I’ve decided to test something out for the summer and see how well it does.  I’ve added a new section to my menu bar up above called Daily Deals (also accessible in my left sidebar).  I’ll be putting random stuff on sale for at least 50% off (probably more) for just a few days at a time.  So be sure and check the Daily Deals when you visit!

I have a new kit out this week!  It’s called Celebrate!  After I came out with my Birthday Joy kit someone requested a birthday kit with more boy friendly colors and this is what I ended up with.  There are a few birthday/party type elements and papers, but the majority are pretty general and can be used for any kind of layout.

All new products are 20% off now through Sunday!

And I have a little freebie to go along with everything…

Thanks for stopping by!

I’ve had several people email me lately asking how I recolor my doodles, so I thought I’d post about it here for those who aren’t quite sure how to use them.

I’m using one of my Rawr dinosaur doodles in this example.  I don’t like having a black outline on my finished image, so I’ll show you how to do it that way.  It’s basically the same if you want to keep the black outline, just don’t delete it at the end. 

(Just a note: I’m using CS3 here, I’m not sure how similar the process is in other programs.)

First select your magic wand.  I use the following settings:

Now click inside the area you want colored and expand your selection (I always expand by about 12 pixels).

Then add a new layer under your doodle outline.

Choose your paint bucket tool and click inside the marquee to add your color.

Now using your magic wand again, click inside the other areas you want colored (press your SHIFT key to select multiple areas) and expand your selection.

Add a new layer under your colored layer (I do this so that I can add shading later) and fill with color.

Deselect all.

Now I want to get rid of the outline, so I delete the doodle outline layer and I have this:

So now add a new layer to the top and add an eye with a round brush.

Then select your top colored layer and go to layer effects and select inner shadow.  Choose a darker shade of the color you used to fill the doodle.  Here are the settings I used for this:

Repeat on the other colored layers.  So here’s what I have now:

I like to do a little more, like adding an acrylic style to the eye to make it stand out.  I gave it some spots on it’s back and I also add a drop shadow to the top layers to give it more dimension.  The maybe merge the layers and add an overlay to give it some texture.  And here’s what I ended up with:

Easy peasy!  Hopefully that wasn’t too long-winded, but I wanted to be thorough.  lol

And if you want it, you can download my finished dinosaur HERE.

Now go have some fun with doodles!

Since I’ve been posting more than usual lately and a lot of it is not scrap related I’ve decided to split my blog into design and everything else.  So from now on anything scrap related will be posted here - freebies, news, new releases, etc.  Everything else will be posted on my other blog: My Other Life.

That way those who only want to read about scrap stuff won’t have to wade through all of my rambling to get to it.  lol  And those who don’t mind my rambling and want to ramble with me can come visit me on my other blog. 

Yikes, where have I been? I just barely saw the trailer for New Moon! In case you’re as out of the Twi-loop as I am, here it is…

I was really happy with the wolf transformation. I wasn’t sure they were going to be able to do that well, but it looks like they nailed it!

I’m subscribed to this hilarious blog for Twilight Widowers. My husband no longer qualifies as a Twilight Widower, but I sent him the link anyway because I knew he could relate. Totally hilarious stuff!

I was talking to my mom earlier this evening and she said that she wasn’t very fond of the little felt elements in my new Adam kit and so she asked if I would make some shiny ones to go along with it.  So I did!  It’s been ages and ages since I had a freebie, hasn’t it?  So I guess this is a little overdue.  lol

DOWNLOAD HERE

I’m being featured at The Daily Digi today!  (Annnnnnd there’s a coupon code to my shop at the bottom of the post, too, so check it out and save some money!)  There’s even a preview of my contribution to this month’s Digi Files if you want to see what I made before you buy!

I have a book (Evanovich’s Fearless Fourteen) that’s been calling my name all morning, so I’m off to read.  I’ve read quite a few bad reviews for this book, so I’m crossing my fingers that it isn’t as bad as that.  If you’ve read it, what did you think?  I’d hate for it to be a disappointment after loving all of the others.

I have some sort of new stuff out this week!  I’m going through some of my older kits and giving them makeovers and I started with Adam.  It’s on sale for 20% off through Sunday…

I also have a coordinating brag book…

And Worn papers…

Plus I finally got around to fixing up the doodles from my Rawr kit so you can make your own little dinosaurs!

And I’m going to be retiring the original Adam kit at the end of the month, but you can get it until then for just $2.50…

Thanks for stopping by!

I shocked myself this week and actually got something designed!  lol  It took me forever to finish, but I’m pretty happy with it and it will be in the shop on Thursday.  Here’s a little peek…

And I’ve read through all of the Stephanie Plum books I bought, except for #14, which I seem to have misplaced somehow.  I need to hunt that down and then go out and buy 15 and the two in between books I missed (Plum Lucky and Plum Spooky).  So I’m hooked, completely.  And what I really want to know is…

Ranger or Joe?

Even the Edward/Jacob question wasn’t this hard!  lol  Which one is YOUR favorite?  I personally cannot seem to decide, but I’m not too bothered by that since Stephanie can’t seem to decide either.  hehe

I seriously need to join a book club or something!

hehe

Guess what?  I’m having a Play Day over on the Studio Matters blog!

Studio Ellie Play Day (There’s a coupon code in there, too!)

Excited About Ellie (Check out these layouts by the Studio Crew!  They are SO talented!)

How great is that?  I’m so excited!

And BIG THANKS to everyone who commented on my last post about workout music!  You guys are awesome!  There are some songs/bands I had completely forgotten about and some that I’d never even heard of before, so I will be expanding my horizons and my playlist.  Now I’m all motivated!  lol

I did a random drawing and Sarah and IkeaGoddess both won gift codes to my shop!  Thanks for reading and commenting!