Star Overlay Freebie

Santa will be using the North Star soon to navigate the world in his magic sleigh. Here is a png star overlay for use in your own creations. It is provided in jpg and tiff formats as well as in white too. A quick way to recolor the black stars in the jpeg format in photoshop (or elements) is to add a color filled layer on top of the stars and set the color layer to screen. Download the overlays via mediafire HERE. For small commercial use and personal use. Enjoy creating!

P.S. I fixed the link to the previous chevron freebie. It can be downloaded HERE in case you were sent elsewhere last week!

something for the new year

I came across my ombre inspiration board while cleaning up my crafting space last week. Thought I'd do some ombre chevrons. I love the combination! Download the free kit from mediafire HERE. For small commercial use and personal use.

And the winner is...

Congratulations goes to comment number 4 by Carly @ Mason's Roost! You are the winner of the 5 free kits. Please contact me with your wishlist and I will send you your links.

I'm looking forward to the Christmas Holidays. I hope I'll have time to get all of my new kits listed by the New Year...we'll see. I always find it a challenge to pick a dozen papers for a kit...there's almost always two dozen or more that I narrow down to a designers dozen. You can usually find a bonus sheet or two in all of my kits. I have several folders of extra's that don't make it into my kits for sale...but sometimes make it here as freebie mini kits. Today is a little different though...an exclusive mini kit that I am creating for personal use...it will be released in two or three parts as I create it. My daughter has been singing Twinkle, twinkle, little star all the time lately. I captured the singing in a cute picture that needs a special layout. I'll be sharing the finished layout at the end too. Here is the first part, a set of 4 papers that you can download from mediafire.

Our December projects are started...but not as far along as we'd hoped. We are short at least one peice of tile for our fireplace surround...and some trim for the mantel. I'll share the before and after pictures hopefully before santa arrives. We need to get those stockings hung!! Only a couple of weeks left. You can check out my inspiration pinterest board for our mantel. Off to finish a couple of sewing projects from my to do list. The play mat MUST get done!!

New designs and a Holiday Giveaway!

See the end of this post for GIVEWAY details.
Finally back to work creating some new kits after a short break. I've been working with some ledger papers recently. It's been lots of fun combining the ledgers with different patterns. The free Ledger  kit is designed for personal use or scrap for hire use. Full terms of use can be found in the dowload file. Download the free Ledger kit from mediafire. Preview pic is not linked to the download.

And now for the GIVEAWAY details: Prize: 5 FREE kits of your choice. To enter simply reply to this post. For a second entry reply with the titles of your favorite kit from my etsy shop. One winner will be chosen Saturday December 10th at midnight EST via random.org

And the winner is...

This was my first time trying out this little random number generator...and here are the results.

And the winner is Ashley M! Send me a message with your wishlist of $30 worth of kits from my etsy shop.

For those that didn't win, I am having another giveaway this month. I am super excited to be participating in  Design Gals 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway. Can't wait to see all the prizes she has lined up! Good luck to all who enter!




I've been very under the weather the past couple of weeks and am behind on all the freebie kits I had lined up to post here. Look for them throughout December as I get caught up.

Dear Santa...I've been good!

Anyone started on their wishlists yet? I know I have. Here's a look at a few of my favorite things on etsy.



I'm trying to get an early start this year as we always seem to be doing things last minute. The holidays are crazy busy...and I end up getting run down and am out one of the days with the flu. This year I have a plan to take things slower and start working on those handmade gifts now. A letter to santa is on the list soon so I created a little mini kit to match the Dear Santa kit that I have for sale in my etsy shop. The mini kit below is commercial use or personal use with no credit required.
You can DOWNLOAD the free mini kit from Mediafire.

 
Don't forget to enter my November giveaway. Enjoy creating and making you're own lists!

Winter is coming

There's a chill in the air...winter is coming! Thankfully we have a list of DIY crafting and home improvements lined up for the winter months. Hopefully these projects will make the long winter fly by! First up on the list is a mantel for our fireplace. I came across this lovely free printable projects checklist design by Jen at IHeart Organizing . I've already printed it out and filled in our first few tasks. I really, really want a fireplace mantel complete and decorated for christmas this year...plus we need somewhere to hang the stockings.

Here is another free kit (for personal and commercial use) to help you get started on your own winter crafting projects. Download from Mediafire.

Don't forget to enter my draw for the $30 credit to my etsy shop.

November Sale Announcement and Giveaway

My best sale yet! Get 50% with COUPON CODE: 50TKV21A expired
A special thanks to all my customers for making my first year on etsy a success! I am making some changes in my shop over the next couple of months. Lots of new kits in store and a coupon code for a special discount with each purchase. I also have a bunch of great free mini kits and a few printables for the holiday season lined up. Here is the first of the mini kits available to download from mediafire HERE. Preview pic is not linked.

Be sure to keep checking back throughout November to grab all of the free kits and printables.

NOVEMBER GIVEAWAY: A draw for $30 worth of kits from my etsy shop! Simply leave a comment after this post to enter. One entry per person. Winner will be chosen randomly at midnight November 30th, 2011. Good Luck to all!

The cutest freebie!!

This little cutie has been sitting on my computer for months and she is feeling neglected. I know that she will work her way into one of my projects one day...but until then I will share her with all of you. Free for personal or commercial use. Download the file from Mediafire and enjoy creating!

Vintage photo freebie

I scanned this photo at a very high resolution. It is unretouched except for converting it to black and white. A lovely little girl and her best friend...a cute little puppy!! So adorable that I just had to share it. I've included both colors on a printable 8.5x11 inch 300dpi jpg sheet. Free to use for personal or commercial use. Enjoy!
Download the 8.5x11 sheet via mediafire

Sale announcement and free kit

I will be having a sale in my etsy shop from September 11, 2011 until September 30th, 2011. Buy 2 kits get 1 free, Buy 4 kits get 2 free, Buy 6 kits get 3 free. Details can be found in my etsy shop announcement during the sale.
I have been busy creating new kits and a new free kit for everyone. You can download this free kit from Mediafire

Posh Tartan Freebie Kit

I came across a free web application called Tartan Designer the other day. I used it to create these patterns. It is so easy and fun to use! With a little tinkering in photoshop I turned them into printable sheets in both 12x12 inch and 8.5x11 inch sizes for you to use in all of your creations. The original 72dpi png and jpg icons are also included. Totally in love with this cool web application. The creators also have a stripe generator too.
Download the free Posh Tartans from mediafire

BOGO Sale announcement and Etsy Greetings Results.

Hi Everyone!
As much as I love freebies I love a good sale. My BOGO sale is doing really well and keeping me super busy! A freebie kit is in the works but won't be ready until next week.

The EtsyGreetings June Challenge results are in!.
Everyone did such an amazing job. I am so impressed with how each card is one of a kind even though they all used the same kit. Some members shared how they made their cards for the challenge:

Heidi of Row House has a mini tutorial and lots of pictures of her entry shown below.

 

Mary at Paper Blessings created the following card and shared a great tip to save on ink!

Starry Eyed freebie kit

I am feeling starry eyed with all the wonderful comments left here and via etsy from the EtsyGreetings Team. Here are some stars ('n stripes) to help celebrate the 4th of July. There will be a matching set for sale today in my etsy shop. Download free kit from Mediafire

Thanks to EtsyGreetings Team

A special thank you to the EtsyGreetings Team for all the wonderful comments and for all the votes for my Lake inspired kit. I am tickled pink that you will be using my kit in your card design challenge.
Here is a special thank you from myself. A bonus kit of matching papers with small commercial use terms.
Free kit can be downloaded from Mediafire here

Getting Started in Digital Scrapbooking

There are so many tutorials on the internet for digital scrapbooking. Here are some of my personal favourites in no particular order:
Designer Digitals Getting Started in Digital Scrapbooking
Ali Edwards Scrapbooking with your computer
Daily Digi Unzipping files
Daily Digi Programs to use

And one of my customers asked if my prints will print as seen on their monitor:
Daily Digi Calibrating your monitor so prints come out exactly as you see them on your monitor

Garden trellis inspired freebie kit

Garden planning for this spring is well under way. A large set of trellis papers for small commercial/scrap for hire use. Download from Mediafire

FAQ's

Q: I ordered a digital kit from your etsy store. What's next?
A: I check my etsy store frequently to see when orders come in. I then send out the links to the kits purchased to the email associated with your etsy account (unless you have supplied with with an alternative email address). It is a single secure, and unique link for each order. The link opens a new window that will contain all of your download links. Simply clicking on each link to activate the download process.

Q: How do I print your 12x12 inch designs onto 8.5x11 inch paper?
A: I recommend cropping them to 8.5x11 inch size in a photo editing software program such as Photoshop (elements) or a free editing program such as GIMP. Many printers have a "crop to fit" option in the advanced printer settings.

Q: I don't own any photo editing programs, can I still use your kits? 
A: You sure can! Many document editors can open the jpeg papers. Simply treat them like a digital photo and "import" them into your program of choice.
There are also some great free programs out there that will allow you more creative freedom. I recommend GIMP (a version is also available for mac users). http://www.gimp.org/


Q: How do I unzip the downloaded file?
A: In windows right click on the zipped file and choose "Extract All...". Choose your file destination by clicking on the "Browse" button. I recommend your desktop if you are unfamiliar with downloading products. Then click on the "Extract" button. Depending on your operating system you may end up with a folder within a folder - before you get to the individual jpeg papers. I do this to ensure that when you extract - the individual papers end up in a folder and not all over the place on your computer!

Q: Can I copy your kits to a disk for backup purposes?
A: Yes! I recommend that you make at least one backup of the files you purchase in case of a hard drive failure. The links I send eventually expire, but you can also request a resend of your purchases if you lose it. (Sometimes I save files in the wrong location...and can never find them again!! It happens to even the most organized of us!)


Q: What paper do you recommend to print on?
A: I recommend that you print on the paper or cardstock that is designed specifically for your printer. The printer companies spend lots of time, research, and money on ensuring their papers work well with their printer inks. They are chemically compatible for longevity! Piddix of etsy also has a great blog post about choosing paper for your project. I do not recommend printing on cardstock that you have found on sale or at the dollar store. These absorb more ink or will not print as cleanly as if you printed on sheets supplied by your printer manufacturer. You will not be saving yourself money by wasting ink or with poor printouts.

Q: I have never used digital papers/digital scrapbooking kits before. How do I get started?
A: There are some great tutorials on the internet. I recommend you start with some Hybrid projects. Hybrid means you are combining both traditional paper scrapbooking with digital scrapbooking. I am currently working on a link list of my favourite tutorials for getting started.
Designer Digitals has some great beginner tutorials: Getting Started in Digital Scrapbooking

Q: Help! I still cannot get my file unzipped!
A: Please send me an esty convo from your etsy invoice regarding the offending file. I will create a self-extracting file for you to download (note that it will have a exe extension and double clicking on the file will "install" it on your computer...which simply means that in will create the folder with all the files where you specify on your computer).

I will be doing a few blog posts on  getting started in digital scrapbooking. If you have any specific questions or tutorials please let me know here or on etsy!
Enjoy creating and discovering the world of digital scrapbooking.

Happy Mothers Day - Freebie Printable Card

Here are two mothers day printable jpg 300dpi cards for you. They are both 4x6 but can be printed smaller to fit both cards on a single 8.5x11 inch sheet. For personal use only please.
Download from mediafire.

iNSD International Scrapbooking Day Freebie Template

A special thank you to all my wonderful customers! Here is a 4x6 card template in layered PSD and TIFF formats. I have also included a printable jpg Thank You card for personal use. Templates are for both personal and commercial use! Enjoy! Download from mediafire.

Keep calm and dream of gardening...

A little treasury for a bleak, hail storm, tuesday evening. Yes there is a hail storm here...and the power has gone out briefly too. Here's a little etsy treasury I recently created in the hopes that spring and the gardening season will start here soon.

New kits and designs coming soon

Todays freebie includes some of the new designs I will be adding to my shop soon. Free kit for personal use only please (The commercial use license kits will be available to purchase soon). Download from mediafire

One Fine Day Free Digital Kit

It was One Fine Day out there today...here is todays freebie kit available to download from Mediafire

Using Transfer Artist Paper or TAP on Fabric

This is the next installment of my transfer technique tutorials. There are many transfer papers out there and the most commonly known ones are T-Shirt transfer papers. One that is fairly new and less known is called Transfer Artist Paper™ or TAP™. It is the latest technology among the transfer papers on the market today. It allows the inks to combine with the polymer coating on the paper and, when heated, they fuse into the fabric and become a part of it. Other transfers sit on the surface and will fade, peel, crack, and wear away over time or with repeated washing. TAP works on cotton, cotton blends, polyester, silk, paper, leather, and many other media.

There are many others that have done very nice tutorials on this technique so mine will be brief and discuss my particular tips for using TAP™.  Great instructions are included for use with the actual product. Lesley is Queen for writing tutorials on the use of her product! Her book on using TAP comes out soon - see below for the links.

Supply List:

Inkjet printer (optional!!)

Markers, crayons, pencil crayons, stamping with inks (pigment inks work well)

Transfer Artist Paper

Fabric (or other media to iron your transfer to)

Iron

Instructions:

1. Prewash and dry your fabric using a mild detergent.

2. Prepare and print your design onto the Transfer Artist Paper. Keep in mind that the image will be a mirror of what you see on your screen. (also note that text must be in reverse or mirror image. I do this in Photoshop and then look at my design in a handheld mirror - just to be sure I got it right!). The TAP itself comes with great instructions for printing. (Also note that you can draw directly onto the transfer paper with markers, crayons, and colored pencils too!)

3. Preheat your iron to the correct setting for the fabric you are using (ie silk setting for silk, cotton setting for cotton ect) and NO steam!

4.Trim the transfer paper close to your image.

5. Place the TAP onto your fabric, then the included parchment paper and place iron on top for about 10 seconds. Check to see if your transfer worked by gently pealing up a corner. If not continue to iron in short amounts of time of about 10 seconds. When the paper peels up easily then your transfer is done!

