Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Thanks to Best Buy...

...and black Friday (well actually it was Saturday), I now have lots of learning to do. I finally got Photoshop Elements, and there is so much you can do, but it will definitely take some time playing around to learn how to do it. Anyway, I'm just happy I can actually shoot in RAW with my camera and open the photos. I have already learned that this makes the basic editing process a lot easier for me. It's so sad to have a camera that will whoot RAW and never be able to use it. Of course, that means I need another memory card now!

I decided to start off playing by making our Christmas card. It's actually really simple, but I did learn a few things along the way. I'm sure it will be a while before I advance beyond simple because I just don't have time to sit here and play.

So here is our finished product. I'm eager to see how they finally turned out. I uploaded them to Winkflash because you don't have to use their templates and they have 40% before the 15th. Yay! Christmas cards on sale before Christmas. I got the notice that they shipped yesterday, so I hope to get a peek at them soon. AND I know I checked matte on the box so none of that surprise glossy stuff like last year!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Friday, November 17, 2006

Where does all the time go?

I had plans to start on stuff for Christmas probably back in September. I was going to be on the ball and get everything out of the way. Ha!! November is half over, and I'm barely getting a start on Christmas stuff. And, as you've probably noticed, there is no etsy shop to speak of. Oh, it's there--but it's empty.

And that table I got for my craft stuff--it's buried under piles already. It has taken me forever, but I did get finished with another magnetic advent calendar. It's different from the one I did last year, but made from the same basic design. I am definitely thinking this will be my last one with all the different number pieces. It is just not worth the time it takes since I'm so picky about what goes next to each other. These were harder than the one last year because the squares were smaller. That means the pieces have to be smaller, and the numbers have to be smaller. There is a limit to the amount of tiny numbers I can find in my stash.

Anyway, here is the finished product. I'm thinking ebay for this baby, but I may need to get some better pics. I like this one better than last year's version, but it's probably just the cute little snowmen.





I have some other ideas rolling around in my head, but I need to finish cleaning my house first. That seems to be an ongoing process with Mr. Destructo around. I definitely need to see some progress on some Christmas stuff.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

I couldn't stand it

When we traded rooms and I purged all my craft stuff, I sold my desk at our yard sale. The plan was to use the top of the big cabinet I kept for scrapping and such. Well... since then I haven't really done a thing. And have you ever tried to use a sewing machine on top of a cabinet?

So I found this cool black and metal sawhorse table at Target for $15 bucks. I put it together last night, and between having the new space and getting my Scrap Supply order in the mail today, I am so happy already. In a sense I still made money since I sold my old desk for $20. Ha!! Anyway, it doesn't have any drawers for me to stuff junk, so that's a big plus. I put it up next to the closet and I'll be chucking the cabinet I was supposed to be using soon. Take a little peek.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I actually already did a little playing around since I finally broke down and got some acrylic blocks and my solid George stamps were in the SS order!! I think we may be getting somewhere.

I promised to share some crafty links, so I'll give you one I came across, and there are a ton of links in her sidebar. Don't get sucked in!!

Posie gets Cozy

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Long time...

...no post.

Here's hoping everyone hasn't given up on me. I seriously haven't done more than maybe 2 layouts in the last 6 months, and that was in June I think. So you see, I've been suffering from missing mojo and a messiness that threatens to take over my entire house. I'm getting to the point where I'm going through withdrawal. I must make something--and I have all these ideas rolling around in my head. I actually picked up some supplies to play around with a few of them, so I'm hoping I'll have more stuff to share soon. And if anyone can give me ideas about how to find 8 in x 10 in sheets of metal (something magnetic) or how I can have them cut, I'd be eternally grateful.

So here it is. These are the crafty projects I have managed to squeeze out in the last little while.

The first pic is my spiffy KI covered coupon organizer. I had this gaudy thing stuck in my "basket" (don't tell me you don't have a possibly to be altered or embellished one day basket in your craft space) for probably over a year, and I finally pulled it out to cover when I actually started clipping coupons again the other week.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

The second pic is of a felted bag that I finished yesterday. It didn't turn out as well as I hoped due to some washing machine lint issues, but it was a pretty easy project. I worked on it mostly while watching movies and tv for a few days, and suddenly it was done. The yarn is Lopi I bought well over a year ago to make a felted bag, but I never found a pattern. The stripe is actually bright pink IRL. I found this pattern while searching the net one day, so that's what I ended up using. I think I will definitely use it again although I think it would be much easier if you switch to double pointed needles after you start the decrease. It just got too tight in there near the end, and I was using a shorter circular than the pattern says. I made some mistakes near the end, but I didn't sweat it since I the felting hid all that. I think the bag pictured with the pattern must have used a smaller # of stitches in the cast off for the handle because my holes are a lot bigger. That can obviously be easily fixed.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

During my hiatus, I did come across all sorts of fun crafty blogs. I love to see what other people are doing. It gives me inspiration, and then I know I'm not so strange. If you know of any good blogs please leave me a comment. I think I'll put up a list of some of my favorites in a day or two.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Is it really possible...

