Stamps, Paper, Scissors

Two scrapbook pages

From Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club!

The first page was from one of our sketches. We've had great fun watching our members creating their own layouts with our Enhanced Sketches. This was one of Wendy's sketches (we take turns!). Lookie:

Look at those lil' cuties! (and the page is STINKIN' CUTE too! (YILM!)) This uses the new Summer Smooches Digital kit.

This next one was a page to show a project using a custom paper I created in MDS. You too could learn how to create your own paper in MDS if you joined Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club! Lookie:

GOJUS (YILM!) The patterned paper is the one I created myself in MDS. I love creating my own paper because I control the colors and the style and once I create it, I can use it again and again.

I hope you are all enjoying the Easter holiday. I just went out and did my Easter bunny shopping and bought the ham and other fixings for tomorrow's dinner. I plan on spending the rest of my weekend stamping and scrapping! Ta!

Scrappin' the backlog

For a few years, from 1999 to 2003, I spent almost every night scrapbooking.

I started out stamping in 1996, figuring I'd save money making my own Christmas cards while having a craft I could enjoy (stop laughing!) The local stamp store was also the local scrapbooking store. I'd look at the scrapbooking stuff and say, "NOT ME! Not doing that, NO WAY!" It looked like too much work, after all, I could just load the photos up into albums and wouldn't have to do another thing to them.

Then my in-laws had their 50th wedding anniversary. One of their nieces organized their party, since neither of their two children lived in the same town. So to feel as if I were contributing something to this, I volunteered to make a memory book for them. And I got hooked and started scrapbooking my kids' photos.

So all the photos up to 2003 (when I joined SU! and started making more cards again) are pretty picked over. I remember I even staged photos because I had an idea for a scrapbook page. I was confident, though, that the continuous flow of photographs would keep coming and I would never run out of current photos to scrap.

Until my children started protesting when I took pictures. I also realized I spent so much time taking pictures that I wasn't really enjoying the special moments. So now...not so many photos. I got out of the habit of taking them, so this year I didn't even take pictures on Christmas Day. I think I need to photograph more of the nonstandard moments, because sometimes those photos make the best scrapbook pages. They represent memories that are not standard and that can often be more meaningful.

Now that I am digitally scrapping, I find myself hunting for these type of pictures in the backlog...the stuff that has not gotten scrapped yet. Since I started purchasing the photo CDs when I had my film developed, back before I had a digital camera, I do have digital versions of some of these older photos. So I was poking around and found a few that somehow I never scrapped, but are certainly scrap-worthy! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamp Brush Sets - Letter It Alphabet; Papers - Cottage Wall; Embellisments - Paper Daisies, Old Olive Dotted Scallop ribbon, round buttons, Rich Razzleberry grosgrain knots

I knit the dress for Emily, back when I was still doing a lot of kntting. She loved it and I can't believe I never scrapped these photos! And yes, GOJUS (YILM!) and all that!

Here's one I just finished:

Ingredients: Stamps - One of a Kind, Frames with a Flourish, Vintage Overlays; Kits - Blossom Builders; Paper - Rich Razzleberry patterns, Baja Breeze Grid, Baja Breeze Dotted Stripe, Blushing Bride patterns, Rich Razzle Blossoms; Punches - Hugs & Kisses, Flag, Simple Letters, 1-1/4" square; Embellisments - Flower brads, staples, Candid Frames, Staples

STINKIN' CUTE!!! I love this page. These photographs were taken on a day when I was trying to learn to use natural light to photograph the girls, and I had scrapped the individual photos I had made with them, but these of the two of them together never got scrapped. They were chatting as I set up the camera perhaps, so I took a couple pictures to get a feel for it. The two of them hardly ever run out of things to say to each other and are still great friends, so this seemed the natural thing to scrap about.

Now that I am "forced" to do a little more scrapping to provide content for Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club, I am beginning to remember the joy I got from spending time on this rewarding hobby and the pleasure my kids took in being the "stars" in their own books. Ta!

Slip 'n' Slide

C'mon baby! A whole lotta scrappin' goin' on! A good thing too, since I still have photos from the last 8 years I have not gotten to yet!

The good news is that I am getting faster at transcribing, so I actually have free time in the evening now! I've been scrappin' up a storm lately! This is a page I did for a video for Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club:

GOJUS! (YILM!) This showcases in particular a couple of different techniques for distressing the edges of photos or cardstock as well as getting a smoother look with the Vintage Overlays. You too could learn some of these coolio techniques if you become a member!

One of the disadvantages of working so hard and bumping up my production is that now my wrists are acting up. I have some special computer gloves I use to prevent carpal tunnel, but they seem to have stretched out a bit and lost their effectiveness, so I had to order a new pair. And buy a brace for my left wrist. The last thing I need is to end up with a repetitive stress problem! These hands have got a lot more typing (not to mention stamping) to do! Ta!

