Dazzling Christmas, Just Chillin' & Black Friday Sales

I hope everyone in the States had a great Thanksgiving. I know I did! It was super easy on me this year because we were invited to my sister's and were asked to bring dessert. My daughter, who has a keen interest in culinary, and I made pumpkin and apple pies from scratch. The secret to flaky crust really is chilling the dough! Every time she accidentally flicked a piece of apple peel, we dissolved into laughter. We had a blast laughing and making a huge mess!

P.S. the Pies were a hit.

On to digi news....It has been hard to keep this under my hat...until TODAY! I worked with the Amazing WendyP on this collab...and we pulled out all the stops! Besides the usual kit, you can find a cluster pack, a QP pack, glitter sheets, and a gorgeous trio of alphas. The full collection has it all at incredible savings...and in case you didn't know, this release is not introduced at 20% off...it is included in the 50% off sale, so run and grab it!

A matching alpha trio

Some pretty clusters

and AMAAAAAZING QPs

...the whole collection

I also made this adorable little mini for our Black Friday sale. JUST A BUCK...

(PS-the striped alpha from the above collection is a great match!)

There is also a Free Add-on in my newsletter. If you are not getting it, you might be 

missing freebies and random RAKS. 

Sign up here

Sale ends Monday! Til next time,

Contest Winners Announced

First, I'd like to thank each of you for playing along and helping me celebrate my first year designing. I cannot tell you how great it makes me feel to know just how many follow my designs in that short time. I hope to be around for a long time.

I'll announce the winner of the two free kits of your choice first. This is the contest where you facebook/blog hopped with the CT for element and game pieces. You entered the unscrambled code (which was keylimedigi) to get the matching papers. The randomizer picked Melody aka scrappysam as the winner of two regular kits of mine. Email me with your two choices and I will get the coupon back to you! Congratulations Melody!

Now on to the big event! I put in a point for every dollar spent as an entry to win $50 in my PU store between Oct 23 and Nov 6. The winner of that contest is Mary aka makbug. Congratulations Mary! 

In order to claim your prizes, please send me an email with your full name to verify who you are and how I can get your prizes to you. My email is keylimedigidesign@gmail.com.

I'd like to keep giving away free kits, so going forward, at least once a month in my newsletter, I will post one persons username. If you see your name, email me to get a $10 coupon to my personal use store. You never know when you might pop up! You'll have 7 days to redeem these. My email is keylimedigidesign@gmail.com.

Newsletter sign up here

I just read some exciting news about facebook and how you can have better control on what you see. If you are missing seeing my posts (especially the giveaways, lol), watch this short primer on how to fix that. You'll have control on how much or little you see. I recommend you go in and choose your favorite designers as soon as you can. 

http://allfacebook.com/news-feed-settings_b135977

The video at the bottom helped me to best understand. I'd love to hear back from you guys if you notice a positive difference. 

Til next time, happy scrappin!

Win $50 in my PU shop, 50% Sales, Plus CU freebie!

***UPDATE*** Contest closed *** Announcement of the winner will happen on Sunday *** Stay tuned!

Happy DSD!

Everything you purchase in my PU shop is added up from October 23 thru Nov 6. For example if you have two transactions that together add up to $8.25, you would get 8 points or entries. On Nov 8, I will announce the winner. (Contest Ends 11:59 pm EST on Nov. 6) Collabs and new releases are included for points during the contest, but are not included in the shopping spree. The coupon will be good thru the end of the year!

PLUS EVERYTHING IS AT LEAST 50% OFF THRU NOV 6!!! WHEEEE! How's that for easy? Shop is linked here.

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Up next, I have something commercial use to give away. 
Why? Just cuz...That's what my daughter says all the time. LOL. 

Enjoy---ok for PU or CU as is. Click image.

The 50% off sale is also going on in the CU shop. Head on over!

Here are two of my newer sets, Especially digging those straws!

Designiversary Sale, Freebie Blogtrain and 2 Amazing Contests!

Hold on to your hats... Lot's of great stuff to share with you

Feel like a scavenger hunt?
Want a chance to win two full kits?
Want a chance to win $50 in my personal use store?
Want to save $$ on everything?

30% off Anniversary Sale 

New Commercial Use Goodies

Two Contests you won't want to miss

and a FREEBIE blogtrain!

Hard to believe, it was exactly one year ago I opened up shop at Mscraps. Two or three years ago I would never have imagined I would be doing this, but I am. To thank you for being loyal customers and keeping the dream alive, I am offering a chance for you to win $50 to spend in my Personal Use store. If you are a constant customer, the good news for you is that the coupon for the winner will be good through the end of the year, if you decide to hold on to it for a while.

