Saturday, August 29, 2009

Designer Survivor - Update

Unfortunately, I was eliminated this week. Waaaaaa!!!! Towards the end of the week when I had barely started my kit and was unsure about whether I could finish it in time, I was questioning whether I should just drop out of the comp or work like crazy to get it finished in time. I had a funny feeling I would be eliminated but thought that I would hate to forfeit when I had a chance of staying in the game. So, I worked day and night for 2 days straight (totally neglecting my daughter, sleep and my husband's birthday) and I think the kit came out pretty nicely. In hindsight, though, I probably should have made it a bit crappier so that I wasn't seen as a "threat" :)

Oh well... the good news is that my little sister is finally having her baby. Her waters broke late last night and she was admitted to hospital in the wee hours of the morning. A few hours ago she was about 3cm dilated with solid contractions at about 5 mins apart, so hopefully won't be too many hours left. It is amazing how my (repressed) memories of my daughter's birth came flooding back when I heard about her labour. My sister is also having "back labour" which is what I had and ABSOLUTELY hated! Of course, I have no idea what "front labour" feels like, but constant intense back pain with increased intensity with each contraction along with zapping down both arms and legs was not so pleasant... As much as I would love another baby, I definitely don't envy her right now.

It's actually a good thing I was eliminated this week because I still haven't created the kit for my sister's birth announcement (nor the actual announcement) and since he is arriving as I type, I probably should get on to that! :)

Take care and I'll keep you posted about my sister and see if I can put some more freebies together soon.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Designer Survivor - One Perfect Day - Kit Freebie!

Our task this week was to create a traditional "white wedding" kit that was at least 60% white and used only one other colour (in varying shades). We had to create a minimum of 8 papers (3 solids + 5 patterned) and 15 unique elements (with no more than 2 word art elements being counted) as well as an Alpha with at least uppercase or lowercase characters as well as numbers.

Although I had sooo many more things that I wanted to add to this kit, I got it finished and uploaded in time, and I am quite happy with the end result! It contains 22 elements (but only 16 are unique) and 20 papers.



Although this kit is perfect for scrapping your wedding memories, my main motivation behind the kit was for it to be used when creating the various printables associated with a wedding such as "Save the Date" cards, invitations, menus, place cards, thank you cards etc. This way, you can have a consistent theme across your entire wedding which is then also carried through onto your wedding album.

Here is a preview of the alpha:


If you like what you see, the kit is available for free download for one day only. After that it will be put in my stores (and also be a part of my 66% off sale until August 31). I will hopefully also get a chance to create an add-on (or two) to go with it but that won't be for at least a month or two (unless someone needs it desperately before then). :)

To download, head on over to the Brownie Scraps Designer Survivor Week 4 Gallery and pick up my kit along with the wedding kits from the 9 other remaining contestants.

With 1 person having immunity and 3 others being eliminated at about 3pm PST today, I have a 2 in 3 chance of remaining in the competition but feel that I am likely to be eliminated all the same. If not, I'll be back in a couple of days with another freebie and begging for votes again for the immunity challenge!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Designer Survivor - Brag Book Freebie!!!

For this week's Reward/Immunity Challenge, we had to create a brag book mini album using our kits from last week's challenge. We were allowed to choose any size or shape for the pages and had to create between 3 and 7 pages. Originally, I wanted to create a hybrid style of album in the shape of the word "BABY" with each letter (front and back) as a separate page. After careful consideration, I decided that you probably should have a back page so would need to have 8 pages (whereas the limit was 7). I also decided that it may reduce the marketability due to it no longer being such a "quick" task to use them. So, I decided to go with good old standard photo size and created a mini album consisting of four 4x6" quick pages using my mini kit 'In Your Eyes - Wonder'.


To get a better feel for what can be done with these quick pages with very little effort, here are some examples:


If you like what you see, please vote for Snuggle Berry Pie Designs to win the reward/immunity challenge in the simple poll HERE.

