I decided to do a title about Grandparents because Grandparent's Day is coming up soon. You can download the freebie sample of the word art too! Download here. I challenge you if you are learning to design to study the results of this technique. With a few extra steps, this technique can be utilized in designing. Tip: As is, it has a drop shadow? Do you know how to leave the drop shadow within the border, but delete it outside the border?
Think of the possibilities? What about a white border on a white base? What effect does the drop shadow leave? Think on it and be inspired!
I am happy to be able to get back into the swing of things and introduce to you Sharon who is also known as ksharonkdesigns. Sharon is well known for her clean and uncluttered layouts---just my style! I can easily be inspired by anything posted on her blog. Her layouts are all about the photos and her photography skills stand out in her pages.
Just as her style, Sharon is sharing with us a simple, yet very effective, technique to incorporate into layouts of utilizing a visual triangle.
My Designer’s Tip … by [ksharonkdesigns], aka ksharonk ☺
My scrapping style is predominantly simple, incorporating lots of white space. I almost always use two ‘visual aids’ when creating a page … a grid that I use to help position my photos, and the ‘visual triangle’ principle.
Grid: I imagine a three by three grid is on top of my page, and place the eyes of my subject in my photo, or point of interest in my photo, over one of the intersections.
You can see that Natasha’s eyes are close to the intersection of the top right corner part of the grid.
Visual triangle: my visual triangle ties my page together. You can see that there are three flowers on my page that make up an imaginary triangle. This creates a virtual boundary for the viewer’s eye, linking all the layout elements together, and creating a feeling of ‘organized space’ on the page.
My favourite kit: The Girly Collection 1 is a pretty set of four minikits of girly goodness!
Wild Child minikit: 5 papers, two frames, three felt flowers, three buttons, notepaper, two ribbons, gold staple and 3 'dymo' tapes. These papers are 12 in x 12 in, and the elements and papers are created at 300 dpi.
Summer Freckles minikit: five papers, two felt hearts, one frame, tape, two ricrac, staple, card, two buttons and one green clip. These papers a12 in x 12 in, and the elements and papers are created at 300 dpi.
Day Dreaming minikit: five papers, three tags, three buttons, two scrolls, frame, notepaper edge and zigzag stitching. These papers are 12 in x 12 in, and the elements and papers are created at 300 dpi.
Frivolous minikit: five papers, three buttons, two flowers, two bows, frame, tag and silver brad. These papers are 12 in x 12 in, and the elements and papers are created at 300 dpi.
Come along with me and break into the century, seven years late. Giggle.
After countless years of having Webshots scroll on my desktop, I have changed my desktop.
I have often seen "desktop widgets" on the internet, but was never compelled to try them out. What was I waiting for!??
WHERE TO FIND THEM All of these things are so fun and so handy! I installed Yahoo's Desktop Widgets. They are simple to set up after installation, just right click on the widget and choose "widget preferences." Widgets and be set to remain on top of programs or remain in the background. Grab them with the mouse and move them around to whereever they work best. The main toolbar can be set to retract out of site and be recalled with a flick of the mouse.
Although I have never tested it, Google Desktop also has Gadget Plugins. Please share if you utilize Google. I may have to play with it one day.
WHAT FUN WE CAN HAVE! I can now see my son's weather and my weather at the same glance, as well as the local radar.
I love the Sitemeter widget as I can see exactly how many visitors have been to my blog without logging in anywhere. Feedburner also has a similar widget.
I have been carefully watching my new widgets which show me how much RAM I am utilizing, as well as the news flashes.
The most interesting widget is the St. Louis Cam widget. It scrolls through cameras about St. Louis interstates giving shots of traffic, as well as weather, and allergy indexes. I could see the rain roll in and night fall.
I can watch my Bloglines RSS feeds for new posts and read them with a click of a mouse, or set an alarm on my clock to remind me it's time for a chat or time to get to bed!
I was able to blog from my desktop, as well as get notifications of e-mail.
I can set up photos to scroll on a widget which can replace the need for Webshots.
What widgets are your favorite desktop widgets? I would love to hear from you so that I can play! There are thousands of widgets, from music, to television, to games, to news, to notes, to calculators, to color pickers, to e-bay selling, to shortcuts to programs and folders.
My list below will continue to update as I continue to find more widgets.
Future themes are in my sidebar! Upload your layout to any gallery or blog and add the link to where you post your layout in Mr. Linky (in the box below). It may be a layout you already have or a new layout. Late?--Add your link at any time!
Take time to visit and comment on others.
