No, I haven’t fallen off the earth…

Saturday, 17 May 2014 / LivE / Leave a comment

I’ve just been caught up in that roller-coaster ride called Real Life. You know what it’s like when you’re whizzing past on the fastest ride and you’re just trying not to get blown away with the wind, right? (If you don’t know what that’s like, come sit with me and tell me your secret. 😀 ).

But I’m back, and I’m home, and boy does it feel good to be back on this porch with you!

New Shop!

Lots of things have remained the same (yes, I’m still ever grateful to be blessed with so much, top of which is my awesome hubby and our now-a-bit-older sons, and everything else that makes up that roller coaster ride) and there are lots of things too that have changed. For example, we now have a new shop (which is the sister-site to JessicaSprague.com) so if you’re looking for more liv.edesigns digital deliciousness, that’s where you’ll find it now! 😉

It’s called SnapClickSupply.com, and you’re absolutely welcome to check it out if you haven’t passed by yet.

The world’s best place to shop for all your digital, photo-editing, and blogging supplies!

* Click on the image above to check out my shop *

New Product!

Another new thing: my newest product is now up in my shop and it’s 25% off all weekend!

A little note about my T+Mini Collection: this is probably one of my all-time favorite products to design (and use too!), because it’s a combination of a pre-made fully-layered template (there’s the T) and a goody-filled mini kit (and there’s the +Mini). It’s perfect for all-time use, both for days when we wish we had more time to spend documenting our precious moments before they slip away and yet find that the day is indeed slipping away (hello, template!)… and for those days when we actually do have the time to start from scratch and build up a page from a blank slate (hello, mini kit!).

The template is fully-layered and fully-adjustable, which means that it comes with everything you need to scrap on the go: just add your photos to the photo masks, type in your journaling, and bam! It’s done! OR you could add or take away from the template according to your whim… it’s really friendly and will do whatever you want.

The mini kit that comes with it is always chock-filled with goodies, complete with papers and elements that coordinate perfectly. You can use them on the template itself, and you can also use them separately on other layouts that you make… thereby building your goody-stash with wonderful additions!

My newest product belongs to the T+Mini collection, and it’s the 11th in the series.

liv.edesigns T+Mini Vol. 11-Story Circles

Here’s the layout that I made with it, celebrating thirty years of friendship with one of my besties!

I used the template as it was, and just added a few more circle cut-outs from the mini kit as well as punched confetti to complete the whole thing.

New A+wesome Creative Team!

I also have been blessed with the most awesome ladies on my creative team this year! They’re super ladies, absolute darlings, and genius artists, every single one of them. I am truly honored to have them on my team and love them to little bits and pieces.

Check out the awesome eye-candy they’ve created with my T+Mini!

I love the soft, gentle feel of Miki’s beautiful layout!

This awesome layout was created by Miki Krueger.

Reneé’s layout is so touching and so heartwarming, don’t you think so?

This awesome layout was created by Reneé Dezember.

Jana’s layout is super-fun and happy, perfect for the documenting fun times at the happiest place on Earth!

This awesome layout was created by Jana Holden.

Can anyone resist sighing, hand on heart, when looking at Lisa’s darling mother’s day layout?

This awesome layout was created by Lisa Breuer.

Summer opted to use the circle stitches alone, and I think it’s an awesome way to bring attention to her lovely photo!

This awesome layout was created by Summer Christiansen.

Margje is having a lovely time vacationing, and she came up with this superb layout while on vacation… how awesome is that?

This awesome layout was created by Margje van Arnhem.

And Chrissy documented this awesome moment in her son’s life with this beautiful layout (I love how it shows how the mini kit can be used to fit personal style choices!)

This awesome layout was created by Chrissy Guido.

New Awesome… Coupon!

Speaking of new stuff, I have something new especially for you!

I think weekends are awesome, and I thought it would be wonderful to give a little more “awesome” this weekend! To celebrate my newest product in our shiny new shop, I have a special coupon for 5% MORE off T+Mini Vol. 11 !

