Digi Scrapper

Snapshot Mega Kit

2005-08-11T14:37:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Ok, so this isn't exactly a page. It's a sweet new kit at the SBB store to raise money to help defray some of the costs of going to the PCC convention in October. Since I plan to be there myself and look forward to meeting some of the great ladies behind the avatars, this is pretty selfish of me, I know. But it's a beautiful kit and the proceeds are going towards a cause. I love the color swatch and the photography theme is one that is dear to my heart.

Snapshot kit by SBB DTM.

Grrrr...

2005-08-07T11:50:00.000-05:00

I think I'm going to have to create an actual html list of links. My blogroll thing is gone. Suuuuck. How annoying. Guess my house can wait a few minutes after all.

Big Warm Cuddles

2005-08-07T11:27:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This was a scraplift, but I really liked the clean lines. Actually, between the papers in this pack and the layout and the picture, this is one of my favorite pages.

I got some big news that is finally official. Didn't stop me from blabbing on my "naughty" blog, but I figured that given my general reader base there, chances are pretty good that they wouldn't know what I was talking about or be at all impressed by it. Anyway, I was asked to join the DTM at SBB and do chats and stuff. Woot! Made my week when I was asked, let me tell you. I almost feel a little intimidated around these girls. It's one thing to chat with them in a room or something, I mean they are all super nice and normal people. However, they are also some of the most talented digital scrappers out there. And to be included amongst them for whatever reason (*cough*someone was smoking crack*cough*) blows me away. I keep expecting to get an email saying that they realized they made a huge mistake and they need to let me go. And Amy asked me. I'm not so confident that I ever would have asked to be considered. And to be on the chat team? Friends, I practically live in that room. /happy sigh

Ok, moving on to the other thing on my mind lately. I am trying to start a site. I don't want to talk to much about it right now. Half out of a stupid fear of jinxing myself, but also because until the site is actually live, anything can happen and I don't want to have to live down any over enthusiastic gushing I do here. I will say that if this happens, it'll be soon, by September at the latest, and that it'll be an interesting merge of talents and personalities. Now all I've got to do is learn everything I need to know about starting, building, maintaining, and promoting a web site. Whee! I wish I could talk about it without looking like a tool though. I could use the input.

Well, I need to wrap this up. My house is screaming for attention and I've got some work to do on a project that I'm doing with Kim Christensen. She's really very talented. Expect to hear more of that name before too long. She's also a new DTM at SBB. So you might meet her that way.

Kit is Beach Cottage by Ashley Olson. It's a scraplift of Jen Wilson in the SBB gallery.

Dare to be Free

2005-07-29T13:50:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I've been busy making pages using Ashley's kits. I've done 3 since last night, but this one is by far my favorite. The colors look like they were made with Dare's trunks in mind. And the picture is really cool. Actually, the shot was marred by Mikey's butt bent over and playing with Trev, but Ashley herself cloned his ass right out of there (literally, LOL). Just a fun layout.

Kit is Boy Board Shorts by Ashley Olson. Font is CK Constitution.

Many Facets of You

2005-07-27T23:56:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

A lot of people don't seem to realize I have three boys. Poor Elijah almost never gets his own layouts. So I thought I'd use pictures of him for tonight's SBB calender challenge. Plus, after today, he's the only one out of the three who didn't act so badly that I wanted to drop them off in the woods to be raised by wolves. I wrote a nice long journal entry about it in my SBB gallery (first couple of entries right now, but I'm soon to add this layout to my gallery so they'll be the 2nd and 3rd in a minute). If you are at all curious about how my meeting with Nancy, Amy, and LeeAndra went, you'll want to read that because I'm not sufficiently over the trauma to talk about it right now. It was seriously that bad. If it weren't for meeting them, I'd say this was probably the worst day in recent memory.

Kit is Twisted by Ashley Olson, available at the SBB store.

