CT Layouts

Perfect Imperfection

/ LivE / Leave a comment

An oxymoron?

I think not.

There is a Chinese proverb that says:

A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections.

Though I do believe it is important to strive to work toward perfection (in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s called self-actualization—thank you, Psych101 ;)), I just as strongly believe that there are many beautiful, wonderful things that are amazing not in spite of but precisely with the little things that make them not-so-perfect. The sweet little freckles on your niece’s pretty face. The little twitch in the nose of my youngest son while he concentrates on a Math problem. Your best friend’s little personality quirks that can be both infuriating and endearing at the same time. Ah yes, there is perfection in imperfection (and doesn’t God’s perfection shine brightest in His children, greatly imperfect though each one of us is?).

I like the idea of imperfection in art, too. Which is the inspiration behind my latest product in my shop:

If you love the handmade, realistic look on your digital creations, you’ll love this easy way to get all that great texture and realism on your projects and layouts.

Smudge It Vol.1 Rub-Ons & Brush Set has 18 smudges that I created in real life with real art schtuff, then scanned and extracted lovingly so that all the little details are retained in each smudge. These are perfect for adding that handmade look with just a little messiness and a whole lot of goodness! Perfect imperfection! 😉

And here are some amazingly perfect layouts done by the awesome JessicaSprague.com Creative Team!

This one is by Jana:

Other liv.edesigns items used by Jana on her layout above are Brownbagger Paper Pack Vol.2, Doodle This Way Arrows, Scribbled Alpha, and Snippets Word Pack.

This one is by Amy:

Amy also used my Nature’s Canvas Paper Pack on her layout above.

This one is by Heather:

Heather also used these products of mine on her layout above: Doodle This Way Arrows, Click! Mini Kit, and Click! Paper Pack – The Solids.

This one is by Carol:

This one is by Jen P:

This one is by Jen F:

LOVE all that eye candy!

Oh, and did I mention that Smudge It Vol.1 is 25% off the entire Monday till 12:00 midnight Eastern? 😉

See you soon, my loveys! (((hugs)))

Monday Madness + 1 More Magnificent Week

/ LivE / 2 Comments

Shucks. Times like this, I wish the word “week” began with a letter M—then my blog title would’ve been perfectly alliterative and the little word-geek in me would’ve been floating in bliss. 😆

But it’s a magnificent Monday nevertheless! And Mondays around here mostly mean new goodies in the shop!

Here’s what I have on the fresh-out-of-the-oven shelf this week: the second volume of my Brownbagger Paper Packs!

{ Click on the image to grab this at my shop … and read on to know why it’s a steal this week!)

Here’s a closer look at the papers in full view:

This has a lighter shade than my first Brownbagger Paper Pack, and more crinkles too. And this collection comes with little folded corners and a stapled corner too! (It’s the more playful little sister of Brownbagger Vol.1).

I am so thrilled to share the awesome art done by our JessicaSprague.com Creative Team members with it!

This one is by Kelly:

Kelly also used my Click! – The Elements, Click! – The Patterned Papers, Color Me Rub-ons & Brush Set, EZ-PZ Template 07 – I Heart MoMA, Livin’ It Up Paper Pack, Mask Me Photo Masks and Needs+Wants: It’s a Date (Date Stamps) on her layout above. Woohoo! 🙂

This one is by Miki:

Miki also used my Loopies Vol.1 – Flutterby Rub-ons & Brushes and my Snippets Word Pack – Rub-Ons & Brushes on her layout.

This one is by Keri:

This one is by Lisa B:

Lisa says that my Brownbagger Paper Packs are part of her go-to essentials, and guess what? My Brownbagger Paper Packs love her right back! 🙂

This one is by Renee:

This one is by Becky:

And here’s another one by Becky (gotta love both!)

* If you want some more serious eye-candy, please don’t hesitate to visit these great artists’ blogs… their links are right there on my right sidebar menu under JessicaSprague.com Creative Team.

I mentioned earlier that if this paper pack rocks your boat and you don’t have it yet, this week would be the best time to

Grab It!

because… guess what? Because you’ve all been so awesome, and because we truly love that you’ve celebrated our fifth birthday along with us last week, and because you’ve been so generous with leaving heartwarming, inspiring comments, we’ve decided to extend our JessicaSprague.com birthday sale for another week!