New products debut at SnapClickSupply each Friday, and for the entire weekend all those new products are on sale for 25% off. With this new coupon, you get a chance to add 5% MORE off, so that you get a total of 30% off! How awesome is that, right?

You can find the coupon code on my liv.edesigns Facebook page RIGHT HERE. It’s the most recent post on my timeline, and don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything else but visit in order to get the coupon code. Of course, if you’d like to click the LIKE button to like my liv.edesigns page as you grab the coupon, I wouldn’t stop you at all (I’d probably throw my arms around you and give you the biggest squeeze ever. 😀

Voila! That’s it for now… and thank you for checking me out despite my loooong absence from my porch. Have I ever told you how incredible I think you are? ❤

Framed!

Tuesday, 12 June 2012Tuesday, 12 June 2012 / 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!

Love on a Wonderful Wednesday

Thursday, 9 February 2012Thursday, 9 February 2012 / 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!

Last Few Hours to Grab My DSD Freebie!

Monday, 7 November 2011Tuesday, 8 November 2011 / LivE / 1 Comment

Hi there! Just dropping by real quick to let you know that there are just a few more hours left to grab my DSD freebie, if you haven’t included it in your weekend loot yet 😉

Click on the image below to get it!

GRAB NOW! Link Expires at 12 midnight Pacific time!

ETA: Link to my DSD freebie has expired. 😥

My coupon is also still active (just in case you’re still raring for some shopping therapy):

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

And now to get back to working and maximizing my last day of the semestral school break. Tomorrow regular life begins again. 😐

Happy Day!

Saturday, 5 September 2009Saturday, 5 September 2009 / LivE / 4 Comments

Some days just turn out to be serendipitously happy ones, for no particular reason except that … it’s a happy day! 😀

Am celebrating it with this song!

And this!

Dance with me? 😆

Today’s Funny

As my son J and I were riding home from school today, he was (as usual) telling me about his day in school. Our discussion revolved around a classmate who probably had a bad day and ended up dealing a few punches and a kick to my son. (Ah, boys!)

So naturally, mama took the opportunity to talk about the importance of using words, not hands or feet, to express oneself.

Me: Maybe you can tell your friend to use words next time he’s upset. Only babies use their hands and feet because they don’t have words to express themselves. Grown-ups use words.

J: I know, Mama! I used words today! (said proudly)

Me: Really?

J: Yes. Someone told me “Hey, you, poopy-head!” So I said, “Hey… you! Back at you… poopies!”

ROFL. I think this kind of boy-talk I can tolerate. 😆

Today’s Freebie!

And because it’s a happy day for me, and happiness is meant to be shared, here’s a freebie for you! 😀

This large (approximately 6×8 inches) grungy frame brush can easily be resized if you need a smaller frame. It comes in .abr format and .png format (so if you use a program other than Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you can still use the frame! Yay!)

Preview Stock Photo Credit: Ayla87 at stock.xchng

{ Click on image to download. Please see Terms of Use included in zip file. 🙂 }

Here’s how I used my frame on one of our class projects done for my dear friend Jessica’s awesome Photo-Editing 2 course at jessicasprague.com!

PhotoEd2-proj1-w

Spraground Shoppe: My Newest Baby

I’ve got a new product up in our shoppe! YAY! 😀

(Image is linked to the Spraground Shoppe. Click on it and find yourself in our awesome Spraground candy store! :D)

My Storyboard Album Template Pack will help you create your own album with a graphic, storyboard look in a jiffy! It comes with twenty-one 12×12 layered templates (in .psd format), including a title page (with optional text path included), filler template pages which work well if you use them side by side in order (or you can also jumble them up and mix and match them), and a special template page for the last page of your album. I’ve included text boxes and text paths which you can use as is, or you can also opt to replace these with your own.

