Alright ladies (and gentleman) it’s time to kick off fall, but I don’t want to make you jump entirely out of summer quite yet so I’m going to start with something fun and memorable. I’m sure that you took plenty of family fun pictures over the summer and it’s time to make those memories last!

For those of you who have been wanting to take the plunge into digital scrapbooking I am offering a $10 gift certificate for one lucky reader to go shopping at Bits 2 Kits!

The gorgeous digiscrap pages that I have been designing for the last several months have all featured art by SAS Designs… Sarah (the lady behind the SAS) is the owner of Bits 2 Kits and I want all of you to have a chance to work with her inspiring kits.

If you truly are brand new to digital scrapbooking she even offers many great basics and the $10 gift certificate will truly get you off to a great start.  I am even happy to help the winner choose the perfect kits for their needs. If you don’t have a program that you can use to create digital layouts I can recommend several and most of them are wonderful for organizing, editing and sharing your photos too.

Feel free to browse through my DigiScrap Gallery right here at A Frog In My Soup to see many of the kits I have worked with by SAS Designs… but Sarah releases new kits almost every week along with great extras and more.

Here’s a couple of very fun layouts I did recently using her kits…

Featuring SAS Designs’ Flowers In the Sunshine Kit

Featuring SAS Designs’ Yummy Berries Kit

In this case I featured my niece in both, but in just a bit I’ll be uploading a page using Flowers in the Sunshine with photos of my twins… just to show you the versatility of most of these kits!

So, it’s time to enter… to do so, please leave a comment and tell me about your favorite summer photograph and how you’d like to make that a lasting memory!

Want extra entries (of course I do that!)? Here’s what you do, just make sure you leave a NEW comment for each new entry!

• Become a Facebook Fan of A Frog In My Soup!!!
• Tweet It: Just tweet this giveaway with a link to this post and make sure your comment has your twitter handle in it.
• Blog It: Write a post about this giveaway (with a link to this post of course) on your own blog, make sure your comment has a link to your post.
• Stumble It, Kirtsy It, Digg It, Submit to Mommy Blips: Submit this giveaway to any of these sites and earn an extra entry for each one…and make sure your comment has your Username.

It is void where prohibited, be sure to read my giveaway policies here.  Be sure to enter by July 6th, 2010.  This giveaway is open to US addresses only.

Disclosure: I always give honest and forthright reviews and will not present something that poses a conflict of interest &/or that I do not like. I love SAS Designs and I am blessed to be able to be part of her Creative Team and work with her kits for free.  I am, however, providing this gift certificate to one lucky reader to get them started, SAS Designs and Bits 2 Kits are not personally sponsoring this giveaway. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Teenagers…possibly one of the most difficult categories in the digiscrappers (and parents) world! Not only do we have the initial challenge of even getting a photo (you try getting a good one while attempting to catch a teenager off guard…trust me it isn’t pretty), but then we have to find a “look” that works for a teenager.

I’m not saying that there’s a magical way to suddenly make our teenagers love photos and their scrapbook…I generally think that for many teens it’s simply a period of time where they can’t appreciate it as much as they will when they are older.  I guess I see my job right now as simply trying to quietly document these years.

Finding good kits to portray a teen in a complimentary and “hip” way can definitely be a challenge. So here’s a few tips when you are looking…

• Look for bright/dark colors that have depth and texture.
• Look for elements that are a little different…no more cutesy bows and buttons, they want metal brads, splatters, etc.
• Keep it simple: combine the papers and elements in a very simple way using a fun/funky font to complement and enhance the layout.
• Look for templates: there are a lot of great templates out there and this can be a great place to start for teen pages if you are stuck!

This week I created a page of my 14 year old using SAS Designs’ Bits In Between kit:

I have more fun ideas in my scrap gallery: here, here, here and here.

Great fonts to use in teen scrapbook pages:

I actually almost forgot to expand on one of the most important parts of a teen page…great fonts! Quick suggestions: it’s hard to go wrong with a simple typewriter font; anything that is a little grungy usually will work.  Fave sites to get fonts….

• www.1001FreeFonts.com
• www.DaFont.com

{Scraphappy Wednesday}

This week I have been having a TON of fun playing with SAS design’s new kits (see below for where you can buy her kits).  Apparently I needed to make up for lost time creatively…I hadn’t scrapbooked for several weeks due to computer issues and was finally able to start doing so again…sooo exciting.

Because I’m going to list all the stores where you can purchase SAS Design’s below, I will simply give you the name of each kit and you can go from there.  Don’t forget to check out my Scrap Gallery (the pictures below will take you there if you click on them) where you can see all of my very favorite layouts!

Using the kit Tweet Times (and Layered Masks kit)…

Using her Argh kit (very very fun for boys)…

If you noticed that I went with a grungier look this time…you’d be right!  I was having a lot of fun with her masks! There are a couple very nice ones in the Argh kit and she has a very fun Layered Masks kit that will go with any scrapbook layout that you want to create a simple grungy look

Where to buy SAS Designs…

• Bits 2 Kits
• ACherryOnTop.com
• My Life & Scrap

Loads of fun things are coming up, including a very fun boy qp and girl qp freebie using the tweet times kit……stay tuned.

