My Perfect Husband

This is my 4th layout for the Type + Writer class. I used the words that Doug said to me a few months ago. The photos are from our recent balloon ride in Napa Valley. Doug has just climbed out of the balloon basket in the top photo, and the bottom left photo is while we are up in the air.

Weeds and Wildflowers Loving You papers; Jessica Sprague Type + Writer template; fonts: Jane Austen, Fertigo Pro, Parma Petit

Day 264: Bliss of the Ordinary

This is the third of the layouts for Type+Writer, and it focuses on an ordinary, but wonderful day. Just a slice of my life.

Jen Wilson Country Carnivale papers; Type + Writer papers; JS Sprague template; I love you and VT Remington fonts

I really like how we learned to use Wordle at wordle.net to make the background text art toward the bottom of the digiscrapped page. It was so much fun to put in a bunch of writing, have wordle generate the text art, adjust the colors and font, and paste it onto the layout. All you have to do, then, is adjust the blend mode. I used "screen."

Sadly, though, I look at the barbeque grill in the photo, and realize how well into fall we are now, and days of grilling outdoors will soon be over :(.

As I type this, Scott is on a plane, flying over the Pacific, from Japan to Seattle! Can't wait to see him :)

Day 254: Type + Writer

Technically, this is not a picture of a vehicle. Unless you count the float. And there ARE four photos. . .

Papers:Trish Jones Radientessence ;MRose Beat The Heat; K Pertiet Serentity; Fonts: Pea Lacy, Pea Marlin, Santana, Georgia; Jessica Sprague Final Tally Template

This is the first of my digiscrapped pages from the Type + Writer Jessica Sprague class. Much more challenging and fun than I expected! And I've been wanting to digiscrap my photos from Mexico.

Day 200: More of Brian

Jen Wilson One Haute Momma papers; DIDshariz Template

Day 198: Barb's Terrible Horrible Very Bad No Good Day

Some of you have asked about how my sister-in-law Barb is donig since her surgery, and I'm very happy to report that she continues to improve! I described Barb's day back in May when she came to Brian's graduation as "horrible", but something you should know about Barb is what an incredible optimist she is! Dollars-to-donuts, she'd see the positive in her being hospitalized and finding out she needed the aortic valve replacement. Me? I'd grump and whine with the best of 'em! Barb's been going to cardiac rehabilitation twice a week and gradually noting the steady, but of course, too slow, move toward improvement. This is the same sister-in-law who was on our nightmarish houseboat vacation with us last August--- when my brother hit a rock, and we had to be rescued from the boat in the dark by Mad Max. Some say Doug and I should be avoided on vacations, but I want to point out that nothing bad happened to Brian, Dianna and I this past May in Mexico!

Day 196: The Joy of Family

Doug and I live far away from extended family. We don't get to see our relatives very often, so when there is a chance to see them, it's quite an event for us! We think about it for months, anticipating it, and then just grieve when it's over, knowing that we aren't likely to see these loved ones again very soon.

So, when one of our kids does something like graduate from college, of course we're proud that they graduate. But secretly, and selfishly, it's really a Big Deal for us because sometimes we can coax relatives to come to where we're at! (And trust me, getting them to come to ND over the years hasn't been exactly the most compelling, luring, vacation hot-spot in the universe! Ask MaryAnn someday about the mosquito invasion that threatened to abduct her entire family.)

Anyway, MaryAnn, my sister, Bill, and their two children, Joyce and Andy, came to Brian's graduation in Missouri.

Here's another scrapbook layout of a few pictures of the visit. (Click on it to make it larger.) I'm wanting to make sure I really have some of these scrapbooking skills down in CS3, so repeated the Now We're Rockin' lesson 2 again with just a few different papers.

Day 195: Pick Me!

Hooray!!! The weather pixie is back!!!!! She was gone for a good month or so because of a fire at the server site. Now you can see how chilly it is here today for July! And we had 45 mph wind gusts.

Asman font; KPertiet Papers, pin & overlay; JSprague grunge frame & 4 square template

This is from lesson 2 of Now We're Rockin', a digiscrapping class at JessicaSprague.com. Digiscrapping is so much fun, and such a great step-by-step guide through it is through Jessica's classes.

I'm repeating my lessons in the class to learn CS3, and I'm really liking CS3! Now (other than the price!) I'm wondering why I took so long to learn it!

Does anyone work with Bridge rather than the organizer in Adobe Elements? I haven't looked at Bridge enough yet, but I'm wondering if it also has a tagging function. Anyone know?