Yep! That means all our goodies in our shops are still 40% off (huge savings, right?) this entire week! So YAY! It’s shopping therapy time! 😀

PS. We only have a storewide sale like this twice a year, so now’s the perfect time to get the best schtuff at the best prices! Not that you need another justification for going on a shopping spree, right? Just sayin’… 😉 ~tee hee~

Happy Marvelous Monday, my dear friends!

Oh, and if you’re searching for my WordPress Photo of the Week entries, I have to confess I’m running 3 challenges behind. Have you ever experienced Real Life grabbing you by the collar and not letting go till you get the Priority NOW list checked? That’s exactly the culprit of my 3-challenges-pending state. But I will get to that, I promise! Real soon!

Wonderful Wednesday, It Is!

/ LivE / Leave a comment

I think Yoda would agree. 😆

One-Buck Wednesday

If you love the look of textures on your photos, you’ll love playing with my Photo Play Texture Pack, which happens to be on sale for just a buck today (till midnight of Wednesday Pacific time)!

{Click on the image above to grab this texture pack for just a buck!}

Here’s a sample of how these textures can bring that oomph and bang to your photos:

You can combine different textures to get totally different looks each time…

Or you can use one particular texture and play with blending modes, which is what I did here:

Original (Unedited) Photo:

I used Photo Play Texture 6P on the photo and came up with this:

(I used a layer mask and with a low brush opacity, I erased a bit of the texture from the little girl so that the texture was retained but did not overpower the subject).

I used Photo Play Bonus Texture #2 and this is what I came up with:

Here’s the recipe I used above, in case you’re interested (though the textures work differently depending on your images… and that’s a wonderful thing, because it means that you can play and experiment with different textures, different blending modes, different opacities, and the possibilities are just mind-boggling!)

As always, you can click on the images to view them at larger sizes. 🙂

Wonderful (Half-Off) Wednesday

I also have this wonderful element pack at half the regular price today (again, till midnight Pacific time)… and these are perfect not just for taping photos or elements or tags, but also for adding realism and texture to your creations (you can even put text on them!). These are real tapes that I have painstakingly and lovingly extracted for you so that all their rough, torn edges and crumpled areas have been preserved. Yummy, right? 🙂

{Click on the image above to grab this at 50%-off}

You knew I’d be sharing some fabulous layouts with you, right?

This one was created by Sarah:

This one was created by Margje:

This one was created by Reeta:

And here’s another one that Reeta created:

Five Essential Things… Photoshop Class for Free!

Ever wanted to learn Photoshop? Want to learn it in the most wonderful way, with video instruction and with the most supportive community plus the sweetest, funniest, most awesome instructor holding your hand (virtually) as she guides you through the Top 5 Photoshop Techniques that everyone should know?

You’re in luck because my dear friend Jessica (yeah, she of JessicaSprague.com 😉 ) is giving a FREE online class which is open to everyone!

Click on the image above to find out which specific techniques will be covered and how to get yourself enlisted for the Online Class which starts next week (but you can totally do it on your own time… as long as you register and sign up for the class, it’s yours forever. Yeah, you read that right. All our classes at JessicaSprague.com that you sign up for (free and purchased) are and have always been yours forever so that any time 5 or 10 years from now you want a refresher, it’ll still be right there waiting for you :D).

Alrighty then! Go have a most wonderful Wednesday, my dearies, and I’ll see you soon! xoxo

Framed!

/ LivE / 6 Comments

Hello, new week! It’s a mad, mad Monday today, and you know why? I’ve got not one, not two, but five brand-new products on sale for 25%-off today (till midnight Pacific time)!

If you love frames, you’re in luck, because that’s the bulk of my new products… plus the latest addition to the EZ-PZ Template Collection!

“A picture paints a thousand words,” so the song goes. And sometimes images do speak louder than words. Now you can let your pictures paint a thousand words with my Storyteller Frames. Each Frame Pack has 30 textured storyteller stapled frames with 5 pencilled labels per pack and in 3 different versions (simple with no drop-shadows, pre-shadowed, and lifted), with both portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) orientation. The labels per pack are specific to each pack, so you get a whole collection of labeled frames from each of the three packs!

