My latest venture...and yes, another giveaway!

I've been a Photoshop addict for many, many moons now. It started with editing pictures of my girls, and then morphed into a raging obsession with digital scrapbooking. Then it downsized a bit into invitations and announcements.

It started with our second annual Christmas party. The first year, I had sat at the kitchen table for hours and hours, piecing together layered paper and rubber-stamped hand-written invitations, held together by metallic brads. The second year, I decided that I didn't have the time (or energy) to go through that again.

What I did have was a super cute picture of my girls in their red and green finery, and more Christmas-themed digital images than I could shake a (peppermint) stick at. So instead of my usual 12x12" scrapbook page, I created a 4x6" invitation. Had them printed for next to nothing at Walgreens, and I was done. Wow...that was much better!

Then a friend asked me to make a birthday party invitation for her daughter. Okay, sure, no problem.

Another one asked me to design a Christmas card full of family photos.


And another one asked me to create a baby shower invitation to match her theme and colors.

After making several invitations and announcements - and becoming an Etsy addict in the meantime - I decided that the next logical step would be to open an Etsy shop for custom invitations and announcements.  :)

So, I present to you: 2:12 Designs. The shop is still a work in progress, but I'll be continually adding new designs. In the meantime, I'm happy to create anything upon request. (I even took it a step farther and created a 2:12 Designs Facebook page so I can share new designs as they're made!)

Some of my "sample" designs have been easier than others. This one, for instance:

It only took me three and a half years to get around to making her birth announcement. Gene was so proud.

Turnaround time will typically be much shorter, by the way.

To help kick off the opening of my Etsy shop - and, you know, spread the word that it's out there, I'm giving away TWO completely custom invitations or announcements - one each to two lucky readers!

Prize: One custom invitation or announcement - choose from something already in my shop, or start from scratch. You may choose the occasion, theme, colors, wording, photo, whatever you want, and I'll create it just for you.

To enter: Check out the nifty new Rafflecopter widget below! It'll tell you exactly what to do. (If you can't leave a comment, you're welcome to leave it on my 2:12 Facebook page instead!)

Contest ends: 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, September 4. Winners will be chosen by random number generator and emailed immediately. Please contact me within 48 hours to claim your prizes, or new winners will be chosen.

Good luck, everyone - and thanks for checking out my shop!