Studio Alana Blog

Final farewell..

2010-05-31T23:52:00.001-04:00

It’s with a heavy heart that I write this. I’m not good at change, and not good at quitting either, but the time has come for me to stop designing. I thank you all for your support and truly hope you’ve enjoyed my work.

Thank you to Maya for taking a chance on an illustrator with no idea what the heck DigiScrapping was and having enough faith in me to introduce me to your world. You’re such a visionary and amazing businesswoman. Thank you to the SBG Crew for your constant positivity, support and incredible layouts. Thank you to my CT who have given me hours of their time and created beautiful layouts for me.

To my customers, I hope you keep in touch on Facebook and Twitter! Thanks for taking a chance on a girl doing something a little different.

Please enjoy my final sale – 35% off until June 14th

I hope my designs find their way into your layouts for years to come!

Hiatus Sale

2010-05-14T22:51:00.001-04:00

Can you hear the crickets? Yeah, it’s been a little quiet on this blog lately. Over here I’ve been painting like crazy. I’ve had a bunch of illustration jobs, plus some work for an animation company. All this has forced me to take a little break from scrapbook designing for now. In my absence I decided to have a sale! Enjoy 30% off my entire store from now until May 24th (Victoria Day over here in Canada.) Time to stock up and check off those wishlists - I won’t be having another sale like this in a while.

April flew by..

2010-04-28T17:08:00.001-04:00

Whoosh! That’s the sound of my month of April. It’s been an action packed one. We started off by heading to Orlando for my 30th birthday. I had won plane tickets from my part time job and thought this would be a great time to take advantage of it.

It was Kieran’s first time on a plane, and he was really good. Very squirmy and a little fussy but overall we had other passengers comment on how quiet he was.

We rented this gorgeous villa with a private swimming pool. I highly recommend looking up private villas if you’re going down with a bigger group of people. It was also great because we could prep our own food. (My stomach just can’t handle too much of the deep fried, salted “American” food.) Plus, with Kieran’s early bed time we would have been confined to our hotel room after 7pm. This way we could set up the monitor and go enjoy ourselves by the pool.

We filled the week with great activities. Went on a fan boat tour of the swamp. Drove over to Cocoa Beach for Kieran’s first time in the ocean and of course, visited Disney World.

Wow, now I understand why they call it Disney WORLD. I never knew that the mouse OWNS Orlando. We decided to do just the Magic Kingdom, and went on quite a few rides. Kieran even survived Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion. I can’t get over how baby friendly Disney is. Stroller parking, huge change tables, plenty of washrooms and rides for everyone. Kieran had an amazing time. Other than a stroller nap in the afternoon he stayed up right until we left at 9:30. My only regret was that we didn’t get to see the light parade. I had bought discounted tickets that needed to be returned before a certain time however they failed to tell me that since it was the last day of the pack I didn’t have to return them at all. Gah!

Ah well, guess we’ll just have to go back! :)

Kieran also started daycare two days a week. I was really nervous about it but I LOVE having a bit of my life back. He’s going through a bit of separation anxiety, but it sounds like after the inital bawling drop off he calms down and has a good day playing with the other kids. Broke my heart to see him cry for me like that though.

The biggest part of April was Kieran turning one! I can’t believe it’s been a year already. We had a little party for him (well, little is never little with my hubby’s massive family) up north on Sunday the 25th, his actual birth day. I kept reminiscing about labor and the whole experience. Crazy how distant that crying newborn seems from my smiling little boy who now says “woof woof” whenever he sees a dog. Happy birthday Kieran and here’s to many more!

Here’s a pic from the festivities. He’s a little overwhelmed by all the singing and attention..

Summer Fun

2010-04-21T13:34:00.001-04:00

Get the Summer Fun Kit - Now 20% off until Sunday

Just wanted to tell you about my new kit Summer Fun. This kit features 58 hand drawn elements and 12 matching background papers. It's perfect to get the jump on your summer scrapping or to capture that sun filled vacation you just took. So pull out a beach towel, set up your umbrella and get ready for some Summer Fun!
12 Backgrounds – 12 x 12” 300 DPI
58 Elements - Unshadowed PNG files, 300 DPI

Here is some inspiration - I scrapped our recent trip to Florida. Kieran loved the beach!
To see more CT and Crew samples please check the store listing.

Grab the kit here - 20% off for a limited time!
One last thing.. a free quick page for you! Enjoy!

Hugs!
- Alana

Creative Fusion

2010-04-18T21:20:00.001-04:00

It’s finally here.. Creative Fusion! Think of it as one big “build your own kit” from the talented designers at ScrapbookGraphics. Here’s my artsy part.. inspired my my artsy Mom. Hope you enjoy!

Inspiration from my wonderful CT..

Yogovonne:

Showme, Annyes, Sanka & Anndahl:

Click Here to Download our FREE Catalogue listing of all the Studio Girl About a Mother Products.
Free Exclusive Gift waits for you in the catalogue!

Creative Fusion is a collective expression of unique impressions of our theme choice - About A Mother. Each designer participating has brought her individual style to our common theme and pallete. Since this is an interactive product line, you also get to participate in the co-creation of this collaboration as you pick and choose from the individual mini-packs of Creative Fusion Products.

Studio Girls come from many different places on the planet, and have a wide variety of backgrounds and personal stories. While our styles vary dramatically, we all share a common passion and purpose. We work harmoniously together exploring and expressing ourselves through this craft, while at the same time celebrating our individuality, uniqueness and diversity.

Click to See the Enitre Creative Fusion Category at Scrapbookgraphics.com

Sneak Preview

2010-04-16T10:55:00.001-04:00

I’m excited about this one. Inspired by my birthday trip to Florida. Keep an eye on my store, new kit coming soon!

More about Creative Fusion..

2010-04-16T10:54:00.001-04:00

Creative Fusion @ SBG

2010-04-12T18:04:00.001-04:00

There’s something exciting happening soon at Scrapbookgraphics.. keep a look out on April 18th.

Sketches - Flowers 1

2010-04-08T23:38:00.001-04:00

Get the Flowers 1 pack of Sketches - Now 20% off until Sunday April 11

I just arrived back from the magical world of Disney World Orlando this week. I was celebrating my 30th on Easter Sunday. Kieran was great on the plane. He slept and did lots of squirming, but he was pretty quiet about the whole ordeal. Now being stuck in his car seat - that's another matter! I'll blog about the trip soon.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about my brand new sketch series. This time I've decided to do some flowers, and paint them as well. Not only that, but I've also separated the paint as well as the sketch, so you can use either or. I'm really happy how they turned out, hope you'll enjoy them too!

15 Elements - Large unshadowed PNG files, 300 DPI
Each flower has three versions - sketched, painted and painted sketch
1703 x 1694 px - Black eyed Susan
1940 x 1936 px - Lily
1396 x 2567 px - Rose with three leaves
2521 x 2398 px - Mum
943 x 2708 px - Tulip and stem

.. ooh and check out my brand new packaging - designed by Maya, rearranged by me :)
Here's a zoom of the painted version -

.. and the painted sketch version ..

.. and finally just the transparent sketch.

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping!

Sketches - Birds

2010-03-30T16:31:00.001-04:00

I've got quite the exciting release this week. It's something brand new from me, and if it goes over well you'll be seeing a lot more. I had been doing a lot of drawing and painting the past week and decided to carry it over into my scrap design at Studio Alana. So without further ado..

Introducing the first pack of hand drawn sketch elements by Alana McCarthy. Each bird is a black pencil and charcoal textured line drawing on a transparent background. This pack of five large birds can be used many different ways: Shrink them down as little elements in your layouts. Use them full size behind or over top photos. Fade and blend them into your background paper. Doodle a layer of color underneath. The possibilities are endless!
They're great for birdwatchers, nature lovers, art journal entries, or to symbolize the free spirit of a child, the wise owl in your family, the group of chatterboxes etc..
Any way you use them they’re sure to bring an artistic touch to your layouts.

Also, if you haven't done so already, sign up to my FACEBOOK FAN PAGE because I'll be drawing names and giving one lucky member a $10 COUPON TO MY STORE on Wednesday March 31st!

5 Elements - Large unshadowed PNG files, 300 DPI
Act fast! Enjoy 20% off but only until Sunday April 4th.

Here are some zooms of the drawings:

One more thing, try one of my sketches out for free!