If you have not yet grabbed the 'In Your Eyes - Wonder' mini kit, it is available in both of my stores (and part of the 66% off sale until August 31) OR you have one last chance to download it for FREE for one day in my previous blog post.

To Download:
1. Vote for Snuggle Berry Pie Designs in the very simple poll HERE.

2. Check out the Brownie Scraps Gallery to download the brag book pages.

3. If you haven't already done so, check out my previous post to download the mini kit.

4. If you happen to have multiple browsers installed (eg FireFox and Internet Explorer), feel free to vote again using the other browser :)

5. If there is anyone within reaching, shouting or emailing distance, feel free to also ask them to vote too :)

Enjoy!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Designer Survivor - In Your Eyes - Kit Freebie!

Thanks so much for all of your votes. Unfortunately, we didn't win immunity so I will be fighting along with 11 other contestants for one of the remaining 6 positions in next weeks challenge. *fingers crossed*

This week's challenge was to create an "Emotional" kit. Each member of the team had to select an emotion and a single colour that they associate with that emotion and create a mini-kit consisting of 8 papers and 12-15 elements using only that single colour (in various shades). No other colours were allowed (including the neutrals like black, white and brown) but you were allowed to add a little bit of metal if needed. Each mini-kit then had to be able to combine together as a team to make a single kit with a common theme.

My team decided to create soft, beautiful and magical sort of kits describing the emotions we experience when we look into our loved ones' eyes. Jewel of Mad Genius Designs chose blue for the deep love she feels when she looks into her son's blue eyes. Wendy from Busy Mama Designs chose orange to reflect the cheerfulness her family felt after a recent very successful surprise party. Amanda from Amagination chose purple for the passion she feels when she gazes into her husband’s eyes. I chose pink to portray the wonder with which my daughter sees the world.



Here is my part:


For more details and to download all four parts, click HERE. Note: links will be removed after Tribal Council on Friday. After that, my part will be going in my stores for $2 (well, 68c with the 66% off sale until the end of August).

Enjoy!

ETA: Although the mini kit is already in my stores, for ONE DAY ONLY I will be offering it here for free. If you like the mini kit, make sure you grab the free brag book mini album in my next post and don't forget to vote for Snuggle Berry Pie Designs to win immunity from elimination this week which can be done HERE.

Download:
In Your Eyes - Wonder

*** download expired ***

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Designer Survivor - Immunity Challenge Votes

There was an issue with the voting so a new poll has been created and the deadline has been extended to Thursday 20th August at 4am PST. Even if you have already voted, PPPPLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE click HERE and vote for the Hinges Team.

Thanks :)

Designer Survivor - Week 3 - Freebies!!!

We've just completed our challenge for the week 3 reward/immunity challenge. This week we had to use at least one element from each of our Designer Survivor kits (including this week's kit) as well as at least one new unique element and create a cluster frame (in 24 hours). At first, this sounded really simple, but trying to coordinate the elements I had made for the challenges was actually quite tricky! For the first kit, almost all of my elements were doodles and the second kit was almost entirely nature extractions... combining ice-cream cone doodles with extracted rocks just wasn't working for me :)

Anyway, I think they all came together pretty decently in the end :) So.... now for my request... PLEASE vote for the HINGES team HERE this week so we can win immunity from being eliminated and continue to bring you fabulous freebies! Voting starts on Tues August 18 around 9pm PST and ends Wed August 19 at 4pm PST so please get your vote in in time!

EDITED: There was an issue with the voting so a new poll has been created. Apparently the previous poll was meant to be closed but it seems to still be open so please vote for The Hinges Team at both the previous poll HERE and the new poll HERE. Thanks.

To sweeten the deal, and maybe bribe a few more votes ;) I have also put together a freebie paper pack that coordinates with the cluster frames.



