Brown-eyed Blog

...double dog dare

2011-04-20T09:50:00.000-04:00

This past weekend our church held a Double Dog Dare-A-Thon. It was an opportunity for middle schoolers to share their faith and invite a friend to church. The best part? The sleepover on Saturday night, of course! The middle school staff staged a Dare-A-Thon which began at 8 pm and included silly dares about every 20 minutes; how many gummy bears can you stick to your friends face? how many shoes can you tie together? what's the smallest space you can fit into? use shaving cream to create a crazy hair-do! Rae and her friend had a blast working through all the dares as a team. They were up pretty late (Paul and I scooted off to bed before they were even done!)

After a great day at church on Sunday, the girls were out of ideas on how to keep busy. But they spotted the leftover shaving cream and an idea hatched. Here's the scrapbook layout to tell the story:

Title: War
Journaling reads: it’s a war among friends. a lazy sunday afternoon and rae can’t find anything to do. with a little imagination and some left over shaving cream an idea is hatched. she and olivia change clothes, get towels and bowls. they divide up the shaving cream fairly and take turns slathering each other. they make funny faces and laugh at each other. when the fun is over they call out the photographer, because in this family EVERTHING gets photographed. even the quiet, messy, friendly end to a war.
Supplies: 9th & Bloom, Details in the Fabric, as part of The Digi Files April 2011

...catching way up

2011-04-19T11:05:00.000-04:00

I'm going to embarrass myself right now. I finished two scrapbook layouts today... (not the embarrassing part. ready? here it comes....) from my Project 365... of 2009!!!! That's right. I posted my weekly layouts about 19 month late. And I still have 12 more weeks of layouts to complete for that project. Embarrassing? Yes. Empowering? Yes. If you joined me yesterday you know that I'm rededicating myself to some well deserved me-time. So spending an hour with my beloved Mac scrapping lyouts that should have been completed a long, long time ago feels great.

Here are the pages I posted:

If you would like to see the other pages in this Project you can go here or select Weekly 365 layouts from the labels cloud on the right.

It feels good to be scrapping again. What can you do today to get back on track?

...long time, no blog

2011-04-18T08:46:00.000-04:00

Life. Can't live without it. But sometimes it gets so busy. So crazy! And something has to give. And for me lately, my blog has been the thing that suffered the most. When things get crazy around here there are a few things that happen: I clean, I run and I sleep. Cleaning helps me feel in control - "a clean home is a happy home" after all. Running helps me clear my head and gives me some time without demands or schedules. It allows me to relax. Sleeping helps reboot my system. When things are going smoothly I can live on 6 hours a night, but as things get hectic my body demands more sleep.

So with all the extra things going on in my life (joining a tennis league, working for the soccer league, making costumes for school functions...) cleaning, running and sleeping have taken over every extra moment I have. Which has left blogging in the dust (metaphorical dust of course, because I've been cleaning a lot lately). Every once in a while a little thought bubbles up to remind me that I like to blog. I like to put down in writing what's happening, what's not happening and what I wish was happening. I like to share pictures and scrapbook pages with friends and family. I like the feeling I get when someone comments on a blog post, or a great photo.

So I'm rededicating myself. To myself. To this blog. To my creative endeavors. I'm going to carve out 30 minutes a day to scrapbook, to write, to create, to blog.

What has gone missing in your day? How can you reconnect to it? Share it here and maybe you'll inspire not only yourself but someone else.

...here we go again

2011-03-22T08:44:00.001-04:00

That's right, it's time for another surgery. Nerve decompression this time. (Paul just wanted a matched set of scars on his neck).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...all on a saturday night

2011-03-21T14:11:00.000-04:00

It should come as no surprise that my hubby and I are diehard fans of 80s new wave music. Our extensive CD collection is chock full of little ditties from Simple Minds, Sparks, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Devo and The Fixx. So Saturday was just a treat for us -- A Back to the 80s party hosted by some good friends. Costumes NOT optional!

I suspect that Paul was equally into 80s rock but I went a little more right of center and spent plenty of my high school and college years listening to punk rock. So when it came time to dress up Saturday there would be no Madonna ala Suddenly Seeking Susan, or Flashdance or neon pink and green hair bows. Nope! Straight up punk rock for me! Even Paul got into it. He's so cute with a 'hawk!

...super

2011-02-06T10:12:00.001-05:00

Bowl, that is.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...games

2011-02-05T10:10:00.001-05:00

Poker night!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...hops

2011-02-04T15:44:00.001-05:00

Last night's hops...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...bigger

2011-02-03T15:43:00.001-05:00

Do you think she realizes there's a 40" TV right in front of her!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...iPad

2011-02-02T21:08:00.001-05:00

In 'da house!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...left behind

2011-02-01T17:36:00.003-05:00

He might need these on the softball field.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...uncle

2011-01-31T17:13:00.001-05:00

A quick trip through town and some family bonding.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...halfway with company

2011-01-30T18:42:00.001-05:00

Halfway through 4 miles with Lena on the Greenway.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...this blows

2011-01-29T18:41:00.001-05:00

Time to break out the leaf blower!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...the end

2011-01-28T18:38:00.001-05:00

Midnight at Matt's surprise birthday party.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...kirby

2011-01-27T08:26:00.001-05:00

She's been playing it daily since Christmas.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...midweek walk

2011-01-26T20:43:00.001-05:00

It's the first time we've taken the dogs out all winter. But I took a pic of Lena, not the dogs.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...hello old friends

2011-01-25T18:23:00.003-05:00

My painting clothes haven't seen daylight in quite a while.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...this project

2011-01-24T11:39:00.000-05:00

This "Hip to be Square" project is going to be much easier to keep up with. I'll be posting photos of the first installment later this week.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...disgusting

2011-01-23T11:35:00.001-05:00

That's the only word for a scene like this.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...a nap

2011-01-22T17:19:00.002-05:00

Oh! I would love to be napping in the sun right now. Lucky dog!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...my favorite

2011-01-21T18:22:00.002-05:00

Lately running clothes are my favorite thing to get dressed in.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...stylish

2011-01-21T13:21:00.001-05:00

Well, that's what she called me! Melissa over at the My Life My Children My World blog awarded me with a Stylish Blogger Award and I must say I'm blushing. If you're in the mood for a snippet of life in Minnesota go here http://melissasboonieslife.blogspot.com/ and check out her blog.

Part of receiving the award is to share a little, so here goes:

- I've been secretly wishing someone would notice my little blog and award me

- I was thinking earlier this week about shutting down this blog

- I was super cold this morning on my 4 mile run with my friend June (28 degrees!)

- I ran my fastest pace ever trying to keep up with June (9:27 min/mi)

- I came home and had a BIG hot chocolate

- I'm praying that this cho pat strap will help ease the pain in my knee when I run (it did today)

- I'm hoping/training to make it through my second half marathon with no pain (March)

- Even if I am in some serious pain, I will still finish and be ready for my next half marathon in April

- I would be thrilled to finish either of these races with a time less than 2'20". That's about a 10:30 min/mi)

Can you tell what's on my mind today? Racing. Yep. I'm hooked. I think you'll be hearing a lot more about this growing obsession in the coming months (assuming I don't shut down the blog).

Okay, so now I want to award the Stylish Blogger Award to the following creative women who keep me inspired, baking, scrapping, photographing and laughing. I did not pass this award out randomly. All these blogs are in my RSS feed list and I check them everyday.

Congratulations to:

Elinjanne at http://elinjanne.wordpress.com/

Tina at http://ryzmomplus2.typepad.com/

Alissa at http://alissafast.typepad.com/

Ruth at http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com/

Mel at http://ispeakmelsh.blogspot.com/

Sharon at http://sharyncarlson.typepad.com/

Melissa at http://mgstebbins.blogspot.com/

Coley at http://redartscrapping.blogspot.com/

The rules for receiving the award are simple:

- Thank and link the person that gave you the award.

- Post eight things about yourself.

- Pay it forward by nominating 8 more bloggers.

- Let each person know they have been awarded.

...the little one

2011-01-20T20:06:00.003-05:00

She's always up for a photo.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...quality time

2011-01-19T19:34:00.002-05:00

A girl, her Dad and Arthur's Thanksgiving.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...it continues

2011-01-18T13:59:00.000-05:00

Day three and counting of the Great House Cleanup!

...last day

2011-01-17T18:51:00.000-05:00

It's (finally!) the last day of snow break.

...it starts

2011-01-16T13:57:00.002-05:00

A trip to Target and I'm ready to get this house CLEAN!!!

...shake weight

2011-01-15T09:44:00.003-05:00

Love this face Cari made when she saw the Shake Weight video for the first time. Classic!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...the badness

2011-01-14T18:47:00.003-05:00

That's what we call her. She's bad!

...of things to come

2011-01-13T16:17:00.003-05:00

Only three years until that's a REAL steering wheel in her hand. Yikes!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...december daily 19 -24

2011-01-13T11:05:00.000-05:00

Here is the next to last batch of December Daily pages. Next year I'm looking forward to no photo storage issues and being able to keep up!

... Can you say cowgirl?

2011-01-12T10:48:00.001-05:00

Rae is checking to make sure her hair fits in a ponytail for the upcoming musical.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...sleepover

2011-01-11T14:04:00.003-05:00

It's the only reason I would leave my house today - to take to a sleepover at her friends house.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...december daily 17

2011-01-11T12:17:00.000-05:00

I really should be done with this by now but at least I'm still plugging along. Many of the days nearer to Christmas are done but I want to post the pages in order. Enjoy!

...night snow

2011-01-10T18:20:00.002-05:00

I just took these photos of the snow that fell last night. Can't really choose just one to post for today so I'm posting both.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...Wii would like to play

2011-01-09T12:53:00.002-05:00

It's not often you'll see this in my house.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...tennis

2011-01-08T15:15:00.003-05:00

Well, Wii tennis anyway...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...halfway

2011-01-07T09:42:00.004-05:00

This is the halfway point of my run today.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...finally

2011-01-06T16:48:00.002-05:00

She got her brackets on!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...december daily 15 & 16

2011-01-05T17:05:00.000-05:00

As promised here are more pages in my December Daily album. I've been working in a random fashion, printing some photos out, then switching to creating date tags, then working on the journaling. So its coming together slowly. But it is coming together.

...pop!

2011-01-05T12:45:00.003-05:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...how it begins

2011-01-04T14:38:00.004-05:00

Every project I commit to starts out like this. More on the project itself later.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...too the mall

2011-01-03T13:37:00.003-05:00

Time to spend some Christmas money!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:North Point Pkwy,Alpharetta,United States

...friends

2011-01-02T10:30:00.003-05:00

Every once in a while, they are friends.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Tilbury Dr,Suwanee,United States

...happy new project

2011-01-01T21:30:00.002-05:00

Before I get into posting about my project for 2011 I will tell you that even though I haven't posted December Daily pages for a couple weeks, doesn't mean they don't exist. I had another computer issue, this one related to my new (now "old") RAID external hard drive system. Returned the first EHD and purchased a new one that runs wirelessly and without fail. But that threw another major curve into my scrapping as I had to shut down use of my photo organization system so I could move the files once again.

Anyway, I've been working on the pages and will post the remaining pages in the next week.

But for now I'm going to post my first photo of the new year and my 2011 Hip to be Square project. I'm going to be taking a photo everyday all year with either the Hipstamatic or Instagram iPhone apps. These are great little apps that give your photos a hip look and feel instantly. This will not be a journaling project. I intend to take the photos, blog them and print them at 5x5 for a simple photobook. No words, just really cool photos. So here goes...

Happy New Year!

...december daily 14

2010-12-20T13:27:00.000-05:00

Rae's winter chorus concert tonight. So much fun! She's really developing a nice stage presence. And we made eggnog cupcakes thanks to a recipe from Sharon at her blog Living Artfully. I even used her photo of the cupcake on my page - she's such an amazing photographer I knew I couldn't do any better.

...december daily 13

2010-12-20T13:23:00.000-05:00

Still trying to get caught up on last week's pages....

We made chocolate covered pretzels for Rae's friends, Lena's teacher and the staff at Concorde Fire today.

...december daily 12

2010-12-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

The final wish list, full of big boy toys!

...december daily 11

2010-12-16T16:34:00.000-05:00

My new EHD storage system is up and running! There's still a lot of organizing to do, but for now I'm going to get caught up on posting my December Daily pages.

Last weekend Paul and I went to a holiday party in our old neighborhood and had a wonderful time catching up with friends. The girls stayed home and had a beauty night.

...it's a RAID!

2010-12-15T15:04:00.003-05:00

You know things are bleak when you have to get an iPhone app in order to post photos to your blog. But that's exactly what I'm doing. Two days ago I had finished some pages for my December Daily album and was trying to upload the photos to my Mac for blogging. When lo and behold I hit the wall. The 150GB wall of my internal storage. That's right, having only 1.8GB of hard drive space available essentially shut me down.

Today I am installing a 4 TB external hard drive system and moving all my photo files, scrapbooking supplies and pages and other items to my new baby. Its a RAID system so I will have complete redundancy (backups of everything automatically and instantly). This is going to take a while, and while I'm waiting to be able to post my album pages, please enjoy this photo of my new 4GB baby sent to you through the magic of the iPhone and Blogpress app.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Tilbury Dr,Suwanee,United States

...december daily 10

2010-12-11T08:44:00.000-05:00

Having big problems uploading photos to the blog. Sorry for the delay. Here's a simple little page to capture the wrapping of it all...

...december daily 09

2010-12-10T18:52:00.001-05:00

Another December day, another wish list. This time it's Rae's....

...december daily 08

2010-12-09T18:48:00.002-05:00

That's right, it's my birthday. Forty five years young. I usually don't include pictures of myself in our scrapbooks, but Rae made a concerted effort to get some good pics of tonight's celebration so I just had to scrap them.

...december daily 07

2010-12-08T11:10:00.000-05:00

Tonight the girls and I played around with the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I've had it for a while, but the girls had never seen it. We set it on Random and snapped photos throughout the evening. Here are a few of the best...

...december daily 06

2010-12-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

I spent a few minutes today journaling about wishes and dreams. I just wrote down whatever came to my mind when thinking about the holiday season, traditions, presents, decorating, family and friends. Although I wrote much more than you'll find on this page, these are a few things I'm dreaming of this year...

...december daily 05

2010-12-06T14:48:00.000-05:00

I finished up this page early this morning and went straight on to wrapping some gifts and doing a little more shopping. I know its late in the day, but I didn't forget to post it....

