Are you wearing your party hat yet?

My favorite place in the whole wide webworld, JessicaSprague.com, turns three years old this June! WHEE!

JessicaSprague.com Turns 3 in June!

Have you heard about all the awesome activities that have been going on? Lots of goodness overflowing at the Spraground!

* All current digital products in our shop and self-paced classes are 20%-off till June 21st! (Twenty percent off for two whole weeks! Grab what you’ve always wanted! :D)

* A brand-new FREE (spell it with me, F-R-E-E) class, Computer Tricks for Cardmaking, will open its registration doors on June 14th! Mark your calendars and make sure you sign up for this great class (and for the great company too! heehee).

* MORE fun-filled activities are lined up for the coming weeks so be sure you hop on by! You won’t want to miss the awesome party games and the goodie bags too! (And don’tcha worry, cos over at the Spraground, we’ve got cookies! 😀 )

Just click on any image above to find yourself in party-land… and don’t forget to put on your party hat! 😀

See you there!

Day 2 challenge and a freebie!

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!)

See you there! (she says, chasing the speeding work-train as it starts to round the bend… 😆 )

Challenges, Challenges

… Will we ever get enough of them? 😆

We just finished our {inter}national Scrapbooking Day challenges at jessicasprague.com, and boy, the amazing challenge layouts that now hang on the walls of those special galleries will make your mouth drop open in awe!

‘Course we got all revved up with the excitement in the “challenge” air, so we are moving right along into a week’s worth of daily challenges! Whee!

Back by popular demand, on its second annual run, is the 7 Days in May Challenge! A whole week of daily challenges, with a couple of surprise freebies thrown in with the challenge (not telling you which day, so you’ll have to join every day! heehee 😉 )… it’s bound to be a week of super fun and scrapping excitement!

Click on the flyer above to get whisked off to our General Forum (check out the Spotlights Area on top for the daily challenges). Our challenges are always open to all, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re a beginner, an intermediate or an advanced scrapper; come one, come all!

{ Pssst. If you went super-shopping during this weekend of oh-so-fab sales, joining 7 Days in May gives you the perfect excuse to get those goodies out and play! Just sayin’… 😉 )

Keeping It Green

Quick, answer this question: when you had to do reports in high school, how did you present them? (If you’re a teenager right now in high school, you’re exempted from this pop quiz 😉 ). I am so proud of my niece who now communicates with me via Facebook since she lives oceans away in Europe. Here a project she made for the purpose of raising environmental awareness among her peers in a way that appeals to them. 🙂

Cool, huh? I’d like to be a student again today, just so I could make projects like this.

Huh.

Maybe not. I kind of like this no-tests, grades-free zone I’ve been in for more than 25 years.

😆

Alrighty, then! Gotta get back to work! See you in a bit!

Another Challenge & Two Freebies!

Hey hey hey! Have you made best friends with your credit cards today and gone digi-shopping? We’ve got a store-wide sale, with all designers’ products offered at 15% off in celebration of {inter}National Scrapbooking Day!

One of the best things about shopping digi is the urge to use those goodies right away! And we have the perfect answer for that need, because we’ve got a second awesome challenge going on at our General Forum Spotlight Area right now! It began at 10:00pm EDT yesterday and is continuing till 10:00pm tonight, so hurry over and play with us!

Click on the image below to fly straight to our General Forum!

Then don’t forget to hop on over to the HOMEPAGE! My dearest friend Kari (the hybrid goddess of the Spraground) and I are the featured designers for the day, and we’ve got freebies waiting for you to grab them!

Here’s mine:

And here’s another one, just cos I love ya! 😀

Images are linked to our homepage where you can simply click on them and download immediately begins! But do leave your mark and hit the Comments button because Kari and I would love to hear from you!

So hurry and grab them now because they’ll only be up for 24 hours… like Cinderella, by the time the clock strikes 12 midnight, these little babies are going to get sent straight to the shop where they’ll be at full price.

Have fun, my dear friends, and Happy {inter}National Scrapbooking Day!

