We’re 5 Years OId This Month!

Wednesday, 20 June 2012Wednesday, 20 June 2012 / LivE / 156 Comments

Yeah, well, not me me, but we at JessicaSprague.com! Man, how time flies!

But birthdays are always fun, aren’t they? And they’re especially fun at the Spraground, because we love giving away birthday goodies every year!

This year, the JessicaSprague.com designers have teamed up to bring you a wonderful summer-y collaboration kit, and here’s my part of it:

My mini kit has five 12×12 papers and 5 elements:

tied chipboard accent (in plain and pre-shadowed versions)
a buttoned and lifted string (pre-shadowed for that oh-so-realistic look)
a 12×12 puffy-sticker popsicle border
a stapled, paint-swiped frame (in plain, pre-shadowed, and lifted versions)
a set of summer and beach label wordart (in plain and pre-shadowed versions)

And if you find that my little kit rocks your boat, you can click on the button below to download the file directly:

If you’ve arrived here first, you’ll want to go to the start of the whole bloghop so you can collect all the goodies along the way.

Click HERE to go to the first stop (none other than our dear Jessica Sprague’s blog!)

And to collect the next part of this fabulous collab kit, click HERE to go to Lori Whitlock’s blog!

Our bloghop will be active all week long till right before midnight of Sunday, June 24th Eastern Standard Time. This means that you and your friends can download our goodies any time this week till right before midnight.

Oh, and because you’re awesome, I know I can count on you to leave a few words as you grab my freebie, right? 😀 (Scroll down and click on the Comments button… don’t be shy! 😉 ).

Don’t forget that as part of our Birthday Week celebrations, we’re also having a 40%-0ff sale this entire week! Click HERE to go to my shop and fill your cart with goodies that you might not be part of your collection yet :).

And here’s a little poster to remind you of all our birthday activities this week:

Thanks for passing by, and don’t forget to grab a cupcake and a balloon on your way out! (((big happy birthday hugs))) to you!

12 – 4 – 2012

Monday, 9 January 2012Monday, 9 January 2012 / LivE / 9 Comments

Twelve for twenty-twelve.

Twelve plans for the new year.

Do you have plans? Resolutions? Dreams you want to turn into reality this year? Why don’t we share? I’ll tell you yours and you tell me mine, and that way we can keep a friendly eye on each other (perhaps even whisper a gentle reminder in each other’s ear in case either of us comes in danger of flaking off on one or two). Sounds good?

I’ll start. Here are my 12 for 2012:

1. Prioritize prayer.

Too often, too many things fill up the day, like different ties clamped onto my body pulling me in this and that direction… and all of these things I have to do every single day matter not one bit, and all of those points on the To-Do List will not be as successful as they could be, if I don’t stop to spend some time in conversation with Him who gave me my life. This fact is not easy to remember, especially on the busiest of days: I know that by experience. It is a struggle. But a sweet one, and one that I want to apply all my energy to, because He comes first, after all.

2. Send a newsletter every month.

Just because I love ya and would love to keep in touch with you more often. And maybe pester you in your inbox. 😆

Nah, seriously. I would love to be able to share more, and I see my newsletter as a way of achieving that goal… with the side benefit of staying in touch with updates that might not find themselves into a blogpost. Also, I love learning a new thing everyday, so it was a total thrill to learn how to create sign-up forms and set up a whole newsletter system! Took me more than 24 hours — close to 48, actually — to set the whole thing up, but it was an awesome experience learning it!

And so do check out the right sidebar, right over there –> and DO sign up! You know you want to… 😉

Or if you visit my Facebook page HERE, you’ll find it on the left sidebar too.

Now why would you want me popping into your inbox? Uhm… cos you love me? 😆 Seriously, though, I’m planning to hop by perhaps once a month (unless there are more delish things to share after I’ve sent the monthly newsletter). I’m really excited about this, because not only do I get to bore you with my random thoughts (mwahaha), but I also now have the perfect way to share more goodies with you!

Here’s what you can expect from my newsletters (in case you find yourself wondering “Should I or shouldn’t I?”) – the latest news on the homefront (think: be the first to find out about sales and freebies and events!), my newest creations and products, news about classes (exciting ones that I would highly recommend as well any classes that I might be coming up with this year 😉 ), perhaps a few samples of my photographic adventures, quite possibly some random thoughts, and while we’re at it, why not throw in some special subscriber coupons and freebies as well? *Squeal!*

3. Release freebies through my Facebook page.

Remember that Facebook page I talked about? Well, I’m presently working on setting up the systems that will allow me to give exclusive freebies to liv.edesigns Facebook fans (or, in Facebook lingo, those that “Like” my page).

