Happy Friday

I've been kind of absent from scrapping and blogging because my sister is in the hospital and I've spent a lot of time visiting her. Went to visit her tonight because she asked me to, but after a short visit asked us to leave because she was mad at her nurse because the nurse wouldn't let her shower, so came home and have been happily scrapping away. I've tried a technique I found at Scrapbook Ideas on blending a photo into the background. Let me know if you like it.

Supplies used include papers and embellishments from Verena Karolyi's "You Are Beautiful" kit, including paper 4, diamond04, and tag; scrap frames 2 12X12 Clusters from Cottagearts.net; font Charlemagne Std, and Photoshop CS3 (my first layout with my new software).

The Office

Well today is moving back into my office day. I'm also a big fan of The Office, and just had to share this clip. I think it is hilarious.

Mia

I created this layout of Mia from her "modeling" session Saturday night after dinner. It is based on a sketch from UK scrapper Sarah Youde over at the Pencil Lines International Sketch Challenge Blog. I used ScrapSimple Tools - Actions: Photo Basics PSE 5001(Chocolate with Color) on the pictures, and VRA_ScrapSimple_12x12_Cheri5-vines,
USC_SSPaperTemplate_documentation, VRA_SSPhotos_Sand-2101_2, 11 Naturals7 Paper12_CottageArts, and BrendaMiller_GottaPixel_092506_small dots for my papers, and SNU_SS_EmbTmplt_Flowers-10. I typed the title with Vivaldi font and then used Frosted Glass action from Atomic Cupcake. I use Photoshop Elements 6.0. I chose a monochromatic color scheme and I picked the rose color from Mia's lips.

Silly

While out to dinner the other night, Luke showed us all his talent of the spoon on the nose. He was very proud of himself. I created this layout using the following supplies:

BVA_ScrapSimple_12x12_ChildDescribed_KidDescribed
VRA_SS_DLTemplates_Circulate3
VRA_SSPhotos_Sand-2101_2ASO_SS_Paper_Braden Templates 1, 3, 5, and 6
VRA_SSPhotos_Grids-2101_Orig-6
DesignsbyShelle_BountifulBlessings Alpha
mswadling_boysbboys_metal_corner01
Chrome Action from Atomic Cupcake
Curled Action from Atomic Cupcake

Macho Men

When we were out for dinner Saturday night, I snapped a picture of Jeremy and Roger "bonding." I did this layout first:



I designed the background paper by using ASO_SS_Paper_TextrdJrnl_Handwritten and
ASO_SS_Paper_TextrdJrnl_Palette paper templates from ScrapGirls. I also applied TCS_SSPhotos_LuxePaint5701_3_12x12 from Scrapgirls to my circles.

Today I decided to do another version of the layout, using some actions from Atomic Cupcake, including stitched edge (on the circles), crinkled on the small squares, chrome for my title, and sanded away small on my picture (I love this action). Here is the result:


Which version do you think is best?

Birthday Celebration

Yesterday was Carrie's birthday and we celebrated by going out to eat at the Latin King and then going back to their house so the grown up kids could play with her birthday present--Rock Star (I think that is what it is called anyway). I took lots of pictures. I've posted some of the pictures. I haven't cleaned up all of them yet, so some are kind of "rough." Mia was "Sharpei" and was doing some modeling/posing for me. She is a natural model. Luke did his spoon on the nose trick and Carrie managed to capture a picture of that.

Today is a typical Sunday--snow, snow, and more snow. Roger just went out to clean off the walk and driveway. I've only stuck my nose out the door to let the dogs in or out. I've watched a movie I had recorded and been scrapping all day. Couldn't think of a better way to spend the day.

[This layout was based on a template by Kristin Tilley as part of the PrimaHybrid Blog Party. Papers and embellishments were part of Trish Jones' Captured Memories kit, and I used Unicorn and Segoe Print fonts.]

All Boy

Here is another page I scrapped from my day with grandson #1. This picture was taken while he was sitting on the "Mountain" at the playland with the Merry-Go-Round lights in the background.

Luke and Grandma

Yesterday Luke and I spent a "Just Grandma and me" day--Clubhouse at the Playhouse, Merry-Go-Round at Southridge, playing in the playground at the mall, lunch at Taco Johns, shopping at Target for Hot Wheel cars, and looking at the scrapbooks I've created.

