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!

The dogs think I've lost my mind

Ok the dogs think I've lost my mind. They are probably right, but I hate to admit it to them since they usually think I'm pretty wonderful. I am the one who gets them food, water and treats so I'd kind of like to keep them thinking I'm pretty wonderful, but I put a big dent in that thought process the other day. I've been in turtle slow mode for a couple of months, you know the lights are on but no one is home syndrome, so i'm going to blame my outburst on that.

I've been trying to get back into the swing of things and thought I'm finally ready to start making layouts again. It's been really hard to even look at my pictures since Mark is in so many of them, but I figured I have to work through this. So....I open my photos, decide which ones to work on, open photoshop and then my brain comes to a GRINDING HALT. I upgraded to CS3 while I was taking Jessica Sprague's last class and while it's similar to photoshop elements, there are many things that are different. I remembered how to open the photos, get the paper in, well I was working with a template and just used the paper that came with it so I didn't have to deal with any paper, so then I go to "clip" my photos to the mask and that's when my brain just came to a stop. I'm looking at the keyboard like it was something from outer space and none of the keys were familiar. I couldn't remember how to clip the photos onto the mask. So I do what any normal redblooded girl would do - start hitting random keys and hope it works. Well my first guess didn't work. My second guess didn't work either, or the 3rd, 4th or 5th. Well by now I'm not gently hitting the keys (I'm sorry little keyboard), and I'm yelling at the computer. Masking is my very favorite photoshop tool and for the life of me I couldn't remember how to do it!

By now I'm scaring the dogs who are looking at me like I've lost what little mind I had. Here I was sitting on the couch yelling at the computer, hitting keys, the dogs hiding under the table thinking they are the next in line. Mind you NOTHING IS WORKING! I figure I'm better than this. I can figure it out. So I finally think (yes the brain finally started to catch up) I'll just use the layers menu. There is a clip to mask there. So that's what I finally used. During my tantrum Krystin came to see what I was yelling about - saw what I was working on shook her head and turned around and went back to her room. The dogs followed her thinking they were safer with her.

Next thing I think of is Hey! We learned this in the DID class so all I have to do is re-watch the video and it will remind me how to do the clipping mask trick. Told you my brain was starting to catch up. So off the the JS site - load up the class video, (love that they are there forever!) and then watch away. Well I found the lesson and boy did I feel dumb when it showed the little trick. One of those DUH moments. I had been hitting every combination of keys except the correct one. Oh well I'm sure it won't be the last time I'm doing the duh moment, I just hope I figure them out easily like I did this one.

Well the dogs have forgiven me for my lack of self control and are back to thinking I'm pretty wonderful so life is getting back to normal.

Here my latest layout. I'm finally getting to where I can look at pictures of Mark without it choking me up too much.

Thanks for looking



Chirpi Sunday Morning Kit - clip & paper, Old Toy Camera action

Getting Back to Life

It's been a long time since I've been to my blog. As most of you know my husband passed away suddenly in May and I've been kind of in a tail spin for the last couple of months. There are so many things to take care of and I'm still not done with everything.

I want to thank all of the incredible people at Jessica Sprague who made cards for myself and my girls. They were so thoughtful and meant so much to us.

So now I'm on to getting back to life. So I thought I'd start out slow. (Turtle speed actually) I started by just cruising the galleries and message boards at JS. Then gradually started posting on the message board. One of my good friends at JS decided I needed to take the Oh Shoot! photography class with Candice Stringham at JS as a kick in the pants to really get me started. I enjoyed the class, the videos that Candice did were outstanding. I'd like to say I finished all the projects, but I didn't. Not because they were too hard, but I got side tracked. It's been over 100 degrees for weeks now and it's just too hot to go out and take pictures. I have my camera on the tripod and I just can't lug it around myself with the dogs. I'd hate to drop it! So I've just put it off and I'll finish the class in my own time. That's one of the best things about the classes at JS, the class materials are there forever and you can finish when you are ready.

Krystin is going to nursing school and doing great. She had a week off between semesters so the two of us headed to Disneyland for a couple of days. So I've done some scraping and put together a page of the photos we took there. This seemed to be just what I needed to get me scraping again.

So here are some of the pages I've done lately. Thanks for looking.


This is from our last trip to Disneyland
simplysarahdesigns.blogspot.com Layered Template #42 , Digs My Heart Font


The new Kitten
joyrevisiteddesigns Heather Lee Template, Sabdesbois Impressions Papers


Krystin, Bryan and I went to the Olympic Trials for Wrestling and Judo at the Thomas and Mack
simplyyin Template #42



Creative Lesson - Picture that represents song lyrics - Candice Stringhams' Oh Shoot Photography Class

I'm Back!

Wow I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated my blog. Our Advanced Digi class at Jessica Sprague really did me in. I learned a ton, but I seem to have gone onto overload after the class. Maybe I just went on strike. I did the class is Photoshop CS3 instead of the easier Photoshop Elements. I loved CS3 and now just have to wait until i can afford to purchase the more expensive program as I guess I have gotten spoiled and like it much better than Elements.

The weather has finally warmed up which means Jasmine has been in the pool several times a day now. The other morning about 8am I hear this big splash and of course figure Jasmine has jumped in the pool again. I look out the bedroom window (yes I was still in bed) and to my surprise it wasn't Jasmine in the pool. A duck had landed in the pool!





I ran to close the dog door so the dogs wouldn't run out and chase the duck away before I could get pictures. I get outside with the camera and the duck is just swimming around in the pool having a grand ole time. We don't have ducks near our house so I have no idea where this duck came from. I kept looking around to see if there were other ducks flying around, but didn't see any others. After swimming around for about 5 minutes we heard duck honking and our duck flew off.

We are doing the Photo a Day for May at JS so i'll be posting more pics here soon. There are some really outstanding photos in the gallery there. Mine are more snapshots, but some real art going on there. Stop by there are take a peek.

See you soon!