A Grieving Mommy's Blog

Mickey's Ice Cream Treat now available again!

2012-01-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

I have my Mickey's Ice Cream treat kit available again for download for free for a limited time! I am trying out a new service that will send the download links out for me. So I thought I would give it a try with a freebie kit and see how it goes.
If you don't have this kit, now is the time to get it!

Sorry, this freebie is expired.

2012-01-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

Many of you have noticed that my freebies are currently inaccessible.
I have taken a break from designing digital scrapbooking stuff. We have been remodeling our house and I'm finally getting things here at home back in order.
I have been trying to decide what I would like to do in the future with my designs and this site. Please, stay tuned!

New Mickey Templates and another Stashbuilder: MickeyHeads for your Disney Digital Scrapbooking!

2011-07-13T23:17:00.001-07:00

Hey all! It's my turn to host the weekly challenge. :)

I am often inspired by the designer Scrapping with Liz. She has so many creative templates to use in soooo many ways.
I saw this one and thought what an awesome idea to use a "cut up" of a shape by filling it with papers, photos, adding staples, stitches, etc.

(Please note that I'm not affiliated with Scrapping with Liz - I just find her inspiring!)

So I decided to adapt that idea for our challenge this week! I made 8 FULL SIZE Mickey Head page templates for you!!

I'm SO EXCITED to see all of the different ways people use them! I'm still working on my own page :)

You can download them here.

Also, my friend Charlene, made them in page files for StoryBookCreator users. You can download those files here.

And I've got another one of my Stashbuilder:Mickey Heads for your Prize Package. This is volume #3 - monochromatic Mickey Heads.

To get the PP, find the rules and challenge here at MouseScrappers.

Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

New Mickey Scatters in Gold and Silver Colors

2011-07-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Get these new Mickey Scatters by joining me in a few challenges this week!

You can find out about the challenges here and here!

New Freebie Template for Disney Digital Scrapbooking - Mickey Wheel Template

2011-07-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

I'm hosting another template challenge over at MouseScrappers! So I have a new freebie Disney digital scrapbooking template for you :)
It was inspired by our love/hate relationship with the Mickey Wheel at Disneyland's California Adventure! (Formerly the SunWheel.) That ride is freakin' scary! Who knew???! WE certainly didn't the first time we went on it! I'm talking about the swinging gondolas not the stationary ones. It was back in 2006 the first time, my husband and I went on it and we were blown away by how scary it was. So we went back on it and took my little brother and sister with us (for their first time) and to record their reaction on video. You can't see anything, because it was at night which made it even scarier!
The MickeyWheel is for sure the most unexpectedly scary ride at Disneyland.
Here us scream on it:

So I was inspired by some past starburst pages I've done and by the Mickey Wheel itself:

Here is the template I made. I'm excited to see what you do with it.
I'll be whipping up a prize package for ya in the next few days!

In psd for photoshop users and png files for other programs.
Download it here
Or here

Enjoy!
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Have you ever been an Honorary Citizen at Disneyland or Disneyworld? Do you have the button to prove it?! Introducing my latest Disney Digital Scrapbooking Kits!!

2011-06-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

My new freebie kits are possibly my favorite ones I've ever done!!!Ok, so here is the story behind my latest Disney digital scrapbooking kits. The last trip we took to Disneyland, my son was given an Honorary Citizen of Disneyland button with a "key to the kingdom" on it! He was so excited and proud of that button that he took it off so it wouldn't get lost or ruined! He just kept saying that he had a KEY to Disneyland. It was soooo cute! So of course, I had to do a kit themed around the Honorary Citizen button for his pages.
Here is his button:

And here is the kit:

And I didn't forget you Disneyworld scrappers either! I've got one themed around the Disneyworld button also. :) It's on our list of things to do to get one of these buttons too someday!

And here is it's matching kit:

Do you like them????
You can get them (they're freebies!!!) over at MouseScrappers for a limited time in the June Kit Challenge thread here.
If you complete the challenge and make and post a page using one of the kits, you will get these add-ons as a prize:

So hop on over to MouseScrappers to download the free kits here and join me in the challenge!
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Freebie for my Followers!! My Disney Treats Kit

2011-05-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Hey to my digifriends! I've giving my latest kit called Disney Treats out to all of my followers. You can get it on facebook or if you are already subscribed to the newsletter, you will get it in your email in box. Blog followers will need to email me at agrievingmommy@yahoo.com with their blogger name to get it.

Enjoy! Thank you for being a digifriend and follower :)
Also, I've had a lot of people requesting that I give out my Mickey's Ice Cream Kit, Disney Traffic and Rainbow Clubhouse kit. I do plan on giving those out, I just want to update them a bit - they were some of my first kits so I will be doing that as soon as I have time. Keep a lookout on my blog and facebook if you are wanting those kits! Also, my Tron kit will be a freebie for followers too!
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Happy 2nd Birthday MouseScrappers!!! Blog Hop and a Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie and Tutorial for making Mickey Heads!

2011-05-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

My favorite site is having a birthday! MouseScrappers is 2 years old and we're celebrating with a very special blog hop :)

I have a super fun and useful freebie for you as my part of the blog hop! And a little tutorial on how to use it :)

It's a Mickey Head Maker - similar to my Disney Alpha Maker - for you to use. Use it to make Mickey Heads that will match the other items that you've picked up on this blog train. You can make over 60 different mickey heads in lots of different combinations!!! (In a psd file for photoshop users or in separate png files for all other programs so everyone can use it.)

Here's a little tutorial on how to make some of your own Mickey Heads using this set:

First, in photoshop, it is super easy. Just open up the psd file in photoshop (elements or cs - it doesn't matter) and simply click on and off the eyeballs in the layers side menu to choose which layers you want showing! In this picture below, you can see that I've got the Silver Outline eyeball on as well as the red fill layer, polkadots, and crumpled layer.

Now just go to Layer, Merge Visible and it's ready to be moved onto your scrapbook page! If you want to make another one, just undo the Merge Visible and start again!! How easy peasy is that??

In all other programs, you can simply open what you want to be the bottom layer and then drag other layers on top of it. It's the same idea, you just need to decide which layers you want and put them on top of each other. Then put them all together so you can put it on your page! **The only exception to this is the crumpled layer and the striped layer. They need to be blended with your base layer. (This is already done for you in the photoshop psd file.) In other programs, you will need to change the opacity or blend it to have it look right and take the color of the base layer.

Hope you love it and it helps you create just the right Mickey Head for that special disney scrapbooking page!!!

DOWNLOAD HERE - if you get an error code, try again in a few minutes - it means the server is busy!

You should have come from KaylaLovesMinnie
Your next stop is Roxana
Or if you started here, you can go to the MouseScrappers 2nd Anniversary Activity forum to get the complete list.

People from all over the world have contributed to this blog hop so if you don't see their freebie right away, be sure to check back later!

And... if you love my mickey head maker, have a look around. I have lots of freebies on my blog and facebook. And my kits are for charity.
Thanks for comments. Others' comments and notes of appreciation are what keep me sharing!

Hugs to you,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Join me for a Speed Scrap and get my Disney Treats Scrapbooking Set

2011-05-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

I'm hosting a Speed Scrap on Saturday as part of MouseScrappers' 2nd Birthday Celebration.
Join me and scrap a page to get this Prize :)
Saturday morning at 10am ET, 9am CT, 8am MT, 7am PT, 2pm GMT

I haven't had time to finish the papers, but when I do, I will have them on my blog here.

Find the full info about joining the SS here at MS

For the Lost Children out there - and to all of the Mothers who are Missing them

2011-05-09T00:31:00.000-07:00

It's Mother's Day and it's always a hard day for me. I will never get a Mother's Day card or gift from my girls. I never even heard, "I Love you, Mama." from them. It physically hurts to know that I will never spend Mother's Day with my girls, never get a handmade gift or a hug and kiss, breakfast in bed. My heart just aches - it's like a knife in my heart but when the pain stops for a second and I can think again, I tell my girls it's okay. Mother's Day is not about me. It's about them and being thankful that I am a Mom and that I had my beautiful little girls in my arms for one year of my life and how I held them in my arms every night and I bundled them up tight and nursed them (until they got too sick) and kissed them. So, I spent the day spoiling my living son and missing my girls wishing with all my heart that I could just be with them - see them grow, teach them, love them.
My heart hurts so much and yet, there are mothers out there who have it worse than me. Children who have been stolen and abused or killed - the truly lost children. This month, my charity kit is to benefit those families. All profits (minus paypal fees) will go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. No matter how hard my life feels, I cannot imagine what it would be like to have my child abducted and killed or to never know what has happened to my child. As hard as it was to bury my girls, I know where they are and can visit their graves. This Mother's Day, I want to help those Mothers (and families) who may not.
Appropriately, my new charity kit is called The Lost Princess and was themed after Rapunzel, Disney's Lost Princess, from the movie Tangled. Rapunzel is a princess that was taken from her parents as a baby and is finally reunited with her family at the end of the movie.
Here is the kit. It is huge - with all of the freebies and add on, it is over 230 MB! It also includes an alphamaker to make multiple different alphas to match the kit!

I started to make this kit for my daughter, Bree-Elle, on her birthday last month. She would have been 4 years old. We bought her a Tangled cake and decorated with Rapunzel items including a purple and pink pinata that my son broke open. I made this add-on that will be free with a donation for the kit.

You can get the Lost Princess kit and Birthday Part add-on, for a donation of $4.50 or more. As always, if you would like to make a large donation for tax purposes, you can just send me a copy of the receipt and I will give you the kit.

**I'm sorry! This kit is no longer available.**

Please allow up to 24 hours to get the download links - I have to email them out to your PayPal email address and I do sleep once in awhile even if I'm an insomniac :)

And I've made a freebie for you to match the kit for your Disney digital scrapbooking pages:

Download it here
Enjoy. I hope you were able to spend Mother's Day with those you love.
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Last Chance to get the Coloring Book Scans Mega Prize Package!

2011-05-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Last chance to get the Mega Prize Package. Details are here at MouseScrappers in their Birthday Anniversary Forum. The deadline is extended to Sunday, May 8th!

Freebie Frame and Quick Tutorial

2011-05-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for great iNSD sales? Well, my good friend, Anna of Delicious Scraps always has great deals - most of her kits are always 99 cents! And right now, everything including her awesome CU stuff is 99 cents too. She also has a ton of freebies on her blog.
Here's her latest kit Bloomsberry with a page I made for my Chloee:

Here's a quick and easy tip/tutorial:
If you want to make a 2 page spread so that you'll have matching pages in your album quickly and easily. Take your first page and duplicate it. Then rotate it or rearrange it! That's what I did with the 2 pages above. Now I have 2 matching pages ready to be printed and put into her album :) Makes it so much easier than starting from scratch each time!

And I've got a freebie for you (Thanks, Anna!) It's the cluster frame I made for my page in png format with a transparent background:

For a limited time, Download it here!
You can find Anna's store at DeliciousScrapShop.com
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Thank you for helping Autism Speaks

2011-05-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to send a thank you out to all of you that donated for our Huey's Uncle kit! Together we raised $335 for Autism Speaks ($585 including those who donated separately)!

