A new start

So my poor blog has been VERY neglected!! I am starting a new year and I want to give my blog a fresh new start too. I want to post more about me, my life, my photos, what I have going on and my layouts of course :) I am going to participate in Tangie's Art Journal Caravan and I am really excited about doing something for ME! I think it will help me to have something that I do simply as a way to express myself. I am still giving designing a break and I am really not sure what will happen with that because I just don't forsee having the time needed to devote to it. I still have my one store open at CSD so I guess we'll see. I want to share my art journal pages on here so be on the lookout for that and of course the occasional freebie too :) But for now hopefully I can give my blog a new look and such before the new year. I'll be back and enjoy the last little bit of this decade!! I have big plans for the next one!

Some pics and stuff

So I decided that I wanted to schedule a photo shoot with the girls at least once a month. I don't feel like I take enough pictures of my girls. (at least not good pics) Anyways we went Sunday for our October shoot (actually the 1st of November but whos counting?) we went to the arboretum which was PACKED! I really didn't know so many people go there just to hang out, we only have ever gone to do pictures for people, even though we have a family membership. But we really need to start going more, we bought a sandwhich and laid out a big blanket and they had a band playing, it was really cool. The pictures on the other hand did not go so well. We forgot the battery for my newer camera so I had to use the OLD digital rebel (like the first one!) but at least I brought it I guess. We also forgot the sippy cups, huge mistake! Neither of the girls wanted to cooperate but here are a few of the ones I could salvage.

anyways at least I got some new pics and hopefully next month goes better. I also have another freebie for you from the SAS-y lady contest. It was my week 2 entry called Soul Sisters. Hope you enjoy it!

DOWNLOAD HERE
AND HERE

Also, I was having so much fun being a Studio Crew temp at scrapbook graphics they asked me to stay full time!! YAY! I am so thrilled to be there and it is one of my very favorite sites anyway so it couldn't get much better! But they are having a chat tomorrow at 9pm EST and the theme is Color my World. Be sure to check it out and you could possibly win a gift certificate to Studio Peta!

Here are some more layouts I have done too. I have been in a funky mood lately and I think it shows in my layouts.

All of the layouts were made from products available at scrapbookgraphics.com

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween and wish you all happy scrapping!!!

Its been a while

Wow! I have been seriously neglecting my poor little blog!! Well I have been super busy with school lately so you'll have to excuse my absence. I also have had to look at things and make a decision to take a major step back from designing for the time being. I closed one of my stores and will not have anything new coming out anytime soon other than maybe a template or mini here and there. But I have been having great fun this month as a Studio temp for Scrapbook Graphics! It has been soooo great, seriously the best gig in town so if you ever get the chance be sure to snatch it up!! Their designers are some of my favorites and look at all of the cool stuff I have made using their products.

Peta Boardman Spring Kiss bundle

Glam Fairy's Mon ami Perrot

ON Designs Grabbag 16

Randi Oh Boho Grace

You can pick up all of these products HERE. Ans they are having a get to know you chat tomorrow at 9pm EST sponsored by Miss Vivi, another of their fabulous designers. Be sure to stop by for your chance to win gift cards to her store!

And finally if you didn't get to pick this up at the SASy-lady contest here is a little winter themed mini for you to grab.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Hope you like it and thinks for stoping by!! As always happy scrapping!!

October Blog Train, CT Call and New Release

Choo Choo I am part of a blog train this month! But first my new release! It has been a while and my poor blog has been neglected too because of school starting this month. Bu there it is in celebration of my birthday in September my new kit is Celebration. You can pick it up at My Store it will be on sale through the weekend 50% off.

And a freebie quickpage for you. Hope you like it!
DOWNLOAD HERE

Also a CT Call! If you are interested in working with and promoting my designs please e-mail me at francoisphotography@yahoo.com with a little about you and a link to your most complete gallery. The requirements as listed above are 2 LO per kit posted to 3 galleries, enable each new release and to have fun! Not much and I only plan to release two kits a month. Hope to hear from you!




Now what you have been waiting for! The blog train :) My portion can be downloaded HERE

The next person in the train is

Scrappin Page Designs


and you can find the complete list of blogs

HERE


Hope you enjoy the ride and happy scrapping!!

Page Frocks new releases!

Page Frocks has a super cute new kit in the store today Goodbye Summer and it is 50% off today and 30% off through the weekend. She also has these super cool Blocked Templates out that I used on the layout of my oldest Aubrey. She also has a freebie to go along with Goodbye Summer on her blog.



Be sure to go check them out and Happy Scrapping!!

4shared hacked

Aparently 4shared was hacked sooooo i am going to have to change the links to all of my freebies except for the last quickpage. Please don't try to download anything until I post that all of the links are fixed because I don't know if they are infected with a virus or what is going on. It will take me a bit to re-upload and change the links but I will post when they are all done. The Soul Sisters quickpage is on my personal server at Divine Digital so no problems there you can download that one with no waiting! Thanks!

