Graphics Galore

Scrappin -- My Little Prince

2009-11-10T14:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes - it really sucks that I don't have a little girl to scrap about. I am lucky that I recently got a new niece added to the family, but I don't always get the kind of pictures I need to use when scrapping with a kit.

Lyndsay came out with one of the most beautiful & adorable kits ever!! And much to my dismay - it was extremely girly. So I had to figure out a way to either get my niece's dad to not be camera shy (fat chance that! lol) or make this kit work for a photo of my boys. I ended up not doing either one. I ended up having it be more about me with my newborn son - and therefore using pink was allowed, lol :)

BUT FIRST! Scrap Orchard was getting ready to host another bingo - and this kit was just calling out to me to use it for my card. So, after trashing one idea for my bingo card (I wanted to try to use an autumn kit that I had bought) I decided to go with my gut and use Lyndsay's kit.

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I was SOOO happy with the bingo card! When I went to make a boy layout with the same kit, I kept getting results that I hated. The papers I would choose just looked blah with each other. Then I thought - well, I love my card a lot. I love the colors and everything. So why not use that as inspiration for my layout. And that's what I did. And I LOVE how it turned out.

Not to mention the journaling that just poured out for this one. I don't usually get so deep and personal with my journaling - but with this photo of me and my oldest son... Yeah - it just brought back all those feelings of fear and inadequacy - I just had to journal what was in my heart.

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

And this beautiful kit? If you have little girls - oh my is this kit for you!! And if you're like myself - surrounded by the Y chromosome - then you'll still love this kit. Maybe a page about you and your significant other, or even your boys (I saw a couple pages just about boys - and it was by no means a girly layout!). It's called Kissing Frogs and you can find it at Scrap Orchard :)

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Scrappin -- My 1st Year

2009-10-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

Scrap Orchard has been doing these daily challenges for a while now, and there was one that caught my eye. It was one called Remember When. She challenged us to pick a date some time in the past, and scrap about it.

I chose to do the whole year that I was born. Lyndsay was putting out a kit that matched perfectly with the newborn hospital photo I had - and both the kit and challenge was what I needed to finally scrap about that photo (something I've been trying to do, but could never get it to look right, for almost a year now).

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I had intended to just do some awesome info about all different kinds of events that happened in 1981 (the year I was born). But as my journaling went along, it transformed into things that happened to me. I guess it was enevitable that I would talk about the life altering events in my life that year - events that affected only a few and not the whole world. After I finished, I was so happy to have finally finished a page that has been burning a whole in my brain for so long. There are still some things I need to scrap about - my adoption story told by my adopted parents for one - but those will come later. Who knows, lol - maybe Lyndsay will come out with another perfect kit that will inspire that layout :)

And here's the kit I used - so incredibly beautiful! It's called Alannah, and you can find it at Scrap Orchard :)

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

OH - and one last thing. I got a comment on my layout saying that it was chosen to be featured on the Scrap Orchard Blog for journaling!! This was a first for me - being recognized in this way. I was beyond excited and totally honored that she would chose my layout :) I was giddy for quite a while after that, lol :)

Scrappin -- The Boo Crew

2009-10-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love Halloween!? I know I always did. I loved being able to dress up - my fave was when I got to be a medieval princess :) And now with two kiddos of our own, I get to dress them up.

A couple years ago - when I was prego with Liam - we met up with some of our friends to go trick-or-treating. Connor got to be a pirate - and had a great time going from house to house getting candy. He was always so loud, practially yelling "Trick Or Treat!" at the people, lol. He also wouldn't leave the door until he made sure they successfully closed it, lol.

And that is what I scrapped about with Jady Day Studio's kit Boo-tiful Spook. I LOVE this kit so much!! The colors - all the cute characters. A touch of Halloween along with some late autumn - I'm so glad I got to scrap using her kit :)

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

And here is my layout with it!! I found the most awesome template that allowed me to use a ton of pictures - which is the way I prefer to scrap :)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Scrappin -- CT Goodies! :)

2009-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

This week brought me some amazing kits to work with!

Up first is Yari of Jady Day Studio! She and Ziggle teamed up to bring us the most adorable Thanksgiving kit called Bountiful Blessings! I love when great designers team up - that means more goodies to play with (and how can that ever be a bad thing!?).

Here is the layout I made with their kit, and a preview of it below:

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Moving onto another kit that I just love. Why? Cuz it has PURPLE in it!!! My favorite color! Amber of Stolen Moments put together such a beautiful, romantic kit called Into the Night. I saw my other CT mates do little boy layouts, little girl layouts, romantic layouts.... So in the end I decided to do a little bit of everything! :)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

And here in a day or two - I'll have yet another layout from the much missed Lyndsay Riches (I really missed her designs!). And that will be it from me for today! Happy Scrapping!! :)

Swine Flu, Ecoli and Scrapping...REALLY?!

2009-10-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

So the last week has been ... interesting to say the least. Let's see - where to start. Well my youngest Liam has been sick with a pretty nasty cold for about two weeks now. I thought it was gone last week, but then it came back with a vengeance. To add to the scary-ness, last week we also found out that my father-in-law had a confirmed case of Swine Flu. Oh frickin' joy! So of course, I was paranoid that my little Liam had Swine Flu. And on top of it all - my hubby has been home sick for about a week now too. And we of course feared Swine Flu again.

Well - Liam, I'm pretty sure, just has a cold. I talked (and talked, and talked, lol) with an advice nurse on Monday and we pretty much ruled out Swine Flu. And Tom finally went to the doctor yesterday to have stuff checked out. It turns out that Tom has 17 ulcers! Two of them are pretty huge. So that's just wonderful (hear the sarcasim, lol). But neither of us are surprised that he has them (and I'd say why - but that is another LONG story for another time). THEN - today, Tom got a call from the doc with his blood test results. No - it's not the swine flu, but it was something else. Tom had fricking Ecoli! How messed up is that?!

So yeah - I've had a crazy week with almost zero scrapping (and I've got two layouts due by tomorrow... ugh!). But before all this craziness started - I did get a page done. And I thought I'd share it with you :)

Yari of Jady Day Studio came out with an adorable seasonal kit called Autumn in Hooville. I'm in love with it SO much!! I absolutely love the layout I made (and am still making. I hope to soon have a free moment to finish up the 2pg version of the following layout).

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

And it's not finished yet - but the 2 page version of this is almost done. But since I'm blogging now - I figured I'd show it to you, even though it's not done. This is what I had in mind from the moment I started the page above - I just didn't have time to finish before her kit was released.

And here's a closer look at the unfinished right page

Photos may still be traded out for different ones. More ellies are needed of course. And some shifting of my original layout I think is still needed. But you can at least see what I have planned :) SUCH a cute kit!!!

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Blog Make Over!

2009-09-26T03:08:00.000-07:00

I have to say that while I love my CT "jobs," I do find that I have almost no time (or even desire/mojo) to scrap something just for fun - just for me - using one of the many kits I have purchased or won over the last few months. But finally, I found some free time!!

A little bit ago, I found my most favoritest boy kit EVER! SuzyQ Scraps came out with a kit called Bundle of Boy! And oh boy - is it awesome! So many cute elements, awesome textures and a color palette that is exactly the colors I love for boy layouts!

So yesterday I did up my first layout in months that wasn't CT related. Suzy had a lift & twist contest going on, and I LOVE the layout I ended up making:

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So after that - I was feeling great. Almost like a renewed vigor for scrapping. And then I remembered that I've been wanting to update my blog layout for a LONG time. So today I sat down and did up everything you see here, once again using Suzy's adorable Bundle of Boy kit!! OH - and here's the kit, just in case you wanted to see :)

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

So yay! I feel awesome!! I always get a little giddy when I've accomplished something I've set out to do. And even more so when it's something I've been meaning to do for quite some time! Thanks for putting up with my excited (sleep-deprived) chatter! :)

Blog Train Freebie!! :)

2009-09-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone - and welcome to my little corner of the web :) I'm Jen and I am your next stop on this fantabulous blog train! Hope you've found some awesome freebies! Read on to learn about a chance to win $5 as well as the blog train freebie you came here for!! :)

Awesome Newness!!!

First up - here is the awesome kit that all of these freebies are from! Amber of Stolen Moments has put together such a fun kit. It's called Helping Hands and you can find it at Scrap Matters!!

And here's my layout with it -- my little booger butt Liam found the broom and was trying to sweep the dirt from the yard onto the walk way out side, lol. He was having fun though - so I didn't mind :)

New Stolen Moments CT blog!!

Next up - I wanna let y'all know about the awesome new CT blog that we've set up for the Stolen Moments creative team! If you head on over there - you can enter for a chance to win $5 to Amber's store at Scrap Matters! Visit http://stolenmoment sct.blogspot. com/ to find out more about that.

Blog Train Freebie!

And finally - my portion of the blog train! I decided to do up a little wordart and then went a little further and did three variations of it (I'm the kind of girl that likes to be thorough and make as many people satisfied as I can, lol)

Download Here @ 4shared
Download Here @ MediaFire

Here is the list of all the blogs participating in the train! Make sure you stop by everyone's to grab all the goodies!

And if you find that one of the blogs doesn't have their portion of the train - please just check back later since we're all in different time zones around the world :)

StolenMoments:Amber -- stolenmomentsdesign.blogspot.com
Lizzy -- my-scrap-escape.blogspot.com
Niki -- onceuponascraptime.blogspot.com
Stacy -- stacysbackdoor.blogspot.com
Jen -- graphics-galore.blogspot.com <----You are here
Yolanda -- yoli- scraps.blogspot.com
Kim -- kim21673.wordpress.com
Jewelle -- jewelleslayouts.blogspot.com
StolenMomentsCTBlog -- stolenmomentsct.blogspot.com

Awesome news & a chance to win $5

2009-08-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

I've got some awesome news! A little bit ago, one of my fave digi scrapping friends Amber of Stolen Moments put out a CT call. I wasn't sure if I was ready to handle three active (and one semi-active) CTeams - but I wasn't gonna let her call go unnoticed. I love Amber too much to not apply!

Well - I was thrilled when earlier this week she replied to my application with a YES! So I'm now on yet another CTeam - and I'm already loving it!

Her kits are awesome! I had a blast with the one I used this week. It's called Summer Sailor and I just LOVE it!! Even though we have yet to take our kids to the ocean - I do live right next to a river, and there's water everywhere. Here's the layout I made!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

And the kit I used can be found at Scrap Matters

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Now - are you still wanting to know how to win $5 to Amber's store?? There are two places you can go - Scrap Matters is one, and Sunshine Studio is the other (those link directly to the topics that have the contest) Just do what she asks - and you'll be entered for a chance to with the $5 to her store!

**Note** You will have to be registered to the forums because in order to enter for the chance to win, you'll need to private message Amber with your answers

Scrappin -- Jady Day Studio

2009-08-20T00:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm not sure if you knew, but a couple months ago, I was talking with Yari (Jady Day Studio) asking her about a previous freebie she had done for a contest at DSA. I realized I forgot to download it, and wanted to know if I could still get it (it's the camping kit in the image below that I forgot to get).

Much to my shock, she replied (saying the kit would be for sale soon) and also wondering if I was interested in being a member for her new Creative Team. OMG!! I was shocked! She was one of my fave designers in the DSA contest, and I was a little irked she lost. And now to be asked without applying to be on her CT?! Are you kidding - of course I said yes (while silently freaking out since I was VERY new to CTing, and I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed being on 3 teams).

The bummer part - I had to be quiet about it. I had to wait while she put out a call. And wait till she picked the other girls. And then wait longer until her store at Scrap Orchard finally opened. And when she finally did get us girls together - I was smack dab in the middle of the CT contest at DSA.

So it's only been a couple weeks that I've really gotten a feel for CTing for Yari - and I LOVE it!! Her kits are awesome, and she is an absolute sweetheart! I am beyond honored that she asked me to be on her team - and I'm so glad I said yes :D You can see me and the rest of the Babalicious Jady Day Babes (lol) on our blog where we post previews, scrapping inspirations, freebies, and contests thorugh out the week!

