I was taking a break from all the work I’ve been doing –and what better break than to go cruising on my favorite playground! While driving by the message board, I saw a post by one of my playmates looking for pink ribbons for an October Breast Cancer layout she wanted to work on.
I figured… well, might as well make one, just in case any of you would want to use it. After all, it’s always good to be involved in a cause, something bigger, something that ties us to others in the world, especially those who are suffering, whether directly or indirectly. The world is a big place, but we’re all connected to one another in a marvelous way. This is my tribute to that wonderful brotherhood (sisterhood?) we all share and the ties, the ribbons, that bind us.
Lindsan, this is for you… and for everyone else who may want to use it. 😉
{ Click on image for larger view }
These are just three ribbons, 2 solid in different shades, 1 floral… Though it isn’t so noticeable on the preview (unless you click on the image for a larger view, haha), these ribbons are lightly textured. If you find that the color isn’t the kind of pink you want it to be, you can always play with the hue and saturation in your program to adjust it. 😀
Download it here. Zip password is awareness . Hope you like it!
Now back to the salt mines. Tomorrow the last set of Pinky Promise comes up, and then… new freebs! 😉
I’m so sorry! Deb, thanks for alerting me that the zip password wasn’t working… I can’t figure out why, since I always try to do a download-and-unzip before I put the link here, just to make sure that it works. But I’ve read on other blogs that 4shared seems to be having some issues, so it may have been one of those days.
Anyway, I’ve taken down the old link and put up a new link for Set 5. You can download it here. (Thanks so much for your patience and understanding, my friends!) I’ve also changed the zip password to take2. Hope that helps.
ETA: Sorry, download link is no longer available.
For those of you sweeties who can’t unzip the other files with the passwords, please try doing a direct keyboard-input of the passwords when you unzip, instead of doing a copy-paste. It’s possible that when you copy the password, some stray items (like spaces or periods) can drawn along into the password, and that’s what could be getting in the way of unzipping it. If it still doesn’t work (though it should 😉 ), then do write me in the comments and I’ll do all I can to help you unzip it!
Thanks! I’ll be back soon! Just need to work on some other deadlines! (That’s been the boring story of my life lately) 😆
…where I can buy an additional 24 hours to add to each day? 😆
I suppose you’re sick of hearing how I’ve been swimming frantically, trying to keep my head above the water with all the deadlines that seem to choose exactly the same moment to appear and terrorize those who’ve been too busy having fun playing (yep, that “playing” person would be me… about…hmmm, a month ago? At least, seems that long ago since I had the leisure to play, haha).
Since I really can’t blame you and would even totally understand if you cover your ears/eyes the next time you read “busy” on my blog, here’s a visual instead (haha!):
A few tidbits about this photo you’re looking at:
* Don’t look for me there. I was behind the camera, teehee. These are three of the people I was with last Saturday/Sunday. Add me into the mix plus 3 more men, and we totalled 7 owls. We worked on finalizing the editing and layout of the Big Project from 1 pm on Saturday up to… oh, 4 am of Sunday. Do I need to say that at the end of that period, my brain was dead on the floor? That wasn’t the end of it though: my friend in the middle (the fantastic layout artist) and I met the next/same day (Sunday) to do the real final work on the Big Project… from 1 pm to 9 pm. Not bad. At least we didn’t end up working till Monday (well, we did, but at least we could do it in the comfort of our own homes).
* My brain was so dead that Sunday dawn that my friend T (the layout artist) and I spent roughly 15 minutes discussing what time to meet the “next” day–which was actually a few hours away. I bother to mention this only because we realized later on that what we took 15 minutes to discuss could’ve actually been resolved in about 1 minute… had our brains been working better. 😆
* This was taken in front of the building where you will find the studio that we do our work in for the Big Project. If you look closely, you will see on the left side the legs of the building guard, who was raising up the metal gates so we could enter. See, the building closes at 8 pm… so we had to do a bit of charming and cajoling so that we could be allowed to work in the studio till midnight (which extended till after midnight, haha).
