Buy My Store Promo PRICE REDUCED

last last LAST chance! Today and tomorrow ONLY. Buy My Store marked down to $14.99. All products must be checked out by the end of the day on Tuesday.

only $14.99 for ALL my products

http://tinyurl.com/christinesmith

Buy My Store $30

5 Days only --
Here is your last chance to purchase all my designs before they are permanently retired from Digitals. You can buy my whole store: Personal Use (with S4H/S4O) and CU - ALL products for one low price of $30.

Help me pay off my business credit card and get a smokin' good deal for yourself!

PLEASE NOTE: All individual products MUST be ordered before the end of the day on June 30 before my store is turned off FOREVER.

Shop HERE:
http://tinyurl.com/christinesmith

THANKS

3D Effects with Photoshop

I follow Photoshop Tips on Twitter and they posted a really cool 3D tutorial today. It is meant to do a blog theme but I think it could be modified to use for a digital scrapbook layout. Check it out HERE.

Final Markdowns

Final markdowns have been made on my individual products and bundles. Everything is AT LEAST 50% off, with dozen of products marked down even MORE.

SHOP NOW before everything is GONE at the end of the month!

http://tinyurl.com/christinesmith

Digital Scrapbook Pages

Here's my entry from the DigiDares (#137)



Credits:
Sweet (Natalie)
flowers by Michelle Coleman, Amy Martin and Amanda Dykan
paint brush by Amanda Rockwell
papers, postage stamp mat, twine, frame - Happy 2B Stuck with You -Marcie R and Krystal H collab H collab
alpha - Typekeys - Northern Elements
alpha- Mismatched Typekeys -Amber Clegg
embellished ribbon - Digi Chick NSD Mega Kit

And another one I did yesterday. I didin't even notice until I put the 2 of them together in this post that they are kinda color coordinated! Oh well!



clothes pin- Some Love -Choukette
hanger - Oh Baby - Chriscrap's Designs
string- Autumn Gold -Bohemian Art
frame, papers, button, ribbon - Digi Chick NSD Mega Kit
button and knot - Rush - Amber Clegg
straight stitching- Yeah Baby - Fee Jardine
small button- Beautiful Beginnings - Beth Kern

and lastly, here is dd#2 in her BIG bed that we got from our next door neighbors. (a little thing we call Go, God! because he always provides for our needs)


Nothing girly on this page!
paint brush - Amanda Rockwell
brown paper, push pin - So You Think You Can Design Week 2 Kit - mgl Scraps
cluster - Sign of the Times - Royanna Fritschmann
grungy paper- DSO Color Challenge Blog Freebie - Christine Smith
Alpha Stamp 3 - Brenda Kempf
Cardboard Edges Overlays - Linda GB

Thanks for reading!

Quickpage Freebie

This is made with my freebie kit for the color challenge at DSO. You can grab it by clicking the preview. And while you're here, may I just remind you about my storewide sale and clearance at Digitals. Shop with me HERE.

Fabulous EBates Promo

I found out about EBates when I was buying HP paper to do customer printing for (the now dead) scrapquick.com. I still have my account and go through it for online shopping. If you don;t already have an account, now would be a GREAT time to get one because they are running a SUPER promo: when you refer 3 people Ebates will pay $10 for each of them! That's a total of $30! Yay!

Just start HERE. Once you've created an account, click on the "Tell A Friend" tab and then you will be able to email friends and family (even your hubby). Your referral link will be included in the email.

Please note that qualified members consist of referrals who sign up through your referral link and earn a minimum of $5.01 in cash back from orders between May 15,2009 and August 14, 2009. Once they've earned $5 in cash back your account will be credited!

To get you started on becoming a "qualified member", there's an awesome coupon code JCPenney is offering up: get $10 of your purchase of $10 or more by using this coupon code ( GR8DAD ) at checkout. Plus, they you get 4% cash back when going through Ebates and a $5 sign up bonus!

NOTE: In order to get your Ebates account credited, you START at the Ebates site and then click through to the store you want to shop

Have fun shopping!

Totally Random Freebie

I've started cleaning off my hard drive to conserve space. I have some really old kits that can go away and a few designing tools and junk that I can get rid of as well. It really is kinda too bad I can't pass these things along to someone who might want to use them but that's the nature of digital downloads - no sharing!

