Inspiration from Angie!

Happy Monday everyone!  It's Sherry, taking my turn to post a beautiful inspirational layout from Angie's gallery.  Angie's gallery is a magical place, take a look at it when you get a chance, so much wonderfulness there!

Today I'm going to show you a layout done by Angie herself, called simply Journal Page 18.  This is done with her mini kits from Digital's new Create a Kit Event - she calls her part Tangerine Tango - Journey of Life.  Take a look at this fabulous layout:

This layout is a beautiful blend of some of the things I love best about Angie - her incredible talent as a designer and her amazing talent as a scrapper!  I know most designers I've talked to say they have trouble scrapping with their own kits, but that's not the case with Angie - she has layouts done with her products as soon as they hit her store.  This is a perfect example of an art journal style layout, with so many things happening here digitally that could also be paper scrapped as well.  She's combined ephemera, ink spots and spills, papers and blended journaling along with the picture that just stops me in my tracks when I look at it, saying "take me seriously"!  Note to self:  Study Angie's style and learn how to scrap like her - I think I could learn!

There are a number of parts to Angie's Tangerine Tango - Journey of Life.  PLUS she's even created some quick pages (hey, I could get those and then it would look like I learned to scrap like Angie...oh well, that would be cheating) so you can get your layouts done in an instant!  I'm going to put in a preview of the kit's elements, and also one of the quick pages, and both are linked to all of the Tangerine Tango - Journey of Life products.

Tangerine Tango - Create A Kit Event

We are kicking off a new Create A Kit Event: Shall We Tangerine Tango. Now through March 2 is your chance to build your own kit with these amazing new colors centered around Tangerine Tango, the Pantone Color of the Year. Its bold, but not too bright, just right. We have some boy themed pieces, which scrappers are always asking for, and lots of general papers and elements that you can use in almost any type of layout. Be sure to pick up a bundle at the low price of just $1.50 per set!

I am excited to share with you my designs for this project!

Out Loud Inspiration

Some inspiration for your Thursday morning...all created with the kit Out Loud! Have a wonderful day!

Layout created by ValeriGail

Layout created by judyinsd

Layout created by mystampin

Layout created by Sabrina

Layout created by livingoutloud

Collaged Box Tutorial

Happy President's Day to all of Angie's US fans, and happy Monday everywhere else!  It's Sherry again, it's my lucky day to post on Angie's wonderful blog.

I really love Angie's Being Me kit, and a while back I decided to do a little bit of hybrid scrapping with it. I was thrilled with the result!  Here's the box I made:

I had originally planned to give this as a gift, but I love it so much that I just can't give it away!  It's on a bookcase in my living room right now, I haven't decided what to store in it, or maybe I'll just look at it like it is.

Here is the tutorial for making this box - I hope you decide to create a masterpiece of your own!

Collaged Box Tutorial

Have a great day!

February Art Blessing

This morning I have a set of six ATC tags as a little art blessing for you! These are for personal use in your scrapbook layouts, art journals, collages, cards, and in your paper projects and handmade crafts. The tags are standard Artist Trading Card size 2.5x3.5 and were created with pieces of my kit Out Loud, along with brushwork and vintage postcard images. I will have them for you to download here on my blog for free through Friday, February 24. Happy creating and have a great weekend!



Click here to download...

Butterfly Fly Away

Today, my oldest daughter completes her high school career. This is so far the most bittersweet moment of my life... I love you Alissa...

Butterfly Fly Away

You tucked me in, turned out the light
Kept me safe and sound at night
Little girls depend on things like that

Brushed my teeth and combed my hair
Had to drive me everywhere
You were always there when I looked back

You had to do it all alone
Make a living, make a home
Must have been as hard as it could be

And when I couldn't sleep at night
Scared things wouldn't turn out right
You would hold my hand and sing to me

Caterpillar in the tree
How you wonder who you'll be
Can't go far but you can always dream

Wish you may and wish you might
Don't you worry, hold on tight
I promise you there will come a day
Butterfly fly away

Butterfly fly away, butterfly fly away
Flap your wings now you can't stay
Take those dreams and make them all come true

Butterfly fly away, butterfly fly away
We've been waiting for this day
All along and knowing just what to do
Butterfly, butterfly, butterfly, butterfly fly away

Butterfly fly away
Butterfly fly away

© WALT DISNEY MUSIC COMPANY

Out Loud

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I will tell you, I came to live out LOUD.” ~Émile Zola

When I was growing up I was very reserved. When I had something to say, I usually kept it to myself. When I felt something, I held it inside. When someone was doing something that was not right, I never spoke up. It was as if I had no voice at all. Well, not anymore!

After I had my daughters, I knew in my heart that I wanted their experience to be different than mine. I wanted them to be free to express themselves and to have a voice. I wanted to teach them that it was okay for them to be who they are, say what they feel, and go out and make some noise when they need to. In order to really teach that, I had to set the example and learn to do it myself. It has definitely been a challenge for me, but I am getting there.