At the bottom of Mr. Linky is a link to Technorati. You can also find participants through this link provided that participants put this url link somewhere in their post: http://technorati.com/tag/Themed+Thursdays
Here is the code for the Mr. Linky above. Add it to your post on your on own blog . It is quick and easy to add this same Mr. Linky right into your blog post to watch for new participants from there.
First, if you do not have the necessary code in your html template on your blog yet, you will need to add it, but just once. Put it directly after the "head" code on a new line.
Add this code to your blog post for this week.
MY LAYOUT
This was a hard theme? Who picks these themes? Giggle. It sure did get me thinking and inspired me to find and old photo to scan in.
My boys always knew just how to work their eyes to persuade me to get what they wanted. One of them in particular was a master at many looks. Can you spot him in the photo?
I found this old photo of them licking mixer beaters while sitting on the countertop. It made me smile as I remember how often I had to pick them both up and plop them on the counter because they wanted to be close to me in the kitchen.
To make the title, I created my text and, thereafter, simplified it. I duplicated the layer of the torn paper (tucked under the frame) twice and grouped each (control G) with a portion of the simplified text. I resized it and scooted it around until just a bit of the torn edge was revealed on the outer part of the title. Cool, huh? I love playing!
It was on this day, August 28th, in 1963 that Martin Luther King Jr.delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." - Martin Luther King Jr.
Isn't that a dream all parents carry? And to further that dream, I pray that my three boys develop a character in which they are self-confident to stand under.
Today's photography challenge is to pay attention to texture. Texture behind individuals can add depth to a layout. Of course, this is mostly applicable to when you are posing subjects, but it does not hurt to be aware of it in other circumstances just in case a choice arises.
Texture also includes color. Having a complementary or contrasting color in the background can also make or break a photo. Someone in a black shirt is naturally going to pop out of the photo better on a white wall and vice versa.
Please share your photos or layouts utilizing texture and add the link to Mr. Linky.
Here is my layout that I did some time ago. I posed the guys in front of a brick wall for texture. It was a perfect contrast behind their black and wite shirts.
Credits for elements I am sure are for Jeri Ingalls (have you figured out I love her kits yet?), but I'd have to look up which one and I'm lazy right now.
Congratulations, TracerM, you have won Miki (Michaela Ferkul)'s choice of any Microferk Designs kit. Her stores are at SBB and SBE. (E-mail) Please e-mail her to claim your prize!
Entries to the contest are accepted until the party is over, as well as donations. This party will continue until donations are gone, so it is up to you how long it will last. Whoo hooo!
I went photowalking tonight, but did not take too many photos. I will update the slideshow.
I saw this sign and just had to laugh. Do they really know teens or what? I can hear it now, "But, Mom, the sign did not say I could not "wheel glide." "
Giggle.
I am playing with my new lyrics plug-in and it is causing me to "bed exercise." Ha ha. Now tell me you have done that at some point in your life, right?
--The songs move you so much you just cannot resist moving no matter where you sit!
This song made me giggle when it came on as I thought it appropriate to do the "bicycle exercise" in bed. Hee hee. Goodness, am I silly or what?
Bicycle Race by Queen
Bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride it where I like Etc.....
I feel like I got a better workout laying in bed than walking for 45 minutes! Why is that? LOL!
Ooops....is my light cover dirty? Shucks, now I have to clean it. More exercise! That's what I get for looking up to the ceiling.
Some of you may already know about this and think I am behind the times, but I just found a new plug-in friend!
Lyrics Plugin will display the lyrics of music as it plays in either Windows Media Player or Winamp. (Of course, I think Winamp causes spam and do not recommend it myself.)
This even got me importing all my music files from my desktop to my laptop. Whoo hooo! Now I can know what all the lyrics *really* were as I sang them back in the 80's! Giggle. Did I really sing it that way? Oops -- did I just give away my age?
No more searching for lyrics on the internet. I can even highlight, copy, and paste them!
This is an old post from last October 2006 that I am bringing forward and editing for this challenge.
Please share your photos or layouts with examples of lines in photography and add the link to Mr. Linky.
Last fall I played with photograph and lines in a photo shoot of my son and his friend and learned a lot. It is important to pay attention to the lines in the scenery to create better photos.
For this photo, I was standing looking on them from the side on the bench and it was just an ordinary photo. So I began looking around me for lines and found the chain fence running between posts. I bent down and positioned the chain line, along with the guys, in my camera lens. Wow, what a difference it made! The chain leads the eye to the guys.