I took my camera to the mall and played around with shooting in RAW format and then I fine-tuned them with Photoshop Elements 6.0. (I would love to play with Adobe Photoshop to see what I am missing sometime.) The above layout was created with the following supplies: Amy Martin template from the Prima Hybrid's Blog Party; page curls from C. Haskell's Ciao Bella kit (a bonus kit with my January Bella Scraps Magazine);
ScrapGirls ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Torn Edges, and ScrapSimple Paper Templates Child Described (BoyDescribed).

Just Grandma and Luke

Took a day of vacaton today to spend with Luke. We went to the Friday Fundays at the Playhouse and then to Southridge Mall to ride the Merry-go-Round, play and eat lunch. Then home for a nice nap.

Valentines Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. My dear sweet husband bought me some beautiful red roses. He's such a sweetie and a keeper. I made him a couple Valentine gifts and fixed him a sirloin steak dinner. We then went over and picked up Luke to spend the night with me.

Lukey photographs Grandpa

Enjoyed another Saturday where Roger didn't have to work! He's been pursuing his new hobby of collecting N-gauge trains and track stuff, a lot of it on eBay. I have been scrapping and driving him to his dealers (trains that is) to look at and purchase stuff. I did get to water aerobics this morning. Other than that, we have spent the day in our "home" office, back to back, pursuing our interests, all while drinking a fantastic bottle of wine we bought in the fall of 2006 during our vacation in California. The wine is Cellar Cats Red, an Alexander Valley Zinfandel.

Our fantastic grandson Luke (a.k.a. Lukey) loves to take pictures, and I let him use my Nikon D40X to take pictures whenever he likes. He sometimes cuts off the head, but I feel he is doing great--especially since he is only two years old.

I'm dreaming of ... summer flowers

This week we were hit with 10 inches of snow (or more) and I've been dreaming of summer flowers. Above is a layout I've been working on. I created the background paper using Cottage Arts Natural 7 Paper Pak after seeing a tutorial over at there on creating textured photo blends and custom papers with the Naturals paper series.

Because of my Raynauds, I decided to see if I could find some shoes to keep my feet warm. Some suggestions were for wool clogs and so I ordered some and they arrived yesterday. Boy are they warm and comfortable. I bought a pair of Haflinger German clogs that are 100% boiled wool.



I bought mine at footsmart.com.

Star Power

This is what I have been working on tonight. I love this picture of Cailey with her sunglasses. This was taken last Spring on a Friday I took off work to visit preschool with the girls, then take them to lunch at McDonalds before heading to the Playhouse for Friday Fundays.

I used Jen Reed's 'Majestic You' kit I got over at Scrapwow.com

the Graduate

Been spending a quiet Sunday scrapping today. I have gone through some old photos and scanned them in. This was the day Carrie graduated from Truman State University with her degree in education. It was the summer of 1999. It was a very proud day for Roger and me.

Molly B. Goode

Got up this morning and decided to scrap some pictures of Molly I ran across from 1999. Molly was four when these pictures were taken; she is now 12 1/2. She's starting to show her age these days with limping and taking longer to get up from laying down. She was our first Beagle and she taught us a lot about how to secure a yard to keep her from escaping. As a pup, she also loved to chew up my shoes. I don't know how many pairs of tennis shoes she chewed up. Our daughter Carrie was already away at college when we added her to the house and when Carrie was home from school for a break, it never failed I would get a call from her, "I hate this dog." Molly was forever bolting out the door and taking off and boy could she run. We later would put in an underground fence which really did work (for her anyway).

Scrapping this page brought back some fond memories I have of Molly. Although I really love my other two dogs, when Molly was our only dog, I took her everywhere with me and could get her to obey commands to stay or drop so I could photograph her. She made many trips to Kirksville, Missouri with me to visit Carrie or pick her up. She was a real good traveler. She would go to sleep as soon as the speedometer would hit 45; as soon as I had to slow down to go through a town, she would wake up and look out at her surroundings. Then when the car would pick up speed again after leaving a town, back to sleep she went.

{Supplies used include Sunset Papers and Sunset Elements from the Daydream Collection by Meredith Fenwick over at Prima Hybrid; Fonts were Amazone BT and arial; program used was Photoshop Elements 6.0.}