The work that I’ve been doing on this behind the scenes constitutes part of all the Geekifying-Liv Adventures that I’ve been enjoying since the new year started. (If you sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be among the first to know, too, if and when the freebies are out on my Facebook page! How’s that for incentive? >tee hee<)

4. Put up a new product in my shop every week.

I sometimes suspect that I have Designers ADHD – and no, there’s no such thing in real life 😆 . I just invented it as an excuse for all the half-finished projects that I have in my work folders on my computer. Plus all my projects-to-be that are still sketches in multiple notebooks and boxes and artwork that needs to find its way onto my scanner… that kind of thing. Sooo I need to actually get them off the physical (or mental) plane and onto the digital drawing board and then into my shop. Every week. For all the 52 weeks of this year.

Keeping my fingers crossed (and toes… and eyes thrown in, for good measure) that I make it! 😉

5. Create one layout every month.

I looked back on the layouts I created for 2011 and discovered that these weren’t even enough to complete an album (whereas I could easily fill 16 pages of an album with one of Jessica’s three-week classes in the past). Maybe part of it is taking more photos (I completed Project 365, yay!), maybe part of it is having my three youngest kids in school (and therefore I’m a driver-mama in the mornings and tutoring-mama in the afternoons till evenings), maybe part of it is taking on parent-projects from the said schools, and maybe part of it is growing old and losing the ability to exist on 3-hours of sleep night after night on a regular basis. 😆

But I do feel the need to scrap more, even if it needs to be a “quickie” kind of thing. Just because there are all these stories that need to be told, not just in photos, not just in words, but in a pretty triple combination of words+photos+art.

6. CreART.

By this I mean I want to stretch my boundaries, artwise. Learn something new. Get my hands dirty with paint and glue and stuff. (Or find a way to do it digitally! ;)). Experiment with something, even if it’s just sewing paper or painting a frame or putting together a miniature chair.

Another thing I really want to get into: create an Art Journal. (More on that soon! ;))

7. Do Project 365+

Last year was my first attempt to take a photo a day for each day of the year. And I am so thrilled to say that I actually did it!

This year, I’m attempting to do it again because it’s a fab way to document life as it happens (even if you may not have the time to scrap a page about it, at least you’ve frozen the moment in a photo that you can always go back to). Also, since practice makes perfect, I truly believe it does wonders in helping one constantly develop one’s photographic skills. And beyond that, the biggest reason why I love Project 365, is this: it forces you to look at everyday, ordinary moments and see the beauty, the miracle, the joyful wonder that might not immediately be visible on the surface.

(I am also considering trying my hand at the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, where you choose a photo to interpret their theme for the week. Read more about it HERE).

8. Use my Bind-It-All.

I confess. I’ve had this for hmmm, three years? And I’ve never used it. Geesh. I can be hopeless that way.

So this year, I plan to actually use it instead of looking at it on my shelf and promising “One day, BIA, you and I are going to be good friends.” That day must come this year. 🙂

9. Maintain serenity.

In the midst of attempting to put all these plans into action, I would like to be peaceful. Calm. Serene… whether the day is just like any other day or the world is spinning madly and I’m doing all I can to hold tight.

A very wise person once said “Be like the duck: all calm on the surface but paddling like hell under the water.”

Yep, I want to be a duck. I mean, not literally, but… you know what I mean. 🙂 (And somehow I’m pretty sure that if I stick to Plan #1, I won’t have much trouble sticking to this one 🙂 ).

10. Send a family newsletter at least bimonthly.

Because life today is such that we find that the people we love very dearly and the folks we grew up with are living in different areas all over the world. And life can get so busy that sometimes months pass without any of us managing to sit down and trade news and hugs with family and our closest of friends. So this year I want to consciously make time for that. Time to remind my brother and sister and aunt and uncle, who all happen to live in different parts of the globe, all oceans away from me, that I miss them and I love them and I think they’re precious.

11. Blog three times a week.

Because I love you! And I love spending time with you on my blogporch!

