Backyard Playground is Here!!!! Updated :-D

I've updated my post. scroll down a bit for the update :-)

I'm in the process of spiffing up my blog. I still have lots of blinkies to re-do. I've removed the Popsicle Paradise Blog List but the links to my part are still there, just moved down aways. I needed to make room there for the new blog hop list, yes everyone 'Backyard Playground' is here!!

The ADS Designers Yahoo Group has a new Collab MEGA-Kit!! Welcome to Backyard Playground!!!
I have to admit to deserving the wet noodle from my group members! I'm running very behind on my part. You all know the issues I have regarding kit size, no matter how much I try to keep it small, it just doesn't work. Plus I now understand all the discussion I've read concerning issues with Photoshop CS3 Extended in Vista. My DD has Vista on her computer and my photoshop would not recognize a .png file. I tried a couple of times to find out why but in the end it was more fun to play with my grandkids and leave it til I was back here. I know you'll forgive me for being a little late, I do have my papers ready to go right now and I'm working on the elements previews now as well. And you know I always have special things to add-on coming over the next few days anyway, you may just end up with something really special to make it up to you :-D

Here are the papers to my part of Backyard Playground ----

Papers Part 1 - Download Here
Papers Part 2 - Download Here

Update - I have the elements for my part of Backyard Playground uploaded and ready for you now. here are the links :-) ----

Elements Part 1 - Download Here
Elements Part 2 - Download Here

I'm also in the process of changing my logo. When I started designing I was wanting something reflective of the wizard of oz/over the rainbow theme (being from Kansas, lol) and at the time the tornado graphic seemed a good idea. After the recent destruction at K-State and the horrible storm season we've been having everywhere, that tornado graphic seems very disrespectful now and it's gone for good. The weather while I was at my DD's in Kansas was mostly great. One afternoon we had a short storm blow thru that left a gorgeous double rainbow, one very bright and one very faint. My DD snapped a pic of it from a moving car on our way to the store. The pic came out great and I'm using that as a basis for my new logo to try to stick with the over the rainbow theme. Along with the change in logo, I have a change in my TOU to allow S4H. Both my logo and TOU are works in progress and look very rough right now. Please forgive me for not having them ready in time.

Here is the Blog Hop link list. We have 43 designers participating. It's time to explore the Backyard Playground ----

Becky

Beth

Brooke

Crystal(digiscrapalicious)

Crystal(s.amazed)

Dawn

Debbie

Debi

Denise

Donna

Erika

Heather

Joni

Joy

Karen

Kathy(carolinagirl)

Kathy(scraploft)

Kay

Kelly

Kim

Krisi

Lara

Leaonna

Lori

Melanie(bygodsdesign)

Melanie(scrappinasithappens)

Melanie(sweetasmel)

Michaele

Mollie

Monica

Nadine

Nancy

Nikki

Patty

Penny

Rachael

Shannon

Sheila

Stella

Sue

Tammy

Utski

Home Again

I'm back in CA. I've decided to move back to KS. If anyone knows of a cheap and easy way to move across the country please let me know, any ideas/suggestions are greatly appreciated. LOL, with gas prices they way they are today, I'm not sure there is an easy way. But, I've explored my options that I can think of but my brain feels like mush after 2 days on a greyhound bus. I really need to bite the bullet and force myself to fly. I'm terrified of that idea and suddenly the bus doesn't seem quite so bad again :-D

I'm going to be working on my blog today. This stuff with photobucket cutting off images is for the birds. I've had great suggestions left via comments on how to fix these issues and keep them from happening again. I'm going to be implementing some of those changes today, because -----

