Gettin Digi Wit' It

Armed with CK's Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking 3, a load of online digital freebies, and my rudimentary knowledge of Adobe programs (Pagemaker...heard of it?), I've been spending a LOT of time on my computer creating 8x8 digital LOs (since I don't have a wide-format printer...I like my LOs in my hands, thanks!)

I'm still working on the concept of brushes (I can't get them to show up as a layer, and I can't seem to bring them forward off my background so that they can be seen...seems I have to add them to a layer -- say, patterned paper, or a photograph -- before I layer that piece onto my background...), but at least I can load brushes, and see them -- bonus!

My LSS is closing, by the end of July, if not earlier. She's selling to a liquidator mid-June, which means after that she can just walk away and choose not to hold late-night crops, or even have the store open. There are plans in the works among us Friday night regulars to keep getting together at least once a month, but I am really going to miss scrapping with Real Live People (and, moreover, friends) on a weekly basis. Which is why digital scrapping is not taking over my life just yet.

Full swing

Well, now that Memorial Day is over (early!), summer is in full swing. More so when Tess gets out of school in a couple of weeks (!)...just wanted to update you so you know I'm still alive...busy, but alive!

Happy Mother's Day!

Still a favorite...

Scrapping challenges

I've taken to carrying around one of my (MILLION of) blank journals, to make notes & doodles about scrapbooking layouts that are in my head. I even brainstormed in church on Sunday, for this leftover SIStv challenge:

We had to use a certain page design, the color orange, bling (my suggestion to the list), the word "joy," stamping, and tape. I hope I'm forgiven, since I *was* scrapping a Psalm!

The next sketch in my notebook was for the first challenge over at the new KiddieLit blog. The theme was Wizard of Oz, and I used the following from their element list: HOME for my topic, a quote from the book/movie, the color yellow, blue gingham (hand cut letters), red sequins, rainbows, and twisted ribbon.


I did 5 more challenges at SIS for NSD, although I managed to get 4 challenges into one LO, so I really only did 2 more pages. I thought I was tapped out for inspiration, but having a notebook along for the Boring Mom Bits (church, storytime at the library, etc.) really helped keep me inspired.

Hopefully keeping track of due dates, like the one for this challenge, will help me enter more of these challenges and keep me scrapping during the week, not just on Friday nights.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Baby monkey card
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile

I had a baby shower this morning but I'm now over at SIStv checking in on all the crazy NSD challenges. I think I'm down for nearly a dozen, so this will be a short entry!

Kelly, one of my crop buddies, sang "You Are The Champion" (a la Queen) to me when I finished this project last night (a month-by-month baby album, not the card pictured here. I made this card from paper scraps from the album this morning)!

What's incredible is that I decided around 1p yesterday that my friend Stacey needed a baby scrapbook as part of her gift. To be presented at the shower I attended this morning.

I took me about 4.5 hours of solid scrappin' to crank this out. The biggest time suck was punching out letters & glueing them down. The second biggest was choosing the paper I'd use for each page.

I love this gift for new moms. You can see the entire album in its Flickr set.

I AM THE CHAMPION! Stacy Julian would be proud.

Scrapblog header

I played around a bit this morning (instead of writing a post, shame on me!) and created the new header, above. It's a WIP (work in progress), so stay tuned and feel free to give me some advice! I need it, LOL...I especially need to know how to change my blog background color in Blogger!

Thanks to NanBHack at SIStv for walking me through how to save a Scrapblog as a JPEG so that I could edit it further on my computer!

It's Friday night, so that means I'll be off to scrap in just a few. Scrapping until midnight, then coming home to fire up my computer and start celebrating National Scrapbooking Day with Michelle, who will be posting a challenge at 1:00 a.m.

So THAT'S how she gets to be the first one to post the blog entry thread at SIStv...

Feeling compelled...

...to enter this fabulous contest! I have recently learned to love kits and this one's a beaut..you could win it for FREE!

Click on the pic to check out the deets.

Will update soon, E is home after dental surgery and I'm about to take off for a walk. Hit a number on the scale last Wednesday that I was hoping never to see again...let's just say an "8" was involved *shudder*