4.1.08 - It's NO joke! We're Open!!

yeah! it's a sneak peek at 4 of the five "apples"! Hmmmm...I wonder what could be in the 5th!?!?

Read the post below to hear about ALL the Free'bees' or simply click on the picture of today's Free'bees' above to go Bobbing for Apples right now!

3.31.08 (part 2!) The "skinny" on ScrapOrchard!

ok...so...today is the last day for me to get my "stuff" together! And by "stuff" I really don't mean the "G Rated kind"! It has been a crazy busy past few weeks, with the Sunshine Girls Easter Collab (did you love it??) the new Sunshine Blog and Challenges...(WE so rocked that challenge ladies!! Did you see how many of us from PPD posted there? LOL) and..... my new store!!!

So here's the "skinny" on the store and a sneak peek at next week's GRAND OPENING week of events calendar!!

Shortly after Kami's (shall we call it "departure"?) from that other store she told me that she was planning on going out on her own and opening her own store and I was soooo incredibly jealous, because Kami ran "the other store" wonderfully and I loved it there with her... but she encouraged me to stay at "the other place" because she wasn't sure when she'd get this store up and running and didn't want me to lose out on any income for the family (so sweet isn't she?) Well we all know how that ended...LOL! So in a later conversation with her she asked me to go into business with her!! Now, along with Kami, TammyKat of TammyKat designs and Kim, from KCS Designs we're opening our own store!!

Kami's fabulous sister Mel (LittleGinsu) is our webmaster, and between the 5 of us we've been busy trying to get the site up and running...repackage our kits for the store, create some great "welcome to ScrapOrchard" events, create our very first MEGA Kit (ooohhh...I LOVE it! hint hint...look at my blinkie!!) make a TON of freeBEES (get it? Bees...in our Orchard? he he he!) for you guys (including a FULL kit at the end of the week!) fill our gallery, make coupons....SIGH...! Well you get the point right?

Anyway..I really feel like SO is my new "baby" and I am so invested in seeing that baby grow and become a REALLY great place to go and not just shop (although I DO hope you do that OCCASIONALLY at least! LOL) but to go to be inspired by our Gallery, to learn from our Tutorials and for it to be an overall great place to spend your "digi-scrapping" time!

So... on to the good stuff! Here's what we have in store for you this week, starting TOMORROW, April 1st!

April 1st - Bobbing for Apples
It's been TOO long since I dunked my head into a big bucket of water and pulled up an apple! Here's the best part...no wet hair, AND you'll get something better than 5 *yes 5!* apples!

April 2nd - Blue Ribbon Recipe Exchange
We made you some CUTE ScrapOrchard recipe cards so "fancy 'em up" add your favorite recipe and post them in the gallery so we can swap some good ones! (Mine is for Breakfast COOKIES!)

April 3rd - FreeBee Mini Kit Challenge - "Apple of My Eye"
Don't you dare try to cheat either! LOL! You'll need our FREE mini kits to get started!

April 4th - FreeBee Mini Kit Challenge - Freebie Mini Kit Challenge #2 "Plum Crazy"
They assigned this one to me??? (I can't IMAGINE why??) but here's a sneak peek at my own personal LO using my Plum Crazy Kit:





April 5th - FreeBee Mini Kit Challenge #3 -"Aren't We a Pear?"

April 6th - FreeBee Mini Kit Challenge #4 - "You're a Peach!"

April 7th - HUGE FINALE! A complete "Scrap Orchard" kit that will only be available for FREE download for 48 hours! (then it's too cute to go to waste, so we're putting it in the store...so don't miss the download!)

Each day will have prizes either for all or for randomly drawn people who post layouts! It is going to be soooo much fun!

But do me a favor? Stop by here first and then link to the store....you never know what you might find!....

See you tomorrow ladies!!!

Click HERE to go Apple Bobbing!!!

(or for those of you who simply cannot wait and have already registered ... today!! LOL)

3.31.08 What's this? A new BLINKIE?

Hmmm... I bet that this blinkie will take you somewhere great....

....TOMORROW! LOL! On April 1st! (did you get the hint? "you'd be a FOOL to miss our Grand Opening? Come on...tell me you got it! he he he)


7 days of freeBEEs (including a whole new kit!), fun, coupons, challenges and a WHOLE lot more of me than you've been seeing around here lately! LOL!

I promise that I'll be back more often here soon! But opening up a store (did I say "A" store? Perhaps I meant 2... hmmm...yeah maybe 2...) new stores takes a whole lot of work!

BIG POST TOMORROW... (please come back? pretty please?)

Shauna



p.s. we SO rocked the Sunshine Blog ladies!! LOL did you SEE how many of you posted LO's there!! Woo Hoo!

3.27.08 What? A Sunshine Girl Challenge!?

Do you want it??? he he he...gotta WORK for it!

Let's show those Sunshine girls what WE can do! Head on over to the SUN blog

Sunshine Studio Scraps Blog

and take our challenge! Follow the rules, post your LO, and get the kit, my overlay, AND if you mention in the comments that you came from Pineapple Plantation and that WE are the best Sunshine fans around...(and send me your email address...LOL) I'll give MY bloggers ANOTHER prize!!

HA! Match that Sunshine Girls!! We rule!! LOL
(yeah...it's almost 4:00 a.m here..I'm a bit sleep deprived and it's starting to show!)

p.s. do you LOVE it? My new banner? do you love it? (Thank you, thank you, thank you Megs!!)

3.26.08

Hmmm.... what could this mean?




perhaps why I've been so busy??

2.24.08 A Smile...

It's a "quickie" tonight ladies...I'm busy busy busy with new plans, new beginnings and more stuf to share! I just had to say thank you to all my lovely blog readers for their great words of support and kindness....

