Internet Finds

It has been quite some time since I have posted an "internet finds" post--ever since I had to wipe out my laptop and lost my links.

I will offer a some for you today.

DELETING PHOTOS ON BLOGGER

So many digiscrappers use Blogger. As you know, the photo storage is limited and there was no way of seeing what photos were in your storage in order to delete them. Now there appears to be a way. Picassa Web Albums is is a way to view and delete your blogger uploads. I went and logged in at www.picassa.google.com and sure enough, it worked! Yeah!

SHARED SCREENSAVER

Google Screensaver is supposed to be an easy way for you to upload photos and then your relatives have them instantly appear on their Google Screensaver. I have always loved my Webshots, but I may have to play with this as the sharing feature sounds cool.

LIVE MAPS

I still think that the aerial views on the web are scary. I went and played with them to view my house. It was WAY to quick to find it.

On MSN Live Maps my house looks like this (boxed in yellow). Yeah, I know, it is a very small house as we are poor.

On Google maps it looks like this. I thought the fog was interesting.

TUTORIALS

Jessica Sprague has four video tutorials that will be highlighed in Creative Keepsakes. Thanks Jessica!

I found this cool tutorial on making clouds using a brush in Photoshop and it looks applicable to Photoshop Elements too.

SURVIVOR

As most of you know, I am addicted to Survivor and have never missed an episode.

According to Canada.com's story, Jeff may once again be thinking of not signing a new contract. Also, check out the bottom of the story. Are they really thinking a cold weather Survivor? It has always been discussed that they would never do that because, hey, sex sells. How can we see great looking people under layers of clothing and coats?

THE BACHELOR

The Bachelor starts on Monday and I am ready for it now that Grease is over. This time the guy is an officer and a gentlemen! Get your tivos set! I loved that 1982 movie. I wonder how many stations will pick up on it and rerun it soon.

ANCESTRY

Ancestry.com has taken away the free access (to census) from libraries. I wonder if they will opt to pay for it now.

FOREVER STAMP

Wow, this is something I never dreamed would happen. The postal service plans on selling a "Forever Stamp." This is to due away with the 2 and 3 cent stamps necessary every time the postal service hikes the price of postage in order to use your old stamps. The Forever Stamp can be purchased at the regular price and be good forever, even 50 years from now. Regular stamps will be going up from 39 cents to 42 cents next year.

The Glad Game

I saw the title of this first in Tina's sidebar.

You may recall that "The Glad Game" was made popular by the novel Pollyanna.

What a great thing for us to focus on! We should focus on the things we are glad about, the things we can do, and not worry about those things out of our control. Rejoicing and thanking God for what he has done for us helps to take our mind off of those stressful things in our life.

Finding the good in all things is such a blessing.

I invite you to post in the shout-out box each day one thing that you are glad about. Maybe there is some stress in your life. Take a moment to look for some good in that stress and post to share with others so that they too may be blessed. Yes, your life can be a blessing to others!

I had thought about adding a special shout-out box just for The Glad Game, but I also do want to limit adding too many things to my page that it takes too long to load. So, hey, we can just use what is there already!

More on Blog Marketing

I shared in my post below one way to get someone to view a page. That was pretty cool!

Now I would like to share with you some marketing techniques of Googlr.

1. First, let us take a moment to ask why he used the name "Googlr." We can only hope that he drops by and comments and gives us the real answer. He says his real name is Nipul Pravin who studies full time at Cambridge University. Does he spend his hours googling at google.com and just put a spin on the word "googler" as the word is seen on the top of this page? Or maybe he just made a mistake because he types faster than his brain thinks as indicated on this page. Maybe once he accidentally typed it wrong, he was just stuck with it, huh? Did you know if you type in www.googlr.com that it is directed to the real official page very quickly?

So, his first great marketing strategy was to choose a name that peaks interest.

2. Another marketing tool he has used is the mybloglog icon. It is cute and catchy. You see this and you just HAVE to go see what his blog is all about.

Since he is teaching us how to market our blogs, I made my own version. Thanks, teacher!

3. He drops lots of interesting comments all over mybloglog (and who knows where else!) that are a very dry sense of humor, make you smile, and really hook you in to joining his community.

Here is what he wrote me: "You seem to be a smart blogger like me. Watch out I am smart too."

Uh? okay. ...and what on my blog caused him to think I was smart? I bet he never even read here. It's just such a comment that is hard not to reply to.

After I replied about maybe doing his contest, he wrote to me: "Shall we make a deal, you write a review with two post that you like most googlr and a bit of your creativity, and I will display you on 1st of april on my blog."

Yeah, did you catch that? Yeah, he may be smart, but I did catch it. So, what kind of fun prank do you think he could play on my on April Fool's Day? I decided to give it a go just to see. Who knows, it could be fun. If you do not take a risk, you might miss out on the fun. Henceforth, this post.

4. He uses contests. Now, I'm not sure how well this is really working for him. It has now been three days and he has had a TON of visitors, yet no one has taken him up on his offer. Why not? Maybe they are not "real" visitors who come to the blog to "really" read. Maybe they have not read the contest post yet. Maybe they are just visitors who think if they go and get their icon on one of the top mybloglog pages, it will bring themselves traffic. I would rather have repeat visitors that are actually interested in reading what I have to say than one-timers with only self interests.

However, I am going to play along with him just to see what happens. As my regular readers know, I'm an analyzer. I just have to test this and analyze what happens. Maybe nothing will happen.

So, for the contest, I have to pick out two of his posts that I like and put links to them here. Oh, and this post has to be ALL about him. Am I doing a good job so far?

First post: This post on Text Portrait Yourself caught my eye. For my digital scrapbooking readers, I can imagine using this on an artistic page. I think my teen sons might think it cool. I may have to give it a try.

Second post: This post on Create Pop-Out Photographs To Showcase 3D Effects using GIMP also caught my eye. In digital scrapbooking, we call this "out of bounds" technique. I have my own tutorial with PSE for this technique.

Third post: Hey, maybe I can earn "extra points" for sharing another one. This post on How to Download Videos From YouTube,MySpace,MetaCafe & Others caught my eye. I've actually noticed other people doing this and wondered how they did it. There are a lot of re-uploads on Youtube.

5. Now, onto another marketing technique he has used. He just got 'lil 'ol me to link to him. I bet many people do not realize this is actually a marketing tool. The more people that link to you, the more likely memetrackers will be to pick up your blog as a "popular" blog and raise you to the top of the memetracker website ranks.

Go ahead, I could use some people linking to me. Pretty please.

I must say, he must have a LOT of extra time on his hands to be doing so much commenting and chatting. I do have a day time job.

6. Subscription offers are at the top of his page. You will note he has several offers to subscribe to his RSS at the top of his page. I have read that this helps. For me, it is kind of annoying as I have my one fav RSS reader and I have my own way of subscribing. However, there are more people who do not know what RSS is than do know, so it is good to peak their interest again and be the first to teach them what it is by making this curious.

7. He has a mybloglog widget. Yep, I've got one too. I remember the first time I saw it on someone else's page I was really curious what it was. All those faces! Really, if THAT many people have read this blog, it MUST be a good blog, right? Go get one. Oh, and join my community while your at it. Pretty please.

8. He has clean, crisp, and easy to read pages that do not feel too cluttered. That is one reason why I like to keep my background white.

How am I doing, Googlr? Have I earned enough points?

Happy Friday!

I am SO glad the weekend is here. I plan on making my regular posts later, but I wanted to do a quick one to wish everyone a happy Friday!

Oh, and Happy Friday to Eastwood! I found his blog through MyBlogLog and was so impressed with his creative writing that I left a comment. Go read today's post of his....it is amazing!

He invited me back and goodness, what a surprise I got this morning! Check it out. I'm not sure how long it will be there, so just in case, there's a screen shot below.

I am continually amazed at what bloggers come up with to market their sites. I must say that this is the first time I've had this happen to me and it gave me warm fuzzies. It *just* might get me to go back. :) It sure did get me to invite others to go their through this post. Great idea really.

He is also offering a link exchange which is another marketing tool I have seen others use. It's a nice way to create friends online.

More about blog marketing tomorrow. ...stay tuned!...and Happy Friday!

Text Inspiration - Fading Text

I will add this to my tutorial page as inspiration later, but it is so simple it needs little instructions. Basically, just duplicate text layers and reduce the opacity to them to create this effect.





I was having so much fun listening to music that these words popped out at me from lyrics as possible word art.










So, I created some free word art for you to download and use as shown in these four samples on this page.









You can find them at the end of this folder. If you use these in a layout, please share them with me. I believe there is a link to instructions in the sidebar. Also see sidebar for link to download instructions to be sure you download the .png version.



Here is a layout using this technique which I did before for my Garden Book. Actually, I came up with the idea on this layout as a way to fill in empty space to create balance. Imagine this layout without the repeated faded text and you can imagine why it works. Have fun!

I just wanna praise you...

Hey, I found a new "my space" for Christians. I could use some friends!

Click here to join me. I started a Faithbooking group here.


It has been a while since I have heard this song. I can just SO dance to this! It's by Mary Mary Shackles Enjoy!

Don't Mess with My System!

Hey, I must be in a gripe mood today. I guess since I upped the ante in house this past week, the fight is getting to me. It is so much less stressful to just let my men be and ignore the house than it is to train them. However, isn’t it my responsibility to train them? I am SO outnumbered. Just writing down frustrations sometimes makes me feel better.

I am thankful that my hubbie is bringing in extra money by working 7 days a week, 10 hours a day, but I am also worried about his physical well-being. He took the day off yesterday because of his back. The last thing I said to him as I left the house (because I know him) was not to touch the laundry. We have had this ongoing fight for 20 years now and he refuses to listen. He touches the laundry JUST to get to me. I know he must be, but why he enjoys seeing my angry I do not know. Arguments over stupid laundry are going to be the cause for a divorce some day. Is that not stupid?

So, I come home for lunch yesterday and what is the ONE thing (not that I expected him to do anything but relax) he has managed to do?

Touch the laundry.

And I come home after work yesterday, after griping at him over the lunch hour, and what is the ONE thing he has managed to do?....again?

Touch the laundry.

Why?

Gripe Intermission
Also, when he’s working 70 hours a week, when does he find time to go to the store without me knowing it (per earlier blog post)? It makes me wonder what else he manages to find time to do without me knowing it. He knows everything I do and everywhere I go. I could go on with this subject, but am choosing not to now.

Gripe Commercial
Men receive a gift; flash to scene of mom asking them to call to say thanks; flash to scene of mom asking them to call to say thanks again; flash to scene of mom asking them to call to say yet thanks again; flash to scene of mom handing men a card to complete to say thanks; end of episode, please return to this soap opera in two weeks; flash to scene of mom now angry because no thanks have been given; flash to scene of men writing inside card. Now we will return to our regularly scheduled show called "messing with mom's laundry system."



The point is that I have a system. Don’t mess with my system! It drives me nuts!

Come on, dear readers, please laugh with me! I know there has to be others out there who experience the same. I cannot be alone in my misery. I have shared some of my other "men instructions" with people in the past and most often everyone gets a good laugh. Maybe I will dig those old ones out again, but I hope this new one below makes you smile.

System 1. When the hamper is full, I take it down and put a load in.

Point 1a: If you never put anything in the hamper and throw things on the bedroom floor, nothing gets washed because the hamper is never full. I refuse to pick up your clothes off the floor and drag them out from under beds.

Point 1b: If you take the hamper downstairs because you think you are being helpful, tell me. If I do not know it is full, it does not get washed. Mysteriously appearing empty hampers never trigger me to wash clothes. I refuse to keep track of which hamper was last in the bathroom.

System 2: When a sorted basket is full, I wash it.

Point 2a: If all of the white socks are under the beds, underwear and socks will never get washed because the sorted basket will never fill up. I refuse to crawl under beds looking for underwear.

Point 2b: If you decide that I do not wash fast enough (because you have not followed my system) and you put in your own load of clothes and turn the dial to "small load," and do not turn the dial back, I will wash the next load with not enough water and have to wash it twice, thereby messing with my system and taking longer for me to wash clothes, wasting detergent and softener, which causes me to not wash fast enough. This results in a vicious circle of an infective system. Please use my system.

Point 2c: If you take my dress clothes out of the dryer and throw them on the floor to make room for your clothes that subsisted under the bed, then I will have to rewash my dress clothes or at least re-dry them to take out the wrinkles.

Point 2d: If you decide to put a half-full sorted basket into the machine on your own (because you have not followed my system) and do not use enough detergent, it only results in clothes with a new smell, and I have to wash them again anyway, thereby creating a huge pause in the system.

Point 2e: If you decide to put a half-full sorted basket of whites into the machine (because you have not followed my system) and spill bleach on my clean dress clothes that you have thrown on the floor from the dryer, I will not be a happy mom, will go to my room angry, and not wash any clothes until my anger subsides, thereby creating a ripple in the system.

System 3: When an empty basket is in the hallway, I take it down and put in another load.

Point 3a: When you see a basket in the hallway full of clean clothes, take a few minutes to find your clothes and put them away. Do not put them on your floor so that they appear to be dirty, only to be washed again.

Point 3b: If the basket is never emptied, I will have nothing to trigger me to go back downstairs to put in another load. Putting on clothes straight from the basket interrupts the flow of future loads, messing with my system.

Point 3c: When you try to put away everyone else’s clothes because you want to be helpful, it is not really all that beneficial. It is not helpful when you guess whose clothes are whose and my very large jeans end up in someone’s else’s closet or size 32 x 32 jeans end up in my closet.

Point 3d: If you cannot find your own favorite shirt, do not ask me. You are responsible for putting your own clothes away and should know where you put them.

Freebies & New Blooms

What a busy evening for me with a trip to Wal-mart for we were running out of a lot of things. Once again...men! I get home and I'm putting away supplies only to find that my hubbie ran to the store, oh, who-kn0ws-when, and picked up stuff and now we are double stocked! That's not good for a budget! Now, why in the world did he not tell me? And when did he find the time? And if he was running to the store, why did he not ask me if there was anything I knew we needed? Men! I will just stay thankful that he was trying to be helpful.

I goofed around last night and made a few papers. Once again, I do not know if they are useful, but would like to offer them to you. I am amazed that this paper shown to the left was actually mostly brown leaves in the original photo.



My first tulip bloomed yesterday! Yeah! There is something so elegant about them. I do not have very many tulips. Hopefully, if I journal it here, I can remember what needs planting when fall comes.



Oh my! My hope that only three dandelions would bloom has been crashed! Overnight, like magic, they all appeared! What to do!

Honor the Father and....

Oh, my, did this one not hit home! I asked Speartoons some time ago if I could share his cartoons here and he gave me permission, and there have been so many I could have blogged about, but I only have so much time!

Anyway, remember the layout in this post? Check out my hubbie's evening ware? Does that not just go with this cartoon? I do know my oldest son is always called upon to dress his Dad. lol. I should blog something really profound here (with Bible verse), but I'm tired and it is late, and I just could not resist putting this up. Maybe God will move me later.

I must say I am enjoying Speartoons more and more lately. He is really growing in his skills. Not in his cartoon skills, but in his ability to make his cartoons more life application. I have been a follower of his Christian cartoons for some time now, years that is, and have enjoyed watching his style change over the years.

Thank you Candie & Sandy

I just want to take a moment and pause and thank Candie and Sandy, whoever you are, from the bottom of my heart for your comments today. They REALLY made my day!

Sandy, I am glad you told me I did not know you as I may have thought you were this Sandy who is a fellow LCMS sister in Christ who I feel a great connection with because of our faith. I consider her an internet friend, to say the least. Her husband writes for one of my favorite magazines.

I do not know how else to communicate with you two but to post a blog entry.

All I ever wanted was for my Garden Book to be a blessing to others. I pour my heart out into the journaling on them, sharing my private feelings, and just know others should be able to identify with me and be blessed. To know that others are blessed by my words is such a wonderful treasure for me, as well as great encouragement to make more layouts for my Garden Book.

Candie, of course, please download them if they bless you! I am SO humbled that you even asked!

Thank you for sharing God's love with me in your comments, ladies. I sure did feel it today. God is good!

Digital Scraproom vs. ACDSee - Battle over

I received an e-mail this week saying that Cheryl Meier was letting go of her software called Digital Scraproom in order to support ACDSee Photo Manager.

Finally, the battle is over.

When I first received the mailing, my thoughts were to get upset because I had purchased a program with a guarantee of lifetime upgrades which was no longer good.

Then I tried to focus on what the software designer must have been going through. She obviously could not have anticipated a bigger company's product taking over at the time she created her software. She was only answering a need that seemed to be screaming in the digital scrapbooking world. I was amazed that a "little guy" could even have the abilities to create such a program at all. I am sure she agonized for some time before making the decision. I am sure she has been under a lot of stress lately, worrying what the reaction would be. As I watched the forums and ladies continued to recommend ACDSee over the Digital Scraproom, I am sure it must have poked at her stomach each time she read them too.

Now that this burden is off of her shoulders, we can watch for what is new in store for us from this skilled lady. Where one door closes, usually another opens.

She is giving compensation for those who made the purchase by giving away 12 kits by offering a free subscription to the Monthly Kit Club on her site, as well as offering a 20% discount to purchase ACDSee. There is a coupon code on her site for 20% off.

I noticed that ACDSee also offers a Photo Editor. I watched the tutorial on the site as I was curious as to how it compares to Photoshop Elements. It is very similar to PSE, although I am not sure it will do everthing PSE does. For instance, I do not see layer styles or filters. But for the basic scrapbooker, it may be okay.

My first camera actually came with ACDSee.

ACDSee for Pentax
Version 5.1.0.0001
Copyright 2003

Here is the official page for ACDSee. I see it is now Version 9 and I am wondering how much more it does than what my version does. I will have to download the free trial version and work through tutorials to compare the two before I make a purchase. Just something more to do, as always!

Also, I do like having a disk in hand for backup. I am just funny about purchasing software online. It may not be worth the $8 savings (20% of $40) and I may run out to Best Buy to pick up a copy of the program instead.

This also means now I will need to edit my Organizing Tutorial. At least now there are only two forerunners (the free program of Picassa vs. $40 for ACDSee). The choice now is a personal choice based on budget.

I took the time to find links to a collection of tutorials for ACDSee for your use (as well as mine).

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorials and more specifically here.

Scrapbook-Bytes

Oscraps

DigiScrapInfo

DST thread

I have never found the time to tag anything or play with any of the programs. Maybe now is the time for me to start.

Text Inspiration Tutorial - Blending Text into Background

Once again, it has been another week since I did a tutorial. Personal family life obligations are keeping me from writing. I hope to catch up and write more soon.

This tutorial was one of the quickest I have written so far! I created a layout using the technique before writing it and got two things done at once! This layout is for my Garden Book which I am making from photos from my own yard.

I give credit for this idea to Kathy Moore who challenged me to do this when I first started scrapping almost two years ago. I need to remember it and try to do it more often.

As seen in the layout, blend the text into the background by placing the text partially on a photo or element and partially on the background. Read the tutorial here for simple instructions.

If you use this tutorial, please share your layout with me.

Gardening Journal

I am getting behind on sharing my gardening journal. I am enjoying writing these, but I hope my readers are enjoying reading them.

I have decided to put in the sidebar dates of my garden journal. As you know, I love to analyze! So, next year, I can compare the dates.

Oh, those squirrels! I love them, but I hate them!

I love watching them and they are so cute, but I hate what they do to my garden!

My brand new bird feeder was found on the ground, rope that hangs it broken, wood chewed. So, the birds got a new bird feeder AGAIN! Will metal withstand the squirrels?

The birds were all chirping and excited when I got home as if asking me to fill it! After it was filled, they chirped more as if to say, "go inside, we're hungry!" Then, while I relaxed in the swing, a Robin kept dropping by closely as if trying to really give me a hint. As she sat on the nearby fence, I talked to her (I know, I'm wierd) and she seemed to be talking back with her eyes. I think she is not afraid of me.

No sooner than I went inside, I went to look from my bedroom window and there was THAT squirrel! IN the bird feeder! There were Robins, Cardinals, and Grackels all underneath the feeder grabbing what the squirrel knocked out. There must have been at least 12 birds. That squirrel is the king of bird food and rules the nest! Or maybe it is a conspiracy? Maybe the squirrel is purposefully knocking out everything just so the birds can eat quicker?

Oh, Maple trees provide great shade, but we have to endure them in the Spring.

The Maple buds fell EVERYWHERE this past week. I was able to get some of the swept away on Sunday, but due to working so hard cleaning inside the house, I did not get to them all.

I will probably get them cleaned up just in time for the Maple helicopters to fall everywhere. I hate digging them out of my flower beds.

My favorite flower is blooming! It is my favorite because the Hyacinths fill the air with a sweet smell.

I first knew they were blooming because the smell came wafting through the air when I got out of the car. I thought "what is that smell" and then I looked and realized the Hyacinth were blooming.

I can sit forever on my garden swings just smelling the air. I really need to plant more of them, but I forget every fall.

Abbie Rae was so funny! She too was delighting in the Spring air, sniffing everything and even rolling around in the grass in enjoyment!

There are so many new things blooming this past week.

The Forsythia bloomed last week. My bush did not bloom very well this year. I noticed the Bridal's Wreath blooming today and it does not have too many blooms either.

Saturday I noticed the "field of beautiful white weeds" filling the lawn. I absolutely love these little white flowers in the grass and it is sad that we must mow over them every year. My oldest son did mow the lawn for us for the first time this year yesterday.

Of course, weeds abound everywhere and the dandelions are in bloom. I only saw three though and I hope that is all we have.

I absolutely love all the Red Bud trees that are blooming everywhere.

I have forgotten the name of this cute little purple bulb flower, but a few weeks ago, before it had started to grow, I had plopped the decorative turtle on top of it. I saw it pushing out from underneath the turtle and blooming anyway! Most of the greenery of the plant was yellow from lack of sun under the turtle.

The hostas are beginning to wake up and I have a plant growing that I am not sure what it is, but it is good and healthy!

I have had some summer flower bulbs purchased and ready to plant for over a week. I hope I get to them soon!

I hope you are having as much fun enjoying God's flowers of Spring in your own yard as much as I enjoy it.

Camera Envy

I have a lot of people say to me that I have a great camera and that it looks expensive when, in all actuality, it is not. I see photos done with SLR cameras and really would love to have one some day, but that day is going to be far off.

I saw this cartoon at whattheduck and it put everything in perspective. I would probably get a new camera and then not know how to use it and stress over learning. Who needs more stress?

God does not want us to be envious or covet anyway. He said so in His commandments, right? This example could probably be one good reason why He knows what is best for us, huh?

Faithbooking

I am behind on the faithbooking challenges (as always, I live my life running behind).

There are 5 challeges posted, but until last night, I had only done one. I did #2 and #3 last night. Here is my layout for #3. My style--no elements, no credits.

Something Stinks

Whew! Ugg! Something in my house stinks! Today is the day I will not go to bed until I find it!

Living with four men. Sigh.

What is it?

It could be someone's bedding needing washed...
or the dog's bed needs washed
or there is a rotten potato in the bin
or someone has left stinky socks in their room
or it maybe the smell from my bathroom sink trying to back up
or it maybe some leftover food particle that has rolled under the couch
or maybe someone needs new shoes
or maybe someone has not switched out their bathroom towel in a while.
or maybe someone has worn their favorite pair of shorts 10 times in a row
or maybe the dog pee'd somewhere
or maybe something is under the trash can liner rotting
or.....

well...I must find it TODAY! It looks like my washing machine will get a work out today.

...and find time to get out in my flower garden and enjoy this weather too.

Gift Ideas

Well, I'm off to St. Louis today to my niece's 5th birthday party (so no tutorial writing today, sorry!). I would love to show you a photo of my two adorable neices, but without my sister's permission, I would not do that.

Hopefully, my sister will not be online this morning as I'm taking a risk of sharing this before the party! I'm hoping she is busy preparing for her busy day. I'm not even sure how often she reads this blog, but of course, wouldn't today be the day?

As everyone knows, I have three teenage sons! Therefore, it is sometimes hard to be creative with an idea for a gift for girls, although somewhat refreshing and fun too. I was having so much fun, I had to keep taking things out of my cart!

Anyway, I have a wonderful resource in my friend Sam who has a young girl. I go to Sam to see what is "in" now and give me ideas. She told me that her daughter just loves to write and draw. That reminded me of when my nieces were down last year and they too just had fun drawing at my kitchen table. So, this idea evolved in my conversations with Sam.

I have purchased this cute purple blank journaling book for her to scribble and draw in, as well as two more less expensive blank books, markers, glitter pens, colored pencils, and bunches of stickers, all in a cute yellow basket. Instead of a regular gift bag, I found an inexpensive bag to put the basket in that can be used in many other ways (even taking swimgear to the pool).

Now, my friend Sam has been blessed by God with this awesome talent for writing! I always enjoy reading what she writes. So I asked her if she could write something for me to stick inside the book so that my neice would understand the gift and make it more personal.

Isn't Sam awesome?!! Here is the poem she wrote. I made a 4 x 6 card with it, using brushes that came with my PSE to make the hearts and flowers (as in the poem) as well as some marker looking scribbles in the background.

I never wait until the last minute to do anything, huh? [giggle] My cousin recently adopted a baby from Guatemala and I needed to come up with a gift idea for her too.

I must confess. I'm stuck in a rut. I give this same gift to everyone who has a newborn. I just like the idea and I think it is something no one else would think of doing. I buy a bank and encourage them to collect pennies from the year they were born. This baseball bank reminded me of my high school days and sitting with my Grandpa at the Cardinals games.

So, late last night, here I am, phoning up Sam and asking for her help again! In previous gifts, I just wrote something -- I'm sure not too creative -- so that the recipient would understand what to do with the gift. I sure could use a poem!

Only a friend would come up with something for me at the last minute! Thank you so much, Sam!

Here's the poem. I made it into a card and managed to use the papers I made earlier last week that are free here on my blog. I wish I would have been able to make it more baby-ish, but it was really late and I was in a hurry. Maybe next time I will re-do the card, but this works for now.

I cannot offer you these cards for free because I must confess that I did not ask Sam for permission and these writings would be copyright. I did tell her I would be sharing them on my blog, but I cannot offer them in downloadable format. However, I did remove the words from my cards and you can download the 4 x 6 card and add your own words for your own gifts to them here. The link to download instructions is in the sidebar.

I will add that I did use a borderless 4 x 6 paper with a tab and that it did not print well. The date was beyond the tab line and the line border around the words went off the edge. So I would suggest printing with borders and then trimming with scissors.

Thank you, Pat!

Thank you so much, Pat, for giving me warm fuzzies and using my papers in a layout (and giving me permission to post it here). There is nothing like seeing your own stuff in use. You are always so sweet. I love the browns with the Easter colors and I think I may have to borrow that idea from you! That teal in two shades with the brown is a great idea for guy layouts.

Here is a LO that I created today using some of Hummie's Easter papers. [I loved the texture of these papers!] The crimped background paper and journal block are ones I made. RicRac by Laney in her Rusty Christmas kit; ribbons by Kim Lizzy and tag from gcook's Boys kit KAK. Fonts used were Comic Sans MS and Baveuse.

Pat K

Crazy Chili Contest

Yesterday my hubbie's work had a crazy chili contest. We thought it rather crazy because they waited until after the beginning of Spring when the weather is warming up to have this contest. In addition, they had it on a Friday during Lent when some people (not us) do not eat meat. On top of that, they wanted the chili ready to eat by 10:00 a.m., when most of the workers usually do not eat until 1 p.m. because they work 10 hour shifts and need their lunch to last a long time.

We also found it interesting that they made special t-shirts for this competition for the guys to wear to work yesterday. I guess they were really trying to make it fun.

The best part, though, is that they are actually offering prizes! The top prize I believe is $100, in gift card, usually your choice (such as to Wal-mart).

So, I had to get up really early in the morning and make a batch of our favorite chili so that it could get started cooking to be ready by 10:00 a.m. Crazy! Hubbie left for work with it at 7:00 a.m. He said we got lots of compliments on it, but they have not announced winners yet.

My hubbie is currently working seven days of week which is nice for overtime, but hard on his body. So, off to work he went today, on a Saturday, and I am anxiously awaiting to see if we won anything.

He said my chili was very different from the others. Most were really spicy with chunks of stuff. I have had to adapt our recipe to fit my family's picky tastes. They do not like anything that appears to look like a vegatable (although I would love chunks of tomatoes). They do not like anything too spicy (me included). They do not like kidney beans (me included).

So, we have this favorite recipe that is very tomato based, without the chunks (hey, they love ketchup!), red beans, and not very spicy.

I would love to come up with a recipe very similar to this one not having a tomato base. What would I use? Beef broth? Any ideas? Please post me a comment!

Blog Party!

I have decided to host a blog party! Let's pull up some chairs, grab an ice cold or warm drink of your choice, and meet some new people!

Here is how it works!

Post on your blog.
Create a post on your blog something of interest to other party goers. A recipe? A digiscrapping technique? Resources? A video? Inspiration? Parenting tips? A freebie? Decorate your blog for the party. Use your imagination!

Include on your post the above invitation to the party by copying the below code and pasting it onto your blog.

<a href="http://public.fotki.com/photospot/digitalscrapbookelements/dss/blogparty.html"><img src="http://images21.fotki.com/v631/photos/9/910805/3810264/BlogParty-vi.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /> <a href="http://blog.hummiesworld.com/2007/03/blog-party.html" style="'font-size:18px;">Join the Party! Click Here!</a><br />

If the code does not work, feel free to snag the above invitation and put it on your blog with a link to this post.

Sign Mr. Linky
Come back here and sign Mr. Linky below giving a DIRECT link to your party blog post. Please do not post a link to a store or a website in Mr Linky (although having them on your blog post is fine). All links must be to a blog post.

Party Hop!
Come back regularly and click on other links in Mr. Linky to visit other party rooms. Be sure to leave them a comment! Let's see some mingling!

Try to meet new friends. Click on names of people you do not know.
Create a new blog post listing the names of your new friends. Warm fuzzies abound!

If you do not own a blog, you are still welcome to the party! Visit blogs and leave comments.

Submit a door prize (optional).
Write me an e-mail (link in the side bar) offering to give a prize away. A list of prizes will be added to the bottom of this post.

Win a prize.
The blog party will run until March 31st. On March 31st, names of party participants in Mr. Linky will be randomly drawn and matched to a prize. Winners must have an invitation to the party on their blog post in order to win.

An announcement will be posted declaring the winners. It will be the responsibility of the party go-er's and prize givers to hook up on their own to distribute prizes (hey, I'm a busy Mom who works full-time; you can do it; I know you can!) The fine print: I am not responsible for unclaimed or non-claimable prizes.





Ugg...what happened to Mr. Linky? Anyone else see him? I'm under investigation.

DOOR PRIZES!

1. FONT (.ttf format) by Terry Maruca: I'm happy to donate a FONT as a prize for the blog party! Here is a sample of my current fonts at SCRAPBOOK-ELEMENTS (list updated regularly). The prize font will be newly created for the party! This is so exciting!
You can find my work here:SCRAPBOOK-ELEMENTS (SBE) SCRAPBOOK-BYTES (SBB)

2. Five Dollar ($5) gift coupon to Tina William's Store.

3. Five Dollar ($5) gift coupon to Tina William's Store. (yep! a second one!)

4. Ten Dollar ($10) gift coupon to Butternug Squash Designs store.

5. One set of {Juke Labels} from here!

Designer Techniques - Lena Brandenburg - Selective Coloring

I am so happy to announce Lena Brandenburg as our spotlight for the Designer Technique this week. Lena is sharing with us the technique of selective coloring. You can see in her first layout below that her daughter’s waistband on her cute dress and her bow stand alone in color. In the second layout, the beautiful blue eyes stand alone in color.

You can find Lena on her blog, where she posts about her daily life, her layouts, and her designs. Lena’s openness and bubbly personality on her blog, as well as her adorable children, draw you to her. I encourage you to spend some time reading her blog to get to know what a wonderful person is within her. Actually, I was first drawn to her because of her name. I love the name "Lena" and it was to be the name of my daughter, but God gave me three sons to love.

Lena also spends time loving on people at DST where she faithfully initiates the blog train daily.

Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity to utilize Lena’s designs as I am so busy writing tutorials and rarely have time to scrap any more. However, I know her designs are outstanding just by seeing the wonderful work that she does through her layouts which she shares.

You can find her designs at ACOT and TDS.

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So here is one of my favorite digital techniques!
I have always called it selective coloring, but I hear it is also called color isolation.





I scrap using Paint Shop Pro 8 and here is how I create the effect.

After opening and cropping my photo, I use Cntrl+D on my keyboard to make a duplicate of the photo. Or, copy the photo layer and paste as a new image. Either way, you are now working with two photos.

Leave the original photo in color and I use Optiverk Labs Virtual Photographer to change the duplicated photo to black and white. I then copy the black and white photo and paste it overtop of the color photo.

Next, I select the eraser tool and carefully erase the parts of the black and white layer that I want the color to show through for! That's it!!

It can be as simple as highlighting the eyes, or chubby little cheeks, or larger splashes of color for a more dramatic look! :)

My favorite kit is my When Purple Meets Yellow paper and embellishment packs. I love the soft patterns on the paper, I love the colors, and the unique embellishments :)


You can find Purple Meets Yellow here.

My stores are at TDS and ACOT for the time being. I'm retiring from ACOT soon though :)

Have a great day!

The Evolving Television

I just read this news story about television and the internet. You will note that due to the popularity of YouTube, the television networks are on the move to change the availability of television. Due to copyright violations of uploaders, television shows or snippets of them are all over YouTube. YouTube only has an obligation to remove them once they have been notified of the violation and, therefore, unless the television networks go after all the little guys, they will need to find another way to combat the viewing by offering the same themselves. Isn't it quite ironic that they have to use competition of what is already theirs to resolve the issue?

I've often wondered why the networks have not utilized the internet more already. It seems to me that they provide television for free through advertising as it is, so why not through the internet through advertising also?

However, as the new era of television seems to be on the horizon, I wonder about the damages to family values this may cause. I am picturing my husband and I on our own laptops, each sitting in bed side by side, watching our personal television sets, while the children are in their own rooms doing the same. Is this where television is headed? It is bad enough when the whole family sits staring at one television set, not communicating with each other. However, at least they are in the same room together and able to discuss the show they are watching. Granted, most homes have more than one television, but consider that laptops would mainly be for personal viewing. How many times have we read over the years that television messes with quality family time?

As a young person, I would often dream about what the future would be like, especially upon watching shows like the Jetsons. I do believe we are being given a sneak peak of the future today.

Blending Modes

Sue Chastain is writing a new article about how blending modes work. There is always so much good information at About.com. I have previously recommended (info in the sidebar) to join her mailing list.

Part 1 of her writings on blending modes is up. You will need to click to see the graphics and read what is underneath each graphic to follow the tutorial. I must say that I highly recommend this one and want to thank Sue for all she does for free as a part of About.com.

DigiSpiration

Do not forget that stitching can go on everything--try adding stitching directly to the edges of a photo (extend the stitching beyond the photo).

Use the title: A child is a unique and unrepeated miracle.

Use it, Or Lose it

I read that the new Jeff Foxworthy show about being smarter than a 5th grader has the rating and more shows have been scheduled.

As you know, I analyze everything! As I think about this show, what comes to mind is the phrase "Use it, or lose it." Of course the 5th graders will remember all of these things better than older adults because they recently studied all of these things.

However, adults have not thought on these topics for years. I used to do algebra very well, but because I have not used it in years, I would fail at any algebra test.

This got me thinking. Does this not apply to our Bible too? That is why it is so important to read God's Word regularly. If we do not use it, we will lose it. Reading his Word and applying it to our daily life helps us to keep His Word hidden in our hearts.

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Simple Suggestions to Inspire your Digital Layouts

Allow photos at mats to go off the edge of the layout.

Put the title right on the photo.

Color Blocking Tutorial

Color blocking is a great way to make quick layouts.

There is a new tutorial ready for you!

I worked hard to get this one done since it has been over a week since I have had a tutorial to offer you. I am going to be tired today and hitting the Mountain Dew, but hopefully the lack of sleep is worthwhile in order to help others.

Color Blocking Tutorial

I found this ScrapJazz Gallery of color blocking layouts. This gallery should give you a better feel for what this technique looks like.

I uploaded the samples and there are other color blocking templates on Fotki for you to download free. I wanted to make more, but the time was not there. Maybe I can get to that today.

The Occassion We've all Been Waiting for.....

This is the occassion we've all been waiting for in high anticipation, watching our mailboxes every day ever since long ago when we signed up as charter members of the new Digital Scrapbooking magazine published by the makers of Simple Scrapbooks! Mine arrived in today's mailbox ---finally! And you want me to write a tutorial for tomorrow while I've got this in my hands? Ha!

And you thought you'd get to see a photo of me? But aren't my speed typing fingers the real star that you wanted to see? Really, without them, there would be no tutorials! Well look closely, there they are!

Digital Inspiration for Today

Use this title for almost any subject matter, even a new child walking or anyone’s favorite hobby: Your ______ career.

Use thin circles between a photo and a background layer to draw attention to the photo.

Just put some love....

I've been thinking a lot lately about cliques. I'm sure everyone has experienced cliques. How can you get through school and not?

I find that high school cliques are a minature example of what the big picture represents. Although we grow older and mature, and we do not generally pick on people as in school, we still exist in cliques. It is a natural progression when people want to fit in and tend to hang around with people where they feel they fit in. Common interests create cliques. Common personalities create cliques. Common goals create cliques. Someone who makes people feel loved through a very social personality creates cliques.

Of course people are going to hang around people they click with, right? Doesn't everyone? Isn't that what organizations, brotherhoods, fraternities, Women's Clubs, Men's Cub, Youth Groups, and the like are set up for? Being clique-ish is not all wrong. Fellowship is a good thing.

Of course, fellowship with God is the ultimate fellowship.

1 Corinthians 1:9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

We all know how immature children are by looking only at the outward appearance of someone and thereafter picking on them. The poorest student, with old clothes, and a smell, always gets picked on. I do believe many adults do their best not to judge people outwardly.

1 Samual 16:7 Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

However, what about those people who do not feel they fit in anywhere? Most often it is due to their lack of social skills. Maybe they are too serious, or unable to make jokes, or quiet, or shy or opinionated. Maybe they have odd interests and beliefs. What about them? I do not see adults picking on them, but rather these people get lost and ignored. They are like those children who stand on a playground alone, no one playing with them.

I know most people do not intentionally ignore other people. Most people want to show love to all people. But because of the natural tendancies in society, they do not do what they want to do.

Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

It takes effort to look around and find those people that are standing alone, feeling like they do not fit in, feeling unloved. If I am caught up in my own little world where I feel I fit in and never look up from the circle of my world to see who might be standing near, I will never be able to do what I want to do. I will never be able to show the world happiness when so many people are reaching out.

I have forever loved this song by Lionel Richie called "Just put some love in your heart." It is only one minute twenty-six seconds long, but it speaks volumes for the things "I want to do, but do not do." I've got the words to this song written in the front of my Bible. I am especially touched by the words "every boy and girl." I am also touched by the words that indicate that if we are focusing on reaching out to others, all of our troubles will depart.

Tag of a Photo

I ran a game yesterday that was a lot of fun, but was not able to get a tutorial written. I am going to try to write something today. While you are waiting, here is a bit of inspiration for you which I created during the game.

I threw this together quickly with my first robin photo. Use a tag shape to cut a portion of the photo into a tag.

Leave the tag in place with the photo. Maybe even leave the photo large as the entire background. Try reducing the opacity of the photo and leaving the new tag in regular color. Try blurring the background photo. Try any shape you can think of as a tag shape.

Just experiment with different ideas that may float through your mind and try it!

Use this technique to bring focus to a portion of a photo.

Credit for the rope above is to Microferk.

Chicken People!

A high school classmate of mine travels a great distance every March to participate in a chicken show, of all things. To think this chicken show was a half a block from my house and I never even knew it was there all these years until about 4 years ago when we talked at a high school class reunion and he invited me. I've had great fun seeing him and his chickens every year since then. I believe this is my third time seeing them.

I remember the first time I saw them I was totally amazed at the noise! Of course, I saw them as they were being brought in and set up, so they were much noiser than this video below which I captured today.

I remember being introduced that first time to a chicken person (giggle...I call these people who show their chickens "Chicken People") and telling him that I knew nothing about chickens except that "I eat chickens." Immediately, the entire place got quiet! It was like the chickens heard me say it! I laugh every time I think of that instance. I know it was really just a fluke, but I always try each year to see if it will happen again. I love to talk to the chickens and tell them "I eat chicken." [giggle] It is funny how the chickens seem to respond to my talking to them, just as a dog or cat does.


I wanted to do a video to share with everyone the noise! Don't get dizzy! I tried to move fast to give the enormity of what the show feels like.




My friend tells me there are about 750 chickens at this show, but that at a show in Indianapolis there were over 12,000. Wow!

Here is my friend with two of his chickens. Each year I learn a little bit more about how a chicken is judged. His birthday is tommorrow, so, hey! Happy Birthday, Chris!

Did you know it is VERY difficult to get a photo of chickens? They move WAY too much! And even if they are calm, just about the time you get the camera to focus, they move anyway!

Here is an example of what chickens do when you try to take their photograph.




I enjoyed the challenge of trying to get a good photo of a chicken. I love photography, especially since digital photography allows me to delete the bads ones and I can keep trying. Oh, the amount of back sides I captured! There were a lot of blurred photos as the chickens moved right when I snapped and a lot of chickens with their heads cut off (pun intended) as they moved half out of the lens frame. [giggle] I encourage you to find a chicken show and attend! I do believe they are great free entertainment.

Huge Link List!

Wow, I discovered that my site was on this list and then I realized, wow, what a list! Please check out Ellie's Treasures! You'll be stuck clicking away for a while!

Speed Painting in Photoshop

Check this out! A real artist! LOL...amazing how he is doing this in Photoshop. His name is John Locke.

Designer Technique - Misty Cato - Brushes and Stamps

Please allow me to introduce this week's Designer Technique, Misty Cato! She is sharing with us today techniques using brushes and stamps. I must admit that although I love seeing layouts such as these, every time I see one, I have not incorporated these techniques much into my layouts. Misty's write-up is encouraging me to step outside of my box. What about you?

I remember the first time I found Misty in the digiworld. It was when she was first starting out and I remember her being very unpolished, but seeming to be with much potential. I really enjoyed her very first magazine entitled Inspired to Scrap, which really caught my eye. She offered such great inspiration and ideas. After about 4 magazines, she changed its format and really began to shine!

I must say that I have really enjoyed watching her grow into a professional designer. I am SO amazed! I do believe that with every kit and every writing she taps into herself and improves yet a bit more. I am so anxious to see what more she has in store for us. How far will she go? I have enjoyed traveling behind her down the road thus far.

She started her blog and semi-recently began posting some wonderful tutorials on it. She offers the most amazing freebies on her blog too on a regular basis. What she has done to contribute to the digiworld is priceless.

You can find her products at Scrapbook-Bytes and Scrapbook-Elements, and you can stay informed of her new releases, read tutorials and get lots of free stuff on her blog.

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One of my favorite layout techniques is incorporating brushes or stamps in my pages. I think brushwork adds a touch of artistry to the page and flat nature of the brushwork is a nice counterpoint to bulkier elements.

This is one of my favorite pages incorporating brushwork. The flowers and swirls along the right side of the page were created using Tracy Ann Robinson’s Brushware.

When I talk to new digital scrappers I find that many consider using brushes to be an ‘advanced’ technique. But usually you can use ‘brushes’ and stamp-like elements like any other element. Most designers include a .png pack along with any brush set. With the .png files you can drag them onto your canvas and use them any you would any scrapping supply.

They can be used to add a touch of whimsy as in this layout. The brushes here are actually .png stamps from my Starting in Style series.

Or to help frame as page as I did with the lotus flower brushes on this page (downloaded these brushes from deviantart.com)

Paint style brushes are great for accenting a title (brushes from DaniB at Scrapbook-Bytes).

Brushes and stamps are so diverse and versatile. There are grungy sets, whimsical sets, florals, ephemera images and more. Just check out the ‘Brushes’ section of your favorite digisupply store.


Related Brush Tutorials

Customizing Brushes with Background Papers

Creating Brushes

My favorite kit is my favorite for sentimental reasons – it was inspired by my little boy. I love boyish grungy stuff, but it doesn’t usually seem to fit with photos of my happy-go-lucky toddler. I wanted something boyish, but still happy and fun, so I created ‘That’s My Boy’. I did a 24-page 4x6 brag book for Jamin to ‘give’ to his grandparents on his 2 year birthday.

Click here for the brag book, the elements, and the papers which are available.