Design Factor Challenge #2...

The second challenge for the Design Factor was posted a little while ago, and boy is it a doozy! I'm brainstorming one possible theme, since it is wide open theme wise, but what has me worried is that all the patterned papers must be created by hand...so no easy-peasy stripes or polkadots. But that's why they call it a challenge, right?  I've actually got 5 patterns sketched on paper if I go with the theme that is spinning right now, but not sure what that 6th pattern might entail.  And not sure I can carry the theme to get the required elements.  Hmmm...guess I'll be stewing all night at this rate!

For now, I'll just have to let it all stew and mix, and maybe someone will post a question that will make something gel.  I'm not even sure what questions to ask to help work through this pattern challenge! Off to bed, as it's almost midnight here, and my husband will be up in just 3 short hours to watch the Pikes Peak Hill Climb race.  I think they're nuts, but that's why I'm sleeping in and not joining in on the "fun."

More Lemonade Stand

Happy weekend! The weather is finally starting to feel like summer here, which means I am spending more time inside with the air conditioner on than I am outside.  That and I'm eating a whole lot more ice cream and popsicles! Oh, and wishing my grill worked so I could cook outside instead of raising the temperature inside!

I'm itching for the next installment of the challenges at The Design Factor and waiting for the designers I CT for to post their upcoming kits, so I decided to do a little more creation with my Lemonade Stand mini. I put together a border and a cluster:

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Remember to go back to <Link has expired> to get the entire Lemonade Stand mini.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Lemonade Stand

Yesterday I posted the preview of my mini-kit, Lemonade Stand. I spent a little time during nap time later in the day to put together a page with the kit.

Working with the kit was a lot of fun. I pulled some of my favorite pieces to work with, and was able to tell about Maggie's summer plans (ALL of them) in one simple page.

Lemonade Stand is available as a freebie, either by visiting the gallery at Digi Scrap Connect, where the Design Factor challenge is being hosted, but I am also going to be putting the links here today too! So you don't have to go anywhere extra if you don't want.

Lemonade Stand Papers
Lemonade Stand Elements

Thanks for visiting, and I'd love to see what you do with Lemonade Stand. If you use the mini, please leave a comment (with a link if possible).

Design Factor Challenge 1

I decided to participate in the Design Factor Challenges at Digi Scrap Connect. It is a non-competative 6 week challenge, which should be perfect for helping me practice designing while also adding the pressure of a deadline. I'm one of those people who needs a deadline looming before I can really be creative -- part of why I started working on Creative Teams a year ago.

Anyway, the first week's challenge was to create a summer themed mini-kit.  My mini quickly turned into a regular sized kit while working this week, but I pared it down closer to mini-sized for the final submission.

This kit was inspired by my daughter, who was super excited for summer to start so she could set up a lemonade stand with her friends. They held meetings to plan and draw posters, and on the day of the stand they were up early to set up along side a neighbor's garage sale. I used some of my new (and very weak) Illustrator skills to draw some of the elements, and others are scanned and extracted by me.  Part of this challenge was that there could be no "CU" items used, so everything had to be from scratch.  It was a great challenge, and I had a lot of fun putting this together.

To download the papers and elements from this kit, please visit this page. <Link has expired>

Still Learning

Learning happens all the time, sometimes it's a conscious effort to learn something new, other times it happens automatically. I am a learner by nature. I suppose it is a natural compliment to my ability to teach. As of yesterday, I am now learning Adobe Illustrator, and hoping to be able to use it to enhance my design work. I am still learning what my abilities are in regards to designing kits, but one thing I have been having fun making lately are templates. I am working on a couple different template designs, and hope to have something finished to offer by the end of the week. For now, my designs will be available for free on my blog, as I continue to work through where this process will take me.

Kimono Blog Hop

As promised, here is my portion of the quick page blog hop for the Kimono Collab at Jessicasprague.com.

Here is a link to the kit itself. There are over 50 papers and 35 elements in this great kit created by the participants in the March 2011 Art of Digital Design class.  I have also linked the photo, so you can click to photo to be taken to the kit in the store.

While I did not get to create anything for the collab itself, I did create a quick page with some of the pieces, to show just what is possible from this gorgeous kit. I have included the bare bones version of the QP, so you can add your own title and journaling to fit your picture. 

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I would love to hear what you think of the quick page and the collab kit.  Please leave a comment below!

The next stop on the blog hop:

 Previous stop on the hop:

Here is a complete list of participants, in case you get lost:

Kim Hackworth www.croppycatterscorner.blogspot.com

Melanie www.mellybirddesigns.com

Michele Pouliot crumpledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/ 

Stephanie Costello & Dori Melton www.lusciouslifestudios.com 

Pamla Klenczar PamlaKlenczar.blogspot.com

Rosa Mia Nissenbaum rosanissenbaum.blogspot.com

Christina Ming chirstinaming.wordpress.com

Anissa Burson www.anissaburson.com

Foosa Moon Creations www.foosamoon.blogspot.com

Mary Moseley thememoryboutique.net/newsite/?page_id=838

Maribeth Graf www.gingerlimedesigns.com

The Digital Celt www.thedigitalcelt.com

Zindra Nelson www.zindrasdigitaldesignstudio.blogspot.com

Jellybean Design www.jellybean-design.blogspot.com/

Lady Bug Designs www.ladybugdesigns-becky.com

Corie Farnsley - pixelsandpix.com/

Yvonne Michelle - www.photecstasy.blogspot.com

Little Birdie Digital Designs alittlebirdiescrappedit.blogspot.com

Monique Helfrich moniquehelfrichdesign.blogspot.com/

Kimono - Reaching across an ocean

I have been participating in the Art of Digital Design class at jessicasprague.com. I don't know what will become of this newfound knowledge (if anything), but I am always interested in learning and took this new leap. The class was really picking up right about the time the earthquake hit Japan, and as a class, it was decided we would make a collab kit to sell in order to help with relief efforts. Fast forward a month, and I was not able to add anything to the collection due to other work responsiblities, but what was put together by my classmates is amazing.

You can view the full kit here. All proceeds from the kit go to the Red Cross to help support relief in Japan, and you can snag it for 25% off until Sunday at midnight, at which point it will be available for full price.

Tomorrow, there will be a blog hop hosted by the members of the class. A post will be added here with full details tomorrow!

Welcome to Foosa Moon

Welcome to Foosa Moon Creations.  This page is currently under construction, and will see many changes over the next few months. Please come back often to see what's new. Better yet, follow this blog to be among the first to see what Foosa Moon has coming up!