You guys ALWAYS make me smile...

Enjoy!

Download your Smile Mini Kit HERE
Password: smile (what else?? LOL)

p.s. want to learn something new? Leave me a comment with what you want to learn in photoshop and majority rules!! It's time for a new tut isn't it??

I'm WALKING ON SUNSHINE!

The Mega Kit

I AM Walking on Sunshine!! My house is now on the market!! WOO HOO!!! Now cross your fingers for me ladies...and certainly ANY of you interested in purchasing a 1600 sq ft. townhouse with an ocean view (and a few little lizards) on the GORGEOUS island of Oahu...feel free to shoot me an email! ROTFL!!

And speaking of being "on the Market"!! Have you guys seen the FABULOUS! Walking on Sunshine HUGE MEGA Collab kit we Sunshine Designers (not sunshine sweets, LOL that was the name of the kit and some of you apparently misunderstood :) )It is spectacular and we worked sooooo hard on it!!

Here's the rest of the previews (if you missed them in the golden egg) and where you can pick it up!

The Shabby Kit

The Bright Kit

My Commercial Use Overlays (no credit required!)

The FREE Bonus Papers (with Commercial Use Overlays)

Walking on Sunshine Brag Book

Walking on Sunshine Brag Book Album 3

Walking on Sunshine "Shabby" Brag Book

Walking on Sunshine "Bright" Brag Book

Walking on Sunshine CU Glitter Styles

Walking on Sunshine CU Plastic Styles

Walking on Sunshine CU Plastic Glitter Styles

Walking on Sunshine CU .PNG Glitter Fills

And if you want some "sunshine of your own... Here is where you can find it!

Ellie Lash Designs

Do It Digi

Sugar Plum Paperie

WebDesignz by Kristi

OH!!

And don't forget your coupon!! It's good at any of the stores above for $1.00 off of the Mega Kit!


And don't forget to come back tomorrow...I have a NEW Freebie for you!!!

3.21.08 Oops! Soooo Sorry!

Just a quick post! I am soooo sorry about the confusion with my download today! One of my fabulous blog readers brought to my attention that I had an additional file in my Sunshine Sweets freebie that was slowing down your download time considerably... (thank you dear!) BUT...when I updated the re-zipped file, I accidentally replaced it with the "Golden Egg" file (which I put together and zipped for the Sunshine Designers, and was sitting next to mine on my computer!) The correct file is all updated, and you should be able to download MY freebie now! Soooo sorry ladies! Please forgive?? :)

3.20.08 The "HUNT" Begins!!

*Be patient ladies! Your frantic and hurried search for the eggs is causing delays with my 4shared! LOL Hang in there and have fun! Noooo worries...links will be up for a long time!!*


Isn't it pretty! Not much to post for those of you who who know the rules... for you first timers... here you go! Enjoy!

*QUICK UPDATE* Please Read!! One of our sunshine girls has had an emergency and we're unsure if her links will be active by the time you get there... If for any reason you come to a site that doesn't yet have it's links posted or if those links don't yet work... PLEASE just be patient...this is a really complicated matter with all of our different time zones! The links WILL eventually (and by eventually, I mean as quickly as we possibly can) be corrected or posted!.... Remember this is fun!! LOL

"Welcome to the Sunshine Sweets 1st Annual Easter Egg Hunt!" The Sunshine Girls (and surprise... we've added a Mr. Sunshine to our little designer group) hope you enjoy our newest collaborative freebie "Sunshine Sweets".

In the spirit of a traditional Easter Egg hunt we've decided to send you on a little, and VERY easy, hunt for our freebies! Simply click on my egg and download my freebie... inside your download will be my portion of "Sunshine Sweets" along with a folder with your next egg and the link to the blog of another Sunshine Girl (or guy! LOL) just follow that link and click on THEIR egg...their download will contain the link for the next blog... and so on and so on...

Oh! and what would be an Easter hunt without the GOLDEN EGG?? Somewhere during your hunt, you will download the Golden Egg, this link will take you to somewhere where you've NEVER been before, someplace NEW and VERY exciting!! This new place will have a great surprise for you (and only you, our loyal egg hunters)! This surprise will also contain a link that will help you continue on your hunt until at last your journey brings you back to my little blog... where your hunt will be complete!

No hurry...all of our links will be active for plenty long enough for you all to find your eggs, crack them open and enjoy your sweets in time for Easter! So, get busy...have fun and have a great Easter!!!

Here's MY "Sunshine Sweets for your basket"!



Don't forget! Click my egg to download the goodies for your "basket"! (and leave me some love!)

3.20.08 - It's almost here!!

ok ladies, ok! Patience is a virtue remember?? ROTFL!

It's not much longer now...(COUGH COUGH an hour or so COUGH COUGH) and the egg will be here!!

Hang in there!!

:)

3.20.08 Thank you, Thank you! And...some Egg Hunting Reminders...

First of all, as always, your emails, comments, 4shred thank yous and cBox posts of support oare sooooo welcome! I even got a ton of "job" offers today...have no fear though, I have found a safe place, or TWO (gasp) to "land" from my resignation at DC. And as always, you guys will be the first to know when and where! Now, on to the important stuff! LOL

TODAY is the big day Ladies!! I'm all "atwitter" with egg-citement! So here's the "skinny" on the hunt... sometime later today the "hunt" will begin!

Keep checking back here often (can't tell when we're going to start...all very "hush hush") and once you see my egg, START TO DOWNLOAD...LOL ! If any of you have been past "Sunshine Groupies" you know that the downloads come in the thousands and 4shared starts having FITS..so download early to avoid the mayhem! LOL But if you run into problems, don't fret...just check back and download later, we're all keeping our links up for quite some time, so no hurry! Then....

