First Page in Jaren's Baby Album

I got motivated today and scrapped the first page in Jaren's baby book using a few of the pictures I took tonight.

Day 8: New Beginnings

When I saw today's assignment I right away knew what I was going to shoot. I spent the morning working on my layout, and all I needed was the picture. Jeremy and Sarah came over tonight and I took several photos. I had to shoot them inside because it was raining and the lighting was not what I wanted. I made the photo black and white and while moving it onto my layout and create a clipping mask to my photo holder, I realized I loved it the way it looked--the photo with my journaling on top so I just left it at that.

Month of Memories, Days 2-7

I was going to post daily my assignments for the Month of Memories Class, but have taken way too much time creating my layouts (plus it has been a very hectic week). The following pictures are in reverse order.

Day 7: Contrast was the assignment.

Day 6: Self Portrait. I played around with doing a "Wilson" from "Tool Time" but ended up showing my whole face:

Day 5: Funny. Wasn't finding anything too funny this day since I was up all night with Molly and was having serious thoughts how much longer she can go on with this level of terror of storms and fireworks:

Day 4: Journey. Mia's posed journey going for a walk in the neighborhood:

Day 3: Candid. Again, a posed portrait for the occasion. I'm terrible:

Day 2: Lucky. Not sure how much you could consider this a lucky shot since I drove directly to Gray's Lake to get a shot of the flooding. I guess it is lucky because hopefully if I went back there in August there would be no flooding.

Month of Memories

I'm participating in "A Month of Memories" class over at Scrapgirls.com, taught by Mary Elizabeth O'Toole. Yesterday was Day 1, and we could take a picture of anything, and this is the picture and layout I created. I had forgotten all about the class starting until late in the day and when I remembered I took this picture of Lukey with his boo-boo on his face.

I had had everybody over for dinner, and the kids were out in the living room playing, drawing, and watching TV while us big folks were sitting around the table in the kitchen. Luke comes running in crying and I picked him up. Carrie became concerned immediately because that was his I'm scared cry. I got him calmed down enough to realize he had somehow hurt himself. He had a small cut under his lower lip and a line on the side of his face. We had followed his sisters into the "office" (the room where my husband and I each have our computers set up) while they got a stapler. They left the room but he climbed up in grandpa's chair and was typing on the computer (probably trying to find Thomas), when somehow the chair spinned, moved or something and he fell hitting his face on the computer hutch.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa, parts 2 and 3

Been a busy day today. We stopped at Best Buy to buy a Hannah Montana's Best of Both Worlds CD for the girls' listening pleasure while riding in my PT cruiser, then went and picked up granddaughter #2 for her bike ride. Asked her where she wanted to have lunch, and guess where she chose--Fazoli's. Had another nice long lunch spending some quality time with her. I managed to get spaghetti sauce all over my shirt and shorts so we came home so I could change. Grandpa laid down for a power nap, and Mia and I made a card for her to give her Mom. I then took her home and grandchild #2 was ready to go. He's 2 1/2 and has never gone bike riding with us. So the two of us set off to wake up pick up Grandpa and headed back to the bike trail. While riding with #2, there was a sign saying the trail was closed. I figured it was because the river was rising due to all the rain, but since we saw people had been through the area, we decided to go on ahead. At the bottom of the trail there was water on the other side of the trail, but then found it all over the water a couple inches deep. We made an executive decision to go to higher ground and walk the bikes. So when we set out with #3, we went another direction. After going almost three miles, we stopped for drinks. Grandchild #3 was looking kind of tired, and didn't want to go back. He wanted to go "three blocks that way." Convinced him to get into the cart and headed back the way we wanted to go. He quickly fell asleep. Brought him back to our house because he was hungry and wanted one of my smoovers (translation: smoothie). After he recharged, we got out his cars to play with until Mommy and Daddy got here to pick him up. They were going to Olive Garden and invited us along, but I didn't really think I could handle more pasta and breadsticks, although I love breadsticks and pasta. I think we will kick back, enjoy a little vino, and relax tonight. Took a shower and saw that I got some nice sun today. Well on my way to my summer tan.