‘Nuff said. 🙂

12. Cook something special once a month. Or maybe cook up a new class.

Who knows what surprises the year holds in store, right? Wink wink.

Phew! Whattalist! Thank you for reading through that! And as your reward for sticking it out till the end, I have some super-fab news for you! Do you love templates? If you do, you’re in luck, honey!

Fifty Free Templates

… are yours for the taking! Fifty of them. I’ve got to be kidding, right? Nope. Fifty free awesome templates from the JessicaSprague.com Admin and Creative Team are just waiting for you to grab them, if you don’t have them yet.

Just in case you’re not a regular on our Spraground (in which case I would say to you, Aww, come on! You’re missing half of your life by not joining us there! ), these 50 templates were given out as freebies over the course of more-or-less fifty “Template Tuesdays” in 2011.

The last Template Tuesday was done on the 26th of December last year (sounds so far off, can you believe that’s just 2 weeks ago?) and guess who made the last of templates? 😉

Here’s Template Tuesday #50, by yours truly…

… and if you click on the image above, it will bring you to the page where you can download it (along with #49 which was created by our Creative Team Member, my friend Chrissy Guido).

You can use the template any way you want to (for your personal use, of course) since it’s a layered file (you can move things around if you wish, clip more than 1 photo to the masks, etc)… and as a special bonus I threw in a 12×12 textured background paper ;). Sweet!

Here’s what I created with my template:

To download the rest of the Template Tuesdays, you can read my dear friend Kari’s instructions and get the links on the page where you grab my template…

Or you can download the latest templates HERE (Templates Nos. 28 to 48)

and HERE (Templates Nos. 21-27)…

and the earlier templates HERE (Templates Nos. 1-26) .

(So sorry for having to give you all these separate links, but they ended up in separate areas since these were first given on our Digi Lovely Blog and then moved to our homepage blog at JessicaSprague.com).

And if the prospect of getting FIFTY FREE templates isn’t enough to make you squeal, here’s a little more interesting info: if you download these templates and create with them, and then upload those creations in our Template Tuesday Gallery HERE, you get not only a kajillion awesome layouts created by YOU (plus get those marvelous photos and memories documented, finally! 😉 ), but if you upload 10 layouts created with 10 different templates from the Template Tuesday collection, you also get the chance to win a $5-coupon to use at our JessicaSprague.com shop (so you can buy those yummies you’ve had your eye on for the past weeks).

Seriously, does that not just ROCK? (I have to insert here that I totally {heart} the JessicaSprague.com Admin and Designers and Creative Team! I’m pretty sure you will too, and when you see the awesome templates they’ve created you’ll love them even more!).

Here’s the only catch: Since Template Tuesday has been around all of 2011 (the last one ran last Dec. 26th), you only have till the end of this month (January 2012) to download those template babies as well as to upload your layouts with them to be eligible for the coupon. And if you end up being so busy these days that you can’t create 10 layouts, then you can still hoard those amazin’ templates and create with them later on! Just don’t forget to grab them before the end of this month, okay? 🙂

Voila! All good things must come to an end (you still awake? :lol:) so now it’s time for my little Tell-Me Bunny’s last postscript:

Okay, your turn: What are your plans for 2012?

But wait! Before you hit that comment button and tell me what your plans are (are we embarking on some journeys that are the same? I’m excited to know!), don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter.

And… that’s it, folks! See you real soon!

(((hugs)))

You’re invited! Be deliciously, deliriously, digitally delighted!

Saturday, 5 November 2011Tuesday, 8 November 2011 / LivE / 2 Comments

Because today is Digital Scrapbooking Day! And all over the world wide web, there are amazing sales going on, blogtrains running at full speed, and loads of giveaways being handed out, and… well, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to join the celebration and come up with a little goodie to add to your digital stash! 😀

YAY! Freebie Time!

Inspired by my love for grids and large focal photos and by my belief that less is more, here’s what I’ve prepared for you:

HAPPY DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY, DARLINGS!

ETA: So sorry, link has expired.

