Fun & Easy Valentine Game

Happy February! Okay this is a funny little game we've got for you today to print and play with your family. Little kids love it, but we won't pretend that adults don't think it's pretty amusing too! The instructions for playing are on the game board, so just print and play away! Download HERE.

Printable Owls On a Branch Cards

Valentine's Day is around the corner and those tear-apart valentine's sheets from the grocery store just can't compare to the vast amount of crafty printables out there now. Yes, the perforated cards are sooo simple to do, but we think our owl cards can be a happy medium between the store-bought and having to bake heart-shaped cookies with every child's name written in cursive frosting on them. Plus, just look how cute they are, right?! :)

So download HERE.
Or, see last year's Valentine's Day cupcake toppers HERE.

Beautifying Your Blog: Creating Photo Collages

Hello lovely smitten readers!  We're excited to share a little blogging tip that can add some beauty and variety to the look of your blog.  Photo collages offer a unique and beautiful way to capture an event and tell a story.  Have any of you wondered how to make a photo collage?  Well, you are in luck because we're going to show you a completely free and simple way to bring your photos to life using Google's Picasa program.

Step 1:  Download Google's free program Picasa:  http://picasa.google.com/

Step 2:  Import your Photos and Create the Collage:

Import the photos you would like to use by opening Picasa and selecting the Import button in the upper left hand corner.  You can import the photos from a folder on your computer, or even directly from your camera.

Once you have imported your photos, select the photos you would like to use for the collage by holding the down the Ctlr button and clicking each photo you want to use.

Once you have the photos you would like to use, click Create on the menu at the top and select "Picture Collage" on the drop down menu.


Step 3:  Select the Layout of your Collage.

Your photos will then automatically be assembled into a draft collage which can be edited to any layout and size you want!  This can be done while making sure you are on the Settings tab, clicking the arrow button next to the initial layout.  I personally prefer the Mosiac layout but there are many others including Picture Pile and Frame, etc.

The Page Format section offers you the choices for size.  An important note: if you plan on printing your collage, you will need to be sure to select the same printing size you are planning on.  If you are only planning on putting the collage on your blog, you will be able to re-size it on your blog any way you would like so the layout size is less of a concern.

You can also add Grid Spacing (you can see it there under the layout style).  The Grid Spacing, (also known as adding gutters in digital scrapping) is a way to space the pictures with a colored border (usually white) and create a more uniform feel as seen below in the finished collage.

To change the actual arrangement of the photos, simply click and drag a photo to the place you want it to go.  The photos will automatically change places.  You can re-arrange the photos as many times as you would like until you are happy with the way it looks.

If you are finding that you simply aren't happy with the way the photos are being arranged and/or sized, try selecting a different collage size and Picasa will automatically re-format your collage for you.

If you would like to add additional pictures, simply click the Clips tab (next to the settings tab).  This will allow you to go back to the library and select more photos/images you want to use.  Once they are highlighted in blue simply click the green plus sign and they will be added to you collage.  Remember,  you can add several at once by holding down the the Ctrl key.

You can see here I added one of the scrapbook pages from our Christmas kit.  I will be adding text on top of it in just a sec:

When you are happy with the way it looks, simply click the "Create Collage" button in the lower left hand side of the screen.

Step 4:  Adding Text or other Edits:

The collage is now added to my Picasa library and I can add text and make any other changes I want to.  On the Wrench tab (basic edits tab) I click the Add Text button.  There you can choose your font, the size and color you want the text as well as where you want to place it.  In this example I'm choosing an initial so I want it to be especially big (bigger than the font default sizes).  Click on the text until you get the circle around the text and then pull on the orange button to scale it to your desired size.

Step 5:  Ta Da!  The collage is now finished!!  Now simply go the File drop down menu and select Save As to save the collage in the place that is the easiest for you to find.  I prefer my desktop until I blog it and then I save it in my collage folder.

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial and find making collages a wonderful way to beautify your blog posts! :)

Free Christmas Digital Scrapbooking Kit!

Happy Holidays 
smitten readers! 

We hope you are sitting down, snuggled up with your favorite cup of holiday cocoa because we have a merry little surprise for you...a free digital scrapbooking kit!!

The crafting possibilities are endless! You can print the art out at home and create paper gifts of all kinds such as holiday cards, scrapbooking pages, gift tags, or garland. Or, you can keep the art in its digital format and liven up your blog posts or Facebook page with scrapbook pages of your family.

We love our readers and hope this gift will add some Christmas cheer to you and yours!  

You can download the digital papers and elements HERE.

We also have several new free blog backgrounds for you! You can grab them in our free gallery. Here's a sneak peek:

Merry Christmas!

~the smitten team

Please feel free to share this kit with your blog readers, friends and family...the more the merrier! Just a note...the art is for personal use only, please do not claim as your own.  Thanks again! :)

Christmas Subway Art Printable

The count down to Christmas is well under way at our house! I hope you're enjoying all of the excitement this season brings as well. To help celebrate please enjoy this fun subway art printable, perfect for any 8” by 10” frame. 

Whether you need a last minute gift or just want to add a little festivity to your walls, this quick and free printable is our gift to you! Download HERE.

Merry Christmas,

Holiday Gift Tags Freebie

 Happy December! With Christmas a mere 25 days away we wanted to get these little gift tags out to you. You might recognize the style of these tags from our free printable back in March. These little guys were so popular we decided to make them Holiday style!

So DOWNLOAD, print, cut and tie a little tag to every gift you give! Or just use them as cheap tree ornaments. :)  Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving from Smitten

Happy Thanksgiving week! We hope our free printables will help you make your special dinner even more memorable. In addition to the Turkey Dinner printables from last week, we've also got our cute Owl Collection tags and placecards from last year! Here are some fun ways to use all of our Thanksgiving printables:

-Placecards
-Napkin rings
-Chandelier decor
-Stickers
-Confetti
-Food labels
-Thank you notes/Invites
-Cupcake/Pie toothpick toppers

 

We hope you enjoy your holiday with lots of friends, family & food and we are so grateful to all of you for putting our designs and freebies on your blogs and in your homes. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Dinner Free Printable

Happy November, friends!  The Thanksgiving Holiday is just around the corner and we have created a fun printable for your festive dinner table scape.  Simply print, cut and dress your tables with these darling food and place setting labels.  Use your creativity in displaying the labels--the possibilities are endless!

Here's a peek at a few of the labels/placecards but click HERE to see them all. Enjoy!

Boo! A Free Halloween Printable.

Halloween is one week away (are those costumes done?) so we have a simple banner to get you in the mood! Just download the printable for free HERE and print out on cardstock. Cut the circles out and use black string to hang for a fun spider web-like effect. Happy Haunting!

Halloween Printable Fun!

Happy October! Growing up my family had a fun tradition we did every Halloween.  This tradition involved beautifully wrapped treats and the thrill of secrecy! 

I have committed to start this tradition with my own little girls.  If you have never seen this done before, be the one to start this fun tradition in your neighborhood!

After searching the web and finding the Phantom Ghost poem, I decided to design us all a lovely print freebie for this fun family activity. Click HERE to download.

Happy Haunting Everyone!  Spread the fun and spirit of Halloween!