...to fit half a room full of craft stuff into one closet? Well, when you're trying to fit another person into your house, there isn't much choice. We swapped rooms in the process, and I was able to get all of my craft stuff plus some learning stuff for J in the closet with only one cabinte out in the room. I didn't take a pic of the cabinet, but it's a big printer cabinet and there is even some extra room in it since I cleaned it out. The plan is to use that surface for a desktop since I sold my desk at our yard sale.

Here are some pics of the closet, and all I bought was the one bookshelf. Everything else was used as it was or reinvented to fit a new need. I've considered taking down the sliding doors and

putting up some sort of curtain, but I dunno.

The yard sale, by the way, went very well until about 9:00 when the policeman came and made us take down our signs. Grrrr. I guess I might have to explore Ebay again.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

They say you can tell a lot about a person...

...by what's on their MP3 player. Well, I don't know that you can tell a lot about me, but maybe about who I would like to be. Let's take a peek at what's on mine...

a mod podge of Caedmon's Call from various CDs
Derek Webb's solo stuff (mostly from She Must and Shall Go Free)
stuff from Sovereign Grace Ministries
Shane and Shane Psalms
some various Jars of Clay (love Redemption Songs)
stuff from Indelible Grace
a bit of Fernando Ortega

I only have 512 MB, so that's about it. The way I see it, my mind gets filled with all sorts of junk everyday. I NEED music that is uplifting and reminds me of the big bicture. So there you have it.


Still not much scrapping going on here. Right now we have yard sale stuff in the office/scrap room, so I can't really even get to my desk. Also, my energy has been zapped. Hopefull that will get better soon. Now we just have to figure out how to make room for a baby in our house. Yes, I said baby!

I have been taking my time with ideas for my shop and I'm still stuck on a name. I want something cute and catchy but flexible. I finally pulled out some yarn from my stash and got to work on the needles. I tried some different bootie patterns, but I ended up back with one I have used before for gifts. Here's a peek.



The yarn is a fluffy, wool/angora blend. Don't fret. There is a mate to this one, but I haven't sewed it together yet. I hate that part. Currently on the needles is this sweater in the same yarn.



I hope once we get the extra room cleared out and some more rearranging done (too much HGTV while we were out of town), I'll really be able to get started stocking the store. I have so many ideas, and I'm anxious to see how some of them turn out. Until then, I'll continue to brainstorm!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

It's almost that time...

Ahhh... the stores are putting out their fall selections and the aisles at your local store are filling up with school supplies. I love this time of year. Well really I love the time when the temps actually start to drop. It makes me want to get out the big ol' needles again for some different crafting options.

On that note, I'm taking my time working on items to stock my etsy.com shop. I had a shop all set up and everything, but then I changed my mind about some of the things I want to include in the shop. I was going with Crystal Nale Designs because it was simple and straightforward, but now since I'll be including some items that aren't my original designs I don't feel right using that as a name. Soooooo now I'm on a quest to find a cute, versatile name for my handcrafted gift boutique. So far I'm working on things like canvas wall hangings (like for a nursery or child's room), handmade aprons, knitted baby items, specialty memo boards, possibly purses and jewelry, and similar items. I'm thinking something boutique-like. I'm starting a list and getting a little scrappy RAK together for anyone who might provide just the right inspiration.

Speaking of this venture and the approach of knitting weather...I am loving the cuteness of the designs in this book, and it's even in at the local library. I have checked out some of her pattern books before, and I am thinking some of these type goodies will be great for my shop. What do ya think?

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Well...

..I did actually do two layouts on Saturday hoping to get back in the groove. They came along pretty well since they were for challenges, but I'm still not finding a groove of any sort. I still have untouched supplies from the winter show, and now I'm being overwhelmed by all the new CHA goodies!

Part of my problem is that my printer is on E and I'm too lazy to wade through my pics, load them on a disk, drive into town, and wait an hour to get them. Grrr... that's the downfall of dialup--I can't upload pics and I can't really download music and stuff.

Blogger is giving me a fit so I'll just link to the layouts. I dug up some pics around here for these.