WooHoo! It’s that time of year again! The one day where we have a legit excuse for our scrapbooking.  This year you’ll notice it’s iNSD or interNational Scrapbooking Day (be sure to stay with this post to the end for a fun freebie in honor of iNSD).

But whatever you choose to call it, pull up a chair, grab snacks and a couple of friends and mingle with your memories!  Even if you can’t join a group to scrap spend some time reminiscing and enjoying your creative side sometime soon!

It’s also a great opportunity to plan something for your friends to get together and scrapbook! Or a day away alone to scrap even…however you love to scrapbook now is your chance.

Here’s a couple simple simple layouts I’ve been working on the last few days with several more to come….

All the hoodlums boys! Taken at Great Wolf Lodge in December and using a brand new kit by SAS Designs called Blooming Blossoms (font=segoe script, nothing fancy)

Sweet Little Miss is truly growing up too fast for my liking…already a year old at least she’s still tiny!  Also using the beautiful Blooming Blossoms by SAS Designs (font: SP Pretty Purkey).

AND…to kick things off I have a fun scrappy freebie for you!!!  Just click on the image below and you will be taken to a site to download the QP for your own personal use. Once it’s downloaded, simply unzip and use with your favorite image editing program.

It is a full 12×12 page and all you do is simply place the photo behind the quick page and print it out at your favorite local photo printer.  Please enjoy!  Page created by me using Natural Symphony by SAS Designs.

Natural Symphony Quick Page Freebie

Ok I had time to create a couple more layouts this week. Again of my littlest niece who just turned one.

I loved having a chance to play with SAS Designs’ Natural Symphony kit this last weekend.  I stuck with the basic idea threw in stitches and some ribbon in the background, used one of SAS Designs’ Grungy Photo Edges and basically just cut the photo out with it making a mask instead. Clustering and a curvy text area complete the layout.

Reminder: I am on SAS Designs’ creative team, something that I feel very honored to be part of! That said, I do receive her kits for free in exchange for creating layouts with her work and posting them online. I am not in any way required to post these on my blog but choose to do so simply because I love her products so much.

That’s right, Scraphappy is back!!! WooHoo! I cannot tell you how much I have missed my digiscrapping but not that I have the new program installed on my computer I can resume that creative part of my life once again and that makes me very happy.

Here’s one of the two pages I added to my Digi-Scrap Gallery today…

This fun layout features one of SAS Designs’ newer kits…Song of Spring. Fonts are Rockwell Extra Bold and Segoe Script {I haven’t had a chance to get out all my fancy fonts but fell in love with the simplicity these two created}.

Ok, so just a word on what I did…this is pretty much an homage to paper scrapbooking. Yeah “old school”. But I love it!  I just couldn’t resist with the pics and colors just really playing with it all in a way I would have back when I scrapbooked with paper. I hope you enjoy it.

One of the primary reasons for scrapbooking is preserving memories and traditions.  As I downloaded this beautiful kit named Simple Pleasures by SAS Designs (coming out soon), I was looking through some of the scanned photos I had in my computer and this one just jumped out at me.

This is me and my sisters on an Easter Sunday morning.  Another white space layout with lots of pretty elements.  This is such a beautiful kit!

I know that I’ve been a little MIA this past week and I’m sorry.  The end of football season and sick children have really been…well…kicking my tail for lack of a better description.

This weekend though, while I was caring for some of the sickies, I was able to do a little scrapbooking.  Simple stuff, but because of these beautiful papers, they turned out so pretty.  Here’s the one I want to show you…

(Papers Ana Flor’s Bothanicals)

Featuring none other than my beautiful 6 month old niece with that incredible smile I love so much!

This week I’m creating a layout based on my scrapbooking muse. As I asked myself what my inspiration is, I instantly knew the answer…all the children in my life.  Not just my sons (as you see frequently here) but my beautiful nieces as well.

So, this week’s tip is a simple encouragement.  Find what inspires you…both in scrapbooking and in life and focus on that this week when you are creating.

Here’s a pretty layout that I did of my niece sleeping while my sis was “wearing” her.

Kit: Hoot Do You Love? by 4 Shades of Blue!

This week I have a very ScrapHappy Giveaway surprise for all of you! If you have been longing to get that first baby book done of your precious little one and maybe even make some fun gifts for Grandparents for Christmas, I have an amazing offer for you.

I’m not going to post one of my own layouts because this one is all about you! If you have just had a baby, grandbaby or know someone who has, I’m sure you have some amazing photos! I’m also sure that most of you are finding that although it would be fabulous to have those photos magically appear in a book, the time required to really get that first baby book completed is overwhelming.  Let alone all the relatives that want their own copies.

Enter, Camie Designs‘ Your Birth Story Photobooks (one for boys and one for girls)!  Here, check it out for yourselves…