Open my folder and in THAT folder will be another folder with next egg, next clue, something like that in it...open that and inside will be a "link" to your next egg. I will have a "clickable" link...just double click on it and it will take you to *____'s* blog OR you can look at *____'s* egg and I will have her blog address typed there (just in case).

IF you get to someone's blog who does not have a link up yet...PLEASE be patient! I had NO idea the amount of planning and work it takes to pull something like this off..NONE and while we are all desperately trying to post at the same time so that you won't have this problem, we have designers from the US (all time zones), Brazil, Portugal, Australia...you name it! So getting us all to post on the same DAY is confusing much less than the same minute! LOL. If a post is not up just wait, it will be shortly and you can continue the hunt... email me or leave a comment in the BLOGGER Comments if you find a problem, I'll try to get it resolved as quickly as possible.

So...get your basket's ready...no pushing, no shoving...we're all playing nice here ok??

See you later today!!!...I'm SO stinkin' EXCITED!!!

Aloha,

Shauna
aka "Your Digi Scrappin' Easter Bunny"

3.19.08 - Really sad day for me ladies...

So, how do I even begin?? I guess I start by saying that unlike most of my posts, this one won't be filled with LOL's or laughs and giggles, but I do need to let you all know that there have been some big changes for me recently. Some really good and some pretty sad...

If any of you have looked to purchase my kits from Digital Candy today you realize by now that I am no longer there. I resigned today both in support of a dear friend of mine and because I no longer felt that DC was the right place for me. I need to be surrounded by people whom I can trust and admire...this is no longer the case at Digital Candy not from an administration standpoint anyway.

For those of you new to my blog, you may not "know" me well...but for those of you who have been with me from the start, I hope YOU do know that for the most part I'm pretty easy going, pretty "go with the flow" kind of gal, and I try and keep a really positive attitude.... but my heart was broken by how things were going at DC and I could no longer stay.

Without going into great detail (as that would, frankly, be unprofessional) I can tell you that after the current owner of DC summarily decided to end a partnership with her co-owner and partner at the site (Kami), then refused to pay this fabulous lady what she owed her, and then told outright lies about her in our Designer Forum there, I realized that my hope of staying on at DC and it remaining a good and positive place was shattered.

I sent an email of resignation to the current owner as well as to my fellow designers at DC letting them know just how I felt about the treatment of Kami and the character of the woman who they now worked for, and within minutes, (and without any contact from the owner or administration of Digital Candy) my store was shut down, and my access to the forum there removed.

I knew (from the character of this woman) that I could expect no more from her but that. But nevertheless it hurt that she couldn't even be bothered to contact me directly before summarily shutting the door to DC in my face.

It's a sad day for me ladies and the drama has been high...quite a few other designers have left DC, and from the looks of things, more will be doing so in the near future. For those designers left, I wish them only the best and hope that somehow Heidi (the owner) sees the error of her ways and makes DC, once again, the place that it used to be.

In the meantime I am "storeless" and without a place to sell my current designs...have no fear though I have some things in the works, and I'll let you all know as soon as I can where my new "home" is... and my hope is that you will all follow me there and continue to support me as a designer.

After a day spent on the phone and on the computer sending emails and PM's etc. I got NO designing done, so I'm sorry, but no freebie today...perhaps tomorrow will find me a bit happier, with a bit less drama and a lot more time to work on something for you all.

As I write this though, a thought has come to me...LOL! (woo hoo...I did manage to fit one in!) I made a promise to give away one of my Digital Candy kits to 3 lovely ladies who posted some "luv" for me yesterday. Well here's the thing about that...I really believe that in this world you get what you give...and frankly...I need to "get" some good feelings after my rough day...and what better way to get that than to give...

So I'm NOT going to give a kit to 3 ladies who posted...I'm giving a kit to EVERYONE who posted...and frankly because it's waaay too much work to have each of you email me and then email you back with links to a kit... I guess I'll have to give away a kit to EVERYBODY! (wow! I feel kind of like Oprah...LOL)

So here it is...my gift to you...it's one of my smaller kits and one that I made early on, but I like it and I hope you do too... (BTW...Ignore the DC "wrapper" on it...I would have removed it if I had the time...LOL) PASSWORD: gift4you

Here's to a new day, with new hope and hopefully some new "blogging friends"

Aloha friends!

Click HERE to download Spring Pansies as my gift to you...

Click HERE to visit me...guess you'll have to wait for that one won't you!! :)

3.18.08 What? A special Egg??? And a FREE Kit from my store?!!?

Ok...so perhaps I played up this BIG surprise a bit...LOL now I hope you all won't be disappointed! LOL

So, as I was saying yesterday...the EGG hunt...starts on the 20th...click on my egg, find the next egg...follow that link...find another egg.. OH YEAH...now I remember!

Somewhere during your hunt...you will find a special egg....you remember the egg hunts from your childhood don't you? What was the egg you were all looking for? A GOLDEN EGG! Yup...someone...someone new and (somewhat?) surprising will have a golden egg in their download...THAT egg is paired with a special link that will take you somewhere NEW...somewhere warm and sunny (sorry ladies...it's not Hawaii! he he he)... and THAT place will have a BONUS freebie for you. AND in THAT download there will be some pretty cool stuff in it (stuff that, in addition, to this mega freebie has been taking up a good portion of my designing time! LOL)

Ok, so it's nearly 1:00 a.m. AGAIN and unfortunately I have no freebie for you today... But if you leave me a comment or some love anyway, I will choose 3 lucky people at random to win a kit of their choice for FREE!!! So leave me some luv...and have a great day!!!

3.17.08 Spring is sure to follow... BIG CHANGES!!

LADIES!!! We have soooo much to catch up on! I've been a baad baad blogger and spent far too much time away from the reason that I started designing in the first place...YOU!

