Exciting News - New Look Blog, New Hybrid Products and Freebies

Hi there everyone!

I have quite a bit to tell you about! All Scrapbooking and Cardmaking related... ready?

Firstly I am designing some hybrid kits, and by "Hybrid" I mean that you can download the kit and printout and cut and paste together to make cards with matching envelopes, mini albums, cute bags and boxes, tags, and scrapbooking pages!!! There is no shipping involved, as it all comes to you courtesy of a PDF file!

The first kit is for Mother's Day... there is a freebie card to make, so keep your eyes peeled for that link, I have to finish the website for it first though! LOL There will be matching items available to purchase, such as a brag book, cute mini bag for the book, embellished envelope, gift tag and 8x8 papers for making up your own matching scrapbook layout. All really easy to make.

Secondly, (as I mentioned above) I am designing a brand new website to link up with SimplyScrapbookingNow.com, which will include all the Hybrid kits, (freebies and for purchasing) and my focus is on showing beginners how easily they can papercraft and experienced crafters, how I can save them time with my kits. There will be lots more information on the new website about Hybrid Scrapbooking, Cardmaking and general papercrafting - what it is, how you can benefit and how to do it!

Thirdly (is that a word?!), You may have noticed a New Look to this blog! I have decided to make this more obviously the blog to the SSNow.com site (although the address is still http://scrapbooking-layout-inspiration.blogspot.com/, of course) But I want more colour in my life and my work. And keep your eye out for changes as I will be regularly changing my header for FUN! I already have some photos in the pipeline!

As for the amount of posts, I shall be posting once a week from now on. This will allow me more time to create my hybrid kits. And as my name is Sunday... I thought it only fitting that the weekly blog update from now on should be every SUNDAY.

I will be bringing you Hybrid Freebies to make, plus "How to" videos to show you how to make up the contents of the kits as and when new ones are complete. Plus general photos of work made as before.

And don't forget that the Newsletter will still be published every month, with the usual articles, videos, freebies, etc, however this month saw the last Freebie Frenzy! The subscriber freebies will be downloadable and therefore available for every single subscriber.

Finally I said I would post some pictures of the mini album I made at the ScrapBuddies Crop (I am thinking of changing the name to "ScrapNcardBuddies") for my daughter for Valentines day. Quickly done, with lots of kiddy colour - it was nice not to have to worry too much about the finished quality! LOL She was very pleased to receive her own mini album!

Thanks for popping in to see me, leave me a comment about the changes, would like some feedback, always open to new ideas!

P.S. my computer refit has had to be postponed, new drive arrived too late and I need to use mt laptop for my design work now!

Warm wishes to all.

Changes are afoot!

I was going to leave posting till the weekend - when I will be making an announcement.

But then I realised that my computer is going in for major surgery tomorrow and we all know how "interesting" that can make things! LOL

So I am just posting a quick hello now to say that my plan is to post some pictures and words on Sunday... here's hoping everything fits back together again and there are no forceps left in my little pooter! LOL

All will be revealed with the announcement on Sunday... fingers crossed!

Love to all till then and keep on Scrapping!

Winner of the February Freebie Frenzy

Hi girls (cos most of you are!)

This is an extremely quick post - because I am on my way out dancing... only for the exercise, I'll point out... something I dearly need! LOL

Anyway, I'll cut to the chase... the winner this month is.....

THRIFTYCRAFTER - Karelyn! Honey stabbed the bit of paper and the nearest number (for each comment) was yours Karelyn. So well done to you.

Send me an email!

Thank you to all who took part this month. I was interested to read your comments re Hybrid crafting.

I will be writing an article and some "How-to's" all about Hybrid Scrapping and card making as I am designing some more kits - some of which will be Freebies.

Anyone who missed it, take a look at the post on Sunday 8th Feb - there is a link to a free downloadable kit for making a card... as it's free you may like to give it a try?

Warm Wishes to everyone!

February's SimplyScrapbookingNow.com FREEBIE

Hi there everyone, it's time for the Freebie Frenzie!

If you want to have a chance of winning this lovely stash.....

...then (if you are a subscriber to the Newsletter)... you need to leave a comment here.