I am a little behind because of our trip to Disneyland, but I have a new Kit 4 Charity coming out soon to benefit a new charity for the month of May.
For now, here is a freebie from me to thank my followers and digifriends!
Enjoy :)
Thank You Balloons (Mickey Head Balloons for your Disney Digital Scrapbooking)

Download here
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial on using Coloring Books on your Digital Scrapbooking Pages and a Mega Prize Package for joining the Challenge!

2011-04-28T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here’s my tutorial on using Coloring Books on your Digital Scrapbooking Pages:

I LOVE using coloring books on my scrap pages. I have over 100 coloring books and I won’t let my son or the kids in my class color them in until I’ve scanned them J he he They’re mine!

Why are they so awesome? They’re cheap – I hunt the dollar store and Walmart for them! You can get 40 pages for $1!!! Those are unbeatable prices for scrap stuff! (I’ve also got some really awesome coloring books in Disneyland and Disneyworld so always check out the stores there.) And there are just so many ways to use coloring book images on your scrapbook pages! They’re so versatile and customizable! You can choose the exact colors you want to use to match a certain kit. You can use it as a background, element, silhouette, or blend. There are just so many options!!

There are 3 steps to using Coloring Books on your pages:

1. Digitizing

2. Extracting

3. Embellishing

Digitizing

Digitizing your image is simply getting it into your computer! You can scan or photograph the coloring book page. (You can also do a google search for coloring book images but beware they are usually very low resolution and won’t print out well!) Photographing coloring book pages can be tricky due to lighting issues and distortion from the angle at which you photograph the page so I recommend scanning your coloring book page. The important thing is to scan your image at 300 dpi resolution so that it will be the same size on your scrapbook page (300dpi is standard for scrapbook page resolution).

The scanner that I use for coloring book pages is called a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Mobile Scanner. It is awesome. It does 10 coloring book pages at a time – both sides at once (duplex) – so really 20 pages at once. It is pretty expensive though L But any scanner will work just make sure it’s scanning at 300 dpi.

Once you have your image in the computer, you are ready to move to step #2 and extract it.

Extracting

Unless you have a coloring book image already in png format (a file that has a transparent background) in which case you can skip this step, you are going to want to remove the white background from the coloring page so that you can use it on a scrapbook page. There are a few different ways to do this. Basically, you want to select all of the white and delete it from the image. Depending on your program, you can just use a selection tool like the magic wand tool, etc. to select all of the white and delete it. (Sometimes photoshop will make you duplicate the layer before you can delete anything from it. Or it won’t turn transparent unless you duplicate the background layer – then you can just delete the background layer.) In Photoshop CS versions, you can go to Select Color Range and choose white. This will select all of the white on the page for you so you don’t have to click so many times like you would using the magic wand tool. Then you can delete the white part.

Here is what the image looks like after being scanned (usually a jpg or pdf file):

Here is what you want it to look like (removing the white part):

Or if you have Photoshop and know how to install and use actions, you can use my ColoringBook Action for Photoshop. It isavailable in the chat mini kit download found here. It will automatically select and delete the white part of the coloring page for you and then save it as a png and all you have to do is push the play button. This is super useful for when you are scanning and extracting a large number of pages! Find out more about installing actions and styles for Photoshop Elements at ScrapOrchard’s video tutorials by SuzyQ here. (Installing styles and actions use the same basic process.)

Once you have removed the white part of the coloring page, you are ready to move onto step #3 Embellishing. (Just don’t forget to save your extracted image as a png file for future use!) BTW – when saving your image as a png file, a box will come up saying “Interlace” with choices None and Interlaced. You want to choose None. Then click OK.

Embellishing

There are LOTS of different ways to use a coloring book image on your page. Here are some ideas:

Color it in.

To color in a coloring book image. You need to select the area and then fill it with a color. There are LOTS of different ways to do this. You can use the paintbucket tool. You can select the area you want to color and then go to Layer, New Fill Layer and choose the color.

This is the process that I use. First I open up the kit that I want to use so that I have access to the exact colors to make the image match my page and elements. Next, I select the part I want to color by using my magic wand tool and clicking inside the transparent part. Then (because I’m picky and I don’t want a gap in between the black outline and my coloring) I choose Select then Modify and Expand to make the selection just a little bit bigger – usually 2 pixels is about right. (You can skip this step if you aren’t picky – you really can’t hardly tell.) Then I either use the paint tool to hand paint the selection (if I want a bit of variation) or I go to Layer, New Fill Layer and choose my color. I like to keep my layers separate in case I decide to change something or make a mistake, it’s easier to remove or change a layer but you don’t have to do that. Continue coloring your image. Sometimes you might just want to color their hat or a part of the image. Sometimes you want it all colored! It just depends on the look you are going for. When you are done coloring, remember to save it as a separate png file in case you want to use it again and so you don’t save over your original png image.

Here's a pic of me coloring an image using that method:

The Alice, Mad Hatter, and White Rabbit were a coloring book image that I painted for this page:

Make a silhouette.

Silhouettes can be really fun to use on a page. They are simply a blacked out image. You can do this easily by selecting the outside portion of the coloring book image (the transparent part outside of the image). One click with the magic wand tool will do it. Then you will want to select the Inverse so that you have all of the image selected – the inside and outline portions. You can select the inverse by going to Select and Inverse in Photoshop programs. (You could go through and select each and every part of the image but that just takes longer!)

Now you are ready to fill it with black or white or any other color for that matter! You could even fill with a paper! You can paint it black, use the paintbucket tool, or go to Layer, New Fill Layer and select the color you want.

The Mickey on this page was a coloring book image that I turned into a silhouette:

Use it as an outline.

I love to use the coloring book image as an outline but I like to add color to it. Plain old black outlines are boring to me. You could select it and paint it a color, but I prefer to use a clipping mask with this method. A Clipping Mask is when you have a layer take the shape of another layer. In this case, we want something to take the shape of the outline of the coloring book image.

So bring a paper or paint smear, or gradient and put the layer on top of the image. Next, (in Photoshop) make sure you are on the top layer, then go to Layer, and Create Clipping Mask. This will make the paper or whatever you have chosen take the shape of the coloring book outline. I have used paint smears, scribbles, masks, papers, gradients, etc. to fill coloring book outlines! Be creative. You can use more than one, overlay different ones on top of each other, or use different ones together to create your own unique effect.

This example has 2 papers clipped to it:

I used the clipping mask method on these 2 pages (using a paintsmear on the tron monorail and multiple scribbles on the goofy one):

Other ideas that I will not go into today are making a mask or photo frame, making patterned paper using the image, or blending the coloring book image into your background or photo.

There are really endless ways to use coloring book images on your scrapbook pages!!! I hoped you enjoyed this tutorial and found it useful – please leave a comment if you did!

If you have any questions, you can contact me at agrievingmommy@yahoo.com. We are going to be in Disneyland next week, so please be patient with me getting back with you!

FAQ:

Filling the Black Outline of a Coloring Image in Better:

Sometimes, coloring book images are not printed the best and the black outline is not as dark as you’d like it to be. There are different things you can do to help this. One thing you can try is to select the transparent parts and then select the inverse (this is better than just selecting the black so that you get the transparent and white parts selected with the black) so that all of what should be black is selected. Then you can fill it with black using the Layer, New Fill Layer or paintbucket/paint tools. Another way is to try adding a stroke to the image. You can go to Edit and Stroke to try this method. There are 3 different choices for adding a stroke that you can play around with – Inside, Center and Outside.

WHEW! That was the longest post I've ever written :)

Now for the fun part - the challenge! You need to make a scrapbook page that uses a coloring book image on it. It can be one from me or one that you've scanned yourself. Post it in the MouseScrappers Gallery here and in the forum thread here! Do this by Thursday, May 5th and get a Mega Prize Package - 100 pages of coloring book images that I have scanned and extracted, ready for you to use on your scrapbook pages.

And here's a freebie for you. The Miss Daisy that I scanned, extracted, and recolored. It will go perfectly with Natalie and my collab kit Huey's Uncle!
Download it here.

Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Chat Today at 930 EST

2011-04-28T05:46:00.000-07:00

Join me today for the coloring book chat today at 930EST in the MouseScrappers chat room here.
Your username is just your name! See you then :)
Make sure you download the freebie for the chat.

Join me for a Chat Thursday and get a free Mega Pack!

2011-04-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

Did you know MouseScrappers is turning 2 years old? To celebrate they are having tons of fun activities all month - starting with some chats this week!

Join me on Thursday at 9:30ET for a chat on my secret weapon - Coloring Book pages! They're super cheap and so versatile to use on your pages!! I love them :) I will be showing you multiple different ways to use them and giving you an action to easily extract them (for Photoshop CS and up). Plus if you complete the challenge, you'll get a huge mega pack of Disney coloring book pages I've extracted for you perfect for your Disney scrapbook pages!

Find the info for the chat and challenge here at MouseScrappers

Download this Coloring Book mini for the chat and I'll see you then!

Hope to see you there!

Hugs,

Denise

aka A Grieving Mommy

Join me for a Scraplift Challenge and get my Tron Digital Scrapbooking Kit!!!

2011-04-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

My little boy is infatuated with Tron. I blame the Disney Channel :) They really promoted that show and when we were in Disneyland last, he was so excited to see the Electronica area over at the California Adventure side of Disneyland.
Then we saw the movie and he LOVED IT so we had to get the toys. So of course I had to make a Tron kit for him!!!
Here are my pages of my boy getting his Tron toys. He he, they make me laugh. What would I do without that kit :) The photos captured exactly how excited he was!

I still need to do the pages of him seeing the movie.
But I also found that this kit is awesome for Star Wars and Monorail pages when I used it to do a Monorail page last night:

We rode in the front of the monorail (never done that before!) and it was super cool :)
Here's the kit:

You can only get it by completing my Scraplift Challenge over at MouseScrappers this week. Find the info about it here.
This kit will never be for sale (since it has so many Disney specific items), so join me in the challenge to get it! (Or at least follow me through my blog or facebook to have a chance to get it after the challenge!)
Hugs :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy
PS - I did include the monorail from my scrap page with Mickey and Donald in the kit too!!

There is no footprint so small that it doesn't leave an imprint on this World

2011-04-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

"There is no footprint so small that it does not leave an imprint on this World."

Every birthday of my daughters, we do a service project. We've done all kinds. Last year, we donated a year pass to the local children's museum for families at the hospital to use. Another year, we donated swings to the infant unit at the hospital for the babies to use. It is our way of honoring our girls on their special day by making the world a better place.
This year, we made handprint and footprint cards for our local Share Unit. Share is an organization that helps families who have lost a baby. They do hospital visits, make hand and foot molds as well as prints, provide support groups and have a phone hotline for grief support - just to name a few.
The cards are blank with the above quote on them so that parents have a chance to get prints before their child is buried or cremated and they will not be able to do that anymore.
Here is an example of what we made showing a sample card I made for my Bree's handprints.

We met today for her family birthday party. We let off balloons with messages written to her and we had a Tangled/Rapunzel cake. It was another hard day, but it was nice to spend the day remembering her.

I made a little freebie for you with the wordart I made for the handprint and footprint cards. I also included the footprints and handprints, the arrow and dotted border too.
Hope you can use it and document something special in your life :)
I also want to send out a thank you to those of you that sent sweet messages on Bree's birthday. I sooo appreciate you and thank you for your kindness. It DOES help to know that people care.

