Freebie Friday: Buttons in Bloom!

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 14, 2008


Summer is nearing its close, kids are getting geared up to go back to school soon (if they haven’t already), and that means we’ll be seeing less and less flowers as the weather gets prepared for the upcoming fall months. I was thinking about how great it would be if I had a green thumb and could keep pretty plants all year long successfully, and then this idea hit me. What better way to keep the spirit of summer flowers alive all year than to have some ribbon and button flowers? Ribbons and buttons never wilt or die and their colours stay fresh and vibrant forever. Plus you don’t have to remember to keep them watered. You, too can enjoy flowers as long as possible with my “Buttons in Bloom” mini element pack for this week’s Freebie Friday!

The kit comes complete with 9 different flowers — flowers in 8 different colours and 1 multi-coloured one. Plus there’s three different kinds of stems that come separately in the kit so you can build your flowers with the blooms the way you want to — with tall or short stems, etc. And if you want to add leaves, I’ve even included some felt leaves for you as an added touch.

Buttons in Bloom is chock full of flowery goodness with no green thumb requirement. Help preserve summer and download them today!

Download “Buttons in Bloom” HERE :) Enjoy them and have a great weekend <3


"Back to the Drawing Board" Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 12, 2008

Just a quick freebie for you today inspired by the mad rush to get ready for a brand new school year. (And a new teaching school year for me!) Today is the first day of school back in my hometown of Greenwood, Indiana so I decided that this little mini pack would be perfect for the occasion. (Even though the first day of school is a couple weeks away yet for me here where I live in Canada now.) After all of the school supply shopping is done and the new clothes are bought, you’re going to want to settle down to scrap your child’s first day at school. I thought maybe a little chalk alpha would inspire you. And for added good measure and high marks, I’ve included two bonus elements! Not only does today’s freebie contain my “Back to the Drawing Board” chalk alpha, but you’ll also find a cute little knotted apple button ribbon AND chalkboard paper, all designed by yours truly and free for personal, non-commercial use. The alpha consists of lower AND uppercase letters, numbers, and some punctuation. I’ve also included a few specials such as the “#” sign, the words “grade” and “year” and then the little “st”, “nd”, and “rd” abbreviations so that you can easily use the alpha to put titles like “1st Grade” on your scrapped pages, for example. I hope you like it!

Download “Back to the Drawing Board” HERE

Good luck in the new school year! :)


Lots of You Love the Chicago Bears…

Posted in Featured, Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 11, 2008

Happy Monday! I know, I know… usually those two words don’t go anywhere near each other, let alone in the same sentence or expression! But I received some inbox goodness and it brightened my day so I just had to share it with the rest of you.

GailG used the “I Love the Chicago Bears” freebie kit I gave away yesterday and made some fab layouts! Check these out (click to make full-sized)


 

Aren’t they great? And what a beautiful family! (Posted with permission.) You know you want to snag your own copy of my “I Love the Chicago Bears” freebie now… so go grab the papers HERE and the elements HERE! I have a couple ideas for possible addons in the future, but I’ve been a little busy lately — I plan to get around to it sometime soon, maybe in time for the start of the regular season. Hope everyone had a nice Monday — thank you SO MUCH for all of the awesome comments on the freebie yesterday, and special thanks to GailG for sharing her talent!


I Love the Chicago Bears Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 10, 2008

GO BEARS GO!

I love the Chicago Bears. In case you do, too, I’ve created a new freebie kit to kick off the start of the football pre-season that I cleverly call “I Love the Chicago Bears.” ;) It comes complete with 6 papers and 31 elements! Being born and raised in Indiana originally (within sight of the buildings of downtown Indianapolis), you can imagine how my love for the Bears clashes with my family’s love for the Colts.