Because the Storyboard Album Template Pack is done in graphic style, you can use it for virtually any album theme you want! Use clipping masks in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to clip your own papers and photos of choice. You can choose to use all the masks for photos, or if you’d rather clip patterned paper on some of the masks, that’s totally fine too! Add a bunch of your embellishments if that’s the look you want, or use just a few if you prefer the clean and simple, minimalist look. Don’t you just love all the freedom you have at your fingertips? 😉

Best of all, you can use it again and again for as many albums as you wish to make! 😀

And… that’s it for today, folks! It’s back to the drawing board to create more stuff for you!

Have a wonderful day, my sweeties! (((hugs)))

Birthday Bash at JessicaSprague.com!

Wednesday, 24 June 2009 / LivE / 1 Comment

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:

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

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!

Feeling Creative? Join Us in June!

Tuesday, 2 June 2009Tuesday, 2 June 2009 / LivE / Leave a comment

I’ve been multitasking 😉 in a big way these past few days (Read: working with more than 10 Firefox tabs open, and we’re not even talking about the other windows I’ve got floating around on my PC monitor space). And I’ve been having the time of my life, because most of the windows and tabs that are open are all related to one thing: the passion for creating and challenges! YAY!

We just finished our first-ever Spragweek Challenge: 7 Days in May at our Spraground, and we had a great number of Spragbabes who showed up to participate in the layout-a-day challenges that we (my friends Janie, Linda, and I) cooked up. Our Challenge Gallery was a virtual eye-candy art exhibit, what with all the great layouts being uploaded by the hour!

And… because wishes do come true on our Spraground, in response to the request of our members to have a month-long daily-layout challenge session, we are holding Create-A-Day in June, where challenges and prompts will be provided every single day for this entire month! And as always, it’s open to everyone! (So if you haven’t joined us yet, consider yourself formally invited… by me! 😆 )

Here’s your invitation:

w-CADflyer

Credits: Painted Edges overlay by Flergs@ScrapbookGraphics.com).

So hop on the challenge train, and if you’re seeing this after June 1st, it’s totally okay! We have the Challenge Archives for those who want to catch up, and if the thought of going back in time doesn’t appeal to you and you’d rather just jump right in the middle of things, that’s totally fine too! Whichever day you decide is best, you can still come and join us at any point (can you tell we just love company? 😆 )

Pssst. Just a little secret: you really may want to be around the Spraground on the week of June 22-27, which is when we celebrate our 2nd birthday! We’ve got loads of treats in store for you, and that includes surprises for those participating in our June Create-A-Day challenges! (Now, isn’t that a great incentive to come join us now? 😉 )

Wait for more exciting stuff coming up in future announcements about our Second Spraground Birthday! 😉

PS. If you need a map to get to the Spraground, click on the swings right up there on the top right and voila! Find yourself in the most magical place in the virtual world! 😉

My MayDay Three

I don’t normally have the time to create layouts along with leading the challenges, but the energy and excitement last week were so infectious that I just couldn’t help myself! I was able to get layouts done up to Day 3, but couldn’t go further as I had to buckle down to work on the ongoing June challenges.

So here are the ones I made:

Day 1 was a template challenge, with a template made by… me! heehee!

This was the template we used:

folder

And here’s the layout I made:

{ Click image for a larger view }

Credits: Lorie Davison @ SBG: Flying Dreams: Background Paper, Moon / LivEdesigns: Layered Template, Grunge Brush / Font: Anivers

Day 2 was a challenge based on my dear friend (and our Spraground mama) Jessica’s Photoshop Friday tutorial on Burning an Image into a Colored Accent Block… with a twist! This one was really challenging for me, as I had no idea how to twist the tutorial! 😆 But hey, that’s what’s great about challenges, right? They stretch your horizons and give you reason to push your skills further and further! (Gotta love that!)