Just Beachy

2005-07-24T12:40:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Ok, *NOW* would be the time to talk about the book I read at the beach the other day. Anyway, these are just some images from our day trip to Ocean City. We don't go all that often and this is the first time we've went when the water was warm enough to enjoy. The past few times it's only been through sheer will power alone that the men folk were able to tolerate it. I am a non ocean-y person. The thought of sea creatures brushing up against my legs and feet just freaks me out. I do enjoy the general ambiance of the area though and wouldn't mind having a beach house someday (Ha! Who would?), right after we win the lottery.

Papers are The Vineyard by Kristin Cronin-Barrow. Fonts are CK Centurion and Georgia.

What Do You See?

2005-07-24T11:54:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I've made gobs of pages lately but I don't feel like posting any of them here. Mostly because everyone who might actually read this blog has already seen them via Hello or my SBB gallery. So I continue to not update because I don't really feel like I have anything new to bring to the table. Lame.

This is a page I did awhile ago. I gave the boys my old camera when I got the new one and for as long as the batteries will hold a charge, Dare is out there snapping pictures of everything. I've long since stopped saving them. Now I just clear the memory for him so he can fill it again. But I saved the first camera full he took. These were some of the more interesting shots. And so a layout was born.

I started reading a book the other day. Well, I started it a few weeks ago honestly, but really got to start reading it at the beach on Thursday. It's pretty good. It's called Swan Song by Robert McCammon. A heartwarming tale of the end of the world by nuclear holocaust. I have no idea why I enjoy those kinds of stories so much. Although this is a change of pace from my usual end of the world by zombie infestation books I usually read.

There was no real point in sharing that, I realize now. If I had finished the beach layout I've been working on since Friday then it would at least relate somewhat. Oh well, it's my blog and I'll write what I wanna.

Papers are Daisy Days By Kristin Cronin-Barrow. Font is Dear Joe.

Keeping It Real

2005-07-17T19:16:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This would have been a great layout if I could have thought of something to say. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. I couldn't think of much of anything at all to write so I decided to journal about that instead. It made for a less meaningful page, but I think I'm going to keep it anyway as kind of an AAM, "Why I suck at Journaling" page.

But anyway, on to what everyone really cares about... how friggin' sweet is this CD?
I've never bought a CD before because I can't wait that long. I spend the money that I would have spent on them buying less stuff at a worse value because I can get them RIGHT NOW!!! And that's really what's important to me. Not quality or value. Instant gratification.

So I probably wouldn't have ended up getting this one either, but I won it at the promotional chat on Friday. How, you ask? (Well, you only ask that if you don't currently know me since I have recounted my glory to anyone who will listen like five times now.) By being able to drudge up the name of the most reviled PBS characters since Barney or Teletubbies: Boobah. Is that not the most pointless TV show on right now? Seriously, what's the point besides being baby crack? Oh wait, that's probably enough of a reason to exist right there.

Oh yeah, back to the CD. Amazing. Not my typical style at all, but I feel so artsy when I play with the kits. And the elments are awesome. Give me a few of those and a white page and I'd still be happy. And everything is so well made. I was really impressed. I think that there are going to be some really happy ladies very soon as the mail makes it's way to their doors. Great work, Dawn and Trish! And thanks. :)

Kit is Celebrate from the That's Hawt CD by Dawn Stocstill and Trish Jones. Font is CK Cosmopolitan

Fishy

2005-07-14T03:45:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I'm so glad to have this preview done. I hate that worse than anything. It's just so time consuming. But the kit itself was a ton of fun to make. Everything was just so fluffy. This kit is kinda like reading a paperback romance novel by the pool. Easy and relaxing. I really love the blue and green together. I've made a couple of pages with it and although a few things have changed during the process, the papers have remained the same. My only regret is that I could just keep making them. The inspiration was just there for me this time.

Now my plan is to finish up my Beige-y Blue kit. I was in the middle of that one when I got smacked in the head by my muse with this one. I think I'm done with papers though (of course), which means just doing the elements and probably the alpha. It won't be as much fun as this one, but chances are good it'll be easier to use, LOL.

Kit is Fishy, by me.

A Very Special Friend

2005-07-08T03:37:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

At the urging of my friend, Sonya, I applied and was accepted at 3 Scrapateers as a creative team member. Or as they like to call us, a Digital Layout Artist. That's nice. I really like the way that sounds.

Today was my first day at it. Mostly it was spent reading the mounds of emails I got. It's a little confusing, but in the end I'm expected to do layouts. And that I can handle.

Kit is Mediterranean Collection by Amy Teets at 3Scrapateers. Fonts are Artistamp Medium, Apple Garamond, and Dear Joe.

Rugged

2005-07-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Wow, what a pain this was to make. And I still don't like the way it turned out. Oh well, I have serious doubts as to whether anyone will even see this kit. I found out that the zip files at SBB have to be insanely small. When I packaged this thing to send to my mom, it was 131mb. Now granted, the one I would upload to SBB wouldn't have the extra curved page pngs I made for my mom, but still. I'm not sure it's worth all the effort just so I can give something away. Now I'm working on a new kit I call Beige-y Blue because it's comprised of... can you guess?... Beiges and blues. I need to learn some new design techniques though. All my stuff is starting to look the same. Fortunately, nobody but my mom will ever see the pride stuff I made her and I'm not sure that anyone will ever see the papers I made for the SBB color challenge this week.

A preview of Rugged.

Parking Lot Carnival

2005-07-05T12:20:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I guess this is a part two layout/post. The story behind the kit is in the last post. I really like the alpha and phrase rings I did with this thing. It took some effort, but it was totally worth it, I think. I still have a ways to go. Because I think I'm going to break the letters into 26 seperate files since they don't actually fit together on a page. The numbers and phrase rings are fine.

I learned so much from this kit. I've learned how to use work paths for text. I've learned to love custom shapes. I've learned to make curved edges to my papers. I've learned about styles and actions. Not to mention learning how to make several kinds of paper designs. I still need to work on my ribbons. They are totally flat. Pretty much just paper strips. But I think that'll come with time.

Another page I made to play with my kit. Fonts are Geometric 231 and Georgia.

Snips and Snails

2005-07-05T12:17:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

You know, in retrospect I have no idea what possessed me to try making a kit. I'm sure it was probably something Sonya taught me to do that finally clicked. I just don't know. Maybe it was the 20 color swatches I made? Anyway, this is what I ended up with. It's called Rugged and it's a kit made of khaki, blue, orange, and green. I saw the colors on one of the boy's shirts and thought they worked really well together. Apparently, a lot of other designers have thought so too because since I started the kit I've been noticing the colors everywhere.

Now the question is what to do with it? I've ruled out selling it. Would anyone pay for it? Would I feel right in charging people for it when it's my first effort and probably not a very good one at that? Would I want to be in competition with my friends for sales? Would I be able to commit to a regular schedule of putting out kits if I went that route?

The answers to all of the above seem to be no. So selling is out. I'm considering putting it on SBB's free area. I'd like to see people use it. That would warm the cockles of my cold little heart. So I may look into that. For now though, I am thoroughly sick of these colors. I do like the hardware I put in the kit though. I've got staples and paper clips, you just should, but I've also got a few other things that are a little weirder. Which I'm totally into. I can't wait to see if anyone else is.

This is a page I did to play with a kit I've made. It exists for no other reason than to see some of the elements in play. Fonts are Depot, American Typewriter, and GF Halda Normal.

Summer at Six Flags

2005-06-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This is probably the best photo I have of Dare ever. I wanted to scrap it prominantly, but I didn't have a theme. So tonight when we did "summer memories" it seemed as good as any. Wow, I love this picture.

Speed scrap for SBB. Fonts are Artistamp Medium and Cantabile.

Kaylin

2005-06-17T18:51:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Not much of a story here. Just a page I did of my friend Amy's youngest daughter. I wanted to use this kit, but as the name implies (feminine touch) it's a little too girly for my crew.

Kit by Denise Docherty

Bump!

2005-06-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I wanted to use some of the pictures I got of the bumper cars, but they turned out incredibly blurred do to the low light and the constant motion. So I'm hoping that I may have conveyed that here. Looking at it now, I realize that I'd probably have better luck if tilt the smaller pictures too to really give the layout motion and chaos. I have some really great pictures from that day though, so hopefully I'll have more to post than I have been lately. I've been in a bit of a dry spell lately. Nothing is really jumping out at me.

Fonts are Times New Roman and Typekeys.

Pucker Up

2005-06-01T00:05:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This picture was just blind luck. One of those shots that just falls in your lap. I wanted to do something simple with it so that the main focus would be on the photo. So I decided to use it for this week's color challenge. The greens worked pretty well with the black and white (or so I thought). The paper was something I threw together. I'm getting better at that. Maybe my days of total reliance on kits is nearing an end.

This is something I did for the color challenge at SBB. Fonts are An Unfortunate Event and Arial.

Dare's Big Day (page 2)

2005-05-29T17:32:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Friday we went to Virginia to go to a mall, supposedly to buy shirts for Mikey, but he changed his mind and decided to order some from online. So I guess the entire reason for the trip at that point was to buy Trev and Elijah some sandals and eat at the Rainforest Cafe. I don't know why we always have to go there. The food isn't the best and it scares the kids, but whatever.

So after we got home, the kids and I met up with my friend Joey for a trip to one of those little fairs they set up in mall parking lots. I'm not really sure why it is that they choose to utilize such small spaces, but for whatever reason, that's where they are usually found. I am spoiled. I'll admit it. I lived in the home town of the Kansas state fair. And if you've ever been in the Midwest you know that we take our livestock judging seriously and the size of our fairs reflect that.

But despite my own misgivings, the boys had a fabulous time. Dare especially surprised me. The last time he got anywhere near rides (at a weird little place in a mall called Jeepers) he wanted nothing to do with them. But on this day he couldn't get enough. In fact, he was so far from scared that the biggest issue with him was getting him to actually leave the ride area and not try to climb back on for a second go at it. So I thought I'd do a layout to mark the fun he had. Not that Elijah and Trev didn't have a blast too, but I think the award for most enthusiastic probably goes to Dare hands down.

A close up of the second page of the layout "Dare's Big Day".

Dare's Big Day

2005-05-29T17:22:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This was my take on a magazine ad we had for our inspiration the other day. I actually really like the way this turned out and I'd say it's one of my all time favorite layouts. I'm going to go ahead and post the second page for a more detailed look at the images and journaling there.

2 page layout for a speed scrap the other day. Fonts are Gara and Jot and a dingbat called Curious Devices.

Make a Wish

2005-05-29T00:28:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Mikey let me get a new camera the other day and the first thing I did as soon as the battery was charged up was to take a walk with Elijah and take as many photos as humanly possible. I took pictures of weeds, trees, mud puddles, golfers, and even a porta potty. So I had plenty of potential for this layout. This is what I came up with. I've since made some changes to it (namely the bit of picture that is peeking out from behind one of the polaroid frames.

Fonts are Amaze and Gara. This is a layout for the Moonlight scrap.

Bathroom Photoshoot

2005-05-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I'm apparently quite vain (in what I hope is an enduring way, rather than an obnoxious way). I like to lock myself in the bathroom and take a bunch of pictures until I get a couple that I think aren't horrible. So anyway, there's no real story behind this. It's just a layout I threw together based on a magazine ad. I like the layout though so I've already used it again and probably will again.

Magazine ad inspiration at a speed scrap. Papers and elements from Shabby Princess. Font is Minya Nouvelle.

Bridget Trinity

2005-05-21T18:29:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This was inspired by a magazine ad. I thought it would be a great way to showcase my friend's new baby. Luckily for me everyone decided to wear nice, matching colors so picking a kit was easy. Heh.

Speed scrap layout. Papers are from the Jenna's Dress kit by Asley Olson. Fonts are Georgia and Amaze.

Elijah Gabriel

2005-05-16T23:33:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

We did a scraplift tonight and since I'd been playing with photoshop filter software that I picked up from here, I had several photos ready to work with. This is going to go in Elijah's album. Assuming I ever get around to making enough pages per boy to do that.

Tonight's scraplift. Kit is Forever Boy by Kathy Moore. Fonts are Minya Nouvelle and Arial.

Dare's Nemesis (part 2)

2005-05-14T21:06:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I started this layout as part of a speed scrap. I liked where I was heading, but I didn't feel like the end result really told the story. So this is what I came up with when I gave myself a do over.

For some strange reason, Dare is terrified of the statues in front of the movie theater entrance to the mall. It was pretty literally an overnight thing because at the time I was working at the theaters and we'd go to see free movies all the time. Now he refuses to peek until he's convince he's safely inside of the mall. It's really pretty cute and funny and I was glad to get the chance to grab a picture of it.

A do over of a speed scrap entry. Kit is Prince by M. Reinhardt. Fonts are Market and Goodfish.

Mysterious Me

2005-05-14T00:25:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Not much of a story to this one. I bought the kit from the newly opened Shabby Shoppe. The pitcure is one I took after locking myself in the bathroom so I could get a few pictures in peace. I'm sure I could do something better, but as far as speed scraps go, this one is pretty good.

I did this for a speed scrap. The kit is Little Star by Shabby Princess. The font is Adler.

Two Hour Hat

2005-05-13T01:30:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I do a bit of knitting when I have some free time. I found a pattern that claimed to be a 2 hour project. As it turned out, it took me a bit more than 2 hours, but I had pretty good success with it so I made half a dozen for a family for a Christmas charity project. This one was my first attempt. The end result was pretty much too ugly to bear. But who am I to complain? I only used Red Heart.

I did this one for an impromptu scrap. The kit is a recolor of a freebie from Jodi Perry. The font is called Karolingisch. The alpah is from the carnival kit put out by the SBB Element Team.

*****

In other news, I was chosen to appear in a future issue of Tid Bytes ezine with my layout called Daddy and Trevyn. I'm really excited about it, but nearly as excited because it means that someone thought I did a pretty good job. It's very flattering.

Daddy and Trevyn

2005-05-10T02:07:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

These are just some photos I took one afternoon last month when we went to the park. I fiddled with the contrast a little and then desaturated the photos. I thought it gave it a slightly nicer look.

My effort towards a black and white photo layout at SBB. Kit is called Friends by Deb F. Fonts are Berylium and Foo.

Azrael

2005-05-09T04:32:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Normally I stick to just posting one layout a day, but I realized that I don't have any pages with Dare up right now. He's very hard to capture with my camera. It's got a very slow recycle rate. By the time it's ready to take the picture, he's long gone. Mostly though, these are pictures of my cat. The theme for NSBD (or is it just NSD?) was a safari thing. I just scrapped all my zoo pics, so I hunted down my cat and ended up with this layout.

I did this as a layout for National Scrapbook Day. Fonts are Artistamp Medium, Courier, and Julie's (?).

These Moments pg 1

2005-05-09T04:09:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I was just thinking that it would be nice to have a layout to mark this special relationship that I share with Trevyn. I know I'm always complaining because he's getting so old, but I'm really going to miss it when he finally weans.

1st page of a two piece layout. Paper and elements are from various kits from Digital Amour. The font is CK Cursive.

These Moments pg 2

2005-05-09T04:08:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I don't really love the way this looks. I still feel like it's missing something.

Papers and elements are from various kits I got from Digital Amour. The font is CK Cursive.

Do Not Urinate

2005-05-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This isn't one of my most profound works here, but the story is fun so I thought I'd post. Last May, Alison, who is one of the weirdest crunchy hippy/punks hybrids I've ever met (actually, she's the only one. How can you be a hippy AND a punk? The mind boggles.) talked me into going to a concert with her. To see Andrew WK. Who I had never heard of. Big fun.

But I'm an adventurous kind of girl. And frankly, if there's going to be alcohol there, I can get on board with just about anything. So Mikey was kind enough to watch the boys for me and I got to have a girl's night out.

So I don't know. Maybe this isn't how it's normally done when a couple of girls get together, but it made perfect sense at the time to us. We decided that we'd go looking for a strip club. We figured, Hey, it's DC. There's bound to be naked women around here somewhere. You'd be surprised to learn that there really isn't much in the way of that there. However, I did see some interesting sites around that area. The buildings are all really old and cool looking. The people were colorful. And I'd had enough drinks to knock out an elephant so I was having the Best! Time! Ever!

Eventually we found a cabbie that could help us (the first one wouldn't take us anywhere unless we could give him a street address. Bummer.) and I got to see my first ever strip club. It was sort of anticlimatic after all the scenes I've seen in the movies and we didn't even get to stay long because we had to get back in time for the concert. But even so, I had a fabulous time. The little picture of me in the corner of the page is me after having about 6 drinks worth of good time. Wow, this was fun to revisit.

One other funny thing about this layout is that when I originally made it last night it was late. Super late. 4am. So I did my journaling, through a copy into the gallery for that speed scrap and went to bed. I came back this morning and looked at my layout again and realized that the way I'd written my journaling made it seem like I was against the anti public urination issue. By all means, please please do your part to stamp out this kind of anti social behahavior. Peeing on walls so much that they have to spray paint public service announcements is NOT ok. LOL.

Made for a NSBD challenge based on an ad for inspiration. Kit is Forever Boy by Kathy Moore. Fonts are 3000 and Arial.

Special Friendship

2005-05-07T03:58:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I honestly wasn't looking for anything to buy. I was just jumping from link to link and for whatever reason, this kit caught my eye and I just really wanted it. I have 3 boys. I think that I'll get some use out of it, LOL. She was clever though. She broke the kit into a bunch of smaller downloads and turned a $7 into something that cost almost $20. I'm such a sucker. But it is a really big kit. I think there were something like 30 papers.

This page is a lot busier than I usually make. I think I just wanted to use it all. I wonder if it would look better if I used a plain background? I'll try it tomorrow and post them for comparison.

Page kit is Forever Boy by Kathy Moore at kasthyssimplescraps.com. Font is Euphorigenic.

Elijah at Karate

2005-05-06T03:08:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Not much of a story today. These pictures from Elijah's class happened to have about the right dimensions for today's speed scrap. I've been meaning to do something with them, but they are pretty poor quality (which is what you get when your photographer can't tie her own shoes). I'm not loving this layout. I stretched the photos in the middle to better fit the alloted space and it really shows. I may try it again when I'm not under any time constraints. The sketch isn't really bad, just my take on it sucks.

Today's speed scrap attempt. Fonts are CK cursive and GF Halda Normal.

Fun With Blending

2005-05-04T22:35:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

It's always nice when I can turn my experiments into something nice to look at. This page was done as I played with different layer blending techniques. I did it last night before I did the page I posted in my last entry (so we are a little out of sequence right now). I was going for a subtle effect so I merged the three pictures along the side together into one layer to make the effects uniform. Then after I messed with the contrast and hue, I started playing around with blending. I duplicated the image before I started and then messed with different settings until I found one I thought looked neat. Then I adjusted the opacity of the top layer until you could just start to see some of that effect.

So I'm on the fence about this one. I like it, but I'm not sure if anyone else would. Oh well, in the end that's all that matters, but at the same time, I'll admit that I'd enjoy nothing more than getting mad propz for my work. I'm an attention whore. We thrive on that.

Just me playing with layers again. Paper from Spaceraven, fonts Dymo and Adler.

Experimenting

2005-05-04T01:25:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This particular layout was entirely the result of some experimenting I was doing with layer blending. I liked the way it turned out and kept it. The image of me was a not so great shot. but I added a couple of desaturated layers, erased a couple of spots, and messed with their opacity. I thought the end result was interesting.

Self love at it's finest. Paper and elements from Digital Amour. Font is CK Cursive.