SASy Lady Contest Week 2

Ok I made it to week 2 of the contest and I got to lay in bed today with the laptop so I got my mini kit done. It is called Soul Sisters and I really like it! You can go grab it for free HERE.

I also put together a quick page for you so be sure to grab it too!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Hope this makes up for missing Friday's freebie! Hope you have a great day and happy scrapping!

Sick :(

No freebie today but I will make it up to you when I get better. I'm sick with God knows what...it may be a Lupus flare up but I hope not! Hopefully I will be up and running again soon. Have a great night and happy scrapping!

Freebie Friday

Well I decided to make a quick page to go along with my little mini Winter Love kit. It is my weeek 1 entry to the SAS design competition and you can pick it up free HERE

and here is the quick page to go along with it....I think I may do an addition and make a full kit. I like it and I am always wanting a winter kit that is versitile and not just Christmas related.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Hope you enjoy and have a great night and happy scrapping!!

A Contest and Designs in Digital News

I entered another contest this month...I know crazy right? I just can't seem to say no but this one is a designer contest so here is my week 1 entry...

It is at Stone Accents Studio and you can download my portion and about 70 other designers entries HERE. Now Designs in Digital is having a fun contest starting on the 9th also called project gallery, a spin on project runway. Be sure to go check it out and play along HERE.

Lori of Page Frocks Designs also has a few new items in the store. The first is a Fall kit that I absolutely LOVE!! It is really fun and easy to work with and the colors are just great! Check it out...

She is also releasing a new series of products called the basics collection. You know like the little black dress for digi scrapping! Here are the first two...

More to come from her in this collection so keep your eyes open but you can find all three of these products HERE. Be sure to check back by on friday for your freebie!! Have a great night and happy scrapping!

Awesome News and my first tutorial!

I have a new store!! Coolscrapsdigital.com has been kind enough to offer me a home and my store is officially open!! In celebration of the grand opening and my birthday I am having a sale all month!!!


It is also CSD's birthday and they have lots of fun stuff going on this month! Including a blog train, lots of sales and a treasure hunt! Here are some previews...

You can find the blog roll for the train HERE and be sure to stop by CSD to find out about all of the other goodies!

OK now for my first ever tutorial!! This is going to show how I do the soft color efect that the pictures in my header have been treated with. This is created using Photoshop CS so I am not sure how it will relate to other programs but the general process I am sure can be duplicated. I am going to use my favorite picture of my oldest baby girl as an example. So first you want to open and resize. I like to use a 4x6 to start with most layouts so that is what this is set too. Here is your first screen...

now you want to go to Image>Image size and use these settings for a print resolution picture.

next I like to sharpen a little so I go to filter>sharpen>unsharp mask...

Now I like to keep the amount low and use the radius to do maost of the sharpening to avoid over pixilating. The settings I used here are amount=40, radius=4.0, and threshold=0.

The next step is to duplicate the picture 2 times so that you end up with 3 copies of the same picture. You can either right click and select duplicate layer or you can go to Layer>Duplicate Layer. Now you go to your second layer and change the blending mode to screen and then to the top layer and change the blending mode to soft light. After this select the circle at the bottom of the layer pallete and choose chanel mixer. Your screen should look something like this...

Now check the monochrome box at the bottom and I always use 100% red channel because of the soft glowy look it gives skin in portraits but you can experiment with different % in each channel if you would like. Here is what my box looks like...

Now finally take the channel mixer layer and pull it down below both of the duplicate layers. Now you can adjust the opacity on the top two layers to get the look you are going for and you are done! Here is the final screen and you can also see the final picture in my header also.

I also made an action of my steps for this tutorial and I am giving is away as a participation prize in my brand new photogrpahy challenges at both scrapbird.com and coolscrapsdigital.com. Be sure to go by and join in the fun to get the action for free! Hope you enjoyed and as always have a great day and happy scrapping!!

New Release and a Freebie!

My new kit Summer Blues is in the store today!! It will be 50% off from today until Sunday so be sure to head on over to Scrap Bird and pick it up! I had soooo much fun with this kit and it is my favorite so far! Here is a preview and some lovely layouts from me and some other very talented ladies :)

layouts by me

layout by Stephanie

layout by Rose

layout by Kay

And as if the kit wasn't enough I made and add on sampler with some neat word art, velum strips and a really cute buggy!

DOWNLOAD HERE

I am also still in search of some lovely ladies to be on my Creative Team so if you are interested please e-mail me at francoisphotography@yahoo.com. I require 2 layouts per kit posted to 3 galleries and hope to release 2 kits a month. I also would like some enabling and blog posts (if you have a blog) for each kit. Hope to hear from you and as always have a great day and happy scrapping!