QUICK! Run! Only 24 hours!

… for you to take this challenge! It’s one of two special challenges especially created for this week, and participating in it is guaranteed to bring lots of benefits! You get to grow your skills, you get to make new friends and connect with old ones, and you get a chance to win in the drawing of prizes!

But run, because the challenge is only up for 24 hours… from 10:00 pm EDT tonight up to tomorrow evening, when another exciting new challenge comes up!

Read all about it HERE! (Or click on the image above). And JOIN US! (It’s open to all, so if you want to play, we’ll meet you with open arms!)

{{{ BIG HUGS!!! }}}

PS. Be sure to check the HOMEPAGE for super delicious freebies from our designer team! (It changes every 24 hours for the entire weekend, so be sure you grab ’em quickly!)

Old Photo Restoration & Digital Design

Sometimes it’s fun to have entrees, salads, soups, and appetizers, and other times you’re hungry enough to want to forgo everything and jump right into the main course. Today, we are hungry. 😆

So, right on to the main course of today’s blogpost, which I am so excited to tell you about!

We have three new courses over at the Spraground (otherwise known as jessicasprague.com).

This Old Photo: Restoring Vintage Photos:

First, a class that has rated high on the in-demand list: old photo restoration! Do you have boxes full of old photos stored somewhere (now if I could only remember where…), perhaps in the attic, perhaps in the basement (hopefully free of humidity), and have always wanted to somehow save the lives of those precious mementos of those dear to us (and part of the reason why our hair and skin color are as they are)? Have you looked through them, marveled at them, and then sighed with slight despair upon seeing scratches, old-age stains, perhaps some acid from those nasty magnetic albums rapidly eating away at the dear smile of Great-Grandma carrying 3-year-old Mama?

Fear no more! In a two-week instructor-led class (led by no other than the master guru and one of my dearest friends, Jessica Sprague), you will learn from Jes herself how to restore those vintage snapshots to their former glory! (And considering how we can never go back in time and re-shoot those old photos, this is the next best thing to getting them looking like they did back then!)

Click on the image below to learn more about the class, This Old Photo: Restoring Vintage Shots:

This Old Photo: Restoring Vintage Shots

The class begins on April 26 and ends on May 9. Registration is ongoing! There’s a special price for this beta course (isn’t it great to be among the first to learn? heehee), and if you’re signed up for the email/newsletter, you get a coupon code with extra bucks off! Isn’t that awesome? 🙂

But wait. There’s more goodness!

The Art of Digital Design

Have you ever wanted to learn how to create those awesome digital papers and embellishments? Wondered what goes into the process? Been curious enough to want to dip your toe into the design pool and learn the secrets of creating, packaging, uploading, marketing, and selling digital product? Or maybe you don’t want to really sell your product but want to create your own and maybe keep your options open for the future?

Here’s another of the most in-demand courses doing its debut at the Spraground!

Click on the image below to learn more about this awesome course, The Art of Digital Design:

The Art of Digital Design

This is a 5-week class, led by no other than the fab Jessica Sprague, and it’s perfect for advanced digital scrappers who want to learn about creating and marketing digital product! The class will start on May 24 and runs up to June 28. Stay tuned for future announcements re: when registration will open… or you can click on the image above, then hit the Notify Me button to get the news about class registration once it opens, delivered right to your inbox!

Want to learn how to draw digitally?

Or learn how to tackle that program that’s been sitting on your hard drive for so long because you needed a hand to hold yours and show you the ropes? Or wanted the perfect complement to the process of designing and creating for yourself? In a  follow-up to her fabulous first course, Illustrator 101: Designing for Yourself (in which you learn how to use Adobe Illustrator to create and build your own products, templates, cards, and more), the awesome Carina Gardner is now offering  Illustrator 102: Tips and Tricks of Drawing.

Illustrator 102: Tips & Tricks for Drawing

Carina’s class is self-paced, which means you can register *and* take the course immediately. Learn more all about it by clicking on the image above!

Looking for inspiration?

Seeing the fabulous layouts created by our Spraground Creative Team with my product never fails to both excite and inspire me! Check out the latest eye-candy!

Here are some layouts created with my Swirly Words Elements Pack…

… and my Swirdles pack too:

Can you tell I’ve been loving swirls lately? 😆 { NOTE: Images are linked to the shop, for those who are interested in knowing more 😉 }

I just looove the fresh look and the pretty little girl on this fab layout by Miki:

{ Her papers are also from my Gentle Morn Kit HERE }.

This wonderfully whimsical layout is by Chris:

And yet another one from uber-talented and uber-productive Miki:

Remember my Not Quite White Paper Pack from two posts back? Here’s what Miki made using it (just love the warm home-y feel of this layout):

And because these girls super-inspire me, I decided to create a layout which was inspired by Linda’s Spraground Challenge two weeks ago (We hold our challenges weekly… come join us? It’s open to everyone and free and fun! And you get the chance to win 5 Spragbucks!):

Looking for inspiration? (Part Two, lol)

We just wrapped up our Creative Search 2010, and boy, I have to say, I wish we could take in everyone who applied! The talent in the CT Search Gallery was just overflowing! Have a look here, and see for yourself… I’m pretty willing to bet my two little pinkies that you’ll come away from it totally inspired to take up your mouse, pen and tablet, or Cropadile (whichever your inclination is, :lol:) and start creating layouts left and right!

Check out the CT Search layouts HERE.

And stay tuned for the announcement of the final cut! (Biting your fingernails? I am, too! So exciting!)

Well, gotta get crackin’ on creating more schtuff! See you soon, my dear sweeties!

Beam me up, Scotty! 🙂

Freebie & CT Call!

It’s been a while! (A long, long while!)

Let’s see what excuses I have up my sleeve for my total slacking off on my 2010 Plans (see no. 3 here… then again, maybe don’t “see” it. LOL i’ve got a lot of slacking off to be embarrassed about!) 😆 In my defense, though, I’ve been on-and-off sick for about a month. There, doesn’t that just constitute the best reason for being remiss at showing up on my blog porch here?

Seriously, I am so sorry for being absent. I *have* been sick (we just packed up the fam and spent 4 days in the mountains to give the germfest here at home a break, and to get some fresh clean mountain air into our lungs). And before that (probably part of the reason for the lowered resistance), I was busy tutoring the kiddos for their final exams (yes! school is out! summer is in! wheeee!!!) and coming up with a surprise audio-visual program (aka movie consisting of about 100 layouts) for my 4th son S’s graduation from preschool!

But life has continued to go on (ain’t it wonderful! 😀 ), and so I have the most wonderfully exciting news to share with you!

We. Are. Having. A. CT. Call!!!

WAHOO! Do you like preserving your memories on layouts? Do you love creating layouts? Do you love working with my designs (hehehe)? Come and join the CT call at THE Place to Be, jessicasprague.com!

Click on the image for all the information you need! You can do it! Read all about it and come join the fun! I would LOVE to see what you come up with!

Introducing Miki, our fab new CT member!

Speaking of the Spraground Creative Team, have you met Miki? She’s one of the most awesome layout artists I’ve ever met (and an even more awesome lady, let me tell ya!). I am so proud that she is on our present Spraground CT!

Check out Miki’s latest layouts:

Miki used my Square 1: No. 1 {Dream Big} product, which you can find HERE on jessicasprague.com! I just LOVE how she used the entire mini kit!

Another wonderful layout created by Miki:

She used my I Sing for Spring Kit and my Squiggle Borders, both available only at jessicasprague.com! Love, love, love how Miki incorporated those precious keepsake drawings on her layout!

And here’s another of Miki’s precious layouts:

Miki used my I Sing for Spring kit for this too, as well as my latest product in the shop, Paper Swirlies ! I love how Miki’s choice of paper mimics the waves splashing on the beach! And the swirlies do a great imitation of the waves on the beach too!

WONDERFUL WORK, Miki! You totally rock!

Freebie Time!

This is actually an add-on for one of my latest paper packs, Not Quite White (available, as always, at the most AWESOME shop in the universe, at jessicasprague.com!)

Here’s my Not Quite White Paper Pack (available only at jessicasprague.com):

And here’s a closer look at the paper details:

{ Images are linked to the product page in the shop.}

And here’s your coordinating freebie, folks! 🙂

Click on the preview to download the freebie. 🙂 And thanks in advance for the love you leave on my blog as you download! 🙂

Alrighty! That’s all for today! Gotta jump into bed so that I can wake up bright and early and try to catch the Easter Bunny as it hides some eggs in our home! 😉

Have a wonderful evening, and I HOPE to see your layouts in our CT-Call gallery soon! (Remember, the call ends on April 15th, so do rush and get your mojo-motors revving!)

And I PROMISE I’ll be back bright and early (uh, more like noontime) tomorrow to bring you more news and sit with you and serve you some iced tea/cafe mocha, whichever is your drink of preference! 🙂

(((hugs))) and to all a good night! 😉

Last 2 Minutes to Snag a Great FREE Course!

Well, not really the last two (more like the last 24 hours), but do rush, do hurry, do run and sign up for this year’s final awesome FREE class at our Spraground! Registration ends at 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.

Holiday2009Class-Announcement

Click on the image above and you’ll find yourself in our magical Spraground with all the EASY info you need to sign up for this awesome course. Did I say it was FREE? F-R-E-E! Wooooot!

You don’t have to have any special skills as pre-requisites for this course. You’re a digi scrapper? Come join us! You’re a hybrid scrapper? A paper-only scrapper? Come and join us too. Not a scrapper at all? Come join us too. You’re strictly into photography and nothing else? Or into just blogging? Or into just journaling and writing? There’s lotsa room for you too!

See? Everyone is welcome! Seriously! That’s because the main aim of Jessica’s newest (and this year’s last) course is to capture both the past and the present magic, memories, and wonderment of all that spells Holiday. And then come up with an album project as tangible evidence that we certainly have so much to celebrate and be thankful for.

What better way to prepare for this most awesome of all seasons? So tarry no longer, and click on that image, and join us for an amazing seven days of fun and frolic and falalala’s!

See you at the Spraground!

Birthday Bash at JessicaSprague.com!

We’re turning 2 years old this month at JessicaSprague.com, and we’re inviting everyone to the PAR-TAY!

Things are buzzing around the Spraground; we’ve got a week-long birthday bash going on! Lots of cookies (as can be expected from the Dark Side, hahaha! 😆 ) and cakes and ice cream, and boy have we got party hats in a big way! Come on over and check it out!

Also just doing a quick post to let you know (but you probably already do! 😉 ) that we have awesome party favors and giveaways!

Birthday FREE COURSE!

First off is Jessica’s uber-awesome, highly-anticipated, new FREE Photo-Editing: Special Effects & Frame-Ups course! (Did I say you get it for free?) Sign up period for this free course is strictly during our birthday week, so if you haven’t yet signed up (and let me tell ya, the response has been H-U-G-E, it is so EXCITING!), come and sign up for it! Registration ends on Sunday, along with our festivities, so you have till now and then to hop on our fun bus!

To sign up, you just need to be a registered member of the Spraground (registration is FREE too!)

Then follow these instructions:

Free Registration for Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects – Just log in to your account (or create one), then click here and enter the code: FREECLASS062009 to be automatically registered! Then check out the class introduction in your My Classes link in the main menu. Registration is free through June 28, and class begins July 6!

HUGE 20% OFF SITE-WIDE SALE!

It began yesterday, it’s going on right now, and it doesn’t end entil Sunday 11:59PM! We’ve got 20% off everything in our jessicasprague.com store! This includes self-paced classes, templates, products, EVERYTHING!

Plus we’re getting new stuff in the shop throughout the week, so keep checking back for more stuff!

BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAYS!

We’ve got 24-hour birthday freebies that we’re giving away every single day of this Birthday Bash week! You’ll find them up on our Spraground blog homepage, and you can download them from there from 10Am of the release day till 10AM of the next day, when a new freebie comes up and the previous one gets moved to our shop. So I hope you’ll take advantage of those 24 hours when these awesome goodies will be free for you! YAY!

