2 New Releases & CIJ Winds Down

Well, that was unpleasant! I just wrote a long, beautiful blog post about my new products and my CIJ promos, then blogger konked out on me and it was all lost! As I am at work right now, I want to get this redone as quickly as possible, so here is the congested, Reader's Digest version!

July is over. So Christmas in July, over. But I've extended my CIJ promos til Friday, August 1st at 11:59pm CT. This includes grab bags, CIJ GWP albums, and the 20% automatic discount. I will honour all of these until at least midnight tomorrow (I might not stay awake til midnight on Friday, but I'm an early riser!).

New releases: 2 albums, both from Royanna Fritschmann kits. Firstly, "Kid's Life 2: Eye Heart U" 8x8 Mini Album, 2nd part of the Kid's Life series. If you are interested in both the Kid's Life and Kid's Life 2 album and don't yet have the first, just hold off for a day or two and I'll be selling them collectively for a reduced price. Below the preview are some samples I made featuring my little guys (and big guy too!).

Second new release: "Extreme Sk8tr: Skate Zone" 8x8 album. Urban, grungy, and cool, this album is perfect for teens, but can accommodate skaters of all ages. Below, again, is a sample with my little Alex, who at 4 years old has yet to skateboard (to his dismay).

SORRY: No freebies today. Expect my August Boutique Freebie installment in the morning. Should be in my boutique before my blog, so go there in the AM if you're just itching to snag them! But they will be available for the entire month of August, so no real rush!

ALSO: I'll be working with the fabulous designs of Princess Lala at DivineDigital.com. And if you're familiar with her fabulous doodles and page kits, you'll be as excited as I am! Stay tuned for new albums ....

That's it! Hope you like! See you soon with freebies.

Who couldn't use a little Xmas?

I love Christmas! It's my favourite time of year, definitely NOT for the weather, but for the general "cheeriness" of the season. Although some people are NEVER cheery, there is an overall sense of friendliness in the air. The Christmas in July event at DivineDigital brings a little bit of that Christmas Cheer while the weather is still gorgeous! What could be better? But this year, my faulty hard drive has caused me to miss nearly all of it.

But it's not too late to get a freebie or two in, right? So, here it goes. Freebie #1 is a Christmas pillowbox craft printable made from Cyndi Wetmiller's fantastic Christmas in July kit, "Need a Little Xmas" (part of her Personal Use grab bag available at DivineDigital, shhhh!). And, in this crazy world of ours, who couldn't use a little more Xmas? I know I could.

Just personalize the printable, then print on card stock or thicker paper. Fold using the guidelines, and voila! A Christmas pillowbox for a small gift or card! I used the "Commercial Use Craft Template" set by Ilona Havenaar, also available at DivineDigital. This is my first Craft Template attempt, so let me know what you think. Feedback is definitely appreciated ;)

That's it from me so far. I'll try and get another freebie or two in before Christmas in July is over!

TTNF ;)

Scrapping Up a Storm!

Man, it feels good to get back into the groove of things with my new PC. I have been scrapping up a storm, and have three fabulous new albums to show you today. The first is a fabulous addition to my Boy's SNAPlet line: "My Earth: Make a Difference". Made from the awesome Download-a-day kit by Royanna Fritschmann, this kit is an Earth Day tribute. Love the blues and total grunge action! If you like this album, make sure you scroll all the way down for a fab freebie!

Kiden Studios has gone HYBRID! Yes, it is true .... I have jumped on the hybrid bandwagon and have made my first bracket albums. Below is "Sugar Rush: Sweet!", a Basic Grey Bracket Chipboard Album SNAPlet. Love the lollipops and bright, fun colours! Made from Royanna Fritschmann's hip new kit, "Sugar Rush", this album will give you cavities!

The last one premiering tonight is "Just Beez-cuz" Bracket Album. This one is made with DeDe Smith's absolutely adorable kit, "Just Beez-cuz". I made it as a special request for her, and will be released in my boutique on Wednesday, August 6th.

And, as I promised, my unadvertised sale is now advertised! Join me in celebrating the return of my beloved new PC and take advantage of the automatic 20% savings.

Remember, if you have a coupon code, you can increase your savings to 50% AND still take advantage of my Christmas in July Gift With Purchase promo as well! If you don't have a coupon code yet, my blog coupon is still active for the next couple of days (see my blog labels for the link).

