Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I finished my new kit. Well, actually I had it almost finished over 2 weeks ago when my pc hung in the middle of running a PS action to make a ricrak. I tried to reboot it, but got a "hal.dll" corrupted error message. Attempts to use the Windows recovery console to replace hal would not work. It kept telling me I didn't have access authority. Well, the blankety blank would never prompt me for the admin password to show I had authority!! Next step was to reinstall Windows (XP was what I was running). No luck. It would get to a certain point and hang. We tried installing on different hard drives. We tried installing with two different dvd drives. We tried installing both XP and the new Win7. Nothing would work. Same point and hang. Let us now observe a moment of silence in memory of my old pc "Persnikity"......

So I went shopping for a new PC. Long story short, I had the misfortune to bring home one that was defective. The first night it just all of a sudden rebooted on me while I was surfing the internet. I thought it was just Vista being flakey. But the sudden reboots continued and were joined by hangings and the blue screens of death. These would all happen while doing various things and even while trying to boot up. I had gotten the service agreement, so I took it in. They said they would send it back to the manufacturer for repair and it would take 6 to 8 weeks and I could get a loaner pc the next day. I said forgetaboutit! I did not spend that much money to be on a loaner pc for 2 months. I went home to get the rest of its stuff and to get my stuff off of it. I had gotten just about everything off when it refused to boot up for good. So back it went for a refund and I got my 2nd new pc.

The second new pc is doing just fine. Yeah!!! So after my sad tale of computer woes, here is the big annoucement:

The winner of the "Name my new kit" contest is Jackie with "Bohemian Fantasy"


I'm in the process right now of getting it all organized and zipped up and then uploaded to the store. I hope to have this all done before the weekend, so check back here in a day or two. Oh yea, there just might be a freebie........

Fall Into A Freebie

It's that time again! The beginning of a new month (ok, it is October 2nd, not the first, but I've had my computer die and have to buy a new one) which means a new monthy mega kit at Bits2Kits and a little freebie to go with it.

And once again I am going to be the timeshare condo salesman and give you the sales pitch for the mega kit before giving you the freebie link :) Just look at this great huge kit that you can get for only $6 this month:

Of course, not everything is shown - there is just too much!! Included in the kit are 47 patterned papers and 23 solid papers all at 12x12 300 dpi, 3 Acorns, 3 Apples, 6 Strings, 4 Bows, 1 Burlap Mat, 1 Cinnamon Stick, 1 Fence, 2 Flairs, 12 Flowers, 23 Frames, 15 Leaves, 1 Gem, 1 Owl, 2 Pears, 8 Ribbons, 9 Swirls, 2 Berries, 1 Border, 12 Buttons, 2 Corners, 4 Glittery elements, 1 Photo mat, 1 Pumpkin, 1 Scarecrow, 1 Acorn Man, 1 Basket, 1 Clip, 1 Set of Stitches, 1 Twig, 4 Tags, 21 Wraps, 7 Word Arts, 1 Conker, 2 Butterflies and 5 Cluster Frames. We also have 1 set of Plastic Styles, 1 Set of Glitter Styles (used to make the frames in the freebie), 1 Full alpha, 1 Maya Road Layer book templates and 9 Quick Pages .

And to further intice you to buy, here are some close ups for just my part:

**** update July 31, 2011 - None of this is available anymore, which is why you see all the red x's.  Sorry  *******

Name My New Kit and Win it!!

Since I have been having to do without PhotoShop Creative Suite - and all the problems I was having with it not working right before it totally quit, it has really put a damper on my designing. During this time I went through looking at all the stuff on my hard drive. I found a bunch of stuff with pawprints on it that I packaged together to make the Pawsively Free freebies that are in the previous post. I also found several papers out of some pretty pinks and greens along with a few bows made from them, too. So I challenged myself to make more elements to make a complete kit using just Photoshop Elements (I admit it: My name is Ann O and I am an actions addict!!). I've done a lot of bows, buttons, tags, ribbons and brads, along with 4 solid papers to co-ordinate with the patterned papers. My PS CS4 has arrived (yea!!!) and once it get it installed I will make some more frames and some flowers. I'm also going to make some glittery flourishes, too, since the tags have glittery flourishes.

