Ana's Homecoming Pictures and Photoscape

Hi - just a quick post with Ana's homecoming pictures. Thanks to her stepmom for providing the photos. I used Photoscape to edit them. Have you tried Photoscape? It's a cool application for editing photos - less scary than Photoshop, and it's completely free! I stumbled on it while watching YouTube videos a couple years ago (there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube for this program - just search Photoscape). Here's some photos of Ana that have been Photoscaped:

And here's the original:

 

 

And the original

 And this is the original

Some other pictures I've Photoscaped

Hope you give it a try!

Art Journal page....Words of Wisdom - My Dream Bookstore

Took me all night, by I completed one of the weekly assignments for the Art Journal Caravan that I'm working on over at Scrapbook Graphics with Tangie Baxter and Amanda Sexton. I've added a tab for my digital art journal pages as well, in case you're interested. This week's itinerary had us focusing "Chasing Down your Dreams".

It's long been a dream of mine to own my own bookstore...surprise, surprise! In the era of the super bookstores (should I mention that You've Got Mail is one of my all time favorite movies?), the little bookshop I dream of is not likely to fly....so, I've created this one....come on in, sit down and grab a cup of coffee and a book off the shelf and stay a while....

Papers: Art Stomp, Tangie Baxter and Roben-Marie Smith, Every Life Has a Story, Digichick Designers
Elements from Studio Manu, Viva Artistry, Faith True, Gunhile Storide, Fresh Outdoors Collab, Impressions of the Sea Collab, Jen C Designs, Libby Weifenbach, Connie Prince
Bookcase: Dustybear, Sassy bookcase

Greatly sorry if I missed any credits

Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase -- that's what wild geese are for.
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
~Vince Lombardi 

Happy, Happy

I had the layout of the week over at Log Your Memory this week....the challenge was to do a page having to do with what you like best about summer and I chose my birthday!

Here's the journaling:

My birthday is July 5 and I still, love, love, LOVE my birthday. I don’t worry about getting older, I just look forward to celebrating another year with my family. My favorite summer memories are tied to my birthday, too: fireworks the day before, then I always take the day off of work for my birthday and spend it with my kids and people I love, and some of the best birthdays I’ve had were spent relaxing in the swimming pool. The 2 photos on the bottom are the swimming pool birthday cakes my sister made for me (by the way, her birthday is 2 days before mine!)

Those awesome cakes were created by my sister Jeanne...here's a close up:

An effective use of my daughter's outgrown Polly Pocket toys, don't you think? Look for the recipe for this cake? We found it here.

Jeanne has selected the design for this year's cake....it's a Watermelon! Can't wait!

*************************************************

I also did a page on my recent trip to Naperville that I wrote about here.

In Other News:

Ana graduated from 8th grade this week...holy cow!....I'll be sharing photos for the West Coast Erickson/Clark/Davis clans once I get them uploaded!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Oh what fun....iNSD is May 1st....

Non-scrapbook friends....iNSD is (inter)National Scrapbooking Day! Really? Oh, yeah. Crazy sales, chats, freebies, store sales....oh, I'm so overwhelmed already and it doesn't start until May 1st! I'm spending the day with my flesh and blood Scrap Cellar Girls, who else?

The awesome Kristin Rutten at Log Your Memory teamed up with Simple Scrapper to create a iNSD planner! No, really, it's that big!!! AND it's free! If you weren't there for the chat, you can grab the planner here.

How ridiculously cute is this kit?

Available in the iNSD grab bag available 5/1 from Pixie Perfect Designs, exclusively at Scrapable!!!

(And that's not all....there are lots more goodies in this grab bag, but what good is a grab bag without a few surprises?!)

A recent weekly challege at LYM got me to answer the question you may have asked yourself (or really are wondering why I'm blogging all my scrapbook pages) - Why do you scrapbook? Well.....

There's a little digi page with photos of my recent paper scrapbooking in the Scrap Cellar.

Like I've said before....it's a gentle madness, this hobby. Ah.

Have a terrific day!