Due to the size of this freebie kit, I had to break it into two pieces:

Download “I Love the Chicago Bears” papers HERE
Download “I Love the Chicago Bears” elements HERE

Two Christmases ago, my dad surprised me with a handmade fleece Chicago Bears blanket — you know, the kind that has the fleece tied fringes around the outside edge? It was surprising because my dad’s not much of a crafter AND because he put effort into making such a nice gift that was Chicago Bears (we do a lot of Bears vs. Colts trash talking during football season — thank goodness for my awesome rate calling card.) And then I realized he had written on a few of the fringes… to the tune of “Bears suck!” and such. I sure love that blanket and love it even more when I find one of his funny fringes. You can see the blanket on my lap in the photos of the layout I’m sharing here, using my Chicago Bears freebie kit, of me with Oliver all dressed for a big Bears game on TV the season before last. Oliver is an Urlacher fan, as you can tell by his jersey. Looks like we’re going to have to get Winston his own jersey this year!

Hope you enjoy the freebie kit! For personal, non-commercial use only blah blah blah don’t forget to read the TOU, I’d love some blog comment love if you like the kit! Happy Sunday, and GO BEARS GO <3


Knit & Stitch CROCHET Add-On Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 9, 2008

I’m very happy to present a little addon pack (by request!) to my Knit & Stitch kit for the crocheters out there… I have for you the Knit & Stitch Crochet Add-on Pack! By request from jetfuelonly. (and butterflies by request of lwlittlebit!) I whipped up a few little extra pieces to add to Knit & Stitch for those who love to crochet. It’s timed beautifully with my own personal experience in crochet — I just taught myself this week actually, after a failed attempt to learn at Christmas. And by fail I mean that I just couldn’t figure it out on my own and gave up. I’ve been nagging at myself to try again, and I finally got the hang of it on Tuesday and have been happily practicing and learning more since. The Knit & Stitch Crochet Add-on comes with 5 metal crochet hooks in several kit coordinating colours, 3 felted butterfly ribbons, and 3 new butterfly gem stitch markers. I hope you like it!

Download the add-on pack HERE.
So sticking with knit & stitch news, I completed a scarf for myself recently and have started a second one done in a similar fashion that I plan to give my mom for Christmas. While we were vacationing in the Okanagan a few weeks back I picked up some big size 15 needles and some soft Bernat yarn that was on clearance… one big skein in burgundy & rose and one big skein in purples. I didn’t use a pattern per se, but just cast on 20 stitches and knitted until the scarf was as long as I wanted it to be. I have a scarf that I was given a few years ago that is 100 inches long and it’s too long for me, so when knitting this one I wanted to stop at a length that was more comfortable. That length turned out to be around 65 inches. I used big loose stitches on those big needles and fondly refer to the finished product as my loopy scarf. I’ve decided to make a slight change in the “pattern” for my mom’s scarf: I think 20 stitches wide in this gauge is maybe a tiny bit too wide, so on my mom’s purple scarf I’ve only cast on 15 stitches. I think I like the width of hers better. She’s only a little shorter than I, so I’m thinking 60-65 inches long will be good for her also. I’m looking forward to finishing this one!
And since I mentioned my newly learned self-taught crochet abilities, I should maybe share it! Here’s a little peek at my practice swatches and first attemps at spiraling and going beyond just the single crochet stitch. I’ve practiced single and double crochet and feel confident about those two stitches so far. And yesterday I successfully created my first flat round spiral! I know, baby steps… but I see a lot more crochet in my future, it’s so fun and quick! YAY for finally learning crochet.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and hope to see you back tomorrow for my big Chicago Bears freebie kit! :)


Happy First Freebie Friday!

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 8, 2008


Yay for my first “Freebie Friday!” I’ve decided to start a promotion on my blog called Freebie Friday. The idea behind this promotion is to help keep me on track to give away at least one freebie a week — on Fridays. Now I know what you’re thinking, “But Lesley, you’ve given away several freebies this week! What makes Fridays special?” Well, this week has been an exception to the norm because I’ve had lots of time to create a lot of freebies, but I’m trying to be realistic and think long term. Life tends to get busy and I know there will be weeks where I don’t have as much time and am not able to make as much. I’m also a little craft ADD and do a wide variety of crafts here on my blog besides just digital scrapbooking so one week might be just spent knitting. (especially with colder months just around the corner.) But by starting this promotion, it’ll help ensure I have at least one digital scrapbooking freebie a week to give away, even on the busy weeks. So while there might be multiple freebies in the same week, Fridays will be guaranteed. Or at least that’s my personal goal.