Click on the image to go to our blog!

With that - Lemme show you all the goodies I've been able to make so far! I'm loving everything I make with her kits - her design style is SO perfect for me! :D

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Kit can be found by clicking on the image!

Scrappin -- 4th of July 2008

2009-08-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

Okay - this is a little past due, but you can't tell me you don't have any 4th of July pics left to scrap (Just so you know - I got the kit a little late, and I didn't make the layout right away. I'm not THAT bad at blogging, lol)

I used Valerie's awesome kit Stars & Stripes. You can't get it right now because she's in between stores. But if you click on the image for the kit (below) it will take you to where her new home will be (opening Sept 1st!!)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Future store can be found by clicking on the image!!

Catch Up Post -- Lyndsay Layouts :)

2009-08-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Only a couple more catch up posts left. First up are the layouts I made using Lyndsay's awesome kits. I am SOOOO beyond thrilled that I applied for Lyndsay's team (and that she invited me to join) because I love working with her kits!! I never seem to struggle when making a layout - her stuff is just so easy and fun to work with :)

Anyhoo -- here are some layouts I made over the last few weeks with her stuff!! :)

Catch Up Post -- BOTCT layouts :)

2009-08-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

Eek - I'm so behind on posting. Between all the summer outings with the family and participating in the BOTCT contest last month, I just haven't had the time to blog. But with a few quiet minutes while the kiddos are sleeping, I figure I can at least let you know about the BOTCT contest.

No, we didn't win. There were some awesome entries, and a great team won. So kudos to Flergs awesome team :) However, I did make some of my fave layouts to date, and I had a blast getting to really know four of my other CT teammates :)

You saw the first entry HERE. And here are my layouts for the other three challenges:

Week 2: Music challenge. We all had to make layouts about some sort of musical theme. Whether we all scrapped about country songs, or maybe a specific artist - or even specific lyrics -- it just has to be music themed.

We ended up scrapping about a song from our fave movie. After I suggest that, and everyone agreed - I was a little annoyed to remember that my fave movies are all scores, and no songs with words. Grr... So I had to go down my list and decided to use the movie Moulin Rouge and the song Come What May.

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Week 3: This one was tricky. We were given the numbers 1-10. And to each number we had to assign an item. Once assigned - we were then only allowed to use what was on that list (no more and no less). Here was our list and then my layout from that list (not one of my faves - it looks unfinished, but at least I finished that challenge, lol).

10. Leaves
9. Flowers
8. Circles
7. Tied Buttons
6. Strings
5. Papers
4. Rows Stitching
3. Photos
2. Fonts
1. Alpha

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Week 4: Boy was I glad to be on the final stretch. This one was pretty simple. We just had to scraplift two of our teammates layouts and put it together into one finished product. We decided to throw in an extra theme and scrap about why we like scrapbooking. I was quite happy with mine :D

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

And there you have my final entries for the BOTCT contest. I had a blast, but I do know I won't be doing any team contests in the near future. I discovered an old habit in the midst of the contest - I like working alone. Or at least being 100% in charge. I've never NEVER been a team player - it's a huge challenge for me! So making it through this contest was even more of an accomplishment cuz I stuck with it and came out feeling like the winner :D

I almost lost my son today...

2009-07-26T00:19:00.000-07:00

This isn't gonna be about scrapbooking. It's gonna be about life... about the life of my oldest son Connor and how he almost lost it today...

Let me set the scene real quick...We were at a state park called Paradise Point.

It's a great little swimming place that always has a lot of people but never feels crowded. And on top of that -- the highlighted section below is ALL wading level (it doesn't go above 5ft)

And in the "glowing" section of the wading water, in the picture below -- that represents water that is mostly 2ft (sometime 3ft) deep. So it's great for the kiddos to run around and play :)

Well we got there around 1pm or so. And with the sun reaching its peek, we were ready to get wet. Our close friend Kevin immediately grabbed up my son Connor to go out and play (while Kevin's son finished getting ready). I was a little nervous letting Connor go out there without me since he doesn't have a life jacket, but Kevin is always great with Connor so I let my worries fade away and just tried to enjoy the day.

Eventually Kevin's 5yr old son Ray was finished and joined Connor and Kevin to play and have fun in the water. A quick heads up -- Connor was a water baby! He loves it - he would swim all day long if we'd let him, lol. He's great at going under and holding his breath. He loves to jump in our 3ft deep pool at my inlaws house. He's great in the water! Brave - oh so brave!

I eventually got Liam dressed and headed down to the water. Liam is NOT a water baby. He really doesn't like it all that much. And the colder it is - the more grumpy he gets with it. But for a while there in the beginning - he was having a blast so long as I was walking around with him.

So me & Liam are just walking around. Soon I got to ankle deep water and I let Liam go so he could walk around if he wanted to. He did but fell often, lol. I then realized that it was empty around me and I look to see that my hubby & Kevin's wife Krisstin had headed back up to the blanket (a good little hike up a pretty steep hill). Tom was gone getting dressed for swimming, and I'm really not sure where Krisstin went.

I wondered where Kevin had gone off with the kids, but wasn't too worried. I was facing the shore, and had my back to the water. I remember Liam standing at my feet, while I held onto his hands... Do I remember a tug at my soul, telling me to look closer... I don't know. Honestly, I had no reason to look... But I glanced back to see if I could spot Kevin. I didn't at first, but after a couple seconds I did. "There he is" I thought "All is well" ... I think Liam stumbled at that point. I'm not sure, but I remember I faced my head back towards the shore... But again, was there some pull that said "Look, damn you look!"

Cuz I thought in a split second "I saw Kevin, and I saw Ray, but I didn't see Connor" ... So I picked up Liam and turned back around to really get a good look. I'd say Kevin was a good 50 feet out there (or maybe it was only 20ft ... I really can't remember - but it was a good ways). "But where the hell is Connor" I thought, getting a little freaked, but not too much because I was sure I would see him around the shore line or something.

But yet I never looked towards the shore. Something kept my eyes glued to Kevin and the water around him. And that's when someone half way between me and Kevin moved a little more to the side, and I saw a bleach blond head above the surface, water up to his neck.

"Oh thank god, there's Connor!" I thought, breathing a huge sigh of relive and kinda laughing at my paranoid self. Connor went under the water and in a second or two, came back up. I smiled, knowing how much he loves to go under water. But as he surfaced, he went back down almost immediately again.... The first stirrings of unease gripped my stomach. When his little head surfaced again a couple seconds later, he had moved a few inches away from Kevin.

My feet moved on their own as I realized even if he could touch, he was moving away from Kevin. But when his head disappeared again, my feet moved faster and the full force of reality hit that my baby boy couldn't stand, couldn't swim, and was only alive because by some small miracle he knew to keep jumping to the surface so he could grab air.

"KEVIN!" I screamed. I've got a voice that carries. It's a voice that usually stops people in their tracks. I can get peoples attention across fields and beyond. But for some reason, Kevin couldn't hear me! "KEVIN!" I scremed again, watching Connor go down and thankfully come back up. "KEVIN!" and still he didn't hear. Kevin's back was to Connor - he was helping his son get the hang of swimming (a very normal occurance whenever we're in the water). "KEVIN YOU DEAF BASTARD!"

It seemed to be that comment that finally got people's attention. I heard someone behind me yell "Oh My God!" and I remember thinking "Good, maybe someone can help me cuz I can't run with an infant in my arms" ... I guess I should have started cursing the moment it all started, maybe someone would have heard me earlier.

Every step seems like an eternity. I can't seem to get closer and I fear I won't see his head pop through the surface again. The water is so murky and brown from the fine sand that you can't see a foot below the surface. If Connor stayed under I may never find him. "KEVIN!" I continue to scream, thinking he'll hear me any second now, because I'm not sure how much longer Connor can last! By now anywhere from 20 seconds to even up to a minute or two has passed. I'm not sure when Connor realized he couldn't touch... but it had been long enough that another child not as comfortable in water would most likely have been gone for good...

"KEVIN!!!" My eyes were wide with terror! I'm sure you could see it in my face as I tried my hardest to get to my baby who had continued to move down stream a foot or so with each push towards the surface. And then a hero in my eyes did what Kevin never did - he pulled my baby out of the water and handed him to me as I finally reached the spot that this horrible story took place. I'm not sure if the man heard me... Or maybe he saw me and saw where I was looking. Either way - he had Connor in his arms before Kevin ever realized what was happening.

A crying Connor clung to my neck, crying and shaking with fear. I just kept telling him how proud of him I was! How he did exactly what I told him - to just jump to the surface if it ever gets over his head... Did he remember what I told him? Or did instinct (angels) just take over... I'll never know. I won't ever ask him because I'm hoping he'll put this behind him and not let it give him nightmares (although if he does wake up screaming tonight, I'll be having a good long talk with him to help him work through his emotions... just like I'm working through my emotions now by writing this)...

In the end, I never figured out how long Connor was jumping to the surface for air. It had been a few minutes of quiet (I think) before I turned around to find out where they had gone. The water had been up to Kevin's chest (around 4-5ft deep) and I can't remember how far past the "safe zone" Connor was - but I know he was farther than a couple steps... And after swaping stories, Kevin and I learned that each thought the other was watching Connor. Kevin thought I was with him and Liam both, playing. And I just assumed Kevin still had Connor with him as he was showing Ray some more doggy paddle tricks, lol...

Calling it a lesson learned, and not letting the terror eat me away - we made due by grabbing a life jacket of Kevin's older son. Connor was hesitant at first - associating deeper water with bad stuff - but after showing him that the life jacket would keep him above water, he eventually was back to his old, brave self (almost - he kept asking for our hand every once in a while, but after a few seconds would let go saying he wanted to swim himself).

And I consider this a huge victory -- but towards the end of the day, I saw Tom playing with Connor. And I saw Tom dunk him under the water (a very common game for him and daddy to play in the pool). I smiled to myself, knowing that my son was fine. He was alive and well, and he was slowly but surly getting his confidence back with regards to water...

God was here this day, watching over my family. I should be curled in a ball right now, numb with grief over losing my Connor Bug. But by the grace of Him, I was able to tuck both of my very tired boys in bed tonight. Give them each a kiss. And tell them that I loved them so much. And my heart sang when I was allowed to hear "I love you too Mommy" from my precious Connor... Thank God for miracles, because I witnessed one today.

PLEASE HELP :D

2009-07-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

This week was the first week (out of I believe 4) in the Battle of the Creative Teams contest!! And I need your help!! It's time for people to vote for their favorite team - I me & my team need all the votes we can get (everyone else is asking for votes - so I figure I should too, lol).

You do NOT have to be registered to vote (at least I'm like 95% sure you don't have to be registered, lol).

Just go this page right HERE and please vote for Lynz's Ladiez.

Here's the awesome layouts that me & my team made. This week we had to do a white space layout - and we all had to use the same color palette. And an optional challenge was to all have the same theme - we took on that one as well and chose "That Perfect Moment" for our theme! :)

All these awesome kits were made mostly from Lyndsay's new release of an older mini kit that she did for a contest a while ago called Whisper which you can find at Scrap Orchard (you can click the image to go see it along with her other awesome kits!!)

CT Fun -- Garden Adventures!

2009-07-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

Lyndsay Riches has teamed up with the awesome Amy Stoffel and together they made this adorable kit called Garden Adventures which you can get now at Scrap Orchard (and hurry, because SO has a huge sale going on right now! I promise you - most of my play money is going towards this sale, lol)

And with that adorable kit I made two layouts. First was the one I loved, then hated and now love even more, lol. It has nothing to do with gardening (which is where I think my doubt came from). But boy, oh boy - does it fit Liam :)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

And because I felt so bad that I didn't make a garden themed layout -- I worked in between laundry and swimming and finished this up tonight :)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So you can see that this kit is definitely versatile and I had an absolute blast playing with it!! Remember to grab it up while it's on sale (the sale at Scrap Orchard runs from now till the 5th).

Edit -- Tube Removal

2009-07-02T02:18:00.001-07:00

I feel the need to show off an edit today :) This is one of the hardest edits I've ever done... A mom wanted to know what her child would look like without the tubes and wires that he had needed to live, so I did my level best to let her see it :)

I kinda think I should have kept going and removed everything medical, but I had worked so long that I was getting burned out with these (there were 4 total).

BEFORE & AFTER
Hold your mouse arrow over the image below!

Scrappin' -- Sweet :)

2009-06-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since I've been able to make anything. Today I made myself finish up a monthly contest that I wanted to do. Every week, we're give part of a kit over at Sunshine Studio Scraps, and then asked to scrap with it. Well - I did week three and made myself do week four :) And I'm pretty happy with what I came up with:

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

The kit wasn't really loaded with a lot of stuff - so I was challenged with coming up with a layout that I could be happy with. A few color tweaks here and there, and I came up with a simple, yet (IMO) pretty layout :D

Cartoon Me!!!

2009-06-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Around a year ago, I decided that I wanted to make a cartoon image of myself. When I researched tutorials on this, I learned that it's also called vectoring. And I also learned that there are SO many levels to this. From basic, almost 2 dimensial cartoon, all they way to something that resembles an oil painting....

Well, my first go at this was NOT successful. I spent around a week or so doing this, and ended up with... well, a jagged looking picture that didn't look like a cartoon at all.

So there was my first attempt. I was really happy with it, but bummed all the same that it didn't look like a cartoon. ONE of my biggest mistakes was layers. I've noticed that the simple cartoons tend to focus on three main colors (for stuff like hair and skin). Highlights, midtones and shadows. You stick to mostly that (instead of the fricking 27 layers I had for skin colors) and you should be good, lol :)

So over a year later, I decide to try again. This time - it only took me around 4 hours, and boy howdy! Was I happy with my results!!

So needless to say, I am thrilled beyond reason!! I'm so excited that I was able to do this! I'm just waiting (on pins & needles, lol) to see what mama has to say about it!! :) I'll be sure to update what she thinks about it! :)

Scrappin' -- Yummers!

2009-06-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

I got to play with one of Lyndsay's new kits! I tried to do the page curl thing on the photos -- not sure if I got it, but I did enjoy trying something new :D

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

And I used Lyndsay's Juicy Citrus kit, which you can find at her Scrap Orchard store!!

Thanks for looking - and happy scrapping!!!

SAT Finals!

2009-06-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

Alrighty -- time to finish up these back posts that took me almost a week to write, lol (like anyone had to know that, but I felt the need to say something) :D

The 10th challenge was for us to use an ad and draw inspiration from it. And I HATED the ad cuz I got NOTHIN' for quite a while... And my final layout ... I really don't like it - I wish I had had more time to figure something else out, but when the clock is ticking (and you've procrastinated as bad as I did) then you just post it and move on :)

The ad and my layout:

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

My layout was originally going more up and down -- the center paper is the actual add filled in with the kit paper... I used the stack of fabric tied with a ribbon and wanted three (or so) pics tied with something... So you can kinda see that I guess... The rest is just me, and was not influenced by that stupid ad at all, lol :)

Moving on... The next one was a little hard too. We were given a quote and had to scrap with it. The quote: The soul of sweet delight can never be defiled. Sorry - but that really doesn't mean a thing to me, it doesn't inspire me (grr, lol)... But while browsing people entries (to see what they made of that quote) I saw someone do a winter themed layout. Ah-Ha! I can do that! lol...

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So yes, another very hurried layout that I would love to kinda upgrade somehow at a later date... I think it's missing some sort of cluster of something behind the photo! I really think that could balance it, lol...

Anyhoo!! Challenge 12 I loved!! We were given a kit by Whimpy Chompers (a FULL kit!) and told to make anything we wanted! Right on! I really loved my final layout (even though - the original one I posted just so I could move onto the last challenge didn't have a title or journaling -- I was able to fix that after I was completely done)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

And for the last challenge ... UGH! I was SO upset with this... First off - I left it until the morning of the final day for the challenge. Everything was due by 9am (yuck!). I had to take Connor to school, but thought I'd still have an hour to do the layout... And STUPID me, doing the math, had Connor to school by 7:30am, me home before 8am... DUH *slaps forehead* -- he gets UP at 7:30am, and doesn't go to school till 8:20am! Leaving me 30min to scrap if I'm lucky!!

Yeah - so needless to say, I was 15min late uploading this. AND I did it all in 30 frickin' minutes!! And the challenge? Take all the Sunshine Studio designers - and the kits you have of theirs, and take only one piece for each kit (however many kits you use is up to you) and scrap. It was SO hard, and I really hated my final layout - but I was just so happy to be done with the whole scrapathon!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I'm not even sure I wanna try and "fix" that layout... I consider it a lost cause, lol :) And with that -- I'm DONE!!! :D

Awesome SAT day!!

2009-06-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Okay - Today rocks cuz I made some of my fave layouts ever today!!! Okay, first up, we had to scrap lift a layout. All of her layouts were pretty simple (in a good way) so I was glad to have an easy challenge :)

This was the layout I chose (followed by my take on it). Click on each layout to see the full credits for both!!

I LOVE mine!! I've loved that kit since I saw it and have been dying to scrap with it! Well - I got my chance and I just love how it turned out!!!

Next is one that ... oh wow - can I just say I LOVE it!!! We had to scrap using a template, and I really hated the template. It was so plain and just not something I'd normally use. But with a few tweaks -- I was SO totally happy!!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So I had a GREAT scrapping day today!! I'm so ready to just be done with this contest though, lol - I really love SATs, but hate them at the same time, lol :)

More SAT Layout :D

2009-06-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

I made a few today! The first one I'm not totally thrilled with! I don't know why I don't like it, but it just seems blah to me. The challenge was to use the yellow, green & white colors of the site in your layout.

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

There are things I really like about it, but there's just something wrong with it that I have yet to figure out... Oh well, lol. Moving on. The next one I did started out for a different challenge and ended up working better for this one (they wanted something showing off your summer fun!)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I think this showcases summer fun just perfectly!! I really love doing muli-photo layouts! They're just so fun. That was a great day! So I had a blast scrapping about it!

And finally for the day - one of my favorite layouts ever (and it totally fell together in the blink of an eye - I LOVE when that happens.) This had to be something about you, and since I wanted to make something with this kit - it really worked out perfectly :)

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I've been dying to make something about my Coffee Brat days - and I just LOVE how this looks!!

SAT Day Three :)

2009-06-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

The craziness continues as I try my best to get caught up! We're getting 2 "assignments" a day all week long, and so far I've only got three of 6 done! But today - I got another one done (and another one started).

This challenge was to use the first kit you ever bought from Sun! I have to be honest - I've never actually bought anything from that store. But I have gotten a few things from their designers, so I used the first kit I got from them.

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I didn't know if that layout would come together, but eventually the pieces fell together and I'm actually really happy with this!! The kit isn't my normal preference, and I was happy that I was able to scrap with it!!

SAT Fun Continued!! :D

2009-06-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

Continuing the 13 layout contest, I moved onto the next challenge! This one involved scrapping with a collab kit (and she suggested scrapping about someone you met online - maybe even because of scrapping).

And of course - that brought me to my girl Victoria!! We met like 2yrs ago because I was tagging on myspace. She was one of my most loyal fans, and I even inspired her to start scrapping herself!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I came up with that layout! I used one of my fave photoshopped pics -- I used two different photos and made it look like we were together! We love pretending, lol. Luckily we both live on the west coast - so there is a HIGH chance that one day we will meet!!

The next challenge was to make a layout about a holiday and/or celebration of some kind. I decided to go with Christmas since I never really scrapped with any of the pics that I had gotten.

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

This one took FOREVER! I started it three times, trashing my first two attempts! I'm glad I didn't give up on this because I really love how this turned out!!

3 DOWN AND 10 TO GO!! LOL :)

Scrapathon Fun!!

2009-06-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

Over at Sunshine Studio Scraps, I stumbled upon one of my favoritest contests ever! A scrapathon! It's the kind of contest that makes you question your sanity all the while making you produce some of your favorite layouts ever!

Today I tackled the first challenge - to take one of your first layouts and remake it. Passing up on some of my 1st layouts (since they were not much more than a pretty frame for photo contest entrants) I came to this one (made about 2yrs ago) - a layout that at the time, I was SO proud of.

Oh yeah baby! Check out my fantabulous shadowing on the photo and feet! That's ALLL me, lol (yeah - it's that gray line to the bottom left, lol).

Anyways -- I'd like to think that I've improved! As evident by my remake of that layout:

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So I don't know if you can see it - but I tried to take ideas from the original and work it into the new version: The striped paper running the length of the page, a ribbon wrap with a heart in the middle of the wrap, the name & quote, and I extracted the feet charm from the original and used it.

I love how it turned out!

Scrappin -- SYTYCD Fun :)

2009-05-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

With things going crazy over at Digi Scrap Addicts for the designer contest, I decided to sit down and make a couple layouts with some of the free kits that I had. In the end - I made two layouts with the same kit (I hadn't planned on using the same kit - but after doing a boy LO, and deciding on making a girly one -- her kit just called out to me again, lol).

This is another SYTYCD freebie (crazy awesome, huh!?)
SORRY THE KITS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE!!

And here are the two layouts I made with it. The first one - I know, I know -- there are no elements... But anytime I tried to add something, it just seemed to take away the simplicity of the LO, so I left it as is... And the second one - my 2nd successful, girly layout, lol. I love how that one turned out!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Full credits can be found by clicking on the image!

SYTYCD Contest Freebie!

2009-05-21T23:41:00.000-07:00

Oh my -- the contest is getting GOOD. Not that is wasn't before, but now -- I can really tell that the designers are really stepping it up and making some of their best work! My girl Valerie really did an amazing job this go 'round. She went out side of her comfort zone, and I have to say - she did AMAZING!

ROUND THREE:

SORRY THE KITS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE!!

She asked us CT girls to make some layouts showing off her round 3 entry, and I had a blast making my first girly layout:

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So head on over and grab her freebie kit while you can! And stick around because round 4 is coming up, and there will be 20 designers making even more freebie kits for y'all to snag!!

Scrappin -- Gentle Dreams

2009-05-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHAT!!!??? I won a guest CT spot for Sweet Blossom Designs (I did it with THIS layout). I was SO excited when I saw her blog post - and saw my LO there! So I got to make a LO with a kit that she hadn't even released yet.

It was a challenge for me because I realized that, on average, I tend to use darker colors for my LOs and her kit was very light. But in the end, I just LOVE what I came up with!! And she loved it too -- so I'm just thrilled about my whole experience! :)

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

It turned out so elegant -- I'm just so happy! I had such a blast working for her! Here's hoping I'll win another guest CT spot so that I can play with her awesome work some more! :)

Freebies Rock!!!

2009-05-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

Digi Scrap Addicts is having a HUGE contest (So You Think You Can Design - SYTYCD). Over 60 designers are involved in this - and each one is making freebies for everyone to use!!

And guess who is in it!? My girl Valerie is not only in it - but has made it to the second round! So - head on over to http://digiscrapaddicts.com -- Make sure you register for the forum so that you can see all the free goodies. And after that - grab up Valerie's AWESOME kits while you still can!

ROUND ONE:

Click on image to go grab it!!
(remember - you have to be logged into the forum to see it)

ROUND TWO:

Click on image to go grab it!!
(remember - you have to be logged into the forum to see it)

Can I just say how much I'm excited to be on this girls creative team!! I mean - LOOK at those! They are beautiful and amazing and I just love working with her stuff!! I can't wait for her to find a new home so I can get back to playing with all her goodness!!

Scrappin' -- It's a Guy Thing!