Download it here

Hugs to you,

Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Disney Labels

2011-04-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've got a prize for you over at MouseScrappers - these Disney Labels:

It has 54 different disney labels. Find out more about how to get these at the challenge HERE.

Happy Birthday to my Lost Princess

2011-04-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

The movie Tangled is without a doubt my favorite movie of all time. It has such a huge significance to me and correlates to my life in so many ways. My favorite part is when you see her parents, the King and Queen, on her 18th birthday - still crying, still missing their baby girl that was taken, sending off lanterns in her memory. I will be no different. No matter how many years pass, I could be 99 years old, and I will still miss my girls. Nothing will change that. I will still cry and hurt because I will still love them then.
Today is my daughter, Bree-Elle's 4th birthday. She's my baby and it's hard to believe that she wouldn't be a baby anymore. It feels like yesterday that she died in my arms cuddled in bed with us. How could she be 4 years old? How could I have missed out on so much?? I don't know how I will make it to her 18th birthday but if I do there is no doubt that I will cry that day too. And like the King and Queen, we will let off our own "lanterns" (balloons) in her memory today still remembering her. We even ordered her a Tangled birthday cake and decorations for her grave.
One of my best friends said to me last night that Rapunzel "screams Bree-Elle". She was everything purple and pink, sweet and spunky and a little goofy too. She was very different from her other sister that died, Chloee. Chloee was more what I would call a classic Princess - quiet, shy, regal, beautiful. I'm so thankful I got the chance to know them and love them - a lot of my friends had stillborns and they didn't get that chance. But the bad side of that is that the suffered very much in their short lives. They were so sick - thinking of it just physically hurts me and makes me so sick.
Today we will spend the day together as a family. I am donating blood and we might stop by the hospital to donate some things. We will spoil our living son and just take it easy on ourselves.
I spent this morning scrappin a page for my Lost Princess, my Bree-Elle, using my latest kit I've been working on. She was so sick in this photo, but I think it still shows how beautiful she was.

The kit will be out in a few days to benefit a new charity.
Well, my boy is up and singing, "Happy Bree-Elle Birthday". So I am off to enjoy my last living child.
Here is the wordart from my page as a freebie for you for any Tangled scrapbook pages you need to do or save it for future ones!

Download here

Last Call for Donald Duck Digital Scrapbooking Kit

2011-04-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

I finished scrappin my Donald Duck's houseboat in Toontown pages for this last trip to Disneyland. Here's my page:

And I've got another freebie for ya! Only a few more days to pick up our Huey's Uncle Kit and have the proceeds go to Autism Speaks. I have a new kit coming out in a few days and then we will be switching over to a new charity.
Here's the freebie:

Download it here
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Another Donald Duck Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie for ya!

2011-04-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

I am in a bit of a funk right now - just trying to function and make it through - 3 days until my baby girl's 4th birthday that she won't be here to celebrate :(
But I did make another Donald freebie for you! Enjoy :)

Download it here
Hugs to you!
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Another Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie!

2011-04-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

I've got another Disney digital scrapbooking freebie for ya!
I made another page for when my son was playing at Disneyland on Donald's houseboat Miss Daisy using our Huey's Uncle kit and I turned the wordart into a freebie.
Here's my page:

And here's the freebie:

Download here or here
Enjoy!
:) Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

(Layout made using a template from Sweet Spring Template pack by JumbBumble Designs.)

It's Autism Awareness Day

2011-04-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

Today is Autism Awareness Day and I've got 2 collab charity kits coming out today!
Scroll down for a Donald Duck Themed kit by me and Natalie's Place Designs to benefit Autism Speaks.
And scroll down some more for the Hope for Brady Collab Kit Blog Train freebies!

A Donald Duck Digital Scrapbooking Kit - Huey's Uncle - and a Freebie too!

2011-04-02T06:12:00.000-07:00

My good friend Natalie of Natalie's Place Designs and I teamed up for the very first time to bring you a charity kit to benefit Autism Speaks. It's a Donald Duck themed kit for those Disneyland and Disneyworld Donald Duck scrapbooking pages and also for sailing and boating pics too.
Natalie is an amazing person and her 2 children have autism. We made this collab charity kit for Autism Awareness Day and all proceeds from the kit will go to Autism Speaks, a nonprofit organization to benefit children with Autism.
Here's our kit! Huey's Uncle:

Here are some pages made using it by Natalie's CT:

And here's a page by me:

**This kit is no longer available**

As always, if you would like to make a large donation for tax purposes, you can do that yourself and just email me the receipt and I will send you the kit. Please allow me a few hours to email links!

And I have a freebie for you! The "I Met Donald Duck" frame I made for my page:

Download it here or with a MediaFire Link here
As always, please don't share the link - send them here to download if they want it!
Enjoy! Stop back in the next few days because I've got 3 more freebies to give out matching this kit!
Hugs to you :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Hope for Brady Collab Kit and Blog Train

2011-04-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

One of my digifriends, Michelle, has a son Brady who has Autism. Brady has yet to learn how to speak even though he is 4 years old. To help him, many designers have gotten together to make a charity kit called Hope for Brady. All proceeds will go toward an IPad that will hopefully help him learn how to speak and for other children who have Autism. You can find out more about Brady at Michelle's Blog here.

Here is my full kit that I donated which is included in the collab. I just love how it turned out! It's full of 57 fun elements and 12 papers! It's very much my style full of smears and scribbles and fun bright elements.

And these are the pages I made using my portion of the kit about my little boy and my favorite piece of artwork he made of our family.

The kit is included in an absolutely huge charity collab and only costs $3! Find the Charity Collab Kit Hope for Brady here

On to the freebie! I've got some clusters for you that match my part of the collab.

You can download them here. (If you get an error, please try again in a few minutes! It just means that the server is busy.)

Have fun on your next stop! Feel free to look around. There are lots more freebies here and on my facebook page!

Your next stop on the blog train is: http://crazy-4-monograms.blogspot.com/
If you get lost on your way, you can find the blog train list here
Enjoy!
Hugs to you :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

A Huge Thank You to those Who Helped Raise Money for Japan!

2011-03-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to send out a huge thank you to those of you that donated to help Japan for the Warrior Princess Kit. Together, we donated $175 to the American Red Cross!

As of now, any sales of that kit will go to the current charity I am raising money for.
Thank you and Hugs!
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Disney Template Freebie, Alpha Template Freebie, and Tutorial!

2011-03-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm hosting a template challenge over at MouseScrappers so that means you can all download this freebie template and participate to get an awesome Prize Package!
Here's my page using the template (and using my Mickey Freebie Kit and Disney Alpha Template Set):

Here's the template:

Download it here

And I have a super cool Prize Package if you make a page with it and join us in the Template Challenge at MouseScrappers here. Did you notice the super cute alpha I used on my page?!

It's a Disney Alphabet Template Set! I have never seen another one of these available anywhere!!! I absolutely love it and hope you do too :) I had so much fun making it. Let me know if you love it - I might make another set!

So here is a little tutorial about how alpha templates work. An alpha template is an alpha with different layers that you can pick and choose from to make multiple different alphas from one alphabet.
The alpha I made for you has 16!!! different layers that you can combine and use to make.... hmmm how many different alphas would that make?... well, A LOT! (Works only in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.)
So here is an example. I clicked on some of the layers (You can't see all of them in the screenshot since there are 16 layers.)
See how some of them are checked with the little eyeball and some are not? This will turn on/off each layer.

This combination made an alpha that looked like this:

Mix and match the different combinations of backgrounds, doddles on top, polka dots, mickey heads, and sparkles to make countless (really countless, he he) alphas!

Here are some examples of the alphas you can make using this one template set:

All these different alphas, just by clicking and unclicking the little eyeball! Isn't that awesome? Tell me if you love it!

So, you can get it by making a page using the Not So Square Template and joining me here at MouseScrappers! (After the template challenge, it will be put in my store to help raise money for charity.)

Hugs: )

A Grieving Mommy

PS - I want to send a thank you out to all of you who have donated to help Japan by purchasing the Mulan kit! We have already raised $100 so thank you for joining me in helping others :)

New Kit 4 Charity - Mulan Themed "Warrior Princess" to benefit Japan

2011-03-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Have you been completely blown away by the devastation in Japan like I have? I just can't believe the loss and all of the problems that Japan is facing. I wanted to do something to help them and so I started thinking about what kind of kit I could do that would be appropriate, make sense and so forth. So my mind went to my favorite Princess who's not a Princess really (and not from Japan either, I know!) but I love the fact that she is considered one of the Disney Princesses because of her courage, bravery, and strength!
What a better person to theme a kit after to help this cause?
So here is my Charity digital scrapbooking kit inspired by Mulan. As always, 100% of the profits (minus PayPal fees) will go to the charity. In this case, I will be donating to the American Red Cross to benefit Japan. (If you would like to make a large donation directly yourself and have a receipt for tax purposes - just send me the receipt and I will still give you the kit!)
Here is the kit called Warrior Princess:

It is a huge kit and includes 143 MB, 67 unique elements, 2 clusters, and 15 papers.
Here are the pages I made with it:

This page uses a freebie template by Jenn for the MouseScrappers Template Challenge here.

This page uses a freebie template by Amber for the MouseScrappers Template Challenge here.
You can get my Warrior Princess Kit by donating at least $4.50 or more to benefit Japan.

**EDITED: Proceeds will now go to the current charity since this kit is over one month old and the donation has been made to the American Red Cross.

Mickey Mouse Digital Scrapbooking Freebie Kit

2011-03-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

I've got a new freebie out! It's all about Mickey Mouse :)
Get it by completing this MouseScrappers Challenge here

A Sneak Peek! A MouseScrappers Challenge! A StashBuilder Mickey Head Prize Package Freebie!! And a Digital Scrapbooking Organization Tutorial

2011-03-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

Come join me over at MouseScrappers. I'm hosting a weekly challenge this week and you could get a Mickey Head Prize Package for participating! Plus I've got a special freebie for my Newsletter, Facebook and Blog Followers!!!

This week's challenge is all about Spring Cleaning. I've been cleaning and organizing everything, but my biggest project has been cleaning my scrapbooking files and photos on my computer so that I can find what I'm looking for quickly and easily.
The challenge is to make better use of your scrapbooking stuff by organizing it. Then you will be able to find what you want and use multiple different things on a page as opposed to just creating a page from one kit. To participate in the challenge, you must make a scrapbook page using items from at least 4 different designers/kits. (Find the complete rules to play here at MouseScrappers.)

So here's a DigiScrappin Organization Tutorial to help you:

When I first started scrappin digitally, I just collected everything and it became this huge pile of crap - which is ironic because that's why I love digiscrappin! There's no mess - at least you can't see it - unless you look on my external hard drive of course :) So after trying lots of different ways to organize, (Some people organize by designer, some by store, some by theme, etc.) I've found a system that I really love and it's been so useful to me I thought I would share and maybe someone else will find it helpful.

When I first download and unzip a kit (I use UnZipThemAll and LOVE it), I delete the zipped files and it looks like this:

I then combine the papers, wordart, elements, etc. into one folder, removing unnecessary files and renaming some so they have a descriptive name (so that I can do a search for them if necessary - there will be a follow up tutorial on that soon).
See the kit now: (You're getting a Sneak Peek at my next Charity Kit - Warrior Princess!)