Love

Magic

Monday, July 24, 2006

Some pics from our trip

I haven't done much scrapping at all lately, so I thought I'd start off with some highlights of our trip.

We have our little beach bum having fun in the sun.



Then we have him pretending to nap on the picnic table at the Gulf State park after he filled his tummy with pizza.



Finally, we have his favorite toy of all...the paper towel roll from Lulu's.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

HHmmmmmm

That is actually me letting out a sigh of relief. We have NO plans this week aside from the normal routine. That feels good after the last 2 weeks. I just wanted to pop over and share some pics from my sister's wedding yesterday. I definitely learned that if I ever get good enough to actually be a photographer, I will NOT do weddings. There is just so much going on and so many different lighting situations that you can't control--and you only have ONE chance to get everything right. Ummm...not for me.



These photos are of my sister and her new husband and then my tired men at the end last night.

One of my goals this week is to actually find my desk. Everything we picked up at the convention the other week is still stacked there, but hopefully I can get to it. I have stacks of new goodies I haven't been able to play with yet, so maybe I'll get a chance to get to know them this week.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Hiatus

I guess you could say I'm on a scrapping hiatus. We have been soooo busy and I have so many other things to work on. Some of them are SBR, but they aren't my stuff. I'll try to share some things along the way to keep it interesting.

I am definitely taking the opportunity to focus on getting more comfortable with my camera and manual settings. Here are a few nature shots from this past weekend.



I am also working on setting up a shop at etsy.com. It seems like it will be a pretty good venue to share some of my stuff with the world. I have so many things I like to play with, and I've been thinking about my goals a lot lately, but I'll save all that for another post--when I have time to breathe!

Keep your eyes opened. I'll be sharing my shop when I get more than one item in it!!

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Just another storyboard

Well I guess these aren't technically storyboards, but that's what i'll call them. I think this stuff is totally fun, and I think PSE has just been bumped a bit higher on my wish list. Like that means something. Now I should probably have one of these printed to see how they come out. I can't wait to be able to do borders and stuff!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Playing around

with Photoshop. Playing enough to realize that the version I have won't do a lot of basic things that I need it to--like save a document as a jpeg instead of a PS format. Grrrr. It's so old. I better start saving for PSE 4.0 because only professionals and people with much more money than me should buy PS. I'm not sure I'm loving the font choices on this, but it works.


Anyway, I was playing around trying to get used to the format and learning how to do some things, and this is the firs "creation" I came up with. You know, if you go to an actual photographer and have them do one of these and buy a print, it costs a fortune. Hence the reason I want to learn to do it myself.

You know, my mom would always look at clothes and stuf like that that we wanted, and her reply would alway be we can MAKE that. Now, I know I inherited some of that, but my latest experience came because we are in the process of putting together a photo directory for our church. We went in and had our photos taken, then we moved to a special room where they proceded to tempt us to buy prints. This was when I had my own I can DO that moment. The guy had taken some relatively cute photos of Jonathan, and we considered buying some to pass out to all the grands, but wait! It was something like $80 for 2 5 X 7s. This was when I remembered that I have a good chunk of change invested in a camera that I finally know how to use. Uuummmm...no thanks. I'm just not a real studio portrait lover, so we decided to hold off.

Oh, but since we did have a $20 off since big J is staff, the grands can be expecting our first ever family portrait (that I do not like by the way) in a more modest size coming their way in the future.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Welcome


to my [messy] space. This is my desk on a typical day when I have been working on something. I recently posted photos of my ribbon and embellishment storage in my 2 Peas gallery to add to the photos of my space, but they don't show the nature of the beast that is creativity. I am a puller and a piler.

I like to see all my stuff, or I'll forget about it. Then when I work, I pull out everything I think might go well with the theme or look I'm going for and sometimes some things I want to use up or new stuff to try. It's amazing what kind of mess this makes--and I don't even have a ton of stuff. My stash is measly compared to many paper addicts. I only have 1 CH paper holder full of patterned paper and cardstock. That's not counting the old stuff that I may never use and the little bit of 8 1/2 x 11 cs that I have. Even though I don't have a lot of stuff in my stash, it still expands and spreads when I work. It starts to look like this.

Then I find it hard to start something when it looks like this, so I 'll wait a while. Then I'll finally clean it up, and then I'll be able to scrap again. That's my process.

In the photo, you can see some of my candy jars of ribbon and thread on the shelves and the jars of buttons. The little tins from T are used for supplies I use often and things I want to have in front of my face. The drawers hold all sorts of embellishments and ink pads. Some things are in tiny spice tins inside the drawers--things like jump rings and such. The magnetic storage is a bunch of wedding favor tins with magnets attached to the backs on a magnetic dry erase board I found on clearance at T!!

