Necessity and Invention

Tuesday, 20 November 2012 / LivE / 1 Comment

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” so the proverb goes. (And by the way, did you know that the original author of this wise saying hasn’t been established yet?)

Well, in my line of work, I have to confess that I get excited by needs. And one fine day, I stumbled upon an urgent need of a very good friend of mine, Linda, who also happens to do a great job of creating layouts, designing, putting together wonderful table settings, taking stunning photographs, and… well, I digress. But yeah, she’s an amazing jack-of-all-trades, and she needed templates to put together a wedding album for friends (she took the photos, of course). And she needed it quick.

And just like that, my creative muse went on a thrill ride and this product is what is now sitting on my shelf, thanks to the inspiration from Linda.

My Foto Focus album templates are a huge collection of 26 fully-editable layered 12×12 templates for a complete album, including front and back covers. All templates come complete with a deliciously-textured paper to provide the perfect background to make your photos shine forth, as well as editable drop-shadows, photo masks, outline frames, and optional text paths. The design is deliberately kept clean and simple so that your photos and stories take center stage. The templates are so versatile that you can mix and match pages if you need more than a 24-page album, and you can even pull in your own papers and digital stash if that’s what rocks your boat!

Let’s have some amazing eye-candy, why don’t we?

Let’s start off with some stunning pages from Linda’s wedding album!

Adorable, right? When photos paint a thousand words, who needs more of the written stuff? (The text paths on the templates are optional, so here Linda has done away with text and simply lets her photos speak for themselves).

Here is a truly heart-warming and moving 2-page layout created by Chrissy. I love how it celebrates the generous spirit of her entire family in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

This wonderful layout by Lisa demonstrates how each template from the album also does a great job for single-page layouts!

On this awesome layout, Barbara does a marvelous job of taking the template and adding her own personal touch (and embellishments) to it!

Remember this wonderful Halloween layout by Rachael from some posts back? I love how the template she used totally puts the Focus on her marvelous Foto! 😉

Did I mention that this entire 26-template album set is on sale at 25% off till midnight Pacific time? Go grab it (click on the image of the product above, or click right HERE ) and you’ll never have any lonely photos suffering in the innards of your hard drives. Bring out those marvelous stories and lay them out with the help of these templates and watch with joy as your family and friends oooh and aaah over wonderful shots and equally wonderful memories!

Have an amazing first day of the week, my dear friends! I’ll see you soon! xoxo

Eye Candy on a Wonderful Wednesday

Thursday, 18 October 2012 / LivE / Leave a comment

Have you ever had month after busy month of never-ending to-do lists and deadlines and demands-of-life to attend to? If you have, then you probably know exactly how I’m feeling (bedraggled and beat up, lol) and will hopefully forgive me for being woefully lacking in making an appearance here lately.

During times like this, I find that it’s always such a wonderful comfort to sit back and feast my eyes on beauty and awesomeness, so I decided that today’s post will be all about amazing Eye Candy done by some of my most favorite peeps in the entire world (and they’re the some of the best creative artists ever too!)

And because it’s a Wonderful Wednesday today, that also means that I’ve got two products on sale at my shop till midnight Pacific time today (so you’ve got about 14+ hours to grab these in case you don’t have them in your stash yet and you find yourself needing and wanting them. ;)).

Grab for just a Buck! Maskerade Photo Masks

{ Click on the image above to grab this at half the price today! }

Did I mention that I just LOVE the preview above because it has the beautiful face of my gorgeous friend Tori? 🙂

And now, for our delicious eye-candy, brought to you by the awesome JessicaSprague.com Creative Team!

This awesome layout was created by Heather:

This awesome layout was created by Jenn M:

This awesome layout was created by Joanne:

This awesome layout was created by Amy:

This awesome layout was created by Nic:

This awesome layout was created by Monica:

This awesome layout was created by Reeta:

This awesome layout was created by Jenn M too!

This awesome 2-page layout was created by Bren:

This awesome layout was created by Miki:

This awesome layout was also created by Reeta:

This awesome layout was created by Lisa:

Yet another awesome layout created by Reeta:

This awesome layout was created by Chris:

This awesome layout was created by Heather using the Maskerade tape strip:

This awesome layout was created by Jenn M using the Maskerade tape strip:

Are you swooning with all that creative artistry and beauty yet? 🙂

Go 50-off with Proud to Be Square – The Basics

The Proud to Be Square Template Pack Collection has everything you need to create your album in a flash!

This Basics Pack coordinates perfectly with other sets in the collection, allowing you to create either sets of mini albums or one great big album! You can even use each template to create individual layouts. So versatile, this collection gives you so much freedom and variety to work with. Among the multitude of options for use: Either use the 12×12 textured paper that comes with the pack or replace with your own favorite papers. Clip your photos and type in your text. Leave it simple and clean or add on the embellishments, whichever suits your style!

{ Click on the image above to grab this at half the price today! }

And now to continue the eye candy treats!

Here’s a sample of an album created with the Proud to Be Square Template Collection:

Here’s a sample of an album created with the Proud to Be Square – Basics Pack:

The album cover:

The title page:

An inside page (I used this for the “Dedication” area of the album):

Another inside page of the album:

And here’s an awesome layout created by Linda with Proud to Be Square – The Basics:

Ahhh yes, now that I’ve had my eye-candy fix for the day, I am feeling all revved up to get back to that miles-long to-do list! Hope you’re having an awesome amazing week filled with beauty and wonder! I’ll see you soon. (((hugs)))

Happy Twenty-Twelve (and Wonderful Wednesday News)!

Thursday, 5 January 2012Thursday, 5 January 2012 / LivE / Leave a comment

Hey hey hey, ho ho ho, happy new year, my dear friends!

Remember last year I promised to be back with surprises? Well, since Twenty-Twelve began 4 days ago, I have been working hard on the initial setting up of all that good schtuff planned for you–stuff that will unfold throughout the next 366 days of this new year. I am so excited! 😀 So I hope you’ll take the time to come around and sit on my blogporch throughout the year so you don’t miss out on goodies!

In fact, why don’t we start it right now? 😉

What a Wonderful Wednesday!

Beginning 2012, we will be having Wonderful Wednesdays at the “awesome-est” place in the world, JessicaSprague.com! Every Wednesday, we’ll be giving out super-special deals for you to grab within 24 hours. Is that wonderful or is that wonderful?

To begin the first Wonderful Wednesday, I have put up not just one but two of my favorite products for you to grab at 50%-off if you don’t have them yet! (And yes, I realize this is coming a bit late in the day 😕 , but you do have until 12:00 midnight – so give or take about 4 hours more?)

First off, we have my EZ-PZ Template #07 – I {Heart} MoMA at 50%-off:

(Click on the image below to get to this half-priced baby!)

PS. My EZ-PZ template collection come with all that you need to create a page in a jiffy – and all those little extras can be used for other pages that you make in the future too (we’re talking background papers, masks, embellishments, type paths, that sorta thing, cos I love packing my products with stuff that will make you smile 😉 ).

And secondly, I’ve put this wonderful stamped date brush and rub-on set from my liv.edesigns Needs + Wants Collection. At 50%-off too, here’s It’s a Date!

With days, months, and years from 2000 to 2012, in both rub-ons and brushes (.png format and .abr format), this is definitely a must-have that you’ll reach for again and again! And at 50%-off, that’s a total steal! 😉 (Click on the image above if you want to grab it for your stash).

Oh, and if you’d like to check out the rest of the Wonderful Wednesday items that my amazingly-talented co-designers at JessicaSprague.com are offering this Wednesday, click on the image below.