial is created using PSE 8.

1. Open your file. (Be sure to duplicate the file so you don't alter the original!)
2. Choose the Magic Wand Tool from your tool bar (or use keyboard shortcut W). At the top of the screen you will see a menu bar. Be sure that the box marked "contiguous" is checked. This will select everything inside the letter. If left unchecked it will select all of the transparent areas on the file. Click inside the first letter.

3. If you look closely, you will see that the marching ants aren't quite to the end of the letter. You'll want to expand the selection to make sure there aren't empty spots on your finished product. Select > Modify > Expand.

4. I usually choose around 3 or 4 pixels.

5. Look again and you'll see the marching ants cover the entire inside of the letter.

6. Create a new layer by with keyboard shortcuts Shift+Ctrl+N or Edit > Layer > New. Place the new layer under your word layer.

7. Your marching ants are still marching, right? Now you'll want to fill the marching ants selection on this new layer. Do this by choosing Edit > Fill Layer.

8. The color of the clipping mask doesn't matter. I usually just fill it with the Foreground Color.

9. Now you have a letter clipping mask. Go ahead and stop those ants from marching using keyboard shortcut Ctrl+D or Select > Deselect. Place your photo above your newly created clipping mask. You may need to resize your photo.

10. Here's the big finish! Clip your photo to the mask using keyboard shortcut Ctrl+G or Layer > Create Clipping Mask. Ta Da!!

11. Repeat for each layer and enjoy your awesome homemade postcard!!

Want your own Vintage Postcard Creator? Head on over to my shop and check it out!

Throwback Thursday -

As the summer wears on, mykids are getting more and more bumps and bruises.  I know this black and blue kit is perfect for those sad times in life!  You can grab it here.

Look at the newer layouts with this kit!

Quilted Inspiration

Hi Plum Dumpling fans! Nikki here with some images from around the web to inspire you to play with Mary's fabulous Patchwork Templates:

These amazing templates can be virtually 100% customizable! Mary set up layers for each individual piece, as well as layers that contain multiple similar pieces, so you can add patterned or solid papers or photos to whole sections or single spots of the templates.

Those of you who are quilters will know what this means--that in each of these templates you can change the look almost completely, even with the same patchwork pattern. By varying the arrangement of colors they can be transformed into many different looks!

There are countless ways to play with the Log Cabin (the template on the bottom right of the preview, under the PDD logo!). Try arranging light and dark colors in opposite corners, or in the "hourglass" or "bowtie" shape, or simply place fun random prints or photos around a bold center square:

fabulous collection of images from Sew Mama Sew blog

Mary's Log Cabin template is a perfect one to try reducing in size and duplicating to form countless amazing patterns! Here are some examples of what happens when you play with the Log Cabin:

from http://www.boogaj.com/knitting/2008/04/log-cabin-inspi.html

The Friendship Star (top left template) looks simple but can also be dramatically changed with different paper and photo placements. Try light stars on a dark background (or vice versa), stars with different color (or photo) centers, stars all in one color and stars in a wide variety of hues! And don't forget to play with the strips between the stars as well... you'll draw attention differently whether you highlight the diamond-shaped strips or the large squares. Do you recognize the Friendship Stars here:

from Katinka BrusselSprouts

Finally, the quilt pattern on the top right of Mary's preview is called Tumbling Blocks. On this one, try making all the tops or the front sides of the blocks one color; try making each individual cube in one monochromatic scheme; or try ignoring the cube shapes and arranging your colors to highlight the accordion-type shapes going across the template. Check out these inspirational quilt samples:

from Quilt Inspiration blog

We can't wait to see what you do with these awesome templates! For more inspiration about these patterns, a quick search on Google Images will supply you with hundreds of samples from quilters around the web. Have fun patchworking!

Giveaway Monday: Template

Hello everyone! Today I have a fun free template to share with all of you. This layout was inspired by the fun Book Club set in Mary's shop, which also coordinates with this month's Mix a kit awesome goodies.

My daughter loves to keep track of things, so I wanted her to have a fun page where she could keep track of the books she reads. I hope you can use it too, :)

Download

P.S. "Original layout also uses pieces from Whoo loves ya? by Elise's Pieces Designs"

Choo Choo! Birthday Blog Train!

Happy Birthday to ScrapMatters! There will be a master list of stops posted at the ScrapMatters blog, so if you lose your way or want to double check your stops, check in there. I'm loving the rich colors of the Design Team collab, Garden Party. It's FREE with a $20 purchase during the Birthday Bash Sale. I know it won't be too difficult to fill your cart with $20 of goodies. Go check it out!! And you get more bang for your buck because all PU is 30% off!

Here's the full kit...do you love flowers?!

Here's a LO I scrapped with it using one of WM Squared Designs' Tuesday Templates...This kit is perfect for lots of outdoor LOs. And it is just jam packed with papers and elements.

And now on to the freebie...
DOWNLOAD HERE

Enjoy and take some time to smell the flowers today...even if they are just digi ones!!!

Previous stop: GeniaBeana Scraps
Next stop: Simply J Studio

Full list of stops available here: ScrapMatters Blog

Happy Birthday SM & 4 "New" Releases!

Happy Birthday to ScrapMatters! Today kicks off the 4th birthday of our favorite place!! Be sure to check the forum for games, speed scraps, chats, blog train and prizes, prizes, prizes!!! There is also a HUGE sale going on...30% off all personal use products! It's a great time to pick up some things from your wish list. If you spend $20, you'll even get a beautiful SM Mega Collab, Garden Party.

I'm releasing some of the goodies from my Polka Dot Plum Guest Spot over at SM, so if you weren't able to grab them over there, now's your chance!









Check out this eye candy from the CT!


Happy travels!