This layout was my own design (no scraplift) and I used Jeri Ingals Rainbow Trout kit for the background paper; also, the tag from the kit was placed about the page with a lower opacity to it. The tag from the kit had an edging line already on it which gave a great effect to the layout. I know, I always seem to find strange ways to use ordinary items.
Also, speaking of lines, I tried to carry the chain line upward in the layout. The placement of the words and the opaque tags was purposful to carry that line upward. Try it. Move your eye from the bottom of the chain, to the top of the pole, to the word "but," to the line on the opaque tag. Was I successful in my playing? It's wild to me how such little things as this make a big difference in a layout.
I was searching for an appropriate quote for the layout when I remembered these lyrics that the guys wrote. Being as the photo is of them looking down a road, the lyrics seemed to fit the photo just right and seemed so "them" at this time in their life.
Here is my next example of lines in photography.
The photo on the left was the guy's idea of walking down the tracks. Seemed rather a cool idea. However, I noted that my eye did not follow the line of the tracks because it was interrupted with their bodies. So I asked them to both get on the same side of the tracks. Wow, what a difference that made!
The photo on the right is the one in my layout below, only I cropped out my son's friend from the layout. The photo was perfect for my sappy mother babbling.
I used Jerri Ingals kit (Old Growth kit I believe). Great for guy layouts!
Lori started a blog meme called Motivation Monday last week, but I was unable to find the time to participate, but what a great idea to take a moment every Monday and make some goals to try to strive for.
My scrapping goals for this week:
1. Get the Designer Techniques ready and search for new designers to invite. 2. Print out all of my layouts that I have not printed yet and put them in the binders. 3. Get some layouts done from the photos from this week and then continue to try to catch up on older layouts that I am behind on. I want to keep up with the current and gradually do the ones I am behind on. 4. Post the Tailgate Party winners daily. 5. Write the two tutorials that I have on mind to write and share them. 6. Finish the blog article I started writing last week and post it. 7. Put up the Themed Thursday post. 8. Blog for Connie (yeah, she is now nominating me...she got me back!--but she needs to do her nominations first!) 9. Put up more Photography challenges on my blog. 10. Convert Sarah's templates and share them.
My personal goals for this week: 1. Balance the checkbook. 2. Grocery shop. 3. Completely empty desk and organize and put away things. 4. Photowalk 3 times this week. 5. ....uh..there's more...I have to get back to work as my lunch hour is over...I'll update as I have time to think!
Have you ever gotten "stuck" on a song that you have to listen to over and over? I am current stuck on this song. The up and down pace of the song, as well as the simple vocal supported by guitar really grabbed me. Then I had to find out what the words said and listened over and over in the van to catch the words.
When he goes through the list of types of people who sin and lumps together the really bad with the not so bad, it reminds me of how we are all sinners in God's eyes, none worse than the other.
The word "saviors" bothered me too, as I always think of there being one savior. However, having words in lyrics that catch your attention make you think. This song is about how all people eventually cry out to God, even those who claim to be Saviors.
Lyrics: Oh my God, look around this place, Your fingers reach around the bone, you set the break and set the tone For flights of grace, and future falls In present pain all fools say, "Oh my God."
Oh my God, why are we so afraid? we make it worse when we don't bleed, there is no cure for our disease. Turn a phrase and rise again, or fake your death and only tell your closest friends, Oh My God.
Oh my God, can I complain? You take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief. Weddings, boats, and alibis, All drift away, and a mother cries...
Liars and fools, sons and failures, theives will always say.. Lost and found, ailing wanderers, healers always say.. Whores and angels, men with problems, leavers always say.. Broken hearted, separated, orphans always say.. War creators, racial haters, preachers always say.. Distant fathers, fallen warriors, givers always say.. Pilgrim saints, lonely widows, users always say.. Fearful mothers, watchful doubters, Saviors always say..
Sometimes I can not forgive and these days mercy cuts so deep, If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep. While I lay, I'd dream we're better, scales were gone and faces lighter, When we wake we hate our brother, we still move to hurt each other, Sometimes I can close my eyes and all the fear the keeps me silent, Falls below my heavy breathing, what makes me so badly bent? We all have a chance to murder, we all have the need for wonder. We still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the plunder.
Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven, All the times I thought to reach up, all the times I had to give up.
Babies underneath their beds, in hospitals that cannot treat them. All the wounds that money causes, all the comforts of cathedrals, All the cries of thirsty children, this is our inheritance, All the rage of watching mothers, this is our greatest offense Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God.