Storyteller Frames – Solos

Storyteller Frames – Duos

Storyteller Frames – Trios

These are super versatile and you’ll find that you can use them in endless ways – you can line up several frames or arrange them in clusters. Or you can use one set alone, or use different sets together. You can use each opening on the frame to house your photos, or you can use some openings to hold your journaling or patterned paper or elements. Really, it’s amazing how these will serve you in so many ways!

And just in case you find yourself falling in love with all three packs, I’ve included the option of grabbing the entire collection at a huge discount of 40% (and if you get them today, that discount increases even more!)

Storyteller Frames – Bundle

{ Clicking on the images above will take you to my shop where you can load them into your goodies cart! }

And now for some awesome Storyteller eye-candy from the JessicaSprague.com Creative Team (and not only do these works of art give great inspiration but they also offer amazing proof of the frames’ versatility!)

This layout is by Keri:

This one is by Lisa B:

This one is by Kelly:

This one is by Jenn M:

This one is by Lorrie:

This one is by Tronesia:

This one is by Jana:

This is another one by Lisa B:

This one is by Miki:

This one is by Margje:

And this one is by my designer-on-hiatus buddy Linda:

But that’s not all! For those of us who feel the need to document our precious moments but don’t have much time, my EZ-PZ template collection do the job neatly… plus offer a wonderful array of items that can be used over and over again on other creations!

Here’s the latest in the collection:

EZ-PZ Template 10 – The Story of Two

EZ-PZ Template 10 – The Story of Two  is especially suited for those times when two photos tell a more complete story than just one photo. (Ever heard of diptychs? This is the best way to house those awesome twin-story-photos!)

Here’s what you’ll get, aside from a fully-layered .psd template:

  • a fully layered 12×12 .psd template
  • a plain textured and slightly-grungy two-photo tied-with-twine frame (so you can add your own drop shadow)
  • a pre-shadowed textured and slightly-grungy two-photo tied-with-twine frame (so you don’t need to bother with adding your own drop shadow)
  • a lifted textured and slightly-grungy two-photo tied-with-twine frame (for that delicious dimensional look)
  • two photo masks to clip your photos to
  • two textured and blended 12×12 background papers (one is clean and the other has sanded edges)
  • one optional text path
  • one penciled rub-on
  • one stamped rub-on
  • one ink-and-text overlay

Isn’t that awesome? 😀

{ Clicking on the image above will take you to my shop where you can grab this little baby! }

Of course you knew some delish artwork would be coming up, right?

This one is by Sarah:

This one, by Deb:

This one, by Lisa B:

And this one is by Kim K:

I hope these brought lots of inspiration and cheer to you today, my dear friends! May your Monday be full of stories worth telling, and may you find the time to capture them in photos!

It’s One Wonderful Wednesday!

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Guess what? Remember that total hit some time back called One-Buck Wednesday, when goodies from designers at JessicaSprague.com would go for just a buck? Remember Wonderful Wednesdays, the one that replaced One-Buck Wednesday, when other goodies that might never go into the One-Buck Wednesday shelf would go for 50% off?

Well, those twain doth meet, and now we have both One-Buck Wednesdays and Wonderful Wednesdays merged into One Wonderful Wednesday!

Just a Buck: Scribbled Alpha 

Today, in my shop, this alpha pack is going for just a buck:

A fun scribbled alpha to add a whimsical touch to your creations, this pack features a complete alphabet (uppercase and lowercase letters) plus basic punctuation and special symbols. Each letter is approximately 1.5 inches tall and comes in its own separate .png file. Full-page .png files are also included.

{Click on the image to get it at my shop for a buck!}

Some amazin’ eye-candy using my Scribbled Alpha, all by our awesome JessicaSprague.com creative team!

This one is by Chrissy:

This one is by Jana:

This one, by Jenn M:

This one, by Roshni:

This one is by Sarah:

And this one is also by Sarah:

Half-Off: Scribbles Rub-Ons & Brush Set

And this rub-ons and brush set one is going for half the price at 50% off today too:

Scribbles features 15 delightfully-whimsical oh-so-big hand-scribbled rub-ons and a brush set for you to stamp in your own colors! These are perfect for adding lovely accents to your layouts and projects!