But I don't know what to call this new kit. So I am having a name the kit contest. I am the judge (but I probably can be influenced by other people posting and saying that they like a particular name). If I pick your name for the kit, then you will win it. Or you can have your choice of any of my not so large collection of existing kits. Here is a preview with just some of the elements and not quite all of the papers (the only action I can run in PSE is one to make the preview for exactly 12 papers):


I am also open to suggestions for what else you would like to see in the way of elements. Maybe butterflies??? Oh gosh, I just realized something - I have made an alpha and I forgot to put any of the letters on the preview.

Pawsitively Free

I'm going to start off by griping just about about something that isn't free - Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite. No, I don't expect Adobe to give PS CS away. I'm griping that my PS CS3 has gone totally flakey and now will not start! I went to the Adobe Forums to try and get some help, but what I read there makes me afraid that my copy purchased on eBay last year is a fake! A really good fool a lot of people fake, but still an illegal pirate bootleg. So I am trying to do the right thing. I have ordered PS CS4 directly from Adobe, so I know it won't be fake. But, it won't get here until the 14th. (Yes, I could of gotten an immediate download, but for that much money I want a box.)

So until PS CS4 arrives, my designing is very limited. I had been trying very hard to get the pet kit done that I have been working on for forever (seems like). I really wanted to have it done by the end of August. Now I'm hoping for the end of September. Look at my blog header for a sneak preview. Yes, there will be other dog breeds besides cocker spaniels and some cats, too. Leave a comment if you really really want a particular breed and I will try to oblige, once I can get back to work designing.

So with all this time on my hands, instead of cleaning the house I went through my hard drive. I found a bunch of stuff that I made sometime ago with pawprints. It's a rather large eclectic group of stuff, but still not really balanced enough to be a proper kit. And since I can't really design more stuff, I'm giving it away to you. I have packaged it up into a paper pack and an element pack. There are a few flowers and the tag in the element pack that don't have pawprints on them for you poor deprived folks with no furbabies to scrap. I just included them because they color co-ordinated with some of the other items. And there are two flairs with dogbones. The papers are some of the first ones I ever made, and a few of them kinda show it, so just remember that they were free and be kind. I went ahead and included them just in case somebody could use them some how. Like I said before, all the stuff is not that well balanced. You will probably need to include stuff from other kits to do a layout, even other designer's kits. I still would appreciate a link to see anything you do with these downloads (or any of my stuff).

And oh yea, there just might be a discount coupon in the downloads.....
**** UPDATE 10/7/09 ***** Freebie has been removed from the store. Please use these new 4 shared links:
Get the Pawsitively Free Elements Part 1 here
Get the Pawsitively Free Elements Part 2 here

Get the Pawsitively Free Papers Part 1 here
Get the Pawsitively Free Papers Part 2 here

School's Cool Freebie

I'm making another post for the School's Cool freebie because (1) blogger won't let me edit the previous post and (2) it appears that the digi freebie search engines have some sort of issue with Bits2Kits.com and will not pick up the store link for the freebie.

***** UPDATED 7/27/09 *** None of this is available anymore.  Freebie is being revamped for future re-release.

Back2School @ Bits2Kits

It's time to go back to school and over at Bits2Kits.com the September collab kit has been released with a theme of "School's Cool". I've got a special co-ordinating freebie for you, too! You get 1 paper, 1 bow, 3 frames and 9 rulers.