I also reworked my Squirmy Wormy layout by changing the title to look like stickers; changed the stitching on the journaling box, took the worm out of the jar and placed it peeking out from under the journal box and added a lady bug to the jar. I also added a tag with "I love bugs" on it.

New Adventure for Grandpa and Me

Last night when I left work I was shocked to see the sun shining and no rain. So instead of heading to the gym, I thought I'd see if Grandpa wanted to get his bicycle out for a little ride. Then I thought, "we ought to use our bike trailer and take a grandchild with us." The bike trailer can fit two smaller children, which we've done with the twins, who are now 6 1/2 years old, but it would be a tight squeeze now. The problem was, all three of our grandchildren live in the same house with the same set of parents. How do I take only one? So I called their mother, my daughter and told her what I was thinking of doing, but that I couldn't decide how to choose only one. She put it to the grandkids. I could hear all kinds of screams of excitement and discussion. She came back and said that granddaughter #1 figured out a plan--she was the oldest by 20 minutes so she would go first, followed by her twin sister, and then their little brother. Sounded like a good plan, kind of how I worked out years ago which one of my brats children got to ride in the front seat (can you believe we used to let them ride in the front seat with no car seat ) with me and which one had to ride in the backseat--child #1 was born on an even date and child #2 was born on an odd date, so #1 rode in the front seat on even days and #2 rode in the front on odd days.

Back to last night...we got there to pick up granddaughter #1 and all of them were in a good mood although they all said they wanted to go to. We promised them we would take them today and tomorrow. So we did our little bike ride, picked some flowers, caught some bugs, and then went to eat at #1's choice: Fazoli's. (Did I forget to mention we washed our hands first?) She was a little on the fidgety side at first, not knowing what to do with herself without her sister, but was also eating up the two-on-one time, chatting away, cuddling with Grandpa, and playing with her food. You would have thought we were at a fine dining restaurant with seven courses--we were there for over an hour and a half! Grandpa and I just kept looking at each other smiling, glad that we had taken the steps to spend some quality time with her. She also wanted to go get ice cream at a place in an adjoining town where her other grandparents live. As it so happened her parents and siblings were there visiting so I asked her if she would like to have them join us, which she smiled big time and shook her head yes. So after a phone call, we all met there and as soon as she saw her twin, they were in each other's arms hugging and dancing away. You would have thought they hadn't seen each other in weeks instead of 3 1/2 hours.

I meant to take my camera and can't believe I forgot it. Going to take granddaughter #2 today, but since I didn't take my camera yesterday, I can't do it today--got to keep it fair.

Squirmy Worm

This layout is in honor of Cailey's dead pet worm. The journaling reads "One day at school Mia found a worm and gave it to Cailey. Cailey put it in her coat pocket, where it stayed during the school day. When s he came home the worm was dead. She then made the dead worm a nice home in her but catcher.

"She loves to catch bugs and worms. While at Living History Farms her friend picks up this worm. I wouldn't let them keep it. As a compromise, I promised to take a picture of it."

I used Kim Hill's Girly Bugs kit, that my daughter and her family gave me for Mother's Day. I love the jar. I can think of lots of uses for these jars.

Nikon Family poster

Che-Guevara-Nikon-Family-poster-web, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

Saw a great tutorial by Ariadna Wiczling in ScrapGirls.com Newsletter on How to Turn Your Photos Into Pop Art. I played around with a couple pictures of Roger and myself, both with our wonderful Nikon cameras. Scraplifting Andy Warhol's “Che Guevara” poster, I created our own little poster. Wonder if Nikon would be interested in it?

Pella Tulip Festival

Earlier this month we went to Pella with our children and grandchildren to enjoy the Pella Tulip Festival. I've finally gotten around to scrapping a page from this visit, thanks to some scrapbooking kits I received from my daughter and her family for Mother's Day. I used the Girly Bugs Kit from by Kim Hill.

Living History Farms Field trip

dj_LHF-12x12-double, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

Last Thursday I went along as a chaperone with my granddaughter's kindergarten class to Living History Farms. I used Pioneer Woman's actions on my photos, and Doreen Stolz's Rustic Fields Kit from http://godigitalscrapbooking.com.

Soccer

2008-May-08_soccer_0392, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

I am still amazed the difference a year makes. The girls are right in the mix this year, with smiles on to boot. I shot over 300 pictures during their game. The hard part is choosing which ones to post. I've posted a few more over on flickr. Check them out!

New Soccer Shirts

Soccer_04 24 08_0162 edited, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

Last night the girls had their first soccer practice of 2008. They wore their red shirts from a previous year and after the practice, which they did an awesome job at, they got juice boxes and their new blue shirts. They are the Bulldogs. Go Bulldogs.

If you want to see some more soccer photos, visit my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenshakenbake/

King of the Jungle

King of the Jungle, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

I was playing around with my PW Actions on this photo from Luke's and my zoo visit. Isn't he beautiful?

Last night I went to the girls' first soccer practice of the season. This is their 3rd season "playing" soccer. I think this is going to be a good year. They were right in there participating in the drills and they have a fantastic coach--Mike. He ran them through drills and took time to explain everything to them. They both showed a lot of interest and Grandpa saw Mia throw an elbow into Cailey trying to get control of the ball. Cailey really paid attention to what Coach Mike was saying and was probably one of the better ball dribblers on her team. I'll post some pictures tonight. Not a tear in sight!

I got an Email from nephew James last night with a link to his Flickr page. His lovely wife Lindsey recently purchased him a Nikon D80 camera. Check out his pictures.

City Jewel: Gray's Lake

The picture/poster above was done for the Bubble Gum Challenge over at Digital Candy, in which we were to use an ad as our inspiration. This month's ad was from my favorite store--Target:


I used pictures I had taken at Gray's Lake, which is probably the number one spot to go in Des Moines. I made it look more like a poster to promote the lake.

Grapes

Grapes, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

Hee is an "after" processing photo. The original was pretty great, but the actions really made this one POP.

Napa Valley Grapes

napa valley grapes copy, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

My favorite blogger--Pioneer Woman--posted a FREE set of actions on her site and I have been having so much fun playing around with them. The picture above will become one of my favorite beverages, but for now were just hanging around getting fat and juicy. The picture on top is SOOC and the one on bottom is after I ran fresh and colorful, boost, and quick edge burn.

Pioneer Woman Action Set 1

flower girls times 2 copy, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

The fantastic Pioneer Woman has created a set of free actions available on her site. The top picture is SOOC (straight out of camera) and the one on the bottom I've ran a couple of her actions on it.

Another Weekend is Over

Been a busy weekend. Started out with an exciting event on Friday. My Grandson got a casting call for an upcoming movie to be shot in Iowa: Paradise starring Ellen Page from Juno and Cillian Murphy who was in The Girl With The Pearl Earring and Batman Returns. We have our fingers crossed he gets selected for the role of 2-year-old Jack Ellen Page's character's son. For more information, visit "The Adventures of Cailey, Mia, and Luke" or Variety.com

Met up with Carrie, David, and grandchildren at Costco yesterday. Can't believe it has been over six weeks since we were there last. That is some kind of record. We drove the girls home with us and they took Luke and a brand new 47" tv home with them. DH and I had already eaten lunch but we joined them at Cheesecake Factory where I had a Peach Bellini (YUM YUM) while they ate and a slice of chocolate cake, which I shared with Luke and the girls. It was fun talking to Cailey about my favorite book, Misty (see previous post). Their kindergarten teacher has read them the book and showed them the movie and brought pictures she had taken of the island. It was fun talking books with my 6-year-old granddaughter.

Today I spent my morning scrapping and then we went shopping again. Later tonight I went and walked around Gray's Lake (I love that place).

Here is the layout I worked on this morning as part of a template challenge at digitalcandy.ca:


Supplies used include Template by Chrissy W; GDS_Buds_N_Bloom kit; and DMI_bitsy_spiral brush

My Favorite Reading Material as a Child

As long as I can remember, I have always LOVED to read. As a child, I started out reading (I believe) every one of the Bobsey Twins books. I know I read every one of the Little Women series books. I was big into series. Another series I really loved were the non-fiction series about Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.

I have always loved horses and always dreamed of having my own horse. That is probably one reason I am so hooked on Confessions of the Pioneer Woman.

