Tulle Pom Pom Garland Tutorial

I have a tutorial on my Paisley Palooza blog showing how to make this darling Tulle Pom Pom Garland.

Check it out here.

Paisley Palooza - Chic Party Supplies

I am probably no longer going to post on this blog but I did want to let you all know about my new venture I am working on. I have opened up a little shop called Paisley Palooza. I sell all kinds of chic party supplies from cute drinking cups and paper straws to ice cream cups and wooden utensils. I will always get getting new, fun products.

I would love for you to check our my blog, like me on Facebook and take a look at my shop. I will be doing some fun giveaways and will have lots of cute ideas on my blog that you won't want to miss out on.

Blog | Facebook | Etsy Shop

xoxo

Becky

Confetti Sunshine - Paper Straw Sale

Did you see that Confetti Sunshine has their paper straws at 20% off right now. They have the cutest straws for any occasion and all you have to do is enter "SIPPING" at checkout.

Hurry over and grab some!

New York Trip

My husband and I spent a fabulous 5 days in New York at the beginning of the month. It was so much fun exploring the city together and having some alone time. New York is such a magical place and I'm already dreaming of the next time we can go.

See more details about our trip on my family blog here.

Amazon Store, Giveaway & Freebie!

I have a lot of exciting things for you today. First, I have created an Amazon shop with all of the fun items I have been telling you about on the blog. Things such as washi tape, envelopes, software, etc. That way if you are ever in the need of some of these items you can easily go to my shop and find them all in one place. How awesome is that?!?

Becky Young Designs Amazon Store

Next up is a fun giveaway. One lucky person will win a $5 gift certificate to my Etsy shop. And remember that I do custom orders, so if you don't see what you are looking for in my shop already, just email me and I can create something custom just for you!

Here is how to enter:

{1}Simply leave a comment below with your favorite item from my Etsy shop.  

(Everyone must do this in order to be entered.)

Want more entries?

{2}'Like' Becky Young Designs on Facebook.

{3}'Like' Becky Young Designs on Pinterest.

{4}Follow the Becky Young Designs blog.

{5}Post on Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway to all your friends.

That's a total of 5 entries you can have.
Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.
Good Luck!

(You have until Thursday, May 24th at midnight to enter. Winner will be announced Friday, May 25th.)

And last is an awesome new freebie!

I have for you a set of dotted circles in 2 different sizes. These are so much fun to add a cute element to your cards or pictures or blogs. Below is an example of how you can use them. In the below photo of my baby I used both size and layered them and made each one a different color. There are so many different things you can do with these. 

Download Dotted Circle Freebie Here

Creating Your Own Digital Cards | What Program To Use

I'm going to start doing some tutorials and tips on my blog about how to create your own digital cards. I hope these help you create custom designs and inspire you to be more creative.

 Digital cards are so much fun to designs for all kinds of occasions and you can easily print them off or you can even email them or post them to your social medias.

What Program Do I Use?
The first thing we need to talk about is what program to use to create your designs. There are so many different programs you can use and everyone has their own opinion about which program is best. My personal opinion is, for the price and ease of use, the best program is Adobe Photoshop Elements 10. Not only can you create cute custom designs and artwork but you can also edit pictures and so much more.

The price is only $74.99 on Amazon. This is a lot cheaper than the full version of Photoshop or other programs that run hundreds of dollars. $75 is pretty doable for a program you can use for years.

Also, Photoshop Elements is pretty easy to learn to use and is very user friendly. I have self taught myself everything I know in Photoshop Elements. All of my design tutorials on this blog will be shown with this program.

So make sure you purchase this software if you want to follow along with my tutorials or if you already have it you are one step ahead. Also, check back weekly for new tutorials.

What are your thoughts on what is the best design program? What program do you use?

Color Me Rad Race

My husband and I, along with some family and friends ran the Color Me Rad 5k a few weekends ago. It was a blast getting all dirty and colorful and throwing powder at each other. If the Color Me Rad race is coming to a city near you I would definitely recommend running it! Actually there was more playing than there was running. That is my type of race:)

Check out more details and pictures on my family blog here.

My Favorite Fonts | Part 1

Thank you SO much for all of the wonderful responses I got from my last post about what types of freebies you all want. It has given me lots of ideas so keep an eye out for those in the future.

Today I want to start a series called "My Favorite Fonts." I think the number one thing you can do to make your designs creative and fresh is to use fun fonts. There are so may free fonts out there you can go crazy downloading them all.  So I'm going to show you some of my favorite ones right now. Keep in mind that I am always looking for new ones and falling in love with a new font each week. I just can't get enough of them. So quit using all of those boring fonts that com per-installed on your computer and download some of these fun ones.

Here is Part 1 of "My Favorite Fonts."
And the best part about it is these fonts are all *free*!!

Hope these are helpful! Enjoy!

1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. | 7. | 8. | 9. | 10.

What are some of your favorite fonts? I'd love for you to share.

Freebies - What Do You Want?

I would love to offer more freebies on my blog. It's such a fun way to meet new readers. I just need a little help with ideas and I want to know what types of freebies you all like and are looking for. Would you take a moment to let me know and fill out the form below? Thank you!

Advertising Spaces

I just wanted to let you all know I have some space available on my sidebar for a few *free* ads as well as some larger paid ads. Check out the details and rates here.

Contact me if you are interested in doing some advertising or giveaways on Becky Young Designs!

New Products - 8"x10" Prints

I have some new products up in my Etsy shop. I am now selling 8"x10" prints of some of my designs. These will be printed on high quality linen cardstock and mailed to you. Just pop them in a frame and you have some fun new artwork.

Check out all the prints available here.

(and check back often because I will be adding more all the time:)

Very Jane Deal

 I have an awesome deal going on over at Very Jane.

You can get a custom graduation announcement, baby shower invite or birth announcement for only $3.50 (regularly $5.00).

Check it out! 
(deal is only active for a couple of days so hurry and grab it now!)

Washi Tape

Isn't Washi Tape just the cutest thing ever?!? There are so many different styles of it and SO many different things you can do with it. A fun way to spruce up some of your cards would be to us a little as an envelope seal or put a strip of it on the front of the envelope as a fun decorative touch. Here a  few fun places you can purchase this darling Washi Tape.

1. KitChenKitChenFUN | 2. Heidi Swapp | 3. Pretty Tape | 4. Hambly Studios

5. HappyTape! | 6. Chickydoodle | 7. Wishy Washi Tape

"Love" Printable Poster Freebie

We are just about done finishing our basement and now comes the fun part...the decorating. 

(See basement updates on my personal blog here and here) 

Here is the photo of my inspiration for my basement. I paint the walls a warm gray and now I want lots of color to brighten the place up.

So, I created this cute "LOVE" post that I'm going to print out and put in a white frame. I haven't decided which color I'm going to use yet so I created in in all 3 colors.

And I created it into a little freebie for you all. Enjoy!

Download Aqua "LOVE" Poster

Download Purple "LOVE" Poster

Download Gray "LOVE" Poster

New Product: Graduation Announcement

I have a new product in my Etsy store today. It's a graduation announcement in your choice of any color to match your graduate's school colors. Graduation season is just around the corner so be sure to get your announcements done early so you can send them out to family and friends.

5"x7" Graduation Announcement

Choice of any color.

$5.00

Custom Return Address Stamps

I have been gushing over all the custom return address stamps I've seen all over the internet. There are some of the most darling designs. I keep putting off buying one because I can't decide which one I want. These are such a cute way to decorate any of your cards and would be a fabulous house warming gift. These are just a few I've seen that I love.

1. SaveTheDate Design | 2. alli's creations | 3. SaveTheDate Design | 4. Foryoo
5. Stamp Out Online | 6. Foryoo | 7. The Chatty Press

Have any of your purchased an address stamp? Any recommendations on which one I should get?

"This Is Our Happily Ever After" Printable Poster

I have loved this saying for so long. So I made it into an 8"x10" printable poster for you to download.

I would love to see what you do with the poster if you download it.

Enjoy!

Download "This Is Our Happily Ever After" Poster Here

Lately

Just wanted to share with you a few projects I've been working on this week. 

A birthday invitation, a bridal shower invite and a birth announcement. 

All of these designs are available in my Etsy shop!

Envelope Liners

Another fun way to jazz up your cards is with envelope liners.
You can cut them out yourself and glue them into your envelope or you can purchase pre-made liners.

Such a cheap, cute way to set apart your envelope from the rest!

Image via here.

Here are a few places you can purchase cute envelope liners.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

And I'll be back next week with a little tutorial on how to create your own liners.

Sweet Spring by Digi-Designs by Nicole

Another new kit from Nicole out today. It's a gorgeous Spring kit call "Sweet Spring." You can pick it up in her store here.

And here is a layout I created with the kit.

