IllustratingStories.com

New Freebie for You

Download Swirl Freebie (43.7K) -- perfect for scrapbooking, collage, art journals, and more!

We have a new digital FREEBIE as a thank you to you, our readers.  We love you!  Thanks for following us and for contributing your ideas, thoughts, stories, and questions.  Your input and friendship mean the world to us!

Anniversary & Appreciation

Happy February!

This month marks our second anniversary and we are going to say thank you all month long with...

• Four (maybe more) free digi collections for our existing Digi Capers customers, these collections will also be available to purchase in our store for new customers
• A free digi collection for our tribe members, join by Friday February 5th to receive this collection
• Four free downloads for our readers
• A heartfelt giveaway and more

The last two years have been a whirlwind of new friendships and amazing discoveries. We are very blessed to have a community of enthusiastic readers that have made our lives richer. Thank you for taking time to spend with us. We look forward to many more years of sharing our stories.

Celebrate good times, come on! (sung Cool and The Gang style)

1, 2, 3, 4 Bits of News!

We have a bit of news for you today...

1. In February we'll be celebrating our anniversary as a blog (and business) by having customer appreciation month!  Everyone that has purchased a Digi Caper from us (prior to February 1, 2010), will get every Caper we release in February for FREE!  We plan to have at least four Capers, but there may be more!  If you've never purchased a Digi Caper before, you have until February 1st to purchase one -- they are a steal at $.99!  Yup.  So cheap it's a crime!
2. We will be celebrating via our Etsy store, too.  If you've been a regular customer and have purchased at least three items from our Etsy store -- prior to February 1, 2010 -- we'll have something special for you, too:  A free notebook/journal!
3. You have until 8am (Pacific) tomorrow to play along in our Textured Photos challenge for a random chance to receive a Moleskin Watercolor Notebook (for more details please read our post from last week).
4. Finally, we've released a new Caper today called Winter Fun...

The Winter Fun Combo Pack contains three 12 x 12 inch (300 DPI/High Quality) digital papers (.jpg files) in blue and gray. In addition, the pack includes a clipart sled, a circle journal spot, and a decorative border (via a .png file). It's perfect for scrapbooking, collage, and art journal projects.

Enjoy and happy creating!

Textures + Photos = YUM!

The following video is a quick tutorial that demonstrates how to combine textures and photos to alter an image.  But, why would you ever want to do that?  Well altering photos is fun, can help you set (and better communicate) the mood and theme of your stories, and the results can be beautiful.

Still looking for a good reason to play?  Well how's this:  There's a RAK (random act of kindness) involved!  We'll have a random drawing for a Moleskine Watercolor Notebook.  Interested in playing?  If so, here's what to do...

1. Combine a texture and photo (as illustrated in the following video).
2. Join our tribe (it's free [and part of the Ning network]).
3. Upload your photo to the Photo Junkies thread on the subject by next Wednesday 8:00 am (Pacific Time).
4. We'll draw a name (randomly) from the pool of amazing photos, do a happy dance in honor of the recipient, and announce the RAK-ee on the blog and in our community!

We hope you'll play and can't wait to see your creations!

Now, before we get to the video, there's one last thing we want to do:  THANK YOU, THANK YOU SKELETALMESS for the AWESOME FREE TEXTURES via your Flickr account!  (Seriously.  These textures ROCK!)

Okay.  Now, the video...

3 Big Events at Illustrating Stories

Today is special for three reasons:

1. We chose the recipient for our giveaway (please see the video below for details).
2. As a result, we have a theme for our 2009 IS Fat Book Exchange.
3. And, we are launching the Illustrating Stories Network -- open to anyone passionate about illustrating stories!

We are jazzed about all three of these things.  Check out the video -- you'll see what we mean.  Also, please be sure to join the 2009 Fat Book Friends group to connect, share, and follow the exchange.  We'll be adding details and launching the exchange within the next few days!

And now, the video (congratulations again to the winners).

3 Loose Ends to Tie

First

Last week in all of our excitement to return, we forgot to set limits on how long you have to reply for the latest giveaway of:

• Tim Holtz Corners and Ornate Plates
• + 7.5 x 10 Moleskine (Plain) Notebook
• + Small sticker sheet
• + 8 x 8 Pageframe acrylic album (great as an album or for acrylic stamp storage).

So here's the scoop: To get your name in for the giveaway, please leave us a comment with a fat book theme idea by next Monday (8 am Pacific Time).  We'll be getting together to make a random drawing of the theme and giveaway recipient shortly after that.

Next

We released three new Digi Capers last week all with a vintage flavor...

But, I forgot to mention anything about them!  Two of the Capers were designed while I was remembering my grandmother (above).  The other was designed while doing a layout of my son's first day of school last year.  For that, I was inspired by one of his books (it was so fun)!

Last but not Least

MamaSheg gave us a great idea for this Friday's video segment:  A tour, inside-and-out, of the 2009 Artfest Fat Book we received/contributed to last spring.  What a great idea and we'd be honored to share the amazing pages in that book.  Plus, a video would help us share just what a fat book is all about.  Thanks for the awesome idea and prompt, MamaSheg!