But once again I'm going to be like the time share condo salesman and make you scroll through a sales pitch to go buy the kit before I give you the link to the freebie. Here's the big preview for the whole collab (of course everything is not shown):


For the sale price of only $6 through the end of September you get:

79 papers including 42 patterned and 37 textured solid papers,
2 apples, 1 book, 24 frames, 4 notepapers, 12 pencils,
3 pencil shaving scatters, 29 ribbons, 4 wax shaving scatters,
14 word arts, 5 tabs, 53 brads, 3 buttons, 4 chalkboards,
10 crayons, 3 eyelet ribbons, 6 glue pots, 9 scissors,
15 bows, 4 stars, 1 school, 10 flowers, 2 buses,
4 splatts, 1 A+, 1 paintbrush, 1 string, 1 pencil border,
1 book plate, 1 hinge, 1 paperclip, and
1 overlay
2 alphas
1 plastic style
1 grid paper style
1 tab book
8 quick pages.

And to further entice a sale from you, here are the previews for my contribution (though not everything is shown):





Here is the link for the collab kit:

Buy Bits2Kits School's Cool Mega Collab kit here

OK, now that you have endured the sales pitch, here is the link for the freebie:

***** UPDATED 7/27/09 *** None of this is available anymore, Freebie is being revamped for future re-release.

I'm certainly Feeling Hot!!

Hot under the collar that is since the freebie search engines still haven't picked up my Feeling Hot! freebies. I'm trying one more time..... Maybe they aren't picking them up because they are a store freebie, so I have uploaded them to 4Shared. Here are the new links:

***** UPDATED 7/27/09 *** None of this is available anymore, which is why you see a bunch of red X's.  Freebie is being revamped for future re-release.

Still Hot?

I'm posting the Feeling Hot! Freebies again because for some reason the digi freebie search engines did not pick up the first listing. So if you are seeing this freebie for the first time, please scroll down to the 2 previous posts and see the whole story.

***** UPDATED 7/27/09 *** None of this is available anymore, which is why you see a bunch of red X's.  Freebie is being revamped for future re-release.

Some Hot layouts

Here are some layouts done by Bits2Kits CT Member Scrappinbella using the August Collab kit Feeling Hot!
Here is the link for the collab kit, on sale through the end of August: http://www.bits2kits.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=2679&zenid=077013dbbd97b2ac499b2624fd333073

And don't forget the freebie!:

***** UPDATED 7/27/09 *** None of this is available anymore, which is why you see a bunch of red X's.  Freebie is being revamped for future re-release.

Feeling Hot??!!

Are you Feeling Hot this summer? Would a freebie help make it better? Then here you go:

But wait, not so fast..... I'm going to give you a sales pitch before giving you the link. (Yes, I am as bad as a time share condo salesman!)

"Feeling Hot!" is the name of the August collab kit at Bits2Kits.com. This is my first time to ever do a collab kit, so the freebie is to promote it. Take a look at the preview:

You get: 55 papers including 14 solids, 5 backgrounds and 26 patterned,
9 Bows, 3 Eyelet ribbons, 14 Wraps,
2 Beach Balls, 22 Buttons, 1 Deckchair,
21 Frames, 1 Journalling paper, 1 Kite,
3 Sun's, 7 Sunglasses, 4 Swimsuits,
2 Umbrellas, 4 Tag's , 5 String's,
6 Flowers, 1 Bucket, 1 Spade,
4 Trees, 1 Flip flop, 2 Circle embelishments,
11 Ribbons, 1 Rake, 5 Shells,
2 Stones, 1 Boat, 5 Brads,
1 Set of stitches, 1 Clip
1 Sand, 1 Sand Dollar, 1 Staple
3 worded Sticks, 1 Girl,
1 Full alpha, 1 set of glitter styles, 1 set of plastic styles and 6 12x12 quick pages. Whew! Isn't that a lot??!! And for this month it is on sale for $6.00 Here is the link to purchase the collab kit: http://www.bits2kits.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=2679

Of course, everything is not shown in the collab preview - there's just too much! To further entice a purchase from you, here are the previews for my contributions:

Once again, here is the link to purchase the collab kit on sale this month: http://www.bits2kits.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=2679

And here is the link for the freebie: ***** UPDATED 7/27/09 *** None of this is available anymore, which is why you see a bunch of red X's.  Freebie is being revamped for future re-release.