The binder holds most of my letters and rub ons that are on sheets inside of page protectors. My yummy paper and cardstock holder is to the right of the lamp on my desk. And, finally a bunch of my most used pens and supplies are in the top drawers of the desk. And there you have it--my system. It's not fabulous, but it works for me right now!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Maybe he's going to be an artist...




Today we're hanging out. I'm trying to get my thoughts and to do list organized, and he is playing, playing, playing. Right now he's coloring Spiderman with some bath crayons my brother gave him.

I made a promise. Last night he was digging in my cabinet. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was looking for the blanket. I finally realized he was talking about the vinyl tablecloth I keep under there. He said, "Yes. Paint finger." It was like 10:00, so I promised him he could do it sometime today. Well, he doesn't forget anything. So he got to paint finger earlier. He's also reminding me about the batteries I forgot to get at WM yesterday. Why couldn't he remind me at the store before we were checking out?

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Sharing some recent stuff

I've seriously been neglecting my blog--and my scrapping. I've been busy with life and doing some reading and studying. You just have to make time for other things first sometimes.

Here are a few recent layouts. I absolutely love the first one. I'm hoping the mojo that got it going last night is here to stay for a while!

Some pretty flowers

For our field trip in our photography class we first stopped by the highway where they have planted a field of flowers. After that we went to Battle Park and took some water photos and stuff. The only thing is I switched to RAW in the middle and now I can only open and view the RAW format because I don't have an editing program that can open the NEF format. Arrrgghhh!

Anyway, I like the first ones better anyway. Here are some of my favorites.

I've been meaning to share...

...my second digital layout. I did this one without Photoshop, too. It's simple, but I love these elements. They are from the New Growth kit by Tia Bennett. It was a free download for the SS Digital 5 book. The photo is one from my shoot with my sister and her fiance.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

A first attempt and a redo...

I made my first attempt at anything digital this weekend, and I made a brand new list of reasons why I need Photoshop. You just can't effectively use digital elements in any of the programs I have. They are too limiting. I had found some freebies to download, and I decided to play around with them to make a mother's day e-card for my mom and MIL. Anyway, it's simple, but it's a start.




I can't say I will ever be able to cross over completely to digital since I am such a tactile paper and paste lover, but I do think there is a lot of inspiration that can be gained from playing with digital. Plus, you can always print elements out and use them on a paper page.

Now for the redo. If any of you actually follow my blog, you might recall the train wreck of a layout that I posted a while back. You can actually see that post here. Well, when I ordered the NSD goodies, I made sure to include a sheet of the paper I needed to fix the wreck. It isn't exactly like it started out, but I am loving the new much more than the original. The journaling is still crooked because I didn't feel like redoing that part. Check out the new and improved version!!

Friday, May 12, 2006

YUM!

clean house. good mail. sleeping little one. good stuff.

We have been crazy busy the last week or so. We had friends from church over last night for dinner, and I barely rescued our house from total disaster before they got here. It was BAD. We had a yard sale last Saturday which required cleaning out the attic. Not good.

And this past Saturday was also National Scrapbook Day. I didn't really get to take part in any festivities (except for chatting a little with the Junkitz girls), but I did take advantage of some sales to order some goodies. I always want to get a good amount at one time since I don't have a LSS, and I want to save on shipping. Mr. Postman brought me all of these goodies today.



Oh, and I got a GC code for http://www.downmemorylaneco.com/ from Laura for the Fontwerks Birthday bash!! Too bad those George stamps were sold out before I could snatch them up. I hope they restock soon!!

Now, I actually have some time, and I'm not sure where to start. Oh, and I'm out of photo paper, so I can't print any pics here. It feels good to be caught up and have my call list out, though.

In other news. I was able to order the 50mm f/1.8 after my birthday last week, and it came on Monday. I've been a bit too busy to play with it a lot, but I did get some OK shots. I can tell there is definitely going to be a big learning curve when it comes to the really low apertures, but I'm loving it already!

Saturday, April 29, 2006

A First


Well today was the first time I actually tried to take real photos of someone besides Jonathan or Jerry Bear. I took some photos for my sister and her fiance. I did all of the shoot in manual so YAY for that! I posted a few of my favorite shots in my gallery, so tatke a look and give me some feedback if you're interested. I'm very green at all of this, so I know I have a long way to go. I just have to decide what I need to focus on first. I think getting faster with the manual controls may be at the top of the list, but I need to be thinking about composition stuff too. I'm pretty happy with some of the results, and I just wanted to share.

