I have figured out the fine art of getting free digital scrapbook kits. And, a fun art it is, I tell you. I compiled a list of 11 Places to Get Free Digital Scrapbooking Kits and thought you might appreciate it. (It took me more than a few hours to find all these sites and get this list organized - enjoy!)

When you go to these sites remember that one of the main reasons they are giving you free stuff is so that you will come back to their site when you decide to buy something. The best way to remember to do that is to sign up for their newsletters when you’re at these sites.

11 Places to Get Free Digital Scrapbooking Kits
Digital Scrapbooking Freebies List

1.
Digital Scrapbook Place
Weekly freebies, posted on Mondays. Register to get access to all freebies. Easy to find in the Freebie Gallery. Some freebies are associated with challenges. You do the challenge, submit your work and you receive the kit free. Lots of cool stuff free. THE best place to get free digital scrapbook stuff and also a great place to buy stuff too.

2.
ShabbyPrincess
Holy mother-load of freebie kits! Each month the Shabby Princess offers up a free digital scrapbooking kit. These are GIANT kits with tons of stuff in them and they are beautiful. Sign up for her newsletter too. The newsletter alone is so pretty you’ll get a scrappin “lift” just reading it.

3.
Designer Digitals
creative. innovative. fresh. digital.
Very cute digital scrapbook stuff! Don’t have to register to get it, but I highly recommend getting on Katie’s newsletter anyway.

4.
Scrapbook-Bytes
Tons of freebies. but they’re a bit hard to get to at first. You have to Register and then go to the Downloads area. Once there I recommend going to the Elements section. When you find a digital kit you like you’ll have to download a bunch of files to get the whole kit.

5.
DigiChick
You have to register to see the free kits in the Downloads section. Once there they are in the Designer Samples section of the forum. The coolest thing about DigiChick is their de-zine (a designers e-zine chock full of cool stuff). Wait, I just got it. Design. De-sign. De-zine. Oh, cute. The de-zine includes a free kit too!

6.
ScrapGirls
A smaller selection of freebies and not full kits. But very cute, fun stuff. Also have free digital tutorials. Their freebies change out often and the best way to stay up to date on them is subscribe to their newsletter. They will email you with the latest freebies.

7.
ScrapKitchen
Delicious designs for your digital appetite. Only one freebie kit at a time, but very easy to find, download and maneuver around the site. Her kits are very nice too.

8.
RAK Scraps
Each month they release a new free mega kit which is free to registered members. The pieces to the kit are released a few at a time and you must look through a thread in the forum to find the links. If you plan to participate in the forum anyway, this is probably worth it.

9.
GottaPixel
You do have to register and click on the email confirmation just to see the freebies, but they are cute and plentiful. Worth registering. They have daily downloads with kits broken up into daily pieces.

10.
Matter of Scrap
Cool stuff here, but only a couple Free Samples at a time. Worth registering and checking out the Boutique.

11.
Three Scrapateers
Have to register and come back every day for another free piece of the kit. Cute stuff though.

UPDATED TO ADD:

12.
Scrapbook-Elements
Another great place to get some free kits is Scrapbook Elements. The catch is that they give away their free stuff inside their newsletter. The good news is that the newsletter is full of great ideas and the freebies are plentiful. I highly recommend signing up for this newsletter! Well worth it.

Did I miss any great freebie digital scrapbooking kits? I would be happy to add any others if you know of them.

In my email inbox this morning I came across a couple of money saving tidbits on scrapbooking supplies.

First, from an article by Linda Fantin of The Salt Lake Tribune:

The rapid growth of scrapbooking also has created tons of discontinued and overstocked merchandise. Big Lots! recently bought $6 million in such materials, which it has been selling for 60 to 80 percent off retail, according to TDMonthly, an online trade magazine for the toy, hobby and game industry.

I never would have thought to go to Big Lots! for scrapbooking supplies. But 60-80% off sounds like it is worth the trip.

Linda’s complete article is:
The Resolution? Get to scrapbooking now!
Popularity has made the hobby affordable and easy to learn

Next, Joann.com is having a 30% off sale on scrapbooking supplies. It is an online only offer. To get the 30% off savings code, just subscribe to their newsletter and the sale code will be emailed to you.

I’ve been on their mailing list for a few months and they send a lot of online offers out. They also send out printable coupons for store shopping.