2009-05-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

Well with DC closing, I find myself lurking in many places, but no one place is calling out to me. I guess I'm waiting for Valerie to find a new home so that I know where I'll be spending most of my time. Hopefully - I'll fit in there :)

But in an effort to get past this - I've been trying to scrap... And I've started probably 5 or 6 new layouts - none of which were finished. But finally today - I finished something!

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So I LOVE this!! It took me a while to get it to where I felt like I was done - but with a few tweaks here and there - I was happy! I tried to go for some dramatic shadowing (it's a learning process - but I think I'm getting a better feel for shadowing), but it doesn't look very good with it only being 400x400 ... It's much more subtle when it's 1200x1200, lol (resizing it smaller sharpens things like shadows - making them look weird sometimes, lol) :D

Anyhoo -- I'm refreshed now that I have a new creation under my belt :) YAY! :)

Mother's Day Present!

2009-05-10T17:10:00.001-07:00

What better way to celebrate Mother's Day then becoming a first time mother!! My sister-in-law became a first time mama last night - so please welcome baby girl Payton! :)

EB (my sister in law) was a true champ! She pushed for almost three hours (part of that was horrible back labor). But soon - with what seemed to be 50 people in the room watching (myself included) - Payton came into the world! I'm so happy for my SIL and her hubby! And I can't wait to go and visit again so that I can get my baby fix :)

Scrap & Edit -- Getting back at it....

2009-05-08T11:30:00.001-07:00

A couple days ago I was all gung-ho about telling you about my awesome NSD weekend... I left one last entry to catch up on and then woke up to some horrible news! I'm not even close to being in the mood to go into the the long, drawn out B.S. details - but I will tell you the worst news. Digital Candy (the place I finally felt accepted 100%!) is closing. I'm sad sometimes and mad others - ugh! It just sucks is all!! I really did enjoy Scrap Matters - but I still felt like I was on the outside yearning to be on the IN... Digital Candy was different (probably because I was accepted to my first CT gig there)...

Oh well - life moves on, and so do I ... FINALLY I made something after the NSD scrap hangover that I've had all week :)

First -- the edit. I had very few good pictures from Halloween '08, and of the few I liked - something was usually wrong (closed eyes, obstructions of some kind, etc). Well -- I decided to try and fix one:

Liam was finally willing to be held by Uncle Kevin (apparently it took Kevin being in a Grim Reaper costume to do it - okay...?). And I snapped this pic. Adorable! Except for the hand... I wasn't sure if I could fix it - but really all I needed was a good mouth replacement pic - and after many tries - I found one that worked:

It wasn't a 100% match up (maybe I'm the only one that can see it cuz my hubby sure couldn't tell! lol). And I was happy... Until I thought - okay, I'm gonna scrap with this and I've got a creepy hand in the shot... Grrr -- So I took the hand out too.

NOW I'm happy!!! And I move on to scrap! I'm not sure if I'm a 100% satisfied with my first layout since NSD, but that is okay by me! I'm just happy I did something other than mope! LOL ... It was a challenge actually to work with only yellow & black. The kit also had a light green with it, but every time I tried to add it - it just didn't fit. But I finished :)

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Okie-Dokie folks, I'm done for right now. I may be back later to finally finish up some old posts :) Happy Scrapping!!

Scrappin' -- NSD Finals!

2009-05-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

Still here on the 5th of May, finishing up some back posts from my crazy weekend at Digital Candy celebrating National Scrapbooking Day the best way possible - scraping 8 layouts in about 24hrs (that's assuming I don't sleep, lol)... Oh yeah - and did I mention ... I had a family dinner I had to go to (I swear I never had a moment where there wasn't something interrupting me, lol) ... This entry is gonna be long - so I'll try not to babble so much, lol... Going back to May 3rd.....

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I woke up this morning wondering how I was gonna finish off a layout that I was ready to trash the night before. I never use masks because I never figure out how to finish it up... But eventually I did :) This is SAT challenge #3 where we had a mini kit that we had to use (from that kit - we had to use 3 of the papers and at least 4 different elements. Anything else added was okay).

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Not really my favorite - but oh well, it finished up that challenge and I was happy for that... Three down, 7 to go. Onto SAT #4 -- This one challenged me. We had a list of things we had to use. We had to use every one and NOTHING else. This was the list:

1 swirl or flourish
2 ribbons
1 solid paper
3 patterned papers
1 staple
1 tag
1 word title
2 elements of your choice

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

That was what I eventually came up with -- and I was VERY happy with it! I wasn't sure as I was going along. The green ribbon gave me problems, and I wasn't sure if I liked the title and didn't know where to put it. But I was happy when I finished! :)

Next was SAT challenge #5 -- a song lyrics challenge. And we were given the Willy Wonka song Pure Imagination. We just draw inspiration from the song and scrap about that ... The second line says "Make a wish" and I immediately thought of Connor's 4yr old b-day pics - and the one of him blowing out his candles.

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

There are a few things about that LO that I still don't really like -- but what I do love is the title work that I did -- that wasn't some word art. That's all me baby! LOL :) This was the layout I was working on when I had to leave and go to dinner (I lost an hour there - but luckily I just said I was "working" and they weren't offended when I just ate and hurried back home, lol)

Moving on to SAT challenge #6. This was a "All about me" challenge where we took one thing (or more if we chose) about ourselves and scrapped about it. I really didn't know what I would pick until it just hit me -- my eyes. I use the user name "Irish_Eyes" ALL the time...

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Oh yeah!! I love this! It helps that I loved that kit when I bought it (which I got for free -- getting rakked ROCKS!). Go me GO! Six layouts done - four to go!!

Moving onto SAT challenge #7 -- this was a simple template challenge. And in the end - that's all I really did -- something WAY simple. I did up the layout and then looked at it and thought "What else could I add and not ruin the serenity of it?" ... The answer was nothing, so I just left it as is :)

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

As you can see - very simple... But I didn't wanna take away from the amazing photos :) And that is the END of Sunday, May 3rd!! That's right - I hit the midnight mark with my next layout and we're moving into the early a.m. of Monday the 4th!

SAT challenge #8 -- we were challenged to scrap about why we scrap -- what inspires us; what keeps us going. So of course - I scrapped about my family and my life :)

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I LOVED how that one turned out. It's so pretty ... so whispy, lol. I really do love that kit. So I'm really getting tired by this time. It's probably around 1am or so - give or take. I started the 9th SAT challenge wanting nothing more than to just be done so I could go to bed, lol. This challenge was a quote challenge -- we had to scrap using one of three quotes. I chose this one:

“Today, you are You. That’s truer than true.
There is no one alive who is youer than you.”
-Dr. Seuss

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

So it's NOT my favorite layout of the night, but that's okay because finishing that meant I only had ONE left (and it was only 2:30am... ugh!) ... The 10th and final SAT challenge was a doozy! It required us to use one piece from a different kit. We could use as many (or as little) pieces for our layout - but each thing we added had to be from a different kit.

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I used 13 pieces from 13 different kits!! I would have done more if it wasn't almost 4am! But man was I ecstatic with my final product!! All because I thought "Hey these stripes look good" and the color palette just went from there :)

And with that I'm done with everything!! I completed the Scrap-A-Thon before the deadline and I am SOO thrilled to have such a wonderful array of new layouts to add to my gallery :D

Scrappin' -- NSD in full swing!

2009-05-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

I'm still here, on May 5th trying to get caught up on all the craziness from this last weekend... So we'll continue on with my recounting of Saturday, the 2nd....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HAPPY NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY!!!

Well, not one to waste time - my alarm was set for 6:30am! I had a bingo over at Scrap Orchard that started at the ungodly hour of 7am. So I was up with the raising of the sun (which worked out good because it gave me extra time to scrap before we all went to the zoo)...

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

Okay -- the bingo (That's my card up there). First of all - it went WAY longer than anyone wanted. There were issues with which chat room people were supposed to be in (sarcastic kudos to the person that thought it would be a great idea to have people join a chat room that was NOT on the same site as where we learned about the bingo in the first place and had to upload our card to that gallery). **SIGH!** - so a half our later - things were ready, but the chat room was NOT stable. So let's just say - every time someone was booted from the room (it happened to me only once) we all had to wait until they came back

And for all that mess -- no one won the $200 prize ... Two people eventually won $25 to Scrap Orchard - and I didn't come CLOSE! LOL - I only had 3 out of the 8 numbers!

Moving on!! Digital Candy is hosting a "Scrap-A-Thon" all weekend. 10 challenges in total - and all 10 layouts are due by 10am EST, Monday the 4th. CRAZY!! I only got started on one before we went to the zoo, but had to put it on hold while we took our kids to the zoo for the first time ever! It rained a little (funny enough - it rained while we were at the "rain forest" lol).

Back at home - I worked on SAT (Scrap-A-Thon) challenge #2 -- it was a scrap lifting challenge. I ended up choosing Linz's Always Smiling layout:

I LOVE everything (I mean everything) about this LO! The colors - the kit ... all those elements and how she put them! It's just PERFECT! So my goal was to match it on my own... I don't think I did that however (I think I should have chosen a different kit with more elements). But with time a factor - I didn't want to start over...

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I am happy with it - I just wish it had more of everything :) I then moved onto my next challenge. I decided to go back to the first SAT challenge (which I had skipped cuz I wasn't sure which kit to use). The challenge called for us to find our oldest kit - one that we always wanted to use but just never got to it ... So I went with the first kit I ever bought and scrapped with that :)

Credits can be found by clicking on the image!

I moved onto the third SAT challenge but didn't get it done yet - so I'll be saving that for tomorrow... Man - I've still got 8 layouts left to do tomorrow ... I don't think I'm gonna make it, lol :)

Scrappin' -- NSD Eve - Day 1

2009-05-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well -- this post may have the date of Friday the 1st, but I'm only now able to write it (on the 5th). There was just SOOO much going on over the NSD weekend that I wasn't able to catch up until now! Flash back to the 1st of May....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight over at Digital Candy, things for the NSD (National Scrapbooking Day) started early! There were chats (where you got free goodies just for showing up) and many of the NSD challenges were posted for people to get started on. I ended up finishing two of them tonight (YAY ME!).

First up was a speed scrap. I didn't even realize that one was starting - but as I was looking around deciding which challenges I wanted to try - I saw the head's up for an Speed Scrap. I decided to give it a shot! And boy howdy, am I glad I did!! I came up with a LO that I just LOVE!!! I'm rarely a fan of "white space" (or blue space in this instance, lol) but when I finished up doing my journaling - I was just HAPPY with everything about this!!

Credits can be found by clicking on the image

After finishing that - I was in the mood to keep going. They had a Candy Jar challenge up where you have to use EVERY piece of the mini kit provided in a layout. So I went back to that (I had been working on it before I saw the speed scrap). I had a little issue with the flower that was provided in the mini - it just did NOT fit with the layout. But since I had to use it - I just made it really tiny and stuck it on my string, lol.

Credits can be found by clicking on the image

So there you have my Friday night, NSD Eve accomplishements!! I'm mighty happy with all I've done - and I can't wait to see what Saturday and Sunday bring.

Edit -- Mother-In-Law Removal

2009-04-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm still (yes still) editing all those wedding pictures (I feel like the amount I have doubles while I sleep or something cuz I just can't seem to finish, lol). And yes - I'm peeved again about the poor quality of my partner's camera. Grrr! Some of these pictures are so bad that any tricks that I have for fixing stuff - NONE of them work...

So I need a confidence boost. And what better way than to show off a past edit that made me smile, lol. This request came from my great friend Jess. She's one of two friend's that I've met online that I consider a long-lost sister :)

Well - she wrote me asking if I could remove her mother-in-law from her picture. I don't think it was because she hates the woman or anything like that - I think it was more that she wanted to scrap with the picture - and wanted a winter picture of just her.

This was VERY easy to do for me. Why you ask? Well look at everything I have to work with. I've got greenery that I can clone -- brick, porch rail, Jess's coat, siding... Yeppers, there was MUCH for me to work with :) I'd say that when I was done - I only used maybe 20 layers :)

Anyhoo -- here's the after for ya :)

Tah-Dah!! All gone. The hardest part was actually the sleeve on Jess's coat that I had to rebuild (her arm was behind her MIL). Building it was pretty easy -- it was getting it to match the color that was the trickiest (because it wanted to look flat and not correctly 3D-ed).