Behind the Song: "With Oh My God, we wanted to kind of communicate that everybody at some point intersects with God, whether they choose to believe or not, and people all have their reasons for crying out to God. And some of those are really deep, deep doubts. There are times when I wrestle with that now, but growing up I didn’t know the gospel could stand up to the scrutiny. It’s a question that I think needs to be asked. This song has three parts. It starts out being many people’ stories and the third part is my personal story...Why I cry out to God." - Dan Haseltine (Jars Of Clay)
My nephew turned 16 yesterday! Yeah! We traveled to St. Louis for his party and we are making it a double day of fun by traveling to his dirt bike race today to support him. That means a lot of time on the road and little time on my blog.
I do realize that the Designer Technique has gotten behind, but I have made recent efforts on it and do have two posts that have come in, so I will get the first one put up next week.
Any designer can volunteer for it and I would appreciate you volunteering rather than me seeking and inviting. It is a great way to contribute to the digi-community!
PLEASE NOTE: ONLY ADD LINKS TO YOUR LAYOUT ENTRIES. I am getting exasperated with deleting links that are not applicable. Please take the time to read the instructions page. I tried to make them simple to understand. Thank you for your consideration. Now, onto the fun part of the party! Now why, oh why, and what are the chances hubby would pull two numbers side by side out of the bowl!
Trish, you have won Pixel Gypsy $5 coupon to her store. (E-mail). Please e-mail her to claim your prize.
You may add your layout entry until the party is over and you may submit a prize at any time also.
Be sure to visit others and leave comments....let's get the lov'n going!
Our very first winner for the DSD Tailgate Party is Janet!
Congratulations Janet, you have won Debra Tope's $10 coupon to her store. (E-mail) Please e-mail her to claim your prize!
Hubby drew 5 numbers this morning (so I would not have to bug him every day to do this). So I already know who the first 5 winners are! Be sure to get your entries in because before he draws again, I will add more numbers to the bowl of new entries!
Donations of prizes and entries to win will be accepted until the prizes run out. So this party will only go on as long as the prizes last! We currently have 25 prizes, so our party will go on for at least 25 days! Whooo hooo!
Grab your favorite refreshing beverage, sit back, relax, and scrap!
Check back tomorrow to see if you are the next winner!
I love sharing What the Duck with my readers every once in a while.
These cartoons are so funny because they are so applicable to my life.
I would love to have a DSLR camera for Christmas, with a hute rebate offer! Wouldn't you?
Actually, I wish they would do away with rebates and just give us the products at the actual price. They make the instructions so detailed that if you even forgot to circle the appropriate thing, it makes the rebate invalid. Can you imagine the risk of an invalid rebate as large as the one in this cartoon?
I made this layout for a heritage contest at Stone Accents Studios. I was drawn the the colors of the free download which inspired me to drag out some old photos. The download can be found on their blog.
This is a photo of my Dad being held by his Grandparents. As I look at the photos, it reminds me of how time goes by so fast for now my Dad has even held his grandchildren and has passed away. It really brings generations into perspective.
One photo is naturally black and white and the other is naturally sepia toned. I thought about converting them to be the same, but decided I wanted to preserve the natural color of them.
I made the layout into a template and the frames into elements.
I get so many e-mails sometimes that things get buried! I want to thank Shawn for making my Template 2 into a square format. She is sharing it in a .tiff format.
I was able to open up this .tiff in layers in PSE and Shawn says it also works well in other programs. Do you like this format best?
Download expired.
Thanks Shawn! It gave me warm fuzzies to have you do this and I know the readers here will appreciate it!
Last night I motivated myself to get out and do some more photo walking. The slideshow at the bottom of my page is updated and you can see the new photos there and more at the Fotki link.
As I thought about all the locations I could go to, I realized that my area has so many spots for me to travel to very close that it will be a long time before I have to repeat a location.
I choose to go to the river as I was thinking of my son who is 12 hours up river. Just as people look up to the moon and know their loved one across the world is looking at the same moon, I was able to look up the river and know that this water once passed where he is.
It was a hot afternoon, but a very heartwarming walk. I was delighted to see two trains. Most often my timing at the river does not bring any trains. I saw a barge go by, as well as a small boat. But the most impressive few was the overwhelming sky of birds at the less visited area of the river. They were swooping in and out everywhere. My camera battery was going dead and I was not able to capture a photo that signified the magnificance of the moment. I met a nice couple from Texas and chatted with them about our town.
Please, please, please, do not put any links in Mr. Linky in the sidebar that are not direct links to your layout entry to the carnival! Please read what I wrote about the carnival! I am getting exasperated with deleting links!