{Click on the image above to get it at my shop for half the price today}

And again, some amazing layouts to feast our eyes on!

This one, by Jenn M:

This one is by Miki:

This one is by Monica:

This one is by Margje:

And this one is also by Margje!

Remember, these goodies are on sale for a buck and 50-off only today, Wednesday, till midnight Pacific time! Go grab ’em and have a wonderful time creating! (((hugs)))

Monday Madness

/ LivE / 2 Comments

Okay, so this is coming a bit late, but there is so much awesome-ness happening today that I couldn’t imagine not sharing it with you!

First of all, let me invite you to a whole week-long party that’s guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing while you grow your skills! I love taking photos and I love writing, and I think that if you put photos + words together, what you come up with is the complete story of a precious moment forever documented not just for you and those you hold dear now but for all the generations yet to come. Add art to the mix of photos + words, and you have all that you need to make your creative muses celebrate! 🙂

So if you’re looking for an incentive to finally use all those amazing photos you have in your hard drive, and to jot down that story that you’ve been tucking in your memory bank before it fades away, you’ve got 1..2..3… no wait, you’ve got 7 chances to do it, while having enormous fun too, this coming week.

Come join us at our annual 7 Days in May Challenges, and whether you’re a veteran who’s done this in the past four years or it’s the very first time you’ve heard about this, you are totally welcome to jump in at any time this week (and if you could do so every day, that would be awesome!).

{Click on the image above to check out our challenges! }

Three New Products!

Every Monday, we have new products at the JessicaSprague.com Shop, and this Monday I have three! (And did I mention that new products are 25% off on Mondays? Yeah!)

Here are Wordlets (don’t bother googling what they are because I just invented the word, heehee), perfect for use at those times when no other word comes close to capturing the emotions we want to convey:

Wordlets Vol. 1 – The A to N Collection

Wordlets Vol. 2 – The O to Z Collection

And if you’d like to grab both volumes in one go at a better price, here’s Wordlets Bundle – The A to Z Collection:

{ Clicking on the images will bring you to the product page in my shop 😉 ).

And let’s not forget the awesome oh-so-inspiring art of our creative geniuses at JessicaSprague.com!

This awesome layout is by Tracy, one of our new Creative Team members:

This amazing layout is by Jen P:

And this wonderful layout is by Jana!

Alrighty then! With all that eye-candy and all the excitement of 7 Days in May, I wish you a madly wonderful Monday! (((hugs)))

Wednesday Highlights

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It’s a Wonderful Wednesday at JessicaSprague.com again! You know what that means, right? We’ve got products in our shop that are half-priced just for this day, and here’s what you can grab from my shop at 50% off:

This is a humongous set of 200 outliners and highlight tints and shades, perfect for focusing attention on your wonderful words! This set comes to you in five soft, gentle colors and includes circles, oblongs, boxes, underlines and double-underlines. Together with this pack, I’ve also included simple instructions for getting the best highlighted effects.

Now that’s a great deal, especially at 50-off, right? If you don’t have this pack in your stash yet, all it takes is a click on the image above to fix that! 😉

And these super-inspirational layouts created by Sarah and Monica are sure to tickle your creative juices today:

This one, by Sarah:

And this one, by Monica:

Have a totally wonderful Wednesday, my dear friends!

So Krafty!

/ LivE / Leave a comment

Just a quickie post today, as it’s Monday once again (phew, time flies, doesn’t it?) and I wanted to let you know that I’ve got some krafty madness going on in my shop!

Kraft paper is awesome, and kraft tapes push that “awesome” a notch higher. And they just happen to be the the newest product in my shop (wink, wink!):

This pack brings you 28 real, ready-to-use krafty tapes: 14 simple tapes (so you can add your drop shadows as you wish) and 14 pre-shadowed tapes (so you can simply slap them on to your projects nice and easy!). These have been torn by hand (and boy, did I have fun with that!) and then carefully and lovingly extracted with their rough, torn edges and crumpled areas preserved.

Mmmm, don’t you just love all that krafty-ness? And mmm, this whole pack happens to be 25% off till midnight of Monday Pacific time!