Tomorrow around 6.45pm GMT I will pick a name "out of the hat" as usual and post the name on the blog soon after. The winner will need to answer a question about the Newsletter, so if you haven't already signed up for the newsletter, you can do so now and then leave a comment here.

And for a bit of interest... when you comment here... you might like to tell us whether you have tried "hybrid" scrapbooking (or cards, or whatever).

Good luck everyone!

Really Easy and Quick mini album

Happy Valentines Day everyone... give some luuuurve today! LOL

Here is the really EASY mini album I made for my hubby for today. I will be writing an article about how to make it in the March issue of the SimplyScrapbookingNow.com Newsletter, so keep your eye out for that.

These are the first inside pages 1 and 2...

Then the flap opens to reveal pages 3 and 4...

This is the back "cover" as such.

Whilst at my crop this afternoon I made another one of these for my daughter as she was upset this morning that she hadn't got a card! Ahhh. Normally I would have said, "well actually it's really for grown ups" and left it at that... but she had made a lovely big glittery heart at school which said...

"I love Mummy and Daddy and Inde and Toffee"!

So I thought I would make her a little album like Daddy's. I will post those pictures up as soon as I manage to prize it away from her and take some! LOL

P.S. Freebie Frenzy Alert tomorrow.

Cup cake delights

Hello!

I have joined the ranks of the cupcake fans! We call them fairy cakes over here and spludge a teeny bit of icing on the top and maybe some sprinkles and hope for the best. You guys over in the US, really go to town on this little things! You even have a whole industry for them!!

Look at mine!!!!!

Very yummy! I have to donate some items for a cake stall at my daughter's school tomorrow. So I decided to go all American today and pile on the butter icing. The blue is one of the school colours, in fact the colour of my daughter's school shirts (near enough).

Hope they sell well!

Some Summertime warmth to cheer the heart

Hi there,

I was just going through my photos to pick out some for my mini album (which is actually for my hubby for valentines too!) and I ran across some that I took last summer! Look...

You can just feel the warmth can't you... BUT... don't sigh in sadness that it's not like that now... sigh in thankfulness that it was and will be again and the beauty of nature never fails to lift the heart, even in the depths of winter.

Take a moment to "breath in" the warmth of the sun in this picture (briefly close your eyes if necessary), FEEL the warmth on your skin and enjoy the "shabby chic" (a very "in" phrase at the mo) of this simple "Rock Rose" flower with it's delicate crumpled petals.

I just wanted to share this simple beauty with you!

A Blog Award for me! Thank you!

Hello crafters!

I have been given a blog award by the lovely Dawn! Thank You ever so much Dawn... what a lovely thing. It's such a nice feeling to know someone thinks enough of what you do to nominate you for an award.

The rules of this particular award is that you need to link back to the person who gave you the award - so that's Dawn (check!).

And then nominate 7 blogs you find inspirational and link to them. I thought I would site down right now and do this properly, so here is my list of blogs that give me inspiration and why:

Inspirational - this may seem a pretty obvious one for inspiration, but I would like to give this blog this award for all the hard work in finding beautiful things from all over the vast web highway and bringing them daily to my "blogstep"... thanks girls!

Vicki's A Work in Progress - Now here's a woman who works hard! And she is soooo generous too! Giving away free digital scrapbooking... which, I will say for those not into digi-scrapping, I have used for hybrid scrapping and in fact I will post up an example of something I have made using one of Vicki's kits shortly. Thank You Vicki, for all your hard work and creative energy.

Francine's Blog - Most excellent layouts, full of flow and feeling... you just have to go take a look! Thank you Fran for your lovely craft work!

Dolly's Dreamings - Now this lady... who is known as "ScrapDolly" is amazing! She is soooo prolific with her layouts and she blogs about them every day... just a real contributor to the scrapbooking scene, so Thank you ScrapDolly for your unending energetic mojo!

Ingvild Bolme's blog - Stunning layouts! Really "touchy feely", lots of beautiful embellishments and a joy to behold some of Ingvild's layouts... you have to check out these creations.

Balzer Designs - Julie's Blog is a wealth of information and tutorials and she also makes tutorial videos too! Definitely pick up hints and tips from here. Thank you Julie for your time and care in creating the tutorials... I know how much time they take!