Here’s the layout I made:

w-LivE_7DiM-D2

Credits: Jofia Defoe-The Smell of Summer paper / Ziggle Designs-If Only in My Dreams paper (slightly recolored) / Katie Pertiet-ScriptedOverlay, WateryOverlay, MessedUpOverlays2, FilmedOverlays2, ScriptedType brush, GrungedUpAlpha1 brushes, StitchedChipStrips / Kellie Mize-PaintedLove brushes, PanosFX puzzle action, snf modtype

And Day 3’s challenge was to create a layout about an inanimate treasured object. This one also made me think… I have treasured friends and treasured family… but treasured objects? (I couldn’t do a layout on my computer or my camera because they’re not objects… they’re appendages to my body! hahaha!) So, after thinking and thinking, and at one point staring at my cabinet as I was deep in thought, I had a eureka moment and voila! Thus was born this layout celebrating my love affair with… tadah! My jeans!

{ Click image for larger view }

Credits: Natali Design: Swirl / Gunhild: FrayedFabric mask / Jen Wilson: LittleTags-Boys / Katie Pertiet: LilBitTags stitch, SewnStatements tag, WateryOverlay / Anna Aspnes: StitchedbyAnna stitches (recolored), TexturedOverlay / Amanda Rockwell: HomeSweetHome heart / FeiStuff-Pindated pin / Dana Zarling: Timeworn paper & Lynn Grieveson: Barcelona paper (blended) / Fonts: Artistamp & Lights Out

Back to the saltmines

Yep, gotta get off this blogporch swing and start marching back to the saltmines. Lots of work to do (but fun, fun, fun work!) Stay, make yourself at home, have all the iced tea you want, and I’ll see you around in a bit! ((((hugs)))))

It’s Done!

Saturday, 1 March 2008Wednesday, 24 September 2008 / LivE / 19 Comments

Finally! Got my LDD application kit uploaded, got the confirmation, and now I’m playing the waiting game… 🙂

After spending 2-3 weeks conceptualizing my kit in my head, deciding on color schemes, and then 24 straight hours of trying to translate that imagined concept onto my compy monitor, it does bring a huge sense of accomplishment to be done with it. The only problem now is I’ve got so much energy, I’m searching for more stuff to do! 😆 (Like I don’t already have my plate full… hahaha!)

My Spraground friends Dawn and Lisa have also submitted their application kits so we’re all keeping our fingers crossed… I think it’s totally awesome that we’re taking this adventure together!

Rockin Spraground Playground!

We had awesome results flowing in for our Spraground Weekly Challenge this week (remember the template?) I love every single thing that these wonderful playground-friends of mine have created… there’s an amazing amount of creative talent on our playground, and that makes me awfully proud of our sweeties! (Oh and our sweetball… we have one really fun guy playing with us now too! 😉 )

Here was my take on the template challenge. I wanted to keep it simple and straightforward… and here’s what came out of that:

Journaling:

countless and immeasurable: the grains of sand that you cup in the palms of your little hands… infinite ~ everlasting ~ just like my love for you.

CREDITS:

Kim Christensen’s Cardstock Alpha black paper. Gemstones and Template by me!

And yes, there is!

A freebie, I mean! Right over here!

Another template… because I promised my friend Di, who’s on a CT, that I’d create a template for her to make her job of creating loads of layouts easier. 😀 The advantage is… we all get to use the template as well! hahaha!

So here’s what I came up with:

I know it’s a very very simple template, but then I think that’s when one can draw the most varied uses out of it… when it’s simple and adaptable to one’s needs. You can resize this, you can flip it, you can remove some of the masks if you wish… the sky’s the limit when you play with templates, right?

This is a psd file, so that means that you can use clipping masks to get your papers or photos onto your layout with a simple CTRL-G for PSE users and a simple mouse-hover-between-layers+ALT-CLICK for CS. The masks come with built-in drop shadows, but you can always clear the layer style if it doesn’t suit your needs.

You can download the multiphoto template no. 2 HERE.

Whoa! Gotta go. Dinnertime! I really just wanted to post a freebie up for you… hope you find some use for it, and thank you in advance for the love you leave on my blog!

(((((((((hugs))))))))) to you, my sweeties, and I’ll see you again soon, okay? 😉

PS. Some of my playground friends asked for the gemstones that I used on my template challenge layout… they may be coming soon! 😉