Here’s a little layout that I made real quick to show my digi-goodie in use 🙂 :

My Little Piano Man

It’s called Simply Stylish, and it’s purposely designed to be basic and minimalist (yes, less is more indeed!) so that your words and your photos speak out from the silent white space. But if piling on embellishments rocks your boat, then you can definitely add on the goodies from your stash as well! This works really great that way too. 🙂

To download, click RIGHT HERE (ETA: Link has expired) or on the product preview above (the first image, yes; not my piano man :)), and you’ll find yourself in my shop at JessicaSprague.com where you can grab this sweet baby. Make sure you download it before 12 midnight Pacific time, Sunday, because after that the links will be disabled and the Template Pack will move into my shop’s shelves. 🙂

Stroll along the Spraground and get the chance to grab a giveaway!

As with all the shops I’ve been to, you may have to register (if you don’t have an account yet) before you can download but it takes less than a minute and it’s absolutely free!

While you’re there, you might want to have a look around and say hello to the peeps in the forum and check out our Spraground Challenge, which my dear friend Linda is leading this week (she and I take turns managing the challenges, along with our darling Kari, who takes care of hybrid challenges every 4th Friday). Our challenges are open to everyone – newbies, cruisers, and advanced scrappers alike and we would all be so thrilled if you would come and join us! (After all, at JessicaSprague.com, we take our “Grow Your Skills” motto to heart, and you know what they say about practice making perfect, right? At our Spraground, you could safely restate that as “Playing makes perfect” 🙂 ).

Feel right at home as you stroll along: a more friendly, warmer, more welcoming community than this I have never ever found on the web, I tell ya. You can be sure everyone on the Spraground will be running to you with open arms to welcome you into our growing family and to help you out with even the simplest, smallest question (There’s only one rule on the Spraground, and it’s this: There is no such thing as a stupid question. So ask away if you need anything, even directions to the nearest swing that you can sit on, and maybe you’ll find you want to paint your name on it too! 😉 )

But FIRST STOP has to be right on the homepage, where you’ll find the awesome giveaways from me and my designer-sistas at JessicaSprague.com! Here’s my contribution to the giveaway loot:

Grab the chance to win liv.edesigns Click Mini Kit this weekend!

You can click on my Click Mini Kit image above and it will take you right to our JessicaSprague.com Homepage!

I love me some eye-candy, don’t you? Here are some awesome layouts from our creative team ladies using my Click Mini Kit!

Layout by Lauren

Layout by Smitha

Layout by Nicole

Layout by Carol

Layout by Mindy

Layout by Linn

Layout by Meg

Layout by Miki

That’s not all! It’s coupon time!

Oh and wait! There’s more! I have prepared a special DSD coupon for you to use in my shop, if you happen to find anything there that catches your fancy!

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO USE THE COUPON CODE IN MY SHOP! 🙂

It’s good for the entire Digital Scrapbooking Weekend… and a day 😉 so just make sure you use it between today, Saturday, until right before midnight Pacific time on Monday, November 7th, when it expires.

Be awesome! Be heard!

I would love it, too, if you would take a couple of minutes to leave a comment or a hug (go on, hit that Comment button below, you know you wanna 😆 ). And if you’d love to share with me some suggestions for a particular theme for a kit or element pack that you’d love to see in my shop, I’m totally open to hearing your requests… who knows, perhaps you’ll find it on my shop shelves some time in the future (and if you happen to be the stimulus that made my creative muse dance, then I promise I’ll send you the kit or pack for free! 😉 ).

Voila! And with all these goodies, I wish you a super-duper thrilling Digital Scrapbooking Day weekend! May your arms be filled with goodies and may your digital delights overflow!

Big, warm hugs to you all!

F is for 47 Fun, Fabulous, Fantastic Freebies … Fo(u)r You!

Saturday, 25 June 2011Monday, 27 June 2011 / LivE / 296 Comments

The designers, creative team members, and admin at JessicaSprague.com have all been working hard in our digital labs, cooking up something these past weeks to celebrate 4 fabulous years of growing our skills and telling our stories and cultivating friendships on our Spraground…

And tonight is the night we’re throwing confetti and blowing trumpets and and welcoming one and all to this seriously awesome PARTY! We’ve got 47 goodie bags (actually, there’s a little surprise at the end too! 😉 ) to give each one of you!