* I used John Wright’s Photoblast Pro Sapphire action on the photo… Confession time: I actually wanted to put that photo up here so I would have an excuse to play with the Photoblast actions. They are so much fun! If you’re into playing with your photos, you might want to check out John’s site HERE. I normally enjoy playing with my photos by tweaking them myself, but since a whole lot of my friends were playing around with them, and John offered a GREAT deal (essentially, 50% off on the cost of the whole pack), I … ahem… caved. And I don’t regret it one bit! John is great with his support and service too! He even came to our playground to help us out in case we had any problems with his actions (he must’ve heard all the excited chatter on our MB!). I still like tweaking my own photos, but I love that I have the choice to use John’s actions–all of which are fantastic–when I want to. Mmmmm, I am so enjoying playing with them!
What’s been keeping me company…
as I work late at night and into the morning is this… It’s been wonderful re-discovering this 80s song, and it’s upbeat enough to keep me awake… plus it’s all fall, which is fast coming, if it isn’t already where you, all my dearest friends, are! If you love dogs, or autumn colors, or great visuals, or upbeat 80s music, don’t hold back; go ahead and press that Play button! 😀
I couldn’t resist…
I know that all these deadlines have been falling on my head like one great big rainstorm ( “raindrops” just doesn’t seem to cut it 🙂 )… but I couldn’t stay away from designing some more stuff for you. I intended this to be the last offering in the Pinky Promise kit, but I have to warn you there’s one more coming up. See, proof that I think of you all the time, even when I’m caffeine-crazied… speaking of which, I have a feeling, if you squeeze me hard enough, you’ll be able to get some brew out of me–I feel like a giant coffee bean ready to be percolated, what with all the coffee I’ve been drinking like water! (It helps that we have great coffee right at home, haha).
So here’s Set 5 of Pinky Promise:
{ Click on image for larger view }
There’s a grungy textured version of the cleaner paper that I released some time ago (too lazy to check which set it was in, forgive me). Then there’s a paper tag which you can use for journaling in strips, or for dates, titles, whatever… the bigger tag on the preview is the actual size, and the smaller one is for you to see how it looks reduced. You can also enlarge it if you want. It’s about 8 inches long, I think. There’s a pink textured bow, which I attached to the preview with one of the buttons I made. The square buttons on the left side of the preview are shown at their actual size. There are 2 buttons in this set only because I initially made the smaller one… and then I decided to make a bigger one so that you could reduce or enlarge without sacrificing quality… and then, since I already saved both files, I decided to just give them both to you! 😀
A bit of warning about the tag: it comes with the button stuck on it. See, I made the tag with the square accent (before it became a button, haha)… and when I was looking at it, I thought… hmmm, maybe I could use that square accent to “pin” the bow down to the preview. So I pulled it off the tag and put it on the bow… and that’s the story of the birth of the square button. 😀 (Note that the bow doesn’t come with the button attached. Behind the button in the preview is a regular knot in the center of the bow).
All items come without the shadows (those you see in the preview are there for uh, preview purposes only 😀 ). Download Set 5 here. Zip password is wide-awake (don’t forget the dash!).
ETA: Sorry, download link is no longer available.
Oh and one last thing…
I got a few comments about the teddy bear that I used for the preview of Set 4… I am so sorry, I hope I didn’t mislead you into thinking that the teddy bear came with the kit… I do remember writing in my post that I used the bear for preview purposes only (and I think I wrote the credits on the kit preview as well). The bear photo is not mine; it’s by Sarej at the stock xchnge photo site… But since your reception to the bear was so warm, I just might come up with a bear kit in the future!!! 😉
Thank you, Vicky, of DigiScrapDepot for your invitation to advertise my kits on your site… I am honored and I promise to create a teddy bear kit for you soon! 🙂
Well, this is a mighty long post, so I better get going (before you fall asleep on me!)
