The Dark Side...

Okay, so Ramie tells me that the digi scrappers on Pops have now taken a bunch of us to the “dark side” and my friend Carol tells me every time I tell her I did another digi layout that I better not go to the “dark side”…I think I’m at the dark side…not a permanent resident but more than just a visitor I think!! This digi stuff is so much fun!! I am loving my new program Microsoft Digital Image Suite. This thing rocks! I was having such a terrible time with PSE 4.0, and I know that a lot of people master it with no problems (which was very frustrating to me..why couldn’t I???) so I let it go…I got this program and I am so much happier! Maybe one day I’ll try PSE again, but for now, I’m having a blast with DIS!!

Here is my latest creation….I seriously need to go on the shopping hunt for some more kits and stuff and I really need to get my photos more organized so I know what I have, but here it is..this is one of my favorite pictures..it’s a family pic we took last year at Roger’s 40th birthday. That year went fast, he’ll turn 41 in about a month!


Carol…don’t worry!! I won’t be giving up my paper, paint and ink but, I can see myself doing both now…maybe I’ll be able to take you to the “dark side” with me one day!!

Until next time,
Blessings!

Sunday ramblings..

Four day weekend! Those are fabulous words to a 7th grader. Mandi is overjoyed that she has a four day weekend this weekend. Friday was teacher institute and Monday is President’s Day…I so remember what it felt like to be a kid and have extra time off..such a gift! Friday we just hung out, in fact, we’ve spent most of the weekend just hanging out. I hit Archiver’s on Friday for their make ‘n take weekend..picked up my freebie (which is so cool…Foof-a-la papers and buttons). Saturday, my girlfriend Rachel came to visit. We hit a bunch of scrap stores…did some serious shopping…and hit the Olive Garden for lunch…yummm-o!! It was so nice to hang out with her for the day. I met Rachel while on the CKU-Chicago Yahoo group. We developed an online friendship afterwards because she lives way up in Wisconsin, but her mom and dad live right over the border and she was down visiting them this weekend!! I had such a great day! We also decided that her daughter Katie and my Mandi should get to know each other too! They are both the same age and in the same grade, like a lot of the same things, so we figure that next time they are down for a visit, the girls will hang out with us too! It feels good to have a girlfriend day, thanks Rachel!! I also made Rachel an altered Frap bottle filled with these yummy Hershey Kisses they had for Valentines Day this year, Dark Chocolate with Raspberry!! Can you say yumm-o!! Rachel is always remembering me at holidays with beautiful handmade cards, and since, once again, I didn’t send any at Valentines Day (I know..total loser!), I wanted to give her something special!

Today I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon doing a challenge that Diana from the Pops group posted. It was to use a digi kit from Shabby Princess. Now, I’m just learning how to do digi and am already loving it, so I took the challenge! I used a couple pics of Mandi from the summer of 2005…even though I’m really green to this digi stuff I kinda like how it turned out! I also did some serious downloading of digi kits and stuff….I just knew this was going to turn into a serious addiction…sheesh!


Also, made some vanilla cupcakes this afternoon. I’ve been trying to find a perfect cupcake recipe…found one for chocolate cupcakes a few weeks ago and…OH MY HECK!! They were horrible! The icing was delish..buttercream…yumm-o..but the cake….it was like a dry brick! I won’t be using that recipe ever again. Today I used the Magnolia cupcake recipe. Have you heard of these? The Magnolia Bakery in New York City makes the famous Magnolia Cupcake! People will stand in lines around the corner to get one. While we were in NYC last February, we wanted to take Mandi to get a Magnolia Cupcake but the line was literally around the block!! No way!! Sorry, I love me some treats but I wasn’t standing in line, in the cold for one! Anyway, I found their recipe online and tried it today..so far they look and smell fabulous…I just need to ice them, which, I better do!

Until next time,
Blessings!

A new form of fun!

As if I don’t have enough addictions already, I think a new one is forming….digital scrapbooking! For so long I’ve been putting off learning how to do this type of scrapbooking, thinking I just didn’t have the energy to put into all the brain power it was going to take to learn. I had Adobe PSE 4.0 and it just seemed to me to be such a difficult program to learn, totally confusing me, but at the same time, I would see all these really cool layouts done by digi scrappers, see all these cool kits you could download and constantly heard about how wild this was because once you had the files, you could use them endlessly, adapting them how you want! This could actually be a really awesome thing for me to learn huh?