6. Lesley suggests waiting a couple of days before washing your item. I personally have used these in a project that required little washing so it was months before it was washed - Today it looks the same as the day I created it a year ago!

 Pros of this method:

Being able to place your image where you want it

Finished piece has a nice hand to it - nicer than a silkscreened image in my opinion!!

You can wash it AND iron it without fear of damaging the image

Fairly economical - The ease of use and quality of the final product make it a great choice over other transfer methods.

Cons of this method: 

You are limited to the size of the transfer paper itself (though there is software available for which you can split a large image onto several sheets - you would then have to iron these seamlessly together - a difficult task and would require some practice for most!)

You need to mirror the image for text when printing - not all printers or programs allow this option

More expensive than T-shirt transfer sheets

Source Links:

Transfer Artist Paper:

Lesley Riley of Fabricologie

Interweave Store

Links for more Information about using TAP:

Book:

Lesley Riley's New book due out this May 2001: Create with Transfer Artist Paper
(who better to learn from than the creator herself!)

Linda Matthews Website - a talented textile artist who explores the limits of what can be done with TAP on fabric!


YouTube Video - How to use Transfer Artist Paper

Gradient Papers and Polka Dots

I have been experimenting with some gradients lately and since I love polka dots...here they are together. Download from mediafire and enjoy creating with them!

Free Entrapped Clipart

Friday is here again and I am back with another freebie. A set of labels to coordinate with the entrapped papers from a couple of weeks ago. Download the clipart from Mediafire Here

St. Patricks free digital paper kit

Freebie Friday kit St. Patrick green digital papers download from mediafire

Freebie Friday Entrapped digital papers

It's freebie friday again! Download the kit from mediafire

Freebie Friday

This little free kit matches my popular Old Paris digital kits.
You can download this free kit from mediafire

How-To: Direct Printing on Fabric

Over the next few weeks I will be covering several different image transfer techniques. This first one is direct printing on fabric using an inkjet printer and fabric treated with a chemical to make it washable after printing. I love this technique...it is my personal favourite. I recently printed some striped fabric to use as legs for a stuffed doll. I will post the picture when she is all done.

Supplies:

Inkjet Printer that uses pigment ink ( I use an Epson printer)

TNA soap (also known as Synthrapol)

Bubble Jet Set and Bubble Jet Set Rinse (or Raycafix)

100% cotton or silk fabric

Freezer Paper (or Loomtak a self adhesive fabric stabilizer)

Iron if using freezer paper
Rubber gloves
Large bowl to soak fabric in
Funnel to pour chemical back into bottle when finished

Masking tape (optional)

Instructions:

1. Prewash your fabric with TNA soap

2. Rough cut your fabric to just over the largest sheet your printer can accommodate.

3. Pretreat your fabric with the Bubble Jet Set or Raycafix according to the directions on the bottle. Hang up and allow to air dry. Iron smooth.

4. Cut freezer paper (or Loomtak) to size and iron fabric to the wax side of the freezer paper. Trim off excess fabric. Also trim any loose threads that could get caught in your printer.

5. I like to add a peice of masking tape over the fabric edge that feeds into the printer. This prevents the fabric from pulling off the freezer paper as it feeds into your printer. (This is a must step for me as otherwise my fabric gets caught in my printer...big mess!!)

6. Print your design onto the fabric. Set your printer setting to paper (not high quality, or photo paper as this will add too much ink to the fabric and your image will be blurry.

7. Remove fabric from the freezer paper or Loomtak and follow the directions on your pretreatment bottle (Bubble Jet Set or Raycafix) for removing the chemical and excess ink from the fabric.

Pros of this method:

Very economical over purchasing printable fabric sheets.

No need to print in mirror image as with T-shirt transfer method.

Finished piece has a nice hand to it. No plasticky feel or look as with T-shirt transfers!

Fabric is machine washable and dryable with very little fading (10% is typical)

Cons of this method:

You are limited to the largest sheet size your printer can handle.

More time consuming then using T-shirt transfer paper or using pretreated paper sheets as you need to do the pretreatment yourself.

If you have unused sheets - these do not last long (couple of months at most) . I think the chemical must slowly evaporate from the fabric. I have not experimented with storing the unused sheets in sealed containers or bags though.

Supplier List:

C. Jenkins Co. - they are the manufacturers of Bubble Jet Set and you can get all the supplies you need from them (aside from the printer and iron)

Dharma Trading Co. - Great supplier for all sorts of image transfer supplies.

Inkbloom - the makers of Loomtak - self adhesive fabric stabilizer

G&S Dye - a Canadian (Toronto) supplier for Raycafix and fabric dying/printing supplies

Links for more information on this technique:

Bryerpatch Studio - lots of in depth info on using Bubble Jet Set

Video How-To using Loomtak

How-To for using Raycafix