Sunday, February 28, 2010

March Blog Train Freebie

Welcome to my portion of the March Mega Blog Train! I'm super excited to join this HUGE train that features over 100 designers!!! This month's theme is Shine On. This mini kit features fun colors, super cute elements, great papers, and even a coupon from me!




Click on the preview or HERE to grab my part of the kit. From here, you should head over to the Polka Dot Pixels blog. If you get lost, you can find a list of ALL participating designers and links to their contributions at the Blog Train Blog. You'll also find a slideshow that reveals each and every part of the kit there. Please be sure to leave some love at each of your stops. Also keep in mind that we are all in different time zones, so be sure to check back if a part seems to be missing.

While you're here, why don't you follow my blog and subscribe to my newsletter? You'll get announcements, be the first to hear important news, and even get great coupons and freebies!!! Hope you enjoy and remember to link me up to any LOs featuring my stuff--I'd love to see what you do!

Until next time,
Jennifer ♥

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Sunday Spotlight

Hey everyone! Kat here to bring you the latest and greatest layouts I have come across with Jennifer's GORGEOUS products!


Let's get right to it shall we?!?!?!

First up:

Tent Days using Jennifer's "Happy Chick Grab Bag" by ShabbyShaz:




Next we have MamaBee's "Right There" which also uses Jennifer's Happy Chick Grab Bag.



And now a few fabulous layouts using Jennifer's collab "Foxy Chic" with Geek Chic

Jennamy82's "Beautiful"



and "Elise" by NeverendingJen



And last but not least, Jennifer is closing her store at Polka Dot Plum. Today is the last day to pick up all of Jennifer's retiring products for $2.00!!!


That's all I have in me today... Running 7 miles this morning has done me in so I'll leave you to enjoy the gorgeous eye candy above. Have a great week and we'll see you again soon!

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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Closing My Store @ Polka Dot Plum=Savings for You!!!


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Saturday Scrappin' Tutorial!

Happy Saturday everyone!! Erin here with a fun scrapping tutorial for you all. Have you ever wondered how to cut ribbons using PhotoShop? Well I am here to show you how to do it! It's super easy!

First off - start by creating your layout. (I am using PS CS2)

Get a couple of ribbons in there and then select the lasso tool.



When you right click on the lasso tool, a drop down menu appears.

Choose the polygonal lasso tool. This will allow you to select certain parts of your layout with the lines being straight.
Click on one of your ribbon layers in your layers palette.
You are now going to cut a piece out of the ribbon. Using your mouse you will form a little triangle to indicate where you want the ribbon cut.
So click once near your ribbon, then again ON your ribbon (where you want the V to start) and then double click off your ribbon, closing the triangle. (my example on the ric rac doesn't show the V - I did a straight line for that cut)

Then, simply hit delete and it will cut away the selection of ribbon you selected.
Pretty easy isn't it! There are so many varieties you can do - cut ribbons at a V, at an angle, or off center. It's so versatile!
Here is my finished layout using Foxy Chic (Jennifer's collab with Geek Chic). As you can see I cut the ric rac, black ribbon and green ribbon.

I hope you all find this tutorial useful! Happy Scrapping!

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Winners!!

Thank you to the sweet girls who played along with us for this month's Lift Challenge!

Jennifer has been so kind to give each of you a GC to her store!! Woooohooo!!! I hope you have a terrific time shopping and scrapping!

Kerri and Nietis, I'll be PMing you with your coupons today!

Be looking in a few days for our March challenge!!

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Tidbit Thursday - and a new release!

Hello there and Happy Thursday to you all! Trina here to share your tidbit Thursday and Jennifer's new release - a collab with Geek Chic designs!

First up - your tidbit. I just learned this about a month ago and I can't believe how much time it has saved me. So I thought hey, why not share the wealth! I hope I wasn't the last person to learn how to do this!


Did you know that to open your graphics in Photoshop (and I believe in PSE - just not PSP) you can drag them from the folder on your computer, drop them on your Photoshop workspace and voila, they'll open? I used to spend so much time going to File-Open- then finding the folder, picking my elements from the tiny view they give you, hoping I got it right and pressing open. Now I just go to my folder and find which goodies I want to use, drag them into Photoshop and it's done! Total time saver! Do you have any other handy tips we should know? Share them in the comment section, we could all use them!