Well, I was pointed in the direction of using Microsoft Digital Image Suite. I had complained loud enough about my frustrations with PSE and a kind soul by the name of Bernadette told me about this software, the one she uses. Now, Bernadette also has the mack daddy of Photoshop and still says she prefers to use DIS. So, yesterday I removed PSE from my computer and installed my brand, spanking new DIS!! By last night I had learned how to soften edges of my photos (not that it’s really a difficult task mind you), and learned how to add text to it as well….Bernadette was right, having experience with Microsoft Word, this program runs very similar…it was somehow all beginning to click with me! Today, I took it one step further and learned how to do my layers…viola! After about an hour of playing around, I had finally made my very first digi layout!! Now, understand that this is a very BASIC layout. It has a background paper, my photo, some text and brads in the corner…nothing to extravagant but, hey, I’m so thrilled to have actually done this! I think a new monster has just been created in me…I have since, downloaded some really fun, free kits from 2peas and have plans to play around some more tomorrow! I can see how this is going to be a wonderful addition to my already full-blown scrap addiction!! I will never give up on my paper and glue totally…I have too much fun with it as well, but this is a nice alternative.

So, without any further adieu, here it is my very first digital scrapbook page:


Until next time,
Blessings!

Just Reflecting I guess!

Wow, January is gone and we are now into February! Time is flying I tell ya. So far, my life’s goals for this year seem to be moving along quite well, much to my surprise (hee hee)…I’ve been working out every day, sticking to my plans to eat healthier and I have to say that they are becoming routine for me, that’s a fabulous thing considering that I am someone who loves routine in life! So far, 2007 is turning out to be a really good year for me.

So, my beloved Bears lost the Super Bowl…totally bummed about that. It’s always hard because you know that one team will walk away having lost and I was so hoping it wouldn’t be my team. Oh well, I enjoyed watching the game, spending time with Roger and Mandi and there is always next year, right?

Roger is off again…Paris this time, it was hard to see him leave again yesterday, I so enjoyed spending time with him and we were able to do a lot of fun things together this past week. Went to a new martini bar that is local to us and we had a great time. I had a fabulous Key Lime Martini (yumm-o) and with the exception of a couple, who were very nice by the way, that wouldn’t leave us alone…I mean, they actually gave up their table they were waiting for so that they could hang out and chat with us..nice, but, hummm…we were wanting to spend some time chillin’ alone and that kinda ruined that. Like I said, they were nice enough but, geez, I felt almost like we were being stalked LOL!!! We left after a couple hours, giggling about it all the way home. We also hit Ikea this past week…dangerous place I tell ya, and even more dangerous with Roger..I swear, no one shops like him! We got some cool new kitchen gadgets and I got some more storage items for my scrap room, we also stopped and had a late lunch at Stir Crazy and it was great! All in all, lots of fun this past week!

Okay, I’m rolling along on my scrappin’ I tell ya! Just finished this layout of my dad. It’s a picture of him playing the piano when he was a young man, I love this picture. It took me awhile to come up with a design I was happy with as I wanted to incorporate some of his sheet music (which I scanned and printed out onto a transparency) in the layout. Next was trying to figure out what I wanted to journal and a title. It has taken me about 4 days to come up with it but today I finally got it! It's a very basic and simple layout. The journaling reads as follows:
I reflect on my dad’s love of music and how it made him who he was.

I reflect on my love of music and the gift of that love given to me by my dad.

I reflect on the memories of spending time, lying on the living room floor,
listening to music with my dad as it played from our stereo.

I reflect on this photo of my dad, playing the piano, wondering what he was
thinking or feeling at that moment and wishing I could hear his music.

I see the reflection of my dad’s hands in his piano, and I see my dad.

I don’t know if the picture is good enough for you to see, but my dad’s hands are so perfectly reflected in the piano. I just think it’s cool. I titled the layout “Reflection”

Anyways, that is two layouts so far…my goal, small as it is at this moment, is to scrap at least one layout a month and…ta da, I’ve met that goal for January and now February! I’m thinking maybe I will be able to do more but small steps baby, small steps!!

Until next time,
Blessings!