OH MY NEWEST DISCOVERY! I've tried to find some mouse hovering codes that would allow me to do this - and now I have found it!! Run your mouse over the image below to see a before and after that is more obvious :D

BEFORE & AFTER
Move your mouse arrow over the image below!

Ahhh... Much better! LOL... Now if I can only preform magic on my partner's pictures (at this rate - it may very well take actual magic to do this... to bad I broke my magic wand the other day, lol) :D

National Scrapbooking Day & a FREEBIE!

2009-04-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

As this blessed holiday draws closer, people are gearing up for a busy weekend. Take Digital Candy for example -- they've got TONS of stuff planned! Curious? Well - I've come prepared, lol... Take a look at the crap load of fun-ness going on:

[[Click on image to see a larger view]]

So wow! Can we say "Busy Bees" And aside from the fun-ness - there's also all sorts of sales and freebies, so you should make sure you stop by and check it all out. Again - that is DIGITAL CANDY :D

Onto the promised freebie!! My creative team partner Sara has done up two adorable quick pages with Valerie's "Sweet Snuggles" kit :)

---> SWEET SNUGGLES KIT! <---
---> SWEET SNUGGLES FREEBIE! <---

That's all for now! My hubby went back to work today (after being temporarily laid off for around 3mo) and it's been quite the adjustment doing everything with just me (you really do get used to parenting as a team when both parents are there for such a long time, lol). Let's see... I've had a torn nail (that was my nail) ... a short-lived goose egg on my youngest (compliments of the oldest and his temper) ... and a mound of previously sorted laundry piled together to create what my oldest calls a "Clothes Gate" ....

*sigh* It's been a busy day, lol

Edit -- Wedding Pictures

2009-04-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

If you stopped by here because you searched online for some tricks about editing wedding photos in Photoshop - alas, you have come to the wrong place. The post below is only about me editing some photos - and I have a note on the side that says I use Photoshop. That's why you get my blog in your search results. HOWEVER - if you have a question, please feel free to leave it in the comments below. You never know - I might know how to help you, or I might be able to direct you to the site that can help :)

And now - back to my original blog post :)

A few weeks ago, I stupidly agreed to partner up with my friend and help her photograph her brother-in-law's wedding. I am NOT a photographer! Oh no, no, no! I am a photo editor! LOL. I take a decent picture and make it better -- but I prefer taking someone else's picture and making that one better!

So for the last couple of weeks, I have been editing 500+ pictures. After sitting here for hours, editing one picture after another - being the perfectionist I am -- I now loathe everything about this wedding, lol.

But there are a few that I'm happy with...

So there are a FEW of the shots that I took. And only one of those was edited a LOT from its orginal version (that being the kissing picture -- I removed the smiling pastor from behind them so that there wasn't such a bad distraction from such a romantic picture, lol)

BEFORE

AFTER

So SOON I will be done entirely with all these edits (I still have about 90 pictures from my partner to edit -- and her's are harder because her camera isn't as good, so it takes more to clean them up).

Why did I just write all of that... No real reason... I really just needed to vent a little so that I could release my pent up frustration over my partner's pictures... That way I'd have a relaxed frame of mind when I go to finish up her pictures, lol :)

Scrappin' -- My Little Monster!

2009-04-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it - I made my first CT layout today! Yay me, lol :D So without further ado....

Here is Valerie's awesome kit "My Lil Monsters" ... I loved this kit from the first moment I saw it! It was that yelling green monster that hooked me, because (as you'll see) it reminds me of my son Connor, lol.

And here is my layout with it

Kit used: My Lil Monsters by Valerie N Designs
Template: Template 34 by Kimi Weldon

Journaling:
You were only months old when you started making these “rawr” faces. And to this day - it’s still very much a part of your personality.

I had to change my favorite yelling monster to red so that he didn't get lost with the rest of the green in the background, but everything else just fell into place when making this LO (I love when that happens, lol). And as you can see - Connor and the monster have a certain ... grrr-ness in common, lol.

So make sure you check the rest of her stuff out --->VALERIE'S STORE<--- Her work is adorable! And to think - she's a newbie! ... Could have fooled me, lol :)

AWESOME news!!!!!

2009-04-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

First of all -- there is a new girl in town!!! She's a new designer for Digital Candy -- She is Valerie N. and she's awesome!!

Her Store
Her Blog

She's got this... fun feel to all of her kits. I get great ideas just looking at her previews. She uses all sorts of different color palettes, and has some of the most adorable creature elements (ie: animals, monsters, etc). You'll be seeing a LOT of her stuff here on my blog because (can you believe it) I tried for her CT call and made it!! That's right -- I'm now on her creative team, and I'm so excited that I've already done a literal happy dance a few times, lol.

Here are some of her kits (stuff that I get to work with! Squee!!!)

So YAY!!! I'll be back soon with my first LO using one of her kits (I can't decide yet which one I want to use, lol). Tuff decisions, gotta love 'em, lol...

I Won Again!!

2009-04-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm just speechless! I can't believe this, but I won another awesome prize over at the Digi Scrap Addicts forum! It was one of those random pick a number drawings -- and my name was picked!! :)

And what did I win you ask? Well, she has these awesome masks to use however you feel, but she also had those same masks filled with glitter. OMG -- they are so neat. And I suck making glitter, so I'm totally stoked :D

And here is what one of her CT girls did with it:

Can I just point out that the CT layout is just STUNNING! I saw that and just fell in love with the glitter masks, and then to actually win it!? Yeah, I'm a happy girl...

Okay -- time to tell you where you can find these awesome things!! :D She is known as Dreamer's Magic Designs. You can find her blog HERE and here store HERE. She got some awesome stuff, from kits to templates, and even some CU stuff :)

Otay -- I'm done now!! What an awesome forum! I keep winning stuff, and everyone is way nice. OH - and the girls that run it are HI-larious! They crack me up on a daily basis!!! LMAO! :D

Scrappin' -- Easter Egg Mess

2009-04-14T02:19:00.000-07:00

I finished my first two page layout today! I found this awesome template, and an example layout that just inspired me to try my hand at making a two pager!

We (my family) had a blast decorating the eggs this year. It was our first time doing it all on our own. Normally we did it over at my mom's house. This year -- it was all us. Connor's job was putting the eggs into the bowl.

And to keep order (ie: to avoid a TOTAL mess), Tom & I took it upon ourselves to turn the eggs and get them completely colored.

And because I wanted some pics of Liam watching the craziness, I pulled up a chair and let him watch. He just stood there, screaming his little excited scream, and laughing like crazy at everything.

He did get down close to an egg once, like he was thinking of biting it. But instead he just seemed to smell it (or at least just get a good, up close look at it)

Anyhoo -- all went well and no tantrums were thrown for any reason... And here is the layout I made with the egg dying pics:

PAGE ONE:

PAGE TWO:

TOGETHER:

Click on image two page picture to make it larger

Credit:

Kits: Just Hatched & Bunny Hop by Nitwit
Template and LO inspiration: #4 by Janet Phillips
Fonts: DJB TINAF1 by Darcy Baldwin and SS Whimsy

AND the Easter egg hunt the following day was a huge success! Connor found all 24 eggs. And while Liam never did understand what was going on -- he did seem to enjoy himself. The family had fun watching, and I got some cute pictures (which I can't wait to scrap with, lol)

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Scrappin' -- Alexis

2009-04-13T02:02:00.000-07:00

Wanting to do something with a girl picture for a change -- and hoping to come up with something girly... I grabbed my friend's pictures of her daughter on their trip to Myrtle Beach. BEAUTIFUL pictures.

The only thing that kinda makes me sigh and shake my head is that the layout didn't turn out even slightly girly. It's all blue and stuff (to go with the ocean scene). Oh well, lol...

Credits:

Kit: Eau Bleue by Galiscrap
Font: Baby Bowser

I WON!!

2009-04-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one that repeatedly says "I never win anything" and then get UBER excited when the dice falls in my favor...

Well, as the saying goes: I never win anything! I mean, I'll win something here or there that involves me making/designing/creating/etc something... But just a random "pull a number out of a hat" sort of win? NEVER! LOL...

Well, today was my lucky day I guess, because I just won Darcy Baldwin's newest font release!! How cool is that?! And, I have to say the 2nd font in this pack is awesome! It's the kind of font that I'll use for journaling ALL the time!! And I won it for free! YIPEE!! :D

Totally cute right?! You can find this and lots of other awesome fonts in her store right HERE. I've been wanting so badly to either learn how to make fonts myself, or just pay the money and have some of my own writing turned into a font (she does that too -- makes fonts using your handwriting!) :D

Okay ... All done for now... Off to make some more fun stuff ... using my new fonts! :D

Speed Scrappin' Time

2009-04-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

After trying two other speed scraps yesterday (neither of them were successful - grrr) I FINALLY was able to finish one tonight! YAY ME! :D

I saw an annoucement on the Digiscrap Addicts forum that Sunshine Studio was holding a speed scrap tonight... I've never completed a speed scrap anywhere else other than Scrap Matters - so I was a little nervous to participate....

But I didn't give up (even when THREE different directions forced me to alter my original layout design quite a bit - ugh!)

But the finished product makes me quite happy :D I've been dying to scrap with these pics for a while -- and with this kit too :)

Credits:

Kit: Let It Rock Collab
by Sweet Blossom Designs and Designs by Vicki
Font: 28 Days Later and DartangnonITC

So there it is, another speed scrap under my belt. I still find them kind of hard -- especially when they throw in directions that go against what I originally wanted... but maybe one day speed scraps will seem easy, lol...

Yeah Right :)

Edit -- "Acid" Removal

2009-04-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

Time for some good old fashion editing!

A request came to me (she had heard that someone was good with editing -- it's AWESOME to know my work has preceded me!!). Well, she had ONE photo of her with her parents when she was little, and something happened to her mom's face, and she was horrified to think that the photo was lost forever.

Thank goodness mama's eye is still there - that would have sucked to fix, lol. As it was, I did have a little bit of a challenge getting her chin and the shadows around it to look natural. I actually ended up googling portrait photos to find something to either use as a guide, or (as I ended up doing) use to actually lay it down over the ruined area (JUST the chin part of the other pic I found) and rebuild mama's face...

Dang that sounds confusing... Oh well -- here's an up close pic of her finished face (before exposure/color touch ups):

I swear it's like magic sometimes, lol... And then of course, the final touches to the whole picture were done:

BEFORE & AFTER
Move your mouse arrow over the image below!

And after she got it, this is what she had to say:

OH MY GOD! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I can never express how much this means to me! I am crying right now! Seriously! Thank you! You did such a wonderful job!!!! I wish I could tell you how much the REALLY means to me!

So I feel great right now. Another job finished, and a very happy customer goes away with a treasured memory saved :D

Until next time :)

Failed Speed Scrap

2009-03-19T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well... I always try so hard to finish what I start, and that definitely goes with Speed Scraps. But today was just not one of those times :(

I started today's Speed Scrap just fine, although my computer was going a little slow. It was the direction that we had to use a template that REALLY messed me up. With my crammed computer not wanting to go, opening up Photoshop to get the layers for a template that took forever to find and then even longer to download... yeah - I fell behind fast, lol...

In the end, I think I ended up being almost an hour late (I never really checked the times). I do know that when I went to see if I might still post it in the speed scrap thread, the hostess had already left a comment that she PMed everyone the participation prize.

Grrr....

So I just posted my layout in my gallery and called it an evening :)

CREDITS:

Most everything: Snips & Snails by Tracie Stroud
Dark blue paper: Freckle Face by Rina Kroes
Hand print: My son's hand :)
Template: #27 by Jayedid

Fonts: Grumble

I'm really bummed too. Cuz I really liked this one! I used my own son's hand print, and when you leave your LO in the speed scrap topic -- you get TONS of comments. And being that I LOVE comments, I was sad that I'm not gonna get as many as normal, lol...

Oh well :D

Early Morning Speed Scrap

2009-03-16T02:22:00.000-07:00

Ugh -- morning speed scraps SUCK! LOL... I had a 10am speed scrap today, and by the grace of God, I was able to finish.

Oh, before I show you the page -- a couple people didn't really understand my title work. It says "Moody Boy" NOT because of the attitude in the pics (nothing TOO moody about those - thus the confusion, lol). It's titled that way because Moody is our last name, lol :)

Background Paper: Just Hatched by Nitwit
~ Dark Brown Paper: Land of Nod by Dani Mogstad
~ Ribbon, Lace, & Stitch: Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls
~ Shamrock: Lucky Me freebie by Danielle Young

Fonts: CarltonPlain & Birmingham

I never did feel like it was finished. Maybe I was just too tired to think straight, or maybe there really is something missing, but I was happy enough to call it good since it was a SPEED scrap (gotta hurry up, you know? lol)

:D

Template Fun

2009-03-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

Just a quick heads up about the external -- taxes are done and now we're just waiting. I think it's gonna be like a week, maybe two, till we get them. :D

Onto my new obsession -- having fun over at Scrap Matters. I really love this forum. Although, I've started looking around, and I think really that there are quite a few forums that are just as awesome. I think I'm just partial to Scrap Matters cuz it was the first forum I ever really got involved on :)

Well -- I didn't do a speed scrap this time. The last couple I just haven't been able to participate in (either it was just too early, or I wasn't able to be home for it). Nope -- I decided to do the template challenge. So here's my finished product :D

CREDITS:

Kit: Snips & Snails by Tracie Stroud
Template: Tuesday Template 3-10-09 by Linz

Fonts: Hobo BT, BeachType, & June

I was never really 100% happy with parts of it. I LOVE all the clustering/layering I did with all the cute boy elements around the photo. But there's that dang brown background that just looks so... blank! I tried so many tricks, but nothing help ... So I just left it the way it is. That was how the template had it ... so who am I to argue, lol :)

K -- I've got an early morning, so I'm gonna call it a nite :D
XOXO ~Jen

Awesome Speed Scrap

2009-03-09T02:08:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, lol -- I had another speed scrap tonight at Scrap Matters. Ugh, this one was at 6PM (dinner time). I have to say that living on the west coast makes speed scrap times suck! I'm either stuck with 6pm-ish (and therefore crazy family, dinner time chaos) OR the even worse time of around 11am-ish (so that I'm so fricking tired, that I'm a zombie who can't do pretty much anything)...

What I wouldn't give for a 3pm or 9pm scrap like everyone gets on the east coast :)

Anyways! I will say that despite the craziness in the house - I finally finished on time! YAY ME! :D And wow do I love my layout. It's totally NOT my style, but somehow that is what came out :)

CREDITS:

Kit: The Land of Nod by Dani Mogstad
Font: Arrière Garde

This one seems to get a lot of attention no matter where I post it. Even my girls over on myspace were all ga-ga for this one. So apparently I did something right, lmao. I guess sometimes, a layout just falls together without me having to really try :D

See you in a couple days when I attempt yet another speed scrap. I'm LOVING them! :D

Speed Scrap Fun

2009-03-05T01:52:00.000-08:00

Still no news about my external. I have to wait until we do taxes and then GET the return back so we can buy a new external and attempt the transfer :(

But that didn't stop me from attempting yet another speed scrap over at Scrap Matters. It seems like this is the month for speed scraps cuz they are going on everywhere. I swear if I timed it right, I could almost do one every day, lol...

This one went a little better in that I just LOVE the layout I made. I was however late again, lol. Maybe one of these days I'll finish on time :) But anyhoo -- here is my finished product:

CREDITS:

Bulk of it: Spontaneous Delight - Carrie Stephens
Frame, RicRac: Festival - Shabby Princess
Stitching, Alpha: Where the Heart Grows - Golden Girls
Swirl: Waiting to Happen - Monica Guerra Leiria
Circle Stitch: Apple of my Eye - Bren Boone

Font: Tuesday & Waterfalls

So there it is -- late, but finished! I might have got it in on time if I had read the directions more carefully, lol. We had to take some elements and cluster them behind the photo. So I grabbed some leaves and flowers and attempted my first real clustering (I rarely do that -- and I've never done it with flowers and stuff). After I finished, I noticed that the host had specified that we could NOT use the usual flowers & leaves. UGH! LOL. So I had to redo some stuff REALLY fast, BUT I was very happy with how it ended up turning out :D

That's all for tonight :)
XOXO!! ~Jen :D

Speed Scrap Challenge... And crappy news!

2009-03-04T00:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a tuff night for me... It all started with an announcement of an upcoming speed scrap on the Scrap Matters forum ....

I had a few minutes to spare before I participated in my first ever speed scrap (where you get 7 instructions in 1hr and have another hour to finish up and post a completed layout). Well - I decide to tidy up my desk before it started - and while cleaning, my wrist bumps into my external hard drive - not hard, but just enough to tip it. I tried to catch it - but was unsuccessful as it tips over (just onto my desk - not to the floor or anything). It banged kinda hard, but it's fallen before and was no worse for the wear. Well... I wasn't so lucky this time - seeing as there was now a noise that was NOT normal.

Yep - you can pretty much guess where I'm going with this - I broke my external. Not to where it's totally inaccessible, but to where I need to wait for a new external and then PRAY that everything will transfer successfully off of the broken external onto the new one.

So this happened right as the speed scrap started. Then it took an hour before I knew what to do (turn off my external and just don't touch it until I was ready to transfer). And with no pictures and no kits - I pretty much thought my first speed scrap was not gonna happen...

And then something said - don't give up! Push through this and just scrap - let it help you move forward (sappy, I know, lol - but it's what I did). So I downloaded some freebie kits that I knew of off the top of my head (Shabby Princess and a couple from the Scrap Matters newsletter). And then I downloaded all the pictures still being stored on both my cameras. By the time I was trying to scrap - I had a whopping 30min left! AHHH, lol.

So I scrap my butt off - hating my LO the entire time I was making it, lol - but not willing to give up. And as the 2hr mark hit - I looked at my very UN-finished LO and thought, "Well - I guess I didn't make it."

BUT - then I remembered the 15min grace period for uploading to the gallery delays! I still had time! So rush, rush, rush (still hating it the whole time, lol -- and STILL on the verge of tears worrying about my external the whole time).

30min later (15min late) I uploaded my first ever entry into the speed scrap gallery:

CREDITS:

Most everything: Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls
Words on pics: Happy Go Lucky by Shabby Princess

Fonts: Eurostile, CK Alis Hand Official,
Vladimir Script, Too Much Paper! and Perpetua Titling MT

So there it is - something I threw together in about an hour - all the while stressing hard core over my external and the possiblity that I've lost years worth of kits and three months worth of unsaved pictures. Oh yeah - did I forget to mention - I could easily lose pictures that have many firsts for Liam: First snow, first Christmas, first birthday and first hair cut.

But hey - I may not like the layout I made for the speed scrap (but funny enough - there are times that I do like it... so maybe I should just tweak it till I'm happy). BUT ANYWAYS - I may not like it - but I LOVE the fact that I didn't give up :)

Broken EHD & New Computer!!

2009-03-01T01:39:00.000-08:00

**NOTE** These are some blog entries that I did on a myspace page that I'm deleting. But I don't wanna lost some of these blogs - so I'm transferring them here :0)

March 4, 2009

Me (Jen, lol) Update: Ugh - one of my biggest fears has happened. My external hard drive (where I store all my pictures & scrapbooking stuff) has gotten broken! NOOO, lol! It's still accessable - but not for long. And I can't use it at all! Once I get a new external (which will be soon I hope!) I'll be able to attempt to transfer everything to the new external (but there's no guarntee that everything will transfer) :( ... Luckily - I had already started backing up a lot of my scrap stuff - so I'm not totally lost. Just worried about my pics (which I haven't backed up since December... So that's Liam's first snow, Christmas, Birthday & hair cut)

That's about it! You would think - being Irish, and St. Patty's Day coming up -- the whole saying "Luck of the Irish" would help me out - but yesterday proved that things don't always go the way you hope!

Thanks for reading (if you still are - kudos for you, lol -- cuz I know how much I tend to go on and on, lol) :D

XOXO ~Jen

March 11th, 2009

Hey Everyone :)

I'm still sitting here with a very full computer and an inaccessible external hard drive :( We are now only waiting until we get our tax returns - and then not only will I get a new external (which will hopefully allow all my stuff to transfer onto it) but I will also be getting an AWESOME new computer (one that won't take five frickin' years to do simple stuff, lol).

So ... It's just a waiting game. I do have a few things to do some basics - but not much else. My editing program runs SOOO slow now that I wanna scream! :( That's about it! I miss y'all like crazy!!! I'm so excited to get a new computer and I'm getting annoyed that tax returns aren't here yet!

See y'all soon!! (I hope!)
XOXO ~Jen

March 14th, 2009

It's on the way!

Quick little update before I go to bed finally -- We got tax returns last night and my computer has already been ordered. It should be here sometime next week (around Wednesday or Thursday!!!)

So we'll find out soon the final outcome of my external hard drive fiasco & whether I can get all my stuff or if I'll have to rebuild my scrapbook kit collection & just say goodbye to 3mo of pics! Wish me luck! :D

XOXO ~Jen

March 21st, 2009

My Computer Is Here! :)

^^ That would be the inner guts of my new baby, lol. It makes my head spin seeing all those wires. And I've seen the inside of my computer I have now - and there's like two things, lol. This one is SO crammed full of stuff that he had to do like a jig saw puzzle to get it all in there correctly, lol.

GREAT NEWS: My computer parts are all here and are assembled!!

BAD NEWS: The computer ONLY has the operating system on it (ie: Windows Vista). There aren't any programs on it yet. We're working on that this weekend.

NOT SURE YET NEWS, lol: My external gets transferred today (it could be happening now for all I know) -- So I'll learn soon the fate of all my stuff!

I should be up and running REALLY soon. It just depends on how long it will take to get all the programs I use (from basic Microsoft Word up to my Photoshop & PSP) onto the new computer and get it in my home and set up :)

Thanks for reading! Have an AWESOME weekend!!! :)
XOXO ~Jen

March 27th, 2009

Good News: Last night - I went and saw my new computer, all finished -- all my programs are installed and running great :D

Okay News: It might have all my programs - but it still doesn't have all my personal stuff (documents, music, scrap kits, pics, etc) so that will take a day or so to do once I get my computer home and set up.

Bad News: Last night - we tried to transfer everything off of my broken external (tried for like two hours) and it wouldn't work! It actually got REALLY hot to the touch - so we just stopped and let it cool down, and we're gonna try again today (he might have already tried). So since he wasn't able to just grab EVERYTHING (it froze while preparing everything for transfer) -- we're gonna just try to grab specific things. Pictures first - tag stuff second - etc -- until there's no hope left (although - I already think there's no hope. I don't wanna get my hopes up too high because it just hurts too much when it doesn't work out)...

Anyhoo - enough boo-hoo stuff. I did get an awesome new computer - along with an awesome new program! (CS4 Baby, Yeah! lol) And it's really crazy fast - and huge - and I love it!

So -- after I get my new computer home and hooked up - I'll be working on getting anything I still have put onto it... And we'll go from there. I'll keep you updated with any big changes :)

XOXO! ~Jen

March 29th, 2009

Guess What!?

I am now typing from my new computer!! That's right -- I have my new computer home and all set up! :) Although -- it's taking me FOREVER to type this because I got a new keyboard too -- and I HATE it! It's got a teeny-tiny space bar, meant to be used with my left hand (and I use my right hand for pushing the space bar). The backspace button isn't big either. So grrr, lol... I think I'm gonna put my old, crappy keyboard back on tomorrow so that I can freaking type!

Thank you everyone for all your best wishes on my external, but unfortunately it didn't go well. I was unable to retrieve anything from my external. I have learned a very valuable lesson with regards to externals -- and I hope anyone out there using their external for extra storage without any other backing up will take my advice when I say stop now before you too lose everything (unless you have a few grand to shell out to those data recovery guys, lol)

Anyhoo -- I've been installing programs all evening. And tomorrow I'll be able to set up my old computer and transfer anything I need that's still on there. Then I'll have to see what I can do about recovering lost kits and other tagging essentials... Well -- I'm getting ready to toss this keyboard out the window, so I better stop typing, lol :)

XOXO!!! ~Jen

I've Been Challenged

2009-02-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

The Challenge Is:
Go to your Picture Folder on your Computer
Find the 6th Folder Go to the 6th Picture of said 6th Folder
Post the Picture on your Blog and describe it
Pass the Challenge on to 6 Friends
Link to them on your Blog and let them know they've been Challenged

You know - I saw this challenge going around already. And for fun - I decided to look and see what my 6th picture in my 6th folder was. And that's when I realized that my pictures folder is organized way different then most. And there are extra folders in there that mess up the 6th count (folders that are there for me - but don't work for the challenge).

Where there's a will -- there's a way...

I went with my 35mm Camera folder. And this is actually the 6th folder - and 6th picture (it was pretty much the only folder that did what it was suppose to do, lol - show a picture that I can post here) :D (other things were things like blurry, far away pics of deer, an old, grainy pic of my grandma's house - nothing I took, oh - a snotty picture of Connor, lol)...

Anyways (see - I just can't ever shut up, lol). This is a picture of Connor's first hair cut. I'm not sure why we decided to do it ourselves - but it did turn out pretty cute :) We had to give him the comb so that he was distracted enough for us to cut (it was a team effort - Tom did some too, lol).

And just for shits & giggles, lol - here's a before & after (it's kinda hard to see just how long it got in the back -- I didn't think to take a pic of that - but it had gotten scary long, lol):

So there you go - challenge accepted and completed, lol. Well - almost. I'm now suppose to challenge six of my friends here on Blog Spot - the only problem is -- I'm new here. I've had this blog forever, but I've only recently started using it. And I've only got one friend right now - and she's the one the challenged me. So with all this happy challenging going on all over blog spot - this branch of the challene will end with me, lol :)

Scrappin' -- Every Moment

2009-02-19T22:47:00.000-08:00

Oh my -- I've been busy, lol. But today was an awesome day for me for creating something new, and fun. I was invited to join in a contest.

The mission: Create some sort of tag.
The contest: Everyone then votes for their favorite.
The prize: Top advertisement on her page for a month.

It wasn't the contest ... or the advertisement ... or even the challenge that made me wanna do this. It was her cute picture. OH MAN - sometimes all it takes is an adorable picture to make me wanna make something. However - out of respect for her, I won't be posting a copy of her adorable son. BUT - I will be showing the layout I made -- substituting her cutie for my own :D

Kit Credit: Amazing kit "Freckle Face" by Rina Kroes
Word Art: Elegant WordArt by Bethany

I'm so thrilled with this!! Why you ask, lol ... It's because I didn't use a template! (I know - it might not be a big deal - but for me, lately - I've needed templates or tutorials or something to create something that I really love) ... Sometimes I just can't design anything without a little inspiration, and I often turn to templates for help. But this time - the kit was all I needed for inspiration. The layout just fell into place!

The contest starts tomorrow morning. I looked at the others - and it's funny, but some people had the same ideas that I tried to do. And I've got some good competition. I love mine the best - but then -- I love my style of scrapbooking - so of course I'm gonna love mine, lol. I really don't care if I win - I've been in so many contests now that I've grown immune to the disappointment that can come with losing.

Wish me luck, lol :)

Edit -- Crowd Removal

2009-02-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

And here we have yet another Creative Graphics request. A girl recently went on a cruise, and stopped at Egypt (uhhh - not fair! LOL). I guess the crowd was thick, because her and her friend didn't get the best photograph to remember their trip by.

Gotta love the random arm to the left there - I'm thinking it was crazy crowded, lol :) I also kinda felt like I was intruding on the couple there on the left - where it looks like a man is comforting an overwhelmed woman. Seems like a private moment - and I was glad to remove that, lol :)

For the editing... Seriously - there wasn't much to it. The girls were on their own layer. I removed the road first. Then worked on the guy to the right. There were some tricky tweaks I had to do in order to continue the stone bench - but I was happy with it. I removed parts of the picture taking chick to the left of the girls, and finished up by cleaning what I assumed was numerous cigarette butts off the ground beneath the girls feet. Cropped, edited exposure - and wa-la:

Isn't that neat - how they look so all alone out there. No signs of other life (besides the fact that someone is taking the photo) and no signs of modern roads and stuff like that (besides the camera used, lmao - and of course the modern clothes) lol...

She was happy :D

OMG you rock! That looks amazing. I’s perfect. Thanks so much!!

Edit -- Adding People to Group

2009-02-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

I had another challenging edit in Creative Graphics. I assumed I'd be able to do it - and have it look good, but one never knows what obstacles will spring up in my way as I go along...

In short - the girl requesting lost her father in-law a while back. Her husband wanted to have a full family photo, including a new brother-in-law. This was the family photo she had:

And she had these pictures to use for the father and brother in law:

All in all - I thought she gave some great photos to add. The original family picture was kinda poor quality (due to it being a scanned photo - shadows never scan well).

First things first - everyone in the original photo was cut out and put on their own layer so that I could edit each person individually. The color was edited almost immediately - had to remove tons of green - but make sure it didn't go too purple on me, lol. (FYI: The scary green background is just there to show the separate layers, lol - that and it's great for showing me if I have any "holes" that need filling)

After that - I cut out the the extra guys and arranged them all until I thought it look natural. There are small differences in ... sharpness, shading, etc - but all in all - I was happy with the final people placement:

Then came the fun part, lol (what - you're not having fun already? LOL). I had to remove the people from the original background. Not everyone - and not all of them, but just the parts sticking out between the new family line up :)

HAHAHA - pretty weird looking, huh? :D And I know -- the extra fence I added looks horribly cloned - but the moment it went behind the family - it was not so obvious, lol... So - yep, here you have the final product:

I'm pretty happy with it. It's tricky adding people to a photo and having it look 100%. I can SOOO tell where the edits are - but, duh - I did the edits - so of course I know, lol. And she was very happy:

omg thank [you] Jen. my husband LOVED them he said thanks so much! thank [you] so much it really means alot to me...

Scrappin' -- Liam's 1st Year

2009-01-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

Well - My son is now officially one year old :) ... I just cannot believe that it's already been a whole frickin' year!! There were times over the last few months (including those in the last part of my pregnancy with Liam) that the days just dragged by, one slow, crappy day at a time. Things were rough - and I swear I didn't know how we were gonna make it. But God was really watching out for us...

So - on to my blog for the day. A friend of mine made a layout for someone - also a parent of a little boy due in January. The funny thing is - her son's birthday is on the 28th. Well, my friend Ericka goofed and put the 26th on the layout. SUCH a twist of fate - because that was absolutely perfect for me! I quickly emailed her and asked if I could use it - and she excitedly said yes!

So frickin' cute, right?!?!?! I was so happy! I then went to work decorating the page. I wanted to do something that was a tribute to Liam's first year. So I made this cute little scrap tag - and then did one for each month (including a prego pic) and had them going down my myspace page. There was nothing else decorating my page - just the layout and these tags:

I got lots of great comments on everything -- the layout wonderful Ericka made - and the cute little month tags I used :) So YAY for Liam!! My little man is growing FAST! :(

One last picture before I say goodbye. I got Liam up this morning - and thought, let's grab a picture of the birthday boy. He was still half asleep - and I thought that it would be adorable... Instead is was just plain hilarious! Talk about bed head, half awake, leave me the eff alone! LOL...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM!!!!

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PS - In case you were wondering (and I'm pretty sure you weren't lol) - that picture I just put up there - the one of Liam waking up ... Yeah, that's an edit too, lol. I just edited so I could post it in here. When I went to take the picture - that up there is what I saw. When I looked put it on my computer and looked ... Well - dang it all, it wasn't what I saw :(

Thank goodness I can fix closed eyes, lol. And yes - I know the droopy eye pic is cute too - but I really wanted to have a picture of what I saw that morning :)

XOXO!!! ~Jen :)

Edit -- John Mayer

2009-01-22T02:21:00.001-08:00

Don'cha just hate it when you get a once in a life time opportunity, and you are given a chance to get photographic evidence of your success, lol - and you totally ruin it by closing your eyes for the picture. GAH! *throws up hands!*

LOL!! Trust me - I know how this goes. With highly sensitive, green eyes - it's rare that I have my eyes open in a picture with a flash, lol. Here for example is my wonderful meeting of my favoritist author ever! Sherrilyn Kenyon... And you guessed it - eyes closed. In all three frickin' pictures that her aide took for us! ((One of these days - I will get around to fixing this, lol))

Oh heck yeah - ain't I all sorts of sexy?! LOL!! I am such a dork!! Closed eyes, giant forehead - what's not to love, lol!!!

Moving on to John Mayer! (And it's my opinion that this guy looks nothing like the hot John Mayer I love in the video "Your Body is a Wonderland" lol ... I can definitely tell that it's him - but he's missing the curly hair and baby face cuteness, lol) :D

So as you can see, she closed her eyes. Totally sucks! But she did give me the most perfect picture to fix this (either she was just real lucky - or she actually tried to find a picture with similar angles - which I swear no one ever gives me the perfect picture, lol!)

Horrible exposure compared to the other picture - but that is totally fixable. Changing angles of a face? That leads to just some messed up work, lol :D

Usually - I'll either replace the whole head - hair and all (that's usually what I do when I don't have pictures that I can match up correctly with angles and/or lighting). But most of the time - I'm able to just cut out only the face from the good picture and merge it on the bad face so that it all blends in perfectly...

With this picture - I actually just cut out the whole bad face. Trippy, huh? LOL!!

And with only slight adjustments to exposure and color - and of course, turning the picture - it lined up with very little blending! One the easiest closed eyes/face replacement corrections I've ever done!!

This was an old edit of mine ... I've been pretty blah today. So yeah... I know no one is reading, so why the heck am I still going on and on... oh that's right - I like to ramble, lmao! :)

XOXO!! ~Jen

Edit -- Baby Pic Restoration

2009-01-20T23:41:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine on myspace asked if anyone could help restore an old baby picture of her. The picture had definitely seen better days, lol.

She asked for it to be cleaned up, and to have the dollar bill be removed. After a few questions - I also learned that the dress was a pale lilac, with white lace. And the background was a faded forest scene...

Oh boy, here we go, lol... I started by removing any solo spots that I could see - one's that wouldn't interfere with any important lines (like eyes, or hair line or something). So I got the larger spots off her face & hair & dress... And I think I cleaned up a whole whoppin' five things, lol...

Then I layered the hell out of it. The dress had its own layer - which I changed to b&w and then added the lilac color. Other layers... her arm, her face, her hair, the fence behind her, all the flowers behind her, the blue sky (yep - it's there) and then the trees...

To keep it short - there was LOTS of color correction - some I just guessed at the color. LOTS of blending and noise reduction. And my finished result.....

BEFORE & AFTER
Move your mouse arrow over the image below!

I was SO happy with this one. By far one of my bests I think. I finished it in about a day - record time for edits like this - for me anyways, lol. And she was so happy:

I am honestly crying, I thought I’d never see it look anywhere near this good! It is absolutely beautiful. PERFECT!!! I know that took forever, Thank you SO VERY MUCH for fixing it for me! That is the best fix on a picture I have ever seen!

And thank you for taking the ball out, I actually wanted it out but thought it would be impossible! You are SO AWESOME!!!! I’ve saved [it] & Once Again THANK YOU!!!