While I was filing and purging, I found a flair freebie that I probably intended to use as a promo for more flair stuff but I never got further than the freebie. So I'll just put it up here for fun --

Click on the preview to download and if you're inclined, I invite you to shop my sale and clearance in my store at Digitals.

Sale Reminder

Everything in my store is on sale or clearance. Stop by soon ... some individual element packs are going to be discontinued on June 15 and only available as bundles.

June Digitals Digest

The June newsletter is available at Digitals. Lots of freebies and inspiration HERE.

Enjoy~

New Scrapbook Page

BG paper and frame - Promise Collection by Shabby Princess
wordart by AngeDawn (Feb 2006 DigiChick Collab)

I'm also printing these as I go along. I've got a 50% off coupon for Michaels so I can go get a new album, too. It feels GOOD to get some pages done! I was caught up at the end of January (except for our cruise) after completing the Project 365 challenge for ONE MONTH at Digitals...but then I did NOTHING for 4 months!

June Color Challenge Freebie

Here is a freebie from the Color Challenge at DigiScrapObsession

Click on the preview to download and thanks for shopping at my store to support my designs before they are retired at the end of the month.

Snow Angel Layout

I'm glad to say I feel mentally freed up to get back towards my OWN style of scrapping. I realize that part of my unhappiness with designing was trying to keep my stuff "marketable" rather than simply following my own design whims. I made a page in the style I have ALWAYS loved and that is indicative of my first page kits too. It may or may not be "in style" right now, depending on what gallery you hang out in but it's mine and I love it.



Credits:
stars on wire, harlequin mask, highlights - Bellisae Designs - By The Blue Side of My Soul
paper - Bunny Cates May DSO Color Challenge
brushes - Amanda Rockwell
alpha - Lauraskathi Alicia kit

thanks for reading

A Message of Hope

I read this in a book called The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson this morning. It was a message of hope given in prayer to a woman who earlier was in deep despair to the point of suicide. Maybe someone needs to hear it this morning - it sure encouraged me.

My Dear Lost Sheep
You ask me where I am. My child, I am with you and I will always be. You are weak, but in Me you are strong. I love you so much that I can't let you die. I am so close that I feel everything you feel.

I know what you are going through, for I am going through it with you. But I have set you free and you must stand firm. You do not need to physically die for my enemies to be gone, but be crucified with Me and I will live in you, and you shall live with me. I will direct you in paths of righteousness. My child I love you and I will never forsake you, for you are truly mine.

Be blessed today~

Free Mini Kit with Card Challenge

This is my last month hosting the card challenge at Digitals. When you use my sketch and complete a card using at least 50% Digitals products (mine included obviously) you get a mini kit as a bonus. Here's what it looks like:

It's an easy and enjoyable challenge so I hope you can join us!
Thanks for reading

Another Quickpage Freebie

I have another quickpage freebie from Vicky Day for you today! I told ya, she's da BOMB.

So here's a preview of what she made with my Gone Fishing Kit. Click on it to download the freebie.


If you like this QP, maybe you'd want the whole kit -- it would be PERFECT for Father's Day! You can buy it HERE, it's even on sale!

The Truth About Me

Some of you reading this blog have been with me for a few years now and have witnessed some of my ups and downs, the birth and death of scrapquick.com, problems with hackers and a previous attempt at retirement (which only lasted for a while.) Without knowing why, you have "seen" some of my best and worst moments. Well, there is a reason for this. Last fall, I found out I have Bipolar Disorder. After finding this out, I have been on 5 different mood stabilizers, trying to get the right balance, which I'm still not sure we have. I'm still in the tryout stage of the fifth medication.

Meanwhile, I have been trying to keep life together with our family of 8 and still do digital designing. Of course, something had to give eventually and guess what? It's designing that's going in the scrap pile again. (ha... a little pun there, I guess) I made this decision a few weeks ago and have been backing out of some online obligations a little bit at a time. My store at Digitals will close on June 30. I'm calling it my permanent summer vacation.