Be sure you unzip your goodie bags as soon as you pass through each blog so that you can collect the quote strips tucked inside each one. When you’ve gathered all 47 quote strips, arrange them in the correct order then send the completed “quote” to my dear friend Tori (her email addy is on the flyer below), and all those who complete the quote correctly have an additional chance to win the raffle for a sur-PRIZE from us! How awesome is that! 😀

Remember, though, that you need to grab all your goodie bags (and send that completed quote to Tori) between NOW and 10PM EST Sunday (June 26th), which is when our party winds down (and then we get to wipe the traces of chocolate cupcake off our faces and lie down on the grass and smile contentedly at the stars, thanking the heavens for a wonderful weekend-long party 🙂 ).

So while you put on your virtual running shoes and get ready for our 47-stop bloghop, here’s a bit of info to let you know how we’re playing this entire weekend!

THIS IS BLOG STOP NO. 2

In case you’ve arrived here directly, you’ll want to click on the image below to get to the start of the bloghop 🙂

And now… open your arms wide so I can give you a great big (((squeeze))) and this goodie-bag that I’ve created for you!

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE to grab your freebie 🙂 (And while you’re downloading, you might want to leave a little love on my blog via the COMMENTS box at the bottom? 😉 I just *love* hearing from you! )

Sorry, the download link has expired. Thank you so much for dropping by!

Included in my mini kit are:

3 highly-textured 12×12 patterned papers
3 highly-textured 12×12 solid papers
infinity chain
stitched grosgrain ribbon
journaling tag
stapled vintage frame
a trio of eyelets
pinned tag
price code tag
heart paper clip
extra large embossed acetate title

All my elements come in simple and pre-shadowed versions! 🙂

(PS. For those who live in the US, the colors of my 4EVER Mini Kit are sure to work perfectly for your Fourth-of-July holiday that’s right around the corner! Isn’t 4 such a fabulous number? 😀 )

NEXT STOP on the bloghop is… hang on… let me first remind you (*naughty smiles):

DON’T FORGET … THERE’S MORE THIS WEEKEND!

We have discounts on every class and product in our store through Sunday, June 26! Be sure to stock up on your favorite digi supplies as well as enroll in the classes you’ve been wanting to take!

20% off every self-paced class, including Digital Scrapbooking, Photo Editing, Adobe Illustrator, Digital Organization, and more
30% off our beginner classes, Up & Running with Photoshop and Photo Editing: Good-to-Great Workflow
35% off ALL our DIGITAL PRODUCTS! (Click HERE to go to my shop :D)

And if you’ve missed any of the 27 episodes of Jessica’s amazing Photoshop Friday tutorials and our Hybrid Project Friday tutorials, now’s your chance to grab them for just $1 each before they’re retired forever on June 26th.

AND NOW YOU WANT TO RUN TO…

BLOG STOP NO. 3 – which is the home of the goddess of all things kitschy, Danielle’s blog!

Click HERE to get to Kitschy Digitals, Danielle’s blog!

Have fun, and thanks so much for dropping by! Don’t be a stranger … come back often cos I just love sitting on my blog porch, sipping on iced tea (or hot chocolate :D), and swapping stories with you! (Go ahead and sign up for email subscription on the right top side of this page 😉 ).

See you soon! BIG BIG ((((hugs))))!

Like Free? Click Like!

Sunday, 10 April 2011Sunday, 10 April 2011 / LivE / Leave a comment

Ever have days when you feel like you’re running after speeding trains that just won’t slow down long enough to allow you to hop on? 😆

That’s kind of what my life has been like these past weeks!

But I’m halting the chase for a bit right now because… I’m the featured designer on the first-ever Friday Favorites celebration at digilovely.com this weekend!

If you’ve to digilovely.com already, you’ll know that it’s chock-full of inspiration and lovely layouts by the super-talented ladies of our JessicaSprague.com Creative Team!

There’s a special reason why you should rush over there right now (like: RIGHT NOW 😉 ) … because I know I’m kinda running late coming here to let you know (~wince! I’m sorry! Did I say life has been crazy hectic?~). But don’tcha worry, I’m not *too* late, because you still have till 11:59pm (Eastern Standard Time) today to grab the chance to get your favorite liv.edesigns product for free! That’s right, for free! Isn’t that awesome? 😀

All you have to do is take a trip to digilovely.com (that’s right, go ahead and click on that link 😉 ) to get the chance to grab that element pack, that paper pack, or that kit that you’ve had your eye on lately. 😉 (Everything in my shop is included in this freebie-raffle, with the exception only of my albums and template bundles. This means single template are okay, but not the bundles :D). While you’re there, you’ll love checking out all the awesome layouts by our uber-amazing creative team members!

