Thank you for making the past three years amazing!  It is time for me to take a break from designing.  Although I will not longer be in a store, I still plan on offering freebies and will have some collaborations soon.

Be sure to take advantage of the huge discounts! Some items are up to 60% off! Sale ends August 31.

Keep an eye on this blog and my newsletter for freebies and announcements. I will have more information coming soon regarding web use of my designs for personal blogs.

This is not a good bye but a see you around!

Thank you so much for being great customers!

Happy scrapping!
-Amanda

I was browsing through Amanda’s store to see what kit I wanted to bring “back” to the lime light and this is the one I chose:

I think Penelope might be one of the very first kits of Amanda’s I worked with.  I love love love the color combination.  You can scrap such a variety of photos with these colors.

I didn’t know this but Penelope was inspired by Amanda’s favorite colors, shapes & patterns.  So, when you work with this kit you will be creating a layout using items that are near & dear to Amanda’s heart. 

And the name!!  I love the name of the kit, too!  P-E-N-E-L-O-P-E……Penelope!!!!!!!!  It is just fun to say, isn’t it?  Okay, maybe it’s just me.  Just one more time…Penelope :)

Here are some inspirational layouts using this sweet kit:

by HeatherKate

by LoriJ

by ltarbox

by Ccouch – an fun hybrid project!!

There you have it….a little rewind back to Penelope!  I hope you enjoyed the little stroll down memory lane!  Have a great weekend everyone!

~Helen~

Kevin & Amanda “who”, you ask?  Well, I don’t know their last names.  I only know them as Kevin & Amanda.  Seriously, you don’t know who they are?  Let me introduce you to one of the cutest couples I think I have never met….IRL at least.  P.S. This is a DIFFERENT Amanda than “our” Amanda :)

This is Kevin & Amanda of www.kevinandamanda.com

You might know them from Amanda’s famous Fonts For Peas site located HERE.  And, if you have never heard of the Pea Fonts then seriously you MUST link over there and check them out!  I download every new set Amanda creates.  I am addicted to Pea Fonts!!

There are so many places to get sucked in to on this blog and I will share a few screenshots (all of them are linkable to Kevin & Amanda’s blog) of some of my favorites.   When you click on Recipes at the top of the blog prepare to salivate involuntarily and to suddenly have an urge to cook a meal and then photograph it! 

A great way to start exploring is just by clicking on the various Categories listed in the right sidebar of the blog.  I placed red dots next to some of my favorites in the screen shot below.  Yeah, I pretty much love the entire list :)  

Remember me talking about fonts earlier?  Well, Amanda has TWO areas where you can download free fonts created by her.  The screen shot below is linked to the very page where you can have a looksy!!   

I am itching to create this Shabby Chic Dangly Earring Frame shown in the screen shot below.  This is one of the projects in her Crafts & Scrapbooking section.  Again, the screen shot is linked to the page where this tutorial is located!     

To really, completely 100% get to know all there is to know about Kevin & Amanda (well okay, as much as they want you to know about them, lol) then I highly suggest you link over to the FAQ/Contact area of the blog.  You will be ready to send them gifts by the time you finish exploring their site and learning their history together. 

If this is your first time meeting Kevin & Amanda then I hope you enjoyed the introduction and that you will become as big a fan of this blog as I have.  Oh, I almost forgot, you MUST check out the blog they set up just for their dogs, Howie & Miley, two very adorable Boston Terriers. 

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!!

~Helen~

Good day, Amanda fans!! How is everyone doing this week? Are you excited for the weekend? I am!!! This weekend my hubby and I are going to be doing a date night!  We are going to the local drag car races… well… technically, my hubby has a radio appearance to do before the races start… and we do have to drag happily take along kiddo. But it’s time with my sweetie, so making lemonade out of lemons, right??  My hubby made it a goal this year that we would have one date night a month. It has been a bit of a challenge, hubby traveling for business… and then my mom (who is our babysitter) had back problems… in fact last month’s date night was going through the drive thru of Taco Bell after picking my hubby up from the airport. LOL!

So, this month’s journal prompt…

How do you and your significant other find time together? Do you have special traditions? Do you spend time this time together as a family? What was the best or worst date you have had? What would be your perfect date? What is the most romantic thing your significant other has done for you? Or you for them?

Here is the layout I did on our June date… using Amanda’s most awesome kit, Calypso:

I would love to see your pages… please link us up in comments so I can leave some love!!

{{Hugs}}

Rebecca aka mamabee

Ah the power of Shift+Alt (in PhotoShop Elements, you just use Alt)! I have to admit after a year and a half of digital scrapbooking, my digital life was changed when I learned the world of Shift+Alt. The way I describe what the Shift+Alt combo does is it resizes an item from the center point of that item. Therefore when you are resizing a photo mat for example it is perfectly equal on all sides of a picture. Let me show you what I mean since it is hard to explain. Here is my almost finished layout (This tutorial is done in PhotoShop CS3):I want to add photo mats to my pictures. I start by duplicating my photo layer.Then you select the bottom of the two duplicated layers and resize it. When you resize this item, press Shift+Alt down and drag the corner handles.I wanted a photo mat on all three of my pictures, so I repeated the steps three times:At this point I’m ready to clip a paper to the photo mat.Then I added the date and my page was done. Everything used in this tutorial is from Amanda’s Just Add Water kit.

Natalie

Hi everyone!  Helen here to hopefully brighten your day a little :)  How was your weekend?  I don’t know if you have heard about the awesome event taking place over at Scrap Orchard right now or not….called Iron Scrapper?  If not, I highly encourage you to link on over and read up on it!  I am hosting one of the first challenges in the event.  It is a scraplift challenge where participants must use a kit from the July 16th Fresh Fruit category and lift a layout from a specified designer’s gallery.  At first I thought it bombed but as it turns out there have been over 50 people take part in the event so I am just thrilled.  It has kept me very busy with questions and follow ups but it is good practice so I don’t mind.  I did manage to scrap ONE page for the first week’s main challenge.

As you know our dear Amanda has a kit in the Fresh Fruit category this week.  It is the AMAZING and oh so beautiful kit, CALYPSO.  I fell in love with this kit when it was first presented for her stint at The Digi Chick and I was thrilled to see it come to Scrap Orchard as well.  I am sure you know it by now but I am posting the preview anyway because hey, I can’t get enough of it…..

Several participants in my challenge have used Amanda’s kit for their entry.  I thought I would give them some much deserved recognition for their hard work in doing this multi-stepped challenge!  Here we go….

by joana1n (scraplifting This Cute Face by Ramona The Pest)

by kaledain (scraplifting Artist In Training by Alahnasmommy)

by mrsburgess (scraplifting Guy by Amy Stoffel)

by virginiap (scraplifting Berry Love by Bdigis)

Mmmmmm, aren’t these just gorgeous?  I love how they really show off Calypso in all its’ glory!!  That is about all for today.  Don’t forget, you can grab Calypso at 20% in the Scrap Orchard Market for a few more days!!!!  Have a great day everyone :)

Hugs~~Helen