This way, I can see all the parts of a kit at once.
Now, onto the Organizing part.
I find that there are 2 different ways that I want to find my scrap stuff - by theme and by supply. Sometimes, I want a Christmas themed kit or a Boy kit. Other times, I want a staple or paperclip to add to my page.
So, that's why I have my scrap stuff organized by 2 basic categories: By Theme/Color and By Supply
When you click on my Scrap Supplies Folder, this is what you see:

Now I will show you what those 2 categories look like.
Here is the By Supply Folder:

The By Theme Color Folder looks like this:

This way, I can look for a specific themed kit or colored kit or I can look for a staple or ribbon or something else for the page I'm working on.
But it gets a little more detailed with my Disney Scrap stuff.
When you go into my Disney Themed Folder, you see another set of By Theme and By Supply Folders:

This time, when you click on Supply, I have only Disney specific supplies in this folder:

For example, here is what my Mickey Heads folder looks like inside. It's got all of my Mickey Heads from any kits that I have in one location so when I want to add a hidden mickey to a page, I can just come to this folder!

My Disney By Theme Folder looks like this. It's pretty much done by Character and Lands, etc.

Then if I'm doing a page for my son meeting Mulan, I can just click on the Mulan Themed folder and see what I have for that page.

Hope that helps! I have another tutorial almost ready for organizing that I will post in a few days too.

Back to the Challenge!
If you work on organizing and complete your page following the rules, you will get StashBuilder: Mickey Heads 1 to put in that new Mickey Head folder of yours!!

And I have another StashBuilder MickeyHeads for my Facebook, Newsletter, and Blog Followers! I will be putting this on Facebook, emailing it out to the newsletter people, and blog followers - you know you need to email me for it because Blogger does not give me a way to find you!!! Contact me at agrievingmommy@yahoo.com

Hope this Challenge helps you get a little more organized!
Sending hugs to you :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

PS - Warrior Princess, my latest Kit 4 Charity will be out in just a few days!

Movement Charity Kit to benefit MS

2011-03-15T16:41:00.001-07:00

I made some pages using a Charity Collab Kit called Movement that benefits Multiple Sclerosis. It is called Movement and you can find it here at Gingerscraps. My new friend Mandy headed up this cause because of her Mom's battle with MS. You can read about her story here.

Here are my pages I made with it - that are included in the QuickPage Set that is for sale to match the kit:

Sending hugs to you :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Mickey PaperClips - Tutorial and Special Freebie for my Followers

2011-02-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

I want to say thank you to those of you who follow me in my journey through this blog. Mine isn't the happiest journey and I want to thank you, my digi-friends, for being there. I made this new freebie for you full of lots of fun Mickey Clips all hand made by me in Photoshop!

I will be sending this new freebie out to my newsletter subscribers and putting it on my facebook wall for my followers there. If you are a blog follower but aren't a newsletter subscriber or facebook follower, you will need to email me at agrievingmommy@yahoo.com and request it with your blogger name because Blogger often does not give me info on how to reach you. Want to get it? Become a follower on Blogger or Facebook.

And here's a little tutorial for use with these paper clips...
Want to make your paperclips look like they are actually on your paper strip? Here's a little tutorial to show you how to do that.
First, place your paperclip on your paperstrip where you want it like this:

Next, duplicate the paperclip layer and move one of the layers below the paperstrip like this:

Then, choose your top paperclip layer.

Finally, making sure you have selected the top paperclip layer, erase the part of the paperclip that should be behind the paperstrip like this:

The 2nd paperclip behind the first allows you to erase easier. You can then add shadowing to the bottom paperclip layer if you'd like.

You can use this same idea with ribbon, wire, strings, etc. to get one thing to wrap around another!

Sending hugs to you :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

February is Dental Health Month - New Charity Kit for Operation Smile and Freebie too!

2011-02-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

I have a new Charity Kit for Dental Health Month today called Tooth Fairy! It's perfect for those dentist and loose tooth pages and all profits will go to Operation Smile - a nonprofit group that helps children all over the world in need of dental help. Find out more about Operation Smile here.

It is 140 MB with 13 papers and 51 elements.
Here are the pages I scrapped with it of my son losing his first tooth :)

Donate any amount over $2.35 to get this kit and the profits (minus the PayPal charge) will all be forwarded on to Operation Smile by me along with my own personal donation.
Please note: The link to download the kit will be sent to the address used in PayPal so make sure it's correct! Also, please allow at least 24 hours for the link to come - I do sleep once in awhile :) If you have questions, you can contact me at agrievingmommy@yahoo.com
Thanks for helping me help Operation Smile!

**EDITED - Proceeds will now go to this month's charity since this kit is over a month old.

And here's some freebie wordart to go with it! Enjoy :)

Download here
Hugs :)
A Grieving Mommy

Donate Blood, Save a Life and then Scrap it with this Freebie Kit!

2011-02-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

Whenever we have a birthday or angel day for the girls, we always try to do some kind of charity or service project. This time for Chloee's Angel Day yesterday, I donated blood. Chloee was hospitalized for the majority of her life and had a blood transfusion after one of her surgeries. I often wonder who donated that blood for her and gave her that gift so this time I went in and donated myself. I really can't believe I've never done it before - it was super easy and my blood will probably go to help 3 people who need it.
If you haven't donated before or haven't in awhile, I hope maybe you will think about doing it and giving up a half hour of your time to help someone else that you don't know. Something good comes out of giving with no thought of anything in return.
Then, you can take some pics and you come back and scrap all about it! Cause I've got a very special freebie for you called Donate Blood, Save a Life :)
My dear hubby gets the Donate Blood Wuss sign - he said he was afraid of needles... I'm making him next time though :)

Here are my pages of me donating in Chloee's memory yesterday. I donated at my local Red Cross Donation Center.

Here is the freebie kit for ya. I really hope that it inspires someone out there to donate blood!

Download here
If you get an error message - please try again in a few minutes, it just means the server is really busy at the moment.
Sending hugs to you!
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

5 Months in my Arms, 5 Years of Missing Her

2011-02-16T13:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my daughter Chloee's 5th Angel Day - 5 years since she died. We spent the day spoiling our living son, donating blood in her memory and getting memorial family photos. I also started working on a "Lost Princess" kit in her honor since she is MY lost Princess.
I wanted to share our family pics since a lot of my friends out there are grieving and family photos can be so hard when the ones you love are not here to be in the pictures. Our photos were done by Fotofly and they did an awesome job so if you are in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, check them out!

and just a fun family photo

And of course I got some of my cute boy! One thing I learned from losing Chloee is that you can never have too many photos. Ever. Cause you never know what's going to happen.
Here's my boy in a RockBand style photoshoot we did:

So go take a photo already!

Valentine's Day Freebie for ya!

2011-02-14T23:34:00.000-08:00

I've been busy getting my Valentine's day stuff done before Valentine's day is over! We were in Disneyland last week and I'm busy catching up. I barely made it, he he :) I finished my kids' photocards just in time to run them around to the fam.
Here's my son's photocard for Valentine's. I saw someone else do this fun idea making their hand into a heart and wanted to try it! It turned out fun - hope it gives you some ideas!

Originally, I wanted to do a Disney one for my girls but I ended up changing my mind when I found some big bears to decorate their graves. So I went with Irene Alexeeva's new kit called Oh Dear Teddy. It was perfect for their Valentine's photocards and grave decorations.

So I ended up not using the Disney Valentine's characters that I photographed and extracted for their photocards, but I wanted to share them with you! Hope you can use them :)
Here they are:

Download here

Hoping that you were able to spend your Valentine's Day with those you love.
Hugs :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Are you behind like me??? Freebie 2011 Calendar

2011-02-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

Anyone else behind like me? It's February 1st and I just finished our 2011 family calendar! Only one month behind... Well, all I can say is that I've been enjoying lots of time with my boys lately and it just had to wait :)
I wanted to share the calendar I made with you - in case you're like me and wanted to do one, but never got around to it. Here's a quick and easy way to get that calendar done. Comes with Feb. 2011 - Jan. 2012 so that next year when I'm a month behind - we'll still have a calendar! he he
They are in png version so that you can just place your photos behind the holes! I really hope that someone else out there can use it! Hope it helps you get a calendar done :)
They are 4x6 prints so that you only have to pay 13 cents or so for each page. I bought 4x6 holders a few years ago and we just keep re-using them and it only costs me about $12 to print everyone in my family's calendars for the year. You can find the 4x6 holders here at calendar-case.com. I paid $10 for 10 of them initially and just re-use them every year!
Here are some of our family pictures from the set:

Here's the entire set preview:

Download it here
Hugs:)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Finally got my son's Christmas Thank You card done!

2011-01-20T20:57:00.000-08:00

So it's only January 20th, that's not bad for sending out the thank you cards for Christmas right? he he
Here it is. Credits to my awesome sister for the idea of wrapping my lil munchkin up and photographing him as he unwrapped!!! Hope this gives you fun ideas :)

Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy
ps - scroll down for the winter sledding freebie kit.

Our Life Last Week and Wintertime Digital Scrapbooking Freebie!

2011-01-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

I finished our life last week pages and wanted to share what I made with you!

The highlight of the week was taking my son sledding for the first time - which is kind of crazy that he's never been since it snows all winter long here. But for some or other reason, we've just never gone until now!
So here is our week last week:

And I have a freebie wintertime kit for you! A Sledding Kit in honor of my son's first time sledding this week :) I cherish the little things like that because they are the big things to me. I will never take my girls' sledding so everything I do with my son is such a treasure.

Hope you like it and can use it! Download it here
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie - Mickey Head Date Elements Set

2011-01-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

So Teresa (WDWScrapPrincess) asked me for my Mickey head tags from the template challenge only made for dating and I thought what a great idea! So here are some Mickey Head Date Elements for you!
They come in psd and png format so you can mix and match and customize your date element.
Choose whether to include the year or sparkles. Or use them to create titles!

Download them here

Here are the original Mickey Head Countdown Labels from the Template Challenge. You have 5 more days to finish and get the Prize Package - my Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Kit!

Thanks for leaving love if you like this date element set!
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Get my newest freebie kit - Rainbow Clubhouse

2011-01-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

I finished my latest kit called Rainbow Clubhouse - made for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show that my son was in love with a few years ago! Get it by joining me in the template challenge here. The deadline to finish the challenge was extended until next week so you still have time!

Freebie - Week #2 Templates and Metal Day Frames

2011-01-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

Hi all my digifriends!
I finished my week #2 pages and have a freebie template and some more metal frames for you :)

Here's our week this last week:

Here are the Week #2 templates. (Available for a limited time.)

Download here.

And here are the Metal Day Frames. (Get them free for a limited time.)

Download here.

Hope you can use them!
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

For my girls this week

2011-01-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to do a page each week for my girls. Here are the ones for this week.

These are pages for Chloee. I only have 2 photos of her outside... This was just before she was hospitalized. She should be out playing in the sun, sledding down hills, and marveling at the snow.

Credits: Creations by Rachael's This Moment

And a page about Bree's diva blanket - given to us by one of my mom's friends.

Credits: Creations by Rachael's kit Gurrl's Nite

It's Speed Scrap Time!

2011-01-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

You've got 24 hours to finish my Speed Scrap to get the Disney Traffic kit here:

And I made a page with it! And a freebie for you too!!!