If you’re raring to grab this while it’s on sale, just click on the image above and you’ll find it ready and willing to jump into your shopping bag. 😆

Let’s not forget the wonderful eye-candy, right?

This one, by Sarah:

And this one, by Reeta:

Yummy works of art, aren’t they?

Big hugs to you on this wonderful, creative, kraft-y Monday, my dear friends!

Love on a Wonderful Wednesday

/ LivE / Leave a comment

Whoa, time flies! It’s the middle of the week already (how did we get here so quickly?)… but it’s wonderful because on Wednesdays, certain stuff goes on sale for half the price! 😉

And what’s on sale in my shop today is perfect for this month’s layouts (and throughout the year too!):

My EZ-PZ Template collection is a fully-layered template in .psd format with various pieces that you can use when you create your other projects and layouts too. Because they’re so easy to use, they’re perfect for preserving those precious moments even when you have just a few minutes left at the end of a hugely-hectic day.

You can use the plain template as it is: it comes complete with clipping masks and adjustable shadows. Just add your photos, your own embellishments, your own background paper, and voila! OR if you want to take it further (we’re all about versatility here 😉 ), use the easy-pieces that come with this template pack!

This one is packed with more than the usual goodies that come with the other templates in the collection! (Yup, this is love indeed! 😉 ). It comes with one large grungy photo mask, one painted grungy photo mat, one torn-paper photo mask, one brown-bag paper, labeled and plain grosgrain ribbons, horizontal and vertical stitches in plain and pre-shadowed versions, one highly-textured 12×12 background paper, optional text paths for journaling and title, and a really cool grungy love sticker in plain, pre-shadowed and lifted (Curled) versions. Phew! That’s a whole load of product there! 🙂

And it’s at half-price this Wednesday till midnight Pacific time! (Click on the image above to grab it from my shop if you want to include it in your stash).

Oh, let’s not forget the delicious eye-candy created by these awesome creative ladies! (They do a terrific job of showing the many different ways you can use the template!)

Here’s a layout by Miki:

Miki’s layout also uses my I Heart Doodles Rub-Ons & Brush Set and my Needs+Wants: Eyelets Galore Vol.1.

Here’s another layout by Jenn M (who changed the orientation of the photo mask to fit her portrait-photo):

Here’s a layout that uses the template in a pretty straightforward way (I’m sneaking this one in, it’s by me, heehee):

Here’s a layout by Meg:

And this one was created by Jana, who did some recoloring to bring out the soft peachy skin of her adorable grandson:

And yes, it totally works for hybrid projects too! Here’s proof, a wonderful hybrid layout done by Camille:

And that’s it for this Wonderful Wednesday, my dear friends! May yours be filled with love!

A Hearty Monday!

/ LivE / Leave a comment

It’s Monday, my dear friends, and you know what that means, right? (And no, it’s not another manic monday… are you singing yet? heehee)

Mondays are when new products come up in our shop at JessicaSprague.com, and because it’s the first Monday of February (yeah, that month when little cherubs with arrows start hanging around), here’s what’s up in my store:

This is a set of 40 hand-drawn and doodled heart rub-ons in basic black and white plus a complete brush set of 20 (individual-design) hearts so you can stamp away in any color of the rainbow! They come in various sizes, which you can resize easily (so make them as huge or as tiny as you wish).

Although they’re perfect for your February layouts, they’ll do an awesome job all year round as well – and they do a great job on art journaling pages too! 🙂

Best of all, they’re 25% off today only (till 12 midnight of Monday Pacific time). Just click on the image above to grab them from my shop. 😉

And now, for a hearty serving of eye-candy!

This sweet layout is by Lauren:

Lauren also used these products of mine to create her layout of her darling princesses: Brownbagger Paper Pack, Daybrushes Reloaded – Journaling Brushes, Loopies Vol. 1 – Flutterby, and Paint Plays – Swishes Paper Pack.

This adore-able layout is by Lisa B:

Jen P created this LOVE-ly layout:

Jenn also used my Sketched Framers on her layout.

And Miki made this layout that’s sure to grab your heart:

Have a lovely, hearty hug-filled week, my dear friends!