Back to the salt mines for me! Thanks for passing by; do drop by again soon! Pinky Promise Set 6 is coming in the next few days… and after that, more freebies!!! 😉
to eat lunch today. I only remembered at around 7pm, when a dull headache triggered the part of my brain that connects to my stomach. (Voice in my head: Yo, woman, you have not put anything inside your body except cups and cups of that brown liquid that comes from ground beans…)
Sshhh. Don’t tell anyone though. It embarrasses me how something so basic as a basic meal, for crying out loud, can go unnoticed by me. But I have to admit, after 3 consecutive near-sleepless nights, my brain has turned a bit into mush. I’ve been working on editing about 70 articles for a project (deadline: yesterday 😆 )–some of which had to be completely revamped–and tomorrow we meet from 1pm to forever, however long it takes to get the project through its final, final stage… before we send it off on its final leg of the journey. How I wish I could be more specific!!! But I have to be patient and wait… till I can shout it out to you. When I do, you’ll probably get so sick of hearing everything about it (I’m collecting photos to document the whole thing for you too!!! :D)
So anyway, please forgive me. I’ve had less than a tiny sliver of space to work on the freebies I’ve been dying to give you… but I’ve missed you so much that, with 15 articles left to edit, I decided to just say STOP!, take a break and work on getting these freebs up for you. I have been sooooo wanting to give them to you to play with (come to think of it, I have been soooo wanting to play for the longest time! I feel like a little kid with the measles, looking wistfully out a window at all her playmates having fun and wishing the itchies would go away soon so she could join them. :D)
But before anything else, I want to say
THANK YOU FROM THE VERY DEEPEST RECESSES OF MY HEART.
thank you for your warm and encouraging reception of my Ripples poem. (Yes, Deb, I’d be honored…). thank you for all the warm fuzzies that keep me all cozy and just so full of overflowing love for all of you. thank you. there should be better words to express what i feel, but Webster and American Heritage have not put them down in their dictionary lists yet, so these are all I have to go with: thank you thank you thank you. Oh, and did I ever say I love you? Have I said it enough? Can I say it again?
Here’s a great big bear hug for all of you, my dearest friends.
Bring it on!!!
And now, what I’ve been wanting to give you for the longest time:
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This 4th set of the Pinky Promise kit has 2 papers, both slightly textured and with inked edges. I used a flower brush that I made myself 😀 on the first one (the paper on the top part of the preview), so it has a slight pattern. The paper on the lower part of the preview is a cousin of one of the papers in the Set 3 freebie, but it has more texture and less grunge. 😀 There’s a paper strip ribbon as well, which is 12 inches long so that you can stretch it across your layout (you can also make it smaller if you wish). I also included a jumbo eyelet–in the preview the biggest one at the bottom is the actual size that you’ll be getting; I just played around with downsizing it to show you how you can play with it by varying the size. 🙂
Here’s the funny thing: while I was playing around with the preview, I thought of turning the eyelet into a frame to show you what else you could do with this jumbo baby, and I thought… hmmm, what if I made this into a frame? So I did, and then I thought: since I’ve made it, why don’t I throw it into the mix as well? So there you have it!!! A bonus round frame included in the latest set of your Pinky Promise kit! Hope you find some use for it! 😀 (Oh, and the drop shadows are, as usual, only for preview purposes, so you can apply any sort of shadow you want). Special thanks to stock.xchnge for the photo I used on my preview.
Download it here. Zip password is freelunch (guess why? 😆 ) Thanks for the love you leave as you download!!! I truly appreciate the time you take to type in a few words!
ETA: Sorry, link is no longer available.
Enjoy, and I’ll be back with more soon!
PS. I just realized… the bottom part of the preview doesn’t have inked edges because I mistakenly placed the top half of the paper instead of the lower half (the one that had the inked edges at the bottom). So the bottom part of the preview actually shows the top part of the paper… but don’t worry because when you get the file, you’ll find that all the edges are inked. (Error on the preview due to lack of sleep. hehe. Excuses, excuses.)
One of the projects that’s been taking up a lot of my time has to do with just this: fathers and sons. It’s a huge project which, while it hasn’t come out yet, has to be kept under wraps (have to sit on my hands and do a jig to stop myself from shouting it out to you, my friends! 😆 )… but I was inspired to write this poem. I should probably mention here that I normally shy away from sharing my poems as they come from such a raw, vulnerable part deep inside of me… but I dare to write it here because you, my dearest friends, make me feel safe. (And that’s the best way I know how to express my trust and affection for you) 🙂
Hope you enjoy it…
The Legacy of Ripples
They amble in quiet cadence
hand in hand
to the edge of the lake.
His chest swells with quiet pride
as the little one bends down
by the water’s mouth
And gently, carefully
sets sail to the paper boat.
Together they watch it,
this newspaper ship,
as it glides across the glassy surface
till it is but a dot in the distance.
