Aaaaand the LOs just keep on comin'...

This one is pretty much all Designer Digitals schtuff...they are having (yet) another fantastic sale all through the month of December. Finally used those Cozy Crochet pieces! Yum.

Today was a bit emotionally stressful for me. Totally my own Deanna Troi moment...I can't help but feel for friends (and remote acquaintances, even) who are in pain. That's all I can really say.

I'm thankful I have the insurance to keep up my meds; I would not want another December like I had last year, where I was so anxious and depressed that it took me 2 months to figure out it was all hormone-related. Now when a day like today comes along, with a lot on my mind, praying without ceasing (for friends near and far), I can take a deep breath and relax, knowing it is all in the hands of a higher power. Oh, and Zoloft. Heh.

This year I made the conscious decision to *not* do a December daily...in fact, it's a bit of a joke amongst my cropping buddies. When handed a CK with Ali's annual encouragement, I said "UGH!" Thinking I was upset that those pages had been torn out, my friend handed them to me, but I said, "good LORD, no, I don't need *another* thing to keep track of in December!"

However, a daily photo (and perhaps blog entry...don't hold your breath) seemed do-able. After waking up to our first snowfall (and a very soft, pretty one...not much stuck but at least it was sparkley), you'd think I'd be out there getting some snow shots, but no...as if a learned behavior from my (failed) 365 project in 2008, I didn't grab my camera until the evening, when I got out the kids' advent calendars for the first time.

I think this set a record for me...I downloaded Katie Pertiet's Graphic Pop Grunge Frames No. 4 just before finishing up this entry...and I used them on the above photo. Hurry, they're still on sale! ;)

Catch-Up

I haven't been to a crop in almost 3 weeks; it's making me antsy. I took Sunday to work in my studio (haha, I love calling it that, it's just an office area crammed with junk!) but had to let gesso dry on a project before I could do any more work on it :(

I ended up assisting at the co-op yesterday (bound to happen when you're one of two subs on the list) so I didn't get back to my project; today I HAVE to train at the gym a bit after taking last week off (Ben had the sniffles). RACE DAY IS SATURDAY (!!) and while I had to move down to the one-mile fun run, it is now my 3rd mile "race" of the year, so technically (ahem) I have finished 3-one mile races this year, nearly a 5K...anyone? Bueller? Thats what I thought ;)

At times like this, digital scrapbooking comes in handy, although I think E is getting sick of coming home in the evening and seeing me on my laptop every. dang. night.

This one just granted me a prize (not sure what, yet, but Four Hens Photography was the sponsor...) as a "random" winner (always the bridesmaid...LOL) for Digi Dares challenge #205. We were not to use straight lines...quite a challenge. I used a kit from Digital-Crea by Ninie Designs, her part of a collab called Moment of Happiness. Other bits used are masks and edges from Katie Pertiet over at Designer Digitals.

This is a prime example of in-the-moment scrapbooking. I had promised the kids we would make caramel apples, bought the caramels, then LOST them (I'm thinking they fell out of my cart...and I never bought them to begin with...) One month later, another bag of caramels, and boom! a fun afternoon the week of Thanksgiving, when Tess had half days Mon-Wed. I sat right down that evening and scrapped my photos with the iDSD blog train kit from DigiScrapAddicts (once again, too late to enter their International Digital Scrap Day contest, so I've received NO LOVE over there...sniff...feel free!)

It has been near impossible to find a warm and welcoming scrap site since Scrap In Style closed its (digital) doors. Even a subscription to the Digital Scrapbook Artisian Guild (with its inspiring and informative online magazine) did me no good, as hardly anyone posts there. This last layout was a color challenge in their November magazine, using a gorgeous "red" kit from Ruby Rhynne, who retired earlier this year. This is one of my favorite layouts this year, mostly due to the fantastic photo of my bud:

...which was altered with an action from Four Hens...hmm...what goes around!

I need to get back in the swap swing of things...left poor Angie & her wonderful crew hanging with their latest Typography ATC challenge...sorry, m'dears...and I haven't art journaled with Year in the Life since their Ning site closed down (not that that is my excuse, but...definitely made it harder to comment & keep track). Right now I've started a (free) class at Jessica Sprague and the first project is an art journal cover...that should be a big honking clue right there...but again, not a warm and fuzzy group over there either, although Jessica herself rocks.

Until next time...thanks, as always, for your comments. I look forward to them!

Happy fall, y'all

Ben's preschool has been a real treat for both of us. I had him go to a cooperative preschool this year, more for me than him (although it is an excellent school). As Ways & Means chair, I've already survived our pizza kit sale, now I have to line up grocery store gift cards & coffee sales for a local roaster. In the meantime, I've enjoyed two field trips with his class, one to the Leslie Science Center and this latest one, to a local orchard/berry farm/pumpkin patch.

