April AFX Files are ready for DOWNLOAD

It's here! The April 2009 issue of The AFX Files is now ready for download! Get yours NOW!

This issue is jam packed with all sorts of inspiration, instruction/tutorials, fun and wonderful designer freebies!

March 1st -- already?

Wasn't it just yesterday that everyone was rushing around for the Christmas holidays? Can you believe it's March 1st already? Time is just flying! I remember as a kid thinking the years would never pass until I was 18 and now I just recently celebrated the 31st anniversary of my 18th birthday! One of the things I loved was... Butterscotch! Our very own, very creative Chris created this beautiful kit, Butterscotch Twist and brought a flood of memories back of my neighbor giving me little bags of hard butterscotch candies... what memories do you have?


AND.... as a bonus, she is including this FREE Quick Page.

AND this beautiful cluster can be had FREE in THE SECRET ROOM [but you must be a member and MEMBERSHIP is FREE].

Vanity Plate Challenge

One of the fun games that we do at The Cottage is, every now and then we do a Vanity Plate Challenge. The theme for this one is to create a 'Love' Vanity Plate. There is no cost to play and it's such fun seeing what you can come up with. The example below was created by our own Chris.

So come on over, grab your FREE TEMPLATE in The Secret Room. [You must be a registered member in order to access The Secret Room, but membership is free... so come and join us]

And did YOU get your copy of The Cottage News? If not, sign up HERE

Stuff and a FREEBIE

Have you made your quick page from Roxi's free designer kit? Not yet? Well, what are you waiting for? There's still some time left and you get ALL the quick pages made by the other members as well if you participate. READ ABOUT IT HERE. And while you're at it, use Roxi's kit and/or the quick page you've created for it and get the layout uploaded into the gallery. Chris has started a challenge for doing layouts with the Designer Exchange Kit of the month and she tells you all about it HERE

Here's a Quick Page made from Lisa Bowman's Moonlight Sonata kit. It works wonderfully with the kit and is a great time saver!



DOWNLOAD HERE

A QuickPage Freebie for You

Laura has created a wonderful greyscale template as one of the challenges for this Events Week at The Cottage. She has graciously given permission to use these images any which way you choose. As part of the challenge, Lisa created this QuickPage and has made it available to all interested for FREE.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Blog Freebie

Here is the very first Blog Freebie. And you can only get it here. I've been trying to clean up the 'old hard-drive' and found a bunch of things that you might like. This is the first.

Download Here

Create a CD Calendar as a Gift or Stocking Stuffer

If your're like me, I just love to stuff Christmas stocking with all kinds of goodies, and for friends and family that are not nearby, I can always send one of these great personalized calendars in the mail. Yes! It's not too early to start preparing for the holidays.

These are great original calendar templates that, when completed, will fit in a standard CD case and look fantastic sitting on your desk! There are sooooo many ways to personalize these an 'make them your own', that it just boggles the mind. You can create them by theme, special moments, or, as I intend to do, using heritage photos that my extremely large family will really love.

The templates for January thru June are now available for your personal use, FREE [of course] in The Secret Room [membership is required, but always FREE!]

These templates are wonderful... It's sooo easy to alter them to your own tastes too. So stop on by and get yours and please share your creations with us in the special CD Calendar Gallery [click on that link to see even more of the beautiful creations by our members!!]

Drifting Along On A Dream

Download Links

Three of our Fabulous Designers have once again created a gorgeous kit for ya'll. And yes, it's FREE. Muriel, Kathy and Chris have used very soft blues, greens, beige and white with some great metal styles to create 'Drifting Along On A Dream'. The papers are gorgeous and the elements just outstanding.

These Designer Exchange Kits are used to create co-ordinated Brag Book pages and quick pages which our members exchange. All you have to do is participate by creating just 1 BB or QP and you get all the member creations for FREE... Good deal huh?

Here are some of the QP's already submitted...



By 'Chris'


By 'Prissequito'


By 'scrappersgu'


by 'msbrad'

It is hoped that by making this kit available FREE, that you will participate in the Exchanges, although it is not a requirement.

Happy Scrappin'

Remember, the link above is to the downloads in The Secret Room and you will only be directed there if you are a Member... and Membership is FREE!

Sketch Template Layouts

WOW! I am so impressed! The latest sketch template has only been available since Tuesday [07-29] and already the gallery is filling up. It is a beautiful sketch [see post of yesterday], by Becky Fleck of Page Maps. There are just sooo many delightful interpretations on this sketch that I wanted to share this one that really caught my eye.

One of our member's, 'EstherF' submitted this layout and in my comments, I mentioned the nostalgic feel I got from it. It just brought everything back to me from my childhood. A boy playing with a stick in a dirt road... nothing else required. No batteries. Period.

I also mentioned that I thought it would look great in a sepia tone... to which Es promptly responded.

They are BOTH beautiful layout! Each for different reasons. As I told Es, I just remember my youth, when things were simple and all that was required was a child, a stick, and some dirt. Amazing how some things just stay with you forever. This layout just called to me and I had to share. Sometimem when I think about how different things are today from when I was a child, I'll think of this layout and know that somethings will never change and childhood innocence should be cherished as it passes too quickly.

Es's credits:
Photo by DD. Papers and embellishments from the July Gift a Day Lazy Days of Summer. Song lyrics: Words by Charles Tobias and music by Hans Carste...Nat King Cole. Font: Book Antiqua. Photo stroke Dale Lewin Mangue.

Free Sketch Templates

Did you know that you can get a new FREE sketch template every two weeks? Well you can! Our newsletter comes out every 2 weeks and there is always a sketch template available for you to download... absolutely FREE! Those are the best kind aren't they? If you missed them in the newsletters, you can always download them from The Secret Room. The link above will take you directly to The Secret Room if you are a member. If you're not a member, just sign up for membership, which is also completely FREE! In The Secret Room you can find all the templates that have been available in the past.

Template by Becky Fleck of Map Pages - used with permission.