So … do you like free? I like! I hope you like too, and if you do, here’s what you need to know!

There are 2 ways to win your favorite liv.edesigns product this weekend:

1. Hop on to digilovely.com and leave a comment stating which your favorite product is (that’s what you’ll win if your name gets drawn!).

2. Go to our jessicasprague.com on Facebook and click LIKE (you need to “Like” it to leave a comment) and then tell us what your favorite product is. While you’re there, go to my liv.edesigns Facebook page too and click LIKE (and I will love you forever! :D)

If you’re not familiar with Facebook, here’s a quick and easy way to LIKE!

You can do both and increase the chances that your name will be drawn as winner! Kari, the digilovely boss, will be in charge of drawing the winners after the draw closes tonight. She’ll be picking 5 winners from the digilovely.com commenters, and 5 winners from our Facebook commenters.

If you haven’t gone to my shop lately, why don’t you take a stroll and check out the stuff that’s up for grabs? Click right HERE or on the image below to get to my shop. 🙂

I wish you the best of luck, and THANK YOU so much for being awesome!

Have a wonderful Sunday! ((((hugs))))

You. Are. Awesome.

Monday, 21 June 2010Monday, 21 June 2010 / LivE / 13 Comments

Truly, you are.

Thank you so much for partying with us and joining us on our first-ever birthday bloghop bonanza! Thank you for taking the time to hit the Comment button and leave some love. Thank you for coming a while and sitting on my blog porch… and I hope you know that you’re always welcome and I’ve saved your little spot for you with a cup of hot cocoa or a tall glass of iced tea anytime you feel like passing by for a chat or two. 🙂

In case your bus / train / cab got a wee bit delayed and you’re coming in just now, and you’re feeling sad that the bloghop party’s over, don’tcha worry my friend! Most, if not all, of the You Are Awesome mini kits that belong to this wonderful mega collaborative kit are going to resurface in our shop today! And pssst! Here’s a bit of good news… today (Monday the 21st) is also the last day of our storewide sale, so you have the chance to grab these already low-priced bloghop mini kits at a further 20-off discount! Now how’s that for some cheering-up news? 😉

Here are the mini-kits that will be in the shop today!

You Are Awesome by Linda (In the Making Design)

You Are Awesome by Kari (iKari Designs)

You Are Awesome by Nisa (Splendid Fiins)

You Are Awesome by Jan (The Queen of Quirk)

and You Are Awesome by Liv (Liv.Edesigns) … (wait. that would be me! 😆 )

(Images are linked to the shop pages to make it easy for you! 😉 )

And here’s a fabulous layout created by the uber-talented CT member Miki, right on time for Fathers’ Day yesterday!

Party (Freebie) Hangover!

And just because everyone knows what it’s like to have a bit of party hang-over, here’s another wee freebie for you!

Click on the image above to download (and thank you in advance for the love you leave! It just thrills me to hear from you in the Comments section! 😉 )

It coordinates with this larger pack of huge Summerific labels, also available at my shop. (Image is linked to the shop page)

And here area couple of layouts created with them by our uber-fave and uber-fab JessicaSprague.com Creative Team!

by Miki

by Jenn

Keep Updated!

In case you’d like to keep updated with my blog (and … ahem… give me another awesome reason to come out and play on my porch more often) — you can click on the RSS icon over there on the top right side (yep, that would be the little green icon right below “Keep me updated”, or subscribe via your email inbox (right under the RSS icon) and get notified each time a new post comes out.

Now if anyone knows a way to spread my arms around the entire world so they can reach over to you and give you a GREAT BIG SQUEEZE, let me know! Because I sure would like to give you the most humongous hug ever! Again, many thanks, and see you soon!

33 Freebies to Celebrate 3 Years!

Saturday, 19 June 2010Sunday, 20 June 2010 / LivE / 133 Comments

I love birthdays! I love goodie bags! And I love that my favorite playground / Spraground in the entire world is turning three years old this month!