Keep your calendars open on Tues July 1!! The ADS Designers July Blog Hop is coming. I know you are all going to enjoy "Backyard Playground." We have the greatest group full of wonderful designers of all experience levels. We have so much fun sharing all the cu freebies we can find, great tuts, and if one of us needs help for any reason, we're all there to do what we can!! Our monthly collabs are so much fun I can hardly remember now what it was like to be learning all this on my own. Once again I'm warning everyone to clear out a nice chunk of hard drive space! I'm constantly fighting a losing battle for my hard drive space, I fill it up faster than I can empty it onto dvds. I understand now why I see so much discussion about the best 500 gig and up EHD's, lol. I have a couple hours of burning to do myself to get ready. Backyard Playground has almost twice as many contributers as Popsicle Paradise, our group has grown :-D

I'm off to spiff up the blog :-D

A quick post and a note for Chiara :-)

I'm still at my daughter's in KS, I'll be back in CA this Saturday. Everyone keep July 1st open and clear out some more hard drive space, lol, you're going to need even more!! :-D We ADS Designers are doing it again, an even bigger blog hop. Keep watch for "Backyard Playground" you're going to love it just as much as Popsicle Paradise!!

I have a quick note to Chiara --

We would love to have you in our ADS group! Here is a link to the group page at yahoo http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adsdesigners/

We're happy to help in any way we can!! You can reach me by email at aerynx@gmail.com :-)

Sorry about the images

According to Photobucket.com I've exceeded the allowed monthly bandwidth for a free acct. I'm so sorry all my previews , layouts, and other images have been replaced with that annoying photobucket icon. While I find it very annoying to have all my images disappear, it's also a really good thing because that means lots of you have found my blog :-) This is another first for me so I'm not quite sure yet what I need to do. I'm thinking a photobucket pro account may be in my future. In the meantime I'm so sorry and I'm working on fixing this as soon as possible :-)

Welcome back to Popsicle Paradise :-)

I have my last add-on for Popsicle Paradise to share today. I'm a little sad it's the last, This has been a great week, My download counts are over 1000, I never expected that. It's totally cool!! And Thank You so much for all the wonderful comments, I read each and every one, I get lots of warm fuzzies reading them. Everyone's Popsicle Paradise links will be active at least for the month of June, mine will stay active as long as I have space at 4-shared and I know several others plan to keep their's active too. I have my download links and the blog hop links list in my sidebar towards the top so they don't get lost as the original posts move down the page. They will remain there for the rest of June. I decided to make this final add-on a grab bag style surprise. There is an alpha, a few papers and elements that didn't make it into the main kit and a few little surprises made with cu items I didn't have then. Here is my final part of Popsicle Paradise ---

Download Here

I have a new kit ready but for the previews, I'll be working on those this weekend, I hope you've had great fun in Popsicle Paradise and have a great weekend ;-)

More Popsicle Paradise, the 3rd CU freebie

I have my 3rd CU add-on for Popsicle Paradise today. I found a couple of good tuts on making felt. I used what I learned to make the flowers in my part of Popsicle Paradise. Today I have a layer style/pattern/png fills of those felts in popsicle paradise colors of course :-)

Part 1 - Download Here
Part 2 - Download Here

Make sure you check back tomorrow, I have one more Popsicle Paradise freebie :-)

More Popsicle Paradise, CU Freebies :-)

WOW!!! You all are the best!!!! At less than 48 hrs of posting, I've had almost 800 downloads on my part of Popsicle Paradise!! Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments both here on the blog and at 4-shared. Every time I read them I get warm fuzzies :-D I would like to say a special thank you to everyone that left condolences on the deaths on my mother in Feb and my close friend, ex-hubby George last week. All my previous records for download count and comments have been broken, a couple times now, lol.

Are you ready for some more Popsicle Paradise??? I have 4 more things coming to go with my part. 3 of these are CU Ok and you get 2 of them today :-D

First is the overlay I made to make my popsicle papers. This the first overlay I've done that came out the way I wanted and that I liked. I'm kinda proud of it so I want to share it with all of you :-)

Download Here

A couple of weeks or so ago we were discussing and doing tuts in our ads designers group on how to make seamless tiles. These had me making LOTS of different tiles. Along the way I made seamless glitters for every kit I had at least a color scheme for along with every kit I had in the works. After those I started making glitters for my kits that were already finished. I made glitters for the Popsicle Paradise color scheme even tho I was finished with my part. I would like to share these glitters with you. There is a layer style with a bevel & a pattern that's flat for photoshop along with png fills for psp users ---

Download Here

As Always, when sharing, please send your friends here to my blog. Please support the fight against digital piracy!

