Hollyberry Christmas 12″ Instant Scrapbook kits Now Available

LINK TO KIT 1 IN STORE HERE. Okay Deb D, here they are just for you, and on sale at 20% off to boot :-)!  By the way, I’ve also put all of the Halloween kits on sale for 20% off, so if you were thinking about a last minute fun kit, grab them quickly.

LINK TO KIT 2 IN STORE HERE There are 2 kits, one with 8, 12″ pages and one with 6, 12″ pages that work together to make a super album. All files are 300 dpi png files that you simply drop your pictures behind, size, add text and you’re ready to go!

These are classic, elegant, timeless Christmas albums with a little twist of fun, that will work equally as well with contemporary Christmas pictures that you take this year or heritage photos of wonderful Christmas’ past!


Art Copyright Audrey Jeanne Roberts, 2008. Designed by Abigail Scott DESIGN Studio.

DEVOTIONAL:  Have you ever had everything in your life change in the space of a day?  Sometimes it happens for good, but more often it happen through either a tragedy or just unexpected and difficult challenges.  A phone call in the middle of the night.  A pink slip in your paycheck.  A look at your bank balances and a dawning realization that something seriously has to change in your life if you are to make it through.  I’m convinced that change should have been a four-letter word!

On a September day twenty years ago, I picked up the phone to answer a call and heard the words, “The biopsy came back positive for Melanoma, your husband will need to come in to my office to discuss treatment plans.”  Absolutely everything in my world changed that day, though I wouldn’t fully comprehend just how much until 3 1/4 years later.  All the same, I felt so disoriented and uncertain.  Just the day before I had my life well mapped out and was fairly certain of where I was heading and in 24 hours I was lost and felt very alone.

Then there are those marvelous, mysterious days that bring wonderful changes.  I remember the day I met my husband to be — once again I thought I knew the path I was walking on and the destination I was headed towards, but in the space of just a few weeks everything in my life had changed!  I learned though, that even good change is unsettling and stressful.  Change is always a challenge to find a safe and secure path to walk on.

Sometimes life changes come one upon another leaving you no time to get your bearings.  It helps so much to be prepared in advance with the understanding that changes will come.  The only consistency in life is its inconsistency.  So whenever change comes knocking suddenly at your door you need to remember this scripture and hold tight to it so that it can, in turn, hold you steady in the storm.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  Ps 37:5-7  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.   Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.  NIV

PRAYER:  Lord, sometimes it seems like everything about my life changes in the space of a day.  Yesterday I thought I knew where my path was taking me and today I find myself on an entirely different path.  Help me to remember that You know the path You have intended all along for me to travel on.  Help me to commit my way in your hands and walk in the light of your will and your ways.

Help me to sit still and not squirm like a little child asking constantly, “Are we there yet?  Where are we going?  When will we get there?”  Help me to sit still before you, wait patiently and not fret when things don’t seem to be going the way I imagined they should!  AMEN

Hollyberry Tags, Word Art and Frames Digital Clip Art Christmas Kit

LINK TO KIT IN STORE HERE I have created a “Hollyberry Tag and Frame Kit” that will make creating
your own Christmas Greeting Cards, scrap book pages and crafts
incredibly easy.  There are 9 basic shapes that are available as empty
frames, frames with “glass”, frames with parchment paper lining and
frames with calligraphied Christmas text in them.

Also included with the kit is a set of 5 coordinating “ornament” frames, jewels, chain, and elegant text art.  Overall there are 47 separate pieces included in this kit.  The kit is priced at $5.98.

NEW Instant Scrapbook Album for Christmas by Abigail Scott DESIGN Studio

christmas instant scrapbook album mini digital clip art kit
christmas instant scrapbook album mini digital clip art kit

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO KIT IN STORE Available now in the store for $6.98, This instant album is amazingly quick and easy to make!  It prints one-sided on letter sized card stock or photo paper.  There are 20 pages including the cover (uses 10 pieces of paper).  The artwork is from Audrey Jeanne’s “Hollyberry Christmas 3” art kit and paper pack 2.  CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO ART KITCLICK HERE FOR LINK TO PAPER PACK

The sample booklet was assembled in less than half and hour by our staff and has a finished size of 5 1/2″ x 5″ the perfect size for a brag-book or to send along with your family newsletter this Christmas to special family members!

