Do you have Photoshop?

Do you know how to use it? I've been playing around with PS since I got it last fall but I didn't really know how to use it properly. Yesterday I signed up for Jessica Sprague's online course Photo Editing: Good-to-Great Workflow and I am soooo excited! I know I'm a terrible enabler but I can't help it. I knew how to play around PS enough to do a bit of editing (more special effects and cloning) but didn't know the basic steps. I've only done the first lesson, I'm hoping to do lesson 2 today but I have stamp camp tomorrow that I have to finish getting ready for so I might not be able to do it till after tomorrow. Anyway, here is the before and after pics from the first lesson.

Poor Ian

First, I took this picture Friday morning. I just love this picture and had to share! I went out with Ian when he was waiting for the bus and took a bunch of pictures of him playing in the snow.

Friday night I had a Tupperware party here and one of Ian's friends and his sister came with their Mom so Joe took them all upstairs to play during the party. We were just starting and hear a big crash and then screaming. I went upstairs to find Ian and Joe in the bathroom with blood all over Ian's face. He had fallen off the top of his bunk bed (his friend, Emma and Ian were all playing up there) and landed on his face.

He has a bump on his forehead and a bruise on his nose and upperlip. Friday night his nose was swollen and he had dark circles under his eyes. We thought we were going to have to take him to the Doctor Saturday morning but it wasn't as bad as we were expecting.

I took this picture Saturday morning. We kept asking him how his nose is and he just said it was sore.

He is pretty happy today though because school is cancelled and Joe is home until probably 11am or so. It is still snowing like crazy! I'll have to go out later to see if I can get some pictures.

You

This is one of the layouts I did for a crop a couple of weeks ago on Skrapnchat. I think it is one of my favorite LO's I've done!

For the U in the bottom left corner I stamped the u in red ink on white cardstock and cut it out. I then put it on my background PP (pattern paper) and covered the U in Crystal Effects. I love the dimenion it adds to the letter.


The quote (Dr. Seuss) says:

Today you are you
that is truer than true
there is no one alive
who is youer than you.

Something I never thought I would see!

Joe using a laptop! LOL!


I've been teasing him because he's been bringing the laptop home from work lately. He has never been a computer kinda guy (the only thing he does on the computer here is banking and looking up tractor stuff) and now he is using one all the time!

Anyway, I am probably just a little jealous because I've been saying I want a laptop but it is really only so I can have a computer in my scrap/stamp room and it isn't really practical to buy one just for that.

I'm trying out some new smilies. I've been using them on Skrapnchat (http://www.skrapnchat.com/) for a little while and they are so fun!

If you are looking for some inspiration check it out (I've got Amy addicted!) there are lots of challenges going on all the time and the gallery is full of awesome layouts and cards.

He comes by it honestly

First, this is my second post today!!! Shocking isn't it!?! So scroll down to see my first post and get the rest of the story :)

I was talking to Mom earlier and was telling her about Ian's camera addiction and she said well he does come by it honestly. Hehehe!

I also told her that the other night I made weiner roll-ups for supper and they were on top of the stove while I was getting everything else together. Ian said to me "Mommy go stand beside the hot dogs so I can take your picture". That is when he had the bug bad!

Anyway, these are some pictures I took this morning. I couldn't help but post them as kind of a follow up to the last post :)

I've created a monster!

I gave Ian my old camera a couple of days ago and he has been having so much fun taking pictures of everything! In less than 2 days he has taken over 40 pictures and I'm sure it would have been more if the memory card was bigger!

This is one he took of himself. Not bad for the first time, eh?






We have a whole bunch of pictures of the tv screen for the Wii. He's been getting Joe to play this airplane game for him when he gets stuck................










Another self portrait. His lips are really chapped from this cold weather we've been having. Look at those eyelashes though!!!











Emma is also a pretty good subject for him. I wish she would pose even has as much for me as she does for Ian. This was Ian's camera (can you tell I have a thing for cameras? Did I tell you I got a new one after Christmas? Hehehehe!) but someone (I'm not naming any names but I'm pretty sure it starts with a J) took the cover off to change the batteries and lost the cover. Argh!







This is Emma getting ready for Dance class. My hand is behind her head, I'm trying to do her hair but she is more interested in what her brother is doing.

Ok, time to get some breakfast. I just had to do a quick update :)


















.

Just wanted to let you know that IT IS COLD here!!!!! This morning when I took Ian to the bus (well, I stood on the step and watched him walk to the end of the driveway as the bus was pulling up) it was -34!!! It has now "warmed up" to -30! Just so you Nova Scotianer's know, I don't want to hear any complaining about the cold :)

P.S. I think the font is "funny" the last half of that post but I can't figure out how to change it.

The best of intentions

I had planned on posting more often in the New Year, getting things "back to normal" and trying to record some of the daily "stuff". So far I'm off to a really bad start though!