There is sooo much to share with you guys that I'm not even sure where to start, and it's 1:08 a.m. so I can't possibly fit it all into tonight's (this morning's?) post! So you'll have to come back tomorrow and check in too... k?? LOL

First and foremost...do you like today's freebie?? It's a bit different than my usual style (although of course I have my "grungy" paper (made with my second set of CU overlays - in the store as soon as I get a chance! LOL) I had NOTHING planned for you tonight and I just couldn't let another day go without giving you all something, so I put this together and hope you enjoy it!!

Secondly...WE ARE JUST DAYS AWAY FROM THE HUGE, GIANT, FABULOUS (seriously time consuming...) SUNSHINE SWEETS EASTER FREEBIE! And I am soooo stinkin' excited to show you guys what we have been hard at work at for so long!

So here's the deal... we're not only givng you a HUGE GIANT FABULOUS FREEBIE, but we're giving you an Easter Egg hunt too!! Now...this isn't a hard, have you spend all day, make you work for it, "wish they would just give me my darn freebies already!" Egg hunt, no no no...I too am a freebie hunter and the only thing WORSE than no freebies, is freebies that I have to work too hard for! LOL Soo...it's a quick, easy and "wow! I am having so much darn fun!" kind of Easter egg hunt!

Just come pay me a visit on the 20th...(yup! just days away!) and you'll find an egg. (not hidden mind you..just a GREAT BIG EGG... here on my blog... CLICK ON IT! and you will be able to download my portion of the freebie...inside MY download folder will be another Egg (to someone FABULOUS!! and a link (I'm going to include both a HTML file where you simply click to open it and it will take you to this FABULOUS designer's blog AND an RTF file with her link typed in it...(just so there are no problems)... head to her blog and click on her egg...download her portion...inside HER download will be another egg...and another link... are you catching on yet?? EASY right!?

And soooo worth it!

But I haven't gotten to the best part yet...

(yawwwnnn!).... so sleepy.... I can barely keep my eyes open... must... go...to...sleep....

(guess you'll have to come back tomorrow to find out the best part!!! he he he!)

Enjoy the freebie and I'll see you tomorrow!

Click HERE to download Spring is sure to follow... PASSWORD: spring

Click HERE to visit me at Digital Candy!!

pssst.... there are a couple of "clues" to some upcoming surprises in this post! Hmmm...better take another look!! :)

3.14.08 - Vintage Grunge QP Freebie!

So, Vintage Grunge is here!! It began as a freebie quite some time ago, and I fell in love with the colors and the shabby vintage feel of it, so here it is a full kit!!


it's a HUGE kit and my Sunshine Girls were so kind and did some GREAT layouts and QP's for me! In fact, Amy (from Polka Dot Plum) did this beautiful QP for me to give to you all! (all together now.... Awwwww! Thank you Amy!!) When you get a chance head over to Polka Dot Plum, as Amy and Lauren (two military wives and BFF's) have a great blog and an even better Cafe Press store!

Here are some other LO's done by my sweet Sunshine Girls with Vintage Grunge:












Thanks to Amy, Michelle, Megs, Monica and Ellie!! I love my Sunshine Girl CT!!! LOL

Enjoy your QP, (please leave Amy some luv that I can pass on to her...she says she can't scrap! Ha!)

Click HERE to download your Vintage Grunge QP (password: vintagegrunge )

Click HERE to check out Vintage Grunge yourself!!

3.12.08 I've MISSED you guys! (oh and a new freebie)

So I've been so busy busy busy with all that is my life that I've not spent much time here "at the Plantation" in the past couple of days and I've missed you guys!! (is it weird that I've missed people that I've never met?? ok, so it's weird...so what!)

I made a little freebie for you all...I really like it and hope you do too! One of my new BFF's over at our Sunshine Designer's forum - Lauren - shared some vintage photos with us all (thanks Lauren!!) and I extracted this frame and made you a little cluster frame... it looked pretty bland in the preview, so I added some pics from Hawaii...they're NOT included in the download, but you can look at them here anytime you want! LOL

Just a little tip... when you layer your photos into your frames (don't forget to read my cluster frame tutorial found HERE if you haven't already) put the BOTTOM picture (my rainbow picture on the TOP layer, the MIDDLE picture (pineapple) in the middle layer and the TOP picture (Diamond Head Crater and Waikiki Beach) on the BOTTOM layer (reverse order of the actual pictures) That way they'll look just like the preview!

Photoshop shortcut of the day:

To make your current brush/eraser smaller press your LEFT BRACKET key...to make it bigger press your RIGHT BRACKET key. Saves me a bunch of time!!!

More tomorrow!!

Click HERE to download your Cluster Frame (password: missyou)

Click HERE to come see me at Digital Candy!!

3.10.08 - Designer Template 2

Ok! A quickie tonight ladies! Between home repairs and spruce ups and taking the kids to go see The Spiderwick Chronicles (to get them out from dh's feet during home repairs and spruce ups) it's been a busy busy day! (BTW The Spiderwick Chronicles was a GREAT movie...it is dd Emily's favorite series of books and she's been looking forward to seen the movie for about two years now! LOL) Even I enjoyed it!

Ok, so I created this template quite some time ago and then wanted to fix it up a bit before passing it on to you all, but since it's been awhile since my last blog downloadable freebie...I figured I needed to give you all something soon! LOL

So here's my next template...enjoy!!

password: Pineapple (it's case sensitive so remember the capital P!)

Aloha -

Shauna

Click HERE to download your template

Click HERE to visit me at Digital Candy!

3.8.08 Hawaiian Monk Seal at Ko'Olina

OK! OK! OK! Now stop your whining ALL of you, or I WON'T tell you the Hawaiian Monk Seal Story!! he he he...of course NOW it won't be nearly as funny after all the build up! LOL And hang in there, it might be long, but I think you'll find that my ultimate humiliation is worth the read...