***** Remember to get your entries in for the Tailgate party soon! We have more prizes than we have entries and more prizes coming in!
Prizes will be given daily until the prizes are gone, so get your entries in now. Hurry! It is easy to do. Just post a link to your "heirloom" photo either at your blog or DST.
****** The deadline for entries for the next blog carnival at Dreamscrappers is August 28th. See the widget in the sidebar for the link to make submissions or click on the tab at the top of this page for posts with more information.
***** Thank you so much for the $10 donation! Every time one of those comes in, I am so surprised! It really makes my day.
Future themes are in my sidebar! Upload your layout to any gallery or blog and add the link to where you post your layout in Mr. Linky (in the box below). It may be a layout you already have or a new layout. Late?--Add your link at any time!
Take time to visit and comment on others.
At the bottom of Mr. Linky is a link to Technorati. You can also find participants through this link provided that participants put this url link somewhere in their post: http://technorati.com/tag/Themed+Thursdays
Here is the code for the Mr. Linky above. Add it to your post on your on own blog . It is quick and easy to add this same Mr. Linky right into your blog post to watch for new participants from there.
First, if you do not have the necessary code in your html template on your blog yet, you will need to add it, but just once. Put it directly after the "head" code on a new line.
Add this code to your blog post for this week.
MY LAYOUT AND FREEBIE TEMPLATE
This is one of my first layouts long ago. There are so many things I would do differently now. Looking at the layers on this to see how I acheived the effects made me laugh.
It was a challenge by Kathy Moore and the credits for the things on the page also go to her.
I name text is kind of cool, huh? I did that by accident. Maybe I can make a tutorial for that soon.
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.
I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze." Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."
"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me. After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends.
Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began: "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success.
"You have to laugh and find humor every day."
"You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!"
"There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability.
The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change."
"Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the years end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.
The Rose Artist: Bette Midler Words & Lyrics by: Amanda McBroom
Some say love it is a river That drowns the tender reed Some say love it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed some say love it is a hunger an end less aching need I say love it is a flower and you it's only seed It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give and the soul afraid of dyin' that never learns to live When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long and you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose
17. Radio Shack and Sweetwater Sound shalt be thy refuge whenst a circuit in the main board blows two hours before a Fifth Sunday Singing.
16. When you haven't had time to do a proper sound check, the starting volume of a mic being held by a member of the choir during a special is inversely proportional to the individual singer's ability to sing on key.
15. Thou shalt not turn the volume all the way up when the pastor whispers something to the head Deacon during a business meeting lest ye be prepared to confess having a mischievous spirit.
14. When riding gain on the sanctuary sound system during a special by the church's Southern Gospel quartet thou shalt be certain tithers get their money's worth out of the new 5,000 watt amps they so generously funded.
13. Thou salt always place new batteries in the pastor's wireless mic lest the batteries shalt die in the midst of the morning sermon.
12. Thou shalt properly lockout and tagout all circuit breakers before working on thy equipment lest thou shalt bounce off the audio booth wall while seeking to repair the main amp.
11. Installing a surge protector ordains that thou shalt have one additional piece of junk to dispose of whence lightning strike the sanctuary sound booth or shroud thereof.
10. Cause thou the switch that supplieth large quantities of juice to be properly tagged, that thy days in this Earth be long.
9. Prove to thyself that all circuits that radiateth and upon which thou toil are grounded and thusly marked with a warning label lest they lift thee unto electronics heaven
8. Tarry thou not amongst those fools that engageth in intentional shocks, for they are surely non believers and are not longeth for this world.
7. Take care that thou useth the proper method when thou taketh the measure of a high voltage circuit, lest thou incinerate both thyself and thy meter.
6. Take care thou tampereth not with insulation, circuit panel covers, interlocks and safety devices, for this incurreth the wrath of thy supervisor and bringeth the fury of the electrical inspector upon thy head and about thy shoulders.
5. Toil not thou on energized equipment, for if thou so doest, thy fellow workers will surely buy flowers for thy grave and comfort thy widow and console her otherwise.
4. Service thou equipment not alone, for electrical cooking is a slothful process and thou might sizzle in thine own juices for hours upon a hot circuit before thy Maker sees fit to end thy misery.
3. Trifle thou not with radioactive tubes and substances lest thou commenceth to glow in the dark liketh a lightning bug and thy wife hath no further use for thee except for thy wages.
