Open Creative Team Call for....ME!

If you are interested in joining a fun, low-key creative team, please consider applying. My only requirements are that you create one layout per new kit/product, and post it at NDISB, at DigiShopTalk, and at least one other gallery of your own choosing. Any other promotion you do is not required but very much appreciated. I have a well-crafted and growing product inventory, and I plan to add to it extensively once school begins and I get these monsters out of my house. Please visit my section of the store HERE to get an idea of my style and products. I hope to add at least three new members. I will not choose a team based on who is on the most other CTs; I'm interested in you whether you're a seasoned digital scrapper or brand new. My most important criteria will be your ability and enthusiasm, so please don't hesitate to try. :) The call will close on August 15 and I'll announce the new members on my blog on the 18th. I hope you'll consider joining us! If you're interested please email me a short bio and a link to your favorite gallery at csimon01 at gmail dot com. If you've previously used my products, please be sure to point those layouts out to me. Good luck to everyone who chooses to try! And thank you! :)

So happy to be home!

Our time in Maine was fantastic. The place we stayed had a kids' club where the children just had a blast, and Dan and I were able to get some nice couple time. We even went kayaking, which was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to do it again! We spent two nights with relatives just outside Boston on our way back to NY, and we were in the city on Saturday. It seems like a great place, but it was just too hot for me. My four-year-old guy was so miserable. Not even blue gelatto could cool him down. A few minutes sitting in an air-conditioned Starbucks helped. He had the energy to come into the Clarks store with me (that's MY idea of heaven!) and help me shop for shoes. We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Lucia's that night; highly recommend it, and the line outside got pretty long as we were eating. It made my husband very happy to visit his elderly aunt and uncle there, as well as his LOVELY cousin and her family. They were kind enough to put us up and play tour guides for us. (We brought them a nice bottle of "Maine Gold," i.e., maple syrup, as a thank you.) In other news, my kids are at day camp for the next three weeks. I pulled up to the drop-off location, and someone whisked them off with their bags. They didn't even look back. Silly Mommy that I am, I had to call a few minutes ago to check on them. They're fine, of course. There are so many activities going on at this place, I just know they'll be overjoyed. Exhausted, but overjoyed. I hope they keep them hydrated and sunscreened though; the temps are supposed to be in the 90s and maybe even triple digits by Wednesday. Phew. The secret I was keeping may be old news to many of you by now. My dear friend and CT member JEN CAPUTO has been sharing her sketch talents with us for a long time now. And she has finally gotten SMART and started selling them for a super-reasonable price at Plain Digital Wrapper! These sketches (or templates) make digital scrapping SO fast and easy. She includes instructions so you can't go wrong. Please jump over to her BLOG or her STORE and check out what she has to offer! I'm fortunate to be on her creative team, along with a lot of very very talented scrappers, so I hope to share some of my creations with you using her templates.

I know a SEEEEE-cret!

I'm never on this inside of these cool things, but this time I am!! I know a very very very cool secret about one of my CT members and I'm bursting at the seams to share it. But you'll just have to wait and see...very soon!! In other news, there are still some uses left on the coupon in the post below so be sure not to miss out!! We'll be leaving in two days to go to Maine and relax. No TV, no internet, no bills, nothing. I'll miss my internet friends a lot, but I'm very happy for my husband to have a chance to relax and for us all to be together for a while with no distractions. If anyone knows anything about the Casco Bay area, I'd love to hear it! :)

Lisa's Laughter is now available!

My Lisa's Laughter Paper Pack, Element Pack, and Scrap Snap are all now available in the NDISB store! If you missed the images, just scroll down a couple of days to see the entire set. I'm really proud of some of the new paper texturing techniques I learned creating this set, and I think you'll enjoy using them. Please visit these links to see each product in the store. And remember: the Scrap Snap is INCLUDED in the Element Pack, so there's NO NEED to buy both! I posted the Scrap Snap separately for those who just want to drop in photos and go. Paper Pack Element Pack Scrap Snap Hm? Beg pardon? Was there something else I can do for you? Oh! A COUPON you say? Why shore, I can probably find one around here for ya. Would 30 percent off any or all those brand spankin' new products do ya? Well then, just enter this little code at checkout and you'll be all set. Enjoy!! (Coupon is good for one use per customer, and is set to expire after 25 uses so don't delay!) DTCS-LLblognew-799

I've been thinking. (Nobody panic.)