Keep checking back, There's 1 more CU freebie and a surprise add-ons pack still to come. Have fun in Popsicle Paradise :-D

Happy June 1! Welcome to Popsicle Paradise :-D

Happy June 1!! The MEGA-kit collab Popsicle Paradise from the ADS Designers Yahoo Group is here. Clear a good chunk of hard drive space and have fun ---

First I have a layout to show you. Heather of HS Designs has made quickpages from all or most of our kits. This layout was done with Heather's beautiful quickpage made with my part of Popsicle Paradise ---

My grandkids Abbi and Cole truly in Popsicle Paradise :-)

At the end of this blog hop you will have parts to Popsicle Paradise by 23 designers of the ADS Designers Yahoo Group. This is my first chance to participate in a blog hop, I'm very proud this is my first. I would like to say a big Thank You to Anne of Creative Dreams for organizing this incredible thing, Please trust me when I tell you, you won't be disappointed. It was an amazing thing to watch come together. As most of you already know, I just don't know how to make a small kit, so here is my part of Popsicle Paradise ---

Elements Part 1 - Download Here
Elements Part 2 - Download Here

Papers Part 1 - Download Here
Papers Part 2 - Download Here

I also have the quickpage from above as a cool goodie add-on - Download Here

From here you go on to Angie, and 21 more ADS Designers. Have fun on the hop!! :-D

Angie - http://angiesasylum.blogspot.com/
Anne - http://creative-dreams.net/
Brittney - http://brittneycreations.blogspot.com
Catt - http://cattscrapps.blogspot.com/
Chantal - http://www.chantalmiller.co.za
Crystal - http://amazedscrapper.blogspot.com/
Crystal – http://digiscrapalicious.blogspot.com/
Dawn - http://bearlyscrapping.blogspot.com/
Donna - http://mamadukez-creationz.blogspot.com
Faye - http://www.angelfayescorner.blogspot.com
Heather - http://www.dylanstokes.blogspot.com
Joni - http://fenncreations.blogspot.com/
Leaonna - http://busyscrappin.blogspot.com/
Melanie - http://blog.bygodsdesign.biz
Monica - http://randominspirationsbymonica.blogspot.com
Nancy - http://catstation.net/scrappycats/blog/
Nikki - http://justpassinthru.wordpress.com
Patty - http://secondhandangel.wordpress.com
Penny - http://www.alliekatcreations.blogspot.com
Sheila - http://http://abyscraps.wordpress.com/
Tammy - http://mommyofjayden.blogspot.com/
Xandra - http://xandra-a84martin.blogspot.com

News and Updated CU Freebie :-)

It's been a very hard week for me. My close friend that had a serious stroke on Friday last week was taken off life support and died on Tues, May 27, his 59th birthday. We felt it an appropriate day in the circumstances. I haven't been able to scrap anything yet, it's too raw for me, but I do have a layout to share. My daughter prefers paper scrapping over digital and she made this paper layout, Unfortunately her scanner is non-functional at the moment so she sent me a pic of it --

George May 27,1949 - May 27, 2008

've been a mess most of the week but I did manage to finish up a post I started last week for a CU freebie ---

Thanks to the ladies in my ADS Designers Yahoo Group, I have learned to make seamless tiles. I realized while working thru a couple of tutorials on the subject that my 'Over the Rainbow' kit CU add-on, Oil Paints Textured Layer Styles for Photoshop had these horrible seam lines in anything over 3 inches. So -- Today I have an updated version to share, completely seamless, Please delete the old version, this one is much nicer! I like a bit of bevel on my styles but I realize not everyone does so in this update I have the layer styles with a bevel, a pattern file that is flat, and png fills for psp users :-)