The last week everyone in the house has been sick (except me!) and it's been pretty busy. Ian missed the first 2 days of school but is back in full swing now and I think he likes being back in a routine (although I'm sure he would really like to be home playing the Wii all the time).

Ian and Emma started skating lessons on Saturday. Emma was so excited and was sure she would be able to just go! Ian's lesson was at 10:15 and I took him over expecting to have to help him out for the first little bit but he did so good! Ian was done at 11 and I came home for a few minutes and then Emma and I went over while Ian and Joe stayed home to get some things done (although I don't think much was actually done!). Emma really liked "skating" but my back suffered big time! Next week Joe and I will probably both go so we can switch off. She did do ok after a while but she had a really hard time staying up and had to be held the whole time. I'm sure Ian was like that at the beginning of last year and it won't take her long though.

Oh! I have a funny story! Emma was sick with the flu Friday night (and on the way home from town in the van but I don't think you want to hear about that one...........blah!). She had only had apple juice and when it came back up it looked exactly the same. While she is gagging and sputtering she was saying "Wh.....wha..........what.........kin........what kind...............what kind of puke is it?" Joe told her it was apple juice and she turned to me and said "it's apple juice puke Mommy". I said ok, thanks.

Ok, I don't know how it is now 9:45 but I have to get off the computer and get some cleaning done. Emma was supposed to go to the sitter today but she is sick with a croupy cough so we are taking it easy here today. In a way I'm glad I don't have to go out anyway since it's
-22........................and Dad was saying we wouldn't want to go out when we were there over Christmas and it was -10! Ha! That's not cold! :) Just kidding, it is cold but this is COLD!

Gotta go!

Happy Birthday Amy!!!

It's Amy's Birthday today and guess what................I forgot to send her card this week!!!

Big shocker, eh? Hehehe!

It snowed last night and it looks so pretty and Christmasy out there. The kids and I made cookies yesterday, those shaped ones with a cookie press I just got from Epicure. The loved making the trees and candy canes the best.

Anyway, it's time to get ready for Sunday School now and maybe get some cleaning done before we go...............

Still here

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted! I have been thinking about not blogging since I don't seem to be posting much anymore but I think I'll keep going for a while and maybe post more day-to-day stuff, more of a way of journalling about things like the kids and such. I am terrible at keeping a journal plus this might help when I go to do a scrapbook page and need something to write :)



This is one of the projects from Scrapgala (from the extra class Friday night). I still haven't figured out where to hang it and I need a hanger for the back of it but will hopefully get on that this weekend!

Only a month to Christmas! Are you ready?

Halloween pictures for Mom.........

The first 2 are from Halloween afternoon when they opened their present from Grammie and Grampie. They were both still dressed up from the Halloween parties they went to in the afternoon.

The last one is from Halloween night. Emma was so excited she was nearly bouncing off the walls!

I am just getting Ian out to the bus so this is a short one (as they seem to be lately). Only 2 more sleeps till our annual girls weekend away in Moncton!!! I'll have lots to "talk" about after that I'm sure ;-)

What have I been doing?

This is going to be a quick post as I am getting my little fairy ready to go to a Halloween party at playgroup. The last few weeks in between working on stamp camp (last weekend), classes, parties and getting ready for Halloween I have been working on a "mini" album (it is 8x8 and not really all that mini. LOL).

I have posted all of the pictures in photobucket here:
http://s479.photobucket.com/albums/rr157/zoripple/mini%20album/?albumview=grid

This is a couple of my favorites although I have to say it looks way better IRL :)

Happy World Card Making Day

A week late ;)

I meant to post this last weekend and didn't get a chance. I shared the directions for this card for CompuPro and wanted to share them here as well.

Supplies:



Cardstock- Chocolate Chip (10 x 5)
- Baja Breeze (4 ¾ x 4 ¾)
- White (scrap)
Pattern Paper
Chipboard
Ribbon
Ink (pink for bird and brown for sponging)
Nestabilities (scallop square and plain square)
Stamp
Stickles
Brads
Paper piercer

Step 1: Make the frame using Nestabilities. Place the A plate on the bottom of your “sandwich” then the B plate. Put chipboard piece on B plate and then create the frame as shown. Make sure the dies don’t touch as they could crack. If you need to you can use a very small piece of tape to hold them in place but if you use too much it may be too thick to go through. Place C plate on top and put through Cuttlebug.



Step 2: Cut pattern paper using same scallop square.



Step 3: Adhere patterned piece to frame, turn over and use craft knife to cut inside of frame.



Step 4: Stamp bird image and cut excess off that will show behind the frame. Adhere to back of frame and add brads.



Step 5: Sponge edges of patterned paper and baja breeze cardstock and stamp sentiment on bottom.



Step 6: Add ribbon. This is a little tip on how I add my ribbon with a few extra pictures to show what I am talking about as I don’t think I can explain it very well. LOL!

a. To measure my ribbon I go by the length of my card/LO and add a couple of inches for the knot.

b. Tie ribbon as if you were tying it around something.



c. If you want the bow on the side, cut the ribbon about 1/3 of the way around the loop from the knot. If you want it in the middle cut it in half.



d. Tape ribbon on back.