Looking down,
he spots a stone
hidden in the blades of grass.
He picks it up.
Winking at the little one,
he hurls the piece of earth into the still water,
the little one’s gaze fixed on that rock
flying through the air
landing with a plop into the water
quickly descending into the bosom of the lake,
leaving only a trace of its presence, its weight, its impact
This is believe: it’s always a good thing to reward yourself with some serious playtime after having spent a lot of energy on solid hard work. So today, in celebration of a week and a day of having slaved away at a million and one things (and in anticipation of the rest of the slaving away I have to do again beginning tomorrow 😆 ), I played hard. And you do know what happens when I play hard, right? I end up with… some goodies for you, my sweeties! Woohoo!!! 😀
I think I’m going crazy with pink now (thank you, Deb, you are responsible for this 😆 ) because I normally create more neutral, perhaps even more boyish stuff (with 5 sons, is it any wonder? 😀 ). But since my darling Deb planted the idea of pink in my head, I’ve been on a roll of thinking pink!!! So here’s more Pinky Promise stuff for you to play with!
This latest set has 2 papers: one is a solid soft pink with inked edges; the other is totally a wild experiment that I did with textures, brushes (including a floral brush I made), and colors. I’m not too sure I like it but I figured it won’t hurt to throw it in with the mix as well. Then there’s a jumbo wooden striped brad which I really like because you can actually use it for anything and everything (as usual, I made it big for greater flexibility). In my preview I used it as backing for a word… I’m thinking you can even line them up and make them form a word using your fonts, sort of like alpha tags? I’m sure you would easily find a million and one uses for this. 😉 Then there’s a grungy two-toned chipboard alpha for you to play with (all this pink and no dirt? Couldn’t resist!). There are no capital letters in the font I used, but it comes with the basic punctuation on a png file (to be used with the marquee tools and copy-paste commands).
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Download here. Zip password is thinkpink 🙂 ETA: Sorry, link is no longer available.
More coming soon! Oh, and I’d like to thank all the wonderful scrappers who found my freebies through the search engine who took the time to leave some love: you know who you are. It really matters a lot. (And to my dearest girlfriends who always leave love, you rock, sweeties!!! Love you back! 😛
PS. I should tell you: last night I actually dreamed that I got more requests for particular freebies… now is that a sure sign of design addiction or what??? 😆
My dearest friend Jana is in the middle of making a fantastic layout, which inspired me to make some nature-inspired wordart. So here are 2 for all of you; hope you find some use for them! 😉
Download here. Zip password is Jana. The paper background isn’t included (just did that in a quick rush last night for the preview 😆 ), but the faint wildflowers behind the Emerson quote is part of it (thanks to arraich for that!).
ETA: Sorry, link is no longer available.
In case you’re wondering what happened to the Pinky Promise kit, I’ve got more goodies coming, so stay tuned! I just have to zip ’em up and upload ’em…
Thanks in advance for leaving some love in my blog!
Oh and guess what? Found out that my freebs were featured again here and here! Woohoo!!! Love these freebie hunters! 😀
I’ll be back in a few to put up more freebs! Till then… keep playing! 😀
when it seems the universe suddenly remembers that you exist, that you’ve had a lot of time to play and have fun, and that it’s about time you started acting like the adult you are with real-life responsibilities. So yup, I’ve been busted. I’ve played around for quite some time (just totally indulging in scrapping and designing) and now I have to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
It’s that time of year when
– the schools call the parents to come pick up the report cards of their kids … and it baffles me, but it seems they like to hold programs and shows around the same period that you’re coming to school to meet the teachers–I can almost imagine them rubbing their hands in glee and saying, well, why don’t we load these wonderful parents with more stuff to do for their kids?
– the photography project I mentioned (it seems as though that was eons ago that I wrote about it) is on its last leg before it jets off into completion mode (woohoo!)
– the quarterly newsletter that I edit is due in a few days (haven’t even glanced a bit at the articles bursting through the envelope)…
– the design project for my sisters’ business is due in about 7 days
– oh, and let’s not forget about the million and one usual duties of a mother and wife
Thank goodness I just finished my first layout for the Stand Up & Scrap challenge! That was a whole lot of fun to do (it was a mixture of nervousness and just plain excitement over having to scrap without procrastinating, something that I kind of suffer from when it comes to creative output. I diddle and daddle and dawdle until everything comes together in one snap, and then it gets done. Sometimes it takes forever to get it done… but when I have a deadline, like we do in Stand Up & Scrap, I’m forced to make forever last a day ).