Here's my wordart from my page for ya! Hope you like it :)

Download the wordart here

Join me for the Speed Scrap at 11 MST here

Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Join me for a Speed Scrap and Get a Disney Cars Digital Scrapbooking Kit

2011-01-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

I'm hosting a MouseScrappers Speed Scrap tomorrow night. And if you join me, you'll get a super fun Disney digital scrapbooking kit that's perfect for Autopia and other Disney Cars inspired pages!
A Speed Scrap is when you get a set of instructions in an hour. You use those instructions to make a layout but you've got a full day to join in and finish your page.
Here's the Disney Traffic kit you can get from me:

And you can get the matching alpha by doing this Speed Scrap here

Free Disney Top Ten Countdown Templates!

2011-01-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! It's my week to host a template challenge over at MouseScrappers - the best forum on the web for Disney scrappers!

I've got an awesome freebie template for ya and a fun PP to go with it :) Come join us!
So here's the story behind these templates...

The other day my son started giving me the run-down on Superheroes and who is the best and next best, etc. So I asked him to give me his top 5 and he proceeded to figure out his top 5 Superheroes. He put so much thought and reason into it that I've been meaning to scrap it for a few weeks now.

I know someone has done a top 10 challenge before, but sometimes it's hard to organize a page for that so I wanted to give you a template you can use for those types of pages and make it easier for you hopefully!

The thing I love about top 10/5 challenges is how versatile they are. Top 10 rides, foods, characters, magical moments, restaurants, things you love about ______. It's a great way to journal and tell about your love for all things Disney. You could also use it as a countdown to a trip or advent calendar type of thing.

Don't want to do top 10? Then just use the one side of the template and do top 5!

Here are the templates. They are 2 different psd files with pngs also. Included are the 10 Mickey Ears Countdown Tags and 2 Disney swirls I made for ya! Hope you like them :)

Download them here. If you get an error message, will you try again in a few minutes? That means the server is a bit busy.

I've also made a PP for you if you finish your layout! Some more of the Disney swirls like the ones on the templates.

Hope you like them and come join us in the challenge! Find the challenge over at MouseScrappers here.

Have fun and I hope you can get something meaningful scrapped!!! Now I gotta go get my son's layout done!

Thanks for all of your kind comments. That is what keeps me sharing!
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Updating my Blog

2011-01-02T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
I'm feeling the New Year's urge to clean up a bit. Old freebies done for CT requirements have now been deleted and I have fixed some old freebies that you might not have. Some freebie links have expired and the kits will becoming Charity Kits to fundraise for different nonprofit organizations. I also have some new Charity Kits coming out soon!

Turtle Talk is back up and linked to download.

Alice's Autograph is fixed (It was not in a transparent png format and now it is.)

Snow White The Ride freebies are back up and linked to download.

Buzz and Woody are linked to download again.

And I've updated the Purple Tinkerbell freebie - you'll probably want to download it again since it is now a Tinkerbell instead of a cluster element.

Enjoy :)
Hugs to you,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

A New Year, A New Project, A New Freebie!

2011-01-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

It's a New Year and that means the usual things for me - new goals and a new project that I am going to try my best to do. My hubby and I have a resolution to take more video of my son. And I have some scrapbooking resolutions.
But first, let me explain a bit about the changes you'll see in my scrapbooking and blog. About a month ago, I had some trouble keeping up with my CT (Creative Team) Duties. A CT is when you scrap pages for a designer in exchange for a free kit. I had to evaluate why it was I was having touble getting pages done for that designer and I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to sell other people's kits anymore. I'm not a salesperson, have never been, and don't want to spend my spare time selling someone else's stuff and working on whatever theme they need done. Scrapbooking had become like a job and it was all about making pretty pages to sell someone's kit. Deep down I knew that I didn't want to do it anymore, but because this designer (and the others) had become such a good friend, I hadn't quit earlier. So I made the decision to quit my creative teams and focus on my own scrapbooking and what's really important to me. Although, I still do some CT work on occasion, mainly I want to get back to my roots for this hobby.
I will still be sharing my designs with you here, but some of my old freebies (made for CT requirements) will be going away soon. So if you want to download any of those, do it asap!
My pages are going to be more meaningful to me - documenting my son and the day to day things I never want to forget. Yes, I am jumping on the Project 365 and 52 Bandwagons! Project 365 is when you take a photo everyday of the year and Project 52 is when you scrap about your week.
I started early, documenting our week this last week and I have a freebie template and element pack to share with you!
My son said he had the best week ever! And since it was Christmas and we went to LegoLand, that's probably true! Here are my pages documenting this week. I love how simple the pages are and that they document the fun, crazy, and important things about this week. It's all about the photos and remembering these special and everyday moments...the things I want to cherish since he is here and alive.

These freebies will be available for a limited time, after which I will be collecting them to be put in a charity kit. So pick them up soon if you can use them!
Here are the metal frames I used on my page:

Link Expired (They will be put into a kit for Charity.)

And I turned my pages into templates. Hope you can use them! They are in psd and tif files with some extra metal elements including the days of the week.

Link Expired (They will be put into a kit for Charity.)
Sending hugs to you!
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Merry Christmas in Heaven to my Angels

2010-12-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

This year we decorated our girls' graves in a Snowman theme. It turned out very cute with all of the different snowman decorations. We went over last night on Christmas Eve to light their lanterns so they would be lit on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And to take over their metal signs with their photos on it.

You can't see their photos in the pictuere of the graves. I did a Snow Princess theme for their photos. This is what they looked like.

I am sharing their Snow Princess stuff with you here.

Download here.
Enjoy!

A Little Christmas Freebie for ya! Some Mickey and Minnie Clip Art

2010-12-25T01:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I wanted to share something with you today. Here are some Mickey and Minnie Christmas clip art images that I scanned and handpainted in photoshop. I hope you can use them.

Download here
Please note that I do not sell my designs and claim no copyright to any Disney images.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas! Thanks for any comments. I really do appreciate them!
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to my friends out there!

I always hate the Christmas card thing. It's so hard to represent the girls when they are not here to photograph. So this year, I used the Disney fairies to represent them. My son and I argued about which one is which girl! He thinks Chloee is Tinkerbell but I think Bree is. It's not your traditional card, but it let me be creative and still include them somehow. And I actually took a family photo - which is also hard for me. So yay! Sending love to you this Christmas :)

My son has been putting the Happy in Happy Holidays. He just LOVES the holidays and decorates our house with little crafts and colored pictures! He is such a joy and helps me smile even if I am also crying because I miss my daughters. I scrapped a page for him using Delicious Scraps' Happy Holidays kit. He's making a gingerbread man to hang on the wall. You should see our house. It has taped drawings hung up in the most random places!

I've taken a break from scrappin' this month (more info on that later) which has been super nice and let me get Christmas stuff done. We've been busy getting the last gifts done. My son is 6 and I always want him to be involved with the gifts because we teach that Christmas is about giving. We did "angel" gifts for 3 kids his age and he picked out presents for them. And we're taking donations to the children's hospital where the girls lived on Christmas again this year. He fabric painted some hot pads for each family member to go with his own "Tyson's Tasty Treats" Christmas Trail Mix. (He's a little chef in the kitchen and he always claims to be making a tasty treat!) We went to the store and he just picked out his favorite things like MnM's, fruit snacks, marshmallows, pretzels, cereal, etc. Then we came home and mixed it up and packaged it to give to his friends and family. I've been busy making a hybrid craft - a new bow box for the hospital's infant unit (more about that later!) Then I made this cute little tag for his Christmas Trail Mix.

And scrapped a page of him with his little gifties!

As for what my son wanted this year, he decided he didn't need any more presents and that "he's taking a break from Santa this year"! Seriously! He really said that... He wants to go to LegoLand instead. So we will be off on Christmas to go to his favorite place on Earth (it's sooo not Disneyland).

Have a merry Christmas from me to you with this freebie kit - Tasty Treats 4 Christmas

Download here

I hope that you will get to spend Christmas with the ones you love.
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Mickey's Ice Cream Word Art - Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie!

2010-11-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

You've got 2 more days to get your layout done for the MouseScrappers challenge and get this Mickey Ice Cream Kit made by me!!

Join us over at MouseScrappers! Click here

Here's some matching Mickey's Ice Cream Kit wordart for you that you can download here!

Enjoy!

Hugs :)

Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Some Pages

2010-11-26T10:54:00.000-08:00

Some pages I made this week:

Kit Credit: Haynay Designs

Another page I made this week:

Kit Credit: Kellybell

I bought a few CU things over Black Friday so hopefully I'll be back quick with some more freebies!!

Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie Alert!!! Disney Masks :)

2010-11-24T22:36:00.000-08:00

I'm super excited to host another challenge this week! I know it's a busy week for those of us in the states (with the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday) but hopefully you all can join me :)

I'm not big on the Thanksgiving holiday. It's just hard to spend a whole day thinking about being thankful when you're supposed to be spending your day with family and half of my family is dead...
But I actually do work hard in my life to find things to be thankful for. And one thing I am VERY thankful for is scrapbooking. It is my hobby, and joy, and therapy! I truly love it and love learning new techniques and styles. Lately, I have fallen in love with photomasks! Photomasks are just a black/gray shape that you clip your photo to - giving your photo that same shape. I think they are super fun and can be really useful to highlight your photo or crop someone or something out with a cool look to it.
So this week, I'm keeping it super simple. The only rule is to use a photomask on your layout and I've even made a bunch of Disney masks for you to use! Join me over at MouseScrappers here for the challenge.
Here are the Disney masks I've made for you:

Download here

Download here

Hope you like them and give them a try!
Some instructions for clipping your photo to the photomask:
In Photoshop Elements, put the photo layer on top of the photomask layer in the layer list. Then hit CTL-G.
In Photoshop CS, put the photo layer on top of the photomask layer in the layer list. Then hit CTL-ALT-G.

Your Prize Package if you complete the challenge is this Mickey's Ice Cream Kit I made:

Hope you like the masks and join me in the challenge at MouseScrappers!
Hugs,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

A few new kits and a Wild Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie!

2010-11-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

My good friends Natalie and Kelly have some new kits out!
Natalie has an awesome dinosaur/fossil kit called Fun with Fossils. Find it on her blog here
I used it to make this page of my son digging for fossils at our local children's museum!

And Kellybell has a wild kit out that's perfect for Animal Kingdom pics called Safari Expedition. I scrapped a LegoLand safari page with it:

And I have a wild freebie for you! Some wild Mickey Heads! Hopefully you can use them for your Animal Kingdom layouts :)

Download them here (for a limited time).

Thanks for comments if you like them!

Hugs,

Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

BumbleBree's Angel Day and a Winnie the Pooh Digital Scrapbooking Freebie

2010-11-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

We spent Bree's Angel Day together as a family, just being together, enjoying our son, and remembering her. Here's a page I made for her:

While his Dad slept in, my son and I went to McDonald's for breakfast. We donated to the Ronald McDonald House and filled out papers with the girls' names on them to hang on the wall in their memory.
Then we went home to wake up Dad and my son made my day! He's getting so big now and understands that Angel Days make me sad because I miss the girls (I cry a lot) and this year he made us all presents. So the first thing we did was open his presents. He had one for Dad, one for me, one for "BreeL and Cloee" and of course one for himself. He had given us some of his own toys and each of us a drawn picture :) He opened the one for Bree and Chloee since "they can't open it."