Sign up for the Joann.com newsletter here.

This weekend a friend of mine asked for some help getting started with scrapbooking. She wanted to do a complete album for her brother as a Christmas gift. I figured this was worth the half-hour drive up to Archivers. Although I had never been there before I have been wanting to go. She picked me up at 10 AM.

When we walked in the door I gave a little gasp out loud. My heart lept. Oh my. It was just like walking into Disneyland. Clean. Friendly. And oh the fun to be had.

The photo of the store on their website is very accurate. All the stores must be built the same because it looks just like this:

They had a great selection of albums in all sizes, colors, patterns and album type. Their stock of paper was beyond amazing. They had three huge side rooms of paper. Embellishments. Kits. Eyelets. Brads. Stamps. Tools. It was simply breathtaking.

Not just a place for scrapbooking supplies, they also have a terrific class line up. After the holidays it will be on my list to do. (I have a feeling Santa is bringing me an eyelet setter that I won’t know what to do with.)

Bottom line, if you live where there is an Archivers store (see the location map here) - GO! It is worth the drive even if it is a bit of a road trip.

Have fun and send me a “wish you were here postcard” in your head!

Oh baby. Setting eyelets is so much fun. At that stamping party the other day Phoebe, the demonstrator, passed out the cutest little tags which we stamped, colored and matted with another larger tag. Then she got out the eyelet hammer. (I’m sure there is an official name for it, but in my head it will always be known as the eyelet hammer.)

As soon as we started doing eyelets the squeals of delight filled the room:

“I will never buy another pre-done tag again!”
“Oh this is SO cool.”
“Can I do another one?”

Frankly, the excitement in the room was similar to my childhood Kindergarten class on the day my teacher let us finger paint with chocolate pudding. Except this past weekend we weren’t licking the table … but that’s another story.

So, I did a quick investigaton and the eyelet hammer is actualy an eyelet setter - and evidentally there are at least three different sizes of eyelets. Isn’t it so fun to learn about new stuff like this? I’m gonna have to get me one of these:

Making Memories - Universal Eyelet Setter - $ 9.00 Set four different sizes of eyelets with this Making Memories Universal Eyelet Setter. With interchangeable tips you have the flexibility of choosing from 1/16?, 1/8? and 3/16? and a special cone tip.

Yesterday my friend Reni invited me to a Stampin Up party. Up until now I have been able to resist the temptation to give stamping a try. Well, I caved in and my worst fears about stamping were realized - I LOVED it!

The stamps are so cute and the colors of the stamps are simply amazing. Oh how fun. I could think of a thousand things to do with stamps on my layouts. Naturally, since I haven’t announced here on the blog that I’ve recently won the lottery (which I haven’t) I had to decide which few stamps and supplies I would get.

Now that was hard. Their catalog is HUGE and full of page after page of awesome stamps, papers and cards. Thank goodness the prices are very reasonable. [Their acid-free, lignin-free paper prices are frankly amazing!] I decided to get some pre-cut cards, tags and pockets, four different colored stamp pads and a set of 4 border stamps, pictured here:

I figured I could use these for a wide variety of uses and figured they would be a good foundation set of stamps.

I guess it is safe to say that I am now officially a stamper too =:) Thanks, Reni! See ya at the next crop.

The next generation of digital scrapbooking is about to appear. Lasting Impressions for Paper, Inc., the leading manufacturer of embossing templates, unveiled MemoryMixer at Memory Trends. They’re calling Memory Mixer “the industry’s first truly digital scrapbooking product.”

According to their website, MemoryMixer will allow people to combine digital video, digital sound, digital photos, computer graphics, typewritten text using their fonts, and narration capabilities into a multimedia experience that brings memories to life. In addition, the product allows for digitally scanned memorabilia such as report cards, diplomas, ticket stubs, or a child’s drawing and has multiple output options that include DVD, CD, hardbound book and traditional print.

Wow. Sounds cool. Even Lisa Bearnson, founder of Creative Keepsakes Magazine thinks so - she said “Lasting Impressions has introduced a product that will truly revolutionize the scrapbooking industry. The average home has at least a gigabyte of digital photos stored on computer with a limited number of creative ways to enjoy them and share them. MemoryMixer offers families a way to present, narrate and share their favorite photos.”

MemoryMixer will be available in January 2006 and they’re saying it will be “competitively priced for a broad consumer audience.” Wonder what that means exactly…

Did anybody see this at Memory Trends?

In honor of our first snowfall of the season here in Denver (BTW, Go Broncos!), I sought out some fun snow related scrapbook supplies. It reminds me of the time when I was walking through Michael’s and saw a really cool pre-made tag like the one here. I almost bought it because it was so cute. Then, I said to myself, “But do I really need a fancy tag for just some snow?” The next weekend we got 3 FEET of snow right here in Denver. Some folks in the foothills got 7 feet. Shut the whole city down.

As soon as I could get out of our driveway (three days later) I went to Michaels and bought the tag. Now, that snowfall was worthy of a fancy tag!

Fresh Tags-Snow Wonder

I love snowflakes. My sister and I used to catch them on our dark-colored gloves and try to see two that were alike. Never did work…

Making Memories Trinkets-Snowflake

One thing I am really grateful for is that we have all four seasons here in Colorado. In fact, I have on my list of “Albums To Do” a set of Seasons albums. How fun would it be to bring out the Winter album right now just to solidify the season? We could sit around with hot chocolate and reminisce about winters gone by. Then run out and grab some photos for the winter of 2005 - which seems to have started … today.

When my October issue of Creating Keepsakes arrive yesterday and I recovered from the-year-is-going-to-fast shock, I cracked it open and saw an article by Ali Edwards listing several very helpful websites for scrapbookers. Boy is this woman after my heart.

First she directed me to a great site for organizing my digital photos. Yeah! I needed that. Then she shared another site about working with color. Both of which are great and you should grab your CK and read about them. (I won’t steal all her thunder…)

The site she shared next made my heart sing.

A site all about typography. Not a place to download fonts, but a place to learn about them - in great detail. Oh my.

If you are a regular reader of ScrappinCabinet you know I don’t use computer fonts when creating my layouts. So why all the fuss? Well, in the early days of my career I was a desktop publisher. I created newsletters, brochures, postcards and other marketing materials for small businesses. This was in the “good old days” of computers (and awesome 80s music =:). My first system cost me $2500 and had a 40 meg - not gig, meg - hard drive.

My first font collection was a set of disks - the old 5 1/4″ ones, remember those?

I also bought several design books to learn how to create professional looking materials. And I got a big fat book all about type. It wasn’t enough for me to just experiment to see what looked good. I wanted to know the ins and outs of each typeface. I still have that book and from time to time crack it open to warm my heart with knowledge of the fonts. When my business partner and I merged and hired employees I was diligent about everyone using the same font for all our company materials and become known at the office as “The Font Police.”

Anyway, if you are a typface aficionado too you will also really enjoy Thinking With Type, the site Ali recommends in her article.

Enjoy, courtesy of The Font Police - and Ali Edwards =:)

Just got an email from Jo-Ann stores announcing Creating Keepsakes products are now exclusively available in their store. It says they have scrap totes, albums, storage units, kits and CKOK-Scrappin’ Creations embellishments. So I popped online to see what I could find.

While it appears that their online selection is still limited, there is one item in particular that caught my eye. It is the Creating Keepsakes Basic Essential Tote that is not just an empty tote, but comes stuffed with scrapping stuff from Creating Keepsakes. (I tried to grab the photo to paste in here, but it is not grabbable.) Here is what is included in this cool looking bag:

Kit Includes:
* Fabric Tote
* Trimmer
* 12″ deckled edge ruler
* Set of 3 pens
* 25 sheets of cardstock
* Scissors
* 4″x6″ photo organizer
* 12″x12″ paper holder
* Sketch book
* Tool guide

It is $99.99 but this week at their online store, they have a 50% off coupon which does appear to apply to Creating Keepsakes products. That is a pretty good value!

Just thought I would share this. I am going to take a minute to stop my local JoAnn store too to see what the offline selection is too. Could be fun. (Or dangerous…you know, to the pocketbook =:)

Oh, I just found the cutest site for getting ribbon. The Ribbon Jar was created by Amber Lee after searching for ribbon she saw in magazines and not being able to find it anywhere by the yard. Frustrated she decided to take matters into her own hands, and began The Ribbon Jar.

What I love about this site is the page where you can Shop by Color. Not so much THAT you can shop by color, but by HOW she has it set up. You should take a peek at it, it is just so cute.

Do you use a lot of ribbon in your layouts?