Free Photo Editing Class

Photoshop for some reason makes me nervous!! For the past year or more I've wanted to take a Photoshop class at our local college. Every time the schedule comes out I look and more times than not, the time the class is offered just does not work with our family schedule. So as all Mom's do, it gets put on the back burner.

Well NOT THIS TIME!!!! I've signed up to take this class!!!

And you know the price isn't too bad either. Can't beat free and self-paced and on-line. Go sign-up NOW. Yes, right NOW!!! Before you forget or the Sunday deadline has passed you by. Go to JessicaSprague.com for all the instructions to sign-up.

Layout update

Life has been pretty busy with trips and end of school year activities. I've been able to sneak in a few minutes here and there scrapping. LOVE IT!!!

Here's what I've done since April.

This is a kit from K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks called Summer Blast. Just a few of the things we did in our summer of 2008. I added the title letters from my stash of Thickers letters. The green flowers I took from my stash as well as the flowers they sent with the kit were blue and I didn't care for the look.


Another one from K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks called Everyday Smile. I do LOVE this layout because it's about my sweet little Grandbaby. But I was disappointed with assembly of the kit. There was not enough ribbon included to complete the layout as pictured in their directions. (This is the 2nd time this has happened to me with their kits) The white ribbon with brown dots and stripe is from my stash. I'm glad I had the perfect colors for this layout.


This layout is from EZLaser Designs. I'm stuck on this one because I want to add journaling but not sure exactly how to do it. I'm open for suggestions so please leave comments.


As you can tell we went to the Portland Zoo. I used this kit called Giraffe from Lickey Split Scrapbooks.


Now this kit was one of those Pre-Made Page Spread from just Jinger. I bought it (of all places) at Michael's!! The half-circle on the left page opens up to reveal journaling.


Here's a retired kit from ScrapJammies called Dad on Seasons.

Happy Summer Scrapping!!!!

Some layouts over the past month

Yes, I have been silent but I'm still scrapping :D Here's soem of the thinks I've done.

These are retired Scrap Jammies kits

Girls from church having an activity at the Clay Estates (formerly the Randy Bachman, BTO fame, mansion)

Wedding reception funtimes

Lizzie's cabinet

Our visit to tour the Lady Washington tall ship that was used in Pirates-Curse of the Black Pearl as the Interceptor

Our sweet little bug-a-boo

This layout overlay is from http://ezlaserdesigns.com/

A few more from the week/weekend

Yes, I've been a little heavy on the Elizabeth layouts. She's such an inspiration :D

Authentic - Scrap Jammies kit January 2009


With Love - Scrap Jammies kit February 2009


Gentle Soul kit by Shabby Pink Designs

Grabbing an hour here and there

I've had a few moments to myself or during a movie to just grab a kit that I've already matched pictures to. Here a few kits I've done lately.

Scrap Jammies Aspire Kit - TakingLizzie to the park :D


Scrap Jammies Exubrant Kit - This was a fun morning with just me & Lizze. She kept her Mom up off and on all night. So Mom went back to bed. We had a great time!!

Some new kits!

When I went to CKC in November I stumbled across this kit and fell in LOVE with it. At the time I didn't know what photos I was going to use. That is until Jessica took these incredible pictures of Elizabeth while they were here visiting. I think this is my favorite layout!!

Girly Girl kit from K.I.S.S. Scrapbooks

Here's another one of our little sweet princess.

This is the Ellen kit from Shabby Pink Designs

Bad scrapping blogger :(

Sorry it's been almost 2 months since I've blogged over here. It doesn't mean that I haven't been scrapping. I have a little bit. I'll have to gather the photos to post here. But I have to share some good news. I won a Valentine's prize package over at Shabby Pink Designs. They have some cute, cute kits!! I can't wait to put them together. Go check them out! Their layouts are wonderful!

Here's what I won!

Thanks so much Lisa!!!

LOTS of snow and a Birthday!

When you get some blowing snow AND have a birthday you can get some scrapping done! Here's a few things. All are Scrap Jammies kits.

Synergy - CIAB September 2008

This was the first time Rob got to see our beautiful Granddaughter!

Whimsical - CIAB August 2008

This is shows and tells the story of Tabitha & Joshua getting their wedding rings.

Up Beat - CIAB December 2008

A few pictures from Tabitha/Josh's wedding

Ahead of the Curve - CIAB October 2008

Pictures from long, long ago ~ 1995! The kids are so little! And we only had 3 of them at the time.

A bit of a delay!

Sorry for taking a while to update here. But I have been semi-keeping up on our family blog so I do feel better about that :D

I first want to show you 2 of the layouts I finished from the CKC-Scheming Around class. Here's the sketch (see previous post for a desription of the class)

I then had some fun playing over at Janice's house again for our monthly Stampin' Up club night. We made these beautiful cards!

A 3 x 3 card

Aren't they wonderful! Plus Janice spoils us with the BEST goodies. Check out her recipe for these addicting cookies :D

CKC Report

One word ~ AMAZING!!! I had such a fun time and learned a lot. And spent some $$ too at the vendor faire. But on things that I KNOW I can't find here at Michael's/Joann's and Treasure of Memories. I took 3 classes.

Scheming Around

Taught by Wendy Smedley
Class Description: Want to save time and create eye-catching multi-photo pages? Simple sketches are the solution! Based on Donna Downey's latest book, "Designing Layouts" from Simple Scrapbooks Magazine, you'll incorporate one of the hottest trends in scrapbooking -- circles -- into your pages while letting your photos shine. You'll leave with two multi-photo 12x12 layouts, plus an additional layout to work on at home and a handful of design schemes to adapt for dozens of future projects .