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

Day 194: Graduation and CS3

I just downloaded CS3 and am experimenting with it. It's going to take me awhile to learn all its cool features, and so I'm repeating Jessica Sprague's Now We're Rockin' digiscrapping class, watching the videos that are using CS3 rather than Elements. This is a digiscrap page using a picture from Brian's graduation.

Day 108: What is this? And digiscrapping!

I tell you, my fellow POTD'ers, you're just smart! Yesterday's "what is it" was sesame seeds! Now today, I've included the "answer" at the bottom of this post, so don't scroll down yet if you want to try and guess. I'll put a "digiscrapping" layout between this, and the answer. In part, it's not a far "what is it," because this is only a portion of it.


Now, this is a digiscrapping layout from week 3 of "Digi in Deep" at jessicasprague.com. In this layout, we learned these things:

• Install a Photoshop .pat file
• Create a custom background from pattern adjustment layers
• Use Photoshop to “fake” a shallow depth of field on a photo
• Create a multi-photo effect using masks and a .png frame
• Experiment using text as texture
• Create a lacy edge on a scalloped circle
• Use the Rounded Rectangle tool to create a journaling block
• Use the Burn tool with grunge brushes
• Create semi-transparent ghost shapes

• NRJ PDQ Patters: From PDQ Textures Vol. 6 set by Nancie Rowe Janitz
• Grid notebook paper: from Notebook Paper Pack by Katie Pertiet
  
• Journaling strip: from Stitched Journaling Strips set by Katie Pertiet
• Grungy flourish brush: from Grungy Clusters Brushes-n-Stamps by Katie Pertiet
• Torn frame: from Photo Booth Frames by Katie Pertiet
• Heart pin: from Apron Strings kit by Leora Sanford

Ok, now this is the photo that makes it obvious what the first photo in this blog actually is. The first photo shows just the awning over the perch of this birdhouse. My sister sent me this birdhouse a year or so ago, and I have it in my yard in what of my little gardens. So far, no birds yet this spring, have taken up residence.

Sometimes birds don't like our yard much. These huge, nasty, black birds, or crows, take up residence and terrorize all the other birds. AND my dog. AND my daughter! Occasionally I declare war on them, sit in my yard with a garden house and squirt them as they dive bomb poor old Bonnie (dog, not daughter). Mostly, the birds win and I go inside thinking Dark Alfred Hitchcock thoughts about them.
(note: this does NOT mean that if they were dive-bombing my daughter, I would not protect her. She's just smart enough to go inside and not wage futile wars against birds.)

Day 104 POTD Mizzou and Digiscrapping: What's a Family For?

Here are a couple of photos from our recent trip to see Brian at Mizzou (University of Missouri.) He's graduating this year with a degree in Journalism and Marketing. Hopefully, after graduation he'll end up a little closer to home, although he tells us he's really not use to the cold anymore!




And this is a digiscrapping layout prompted by a conversation I had with my family about 11 years ago. I asked them what they thought a family was for. Dianna first said, "What book are you reading now, mom?" (She knows me too well!) And then said, "I'm not talking to you; I'm watching tv." And then she started answering in a way that I thought was really what an 8 year old thought about the purpose of a family.

So I grabbed a yellow tablet and wrote down what everyone said. I kept this little scrap of paper all these years, because it just struck me as so revealing of their different developmental levels. Scott's answer, at age 13, reflecting more of his unique "strange" perspective, giving it a little "biological" twist.

Wish me luck! I'm trying to get Scott's permission to a put a poem that he just wrote on my blog. My last e-mail to him tells him that if he doesn't answer, I'm taking it as consent!
OScraps Moonrise paper-recolored; RCarlton Carnival tags

Week 2 assignment for Digi in Deep: the High Seas

This is an assignment for my second week in the Digi in Deep class. This involved blending two photos together, creating textured papers, creating customized brushes, and using fonts as clipping masks. All fun!

• SP Lima background papers: From Monoblendz Paperie - Lima paper pack by Anna Aspnes
• Rounded corner square die cut: from Border Templates pack by Katie Pertiet
• Striped patterned paper: from Bohemian Garden kit by Mindy Terasawa
• Dirty Journaler Label: from Dirty Journalers set by Katie Pertiet
• Grunged Up Photo Block: from Grunged Up Photo Blocks No. 2 set by Katie Pertiet
• Staples by Katie Pertiet

Digiscrapping: Whales in Alaska

This is the 2nd page I created for the Digi in Deep class by Jessica Sprague. I love this first lesson! I think I could practice the skills over and over from this first lesson alone and be totallly blissed out! One of the challenges of this lesson was to create our own clipping masks, in a variety of shapes.