My Extreme Boy and Posh & Punky Girl grab bags will be kept available for sale until the end of this week. Then the contents will be unpackaged and offered at standard price. I've never been one to peek at Christmas presents, but if you are curious to see what's inside ..... check out Strictly Reveal. You won't be disappointed ;)

And, last but not least, I have a fabulous SNAPlet freebie to promote my new album, "My Earth: Make a Difference". This sample pictures my older son, Alex, showing off his winning smile!

Just click on the image to download. If you like it, I'd love to hear it. Please leave a comment or email me at kiden@divinedigital.com. I really appreciate feedback!

Have a great one!

I'm back, baby!

Wheww, it nearly killed me, but I survived a whole 11 days, 5 hrs without a computer in my house, or access to Photoshop! I'm glad that dark stage of my life is behind me, but whatever doesn't kill me will only make me stronger ;)

And to celebrate the return of my beloved new PC, I am having a sale until the end of July! It will be an unadvertised sale until I get home and make an advertisement for it .... but here goes:

Receive an automatic 20% off orders of any amount.

No coupon code. No minimum purchase.

Sorry, no grab bags or CIJ GWP promo albums (that is, "Snow Fun" and "Have Yourself"). Everything else is up for grabs and, as it is a global discount and not a coupon code, you can still apply coupons to your orders to get additional savings. And if your order before any discounts or coupons totals more than $5, you'll get a CIJ GWP album of your choice. If your order totals more than $8.5o, you'll get both. And if you don't see anything you like, or you already have everything you like, just hold onto your hats (or hair, if you don't wear a hat). I promise I'll be releasing some fabulous new albums within this sale week! .... provided my PC doesn't crash again ....

And, as my boutique freebies have been a hit, I have decided to make this a monthly event (time-permitting, and PC-permitting too!) At the beginning of each month, I will release a boutique freebie or two which will remain available for the entire month. Then they will be taken down and replaced with new ones! So, as it is nearing the end of this month, you'll have less than a week to grab these little beauties before they'll be taken down from my store:

I think that's it for me. Have yourself a great weekend, and we'll see you very soon with a special Christmas in July blog freebie .....

TTFN!

Continuing PC Saga!! No end in sight...

Well, I have almost giving up hope of having a computer at home this weekend. Firstly, after having my PC for FOUR DAYS, the technician finally came around to running diagnostics on it and, lo and behold, it's a hard drive failure. A fact which I told them on Sunday, when I dropped the dang thing off. And because my beloved PC is only two months old, a new hard drive has to be ordered from the manufacturer which will take around 5 business days or more. So, I will be without my new PC til the end of next week.

My old PC has seen better days, but had only been retired 2 months ago. I thought, no problem, I'll just stick my hard drive back in there and have that old one up-and-running for the week. Not happening. It won't recognize my hard drive anymore. So, my boss here at work gave me a couple of his old hard drives (Windows 98), and neither of them work either. Same message, in fact. So it's not the hard drive; it's something else.

A friend of mine had an old PC sitting in her basement; she said I was welcome to it. I took it home yesterday, and popped my hard drives in and they still don't work. The hard drive the PC came with has Windows 98 on it, and it boots up fine (after 45 minutes or so). But there is a problem with one of the .ddl files and anything running off of the internet doesn't even try to connect to the Net.

NOW, after all of this, I have to take my old PC to a local computer retailer (mom-and-pop operation) and try to get the hard drive thing figured out, as cheaply as possible. If that doesn't work, or some other good samaritan donates a PC to me, I will be OFFLINE for the ENTIRE WEEKEND!!!

I think this is harder for me to take because it is during "Christmas in July" at Divine Digital. I was so pumped to participate in my first year on the design team, had all these products lined up for new albums and freebies, and now I am sitting dormant, waiting for something to happen. I feel like a race car revving up my engine, but I'm still in park.

To not feel entirely disconnected from my customers, friends, and supporters, I have decided to showcase some of my more recent albums that haven't made their way to my blog as of yet.

Below is the first, a fabulous summery brag book album made from Cyndi Wetmiller's gorgeous "In Bloom" kit. I love the soft yet bright colours in this kit!!