XOXO ♥ APRIL ♥ XOXO

So heck yeah!! **does a little happy dance** I couldn't feel better about this one!!! :) Other people left compliments too - made me feel awesome! I love my ego boosts, lol!

XOXO ~Jen

Myspace Layout - Danielle

2009-01-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Danielle put out a bulletin asking if anyone out there that knew how to make a layout would be willing to make her a customized one for her page. Always up for making my friends happy - I agreed to take on the task :)

First off - I normally make very scrapbook-ish looking layouts. Nothing bright and shiny like I see all over myspace. But I decided to give it a go. She gave me a background to use (if I was able to anyways).

((This was MUCH larger - I resized it for this blog))

So that was the background. I chose to cut it apart and edit each picture so that they had similar exposures. I also added a brown border between the pics to just help break it up. I also made it smaller than she had it and had it repeat over and over for the background. Finishing up with this:

Next was the extended network banner. I had an idea of what I wanted - but rarely do the pictures line up the way I need them to. I asked for some of her favorite pictures - and this ended up being my favorite. Of course I had to pick the one that needed the most work, lol...

So I went to work - wanting it to eventually become a soft, b&w photo. It took a few layers - and some applied filters in Adobe Lightroom. But I was very happy with the finished product:

I then cut them out and put them on the network banner. I found a beautiful quote and did up some word art for it (not one of my fortes, lol - but I was very happy with the finished wordart). I added some sunburst type brushes to the background, and a couple hearts. And went and found a sweet hand photo in Danielle's albums - and added that. Added some small animation to the sunbursts (you have to really hold still to notice it - it's very subtle). But I finally finished it:

I'm SOOOO close to being finished - and I'm so excited to give it to her. And then my 11mo old gets sick. And I'm MIA for almost a week. I was so sad to have kept her waiting. That - and I was almost frickin' done!! Grrr...

Anyhoo - I then went to work on the contact box. I wanted to do more with it - but because of my week hiatus - I had lost my groove for this layout. SUCH a bummer for me! But This was the finial product (once again - with slight animation that you have to hold still to notice, lol):

And then you throw it all together. Add some paper to the tables - and pick some font colors. And wa-lah!

I was so happy with this. It may look simple - but these are seriously not my usually looking layouts. Mine are all about scrapbooking - not girly/shiny stuff, lol.

She was happy too!!! Here's SOME what she had to say, lol (She said thank you, and I love it so many times that I think my head is gonna explode, lol ... Gotta love a good ego boost, lol):

omg, it is so beautiful Jen, i gasped when i saw it! You did SO great, i could have never thought it would be so great! honeslty, it is PERFECT!!!!!!!! i cant explain how much I love it :D oh im so excited u have no idea! hahahaha! it is SO gorgeous!!!!!!!! I am so in love with it :D you did SOOOOOOO great!!!!!!!!! thanks you, thank you, thank YOU!!!!!

So I'm happy - and I'm all done for now, lol :)
XOXO ~Jen

Layout Contest

2009-01-16T23:09:00.000-08:00

Well, lovely Regina - one of my good myspace/tagging buddies posted a head's up about a contest that a designer was having. She wanted us to make a layout using one of her kits - and do at least half of that page with journaling. Turning it in to her entered you for a chance to get her newest pay kit for free.

Well - I LOVE a challenge. And I never really journal on my layouts. I make them for offers - and asking people for a paragraph to add to a tag that's gonna be 600x600 is just not something I'm even willing to entertain.

Well - it took me a while, but I finished! I sent it off to her this morning (I haven't heard back - so I'm not even sure she got it). But here you go - this is my 2008, Year in Review: The year of the Monkey Toes (Liam's nickname, lol).

Just click on the image to see full size - if you're interested :)

Credit:
Kit: Happy Go Lucky -- By Dee @ Creative Delusionz Scraps
Template: Year in Review -- By Gina Miller @ Gina Miller Designs
Fonts: Journal, Pharmacy, A&S Speedway, Omega Boldo Rocko

So as you can see - TONS of journaling, lol. And believe it or not - that has been hacked to shreds. My first draft (done on real paper, lol) was three pages. And even that was cut short. I realized that I needed to slow down after reaching the bottom of page two - and I was only 6mo along in Liam's first year.

Also - that font irked me! It had a crappy size space between each new line - so each one of those lines of words up there -- each one has it's own wonderful layer! Grrr... So every time I took out a couple words (trying to make it all fit) I had to slowly move everything and readjust to fit around the pics.

Anyhoo - I'm really happy I finished it! Wish me luck - I love contests! :)
XOXO ~Jen

** UPDATE! **
I just got an email from Dee - I was one of the winners! Heck yeah! I'm so happy!! I had no clue if I even had a chance - so I'm way stoked!! Hoo-Whoo!!

Edit -- Flash Removal

2009-01-14T02:17:00.000-08:00

I have a few things I'm working on - but nothing finished, so I'm digging out an old edit that I did. A lady asked if anyone could remove the flash reflection from her picture. She said she just loved the picture, but didn't think about the giant mirror - and its reflective capabilities, lol.

So as you can see - I have my work cut out for me. Because not only do I have to remove the flash itself - trying my best to keep it natural, but I also have to remove the glow that the flash placed on her!

So... many, MANY layers later, I finish up. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of layers that I had. Some were for shading & coloring purposes. Others were me rebuilding hair and parts of her arm & hat. I worked on the background itself - ceiling and dancers - because once you remove the blinding light - everything else needs to be darkened as well. But I finished - and she was ecstatic!

BEFORE & AFTER
Move your mouse arrow over the image below!

Here's what she said after picking up her picture:

HOLY COW!!!!! I AM IN AWE!!!! OMG you really worked your magic on this one! Wow! I don't even know what else to say besides I LOVE IT and THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Edit -- Eye Pop

2009-01-12T02:04:00.000-08:00

Oh me, Oh my! I have discovered a deep love for Photoshop. And while I still may be clueless on copy and paste when it comes to scrapbooking (yes - I can't for the life of me figure it out, lol - and no, I'm not ignoring the obvious location of "copy" -- when I go there - it's greyed out, so I can't select it. I end up having to drag and drop - and it's a pain to be sure!).

ANYHOO - I've decided that I really just need to get on with my desire to get a real feel for Photoshop. And what better way to do that then to learn how to edit photos. And in my brief surfing for some good tutorials - I came across the ways of making eyes pop. HOO-WHOO!

Why so exciting you ask? Well - two years (or so) ago - when I was first learning anything about digital editing - I came across a picture that I just LOVED!

Oh how I wanted to have a picture like that! I used to have another stunning example of a very similar eye pop edit - and I even tried to follow the guy's edit direction - but never did I come close to this effect. I had no true concept of levels and curves - let alone the dodge & burn tools and the unsharpen mask...

This was the best I could ever do to imitate the image above:

The only reason I was able to do much with that picture is because it was a professional pic (yeah, I know - nice and blurry, huh! What can I say - he wouldn't sit still for long and was happy when I got one decent pic).

Anyways - back to my editing. As you can see - it's just not the same. I now look at that picture and know of a number of things I could do to make that one better. But - I also know that I would pick a better picture to start with - one that was, perhaps IN focus! lol...

Well - I spent all day doing tutorials. And I am just ecstatic with what I've learned! Here we have the before picture:

Say hello to Logan and Jacob! These two might as well be my own sons - I love them that much! And I have never seen them :) ... This is my bestest friend Victoria's two boys - and this happens to be one of her favorite pics.

To edit - I did a few slight adjustments to levels, curves, and hue & saturation. I don't have a preview of that because I didn't think to save it before flattening everything and saving. Sorry.
But along with that - I also did some noise reduction - to smooth out the skin and any other grainy/noisy area.

The eyes were free hand selected and edited separately. They had all of the above (levels, curves, etc) done to them -- in addition to the original edits. I did a light dodge on the colored part of the eyes. No burn on the outer edges was necessary due to the previous edits. And then, to really make them pop - I applied an unsharpen mask to them (once again - this was JUST on the eyes alone). Last but not least - I decided to add a small, black border around the outer edge - which I applied a heavy blur (gaussian blur) effect to in order to make it just be edge shading - and not so much a border.

And (after that thoroughly confusing paragraph) I have this:

You should see the full size version, lol. But to help with that - I have cropped out a before & after of just Logan's eyes. The difference is - I think - stunning.

So apparently - I am no longer working with "my other program" as I usually say (which is referring to Microsoft Digital Image Suite - a program that's been discontinued since the year I bought it - 2006, and a program very few have even heard of). And I guess I never really was a PSP'er. But by god - if I can just get past this bump of "omg - where the hell is that button" in Photoshop - then I swear I can soon be a "Photoshoper" dang it! lol :)

I had fun for sure! I can't wait for tomorrow!!
XOXO ~Jen

Edit -- Wizard of Oz

2009-01-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

Well - I didn't really do much today by way of editing. So I went and found an older one that I was proud of :)

A mom asked that the above picture she had taken be done with some sort of Wizard of Oz theme. I wasn't going to try it - but the idea I had rolling around in my head just wouldn't leave me alone, lol.

First things first - I made a yellow brick road - cuz you can't be going to the land of Oz without following that yellow path. I made the brick myself - added some texture to it and also skewed it so that it was going at the correct angle to the road. Then cut out what part I wanted & added a slight transparency to it to not have it be so cartoon-ish looking.

I suppose I could have stopped right there, maybe thrown in the Oz castle in the background or something, but why on earth would I go the easy route, lol...

So my next step was to clean up the dead ground around the path. I wanted it to look more green and lush. And with some blending and cloning .....

And last but not least - the kids. I wasn't sure if I'd get this to look good - but that didn't stop me from trying. I originally wanted to make the little boy the scarecrow - but could never find an adequite picture to help me. So (based on the pictures I could find) I went with the Tin Man instead.

And there you have it - my take on using the Wizard of Oz with this picture :) Thanks for stopping by!!! XOXO ~Jen

Edit -- Motion Blur

2009-01-06T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well today brought another challenging editing request. A mom snapped an adorable picture of her two kids - but unfortunately, there was a slight motion blur to it when she previewed it.

Ever ready for a challenge - I went to work. I used so many layers - it's not even funny, lol. Every little area that looked "doubled" needed to be fixed. And there were many spots that had different colors and exposures due to the movement - so those had to be touched up. With much cloning, blending and perfectionistic work -- I finished with this:

But oh no - not done yet. As much as I wanted to just be finished already - I knew that I couldn't leave that hideous date stamp on there. So of course - back to work I go, lol. And a few color & exposure adjustments - and I call it done!

YAY! LOL! Finishing a project that I set out to do always makes me feel warm & fuzzy on the inside, lol :)

Edit -- Combining Two Pics

2009-01-05T06:57:00.000-08:00

Well - I've had this blog sitting here forever, and I've finally decided to start putting it to good use! I'm not sure what exactly I'm gonna post here - but I do know that it'll be about the work I do - as it progresses. I'm gonna show new stuff - and maybe even dig out some old stuff just to show what I've done :)

I'll leave you with something I just did yesterday! In a myspace group called Creative Graphics - someone requested to have these two pictures be combined into one picture, somehow.

So -- I went to work. I cleaned up both pics - removing red eye, and selecting the blurry parts and adding some sharpness to them. I cut out both groups of people and then arranged them so that they looked like one happy group. I added Santa's hand to one of the little girl's back, and finished off the background - and TA-DAH! -- all finished:

I am just so happy how this turned out!! Granted - Santa has a pretty far reach around the kids, lol. And that makes it so that the baby is just sorta squished in there - propped precariously on Santa's ... belly? maybe? LOL!!

But with what I had - I'm happy! LOL.

And with that I bid anyone actually reading this a fond farewell! I had fun writing my first post and sharing my recent photo edit!

XOXO!! ~Jen :D

**Update 1-12-09** The lady picked her picture up today and left the following compliment :)

I just wanted to say thank you for making my picture request. It’s great, and unbelievable!! I didn’t think you were gonna be able to do it!!!! lol. Great job, it looked awesome!!