Freebie Download–Spring Banner

Happy Spring!

Hope its warm in your corner of the world – still a bit frosty here but I’m sure spring-like weather is just around the corner!

Here is a fun project to help you celebrate warmer weather, blooming flowers & all the fun springtime happenings!

This banner is designed in SBC+ and each panel is designed to be printed as a 4x6 image – you can easily print these at home or where you have your photos developed. 

I have done all the design work for you and you can download the file here at 4shared.

These banners are so fun to make & come together so quickly!  You can simply cut out the banner shape, string each panel on ribbon and hang or you can add a bit of dimension if you like.  I’ve included embellishments to cut out by hand or you can add stickers, paper flowers and sticker/paper ribbon and other embellishments.  I did a bit of both – cutting out the images included with the banner and also adding layered some Days of Spring Layered Stickers.

Here is a close up shot of each panel – you can use the CASE method (Copy And Steal Everything) or have fun adding your own touches!  This would be a great activity for the kids, too!

These little guys are my favorite! You can find them in the It’s A Boy and It’s A Girl lines as well as in the Tiny Treasures products which includes a Cricut Cartridge as well as those same images available in digital formats!

I created the banner using Storybook Creator Plus, the Digital Tiny Treasures Frame & Tag Content and It’s A Boy Digital Kit. 

My sister CMC, Karen Beavers, put together a handout explaining how to create these banners – you can download it here.

Spring Fling Sale!

 Storybook Creator Plus and all digital content is on sale until 10 p.m. CST April 1st!

Don’t forget - you can download a 30 day free trial of SBC+ too!

If you’d like to purchase some pre-made banners I’ve uploaded some to the CM Digital Center.  Each banner is in a different album.  Once you’ve logged into your account these will show up in the “Photos” category under “My Friend’s Albums” at the bottom of the page.  New to the CM Digital Center?  Sign up & you can get 20 free prints! 

Click on each album name to view the contents and order the prints.

Easter

 

Pastel Christmas  by Doreen

(Spells out “Merry Christmas”)

St. Patrick’s Day

Create

Valentine’s Day by Lori Bickford

Thanksgiving by Lori Bickford

Boo! by Lori Bickford

These banners are easy to make and could be used for all sorts of occasions – sports teams, names for children's’ rooms, birthdays, graduation – the sky’s the limit!

Thank you to my sister CMC’s for sharing their banner files! 

Cropping for Causes - Using Digital Embellishments in Traditional projects.

 

Welcome to the croppers stopping by after the  fundraiser crop for Inflammatory Breast Cancer!  Please take a moment to learn about the symptoms of IBC – it is a rare and very aggressive form of breast cancer.  It is usually not detected by mammograms or ultrasounds. 

I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute to the goody bags for this crop and thought it would be a good chance to feature some of Creative Memories Think Pink products.  A portion of the sales from this line go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), an organization I am proud to be associated with! 

Unlike many organizations that associate themselves with raising awareness for breast cancer (like the Susan G. Komen Foundation) the BCRF does not have a huge portion of their funds going to pay immense salaries, lawsuits against those that use “for the cure” in their efforts to raise funds for other causes and they most certainly do not fund other organizations.  You can be sure that by contributing to the BCRF and buying CMs Think Pink products you’re actually helping to fight against breast cancer. 

BCRF continues to remain one of the most fiscally responsible charities in the country.
BCRF holds a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, its tenth such designation since 2002.
Additionally, BCRF is the only cancer organization designated as "A+" by CharityWatch.

If you print the image below as a 4x6 print you will be able to punch out the buttons with CMs Circle Maker and use them on your traditional projects.  They look great on top of the Scallop Circle, too. 

This was created using CM’s digital scrapbooking program – Storybook Creator Plus (SBC+).  I use this program for so much more than scrapbooking!  Flyers, invitations, gifts, album covers – SBC+ is an easy to use program that can help you create custom items quickly!

Here are some items I did to show you just a few quick and easy ideas to mix digital and traditional items – creating hybrid items.

The Think Pink line is available while supplies last!  If you want these items order them before they’re gone!

This page uses decorative cardstock  (it has beautiful silver foil accents) and printed paper for the photo mats are from the Think Pink Specialty Pack.  The paper ribbon is from the Think Pink Embellishment Pack.  “Cropping for a cure” title and ribbon button embellishments are from the Think Pink Digital Kit and are included in the freebie print at the top of this post.  The button at the bottom of the page is mounted with Foam Squares on top of a Scalloped Circle punched out of Pink Shimmer Cardstock and that is adhered to a scalloped circle punched out of Raspberry Cardstock.  The Scallop Circle Maker punches out 2 shapes.  Sliding the lever on the base allows you to choose which shape to cut – scallop, or decorative scallop.

Paper and die-cut border at the top of the page are from the Think Pink Specialty Paper Pack.  I used the Silver Metallic pen to accent the edges of the photo mats and journaling strips.  Layering a black scalloped circle underneath a pink one gives the embellishment a bit of a shadow.  Ribbon button is from the Think Pink Digital Kit and can be found in the freebie at the top of this post.

Epoxy Sticker is from the Think Pink Embellishment Pack.

I used the computer to print out the “Think Positive…” sentiment for this card.  Much easier, more precise and a lot cheaper than using stamps!

CM also has a Ribbon Maker that can be used to create all sorts of awareness ribbons.

I love helping out with fundraisers!  Please let me know if you need help raising funds!  Even if you’re not local I’d love to help!

Paper + Digital = Hybrid!

Being a Creative Memories Consultant I sometimes decorate blank albums with new product to have on display. I try to use products that I will be able to use myself but sometimes I make things with no end project in mind. When the Cherish papers came out I fell in love with them and couldn’t wait to play with them! I just love the richness of the colors and the patterns in this line. CM had a Cherish kit for a 7x7 album – complete with pre-cut pages, stickers, vellum shapes and an idea for each page (I love not having to re-invent the wheel!) I made up the album just like the examples shown in the book that came with the kit. I showed it off & then it sat on my shelf for a loooong time :)

My 10 year wedding anniversary was last September & I knew I wanted to do an album for my husband but wanted to keep it simple. He's not a scrapbooker & barely tolerates having his picture taken ;) I pulled out the Cherish album that was just waiting for photos & decided to fill it with pictures of us throughout the years. I used Memory Manager to sort through the thousands of pictures I have to find favorites of Rich & I together (this is super easy to do if you tag your photos in Memory Manager). I imported those into Storybook Creator Plus and then converted them to sepia. I added some digital elements from the Cherish Digital kit (which is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD here) and others that coordinated (mostly from the Romance digital kit) and a few other embellishments (from the digital freebies on the CM Project Center) and then printed them out 4x6” an put them into my Cherish album.

Here are a few pictures I used in the album:

This one uses a free photo mask from the CM Project Center

 

This one I used the magic wand tool to remove all the color from the picture, except for the flowers. 

A few pictures of the album pages:

Super easy & quick.

The Cherish 7x7 kit isn’t available anymore but the 12x12ish paper is – you can find it here (while supplies last) in the clearance section of my CM website at a fantastic price!

I love this album & so did Rich! Hope you like it, too!