At the Beach Border

I was going to do the phrase with the pictures carved out like I've done before, then I decided to use clip art and make it more interesting. This was designed as a border, but you can use it in different ways (t-shirt comes to mind).
I used fonts Rockwell Extra bold, Flavors and Scrap Cursive.
With 'Beach' I used a picture and masked it over the letters (Control + G). With 'At' I used a pattern (sand) over the letters. I carved 'the' in Scrap Cursive out of the letter B.

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I hope this freebie is useful to you for a fun layout, it's 300 dpi, .png file, and has some shadows.
Enjoy!
Patricia.
PS: At the last minute I made a change. I had 'Beach' all look the same and had the surfboards behind the 'B.' But I didn't like it, so I erased the original H and put the surfboards there and crossed them with the shape of a lizard, then I just applied a style on the lizard, and voila! done. I hope you like it. :o)

America Phrase

I know, I know, long time. Summer's hard to beat. Too much to do, too many things to do, too much to see.
I played with this phrase for a while, I even made the styles you see on the letters.
Even though "Land of the" and "Home of the" can't be seen with the tan background, they can be seen on any other kind. :)
I used fonts Goudy Stout and HaloHandletter.

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I hope you can use it. This freebie is about 3x5", 300 dpi, .png file, some shadows.
Have a great 4th of July here in the States, and a great rest of the week for all others!
Patricia.

Pool Time!

This one I just love!
I've spent some time creating this cool, gorgeous alpha. I'm almost there. Here's the way it looks with the style applied to it.

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This is about 4x8", 300 dpi, .png file, some shadows.
Enjoy!
Patricia.

Sun Kissed

I'm sure you're loving these wonderful summer times, unless you're at the other side of the world, where's winter. This phrase should warm up your spirits. :)
I used fonts Ace Crickey and Alex Brush. With SUN I just used a common shape that comes with Photoshop and took some out of it, so you can see the sun rays, then applied a yellow-orange style. To the word 'kissed' I only added the water style I'm working on. Still not sure I like it enough to have it out; I might still tweak it a bit. And that's it.

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This freebie is a .png file, 300 dpi, some shadows.
Have fun!
Patricia.

BABY Phrase

I loved working on this phrase. I just used font Goudy Stout and the usual shapes that come with Photoshop.
You do the usual: type the phrase, duplicate (just to keep the original, so you know what font you used). Then rasterize the type, so you can work with it. Bring shapes individually and erase parts from the BABY phrase and parts from the shape layer.
Merge everything together, or you can keep an original in a .psd file.
I used a style that looks like glitter both in blue and pink, and that's that.

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You get a .png file, 300 dpi, no shadows.
Enjoy!
Patricia.

On Goodness

I found this phrase and wanted to do something with it.
I used a shape and put a glitter style on it. I typed the phrase using fonts The Only Exception and Tempus Sans ITC.

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This is a .png file, 300 dpi, about 3x6", no shadows.
Enjoy!
Patricia.

Father Phrase

Well, since I didn't have a post for Memorial Day, I decided to combine it with Father's day.
Fathers, just like mothers, wear many hats. One of them could be a military helmet, if he's served at any point in his life. However, if that's not the case, you don't have to use it in your layout. This design is in layers, as many others I've done, and the helmet is one of them.
I used Blackoak Std font, and used some shapes to define fathers: car keys, a wrench, a laptop, love, a tie (if he wears one), and last but not least, a flower, if he's already gone.

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You get both the black and white (clear) and the styled design.
This is a .psd file, 300 dpi, no shadows.
I hope it's useful. :)
Patricia.

Wild @ ♥

Hey! I worked on this phrase for you today. I used font Aunt Bertha NF and mixed up upper and lower cases. I added the ampersand in AvantGarde BK. I played with them until it looks as if the & is hanging from the W. I made sure the letters are rasterized or I can't apply anything to them. I used the Magic Wand tool to 'grab' the letters in WilD, then I added a pattern (leopard) to them.
I added a silver style to the ampersand and then added a heart shape and put a stripes style on it.
And there you have it. This freebie is a .png file, 300 dpi, shadows are included.

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Enjoy!
Patricia.

Mother Poem

Hi! I hope you had a great weekend. The few days we get of a real spring are just gorgeous.
I put together this design around the poem you see. I used fonts Aubrey and Apple Butter. I had a leaf shape, doubled it, placed the two the way you see them and just added the green style on them. Then added the bow. Nothing fancy, really.
The design is about 8" square, pretty big, I know. You can make it smaller if that's your desire.

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This freebie for personal use is a 300 dpi, .png file, shadows on the bow only.
Go scrap! :)
Patricia.

Spring Proverb

Isn't this time of year just a pleasure? Even though I nearly killed myself working on a bed last Saturday (granted, the raspberry bushes needed it), I utterly enjoy being outside, pulling on weeds, watering, clearing beds, planting and just getting busy. I wasn't made to be cooped up in a house. :)
So, today's freebie is a gorgeous page, curled, with grass, flower and bug elements.
I added the proverb, using Angelized and Alex Brush fonts. Then I applied a style on the letters.

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This is a .png file, 300 dpi, some shadows.

Have fun!

Patricia.

Machado

A tribute to Spanish poet Antonio Machado. I just used a clip art I had, and typed the poem. The Spanish is in Dancing Script font and the English portion was done in Apple Butter.

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This is a .jpg file, about 4x11", 300 dpi,  no shadows.
Enjoy!
Patricia.

Hawaii

I really like this phrase. I started out with something else (always) and ended up with this one. I saw a similar design done with butterflies and wondered how it was done, so I went in to PS and figured it out.
You first type the phrase, duplicate it (why not?), rasterize the copy. Open another layer and do your brushes, scatter them. If you don't have PS, just do each one in individual layers until you like the way they look on the letters. Then collect all the brushes and 'glue' them together (Ctrol + E). Apply the Magic Wand tool on the brushes (make sure you got the whole image), then click on the word layer, click Ctrol + X, and that would erase the brushes image from your word. Save the whole thing as a .psd, then save it as a .png. Open the .png file and use any style you want on it.
This is about 4x12", 300 dpi, .png file, no shadows. I used font Jeepney and a style with a gradient. Cool, huh?

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Use it in your personal projects. Try to make another one just for you!
Patricia.

Irish Wisdom

I love this saying, but didn't want to do something conventional so this is the result.
I used fonts Stamp Act, Papyrus and Scrap Cursive. I made sure every item was level on the same line, added the clovers and applied a sticker-type style.
I also played a bit with the '4' and 'every.'
This is about 4x6", 300 dpi, a bit of a shadow.

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Enjoy!
Patricia.

Luck o' the Irish Sticker

I know, back to the Irish. This one had at least three lives. I started out with the phrase, in Blackoak STD, then I thought it would look good in a circle. I replace the 'o' with the clover. I gave it a style. Turned it into a circle and added the cauldron.
And didn't like it. So I turned it into a brush (second life) and used it. Colored it green and decided it would look even better as a sticker (third life). So here it is.

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If you'd like the original, here it is:

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And may the sun shine always on your path.
Patricia.

Always

Hello!
The big day is coming up!
This design was done starting with a rectangle piece of 'paper.' I put a gradient on it. For the words I used font Carlotta. I added a swirl and replaced what looked like flowers for the hearts and merged them. Then I added the butterfly. They all have the same style on, just a white beveled type, that makes them jump out of the page.
In CS5 I doubled up the background page, turned it black, gave it a Gaussian blur (11). Then went to Transform and started stretching the corners and pushing in the middles on all 4 sides. Not bad, huh?

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As always, this art is 300 dpi and you can see the shadow.
Enjoy!
Patricia.

Let it Snow

Hello!
It's freezing here. So much so that yesterday we had freezing rain. Everything is frozen; the snow that's already on the ground has a nice sheen on top. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
So I decided to work on the phrase. I used font Kingthings Christmas that already comes with the snowflakes. I took out the 'o', then I found a nice snowflake shape that I liked, applied a clear style over it and put it on top (above) the layer that had 'snow' on it. On the 'snow' layer I used a different style, that has more blue in it.
I used font Scriptina for 'let' and Parade for 'it.' I merged the two layers together so I could apply the same style to both of them, and positioned that layer above 'snow' and 'snowflake.'
I added two more snowflakes, just to balance out the image. Each one has a different style on it.

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As usual, this personal freebie is a .png file, 300 dpi, no shadows.
Have a fun weekend!
Patricia.

Mom is Love

Hi!
The freebie I'm posting today just came together one day.
The frame is a brush with a style applied to it. The 'mom' phrase was cut out from paper; the 'love' phrase has a 'bling' style applied to it. I had a picture of a daisy in my Flowers collection, so I used it, along with the picture of the ivy. And the butterfly is a shape plus a style.

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I always wonder about Mother's day. Having been away from my own mother for the last 25 years, the day is kind of bittersweet for me. On the other hand, I have two wonderful kids that love me, defects and all. I can't complain.

'Til next time.

Patricia.

Love Always

Hi there!
I designed this frame a while ago. I used shapes for the frame, flowers and leaves. I played with shadows and this is the result.
I love the phrase.

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Let me know what you think. Thanks!
Patricia

Hot Air Balloons

Hello everyone.

I've been debating what to do while I work on my other project (my commercial site) and decided to post here all the designs that I like and are close to my heart.

These designs will be posted full size for anyone to grab as you like. You can print them, frame them, use them in your layouts anyway you want, if you'd like to give credit or a donation they will be happily accepted. Anything on this site is free for your own Personal Use. I don't want anyone to try and sell them, please. Let your friends know, so they can also come and visit, and the party will be even bigger.

I was thinking which one of my babies would be the first up, and I just finished this one. I like hot air balloons, and I'll tell you why in a minute. I'd grabbed this balloon from a CU freebie site a few months ago in the middle of winter, when I was looking forward to summer. Just last night I saw the phrase that goes with it, and decided to put them together.

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Now the story. I'd had my only child in 1992, a boy. After that I couldn't have children anymore, and I'd actually gone through a hysterectomy, so we were in the process of adopting. We lived in Utah at the time and had to move to Wyoming due to my husband's employment.

We'd started our paperwork in Utah and the paper trail just followed us there. We met our new social worker, a nice gentleman from Denver, Colorado. He'd come and visit us regularly, but no good news came with him.
By the end of 1999 we knew our papers were expiring and decided to not renew them. Our kind social worker came around for Christmas and asked us to reconsider, but we said it was OK.
Well, he ended up calling with good news on 17 March 2000 (St Patrick's day). There was a birth mother willing to meet with us in Arizona. That meant filling out and chasing employers and our bishop to sign brand new papers.
It was a long trip that we made, they were doing construction on some roads, it was dusty and bumpy. We met early in the morning, nobody was really on their best, but it was a momentous meeting. She told us that she'd had an ultrasound, that they couldn't ascertain the baby's sex, and that they thought it was a boy. We were extremely happy and tired, and started our trek back that same day.
On the way to Wyoming we stopped in Albuquerque, NM. In the morning, after breakfast we saw some hot air balloons up in the air and decided to chase one around town. They were practicing for the Balloon Festival later on in the summer.
To me it was a good omen, and I said that if we could have this baby, I'd decorate his nursery with a blue sky, white clouds and a whole lot of hot air balloons.

The Lord instead sent us a daughter. And I did keep my promise, her nursery was really cute.
Even though I can't express in words how it felt to go through our experience one thing I can say for sure, it was like touching the sky. The Lord in His infinite mercy gave us a little piece of Heaven.
You have a good day, and I hope you come back.
Patricia.