Man, it seems like just yesterday when we beta girls crashed Jessica’s site for her first-ever Photoshop class (Up & Running). I stayed awake for close to 24 hours just to sign up for a course that was probably intended for 20 students–but quickly grew to about 200 (or was it 2000?) in the first five minutes that the registration gates were thrown open. And now, we’re a family of… guess. It’s way beyond 2000, that’s for suuuure. 😉

Three years after, (3 x 365) days filled with overflowing creative passion and tight friendships formed around the world, and here we are! For me, the journey has progressed to courses that I am honored to co-teach with Jes (Type+Writer 1 and Type+Writer 2), a growing chest of digital design work that I am thrilled to be able to sell at the best shop (with the best team of designers and the most awesome Creative Team), and an ever-growing family of the most awesome Spraground fellas ever!

Thank you, Jes and Jared, for creating this home for all of us. Thank you, my awesome Spraground family, for being so caring, so amazing, so absolutely awesome! And thank you, YOU who are reading this, for coming to my little blog-porch today and sitting a while. You are awesome.

And no, I have not run out of adjectives that begin with A… the repetitive use of the word “awesome” is intentional, meant to lead you to…

(drum roll)

THIRTY-THREE awesome FREEBIES to celebrate three years of jessicasprague.com magic… and to celebrate you, because YOU ARE AWESOME!

(Yes, I am screaming! And yes, I am jumping up and down! And yes, I am handing out birthday trumpets and throwing confetti and popping the caps off cases and cases of… you guessed it! Diet Mt. Dew! 😆 )

And they’re all yours to collect from 10PM (EDT) tonight all the way till 10PM (EDT) Sunday! Just because we like celebrations that last an entire weekend! 😉

Here’s how the game goes!

See? We love you so much that we decided it wasn’t enough to just give you 33 birthday goodie bags this weekend! There’s more! We’ve included a little quote strip in each of our bloghop freebies (so make sure you unzip those goodies right away! 😉 ). Collect them all as you unzip each freebie from each of our 33 blogs.

Then, as you struggle to hold all your goodies in both arms at the end of your bloghoppin’ bonanza, take those 33 quote strips, play around with them, and arrange them in the correct order. When they spell out the quote that reflects our fondest wish for you, type it out in an email… then seal it with a kiss and send it to tori@jessicasprague.com. This AWESOME friend of yours and mine – and an amazing Spraground admin officer who just *loves* support tickets 😉 – will gather all the correctly-arranged quotes and include them in a raffle for some really amazing prizes! So don’t forget to grab your chance at winning too! (Just make sure you send them in before 10PM Eastern on Sunday! 😉 ).

And now, in case you’re shifting weight from left foot to right, thinking “Right. Now let’s get on to the freebie, girl!” … I hear ya!

Here’s my goodie bag waiting to jump into your arms!

Click on the image to download my part of the mega collab You Are Awesome kit!

If you happened to arrive right here on my blog porch first thing this evening, you’ll need to know that you’ve landed at the second blog out of 33. You’ll want to go to the beginning of the bloghop to make sure you didn’t miss a single one of the 33 freebies… so head on over to the Blog of all Blogs that belongs to the Queen of Digi-Skill-Growing and the Diva of Photoshop Fridays and one of my very best friends!

Click on the image below to go to Jessica’s Sprague Lab!

When you’re done a-grabbin’, hop on over to the next blog, which belongs to… my dear, dear cereal-lovin’ friend and super-talented designer-mate, Nisa Fiin!

Click on the image below to go to Nisa’s blog (feel absolutely free to click your heels too! 😆 )

Remember to keep hoppin’ till you get all 33! And if you need to rest, you’ve got till Sunday to hop around! 😉

Oh, and if you could take a minute to leave some love on my blog, that would be… AWESOME! (Did you expect another adjective, maybe? 😆 )

Now, after you’ve unzipped all the goodies, you’ll probably be dying to start playing with them! Have I got the perfect excuse for you to tear the wrappers off your birthday gifties from us and play with them: come join our challenges, going on at the same time, right on our General Forum area! Click on the image below to get to the Spraground!

Happy Hoppin’ my dear sweet friends! 😀 And thank you for the love you leave on all our blogs! ❤

ETA: If you have difficulty downloading (the download links should work for macs and pc’s alike :D), the likely cause would be kinks from simultaneous multiple downloading, so please try the links again… and remember you have till sunday 10pm EST to grab the freebies! 😀 Thank you soooo much for your patience and for playing with us!

Grab a free class! Challenge yourself! And grab more freebies!