We will also release the full sized 12″ x 12″ pages from which this was created if you are a traditional scrapbooker and would like to use them for your Christmas layouts.  Look for them soon!

Finally!!! My New Fabric Line Debuts

Chocolate Love Quilting Fabrics by Studio E Fabrics and Audrey Jeanne Roberts

Finally, I get to show you my new fabric collection from Studio E Fabrics.  The fabric collection will be available through quilt shops nationally soon, so check with your local quilt shop to see if they will be carrying it.  The quality of the printing of these fabrics is simply breathtaking.  I was concerned whether they would be able to capture the watercolor feeling of the artwork and yet not looked washed out or flat.  When I received the samples for final check I was thrilled.  The translation to fabric was just about perfect!

Chocolate Love Quilting Fabrics by Studio E Fabrics and Audrey Jeanne Roberts

I was introduced to my “fabroholocism” directly through my family line.  We had a huge hall closet and a deep cabinet over the top of our clothing closets absolutely stuffed with every type of fabric imaginable.  Whenever we had a quilt to make we simply went “shopping” in our closet.  That little girl would never have imagined that she’d one day be creating fabrics for other “fabroholics” to enjoy!

Like many of you, I grew up in fabric shops.  I spent every Saturday afternoon with my mother and grandmother scouring the fabric section of my local TG & Y or Kmart store for some wonderful fabric to take home with me and make an exciting new project with.

I returned to my love of crafting and sewing when I became a mother.  At one point in my life I had a newborn daughter, a husband that was out of work for 16 months during the recession of 1980-81 and had to run my home budget including gas, food, diapers and clothing on $50 a week.  Trust me — $50 wasn’t much even then so it wasn’t easy to do.  But one of the ways I made it tolerable was to shop my local Yardage Town fabric store weekly and grab up their $.98 a yard remnants to make matching clothing for my daughter and I.  Had I not gone through this terribly difficult period in my life I wouldn’t have the career I have today.

Tough times = opportunity to grow.  Tough times force us to use our wits, our talents, our creativity in ways we wouldn’t do if we had an excess of funds and could just run to the store and buy anything we wish.  Tough times can be blessings in disguise — and introducing this fabric line today reminds me so clearly how valuable a gift and blessing was hidden in the brown paper wrapping of my early financial struggles.

So if you’re struggling financially, ask the Lord to show you how to find the blessings hidden in your struggle.  Be of good cheer, the Lord is there to show you the way through this difficult stretch of the road and He has a way to give you a gift in a brown paper wrapping too if you’ll accept it, open it and put it to use!

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: Prov 10:22  The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.  NIV

PRAYER:  Lord, I’ve been around enough wealth in my life to know that some “blessings” can really be a curse and bring great sorrow to a home.  Thank you that I can trust your blessings.  No blessing you’ve ever brought to me has had a hidden trouble within it, but many “troubles” you’ve allowed in my life sure have had hidden blessings within them.

I want to especially thank you Lord, for those hidden blessings that have been wrapped in the brown paper of struggle and suffering.  So many times when I look back at my life — the days I thought you had abandoned me to a problem that was too great for me to handle, you were really sending a blessing I couldn’t yet see.  Please help me to remember those days of the past each time I face a new struggle since I sure seem to forget easily!  AMEN

Christmas is Coming — Here’s a Freebie to Help!

Christmas Gift Tag, freebie digital clip art crafting kit by Audrey Jeanne Roberts

LINK TO CHRISTMAS GIFT TAG FREEBIE HERE Here’s a little freebie treat for you that is made out of my “Contemporary Christmas 2” kits, both the paper pack and Digital Clip Art kit coordinate with it.  It’s a three dimensional, layered gift tag that you can make quite easily and glitz up with glitter, jewels or?  I personally adore decorating my packages with really special gift tags so I hope you’ll enjoy this little gift.