I forgot to journal about the fourth picture in the top row; our farmer friend is showing us the wax tray from an (empty, phew!) beehive. If you know how terrified I am of bees and wasps, you will understand why this is a special picture! Perhaps I should do my own LO about that.

Best of all, just about everything for this layout was a freebie. Well, the main products were: a free October template from Simple Scrapper and a free kit from Tammy, a lucky participant in Jessica Sprague's Art of Design class. Not only is the class $$$, the software needed for it (Photoshop Creative Suite) is also $$$. Kudos to those learning design; I'm jealous, can you tell? I have a bunch of kit ideas in my head, now to learn how to design them with just (so far) Photoshop Elements 7.

To that end, I'm going to try to participate in Wilma's blogtrain this month...not really sure how that works, but I'm going to at least try to create some papers and possibly some elements from brushes I've downloaded. Patty Knox's digital art journaling class at Get It Scrapped was helpful in learning how to create papers and elements in PSE7. I need to review my notes on that!

I'm thinking of asking for Illustrator for Christmas. Maybe I need to move up to Photoshop CS instead?

I should have the blogtrain info up after the 15th. In the meantime, I need to update more often! ;)

Belated 4th and holy crap I've been busy.

Did this patriotic LO just before the holiday and meant to share it here, but plans (dinner at mom & dad's), company (sis & co.), and my new high-powered workout schedule have left me little time to update.

This concert was held mid-May at Tess's school. Local military, police, and firefighters were invited. Her class learned about 15 patriotic songs (as did Ben & I, as Tess practiced them all relentlessly at home!) and speeches (she recited the poem and info about it from the Statue of Liberty) BY MEMORY. So impressive!

This tradition was started almost 20 years ago by a teacher at her school (who recently passed away, making this year's concert especially poignant) during the first Gulf War. She was shocked that her students didn't know the words to our national anthem; well, now several generations do!

(everything on this LO is from Designer Digitals: template by the super-inspiring Cathy Zielske, who is 6 months into her fitness program. Kit is Summer Bright by Lynn G.)

So here's the real reason I've been MIA for the last couple of weeks. Since it's officially Bathing Suit Weather, I've finally found the motivation to get. moving. Since drastic measures were needed, I've tried exercising every day (skipping the weekends, but even those will get in on it, very soon) since about June 28th, when I did a warm-up (weak) 6 laps in the outdoor pool at our gym.

This week I'm up to 24 laps (working toward 36, a full mile, 2 or 3 times a week). I've also started the Couch to 5K podcast program (you can pay for it at coolrunning.com but someone has uploaded a listen-along version for free at iTunes). My only goal with that so far is maybe a 5K run...my village has one in December (brr) called the Holiday Hustle. Ann Arbor is a runnin' town, so I'll have no problem finding 5Ks+ in my neighborhood. But for right now I'm taking it slow, since I've never followed a running program before!

Tess's dance recital was mid-June. The first hairdo I did for her was PERFECTION; too bad the one I did for her actual recital fell out! Eep! She was a trouper, though...she just kept dancing! I used a Summer Night kit from Digitalcrea.fr but also a template from 2peas, not the usual look for a Digitalcrea LO but I had fun with the colors! Still not sure I love it...

This gang of gals has been taking up some of my free time as well. This week I've been a bit of a slacker, though (see workout routine, above, and oh my it's so dang HOT out! Too hot for weeding. Bad virgin!) Everything here -- template and all -- is from Shabby Pickle Designs. LOVE all the kits from As You Wish...here I just went with one, Checkered Apron.

This was a challenge over at ScrapArtist. Everything except the snail is from there. We were to put wings on something unusual...someone had suggest to me, at a fairy tea I attended with my mother, that since I didn't have fairies in my garden, "Just snails, LOTS of snails!" that I should put wings on them and see if they flew away! Then this challenge came up a voila! I made my fantasy come true. Sort of.

Hoping you have lots of strawberries this year, since the snails ate all of ours. Peace out.

Scrapjacked challenge

I have two LOs sitting near my sewing machine, waiting for that magic touch (including my gleek LO), but in the meantime (read: ultimate laziness when it comes to sewing, but not digi scrapping!) I've played with this challenge.



Finally bought all the Kitschy Digitals on mywish list at JS; the sewing kit was up for One Dollar Wednesday this week, so I added it to my cart along with Granny's Attic and the Vintage Cameras kit (not used here, but still...sigh) I've been crushing on. Fonts used are Cursif and Chicago House Style (one of my current favorites, if you're paying attention), with American Typewriter for the journaling. I wanted to roughen up the look of this...like the paint on DT Beth Perry's take, so I used brushes (by Anna Aspnes, at Designer Digitals: Magic Flares Number 1 and Edges & Punches). The spiral notebook is from Scrap Artist.