My thoughts: I was a tad disappointed in this class. Part of it, I think is because this was my first time ever taking classes in a venue like this, so I really didn't know what to expect. But I had different expectations in my mind about this one. I hoped more teaching about design concepts would have occurred. Instead we were handed a packet with out supplies and a black and white layout of instructions and basically off we went. Wendy Smedley seemed like a very, very nice person. You could tell she was a bit miffed because, as she said "the purpose of the class was to have Donna Downey books available to purchase" and they were all sold out. She was not happy about that. My pocket book was though. There was NO WAY you could complete these 2 layouts in less than 50 minutes. And we did not leave with "...a handful of design schemes to adapt for dozens of future projects".

Photo Freedom

Taught by Stacy Julian
Class Description: Stacy has a brand new book that delves deeper into the liberating approach to scrapbooking that she shared in her 2005 best-seller, The Big Picture: Scrapbook Your Life and a Whole Lot More. This lecture-style class will leave you feeling re-energized and excited about your potential as storyteller and scrapbooker. Laughter guaranteed and a fun project included.

My thoughts: WONDERFUL!!! Stacy is such a genuine, friendly, and happy person. There was about 75 people in this class and she came up to each of us and wanted to know our names. WOW!!! She was just SO funny and informative. I have come out of this class with the feeling of "I can do this"! And it didn't hurt that I (and 2 of my friends, Bev and Donna) won one of the door prizes :D

Me, Stacy and Bev

Finishline Scrapbooking

Taught by Stacy Julian
Class Description: Join Stacy in this fun and fast-paced workshop that will exercise your mind and creative spirit. As your personal scrapbook trainer, Stacy will push you past common hurdles in scrapbooking by sharing her top “performance-enhancing tips” and timesaving approaches. You are guaranteed to cross the finish line with a completed album and an energized outlook!

My thoughts: I've never scrapbooked SO fast in my entire life! But it was such a BLAST! We were to bring 25 -40 photos and 50 black embellishements. And Stacy taught us how to "get er done"! My book is almost finished. I think all I need is an additional hour and it will be done. Love, love, love this concept!

Brilliant Kit

I LOVE how quickly these ScrapJammies kits go together. This is from our 4th of July partying.

ScrapJammies - CIAB October 2008

Brilliant

My Scrappy Saturday

This past Saturday I drove down to Everett to meet up with some friends from ScrapJammies. Kelly was visiting from the mid-west and we just HAD to meet up with her. We had a blast!!! And I actually accomplished some scrapping. I did some shopping too :D


This was a "Quick Page" from Lila's store. Very simple and quick. When I saw it on her blog I KNEW exactly what pictures I wanted to use on this layout. I added the "delightful" rub-on from my stash and filled in the bottom right hand corner on the left page with some rub-ons that came with the kit. And then I added some "bling" in the center of the flowers. I'm so happy how this turned out. The pictures just pop.


I was FINALLY able to find and purchase some Stickles glitter paints. I added it to the wood cutouts on this layout using the Scrapjammies CIAB August 2008 - Provincial


Scrapjammies Specialty kids - Game Night on Days Gone By (I still have to do the journaling)

I also started another kit that I have yet to finish. I'll post those when I'm done.

Stampin' Up Thursday!

On our gloomy, rainy night, Amber, Gracelyn and I decided to escape for a little fun time out. We went to our Stamp Club night with our Stampin' UP consultant, Janice Korthuis. I've known Janice FOREVER. Okay, not really, but it seems like it. At least 10 years as I can figure. Anyway, she has the most creative ideas. We had fun being creative and shopping out of the catalog. I even ordered the supplies for my Christmas cards with help from Amber choosing the ribbon. As much as I loved using these last year,
I missed the complete creative process.


Anyway, here's what we did. And Amber already used this first card.

Give Yourself a Present Challenge

Stacy Julian issued this challenge on October 1st. Many in the scrapbooking blogging world accepted that challenge. I was one of them. I have to say this was a tad out of my comfort level since I've never done something about my everyday life. Here where her instructions:

You have everything you need right now to be vibrant, happy and fully
engaged in the creative process of life. Sometimes you just have to slow down,
look around and realize it!Here’s what I want you to do …

• Snap ten or twelve photos of your life right now. Or find recent
  photos that you've already taken.
• Compile these photos in one of these super-cute Bazzill Mono-Mini albums
• Keep or carry this album with you, tucked in your purse or desk drawer for one full year.
• Promise to glance through the album every time you stumble upon it or pull it out.
• On October 1st, 2009, create a scrapbook page about your experience.

I think you'll find that regardless of what you choose to photograph, be it nature, your children, your pets, your home, your current projects --- anything and everything, that life is in flux. We and our surroundings are constantly changing (even when you don't see it or believe it) and this little challenge/project is designed to STOP you, in the throws of your busyness and show you in an instant ALL that have and can choose to be grateful for -- ALL that is here NOW and very likely fleeting ...

Now I have to say that try as I might, I could not find those little mini-albums she used. But I made the best of it and found something even cuter :D The book is a bit bigger so it's not going inside my purse. BUT I have a basket in my family room that has some of my mini-albums. It's on the top so I remember to look at it when I pass by. My kids thought I was NUTS taking all these pictures. But it sure helped me to look at my life from a new perspective. Thanks Stacy! I'm so happy with the way it turned out and the family tells me it really represents me and my day.

Sketch scrapbooking

I'm such a fan of working off of a sketch. There are so many talented people out there that share their ideas with us. This particular sketch is from Becky Higgins Creative Sketches.

Here is my take on this sketch. It's another one for MY first day of school album. I'm all caught up now on this one. Woohoo!!

I have to say it was so strange only having 2 kids to photograph. Time moves too quickly.