I think that this Christmas is going to be both a challenge and a blessing.  We all have a little less “excess” to go overboard with Christmas gifts so if you are crafty at all, it’s an opportunity to use your gifts and talents to make up the difference!  My very favorite Christmas memories are the ones where I spent time making my gifts for my family members rather than last minute rushing through the stores and grabbing what I could find and afford.

The real meaning of Christmas isn’t the glitz, glamour and race to outspend each other — it’s that God gave His most precious gift, His only begotten Son to a world that was lost without Him.  It’s that God wanted to enlarge His family through that gift and that His passionate desire is that we would have His Peace fill our lives and our world.

So as we head into the fall (yippee on the brisk cool mornings, I LOVE THEM!)  Let’s think of really meaningful gifts we can give to those we love.  If you have grandchildren, perhaps you could take them for a weekend to allow their parents time to rediscover their love for one another.  If you have a neighbor that is growing old and frail, perhaps you could take them with you to see the Christmas lights.  There are so many meaningful things that we can do for each other that cost very little if anything — except of course our TIME, which is the most valuable and limited thing we own.

CONGRATULATIONS!  THE BLOG CONTEST WINNER THIS MORNING IS THE 4TH COMMENT ON THIS POST:  SEE POST HERE

Finally! Back Up With Two New Kits, “Contemporary Christmas 2”

I still am having the same issues with my Hosting company (it’s time to call them again and see what’s up!)  But I figured a workaround for the picture posting and I’m able to upload kits and downloads so we’ll be okay until they get things worked out.  Soooooo… back to the post I was planning to post when I discovered the issue!

LINK TO KIT IN THE STORE My beautiful new Christmas art has a contemporary feel yet also hearkens back to our memories of a Classic Christmas. Playful penguins and elegant reindeer add a little touch of whimsy while the red, aqua and blue color palette mixes together to create a fresh new look. This kit has 30 pieces to it including 4, 12” papers, 2 borders, 7 frames, 2 tags, 2 text/word art pieces and 9 art pieces.

LINK TO PAPER PACK IN THE STORE The second in the series, there is also a 14 piece paper pack that has been created to coordinate and make creating Christmas crafts, cards, tags and scrapbooking easy to accomplish.

These kits are on sale.  The sale was scheduled to end this weekend, but due to the blog issues I will extend it’s sale through the end of the month!

“Be of Good Cheer — Overcoming Fear in Fearful Times”

Wow!  This has been quite a week hasn’t it.  Since I can’t post any pictures yet (still wrestling with my provider to figure out the issue) I thought I would write a nice long post of encouragement to those that are reeling from the events of the week.  With stocks plunging, the world seemingly spinning out of control, fear filling hearts and minds and motivating many to make rash decisions, what are we to do?

“Fear not” is a phrase that is used 63 times in the King James version of the bible.  Perhaps it is mentioned so often because our hearts are so inclined to fear that the Lord knows we need to be reminded frequently! When times are overwhelming and stir fear in our hearts, what are we to do?  Close our eyes tight and repeat to ourselves, “I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid?”  Who thinks that would be an effective strategy?

There’s a very simple principle the Lord has taught me that I’ve shared before.  This principle has had a profound impact on my life and my battle at times with being fearful.  I call it the “Red door” principle.  Imagine this:

There’s an adorable little Irish cottage with wonderful whitewashed walls and cute little windows with shutters and flower boxes out front.  There’s a wonderfully intricate thatch roof and a cobblestone path leading up to the door.  You can picture it all in your head can’t you?

Now, what ever you do DO NOT PICTURE A RED DOOR!

You can see the ivy vining up the side of the cottage and over the roof on one side and the sweet climbing red roses or the other but DO NOT PICTURE A RED DOOR.

You can see the giant oak tree in the front yard and the smoke coming out of the rock chimney but DO NOT PICTURE A RED DOOR.

When we try to avoid a thought, our human minds do exactly the opposite.  Our mind naturally obsesses on that which we are trying to avoid.  If I determine not to fear, my mind begins to bring to mind everything that I’m afraid will happen.  So what’s a person to do to avoid fearful thoughts?

Try substitution.  Put in it’s place the opposite of what you are trying to avoid.  Now if you go back and read my word picture and forcefully make yourself “see” A GREEN DOOR instead of trying NOT to see a RED DOOR, you’ll have much better success.  So it is with our thought life!