Elijah

2005-05-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Whenever I feel like punishing myself I take the boys to the playground around the corner. I'm not a very outdoorsy person. I'm really not much of a leave the house at all kind of person, really. So this was a treat for all of us.

I did this for the speed crop at SBB. I LOVED the inspiration tonight. The layout was great and the colors were fabulous as well. If I could figure out how to post more than one image in one entry I'd post it for reference.

Page for speed scrap. Kit by Amy Jo Smith at SBB. Font is Adler.

Early Efforts

2005-04-30T22:37:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

This is something that I included in my friend's 10 page scrapbook which kicked off my obsession with digital scrapbooking. It's kinda boring and plain, but I still sort of like it just because it's so simple and uncluttered.

This is a page I made for a friend's scrapbook and one of my very first layouts. I used an actual program from Ren Fest as the background image.

I Don't Really Have Daughters

2005-04-29T12:48:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

I just want to clarify, for those few people who do wander across this blog, I have 3 sons and no daughters. However, I seem to find my muse for speed scraps when I look at the pictures I happen to have of friends' kids. I've scrapped close to 30 pages now and of those, I'd say only a third (maybe) are of my own kids.

This page was done specifically for last night's speed scrap in the SBB chatroom. Our inspiration was to pick at least 3 colors from one of three color schemes. They were all nice, but I decided I wanted to do something bright. These colors would have gone great with some nice tropical/beachy pictures, but unfortunately, the pictures I do have of us at the beach are all taken on cloudy, icky days.

So I decided to use the pictures that Alex took the other day while her sisters, Brittany and Chloe weren't sharing the MP3 player. Surprisingly, most of the pictures turned out really well. She took photos of random things, but she managed to line up those shots exceedingly well for a 3 year old.

This is something I made for last night's speed scrap. The colors I chose to use were orange, yellow, and electric blue. Talk about not lending themselves to a layout...

Trevyn

2005-04-28T15:05:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Trevyn is the youngest of my three sons. In a lot of ways that means he gets cheated, hand me down toys and clothes, always having his toys taken away by his bully of a big brother, staying home with daddy instead of going places with me, never had a single studio photo done; but one thing he never lacks is attention. He has more charisma and charm than any 2 year old should. Elijah, who is seven, likes to tell me that he's "immune to Trev's cuteness", but I don't think anyone can be.

I have the eventual goal of making each of the boys a small album (8x8 probably, but i haven't ruled out 6x6) full of special layouts featuring them. This will eventually be a page in Trev's.

This layout was insanely easy to do. Denise had all but set it up to be a template already. She is awesome, so if you haven't been to one of her sites, get over there immediately. She has the most dreamy work, I've ever seen.

Made with the Embrace Life kit from Digital Amour. Fonts are Georgia bold italics and GF Halda Normal.

More Eventful Than Usual

2005-04-27T23:02:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

Today during karate class, I had the chance to talk to Chloe and the two youngest of her sisters. There are 5 kids in the family altogether. I'm not 100% sure on the names, but I believe I also met Brittany, 6 and Alex, 3.

At any rate, I see them all the time since the school is basically just one big room with the main section marked off by a half wall and a smaller part by the door reserved for seating any observers who happen to be there. However, usually I'm forced to sit out in the car because I can't keep Dare and Trev from trying to rush onto the mat. Today I had the chance to just sit and talk to a couple of the other moms. They all seem to already know each other. Most likely from other homeschooling events, but it's possible they all attend the same church or live near each other.

One of the moms I was talking to was "lucky" enough to have all three girls trying to bounce on her lap at once. Since I have a 2 and 4 year old myself, it was easy for me to come up with the idea to let them listen to my MP3 player. The real challenge came from trying to find songs that I thought would be appropriate listening for them. I've learned that you never assume that what's ok for your kids is ok for anybody else's. Finally, we settled on Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson, which they reckonized from the Princess Diaries soundtrack. Much to my surprise and delight, Chloe started warbling along with the song. It was the both the funniest and cutest thing I've seen in ages.