And, that just about covers it I think!  See you back here on Wednesday!

We're Back!

And, we have lots to share -- like two $20 Amazon gift card giveaways...

Congratulations again to our giveaway recipients (we have your addresses, so expect an email by tomorrow with your Amazon gift cards)!

Also, here are the blogs we mentioned, written by our friends:

• Sandrine
• Kim

Don't forget to leave us a comment to share your theme idea -- if we choose yours, you'll get our giveaway!  Also, let us know if you'd like to play.  (Note:  We'll post more about what a fat book is and what we're up to tomorrow.)

Life, Two Giveaways, and a Short Respite

We've had a strange month (or month-and-a-half, really).  There's been so much happening within our families, to us, and around.  To be honest, it's left us sort of spinning.  Some of it has been sad, while other parts have been amazing.  Still, neither one of us is used to quite so much of it -- life -- happening at once.  So, we've decided we need to take another little break -- to catch up to ourselves (and our lives).

Here's the scoop:  We're going to take a three-week respite and return here on Monday the 17th.  With our return, we'll have a lot of new material to share:  New videos, new Digi Capers (including a Freebie), new tutorials, etc.  And, we're going to launch our break with a giveaway and return with another!

The first giveaway is for two $20 gift cards from Amazon.  That is, two people will get one $20 card each. All you have to do is share your creative dreams for the future in the comments section of this post by the end of the day on August 16th.  On the 17th, we'll choose two names (at random) from the comments.  Then, we'll announce the winners and the second giveaway -- which is a surprise, but it's a good one (think Tim, journal, acrylic...)!

COOL TWIST:  There is one $20 gift card giveaway for your friends, too!  Here's how it works:  Invite a friend (or friends) to leave a comment about their creative dreams for the future (also, by the end of the day on the 16th).  Please ask them to mention that you sent them to our site -- that they are your friend.  We'll draw from the "friends" group on the 17th, as well.  Then, one friend will get a $20 Amazon gift card -- pretty sweet!

Meanwhile, we hope that your lives are good (and not too crazy) and we wish you a happy and creative three weeks.  Take care and see you soon!

The Winner...

...of our Birthday Giveaway is..

Karin said...I wasn't going to enter, because I have barely a square inch of wall space to spare, but what a lovely gift to celebrate such a great landmark?! Congratulations to you both and thanks for your generosity!!❤ Karin

Congratulations Karin, please email us (info at illustratingstories dot com) with your mailing address.

Thanks to everyone that has participated in Illustrating Stories over the past year. We are so blessed to have a wonderful community of creative souls to share our journey with. Looking forward to our year ahead!

Birthday Giveaway!

Illustrating Stories is turning 1

When we started a year ago, we had so many plans for this site and all that we wanted it to become. Now a year later, it is so much more than we had ever dreamed. That is due to all of you, our awesome readers. You have helped us create this wonderful, creative, sharing community and we can not thank you enough.

We are excited for the year ahead. Liz and I are working on many new ideas that will help grow our community and bring even more creative fun to those of you who are already a part of the family. More than anything, that is what we want Illustrating Stories to be, a family. A place for all of us to come together to learn from one another and share our creative dreams. We look forward to the journey ahead with each of you!

Now, what would a birthday celebration be without presents? Giveaway time!!

We are giving away this waxy collage to one of you. Want a chance to win? Just leave us a comment below and let us know what your favorite Illustrating Stories post has been and what you would like to see here in the year ahead. (Comments will be open through the month of February, we will pick a random winner on March 2nd.)

Thank you for the most incredible year!

Our Last Happy Giveaway - Congratulations Beth W!

I'll spare you the video, but rest assured that I am doing a major happy dance in honor of Beth W -- the recipient of our sixth and final Happy Giveaway for 2008!  Congratulations Beth!

Here are the goodies that we'll be sending your way...

Also, we wanted to say thanks again to all of you for your friendship.  We've loved getting to know you and are so happy to be a part of the IllustratingStories.com group that's been coming together over the last year!  We can't wait for 2009 and the fun we'll all have together in the new year!

Happy holidays to everyone, happy winter, and best wishes for an awesome new year!

Happy Giveaway #5

Okay, you asked for it:  A happy dance video.  However, I must warn you:  It's goofy -- REALLY goofy.  My high school dance teacher would blush from the embarrassment (seriously.  She was a Rockette, so...).

Today's Random Pick: Noell!

In the fourth of our six Happy Giveaways, Noell was our random pick!  And, we have another of those great Basic Grey stamps for her!

All I have to say is, "YAY!  Woo-Hoo!  And...

...CONGRATULATIONS!"  That, and that I'll get those Basic Grey Winterland stamps in the mail today -- right after I finish my happy dance (heh-heh)!

Time for Another Little Dance...

We've (randomly) chosen Cami from our stack of site comments for another $10.00 gift card from Amazon (expect it in email, my friend)!  That means I'm dancing my woo-hoo-goofy dance in her honor.  I just love these giveaways!  Not only is it fun to give, but I get to dance!

Congratulations Cami and happy holidays!