Over the Rainbow CU Ok Add-on Oil Paints Textured Style, Pattern, & Fills - Download Here

New Layout and My First 3 Tags :-)

I have my first of seven tags that I owe - My first tag went to Sindiego
I also have my second and third tags - the second goes to DreamerPaula
and the third goes to Andrea Gold

I noticed that most of my ADS group members had multiple tags so I've decided to tag my favorite designers :-)

I have a layout to share, this is my layout for the May Template Challenge at GDS. Andrea Gold has beautiful templates. This month's goodie is a 2 page brag book set and posting a layout gets a full size Template for a posting gift ----

Brag Book Template by Andrea Gold. Ano Nuevo Kit by Jessica Alger. Glitters by me :-)

I haven't had much time to design the last few days with everything that's going on. I do have a couple things ready to go but for the previews. That always seems to be the hardest part for me, lol. I promise to get something posted as soon as I can :-)

I've Been Tagged :-)

It's been a very busy week. I was working on my post last night, telling you 7 weird and random things about myself. I was just too tired to decide who to tag next and was going to finish this morning, But, I've had a family health emergency today so I haven't gotten done anything I planned to do. My ex-hubby and I decided years ago to get a divorce and stay friends rather than stay married and be enemies. We have continued to be close friends, This morning he had a stroke followed by a full out brain bleed, The doctors in the er had to make burr holes in his head. It was very hard to see him so quiet and still. He's in a coma and there's no way to know right now if he'll wake up or not, and what damage there is. I know you all will forgive me for not tagging anyone right now, I've been tagged 5 times now and I will try to get a layout made for the layout tag blog game. Blog tag is so fun, I'm such a bad blogger, I need more hours in the day, Here's what I have so far on answering my tags. I promise I'll get caught up. Doing this will help keep my mind occupied,

I've been tagged, and not just once but 3 times! This is the first time I've ever been tagged, it's pretty cool. Now if I can just come up with 7 appropriate wierd or random things. On to the formalities ---

I've been tagged by --- Tara of Creations by Tara, Kathy of Carolina Girl Scrap Creations, and Debbie of Beckmoore's Scrapalittle Thank you for the chance to play ladies :-)

Here are the rules ---

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

And now 7 facts about me ---

1 - I'm an old hippie that still loves tie-dye. I've shared a house with a bunch of other old hippies for 10 years+ in Southern California,

2 - I'm originally from Kansas. When asked how I got to California, my favorite answer was/is - I put on my ruby red slippers, clicked my heels together 3 times and said there's no place like home and I landed here, without landing a house on anyone, thank goodness, lol. I heard every Wizard of Oz joke there is when I moved here and too make things worse, I had a yorkshire terrier at that time, not quite a scottish like in the movie but close enough. Nevertheless, the movie remains a family favorite.

3 - I'm totally addicted to Netflix!! I love movies and don't go to theaters. I impatiently await the mail on movie days, lol.

4 - One of my favorite programs for my computer is Windowblinds, part of Object Desktop by Stardock/Wincustomize. Windowblinds skins the win xp/vista user interface. There are lots of artists, called skinners, that live for making skins to make computer desktops look different, I have an idea but I need a skinner's help. I want to convert my scrapkits to skins. Imagine opening your start menu and seeing the layout of your choice. Getting a right click menu that looks like a journaling or tag. Think scrapping your computer interface. Anyone interested in this idea please leave a comment with your email.

5 - My mom passed away on Feb. 18. It was a hard mother's day,

6- I'm a complete computer junkie. Alot of women shop for shoes, etc, not me, lead me to closest software store. Better yet, I stay at home and shop online. I'm also totally addicted to freebie hunting, And not just for scrap freebies, Some of my best other than scrap freebies over the years have been a complete queensize quilt cover set from England, a leatherman multi-tool, an igloo cooler, tons of samples and full size products, photo paper and other printing supplies, pens, calendars, cook books and magazines,

7 - I've found that I prefer to have both photoshop cs2 and paintshop pro 9. They're usually both open at the same time, Oh yea, ArtRage too, lol.