2. Causeth thou wire to be diagramed including all modifications made by thee upon equipment under thy care lest thy successor teareth out his hair and goeth slowly mad in his attempt to discern what manner of creature madeth a nest in the wiring of such equipment.
1. Beware the lightning that lurketh in the undischarged capacitor, lest it cause thee to bounce upon thy backside in a most un technician like manner.
A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died.
So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them.
One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others. This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns.
Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden.
You can't be all things to all people. You can't do all things at once. You can't do all things equally well. You can't do all things better than everyone else. Your humanity is showing just like everyone else's.
So...
You have to find out who you are, and be that. You have to decide what comes first and do that. You have to discover your strengths, and use them. You have to learn not to compete with others, Because no one else is in the contest of "being you".
Then...
You will have learned to accept your own uniqueness. You will have learned to set priorities and make decisions. You will have learned to live with your limitations. You will have learned to give yourself the respect that is due, And you'll be a being that's vitally alive.
Dare To Believe...
That you are a wonderful unique person. That you are a once-in-all-history event. That it's more than a right, it's your duty, to be who you are. That life is not a problem to solve, but a gift to cherish, and you'll be able to stay one up on what used to get you down.
TO: Commander and Chief Spiritual Armed Forces, Jesus Christ
Dear Lord; I am writing this to You to request a transfer to a desk job. I herewith present my reasons: I began my career as a private, because of the intensity of the battle You have quickly moved me up in the ranks. You have made me an officer and given me a tremendous amount of responsibility. There are many soldiers and recruits under my charge. I am constantly being called upon to dispense wisdom, make judgments, and find solutions to complex problems. You have placed me in a position to function as an officer, when in my heart I know I have only the skills of a private. I realize that You have promised to supply all I would need for the battle.
But Sir, I must present You a realistic picture of my equipment. My uniform, once so crisp and starched, is now stained with tears and blood of those I have tried to assist. The soles of my boots are cracked and worn from the miles I have walked trying to enlist and encourage the instructed troops. My weapons are marred, tarnished and chipped from constant battle against the enemy. Even the Book of Regulations I was issued has been torn and tattered from endless use. The words are now smeared.
You have promised You would be with me throughout, but when the noise of the battle is so loud and the confusion is so great, I can neither see nor hear You. I feel so alone.
I'm tired. I'm discouraged. I have Battle Fatigue. I would never ask You for a discharge. I love being in Your service. But I humbly request a demotion and transfer. I'll file papers or clean latrines. Just get me out of the battle--please, Sir.
Many of my readers know I love watching Survivor. I never miss an episode, even if I have to stay up late watching tivo after a full night of activities! Survivor China premieres September 20th and that is not soon enough! The cast has been announced and here is a video of them to help you get familiar with them.
I have read buzz about who is the possible winner already, although I need to read up. The best source for spoilers is Survivor Fever, so I will be setting aside time to read there soon. I used to spend so much more time reading spoiler info, but my time seems so much more limited now.
I enjoyed watching So You Think You Can Dance, although I wanted Danny to win. I could watch that guy forever! He is SO powerful (masculine)and yet so graceful at the same time. The irony of that really hooked me in. He has the most amazing stretch on his jumps
I like to zone out over at You Tube and get lost in his videos now.
I've watched this change every day, always seems something new popping up. Some days it was searches for my answers to the Outlook Calendar holidays. Some days it was searches for photography. It seems the Canadian Googlers (google.ca) are at the top of the list often for various searches.
Now how did Hummie know that about Canada Googlers? I learned it from Yahoo Groups. Yahoo Canada always has the "ca." Did you know that searches on yahoo.com groups do not search Canada groups? Want to find a new group not before discovered, try the other sites! How about Yahoo Germany? (That would always be "de.") Yahoo Spanish? Yahoo French (always "fr.") See them all here!
It is also interesting to check out their news stories, music, television shows, etc. It really gives a new incite on the cultures in other parts of the world.
I think I know too much sometimes, don't you?
Oh, I was sidetracked! Back on track now.
I suppose the goal of this Romlet widget, however, is to encourage people to link to you. Then they can come to your blog and feel happy to see themselves at the top of your Romlet. I guess that would give me warm fuzzies to see, but I'm not so sure I would purposefully strive for such a feat.
I cannot seem to make myself go to sleep tonight. Hubby has been transferred temporarily to nights. Actually, he got transferred in an effort to help out our neighbor who is also employed there. They have a new baby and are trying to arrange their schedules so that one of them is always home so they do not have to hire a babysitter. Until their life is straightened out, our life is messed up.
In addition, the oldest is off to college and the other two are at band camp every night, so I am home alone, well, just me and Abbie Rae.
