Shutterfly Insider Secrets!

I wanted to let you all in on some incredible deals that Shutterfly is currently having. Every once and a while they have these incredible sales that are just too incredible to resist! At my wedding shower, a few of the girls at work got together and bought me a gift certificate from Shutterfly and I'm thinking it might just be the perfect time to redeem it! Just click on the graphic link below:

A New Look at Quick Pages

I have never been a huge fan of Quick Pages. I always found them somewhat restricting, limiting my great and unlimited creative imagination (yes, that's sarcasm!). Recently, however, because of time constraints, I started trying a few because of their convenience, and I have to tell you I'm LOVING THEM! There are so many talented people out there - why not use thier creative genius, right?!

Here's one I just downloaded by Poupoune, with the kit, "Cherish of Love" by Fanette. This is my parents who will be married 40 years this Novemeber! Can you imagine?! Thank-you Poupoune and Fanette for the beautiful QP!

Ginger Has a New Store

Here's a layout I made of me and my friends at a little get-together from the other night using Ginger's "Ladies Night" kit that she was giving away on her new site, GingerScraps. Be sure to check out her site - it's really cute and has some great stuff!

Beautiful Freebies from Rachel

I know I'm not the only one who blog-hops. It's fun because it always leads to discovering new things. Today I found "Memory Scraps ~ designs by Rachel." She is giving away a bunch of really nice kits until the end of the month. Follow the links on her blog and you'll find them easily. Of course I grabbed a few... Here's a quick page I used to scrap some pictures I had taken at Denali National Park this last month... Yeah! I actually scrapped a little!

A Treasure Chest!

I feel like I've discovered an entire treasure chest of goodies! I'm sure you've all heard of Stone Accent Studio, right. Well, as you may have heard, they are currently hosting a "Next Designer" Contest. I always find this sort of contest really interesting because it's not just another person out there selling their creations, it is real artists competing. This results in the most beautiful kits EVER and would you believe it, they're GIVING THEM ALL AWAY?! You will need to sign in to their Gallery, which is more than worth it. Here are just a few of the kits I downloaded today:

I still can't believe it! Thank-you to all of the great designers and best of luck in the competition! Thank-you too, to Stone Accents Stuido for hosting this awesome competition! Can't wait to see who wins!

A Blog Full of Freebies!

Ok, so you all know by now that I love great deals and Freebies. So when I find a new nugget of information or a great new blog I'm going to share it with you! Now, maybe you've all heard of this place already, but I've been out of the loop for a while, so I'm just discovering it. It's a blog called the WaterLO Project. Here's how they define themselves: "We are free group of people (you can see their names in the kit preview), creative team and friends of PST Designs. The target of our project is to combine professional looking elements with gumboots, roasted duck, concrete troll or rat named Ruženka. We are fond of thinking up new elements and we are looking for seeing our „absolutely unscrapable“ elements used by you in your layouts. Usually our kits include about 50 elements so you can choose by your taste and we believe everyone is able to choose something. We create our kits a bit differently and tricky style – we define only theme to big group of members - without colour definition and restrictions. That’s the reason why our freebies look a bit differently. One more specialty of WaterLO Project are papers that we create only by mixture of textures and blended photos. And that is enough about us – lets download and create!"

They are different, original, interesting and very, very generous, so if you haven't already, take a jaunt over to the WaterLO Project Blog and have a look!

Shutterfly Inside Scoop!

I'm a huge, huge fan of Shutterfly and recommend them to anyone and everybody I can - especially when it comes to putting your Digital Scrapbooking Layouts into a photo book. They are absolutely fabulous. That being said, I just wanted to let you know - if you're not a member yet - they are having a new promotion where they are giving 50 free 4x6 prints and an 11x14 Collage Poster when you sign up! Their ads don't even reflect this awesome offer yet! If you're interested, just click the ad below and sign up. I am also including a link at the top of the page for easy access if you would like to do it later. Enjoy!