So the theme for my verse for today is BE OF GOOD CHEER!  Lift up your head, choose to place your trust in the only one who has “overcome the world.”  The only one that can give your heart a true and lasting peace.  A peace that isn’t based on what your 401K account balance is, what the value of your home and your equity in it is or whether or not you can retire when you planned or you’ll have a job next week.  His peace is a perfect peace that is based on His love for you and His foreknowledge and detailed planning of every day of your life… before the foundations of the world were laid.

This week didn’t taken the Lord by surprise and He’s not shaken.  Run to Him with your worries and fears and grab hold of his promises to keep you afloat when the seas roar and fear threatens to overwhelm you and drag you under.  Know that He has a plan for your life, a purpose for every day He gives you and those plans are for good and not for evil.   Sometimes, part of God’s plan is to upset our world.  To upset those things that we place our trust in that are not eternal and that lead us away from His best.

In Israel’s past, at times He allowed them to be taken captive for a season, but never for their permanent destruction, only for their chastening and to cause them to return to Him.  We aren’t much different than Israel are we?  We’re so easily lulled to sleep when things go well and we rarely seek Him when our lives are in wonderful prosperity, but most of us are very quick to seek Him in times of trouble.  God’s word to Israel as they were being led into a “God ordained captivity” were these:

Jer 29:10-14
This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
NIV

We don’t know if our nation is headed into a time of extended financial crisis and captivity or not.  I can’t stand here today and tell you that your life will return to “normal” soon — It is not in my power to see.  But I can tell you that God has a plan and that plan is for good and not for evil.  Trust in His plan.  Trust in His love.  Trust in His goodness because nothing else in this world is trustworthy.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  NKJV

PRAYER:  Lord, this has been a fearful time.  I’m fearful of what I see and I’m even more fearful of what I can’t see and can’t control about my future.  Please help me to overcome my fear even as you overcame the world.  Help me to trust that you have a plan forward for me and that you know the future and hold it (and me) in your very capable hands.

Lord, give me that “green door” that I can hang onto when fear stirs in my heart.  Give me a promise that is personal and powerful to calm my fears and give me a stable and enduring trust in you.  AMEN

We’re Still Not 100% Back

Unfortunately, in the site going down earlier this week, something isn’t functioning behind the scenes and I can’t upload any files, images or products at the moment.  I have my new kit(s) ready to go and will upload them to www.aimeeasher.com as I can do that.  So, if you’ve never visited there, now would be a great time to do so!

I’ll let you know when all is restored.

Well… We Survived a Denial of Service Attack at Host Monster…

So if you wondered where my blog had disappeared to, it was quite frustrating but Host Monster got things back up as fast as they could.  So far I have been very impressed with their service.  If you’re considering getting a blog or website I would very much recommend them.  Even with their service being down today, I had an English speaking, easy-to-understand techie answer in less than 2 minutes!  How’s that for unique service in the computer world?!

I’ll be back later with a new kit and paper pack as well as previews of my new fabric collection with Studio E Collection Fabrics.  It’s called “Chocolate Love” and is doing very well in presales so look for it soon at your local quilt shop.

The Store Purchase Winner is…

Kerri Salter.  Congratulations Kerri!  She has won the “Hollyberry Christmas Paper Pack 2” digital paper pack.  Thanks for your support 🙂

All you need to do to enter the Blog Contest drawing that is held twice each month (the 16th and the 1st of the following month) is post a comment on any or all posts in that period.  A random drawing is held and the winner chosen.

Every one that purchases from the store in the month is automatically entered in the monthly drawing.

And the Winner is…

The 15th comment on this post SEE POST HERE

She will win a free kit (I’ll send her the kit next week when I get back) Congratulations!!!!

I’m going to sneak away for a romantic couple of days with my sweetie, I do know that my blog is acting weird and my helper has been sent a note about it (apparently it’s fixed, fingers crossed!). So if there are any problems with the store please be patient and I’ll deal with it when I get home.

By the way, I can finally show you my new fabric collection, but won’t be able to do that until I get home — how’s that for a tease?!