Masks vs. Masks with overlays . . .

How many of you out there love masks like I do? I get questions on mask use quite often here so thought I would share today with you a simple method to make yourself a mask FROM items in your digital kits to coordinate WITH your kits.

There are sooo many masks out there, how do you use yours? Do you use the mask alone?

Or do you create an overlay for over your photo that you have masked?

I have been experimenting with different kinds of masks to come up with something to post here as an example, there are fancy swirly ones, and there are simple ones, by simple I mean I have simply taken the potting shed and lattice from my Potting Shed kit, added some of the ivy and merged it down into a mask, pretty simple, (here I have changed the color to black for viewing purposes, but it is not necessary to have a mask in black!!) but then add your photo and then add some goodies over the top of it and it just seems to "pop" a bit more, yes I know this is a rather crude example, but wanted to explain for someone and this seemed like the easiest way, hope this helps you out Sierra!! Any more questions, feel free to email me :)

I will try to do a little more like this on occasion, to answer some of the emails I get here, If you have questions on how something is done, give me a shout and I will see what I can do!!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

The Potting Shed Freebie Today

Hello all, it's Saturday and boy is it cold out there!! Makes me daydream a little more about spring when I look out to see all snow and bright white out there, wishing for some green and spring flowers about right now!!

Today I have a little freebie for you from Susan, a starter page and a cluster for coordinating pages created from the Potting Shed kit, this kit is in the shop as well as free for server use for a limited time.

All links to your right on the sidebar.

Grab your freebie today HERE

What got me started & a book I purchased

I have always drawn, painted and loved anything "art" related, and yes I did alot of scrapbooking, the old fashioned way, when I learned there was digital scrapbooking out there, this was a whole new world for me, no more paper, no more mess, WOW this could be fun!! I started picking up digital kits back in 2001 and soon realized I didn't particularly care for what was available, that began my quest to learn to make my own things and create my own kits for what ever project I was working on at the time, as folks seen the things I was using, they wanted to know where to get them, so I started uploading them to Artscow for others to use, since then I just haven't stopped, I love that site to make/print my books, they ship right to me all completed and pretty enough to sit on my coffee table to show off.

I wanted to write this post because I get a LOT of questions on "how" to start digitally scrapbooking, I will say this, I studied Graphic Arts in school, have picked my way through Photoshop and learned along the way when it came to digital scrapbooking, one thing that is clear to me, each person has a different style and expects to do different things, we each come up with a "style" that is all our own, however, with that being said, there are easy ways to get the end result no matter what your style may be, the simple basics, back in 2008 I purchased my first book on Digital Scrapbooking, I wanted to see if I could get any tips out of a book, I enjoyed it, it was fun learning techniques that I did not know how to do, or ways that made what I was doing easier, this book was called SCRAPBOOKING DIGITALLY, amazingly it's still available out there for purchase (I just looked tee hee) I think for someone just starting out, this could be a nice study guide for you, it gives tips and tricks along the way with little tutorials. Just when I thought I "knew it all" I would find something in this book that told me I was wrong HA (it even came with a trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0) I know that is an old version now, not even sure if the current book for sale is the same or has been updated???

Anyway, for those of you who want to check it out, most places have Wal Mart, it's available there online or go to your local store and peek in it, check it out and see if it could help you start digitally scrapping.

Have a great day everyone!!

RETIRING SPECIALS ALL $1.00 in Etsy Shop

I have just completed another round of slashing prices to $1.00 and throwing a ton of stuff over into the RETIRING SPECIALS in my Etsy Shop

clickable link to specials below

cheyOkota Retiring Specials $1.00

Once these sell out, they will not be back, run over and see if there is anything you would like before it's gone :)

Thanks for stopping by and I will be back soon with more goodies for you all!

Color Collection ~ Violet in store now

VIOLET what a pretty flower (pansies too) and such a vibrant color!!

My pansies are blooming even though they have been covered in snow a foot deep, it melts and they open and smile at me again, tough little plants!

I have lots of new goodies in the store, the retired specials are running out, once gone I won't replace them because I want to thin out the store a little bit, so stop on over and check out the new goodies as well as the things on their way out, grab any you want from the retiring section and start scrapping those photos :)

Have a great day everyone!

I will see you all back here soon

Potting Shed Freebies

Hello and happy Tuesday to you all! Today I am showing off Susan's work on clusters :) Aren't they adorable!!! She created these freebies from the Potting Shed, in the Etsy shop now as well as free for server use for a limited time, all links are on right side bar.

The Potting Shed just had me wishing for spring, even though we are in for a nasty winter storm later today, it's really going to be dumping some snow on us, how about you, what's your weather like where you are?

Hope you have a great day, you can get your DOWNLOAD HERE

Valentine Conversation Hearts Freebies

 Well here we go everyone, above you can see the freebies created for you by Susan for the Conversation Hearts kit, there are blank candy hearts as well as a slew of sayings, but of course, you can write on them anything you'd like :)

This kit and others are available FREE FOR SERVER USE just add to your kits and use them for creating all kinds of fun things, you can get those HERE

DOWNLOAD TODAY'S FREEBIE HERE