Ok, so my favorite beach in all the world is about 5 minutes down the road for me and it's called Ko'Olina or "the lagoons" it's a series of 4 gorgeous natural lagoons on the leeward coast of Oahu (past Kapolei, before Waianae if you ever come to visit!) There is a Marriott resort there called Ihilani (sounds like EEE HA LAA NEE) and it's where all of the Pro Bowl Football players stay when they come for the game (if that tells you anything! LOL) It's also the spa that I would LOVE to go to...but sigh...sales must pick up QUITE a bit before that happens! LOL

Here's some pics that I've taken there (I believe these are both at Lagoon No. 4)

This picture is taken of the lagoon from the beach.

This picture was taken from behind the rocks that you see in picture no 1 above (on the right hand side) back up towards the beach.

So now that all of our furniture is gone, there's not a lot to do once the kids and dh are home for the evening so we've been heading to the beach most days and enjoying the GORGEOUS sunsets that dip below the horizon right smack dab in the middle of the lagoons. So the other night (the day of the infamous lizard incident) dh and I went to the lagoons by ourselves (the best is lounging on the beach with nooooo kiddies around begging to play or "look at me!" lol).

Ok, so right away after getting there, dh and I head in to swim. This lagoon is pretty small and most days when the tide is out you can nearly walk the length of the lagoon (not so in the others!) and dh wants to head toward the rocks that you see in picture no. 1 above. (The line of rocks that separate the lagoon from the open ocean). Now let me first say that I'm not a HUGE fan of slimy sea creatures, but for the most part they don't frighten me when they bump up against me. That said, the two exceptions would be jelly fish and crabs (yes, 3 if you count sharks, but duh...THAT'S a given!). And there are hundreds and hundreds of crabs that live in the rocks in the lagoons (ds Ethan LOVES to crawl up on there and catch them! Me? Not so much) so I am a bit leery to follow dh, I'd rather just float around and hang out...but I acquiesce, he is after all taking me to the beach without the kids! :)

So out we go towards the rocks and the water is getting deeper and deeper and then starts to shallow out a bit the closer we get to the rocks... just then I look up (taking my eyes off the bottom of the ocean JUST long enough to see it ) there is a HUGE Hawaiian Monk Seal sunning him or herself on the rocks right there in the lagoon!! Here's a picture of an Hawaiian Monk Seal (although not THIS particular one! LOL)



I think this one was a male simply because of it's size - it was HUGE - and they are so incredibly rare to see unfortunately, because they are one of the most endangered animal species in the world (less than 1,200 in the world!) so I was fascinated! I point him out to dh and we go in a bit closer to look without disturbing him.

As we get closer to him I'm trying to remember what I know about the seals and the one thing that I can absolutely remember is that they are gorgeous, but have been known to be aggressive with humans AND known to bite them! (Ok, hang in there we're getting to the funny part...LOL) So dh, who clearly has more sense than I, decides to hang back a bit, while I stupidly continue to advance.

I don't want to disturb this magnificent creature so I'm really quietly walking towards him and the water is getting more and more shallow when I realize (and say to myself)...oh yeah...there are a LOT of crabs around here...I don't want to get bit, that's right, I'm afraid of crabs"!!) so I CONTINUE to slowly walk toward the huge seal, but instead of keeping my eyes on him, I watch the floor of the ocean (hello...remember the crabs? and yes, it is VERY easy to see the floor of the ocean in our gorgeous clear Hawaiian waters if any of you were wondering!) And eewww! This is what a Hawaiian Swimming Crab looks like!!! Yuck!



Now the OTHER thing that I forgot about at this point is the "pull" or the undertow that is sometimes pretty strong near the rocks of the lagoon... in some lagoons at certain times of the year they actually rope off the rocks as the undertow is so strong that it can suck you right out of the lagoon if you're not careful.

Ok, are you following me still? Gorgeous HUGE and rare Hawaiian Monk Seal, Crabs, Undertow and silly me...any idea where this is going?

So as I'm tiptoeing out to the rock with the seal on it, NOT watching where I'm going (hello...still looking out for crabs) the undertow, unbeknownst to me is pulling me more and more quickly towards the rock, and therefore, the seal. Within no time at all...seconds really...yup you guessed it...BAM there's Shauna rammed right into the rocks and literally feet away from the rare, gorgeous, HUGE, potentially aggressive biting monk seal!!

Keep in mind that the WHOLE time I am walking towards this seal my dh keeps telling me "Shauna, I wouldn't get that close if I were you..." "Shauna, you're being silly..." "Shauna, come this way..." but do I listen? NO.

Editorial comment: If there are any Hawaiian Monk Seal activists reading this blog or members of Greenpeace or people who are thinking "shame on you Shauna!" this is an endangered animal...why would you disturb him!? I have only this to say... I SO did not mean to get so ^&#*! close to this animal! I simply wanted to get close enough to see his cute whiskers and take a good look at him!! I'm SORRY! And to make it up to him and to the other Hawaiian Monk Seals out there I am writing this cautionary tale for others to read and learn from!!! he he he!

Ok, back to my "cautionary tale" BAM! Shauna is pulled right into the darn rock! And several things happen almost instantaneously and simultaneously; ONE: I ram my shins and feet into sharp (very painful) rocks, TWO: Realizing (by the pain) that I have run into the rocks I immediately remember about the yucky "spider looking" crabs that I am now VERY close to, if not on top of, and I freak out - squealing like a little girl, THREE: the now, not so restful, Hawaiian Monk Seal, realizing that some idiot of a woman has bumped into his napping area, rears his head up and ROARS!!! LOUDLY... loudly enough to completely terrify the already crab-freaking-out-squealing-me into nearly wetting myself.

