A Digital Challenge!

I just recently joined Scrap Lovers, this fun message board/online store that my friend Cathy had told me about and this weekend, starting tonight, they are having an online crop. I've never done an online crop before so I thought it might be fun to try it out, see what it was all about. Cool thing, they are having a digital challenge, complete with a freebie kit you can download that one of the members, Rick, had designed. I downloaded the kit and went to work. The theme of the kit was spring so I decided that rather than waste time sifting through my harddrive for pictures, I'd use the rose picture I took last week! After all flowers make me think spring! Here is the layout I came up with for the challenge...

I also learned through this process how to resize my files for web viewing, something I had been struggling with..now here's the really sad part...had I taken the time to read through some of the help topics on my digital image suite program, I could have answered this question weeks ago!! I've been randomly just trying to resize until I got to a file size that was small enough, little did I know, (okay, really embarrassing) that I could save my file as a copy and choose for web or email!! DUH!!! Well, now I know and I am so happy, no more stressing over pixel numbers and all that math type junk, I SO HATE MATH!! LOL

Okay, just a short post tonight, did my first online challenge and had alot of fun, it's posted to the gallery, I believe I've earned a point and tomorrow, I'll check back in to see what else I can have fun doing!

Until next time,

Blessings

What a wild ride this past week was!!

Whoa, what a week it has been! I had so many good things going on last week that I wanted to blog about but just couldn’t seem to find any time to sit down and do it! Roger was home, that’s always cool! He wasn’t here very long, another reason that I didn’t spend too much time on the computer…we had a nice time though, went out for some drinks with some friends of ours, Paul and Carol, to a great little martini bar in town, had the most tasty martini’s!! Then we came back and feasted on some incredible homemade Mexican food that Carol and Paul made; tamales, salsa, flan…oh it was yumm-o!!! It’s always a fun time when we hang with them!

I had some of the best, feel good, news of my life last week…..ya ready?? Most of you already know this but, here goes anyways. I submitted some layouts for a new idea book that Memory Makers is publishing and, they want one of them!! I can’t believe it; I am actually going to be published!! Now, this wasn’t a big goal of mine, but submitting for publication was on my life list for the year. I had always been afraid to submit my work, I mean, after all that means it’s being judged…well, I wanted to get over my fear of that and for the sh*ts and grins of it, just submit….little did I think that on my very first attempt, I would get accepted! I haven’t had such a great feeling like this in a long time!! Talk about giddy!!

Okay, it doesn’t end there…what you say, there is more??? YEP! I just recently took a position with a new online scrapbooking magazine, All the Rage. I will be writing a column for the magazine, all about mini albums and I can’t wait. I just love to do mini albums! I’m very excited that I was asked to be a part of this new zine and have been working on my very first article for them. Not only do I get to scrapbook for the magazine, but it also allows me to write again, something, that while I may not be a gifted writer, I love to do! The magazine is set to go live on May 1st and you can be sure I’ll let ya’ll know about it then!

So, it doesn’t stop there…..yep, even more!! I was just approached by my friend Dawn, to rejoin her online scrapbooking and stamping magazine as a contributing writer for digital work!! WOW!!! I recently began my descent into the dark side as I jokingly refer to it, but seriously, I have started to try my hand at digital scrapbooking, and I love it! I get a very different sense of creativity from digital scrapbooking that has become quite the addiction for me! I love computers and other than writing, I’ve always thought that a career in computers would be a really cool thing for me. Digital scrapbooking has allowed me to join my love of scrapbooking and photos with my love of the computer…I was so honored that Dawn wanted me to come aback aboard S.S. Reflections, that she thought my digital work was good enough for her ezine!! Thanks Dawn! My first article with S.S. Reflections will be in the May issue and as soon as I learn how to insert links into my text here, I’ll do that for you!

I can’t tell you how happy I am, that I get to do all these different things that I love to do! I’m feeling very blessed!