Anyway, back to Misty, the pony on which the book was based. Misty of Chincoteague is the title of a 1947 children's book by American author Marguerite Henry, based on the true story of a Chincoteague Pony named Misty. Set on the coastal island of that name, the book tells the story of the Beebe family and their efforts to raise a pony born to a wild horse. The book won the Newbery Honor. Wikipedia Misty and her foal Stormy have been preserved and are on display at the Beebes' home. Sequels to this book include:

Stormy, Misty's Foal
Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague
A Pictorial Life Story of Misty
Misty's Twilight

These books brought me so much pleasure and transported me to the Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia.

Hanging out at home

Well it has been awhile since I've posted. Not much happening around here. I have done some scrapping this weekend for a couple challenges over at ScrapGirls.

For the Friday sketch challenge, I created the following layout:


For the Saturday Color Challenge, I scrapped this page from my visit to the zoo with Luke:


The journaling tells a cute story about Luke and the monkey that bit his toes. It wasn't really a monkey and it didn't really bit his toes--didn't even come close to him. It was a cool March day and after the class we participated in, we decided to tour the zoo. There was an enclosure and inside the enclosure was a building for some monkeys. Because of the temperature, the monkeys were in the building making LOTS of noise. Luke kept wanting to know what the noise was and I told him it was some monkeys inside the building. He wanted to go inside the building to see the monkeys. Awhile later, on our way out, we passed by the bird exhibit and a peacock had his tail feathers spread. It was beautiful and I was taking some pictures through the fence. Then I decided we would go into the area so I could take pictures without shooting through the fence. We were probably 25 feet away from him. I'm shooting away with Luke standing right next to me. Then the peacock, which was evidently flirting with an ostrich, hissed at us so I decided it was time to leave. Later that afternoon Luke was telling his father all about the monkey that bit his toes, the monkeys in the building were loud and they bit my toes. I kept assuring my son-in-law that although the monkeys were in a building and were very loud, we did not go see them and Luke's toes were not bitten. Later when my daughter came over, Luke and I were showing her the pictures I had taken and when I got to the peacock, he informed his mother that that monkey bit his toes. We told him it was not a monkey but a peacock, but he insisted it was a monkey. A few days later I asked Luke tell his Uncle Jeremy about our visit to the zoo. Luke said he saw a peacock but that he calls it a monkey. What a boy!

I've also been scrapping some 4" x 6" inch brag books for the grandchildren.

What I Did This Weekend

This weekend I've worked on mastering Photoshop and working on a couple layouts (above). We are babysitting our grandcats this weekend too. Rented a couple of movies, one of which I highly recommend: August Rush. It was one of the best movies I've watched in some time.

What Color Palette Are You?

Here is something kind of fun from The Voice of Color at Porter Paints: The Color Sense Game It gave me color combinations for rooms that I am really drawn to. I am Leather, Stone & Wood harmony, which means that I am at ease with the strengthof natural substances. My secondary harmony family is water beads, meaning I am drawn to the refreshing and peaceful blues that will create the calm I crave (I crave calm??). Give it a try.

Here is a palette I would like to do my living room in:

Creative Dry Spell

I've been having a creative dry spell when it comes to scrapbooking. I have spent most my free time trying to create a scrap page of the girls with "The Beast." This I think is my fifth attempt and I am finally happy with it.

So you think you want to be a sportscaster

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This young man may want to rethink his career choices.

My Weekend

Yesterday, after going to the gym for Turbo Kick, I came home and scrubbed floors and then took the three hounds to the vet for shots, heart worm testing, and two of the three needed their anal glands taken care of (gross out story of the week), all for only $210. Came home and putzed around the house and then we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill. Afterwards we went to the book store across the parking lot and I bought Tim Shelbourne's "Photoshop CS3 Photo Effects Cookbook" with 53 easy-to-follow recipes for digital photographers, designers, & artists (which I am not). Stayed up until 1 a.m. this morning playing around with turning digital photographs into watercolor paintings. This is pretty amazing stuff and I highly recommend this book.

This morning I completed my two-page spread from kite flying last April. It is pretty plain, but let me know what you think. All the same supplies as in my previous listing were used.

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.}