Blog Templates

I've had several people email me, inquiring as to how I did the design for my blog. My answer: I didn't! I wouldn't have the first clue as to how to go about designing a blog! LOL! I just do an internet search for blog templates. There are some great sites out there full of all kinds of templates you can use. It doesn't matter which blog platform you prefer, whether you are looking for blogger templates or wordpress templates - you're bound to find something you like. Once it's installed you can customize it to your liking just like you would do to the one you currently have. For example, check out this template, blogs can be beautiful too!

I'm the "Fridays Feature Freebie Favorite!"

I'm not sure that there is a bigger honor than to be recognized by your peers. Today I am honored to have been selected as Ginger's "Fridays Feature Freebie Favorite!" Please go by her blog to check it out! And be sure to welcome her - she's new to our Digital Scrapbooking world!

Thanks for the recognition, Ginger! It's really nice to feel appreciated!

Happy Mother's Day!

Since I have to work tomorrow, I wanted to stop by and wish all of the Mothers out there a very Happy Mother's Day! I hope your children and families all realize how wonderful you are and all of the sacrifices that you make every single day!

I also wanted to make sure that you all saw the "Sunshine Girls'" collaboration kit for Mother's Day, called "A Mother's Love." As always, these Designers put together a real treat - their collaboration kits are amoung my favorites! Thanks so much to all of you!

My Mom

Inevitably, as Mother's Day approaches, I think more and more about my Mom. I have a pretty incredible mother. She has raised 15 successful children, while at the same time maintaining a wonderful relationship with each of them. This afternoon my boyfriend asked me who was closest to my mother, and I couldn't answer the question. But as I thought of it later, I thought how special it is that each of us probably think we are the closest.

So here's a layout made with my recent release, "For Mothers." That's me, as a baby and my two older brothers with my Mom. I wanted to create something simple, not even trying to find words because this is how I know my Mother: smiling brightly, always.

Sorry! This product is no longer available for download.

I also took some time to look through the gallery at DST, looking for layouts featuring Mothers. It's very beautiful and inspiring to see how others convey thier emotions. Check these out - you can click on the image for more details:

Gardens and Flowers

One thing I desperately wish I had was a green thumb. Especially around this time of the year, when beautiful flowers are blooming all around us. This year, I thought I would maybe venture out and try my hand at gardening again... see how far I can get without killing anything! I have a couple of planters in the front walkway of my house. Maybe I'll go tomorrow and get some flowers...

I was cruising the layout gallery at DST. Check out these gorgeous layouts, inspired by the garden and full of flowers! Click on the images for more information:

Autism Awareness Collaboration Kit

I am really proud to be a part of a collaboration effort between over 15 designers to create an enormously huge Autism Awareness Kit. It is yours for a donation of any amount you choose!

Here is my contribution:

If you would like to donate, go to AutismSpeaks.org (or click HERE). We are grateful for any donation size whatsoever, however, if you donate over $5, you will receive an exclusive Add-On! Once you've donated, send your receipt to XandraMartinDesigns@yahoo.com to receive the links and password.

UGH! I'm Failing!

ACK! I am totally failing on our Biggest Loser contest at work... at first I was winning with the hightest percentage of weight lost. Now I'm in 3rd place! The worst part is, it's a Doctor who is currently in the winning position! A Doctor does not need to win the money pot! So I simply cannot let that happen! I'd been diligently doing the sensible calorie counting and exercising, but this is not working fast enough to win. So I'm going to go to the old faithful rapid-response-low-carb-hideous-headache-torture-fest. By noon today on the first day, I've already got the low-carb headache. I'm going to have to lock myself up when my boyfriend gets home... Just to avoid snarling at anybody! LOL!

Just a quick heads up: before it's too late (if you haven't already) be sure to check out Bon Scrapatit Designs's Blog. (I love her blog theme, it's so original!) She's giving away a pretty fabulous kit called "Saturday in the Park" for a limited time, and you don't want to miss this! It's perfect for summer! Here's a partial preview she has up. Click on it to get to her blog and have a great rest of the weekend!

