A few updates

I won't catch you up all at once.

Here's a layout of when my daughter went to visit her brother in Utah for spring break.

Kit by K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks

This next layout is from this past summer. I don't think I've ever scrapbooked an event this quickly. But when you have the perfect pictures and the perfect kit then you just have to do it.

Kit by Paisleys and Polka Dots

Have you ever?

Ever forgot a password or email address that you use to log in on a website somewhere? Well, that's what happened to me here. I could have sworn that I wrote it down in my secret password place. But nope!! It's taken me sooooo long to figure it out.

That's the reason why this blog has been entry free. It won't be that way for long!!!

It's True!!!

Sometimes life gets in the way of our hobbies! And that's exactly what has been happening for us. Band trips, a high school graduate, sending a son off to Iraq and all the other "normal" parts of life, doing anything scrappy has been put on the back burner. Of course, I still took LOTS of pictures!!

This past Monday my daughter had her wisdom teeth remove. And that equals being compelled to slow down and stay home (in addition to taking care of my baby girl). That has given me plenty of opportunity to catch up and use some of my kits.

So Mine by K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks
This shows the different sides to our cute little granddaughter.


I Love this Guy by Paisleys and Polka Dots
My Brave soldier. Photos taken by Blue Sapphire Photography. Thanks Jenn!!! These are such a treasure!


A Picture is Worth kit by K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks
This is my Senior, Class of 2010. These are her (some) senior pictures. This one is going in MY school book of my kids.


Girl Power kit by K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks


Tropical Summer kit by Paisleys and Polka Dots
Swimming while on vacation is ALWAYS fun


Summer Heat by K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks
Note the boo-boo lip? My sweet granddaughter had a moment where she realized that her "Daddy was going away for a long time". Let me tell you, I was glad I was wearing sunglasses because I was crying for both of them.


A Moment in Time by K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks
Yes! You just saw this layout in the last post. Ever have one of those "I can't believe I did that!" moments? Yup! I bought this kit twice. So since the other layout is going in my daughter's school book, this one is mine and about my beautiful family.

Well, excuses, excuses!

I guess the only thing I will say is that LIFE has taken over me blogging on my scrapbook site. No excuses!! But that my family is the MOST important thing in my life and they are my FIRST priority. I knew you'd understand :D

So here are just a few of the kits I've used recently:

Paisleys and Polka Dots - my new FAVORITE kits!! They are amazing. Go check them out here.


Retired Scrap Jammies kit - Magnolia


K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks


K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks


Lickety Split Scrapbooks

I'm back!!!

I really didn't disappear or stop scrapping or crafting since my last post. Some of the things I can't post since they are gifts.

A friend of mine sent me this information from her friend and I wanted to pass it along here. . Her friend, Michelle, and owner of A Million Memories has sent out and request. It's such a worthy cause for all of our "I'm going to get around to that someday" supplies in our drawers and closets. I hope you will be able to contribute anything at all and send them to some kids who love to craft and need a little fun in their days!

Read her story below:

*******
When my daughter Chloe was 4 years old, she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She spent several months in the hospital when she first began chemotherapy. For several weeks during this time in the beginning, she was unable to walk, she would hardly talk and was basically a little zombie. The ONLY THING that brought her any sense of joy at this period in her life, was doing craft projects. She was sometimes unable to leave her room and the social workers and play room attendants would bring projects to her room for her to work on. It was a really dark place in her life (and ours), but doing little art projects gave her a purpose every day.

I'm telling you all of this because doing arts and crafts means a lot to children who are stuck in the hospital ~ especially during the holiday season when they cannot be home with their families. What I would like to do is do a scrapbook drive (same as last year, if you were involved in that), where what you do is basically clean out your scraproom and throw into a box the items that you know that you will not use. We are just donating this stuff to kids, so they don't mind the old Jolees and Suzy's Zoo stickers or the ancient Debbie Mumm papers that you never threw away. THEY actually appreciate them. LOL. So, if you would like to participate, please box up your stuff and send it to us.

Chloe is scheduled for her next hospital procedure in early - mid December (probably about 12/7). When we go in, I would like for her to be able to take the donations with her.

All donations can be sent here:

Chloe Quinn Scrapbook Drive
2378 Charlemagne
Long Beach, CA 90815

Thanks so much! If you do this, believe that you are doing something special for a sick child that will truly appreciate it!!

Day 13 - Collage + Brush

Whew! This one required concentration. But it's a lot of fun.

The Final Project Challenge:
Leave all the photos except one black & white and add some text.

I liked the way this looked I thought I'd do another one. Plus I needed the practice!

Our family went apple picking on Monday. Of course you can't go apple picking and NOT take pictures :D

The Challenge:

So now that this class is over I'm going to take a Basic Photo-Editing class. Something I've wanted to do for YEARS!

Having fun with Photoshop again!

Yesterday our family went over to the local Airplane Museum to go see the WWII airplanes. So I just played with some of the techniques I learned in my recent Jessica Spraque class. Let me know what you think!

Original photo ~ WWII Fighter Plane - Hog Wild Gunner


Used Photoshopp to create a vintage look


Original photo - WWII Bomber Plane


Played with Photoshop to create an overexposed old picture

A few scrapbooking pages

The 1st three are ScrapJammies kits but with my own little twist added to them.

For this layout I replaced the kits swirly chipboard with some bling from my stash. This is one of my favorites from my daughter's wedding. The left page on the sketch was a smaller picture with some journaling but I thought this 8 x 10 pic was perfect!


Another one where I added the bling words to describe my kiddos.


Cut this one down to 8.5 x 11

This layout is from Lickey Split Scrapbooks
I'm usually not much of a paper-piecing style. But this was a fun kids to put together.

Day 12 - Storyboards

Wow!! All these techniques that impress me, I can't believe how easy they are accomplished!!

Janice, let me answer your questions. Yes! Absolutely, I would LOVE to teach you how to do these things. It will help me to remember them too. Since you're working, let me know what works for you. I haven't yet sent them to Costco to be printed. That's on my "to do" list soon. I'll let you know when I do. And thanks for the compliment. I'll let Rob know that my "elixirs" (aka moisturizers) are worth the $$. ;D

Day 11 - Selective/Spot Recoloring

This is super, dee duper easy!! And LOTS of fun to do too. This is a photo of our adorable Granddaughter. It is SO her ~ she LOVES flowers. So much so that she actually pulled one out of the ground, roots and all! Oops!!! We promptly replanted it. :D

Day 10 - Project Start to Finish

Boy, this one was F.U.N.!!! I am learning so much! And one of my favorite pictures of my 2 oldest children.

Day 9 - Edge Burn

I think I need to work on this technique some more. Or pick a different picture.

Day 8 - Type

Ooooo, I LOVE this technique. I can so see myself using this a lot!

Day 7 - Self-check

Aka-POP QUIZ!!!!! I really wanted to test my knowledge so I wrote the answers down and I was happy to learn I got 100%!! So the "old dog" can learn "new tricks".

1. What do you call the special type of file that supports transparency and that can be layered over other images? .png file
   
2. Which Photoshop tool do you use to both paint and stamp images? brush tool
   
3. How can you add an effect to your photo (such as desaturation or a sepia tone) without affecting your photo layer itself? adjustment layer
   
4. When you use a shape that causes another layer to conform itself to that shape, what's it called? clipping mask
   
5. What are the steps to accomplish #4? point the curser on the line of the layers and hold the alt key and click
   
6. What do you call any image file that you add as an overlay to your photo to give it added depth?texture
7. If you want to decrease the effect of an adjustment layer on your image or item, which do you do? A. decrease the opacity of the adjustment layer B. duplicate the adjustment layer C. change the blending mode to multiply. A
   
8. Which adjustment layer do you use to reduce the color in a photo? hue saturation
   
9. Name one blending mode that adds contrast to darker colors and lightens up lighter colors. Soft light or Overlay
   
10. Name the blending mode that hides all WHITE areas of a layer, and increases the darkness of dark areas. Multiply

Day 6-TTV

I liked this technique. It give you a worn, faded look that looks like looking through the viewfinder of an old camera. This day she challenged me because there was no step0by-step video. It was written but also testing our memory of learning from the previous lessons.