And, last but not least, each of the team members on the "Hinges Team" have got a bonus freebie for you on their blogs too! So, have we won your vote yet??? :)

So, here's what you need to do (all should open in separate windows/tabs):
1. Vote for the Hinges Team HERE. (ETA: and HERE)
2. Check out and download the Happy Cluster Frames HERE. Whilst you are there, you may as well also grab the other team's cluster frames too :)
3. Download my coordinating paper pack HERE.
4. Check out each of my team mates blogs to download their freebies too:
* Amanda - Amagination
* Jewel - Mad Genius Designs
* Wendy - Busy Mama Designs

Thanks heaps! I'll be back in a few days with our awesome kit for this week's challenge!

Enjoy!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Designer Survivor Status & My Birthday Sale

Well, I made it through to the 3rd week of the Designer Survivor challenge! Phew! The teams have just been selected and I am part of the "Hinges Team". I made a cute little blinkie for us to wear in the forum:


This week I am REALLY going to need everyone to vote for us so that we can win immunity... there is a LOT of talent in the competition and I'm pretty sure that without immunity this will unfortunately be my last week.. so PPPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEE vote for me! Well, not yet :) I'm just trying to get you all pumped up and ready to vote once we actually receive the challenge, create the goods and upload them for you :) So, my question is... what can I do to guarantee your vote and/or encourage you to get your friends and family to also vote for the "Hinges Team"? Please leave a comment here if you have a suggestion.

Apart from that, it is my birthday on Monday - Happy Birthday To Me! What this means is that my darling husband is buying me a new monitor - YIPPEE!! MORE ROOM TO DESIGN!!! It also means that I am one more year closer to being 100 so I decided to put my miniscule products on sale. I've been a bit too busy with the Battle of the Creative Teams and Designer Survivor to have actually put anything new in my stores but if you are after the Fun Park kit and/or the sunburst overlays, now is the time to buy them. :) The Fun Park kit is only $1.70 and the Sunburst Overlays are only 68c per pack of 5! I'll also be adding the "Oh, the Candles You'll Blow" collab kit to the store shortly so if you missed it you will also be able to grab that for a bargain price too.



The sale is valid at both stores until the end of August:
* Haven Designz Digi Scraps
* Digital Scrap Ink

Don't forget to leave a comment about how I can gently persuade you (and your friends/family) to vote for the Hinges Team this week so we win immunity! :)

Thanks!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Designer Survivor - Week 2

I've been soooo busy over the last week that I haven't had a chance to update you on what is going on.... I am soooo sorry that I didn't get a chance to tell you all about last week's Designer Survivor collab kit because it was incredible! We were given a bunch of bright fun colours and had to create a kit inspired by Dr Seuss! As you can imagine, the results were a whole lot of fun! I was on the White team and we went for a birthday-themed kit called "Oh, the candles you'll blow!". I hope everyone was able to find their own way over to the kits and download them. Unfortunately, the links have been taken down for the kit from my team but there are still quite a lot of the other teams that still have their links available so you should rush on over HERE to collect them whilst they are still available!

Following on from that, a couple of people were eliminated (I was out of town for my sister's baby shower so missed all of the action) then we were shuffled around into four new teams. I am now part of the "Strings Team". Our next Reward Challenge was to create a Vintage Fall Paper Pack in 24 hours using our own colour scheme. My team created a gorgeous pack called "Falling Into Autumn" but we didn't rustle up enough votes so didn't win immunity (nor the extremely generous reward of a HEAP of CU items) so we'll be fighting for our place again this week. You can pick up our paper pack along with the other team's packs HERE.

Which brings us to the main challenge for this week. We were given a colour palette and a theme of "Gone Camping" and had to use mostly natural items for the elements. My team created an awesome kit called "Wild Adventures". I think my team has done a great job! We have 32 papers, a complete alpha and over 90 elements!



The best part about this week of the challenge for you is that all four teams had the same theme and colour scheme so all 4 kits should combine together nicely to make a SUPER-MEGA Camping Kit! You can download our kit and the other three kits from the gallery at Brownie Scraps HERE.