The boys are now safely tucked in bed, but I cannot seem to go to sleep without Hubby.
I read these lyrics by Harry Chapin and it made me realize that there are SO many lonely people in the world tonight. Isn't it amazing how just picturing in my head all the other lonely people out there makes me feel less lonely.
Jesus, I pray for all the lonely people in the world tonight. So many of them have needs so much greater than I do. You know their needs, Lord, and I ask you to help each one of them in their own accord. May they feel Your loving arms wrapped around them and know that they are okay.
Wanna join me in a sentimental, sappy evening? How many times can I listen to this song by Harry Chapin and get transformed into oblivion? Yes, my children are becoming me in a lot of ways.
Interesting how this later version, the one I recognize, has evolved somewhat as he sang it over and over.
This was the boys' first day of school photo. I know, they were like ..."ahhh...mom!...we're too old for this!" They were such troopers to pose for Mom any way.
It is hard to keep up with Sarah! Here are six more of her templates converted to rectangle. Please give her credit for these and not me.
She writes that she will only have 30 templates, but may have another surprise later. Hmmm! Whatever it is, I know it will be good!
I guess thereafter I can offer some more of my own templates. She's giving me a break! (--although I do love her templates and would never stop downloading them) Download expired.
I invite everyone to join me! You may share a link to your photos or to a layout with photos.
The challenge is to take photos utilizing frames in the setting. The most often seen use of this is at playgrounds and, since I walked by one yesterday during my PhotoWalking, I snapped some shots.
Be creative and share! There are many more frames in settings than just at the playground! I look forward to seeing your entries.
I am in a sullen mood today. Even my e-mails do not call to me to be read.
I watched my son drive off into the night at 3:00 a.m. for a 10 to 11 hour drive to college.
I always say that scrapping can be such good therapy, so I cried right through making this layout this morning.
Template is one I converted by Sarah. Papers were freebies by Krista. I love the colors. I actually used these Rubberbands too. They look awesome, but I found the size a bit small and that disappointed me. Nonetheless, I enlarged them, used blending modes, and lowered the opacity to create some special effects on my layout. For my layout, leaving them in "rubberband color" seemed to take the eye away from the photo, so I improvised. Isn't playing fun?
My best find today, though, was the wonderful poems by Thena Smith. The quote on the page is from this poem she wrote. I did change the word "teenager" to "son" to fit my page. The whole poem is so applicable to a mother/son relationship that I should be able to pull other words from it for other layouts. Thena has a remarkable grasp on special moments and relationships that enables her to utilize her talent in writing to express our thoughts for us perfectly. Her poems are perfect for layouts. I see she has some books for sale and I may have to add that to my Kaboodle.
Ever since Sharon pointed me to PhotoWalking, the idea has been on my mind.
I am not one to enjoy walking, especially with my bad feet. Music does not even keep the dullness away.
So, when I read this idea, I thought, "what better way to motivate me to walk and exercise!" I love photography and if I make the goal more to take photos than to exercise, I am more likely to walk.
Someone said to me that it would decrease her exercise as she paused to take photos. The way I see it, the choice is to be encouraged to walk by taking photos or not walk at all with no motivation.
I went on my first walk this morning. I awoke a little after 5 a.m. and tried to go back to sleep. PhotoWalking during sunrise was on my mind and, therefore, just before 6 a.m. I grabbed Abbie Rae and we set out to drive to the park. I like the idea of driving to different locations to get different photos as that would also keep the walking interesting.
I found it somewhat difficult to take clear photos with Abbie pulling on the leash. At first she did not understand my need to photograph. And she kept wanting to walk on my right side which would not work either with my camera in my right hand.
I am placing some of my photos in a slideshow at the bottom of my blog. You can scroll all the way down to see them. I will update the slideshow each time I walk. I choose the gallery setting so you can scoot past the ones you have already seen next time you view. If you click on "view all images" it will take you to a page where you can read the titles I put in.
First, I received a $50 donation yesterday and I sat at my computer with my jaw dropped, wondering if I were reading it wrong! A big thank you from the bottom of my heart is extended as I am actually at a loss of words! Me, at a loss of words? Imagine that! But no words seem enough.
I hope Adobe hurries to put out PSE6 soon as I have enough funds to purchase it now and will get right to writing tutorials with it to help others.
My second thank you is a bit overdue. I planned on sharing this right away, but then things piled up. Imagine that!
Lori Giles made this adorable badge for my website to promote my tutorials and it just made my heart melt! I have always been attracted to her previews and know she is just the sweetest lady. Be sure to stop by and see her store. Also, I am sure she would not mind if you utilized the badge she created. You can se a sample of it in her sidebar.
***** What a way to start a weekend, huh? Warm fuzzies abound!
It is moments like these of people reaching out to me that makes me want to send out to other people in hopes that the love will come full circle back to those who shared with me.
Thanks to all who participated in the Tailgate Party, both hosts and those who shared layouts!
The party ended September 22nd when all prizes were given out.
To see who won each prize, click on the "Tailgate Party" tab on the ribbons at the top of the blog.
Read here to join the party. Join our tailgate party now! Just add the link to your layout at DST Gallery or your blog to Mr. Linky with a "heirloom" theme. The theme is open to interpretation and could cover a wide variety of layouts.
Let's get ready to party before the main event! What is the main event, you ask? Digital Scrapbooking has a new holiday!
The first Saturday of November every year has been declared Digital Scrapbooking Day! This is similar to National Scrapbooking Day, but exclusive to computer scrapping! We all know how much fun NSD is! Now we have our very own DSD!
So mark your calendars for Saturday, November 3, 2007, and watch the Digital Scrapbooking Day Blog for details! Send your thanks to Susan White for organizing this day! In addition, did a little birdie tell me Angie Pederson had something to do with this?
I will be letting you know when the official announcement with more details will be coming out!
In addition, DSD will be hosting the November 1st blog carnival!
Here is how the tailgate party works!
Post a layout on your blog or at DST's gallery. Create a layout with "heirloom" photos and/or memorabilia.
If you create a blog post, provide something of interest to other party goers. A recipe? A digiscrapping technique? Resources? A video? Inspiration? Parenting tips? A freebie? Decorate your blog room for the party. Use your imagination!
Sign Mr. Linky Add the link to your gallery post or your blog post to Mr. Linky. Please use a DIRECT link (not the main link to your blog). 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 or a DST Gallery Layout.
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!
Win a prize. The blog party will run as long as we have prizes up until November 3rd. Beginning Saturday, August 25th, my hubby will draw a number to choose a winner. The numbers will match the entries in Mr. Linky. Winners will be drawn daily until all prizes are gone. Winners will be announced on this blog. Winners are responsible for contacting the person giving the prize (by e-mail).
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.
Bloggers, Grab the Code! (Optional) Include on your post the DSD Tailgate Party icon and Mr. Linky. You will be able to see new links right from your own blog!
First, if you do not have the necessary code in your html template on your blog yet, you will need to add it, but just once. Put it directly after the "head" code on a new line.
Add this code to your blog post.
Submit a Door Prize (OPTIONAL) Write me to donate a prize. A list of prizes will be added to the bottom of this post. If desired, feel free to donate more than one prize. I need a description of your donation, a link to your store or blog, and the e-mail address you would like the winner to contact you at.
DOOR PRIZE LIST.Please visit the sponsors and patronize them! Click on their names to visit their stores.
19. Heather Manning has donated a prize pack consisting of "The Folded Flowers," "Jordan's Sandy Beach," and 1 other kit from her store (personal use only) (E-mail)
23. Heather Manning has donated a prize pack consisting of "The Folded Flowers," "Jordan's Sandy Beach," and 1 other kit from her store (personal use only) (E-mail)
24. Debb Cozzi has donated a prize of a free 3-month membership to the Scrapbook Artisan Guild. Guild membership entitles the member to a monthly Guild kit, a monthly mini class and a monthly on-line magazine (The Artisan Notebook). (E-mail)
25. Maggie has donated a $10 coupon to her store (E-mail)
Hummie's World is a place for digital scrapbookers to participate in a community to learn digital scrapbooking through videos and tutorials using Photoshop Elements. There are classes available for all program users.
Come and share and grow with us!
The Subscriber Area is low cost at $5.50 per month to access all there is available here at HW.
Any good, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-being, let me do it now; let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.- Drummond
Some Christian writings are a collection of poems, inspirations, and writings sorted by topic. Great for church secretaries or sharing by e-mail. Some writings are not my own, but are believed to be public domain, except when credit is given. It is my intention to obey copyright laws and, therefore, if you are the author of any of these writings and desire the writing to be removed, please do let me know. If you are aware of any credit that should be given to a writing, please let me know.
I shared this technique on the band layout the other day and wanted to do a quick tutorial in Photoshop Elements. It is so easy to do!
Templates 27, 28, and 29 -Download Expired
Please e-mail her to claim your prize!