So you will forgive me, please?, if I am panting and huffing my way here today (tonight? to-dawn? heeheehee).
To relax, I’ve been learning a new piece on the piano, Meditation from Thais… beautiful, haunting song… I totally love this piece because it brings me warm memories of my childhood days when my uncle used to play this on the violin with my aunt accompanying him on the piano. Not that we really sat and listened attentively… my cousin and I went on playing our Little House pretend-character games (she was Mary and I was Laura), seemingly oblivious to the wonderful concerto accompanying our play. But it sticks. Years pass, and the melodies that entered your subconscious surface and bring warm fuzzies each and every time. Sigh.
Here’s how it sounds, if you’re curious to know ( this is the violin piece–the piece was originally written for the violin, but I am learning the piano version )
This made me smile.
I take my 5-year-old son to school to school everyday, and to while away the time in the car, I bring along a notebook where I scribble and doodle and jot down anything that I want to remember (have I mentioned I have a (t)rusty memory???). Well, lately I’ve taken to making lots of swirls and curly things, because I’ve been wanting to incorporate these into freebies for you eventually. My son loves looking at this little notebook (because he also uses it to scribble when he wants to while away his time. hehe). Well, he came upon those swirly doodles one day and asked what they were. I told him they were just doodles. Well, several days after, he asks for my notebook and, pen poised in the air, declares that he’s going to make a drawing for me. Here’s what he made:
I oohed and aahed and said “Wow!!! What’s that?” He said (and this totally had me in awe): “This is a swirly man, mama, for you. Because you make swirly drawings.” (Now, is that a son of a scrapper or what? hahaha).
This will make you smile (I hope!)
Oh and did I mention I’ve been working on designing more freebies for you? Don’t think I’ve forgotten… I’ve just been trying to come up with more “developed” (is that the word? I know it’s not, but it’s 3AM and my wordbank in my brain is failing me at the moment) freebies for you. What I mean is freebies with more variety, more texture, more whatever… just more. More “developed” –insert the more appropriate word here if you find it–freebies also means more labor-intensive design work… so it’s taken me longer to produce these babies… I hope you’ll forgive me for the delay.So without delaying any further, here is the latest (still on the Pinky Promise kit):
{ Click on preview for larger view }
Download it here. The zip password is busybee. Drop shadows are there for preview purposes only. This set contains 2 papers (1 solid, 1 patterned), slightly textured… the blue one has a bit of a grungy look to it. I also included a round tag and 2 beaded pins for you to use in case you want to pin the tag (or photos, or journaling blocks, or whatever you fancy! ) on your layout. I’m sure you already know this, but just for the sake of saying it (ehhehe), in case you want to use the pin on other items and give it a realistic look, use your eraser tool to erase the parts that should be hidden under the item you’re pinning down. I included a sample of the pin and tag… and when I had finished it, I thought: hmmm, why don’t I throw that in as well, so that my dearest friends have less work to do with this particular tag and pin? So there it is, in the kit as well!
ETA: Sorry, link is no longer available.
Let me know what you think, please? Your comments really do help me in my design work… a lot more than you could ever imagine! Thanks in advance, honeys!
Some postcript notes:
pooja, dear, I hear you: let me go try to design something with elephants… it’s going to take some work as the elephants I know how to draw are a bit on the cartoony side :D… but I’ll do my best to come up with something for you!
I discovered the whole Lavender Porch kit (all the freebies) included in the freebie list here. (Although I did have to scroll all the way down to find them… hahahaha). I am always amazed to find my freebies “found” as wordpress is normally not as accessible to freebie finders as blogger is… but hey, I’m happy! Freebies on any freebie finder means more people get to play with my humble gifts!
Now, off to bed or I won’t be functional tomorrow, and there’s lots more to do… again! Night-y, my friends! Thanks for passing by and do come around again! Soon!