Next comes tagging 7 others. I'll be back tomorrow to do that. My brain is fried from trying to think up 7 things about myself, lol. When I get this tired my fingers tend to forget how to type. Goodnight, cya tomorrow :-)

New 'Micro' Kit :-)

I really like the 6 inch by 4 inch brag book size scrap pages. It's alot easier for me to send a 6x4 layout into Walgreen's Photo to be printed for 15 cents than it is to send in an 8x8 or 12x12 from $1.50 up. I've filled a photo album already this year and urgently need a new one, lol. Don't get me wrong, I do make layouts in all 3 sizes. Sometimes, if the layout resizes right, I have my larger layouts printed in 6x4. With my larger 8x8 or 12x12 layouts I like to make a picture dvd so I can pop the disc in my dvd player and watch a slide show, very much like the slide shows available on most blogs. Last month my fav designer Paula Yagisawa aka DreamerPaula released a gorgeous 6x4 full kit called "Micro Flowers" at her Gotta Pixel store. It was the first kit I've used that was designed in 6x4, I usually resize down from my full size kits. I immediately started having ideas for my own 'Micro' 6x4 kits. The kit I have for you today is my first 'Micro'. But first, I have some layouts to share. These first two I made with Paula's 'Micro Flowers' ---

Here's my munchkins again :-D. I made these layouts as a 2 page set, I have them meet on the doodled flower side. I did throw in my own touch in a couple of places. I made the frame using all 5 colors of the fibers in the kit. I love the charms, Paula also included a blank charm. I just embossed a recolored to match arrow on the blank charm. The colors in this kit are fabulous and it's so fun and easy to work with. You can check it out for yourselves at Gotta Pixel.

I have my first 'Micro' kit, designed in 6x4, to share today, 'Spring Pastels Micro 6x4'. Truly the only thing 'Micro' about this kit is the layout size, there are a whopping 50 papers and 80+ elements. All papers are 6x4, 300 dpi, and all elements are scaled to size. Here are a couple of layouts ---

These layouts are my beautiful daughter Courtney with son Jake first and daughter Abbi second. Several items were made with CU items by members of my ADS Designers Group. Isn't that mushroom the cutest? I've made both of these layouts into brag book pages as a bonus :-) Here are your links ---

Papers - Download Here

Elements - Download Here

Brag Book Pages - Download Here

Don't forget the June 1st Popsicle Paradise blog hop. There are 23 of us at last count from my ADS Designers group participating. I have to tell you the kits are fantastic. This is going to be HUGE and GREAT!!! You don't want to miss this. Busy on June 1st? No worries, the blog hop links will be up for at least 30 days. Clear out some space on those crowded hard drives, you're going to want it, lol :-D

A Quick Freebie :-)

I have some glitter papers and brads to share. I made them to go with an upcoming kit but as I finished more of the other papers and elements, I decided I didn't like them with that kit anymore, But, I do really like how they came out so here's my newest freebie, Black Glitters. There are 5 glitter papers and 10 oval & square glass brads. The preview looks really crappy here, I promise they look much better than the preview :-)

Download Here

New Kit :-)

I'm so proud of myself, I actually kept my dentist appt this week. I have a very bad habit of letting my phobia take over at the last minute and not going. I had one extraction and one filling. The shots to numb me up were horrible but the rest went fine. It is nice to be able to chew my food properly again. I'm mighty tired of soup, lol.

I have a new kit to share today. I'm really bad at kit names, I call this one Square Swirlies.