----------------------------------------------

Now, here is Jennifer's new release, out today! This collab, called "Foxy Chic" is so gorgeous! I love the title of it, and the color palette blew me away! It is available at Jennifer's new store at The Digichick!



Here are some of the layouts the CT has made with it:

By Kate:


By Trina (hey, that's me!)

By Heidi:



By Erin:

There is also a coordinating Blog package! Check it out and spice up your blog!




Stop by Jennifer's store at The Digichick today while New Releases are 20% off!!!

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

CT Call for Hybrid Artists!!!

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It's Hybrid Day!!! (Link fixed!)

Stephanie (schock77) here with a quick freebie for you today! I am always in need of a quick birthday card, but they can get pricey! So I prefer to make my own and I've made one for you today using Jennifer's super cute kit Cuppycakes!



Just click HERE to download (sorry it's small on the blog, but I promise it's card sized in the download). Then print it out on cardstock, cut it out and score it along the pink line and- voila! Ready to personalize! And if you're really feeling crafty, print it twice, cut out the cupcakes from one page and mount them with 3d squares onto the front of the card on the other page for a more paper-crafted look.




Forgive me for not having a finished photo of my card... hopefully giving it to you will make up for it! ;) And be sure to leave us links to any layouts you make with Jennifer's stuff- we'd love to check it out!

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Monday, February 22, 2010

Monday Meals in Minutes

Kate bringing you my first Meals in Minutes!! Today my meal is a Beef Noodle Bowl. Super quick and my kiddos enjoy them. I apologize about the pictures. I'm not so hot at Photoshop and didn't know how to "disappear" the steam!!! You'll get the idea though!!

Here's what you will need:
1/2 lb. linguine, uncooked
3 cups broccoli florets
3 carrots, peeled, sliced
2 tsp. oil
1 lb. beef sirloin steak, cut into strips, or small bites
1/4 cup KRAFT Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing
1 Tbsp. teriyaki sauce

First, cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, adding vegetables to the boiling water for the last 2 min.

As that is cooking, heat oil in large nonstick skillet. Add meat; cook until browned on all sides, stirring occasionally.
Stir in dressing and teriyaki sauce; cook 2 min. or until sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally.


Drain pasta mixture; place in large serving bowl. Add meat mixture; toss to coat. Serve and eat! Let us know if you try it!

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Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sunday Spotlight

Hi scrappers! Stephanie (schock77) here to shine the spotlight on the blog today. I am SO excited to see Jennifer's new store opening at The Digichick! And so today I'm spotlighting one of Jennifer's exclusives at TDC: Happy Chick Grab Bag. This grab bag is PACKED full of goodies and at a great price too- don't miss it!



The team created some beautiful pages of course, but check out what else I saw in the gallery - more fabulous layouts!
from LivyBug


from derricksmom


from kayjaydo


So what are you waiting for? Go check it out! :) Happy Scrapping!

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Friday, February 19, 2010

I'm stumped!





My mojo is gone! I have no ideas left! How often have we found ourselves throwing our hands up in the air and uttering one of those phrases? I know I (Leila) do it all the time, especially when it comes to blogging. I'm pretty new to blogging mostly because I've resisted for so long. I'm not a big fan of 'putting myself out there.' It's akin to public speaking for me, and that's something I just do not do. Ever. Because of that, I often find myself scrambling for ideas on what to blog about. With that in mind, I thought I'd share some really cool sites with great prompts. Many of them can also translate into journaling prompts for your layouts.

There you have it: a few places to find ideas to blog and/or journal about. I hope it helps for those moments when you're ready to pull out hair. Until next time!!

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Woot! I'm a CHICK!!!







I am so excited to be joining the amazing designers at the Digichick! I have always loved the shoppe and forums there and I can't believe I now get to be part of it! I couldn't be happier! Today I have 3 brand new products going into the shoppe: an amazing grab bag that you don't want to miss, a template set perfect for P365, P52, and AAM layouts, and some awesome all purpose date strips. Grab these over at TDC today for 20% off!

I will continue to sell at Polka Dot Plum, too!!! My products at each store will be exclusive, which is super exciting to me. Keep your eyes open for lots of new goodies at both stores in the coming weeks.

Happy scrapping!
Jennifer ♥

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"Guess Where I'm Going" Winners!!!