Hugs!
- Alana

For all you cat lovers out there..

2010-03-23T20:55:00.001-04:00

Today Tyrone took Kieran and I got to spend a wonderful day working on these mini cat paintings. They’re 3” x 4” acrylic on panels. I’m preparing for a comic convention here in Toronto this weekend. http://www.wizardworld.com/toronto.html Where I’ll be selling prints of my artwork, as well as these little originals. Enjoy!

Clyde -

Francis -

Gerald -

Persephone-

Sir Ector - (SOLD)

Sparkles -

I’ve already managed to pre-sell one of them through my facebook fan page. Sir Ector will be finding a new home this Friday – http://www.tinyurl.com/FBfanalanamccarthy

Fresh Air

2010-03-21T17:35:00.001-04:00

Enjoy 20% off and a set of 3 Cluster frames free with purchase - Only until Friday March 26.

Hello lovely ladies!

I just wanted to tell you about my new kit Fresh Air. It's inspired by the warm breeze blowing through my window. It features 50 unique elements and 17 background papers. This airy kit is so versatile and easy to scrap with whatever your style - fantasy or traditional. Here in Toronto Canada, we're finally getting our taste of spring. I've been out walking the city with Kieran in his stroller all week enjoying the sunshine.

Also, if you haven't done so already, sign up to my FACEBOOK FAN PAGE because I'll be drawing names and giving one lucky member a $10 COUPON TO MY STORE on Wednesday March 31st!

Fresh Air -
17 Backgrounds – 12 x 12” 300 DPI
50 Elements - Unshadowed (unless noted) PNG files, 300 DPI

Here is some inspiration from the talented ladies of my CT and the SBG Crew!

Grab the kit here - 20% off for a limited time! Plus...

FREE WITH PURCHASE
Buy this kit and for a limited time get a 3 pack of cluster frames designed by me. It will be in your list of files to download, no codes needed. After that it will be only for sale separately.

One last thing.. a free quick page for you! Enjoy!

Hugs!
- Alana

Facebook Fan draw

2010-03-18T23:35:00.001-04:00

Join up to my facebook fan page and your name will be entered in a draw to win a $10 coupon.

http://tinyurl.com/StudioAlanaFBFan

I’ll be drawing one name from the list of members on March 31st. The day before I leave for sunny Florida to celebrate my 30th (eek) birthday in style.

Also, keep an eye out for my new kit.. it’ll be hitting the store sometime this weekend! I can’t wait for all of you to see it :)

Sneak Peek

2010-03-16T20:06:00.001-04:00

Terms of Use

2010-03-16T20:01:00.001-04:00

Alana McCarthy – Terms of Use
alana@scrapbookgraphics.com

License to Use Graphics created by Alana McCarthy of Scrapbookgraphics – 2010

Alana McCarthy retains the copyright to all graphics.

In purchasing graphics created by Alana McCarthy you have the right:

- To use these graphics for personal use only.
- To alter graphics for your personal use.
- To use these graphics for Scrap For Hire as long as final layouts are flattened or printed images and NOT sold as a layered image.
- To publish personal layouts using these graphics, online (non-commercial sites) or in print with credit back to Alana McCarthy of Scrapbookgraphics.com

You DO NOT have the right:
- To claim my graphics as your own.
- To share, loan, rent, resell or distribute these graphics.
- To use the product for commercial purposes.
- To make copies of the graphics, other than for back-up purposes.
- To copy by electronic means, reproduce, modify, or create derivative works from the product for the purpose of resale or distribution.

Commercial Use:
This is not a commercial use license. If you would like to use this product as part of a commercial venture, please write to me at alana@scrapbookgraphics.com stating the nature of your business, and the intended use of the product. A commercial license fee may apply.

Red Riding Hood

2010-03-11T12:03:00.001-05:00

I just finished this painting. I can’t believe how much I’ve learnt from scrapbooking. I took the original painting in to Photoshop and totally messed with it digitally. Swirls and sparkles being the most obvious – but also lots of burning, dodging, re-coloring, blurring and sharpening. All the techniques really added a “wow” factor to the painting, and brought it to a new level.

This will be going out in a promotion soon, fingers crossed that it brings in some more illustration work.

Spring

2010-03-08T22:42:00.001-05:00

Here in Toronto we’ve been getting some good weather, with days slowly moving to the plus side of the thermometer. I hope the warm weather stays and it’s not just a tease. This is Kieran having a blast on the slide. He’s 10 months now, and still doing the belly crawl. It was funny to see him try to do it up the slide, getting nowhere. He loves seeing other little kids in the park, and he’s actually focused on a little girl climbing a pole in this shot.

I’ve been really busy lately. Here is the work in progress..

It’s a painting of Little Red Riding hood for a promo I’m doing through my illustration representative. The whole promotion is based on fairy tales.

Can you see the scrap influence? Dangling keys from branches. I’m also going to be adding some digital elements. Rough up the background a little, maybe add some flourishes. I usually shy away from doing too much digitally. There’s something in me that wants to preserve the physical reality of paint on paper. Having a frame-able, or sellable piece of art at the end of the process has been really important to me. Once I get too digital it’s intangible. Some binary code floating somewhere. One crashed hard drive and it’s lost forever. I know, I know, print it out.. but I can’t print everything. I really have to get over this phobia of mine. The only thing that should matter is the end result. No one reading a magazine cares whether I mixed paint or pixels, as long as the outcome is visually pleasing.

I’m actually really excited to be painting again. I guess the thrill of using the Intuos tablet has worn off. A couple weeks back I would look over at my drawing table, but just couldn’t make myself paint. Knowing how much more tedious painting was compared to the digital work I was doing. I was so pleased when I picked up my brushes and it all felt right again.

Denim and Dirt

2010-03-03T10:30:00.001-05:00

Get the Denim and Dirt Kit - Now 20% off - Bonus 7 doodled word art pack FREE with purchase

Hello fabulous scrappers!

I just wanted to tell you about my new kit Denim and Dirt. This versatile kit lends itself to fantasy or traditional layouts with a pile of 58 elements and 12 matching papers. When I was designing it I thought it was a boy-themed kit, but I found most of my CT using it for their messy little girls too! Guess all kids like to get dirty :)

So throw away your soap, forget to wash behind your ears and come roll around in the mud!

12 Backgrounds – 12 x 12” 300 DPI
58 Elements - Unshadowed PNG files, 300 DPI

Here is some inspiration from some talented ladies and little ol' me!

seameaw_yogovonne_alana_widie
anndahl_sally_svanderhagen_mumure

sally_bebimora_showme_mumure
tanyiadeskins_showme_svanderhaegen_annyes

Grab the kit here - 20% off for a limited time! Plus...
FREE WITH PURCHASE
Buy this kit and for a limited time get a pack of 7 word art. It will be in your list of files to download, no codes needed. After that it will be only for sale separately.

One last thing.. a free quick page for you! Enjoy!

Hugs!
- Alana

Fine art print winner!

2010-02-28T19:43:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to..

bdkoff / Beth Barbakoff

… the winner of my print giveaway! Look for an email soon to confirm your mailing address.

Announcing my new creative team!

2010-02-28T18:23:00.001-05:00

Coming soon!

2010-02-27T13:32:00.001-05:00

Thanks for your patience CT applicants

2010-02-23T23:49:00.001-05:00

For those patiently waiting, I've got a PILE of CT applications to sort through this weekend. I can not believe the response. This is going to be a really hard decision! So much talent out there. I'm honored that all of you took the time to apply. I should have my picks ready on the 28th. Good luck!

Newsletter from Studio Maya

2010-02-22T11:49:00.001-05:00

Wow, Maya has a way with words! If you’re not subscribed to the SBG newsletter you may have missed out on this, so I’m reposting it here. A little more to get to know me by!

------

Let Me Introduce You to Alana McCarthy ......

