From the Stash and some good news!

My DH rocks my Digi world! Not only did I get ACDSee last week, this week (as we are awaiting two 750 GB hard drives to create a RAID) he's letting me use his EHD so I can create - WOOT!

Kellie Mize - Tortuga Template
Font - Impact and Century Gothic
Photography - ME!

So, this is from the stash...but I am busily creating the last LO in my Digi in Deep class over at JessicaSprague.com. It's a doozy! I got to task 5 last night and my brain was FRIED...and we haven't even got to the photo extraction yet - YIKES!

So, for now, from the stash...but within the next couple of days - SOMETHING NEW!

As for the gossip...there is none to be shared. After almost 7 years, Cherished Scrapbooks is closing. I am saddened that I won't be working with such amazing people anymore.

Thanks for stopping by!

From my stash - again - LOL!

I haven't been able to create much because we need a bigger hard drive! Jessica has us creating these wonderfully complex layouts but they have SO many layers and so much goodness that my hard drive can't handle it! So, I'll be sharing some goodies from my stash for a bit...

Template - Cassie Jones
Papers are from Katie's Catch a Rainbow Series
Brushes - Jessica Sprague and Ali Edwards.

Thanks for visiting!

Goodbye

For the record, this does NOT mean "goodbye" to blogging...you're not getting rid of me that easily...this is just something that I had to do.

More from the stash...

Created last year on Lauren's 13th birthday...she grows up more everyday!

Pattie Knox - Speed Byte template & Yellow paper
Katie Pertiet - Green Paper (Catch a Rainbow)
Font - Monotype Corsive

The Apple Blossom Story

Someone special read my blog yesterday and she asked about the "Apple Blossom" that gets signed along with my name after each post. I gave her a brief description in an email, but decided I needed to tell the story in a layout. Here it is:

Background Paper - Lynn Grieveson
Fonts - One Fell Swoop and Pristina
Flourish - A La Mode by Mary Ann Wise

Thanks again for stopping by! Have a great day!

From my stash

I didn't realize I hadn't shared this one yet! And it's just to darn cute to pass up! We were celebrating Scott's birthday, but Jonathan just HAD to be part of the action. Love, love, LOVE this photo of the two of them - PERFECT!

Kellie Mize - Tortuga Template # 14, Staples
Sara Carling - Red Paper (Dinner Party)
Tia Bennet - Make a Wish seal
Katie Pertiet - Black Paper (BOO! Collection) and Yellow paper (Catch a Rainbow Collection)

I'm trying to get something else up for you later on too...the problem is - UGH! I'm running low on disk space and can't save the darn layout! It's making me NUTS!!!! I need to save it as PSD file (Photoshop's format) before I can do anything else with it. Yes, we have a 250 GB hard drive and yes, it's running out of space - YIKES! Too much digi stuff...that's what it is.

So, be patient...and you'll soon find out why at the bottom of my posts it says Christyne (aka Apple Blossom).

Thanks for stopping by!

S'mores!

The journaling reads:

Scott was just being silly...he said we should turn our comforter into a tent and roast marshmallows and tell stories until the kids came and told us to be quiet. This led to me shopping for the stuff to make S’mores while we were at the store. We had to roast them over a candle, but the results were worth the effort! YUM!

I think I need to find a branch brush to put behind the "S'mores" title and then I can call it done!

Yep! My DH is just that much fun! I ended up buying Wagon Wheels and Whippets while I was at the store that day too...stuff we NEVER have in the house, so it was a pretty special treat. The Whippets are already all gone and at last count, there were 3 Wagon Wheels left. The kids have been instructed to leave those alone because they are for Scott...they keep asking if he's sure he's going to eat them all...little stinkers!

Thanks for stopping in!

The two pager I told you about...

Took pics while I was out for my 5 km walk this morning and added them to the left page.

Now...I'm off to soak my feet, because I had a busy day today...and heck...I deserve it!

Assignment 3B- This is Me - Left Page

This was a WHOLE lot easier than the right hand page - LOL!

I went for a walk to Starbuck's this morning (good incentive - one tall decaf skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte) and took some pictures along the way to do up my left hand page. So, more shots of "Where I live"

I had to rewatch a couple of task videos, but it seems to be sinking in.