To kick off my first Freebie Friday, I have a little mini pack for you called “Think Pink.” What better way to start a freebie promotion on my pinktoque craft blog than with something pink? You can download it HERE.

Some freebies will be big, some will be small, but there will always be something to give away here on Freebie Friday to keep you coming back for more :) And if I find time to squeeze in extra freebies in between, even better!

Hope you enjoy “Think Pink!” Don’t forget to come back tomorrow, because I have the Knit & Stitch Crochet Add-on pack ready to go, and then I’m really excited about what I’ve got for you on Sunday. See you soon! :)


Colourful Crayons & Scribbles Mini Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 7, 2008

Today I’ve got just a tiny freebie for you — a set of eight classic colour crayon embellishments! Each crayon comes with its own coordinating crayon doodle mark, too. Just a little something small to wish you a happy Thursday (yay for tomorrow being Friday!) :)

Thanks very much for all of the wonderful comments on my latest freebies. I enjoy each and every one. I’m glad to know there are actually people out there who download and use my things (like Ljprince on scrapbook.com, you’re awesome!) because it inspires me to keep on making more for you. Tomorrow I’m going to unveil “Freebie Friday” with of course yet another little freebie as part of the promotion, and then this weekend will also be full of freebie goodness with a Knit & Stitch Crochet Add-on Pack coming (by request thanks to your input on the Knit & Stitch freebie!) on Saturday, and a nice big Chicago Bears freebie kit coming Sunday to kick off the start of the football pre-season. I love football. GO BEARS!

You can grab Crayons & Scribbles HERE. :) They’re perfect for that upcoming back to school craze that’s just over the horizon for many students. I know back in Indiana we started the new school year just before the middle of August, but here in Alberta, Canada schools don’t go back until the first week of September. Either way, crayons seem fitting for this time of the year, so hope you like them and can find good use for them!

See you tomorrow with more freebie goodness you won’t want to miss <3
love,
Lesley (Toque)


Knit & Stitch Embroidery Alpha Freebie

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 6, 2008

I am horrible at keeping quiet when I’ve got a surprise and/or a present to give, and after my hint (ok so I just flat out told you) in yesterday’s post when I gave away my big Knit & Stitch freebie, you are most likely not surprised to see this lovely Knit & Stitch embroidery alpha today that coordinates with the kit. And if you are surprised, well yay because that was the original intention:) The coordinating alpha comes with both upper and lowercase and a few punctuation marks. Hopefully it will add that finishing touch to your titles or other text by giving them a fantastic stitched look.

Speaking of the Knit & Stitch kit freebie, I received a comment request on yesterday’s post by jetfuelonly asking about the possibility of a crochet addon. What a fantastic idea! I will try to get a little crochet addon pack to enhance your Knit & Stitch freebie by the end of the week! And what timing, too — I am just learning crochet myself and finally getting the hang of it! :) Anyway, the crochet addon I’m planning so far will just consist of crochet hooks (and a little felted butterfly thing or two, by request!) because I’m drawing a blank– is there anything else crochet-specific that I’m missing that I could package with the hooks addon? If I get inventive maybe I’ll try to crochet a square (it would be veeeeeery simple and most likely not the most even stitches since I’m still working out the proper method for getting consistent tension, lol) and photograph the texture to make an overlay for a background that looks more like crochet, since the backgrounds packaged with the original Knit & Stitch kit are stockinette/knitting based. If you have any suggestions, let me know! I could probably have it ready by Saturday :)

For now, download the Knit & Stitch Embroidery Alpha HERE!

I hope you enjoy the alpha and stay tuned for a new freebie tomorrow! Be sure to check back, crocheters, I’ll be sending you some freebie love in an addon pack for the Knit & Stitch kit later in the week :) Thanks for the suggestion, jetfuelonly!


BIG Knit & Stitch Freebie, Yay!

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 5, 2008

I am SO excited to present my newest digital scrapbooking freebie kit: “Knit & Stitch!”