I am really loving the full 6x 8 photos on the left hand side of every spread. In fact this year's album has SO many more photos that the past years. In an effort to keep the daily work simple and do-able I'm keeping the paper crafting to a minimum. I'm truly enjoying this style; lots of photos, a little digital and a little paper. Its working for me!

... december daily 04

2010-12-05T17:04:00.000-05:00

A little late in the day, but her it is, the entry for yesterday. Amazing that Ali E created add-in pages for 4x6s so she could get more photos in and that's just what I needed for today. Great minds think alike!

I'm am so pleased to be on track with this album this year. By this time last year I was already two days behind in creating the daily pages. Let's hope I can keep this up!

...december daily 03

2010-12-04T16:03:00.002-05:00

I decided to scrap the kids wish lists this year, starting with Lena's. I can't take credit for the idea (thanks, Ann!). The little red enclosure will hold her handwritten list, which for now sits on her desk waiting for additions.

And we have some news... Haley was accepted to UGA!!! We are so proud of her and the young woman she is becoming. Can't wait to have her near us and within visiting range.

Rae is out in the cold wet weather today performing in the Buford Holiday Parade and Show. (Sounds like fodder for today's December Daily page doesn't it?)

...december daily 02

2010-12-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

Day two of my December Daily journal is a combination of ideas from many places. I took inspiration from Shimelle's JYC class to journal the weather and then a little prompt from Jessica Sprague's Holidays in Hand class year to write about something warm and combined them with Ali Edwards style.

I took the transparency out on the second shot because the Stickles were still wet. I may go back later and add something to the area where the #2 is showing through, but I'm not sure.

I have some other news to share as well. Rae has been chosen to be in her middle school production of Oklahoma! She will be announcing the Friday night show and she will dance and sing in four other scenes. She is SO excited for this opportunity! After being part of last year's production of The Wizard of Oz as a stage hand, she's looking forward to being on the other side of the curtain this year. We couldn't be more happy for her or proud of her. Break a leg!

...december daily 01

2010-12-02T10:00:00.005-05:00

As of this morning I'm one-for-one. That's right - I'm completely up-to-date with my December Daily album! Yay me! All joking aside I'm so pleased to be doing this project again this year. I'm always so amazed to look back on these type of albums and see all the minutiae of our lives.

Here's my pages for yesterday:

Journaling reads: december is here! and this one is starting out a little strange. we're not nearly done with decorating (usually a thanksgiving weekend tradition) and we've already opened some presents (the girls really needed these jackets now, not in four weeks). i'm feeling behind (gasp!) but i know that st. nick won't show up until the house looks great!

My foundation for this album is still in progress. There are a few days that still need transparencies or date tags. And the inside covers aren't done yet. But I know that I'll wake up one day full of crafty energy and finish those in no time.

And finally, although I wasn't brave enough to blog about this earlier the main reason that the decorating isn't getting done is because I'm still nursing a knee/ankle injury incurred while training for the Atlanta Half Marathon. I did finish the race (MY FIRST RACE EVER AND I CHOSE A HALF MARATHON - WHAT WAS I THINKING?!). I finished about 15 minutes slower than I wanted, but also nearly broke into tears from the pain in my knee at mile 11. So all-in-all I'm pleased to have finished.

...now I know why

2010-11-18T09:39:00.000-05:00

...we all prep these December Daily so early! Almost a whole week has passed and I've barely moved forward on the embellishments. Of course, the biggest stumbling block is the current mess in my studio. If I could clear off some desk space... well, never mind, you already know.

I did manage to get a couple things done this week and here's a peek:

Ideas scraplifted straight from Ali's DD album but I love the texture and randomness. More coming soon...

...glitter and snowflakes and ribbon, oh my!

2010-11-15T18:50:00.000-05:00

Just a little teaser today. I was planning to work on some fun textural things for my December Daily album today. But I was surprised to find myself woefully low on cool things like glitter and felt. So I stopped by my local craft store.

I have to scrapbook on a budget so I can't go buy the cool embellishments that I would love to add to my album - I have to make them myself. So here's a sneak peak at what I bought today and the beginnings of what I plan to do with them.

And in other news...my 12 year old daughter earned a speaking part in her middle school musical, Oklahoma! We don't have many details yet, but suffice it to say there was a lot of merry-making in this house on Friday when the list was posted.

... it's mania

2010-11-11T10:12:00.001-05:00

(I found this post sitting in my blogger window as a "draft" which means I never posted it. So I'm posting it now, even though I think the page is out of order from the album. I'm still working on this vacation album. You'll see more posts as time goes on)

I'm really getting into this themed vacation album. I was sure by now I would be completely bored. I'm using papers and embellishments from 3-4 Disney-ish kits, and when I'm done I think this album will be over 40 pages. I thought I would feel stiffled and caged by a limited number of colors and items but in reality its a freeing. I can't spend hours searching for the perfect...whatever....because my options are limited so the pages are coming together quickly.

Since this page faces page 3 I wanted to use similar embellishments but switch things around a little. This style of scrapbooking - limited photos floating on lots of white space - is a push for me. I'm generally a "square it all off and fill up the space" kind of girl. But I'm really enjoying this free-flowing style.

I'm having so much fun discovering how simple scrapbooking can be again.

Supplies: Libby Weifenbach, Connie Prince and Melissa Bennett for Sweet Shoppe Designs

...it's clear to me now

2010-11-10T08:49:00.000-05:00

Transparencies are cool! I must say with all my digital scrapping over the past year or so I've fallen a little behind the times when it comes to paper scrapping. And transparencies are just one of the things I've been missing out on.

As I said earlier, I'm following Ali Edward's lead this year in creating my December Daily album. I was really looking for something to push me out of my rut and her mix of all things tactile is just what I needed!

For her DD album Ali Edwards has used some gorgeous transparencies, but then again I'm sure she gets a lot of these direct from the manufacturer or designer and doesn't have to pay $2 a sheet for them like the rest of us. So in order to keep my album in the spirit of hers I decided to create my own transparencies.

I bought a pack of 50 inkjet ready transparencies for about $40. Then I set about recreating the patterns that I most adored in Ali's DD album: stars, damask, holiday words, circles and numbers. Each layout took me about 30 minutes to create, then I simple picked the color I wanted to print in and VIOLA! I printed each pattern in two different colors. Here's a few examples:

I'm always happy to share so if you would like these files you can go to my iDisk and download them HERE. They are PSD files so you can change the colors as you like.

For the next batch of transparencies I used Katie Pertiet's Holiday Postage Strips No. 1 . The files are small, but since they are PNG files you can adjust the size without losing the detail, so I stretched the file until I filled the space the way I wanted and then printed on transparencies.

And here's a final photo of one of the transparencies that I started to embellish. The scroll work is from Summer Driggs Believe collection. You can find lots of cool and free (or super cheap) stuff from Summer HERE and HERE.

Well, I think that's enough for today. Over the next two weeks I'm going to be working on the embellishments for the transparencies and prepping some journaling cards and printed papers.

...it's beginning to look a lot like

2010-11-05T14:41:00.004-04:00

....the beginnings of a December Daily album! Yea! If you remember, last year I followed along with Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class to create an amazing holiday album. I loved the daily guidance and layout ideas provided and all the yummy freebies too. Shimelle teaches the class every year and if you want to get in on it go here: www.shimelle.com for details. The best part is that once you take the class you can retake it every year - forever! I will definitely be checking in over there daily in December for new posts, new ideas and old friends!