 

Mom is Sneaky

I have to say I am having the best time with Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club! This page is based on our second sketch. Our members have been enjoying creating with our Enhanced Sketches. Membership is on an ongoing basis, so don't think you missed out if you haven't joined yet, you still can!

Here is my awesome Emily. She doesn't let me take her picture, so I have to be sneaky. And I managed to snap this picture without her being able to do her usual thing. Which is this:

What is a mom to do? Other than to get sneaky?

Got lots of practice being sneaky putting money under pillows in my disguise as the Tooth Fairy. Or hiding Easter baskets in my disguise as the Easter bunny. Or...well, you get the picture. And so did I...once...one day she will regret not letting me take them, when she asks where all the pictures are of her at this age. Humph!

And now for more about being a mom, except this time it's about being a proud mom!

If you are on Facebook, could I ask you to take a few moments out of your day and to vote for my daughter Laurel's beautiful painting in the College for Creative Studies Facebook Scholarship Competition? The winner receives a $1000 scholarship. I am so proud of Laurel, who has been accepted to CCS already! However, it's a very expensive school, so she is working hard to get the money together to go. All you have to do is click "Like" under the photo of her painting to vote for her. Thanks!

Ta!

Gappy Grin

Preparing videos and exploring My Digital Studio for Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club has its rewards! I am actually getting more scrapbooking done and feel quite inspired seeing the work that our members are doing. Here's a page I prepared when filming a new video:

STINKIN' CUTE!! (and the page is great too! YILM! ) Ah, yes. The Boy with the Wayward finger about 2 years before the incident that earned him his name. He was so stinkin' cute...his sisters even think so!  The amazing thing is he will be 13 years old this weekend (yes, three teenagers under one roof...pray for me). Already I can see he is going to be quite devastatingly handsome when he is a bit older. Even his sisters think so (and believe me, this accolade from two older, very critical sisters is not easy to earn!) At least, once we get those teeth straightened, LOL!

Life is moving along here at the International House of Contagion. Emily is still recovering from a nasty bout of influenza that started last Thursday and has kept her out of school since Friday. Laurel is walking wounded and coughing from the same, at school after being home from school with it two days last week. I took Emily to the doctor yesterday and the good news is no strep or mono, but she remains very fatigued from this nasty bug. And it must have been one that Dan and I had had before, because we haven't had it. And the boy had it and bounced back, just like Tigger.

Ta!

Just My Type

Howdy! I've been thrilled at the response to Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club! Most people want to know if you have to have experience with MDS to join and the answer is "No!" Our aim is to help both people who are just beginning as well as those who just want to learn new things. Sign ups are still going on over on this page.

But digital is not all what I am about! I have been snatching moments to play with my new Occasions Mini goodies and so thought I would show you the card I created for the Controlfreaks' swap. Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Just My Type; Paper - First Edition Specialty DSP, Mocha Morning Specialty DSP, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Basic Black; Ink - Basic Black Craft, Real Red; Other - Clear EP, Real Red 5/8" satin ribbon, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, silver brads, dimensionals.

I embossed the typewriter using Basic Black craft and clear EP:

GOJUS!!! (YILM!!!) I love the way this turned out, not complicated, but very elegant!

Life has been going along here. Nothing new and dire going on, but actually something very good happened! Laurel got admitted to the college of her choice, the College for Creative Studies! We had done the usual campus visit, started the application process, then finally photographed her portfolio this past weekend. I burned everything to DVD and dropped it in the mail on Monday. They must have received it on Tuesday, and Laurel got a message from her admissions counselor that she was recommending her for admission and we would get the acceptance letter within a few weeks. I am so proud! All of our kids want to have creative careers. Laurel is interested in fine art and illustration. Emily wants to be a graphic designer. And William, of course, wants to be a video game designer. All this despite my dire warnings about how hard it is to make a living this way. But CCS really prepares their students for careers, so if Laurel is going anywhere to develop an art career, this really is the best place for her. Now she just has to find the money to go. Let the scholarship hunt begin.

Ta!

 

Announcing....(cue trumpet fanfare)

Yes, the day has finally come for Wendy and me to launch our new MDS digiscrapping club, Tink & Bell's Digital Scrapbooking Club! This has been in the works for a long time now and between one thing and another, it seemed like this day was never going to come, but it is finally here!

We are going to be officially launching the website on Monday, January 16th, but we will be starting to take reservations for membership starting today! We are excited...geeked really!

We have got a ton of cool stuff planned, including exclusive templates, exclusive video tutorials, advice, tips and tricks, techniques, and member contests and challenges! All of this will be available to members only.