Thursday, 17 June 2010 / LivE / 1 Comment

Have you ever looked through the card aisle at the bookstore or stationery department and thought, “Nope, nope, that doesn’t quite capture what I want to say…” Or perhaps, with a wistful sigh, whispered to yourself, “Mmmm… I think I could do that, if I only knew how…”

Well, let me tell ya, YOU CAN capture exactly what you want to say on a card, and you CAN make your own cards, and best of all, your cards will come with a lot of love and not a lot of cost! Too good to be true? Blink your eyes, pinch yourself, and let’s see… yes! You’re still here, and yes, it’s true!

If you haven’t registered yet, come to jessicasprague.com and get your name on that ever-growing list of avid learners! Because you get in for FREE (yep, that’s right! Spell it with me, F-R-E-E!) if you register yourself between now and the 28th of June, which is when the class goes live!

Read more about Jessica’s newest and latest (and did we say, FREE?) class, Computer Tricks for Cards!

Click on the image below to get to our homepage where you can learn more about how to grab this free class!

Birthday Bonanza Times Two … This Week!

We’re celebrating three years of awesome-ness at jessicasprague.com this month of June, and here’s what’s happening this week!

Challenge Yourself!

We’re having not one, not two, but THREE back-to-back 24-hour daily challenges (cos we love the number 3 this year! 😉 ), where you get to tickle your creative instincts, grow your skills, and make new friends (or play with old ones!).

Beginning Friday at 10AM Eastern, check out our General Forum Spotlight Area for the first challenge, to be led (for the first time!) by our Creative Team member Chrissy! You’ll have 24 hours to do the challenge (digi, paper, or hybrid scrapping at its best!) and by 10AM Eastern the next day, my challenge goes up! Then on Sunday, as my 24-hour challenge ends, Linda’s 24-hour challenge begins!

What an awesome way to get three layouts (or more) done in an entire weekend, right? And that’s not all! We’ve got prizes to give out via a random.org raffle to all those who participate in our challenge!

If you’re a challenge veteran at the Spraground, this is for you! If you’ve lurked and read about the challenges but never got the guts to actually participate in one, this is for you! And if you’ve never ever participated in a challenge before, well, then, this one is for you too! And because our Spraground is full of love, we want you there, whether you’re a beginner, an intermediate, or an advanced scrapper!

Click on the image below to find yourself in the General Forum … remember, it starts on Friday morning at 10AM EST!

And FREEBIES GALORE!

Who doesn’t love a freebie, huh? We all do! And best of all, we love giving them out at the Spraground to celebrate our third birthday! Goodie bags galore! A major goodie BOX is more like it, filled with AWESOME (wink, wink) goodness for you to play with the entire week… and forever (we like “forever” at jessicasprague.com… take any of our courses, and you have them–tadah!–forever! 😉 )!

The designers of the jessicasprague.com and the creative team members have teamed up to produce a mega, super, awesome bloghop bonanza for the entire world! Our bloghop begins on Friday, 10pm Eastern and ends on Sunday at 10pm Eastern!

We’ll have a special add-on game while you grab the freebies, and I’ll tell you more about how it all works on Friday! So be sure to come back here (set your alarm clocks, ink it in your calendar!)

For now, I’ll leave you with this little teaser:

Don’t forget… I’ll see you right here on Friday morning, 10AM Eastern for the challenges, and 10PM Eastern for the birthday bloghop… and we’re going to PART-AY the weekend away! WOOOOOT! 😀 😀 😀

Day 2 challenge and a freebie!

Wednesday, 5 May 2010 / LivE / Leave a comment

Just getting off the speeding work-train for a minute to call you all to join Day 2 of our 7 Days in May Challenges at jessicasprague.com!

The challenge today is … well, I’ll let you read all about it HERE… 😆

Remember how I said yesterday that there’ll be random freebies given our during this week of special challenges? Ya never know… today might be the day… 😉

Awwww okay, I’ll let you in on a little secret: today *is* the day (or at least one of ’em… more are coming! 😉 ). But you have to hurry if you want to grab the freebie, because during this week, the freebies for the 7 Days in May challenges will only be up for 24 hours… so grab this one before 10am EST tomorrow! 😀

Here’s a little sneak-freebie-peek:

(Image is linked to the jessicasprague.com General Forum challenge thread… just click and you’re there!)