Many scrapbookers are aware that Ali Edwards also does a holiday album which she calls December Daily. And although I will be mixing in ideas from Journal Your Christmas and Holidays in Hand (2009s free class offering from Jessica Sprague) I am putting together my album along the sames lines as Ms. Ali. You can find out all the details on Ali's December Daily 2010 here.

As Ali so wisely suggests I am breaking the creation of the album into many steps. Today I printed out the daily numbered pages using her 2010 December Daily overlays. Here's a little peak at those:

Simple. Yes. That's the point. My album last year got a little out of control. Even though I had prepped the majority of pages ahead of time, there was still so much fussing to do after the photos were taken that it overwhelmed me. This year I'm planning to keep the photos and the journaling simple. These daily pages will hold photos and/or journaling placed directly on the cardstock.

Over the weekend I'll be working on the transparencies that will divide up the daily pages. I'm making my own patterns and printing them myself - I'm just too cheap to buy the ones in the stores. Check in next week and see how things are going. Good luck to all those who decide to undertake something like this; it's a big project, and SO worth the effort.

...all's fair

2010-10-26T11:05:00.000-04:00

...at the Cumming Fair that is. Our annual trip to the fair was greeted by warm, clear skies and a manageable crowd. We rode the Skyflyer first, played a few carnival games and had some fresh lemonade. Next we were off to the Bear Show and Disc-Connected K9s show. What talented animals!! The day wouldn't be complete without a ride on the ferris wheel, more games and funnel cake!

...characters

2010-09-12T19:31:00.000-04:00

I'm back in the swing (for about the third time in two months!) and this time I mean it! Just wanted to share the latest page for our Disney album to be completed....

...happy birthday

2010-08-30T16:25:00.000-04:00

That's right it's birthday time around here again. For this family the birthday season kicks into gear around late August and doesn't slow down until November. It's like one continuous shopping, wrapping, opening loop!

Last week was Rae's birthday and it was a good one. She has a new platform bed, thanks to Grandma, and possibly a little more reason to keep the room clean (threats from mom). Her girlfriends did an amazing job decorating her locker with drawings of the dogs, pictures of ninjas (her latest obsession) and Justin Beiber, and loads of SweeTarts to make it through the day.

That night we had a wonderful pot roast dinner, yum! And then it was time to open presents. As is custom we took the look-at-me-with-all-my-presents picture. Although I was expecting another year of speed unwrapping, Rae took things a little slower this year. Here's a little of the excitement:

Then of course it was time for cake. Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake to be exact. That's right, she DID NOT want me to make and decorate a cake for her. Doesn't she rememnber the weeks we spent in cake class? And all the fun flowers I can make? Oh well.

The big present was a concert on Friday night - TRAIN! Can you say 'Hey, Soul Sister!" We can! The photos are nothing special; just proof that we were there.

I'm not going to get too mushy here, but let me just say that this little girl is now a young woman. She is more confident than I've ever seen her. Delights in all things musical. Is a great friend and confidante. And a wonderful, wonderful daughter. I love you, baby Rae!

... and more cakes

2010-08-26T15:37:00.002-04:00

And now we continue with Part two of my posts on cakes....

The week after our second course finished a good friend of mine was celebrating her birthday. We decided that a few of us would meet for breakfast and someone asked if there would be cake. I promised to make something special. So after some thought I decided on cinnamon streusel muffins with cream cheese icing.

They were FABULOUS! The muffin was light and moist, the icing was sinfully rich and the fondant daisies were just the right touch! If you become inclined to make something similar, here's the recipes...

Cinnamon Streusel Brunch Cake

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter , softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon maple flavoring or

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

Struesel
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter , softened

Icing
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Makes: About 9 servings.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8 in. baking pan with vegetable pan spray.
In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, egg yolk and extract. Beat well. Add flour mixture in two additions alternately with sour cream, mixing only until incorporated.

For streusel, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and softened butter in small bowl; mix until crumbly. Spread half of the batter over bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the streusel mixture. Repeat.

Bake 30-32 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. In small bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar and milk; drizzle over top of coffeecake.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 2 lbs.)
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest

Makes: About 5 1/2 cups of icing.

Instructions

In medium mixer bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar one cup at a time and milk. Mix well. Beat on high until smooth (only 30 seconds to 1 minute). Thin to ice cake smooth; use full strength for piping borders.
NOTE: Do not use light cream cheese or butter substitute. If margarine is used, icing will be softer.

After breakfast another good friend complimented the muffins and asked if I would be interested in making her daughters birthday cake. Her middle daughter fell in love with the pink and black daisy cake and could I replicate it? After some discussion, about how fondant isn't really that great to eat (according to most Americans anyway) we decided to ice the cake in buttercream and change out the decorations slightly to work for a 10 year old. Here are the results:

I tried out a new buttercream icing, but the almond flavor was a little strong. When I get this one worked out I'll post the recipe.

So for now, I'm continuing to look for ways to stretch my new cake decorating wings. We finished our course on royal icing decorations, and a final cake is soon to come!

...piece of cake

2010-08-25T20:04:00.000-04:00

As promised I'm going to spend a little time catching everyone up on my summer adventures in cake camp. Well, not really camp. Rae and I took the full series of Wilton Cake Decorating classes this summer; that's twelve classes total. Each class consisted of four lessons on varying types of decorative technique and culminated in the preparation of a fully decorated cake.

Class one Decorating Basics covered the use of buttercream icing (yum!) to decorate and ice a cake. Most weeks we made 6-8 cups of buttercream, then colored it to our liking. We learned stars, shells, dots, dimensional decorating and all the tricks to ice a beautifully smooth cake. Our final cakes:

Then we took the Fondant and Gum Paste course. This is the course that Rae was really looking forward to and now I know why. We learned to make the most gorgeous flowers!!! You can also use fondant to cover cakes for an amazing finish. Here are our final cakes:

Rae made the most beautiful calla lilies! And my daisies weren't to bad either.

Next time...birthday muffins and cakes by request.

... I'm baaaaaaaack

2010-08-21T14:25:00.000-04:00

So, nearly two months since my last post. Having the kids home for the summer and no camps to keep them occupied really took a toll on my life. It has made me rethink my approach to a lot of things. For example, I've decided that the main floor of the house does not need to be vacuumed every day just because there are a few blades of grass in the corners. And having six different scrapbooking projects on your "list of things to do" is not healthy or conducive to getting anything done.

The good news is that I did do some scrapbooking this summer; I finished printing the final month of pages for my MicroBlog album from 2009 and I continued to type out and format my entries from last year's Me: The Abridged Version album (both incidentally are classes taught by Cathy Zielske.)

Starting next week I'll be posting pictures and layouts from the cake decorating class that Rae and I took this summer. And I'll get out some photos from this weekend's NASA soccer tournament.

Enjoy your weekend!

...just posting

2010-06-29T14:54:00.003-04:00

Not a lot of time today. It's the final day of Basic Cake Decorating class for my daughter and me, and we had two cakes and, wait for it.....10 cups of icing. I'll be posting the photos of our final cakes tomorrow but for today I'm just posting the next page in our vacation album.

Supplies: Libby Weifenbach and Connie Prince for Sweet Shoppe Designs. Glitter page (clipped to mesh) is my own design.

...cherish

2010-06-28T10:49:00.000-04:00

Enough said.