Each one of us has a purpose. We are all here on this planet to be seen and to be heard. We are here to love and to grow, to share and to give, to create and to be. No one should have to stop and check their pulse to make sure they're alive. No one should have to just go through the motions day after day. Each one of us has only one life to live, and we all deserve to be fully alive! Instead of just living, we all need to learn to live out loud!

My new kit is all about doing just that!

    Here is a preview of the bundle Out Loud. This includes the kit, borders, and word art.

Here are three layouts I made using Out Loud!

Heavy Metal Wedding

Hello there!  My name is Sherry, I'm livingoutloud in the Digitals store, and I'm going to be helping out a little bit on Angie's blog.  You can find me here every Monday, showing off the wonderful artistry of Angie's products as they are used by scrappers everywhere to create layout masterpieces.  I have been a fan of Angie's since I very first came to Digitals years ago - love her style!

So today I thought I'd start by showing you a layout done with Angie's newest product - it's called Being Me.  This layout is by mystampin, and it's called Heavy Metal Wedding (title is linked if you'd like to leave her some love):

I think a "heavy metal" wedding certainly falls under the heading of Being Me, don't you? LOL!  Beth has used so many of the wonderful papers and elements that Angie has given us in this set.  I love how the steampunkish gears lead your eye right into the rusted-out tractor. I really like how she used the frame to isolate the bride and groom, and tilted it to match their line of sight - that really anchors the most important part of the layout.  As well as using a number of the elements in this kit, Beth also used several of the borders, along the left, bottom, and right of the layout - these are great shortcuts to creating a layout that has great depth and interest.  Angie's designs are so rich and full of goodness, and Beth has done a terrific job of showing that off to us!

There are 3 parts to this product - there is the main kit, the borders, and the word art (which is terrific but not shown in the above layout), but you can get a great deal by purchasing all three together in a bundle - thanks for that Angie!

And here's the link to Angie's store so you can see this set, as well as all the other delightfulness by Angie!

Angie Young's Store

Hope you enjoyed this little tidbit, and I'll be back here next Monday!

Collage Inspiration

I am sharing some collages I created a few months ago and hope they inspire you to believe, dream, feel, hope, love, and keep going...no matter what. Have a wonderful weekend!



Being Me

Being Me. I think that I spent most of my childhood trying as hard as I could to *not* be me. I didn't *want* to be me at all. Or, maybe I just didn't have a clue who I even was. All that I knew was that I didn't think the way other kids thought. I didn't want to do the things that other kids did. I didn't look at life the same ways that other kids looked at life. So, whoever this "me" was, I was *not* going to be that person. I didn't want other people to think that I was as strange and different as I felt. I had no idea who I was, but I did know that I wanted to blend in. I wanted to look like everyone else and fit the mold that it felt like I was supposed to fit. I definitely knew that I *didn't* want to be an outcast, but that is sure how I usually felt.

Since I was often by myself, I did a lot of creative play. I was very shy and my mom moved me and my sister around a lot, so I didn't usually have very many close friends. My imagination became my best friend. I spent so much time writing, drawing, creating, and dreaming. It's all I ever wanted to do, even at school...especially at school lol. I could *never* focus on those lessons. There was way too much going on in my imagination.

One of the things I loved doing was, I loved creating a story of this imaginary world that I could visit. A world where no one ever got sick or hurt. A world where everyone was nice to each other and no one got left out. A world where things were fair and everyone was equal. A world full of color and hope, light and dreams, laughter and rainbows. That was the place I felt most comfortable. A place I could be me and it was okay. My world. I remember drawing pictures of all of the things that were there and the adventures I had. When I was alone with just me and my imagination, I didn't ever have to hold back. I didn't care if I didn't fit a mold. I didn't need to fit in. I could be whoever I wanted to be.  

The thing that I have realized as I've gotten older, is that all of those things that made me feel like an outcast as a child, are the very things that people seem to like about me as an adult. The imaginary stories and places I treasured so much as a child, the dreams I had, the colors and the hope I saw...it is all now reflected in the art I create. The things that as a child I thought would be the end of me, actually are the very things that breathe life into me.

If as a child I was told that I could be anyone I wanted to be, I would have chosen anyone *but* me. Now, I am finding out that this person who is me is actually okay. I don't mind that I am different and see things waaaay outside the box. It's okay if I'm not like most people. I am like some people. And, I am me. I am exactly who I am, in the place I am supposed to be, doing what I enjoy doing, surrounded by people I love. The good, bad, silly, anxious, random, serious, compassionate, real, warm, loyal, honest, forgetful, shy, strange, quirky...it's all me. And I've decided, I'm okay being me. 

Both layouts created by me with the kit: Being Me

   

Create Your Own Kit

I am very excited to announce that we have something brand new and lots of fun going on at Digitals! Several designers teamed up and created paper packs, element packs, and word art using the same color palette. By the time we were finished, we had 136 different creations! Now for the super cool and totally fun part. You can pick and choose your favorites from all of your favorite designers to create your own mega-kit in beautiful shades of gray and yellow. And to make it even more cool, all of the designs will be available from now through February 11 for only $1.50 each! Here are the designs I made to contribute to the project...

And here is a layout I created with this series!

You can find all of the designs here.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!