Papers - Download Here
Elements - Download Here

As always, please when sharing, send your friends here to my blog. Please support the fight against digital piracy.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for June 1st. There's a giant ADS Designers blog hop coming, We still have new designers signing up. Make sure you block yourself a good amount of time, it's going to be great!! Check out the listing of ADS Designers in my sidebar, our group is growing all the time, We have a great group for aspiring designers/commercial use freebies. It's the best!! Info on joining available at Digiscrapilious

I also want to say thank you for the wonderful condolences comments and emails I've received on the passing of my mom in Feb. They mean the world to me!!

I have several new kits in the works and a new commercial use freebie as well. Check back soon :-)

Toothache :-( & Autism Awareness Collab Kit :-)

It's been a long, painful 10 days or so. I've had the worst toothache I've ever had, plus I've been very sick with it. So now I have the trips to the dentist, I'm VERY phobic with dentists. It usually does take pain or an abcess to drive me there. I have my second appointment tomorrow, my tummy is already in knots, lol. You know I'm sick when I don't feel up to being on my computer, I'm so sorry I've been away so long, I had planned to have a cute mini ready for NSD, but..... I should have it ready in a day or so, There is a much more important post I'm late for ----

Donate to AutismSpeaks.Org

send the receipt to XandraMartinDesigns@yahoo.com

with Autism Charity Kit in the subject field, and you will be sent the download links and password!

I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to participate in such a worthwhile project!! Here's a peek at my part -

I'll be back very soon with my next freebie :-)

New Freebie :-)

I finally finished my kit 'April Grunge' for the Stone Accent Studios April Color Challenge. This is my first kit made for a color challenge. I think it came out really nice :-)

Part 1 - Download Here
Part 2 - Download Here

Spring Polka Dots Last 2 Parts :-)

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get the last 2 parts of 'Spring Polka Dots' posted. I've been feeling abit under the weather, but not quite so crappy today, so. Here are the last 2 parts. There may be an add-on coming, I'm working on a alpha :-)

Part 5 - Download Here

Part 6 - Download Here

As Always, Please when sharing, send your friends here to my blog. Please support no digital piracy.

I have a kit ready to post for the April Color Challenge at Stone Accents Studio. Check back later, I hope to have it posted very soon :-)

2 Freebies Today I is CU Ok :-)

A few posts back I mentioned there was something really cool coming, we've been given permission to post teasers so ----

Mark June 1st on your calendars, it's a day you're not going to want to miss. I've been participating in an aspiring designers yahoo group started by Crystal of DigiScrapalicious and The Template Club. We are making a mega collab kit. There will be LOTS of parts!! Trust me, you don't want to miss this, the previews are looking fabulous!! Information on the aspiring designers group can be found at DigiScrapalicious :-)

On to the freebies ---

Freebie #1 is a set of 2 quickpages for Spring Polka Dots. Here they are in use with my grandkids, my little munchkins --


I'm sorry the alpha I used isn't included in the kit yet. I'm just starting to work on my own alphas so I hope to have it ready for you soon :-)

Download Here

Freebie #2 is a set of Commercial Use ok Layer Styles, made in photoshop cs2. These are an add-on to my first kit 'Over the Rainbow'

Download Here

As Always, when sharing, Please send your friends here to my blog. Please support no digital piracy!!

Come by tomorrow for the last 2 parts of Spring Polka Dots :-)

Spring Polka Dots Parts 3 & 4

Here are parts 3 and 4 of Spring Polka Dots ---

Part 3 - Download Here

Part 4 - Download Here

As Always, when sharing, Please send your friends here to my blog. Please support no digital piracy!!

Keep checking back, there are 3 more parts to Spring Polka Dots, and, I have a new CU freebie coming soon :-)

New Mega Kit :-)

I have a new mega kit to share. It's around 87 files and 177mb. I call it Spring Polka Dots, here's a preview of the entire kit -


I have it divided into 7 parts of about 25 mb each, hopefully it will be ok for dial-up users. Here are the first 2 parts -

Part 1 - Download Here

Part 2 - Download Here

As Always, when sharing, please send your friends here to my blog. Please support no digital piracy!

Stop by tomorrow for the next parts of Spring Polka Dots :-)