A little over year ago now I followed a Facebook link that took me on a very exciting journey through the online portfolio of a Toronto based illustrator by the name of Alana McCarthy. I was awestruck by the vibrancy and detail of her work and immediately got to thinking of how wonderful it would if we could bring her incredible talent into Scrapbookgraphics. Never before had I "cold called" an artist from outside of our community to invite them to join us. So this was a bit of an experiment for me. Being that I too am from the Toronto area, it

felt almost neighborly of me to contact her and so on a wave of impulse I went out on a limb and sent her an invitation. It threw me for a real loop when she responded asking me to explain what all was involved. It really didn't dawn on me at the time, what a task it would be to explain the entire digital scrapbooking community and industry to a complete outsider with no prior awareness of our craft. This is a pretty crazy and complex digital world we live and play in. :) It threw me for a double loop to learn that she was very interested in learning but...and this was a big BUT....she was not at all a digital artist. Alana didn't use Photoshop or any other image manipulations software. She is a brush-in-hand painter, through and through, and a very curious and courageous one who was intrigued by what I had been explaining to her and willing to take on the challenge.

Alana joined our team a short while later, very much a novice to "scrapbooking", yet, as an incredibly accomplished painter and illustrator she could hardly be stuck with the title of "intern". However, she really has been an intern for the past year while she has been slowly learning how to use Photoshop as well as studying the craft of scrapbooking. During this time period she has also given birth to her first child, a beautiful son, and has just started creating her own digital scrapbooking pages to document his story.

If you had taste tested any of Alana's gorgeous products before this point, you would have found all of her papers and elements were hand painted, then scanned and lovingly extracted into beautiful digital elements. As you can imagine, this process is a very long one indeed for she is literally waiting for paint to dry before she can move on to the next step, much of the time.

Very recently Alana's work took on new depth and dimension when she got her little hands on something each and every one of us would LOVE to to play with. Alana started digitally illustrating with a Wacom Cintiq which is a screen tablet. Imagine, drawing with your stylus, right on the screen!!!! She wrote to me immediately filled with excitement about how this was going to change her her workflow and within a few days she had presented me with an absolutely STUNNING Kit that she has called Golden Moments. I knew straight away that it was time for me to properly introduce you to her work.

Alana McCarthy is an award winning illustrator working out of downtown Toronto. She graduated with Honors from the illustration program at Ontario College of Art and Design. Her work is punctuated with bright colors, strong contrast, stylized realism and unique lighting. She works in acrylic and delivers digitally. Her clients have included The Wall Street Journal, Loblaws, Milk, Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Scholastic, Penguin Books, and Absolut Vodka. Her art has been recognized by such design annuals as Communication Arts, American Illustration and How Magazine.

Alana's passion for art is something she has felt her entire life, and when I asked her about some of her greatest artistic achievements she shared,

"One of the best moments of my illustration career was working for Fruitopia / Coca-Cola. They hired me to paint on a giant canvas live on the streets of Toronto, then flew me out to Montreal to do the same thing the next day. I felt like a rock star!

Now we have her at Scrapbookgraphics where she's in great company with some of the other rock stars of the digital scrapbooking community. Yay for us!!!

Please be sure to check out her newest kit Golden Moments during this very special three day introductory sale price offer of only $4.80. Come Friday the prices is going up again, so buy be sure to pick up this sweet kit for this incredible price. To sweeten the deal of Alana's Digital Coming out Party...she has included a bonus of three cluster frames that will be free with purchase from now until Thursday (EST)

Plus, to make matters even more interesting AND our amazing new Template designer Studio NeeNee has created the perfect pack of templates to inspired by Golden Moments. Golden's Templatez are available in Studio Nee Nee and guess what? These fabulous templates are on sale until Friday as well!!

So without further adieu, I am very pleased to present you with Golden Moments from Studio Alana accompanied by Golden's Templatez by Studio NeeNee

To learn more about Alana and her work, feel free to visit her website and/or follow her blog and you can subscribe to her

newsletter here

Happy Scrapping,

Maya

P.S. Pssssst. I heard through the grapevine that Alana may be in need of some super amazing scrappers for her Creative Team.

Golden Moments Kit and Freebie

2010-02-22T00:31:00.001-05:00

Enjoy 20% off and a set of 3 Cluster frames free with purchase - Only until FRI FEB 26.

I just wanted to tell you about my new kit Golden Moment. It features 51 unique elements and 9 papers. I snagged my hubby's Wacom Intuos tablet (the one where you can draw on the screen) and with it I've made a move towards a more traditional type of kit. I hope you find it a welcome change. This rich and dreamy kit is so versatile and easy to scrap with whatever your style - fantasy or traditional.. as I'm sure you'll see from the wonderful LO samples I've received. I even whipped one up myself, based off a letter I wrote to the baby in my belly five days before he was born and became Kieran.

9 Backgrounds – 12 x 12” 300 DPI
51 Elements - Unshadowed PNG files, 300 DPI

Here is some inspiration from some talented ladies and little ol' me!

Grab the kit here - 20% off for a limited time! Plus...

FREE WITH PURCHASE

Buy this kit and for a limited time get a 3 pack of cluster frames designed by me. It will be in your list of files to download, no codes needed. After that it will be only for sale separately.

Also, Studio NeeNee and her wonderful CT have teamed up to create these inspired Templatez!

One last thing.. a free quick page for you! Enjoy!

Hugs!
- Alana

Best of Animals and Hats

2010-02-19T09:20:00.001-05:00

Introducing the Best of Studio Alana Collection where you'll find the gems of my hand painted work collected together by themes. Great for art journaling or just adding that special artistic touch to your layouts.
20% off until SUNDAY only - Click on the images for more info

Sneak Preview

2010-02-16T15:48:00.001-05:00

This one is going to knock your socks off! I’ve gone a little more traditional with this one, but I think you’ll love it! This new kit has more journal tags, sprays and little embellishments than ever before.. as well as some unique hand drawn elements.

The big difference on this one is it’s pretty much entirely digitally made. I’ve spent the last week and a half or so borrowing my husband’s Wacom Intuos Tablet (a tablet where you draw directly on the screen.) It’s incredible! It actually feels like drawing on paper. The only downside is I’ve managed to injure my neck and shoulder due to the new working position. Hopefully my body gets used to it soon.

Best of Trees Collection & Watercolor Backgrounds

2010-02-11T15:36:00.001-05:00

Best of Collection - Trees - 20% off for the first week only!

Introducing the Best of Studio Alana Collection where you'll find the gems of my hand painted work collected together by themes. In this pack you'll find 17 hand-painted trees, stumps, sticks and logs. These elements were originally included in the following kits: Camping Life, Cherry Blossoms, Cottage Life, DreamLand, Forest Folk, Frosty Wings, Halloween, IO Tradition, Rainforest and Spring Awakening.

17 Elements – PNG 300 DPI unshadowed
- stick with a marshmallow on it
- 2 full page branches with a rope tied between them
- 2 painted stumps
- 2 ornamental Japanese trees
- mossy stick frame
- mossy log
- mossy stick
- tree with dangling realistic stars
- log with two mice
- grey wood tree
- scary faced trunk and branch
- scary tree
- branch with string dangling from it
- tall rainforest tree with vines
- tree with hole and a few leaves

Watercolor Backgrounds - 20% off for the first week only!

11 hand-painted watercolor backgrounds. Different bleeds, blends, washes, wet on wet, drybrush and other interesting textures to add a fine art flare to your layouts. Perfect for art journaling if you're on Tangie's Art Journal Caravan.
11 Backgrounds – 12 x 12” 300 DPI unshadowed
- 3 Full page JPGs
- 8 trimmed to the painted edge transparent PNGs
Separated into four zipped files for ease of download

Also a reminder.. I'm still looking for talented ladies to add to my creative team. I’m especially looking for people who are regular scrappers able to create typical layouts with my work. Feel free to apply or pass along the word. Thanks!

Hugs!
- Alana

BLOG - SHOP - ILLUSTRATION - FACEBOOK FAN PAGE - TWITTER

Kieran layout

2010-02-06T19:37:00.001-05:00

If you think my kits are only for fantasy type layouts, think again! Here’s a LO I made using one of the quickpages from my new Toothfairy kit. Remember, the quickpages are included FREE with purchase until Thursday Feb 11th only.

CT call @ Studio Alana

2010-02-05T10:08:00.001-05:00

I’m looking for a few talented ladies to join my Creative Team. Do you have what it takes?