With 11 papers and 51 elements, Knit & Stitch is the largest freebie kit I’ve made to date! The preview doesn’t do this set justice because I couldn’t fit everything onto it. I decided to go with a colour scheme I’ve been wanting to play with for awhile — my traditional (favourite) brown and pink combo with a sea green or teal mixed in. And then a little touch of cream to complement the bolder shades.

So what kinds of things are in the Knit & Stitch kit? Let’s start with the 11 papers — 6 soft knitted and 5 crisp linen style. There’s also a delicate sheer cream paper mat with a felt flower trim that looks great layered over the background papers. Speaking of felt flowers, you’ll also find similar felted flower ribbons, a plain fabric ribbon, and two rope cord elements. And that’s just the beginning of the embellishments! There’s 10 different kinds of fabric flowers, some with button centres and some with tall (and short) rope stems. I’ve included two frames with satin ribbon frame huggers, and two kinds of knitting needles: bamboo and metal. There’s two pressed metal labels and two sets of word art using knitting words. I always include a few buttons and brads, and so there’s a set of small butons with laced string in this one along with three square glass knitted brads. Since this is knit and stitch, you’ll find three sets of straight stitching in the set colours and three sets of blanket stitches, too. And there’s 8 different kinds of beaded knitting stitch markers that I had lots of fun creating. For tags, you’ll find three traditional tags with satin bows and then my favourite: three felted tags in circular, rectangular, and word bubble shape, outlined in stitching. These are so cute that I think I’ll make a mini addon pack later down the road just of tags and include a few more felted and stitched shapes. Whew! I think that includes it all! I really, really enjoyed making this set. If you’ve spent any time at my blog before you might’ve noticed that I do a lot of knitting and sewing, too. Combining my knitting and sewing love with my digital scrapbooking love just makes this the ultimate set for me! I may try to do some quick pages with the set to give away later on, just because I can’t wait to scrap a page about my latest knitting project. If you make anything with my Knit & Stitch set, I’d LOVE to see (and feature you on my blog!) so be sure to send me some mail with your creations or drop me a comment with a link to where you have your layout posted.

Due to the size of this kit, I had to break it into three pieces:
Download Knit & Stitch papers #1 HERE
Download Knit & Stitch papers #2 HERE
Download Knit & Stitch elements HERE

Don’t forget to leave me some blog comment love if you like the kit! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :) And you didn’t hear it from me (ok, yes you did) but there just may be a sweet embroidery alpha ready for you tomorrow to go with this kit! I’m not good at keeping surprises so I’ll just confirm that there IS a Knit & Stitch embroidery alpha sitting here waiting for you tomorrow, so be sure to stop by to grab it!

Psssst…. you know what would go great with this freebie set? My fabric brads mini pack freebie! Includes 20 round glass fabric patterned brads that will perfectly complement just about any scrapbooking project.

Sneak Peak: I’ve got freebies to give away every single day this week and enough ready to share that will take me into early next week, so be sure to check back tomorrow for more freebie goodies! Here are some hints of what’s to come: crayons, a new promotion I call “Freebie Friday”, something pink and FOOTBALL! (Go Chicago Bears!) … you don’t want to miss it! :)


Asparagus Elements are Ready!

Posted in Freebies, Scrapbooking , on August 4, 2008

To keep with my “Asparagus” theme (check my two previous blog posts for the paper pack #1 and paper pack #2 freebies released already!) I made some embellishments to go with the asparagus papers! These turned out pretty well I think — I really love working with Photoshop! Take a look at the “Asparagus” Element Pack and see what you think! And if you need the paper, you can download paper pack #1 here (linen based papers) and paper pack #2 here (random designs in the asparagus colours.) Whether you pair these embellishments with the paper sets or not, they’ll complement your scrapping well in any green, brown or beige theme you’ve got going! The element pack comes with 17 fantastic embellishments for you to enjoy. And as always, in high quality 300 dpi resolution.

I hope everyone has had a great long weekend! Grab the “Asparagus” Element Pack HERE and be sure to drop me a note with what you think :) Enjoy the rest of your day!