I’m coming in a day late here (partying too hard on the Spraground, hahaha!) so the first freebie has gone up and down, and will now be available in the shop… BUT we’ve got the Day 2 freebie up, and this is why I’m running over to my porch to let you all know! There’s still time to snag it! 😀

Today’s freebie is my first template product in the shop (well, technically, it isn’t in the shop yet as it’s FREE right now, but tomorrow it’ll be moved to the shop shelves 😀 ). It’s also the template we’re using to play with today as we go about doing our Birth-Day 2 / June Create-a-Day:Day 23 challenge!

Here’s what it looks like:

01-LivE-EZPZT01-prevu

And here’s the layout that I created as a sample (featuring my very pretty niece):

w-LivEdesigns_EZPZT2-bea

And you can download it from our blog homepage till 10am tomorrow morning, Eastern Standard Time! After 10am it will go into our shop, and a new freebie will be up for grabs! YAY!

More coming soon, but right now I’ve got cookies waiting for me on the Spraground! Come skip and hop with me to the Spraground?

(((hugs)))

Beam me up, Scotty!

Free Photo-Editing Class, Fun Find & Freebie!

Oooh, I just love posts like this!

First things first: have you heard of the latest fabulous free class that’s coming to you real soon?

FREE FABULOUS PHOTO-EDITING COURSE!

PhotoEd2450ad

In the follow-up class to her hugely popular first Photo-Editing course, Jessica Sprague (and I’m proud to call her my friend! :D) brings more photo fun to you with her new and FREE Photo-Editing: Frame-Ups & Special Effects course!

The two-week instructor-led class begins on July 6th, with all the awesome stuff that come only with JessicaSprague.com courses! (Daily emails, a very friendly forum, screencast videos, a class private gallery, lots of love, and more!). Be sure you don’t forget to sign up and register (did I already say FREE?) for the course when you come around to our Spraground on the week of June 22-28. We’ll be celebrating our second Spraground birthday on this week, and let me tell ya, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to make sure that you’ll have an awesome time celebrating with us (how does “amazing giveaways and exciting announcements” sound to you? 😉 )

What will you need to take this course? Just Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (no experience necessary, and if you don’t happen to have Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, all you need to do is click on the image above, and you’ll zip right to our homepage where you’ll find a link to a free trial download of the program! Awesome, isn’t it? )

So mark your calendars, set your date alarms, and I hope to see you at the Registration line in about a week! YAY!

NOTE: Click on the image to learn more about the course!

FUN FIND

So I was moseying down netland and guess what I found?

PhotoFunia-22eb1d4-liv

Bwahahaha. That’s about the closest I’ll ever get to finding my photo on a wall. 😆

There is an amazing variety of stuff you can put your face (or your friends’ faces) on at PhotoFunia.com, from walls to magazine covers to coins and t-shirts and museum gallery frames. You can even have some cool guy spray-paint your face on a wall filled with graffiti. 😆

PhotoFunia-2192b42-graf

(Snort!) Try it and watch time fly while you play. 😆

AND FINALLY…

I have a new pack up at our shoppe at JessicaSprague.com…

T-Stickies:100% is the first in a series of textured stickers (thus, the T in T-stickies 😉 ). This one is a set of 30 glossy, slightly-crumpled, textured stickers in five colors. The 100% labels are separate from the words so that you can mix and match them to your delight! 🙂

LivE-Tstickies100-img

* Click on image to go to the shoppe *

And because you know I love ya, here’s a little freebie from the pack (this one is curled, pre-shadowed, and pre-matched so that all you have to do is pull it onto your layout and voila! 😉 )

LivEdesigns-FM05-100Treasured-img

* Click on the image to download, and thanks for the love you leave on my blog as you snag this freebie!

And that’s all the F’s we’ve got for today, folks! 😆

Have a wonderful day! I’m off to bed! ((((hugs))))