Hopefully I won't be voted off "Extraction Island" at Tribal Council on Friday, and will be able to present you with another fabulous freebie kit next week!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Designer Survivor - FOUR ALPHA FREEBIES!!!

We're getting stuck right in to the Designer Survivor and have just completed our Award Challenge which means.... we have FOUR REALLY AWESOME alphas for you to download!!! We only had a day or so to complete this challenge and we need you to vote for us so that we can win immunity and a bunch of CU items (survival kit) to get us through the next round!

Voting is open to everyone and will be available from midnight tonight PST until Wednesday 3pm PST so PLEASE get your vote in ASAP and vote for TEAM WHITE!! Voting will be on the Designer Survivor blog or you can access it directly by clicking HERE.



Download Here

Monday, August 3, 2009

Gentle Summer - Daily Downloads at HDDS

Argh! I forgot to tell you about the free daily downloads at Haven Designz every day this month! The very talented designers there have put together a 'Gentle Summer' collab kit with beautiful soft, flowing colours, and Lissa has split it up so you can download a few pieces each day. It is currently up to Day 3, HOWEVER, at the end of the month you will be given the opportunity of "earning" back the downloads for individual days by performing a task on the site (such as posting a message, commenting in the gallery, uploading a layout or completing a challenge - details will be disclosed at the end of the month).

So... head on over to Haven Designz and grab day 3 of the collab kit!!! Then, don't forget to head back there every day to get all of the other great pieces. Here is a preview of the total kit:



Enjoy!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Dollar Deals at Digital Scrap Ink - TODAY ONLY!!!

If you haven't had a chance yet to head on over to Digital Scrap Ink, I highly recommend that you go! The Dollar Day has started and is for today only (August 1st)! There are about 30 products to choose from that are all on sale for a teeny tiny little dollar each! If you haven't already grabbed my Fun Park kit, you can also pick that up for $1. I also have a couple of CU Sunburst Overlay packs for $1 as well. Just click on the Dollar Deals category to view all of the bargains (or you can go there directly by clicking HERE. To add to this, the August collab kit is out which you can buy for $5.99 OR get it FREE by spending $2 or more in the store! BARGAIN!

Now that that is out of the way... I FINALLY finished my layout for the BOTCT and I am not entirely happy with it but, well, too bad. :) After finishing it, I created a nicer version that didn't care so much about the formula and I like that one a lot more. They are both displayed below. Click on the images to see the larger version (and credits) in the appropriate gallery.

This layout follows our team "formula" as follows. Feel free to search for each of the items in the layout :)

The 'Brownie' Recipe:
10 - Buttons
9 - Staples
8 - Stitches
7 - Strings
6 - Photos
5 - Unique Papers
4 - Journal Strips
3 - Flowers
2 - Fonts
1 - Word Art



And this layout only uses the one kit and is much nicer (in my opinion).



Regarding the Designer Survivor, I have "met" my team (and we are going to be AWESOME together BTW), and have snooped around and found that the first challenge will be at Enchanted Studios Scraps... so I keep checking there every 5 minutes but it still hasn't been posted... I guess they will be posting it at a regular morning time rather than an after-midnight morning time :) I just can't wait to find out what is in store for us! It looks like there are currently 9 teams of 3 (except that the team I'm in has 4! Bonus!!!) and a whole team will be voted off in the first week. Like the show, it's all a bit secret and undisclosed of how the rest of the contest will work (except that the overall winner is chosen by everyone who was voted off) so we'll just have to get through the first round and see how we go from there!

Well, I'm off to keep refreshing the Enchanted Studios Scraps forum... I may be there a while since I think it is something like 3am there at the moment so I doubt the challenge will be posted for at least 3 or 4 hours... Hmmm... I think I am a bit obsessed (and nervous)....

Cheers!