It's been a strange week for me; last weekend was Tess's dance recital and, at the same time, my niece's graduation party (we ended up late to that. obviously). Late Friday night, after cropping, I checked email quickly and had a message that a former co-worker (and really good friend, at the time) had passed away after a year-long struggle with colon cancer. Visitation was the same time as both other family events, so I could not attend. Wish I could have...



I hadn't even known Connie was sick -- I last visited my old office about 6 years ago. In 1998, she took my folder of wedding info when I called off my first wedding and told me gently that she would take care of contacting vendors and canceling everything for me.

She created new lyrics to Randy and the Rainbow's (in)famous song, Denise, which went something like this (keep in mind, Connie was accounts receivable where I worked, and hated dealing with petty cash...she sang this whenever I came to her with reciepts:) "Denise Denise/you are a pain to me/Denise Denise/you drive me up a tree/Denise Denise/why do you bother me?" :D



I had a Partylite party in my home once, and Connie cracked all of us up with Reason #3 to Light a Candle (it involved the bathroom...trust me, it was SUPER funny at the time...it was one of those contagious giggle fests that only a group of women can get up to).



When she brought an old photo album into the office with pictures of herself from the early 1970s, we teased her about being a hippie, and she "confessed" that her hippie name had been Rainbow...so when her daughter gave birth to Connie's first grandchild (about 7 years ago), I wrote a congratulatory note to "Grandma Rainbow."



Connie was only 59 when she died last week.

Getting crazy with the cheese whiz...

Seriously. Digital products are probably the best. thing. ever. for getting pictures scrapped. Wish I'd had PSE a little sooner. Still, gotta love the hubs for giving it up for me last Mother's Day (2009...finally). I've been working away on challenges and with new kits since Ben was down for the count yesterday (now he's MUCH better, and playing with a neighborhood girl...at her house! --yes, I warned the mom about his fevers yesterday) :P

First up: I had to play with all my Oscraps goodies right. away. AWESOME textures for photos (blending modes...NOW I get it!).


I used Photology 2 from Emily Powers on the larger photo of me...one called "utopia"...then I didn't have to clone out a recent acne outbreak (getting old sucks as bad as being an adolescent! LOL...) I used a challenge template from Merkeley Designs, and added the photo of clouds to it. Papers and the photo mask (on the cloud photo) are all from The Sunday Edition by Paislee Press, with a couple bits from Busy Road by Kitty Designs.



Next up: hunting through some "vintage" (circa 1994, so...not THAT vintage) photos looking for the one of my mom with long hair playing guitar (circa 1973, so, vintage to some of the whippersnappers out there...more on this photo in a sec!), I found this photo of my dad at work that I love. It's the only photo I have of him at work, since he was a line foreman for Ford, and they generally frowned upon photos being taken inside the factory.


Again with Kitty Design's Busy Road kit + Add-On (only a dollar each at Oscraps...RUN!)...I was thinking of Ben when I bought it (my car hound) but when I found this photo of my dad, I knew I wanted to "man it up" (ha) with some of the fun car & road elements in this collection.



Finally, this morning I wanted to work on the template challenge at Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild. I'm not a template fan, but I'd seen some done without the distracting horizontal paper strip and decided to put my own twist on it.



It seems I've gone from using a lot of browns on my digi LOs to using a lot of blues...change is good. About this LO: I've seen this photo before in our family albums, but never realized it was my MOM playing guitar (which she did on every camping trip we ever took) because I have no memory of her with long hair! She looks so much like my sister, it's spooky. They both have Botticelli's Venus hair...gorgeous, thick, blonde and curly, while I got stuck with the standard white girl stringy mess. Jealous? Hells yeah.

The template is from DSAG, but I used an Oscraps kit by BioGraffiti, one called, oddly enough, Happy Camper. This is the photo I was looking for (it was still in the old family album) when I found the picture of my dad at work. I added two other classic camping photos: my sister & I (gotta love those knee socks with shorts! aaackk! so Brady Bunch...) standing by the Otsego Lake State Park sign (we went there every July for 2 weeks, during Ford shut down), and one of my dad in our old aluminum rowboat. I have very fond memories of quiet afternoons (my dad is the strong silent type) staring at the reflections of lake water, pondering life and waiting for that tug at the end of my fishing line.

Definitely getting old...my memories are getting all gooey and sentimental!