Supplies:Papers from Basic Grey, Two Scoops kit; Glitter letters from American Traditional Designs, Curly Pink Glitter Rub-ons

...day three in the real world

2010-06-23T16:19:00.000-04:00

Its day three of my return to the real world. Back to scrapping on a regular basis, back to blogging and photographing life. I'm still immersed in an amazing online class (more about that later) which takes up about two hours a day and its now week three of Cake Basics class at Michaels.

Its so wonderful to be revisiting our vacation days in Orlando and St. Augustine. I'm starting to see the value in collecting the memories from traveling into an album all its own. As I've said before, I've never worked on a "vacation album" as it seemed so overwhelming. But I can see now that it only takes an hour a day to complete a page and move one step closer to "DONE".

Working on this project so close to the event is making it easy to journal too. If I were a better daily journaler or just a decent note taker I wouldn't have to worry about the ravages of time on my ever decreasing memory. This is the one area of scrapbooking that I haven't embraced very well.

Here's the first layout in the book... enjoy!

Supplies: Template from Sandy Krieger; Papers and elements from Libby Weifenbach and Connie Prince for Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Journaling reads: The long ride is over. We’re here in Orlando. Well, Kissimmee actually. And though we are ready to get settled into our condo, the condo isn’t ready for us. So we head across the street to one of the many, many Mini Golf courses. It’s probably been about two or three years since we all golfed together and the first thing I notice is how much the kids have grown. No one has to help Lena line up her shot; Rae is shooting straight and powerful; Devin is just happy to be golfing again. After a little ice cream its back to the condo for some swimming and then a good nights rest.

...and I'm back

2010-06-21T21:51:00.001-04:00

Wow! Just over a month since I last posted. There's no real excuse for that. Unless you count end-of-year school activities including class parties and awards presentations, vacations, two weeks spent in bed with back problems, an amazing design class and kids home from school looking to be entertained.

I'm just going to pick up where I left off and present the title page to my first ever vacation scrapbook...

Supplies: Libby Weifenbach for Sweet Shoppe Designs, Connie Prince

Amazing isnt it? Well, a good start anyway. Those of you who have been following me know that I'm not much of a layer-er, so I'm working on that. I really am striving to get to that effortless-looking layered all to heck and back digi page.

...back to the real world

2010-05-17T18:11:00.002-04:00

Last week we high-tailed it out of town and took the kids on a Florida vacation. Four days in Orlando and 3 days in St. Augustine; the latter a complete surprise until the day before. Later this week I will start scrapping the whole event. I'm planning to do my first ever vacation scrapbook. Yep, that's right, I've never done a vacation scrapbook. So this will be a first for me.

Before the pages start rolling, a few numbers:

- Day 1, Disney Studios: 410 photos taken, 251 survived the cut
- Day 2, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure: 290 photos taken, 119 survived the cut
- Day 3, Magic Kingdom: 315 photos taken, 128 survived the cut
- Day 4, Condo: 1 sick girl, 1 bored girl and teenager, 2 parents struggling to keep it all going
- Day 5, Travel day to St. Augustine: 156 photos taken, 87 survived the cut
- Day 6, St. Augustine; no photos taken. What?! How can this be?
- Day 7, St. Augustine Historic Downtown; 189 photos taken, 123 survived the cut
- Day 8, Travel day HOME

Now before you get all crazy about day 6. Let me say that sometimes you just have to put the camera down and enjoy life and your family. And so I did.

Seven hundred and eight photos - many, many of them duplicates - await attention. I've purchased some Disney themed digital goodies, downloaded a few freebies I found and will undoubtedly design a few of my own goodies. I can't wait!

Here's a few photos to get us all in the mood:

... three years in the making

2010-05-05T12:38:00.002-04:00

I first took the Library of Memories class three years ago. I am in the process of completing my third trip through that class. It is a mind-blowing, world-changing look at how you store, sort and display your memories. Somewhere around week 8 in the class each year, Stacy Julian asks you to start preparing title pages for your albums. And for each of the past two years I've prepared and bought product to do that. And for each of the past two years I have failed to complete the project.

This year since I had most of my sorting and keywording done, and I was already using the system to some extent, I promised myself I would get these title pages done.

I've converted to all black American Crafts 12 x 12 cloth albums for my library. I wanted a black based set of title pages but could settle on the patterned paper. Then earlier this week I walked in Michael's Crafts to sign up for cake decorating, but that's another crafty story. The paper packs were 30% off and my eye caught on the s.e.i. Black Orchid set. Perfect! Consider it done!

So here are photos of my title pages for my LOM. Simple. Clean. But that weaving? Now I know why I prefer to digi-scrap!

Supplies: s.e.i. - Black Orchid paper pack; Cricut font - Opposites Attract

There are a few photos missing. I have to refill my printer ink which takes only a few minutes, but then I have to let the cartridge sit for a while. And I was just too darned excited about finishing these and wanted to show them off.

Thanks for checking in!

...monday motivation

2010-05-03T13:26:00.002-04:00

Conitining the theme of Monday Motivation: Layering I've now completed the second layout in Jessica Sprague's Digi: In Deep class. Using the gradient to blend two photos was a lot of fun. I made sure to focus on the layering of items to draw viewers to the main part of the layout. Here's my completed layout....

Supplies provided as part of the course materials for Digi In Deep, courtesy of Jessica Sprague

Although I've used the warp tool in PSCS on other projects, I had never thought to use it to warp the shadow so a journaling card appears to be lifting off the page. This is a great class and I highly recommend it.

For the rest of this week I'm going to continue to work on layering items on a layout and get ready for our trip to Disney next week.

I hope everyone enjoyed {i}NSD (International Scrapbooking Day), I know I did!

If you're looking for challenges this week check out Jessica Sprague's site. She's doing 7 Days in May again this year!

...monday motivation

2010-04-26T11:35:00.000-04:00

I'm doing a follow-up to a layout I posted on Friday titled "Cookies." My focus for the past week has been layering - learning to use it more and use it effectively. I completed Lesson 1 of Jessica Sprague's Digi: In Deep, which I posted here. Now that's a layered layout! And the second assignment for the lesson was to create your own layout using techniques from the lesson. So I worked on the Cookies layout below:

Yes, there is some layering here. But honestly its no more than I usually do. And I certainly didn't use many of the techniques from class. I knew when I posted it there was still some work to do.

So I sat on my deck this morning and played with the layout until I came up with this:

Supplies used for additions: Brushes - Crystallized Flourishes Brushes and Stamps No. 3 - Katie Pertiet;

Overlay - Chalk Over 1 , Nancy Rowe Janitz

I added some brushes and a sanded overlay to the edges. I also used an overlay technique to make the photos pop (hard to see in this picture). I'm much more happy with this. I think it's proof that I tend to rush things. I want the layout done so I can share it and print it that I don't take the time to really get all the right details included.

So, tell me you're the same way...right? I'm going to stick with Layering for this upcoming week's Monday Motivation.

keep creating

...cookies

2010-04-23T17:23:00.000-04:00

I'm playing catch up these days with my layouts. Trying to dig deep into the digital photo pile and pull up some events or happenings that didn't get scrapped yet. I'm also trying to put my skills from Jessica Sprague's Digi In Deep class to good use. So today was all about our family Christmas cookie tradition. No, you're not experiencing deja vu, I did scrap about cookies last week. But last week's page was focused on the process of baking cookies, this one is about the experience. Blah, blah, blah.

I used similar techniques to the Savannah layout: using shapes as masks, adding a scallop border, transparent journaling block. I think this layout is missing something so even though I'm posting it, I'm going to take a look at it again in a week or so to see if there's something that needs to be changed or added.

Supplies: Papers - Winter Gifts kit and Giving kit, Summertime Designs, Ribbon tags - Refresh kit, ScrapGirls

Yesterday's layout definitely meets the criteria for Monday Motivation: Layering that I set for this week. Today's....not so much. I'm going to try to work on something over the weekend with a little more pizzazz.

And for those keeping track (I know I am!) this is page 14 of 100 for 2010! Go Me!

keep creating

...scrapping today

2010-04-22T18:30:00.000-04:00

I am taking Digi In Deep over at Jessica Sprague right now. She is such a great teacher and an inspiration for digi-scrappers everywhere. Below is the first layout of the class and I must say that the techniques we used just blew me away. It's not so much that I learned new skills, but I learned how to use my current skills on a whole other level. I'm so excited to be on this journey of discovery! And every day I'm thrilled to be putting my Photoshop skills to the test creating layouts of the family and friends I love. Enjoy!

Supplies provided as part of the course materials for Digi In Deep, courtesy of Jessica Sprague.

keep creating

...title pages

2010-04-20T08:07:00.001-04:00

I'm finally making my title pages for my Library of Memories albums. Well, really this is the third time I've made them. Seeing a trend here? Three times in the class... three attempts at category drawers...three attempts at title pages. But this is a first in one very special way. The other two sets of title pages never left my scrap room. Never made it anywhere near my albums. These pages will definitely make it into the albums. They are simple, based in black like my albums and use the same photos from the other sets. Unfortunately I won't have a picture of them for you today. My camera is on loan to a friend. So I'll post the photos later this week.

In the meantime, please enjoy a snapshot of the youngest artist in our household. Lena was selected to have her artwork "Family Portrait" shown as part of the County Art Show "Visions 2010." There were only four first grade students selected from Lena's school! We're so proud of her!!

keep creating

...monday motivation

2010-04-19T20:41:00.002-04:00

I'm so glad I finally took the time to scrapbook my Lucky dog. Sadly she passed away in late 2009 and I realized that she had never been scrapbooked. So thank goodness for last week's Monday Motivation: Dogs. It gave me a chance to focus on her for a little while and send her some warm thoughts.

Supplies: Background - Vintage Oreos Kit, Summertime Designs, Strips - Dreams Take flight kit, ScrapArtist, Torn paper - Kraft Oatmeal, Moriginals, Doodle Frame - Life 365 kit, Weeds 'n Wildlowers, Paper clip - Clip Its 3, Patty Knox, Tag - Thank Ya Kindly, Jessica Sprague, Dog bone - Altered CS3 custom shape, Fonts: Pea AngeDawn, Myriad Pro, MA Sexy.

For the upcoming week I think I would like to work on something different, layering. I'm a fairly simplistic scrapper. I think this stems from my years as a paper scrapper, layering was so much more difficult with paper. So for this week, it's Monday Motivation: Layering.

Besides the layout with my precious Lucky I also completed the following layouts in the last week (sorry no supplies list; I was moving digi supplies around and lost track)...

Current page count is now 12 of 100 pages in 2010 complete!

keep creating

...keywording

2010-04-13T14:16:00.000-04:00

As I've mentioned before I'm in my third and final (free) year of Library of Memories taught by Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking and I'm attempting to put the whole process into place (finally!). This year there is a lot of information for digital users, which is great because I hardly scarp with paper anymore. Two weeks ago I was finishing up Lesson 3 on categorizing; in the paper world that means triaging some photos into category drawers and in the digital world that means applying keywords to digital photos. I've been keywording photos for about two years now and made only a few additions to my keyword system in order to make my photo organization match up with my LOM. Here's a screenshot of my categories/keywords:

Most of the "meat" of my keywords were already there, I just added the "People, Places, Things, Us" categories and a few subcategories like "All in the Family." I keyword photos as soon as I import them to Aperture (my photo organizing and editing software of choice), and when I see photos that might fit into digital category drawers I also add those tags.

This photo would be tagged with each of our individual names plus the LOM categories Together Forever (for photos containing a subset of our entire family), Places - Far (we were camping about 2 hours from home) and Things - camping (I have a category for camping because we do a lot of it).

And this photo would be tagged with the names of my girls, plus the LOM tags for Places - Far and Friends.

I'm proud to say that as of today all my photos are off the camera SD card, loaded on my HD, backed up to EHD and keyworded.

Now I'm off to get a little scrapping done....

keep creating

...monday motivation

2010-04-12T14:32:00.001-04:00

It's the Monday Motivation: Travel edition. Here are some layouts I have completed in the last two weeks to go along with the "Travel" theme I set last time.

And here's another:

For this week's Monday Motivation, let's choose....Dogs! I happen to love my dogs and always make sure to take photos of them being well, dogs. But I rarely scrap them. So join me in this week's challenge to scrap your pets!

PS - The current page count is 9 of 100 pages scrapped in 2010!

keep creating

...freebie mini kit

2010-04-08T14:21:00.000-04:00

I needed a couple of neutral colored papers with a subtle spring feeling for a layout I'm working on and decided to make my own. So I'm offering them up as a freebie. Here's the preview:

To grab the files click here:

Spring Neutrals elements
Spring Neutrals papers

keep creating

...spring break

2010-04-05T18:45:00.000-04:00

...will return next week. Enjoy!

keep creating

...let the (re)triage begin

2010-03-30T15:52:00.000-04:00

As I've said before, I've fallen behind on assignments in my Library of Memories class. Although this is mostly due to sickness there is also the continuing mindset of "I've done this before, so why stress" to contend with. But I realize that if I want this system to work for me, I've got one final year in the class to get it right -- for me.

So with my digital workflow in place (here) and my photoflow cards completed (here) I'm ready to move on to Lesson 4: Photo Triage and Category Files. Photo Triage is the process of pulling photos from storage and moving them to a place where in the future they can be connected to other photos. The idea is to pull photos from a series (an event like birthday) that might be able to tell a different story and move them to category drawers. So a picture of my son sitting in Grandmas lap at his party, might get moved to the People We Love section of the drawers and then used on a layout with other photos with Grandma taken at other times. Lame example, I know. For many people the triaging is excruciatingly painful. Its not for me. I don't have problems separating photos from the event in which they happened.

I have said this before and I'll repeat it...the category drawers have not worked for me in the past. I set them up wrong to begin with (pulled the wrong type of photo) and then last year I went through the drawers and tried to put everything right. The biggest struggle for me is remembering that all those great photos are sitting there...aging...waiting to make connections; connections that only I can make. Add to that the fact that I'm mostly digi scrapping now and you can see how those "old fashioned, hard copy" photos get forgotten sometimes. But there are photos there that are not in my digital library - I took them before I went digi and I probably don't even have the negatives anymore. As I use them, I will be scanning them so at least I have some digital record (however spotted and scratched that might be!).

So this week I am focusing on adding LOM style keywords to my digital photos. I already use a fairly extensive keywording process but this added level of tagging will allow me to create digital category drawers. I don't think I'll go into the detail of my physical category drawers, but something like this seems right:

US
- Together Forever (photos with two or more family members)
- All in the Family (photos with all of us together)
- Oh! Brother (photos that include my son w/others)
- Sister, Sister! (photos that include two or more of the girls)
- Individual Personalities (one for each family member)

THINGS
- Everyday Life
- Accomplishments
- Sports
- (there are 1 or 2 more here, but you get the picture)

What I won't be doing with this digital keywording is adding the mulitple sub-categories like Everyday Life: Bathtub, Everyday Life: Food. I think that level of detail won't be necessary with all the other keywording I've done.

Okay! So, such a long post! Want a peak at my categories/keywords? You'll have to wait until next week, when I'm done, silly!

keep creating

...monday motivation

2010-03-29T14:43:00.002-04:00

I'm proud to say that for the second week in a row my Monday Motivation seems to be paying off. Although this is a very basic layout, it captures my son's birthday on almost any given year. He's a Bills fan (yea, I know, where did that come from?) so every year there are some number of items on his wish list that includes the Bills logo.

I am also working on another layout that tells the story of the Boy's love of the Bills in more detail. But getting details out of an 18 year old who's away at college is slow going.

So let's move on to this week's Monday Motivation. What will it be? How about travel? I've been doing a lot and there's more in my future for spring break next week. Travel it is!

And for those counting... page count is now 7 of 100 completed layouts for 2010!

keep creating

...tracking digital progress

2010-03-23T07:46:00.000-04:00

Even though it's technically week seven and lesson 5 of Library of Memories, I am still focused on lesson two this week. After writing out my digital workflow last week I am now progressing through a new part of the system: a digital tracking method. While I don't feel that I can share the actual handout that Stacy and Kayla provided us, I'm happy to share the concept.

The idea is that as our digital photo libraries grow it becomes a little difficult to determine what work has been done (backing up, keywording, scrapping!) to any given photo or group of photos. Let's face it, a true digital workflow is long and complicated! I can use all the help I can get.

I've spent the past two days printing out the digital photo tracking cards from LOM this year. Each card can be used to track a group of photos through the workflow. I have my photo highlights organized by quarters from 2001 through the present. That's forty highlight folders to manage. The cards have checkboxes and sections for tracking all of the following:

- Highlight folder created (I use ratings and smart albums)
- Editing completed (general photo editing to groups of photos)
- Photos uploaded to an offsite/online area
- Printing completed (LOMers are taught to print hightlights on a regular basis)
- Photos placed in storage binders
- Backup to EHD, CD or other media

And finally each card has a place to make notes on the Top Five pages to scrap from this group. So besides keeping my photos safe, printed and stored I also get a place to keep a list of pages to make - a great inspiration starter for me. I usually get so overwhelmed looking at all the photos in my digital organizer that I just shut down. Now I can go to my photo tracking cards and get scrapping!

keep creating

Monday Motivation: The Boy

2010-03-22T16:11:00.001-04:00

I'm going to start by sharing the fruits of last week's Monday Motivation: Sisters. Two wonderful layouts that show our girls together.

First the digi layout; I changed the pictures frames out since you last saw this layout and I added the title. That's it. Simple.

And then I came across a photo that I love and have never known what to do with because it's the only photo from this particular birthday celebration. So in true LOM fashion, I scrapped it completely unrelated to the birthday. This is a full paper layout. Now it tells the story of sisterly love:

This weeks Monday Motivation is The Boy. I have so many great photos of my son, but very few are actually scrapped. So I'm thinking one about him and one with his sisters. Join me in this weeks Monday Motivation: The Boy if you'd like and share a link to your layout.

2010 Layout Count is now 6 of 100. I can do this!

keep creating

...progress

2010-03-16T08:20:00.000-04:00

As I said yesterday, I'm going to focus my crafty efforts this week on layouts involving my daughters. Here is the progress so far....

My initial thoughts are that the the photos might be better if they were closer in size and I'm wondering if the "cards" in the background should be somehow taller and thinner. So I'll let this percolate overnight and see what happens. If you have any suggestions for me, please post them.

Now for some progress on Library of Memories; both the class and my system. I have to start out by saying that I've taken the class twice already. Stacy Julian of Big Picture Scrapbooking allows each participant to take the course a total of three times in consecutive years. When I first heard this I thought it was so nice - now I realize that it is SO necessary. After two years I still haven't figured out exactly how this system is going to work for me. So when this year's course began I was determined to really allow the process to sink in.

Lesson One is an overview of the system and a peak into how to scrapbook non-chronologically. I didn't redo this lesson as I felt there was no value to be had, since I've embraced the system already.

Lesson Two focuses on gathering and sorting printed photos and placing them into storage binders. Nothing much has changed here as far as Stacy's philosophy. She has however begun to embrace the dark side: known to most of world as digi-scrapping. She has brought in a Digital Coach and together they are providing guidelines for how to manage digital libraries. Last year I implemented a digital LOM, so again, I don't feel there's much here for me to do.

What I did find interesting is the introduction of a personal digital workflow and a system for tracking your progress through the workflow. This could be great for me. I already had a basic workflow for photo importing and editing, but it didn't continue through the LOM process. So today I worked on this:

- Capture images
- Upload to computer
- Metadata check
- Purge unwanted photos
- Rate photos
- Advanced keywording (LOM categories, Highlight folders)
- Update Vault (EHD backup)
- Upload HL folders to Flickr (online backup) monthly
- Print top-rated photos for storage binders
- Save HL folders to DVD/USB key yearly

I'm going to live with this workflow for a few months and see how it goes. I'm sure there are going to be some changes. But I'll check in here once a week and let you know how things are going.

Do you have a digital workflow? Is it this robust or simpler? Do you store photo files offsite? Let me know.

keep creating

...change is good

2010-03-15T08:27:00.000-04:00

I'm so proud to show off my new blog design. The best part of all is that I created it all by myself! Well, actually I couldn't have done it without Summer Driggs of Summertime Designs, Apples and Almonds kit. All the papers, ribbons and embellishments are her products. She is an amazing designer and has an amazing story.

The process of changing the look of the blog was easy. I used Photoshop CS3 to basically digi-scrap the header, using the proportions I found in the HTML template I had been using. Then I used the Layout -> Page Elements screen in my Dashboard to upload the header file.

Next, I used Photoshop CS3 to create the background image, using paper from Summer's kit. Again using the appropriate dimensions I resized the paper to fit. Then I had to upload the background image to a free hosting site. Finally I put the url for the background image into my HRML template.

I also changed the color of my navigation bar by using the color picker in Photoshop to choose a color out of the header image and plugging that hex number into my HTML template.

I know for some of you this may sound difficult and time consuming, but in all honesty it took me less than 45 minutes. That includes the time it took me to Google the instructions for each step.

Okay, now moving on to this weeks Monday Motivation. This is something new I'm going to use to focus myself each week. You can play along if you'd like; and if you do I'd love to see what you end up with.

Monday Motivation for this week is: Sisters. I don't have one myself, so the relationship between my daughters is so amazing for me. As I was going through my LOM category drawers today I found a lot of pictures of the girls together or in similar activities. So I'm going to focus my scrapping this week on defining some special moments in my girls' relationship.

Do you have a sister? Or more than one? How about daughters? Two? Three? What is special about your/their relationship?

keep creating

...sick and social media don't mix

2010-03-08T12:49:00.000-05:00

Well, it's officially been 35 days since I last posted. That is crazy! I feel like I owe a few of my followers and friends a little explanation so bear with me.

Oddly enough I spent most of January journaling and planning out my goals for this blog. I also set some goals for learning more Photoshop and Illustrator skills.

And then....sickness. And I'm talking about 2 1/2 weeks of, well I'll spare you the gory details, but trust me it was bad. Then as any housewife or mother will tell you, the 2 1/2 lousy weeks of sickness was followed by a week of major house cleaning, laundry washing and all around getting-it-all-back-to-what-it-should-be. Which brings us to about last Thursday when I decided that I needed a break.

So as my life comes back to normal I'm planning to post this week about my third experience as an LOM student, my continued work on my Holiday Album (that's right, it's still not done) and my goals for the coming year (or at least what's left of 2010).

keep creating

...template two

2010-02-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

Working on another page today and since I had to do so much shape creation I thought I would share this as a template. Here's my layout...

I used paper from Jessica Sprague's Beautiful You kit and the three stickers are from her Echoes of Asia kit.

Click here to download Four Square template

And with this layout I've completed 4 layouts towards my goal of 100 this year.

keep creating

...my first freebie

2010-01-28T09:52:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, you might remember that I particiapted in a blog train with other bloggers from Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class. The theme was "17 again" and my layout looked like this...

Each block in the template is a separate layer and so I clipped individual papers to each layer in order to get the patchwork effect. I created the block of squares from scratch and saved it for future use. Then yesterday I was playing around in Photoshop and decided to reuse the template for this layout....

You will notice the layout is slightly different. I simple selected all the layers and used Edit > Transform > Rotate CW to shift the whole thing vertical rather than horizontal. And then I merged all the layers (excluding the background) so that I could clip one photo and have it appear to be split into individual pieces.

And since I hate to have good effort go to waste, I'm sharing this template with you! It will download in the multiple layers version as in the first photo and you can use it either way following the instructions above. Enjoy!

Click here to download Block of Squares template

keep creating

...third time a charm?

2010-01-27T11:05:00.000-05:00

Charmed or not, I'm registered to take Library of Memories at Big Picture Scrapbooking for the third year in a row. Stacy Julian must know how difficult this process is because after you pay for the first year you are allowed to register as a alumni for free for two more years.

My first year I spent the first six weeks of the twelve week course getting my photos organized and placed in storage binders. Of course there were only two weeks actually set aside for photo organizing and as the class moved on I became frustrated. But I pulled it together in time to implement the basics of her photo triage system, school of life filing ideas and breakdown of albums by subject and not date.

In that first year I was so tunnel-visioned about doing things just like Stacy that I actually decided I was going to stop scrapping 12x12 and start scrapping 8.5 x 11. So I bought a full set of albums for that size, scrapped 5-6 pages that size and prepared to adjust my whole way of scrapping.

Class ended and I didn't scrap for months. I felt like a fish out of water. I had spent so much time with my photos that I didn't want to see them anymore. I didn't like the color of the albums I had chosen, the layout size, nothing.

When LOM came around the next year I was determined to get it right. I had decided to go back to 12x12 pages and I RAK'd my LOM albums to a wonderful woman taking the class for the first time and I hear that she's put them to good use. By now my printed photos were all in binders and ready to go. But I had started taking a significant amount of photos in the last year with my new camera and digi scrapping was gaining a grip on me. I had attempted to tag and organize my digital photo files in the LOM style and was nearly done. There was such a huge contingent of digi scrappers last year that my focus turned from implementing the system to getting my digital world straightened out. I spent most of the last year during LOM determining what photo organizing system and software I wanted to use and never did focus on the implementation of the LOM system itself.

And now here I am. Third year in a row. Last chance to get it right unless I want to pay again. My printed photo albums haven't been updated since early 2009; I just don't see printing all these photos that I'm most likely going to scrapbook digitally. And I haven't added anything to my category drawers since the first year of class. I've settled on a photo organization software, Aperture, after many trials and tribulations. I've triaged my digi photos, tagged each and every photo and set up smart albums for each season/year. I have not gone as far as to create category drawer-like tags and albums as I'm waiting to see what the take is on that this year. (Stacy has said there will be more/new info for digi scrappers).

In all honesty, I don't think I'll ever scrap like Stacy does. And that's okay. With my photos stored properly, organizing done and my albums set up without the limits of chronology I do believe that I can scrap what I want when I want to.

So for my final year in LOM I plan to slow down, listen to Stacy and the other trainers and attempt to determine what my style of scrapping is. I want to end the class knowing that I have a system that lets me capture my life, indulge my creativity and share my photos. Wish me luck!

keep creating

Holiday Album Day 17 & 18

2010-01-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

As stated earlier, I'm still working on my Journal Your Christmas Album. I've left too many projects unfinished so I'm determined to get this done. These pages were fun and simple.

I probably won't go all the way through the 12 days of Christmas as Shimelle does, but definately will finish through the 31st as I've done all the journaling and taken the pictures for that.

keep creating

...it's that time of year

2010-01-18T11:26:00.000-05:00

Early in any year as most people are setting and attempting to live up to resolutions, I am usually cleaning and organizing. I'm not a "spring cleaner." When the weather warms up the last thing I want to be doing is cleaning the house. So those of you who follow this blog will remember this...

This is my studio in late December and in the beginning of its transformation. Of course, this is the "you gotta mess it up before you can clean it up phase." I spent a lot of time over the last week here in this windowless dungeon. Which is exactly how it felt. Those dark rust walls were inherited from the previous owners, and while not a bad color, it just wasn't saying "come to me...be happy and energetic....CREATE!"

So after I tore down the mess, threw bags and bags and boxes of stuff away I painted. A beautiful light and airy blue. The room still needs a lighting update, but the blue has transformed the space. I hung an old mirror (that needs to be painted to match the room) and moved some shelves out of my paint studio so I had more storage for my things. I reconfigured the temporary-yet-still-here=two-years-later tables and the CIS cubes I use for paper storage. And here's a peek....

Plans for the coming weeks include replacing the fan fixture with a six lamp track system, painting the mirror silver, removing the file cabinets, straightening up the cubes and determining what items should be on the ELFA shelving near the desk.

Also on the docket studying for and passing the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator certifications, finishing up my Holiday JYC album and completing my MeTAV album.

Hope everyone is enjoying their January. What's keeping you busy this month?

keep creating

Brown-eyed Blog

...double dog dare

...catching *way* up

...long time, no blog

...here we go again

...all on a saturday night

...super

...games

...hops

...bigger

...iPad

...left behind

...uncle

...halfway with company

...this blows

...the end

...kirby

...midweek walk

...hello old friends

...this project

...disgusting

...a nap

...my favorite

...stylish

...the little one

...quality time

...it continues

...last day

...it starts

...shake weight

...the badness

...of things to come

...december daily 19 -24

... Can you say cowgirl?

...sleepover

...december daily 17

...night snow

...Wii would like to play

...tennis

...halfway

...finally

...december daily 15 & 16

...pop!

...how it begins

...too the mall

...friends

...happy new project

...december daily 14

...december daily 13

...december daily 12

...december daily 11

...it's a RAID!

...december daily 10

...december daily 09

...december daily 08

...december daily 07

...december daily 06

...december daily 05

... december daily 04

...december daily 03

...december daily 02

...december daily 01

...now I know why

...glitter and snowflakes and ribbon, oh my!

... it's mania

...it's clear to me now

...it's beginning to look a lot like

...all's fair

...characters

...happy birthday

... and more cakes

Cinnamon Streusel Brunch Cake

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

...piece of cake

... I'm baaaaaaaack

...just posting

...cherish

...day three in the real world

...catching way up