Congrats to LORRY!!!
Lorry, email me at jenniferfoxdesigns@yahoo.com and I'll send you your $10.00 GC to my new store at The Digichick!!!
Just for playing, everyone here gets a 20% off coupon valid 2/19--2/24!!!
Simply use the code:
jfox-TDC20(blog)
at checkout for your discount. Enjoy!

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Some Big News and a Contest!!!


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Need a Baby Gift?

I'm so excited and nervous to be posting here! I'm a blogging junkie who owns more blogs than shoes (well, almost) so I have no idea why I'm so nervous! This is my first time posting on Jenn's blog, and I'm just visiting, as a guest! I'm known in the digiworld as Ramona the Pest. I am known by most people in the real world, as well, Ramona the Pest! I've had the nickname since elementary school, but only recently grew up enough to embrace it! LOL!

Enough about me! I'm so excited to share with you a quick project that I made recently for a baby shower I was attending! I have to say this is a super easy project, even if you are scared to death by hybrid! But, the result is enough to get you lots of attention! I wasn't looking for the attention, and to be honest, was a bit embarrassed by how much everyone loved the gift! So, if you are looking to make an entrance, this is the way to go! And you don't have to be an expert hybrid scrapper either! You don't have to have any fancy tools, just your computer, any old printer (ink jet), some iron paper and the onesies! That's it! Oh, an iron is also helpful!

Let me show you the end result, then I'll back track with a few instructions!

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

See, aren't they cute? And I promise, super easy!!!

First, I started with my computer and the fabulous kit, Lil Dude by Jennifer Fox Designs. It was a collab with two other fabulous designers, and you can find out more about the kit Here:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Then I created my working space at 4 inches by 2 inches which was about the size I wanted to fit on the cute little onesie! You can measure yours for whatever size you are working with. I then clustered the elements to create the design.

Here is one I made today and you can pick it up for free, at the end of here, if you want a starting point for that set of onesies, you know you are dying to make!

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

The next VERY important step, is to make it a mirror image. This instruction is also included on the iron paper you will need (bought mine at Wal-mart for 7.99 in the office supply section), but it can never be repeated enough! To do this in photoshop, you simply go to Image>>rotate canvas>>flip horizontally. This makes it so that when it prints and you iron it on, it comes out the right direction! It should look like this:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

I was able to fit 3 of these on an 8.5x11 sheet of iron on.

From that point, I just followed the directions on the package, which were to print (ink jet printer only) let dry for 30 minutes, iron on, etc. That was it!

For the box, I had to get creative! Ideally, if I had more time, I would have designed it on a 12x12 paper and sent it off for printing. 8.5x11 made the sides kind of small, but I basically measured the little onesies folded together to get the measurement of my box, added on what I could for the sides, created a template, put in the papers and elements, printed, cut and taped! Super easy!!!

If you would like to get started, you can download the cluster above! Then head on over to Jenn's shop, pick up the kit and get to work! You'll be wowing all the other mom's at your next shower!

Download HERE

And if you are interested in any more of my crazy projects, freebies, etc. you can check out my blog HERE.

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A Makeover and a Reminder!

The blog is undergoing a major transformation!!! It's going to take a bit of time to get it just right, so keep checking back! I hope you all enjoy the new look and find it much easier to navigate. :)

DON'T FORGET that our monthly challenge is underway! There's plenty of time to join in the fun and win some pretty great prizes! Check it out!!!


PS) I hear there's some pretty exciting news coming in the next couple of days. There may even be some contests and guessing games. You definitely will want to stay tuned!!!

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Monday, February 15, 2010

Manic Monday...

When I (Leila) woke up this morning, I realized that my time in which to accomplish my usual Monday tasks had been cut in half. I have lunch plans with a good friend today, so I won't be home to do what I usually do; including dinner prep for the week. (Yes, the week!) So what's a busy mom to do in a situation like this?? Pull out the slow cooker of course!