I am now desperately trying to push myself AWAY from the startled and, justifiably irritated, monk seal fearing now not just for my toes (from the crabs) but for my life!! (because, while the seal was in no way threatening to me at this point...hello!!! I don't know anything about how short this seal's temper is!

The tow is making my escape difficult and I turn to "run" still in the back of my mind trying to be mindful of the "yucky crabs" and I am SURE that at any given moment this huge seal is going to hop into the lagoon with me and take a bite out of my trespassing (not to mention somewhat meaty) backside!! I am literally almost ready to cry in fear when I look around to see where dh is...and where is my Airborne Ranger Light Infantry "hoo ah" dh?? Yup...back to me, swimming as quickly as HE can to get away!!! (the man is a triathlete ok?) and all I can think of, is him saying "hey babe... I don't have to be quicker than the attacking monk seal...I just have to be quicker than YOU!

With barely another look over my shoulder (I DO watch the movies ladies, and whenever the stupid woman is about to get eaten or slashed, she is FOREVER wasting her energy and time looking over her darn shoulder!)

Finally outside of the undertow, and swimming as quickly as this old body will let me, I swam towards dh, who is, by the way, now laughing his @$$ off at me swimming with a terrified look on my face! I now realize that the danger must be passed and take a brief moment to look back at the, once again, comfortably napping Hawaiian Monk Seal.

There you go...you've heard my monk seal story...I've once again humiliated myself in front of my dear bloggers and fellow designers...are you happy now??

:)

p.s. the moral of this story is .... don't be an idiot... when approaching a potentially dangerous wild animal, at LEAST have the sense to be more worried about HIM than you are of some yucky looking crabs... SIGH...

back to designing...safely...in my inflatable bed...

3.6.08 - Commercial Use Grunge Overlay Freebie

So I've designed my first commercial use item! (although you CERTAINLY don't have to be a designer to enjoy them!) The top picture is of the freebie - for everyone to RUN over to DC and snag it up! With the overlay, I've included a tip sheet for using it in PS and PSE (although it is a .png file so other programs can certainly use it). I also included the green paper that I created for the preview just for fun! Don't forget...you need to take a second to register at Digital Candy if you haven't already done so (come on...it's not that hard!) and just put the freebie (there are a bunch of other GREAT feebies there too ladies!!) into your cart and check out. If you don't purchase anything, it doesn't cost a dime! But you never know...you might want to throw some other stuff in your cart as long as you're there!! LOL

The other 3 pics are are of my first overlay set. You can use them for your own layouts, for creating kits to sell or for freebies or even scrap4hire! By layering the overlays, you can literally get dozens and dozens of different looks - hmmm...sounds like it might be a good tut...what do you think??

Ok, it's been a loooong day, trying to work on the Sunshine Girl collab effort for Easter (yeah!) and my Digital Candy stuff done, so my story about the Hawaiian Monk Seal has to wait another day!! :) Don't worry, it's WORTH waiting for!! he he he!

p.s. I miss your great comments on my 4shared account :( stop by the comment section of my post and say howdy ok??

Enjoy your overlay and create something wonderful today!

Click HERE to visit Digital Candy for your FREE Commercial Use Freebie!

Click HERE if you want to check out the whole set!

3.6.08 - Swing on a Star FREE Brag Book QP's with purchase of the kit

I've been working hard today on some designing for the store, and I have a freebie for you, but I just didn't get time to package it all up, zip it and upload it (not to mention posting it on the freebie sites etc.) So that, and the monk seal story will have to wait until tomorrow! (there's really only so much humiliation one person can stand in a 48 hour period! LOL)

But I do have a (kind of) freebie for you guys - and I wanted to let you know about the special anyway! Kami, of Ziggle Designs, and I took our Swing on a Star kit and made a brag book from it! 12 cute qp's that make a quick and easy scrapbook for you or a loved one! Kami had the great idea to give it away for a limited time if you purchase the kit, so there you go!

Here's the preview of the brag book (4x6 size) the brag book is automatically included with the download when you purchase the kit!!

ooh! and check out the adorable banner that Kami made for our kit at the bottom of this page!!

See you ladies tomorrow!

Click HERE to check out Swing on a Star and the FREE Brag Book!

3.5.08 - So, you think I live in paradise huh? Oh! and a HUGE Digital Candy Freebie!

Ok, so many of you have commented on how lucky I am to "live in paradise". And I'll be honest, it's true! I AM lucky, however, I still have to deal with many things that you "mainlanders" just never have to face! I'll tell you about TWO such things today...

First - not much to say here, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, I'll simply say this:

Yes, it IS a big, a REALLY stinkin' big MOLTING (do you see the yucky skin falling off the darn thing!?) lizzard! Go ahead and click on the picture to get a GOOD up close look at it! I dare you!

Yes, that is the window DIRECTLY ABOVE my bed (my stinkin' inflatable bed...). THIS is what I woke up to this morning. I composed myself long enough to take a picture (because, seriously, who is going to believe that this thing is in my house if I don't??)

Then it began to hiss (yes, I said hiss!) Dh was already gone, my two girls were no help at all and the little one thought he was in heaven running and chasing the *bleeping* thing. Then Kea (my Jack Russell) got in on the action and HE's running around trying to catch the STILL molting (can we all say "gross"?) lizard. I'm screaming even louder now because all I can think of is my dog eating the darn thing (who's probably sick with some skin flaking disease) and ME having to clean up the "aftermath".

Little man finally caught the darn thing and took it outside (a much better fate than the numerous geckos we caught this weekend that my husband sucked up with our shop vac (all together now..."Eeewwww"! Or the HUGE (some as large as 6-7 inches) venomous stinging centipedes that we often find in the house and have to CUT IN HALF and then flush (because even when you cut them in half they LIVE and run in different directions) or the HUGE (like nearly the length of my pinkie finger!) flying (yes I said flying) cockroaches that are ALWAYS in the house (and everyone elses in Hawaii too for that matter!) who Kea thinks of a tasty treat and catches and eats them before I can even find the bug spray.

I swear on my MacBook Pro (I love my laptop now....) that I am NOT making this up... ask my dear friend Cari who nearly moved out of my house while she was here and moved into a hotel because of the critters! (Cari, leave a comment and tell them it's true, or no meatball sub for you!!)

Oh, and with the length of this post I'll have to tell you my second story tomorrow. Suffice it to say that it involves me, a HUGE Hawaiian monk seal and my husband running away...

So, still think I live in paradise???

What? The freebie? Oh yeah! I'm taking the day off again, BUT the fab Digital Candy Element Team has a HUGE kit for you, so stop laughing at me and download your freebie!

Click HERE to get your free kit!

Click HERE to check out my new Layout Gallery just for me and my designs at Digital Candy (come on...post your LO's here! Please??)

3.4.08 - Add on Mini Kit to Tiptoe!

So, while I haven't been getting too much sleep (read last post if you're wondering why!) I have been busy designing! I've been having some fun with my new kit "Tiptoe", doing some personal scrapping (with stuff OTHER than my own thank goodness!) and hanging out with the greatest group of gals that I've have had the pleasure to "meet" online in a loooong time (other than my fellow candy girls of course! LOL) They call themselves the "Sunshine Designers" or the "Collab Girls" and they have been responsible for those FABULOUS collaborative freebies that some of you may have heard of... Like Whimsical Wonderland and Love Actually.

If you're new to digi scrapping (or have been living under a digital rock since before December) you may not have heard of this WONDERFULLY TALENTED group of ladies, but Whimsical Wonderland was one of my very favorite freebie downloads ever (not to mention the BIGGEST). At any rate, this fab group of ladies has taken little ol' me into their folds and asked me to help with their Easter MEGA collab freebie...of course I had to say yes!!

So yippeee! I've been trying hard to make a freebie kit that will hold it's own with these ladies and we plan on "releasing" the as-of-yet-un-named freebie sometime this month (before Easter). I'll be sure to keep you all up to date on when and where you can get all of the freebies, so stay tuned!

Surprise TWO is my freebie for the day. I know that I said I was going to slow down with the freebies (and I am ....really I am trying) but I really wanted to spruce "Tiptoe" up a bit and add some pizazz (ergo the glitter, a first for me I think)! So here's the mini add-on kit, perhaps you'll like it enough to check out the full kit at Digital Candy (or not! LOL) I'm going to leave the link active for 48 hours here on my blog and then move the freebie to my store at Digital Candy - so get it now while you can!! The password is: tulips

Either way, have a great day scrapping (or, like most of us...just finding and downloading those freebies!)

Aloha!

Shauna

This post has been edited to remove this link.

Click HERE to check out Tiptoe at Digital Candy

3.3.08 Taking the day off ladies - Funny Story!

Sorry, no freebie today - busy working on other design stuff. I do have a big treat for all of you (announcement soon, so stay tuned!)

I thought I'd share a funny store though, you might get a bit of a laugh! So, picture this; my movers are gone now and we have NO furniture, so dh and I go to Costco to buy an AeroBed (the big queen size, double layer one) we have it all blown up and made, ready for a good night's sleep right? It's the least we deserve after a long day of packing...

We lay down, cuddle up and all is well. Shortly after falling asleep I wake up to use the restroom (as I do about a THOUSAND times a night) and realize that there must be a slow leak in our new bed because somehow dh and I have both slid to the center of the bed and are kind of "stuck" there! I try (unsuccessfully I might add) to roll out of the bed without waking dh... when I finally make my way to the edge and roll off, the pressure that I'm adding to the bed disappears and dh's side of the bed lowers even more causing HIM to roll off the bed! LOL

Before I return from the bathroom, dh pumps the bed back up a bit, I "plop" down on the bed and it nearly flips dh up and over to my side of the bed!!! LOL We can barely stop laughing at the absurdity of it all!

Now we're both laying on the bed as it inflates and the layers of plastic between the two "layers" of this double bed start rubbing together with the inflation, making a crazy loud "popping" sounds ( at this point it sounds so ominous that I am fairly certain that the whole darn thing is going to explode, with me laying on it no less)! Dh and I are nearly wetting ourselves laughing as I tell him that if this bed pops with me on top of it that I might just stroke out! Here it is 1:00 a.m. on our FIRST night without our bed and we can't believe that THIS is going to be our bed for the next 4 months!

What about the rest of the night you ask?? Well, just read the above section 3-4 more times and THAT is how well it went!! Not a lot of sleep, but a whole lot of laughter!!

See you tomorrow ladies!!

Shauna

3.2.08 - Tiptoe Quick Page & Tut on placement!

QUICK NOTE! For those of you who had problems downloading yesterday's freebie - Sorry!! - I've fixed the zip file and you should be able to download it with no problems now (same link as before!!)


So, today's freebie and Tut - it has been awhile since I've had a good Tut, so while I was making this page for myself: (See below) I thought I'd take a few screen shots and show you the quick and easy way that I often place photos in frames. As always, this tut is for Photoshop & Photoshop Elements users (sorry other software users!) I use PS CS3 and try to include specific directions for PSE using 4.0, so if some of my shortcuts or ways to find things are off, email me and I'll try to help for other versions!

So after I made the QP, I wanted to take this picture of me (far left) and my two good friends Lonna and Beth taken while we spent the weekend at the Royal Hawaiian for our mutual birthdays (all in one week in May) this past year. Here we are out for dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse enjoying some drinks and a good time. I could have simply imported the one picture and then duplicated it twice, then dragged the photo three times to the frames and rotated and cropped until they all fit. Rather than doing that though I placed us each in our frames like this:

1. I opened my QP
2. I opened my photo.
3. I edited my photo as desired (here I just used CS3's Red Eye Tool - so cool!) and made a few lighting and color adjustments. (Did I mention that I love photo editing as well??)
4. I saved my photo with the new adjustments.



5. Now I'm ready to place us in our frames:

I select my "Magic Wand Tool" Here it is in the CS3 Tool Bar (SHORTCUT is to press W on your keyboard)


6. I use the Magic Wand Tool to "select" the empty space inside one of my frames. I do this simply by making sure that my QP (or in my case my "Frames" layer of my QP) is my active layer - just click on the layer.



and then Click on the INSIDE of the frame you want to place your picture in (for me this is the far left frame on the QP. You'll know that you've done this correctly when you see the "marching ants" as they're called moving around the inside of your frame (of course in the picture below, they're not "marching" lol - it's NOT an animated tutorial for goodness sake!)


now comes the cool part...

First, make sure that you have both your QP and your photo open and in your workspace (one should not be completely covering the other, you should be able to see at least a small portion of your picture)

7. Now (IMPORTANT PART HERE) click on your "Marquee Tool"


Either select it from your tool bar as shown above or SHORTCUT simply press M on your keyboard (TIP! Have a hard time remembering all these shortcuts! Remind yourself simply by looking at your tool! See the little M next to the Rectangular Marquee Tool? The little W by the Magic Wand? Those are your shortcuts! Click on any tool in the tool bar and they'll give you the shortcut!!)

Now with your Marquee Tool, click INSIDE the marching ants of your frame - if you click OUTSIDE, it will automatically de-select the inside of your frame. If this happens, just use your magic wand tool again and re-select the inside of your frame OR go to SELECT>RESELECT and your selection (marching ants) will re-appear. (Don't give up! I know that this sounds a bit complicated, but trust me it's NOT!)

Ok, click INSIDE the marching ants and DRAG your selection to your photo (doesn't matter where, just drag it there... now your EXACT selection will appear on your photo.

8. Now, again with your Marquee Tool selected, simply click on the INSIDE of those marching ants again and drag the selection to where you want it (select the portion of your photo that you want to show inside the frame. (Here I want to see my drink and cut off some of my arm fat so that's where I put it! ROTFL!!!)


9. Now simply COPY (Ctrl/Command + C) this copies whatever is inside your selection and

10. Go back to your QP (TIP! Click on a ruler or the outside of your canvas somewhere, and NOT on your QP. This will "activate" your QP file WITHOUT de-selecting your selection - does that make any sense? LOL) This way you will STILL have the selection active inside your frame and when you PASTE (shortcut: Ctrl/Command+V) your photo will automatically be placed exactly inside your frame where you want it and there is no need to drag it to place it there!


Voila! You've placed your photo inside the frame, no rotating, no cropping or re-sizing!

Lastly, I repeated the above steps for my two friends (making sure to activate the QP or Frame layer after each time that I paste a photo) and here is the final results!!


Placing all three photos probably took me no longer than a minute or so. This is a great way to place photos into cluster frames that are all the rage here. Doing it the long way tends to get frustrating as you have photos overlapping other photos and it's hard to get placement right. Not to mention the fact that the more moving and re-sizing you do ladies, the more you photos can be "damgaed" by degrading the pixels. (See what I mean sometime when you take a photo or element and then make it really small then really big, it becomes blurry and not nearly as crisp.)

IF YOU'RE HAVING PROBLEMS, it's probably one of two things, you either haven't chosen the Marquee Tool to drag your selection (for example, if you have the move tool active, it will literally drag the portion of the QP you have selected, and not just the selection, to your photo) OR (what I usually do) you haven forgotten to activate your Frame or QP layer and so your Magic Wand Tool won't work (remember, each time you "paste" your picture into your QP, you have created a new layer and now THAT layer is active, if you try to use your Magic Wand Tool to select inside your frame and you have a different layer active, it won't work)

As always ladies, if you have questions EMAIL ME and I'll try to help!

So! That's it...a few Tips, a few Shortcuts and a little Tut! Hope you like it!

NOW, as for the freebie. I'm trying something new here today ladies, so please bear with me ok? I'd like to bring some extra traffic to Digital Candy (it's the least that I can do given all that they have done for me, so every so often I'm going to offer a freebie ONLY through DC. This means that to download the freebie you'll simply need to go to Digital Candy and download it from them instead of from my 4Shared account. I know that some of you may not like this, as it means that you have to take a minute to register an account with them, but let's face it, you only have to do that once and then you're done! LOL I'll provide you with the link to the freebie (it will be in my store) you just sign in, place it in your "cart" and check out. The amount will be zero, you don't need to give any credit card info or go through paypal or anything like that. Just click "checkout" and it will show zero as your balance, submit your "order" and there will be a link for you to download.

PLEASE take the time to register (I promise to make it worth your while as my plan is to have REALLY special freebies for my "exclusive Digital Candy freebies" like add on's to my kits etc.) The added bonus is that you'll already be registered to post your works of art in my gallery (I'm getting MY VERY OWN gallery here soon ladies, and I EXPECT it to be FULL! LOL) and please don't "flame" me too much for asking you to take an extra step or two to download your freebie, ok?? And if you think it's way to big of a deal to go to download your freebie, will you do me a favor and shoot me an email or post a comment? I'd love to hear from those of you who WON'T download the freebie if I put it up only at DC.

Aloha!

Shauna

This post was edited to remove the link - sorry!