So there you have it, my busy and very exciting (well, exciting for me) week last week! I also have been taking a photography class and really enjoy it, but I honestly haven’t had one minute to do my shots for the week….that is something I plan on working towards, scheduling some time to practice my camera and photo skills. I just ordered my new lens that I wanted and I should have it in a couple days..YAY!! These are a couple of the pics I was playing around with last week….trying to use my white balance in different situations to see the differences, and just generally trying out different aperatures and iso’s! They aren’t the best photos, still look more like snapshots to me but I’m having fun, so what the heck!

I just love flowers, I don’t spend my money on them to often but when I saw these yellow roses I had to have them…they remind me of my Dad, a Texan…you know the song, the “Yellow Rose of Texas”…well…anyways, I bought them and tried to take some photos of them…my lens doesn’t allow for the best close up shots but here they are….and, of course, I had to take some shots of my buddy Ozzi!! Something about his look in this picture makes me smile…again, compositionally (is that a word?) speaking, it’s not the greatest but it makes me happy to look at it, and that’s all I really care about anyway!

So, until next time…..
Blessings!

Spring Day

Could spring really be on its way?? Boy it sure felt like it today, temps near 50 degrees and sunshine! Felt so good to open the windows for awhile and air out the house. Not much going on today other than some cleaning (always a chore..ick!) and playing around on the computer (always fun..yay!).

I started this layout last night but couldn’t find the right alphabet so I went on a “shopping” expedition online…found one (and a bunch of others I might add)! I just love this picture of Roger’s former band, seems like a lifetime ago that I was going to clubs watching them perform; I had such fun being a “groupie”…ah, good times! However, job requirements and changes meant that Roger would travel too much to be in a band and he stepped away..boo! He still, however, spends most of his free time making and recording music in his studio which takes up most of our basement! When Roger is here on the weekends the floors are shaking in this house because of all the rockin’ going on! Last night we “sprung forward” with our clocks….lost an hour (I hate that, losing time ya know, it’s just not right) of course when I went to bed I didn’t change the clocks and when I woke up at 9:30, I was thinking to myself, sheesh, I slept awfully late today! Mind you, I HAD NOT changed the clocks so it was actually 10:30!! Oh my!! Fortunately I was able to get the things done that I needed too. Now, it’s time to go to bed again, tomorrow will come all too early I imagine and thus starts the new week!

Until next time,
Blessings!

March Already!!!

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s already March! The year just seems to be zooming by, a little too fast for my liking but then again, I’m soooo ready for spring and summer, I’ve had just about all the snow and cold one person can take. I actually told Roger that I would like to move to Arizona or a place where there is no snow after Mandi graduated from middle school…course, don’t know that it could actually happen, but one can dream right?

So, February was good. Really, my whole 2007 has been really good so far. I have been able to keep up with my life changes I made for the new year, still exercising every morning (course I take a day off here and there but I’m entitled right?), I’m reading more books, something I had been neglecting and something I really love to do. I’m currently reading “The Memory Keepers Daughter” by Kim Edwards and am really enjoying that. I have three new books just waiting to be cracked open as soon as I finish this one, trouble is, which do I choose first? LOL! I’ve also managed to scrapbook more for myself (something I really needed to do) and I’ve been trying my hand at digital scrapping and am really having fun with that! Here is my latest digi layout. I’m not sure that if I was going to scrapbook this photo of Mandi and Ozzi on actual paper that I would use these colors but being a beginner I don’t have a ton of selections to choose from yet (of course this is not to say that these papers are not nice) but I don’t typically gravitate towards primary or bold colors…I’m more a grungy, shabby, neutral kinda gal! Be that as it may, I came up with this one tonight.On other news, I’m taking a beginning digital photography course, and would you believe that I met a gal in class who is also a “Pea”!! The beauty of it is that she also lives basically around the corner from me!! Such a small world huh? Around the holidays I had organized a crop at my local scrap store, Remembering When, and Cathy was planning on attending. As fate would have it, the day of the crop we had a huge snow storm and Cathy didn’t come L I knew she was a local gal but had no idea she was that close to me! How cool that we are in the same photo class!