Memberships are available in two different terms: 1-year membership and 6-month. The cost is only $45 for 1-year membership and $25 for 6-month membership.

So if you would like to learn more about My Digital Studio and enjoy all the perqs of being in a club that gives you a reason to get up in the morning, toddle on over to this page here to read all about it and buy your membership today! Ta!

 

Keeping up

 

While some of you may be starting the new year out with a bang, mine left me more like this:

 

So far this year, two cars with dead batteries, a daughter with projectile vomiting, a trojan on my new hard drive...and a partridge in a pear tree. Really. Except for the partridge. Probably just as well, as it probably would have flown out of the pear tree and proceeded to crap on my head (too many pears can do that to ya). If all of 2012 is going to be like this, the world is welcome to end at any time.

As far as keeping up, I've been having a hard time doing this for the past year, so one of my New Year's resolutions was to keep up with my blog, keep up with my family, and keep up with My Digital Studio.

Honestly, they put out new downloads every week and it got to where I couldn't remember what I had bought or downloaded. And that got to be messy when my hard drive crashed over a week ago, taking everything with it. Once I had bought a new drive and a new copy of the operating system (the one I had was an upgrade) and reinstalled all my software, I had to redownload all of my purchased digital files and reinstall every single one of them. And (cough, cough) there were many of them. Many, many. Many, many, many. I thought I would never get through them all!

One of the things I did to help me figure out what I had was to print off the entire MDS catalog, which can be downloaded using the nifty icon in my left sidebar. I printed it double sided so that it took up less space. Sure, I can look at this file anytime in Adobe Reader, but only by printing it could I use the handy check boxes next to each download and keep track of what I had. As new downloads come out, I will simply print off the PDF and add it to the end, which is the way this catalog is set up, after all.

Once I got it printed off, I put it in a presentation binder. I could have just added a label on the spine and called it a day, but it seemed rather heartless and plain for something I was proud of and wanted to show off. So I created a cover for it in, what else, MDS! Lookie:

I printed another page using the background paper on the first layer to put on the back. Isn't it GOJUS?!?!? (YILM!) This uses the Cheerful Treat CD available as a hostess product in the big catalog.

I then printed it off using my Epson Photo Stylus 1400 and some Epson Presentation Paper Matte.

Now I'm ready for the new year, easily able to keep up with Stampin' Up! as they release new downloads!

One thing I did learn from my disk crash, though, was to back everything in my Components folder as well as the Designer Templates Uninstallers folder to an external drive. I simply copied these two folders from the My Digital Studio folder to an external drive. Then when I got that Trojan on my system last week, I still had to reinstall all my software after I reinstalled my operating system. But all I had to do to get my digital downloads back was to copy those two folders back to where they belonged and download the latest update for MDS, and I was back in business.

So here's hoping the rest of this year is better. I know that there is at least ONE thing that is going to be putting up my happiness meter, but I am not going to tell you just yet. Just that Wendy and I have had our heads together and have come up with something that we hope you will just LOVE! Stay tuned! Ta!

 

Happy Memorial Day!

A little early!

I'm enjoying the weekend, getting all crafty and like that!

That's an interesting story in itself. Emily is graduating from the 8th grade next week. This being a parochial school, we have a graduation ceremony and a party afterward. This is a class of 23 kids, so all of us parental units were told we needed to volunteer to be on a committee for the graduation. For Laurel's 8th grade graduation at the parochial school they used to go to until it closed, I volunteered to make the teachers' thank you cards. But they don't have this tradition at Emily's school. And now that I am working, I simply don't have as much time to do that kind of crafting.

So I volunteered for the cake committee. I thought, "How hard can it be? You find a baker, you order a cake, pay for it, and go pick it up. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeazy!"

Well, I was not put on the cake committee, instead I was told they needed me on the graduate gift committee instead. Fine, I thought, and waited to be told what to do.

And waited. And waited. The volunteering had been done just before Christmas. Surely soon someone who tell me what I was supposed to do. Then I got an email last month from one of ther other moms in the class who said, "I understand you are the chair of the gift committee and I have an idea for the gift."

Chair? No one had said that I was in charge of this thing! Ack! Surely NOW someone would let me know what it was I was supposed to do for this!

Finally, towards the end of last month, I talked to Emily's teacher about it. She said they would be getting me a budget sometime at the beginning of May and told me some ideas for things that people had done before. One of the ideas was a movie box, i.e. movie tickets or video rental gift card, with microwave popcorn packages, candy, and maybe a can of pop. This seemed doable. I have a ton of gable boxes that would work well for that. So I waited to find out what the budget was. And waited. And waited.

