I love finding and using free digital downloads on my cards, whether they be paper packs or little sketched stamp images that have been made available by kind and generous folks, not to mention, talented too! I thought how great it might be to bring some of this stuff together and list it all for everyone to access. I shall update this page when I find new items that I think you might like, but please feel free to let me know of any other free things for card makers that you may have come across in your internet travels!
*****************************************************************
These are the places I go to time and time again:
Raspberry Road Designs: I think you might be amazed at the quality and choice of the papers and elements included here, so much so that you may be just tempted to hop over to the shoppe and buy some other things too! The Freebies have a category of their own over on the left hand side. There you will find QP’s (quick pages for digital scrap bookers), free paper and elements. Most of the items are listed as kits, which means there are a certain number of elements and papers in each kit. You need to register with the site but they don’t send out emails unless you join their mailing list. You also go through a check out process, but the $ value of the cart is zero and you download your items when you’re all done. You will sometimes get a warning message during check out that your location is not accepted for payment yet, but you needn’t worry about that if all you want to download are the free items.
Summertime Designs: Summer Driggs is one of life’s incredible people. First of all she is a Mother of four beautiful children, a wife and a homemaker. Add to this an incredible talent for making digital scrap packs of elements and papers, and an amazing warm and generous soul. And I don’t just mean “warm and generous” because these kits are available for free. You really need to read her blog to understand the reasons she does what she does, and why she occasionally requests (but doesn’t require) donations from people for some of the kits. I think what she does is truly amazing. Please go and visit her and say hi. To make it easier, all of her kits are linked individually about half way down the right hand side, they link to a free download site where you have to wait a few seconds to get the download link for each one, but believe me, they’re worth waiting for.
StampTV: Gina K has become quite a revelation in the card making/stamping industry, she started off with her own business making stamps, it grew so she added extra designers, she showcased their work on her blog, people came in their hundreds, she added card stock, inks, templates and more stamps than you could shake a stick at. She posted how to videos and tutorials, added a forum and gallery and even a down loadable magazine, and now has her own Social networking space called Stamp TV! I love Stamp TV and have spent many lunch breaks at work on this site, watching videos, gaining an understanding of new techniques, reading the free magazine and downloading the freebies. It really doesn’t get any better than this for anyone wondering “how did they do that?”. On the StampTV home page, you will find the most recently available video, all of the others are on the right hand side… have a look at what she does with alcohol inks and baby wipes! Everything else is located in the links across the top of the page. Who needs regular tv when you have StampTV??
Digital Crea: This is a French site offering digital page kits to buy, although don’t panic, there’s a translate to English button at the top right of the home page! This one operates slightly differently from the ones above as basically they require you to register and they then send out one email a week with their specials, sale and retiring soon items, and at the bottom of this email is a link to their one freebie a week that you can download free of charge. Next week you’ll get another email and a new freebie will be contained in it. You have to go through the motions of putting the item in your cart and checking out before you can download it. They do have a Freebie link on the main page but there is nothing in it! Digital Crea has a sister site called The French Frog, if you go directly to it you get redirected to Digital Crea, but signing up for Digital Crea also gets you an email (not weekly) from The French Frog for another, different free download. Two for the price of one!
Capricious Scraps: The items here can be downloaded directly without having to register or wait for emails to alert you for your freebie. There are links on the right, one of which is helpfully titled “Freebies”! If you download a kit here you typically don’t get just the 5 or 6 papers typically available at other sites….. Amy often has as many as 24 papers in one download! A lot of bang for your buck as the Americans say!
Two Peas In A Bucket: This one you may have come across as they sell a wide range of products for card makers, scrap bookers and basically anyone with an interest in paper crafts. What most folks don’t realise though is that they have an extensive free section too. To access it, pick Digital from the top menu, followed by Digital Shopping and then Shopping Home, on the left. On the new page that opens up, look for “Free” under “Price”. You have to register for this site and then check out your items, but that’s no hardship once you see all the loveliness on offer!
The Shabby Princess: Everything here is for free, what more is there to say, apart from it’s really great stuff and there’s no registration required. I would recommend however, downloading the individual parts of each kit and not the main one that contains everything as they’re really quite huge. You might be here a while!
Digital Freebies: “Home of the Friday Freebie”, but hurry, they only keep a couple of weeks of freebies around on the site, so you have to check back often.
Free Digital Stamps: Exactly what it says on the packet! This site is a collection of links to digital images and sentiments around the web, all for free, and it’s updated pretty much daily so you’re bound to find what you’re looking for.
Far Far Hill: Lovely selection of Vintage inspired papers, scanned images and postcards. There are always Freebies on the main page when the link opens, but be sure to click on the Vintage Freebies link too, as that contains even more things to download.
Beccy’s Place: A stunning collection of digital images all drawn by Beccy. These are some of the nicest free images around, and there’s a lot of them. I’ve seen her “Mum’s Coat/Mum’s Quilted Coat” in the People section on a lot of Christmas or Winter themed cards and it’s so simple but so stunning. Also keep an eye on the main page of this site, as freebies often pop up there first, before being added to the list on the page I’ve linked too. She also has a store and sells images too, they’re great value so be sure to take a look.
The Paper Garden Project: An online retailer selling a whole host of crafting supplies, I’ve bought from them before and received great service. They also sell digi images and have a small, but very good freebie selection. Well worth checking out as they’re excellent quality, you may even be temped to buy some of the ones that are for sale anyway as they’re so nice. The link takes you to their Digital page, look through the pages for the ones with FREE against the cost. You do need to register to download, but they don’t send out any emails so you needn’t worry about giving out your info.
Sliekje’s Digi Stamps: A really great blog packed full of cute digi stamps, all free. I can’t see an index or anything, you have to go through the pages one by one, but I’m sure you’ll find something you like.
Bird’s Cards: An interesting name for a fantastic site. Look at the bars across the top for free digi stamps, free sentiments, free papers and templates and free cut files for you electronic machines. An excellent selection and really beautiful, quality images too.
great list you are compliling – don’t forget my blog freebies will you?
I saw several visits to my blog originating from your post, and I wanted to express my thanks! I’m extremely flattered to be included in your list, especially among the other wonderful sites you highlight. Thank you again, just hope you and others can find uses for my freebies. 🙂
Thank you for this great list, also for the hints and advice in it.
https://butlersabroad.wordpress.com/