Toothfairy Kit

2010-02-04T21:18:00.001-05:00

Get the Toothfairy Kit - Now 20% off - Bonus 3 quickpages FREE with purchase

Losing a tooth is a big deal. It’s a rite of passage, part of growing up. Celebrate and capture this magical moment with the new Toothfairy Kit from Studio Alana. Featuring a slew of hand painted watercolor elements . Let the fairy flutter into your bedroom tonight!

Here is some inspiration from my CT and the SBG Crew!

Grab the kit here - 20% off for a limited time! Plus...

FREE WITH PURCHASE
Buy this kit within the first week to get a 3 pack of quickpages designed by Alana. It will be in your list of files to download, no codes needed. After that it will be for sale separately.

One last thing.. here's an exclusive freebie for newsletter subscribers! Don’t miss out, I’ll send another Sunday for new subscribers, after that it can be purchased at my shop.

Remember - February is your chance to win this print!

Hugs!
- Alana
BLOG - SHOP - ILLUSTRATION - FACEBOOK FAN PAGE - TWITTER

9 months later..

2010-01-30T23:46:00.001-05:00

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been 9 months already. My little guy is growing up so fast! He can now clap, wave, point and has quite the personality. He thinks we’re hilarious, knocks down stacks of blocks and laughs, and teases our cat Pumpkin by grabbing his toy. Kieran now knows how to express dislike. He dodges the tissue when I want to wipe his nose; he cries if he doesn’t like a certain food (yet still eats it); and he gets whiney if he’s been inside too long.

Kieran is also a great crawler now. Well, more like a great creeper. He jets around on his belly, pushing up with his arms and pushing off with his toes. He flirts with the idea of getting onto his knees, but never moves in that position. I’m sure his shirts would be a lot cleaner if he did switch to knees. As is, we’re totally thinking of making him a shirt out of Swiffer cloths.. our floors would be spotless!

That dot on his face was his first injury. I feel so bad. I had him sitting up on the change table and he face-planted right into this lotion bottle that had a sharp corner (I should sue – not baby safe at all!) My husband and I were so upset about it. Thank goodness it wasn’t his eye. I’m sure there will be many more bumps and bruises to come, but it’s still quite the traumatic experience for a first time Mom.

The best news of all is that he has FINALLY started sleeping through the night. It’s been a couple weeks now of more good nights than bad. He’s down at 7pm, then up at around 11 to nurse, then right back down until 6:30am! I’m usually still awake for that one feed, so it’s wonderful. I can’t believe how long the sleep deprivation has lasted. Including those last few months of pregnancy when I was up to the bathroom every few hours, I’m thinking it must be over a year now that I hadn’t had a single decent night of sleep. So glad that it finally seems to be getting better.

I love this little guy so much! Happy 9-monther Kieran.

Facebook Fans

2010-01-30T22:54:00.001-05:00

I’ve started a facebook fan page for Studio Alana. Fan me if you’d like. I’d love to see your layouts as there’s a place to post your own images as well. You can find it here..

.. and that’s my new little logo.. pretty fun and sparkly! I’ll have to change this blog around soon enough. Oh, and if you look closely there are some pieces from my upcoming kit.

Sneak Preview coming Feb 4

2010-01-30T11:38:00.001-05:00

Cupid’s Arrow collab with Irene Alexeeva

2010-01-28T10:29:00.001-05:00

Get Cupid's Arrow - Now 20% off - Bonus Valentine's Day Cards FREE with purchase

Proudly presenting to you the first hand drawn illustrative collaboration between Studio Alana and Irene Alexeeva! If you are a fan of anything vintage, then Cupid's Arrow is just the Valentine kit for you! Inspired by Valentine's vintage ephemera this hand created collab is stuffed with amazing unique 38 hand drawn elements without shadows and 13 original patterned and textured backgrounds.
Will you be our Valentine?

20% off and get 12 Valentine's Day Cards included FREE for a limited time!

Here's some inspiration from our CTs and the SBG Crew!

Grab the kit here - 20% off for a limited time!

FREE WITH PURCHASE
Buy this kit within the first week to get a pack of twelve 5x7" Valentine’s day cards designed by Irene and Alana. It will be in your list of files to download, no codes needed. After that they will be for sale separately.

WINE BOTTLE TOPPERS
This set of eight printable 3.5” x 6.5” wine bottle toppers is perfect for Valentine’s Day gifting. If wine isn’t your thing, they can also go on lotion, bubble bath, secure flowers, or any other creative romantic notion you had in mind. Write messages of love, or three of them have spaces for a photo of you and your Valentine.

One last thing.. here's an exclusive freebie for newsletter subscribers.. a hand painted rose! Look for the newsletter signup on the left of this blog.

Hugs!
- Alana

BLOG - SHOP - ILLUSTRATION

Fine art print giveaway!

2010-01-28T10:02:00.000-05:00

From now until the end of February I will be drawing from all the orders of $5.00 or more. The winner will be announced on this blog Feb 28th and I’ll ship out the print.

So keep your fingers crossed, and your eye on this blog!

Good luck!

Studio Alana is now S4H friendly!

2010-01-23T22:14:00.001-05:00

I’m on a blog posting roll today! Here’s another announcement..

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now. You are now free to use my products in your S4H designs – provided they are flattened or printed images, no layered files allowed.

Enjoy!

Preview – Collab with Irene Alexeeva

2010-01-23T13:23:00.001-05:00

I’m super excited for this new collab coming to my store next week. It’s sure to get your heart in a flutter. I just loved working with Irene, she’s super talented and really sweet. I think our styles work great together since our elements are mainly hand drawn and painted.

Mistake, in your favor!

2010-01-23T12:26:00.001-05:00

Oh dear, I really botched this one. I ended up forgetting to change a preview that went out in the SBG newsletter. The frosty frame that was offered free through my newsletter was supposed to be for sale for $1.50. But since I forgot to remove the word free I had to change the price back to zero.

So if you missed out on this one.. click the image below to grab it.

Frosty Wings Kit

2010-01-14T09:36:00.001-05:00

Get the Frosty Wings kit here for 20% off

Somewhere behind a puff of snowflakes there is a magical place where fairies play and dragons dance on the ice. Frosty Wings allows you to play along with them. Featuring hand painted, extracted and rendered elements this kit is perfect for fantasy layouts, as well as traditional scrapping.

Currently available for 20% off until Sunday.

Here are some amazing creations by my CT as well as the Crew of SBG. Thank you ladies!

Get the Frosty Wings kit here for 20% off

If you were a subscriber to my newsletter you would be getting this free frosty frame add-on.

Thanks for your continued support! Hugs!
- Alana

New Year, new kit – coming soon!

2010-01-04T23:47:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! Hope everyone’s holidays were lovely – mine sure were. Kieran’s first Christmas was a success, despite keeping him up past his bed time several nights. The living room is now littered with toys and Kieran happily creeps on his belly from one to another.

This kit is so new it doesn’t even have a name yet. I got carried away testing out how the elements look together and ended up finishing a layout of my two favorite smiling snowmen.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-22T17:29:00.001-05:00

All the best to you and yours this holiday season. See you in 2010!

- Alana

Fairy Friends 2

2009-12-04T11:19:00.001-05:00

Following up on the popularity of my first Fairy Friends set, here is another group of fantastic fluttering fairies who can't wait to fly into your lovely layouts. Beautifully hand painted with realistic wings they come complete with a hand painted fairy village background.

You can get it here for 20% off this entire weekend.

Layout by Bebimora:

You can get it here for 20% off this entire weekend.

My Christmas Mojo is back!

2009-12-01T20:10:00.002-05:00

I’m actually feeling it this year. That magic feeling of the holiday season.. and I can’t believe it!

I’m usually the “bah humbug” type. Upset over the commerciality of the whole thing. Feeling pressured into buying gifts, not because I want to, but because I feel guilty if I don’t.

Last year we didn’t even bother setting up the tree (mainly due to lack of space, and the stress of a cat who spent the previous year diving head first into it.) I did manage to send out cards though, but once again because I felt it was my duty as they started to arrive in the mail.

My husband hates that I’m not into Christmas. He comes from a big family with lots of cousins. In their family the focus is on the happiness that comes with getting a chance to see each other, eat great food and appreciate one another through gift giving. But even seeing their approach to Christmastime didn’t convert my negative attitude.

This year is so different. It’s December 1st, and I’ve already made my Christmas card. I’m excited and want to put up lights on our house! I can’t wait to see my family and friends. I think it has a lot to do with Kieran. I know he doesn’t have any idea what’s going on yet, but he’s awoken the Christmas Spirit in me. I feel like the Grinch when his shriveled heart starts beating again.

Bah humbug to bah humbug!

Back it up to Halloween

2009-11-25T23:36:00.001-05:00

Halloween was a bust for me. I ended up with the H1N1 flu – or another bad flu – I wasn’t officially tested. Anyway, turned out I was forced to spend the whole weekend in bed while my husband took Kieran around trick-or-treating for the first time.

Since I was pregnant for Halloween last year my hubby said he would take Kieran and I could have a fun night out with the girls. My closest friend recently moved out of town and was coming back for the weekend. That was the worst part, missing out on seeing my friends.

At least I got two mid-week Halloween parties with Kieran in before I took ill. One at my work, and one with my baby playgroup. The playgroup Halloween party actually had the most excitement..

We had four babies lined up for photos. One of them was dressed up like Elvis. Gold pants, ruffles and all! Some of them weren’t quite sitting up yet, so it was a total balancing act. We were all laughing at how cute they all looked in their costumes and then BLARRGH! The little Elvis projectile vomits all over himself. I’ve never seen so much barf come out of a baby before! Guess he was really into the Rock Star persona.

One Magic Night Christmas Collab w Flergs!

2009-11-20T16:27:00.001-05:00

Christmas collab with Studio Flergs! 20% off this Weekend!
Pick it up here

It's almost that time of year again. Time to start making Christmas Cards and think about what to get for all those special people in your life. This year I've teamed up with Studio Flergs to bring you "One Magic Night" a Christmas collaboration featuring my handpainted elements and Flergs' wonderful bits and baubles.

Here is some inspiration from our combined CTs (and yes, that's my LO with Kieran on the top right):

Also out @ Studio Alana this week.. Doodle Frames 1! Hand painted, neutrally colored, these are the perfect artistic touch for your layouts. Get them this weekend at the introductory sale rate!

One last thing, if you’re on my newsletter list you’ll be receiving this candy cane frame freebie that compliments One Magic Night!

Enjoy!
- Alana

BLOG - SHOP - ILLUSTRATION

Doodle Frames 1

2009-11-16T21:58:00.001-05:00

Here are some fancy doodled and painted frames for your scrapping pleasure. The Celtic styled frame on top is actually a full page 12x12 border. I just shrunk it down for display. The rest are shown actual size.

I have them on SALE until next Monday.

.. and coming next Friday Nov 20th, a magical Christmas themed collab with Flergs! Here’s a sneak peek..

Keep an eye on the galleries to see some CT samples mid-week.

ScrapbookGraphics Funday!

2009-11-15T11:35:00.001-05:00

Did you know that every Monday you can get 50% off one of my kits.. and have fun doing it? Just guess the word, enter it in the product search and enjoy the savings!

Hint: It’s a bird, it’s a plane…

If you can’t guess it, there’s always “You can’t lose Tuesday” where the answer is announced on SBG’s blog. The prices go up a bit with only a 40% discount.

MegaSALE!

2009-11-04T17:39:00.001-05:00

I’ve never had a sale of this proportion before.. and I don’t plan on doing it again any time soon. So take advantage before I come to my senses. :)

To celebrate DSD take 40% off my entire store from November 6-9th.

.. and in other news. Look for a Christmas Collab between me and the lovely Flergs!! Coming soon! I’m so excited for this one.

Site Redesign

2009-10-25T21:28:00.001-04:00

Hooray! I finally got my new site up and running. It’s not fully complete, but it’s good enough to launch. Tyrone took Kieran out on Saturday, armed with two bottles, so I had a whole glorious day to work undistracted! Motherhood sure makes you value free time. Please check it out.. complete with a flash gallery! Woo!

www.AlanaLand.com

..and because everyone likes photos of cute babies, here’s another one of Kieran. :)

Busy bee

2009-10-20T22:59:00.001-04:00

I’m feeling a little overwhelmed over here. I’ve got so many things on my plate right now, and so little time to do them in. Here is a shot of a painting I’m working on for a Rock and Roll Poster show I’ll be in next month. It’s quite a bit more theatrical than the usual “silk screened” look for rock posters, but I figured I would do something in my style. It’s inspired by the music of Neko Case. If you’ve never heard of her I highly recommend checking her out.

On top of that I’ve been commissioned by a friend to paint a cute portrait of her daughter and dog. I’ve only started sketches so far, but it’s going to be great fun. She’s got such a good imagination for creative projects. Her last commission involved her puffy white doggy at a tea party. In this current painting her daughter and the same dog will be Sherlock and Watson searching for a lost soother. Needless to say, I love painting for her.

I’m also trying to plan out a redesign of AlanaLand.com to go along with a bunch of illustration promotion I’m doing. Detaching myself from my work and editing down my portfolio is one of the hardest things for me to do.

Along with this redesign I wanted to get my store fully functional. Currently I sell prints of my artwork but want to add fine art giclees and originals as well. I’ve also been looking in to setting up a zazzle.com store and am slowly experimenting with creating t-shirts and even cute onezies with my robot designs on them.

I send out a newsletter to my scrapbook design fans but I’ve got to get one going for my illustration clients.

So much to think about!

Downtown adventures

2009-10-18T20:14:00.001-04:00

I’m a downtown Mommy, which comes with some interesting walks. Most of them end up with me eating or drinking coffee.. there are just way too many tempting cafes. And I find it really hard to take a walk without having a destination. Somewhere to sit down, take a break, and then turn around and head back. It’s funny how interesting the city becomes once you have a baby. I’ve had countless random conversations with strangers on the subway. People are always offering me their seat, or helping me carry the stroller down the stairs. Babies are the ultimate icebreaker. Kieran has been making the rounds to local art shows and he’s a great conversation piece.

Most surprising to me has been the city’s homeless. There is a man in the park that we frequent. He sits on a bench bedecked in a stethoscope or playing a harmonica. As we pass by he makes the sign of the cross in the air and says “Bless you mommy and baby, have a nice day!” It always puts a smile to my face. I usually thank him and keep walking by. I know he has mental issues, but what a positive way to express them.

Other homeless people have put down their change cups and take a moment to make faces at Kieran. Or one man, who wanted to sit on the bench I was occupying first asked my permission.. then spotted Kieran in the stroller and said “Oh no, I wanted to have a cigarette, but it’s too close to the baby” and then kept walking on. It’s really nice to see some humanity in a city which can sometimes be so stone cold.

Monday Fundays @ SBG

2009-10-12T11:45:00.001-04:00

NEW @ ScrapbookGraphics.com - Mondays are Fundays!

Starting today play along with us at SBG. If you can spy the word you can get some of my kits which are up for grabs at massive discounts.. but for ONE DAY only.
Play away here!

BOO! Halloween Kit on sale now

2009-10-12T11:31:00.001-04:00

It’s that time of year, my favorite holiday has come around with all it’s scary fun. This kit was so much fun to work on, hope you enjoy it too!

Spooky delights and ghostly frights! Ghosts drift by, owls hoot, and cats arch their backs. Monsters wave their tentacles hoping to capture another bit of candy, or is it a trick-or-treater they're aiming for? Watch out for those twisted trees with their claw like branches! And what really goes on in that old house on the hill? This Halloween kit includes everything you need to capture your scary memories of this fun holiday.

Click right here to get 20% off this creepy kit until next Sunday.

Layouts by Juliegoodgirl, Bebimora, Mumure and Mendy

My own layout, also available as a free quick page treat for those who are subscribed to my newsletter.

Click right here to get 20% off this creepy kit until next Sunday.

Happy Halloween!

- Alana

Halloween Sneak Peek

2009-10-07T23:13:00.001-04:00

Boo!

Oooh, I love Halloween! This year is extra exciting because it’s Kieran’s first. Plus, we finally have a new porch built, perfect for some creepy themed decorating.

I’m just putting the finishing touches on the packaging for a painted Halloween Kit. My wonderful creative team is working away at their layouts and I’ll be launching it all very soon.

For now I went back in time to visit a Halloween past. Here is a layout featuring my nephew. It will be available as a free quickpage for all newsletter subscribers.

Enjoy!

