Speed Scrap

I went to my first speed scrap at Scrap Matters last week. My friend Di and I did the scrap together. It was so much fun. We chatted on skype while we scrapped. What is a speed scrap you ask? Well let me tell you how they work. You start off the hour with your first set of directions. They tell you how many pictures to use and if there is an order they want them arranged in. Then they tell you how many papers to use. They continue to give you directions every 10 min through the hour. At the end of the scrap you post your layout in the gallery and also on the speed scrap forum. They also give you a free gift for participating.



I'm also taking the Design your Life class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. There is so much information in this class. I completed the pre-work page but haven't gotten to the week one homework yet. Typical me - I'm in the lagger group again. And not for lack of time. It's the procrastinator in me. I keep thinking I need to listen to the video/slide show, but I haven't done it yet. So I finally just looked at the homework. It looks much easier than I anticipated. Now I just need to figure out what photos I'm going to use and get on the ball and do it.



I spent hours yesterday scanning photos from our Hawaii trip that we took in 2000. I want to get this album finished. I had started it years and years ago (paper obviously) but I think I'm going to redo it digitally since I prefer that method so much more. After I got the photos all scanned in and uploaded into iphoto on the desktop, I needed to copy them to a cd to put on my laptop. Have I told you that I've gotten really weak? Well talk about being frustrated over it. I couldn't get the darn cd container open! Man I was so mad. I took a screwdriver to try and pry the container open - and nothing. So I have to wait for Krystin to get home from school today to get it open so I can copy the photos.

Ok well that's it for now. Hope you have a great day.

New Store at ScrapMatters

We have a new designer opening up a store at ScrapMatters this Friday. Go over and take a look at Jenlin's stuff and get in on the sale!



Thanks for looking!

New Class

I'm taking a new class at Jessica Sprague. It's the Type+Writer class that both Jess and Liv are team teaching. It's to help you journal better and learn some typography. We are supposed to complete 6 layouts in 2 weeks. So far I'm being true to kind and am procrastinating. I am having a hard time with the first layout. I finished the 2nd layout and the 3rd layout I've got a good idea about. So hopefully I'll get started on that layout today.

In this class we are supposed to write in a journal for 15 minutes everyday. I have to be honest - I haven't done this. I really don't care to do this type of journaling, so I'm using updating my blog here as my "free write" today. The prompts for some of the writing have been very interesting. We had a list and we were supposed to complete the sentences. I was very surprised that I couldn't / wouldn't answer some of the prompts. One of the prompts that I had difficulty with was I am honored by....and another was I am waiting for... I know I could think the answers but actually writing them down ..no couldn't actually do it. I guess seeing my answers in writing either makes me feel shallow or egotistical. Some of the answers just made me think of how much I miss Mark and I didn't want to admit it to myself. Even now thinking of it makes me tear up. The ironic thing is this is the only layout I've finished for the class so far.

The layouts are all created with wonderful templates that Jess made so they are easy to get the layouts together. The typography we have learned so far has been very interesting. We learned how to create a text path. That is one of the things I always wanted to learn with CS3. We are also learning about text masking. So pretty cool things so far.

The layouts I've been doing for my CT at Scrap Matters have been coming along. I used one of the kits on one of the layouts for the Type+Writer class. I loved how it turned out. I've been posting my layouts at Jessica Sprague, Digi Shop Talk, Creating Keepsakes and of course Scrap Matters.

Here are my latest layouts.



20 Small Things
Brianna Cox About a Girl Kit - Solid Pink, Solid Purple Recolored, Pale Green Roses, Pale Pink Roses, Flourished Dots, and Little Dotty Paper at Scrap Matters,
Template by Jessica Sprague,
Justus and Charms font



Dole Plantation
Ellie Lash Scatter Sunshine Kit, paper recolored at ScrapMatters
F.Jardine stitches Carnival Kit
Papyrus Font


Thanks for looking. See you soon.

Another Layout

It's been fun going through all the kits at Scrap Matters and trying to decide which kit to use. This is such a change for me - usually I have my few kits that are my favorites and I keep going back to them, but now I need to choose different kits to use. Kind of a nice change. The new challenge will be to use more of the items in the kits. My style usually is pretty plain without using alot of stuff added to the layout. So I will have to look closer at the added items in each kit and try to use them more - stretch my "style". But not too far yet. Still in the baby steps stage.

Here is the latest layout. It's from 2 years ago when Krystin and I went to Disneyland ( I know like we would go somewhere else?). We had never been in this one area of California Adventure since we thought it was for little kids. We had a blast. We ran over rope bridges, she felt the need to roll down one of them. And they had a Rock Climbing area. So of course she had to do it. Mind you she's only about 2 feet off the ground.