Scrapperlicious - Again, some fantastic layouts... I love Irene's design style, and I admire her hard work in writing detailed instructions to her techniques... Thank You Irene for your unique style.

So that's my 7 faves (check!). Now I have to go over to these lovely sites to let them know I have given them this award for all their remarkable work... so I'm off to do that right now!

Brand New Printable Card making Kit FREEBIE

Hi there, I am so excited to be able to announce a new project for the SimplyScrapbookingNow.com website! I am currently designing a range of printable kits for scrapbooking and for cardmaking and will hopefully progress into other areas too.

Here is the first kit and it is a very simple card kit (remember the site's motto? - "Keeping it Simple to get you Crafting Now!"), so I have kept it simple so that complete beginners can have a go too. It's just in time for Valentines Day and so may just help if you haven't sorted out your card yet!!


The kit consists of a straight forward "print out and stick on a base card" version (pictured left) and the one on the right in the photo was made using the 3 page pdf, (which includes full instructions and bonus items) which was printed, cut out, arranged and stuck to a base card. You get both versions in the FREE DOWNLOAD! All you need is a colour printer with some paper in it (!) and a base card to stick the final item onto.

This kit is the first in a range I will be calling "The I Can Craft Now" Range of products and I have released it free for you to try out. I would really appreciate any feedback you may have, whether you love it or loathe it, as I can take all suggestions on board for the next kits. I'm hoping to create a FREE mother's day card and a FREE simple scrapbooking page shortly.

Oh and for those of you who don't have a colour printer... I will be creating black and white kits for cardmaking and scrapbooking, so keep an eye out for those.

Anyone will be able to take advantage of these kits, as they will be flexible enough for the more experienced to create their own things, but simple enough for a beginner to start too.

So welcome to the world of Hybrid Scrapping/Cardmaking! Follow this link to the download page and note that as the products are not "officially live" yet, this is the only way on to the download page.

Feel free to let your friends know about this freebie and get them to pop over to this blog to pick it up for themselves!

Some lovely cards and card organiser on a friend's New Blog

I have a pal who is actually a fellow teammie on UK Scrappers. She is called Dawn and I would like to introduce you to her blog.

Here are some lovely card holders that Dawn has made... How organised is that!

And they look so lovely too!


And here is an example of one of her lovely cards!



And there are quite a few other card examples already on the blog, so go check out Dawn's site, it's a brand new one (started last month) and keep up the good work Dawn!

Oh and I will be posting up a freebie download tomorrow, just in time for Valentines' Day!

Colourful Scrapbooking Layout and the snow!

Hello there! Well all the snow has gone grom my part of the world, much to my daughter's dismay this morning! And to think I was pulling her along on a sled yesterday afternoon! Ah the joys of English weather!

My Mum, who lives only 160 miles to the south (and westish) of me has over a foot of the white stuff! She did send me some photos, but I didn't mention it to Honey as I thought it would be a bit like "rubbing salt in the wound" as they say... anyway... I've included some pictures for you down below.

But I did promise I would show you a colourful layout I made on Sunday.

I made the layout specifically to show an example of a free download which is available in the Februrary issue of the Newsletter.

It is a set of printables (words and alphabet) fo colouring in any way you fancy. I used coloured pencils here as I wanted that "Sketchy" feel, but you can be as creative as you like with doodling, patterns, pens, pencils, paints... the world is your oyster!

So here is one of the photos my mum sent up from the south of England! I particularly like the cones of snow on the top of the lanterns!

SimplyScrapbookingNow.com Newsletter - February Issue Out Now

Hi everyone,

Well I've just finished and uploaded this month's newsletter and, just sent the email to all the subscribers to let them know!

There are 2 videos, and a downloadable freebie, and of course the fab Freebie Frenzy I told you about in the last post!

I had a good time at a local theatre group's Pantomime yesterday... oh yes I did... ok, ok, I may have done that one already! But it was very good for an Amateur dramatics company! Oh and crickey.... it's jolly cold here at the moment, there is snow on my car!

Well I hope those who are subscribed enjoy the latest newsletter offering, and for those that aren't, you can sign up here.

I made a very colourful 8x8 layout today... I will post up a picture tomorrow!