Since only two girls could share the earphones at once, I let the other sister use my camera to take some pictures. One of the resulting photos was the one I used in my layout. The others were all very interesting in composition and subject. I expect to use most of them in one form or another soon. The best ones she took of her mom and sisters I plan to print off and give to them on Monday. The really are too good to waste.

Page kit is mostly Embrace Life with some alphas from Serenity thrown in for good measure. Both are available at Digital Amour. Fonts used are GF Halda Normal and Rochester.

Natalie's Big Day

2005-04-26T14:00:00.000-05:00

The story behind the page:

These are photos from my friend Alison's daughters' ballet recital. She used my camera to take a bunch of pictures, but for some reason they were all of Natalie. Which is fine, she's adorable and this was her first recital, but I'd have loved to have some pictures of Olivia to work with too.

I made this for the April 25th SSB speed scrap using the freebie kit provided by Jodi. Fonts are PT Banana Split and Goodfish.

I don't really like the way my page turned out. If you've never done a speed scrap, it works something like this: The host posts your inspiration layout and maybe sometimes a theme or colors or kit to use (this wasn't how it went last night, but from what I understand, it can happen). Then you have a set period of time to make a page using that layout. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again.

However, after I was finished and started looking at other people's layouts, I realized that I was completely literal. I'm surprised I didn't actually measure the sketch and size everything to match. As I looked at everyone else's work, I saw so many variations that still were obviously inspired by Jodi's sketch. I think I need to just loosen up a little, but for some reason I seem to lack the imagination to deviate from a sketch at all. My only other option is to just play around with stuff until it looks ok to my eye.

I'm looking forward to becoming more involved in the digital scrapbooking community. And boy are they active, LOL. I haven't scrapped in years. Basically about the time I started having kids and really having a lot of stuff to work with, I couldn't do it anymore because they'd get into my supplies. Doing it all on the computer appeals to me. It's way cheaper for one thing. Let's say I buy a kit for $5-7. They usually come with a variety of background papers (probably about fifty cents to a dollar each for the real stuff) and a bunch of different elements (I'm not even going to try to guess at the cost of the physical counterparts, but I'd say "a lot"). And there's no limit to the number of times you can use it. In theory, you could buy one $5 kit and just use it over and over and over again.

Now that I sound so thrifty, I should probably mention that I exercise about as much restraint in spending for this new hobby as I have for any of the other ones, which is to say, none at all. I've been at this for less than two weeks and I've already bought 5 kits and an extra pack of papers. I think I'm also about to purchase a membership to SBB. I've run into so many links that aren't accessible to little ol' me. Oh, and how can I forget the 2 books on Photoshop I bought (that I *still* haven't read), the 2 about digital scrapbooking itself, and 2 or 3 magazines on the subject? And the new printer and photo papers. OMG, it's worse than I thought. God help me if Mikey ever does the math.

I'm still getting a feel for using Hello. If you haven't tried it, you really should. It's a way to show bigger image files without waiting on the other person to download them. I'm not sure who is hosting my photo. Picasa? I wonder how long this will last? Will I come back in a month or a year and find ugly red X's?

Digi Scrapper

Snapshot Mega Kit

Grrrr...

Big Warm Cuddles

Dare to be Free

Many Facets of You

Just Beachy

What Do You See?

Keeping It Real

Fishy

A Very Special Friend

Rugged

Parking Lot Carnival

Snips and Snails

Summer at Six Flags

Kaylin

Bump!

Pucker Up

Dare's Big Day (page 2)

Dare's Big Day

Make a Wish

Bathroom Photoshoot

Bridget Trinity

Elijah Gabriel

Dare's Nemesis (part 2)

Mysterious Me

Two Hour Hat

Daddy and Trevyn

Azrael

These Moments pg 1

These Moments pg 2

Do Not Urinate

Special Friendship

Elijah at Karate

Fun With Blending

Experimenting

Elijah

Early Efforts

I Don't *Really* Have Daughters

Trevyn

More Eventful Than Usual

Natalie's Big Day

I Don't Really Have Daughters