Waltograph and Tekron Pro Fonts
When Nature Calls and I've been Framed Kits
All by Fluffy Bunny Feet Designs at Scrap Matters



Thanks for looking.

My First CT Layout

Here is my first layout for Scrap Matters from the Designer Erica Zane. I also uploaded this layout to Digi Shop Talk and Jessica Sprague. So I'm very excited to start this fun journey. I have 3 more layouts to do this month. The designers at Scrap Matters are so incredible and it's so much fun to use their products.



Erica Zane EZ Template #1 at Scrap Matters
Erica Zane Bright Fun at Scrap Matters
Digs My Heart and Arial Font


Thanks for looking.

I'm a CT at Scrap Matters!!!

Yippie! I can't tell you how excited I am that I was chosen to be on the creative team at Scrap Matters. There were over 60 people that applied and they chose 18 for the digi team and 5 for the hybrid team. One of the really exciting things is 3 others from our Jessica Sprague group were chosen also! Just goes to show how much we've all learned there. So I'd like to make a big shout out to Kari, Monique and Jamie for making the team also!
It's going to be a busy 6 months. So I should get lots of scrapping done during that time.

I have also signed up for Liv & Jess's Type & Writer class. I really hope I'm not jumping in over my head, but oh well. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? There are also a few of us that are getting together and practicing/learning new techniques. Veev's so generously volunteered to head up this project for us. So far we have worked on extractions and then Linda gave us a really cool technique for masking. It was so quick and easy. I would never have thought of it, so I'm really glad she did and shared this technique with us. Then on top of it she let us practice with one of her fantastic pictures from her Italy trip. She took the best photos on this trip. The scenery looked just like you see in the movies. The kind that look so serene that they never look real. I can hardly wait to see her layouts using these photos.

I finally got out my tablet and gave it a try. I wish there was a way to video tape me trying these things. If there were I'd be a very happy winner of America's Funniest Home Videos. I was working on the extraction I was trying, and here I am holding the pen over the tablet, my arm hovering over the tablet in the air, trying to get the pen to only touch down in specific places on the screen. With the loss of alot of my muscles I'm not as dexterous as I used to be. My hand eye coordination is just not there. My brain knows what I want it to do, but the arm is laughing at me. So I'm hovering over the tablet, arm shaking by now, hitting just about everything except the magic wand button in Photoshop that I'm trying to click on. So finally after 5 minutes of this I figure I'll just rest a finger on the tablet for balance. Duh moment again. After I thought why didn't I just hold the pen like I was writing on the tablet. Did I say I still haven't watched the how to video for the tablet?

So once I rested my little finger on the tablet it went much smoother and quicker. So the moral of the story? I figured I can rest my hand on the tablet as long as I don't pound on it. Resting is good Pounding is bad. I guess I really should watch the video and see how you are supposed to use the tablet. So much for me learning spontaneously.

I'll be posting my pictures for the next 2 techniques we are working on as soon as I've finished them.

Have a good day.

I applied for a CT

Yep - it's the truth. I applied to be on the Creative Team at Scrap Matters. It took the encouragement of so many of you to get my courage up and apply. Not that the applying part was difficult, you only send an email stating you are interested with links to your gallery, blog, and a short bio to them, but man it was the thought of not being good enough that does a person in.

But I took the plunge and applied anyway. I love Brittany's designs at Scrap Matters and if I get chosen to be on the CT you have access to the whole store - all the wonderful designers there. I've been getting back into the swing of things and since I had created 3 layouts in 3 weeks time I figure I'm on a roll and if I get chosen I'll have lots more reasons to make sure to scrap!

I also got myself a new toy! I got a Wacom Intuos3 Tablet. I was so excited waiting for the Fed Ex person to arrive and bring my new tablet. I was pacing all day in anticipation. When the driver finally arrived (4:30pm) with this very large box I ripped it open to get to my new tablet. Remember I'm very excited about getting my tablet - I open it, look at it and think omg what have I done? When I ordered it I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I got the 6 x 8 size tablet. Now I know in my head that's the size of the writing area, but for some reason that little section of my brain just shut down. Those poor little mice on the treadmill that keep the lights on in my brain must have been taking a break. The tablet is big. It's about the same size as my laptop. I usually work on my laptop sitting in bed or on the couch watching tv. Now to figure out a place to actually put the tablet while I'm working on my laptop. So what's a girl to do? Promptly put the tablet in a drawer! I know I spent all that money on a tablet and put it in a drawer. So my list of things to do today is to take the tablet out of the drawer (and the plastic it came in) and install it on my laptop. Oh ya and actually try something on it. It's a good thing my friend Veev's has a new tablet too so we can learn how to use them together.



My New Toy

So I'm off to play with my new toy and watch more of the Olympics. Have a good day!