Weekend work

Ben has been sleeping all morning after throwing up last night (and last night only, thank goodness!), so I've been sitting in the living room waiting to hear something from his room..but only had blissful silence as he slept.

I took the time this morning to shop the deals at Oscraps...there are plenty of them this week. I keep finding new digi sites and then moving on to the Next Big Thing, but Oscraps has such a huge variety of designers that I think I'll be sticking around there for a while.

I also joined the Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild -- sounds fancy-schmancy, doesn't it? -- $15 for 3 months of access & a monthly online magazine. Apparently they had some spammer issues, so made it a pay-to-play site, but they allow you to upload LOs with supplies from *any* site, which, as you may well know by now, I've been looking for.

I did two paper LOs this weekend -- on Friday, mostly. E was in a tennis tournament this weekend, so I had to chop up my usual crop time. I took Ben with me in the early afternoon (we were cropping at Kelly's), left to meet Tess's bus, then came back after E was done (late) with his tourney (9p-midnight...12:30a, actually...sorry, Kelly!)

The first LO was inspired by another that I could not, for the LIFE of me, find again. But big circle-themed LOs have been everywhere lately, so I just picked up on the trend. I challenged myself to use the Pink Paislee Artisian Tape that came with an SC kit, and it was easy to make a frame with it.

This next LO is a bit of a mess. The original, by DT member Nicole H, is quite a bit "cleaner;" my photos are too busy but I did reach another goal: to get all the ephemera from our trip to Build A Bear on the LO. Tess loves it, that's what really matters ;)

Off to use the supplies I bought at Oscraps this a.m....oh, and my new SC kit came yesterday...I was going to stay up late to play with it, but then had a sick kid to deal with. Maybe while he watches Thomas the Tank Engine ;)

Hot hot HOT

I keep scrappin' away...mostly digital but I did make these cards yesterday for Ben's preschool teachers...last day of school for him...These came from the PaperCrafts book, Card A Day, which I purchased in January hoping to make at least a card a week from scraps after cropping, but it didn't work out that way...I picked up the book because the card designs were simple & beautiful (although a lot of them involve sewing...see my Mother's Day cards, also from this book) and I kept saying, "hey! I have that paper!" In fact, the design for these used exactly the Cosmo Cricket paper (handwriting sampler) that I used here. And I knew I saved all those dang pieces of leftover scalloped pieces for something! LOL --The actual card design with a half-circle slot for closing it is from a card I made in a Stampin' Up card club I used to go to each month. A fun and unexpected design...I've been trying to make more of these top-fold styles.


Jessica Sprague has been running Photoshop Friday classes for about a month now; they are regularly $3.99 but on Dollar Wednesdays you can get them for...wait for it...a dollar (didn't see that coming, did you?) In fact, this week's lesson is still a dollar, through Friday 5/28 at midnight. The LO above was done with materials from Lesson #2: Custom Shape Masks. I used a book shape instead of the sun shape she used in her LO sample, and I love how it turned out! The paper is from Nisa Fiin's Splendid Fiin (rhymes with "beans") Sweet Pea papers. I put a Katie Pertiet edge (Letterbox Overlays #2, I believe) around it to rough it up a bit...certainly nothing involving my son is going to be neat & clean! Haha. Finally, here was a LO I did for a 5 year anniversary contest over at Scrap Artist. They were picking 5 winners (DT spots for a month each -- with free access in their store for the month) so I thought I'd have a chance*, plus I liked the "5" theme, and went with my five favorite rummage/junk/antique finds. All of your materials had to be from Scrap Artist; I had quite the wish list going so I went with their incredible Studio Remnants kit...organized by color, so you know it sucked me in. It helped that they were having a store-wide sale (35% off pretty much everything), but my wish list is still pretty big over there...

I'm a little lost when it comes to sharing projects...haven't yet found a gallery to replace good ole SIStv (although it is still up and running...so I'm not sure if J.J. is actually shutting it down, or just not doing webisodes anymore). Especially in the world of digital scrapping, if you don't use their product, you aren't supposed to upload to their galleries. I've also had work disappear from galleries after a period of time, even after following the rules (DigiCrea, I'm looking at you...oh! and also Jessica Sprague's site, which is quite all-inclusive when it comes to posting projects using products that aren't necessarily from her shop).

I'm guessing that is to save server space; I can only imagine how much is on SIStv's servers after 3 years of photo uploads. But it seems pretty cold in this online world, to put up work only to have it deleted after a month or two. If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them. For now I'll just keep updating to my blog.

*yeah, I didn't. Have a chance ;)

Spring Has Sprung

I seem to be getting out of doors every day. School wrap-up events are happening fast and furious; Tess participated in her Patriotic Concert this past week and I attended my last (sniff) Creative Play class and last MOPS meeting, both with Ben. He will be a big bad 4 year-old preschooler next fall, and I'm moving my time and talents to the cooperative preschool he will be attending.



I've come to realize I can only take on ONE volunteer activity at a time and keep my sanity; for the last 2 years it's been as Publicity Leader for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). My steering team duties ended this year, and I'm looking forward to getting to know local moms through work with the co-op next year. The MOPS moms, while a FANTASTIC bunch of ladies, are sadly in a different school district, so while it's been a beneficial program for *my* mental health, there's not been a lasting connection made for my kids. I'm hoping that working with the co-op will help me get to know more moms in my town.



I'm "virtually" attending Marit's amazing Creative Art Journey class, but I haven't done any pages for it yet; I'm hoping that will change this weekend!


I have been scrapbooking digitally lately...again, the fastest and easiest way for me to scrap on the go, but I need some paint and glue on my fingers, STAT!



Supplies: Farmer's Market paper and tag, Sandy Kreiger for 2peas (freebie). Template and border courtesy of Jessica Sprague [dot] com...she has some fantastic tutorials called "Photoshop Fridays" -- buy them for $1 on Wednesdays, and watch the video tutorial after downloading the materials...easy & informational! Fonts: Antsy Pants and Pea Jack and Jill.


One of my new spring/summer activities is volunteering as a "Dirty Virgin" at a community garden in my MOPS village. So far the work has not been hard, but we've only done some seed planting; the watering needed has been taken care of for the most part by heavy rains. The only requirement for becoming a DV was that you not have any experience in gardening; I let E start our garden last year (disaster! I've done more for it this year, thanks in part to my DV work).



The food we grow will be served at a one-day-a-week local food harvest, called "Yellow Door" (the private home it is held at has a bright yellow front door). I have been to breakfast there on occasion and the food is amazing -- all of it grown within a 60-mile radius, including the beef, flour, and dairy! It can be done!



I would love to do more canning and hope to harvest enough from the 4 tomato plants in our backyard garden to put up a good crop. Last year was a terrible year for tomatoes...not enough warm nights...hopefully this year we will do better. I did buy cages for our tomatoes, as last year (ahem), hubs left our plants to fall over on the ground, thus most of the fruit rotted away uselessly. I tried helping him set up the garden this year and he is QUITE crabby about it...I think he is planning on me taking it over completely...grr...not my plan but if I want to eat food I've grown, I guess I'll have to.

TGIM

Thank God It's May! :)

I realise I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, so when it started to rain while the kids were playing outside, I grabbed my camera. I thought one of them would be crying at getting wet (Ben is just as likely to get as emotional as Tess right now), but they were both out there dancing away in the downpour!

I had a baby shower this past weekend, and at our Friday night crop I threw together what I've come to call my 4-Hour Year in the Life New Parent's Scrapbook. One two-page LO (8x8) for each month, with instructions to take a photo each month next to a favorite stuffed animal or toy to chart baby's growth (Dad sometimes takes this over, and loves it). Oh, and a 2-pager at the start for hospital/family & friends photos, and a 2-pager Happy Birthday LO at the back. Easy-peasy and the mom-to-be always loves and appreciates it. I try not to worry about whether or not it actually gets used, since they take so little time to put together.

I just signed up for Marit's Creative Art Journey class, which starts May 7th. I love history, and never took an art history class, so this is perfect for me. I haven't decided yet whether I will do it digitally (since I just finished Digital Techniques for Art Journaling over at GIS) or on paper, or a mix of both. There will be multiple prompts for each lesson, so I can take my choice and decide from there.

I still need to catch up on A Year in the Life of an Art Journal prompts (I'm working on February 28th, I believe..."Silence," featuring inchies) but that is definitely paper, something to get me in my "studio" (feels funny calling it that, but that's what it is!) once a week or so.

The Color Room has grown to over 1,000 members, and with a new prompt every week, I haven't been able to keep up at all. The CT seems to like LOTS of layering and frou-frou LOs, not my style at all, although I see that in last week's winners there were at least two more simple, clean LOs (more my style). This week's combo seems very "fall/autumn" to me. I'll have to dig through my photos and see if I can come up with anything...

Very sad that SIStv will be no more as of May 15th. I ended up there thanks to PrairieWillow, via 2peas (again, never my favorite place to post) and stayed because the attitude was so friendly and positive. Some folks in the scrapping world (now-defunct ScrapSmack, I'm looking at you) found it fake, but after meeting so many real "SIStahs" in Franklin last June, I can attest that -- while you can't completely avoid Drama when it comes to a group of creative women -- the majority of gals I met I have stayed in touch with and found great long-distance friendships with.

Scrap in Style TV, you will be missed.

Dare 161

I love when everything comes together and you are just on fire (that'll be funnier in a sec) to get a LO done. I could have posted this last night, but I wanted to let it rest for a while. I still think the big photo needs to be worn down a bit; that's in lesson 5...LOL:

The flames are brushes downloaded from Obsidian Dawn (gradient designs) and the tracks are from DesignFruit (Electrosketch). The spray paint title was in Lesson 3 and the washi tape frame (which I mistakenly called wasabi frames....tooooooo funny!...that'll teach me to type/concentrate while being constantly interrupted by my 8 year-old late in the evening!) is from Kitschy Digitals. It all seemed to fit the "skateboard graphics" challenge in the dare, but what do I know, being an old lady and all ;)

Oh, and I used the delightful 1970s Summer action from Johnna (again), only I left the color in it this time. The oranges are perfect!

This is what I love about digi scrapping: I can carry all the supplies I need with me, to Tess's dance class, storytime at the library, etc. etc., not make a big mess, and finish up while I'm still feeling on fire about my project.

Parisian Dreams

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love everything PARIS (and no, not the hotel-chain, trashy-socialite one, either -- LOL). So when I saw this new kit from Pouyou, I HAD to have it. And I HAD to sit here while watching the new GLEE(EEEEEE!) and put together a little inspirational LO:

Now, this is not my usual "style." I'm not into what's known as "fantasy" LOs...those dreamy creations with teeny-tiny pictures and no journaling. Not that I don't admire them as works of art, they just aren't...me. I like words, LOTS of words, The Story, if you will. But just a few hints of what Paris means to me, and the fact that the large photo is my desktop background, pretty much tells it all. Despite the fact that I have never been to Paris. Yet. That magic 3-letter word: YET.

The top painting is -- I believe -- by Cocteau (I scanned it right after I bought the page out of an old magazine at the library book sale...hey, it had La Tour Eiffel in it, so I had to have it!). The portrait is of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, the epitome of the Lost Generation in Paris. Everything else -- except the journaling spot -- is from Pouyou's gorgeous, LOADED kit. The journal spot is from Kate Teague at 2peas.

Okay, I'm falling behind in my Digital Techniques for Art Journaling class. Ben has preschool tomorrow so I will take my laptop with me and catch up. Enough Parisian dreaming for today...

New Challenge group

Michelle sent me over to The Color Room, and a quick question to them proved they were willing and able to handle digi entries, so I had a chance to use my new Mermaid kit (see yesterday's entry) to put this together!


Lots of SIStahs over there...since nobody seems to be at SIStv anymore...sniff. I've been participating in ATC swaps at SIStv, even hosted one myself, but the crowds are just not there anymore.

I know some friends have even stopped posting in the galleries there, and post only to their blogs, which makes sense...even I get confused as to where I've left my creations, and what challenge they were for, etc. etc. Having them in one definite spot (your blog) makes great sense, and not just marketing-wise if you're in the scrapping game for the "biz" side of it.

I have been struggling with how to organize my digital scrapping supplies. After an experience at one "name" outlet for supplies, I'm tempted to put things in folders by manufacturer. I have quite a few freebies, and they need to go in a separate folder...since no one is impressed with what you do with them (JK). For the Merkids LO, I used primarily Designer Digital supplies, with one exception - a freebie brush from 2peas (admittedly, NOT my favorite site to post creations).

But for now I will leave things as they are: by kit, papers, templates, brushes, frames, masks, and "random elements." Creating a shortcut on my desktop helps me get to them quickly (ditto for actions...something I learned from the CoffeeShop -- LOTS of good advice and tutorials over there).

Spring Fever

My creative juices are flowing again. At Friday's crop, I finished up the journaling for my holiday layouts. The last couple of years I've done a mini album to commemorate the Christmas season, but this year I had all these extra Lickety-Slip pages - in fact, just enough - to put all my 4x6 holiday photos in order, with room for 4x6 title/journaling blocks. They aren't anything fancy, so I haven't taken a photo, but that is 2009 put to bed - always a good feeling.

Last night we had friends over for ping pong, so late in the afternoon I had a big mug of coffee...it kept me digi scrapping until 2 a.m.! I had to try Pattie's lesson #1 again - art journal backgrounds are just not my fave thing to create, I guess - before moving on to lesson #2, which was posted Thursday.

In this class we learned to make silhouettes from photos. Now this I really liked. I only got halfway through the lesson before I was off and running with an idea for an 8 1/2 x 11 layout for my son.

The black paper I put under my silhouette layer had the swirl on it (Cali Cool, by Valerie Foster) and I added other paper from that kit to pull it together. The title font is Book Jacket (a new fave of mine), the journaling was done in American Typewriter.


I used a photoshop action from Johnna -- 1970s Summer -- which turned the photo orange (without waiting 40 years! LOL) and added a flare (above Ben's head). I turned it B&W to be less distracting and put one of Katie Pertiet's deckled vintage frames behind it.

Speaking of Designer Digitals, they are extending their anniversary sale through 6 a.m. EST Tuesday. They have the CUTEST Dragon Trainer kit (I passed...it was HARD) and the most beautiful mermaid art kit that is perfect for me to finish up our Florida photos.

Just go to their "specials" page to see all 46 new items. And no, I'm not getting any kick backs from them, LOL. Just loving their stuff right now!

Easter Break

I'm looking forward to summer break. No, really...the weather has (up until today) been gorgeous & the kids have been outside playing...together! I'm taking the Digitial Techniques for Art Journaling class over at GIS and it's been challenging but fun (and very addicting...)

This is *not* part of the class, just a little digi LO I did after visiting the Spraground and (finally) taking advantage of their $1 Wednesdays...plus a few things in my (ahem) Wish List...now I really must be good for the rest of the month!

I love that they carry Kitschy Digital products there (and at 2peas...alas, that's where their digikit link takes you)...I've been slowly filling up my wishlist with Danielle's products...had to keep it to one with all the other goodies I was itching to get my hands on. Oh, how I would love to take the Art of Digital Design class over there...umm, let's see, $275 class fee and OH BTW, you HAVE to have Photoshop Creative Suite ($600+), none of this wimpy PS Elements, apparently. Ah, in another life...

Then I got an email from Digital Create (a French site...but they have an English version, whew). Cute sunflower set and I was surprised after all that I bought, 4 Euros turns out to be $5.28. Whoa! Can you say worldwide recession?! I thought for sure I'd have to at least double that. Dangerous to know...so many beautiful kits over there...

Seriously, how cheery is that?! I had sunflowers pop up in my front garden last year that I never planted (thanks to area chipmunks, and a neighbor whose finch feeder -- full of black oiled sunflower seeds -- they like to raid) and I'm hoping some of them come back again this year (we've already spotted the chipmunks). We even sat on the porch and ate the seeds right off a flower head late last summer...mmm.

Here's to thinking warm thoughts...the weather has grown cold again...just when I uncovered a corner of our back garden...the corner where the strawberries are spreading like wildfire. Here's hoping they hang on!

Friday again!!!

I haven't been with my scrappin peeps in a month (!) so I am really looking forward to cropping tonight. We have a local mom (who doesn't scrapbook, but) who sells scrapping supplies she picks up from foreclosure auctions, and she will be there tonight. Mostly DCWV stacks, but I used many of those at scrap camp and they really made getting LOs done quick! I love being able to support a struggling single mom as well as getting a deal. She used to do a lot of flea markets but if you can believe it, the booth costs have gotten too much for her to do them! As Ben likes to say, "what the heck?!"


I've been scrapping a little bit, even though I haven't been to a crop in a while. Studio Calico has had some good challenges lately...although I never saw a winner from the scraplift challenge. I probably missed it while on vacation. I worked on this last Friday at home but didn't get it posted in time, so you get to see it first! ;)

The challenge was to print or stamp on masking tape...I used second-generation stamping on the word "softy" to lighten up the subtitle. I just added the sewing this afternoon, that's why I didn't get it posted for the challenge. It's about a silly little game Ben likes to play, where he makes fists (mean hands) and I hold my hands flat (nice hands). They "run away" and "cry" and he immediately wants to give them a hug. He's a real sweetie.

I posted this one on my fb profile while on vacation (gotta love digi scrapping). Still love this, especially that YELLOW! Ben often talks about our "Florida home" and says he misses it. Pretty funny, considering how tight quarters were and that we were only there for a week!

Just finished this one today (another one you'll see here first!) I have held off on Designer Digital's weekly Thursday sales (30% off select products) but when I saw this kit, I had to have it for our Florida pictures.

The journal block and letters for Venice are from other kits, but all the rest is from Katie's Alandia Tropics kit. One of their instructors, Pattie Knox, is teaching a digital art journal techniques class (!) starting April 5th; her product instructions have always been extremely helpful (and often free with her products, like her 2010 Calendar templates), so I'm looking forward to her class. I haven't done any more prompts from A Year in the Life of an Art Journal (my bad), partly because I don't often have time to get out those messy materials with a three year-old around (!!) so digi art journaling will be much more accessible for me!

"Spring" Break

sea turtle exhibit at Mote Aquarium, Sarasota, FL

Wow. That's all I have to say. And maybe "sorry." Yes, definitely "sorry." Moving on...