Envelopes

I wanted to talk a little bit about envelopes today. If you are mailing out any of my designs you will need envelopes and there are plenty of ways you can jazz up your card with envelopes.

Most of the designs I sell are 5"x7" size so I am going to show you some fun options for envelopes this size along with some links where you can purchase them. These envelopes are sometimes referred to as size A7 and are actually 5 1/4" x 7 1/4".

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

"All You Need Is Love" Printable Poster

I am taking an online class learning how to use Adobe Illustrator (which is awesome, I am loving the class). Last week's homework was to create a typography poster. I love this saying so I created to cute printable poster with it. It is 16"x20" size and is for personal use only.

Hope you like it!

Download "All You Need Is Love" Poster

Where To Print Your Digital Cards

I have gotten this question a lot lately, "Where is the best place to print my digital cards?" So, I thought I would do a blog post about it to answer all your questions. My answer would be, it depends on how much you want to spend and what kind of paper you want it printed on. Here are a few of my suggestions and you can choose which option is best for you.

First, be aware that there are 3 different papers I recommend with cards. Linen paper, pearl linen paper, and photo paper. Linen paper is more of a cardstock paper that looks the best for cards. Pearl linen paper is the same but has a little glitterly shine to it. And, photo paper is what you print your regular photos on. Please note that if you are printing on photo paper, cards look best with a matte finish.

Second, price. Linen paper is a lot more expensive than photo paper, but like I said it looks a lot better for cards. Photo paper still looks great though so just decide how much you want to spend and what look you want to achieve.

Third, print shops. Here are my recommendations for where to get your cards printed:

 

Persnickety Prints is my #1 suggestion when it comes to printing your digital cards. Not only are they the best people to work with, but their products are top quality. They also print with full bleed so you don't have to worry about any of the edges of your card getting cut off when printed.

They can print on linen paper, pearl linen paper, or photo paper. (Linen paper is a little more costly than photo paper but it looks a lot nicer for cards.)

Here is a link to their pricing.

And if you live in Utah you can pick up your order for free so you don't have to pay for shipping.

They also include envelopes with your card order.

Costco is the best if you are looking to just go the inexpensive route but still want quality. Please be aware that they don't print with full bleed so a little bit of your edges will be cut off. That's OK, just make sure nothing important on your card is right on the edge.

Remember, they don't include envelopes so you will need to buy them at your local craft store or office supply store. Also, you do need a membership to order from Costco.

If you are wanting to print on photo paper, really any local photo lab can do it for you. Remember, most photo labs don't print in full bleed so the edges of your card will be cut off. Also, they won't include envelopes.

Please also note that a lot of local photo labs may have different coloring than what you see on your computer screen. If I am printing with a new lab, I always print one test card to see what it looks like and make sure I like what it looks like printed out.

Hope this helps in printing your Becky Young Designs cards!

Chevron Digital Paper Freebie

I have a fun freebie for you today. This is a pack of 8 different colored chevron digital papers. These are all .jpg files and 12"x12" size. Please remember that these are for personal use only.
 If you download and use them for a project, I would love to see your creations.
Hope you like them!

Download Chevron Digital Papers Here

Custom Designs

Have you check out my Etsy shop yet? I have a few fun card designs there and there are many more to come.

I also wanted to let you know that I offer custom designs. If there is something you have in mind that you don't see in my shop, let me know and I can create a custom listing for you and design exactly what you have in mind.

The cost for custom designs is just $7.00 if you want an exclusive design or $5.00 if you let me sell the design in my store after it has been created for you. Send me an email at beckyyoungdesigns@gmail.com if you are interested.

Very Jane Deal

I'm so excited to tell you about my deal that is live on Very Jane right now.

It's a custom 5"x7" photo birthday invitation in your choice of 5 different colors.

It's only $3.50 and you can use it any time in the next year.

Check out the deal and all the details here.

Only You by Digi-Designs by Nicole

Nicole has a darling new kit out this week. I am so sad I didn't have time to create some layouts with it but I still wanted you guys to see how awesome it is. It is 30% off in her store this week. Hurry and grab it!

And Nicole is also having a CT call. Go here to fill out the application and apply. You will love working with Nicole!

Etsy Shop

I finally have my Etsy shop opened up. I am so excited! While it only has a few products right now there are lots more coming. From birthday and wedding invitations to birth announcements and holiday cards and printables. There are a lot of fun things in the works.

I hope you will stop by and check it out and come back regularly!

Here are a few of the products I have available right now: