New Release: Geometric Vol. 3 & A Super Sweet Sale!

POSTED ON February 16, 2013 IN Announcements, Shop News & Releases

Happy Sweet Shoppe Saturday everyone!You know what’s awesome about technology? This little post is being digital hand-delivered to you while I am out and about soaking up the sights and sounds of the Texas desert at Big Bend National Park…because this weekend is a HOLIDAY! Woohoo!

Anyone else channel Madonna whenever they hear the word “holiday”? Hol-i-da-ay…cel-e-br-ate…come on, sing it with me…it would be-e, it would be so nice…*cue the dorky dancing*

Ok, well despite appearances to the contrary, I am not in fact here today to get us all going in a rousing bout of group karaoke. What I did what to tell you about is some of the super sweet stuff we’ve got going on this weekend at Sweet Shoppe Designs…like perhaps…a SALE?

That’s right, as part of our on-going birthday festivities at Sweet Shoppe Designs, from now thru Tuesday, February 19th, you can SAVE 30% OFF everything in the shoppe. Pretty sweet, right?

Of course, what good would a sale be without a new release so your wish is my command…

Geometric Vol. 3 Templates

This weekend I’m releasing my 3rd installment in my shape-lovin series of templates, Geometric Vol. 3. If you’re a geometry lovin’, patterned paper-obsessed tech-lovin’ memory keeper like me I KNOW you’re going to love these…

There’s a little something for everyone in this set: hexagons, triangles, diamonds. I’m pretty obsessed with the hexagon one – after all hexagons are the new chevron. #youhearditherefirst

Team Awesome Inspiration

Of course my team had an awesome time getting their scrap on with the Geometric Vol. 3 Templates…

And as a special treat on Thursday, I hosted an impromptu “Be a Nettio Designs CT for a day!” contest and invited these 4 lovely ladies to play with two of the templates from Geometric Vol. 3. I’d say they rocked it, no? HUGE thank you to Amy, Amanda, Lisa and Brittney for playing along this week!

It’s a SALE: SAVE 30% thru Tuesday

Of course, with the sale going at Sweet Shoppe Designs, this means you can save 30% on the Geometric Vol. 3 Templates and ALL of my other templates and products thru Tuesday…

Want to save 30% off this weekend?

Shop Nettio Designs & pick up Geometric Vol. 3 here today!

Aaaaand…in case you missed it last week, be sure to LIKE the Nettio Designs Facebook page to get my free SSD Birthday Blog Hop freebie too!

Well that’s it from me today! Have a great weekend everyone!

Benefits Of Using Canadian Pharmacy

Project Life 2013 | Weeks 5 & 6

POSTED ON February 14, 2013 IN Memory Keeping, Project Life

Welcome to Project Life, Weeks 5 & 6.

I’m quickly realizing I need to get a better system in place or I’m going to make it through the year, haha. These weeks were both fairly simple and it’s still taking me forever to print everything and complete the pages. But I’m loving the finished pages and having these stories documented so I’m hoping I get more comfortable with this project, I’ll get into a better flow. It’s all still pretty new right now, especially having never been a paper scrapbooker.

Week 5: Jan 28-Feb 5

Here’s a look at my Week 5 spread. Since some weeks span across two months, I’m just counting those weeks in the next month. So even though this is Jan 28-Feb 5, I’m counting it as February. I figure as long as I’m consistent, it won’t matter.

Other than the Superbowl, this was a pretty low-key week. One good thing: I finding that even the weeks where I think I’m not taking enough photos in the moment, I still end up with plenty to choose from when I’m putting my pages together at the end of the week. The ratio of iPhone to DSLR photos is definitely skewed toward iPhone though – it’s just so handy! All but the bottom left photo on this page were taking with my iPhone.

This he/she card was a total happy accident. I didn’t even realize I’d taken portraits of both us of until later but this seemed like a fun way to include them. If you’re wondering why Adam’s all dressed up, it’s because his unit here has what I call “non-casual Fridays” where they have to where their dress uniform on Fridays. In 7 years in the military, this is the most action any of his dress uniforms have gotten, haha.

The only thing I’m not totally loving about this card is the wonky foam Thickers. Anyone have any tricks for getting these to stick nicely? I always have this problem with the foam ones – they go all crazy and skewed on me as I’m sticking them down.

Faves card of course. If you missed it in my last update, you can download a free template to make your own Faves card here. I print mine directly on the Project Life blank 3×4 cards.

Right side of the Week 5 spread. Most of this page is Superbowl-related which probably would have been WAY more exciting to design if our beloved 49ers hadn’t lost the game, haha. Almost all of my photos were taken at the beginning of the game. Probably because I spent the entire 2nd half covering my eyes – it was SO stressful to watch!

If you’re wondering about the action shot, no I’m not that awesome of a photographer or game-time mind reader. We totally staged it before the game – but I’d say it’s pretty accurate to reality. There may have been a bit more dorky high-fiving though.

The top two blocks of this page is the story of our car being repaired. We got rear-ended back in December and thankfully the damage was minor – you wouldn’t have noticed it really if you didn’t know it was there. But since the person who hit us admitted fault right away and agreed to pay to have it all fixed, we went ahead and fixed it up this week. Really I’m just surprised it hadn’t happened sooner given how ridiculously terrible drivers Texans are, haha.

One thing I’m realizing I don’t like is how few 4×6 vertical and 3×4 horizontal journaling card options there are in the Project Life Seafoam kit. I’m guessing this is probably true for all the kits? I’m having to make my own a lot and I know that’s partly why it’s taking me so long to put things together.

I used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to attach the tag that was attached to our key:

Week 6: Feb 4-10

Here’s my Week 6 spread. Another pretty low-key week around here. The blurred journaling card in the right hand corner was some good news received but aren’t ready to share with the entire internet quite yet. And no, I’m not pregnant nor is it in any way related to that, haha.

I did decide to try my hand this week at a photo spanning across multiple pockets. I wasn’t sure about it at first but it’s growing on me. Definitely something I’d like to try again on a grander scale.

Here’s a closer shot of the hiking section of the page. I used a Sharpie to draw the hike we went on – the park is huge! Even that little part we did was like 4 miles.

Best thing that happened this week is I figured out how to print multiple photos on a single sheet from within Aperture – no exporting and messing with Photoshop. I’m thinking it’s tricks like these that are going to make this project doable in the long run.

Here’s the right side of the spread. See that glass of wine in my hand? Totally not pregnant, people, haha. But we did break out the wine as part of our celebration…

Here’s a look at my February color scheme – I’m using papers from Zoe & Jenn’s You Hold The Key To My Heart kit. For those of you who asked me about getting title card templates, those will be coming to the Sweet Shoppe next week.

A common thread this week: text printed directly on photos. It’s a little extra work to open everything in Photoshop but I’m loving the clean look.

I’ve also been playing around with adding elements outside the page protects like with these photos:

I mentioned in my One Little Word February Goal-Setting post that I was planning to include some of my OLW class stuff in my Project Life album. Well here’s a peek at what that looks like. I haven’t decided if I’m going to keep it here long term since I haven’t done my title page yet but I like that every time I open the album I see these little reminders.

Random thoughts this week:

Definitely need to streamline my system a bit more. I’m currently trying to do two-weeks in one sitting and it’s just taking too long to do it that way.
Am still loving my mix up page protectors plan – I love seeing what styles are coming up next in the rotation
Still need to pull my Silhouette out of it’s box – I think I’m a little scared of it!
I’m probably one of the few scrapbookers to ever need to admit this, haha, but I could actually using some more supplies. Having never been a paper scrapper my options are pretty limited and I’m thinking if I had more on hand, it’d go a bit quicker. Hoping my Studio Calico Project Life kit in March will help some with that…or maybe I just need to take a trip to Archivers, hehe.
Really annoyed that my printer is printing my photos with subtle streaks on them. I’ve already cleaned the print heads a couple of times – anyone have any other suggestions? It’s an Epson.

Ok all you fellow Project Lifers, we’re 6 weeks in – how are you doing? Any veterans have tips for streamlining the process? I can use all the help I can get I think, haha.

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. New to Project Life? Learn more here & find all my Project Life posts here.

Can diabetes cause erectile dysfunction

Happy Birthday Nettio Designs and Five Lessons Learned In Year Two

POSTED ON February 13, 2013 IN From the Desk of Nettio Designs

From the Desk of Nettio Designs Issue No. 5

Hello hello creative adventurers and welcome to this special birthday edition of From the Desk of Nettio Designs! I know we have some new people joining us this week so a hearty welcome to you all – so glad to have you here!

I hope you all have your party hats handy because this week, Nettio Designs officially turns 2! Woohoo, it’s party time!

That’s right, two years ago today, I officially opened the doors of Nettio Designs. Hard to believe my little business baby is already a toddler. *sniff sniff proud mama tears*

It’s pretty safe to say that owning my own business has been one of the most crazy and rewarding creative & life adventures I have ever been on, full of some high highs, low lows and incredible opportunities and experiences.

But as challenging as the day to day nature of being a solo-preneur can be at times, it’s hard to deny that there’s something unbelievably rewarding about knowing that every single dollar you bring in (no matter how lean that income may be at times) is a direct result of your own personal blood, sweat & tears.

Since Sweet Shoppe Designs is also celebrating its birthday this month (lucky number 7!) I’ve kept the birthday festivities here at Nettio Designs pretty chill. (I’m guessing this is how my dad felt every year he had to share his Dec 23rd birthday with my grandma.)

But since I had such a fun time sharing the lessons I learned in my first year of business during my anniversary celebration last year, I thought it’d be fun to share a few lessons I’ve learned in year two of owning my own digital business. Because lord knows there have been some lessons with a capital L, haha.

Lesson #1: Never compare your insides to someone else’s outsides

One of the great things about owning an online business? You can spend the day working in your comfy pants and ignoring the ever growing pile of dishes in your sink and no one will ever be the wiser.

The downside to this? The same is true for everyone else. You can’t see their reality either unless they want you to see it.

Which means, because it’s human nature for most people to put their best foot forward, it can be easy to get caught up in comparing your reality to what you imagine every one else’s reality to be. And let’s face it, we all imagine everyone else’s situation to be more glamorous/easy/insert your fave adjective here than our own, right? Especially when you start adding designing and money into the mix, it can be easy to get stuck in a spiral of feeling like you’re not as talented/fast/organized/perfect as everyone else.

I admit when I first moved to the Sweet Shoppe last year, I fell into this trap a bit. I went from designing within my own little happy bubble here at Nettio Designs to suddenly having to compare my work to 29 other designers every week. It was tough and I had more than a few moments where I felt like I wasn’t as talented/creative/organized as every one else. And I admit, there’s still times when I struggle with this.

But then I remind myself that this isn’t reality, its fear. And the more you talk to people, the more you realize everyone in the world is making things up as they go, even the people who seem like they have everything together. They just don’t want you to know that, haha. So run your own race and push yourself to be the best you can possibly be.

Lesson #2: Make things for people you love

When I first moved to the Sweet Shoppe last April, I felt like a tiny fish thrown into a big pond. Suddenly I went from designing for a customer base I knew was excited about what I did (because well, I was the only designer here, haha) to feeling like I had to please this ever elusive much broader Sweet Shoppe customer. And I admit, I wasn’t totally sure what they wanted from me. Did I now need to design school-themed templates? Or baby books even though I’m not a mom? I started to feel a bit lost.

Then over the summer I read the book Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon (which I wrote about before here), and there was a great quote at the end of the book that went like this:

“Make things for people you love. For people you want to meet.”

And I realized, that’s what I want to do.

A huge part of the reason I started Nettio Designs was because I want to connect with other tech-lovin’, patterned paper obsessed, creative & adventurous (or would like to be) scrapbookers like myself. I want to design products to make our lives easier – products I’m excited to use for my own scrapbooking – and solve problems I struggle with in hopes it’ll help you out too.

I know what I design or do isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and you know what? That’s perfectly ok. Because the more I focus on the people who are most passionate about what I do the more we can all grow together. And that’s really what it’s all about, right?

Lesson #3: Planning to-dos against time is the key to getting things done

This is a new lesson I’m still learning on a day-to-day basis so I’m just going to say this: if you’re the type of creative person who loses track of time and takes on WAY more ideas than they have time to implement, planning out your individual to-do list items on a calendar will change your life.

Will it be fun when you first write down everything and have to admit you don’t have time to do it all? No. That part actually kind of sucks if you’re a big idea person like me, haha.

But the more you do it, the better you get at estimating and managing your time. And once you start seeing big goals become reality (without scrambling at the last minute or working late into the night), it starts to make it all worth it.

Lesson #4: The best ideas don’t come when you’re in front of a computer

As a tech-lover, it pains me a little bit to admit this, but it’s oh-so-very true. Whenever I’m stuck, the best thing I can do is walk away and do something simple: go for a walk, hit the gym, or my favorite, take a shower and do my hair/makeup so I feel like a productive member of society. It never fails that it’s in those moments that a solution will come to you or the right words or phrases fall into place.

Lesson #5: Chatting with you is my favorite part of this job

It’s cheesy and cliche’d but it’s true. My favorite part of this job is getting to connect with all of you. I love nothing more than replying to blog comments or reading the emails you send me sharing how your Blurb book brought you to tears. Those moments make all the hard work absolutely worth it and are a huge reason why I do what I do. Nettio Designs wouldn’t be here without you so I hope you know how much it means to me that you trust my designs with your most favorite memories and adventures.

Which brings me to this week’s challenge…

It’s Challenge Time!

Last year as part of my 1st anniversary I sent out a survey asking for your thoughts. This year I’ve decided to simplify by instead asking you to send me an email or leave a comment below with your answer to this question:

When it comes to creatively capturing your life adventures, what are you struggling with right now?

Best part, there are no right or wrong answers, and no reason too big or small. I just want to hear how things are or aren’t working for you right now.

And with that, it’s time to close out this week’s birthday installment of From the Desk of Nettio Designs! Owning my own business has been a constant cycle of learning and growth and I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of a rush. I’m excited to see what year three brings to Nettio Designs. Here’s hoping this business toddler can avoid the terrible twos…

This post is Issue No. 5 of my From The Desk of Nettio Designs weekly email series. Want to get in on the action? Sign up for Nettio Designs emails here.

Fraudulent Drugs Are A Huge Global Problem

Hard At Work

POSTED ON February 12, 2013 IN Announcements

I’m busily working on some awesome new stuff for later this week so no new post from me today. But since every post is better with an image and today happens to be my mom’s birthday, how about I share one of my favorite mom-focused scrapbooking pages I’ve done:

Happy Birthday Mom!

I will be back tomorrow as usual with Issue No. 5 of From The Desk of Nettio Designs. See you then!

Fraudulent Drugs Are A Huge Global Problem

New Release: Lovey Dovey Vol 1

POSTED ON February 8, 2013 IN Shop News & Releases

Happy Sweet Shoppe Saturday everyone!

With Valentine’s Day coming up later this month, I’ve got love on the brain. Maybe I’m finally becoming mushy in my old I’m-in-my-thirties-now age?

Whatever the reason, my love for hearts and patterned papers heavily inspired these designs. Which brings me to this week’s release…

Lovey Dovey Vol. 1 Templates

The Lovey Dovey Vol. 1 digital scrapbooking template two-pack features two layered heart-tastic designs in my signature paper-lovin’ style. Shout out to my fellow paper lovers! This week is for you.

Lovey Dovey Template No. 1 features a bold, layered patterned paper heart design:

And Lovey Dovey Template No. 2 features a more flow-y cascading heart design:

Team Awesome Inspiration

Of course my team had a ton of fun scrapbooking their own take on the Lovey Dovey Templates:

New Release Discount: SAVE 20% thru Saturday

The Sweet Shoppe Designs Birthday festivities continue this weekend with a special Scooper Dipper Weekend where all NEW RELEASES are 30% off and all older Scoop & Dip Collabs are 50% off…

Of course this means you can save 30% on the Lovey Dovey Vol. 1 Templates too…

Want to save 20% off this weekend?

Pick up Lovey Dovey Vol. 1 here today!

Aaaaaand…one last little bit of order before I close out this email, you may want to head over to the Sweet Shoppe Designs Facebook page where we’ve got a little birthday present for you this weekend…

Be sure to LIKE the Nettio Designs Facebook page to get my goodie too!

Well that’s it from me this week! Have a great weekend everyone!

How do I purchase Levitra without going to the doctor

OLW 2013: February Goal-Setting

POSTED ON February 7, 2013 IN Goal Setting, One Little Word

February is here which means it’s time for another round of monthly goal-setting!

I mentioned in January when I introduced my One Little Word for 2013, DETERMINATION, that I planned to pair my word with four goals every month, themed around the phrase “This Month I’m Determined To…”, complete with a 6×6-inch inspiration card to keep my goals front & center throughout the month.

You can find templates for making your own monthly inspiration cards here.

This is what my January card looked like:

And here it was printed and hanging all pretty like on my white board:

January 2013: Monthly Goal Update

So how did I do on my January goals?

Well I completed 3.5 of my 4 goals, which I’d say is pretty dang awesome for it being my first attempt! I met both of my work goals as well as my fun goal of hanging art in our master bedroom and dining room (including buying enough frames at once that the young male checker at Target asked if I was starting an art gallery, haha).

The one goal I didn’t completely succeed at was getting to the gym two times a week but that was more to do with choosing to prioritize some of the work related stuff over that goal so I’m hoping I’ll be able to fit it in better this month. I’m the kind of weirdo who loves the gym so for my own sanity, haha, this needs to be squeezed into my schedule better this month.

I can tell you that I have NO DOUBT that having this visual reminder of my goals every day as I checked my to-do list was a HUGE reason why I was so successful in January. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t actually expect it to work as well as it did but I think it did for three key reasons:

1) I posted them in a prominent place. My white board hangs in the hallway coming into our office loft area so every time I walk into the room, no matter what I’m doing, I have to walk by these goals. I’m very much a set-and-forget type of goal-setter normally so actually seeing my goals every day kept them on my mind.

2) Writing & printing them out makes them seem legit. It seems silly but it’s true. Having them printed out not only made my goals seem much more real but it also made me feel extra committed to them. Like they were more set-in-stone than if I just randomly thought about them.

3) It kept me accountable. The great thing about having your goals out in the open where you can easily see them? It means everyone else can see them too. Which means if you don’t accomplish them, you’re no longer the only person who will know. The last thing I wanted to have to do at the end of the month was take down that month’s goals card and admit I hadn’t been determined enough to someone other than myself.

The great thing about this was it kept Adam and I on the same page. When I announced my plans one weekend to work on hanging up art around the house, since it was one of my goals for the month, it didn’t come from completely out of the blue.

February 2013 Monthly Goal-Setting

So what made my Four Goals cut for February? Here’s a little look at the digital version of my card. I do have it printed & hanging already but the light here hasn’t cooperated lately (cloudy and blah) so you’re going to have to just imagine it hanging in the same spot as my January card above, haha.

Interestingly enough, my four goals for February fall into the same categories as last month: 2 work goals, 1 fun goal and 1 health goal. It’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues throughout the year.

I also changed up the wording of my workout goal to make it a bit more do-able. Really it should probably say something like, step away from the computer from time to time, haha, but I think this is a good do-able goal, even if it just means taking a quick walk around the neighborhood at lunch.

One Little Word 2013: January Assignment

One of the things I am incorporating into my monthly goal-setting this year are the assignments from Ali Edwards’ One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes. I hadn’t intended to sign up for the OLW class again this year since I’d done it the last two years, but since the prompts are all new this year, I thought I’d give it another go and so far I’m really liking it!

January’s prompt was to set 12 intentions for your word, 1 for each month of the year, by pairing your word with another to make a phrase. Seems right up my alley given my intention to pair my word with goals already.

Since my word for 2013 is determination, I decided to go with the phrase: “Determined To…”. The assignment was then to design a two-page spread showcasing one card for each month using your phrases and the We R Memory Keepers 9-photo page protectors (or something similar).

I started out by sketching out some (really rough & ugly, please ignore my sketch handwriting, haha) concepts for different cards:

I decided I liked the one on the top right the best so next I created my pages in Photoshop using the free 9 card Photoshop template Ali included with the class. I placed the two documents side by side so I could see how things would flow and so I could move papers and elements easily between the two.

Here’s a closer look at the digital version of the left page:

And the right page (which will actually the backside of the page protector once printed):

Supplies include a mix of Zoe Pearn’s new Wanderlust kit (which may just be my new fave kit, love love love it), Kristin Cronin-Barrow’s She Believed She Could and a whole host of Heart Art art journaling products from Sugarplum Paperie: Heart Art: Be New, Heart Art: Spread Your Wings, Heart Art: Fly Away, Heart Art: Softly Spoken. The one wooden arrow is from Traci Reed’s Blondies: Pointers. One Little Word title text was included as part of Ali’s OLW class. Fonts are Bebas Neue, Raleway and Avenir.

I’m not usually one to play with a lot of artsy products, even non-messy digital products, haha, but it was actually really fun to layer and play and see what I could come up with. I love that each card is like it’s own mini canvas.

All of the text on the cards are kind of like general mini-goals, or intentions if you will, which I plan to incorporate each month as part of my Four Monthly goals. So for example, February’s card says:

Determined to start: START on a big project that’s been on your to-do list for way too long.

I actually have two goals this month that fulfill that intention: redesigning the Nettio Designs website and hanging up our adventure gallery wall (which I’ve been collecting stuff for for like two years now, haha).

Since I’m obviously writing all of these intentions at the beginning of the year before I know what’s really going to happen each month, it’ll be interesting to see how these intentions play out. But I tried to keep them general enough that they can be applied in multiple ways.

Here’s a look at my printed cards in the page protectors. Front-side:

Back-side:

A closer look at one of the text cards:

More card details:

And one final look at the title card, which is actually made up of some digital kraft paper and three different digital brushes:

I haven’t decided completely how I’m going to store these pages. Right now I’m thinking I’m going to include them at the front of my Project Life album so I see them on a regular basis. But depending on how the assignments for Ali’s One Little Word class pan out, I may eventually move them into their own album. We’ll see.

Anyone else taking Ali’s One Little Word class this year? Did you set monthly goals in January? If so, how’d your goal-setting for Jan turn out? If you used the Monthly Goal-tracker inspiration cards like I did, did they help you keep your goals front & center? You know I love to chat so share your thoughts in the comments below.

Psst…what to get in on the monthly goal-setting action? Pick up your own copy of the 2013 Monthly Goal-Tracker Templates or OLW Goal-tastic 2013 Goal-Setting Bundle at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Can diabetes cause erectile dysfunction