I know, it gets dangerous when I start thinkin'. But I'm thinkin' that I may need to add to my creative team. So if you visit this blog and have enjoyed using my kits and freebies, please consider applying. I'll put out an official call in early August, since next week we'll be going up to Maine for a "real" (ie, not visiting family) vacation, so I'll get that ball rolling when I get back. No need to send me anything now. I'm off to activate the new kit in the store and generate the coupons for my contest winners. And while I'm in coupon mode, there's just no telling what else I might come up with. Better check back here tomorrow!! :)

Contest winners!

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the Lisa's Laughter contest! I really appreciate all your kind comments, and all the layouts were so pretty. Thank you. I had my daughter choose the first winner (randomly), and my son wanted in on the action too, so I went ahead and had TWO winners. Each of these ladies will win a download of the Lisa's Laughter FULL SIZE page kit (papers and elements). And those ladies are: Caryl2twenty AND aslansavz!!!!! Congratulations! I left comments on each of your layouts how to contact me to receive the coupon code to download the kit. I hope to have the kit up in the store by Wednesday. Here are the previews for what each part contains. The elements file contains a quick page, but I will also be posting the quick page separately for those quick page fanatics among us. And as always, it's a good idea to check back here on the day a new kit is released. I like to put up a little incentive to help you decide to purchase. ;) Don't forget that with ANY purchase from the NDISB store, you can use the newsletter coupon code to get this month's mega kit, Freedom's Ring, for FREE! It's a biggie, so don't miss out!

Lisa's Laughter is nearly ready!

As usual, I think this is the best kit yet. I always think that about whatever I'm currently working on. :) It's going to be ready by tomorrow I think, so please check back then if you'd like to see the full kit. In the meantime, I'm going to tease you a little by showing you the page I made with the quick page that will be included with the kit (and also sold separately, if you're a quick page fan). Thanks for stopping by!

I'm back home!

We had such a nice visit with my parents, but I'm so happy to be home again! Thank you SO much to everyone who has visited and downloaded the kit, and special thanks to those who left comments and/or linked to a layout. I promise to go through and leave you lots of nice praise very soon. The mini kit link will remain up through today, and the contest will run until the 16th. I hope (fingers and toes crossed!) that the kids will give me the time to work on the rest of the kit pieces for you to see. Then I'll award the prize: one person will receive the full sized kit FREE! You still have plenty of time to enter, and the winner will be chosen by random drawing so please don't hesitate to throw in your hat!

Free mini kit and contest!

LINK IS FIXED!!!! I'm so sorry! Okay, it's time for another blog contest, and this time you get a prize even if you don't enter! Not bad, eh? Here's the deal: The kids and I are going out of town to visit my mom and dad, leaving poor, pitiful DH here all alone...he's secretly thrilled. And since I probably won't have a lot of time for the computer while I'm there, I'm leaving you with a little project. First, download the FREE mini kit, Lisa's Laughter, at this link: ***SORRY, LINKS EXPIRED.*** Here's what the kit looks like: This is the kit I gave away at my last chat; some folks who couldn't attend because of schedules or time zones were sad they couldn't get it, so I'm giving a second chance. Now here's the contest part. I'm planning to make Lisa's Laughter into a full sized kit when we return home from our visit. So download the kit, make a layout and post it into any gallery you like, come back here and leave me a link in the comments section, and I'll draw one name from all entries to receive the full sized kit FREE! The free kit will remain available until July 13. You have until July 15 to upload your link to your entry here. On July 16 I'll announce the winner and (if the kids will let me design) unveil the full sized kit. Good luck, have fun, and I hope you enjoy the kit! :) See you after our trip!