I’ve been spending the past days cleaning up the mess that’s inside my compy… ahem, among other things 😛 … (and no, I have not yet gotten to the ACDSee part of it… just the sorting and regrouping of all the digi schtuff that I foolishly separated from their kits way back when, before I knew anything 😆 )… aside from the real-life work that must be attended to, of course. 🙂
So you know how it goes: when you work hard, you also play hard (makes sense, doesn’t it? Kind of reminds me of needing to find someone more or less as thin or as healthy 😉 as you are, to keep the seesaw balanced so you don’t hit your butt hard on the ground > ouch!< ).
And so I played today. I experimented with making more textures using a couple of different ways. And because when I asked, my dear friend Deb suggested shades of pink for the next kit: here you are, sistah!!! You know, seek and you shall find, ask and you shall receive! hahaha! 😛
{Click preview for a larger view}
This is a pack of 3 papers, all subtly textured… Download them HERE. Zip password is pretty-in-pink (with the dashes). Thank you in advance for leaving your comments in my blog!!!
ETA: Sorry, link is no longer available.
I was so surprised when I found the last of my Lavender Porch offerings was featured on Digi Scrap Freebie Finder last Sunday… woohoo!? 😀 I must say, it’s an amazzzzing feeling to see your freebie up there for even more scrappers to play with!!! Thank you so much, Ruthie (even if we don’t know each other yet, haha! 🙂 ), for finding my creations worthy of some space on your freebie list; I am so touched. 😀
More freebies coming… I joined the Stand Up & Scrap contest, so that will be keeping me busy… but certainly not too busy to make freebies for you, my sweeties!
Enjoy! And keep me in your prayers! 😀 Gotta go to bed as it’s 4AM… again. > teehee < 😛
but it has taken me TWO hours to put up my happy post… the one right under this. TWO bloody hours. There must be something about wordpress that makes it inaccessible on weekends… and there must be something about wordpress that’s been making it really iffy to use these past days… but it’s enough to turn the 😀 in me into 😳
I want to post the freebie right now, but let’s see how it goes, huh? Keep your fingers crossed for me…
Here’s the last part of the Lavender Porch Kit… and one of the packs I’m proudest of (mainly because it took such hard work to get it right!!! Food for thought: aren’t the things that you work really hard for, more valuable than those that just drop into your lap? I find that this is true for many things in life).
There are 3 bows and 3 strips of ribbons plus a bonus plum-colored paper (I used a texture for the paper from a kit I bought, but I can’t remember which one… oooh, sorry… will do better with that next time. Just didn’t want you to give me credit for the texture of the paper…). The ribbons are 12.5 inches in length, long enough for you to stretch across a 12×12 layout as a border, if you want to. Or you could always downsize them if you want them smaller (I always think it’s best to give as many options as possible! 😀 ). The drop shadows are there for preview purposes so that you can use the elements in whatever orientation you want to. But the creases and shadows on the ribbons themselves (on the strips and on the knotted portions of the bows) are really there… for added realism. 😉
EDIT: While I was fixing up all the messy folders of my digital stuff in my compy, I found the source of the texture that I used for the bonus paper, and I re-read the TOU and I was a bit uncertain as to whether I could put up a freebie using that texture. So I took down the link for a little while so that I could change the paper into an original texture to make sure that I don’t step on any toes (I know how difficult designers work on their designs so I really would rather err on the safe side than risk hurting or offending any designer). I have put up the new bonus paper with the same ribbons and bows; I hope you don’t mind the shift in the bonus paper, and I truly hope you understand… 🙂
Now I’m on to working on other single freebies and I hope to be able to make a mini kit with pinks, as requested by my friend Jeanne in the comments (see? I hear ya, honeys!!! 😀 ). Also, I’ve joined the Stand Up & Scrap contest, so that should be keeping me busy for the next six weeks… but never too busy to keep making freebies for you! 😀 So do drop by and don’t stop visiting, okay? There will always be iced tea or freshly brewed coffee waiting for you here on my porch swing. 🙂
Download the last Lavender Porch offering HERE. Zip password is ribbows (the “w” is not a typo… it really is a combination of ribbons and bows… hehehe).
ETA: Sorry, link is no longer available.
Enjoy, and thank you so much in advance for the comments you leave in my blog! 😉
THANK YOU FROM THE VERY DEEPEST RECESSES OF MY HEART.
).
)
liv.e simply 