The Wonderful World of "White Space"

We've all seen this style... I watch the talented ladies who can pull it off with a sense of wonder and awe (and maybe more than a little jealousy!). White space makes for the most striking layouts, drawing the eye immediately to the center of attention. They are usually sparce, but in these cases, less if definitively more! Here are a few layouts by some ladies I absolutely admire:

The first set is from one of my favorite blogs, Fei-Fei's Stuff. Every single on of this girl's layouts are beautiful. Stunning simplicity with photographs that show the sweetest mother-daughter bond of love.

Another white space scrapper I admire is Deb Sterchen - just look at her gallery - it's dripping in talent! Each layout is a masterpiece!

Vinnie Pierce has an incredible knack for creating gorgeous layouts with one simple image and very few elements. The muted colors and pictures convey an intimacy that almost makes you feel like you're sneaking a peek into her family's life.

Ok, finally, because I can't resist one more, is Zatul Saliza. Here's her gallery, one of my favorites, which is just brimming with happy, bright, exciting layouts!

Admiring an Artist

I am tired from 12 hours at work. I came home and did a quick 30 minutes on the bike, then sat down here to relax. Cruising around, blog-hoping is relaxation for me... checking out new products, seeing what's new, getting ideas, snagging freebies... gotta love it!

Every so often, I run across a blog that I feel obligated to tell you all about. It could be because of the inspiring layouts or simply admiring an artist. Today it's "FEI-FEI's Stuff." This girl does the most striking layouts ever! She knows how to work her page... incredible use of white space. What's awesome, too, is she takes great pictures of her daughter, the cutest little girl ever who is featured in pretty much all of her layouts. Plus she also gives away elegant and fun wordart. Here's one I love. If you click on it, it will take you to her blog:

Shadow Boxes

Well, we somehow got through the 5-6" of snow we got the other day... as expected it was completely melted the very next day, but that didn't stop everyone from freaking out, closing everything from retail stores to schools, and most importantly, calling in sick to work! Basically, I would say it was generally used as a great big excuse! It was fun driving around and seeing everyone's snowmen, though!

Here's a really cool product that I ran across. These shadow boxes are everywhere now, and the layouts being made with them are absolutely fantastic! Take a gander:

This particular product (and more information on these incredible layouts) is by Maya and can be found at Scrapbook Graphics.

Finding Treasure

When I should be doing all kinds of other things, I usually find myself digital freebie-hunting and blog-trolling. What's fun about this is that you always, always find something interesting or funny or inspiring. It's a great pick-me-up!

Here's my favorite of today: Lisa's Scrapblog. Unfortunately, it's not in English, so I'm very limited in my appreciation, but the layouts are incredible! I'd seen one over at DST and then just happened upon her blog. Her talent and creativity just blows me away! Go check them out for pure inspiration! And that's not all... she makes these incredible freebies!

Here's one called "Magic of Spring" that almost has a watercolor feel to it:

There is also a brand new "megafreebie" Lisa has just released on her blog called "Spring Time" containing a ton of different elements. I'm off to grab it now!

A Weekend Day Off!!!

Good Afternoon! I have a day off! Whoo-Hoo! Guess what I'm going to do?! Laundry and house cleaning! Ugh! Something is wrong with that, isn't there?!

Before I go, I just wanted to remind anyone who wanted to participate in our Layout Contest that today is the last day for submissions - until midnight - so get them in now! There hasn't been very many entries, so your chances of winning are pretty darn good!

And one more thing - while freebie hunting yesterday, I came across this new blog that I wanted to send you all to. KrYsTaL's ScRaPs. This girl does the most awesome layouts EVER. I wouls love to post a bunch right here, but I wouldn't want to overstep my bounds or anything... If you evern are in need of inspiration (and who isn't?!) then take a stroll over to Krystals blog and take a look at her work! Beautiful stuff!

Have a great weekend!