Ann Aspness Explore paper, rope; Vlim Magic brushes; Jen Wilson rub on frame; strip-Jen Wilson, Linda GB tiny tags All worn;

I created a whale mask out of 3 elipticals, 1 rectangle & skewed it. I took a picture of the binoculars, used the magic extractor, and put 2 round masks in the lenses. Such fun!

Digiscrapping: My Wild Child

• Ledger background paper (lumiere): from La Paperie No. 1 Paper Pack by Jen Wilson
• Yellow vertical paper (definingflowers): from Nostalgia No. 1 Paper Pack by Jen Wilson
• Blue patterned paper: from Keeping Up with the Jones - Home kit by Trish Jones
• Striped patterned paper: from King Me kit by Katie Pertiet
• Red paper strip: from Meaning 4 Elements pack by Jen Wilson
• Flourish frame: from Shmootzy Frames, Vol. 3 by Nancie Rowe Janitz
• Flourish brush: from A La Mode Brush Set by Mary Ann Wise
• Hemp tie ribbon: from Star Chasers kit by Katie Pertiet
• Jewelry Tag: from Tiny Tags set by Linda Gil Billdal
• Button: from Barcelona kit by Lynn Grievson

The Digi in Deep class at JessicaSprague.com is the best ever! It's the 3rd in a series of digiscrapping classes, and this first lesson involved 10 tasks. The first task alone was well worth the class!

A confession. . .

Think pre-feminism as you read this little confession! The journaling reads: "1966. 8th grade. 13 years old and definitely a geek. I had a brainstorm one day! I bought myself a pair of earrings, “borrowed” my brothers’ ring, and “Tom” gave me these. My standing in my social world suddenly improved greatly!"

By the way, my dh is NOT made up!

txt circle JSprague 4 sq template; LivEdesigns paper & ElemLove Triple frame;GCabrera journal ; bjc t2t key & seal; ktd t2t heart; bkern simply love paper; WWWildflowers loving u flower,1st love; VLim a little magic

Uninjured!

Liv Esteban's Adventure Kit; travelin typewriter, and Justin fonts

It's amazingly therapeutic to digiscrap something distressing. . . like this 3 am phone call from my son about his car accident.

San Francisco City Scapes

Melgen Designs alphas; Imagine Fran Designs Love in the City papers and flowers and hearts; KPertiet Sanded Overlay

This is a two page layout of San Francisco images from my trip last month. The layout is based on a lesson in the Now We're Rockin' class at JessicaSprague.com. If you have any interest in digiscrapping at all, I don't know of any better way to learn than to take an on-line digiscrapping class through Jessica Sprague.

If I Could Put Time in a Bottle. . .

Maya bottles; ateets whitie tities; jbolt delight photo stitches;
Tag clock A Aspnes; antique camera 2 maya DSLR prize; KPertiet Jewelry Tag1

"Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have retained of them," Marcel Proust

Talking, but not to us!

I digiscrapped some of my older photos today. My kids really do talk to us, but there certainly have been stages where the words were more forthcoming than others! I especially love this 1983 photo of Scott in a laundry basket, looking at the doll dressed in my own baby clothes. My mother gave me this doll shortly after Scott was born. (He had a crib, in case you're wondering! But sometimes, it was convenient to toss the poor guy into a basket!)

LivEdesigns 3x3Grid template; Weeds & Wild Flowers loving you papers & pngs; FR Love in the city tags and pngs; Wave 8 Text bytes;

Day 46 Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day, Everyone ! Love Quotes - WH Auden

“Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.”

Palm trees, shot in manual mode, ISO 200, using a polarizing filter on my 18-135 lens at 28mm; exp 1/200; f/5.6; wb: sunny.


And this is a 2 page layout of photos from San Francisco, made for the JessicaSprague.com Now We're Rockin' class.

Thanks for looking! Even though I've returned physically from San Francisco, I haven't quite returned yet emotionally! (check my weather pixie!)

Another Layout from our 5 hours together in Minneapolis

ATeets Modern Twist patterned paper; KPertiet Fairy Dreamer paper; K Pertiet On the Edge Flourish; J Sprague Red Solid paper; K Pertiet Snap Frames, Quotes; MWise a la mode brush; Jack & Me alpha blank lines; KPertiet Brown Stiches; Jason Gaylor Valentine brush; Mom's typewriter font

Sadly, it could be years before all five of us manage any time together again! (I really don't want to think about that!)