Step 7: Add stickles.



Finished card:



Finished card size is 5 x 5.

Spooky Spider

Have you seen the Decor Elements yet? I don't think I have mentioned them on my blog before this. I have the Small Lollipop Flower on the mirror in the playroom and have a couple of others but we (well Joe) have to finish painting before I can put them up.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that the Spooky Spider Decore Elements is available for purchase until October 31st. If you are thinking about having it up in time for Halloween now is a good time to order. I have an order going in by the end of this month or you can order directly from my site.


To view the flyer click here

A Layout and our visitor

I did this LO last weekend and have been planning on posting it all week. The sketch is from www.pencillines.

I thougth the sentiment Enjoy Every Moment would be a perfect sentiment for this picture I took when Joe and I went to Digby for our anniversary in July. I used last years In Colors (Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and River Rock) for my ink and CS.

Enjoy was stamped in Blue Bayou and I wanted to cover the dotted "o" with a grommet but of course I have just about every color but black. My solution was to make a faux grommet using Tracey's faux epoxy brad tutorial on CompuPro.

To make the faux grommet I punched a 1/2" circle out of a piece of scrap black CS and then punched out the ring using a 3/4" circle punch. I then placed the ring or "o" on a piece of waxed paper and put crystal effects all over it. I didn't play around with it too much and it stayed raised and if you try to smooth the CE you will end up with bubbles. Once it was dried I used a little tombo mono multi glue to adhere it.

Here is a close up of the faux grommet. Remember you can click on the image to see it bigger.









We have deer in our yard quite often but in the 4 years we have been here I have only seen 1 buck. The last one, I think I got a really bad picture of it running away but this guy (and a doe) stuck around our yard for quite a while. I have a feeling he might be back because he seemed pretty comfortable here :)

Pussywillows

er, I mean cattails :)

Sorry, I couldn't help it Donna..............but at least Joy will be happy you are taking the focus off her. LOL!

This was a card we made at out stamper's group party last weekend and there was some confusion as to what these were. Either way I am really happy with how this card turned out.

The cattails are made using the grass from Inspired by Nature and the horizontal slot punch. Unfortunately it turned out a little dark when I took the picture.

We have class tonight and Joe is away so I have to finish getting things ready for the babysitter. Have a great day!

Photography course

I don't think I told you I was starting a photography course yesterday, did I? LOL! Someday maybe my memory will be better :)

It is an on-line course with Kathy Thompson Laffoley!!!! Whoohooo! So exciting! We got our first assignment yesterday (to take pics at different angels) and this morning when I took Ian out to the bus I took my camera and got some pictures of a little sunflower that is coming up in the garden and some of Ian. I set up a photobucket account for the course and you can see this week's assignment pics HERE.

This is one I took a few days ago of our first sunflower. When I went out this morning the petals were all off of it so I'm glad I got some before the wind and rain we had the last few days :)

P.S. You can see Kathy's blog HERE.

Can you see the difference?

I probably had a little too much time on my hands last night (well I didn't really-there were lots of other things I should have been doing) when I decided to alter this picture of little Cowgirl Emma ready for an "Old MacDonald" Birthday party on Saturday(which is a funny story I'll tell later).



Anyway, last night I decided to play around with this picture because there were some things in the background that were "bugging me".




First was the pole right above her hat, the little bit of yellow sign on the left and the wood pile. To get rid of the sign I just cropped the picture a little bit then I started removing/replacing the wood pile and pole. Once I had those fixed I took out the little bit of another pole at the right of her hat (it is barely noticable but I figured I was on a role, why not?) and I decided the house at the tip of her right brim might as well go too :)




Of course, I could have just moved her in front of the big tree in front of our house but what would be the fun in that? Hehehe. Actually I just had only about 2 seconds to take the picture (this happens frequently with this 3 year old, her brother will pose just about anytime I want) so I just went with what I could get.




So what do you think? Can you see the difference?


I have another picture to show you later, I just need to edit the size and I'll try to post it either later today or tomorrow. Oh, and I have a card I need to take a picture of and a scrapbook page to try to get a better picture of. It looks like I will have lots to share this week :)

Sweet Girl Sierra

I probably won't have a chance to post anything over the weekend as Joe has been away this week and is coming home, for a whole day and a half (LOL), tonight then leaving again Sunday at lunch time for the week again. I was kind of minding it at the beginning of the week but once we get into our routines here it is fine. The kids have been handling it really well, over the last 6 months or so he has been away about a week a month.

This is a page I did earlier last weekend that I wanted to share. The flowers are punched with the 5-petal flower from SU, I shaped them with my bone folder and added the Build a Brad centers with a 1/2" circle of PP punched out. I also stitched on another LO! Did I show you the one of Emma with the cheese? I can't remember now...........if I didn't I will next week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend :)