It's All About Me

Camera Lens are FUN to RENT!

I'm actually sneaking in a minute here before I get ready for my drive to L.A. to celebrate the 4th with the fam... so not looking forward to the 2 hour drive and crossing my fingers Makena holds out.  I haven't driven that far with her on my own, so hopefully all goes well :)

Anyways, I had to share this lens I got yesterday from Calumet.... holy shit, it's a FUN lens! 

It's a fisheye lens, so totally different look than any standard lens.  Here are some shots I got yesterday on our picnic at Lake Hodges.

and then some taken with my other regular lens.

See the difference?  I'm sure if I knew what I was doing, I could get some totally awesome shots lol!  Here are a couple more that I took across the street from my house.

And the freaking BEST part is that my photo store rents all of the lens that they sell.... this is SUCH a great way of buying lens IMO.  Since lenses can be so expensive, testing them out to see if you really want to invest in them is an excellent option.  I had rented this lens last year and didn't have quite as much fun with it... not sure why, but I'm thinking that the upgrade I did in my camera to the 5D from the XT has made all the difference in the world....  I adore my new camera :)  Anyways, go find out if a store in your area rents lens.... for $20-$30, you can get your shoot on and have some fun!  OH and just a tip.... at my Calumet, if you rent the lens on a Friday, you can have it the whole weekend :)

Alrighty, only thing I have left to share before I get my ass in gear is some layouts....

of the Blake-ster:

 Used Bazzill cardstock, October Afternoon papers, Love, Elsie stickers, Hambly wood grain paper, and Making Memories chipboard.

Of Makena:

Used K and Co. papers, Hambly grid overlay, Prima flowers and Voila die cut ribbon.

And 1 more of Makena:

More K and Co papers and felt flowers.

Happy 4th of July everyone!  Be safe and have FUN!!!!!  I'm off to my old stomping grounds.... gotta love Los Angeles :)  And before I forget... when I get back I will list the gals who got the altered ATC's!  I'm totally running late now!

XOXO

 

Another quickie...

project that is :) 

But first let me just say how overwhelmed I am with all of the comments and suggestions regarding my potty training request!  WOW... I can't believe all of the GREAT things people told me to try.  Joe and I actually went through the posts to pick and choose what we thought would work best.  I even went to the book store to buy this book and Joe already started to read it.... didn't even have to tell him (he's such a good boy :) )  Also, after reading all of the suggestions, we felt like we might wait a bit longer to really give our 100% into it.  Even though Makena seems ready to us, after hearing all of the stories people gave, I don't want to jump the gun on her!  BUT I know for sure that when the time really comes for us, these comments will certainly be looked at again, so THANK you everyone! 

As for the drawing, I used the random number picker site to generate this post as the winner of the "whisper collection" :)

By biggest piece of advice is for you to be on the ball! That is the biggest delay of potty training. The moms. If you are all the ball, and taking her every 30 mintues, in other words, being proactive,then she will be potty trained in no time. Give her lots to drink, stay by her side all day, and constantly take her. Put her right in underpants. NO PULLUPS! Give her the biggest whoopdeedo party around the house when she goes and give her some sort of reward. My latest daughter loved mini marshmallows.
you'll do great as long as you aren't lazy. Most kids could be potty trained long before, but the parents weren't ready. Go for it!!

Posted by: shaina | June 27, 2008 at 12:34 PM

So SHAINA... go ahead and shoot me an email at the store here and I will snag your snail mail addy so I can send out your goodies!  Again, thanks so much to EVERYONE for all the comments!

Alrighty, lookie at what I threw together today:

Ever since I started my gallery at SIStv, I had been browsing around and saw a couple of super cute altered ATC's using cardboard, so I thought I'd make my own :)  These were so simple.  And just because I have such a plethera of time on my hands, I thought I'd give another little easy tut for them!  So here goes:

Step 1- Gather Your Supplies

I used a piece or cardboard 2.5" x 4" (tore a bit of the "front" to expose the ridges), cheap white paint, paint brush, 1 small clear stamp, Distress Ink, a scrap piece of a Hambly overlay, my computer for word pieces, tulle or ribbon to tie it off.

Step 2- Paint

Apply a thin coat of paint to the cardboard and it's exposed ridges.

Step 3- Staple

Cut a small piece of scrap overlay or paper approximately 3/4" x 3 1/4" and staple it to one side of the cardboard, leaving approximately 1/4" "padding" on the left side.

Step 4- Ink

 

To give a bit more weathered and worn look on my cardboard, I used Distress Ink just on my edges here and there sparingly.

Step 5- Stamp

Stamp a small image onto a piece of scrap paper.  I used a time piece clear stamp from Prima that is approximately 2" in diameter, but if you don't have a stamp you want to use, use old stickers, buttons, chipboard pieces, cut your own shape out, use a die cut machine.... whatever tickles your fancy :)

Step 6- Cut and Glue

  Cut your image out and glue it to your cardboard.  I glued mine down to the botton "rightish" corner, but made sure that it somewhat overlapped my overlay.

Step 7 - Type

Next, type out your quote or whatever words you want on your ATC.  I used "take time everyday to create", typed it 12pt in a typewriter font, left a good space in between each word, then cut out each piece.  If you don't want to use your computer, go ahead and use letter stickers, small stamps, or even handprint.

Step 8- Ink & Glue

Before glueing down my words, I inked them up a bit using the Distress Ink on the edges.  Then just glued each piece down towards the upper "rightish" area... just want to make sure that you balance your card out.

Step 9- Tie It Up

Now, I have an ongoing facination with tulle, but you can use whatever scrap piece of ribbon you have on hand :)  Make sure it's cut to a minimum of 10" so you have enough to work with.  Tie it right over the clock, towards the bottom of your card.  Snip the ends if they are a bit too long for ya.

Voila... all done!  Simple, cheap, adorable :)  Doesn't get much better!  Only thing is that I don't have a need to 7 of these things lol!  Have no idea why I made that many, but after the first one, I kind of just kept going!  I definately want to keep one to stick on my inspiration board, but the other 6 are up for grabs if anyone wants one... just a little homemade-ness from me to you.  Just leave a little comment here on this post and I will pick 6 names to get one of these!

OK gotta get out of my PJ's and get myself to Target!  Oh before I go, I went a little primadonna on your ass and took some shots of MYSELF the other day.  I don't know about anyone else, but I'm obviously the one who is ALWAYS behind the camera so have no shots of myself really :(  I have a to do an "all about me" project so needed some ME shots asap... anyways, look at this one I got the other day.... I'm diggin' it :)

Not sure what was up with the part in my hair, but I will take it!  Better than nothing I suppose lol!  OKIES... Im outtro ladies!  Happy July 1st!

XOXO

A projects, a bribe, and a giveaway

Man, I'm getting good at blogging!  I feel so proud of myself lately.  Not because I'm taking the time to actually blog, but because it just shows me that I'm spending time AWAY from work, crafting, and playing with the family.... that feels GOOD, I like change... I think I might have to make more changes :) !  This was actually going to be a quickie post because it's Joe first day off of work and well that means I'm glued to him for the next 3 days.... lord help me :) but I have him fixing the sprinklers!

OK, first things first, lemme show you little project I made the other day: 

These seriously took me about 1/2 hour total and thats including the time I took to actually figure out what I wanted to do.   Just for fun (for all my digital girls out there that is) I thought I would run down the steps I did to make em' in case anyone out there was feeling a little adventurous, feeling like they needed to USE THEIR STASH , and needed a little pushy to get started!  Come along would ya?

Step 1:  Gather Your Supplies

I used plain white tags from Paper Reflections, my Sizzix butterfly die, a Hambly Studios grid overlay, Prima lace, Ranger Inc. paint dabber, old scrap paper, and a sewing machine which is totally optional :)

Step 2: Paint Your Tag

Step 3: Cut/Tear your scrap paper

I sized the paper to fit centered on the tag, with some of the painted edge still showing.  Then I tore off the very edges of all 4 sides.

Step 4: Ink

I inked the edged of my torn paper in a contrasting color AND also inked my painted tag with black ink

Step 5: To Sew or Glue...

Personally, I LOVE the look of things sewn onto a page or project.  If you don't have a sewing machine don't worry about it!  grab some embroidery floss or plain ole thread and a needle and hand sew away!  Actually, I much prefer that "hand made" look :)  When I used my machine, I also have a loose stitch and try purposely to go all over the place!

Step 6: Curl

Again, because I like a more "unclean" looking project, I have been spending a lot of time curling up edges of my mat's, pictures, and other paper stuff... just gives a little more flava :)  So I went around my edges and turned em' up a bit after it was sewn into place on the tag.

Step 7:  Frilly Up

Grab a small piece of scrap ribbon or lace.  Whatever you have laying around that will work with your project.  I put small beads of glue on the actual lace, then stuck it in place, centered on the tag, WITH the frayed sides kinda overlapping.

Step 8: Ink AND glue

If you don't have a die cutting machine to cut out any shapes, use WHATEVER you have on hand!  Use chipboard buttons, shapes, stickers, doesn't matter... just a little something to add some more texture, color, and/or "height" to your tag.

Step 9: Stamp or Write

Now, I'm in LOVE with stamps... ANY kind of stamps actually, so I chose to stamp my "greeting" on the tags.  I also truely hate my writing, so alphabet stamps are my favorite in the world to use!  If you don't have any, use stickers or hand print yours.  I put them in different spots on the tag, directly on the paper, on a different piece of paper, cut out, etc.  Just wanted to do them all different.

Step 10: Tie Me Up baby

Once you are all happy with the way your tag looks, go ahead and grab some scrap ribbons or in my case, I used tulle.... love the stuff.... kinda like glitter, can't get enough... it's yummy and girly and oh so fun! 

Voila... all set :)  Seems like a lot of steps, but it really isn't!  The point is to use scraps of stuff your already have and chances are you won't use ever!  Simple little projects like this are great for so many reasons... but seriously, how cute would this be, attached to a gift for someone?  Just makes it feel like you put a little bit of "you" into it and you can make it coordinate with the item you are giving.

Alrighty then, what's next here?  Oh, I SCRAPPED again and man oh man, I can't even tell you how much fun I'm having.  I don't know if its because I get to get my hands dirty with glue and paint and glitter and there is complete chaos in my office or if it's just because paper is my "roots" or if it's just because I'm away from work playing, but I'm really loving all the playing I'm doing lately.  Anyways, I can't show everything because most are samples for the show, but here is a layout I did:

Mostly Prima goodness here... Urban Cosmos Collection, flowers, my Whisper tape... then I used a Hambly Screen Print Overlay, and the journaling tag is also mine that I did digi :)

And then I did this little mini album... can't show ya what's inside yet, but here is the cover:

I used an old 7 Gypsies Album I had laying around, one of my Matties, Paint Dabbers, a small snippet of Prima's voila die cut ribbons, Prima's cardstock stickers, my Sizzix butterfly die, then some stamps.  I can't wait to show the inside of the album.... gotta wait until CHA is closer though :)

Alright, almost done here.... last but not least, my BRIBE and GIVEAWAY :)  The past couple of month's Makena has been showing signs of needing to be potty trained.  She always tells us when she "goes" (literally RIGHT after she goes), asks to be changed out of her Pull Up when she's done, knows the difference between #1 and # 2, and overall, I just feel like she's ready to get started training.  The only problem is that when we catch her before she goes and we try to get her ON the potty, she will not cooperate at all.  She loves going on the potty when she doesn't have to go, can sit there for 10 minutes singing her heart out, but when it's time to really do anything, she will cry and fight us getting on it.  So where do YOU come in and how does this work into my GIVEAWAY????

All you have to do is help me out with your bestest potty training tips... all the things you may have done that worked, friends have done, doctors told you, old wives' tales.... I will take ANYTHING lol!  It's been 7 years since I had to potty train Blake and he was SUPER easy.... trained in 1 week to even sleep through the night!  Makena will not be that easy!  So, leave me your tip and from those posts I will pick a random winner to receive my Whisper Collection:

This is a nice little package of stuff... my paper collection (2 of each design), rub ons, ribbons, clear tape, chipboard monograms, and a little package of flowers!  Please, please, please help a mother out!!!!  I will run this until Sunday night 10pm EST so leave me a suggestion for my potty training adventure and you get entered to win the package of goodies :)  I will ever so appreciate it!!!!!  Thanks ladies!  I'm off to see Kung Fu Panda!!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO

 

 

 

It's Getting Hot in Here...

so take off all your clothes!!! 

(and thats part of a song for those wondering why I'm telling you get nekkid lol)

So, it has been over 100 degree here in San Diego the past 2 weeks or so and I'm dyin over here!  BARF!  I have been trying to spend as much time inside with the air conditioning on, but poor Joe has had to chase bad guys in the heat with all his gear and uniform on... poor guy :(  I thought it would be fun to surprise the family with a weekend getaway trip to Palm Desert, but that idea was crushed when I saw the forecast was going to be 120 degrees out there.... uh, no THANKS.... double barf huh?  Instead, we changed gears and decided to go to Sea World on Friday!  Even though it was still hot, it was at least 20 degrees cooler there than it is where we live, about 40 minutes away.... still bad, but not unbearble.  Hopefully I can get my FLIP working with some tunes and get the video snippets finished to post here.

OK, let's talk shop for a minute!  I have been so busy the past couple of months with Prima that I haven't had ANY chance to really sit down and make anything for the store, let alone a KIT!  I have had this idea in my head for a froggy kit and knew that once the catalog for Prima was finished I had to whip something up!  I also knew that my girl Marcie was the prefect gal to collab with on this!  I adore eveything she puts in the store and knew the "fit" would be perfect... this is what we came up with:

And lookie, we even have layouts that the teams did for us.... check out this awesome loveliness...

By Carloee:

By Jen:

By Laurie:

By Julie B.:

By Kathi:

By Michelle:

By Julie L:

And Andrea did an adorable hybrid layout:

Awesome huh?  I always get a kick out of seeing stuff in action.  Kinda makes the ideas that run around in your head come alive.  They did such an awesome job :)  OH, speaking of hybrid.... Toadily Summer went HYBRID:

Here are the pieces that are sold in the hybrid kit... ribbons and flowers aren't shown, but are included as well:

 

you can get the full details here :)  Quantities are super limited already.  Over 1/3 of the kits went to presale orders, so there are only a handful left.  Grab yours now while ya can!  It's a SUPER great value for everything you get... quickpages, templates, the digital kit, and all of the hybrid supplies!

I was also able to get these in the store this week.

To tell you the truth, these were actually made for Prima for last Winter's CHA show, but didn't go into production.  Then I forgot about them for Summer CHA, so I decided I would snag em' back and sell them myself :)  I really think they are adorable for journaling or even just as a cute mat behind a picture or something.  Anyways, so those are for sale now!  And I have an item all lined up for $1 Thursday in the store as well:

Nice name huh?  I couldn't resist.... actually Traci wanted a much funnier, racey name, but I thought I would be good and tame it down :)  So those will be in the store on Thursday for ONLY $1 :)  I even threw in an inked overlay for fun!

Oh, back to the Toadily Summer kit for a sec.... lookie what else I made with the quickpages from the hybrid kit:

SUCH an easy little project!  All I did was get an empty business card holder from Target. 

Resized my quickpages, added my own pictures, printed, cut, stuffed them in the holders, a stapled some folded ribbon right to the pages.  The perfect little album for your purse or to give away as a gift.... so easy, no fuss, no stress!!!  Just get some papers in there, some pictures, maybe a couple of stickers, staple some ribbon on, and call it a DAY :) 

Alrighty ladies.... I gotta get my hair straightened and get outta my PJ's :)  Happy Monday everyone!

Creating a Basic Digital Layout

To help my Pink Pineapple girls out a bit as well as any others curious about digital, I decided that I would post a little tutorial on some basic digi scrapbooking tips.  Hopefully, as time allows I can add to my "tutorial arsenal" here :)  Let's get started with making your first digital layout!   You can click on all of the small images here to get a larger image to view.

You will first need to grab some software.  The most widely used program I think is probably "photoshop".  You can either download a free trial at Adobe OR you may even have Photoshop software and you didn't even know it!  If you have purchased a digital camera, printer, scanner, etc. recently, check the software included in your box.  Often times, companies are including a version of Photoshop Elements for you :)  Whichever version you can get your hands on, open up that program and let's get the show on the road!

STEP 1- CREATE A NEW FILE/DOCUMENT

In your Photoshop program, look at the top of your screen and go to FILE > NEW.  Follow the settings here to create a 12" x 12" layout.  Make sure that the resolution is set to 300 pixels/inch.  This will ensure that your layout is large enough for beautiful printing.

 

STEP 2- OPENING DIGITAL FILES

You will now need to grab your digital kit and choose a background paper.  You can open the file in your program by doing 1 of the following:

A. Go to FILE > OPEN .  Then locate the file/background paper you would like to start with.  Once located, click OPEN. 

B. With your program "minimized" on your computer, locate your digital files on your computer.  Go ahead and open the folder that contains your papers.  Select the background you would like to use.  It should now be "highlighted".  To get it IN your program to use, simply DRAG (use your mouse to grab the file) the paper onto your program screen.

Your program/screen should now look like this:

 

STEP 3- BASE/BACKGROUND LAYER

Now you will need to DRAG your paper onto the new canvas that you first created.  To do this, select your MOVE TOOL in your tools pallette:

With the MOVE TOOL, hold the SHIFT key down, clk down your mouse (keeping it "clicked" down), and DRAG the paper onto the new canvas/layout.  The background paper should now be centered for you on the new canvas (NOTE: holding the SHIFT key down while dragging ensures that is is centered).  You can now close the original paper file by clicking the red X in the top right corner.

If you look at your "layers" pallette (bottom right of your screen).  Your layout should now look like this:

 

 

As a beginner, it's always a good idea to rename your layers just so you can keep track of what is what.  Once we get to adding elements, seeing each piece in the pallette may not be as easy to do.  This won't effect the layout itself, but just keep things a bit more organize for you.  To do this, double click the layer you want to rename.  In my case, I will double click right on top of "Layer 2" then a cursor will appear for you to type in whatever you like.  I will rename mine "BACKGROUND PAPER".

 

 

 

 

STEP 4- BUILDING the LAYOUT

Now you can start to build your layout just as you would in traditional paper scrapping.  Add mats, elements, etc. and each time you add a layer, you can rename it.... believe me, I have had layouts with 30 layers in it and being able to see what each layer is will help save on time!!! 

 

 

NOTES:

-to reposition an element you have dragged onto your layout, simply use your MOVE TOOL.  With that particular layer in your layers pallete ACTIVE (highlighted in BLUE), click your mouse down and move your element wherever you like.

-to resize your elements and/or papers, in your TOP TOOL BAR, go to IMAGE > TRANSFORM > FREE TRANSFORM (in Photoshop Elements) OR EDIT > FREE TRANSFORM (in other Photoshop programs).  While holding the SHIFT ket down and pulling 1 corner in and out, you can resize anything on your page.  Using the SHIFT key ensures that the proportions are maintained and not skewed.

- add depth and realism to your layout by adding drop shadows.  You can create your own or easily installed purchased shadows that you an find right HERE.  Traci's shadows come with instructions for whatever program you use and if all else fails, my girl can always help you out via email!  Just use the contact button in the store if you need help!  If you want to play on your own with shadows, Photoshop Elements users click your STYLES and EFFECTS pallette under your LAYER STYLES.  In other Photoshop software, you can double click the layer in your layers pallette you want to add a shadow to (click on the image rather than the text).  This will bring up a "LAYER STYLES" box like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check the "drop shadow" box and you can start playing around with the setting.  Just by manipulating the distance, spread, and size you can create as much or as little depth as you like.  Click OK once you are happy with what you have for that particular layer.

- rearrange the layers on your layout by moving them up or down in your layers pallette.  For example, you have a couple of flowers on your page and instead of the pink overlapping yellow, you want yellow overlapping pink.... simply grab the pink flower in the layers pallette and move it UP above the yellow flower.

STEP 5- ADDING TEXT

Once you are happy with your layout and are ready to add a title and/or journaling, you can either use digital alphabets that come with many kits OR you can simply use your TEXT TOOL.  There are already a ton of fonts already on your computer as well as thousands of free fonts that can be found on the internet.  To add a title, look in your TOOLS BOX on the left side of the screen and grab the "T" tool.  Decide where on your page you would like to add the title (just approximately since you will be able to easily move it around and/or resize as you like).

 

The top of your screen will look similar to this once you have clicked the TEXT TOOL:

 

From this top bar, you can choose your font, pt size, color, etc.  Go ahead and pick whatever you like.  Once those settings are complete, just click on the spot in your layout you want text to go.  A cursor will appear for you to begin typing.  I added a very simple, fun one for "blake".  Go ahead and add whatever journaling you want as well!

Once you are happy with your layout, you of course will need to save it for printing.  To do that you will need to first merge/flatten all of those layers.  In your TOP TOOL BAR, go to LAYER > FLATTEN IMAGE .  Then go to SAVE AS > place in whatever folder you want (I have all my digital layouts in folders named after the MONTH and YEAR then a description i.e may-06-blakeskateboard) > in the JPEG options, click anything higher than 9.  Be sure click JPEG in the format drop down box!!!

Welcome to the mysterious digital world!!!  Be careful.... digital scrapbooking is addictive, easy, cost efficient, and most importantly FUN!!!  I hope these instructions were easy enough to follow and understand.  The best advice I can give ANYONE is PRACTICE, practice, practice!  The more you use your software, the more you will get comfortable with it.  Everyday you will learn a neat new trick! 

EDITED.... If anyone has ANY requests on tutorials I might be able to help with, I would soooo totally be happy to try!  Just let me know if you have any special requests and I will get on it for ya!  I did have one request for using TEMPLATES  so this week I promise to get a brief one up!

2 for your viewing pleasure....

or lack of pleasure that is :)  Nothing new to report here.  We have spent the last 2 days trying to paint our living room and a job you'd think would take a day, has turned into 3 probably because of the darn 25 foot vaulted ceilings, YUCK!  So I snuck in a few minutes, did these clips on the FLIP a couple of days ago and rather than me try and come up with a post right now with Joe waiting on me to watch a movie, I thought I'd suck it up and stick it here!  It's his last day off, so tomorrow I hope to spend Makena's whole nap getting back into photoshop, making goodies, and most importantly... PLAYING for ME... :)  I love that thought.... just the thought of no pressure, no deadline dancing in my head....  it puts a smile on my face!  Ok away we go.... 

And because I knew you wouldnt be able to see the layout and stamps I was talking about, I made another quickie for ya to watch.  Blake came in and started makin' noise so it ends kinda abruptly, sorry about that!  Just had to share my new "technique" I discovered all on my own (which I'm quite proud of because I'm so not up to par with all those fancy innovative scrappers out there who have ideas rolling out of their ears and spewing all over the place!)....I just felt like there had to be someone else out there that didn't think to curve the individual letter stamps around an "object" for a title of something like that.... for the past few months all I have been doing is making straight titles with em' lol!  Alrighty...... here goes nothin'!

Weekend In Review

Friday:

FINALLY got to see Sex and The City :) **warning spoilers approaching**   I had been waiting forever to see this thing!  I was so bummed when the series went off the air, so it was nice to see my girls back!  Unlike a lot of the girls who went to see it, I toned down my attire and went with a new top, my new favorite pair of Jeans that I barely ever want to take off now, and of course.... my favorite black strappy heels!  Here is a pic Joe took on my way out the door.

I was SHOCKED to see girls totally glammed and done up, couture, stiletto's, way over the top hair and make up.  But it is SATC afterall right?  It was cute to see all the girlfriends getting together to see the flic though.  Barely any men there and the ones that did go.... my take is they are either #1 way whipped and didn't have the balls to tell their women they didn't want to see it OR #2 gay :)  There was no way in hell Joe would go, he told me that ever since I told him it was hitting the big screen!  And in all honesty, I wouldn't want to see it with my guy anyways.... really, truly... would he understand anything?  Prolly not :)  Just not the same as seeing it with your girls!

So what about the movie...  I LOVED seeing all the girls "back", I liked the storyline with Carrie and Big, I LOVED Charlotte and Harry having a baby, who doesn't get a kick out of Samantha... nice to see her get back to "her",not so much into Carrie's assistant, and the one thing I really was not feeling... the Miranda/Steve infidelity!  I get the initial story... not giving it up anymore to her husband, life getting in the way of romance, child in your bed killing the mood, husband cheating... ok fine, I can deal with what Steve did and the storyline, BUT, the way the girls were treating the situation and pushing MIranda to take him back?  Oh HELL nah!  Cheating... them's is fighting words!  I have NO idea how people take their partners back after something like that.   I just feel like once the trust is broken, it's broken kwim?  There was actually a line Miranda says that hits the nail on the head for me, "You broke us".  I'm just not convinced that the "fixing" part can be done completely and once it's broken, can it truly be fixed?  If someone else can do it, more power to them :), they are definately more woman than I that's for sure!  You'd find me pulling a "waiting to exhale" with all Joe's crap in one big bonfire on the front lawn... and yes my earrings would be off!

Ok, so what else....

Saturday:

Made waffles, took Blake to basketball and watched his 2 games, came home, went to Pink PIneapple Scrapbooks to sit in the first part of a class so that I had a better idea of what the heck I'm supposed to do for my FIRST class lol!  I know I will look like I have no idea what I'm talking about, poor girls lol!!!  Here is the hybrid project I'm teaching:

 

It's a 2 part class... part 1 is strictly digital and I will run through Photoshop, downloads, templates, clipping masks, etc.  Then part 2 is the project part where we put the album together using a digital kit AND my "dude" collection with Prima So if anyone out there is in the San Diego area and wants a bit of hybrid in their life, the class dates are 6-12 and 6-19 :)  You can call the store to sign up!

After I bought a few things at the LSS, I had to go buy my dress for my BFF"s wedding in November!  It's super simple and classic, not one of the spicy dresses I wanted, but it ain't my wedding right?

Then we played outside... the kiddos and dad's played basketball...

And the little, little kiddos rolled down one of our little hills a few thousand times...

 

 

Then as the sun was setting and our stomach's got hungry, we decided to BBQ :) 

I had forgotten how nice it was to talk with adults, be away from work, the computer, emails, and just relax and have a good time.  I'm really finding it difficult to find the right balance between everything I have going on in my life.  This weekend just reconfirms what I already knew in my heart, its time to slow down with "work" and focus on my life and the people in it, focus on me, finding what makes ME happy and following that path.  I predict quite a few changes over the next few months, MUCH needed changes!

That was the jist of my weekend!!!!  It was a good one!

OK, so I will leave you with this little video "photoshop tutorial" I found yesterday after doing payouts... if you have kiddos around, turn down the volume, lots of "colorful" language in this one, but its funny, but keep in mind I have a warped sense of humor :)   Have a great monday ladies!!!

Wow...

here I am again!  Quite the blogger I am becoming eh?  I think Typepad made some changes over the past couple of days and I ain't feelin them right now!  I'm having problems with everything here!!!  Anyways, I will try and get past it!  I have a a few things I wanted to share, a hybrid freebie and a tutorial to go along with it!  Lookie at what I made today:

 

 

OK, typepad is totally sucking right now!  YUCK!  Lemme try and do this tut anyways, bear with me if pictures are all over the place haha!

So I made this little quick hybrid project using the Bare Elements "jamie" frame you can find in the store (I have tried to insert the dumb link here, but it won't go!  ARRRggghhH!  But this is what it looks like:

And you can buy it here in the store:

http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/store/product.php?productid=1102&cat=0&page=1

Thought I'd use my new paper pack I have on sale for $1 today since they were just screaming my name to use them :)

              

You can find those here:

http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/store/home.php

But instead of just wasting the quickpage I made, I decided to give it away here... I modified the quickpage a bit so it was more "hybrid".  The frame part is one piece, then I put the flowers separate so you can cut and glue em!

And here is a little tutorial for ya just in case ya need it!

• Step 1- open your quickpage file on your computer
• Step 2- add optional text to frame if you like ( I didn't add any to mine)
• Step 3- print out 8.5" x 11" sheet
• Step 4- Cut out all pieces

•  

•  

 

 

 

• Step 5- Using a hole punch, cut out the marked holes at the top of your quickpage

• Step 6- Glue quickpage frame to your Bare Elements "jamie" frame

 

 

• Step 7
- Distress your frame by adding ink or paint/sanding

 

 

• Step 8- Ink your printed flower "stickers"

 

 

• Step 9-  Cut and staple down a couple of pieces of ribbon to the bottom right corner area

 

 

• Step 10-  Grab your large black printed flower "sticker" and add a pop dot or 3 dimensional ZOT to the back and adhere almost directly on top of the stapled ribbons

 

• Step 11- Glue down your other printed flower "stickers" using various adhesives.  The point of using different ones is to create dimension and visible layers on your project.

 

• Step 12- Grab your printed photo, turn it over to the back, and use some tape to adhere it to the inside of your "jamie" frame.

 

 

• Step 13-  Cut  5 ribbons to approximately 3.5" to 4" lengths and string them through the holes.  Tie them off in bows or in simple knots.

Viola... all done!  Super simple, painless hybrid project... easy as pie huh?  It felt so good to get something in the store finally.  Felt so good actually that I made something else for Monday :)

Alrighty kiddos, because this stupid Typepad thing won't let me add my links like I normally do in the post, I'm going to have to send you a link for the quick page!  Just leave me a comment and I will get it to ya within a few hours!!!

Enjoy and check back this weeked for some other fun stuff!  I actually had a video planned for today, but I thought that the tutorial was best left to pictures and NOT me showing you how I was messing up lol!  On my sample, I actually forgot to make the holes and then realized it AFTER I glued it down :)  OOppps!  This weekend I plan on going over some "basics" for hybrid/paper scrapping.... gotta get my camera man home early enough to do it though!!! 

I got "stuff"

going on that is.  LOTS of crap all over the house which actually isn't much different than any other time of year, but now with all of the Prima catalog stuff I'm shooting, well just about every room in the house has ME in it!  Poor Joe and the kids having to put up with all this!  God bless them for not saying anything that would surely cause me to erupt and get ghetto on em' :)

OK, so first, I have some projects I finished up this weekend.  I have had acrylic albums in my "stash" for at least 6 months now and I have been too scared to dive in and make one.  Actually, I think the damn thing has been taunting me... every time I saw it or some light would flicker off of it, I swear I heard it saying stuff like, "Surely if you go to put anything inside of me, you will make my nice clear pages look like CRAP" or "You don't have enough creativity to do anything with this so don't even try lady"... I swear it said these things to me on a daily bases. 

Well, I showed it!  I had NO idea what direction I was going or what the album would have in it or what I should make of it.  For about a week now, I had Hambly screen prints in it, a painted canvas I did, and a painted cover with brads and a Love Elsie rub on, no pictures and still no clue what the heck to do.  After cutting up some wallet pics I had printed, it hit me like a ton of bricks.....

"my journey" title which I already did + lots of pics of the kids doing some of my favorite things=

"My journey in life to teach the kids whats important to ME".... here are a few pages:

         

         

to be yourself..... to DREAM....

         

to not be afraid of trying new things...

         

to surround yourself with art... to dance like nobody is watching....

         

to put family first....

         

So there, take that you acrylic album!  I am NOT scared of you anymore :)  I already have another one I started playing with, so my initial shock is over and hopefully I can make a nice one next time lol!

I also managed to bust out the sewing machine this weekend and BOY oh BOY did that feel GOOD!!!  About 6 months ago, I started a love affair with fabric which I totally hoard, but also with felt.  I'm also a lover of  really quirky, kid-ish things so I combined the 2 loves and came up with these....      

         

         

These little envelopes just make me happy.  You know little things around you that put a little smile on your heart?  Well things like this get me every time!  I think I may try and build up an Etsy arsenal and one day work up the courage to start a shop of my own :).

Once I started sewing these guys, of course I had to play with some fabric, so I started a couple of other projects...

         

these canvases are for Makena's room.  I have a couple of ideas, so hopefully they translate when I do them!  Fabric is Sandi Henderson .... who happens to have another new fabric line out :)  Go check her out!

and what is sewing without Amy Butler right?  Using some more of Sandi's fabric and an Amy pattern...

         

We'll see what gets finished this week lol!  It's going to be a jam packed week!!!!   I managed to get these in the store today also (not because I had time to make them, BUT because I had made too many for Prima for summer CHA lol).  Figured they would be better off going up for sale now, then I can make new ones for winter CHA :)

         

and a layout I even got done with a couple pieces from it....

         

Great for digital, great for hybrid :)  You paper girls stay tuned this week.... the other acrylic album I started has these guys in them.  I just colored them in Photoshop, then printed them on transparency films I bought at Staples (you can get a smaller quantity also!).  So hopefully I can get that one done and "show it off" soon!

Last but not least kids, here are the winners for the Prima "matties" giveaway!!!

Ohh awesome a video blog, I finally got to see and hear the real Corina! Blake did a super job at recording ;) Congrats on getting your stuff in Michaels, seeing Im in Australia I have no idea what Michaels actually is LOL but all the same I bet it would be such a thrill to see your hard work displayed for all to see like that. Have a super day! *hugs*

Posted by: Kellie | May 15, 2008 at 02:53 AM

AND

Congratulations! Today, I stopped by the Michaels next door to where the kids go to gymnastics - and the Breathe collection was there! (or what was left of the collection.) Beautiful stuff! You're up here in Northern Cali!

Posted by: chrisa | May 15, 2008 at 03:19 PM

You sexy thangs leave me note here and I will get your addy's and all that good stuff!!!  First one can have the first pick!

Alrighty then.... I'm on my way outta here.... BUT... any New Kids on the Block fans out there?  Yeah you heard me right.... NKOTB lol!!!  I sooooo was NOT a boy band kinda girl, BUT can you believe they have a new song out?  Heard it on the radio the day it dropped and I have to admit, reluctantly though... me likey it!  Give it a gander HERE !!!

Laters gals!

Not quite....

video blog I had intended, but a video blog nonetheless :)  Having the FLIP during times like these are the exact reason why everyone should have one!  You never know when ya might wanna capture something... so, dorky as I am, here is my first official video blog!!!!

I think I might have to make Blake my camera man.  Earlier today I had actually done a "real" video talking about completely pointless things, all by my lonesome at home, but this short and sweet one will hopefully save me some ridicule lol!   Anyways, I am REALLY excited that my stuff got picked up by Michael's... you have NO idea how shocked I was when Prima told me the news a few months back.  I swore people were messing with my head and playing a cruel cruel joke haha!  ESPECIALLY having my stuff sitting right next to Doris's... her's is all pretty and nice looking!  I have no idea WHY they liked it!  But am very thankful they did.... go digi girls :) 

So, to celebrate my Michael's "debut", I thought it was only fitting to have another giveaway.... a small one this time though :)  Here are 2 sets of my "fancy felt matties":

Set 1

         

and set 2:

         

These are self adhesive felt mat's and you get 3 colors in each pack!  I think I may throw in a few flowers also because I have sooooo many laying around the house, literally every room has some bottles and packages of Prima flowers lol!!!  Go ahead and leave me a little comment on this post and I will pick a winner sometime Friday night!!!!   Thanks for watchin' me and my dorkiness tonight!  Don't be too embarrassed for me though.... I promise you I am plenty enough embarrassed for myself lol!

XOXO