I have my hormonal issues under control...that was a harrowing experience. Also, the mammogram revealed a cyst, (I heard Arnold in my head: "it's not a tooomur..."), which gave me relief. Right now I'm in Florida for a few more days, the rain has stopped (24 hours, overnight Thursday and most of the day Friday), and I really miss blogging.


I love having my laptop along on vacation. I started a digi LO before we left and was able to finish it up in Florida. My sweet-cheeked boy is quite the camera poser. I have to do a "matching" LO for the girl or else she'll have Issues.

I have also been enjoying my Studio Calico kits...and only once was "bad" enough to look and and order an add-on...those get expensive! Whoa. Now when I go to a crop I just take my kits and work with them exclusively. There is a LOT of stuff in each kit, and they seem to match across months. Very cool. I picked up their Anthology line from a local vendor and had fun with it at my last crop:

My March kit arrived the day we left; a neighbor took it in for safekeeping. Something else to look forward to when I return home!

Thanks for hanging in there with me. I won't make promises, but I will make resolutions...to try and update more often. ;)

Winter Blahs...

...just can't shake 'em. I have a crazy day today, just dropped Ben off at preschool and now I'm at the coffeeshop typing away...as soon as I pick him up, I pick up Tess next door and we take off for her baton class...which cracks me up, as grandma was a star majorette at Dearborn High back in the day...I have a few twirling tricks up my sleeve but never did make the team...because I couldn't dance (our majorette team *sucked* at twirling in h.s...they were really a pom-pom team with batons instead of poms! LOL)

Then I have to figure dinner out...probably pizza somewhere, then Tess has Brownies, first meeting since missing two due to my own bad schedule-keeping. I kept expecting an email from the troop leaders, and realized too late that they weren't doing that anymore. I have a history with Girl Scouts...from moving halfway through 4th grade and not hooking up with a new troop at my new school, to a major fight with my BFF (since we were 6 years old!) shortly after I joined her Cadette troop in 7th grade...ugh.

I so wanted Tess to earn her Try-It badges but it looks like she's missed two already this year...oh, and she/we sold no cookies this time around. Is it me, or did cookie sales start earlier than usual this year? I think we started December 14th...which might be nice if I remembered to ask relatives as we saw them through the holidays...but I didn't. And I didn't do any scrapbooking late in December, so my cropping buddies missed out, too. Oh well, that's not what GS is all about anyway, just a bummer that Tess missed out on the full experience. We've still got a half-year to make up for it...and all of next year. She'll see her BFF (since 3 year-old preschool!) tonight, plus some other school girlfriends, so she'll be happy. Unless they pass out Try-It badges ;)

On a completely different note, I came across a new (to me) digi scrapping site, which lead me to a really cool make-your-own-handwritten-font action that I now have on my wish list. Visited with Mom yesterday and we hit a LSS (I was good, only spent $8 but I've reduced my craft budget for the first 3 months of this year and I'm a bit over...already...) so I can't really afford even $4.50 right now. Surprising how those little bits of digi goodness start adding up...good thing February is right around the corner! ;)

Goals...not resolutions

Found this freebie "10 Plans for 2010" through Digi Free...the free scrapping supply site...although I have bought plenty of kits, papers, and embellishments, I found this freebie to be inspiring. Thanks, Liv!

credits: bg paper from LDD's Magic of Fall collection, playing card from The Vintage Workshop (freebie, but LOTS of fun stuff over there for collage!), embellishments courtesy of a freebie kit "Teal by Coco," from Coco & Co.

I had a vivid dream last night of not being able to get back to my scrapbooking weekend all day Saturday, thanks to family obligations. It was really frustrating, because I've been struggling with giving myself time away for this upcoming weekend. Now we have a winter weather advisory from noon today - 7a tomorrow; I just hope the snow plows and salt trucks get out there overnight and there is school tomorrow or my dream/nightmare might just come true! That would be a bummer, because Michelle was at my scrapper's weekend, and I'd really like to hang with her again ;) IRL, of course, she will not be there, but I am still looking forward to some uninterrupted scrap/girlfriend time...surprising how much I need it!

My Secret Elf felted tote is in the washer right now...I meant to shrink it yesterday, but didn't have my tapestry needle with me when I finished it up yesterday. I sewed it up this morning and now it is swish, swish, swishing -- and hopefully shrinking up nicely. I have a feeling I will be giving my Elf recipient a semi-damp tote bag tomorrow!

Right now it is roughly 14" x 18" ...it should shrink by 1/3rd in all directions...Edited: took only 2 cycles...not bad, not bad...could've done better on the sewing up of one corner. Felting doesn't cure *every*thing...