So today's 'quick' meal is called Butter Beef. I stumbled upon it several years ago while searching for an alternative to your basic pot roast. You see, pot roast intimidates me. I know, I know; it's really not that hard. As a matter of fact, it might even be easier than my Butter Beef. For me though, you might as well make me do calculus. ;) Anyway, the butter beef. The recipe is deceptively simple. The result is fabulous! So without further ado, I give you:

SLOW COOKER BUTTER BEEF

Ingredients:

2-3lbs stew beef (or a chuck roast cut into 1½"-2" cubes)
¼ cup butter; cut into small pieces (This ingredient is optional.)
1 packet onion soup mix
1 can (15oz) beef broth
baby carrots

Directions:

1. Season beef liberally with salt, pepper or prepared steak seasoning (I use Montreal Steak Seasoning from McCormick).

2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown the beef until just a little color is on the meat. This step is OPTIONAL. I find it makes the dish even better when I do brown the meat though.

3. In slow cooker, place a layer of baby carrots and a couple of the butter chunks on the bottom. Layer some of the meat over the carrots and repeat as needed.

4. Add in onion soup mix and beef broth. Cover and cook on high 2-4 hours or low for 5-6 hours. (My cooker cooks hot, so low for 3 hours is pretty much perfect.)

We server this over egg noodles and with a good crusty bread. Even Devin, my super picky punk, eats this one!

Enjoy everyone!

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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Sunday Spotlight! Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi everyone! Erin here again - this time with the Sunday Spotlight! And since it is the day of love, I thought I would showcase layouts in Jennifer's PDP gallery using her gorgeous kit - I {heart} U. So here we go!!

By coila:



by sassynsweet:

and lastly - by girlygirl:


Have you scrapped with this kit? We'd love to see your layouts! So please link them up in the comments section. And don't forget to upload to Jennifer's gallery at PDP!
Happy Valentine's Day!! XOXO

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Saturday, February 13, 2010

I {heart} Vignettes - scrapping tut

OK so even though I (Sprauncey1 aka Kim) have been digiscrapping for over 5 years now, I still feel like I am still constantly learning new things. And as I was scrapping a page the other day, I discovered this cool technique and wanted to share it with you all. I scrap mainly in Photoshop CS2, but I know that these same things can be done in Elements as well. The other programs...I have no clue, but they are basic commands so I would imagine you could do them too. Anyway...vignettes...

I started out wanting to do a valentines day LO with a heart on it. A heart like so:And well, as I am a big fan of Jennifer's patterned papers (like from her I {heart} U kit at Polka Dot Plum) I used one of them and clipped it to my heart (shown above). But whenever I do this I feel like I "lose" the edge of the paper. You know the part of it that is just a little darker and shows where the paper ends. Well as I was using a vignette action on one of my photos, I realized that I could do the same thing with my patterned paper shapes. So here's what I did:
1. Select shape (control-click on the image thumbnail)
2. Contract the selection by 100 (Select - Modify- Contract - 100) Adjust number as needed.3. Feather the selection (Select - Feather - 80) feel free to play around with the number!4. Inverse the selection (Select - Inverse)5. Copy the selection from the original patterned paper layer. (Click on patterned paper layer in layers palette, Layer - New - Layer via copy)6. Clip this to the heart layer (Layer - Create Clipping Mask) It will look just like the original initially until you change the layer blend mode to multiply. Then it looks like this:
7. Now you can play around with the opacity of the layer and even the blend mode to get it the way you like it. I usually lower mine until the point I'm not sure I added it, then I hide that layer and see how much of a difference it makes. Usually it makes a huge difference even when I don't think I can "see" it anymore. Here's what mine looks like at 40% opacity:8. And here is my LO with the heart featured on it.

I also added a vignette on the background paper using the heart shape as a guide (by expanding the heart selection and then feathering, etc), which I think really enhances the theme of the LO. This can be done with just about any shape or text or whatever. Its more subtle than an inked edge but it also shows the eye where the edge is. Anyway...that's my tutorial, hoped you learned something! Don't forget to check out Jennifer's store for awesome patterned papers like the ones in this kit to play around with!

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Disclaimer

As a creative team member for several digital scrapbook designers, I have received their products for free in return for creating and posting projects (digital layouts, hybrids projects, etc). Many of the layouts you see here were done in conjunction with requirements for these creative teams. Please be advised that the products used were indeed received for free.
The Daily Scrapper - Topsites Best Scrapbooking Sites, Digital Scrapbooking, Scrapbook Supplies, Reviews, Awards
List of the Best Digital Scrapbooking Websites by Scrapbook MAX!SCRAPBOOKING TOP 500 The Daily Scrapper - Topsites Free Digital Scrapbooking

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