Does that mean I will never be back? Well, you all know I'm HOOKED and I enjoy designing but I confess that the marketing, packaging, promotion and competitive nature of this business/hobby sucks the life out of me. So I'm not going to make any grand predictions or assumptions about how I will feel in the future because I've learned that's a dumb idea for me. I do feel like I am leaving designing for now on a positive note, unlike last time, when I was absolutely and totally overwhelmed by everything digital. I feel like I am making the right decision for the right reason and that's a very positive thing for me.

I wasn't really sure how/when I was going to broach this topic but I was working on my first Digi Dareand decided to scrap about my mental illness. And sharing the LO seemed like a good idea to help explain my inconsistencies.

Here it is and the journaling is below. If you don't want to muddle through all of it, I just want to say before you leave...please do consider staying subscribed to my blog. There are for sure 2 more freebies coming up and perhaps I will have time to share some other tidbits with you too.

THANKS for supporting my business and dont forget to shop with me before my products are gone from Digitals forever.


Journaling:
I have suffered from mental illness for twenty five years but I never realized until this year that my definition of normal has always been skewed by Bipolar Disorder. This realization came with a flood of mixed emotions ... from anger to relief and it has been a slow burn over the last nine months to come to terms with this diagnosis and what it means for my life. It has caused me to stumble in my faith but God has still been faithful all these years, even when I could not see it. He has shown me that He always limited the damage I was doing and limited the effects Bipolar Disorder has had on my family and in my personal life. Most people who look at me may never guess at the internal struggles I have had for so long. But they have been there: multiple. long seasons of depression and multiple punctuated times of hyper-productivity with the neglect of most everything else. I used to beat myself up when I was unable to keep up with all the things I would start while manic, thinking that was my “best” or ”true” self. But my best self is somewhere in between, resting in the knowledge that God is taking care of me, pursuing Him for wisdom and grace and being content with the every day activities of a large family. God has shown me that this illness can be a HIDDEN GIFT because it forces me to follow hard after God no matter where I am emotionally. I read a little excerpt from a testimony today from Jennifer Rothschild, a woman who lost her sight at fifteen years old. Decades later she still says, “Blindness itself doesn’t feel like a gift, but what came with it certainly is. Blindness has given more than it has taken. I have received an opportunity to choose gratefulness, strengthen my faith and learn how to live trusting God more than my feelings. Anything that decreases our dependence on self and increases our dependence on God really is a gift. We just need to be grateful to recognize it.” Lord God, grant that I may always be grateful for wherever I am each day, because you are right there with me.

credits:

Poesie Kit - Choubinette
torn overlay - Natasha Nast
metal numbers - unknown
stamped letters - Brenda Kempf

Follow Me on Twitter

I started a Twitter account this week. If you want to follow me, I am here:

http://twitter.com/scrapquick

or you can click through on my sidebar too

Quickpage Freebie

I have a quickpage freebie for you today - it was made by Digitals CT member, Vicky Day, who is extremely nice and very talented! I always read her Days of Praise blog when she updates because she offers profound spiritual wisdom that I really need! She also has 2 other blogs which are linked in her sidebar.

So here's a preview of what she made with my Gone Fishing Kit. Click on it to download the freebie.

If you like this QP, maybe you'd want the whole kit -- it would be PERFECT for Father's Day! You can buy it HERE, it's even on sale!

I Scrapped!

While web cruising the other day, I found The Daily Digi blog. I was impressed by what I saw so I bought The Digi Files #4, which contains some nice kits, templates and 4 new DigiDares. On the Daily Digi blog there was a challenge, which I used as a springboard for this layout. The dare I chose was the time I wake up.

CREDITS:
BG Papers - Kaye Winieki, Springaling Kit
cloud - ABCDelf, Oh Cherry Cheri Kit
Frame - Choukette Designs, Sugary Summer Kit
button - KristinCB, Flourish Kit
doodle frame - Creashens, Sprung Kit
sun - Tracy Ann, Crumples Kit
font - DSDigital

journaling says -
I’d make a really BAD farmer because it is hard for me to get up early. I really want to get up at 6:05 for some quiet time before I wake up the kids at 7:00, but most days, I hit the snooze button enough times that I barely make it up in time to get their morning started. On the weekend, I can easily sleep until 9:30, even if I went to bed on time! But no matter what the time, I ALWAYS get my morning cup of coffee before doing anything esle. The mug says it all! June 1, 2009

Thanks for reading and have a great day.