Finally, last week the teacher got in contact with me. She had lots of ideas about what to do, including a picture frame that we could decorate. I told her I didn't think we had time to do anything that involved and that I really thought the movie box was a great idea. I told her about the boxes I had and that I would decorate them with the class colors and they would be nifty. She said she would price the frames and get back to me. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, "Dang it! I'm the chairperson here! I want to do movie boxes!"

So I went to the scrapbook store and bought paper that said "Class of 2011" on it plus some cardstock in the class colors. It was on this visit to the scrapbook store that I reasoned myself into an electronic die cutting machine, which my husband was told later he had bought me. (Don't you love how that works?) After all, doing 23 boxes like that would be difficult without one and I could make them really cool with die cuts. It would save me a lot of work. I had resisted, you see, buying one before this time because I could not really see a need for it. But now that I was there, with the lure of a new toy staring me in the face, it seemed that NOT buying one would not be a good choice. You can see that, can't you?

And I hadn't gotten a birthday present from Dan yet, which truth to be told I usually buy myself, then tell him what he got me. Works out well, I get what I want and he gets out of having to shop for me. WINNING!

So I bought it and a cartridge with graduation images on it and thought myself pretty clever.

But I was not so clever, because when I emailed the teacher and told her what I planned to do and showed her a picture of a gable box so she could see what I would be working with, she called me and told me she had already bought the gift, bought the picture frames plus some gift cards and that I didn't have to do anything. I had been out control freaked!

I had always thought I ranked up there pretty high in the "I had better do that if it's going to get done right" category, but the teacher apparently was giving me a run for my money. Me, the person who did the entire project for the database design class I took, just handing the two guys in my group things they could read for the presentation, becuase I just KNEW that I could do it all much better than they could. After all, I had the software and I could do the presentation manual in PageMaker and I could actually make a working model of the software in FoxPro and run it for the presentation. I knew exactly what I wanted and I did it all. And we got an A.

So I can see the teacher's side of this, i.e., she is probably freaking out because this had not been taken care of yet (but whose fault was that? Not mine!) but on the other hand, being a control freak myself, I would have done a fine job and would have stayed up late many nights in a row to make sure everything was just so. Cause that's just the way I roll, yo! But apparently she does not know me very well.

After a very short period of just blank faced astonishment (Why do we have committees if the teacher is just going to do this stuff anyway?), mixed with relief (Yay, I don't have to do that!) and consirable ire (I really think the movie box would have been better!!!) which I swallowed, I asked her if she still wanted me to do the boxes. She said, "Sure!"

THen I got to thinking...and sent her the box dimensions before I did a single thing more. And sure enough, what she had bought was not going to fit inside.

But she said she would wrap the stuff herself and I wouldn't have to worry about a thing.

I tried to return the paper. They wouldn't take it back. Here I am with $20 worth of paper that can't be returned that I would have no other use for and now what?

So since part of the gift includes a gift card, I reasoned my way into making holders for the gift cards. At least this paper will have a use and I will get reimbursed for it. Next time, though, I will know what to do.

Seriously, though, I am having fun with the machine. I would never have gotten one, likely, otherwise, so I guess I should thank the teacher for pushing me (or rather Dan!) into buying it!

The gift card holders are not done yet.  Still working on a prototype, which means I have trashed some of this paper just trying to get it right. Because, you know, it has to be just right.

And it's not yet. But it will be, oh yes, it will be....

But since you've been patient, I do have a scrapbook layout to show you:

I have continued to scrapbook this family vacation in MDS and I love how this layout turned out! This is another Pagemaps sketch. I also enjoy mightily the picture of the Boy with the Wayward Finger, showing his true personality. What a goof ball!

Well, enjoy the rest of your weekend. Ta!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

I actually got to scrapbook a little today, which made me happy! I did it in My Digital Studio, and I finished a layout I have been working on for a while.

If you've missed it, there is a National Scrapbooking Month promotion from Stampin' Up!  I have a button over there in my sidebar on the left, but you can also click here to find out more about it.

I am not only celebrating scrapbooking, I am celebrating the fact that my husband's long-term disability benefits have been approved! God is so good and has answered our prayers time and again! Thanks to all of you who prayed over our situation, I sincerely appreciate it! I am so relieved!

So, here is my layout:

I am continuing with the pictures from our northern Michigan vacation in 2005. I love this picture of Will, aka "the Boy with the Wayward Finger", taken before that other kind of digital (digit is the medical term for finger, ha ha!) experience that made him famous. Hard to believe he's now 12 years old and almost as tall as Laurel. Where did the time go?

This layout was adapted from a PageMaps layout that was actually a double 8-1/2" x 11" page layout to be a double 12" x 12" layout instead. I used some of the newer digital downloads and pulled a few tricks to create this look.

I hope you enjoyed National Scrapbooking Day as much as I did, but this is also National Scrapbooking Month, a good reason to celebrate and enjoy scrapbooking all month! Ta!