Jen C Designs - New Releases

Hi to my digi friends (and of course, my non-digi friends!) -

Jen C Designs has two cute baby kits for sale this Monday at Digi Scrapbook Mania-

Most of my kids' baby pictures were from BD - Before Digital, and I never really scrapbooked their baby pictures, but these kits were too cute to resist. As a member of Jen C's creative team, I got a chance to play with these kits, and I'm pleased with how they came out:

"Precious Princess" Ana

"Sweet Boy" Matt

Yummy kids!!!!

I'll be blogging again soon with details and pictures of Matthew the Playwright (with a special shout out to the West Coast Erickson/Clark/Davis Family)....stay tuned!!!

Leanne left a treat!!!

Now, isn't that a special little sweet treat! My friend Leanne stopped by and awarded this lovely award to me! It was given to her by Leslie aka scrapwordsmom, who received it herself.

I need to award it to 5 blogging friends, however, my blogging friends have already gotten it.....need some new blogging ladies!!!

I also have to share 10 things that make me happy....here they are:

1. Ana and Matt getting along
2. When Matt comes home and sits right down and does his homework!
3. A clean sink
4. The way my dog sleeps with his head on a pillow
5. Starbucks iced carmel macchiatos with extra carmel!
6. Bookstores
7. Glee!
8. Diet coke
9. Finishing a project
10.My mom....

Wow, that list makes me sound fascinating! You still here? How about a game of I SPY...teenager style:

A few New Layouts

Haven't felt so good in the past few days - allergy season kicks my butt...well, really my head, but that's not the saying, is it? Looking forward to some paper scrapping with the girls in the Scrapbook Cellar this weekend. Here's a few digital:

Now, it's off to bed for me and my stuffy head!

Some New Layouts to share....

Checking In

Peacock from here

This was a very good week. I got my hair cut - I call it short (took off 5 inches), but it's really just past my shoulders. I'd been hanging on to my long hair as kind of a security blanket for the past year. I felt ready to break free, finally. Then, I finally got something at work I've been hoping for - feeling kind of proud of myself for hanging in there. And, finally, I finished the Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge at Log Your Memory. Focus, my friends, is working for me!

I've completed these layouts, as well. Have I mentioned I'm so addicted to the digital scrapbooking and paper scrapping, which was once all I did, now feels so HARD, like I'm trying to scrap with my elbows!

That's all I have for today. Once again, I thank my Ana for proofreading :) See you soon!

A story about Jack, who is not a PUG.

Hi friends- I wanted to remember and share this story about my dog, Jack. He's a good boy, HUGE, but a good protector and just the right dog for us right now.

Jack's 5 years old this year (that makes him 35 in people years, right? He's almost as old as me!) and has adopted that wise look of a dog who's seen it all. He's still a puppy in the snow though, but he's not too fond of getting muddy in the rain anymore....I hear you, boy, I don't have fun playing in mud anymore either....must be our "advanced" ages.

(thanks Ana for your proofreading...how embarassing!)

Oh March, you lucky month! A brief, brief overview

I created a layout last night as part of a challenge from the Guest Designer, Suzy Iverson of SuzyQ scraps, using her new Serendipity kit.

Also, one of my digital layouts was selected to be published in the Log Your Memory 2010 Yearbook! I'm beyond excited about that and feel incredibly lucky to have found such a great bunch of on-line ladies to create with. It's this one here.

Just bummed that my real-life scrappin' gals at the Scrap Cellar won't be able to get together this month - sending them good vibes for health and new grand daughters and husbands!

Ana had a blast on her trip to Washington DC at the end of last month....I'll post pictures soon.

Hope your days are full of luck and dimes!

Today, I'm Excited....and I Just Can't Hide It!

Okay, so dorky song title today, but really, I am excited! My layout was selected as the layout of the week over at LogYourMemory.com! Totally made my day. My layout was submitted for the weekly challenge: How has your daily life changed because of the Internet?