I'm going to put the pages together (a little later) and I'll put the completed project up sometime after dinner...so come by and take a peek!

Thanks for popping in!

Assignment 3A - This is Me

WHOA! You thought you had to hang on to your socks last week? This week, you better hang on to your pants too! The things Jessica had us doing this week were out of this world...no really...I'm sure they've mastered this stuff in another universe and Jessica gets her information from little green men.

WOW!

For Assignment 3B we have to complete the second page of this layout. Some of the peeps in the class are doing it off to the right (thereby completing the circle) and others are doing it off to the left with another collection of little photos. I think that's what I'll do...I like the idea of another 10 or so little pictures to finish this off...I'm seeing one of DH, one of the friends that I crop with...Oh the possibilities!

Next week, when we do lesson 4 I'm going to need someone standing next to me because I fully expect to faint dead away with each new task...

Thanks for stopping in! Have a great Digi week!

The Friendship Quote Book

This is the friendship quote book I mentioned yesterday. Gonna give it to some special girlfriends of mine!



Have yourself a great day and thanks for stopping by!

What to share...what to share??

I know! Every Thursday, Jessica sends us a template for a 12 X 12 page broken down into 4 mini 6 X 6 pages. We use them for quotes. These are the two I created during the first week. I'm going to give them to hubby...just because.


I made another one this past weekend (didn't get the chance to do it on Thursday), but I'll save that one for another day. I used different colours for the one from this past week...different quotes too - this one (the new one) is all about friendship.

Thanks for visiting! Have a great day!

Another Then and Now...

Now please don't run screaming from the room or shut your browser down because you think it will self-implode - LOL!

Yep! That's me! 1986, just before my prom and just this past December.

I had to do it you see...because over at JessicaSprague.com a challenge was issued when we found out about the "Then and Now" assignment we would be doing...the challenge was to scrap yourself!

So, while I already completed the assignment with Jonathan's pictures, I knew I had to do it again to fulfill the challenge!

I'm going to another one too...actually, 2 more. One for Colin and Lauren. I'm going to do one for Scott too, but he won't let me post it online. Party Pooper - LOL!

Hope you have a great weekend planned! Thanks for popping in!

Assignment 2B

Our instructions for the assignment were to create "leading lines" to lead the viewer around the layout...the arrows did the trick - LOL!

Background Paper - Katie Pertiet
Smaller Background Paper - Katie Pertiet - Canaba White (recoloured)
Patterned Paper in Font - Katie Pertiet
Postage Stamp Frames - Katie Pertiet
Dark Blue Arrow - Pattie Knox
Rounded Paper Clipping Mask - Katie Pertiet
Font - Basic Font (Honest! That's what it's called - LOL) and Baskerville Old Face

Thanks for visiting today! Hope you have a great weekend planned!

Today's lesson - Shutter Speed

Could have done with some better light but since we live in an apartment with no window in the kitchen...it's just not to be! Love this whole shutter speed thing - WAY cool! This was such a fun lesson! The higher the shutter speed, the faster the action stops - EXCELLENT!

The only problem is, I'm going to need a bigger CF card if I keep shooting in RAW - LOL! Oh honey...my birthday is coming up...teehee!

Assignment 2A - Hang on to your socks!

The things we learned in this class were totally over the top! But then...I wouldn't expect any less from Jessica. She is completely and TOTALLY amazing! She inspires me on a daily basis and I love her for it!

For this layout, we recoloured papers, created a custom brush in order to create our very own patterned paper, texturized the paper (to make it look like Bazzill - I KNOW! TOTALLY COOL!), learned how to make a custom shadow to make our journaling block look like it curled off the page...but the BEST part...the absolute BEST PART was learning how to blend two photos without a seam...SERIOUSLY cool!

If you haven't experienced the wonderful world of Jessica Sprague, you REALLY should. Go, go now to JessicaSprague.com and soak in her awesome-ness! (is that even a word? LOL!)

You can follow along with the challenges on the General Forum and post your layouts in the challenge gallery or even head over to her blog The Sprague Lab and try out her Photoshop Friday tutorials. I promise...you'll love her just as much as I do...well...O.K., maybe not as MUCH as I do (that would be near impossible), but you'll just love her - I know you will!

Thanks for stopping in today!

My Rock

Ever had a root canal? No? I don't recommend it. Yes? You have my sympathy.

I had a root canal last night...it was a repeat root canal on a tooth that had already been done a few years ago, but had developed an infection. Not fun!

Scott met me at the dentist and sat with me through the ENTIRE procedure, because he knew how much I dreaded it after the last experience.

As I explained it to the dentist, "I have given birth three times, once by c-section, and the root canal was WORSE!"

But he sat there and let me squash his hand whenever I felt pain (and yes, I felt it even with the numbing) and didn't even make a peep...and I KNOW I was squashing pretty hard.

Then, he brought me home, made sure I was comfy, made me some tea and just sat with me. When I decided to go to bed (waited till I could take another ibuprofen tablet), he even came to bed and held me till I fell asleep.

This man makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world...I am SO blessed to be able to call him mine!

Just Because...

This is the one I was telling you about...it was stuck in the CF card. GOT IT OUT - WOOT!


Pics are from flowers that Scott brought home...just because. Is he not the sweetest man ever? Yep! He is...and he's ALL MINE! You can't have him...

Sick Kids Radiothon

FINALLY a Radiothon Layout! Done for a challenge over at JessicaSprague.com

I have another one too...but it's stuck on a CF card right now...

The one I told you about...

This is the one I was telling you about...the first one I created after getting off the roller coaster. Nothing digital about this one. It's ALL paper! I did do a bit of photo editing (tweaking), but that's about it.

So, lucky you...you get to gaze upon my handsome DH today!

Assignment 1B - Second Attempt (the real deal) - Nothing but Net

Now THIS is what I was supposed to be doing...compound mask, brush and title, semi-transparent journaling block...


I even added the blended photo as a background (learned that in the last class of Now We're Rockin') and used it on this layout too. Check it out...it's in the bottom left hand corner.

And...I went looking on the net and found that awesome pic of the basketball net in the top right hand corner on which I lowered the opacity and feathered the left and bottom edges to make it look like it was part of the paper!

So, lucky you! You get two posts in one day!

Now, I'm off to start on a quote book Jessica assigned yesterday so that I can get that done before she throws ANOTHER assignment at us tomorrow - YIKES! (but secretly loving every minute of it!)

Assignment 1B

...or y'know...NOT!

I thought I was doing well with this one, but didn't follow all the directions we were given, so I need to go back to the drawing board. Maybe I'll use the cute pics I took or my friend's little man yesterday...

Here's the layout I completed yesterday...not in line with the assignment, but I like it...simple, but gets the message across...


Thanks for stopping in today! Have yourself a stellar weekend!

It's all about f/stop!

So...just because taking Digi in Deep over at JessicaSprague.com wasn't enough, I decided to hop on board with an informal photography class too. I mean...what the heck! It's not like I need to sleep, right???

Our first lesson was all about shooting in Aperture Priority mode. This is where you change the f/stop and let the camera take care of the rest.

Well! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, but there you have it:
And I FINALLY figured out a way to remember! Big f/stop (higher number) = big focus (more in focus) - WOOT!

As you can see above, the lower the f/stop (in this case 4.5) the less is in focus (only the coffee cup right in front of the lens) and the higher the f/stop (in this case 29) the more is in focus (the display with the flyers, the tree off to the right).

Now, I wouldn't recommend trying this with a child...especially in the higher f/stop, because the higher the f/stop the slower the shutter speed. And I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you have a VERY steady hand, something hard on which to rest the camera (I put it right on the table) or a tripod. Again, the higher the f/stop, the longer the shutter needs to stay open to let in the appropriate amount of light.

Go out an try it! It works just the same with a regular SLR as it does with a DSLR and I understand some of the higher end digital point and shoots will let you take pictures in Aperture Priority mode. If you do decide to try it out, come on back here and let me know! I'd love to see your results!

Thanks for stopping by today and happy shooting!