New Blinkie!

2009-09-28T20:10:00.001-04:00

So I finally have a new blinkie, courtesy of the talented Alice Che! Check out her fabulous gallery at DST.

Please feel free to grab and display if you enjoy my work.

Three FULL KITS for $5

2009-09-28T10:56:00.001-04:00

Get the kits that started it all. My first three kits – Robotic, Feline fun and the very popular Sand Under My Toes – for only $5.00! If you bought these separately it would cost you $22.50, that’s a savings of over 78%!

That’s a whopping 121 elements and word art, 49 papers and 2 custom alphas!

This is a limited time offer, so get it while it lasts here at my Studio.

Enjoy,

-Alana

Newsletter Coupon

2009-09-16T12:20:00.001-04:00

Hello out there! With all the piracy going on these days, making it harder and harder to survive in this industry, I thought I should say thanks to my loyal customers. You help keep Kieran in diapers and food on the table. So here’s a 20% off coupon for my newsletter subscribers.

I’ll send out the newsletter again this Sunday, so feel free to sign up before then. Also, if the form to the left is weird for you (I’m still trying to figure out how to resize it) feel free to write me an email and I’ll add you to the list.

.. and again, thank you!

- Alana

Camping Life add on Pack

2009-09-08T22:10:00.001-04:00

For sale now at Studio Alana

This mainly hand painted kit is perfect for capturing those outdoor summer memories. Pitch a tent, light up the bonfire and get roasting those marshmallows! Cute animals interact with your photos and other outdoorsy elements. This kit also comes complete with 12 bonus elements, darkened to work on nighttime papers.

All elements and 12x12 papers are 300 DPI JPG and EPS.

This kit is an add on to the Full Cottage Life kit.

Included
- 2 papers (same, one darkened to nighttime)
Elements (and 12 bonus darkened)
- fireflies
- "gone fishing" word art frame
- baby moose
- wood bench on stumps
- camp fire
- marshmallow on stick
- mushroom
- owl
- raccoon
- 2 sleeping bags – one empty, one with someone in it
- two sticks with rope between them
- stump
- tent – one with the door open

For sale now at Studio Alana

Cottage Life Kit on sale

2009-09-02T22:33:00.001-04:00

It’s live – and 20% off! Grab the Cottage Life kit here http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/product.php?productid=25500&cat=0&page=1 and get scrapping on all those outdoor summer memories!

Cottage Kit and Deer Freebie

2009-08-31T21:37:00.001-04:00

It’s almost time for the launch of my new kit – Cottage Life. It’ll be hitting ScrapbookGraphics on THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 3rd. For now, here’s a preview.

This mainly hand painted kit is perfect for capturing those outdoor summer memories. Lazy days up at the cottage, camping under the stars or even time spent at a summer camp. Cute animals interact with your photos and other outdoorsy elements like canoes and lanterns. This kit also comes complete with 12 bonus elements, darkened to work on nighttime papers.

Includes

- 15 papers
- 33 elements
- 12 bonus night time elements

Newsletter Subscriber EXCLUSIVE! Deer element freebie!

Enjoy!

- Alana

Cottage kit sneak preview

2009-08-21T19:06:00.001-04:00

I just returned from a couple days at a cottage, and boy am I feeling inspired! Here’s a sneak peek at some of the creatures that followed me back home.

Kieran got his first taste of the Canadian wilderness. Here he is dipping his feet in the lake.

.. and sampling some of the local fare with Daddy in Fenlon Falls. I can’t believe he’s going to be four months in less than a week! Time really does fly when you have a baby. I also finally understand that people weren’t lying to me when they said it gets easier, and better. Those smiles can erase any bad mood!

Kieran and I attend a weekly get together with some other mommies and their babies. We’ve also been taking in films through the “Stars and Strollers” and “Movies for Mommies” programs. He’s been riding the subway, getting his feet touched by little old ladies, and charming everyone who looks his way. I love my little guy!

Rose Garden Kit

2009-08-12T21:51:00.001-04:00

Stop and smell the roses! This kit gives you the chance to create a garden, sit and relax, or swing towards the heavens. Beautiful frames and enchanting accents will add a special something to all your favorite memories. Perspective, textured and plain papers included for your scrapping pleasure.

Click here to purchase the kit – currently 20% off!

Fairy Friends - Singles

2009-08-12T21:50:00.001-04:00

Fairy friends are ready to flutter their way into your heart. By popular demand, here are the hand painted watercolor characters without their accessories. They're free to be placed in your layouts to tug, hold and tote anything you like.
All are around 6" at their highest point. 300 DPI PNGs.

Click here to purchase the fairies

LO by Bebimora

Click here to purchase the fairies

Rainforest Kit

2009-06-29T13:48:00.001-04:00

This tropical kit captures the earthy and bright colors of the rainforest. Treefrogs hop, butterflies flutter and parrots squawk. Elements are painted, extracted and ready to capture all your jungle adventures! Perfect for trips to the zoo, tropical vacations, or even just playtime at your local park.

Purchase the full kit here!

2009-06-26T14:11:00.001-04:00

Be the first to know about my new kits and other releases. Sign up for my newsletter. You can use the form on the left column of this blog or send an email to alana@scrapbookgraphics.com Plus as a bonus, I’ll send you a code for 20% off your next purchase!

Keep an eye out for my new Rainforest themed kit! Coming in the next couple days.

Fairy Friends

2009-06-11T00:27:00.001-04:00

I finally have a new product out in my studio!

Fairy Friends is a collection of elements featuring delightful hand painted fairy folk interacting with realistic items. They're the perfect artistic touch to add to your layouts.
Includes 5 fairies and their shadows as separate 300 DPI PNG files.

You can pick them up in my store here.

Enjoy!

- Alana

Cry me a river

2009-06-07T00:29:00.001-04:00

Wow, what a couple weeks! Kieran really tested us. He was almost constantly screaming. Every time he was awake he cried. He was crying more than he wasn’t. I was at my wits end. Not to mention the nun who was prepping us for Kieran’s Baptism said “oh that’s not normal. Babies shouldn’t cry all the time like that. Maybe there’s something wrong with him, you should take him to see the doctor.” Which made me cry and feel like a bad Mum. Why do people who don’t have babies feel the need to give advice? My sister in law made me feel better about it. She said her little girl cried all the time for a couple months, so Kieran wasn’t the only one.

The bam. The crying stopped. It happened three days ago, and he’s like a completely new baby. Its wonderful! He even yawned during his bath! His awake times are spent looking around contentedly. His naps are regular. He doesn’t scream on our walks anymore, and I’m no longer nervous to leave the house with him. It’s like he suddenly figured out the world is a pretty cool place, and doesn’t want back in the womb.

Thank you Kieran for giving Mommy and Daddy a break.

Fairy sample

2009-05-26T10:38:00.001-04:00

I actually managed to get one element done! Kieran is napping again so I thought I would take the time to tell you about it. :) I’m going to be making a little pack of these.. painted fairies interacting with elements. Shadows included. Coming as soon as motherhood lets me create them! Hope you like.

Quick hello

2009-05-18T22:46:00.001-04:00

Hi from the land of Motherhood. So much for thinking I would get my new kit finished. I was half way through a rainforest themed kit when Kieran was born. Now every spare moment I get to myself is spent doing one of the many essential tasks to get me through the day, or desperately catching up on sleep.

When does this get easier ladies? I’m so tired!

At least Kieran sleeps in his crib during the night, and now (after many exhausting days of him screaming when we put him down) we discovered he likes his bassinette for naps.

One of those naps allowed me to produce this – Kieran’s birth announcement!

I used a paper and elements from my Circus collab with Birgit Kerr and the blue banner at the top is recolored from my Dreamland Kit.

I designed it to be very simple. I wanted a fun theme, but nothing too boyish or babyish. I thought the circus poster look was perfect.

Uh oh, I think I hear Kieran stirring, it’s almost chow time again. Talk to you, hopefully, soon! :)

Introducing Kieran Kasey McCarthy

2009-05-03T17:44:00.001-04:00

Introducing Kieran Kasey McCarthy, born Saturday April 25th at 6:45pm, weighing 7 lbs 5 oz.

I’m a new mommy to a beautiful baby boy just in time for Mother’s Day. I had a wonderful birth experience, it was like something out of the movies.