Here's my picture. Did you ever notice that MoM written by a kindergartener is WoW?? he he

Here's the family picture he made for the girls. (Bree-Elle is the one in the bee stripes and Chloee is a ladybug.)

It is moments like these that I just know the girls have to be here with us somehow. How could they miss out on their sweet brother's gift for them? If I were dead, there is nothing that could keep me away from watching over my son.
Then of course we ate - what we usually do to combat the pain - stuff ourselves with mind numbing food. And donated all of our cash to the donation box at the restaurant for a local girl who is fighting cancer.
Then we took Tyson to a Bounce House place to play and just enjoyed every minute of him. And we did a balloon release for her too.
That night, while the boys played the PS3, I finished up the kit I made in loving memory of her. The pages above all use the new kit.
I knew I wanted to do a bumblebee kit. Bree-Elle was first nicknamed BumbleBree by her aunt Natalie, my sister. It caught on and soon became "BumBum" and Bees became a part of who she was/is. She was a bumblebee for Halloween and now we decorate her grave and things with bees. So when I thought about bees, Winnie the Pooh Bear came to mind. I love PoohBear and have used many of his quotes in our home and in scrapbook pages. And so that's what I made!
Here are my Disney pages I scrapped with it of my little boy when he was a baby:

Here is my kit in memory of my daughter Bree-Elle called "BumbleBree". It's my favorite kit I've done so far. Very bright and colorful, heavenlike, and meaningful to me. I hope you like it and can use it :)
Download it here (for a limited time)

Thank you to my digi-friends and grieving friends for your support during this hard time. Love you all.
Hugs,
A Grieving Mommy

Ariel and Her Daddy: A Little Mermaid Digital Scrapbooking Freebie

2010-11-13T00:27:00.000-08:00

It always makes me cry at the end of the movie when Ariel says goodbye to her father, "I love you Daddy."
It makes me think about our goodbye to Bree 3 years ago from right now. I know from the timing of her death that she was thinking that exact thing. She was thinking of her Daddy and how much she loved him. It wasn't coincidence that she died at the moment that she did. And honey if you read this, know that she loves you and the night she died was proof of her love for you.

I wanted to make an Ariel and Triton tonight since I was working on Natalie's new kit Seascape and thinking of my daughter and her daddy. I made them and used them on this page with her kit:

And I'm giving them out as a freebie because love can be stronger than pain.
Download Ariel and Her Daddy here

Hugs,
A Grieving Mommy

PS - Thanks so much to those of you that leave kind comments here on my blog. It really does help to know that someone cares.

A Special Page for My Little Fairy Daughter - and a Disney Digital Scrapbooking Freebie

2010-11-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

When I think of Tinkerbell, I think of my daughter Bree-Elle. I remember, in utero, she was my most active child. I said at her funeral that she kicked like a little ninja. She was spunky and giggled and laughed and smiled her little heart out. Her daddy could get her to laugh the best! I just know that she would have been our Tinkerbell, spunky and cute and sweet but a little wild and fun too.

Tomorrow is the day that she died. November 13th. Her 7 month birthday. There are no words to say how much my heart hurts. She is dead and never coming back and that KILLS me. It is physical pain, nausea, headaches, tears, and lots of numbness in the end because I just can't take any more.

But if I am able to do something, I always find some happiness in scrapping. Thank goodness for that. And for my hubby and sweet son - the reasons I'm still here.

Today, I made a page for my Bree-Elle and her big brother. He loved her so much. He wanted to always be around her and it surprised me but he was never jealous or anything. I guess he understood even then that she was special and wasn't going to be around long. He still misses her but he's forgetting her and that hurts too. So I did a page for him to help remember her and included Tink as a special memory of my spunky Baby Bree.

Kit Credit: Kellybell

The fairies on my page were scanned (at 300dpi), extracted, and embellished by me. I have them as a special freebie for you in memory of my Bree. Download them here.

My plan is to spend some time making a freebie kit in memory of Bree tomorrow on her Angel Day so hopefully I can dig out of the pit of grief and do that.
Sending hugs to you,
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Wanna Free Disney Digital Scrapbooking Template?

2010-11-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

I'm hosting a template challenge over at MouseScrappers. Come join me! I have a participation prize and a freebie Disney template for you. This time I wanted to do a template that could be used many different ways :) When I paper scrapped, I used to cut photos out of letters so I wanted to create a template that you could use in that way... or other ways too.

Here's my page I made for an example using the template. It's a cover page for our 2008 - 2009 Disney album featuring favorite pics of my boy that year.

(Page made using some of my own elements and some from Chelle's Creations kit Happy.)
This is a great template for cover pages, or for Disney characters, Disney treats, Disney souvenirs, etc. Be creative! You can also fill the letters with patterned or colored papers instead of photos.
Here's the template! Hope you like it and can use it :) Download direct here

Instuctions for Filling the Letters aka Clipping Masks: The easiest way to use this kind of template is to place the photo or paper you want to take place of the letter (or whatever) - let's say the "D" - on top of the D in the layers list. Then hit CTRL-G for PSE or CTRL-ALT-G for PSCS to create a clipping mask. You can also use that to change the color of the Starburst background.

And if you make a page using the template and leave love for others in the MouseScrappers forum, I have a little something for you.... some Disney Doodles made by me!

Check out the Template Challenge at MouseScrappers here
Hope to see you there :)
A Grieving Mommy

Queen of Hearts Paper Pack! Disney Digital Scrapbooking Kit

2010-10-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm back with the paper pack for the Queen of Hearts I promised!
I've made 14 different Queen of Hearts themed papers for you :) Two that are specifically Disney themed with a Queen of Hearts on one and a large mickey head on another. You can add it to the element set (scroll down to the next post if you don't have it) to make a little Queen of Hearts Digital Scrapbooking minikit :) Or these papers would be great for any Valentines or Love themed pages.

Here's a page I did using one of the darker patterned papers in the set. See, perfect for other layouts too!
It's a page for my hubby and son because they are my life and my love and my reason for living.

Some of the elements on the page are from Toys for Boys by MandaBean and Zoe Pearn. Some were made by me.

Here's the paper pack! I am in love with a bunch of those papers :)
Remember that I claim no rights to Disney's copyrighted images. This is a site for entertainment and educational purposes only. I do not sell my designs and do not make any money from them. I share because I want to help other scrappers and to spread good in the world in honor of my girls.
I choose to keep doing freebies because of the kind comments I receive from people. So if you like it, please leave a comment :)

Download them here
Please don't share, refer others to my blog to get it! And if you make something with it, I'd love to see it!
Sending hugs to you :)
Denise, aka A Grieving Mommy

A Queen of Hearts Freebie! Disney Digital Scrapbooking :)

2010-10-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm all about the Queen of Hearts today :) She really is one of the coolest villains! I have a freebie element set for you but first here's my page that I did using a kit by Kellybell.

And here's a freebie for you by me! I have an element pack for the Queen of Hearts. I was going to try to do a paper pack too - but it's going to have to wait since we are heading to Denver right now for a Broncos game. When I get back I'll finish up the papers and then you can have a Queen of Hearts mini kit! For now, here is the element set including all of the things you see separately and also in a wordart too.
Download here

Remember that I use a direct download link instead of 4shared to protect people from sharing the link - so if you get an error, please try again in a few minutes!

Enjoy!!! Hope you can use it :) And, I just want to thank those of you that leave kind comments and are "digi-friends." Thank you so much for your kindness and love. I appreciate it more than you know!

Sending hugs to you :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Shark and Aquarium Freebies

2010-10-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've got some freebies for you again :) I was doing some aquarium and Jaws pages of my son and thought someone might be able to use the word art and some shark sillhouettes.
Here's the page I made from when my son "met" Jaws for the first time at Universal Studios. I soooo wish I would have caught that on video!!! He was so scared.

And a page from the aquarium.

Both pages made using Bean Bunny Designs kit Shark Tails

And here are the freebie wordart and shark sillhouettes for you:

Hope someone can use it :) Download here
Sending hugs to you - A Grieving Mommy

Tonight I am missing my ChloeeBug

2010-10-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

I suffer from depression a lot - which comes from the heartache I have over my girls' dying and leaving a hole in my heart. Tonight I am especially missing my ChloeeBug. I just can't get over the fact that she would be 5. Her birthday was last month. I keep dwelling on the things that I will just never know - her hair color and her likes and dislikes, would she be a picky eater, would she love or hate soccer and dance? would she be a daddy's girl or a mama's girl? would she dress up or be a tomboy? what would her favorite toy be?
Of some things, I can be somewhat certain. I know that her eyes would be blue and I think she would have been my shyest child.... quiet and sweet. But I don't know and that is killing me. It literally feels like a knife in my heart when I think about it.
I scrapped this page awhile ago for her called A Beautiful DayDream:

Journaling: It has been exactly 4 years 6 months and 2 weeks since you died. You sometimes feel like a beautiful daydream and sometimes it feels like a horrible nightmare without you here. You should be celebrating your 5th birthday next week, going to preschool and doing big girl things like learning to ride a bike and having playdates. Sooo many things I wonder and want to be doing with you. Instead, I daydream and can only wonder and wish that I knew and that you were here so I didn’t have to daydream about you and wonder. No matter what though, alive or dead... ...you are one
beautiful daydream
Love,
Mommy

Kit Credit: Project B

I've also been thinking a lot about how our lives changed forever the moment she was hospitalized. I became a different person and my life is organized by "before Chloee" and "after Chloee". I did a page recently using Creations by Rachael's kit Ouchies to document that:

Journaling: On November 15, 2005, our world was rocked and torn apart forever. We took Chloee to the ear, nose, throat doctor that day to try to find out why she was having so many problems breathing. It was called stridorous breathing and it was so hard to see that her little body had to work so hard to breathe. They had to put a little camera down her throat to see what was wrong. We found out that she had laryngomalacia which is when the voicebox collapses on itself and causes an airway obstruction. It was so bad that they had to schedule her for surgery right then. We were scared and worried but had no idea what was ahead
of us that night. We got her bloodwork done, and left the hospital to grab a bite to eat at McDonald’s down the street. At McDonald’s, I received the phone call that rocked our world. Chloee’s bloodwork was wrong and we had to go back to the ER to get it checked. As we drove back, I had a bad feeling inside of me. And when they checked her bloodwork in the ER, they knew something was horribly, horribly wrong with her
We were admitted to the hospital that night and found out in the next days that our precious daughter had a
terminal illness. That day changed our lives forever.

On her birthday, I spent a few hours making a kit in her memory. And tonight I decorated my blog using it. It made me feel a little better and I'd like to give that kit out tonight as a special gift to the world in her memory :)
Here's my kit Princess Chloee:

Enjoy :) And instead of paying for this kit, next time you hear about a sick kid or children's hospital drive, donate something!

Download Expired - it will be a Charity Kit soon!

Hugs to you :) Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

It's that time again! Halloweentime is here :)

2010-10-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of Halloween. Tombstones and dead bodies don't really appeal to me since I have purchased 2 real tombstones and held 2 dead bodies in my arms...

But my dear son, being the boy that he is, loves it.... so I do my best to enjoy the holiday with him and try to ignore the gore and death.

He loves everything spooky and scary like bats and spiders as well as dressing up in a different costume for each event we go to :)

I've been doing a bunch of Halloween scrapbook pages, as this is the time of the year for that and wanted to share the awesome kits out there! Plus I have some freebies for you too!

Here are my journal/notebook type pages documenting my son's love for spiders and bats! He's been obsessed with them since he could talk and I'm so happy to have finally done some pages about them :)

And another one:

Using Ildi Geist's kits
And a few more pages of my cute boy as a bat in 2007 and a skeleton in 2008 :)

Made using a Bean Bunny kit

And I couldn't resist doing a page for my favorite, spookiest ride! Tower of Terror!!

Made using Natalie's newest kits Spooktastic, Frightful and Haunted!

And, I have a Halloween wordart freebie for ya!
Download it here.

Sending hugs to you :) A Grieving Mommy

Minnie Mouse Freebies

2010-09-30T22:14:00.001-07:00

Silly Mickey! Don't you know that Minnie is the star?

I did this page a while ago but got it out and redid it a little so that I could get it printed and made a matching page to go in the album with it! They both document how much my little boy used to LOVE Minnie :) You can see how much he adored her in these pics that will no doubt embarass him when he's older he he!

Kit Credit: Kellybell

I have the wordart I made and the Minnie that I hand painted in photoshop as a freebie for you :) Hope you can use it and if you like it, please leave me a comment!!

Download here

:) Hugs

Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

In the Wilderness

2010-09-23T23:05:00.001-07:00

This week, I've been scrappin' some camping and outdoor pages.

Here's my cute son with marshmallow mouth! He LOVES camping for the marshmallows!!

Kit Credit: Colie's Corner

And this year, we took our son to Yellowstone for the first time! He loved it.

At the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center, he got to hide the bears' food throughout their enclosure.

Kit Credit: Kellybell

My Favorite Moment in Disneyland

2010-09-16T21:38:00.001-07:00

This week, I am hosting a challenge over at MouseScrappers. Come join us! We are scrapping our most memorable or meaningful Disney moments. And there's a full digital scrapbooking kit for the prize if you finish and post your layout!

I chose to scrap a photo of my son and I at Disneyland that our good friends took of us in 2006. It's just a random photo, you can't even see any part of Disneyland really. But it has come to be my most cherished photo taken there. It's my son giving me a big smooch :) It was a hard time for me - Chloee had just died about 3 months earlier. This picture reminds me of why I am still alive today. It is because of my son and that I love him just as much as I loved my girls. So I choose to live even though a part of me has died each time my daughters died. And as he gets older, it seems like the kisses get a little shorter and less frequent. So I cherish them even more!

Kit Credit: Kellybell

Happy Birthday in Heaven Angel Chloee

2010-09-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

It's Chloee's 5th Birthday today.

Happy Birthday in Heaven Baby Girl! I love you and I miss you every second. I just want you here with us... I want to know what you are like at 5 years old.

This year, we got a princess birthday cake with a frame on top and took it to her grave to have her balloon release and birthday memorial. We did a nail polish drive for Utah Share - an organization who helps families whose babies have died. They give the nail polish so that parents can paint their baby's nails as a final gesture of love and to lighten the color post-mortem. We collected a whole bunch of them that will go to help other grieving families :)

I spent the day enjoying my living son and making a digital scrapbooking kit in memory of my little princess!

It's called Princess Chloee and here it is with the page I did for her Princess birthday cake:

You can get it for free by completing this challenge over at MouseScrappers this week.

And I have a gift for you in loving memory of my Chloee, a past kit I've made - TeaCup Fairies.

Download expired

Hugs, A Grieving Mommy

You've been Punked, no you've been Goofed!

2010-09-13T21:30:00.001-07:00

It's my daughter's birthday today and I've been thinking a lot about why I scrapbook and what it means to me. My siggie says, "Life is about Love and Scrappin' is my documentation of that Love." I am feeling like I need to focus in on that thought more - specifically scrapping the really important and meaningful things in life. Yesterday, I did these pages for my hubby's birthday of a special moment of him at Disneyland.

You've been punked, no!!!! You've been goofed! I will never forget the time we were at Disneyland in toontown getting Goofy's autograph for Tyson's hat when Goofy pulled a prank on you! You tried to get the pen back and he played the "try to get the pen" game! It was so hilarious to see Goofy giving a Dad a hard time. That's the best thing about disneyland it doesn't matter how old you are! You still feel like a kid. And we have this moment with Goofy to prove it!

Made using Using Natalie's "Well Whattya Know"

And I have a Goofy freebie for you! The Goofy photo holder from my page. (Please note that this site is for Entertainment and Educational purposes only. All freebies offered on this site are intended for non-profit purposes only. All clipart images used for freebies were obtained from the public web domain and are not intended to infringe on any copyrights. I make no claims to the copyrighted images of any Disney Character. Yet, I do claim the creativity and work that went into manipulating the freebies you see on my site. The Disney characters are copyrighted by the Walt Disney Company. Other clipart images are copyrighted by their respective owners. Visitors to this site must agree to use the freebies for non-profit, non-commercial purposes only. I am in no way connected to the Walt Disney Company or any of its affiliates.)

Download here

Hope you like it! Hugs :) Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Disneyland Autographs with Daddy! And a Blog Train

2010-09-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

These Disneyland autograph pages are a sweet little tribute to my hubby - the best Daddy ever!

Saturday is his birthday - our daughter Chloee's is the next day. She should be turning 5 years old. What a way to ruin his birthday for the rest of his life. This year we have to do Chloee's birthday on the weekend so family can come up to her grave for her memorial birthday party and that means my hubby will spend his birthday doing his daughter's birthday memorial. I feel so bad for him, but he just says to me, "The kids are more important than me" anytime I bring it up.

He truly is the best Dad ever. He held my daughters while they were sick and gave Bree shots when her seizures wouldn't stop. He was there when we buried them, closed the caskets, helped me plan funerals, picked out and carried the caskets, helped design the headstones, decorated with countless grave decorations and did some of the hard things that I just couldn't do. He is my sweetheart and the love of my life and the person who told me that I needed to choose to live again after Bree died.

He designed special tattoos to get on his heart in memory of our daughters.

And that's not even any of the things he does for our living son!

My hubby and son do everything together :) From playing soccer to making crafts to playing PlayStation - he is my son's hero and idol. It doesn't matter what it is, he's there. From waking up for a 9am soccer game (he works nights), to little things like teaching him to tie his shoes or teaching him his phone number and doing homework with him. Things like at Disneyland, when my son is always too shy to go up to the characters, he's always there for him.

These pages are a tribute to that small act - but it is just one tiny example of what an amazing Father he is :)

Journaling:

Getting autographs has never been an easy thing for you! You are such a shy boy and even though you love the characters, it is sooo hard to go up and ask for an autograph! But lucky for you, you have a Daddy who will do anything for you. He always goes up and helps you. That makes all the difference. It's just what you need to go meet those characters! And Mom is always there to get the whole thing on camera! You are so lucky to have such an amazing Dad. He really would do anything for you! I hope you always turn to him for the help that you need!

Kit Credit: Kellybell

Vacation Pages

2010-09-03T21:30:00.001-07:00

I scrapped a couple of vacation pics :)

This first one is from our most recent trip to LegoLand in Carlsbad, California a few weeks ago. T was soooo hilarious - he was obsessed with being buried alive! It is a bit sick and maybe even morbid - but he got it from Mythbusters. It's one of his favorite shows! One episode they had Jamie buried alive in a coffin to see how long he could breathe. T was fascinated by it - I don't know if it had anything to do with the girls being buried or what... But anyway, he begged his Dad to bury him alive in the sand :) When he was buried, he just sat there - blissed out :) and stayed there for like 10 minutes. We even had to itch his nose for him he he! I just had to scrap that moment!!

The next one is of my hubby and I before we had kids! We even loved Disney back then and we sure went on a lot more coasters then :) Now we always have a kid with us and they make us sick half of the time anyway he he! We're getting oooold.

These pages made using my good friend Natalie's Place Designs kit Under the Boardwalk.

Our Magical Place :)

2010-09-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

My friend Heather of Haynay Designs has this amazing Disney scrapbooking kit out called My Magical Place and I couldn't resist doing some Mickey pages of T meeting Mickey in our most magical place - Disneyland!! He wasn't nearly as smitten with Mickey as he was with meeting Minnie - just really really nervous to meet him!! He doesn't look that thrilled :) he he

And I have a couple of freebies for ya :) A Mickey autograph and another squared template to add to the set I've made. Grab the other squared templates here. And if you haven't yet, join us over at Mousescrappers in the template challenge I'm hosting here!

And let me know if you like them! I really appreciate any comments!

Download the rectangle template here.

And Download the Mickey autograph I've extracted here.

Enjoy :) A Grieving Mommy - Denise

Off on Safari at LegoLand

2010-08-28T02:20:00.001-07:00

T and I off on safari at LegoLand :)

And I've got the word art for a freebie for ya:

Download here

thanks so much for comments if you like it!

:) A Grieving Mommy

Letters to Heaven and free folded paper psd template

2010-08-23T11:12:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I wrote a letter to heaven so I did 2 matching pages with letters to heaven last night for my angel baby girls. The summer is the best time of year for us, as far as our grief goes. We have the girls' birthdays and angel days (the days they died) throughout the year in Sept. Nov. Feb. and Apr. So every few months, we are hit hard with our grief. The summer goes a little bit smoother. I can feel inside of me that September and that Chloee's Birthday is coming so I thought I'd do some griefwork and write to my girls - really wish I knew how to mail these to heaven.....

Here are my pages with Letters to Heaven:

Kit Credit: Kristi W Designs
When I was making my pages, I really wanted the paper to look folded, like it'd been sent up to heaven and they opened it. So I searched for a tutorial and finally got it to work! And I made it into a freebie psd folded paper template for you with instructions - for personal or commercial use.

Download here

Hugs,

A Grieving Mommy

Around the Pond

2010-08-22T09:37:00.001-07:00

I love creating a scene that didn't really exist! It just opens a whole world of options with my girls being in heaven. I guess I feel like I can still create something for them even though I will never get new photos of them. Likewise I love doing it with my little boy too! My latest page is him at a make believe pond - they're imaginations are just so huge. I'm sure that when he was "fishing" in real life (at the children's museum), he really felt like he was in a place like the one I've created in this page!

Using Ildi Geist's Down the Pond Page Set

Pinocchio Scrapbook Freebies and Pages

2010-08-22T09:07:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to scrap some Hidden Mickey pages for Pinocchio's ride at Disneyland :) My hubby is obsessed with Hidden Mickeys!

Here are the pages with a hidden Mickey in the glass sailboat case and in the popcorn on the floor of the ride!

Credit: Natalie's Place Designs

And I have some freebies for you! The Pinocchio, BlueFairy and Ride sign from my personal photographs that I took on the ride at Disneyland extracted by me! Enjoy :)

Download them all here

Hugs, A Grieving Mommy

Orange you the sweetest!!

2010-08-22T08:53:00.001-07:00

He just can't eat an orange without first playing with it! Ok, I'll admit it... I taught him to do it. I remember doing that as a kid too :)

Orange, you the sweetest little boy!!!

Credit: Delicious Scraps

Want some freebie templates?

2010-08-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

Head on over to Mousescrappers.com where I'm hosting the next template challenge!
I couldn't decide which of my pages to turn into a template, but I finally settled on a design that I've used quite a bit and that I hope you will find useful. It's a layout with squares. I used it to make these pages - altered to change the squares to circles in the last one!

Find the template challenges here
So here are the templates - yes! templates. I made 2 of them. One with the standard size squares and one with itty bitty squares that I've heard called "inchies" around digiland. Do you feel up for that challenge?! I'm going to try that one myself!

You can download them both here

Sword in the Stone Scrapbook Pages

2010-08-16T21:45:00.001-07:00

What kid can walk past the Sword in the Stone at Disneyland and not try to pull it out??! My son loves to try and I hope that he continues to try and never stops believing that he can :) Here are some page ideas for the Sword in the Stone monument featuring my sister when she was little and my cute boy.

Credit: Natalie's Place Designs

Disney and Hawaii Pages - Splash Mountain WordArt Freebie!

2010-08-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some Disneyland and Hawaii wordart! Here's my Splash Mountain page of my extended family from 2003.

And a page from when we went to the Dole Plantation in Hawaii in 2005.

Credit: Kellybell

And I've got a Splash Mountain digital scrapbooking freebie for ya! A Splash Mountain title that I scanned and extracted for my page. Hope you can use it!

Download Splash Mountain word art here

Hugs :) A Grieving Mommy

Our Little Sorceror

2010-08-12T19:04:00.001-07:00

We got this Mickey Sorceror hat and it is just so stinkin' cute on him that I had to do some matching pages for his scrapbook!!

Here he is - my sweet boy in his Mickey Sorceror Hat - our Little Sorceror!

Credit for kit: Project B
I have some freebie wordart and a mickey hat for ya! Photographed and extracted by me.

Download here

Hugs :) A Grieving Mommy

Aloha! Hawaii Pages

2010-08-11T23:58:00.001-07:00

We went to Hawaii with my side of the family when T was only 6 months old! I still can't believe we went!! It seems crazy to me now :) he he

He really didn't even like it. It was so hot and humid and it was winter back in Utah. He'd never even experienced summer weather yet! The sand got in his diaper and the water was too cold... sigh!

I did manage to get some cute pics though! So 5 and a half years later, I am finally scrappin these!

Credits: Natalie's Place Designs

New Pages!

2010-08-11T23:46:00.001-07:00

Here's one of my boy dressing up like a jester at the children's museum with a friend there. They were having so much fun being silly!

Here's another about my angel Bree-Elle. She holds the key to my heart - in heaven. When she died, we bought a special mother and daughter set of bracelets that had a key and a lock on them. She is buried with hers on and I wore mine for a long time - until it broke at Disneyland. It spilled all over and I remember these super nice people helping us pick up beads from the ground. It hurt my heart when it broke and I kept the pieces that we were able to find - but I haven't yet. I just try to remember that my heart holds the real key to her heart... Miss you Bree! Love you.

Credit: Kellybell

Minnie Mouse Pages

2010-08-11T23:30:00.001-07:00

I just canot get over my son's first time meeting Minnie!! It was the most magical moment. He ran right to her and gave her a big hug. Then she took him into her house and sat on the couch with him and spent some time with just him for such a long time! I sooooo wish I would have had my videocamera at that moment! Instead, I think I will scrap that moment over and over again :)

Credit: Natalie's Place Designs

Mousescrappers Speed Scrap Weekend!

2010-07-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

Head on over to Mousescrappers.com for their Speed Scrap Marathon this Saturday and Sunday! I will be hosting one of the speed scraps with my very first kit as a Participation Prize...

I will be hosting Speed Scrap #10 at 3:00pm PT, 4:00pm MT, 5:00pm CT, 6:00pm ET, 11:00pm GMT.
And I'm super excited about my participation prize! I made my first ever kit called TeaCup Fairies!!!!
You can get yourself the kit for free if you finish the speed scrap within 5 hours after the starting time!
Join us in the Speed Scrap forum at Mousescrappers here!
And now for the fun part! Here's the kit I made that you can win:
TeaCup Fairies - made in loving memory of my Bree-Elle and Chloee

hugs,
denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Ultrasound Photo Scrap Pages

2010-07-22T17:47:00.001-07:00

I dug my ultrasound photos out from my piles and piles of photos, that only took like an hour itself!, and scanned them in so I could do a few pages.
I did one for my boy - he's almost 6 - so I'd say that's a fair amount of time to get around to scrappin his ultrasound pics right?? he he It is blue and baby boyish and so cute! The page says "When I saw your picture, I was already totally and completely in love." And I am still as smitten with my little boy as the day I saw his ultrasound photo :)

And I did one for my baby girl, Chloee. It was a super hard page for me to do - so emotional. I was looking at her ultrasound pics and realized that her main ultrasound was done at 5 months old in utero. And I was just musing about how she lived to be only 5 months old in life. So I decided to do a page with the theme AT 5 months and how things changed so drastically from those two different times.

Journaling:
At month Five in utero, we had just found out
            that we were having a baby girl. I cannot say
                how excited we were. Our hearts were overjoyed,
      bursting with love for you already and we hadn't
   even met you yet, just seen your picture on the
                 screen and felt you moving inside me. I felt
          nervous because you and Tyson were going to be
   so close together in age - only a year apart but
so excited. I loved you so much! We couldn't
        wait for you to come and for all the hopes and dreams
                    we had for you to happen!

At month Five in life, you died. I could not believe it.
          What has happened to all of our dreams and
                                                             hopes and wishes for you?
        Did we really just bury you after your five month
      birthday? How could this happen? Why did this
     happen? We spent so much of your five motnhs of life
           trying to fix you and save you and for what? To make
                        your life harder and more paintful?
        I felt like life had suddenly, horribly gone wrong.
               We missed you immediately and
                                                           we still do now.

             Five months was not long enough to hold you
                                                                                in my arms.

Credit: Snippets Inc.

Our Tinkerbell Fairy

2010-07-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

When I think of Tinkerbell, I think of my BumBum, Bree-Elle, our Tinkerbell Fairy! These fairy pics were taken 2 weeks before she died. I still can't believe she's gone... 3 years later.
But I am lovin' this page and it makes me so happy to make this purplicious page for her!

Credits: Natalie's Place Designs
And I have a freebie for you! A Purple Tinkerbell! Enjoy and thanks for leaving a comment if you download :)

Download here

Sending hugs! Hope you can use it :)
Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

A Bunch of Scrap Pages

2010-07-18T12:19:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to do a page for when we wrote the girls' names in the sand for sooooo long now. Nothing seemed to look right. But I keep trying. Here's the page I came up with that I actually love now:

Next, I did a hidden Mickey we found on the Monsters Inc ride in Disneyland's California Adventure park while there with our good friends and fellow Disney maniacs!!! Kari and Alan.

And a page for Chloee. It is so Chloee-esque! Pink and bright and beautiful of course... She fills our lives with sunshine still.

And I couldn't leave my Bree out!!! Everything purple reminds us of Bree. Here's her page with a very precious photo. My heart is tied to her with heartstrings.

And finally I had to do a page for my boy! Here's my Rambunctious Boy(s) page of T on a go-cart but he was too little to pedal so his Daddy had to push him around the track! he he

Credit: Graham Like the Cracker

Disney Scrap Pages

2010-07-18T11:01:00.001-07:00

My new friend Natalie has a brand spankin new kit out for Chip and Dale and for all of your nature, outdoorsy pages at Disneyland or Disneyworld.

I just adore my page of T meeting Dale at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel. (We go there every time we go to Disneyland because it's so awesome! Jake loves his peanut butter and jelly pizza there!)
And another page from way long ago when we went to Disneyworld with my whole family - back when we didn't have any kids and we actually had money to fly somewhere... he he! Kids are better than money anyway :)

Check out Natalie's kits on her blog here

A Frog Prince and A Purple Heaven

2010-07-17T11:34:00.001-07:00

We went to Yellowstone a week ago and T found a frog at the cabin! So this is the page I made for him chronicling the day he caught a frog :)
I also did a page for my Bree-Elle. It's called A Purple Heaven :) Love you, BreeBree. I miss you.

Credit: Kellybell

My Favorite Bree Outfit

2010-07-15T16:54:00.001-07:00

A page dear to my heart for my Angel daughter Bree about one of my favorite outfits that she wore... still sitting in her closet...
Her purple bow with plenty of bling, her purple sneakers, and a shirt that says "Daddy's Girl"

Credit: Delicious Scraps

Happy Birthday Lil' Engineer

2010-07-14T22:44:00.001-07:00

A super old birthday page for my boy! He was turning 2 in this pic and now he's turning 6 in a month! Oh well, better late than never right! he he He was super happy with his Thomas cake. Gotta love those cake pics!!
Credit: Kristi W Designs

Honeymoon Pages

2010-06-23T13:52:00.001-07:00

Wow are we old! I just had to scrap some Hawaiian honeymoon pics. We've been married 11 years and I'm just scrapping these honeymoon pics :) he he

We went to Hawaii and were blissfully happy then! I'm glad that we are still as much, if not more, in love now.

Credit: Fanfan rues des Anges

Chloee's Birthday in Heaven

2010-06-22T23:48:00.001-07:00

Every year we celebrate the girls' birthdays. Sometimes we go to the cemetery, sometimes we have their birthday at our home. I'm just getting to scrappin' Chloee's birthday from last September (only a year behind... sigh...) We went to the cemetery and decorated her grave, let off balloons to heaven, and did a random act of kindness there. Happy 4th birthday to my baby girl!

Credit for template: Photocowgirl
Credit for kit: Irene Alexeeva

It's Summertime!

2010-06-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

It's summertime and for my boy that means running through the sprinklers in his wetsuit!!! Oh my gosh, he brings me so much happiness! Such a fun and wild boy...can't you tell from these pics??!!

Credit: Delicious Scraps

Happy Father's Day to the Best Daddy Ever!

2010-06-19T23:45:00.001-07:00

A page for my hubby - who is the best Daddy ever! Happy Father's Day, babe. I wanted to do a page for you and Tys - he is your minime and he loves you soooo much. I hope you are always best friends like you are now!

Credit: Sarah Bennett kit

And a Disney digital scrapbooking freebie for you! A Buzz and Woody that I scanned and extracted for my page. Hope you can use it!

Download it here

Sending hugs to you,

Denise aka A Grieving Mommy

Snow White Digital Scrapbooking Pages

2010-06-19T00:49:00.001-07:00

A page for my sweet baby girl, Chloee, called Fairest one of All! She's so cute!

And a page of T about when he first rode the Snow White ride at Disneyland - we found out really fast that it was tooooo scary!! Journaling: When we first took Tyson to Disneyland, we thought we'd go first to Fantasyland and do some of the "kiddie" rides. Boy, were we wrong! We didn't realize how scary of a ride Snow White was! You didn't want to go on any more rides after that. So we left the dark rides and headed over to It's a Small World. Now we always start there!

And I have a freebie for ya! It is a SnowWhite digital scrapbooking background page and the book - both from the Snow White Disneyland ride - extracted from photos I took there! Hope you can use it! Please leave a comment when you download!

Download here

- Denise :) A Grieving Mommy