Contest #1

Pretty simple actually...Starting now, (until 11:59 pm EST on Nov. 6) everything you purchase in my PU shop over that period is added up. For example if you had two transactions that added up to $8.25, you would get 8 points or entries. On Nov 8, I will announce the winner. It will either be by a randomizer or video (if I can figure out how to do that...LOL)

Contest #2

With a great sale of 30% off everything in my store from Oct. 24 thru Oct. 31 you can get stuff you wished for but are missing.

Not sure which kits to choose? My CT is going to help you there. They each chose their favorite kit to showcase. Follow their blog train and pick up one piece and one letter to a puzzle which leads to our 2nd contest!

1. You will start the hop ---link is at the end of this post.
2. You will end up with 11 letters (along with your elements)
3. You unscramble those 11 letters
4. You find the matching papers in my shop and use that code you deciphered to get them FREE.

All the details below!

This contest will end on Thursday, November 6. I will check the download records for names and randomly draw one person who will win two kits of their choice! No matter what, it means everybody wins...if you follow the whole train for the elements and successfully de-code the papers, you will end up with a free mini kit.

Now for the goodies you came for... I have made a sweet little mini kit that you can get completely free when you follow the facebook/blog hop. In the end you will have this in entirety.

When you get each zip, open it right away and look for something like this. Collect all 11 letters. Unscramble them to come up with your coupon code.

This code should be entered lowercasewithoutspaces (<--just like that) in my store on this product

the Papers

Now go get those elements and clues! 

YOUR FIRST STOP IS SUSAN 

Here is the list in case you get lost:
 Susan -http://gluepaperglitter.wordpress.com/ 

Teresa - http://tinyurl.com/pumz52k

Melissa -http://tinyurl.com/ppdvv3q
Lisa- http://lmtroch.blogspot.be/
Jill - http://hamommyscrappythings.blogspot.com/
Anita - http://321happyscrappin.blogspot.com/
Rae - https://www.facebook.com/scrappinrae
Sharon - http://spudtasticdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Kat - https://www.facebook.com/scrap.kat.3
Catherine - http://thisnthatbycat.blogspot.com/
Sanie - http://angels-layouts.blogspot.de/

Because of time zones the hop will start at different times. Check back later if you get stuck.

Have fun and good luck!

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On the Commercial Use side of things, I have two new sets, each at 30% off..better than the usual introductory prices.

Tutorial- The easiest way to go "gray"

There are many tutorials on making better grayscale photos utilizing many complex steps, but I always do this simple method first and if lucky, I may not have to correct much further. Here is the starting color photo.

  

 
Next- the results of just changing color mode to grayscale.
Image; Mode; Grayscale
Not so great, is it?

1. A better way is to use lab mode. Open the color original. Bring the Channels Palette to the front.
2. Then go: Image; Mode; Lab.

   

3. Now you'll see Lab, Lightness, A & B channels. Drag A or B to the little trash can below (or right click and choose Delete Channel) It doesn't matter which one you delete.
4. Now you see: Alpha 1 and Alpha 2.
5. Delete Alpha 2
6. Important step. Go back to MODE and change it back to grayscale at this point.
Additional optional step: I also applied: Image; Adjustments; Auto Contrast.

 

Your photo is greatly improved. You can tweak the levels or the brightness/contrast, or any other methods you are comfortable with. This method gets you closer to a better end result quickly.
7. Most important step: SAVE AS and give it a different name so you won't save over the color original.



Results! Grayscale only on left; using lab method on the right. I loved it so much I made an action of it. Making your own actions will be covered in a post very soon!

Finally! Welcoming my new Creative Team Members (+ a way to win $10)

Want to know how you could win $10 to my store? You know I can never pass up a fun way to win something from my store.

Click and read on...http://www.mscraps.com/forum/showthread.php?p=351281#post351281

NEW: She's All That, some Freebies and more!

Hey guys!
I gotta admit...it's been hard waiting to share this next one. I teamed up with Tami Miller Designs to bring this fabulous bundle to you. Our creative teams went bonkers making some gorgeous pages. I can't fit them all...when you click the store link you will see why.
http://www.mscraps.com/shop/She-s-All-That-Bundle/

It's 20% off until Monday and there is a secret to saving more at the end of this post.

You can purchase just the kit or any of the individual add-ons, but the bundle is the best deal!



While the 20% off discount lasts, you can get any of these 5 pieces for $1.99 each.


Here are some layouts from our creative team members.

Ok...We have some freebies for you too!

There is a sweet quick page over on Tami's blog:

...my CTM Lisa also made something pretty to give to you. Head over to her blog to get the download. 

...and finally,  I made a mini add-on~ you can get it here:

The secret to save more? Find a coupon inside the download of my mini add-on ^^ up there ^^...so go grab it and visit Tami and Lisa for the other freebies!