Oh , and she'll kill me for putting that one up there because she didn't like those!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Cherry Arte Goodness

I am in *L*O*V*E* with these papers,but I have just about used up all of my stash. I definitely want to get my hands on some of the new stuff. It's even prettier. In the past I have put off submitting DT applications until the last possible minute, partly because I am a chronic procrastinator, but mostly because I would sit around and analyze things way too much. I decided a while back that I wasn't going to enter any more of these things unless it was one that really got my mojo going, and I felt comfortable with. Well, this one just fell together with little effort and lots of FUN!! So I held onto it for a little while, and I finally just hit send. Now I want to share what I have been working on--what has kept me away from my new scenic route papers. *GASP* You know it's serious now. I ended up with 5 layouts and 2 projects to choose from not counting the ones I had already submitted for their gallery, but I'll just share the ones that made the cut.

These are papers from the Bolded line.



These papers are from the Basic Blue. I should have gone over with more stitching, but my sewing machine gets offended when I use it for paper. Grrr...




These are from the Boys Boys line. I love how the band-aid pops in this one!

This last one is a mini book that I made using those little plastic thingies made for holding IDs and badges. I made the covers out of chipboard and put it all together with binder rings. You've gotta love office supplies!!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

A Happy and a Train Wreck

First, the good news. I will be a guest designer for the month of May at www.expressionsbythemonth.com It is a faith-based monthly kit club, and I am so excited to have this challenge!

Now for my train wreck. I am just spilling it all here and now by showing everyone how scrapping can get ugly! I am actually pretty disappointed in this because I L*O*V*E*D the original design. Lesson: make sure you order extra sheets of paper just in case--and have extra letter stickers on hand. Anyway, I will have to hunt down the supplies, but I am determined to recreate my original design since I couldn't save the layout.



The original design had just the photo, buttons and journaling block on the whole sheet of AC paper. The title was similar but with black AC letters directly on the background. Anyway, somehow I screwed up the title and managed to make a hole in the background paper, so I tried to save it. That's when I realized that the photo was stuck down crooked and I had already glued the bittons down. Ugh.... It's kind of disappointing, too because I wanted the layout for this photo to be pretty simple, and continuing to add schtuff didn't help that. In the end, I didn't even bother to make the journaling straignt. Well, you win some...you lose some.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Share Day

I guess I have a lot to say and not much all at the same time. I decided I won't bore anyone, but I did want to post some of what I was able to get done with no kiddo last week.

Here's a fun Junkitz one. It's not quite as funny when you can't read the shirt, but the shirt he has on in the photo says, "My grandparents' don't spoil me. They're just very accommodating."


The next one is my layout for 1 Peter chapter 5. I sort of skipped chapter 3. I have a LO idea and everything. I just haven't been able to get the photo I want yet. I have another idea for chapter 5, but I think I'll put it in my art journal. I think it will involve a poppet-like me and an abstract lion.


Here's some more fun Cherry Arte. I put these papers away for a while, but I need to get a move on now because the DT applications are due at the end of April. It's a long shot, but I'm jumping in anyway.























Well, that's pretty much what I have done this week. I really need to go through my stuff again next week and pull out some stuff to get rid of. I hope I'll have my secret bunny package to post the goodies soon.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Superstar K

The time is coming for the secret bunny festivities to get in full swing! I am taking the chance of posting this here assuming that my secret bunny doesn't wander to my blog. I am still thinking of a fun way to send her out to follow clues to reveal my identity.

Anyway, I had picked up this little shadow box to try out some stuff for J's room. I thought about it, and I decided to make a Superstar K for my secret bunny. It will be delivered to her along with her goodies very soon, so if any of you figure out who she is, don't tell! Sssshhhhh!





I used white acrylic paint to paint the box and the striped Christina Cole to cover the outside edges. Can you tell I've found a renewed love of that little slab?
I hand cut the K out of chipboard, traced it onto the circle paper and cut out the shape. I adhered the paper to the front of the chipboard and sanded the edges. I added the word Superstar with AL rubons.
I drew the star out on the back side of the cardstock and then cut it out. I swiped the edges with white paint. I matted the green HS cardstock on top of a white piece and then adhered the star with mini pop dots. I drew another star with the silver glitter Keepsake Colors paint from Plaid and let it dry.
I adhered the K on top of all of this with more mini pop dots, and added some rhinestones to the corners. I had to slide it all through a slit in the top of the box and then slide the glass panel back in. It took a little while to do all of this because of all the painting and adhering with gel medium, but I like how it turned out.