Come see my response here: http://logyourmemory.com/2010/02/26/youre-going-to-lol/

If you haven't been over there yet, I suggest you check it out http://logyourmemory.com/....great ideas, fun challenges, and loads of inspiration and cool people, with a focus on documenting the story and scrapbooking our everyday, real life.

Hope your day is full of good surprises, too!

Another Layout....

Creating grids? Learned. Next?

Learned a new technique!

I learned how to make a grid....baby steps......

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, dear friends!

I spent lots of time with my Valentine this weekend - we saw the new movie, Valentine's Day - I highly recommend it - it was a lot of fun.

I made some heart pancakes for the kiddos this morning (they got their 'valentine's' gifts last weekend - new Webkins since theirs "expired" last week).

I also created this digital layout for them as one of the challenges in the logyourmemory.com Sweet Talk Challenge (Write a Letter).

I'm planning on hugging and loving them up until they just can't stand it....of course, I don't need it to be Valentine's Day to do that!

Have a lovely day!

Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge #5....(but really I've only completed 1)

This digital page was created for a logyourmemory.com challenge. I'm still learning how to get Photoshop Elements to do what I want it to.

Looking at the 2 photos, about the only similarity I see is that I'm wearing the same necklace in both (more on my "default" necklace another time)!

I'm proud of both the girl and the woman, for without the 25 year-old me, there wouldn't be all the blessings that the 38 year-old me enjoys.

Focus.....checking in

So, one month into 2010, and I'm checking in on the progress of my One Word. Remember, my word this year is FOCUS. I'm finding it a little odd that friends and family who have read my posts are reminding me to focus when I start to spaz out on the various aspects of my life - that I didn't expect. So, let me tell you how things are going....

First of all, this is on my desk.......instead of a calendar, I have a daily mood!

Second, I finished a whole book last month (in less than a month, really), I read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. A lot of fun and one I couldn't put down. In the last few years, my voracious reading has taken a back seat to the other pulls in my life. Maybe with a little focus, I'll go back to enjoying this hobby. Next up for February, Eat Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I bought it last year when every one else was reading it, read about 20 pages and moved on to something else....I lost focus....I'll get through it now.

Third, I've spent some time learning something knew and here's where FOCUS meets digital:

And finally, last year, I accepted a tremendous amount of help from others when my work demanded so much more of my time and life threw me a curve ball. Now, as things have slowed down, the focus is once again trained on my wonderful kids, the love of my life, and my endlessly supportive family. These are the people that are most important to me and bring me immeasurable joy. My focus is once again .... MOM.

I hope you all are finding your WORDs are helping bring direction and ... focus ... to your lives.

Dippin' my toes in the water of Digital Scrapbooking, part 1

I've  been scrapbooking for close to 15 years. I'm exclusively a paper crafter, but this year, I've decided to stretch my scrapbooking skills a little further and give digital scrapbooking a try. Also, I stumbled on a website and couple of communities of digital scrapbookers that I really wanted to be a part of -- the first is logyourmemory.com and the other, the better know Two Peas in a Bucket.

I confess, I don't have the same warm fuzzies for the digital subset of this hobby, but I decided to give it a try because, it's quite possible I'm missing out on something great. But to be honest, I'm a paper crafter at heart, and I love the feel of the paper. This is what scrapbooking looks like to me:

However, as this corner of my house is proof, being a paper crafter takes up space....here's my extremely haphazard scrapbook area:

At the very least, digital scrapbooking will be more organized and take less physical space. There are also tons of sites out there that offer free digital kits and elements along with the kits you pay for, which are usually the work of better known artists. Even so, they cost less than the physical supplies and are reusable....at least I think so....all new to me....

So, I jumped in and started to follow a class at Two Peas in a Bucket called Digital 101, which posts a new tutorial on the 25th of every month. Class 1, a few days ago...and I made this piece of "art":

Digital Project #1

Don't get me wrong, the tutorial was very good, the instructor was very good, and even the feedback after I posted to the gallery was encouraging. I think my interpretation of it all was VERY LAME!

So, I tried some more, and hopefully, next month, I'll learn some new tricks. Here are my other attempts...