Speaking of photo class, it’s fabulous! I’ve learned some really good things about how to use my camera, and this weekend I am planning on putting those to use as I do my “homework”! This has really sparked an interest in photography for me…who knows; maybe another expensive hobby is in the works huh?

So, that’s about all for tonight….just hanging at home with Ms. Mandi and playing on the computer. Think I’ll go make myself a cup of hot chocolate and read a little!

Until next time,
Blessings!

Playing with some digi!

okay, so today I decided to play around with some digi stuff...still learning the ropes and it's slow going but I'm having fun anyways. Here is a simple layout I did with the concert pic from the other night...used a Rhonna Farrer (sp?) flourish around the pic and her scalloped paper...whatcha think?

Other than this and the tremendous amount of laundry I'm doing, it's been a rather quiet day! Watched a movie, had a cup of hot chocolate and puttered on the computer...kinda a nice, lazy day..still sorta bumming that Roger left again...oh well, such is our life!

Until next time,

Blessings!

My Chemical Romance and a hottie!

Long live rock and roll!!!! Okay, the concert was freakin' fabulous!! I have not had such a good time in such a long time...oh to be 20 years younger huh? LOL

So, Thursday night Roger and I took Mandi to her first official rock concert! We had talked months back that since all of us LOVE (did I stress that enough??) LOVE this band, why not go to see them and take Mandi??!! Of course, all Roger had to do was mention this idea and I was all over it like white on rice, ya know! I scored us some killer seats and we surprised Miss Mandi with tickets! She was totally blown away, then we tell her that she also gets to take the next day off school since it would be a late evening and....we were renting a limo to take us there and home (hidden agenda...neither Roger or I wanted to deal with the mess of traffic at concert venues, so this was the only choice LOL)!! I tell ya, the waiting for this event was like waiting for Christmas..soooo hard! Thursday arrived, Mandi came home from school and it was jumping into full get ready mode at our house. Of course, nails had to be painted black, concert t-shirts had to be worn, and pre-concert pictures had to be taken...check out the nails on this guy! The limo arrived and off we went! I have to say, I was really amazed (and I suppose I shouldn't have been but), that most of the young concert goers were between the ages of 13 to 17 and they were there alone!!! What??? Not a snowballs chance in he** that my Mandi will do that. This was a huge venue and a general admission one (we had ticketed seats however...no way I was doing a mosh pit!) to boot! The crowd was insane!! I can't tell you how many kids I saw get body surfed out of the G.A. crowd to security guards who had to take them for medical help due to overheating and all....wow! Of course there was the full Goth attendance, blacked eyes, lots and lots of black (of course)!! I will say, that it was a very tame concert in the drinking and drugs area (not like concerts I went to as a teenager I can tell ya that) they stopped selling beer (much to our dismay) as soon as MCR took the stage and there was NO evidence of pot smoking, even very little cigarette smoking too!

Well, MCR took the stage and we all went nuts! Their stage decoration was way cool, lots of pyrotechnics and the drummer (who I think is da bomb!), his drum kit was on a stage of it's own that turned totally around and had flames shooting out of it! I danced, screamed, sang and generally acted like I was 20 years old again (sigh!)....except for the permanent hearing loss I think I suffered (LOL), and the aches my body is still experiencing from dancing and jumping around I had a blast, so did Mandi! She told me later that night that she was going to be a cool mom like me and take her kids to their first concert!! That's all I needed!!

One more thing....sigh.....could I please be about 25 years young??? Take a look at Gerard....what a cutie he is...sorry Billy Joe, you've been replaced in this mom's heart!! Oy!!! Now I realize this might be a stretch for some of my friends but those that know me, know I have some rather unique tastes in music and lead singers (hee hee).


Check out my new video....another awesome tune by My Chemical Romance (part of their Black Parade as well)...sorry, just can't get enough of these guys! I see a scrap page about this coming soon.....

Until next time,
Rock on!!!