I went from shopping with a friend, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, to having 5 min apart contractions in a clothing store. Called my hubby, grabbed the streetcar home, the midwife arrived - I was already dilated 6-7 cm! Headed to the hospital. Had a few contractions, then felt the need to push. I gotta thank my own Mom for passing along the speedy labor genes – Kieran was born after only 3 hrs and 15 minutes of labor! Totally natural..no time to even think of pain control.

Now after a week we’re slowly learning our little guys signs and signals. Getting used to the fractured sleep and of course loving him lots!

National Scrapbook Day Sale!

2009-05-01T15:31:00.001-04:00

I’ve been awol for a bit, because I had my baby! A sweet little boy, I’ll post about him in a bit but for now (before he wakes up)..

Scrapbookgraphics is having a store wide sale, which includes my Studio as well. Enjoy 30% off all my kits, for one day only! Sunday May 2nd. Get the discount while it lasts.

Shop Studio Alana

My secret identity

2009-04-24T18:39:00.001-04:00

Ok, so maybe my not-so-secret identity – Alana McCarthy, Illustrator!

Not sure if you’re all aware, but my freelance day job includes painting in acrylic for magazines, packaging, ads and such. I even have some of my work for sale online as prints.

Selling my prints at a comic convention

You can check out my website for more – www.AlanaLand.com

Dreamland kit and Freebie!

2009-04-17T20:07:00.001-04:00

Introducing Dreamland! This is the perfect kit for story time, sleeping babies, or to capture the magic of childhood. Tones of blue silver and purple complement the dreamy cloudy elements and backgrounds.

20% off until Sunday April 19

Purchase it here at my store.

Here are some samples from my talented CT.

Annyes:

Bebimora:

Juliegoodgirl:

KimberlyRae:

Mumure:

Rmplemintz:

Not part of my CT, but these layouts were too good to leave out. By OlgaUnger:

Last but not least, here is a shooting star freebie. If you like the freebie, please consider buying the Dreamland – FULL KIT.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Enjoy!

- Alana

Sneak preview - Dreamland

2009-04-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

Although Easter, tax time and being VERY pregnant (18 days to go!) have slowed me down a little, it can’t stop me! I’ve been working on a new kit entitled “Dreamland.” Here is a sneak peek at some of the dreamy items within. Coming soon!

Gallery standout of Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-13T21:19:00.001-04:00

How beautiful is this work of art?

I just had to post this incredible layout by MissBehavin/Crossroadcca. She writes “I was completely inspired by Alana's kit: "Cherry Blossoms". I've had this idea in my head for a while and knew this was perfect for it. It took me about three days to get it to where I wanted it... but I'm kinda diggin' it.”

Honey, with three pages of comments, I think a lot of people are diggin’ it too!

CT layout featured at TDS!

2009-04-13T21:05:00.001-04:00

I’m so proud! One of my lovely creative team members, KimberlyRae, has had her layout featured on the cover of The Daily Scrapper. It uses items from my Spring Awakening kit. Click the photo above to see the full article. Congratulations KimberleyRae!

Make your own handwriting font

2009-04-06T12:02:00.002-04:00

Font Generator - http://www.yourfonts.com

This is an amazingly simple way to make fonts from your own handwriting. Perfect for journal entries on your layouts. All you do is download, print, fill out the template, scan it in and their online program does the rest. I had a font of my handwriting in less than 10 minutes.

It says they'll be charging a small fee soon, so play with it while it lasts!

- Alana

Cherry Blossom Kit and Freebie!

2009-04-01T11:40:00.002-04:00

Introducing my latest kit, Cherry Blossoms.

Available for 20% off until Sunday April 5th.

This Asian themed kit can be used purely for its beauty, in fantasy layouts, or to add that special touch to a unique photo. Use it with your photos of costumes, travel, yoga, Asian cooking, recipes, or dinners, meditation, martial arts, family heritage or cultural celebrations. The possibilities are endless!

You can purchase it here at my store.

Here are a few more samples from my talented CT members Mumure and Michelle Waite:

For a sample of the kit, here is a quick page freebie. If you like what you see, please consider purchasing the full kit.

DOWNLOAD the quick page here

Enjoy!

- Alana

Sneak peek at Cherry Blossoms

2009-03-31T17:00:00.002-04:00

Here are some CT layouts from my new kit, should go live tomorrow.

By Juliegoodgirl:

By Mumure:

Creative Team Blog

2009-03-31T09:00:00.001-04:00

My wonderful creative team have started a blog. There you will be able to find lots of freebies, quick pages, challenges and more!

Check it out! - http://studioalanact.blogspot.com/

Also, I’ve just released my new Asian themed kit – Cherry Blossoms to my Creative Team. I’ll be releasing it in the next couple days. Can’t wait!

- Alana

Dear Pirates

2009-03-29T17:44:00.001-04:00

Dear Pirates,

By sharing my kits online you are stealing food out of my unborn baby’s mouth.

Please stop.

Sincerely,

- Alana (tired of having to report copyright abuse) McCarthy

More about me!

2009-03-28T12:26:00.001-04:00

Hello out there! Just wanted to take a break from all the Scrapbook business stuff and let you in on my life a little. I’m a 28 year old freelance illustrator (29 on April 4th!) and have a baby on the way in about a month! I’m due May 1st.

So far the pregnancy has been really good. I haven’t had half the symptoms that most women suffer with. A little sleepy the first and last trimester, and the usual squished bladder woes and moodiness, but other than that it’s been a relatively easy eight months.

We tried to find out the gender of the baby. The ultrasound tech even had a clear view, but wouldn’t confirm what looked to us like little boy bits floating in the black and white image. She said it may be the umbilical and didn’t want to be wrong. So I’m really looking forward to the big surprise. I’m still betting boy though.

Being freelance has its pros and cons while being pregnant. Working at home has been great, I get to nap whenever I need to! However, the anxiety of an unreliable income has been the biggest stress. I stopped working at my part time job in December because there was a lot of heavy lifting involved. It was a big transition to be at home constantly. Luckily I took up DigiScrap Design and it’s been bringing in a little bit of money to ease my worried mind.

One other nasty thing about being self employed and pregnant here in Canada. No maternity pay! Yuck! Stephen Harper had promised that if he got re-elected he would look into getting self-employed mothers the financial support they needed. Well we re-elected him, and guess what, no word on any changes yet. Lies from a politician during their campaign? Big surprise! Here’s hoping that we’ll see a change in policy by the time we’re ready to have another.

My husband is also a freelancer and has been really busy with work as well as getting a new digital printing business going. It’ll be great to have him around the house to help with the baby. He’s already been wonderful taking over most of the chores, cooking, and any heavy lifting. I totally won the husband lottery!

For now, I’ll just keep designing until the teeny tyrant comes into our lives and forces us to drop what we’re doing and focus on him or her. I’m currently working away on an Asian themed kit that is nearing completion. Keep your eyes on this blog and on my store at SBG!

Talk to you soon!

- Alana

Painted Texture Frames

2009-03-23T17:27:00.003-04:00

Here’s a new set of painted texture frames. There are nine frames included in this set. They’re neutrally toned for easy re-coloring to match any layout.

You can purchase them at my store.

Tea Party Scene Builder Kit & FREEBIE!

2009-03-11T22:57:00.002-04:00

This very special hand drawn scene builder kit allows you to place your loved one or pet in an illustrated tea party scene. They can pull up a chair, sit and chat with characters such as a doll, elephant, mouse and teddy bear.

You don’t only have to create a scene. This kit is very flexible. Since the elements are neutrally colored they can also be coordinated with your favorite scanned and extracted elements from other kits and designers.

Purchase the TEA PARTY KIT at my store – 20% off until midnight Sunday March 15th!

FREEBIE:

Here’s a frame and mouse in a cup freebie that go with the kit. The background can be found in the full kit. If you enjoy the freebie, please consider buying the Tea Party kit and spreading the word.

DOWNLOAD TEA PARTY FREEBIE HERE

Enjoy!

- Alana

- Studio Alana Store -
- Studio Alana Blog -
- Illustration Website -

Sneak preview of Tea Party kit

2009-03-09T23:39:00.003-04:00

I’m so excited for my new tea party “Scene Builder” kit. It’s going to allow you to put your loved one or pet into an illustrated image. The style is a bit different from what I’ve been doing lately, but I think you’re going to love it! I’m certainly loving working on it. Drawing is a nice break from painting, and it gives the whole collection a real children’s book feel.