Secondly, we have "Yankee", my 4th of July album. This is also made from a Cyndi Wetmiller kit, "Yankee" (aptly named!). Love the fab textures and touch of grunge!!

Here's a sample layout made with this album, and Cyndi Wetmiller's youngest son, Hank. I love the "touch of stripe" overlay on the main pic. Love how it gives definition to the page. This is a technique I've been experimenting with in my designs lately.

Below we have "Spring Remix 6+2" brag book album, which includes the 2-page freebie. This makes it an 8-page album, but it is priced as a 6-page album; hence, "6+2". Made from the adorable Springtime kit by DeDe Smith, "Spring Remix". Love the little characters and fun colour palette.



This album is building on the popularity of my "Whale of a Blessing" freebie snaplet duet. The "Whale of a Blessing: The Open Sea 6+2" 4x6 brag book which also includes the 2-page freebie. Made from the adorable retired kit called "Whale of a Blessing" by Royanan Fritschmann.

Nothing says summer like flying kites. The "Soar High" brag book is fun and bright! Made from Royanna's colourful retired kit, "Soar High".

Well, there you have it. You won't hear from me again til I get a PC, any PC, running at my house!! Unless I get some free lab time at the library or something .....

TTFN and happy PC-ing!!

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe how quickly this month has flown by! I was on holidays from my day job last week, and was so busy with my church's Vacation Bible School that I didn't have time to blog! And, on the last day of VBS, my brand new computer's hard drive failed! It still let me work after a 7-hour backup from C:/ to D:/, but I had to burn everything onto DVD. And good thing I did, because apparently C:/ & D:/ are both the same hard drive, and will both be erased during the repair of my PC!!

But here I am, reporting from work, and I only have a minute! I just wanted to share with you a fun little promo I have going on at DivineDigital.com for the Christmas in July celebration: a "Gift With Purchase". Spend $5 in my store (before coupon), and choose between one of the fab Christmas in July albums. Spend $8.50 or more and get both!

For orders between $5 and $8.50, when you checkout in the boutique, just write which album you want ("Have Yourself" or "Snow Fun") in the customer comments section, and I'll email you a coupon code as soon as I can! For orders over $8.50, I'll send you both codes!!

AND, my SNAPlet Album Grab Bag Sale has been extended til I get my new PC back. Get Extreme Boy! or Posh & Punky Girl grab bags for only $2, and I believe coupon codes also work for these! AND, purchase of my grab bags qualify for the Gift With Purchase promo as well.

Oh yeah! For those of you who made purchases in my boutique and received my special coupon code, I have extended it's use until December 31, 2008 AND it can now also be used up to 5 times per customer!!

I also have some new albums in my boutique , but I don't have time to show them now. If I can get my old PC to cooperate and come out of retirement for the week, I'll post them from home!!

That's it for me! Should get back to work before I don't have a day job anymore!

Grab Bag Change & 4th Festivities!

Good day, all! To my Canadian brethren, I wish a Happy Canada Day. To my American comrades, a Happy 4th of July Independence Day! And to my friends from all over the world, a very Happy Summer weekend!!

There's been a bit of a change with the Grab Bag sale I promised earlier. It seems that sale has been moved to next week. So, I have packaged up my goodies and hid them away somewhere safe until next weekend, July 11-13 (which, coincidentally is the start of Christmas in July at DivineDigital.com!!).

But I couldn't let this weekend go without celebrating a bit. So, I am having a little Celebration Promo: save 40% on all orders over $10. No coupon code required, just fill up your cart and, when you hit the magic number, the savings will appear. Now don't hold me to this, but it should still let you use your 30% coupon code to get an additional 30% off the subtotal. That's an amazing savings! And don't forget, you can use your blog coupon up to 5 times this month! Here's a link to my boutique...

On top of that, I'll be uploading some fantastic new kits. Here's a preview of a very cool album that just hit my store; made from Cyndi Wetmiller's fabulous "For Sam" kit:

Tomorrow, I will have another preview ready for you, and a sneak peek into my grab bags. As well, I'll upload some pics of my adorable little guys from our Canada Day celebrations! I may even have a freebie or two.... I'd love to do that all tonight, but it's late and I have to work tomorrow :(

TTFN!