Cathy Zielske's Blog

Honoring the sadness

For those of us documenting daily life, the question can arise on how to cover tragedy on our pages and in our albums. I know this was something I looked at with a heavy heart during the Newtown tragedy. Again, for the Boston Marathon bombings. And now for Oklahoma.

If there's one thing I am connecting to lately, it's that life is completely unpredictable. There is joy. And there is sadness. It's all part of what we signed on for, whether we like it or not.

We can withdraw from it. We can outraged by it. We can quickly brush by it on our way back to normal. Or we can observe it—head on—and let it in, and let it change us. Let it change how we live and breathe.

I was driving by my neighborhood elementary school yesterday, saw the kids out on the playground and was overcome with grief. I've never been much good at blocking stuff out—stuff like bombings, and shootings, and destructive acts of nature—but only recently have I begun to really embrace sadness and let it in, and let it begin to change me.

Let it become a part of me.

Yes, that's therapy talking. I've paid a lot of money to learn about all the ways I've tried to block and control any pain of any kind in my life. 

I've paid some immense prices for trying to acquire a type of control that doesn't even exist.

 

Life will always remind us who is in charge. Some of us pray and some of us hope—but we are often reminded that the unexpected is part of, well, life.

As I continued past the school yesterday, I was thinking of the lyric from a song that I always recall during any time of sadness, The Night I Heard Caruso Sing by Everything But The Girl. 

…it's time to hold your loved ones, while the chains are loose, and the world runs wild.

I created a card for my Project Life album. I guess I wanted some way to remember this feeling of how miraculous this whole thing is—this life I live—while also honoring the sadness.

Download CZ_QuoteCard

File is in PDF, PNG and layered PSD. 

Thanks for reading today.

 

 

New product releases

I have a few new product releases in the Designer Digitals store this weekend. First up:

Hello Boylie J-Cards. Last weekend, I released the Hello Girlie set.

Then I started working on a layout I'll be posting next week, using the Hello Girlie set, and I realized I needed some papers to match, so I created two new simple pattern sets.

Hello Girlie Paper Pack.

And Hello Boylie Paper Pack.

Next up, the requested 8.5 x 11 layered template set.

Many of you asked about 8.5 x 11 designs. This is what I came up with. I know I will mix in some of these into my Project Life album this year. Who knows. I may even switch up my size for 2014.

Another thing to note: 3 x 4 and 4 x 6 card elements will work in these templates, but they will have to be sized down a bit to do so. In sizing them down, you will lose a bit of the original proportion, but they'll work just fine.

Next up, a few more Life Basics sets:

Life Basics No. 04 is a 6 x 12 set. I used these in my Project Life album this past week. I combined two onto a 12 x 12 canvas and will have it printed, then trim down the middle.

I had to add a title bar to some of the templates in this set to fill the space. I like the idea of a simple place to drop a title paired with a collage.

And finally, one more Life Basics set with more square photo slots.

Life Basics No. 05.

All of these products are on sale this weekend.

If you prefer the more traditional sized Project Life layered templates (ones without the larger margin and the less rounded corners, check out the sets from AC Digitals.)

Have a great weekend!

 

 

New product releases

First off, thank you so much for all the birthday messages. I read them all and appreciate them. I love getting older! Who knew? 

This past weekend, I released three new products.

Life List Cards No. 02. This is my second set of Life Lists. I came up with some new things to list and a different design. These come in several formats (PDF, PSD and PNG).

And two new J-Card sets (the same design, just different orientations.) These coordinate nicely with the Seafoam Project Life kit. Find them here: J-Cards No. 09 Everyday and J-Cards No. 10 Everyday.

 

 

Digital freebies for you (plus a video to show you how to use them)

As a thank you to my blog readers as well as users of my digital collection of products, today I have three sets of photo flag word banners for you. These can be fun to drop into a photo, or clip a patterned paper into. The files are available in PNG and ABR format.

Download the zipped digital package by clicking on the link below:

Download CZ_PhotoFlagFreebies

I used these flags last week on my Project Life spread.

I simply clipped some of my patterned paper collection in, sized them down a bit, printed, trimmed and adhered to my photo.

Here's a short video showing you a few ways to work with these files:

 

Thanks again for supporting Designer Digitals. We appreciate our customers immensely!

To show our appreciation, we are extending the sale until 3am EST on Friday morning. And to sweeten it for Valentine's day we are giving out a coupon code for an extra 5% off your purchase!

Simply use the following code at checkout: ddlove5

The fine print: Coupon code can be shared and used multiple times thru the rest of the sale. It is not good on previous purchases and must be used at time of purchase, no adjustments will be made.

New product releases

I have some new things in the store, all on sale for 20% off this weekend. The first up are printable grid labels in assorted sizes.

These come in 8 colors, varying shapes and a few different circle sizes, and have a light gray grid background. Last week, I was tired of never having little labels and always running out of stickers, so I figured, why not make some I can print as needed. Printable PDFs are included. No Photoshop is needed. Print them out onto white cardstock and you're good to go. Note: if you have a circle punch size you don't see here, you can always open an individual circle PNG and just change the size to match your circle punch. Copy that PNG to a new document, and make more copies of it, then repeat. You can create a whole sheet of circles that match whatever circle punch sizes you have.

Also new, my 50, er, that would actually be 8 Shades of Gray No. 01 Paper Pack. I'm using a lot of gray in my Project Life album this year, so I wanted to make a set of simple patterns to drop into files as needed. Nothing randy about this set at all. ; )

Speaking of simple patterns, I added a few more sets.

Simple Patterns No. 02.

Simple Patterns No. 03.

Simple patterns for simple projects. Have a great weekend.

New product releases

This weekend, I've got some new printable card sets and some love-themed word art. My goal is to start designing printable cards in both portrait and landscape orientation. 

Just a note: these card sets contain PNG files and printable PDFs. No Photoshop needed if you just want to print out your own cards on white cardstock. A tip: make sure you choose Photo quality settings, and print the PDFs in the Actual Size setting. 

Want to add journaling blocks to you cards? This video tutorial will walk you through it.

J-Cards No. 06 Everyday

J-Cards No. 07 Love

J-Cards No. 08 Love 

Helvi Round Love 01

All new products are 20% off this weekend.

Video Tutorial: Working with my Week in Review Layered Journaling Cards for Project Life

I've been getting a number of emails from people who want to use my Week in Review cards for their Project Life albums, but need a little help in getting started.

I put together a video tutorial which shows you how to:

1. Change the color of the card frames.

2. Clip digital papers into the card frames.

3. Change the fonts.

4. Change the color of the fonts.

I hope this helps those of you who need a little help with the digital processes. Once you get these few basics down, you can do just about any digital project in time. If you have any questions, please post in the comments and I'm happy to answer them.

Working with my Layered 6 x 4 Journal Card Files from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

 

 

Weekend Product Releases

I have a few new holiday-themed products this weekend. 

J-Cards No. 04 Holiday 3 x 4 cards. Predesigned journaling cards for the holiday season. You don't need Photoshop to use these. Just open the PDFs and print.

Social-media inspired Hashtags No. 02 Holiday and Hashtags No. 03 Thankful. These are great for page titles or using for creating your own holiday journal cards. Great for dropping onto your photos as well.

All new releases are 20% off through Monday.