Best of all, all the elements are neutrally colored. So they’ll look right at home even if you take them out of the scene and add them to layouts amongst your scanned and extracted elements.

It’s certainly not like anything else out there in the scrapbook world – which is what I aim to provide you with. So keep your eyes peeled on my blog and store. It should be available sometime this week!

Enjoy!

- Alana

LAST DAY for Medieval Kit Sale!

2009-03-08T11:38:00.002-04:00

Today’s the last day to get 20% off my Medieval Kit! Sale ends tonight at midnight EST.

For now, here are some inspiring layouts from my wonderful Creative Team. Thank you so much ladies! You can see how flexible this kit is, whether you’re working in a flat space, or a three dimensional perspective layout.

Annyes:

Bebimora:

Debi:

Df12wife:

Juliegoodgirl:

Mumure:

Michelle Waite:

Medieval Kit & freebie

2009-03-04T21:35:00.002-05:00

It’s finally here! My MEDIEVAL KIT. This kit is choc full of medieval themed elements. Hand painted dragons, knights and maidens are just waiting to jump into your fantasy layouts. Check it out!

It’s also 20% OFF until Sunday March 8th, midnight EST!

I’ve also painted and textured a large castle that is included with the elements.

Plus perspective backgrounds! Three are painted and textured, and three are more photo based.

And now what you’ve all been waiting for.. a freebie! Here are two coordinating elements – a floral garland and a glowing magic sparkle. The background paper is from the Medieval Kit.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Hope you enjoy the new kit as much as I enjoyed making it!

Hugs,

- Alana

Medieval Sneak Peek

2009-02-25T23:54:00.003-05:00

Here's a sneak peek of a new medieval themed kit I'm working on. Should be out in the next week or two!

More spring LOs

2009-02-25T23:45:00.007-05:00

Here are some more awesome layouts from my CT with my Spring Awakening Kit

Announcing my Creative Team!

2009-02-21T10:16:00.002-05:00

Grab Bag for Anna

2009-02-20T10:58:00.010-05:00

Grab Bag for Anna - I have a mini kit in this collab grab bag to benefit Anna Benjamin

AVAILABLE FOR 2 WEEKS ONLY: February 20th-March 5th

741.2 MB in 8 downloads

SPOILERS: To see the contents of the bag, click on the large previews.

This special collab grab bag was put together in support of our friend and Scrapbookgraphics' Studio Crew member Anna Benjamin (aka AnnaBen). Our dear Anna is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. All proceeds (after paypal fees) will go directly to Anna and her family to use for housecleaning, meals, childcare, or whatever they feel they need during this time of treatment and recovery. Get well soon Anna!

While our creative contribution to this kit is entirely in support of our friend Anna, we are confident that the grab bag you receive in exchange for your purchase is an incredible value, and a win/win purchase.

If you wish to send any prayers or positive thoughts in the way of a creative message, such as a digital greeting card, we would be more than happy to forward any blessings or well wishes to Anna on your behalf. Please email your .jpg to maya@scrapbookgraphics.com.

This grab bag includes contributions from Studio Maya, Studio Alana, Studio Baersgarten, Studio Birgit; Bluebell Designs, Studio Ellie, Studio Flergs, Studio Helene, Studio Lorie, Lotta Designs, Studio Manu, Studio mgl, O.N. Designs, Studio Phuong; Studio Tangie, Studio Traci, Studio Wendy, and Studio Ziska:

10 mini kits

5 alphas

2 element packs

1 brag book album

2 fonts

1 template pack

$7 coupon to Studio Maya

Coupon to Studio Helene, good for her next kit

Spring Awakening Kit Release

2009-02-19T11:25:00.009-05:00

Introducing my newest kit - Spring Awakening!
Get it now while it's 20% off until Sunday Feb 22

Come out of hibernation with my new kit, Spring Awakening. It features hand drawn, painted, extracted and uniquely creative elements. The kit also includes 15 papers with three special perspective papers for the spring 3D scrapper in you. There's also a coordinating hand drawn alpha thrown in. Just water with imagination and grow!

Here are some LOs from my Creative Team

Forest Folk release!

2009-02-10T09:10:00.019-05:00

Introducing my brand new kit - Forest Folk. I thought I'd try my hand at a fantasy kit, and have incorporated a mix of illustrated and photographed items. Hope these fairies and creatures will find a magical place in your layouts!

Get the FULL KIT now for 20% off until SUNDAY FEB 15th.

Also introducing the work of my wonderful new creative team!

By Annyes / Aggie

By Bebimora / Lotta

By Claudia Bastos

By df12wife / Kerry

By Topsi / Bianka

By Juliegoodgirl / Alice

By KimberlyRae

By Mumure / Maryse

By Michelle Waite

By Rmplemintz / Debi

ForestFolk preview

2009-01-30T11:09:00.003-05:00

This little lady is part of a sneak peek at a fantasy kit I'm currently working on. Should be out in a week or so.

Studio Alana call for a Creative Team!

2009-01-29T13:43:00.004-05:00

I'm putting out a call for all you creative scrappers out there. I'm looking for a few talented individuals to join my creative team. My designs consist of a lot of hand painted illustrated elements.

To apply please email art@alanamccarthy.com with:
- a short bio / link to blog if applicable
- link to gallery
- list of other CT commitments

Requirements:
- 2 layouts per downloaded kit
- post to SBG, DST and one other site of your choice
- post LOs to my SBG gallery
- help promote my designs

Please email me by Wednesday February 4th.

Thank you and good luck!
- Alana

__________________

- Studio Alana Store -
- Studio Alana Blog -
- Illustration Website -

Vacation and Funky Swirls

2009-01-28T09:57:00.004-05:00

I just returned from a lovely week in sunny Barbados. Now I'm back in Toronto, hiding in the house from the 15-20 cm of snow falling outside. From white sand, to white snow. Brr.

Here are some Funky Swirls drawn with marker to add some artistic flare to your layouts! Get them now as they're 25% off for the first few days.

Carousel Kit Collab and Freebie!

2009-01-12T14:55:00.022-05:00

Tonight is the launch of a huge collab kit between myself and Birgit Kerr. Introducing the Carousel kit! This massive circus-themed kit is packed with goodies. Including two specially layered elements, my hand painted carousel, with removable horses, and Birgit's circus tent. Check out the previews below to get a feel for what's included.

The collective collab kit is currently in the store at 36% OFF until January 18th, 2009, so don't miss the opportunity to get this HUGE kit for the low price!
As always the different components of the kit are also available separately, but the best deal is of course the full kit!

Also at STUDIO ALANA enjoy 20% off everything in stock with the coupon code: PAINTEDHORSES

Also available ONLY at my store is a collection of new elements - CAROUSEL ADDITIONS - currently 25% off! This pack features two dangling frames, three pieces of word art and a bunting swag which all coordinate with the Carousel Collab kit.

Just one more thing.. here is a word art freebie download as a thanks for checking out this blog - CLOWNING AROUND - Download here

Enjoy!
- Alana

__________________
- Studio Alana Store -
- Studio Alana Blog -
- Illustration Website -

Robotic Kit LOs

2009-01-07T21:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some wonderful layouts made using my Robotic kit.

Sorry about not giving credit, I received most of them a while back and wasn't as good with my record keeping then. But please feel free to comment if you see yours and I'll add your name.

Rough Paint Alpha

2009-01-04T20:14:00.005-05:00

Hello again!

In between all the planning and painting I've been doing for my Carousel collaboration kit with Birgit Kerr I managed to do a quick and dirty painted alpha - ROUGH PAINT. There's some paint bleed, a little drybrush and heaps of texture to this one. Guess all those hours practicing hand drawing typefaces in typography class finally came in handy!

The kit features sheets of A-Z, 0-9, &!? and individual PNG files. All 300 DPI grayscale, ready to be colorized to suit your needs.

On the drawing table

2009-01-02T19:42:00.002-05:00

Here's a sneak peek of a collaboration I'm working on with Birgit Kerr. Yep, that's me hand-painting carousel horses. Should be a great one!