...here we go again

sadness

2011-06-17T21:44:00.000-05:00

Today, I went to two memorial services for soldiers that died. When we were at Ft. Riley, I think I went to at least one a week while Dave was deployed. My battle buddy, Suzanne, and I decided it was the right thing to do even if the soldiers were not from our battalion. Fortunately, we only had two from the battalion, for those were tougher. As time went on, we ceased crying at them..and worried that we were getting too jaded at the loss of life to care. I wondered if I ever would cry at them again. I think emotionally, we were probably just too overwhelmed and had to compartmentalize our feelings somewhat. We were always sad at the loss of life, fearful that it could be us receiving that knock at the door, and trying to soldier on pretending that we were strong enough to just deal with it all. Now, 3 years later and some time away...I can shed tears for the soldiers who died, and the families who grieve without worrying that if I do I will lose control and never stop crying. I find myself finally letting the wall down and letting myself be happy and sad without being so sad that I can't deal with it. It's a step in the right direction. I hope I've also learned that it is okay to lean on others a bit, and let my worries and fear show, and to not pretend to be superwoman.

Templates

2011-06-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

I've made a couple of templates in various classes at JessicaSprague.com but nothing I've ever come up with compares to this Anna Aspnes template..I just love the various brushes and elements she puts on them..and you can use those elements in other places as well! Win/Win! Thank you Jeanne, about that reminder. :o)

Paper and elements LivEDesigns Sing for Spring, at jessicasprague.com

Thank you, God

2010-11-26T11:42:00.002-06:00

For keeping my family safe.
For providing us with a roof over our heads.
For giving us good food to eat.
For good friends.
Most of all, for the love and laughter given to me by the family you've given me.

phinished product from photoshop phun

2010-11-23T23:14:00.002-06:00

So, I'm a little behind...The layout I got printed on canvas I couldn't mount on the canvas frame because it turned out a smidge smaller than 12x12. (and I was expecting 'extra' around it as well, that got trimmed off. Live and learn...) So, I got a 12x12 shadowbox at Michaels and put it in there. Put it on some paper and then mounted the paper to the inside of the shadowbox because I was afraid the canvas wouldn't stick to the fuzzy background.
I punched leaves from some K and Company paper, and used Martha Stewart rhinestones for bling.

or.......I would show you but I can't.......how anti-climactic. I'll try and add the photo some other way. ::mumbles:: stupidblogger....

.Finished layout.. <----reduced to adding a link. Blogger kept rejecting the photo, I don't know if it's too big or what.

sad, pointless, senseless, waste.

2010-11-21T22:10:00.003-06:00

We just returned from the funeral of my niece, Laura. Laura was a loving, giving, friendly girl. An art education major in college, she was student teaching and taking a full load of classes at the same time. From what I have pieced together in all the stories I heard over the weekend, Laura was seriously let down by her advisors, supervisors and supposed mentors. Her family saw the depression, and the despair and tried to help. Her mother took her to the doctor. Laura fell behind in her classes. She was told she didn't have control of the students as a student teacher. Last week, she and her mother were contacting Laura's professors to see if she could get extensions or some other accomodation to have time to finish her classes, so that she could concentrate on improving her teaching. None were forthcoming. For whatever reason, though, that day dear, sweet Laura hit bottom and didn't see a way up. She felt she had failed and disappointed her family and friends. While from the light of day, we understand that there is no disappointment in her, to her it was crushing.
I'll miss her smile, laughter, and love. RIP.

phun with photoshop

2010-11-07T01:12:00.003-05:00

I think I'm a total digi convert now. I was going to print out this photo, scrap it on canvas for a fundraiser. I'd already played with the photo to make it look more like a painting and today, as I was getting ready to upload it for printing out......well. I decided to play.
My own photo, Anna Aspenes' brushes
(and, fyi...some UPS stores will print things for you..this is being printed on canvas for FIVE BUCKS. deal! Now all I have to do is mount it..har har)

SQUEE!

2010-09-06T00:40:00.002-05:00

Oh, yeah, I really did say that out loud when I read my latest email from JessicaSprague.com!
COSMO CRICKET now has a digi kit for sale at Jessica Sprague! Oh my the cute girly goodness! I'll be buying that one soon. I hope things go so well for the Cosmo/Spragueground team-up that they introduce many more kits. Love CC, Love Jessica Sprague!
Check it out! www.jessicasprague.com

on the move..or..here we go again! lol

2010-01-21T00:42:00.004-06:00

In the Army, we've had many opportunities and many changes come our way. We knew we were moving this summer, and were fairly certain it would be Carlisle, PA to the War College. I was happy with that, it's a very interesting place and only a few hours to DC or NYC and a few more to Katie and family. Sadly, even further from Tim and family, but an ok plane trip.
And then...divine intervention.
Dave has been on the alternate list for brigade command for 2 years running. It's pretty rare that someone doesn't accept their command, and since the list came out back in June and there are thirty days to accept/decline we'd written off the possibility. Then came the phone call on Sunday: "you've been activated for a command''. No more details were available at the time, and Monday being a holiday we had to wait for Tuesday for more information. An agony of waiting and a flurry of speculation ensue over the next 36 hours, with little sleep along the way.
Now, the Army is a strange entity; 'they' will post a list of who gets a command and what kind it will be in the spring, but you have to wait until summer to find out where that command is. Well, in the same manner Dave was told 'you'll have to accept it before we can give you any details'. Dave has an idea of where it is and we discuss it. It is a chance for him to lead, and to make a difference in the warfight, and it's 'only 2 years, I can live ANYPLACE for two years and find something to do.'
So, today he accepted it and I guess officially we'll be moving to Ft. Polk, LA in May. I can safely say I won't need a snow shovel for the next two winters. :-)

Thawing out

2010-01-12T15:39:00.003-06:00

It has been soooo cold here the last week or so that all I've wanted to do is bundle up and sleep. The sun is out now, and the temps are at least hovering around freezing instead of 0 and below. I just can't wait for spring!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T21:35:00.002-06:00

May God bless each of you in this coming year. I never keep resolutions, so I won't make any...instead I'll just pray that God uses me however He sees fit. :-)

In just 6 months we'll be moving again. I have a love/hate relationship with moving. I love new places and exploring, yet I always hate to say goodbye to the friends I know and love. It takes me longer than I like to make friends, and goodbyes always come faster than I am prepared for. The good thing about THIS move will be that it will mean that Dave will not have to travel anywhere for a year. A whole year! We can be a family, have family routines that are dependable. It will be Andrew's last year at home (in school anyway, who knows what the future brings for him) so it will be very nice for him and his dad to have some quality time together. The bad news about this move-it's a year. In July 2011 we'll be packing it up again for a whole new adventure.

I am excited for a new Jessica Sprague class coming up very soon, and I've been toying with the idea of signing up for the Illustrator class she is offering. It is not with Jessica, and I am not sure how Illustrator would fit in. We'll see after the Pen tablet class-it may all become clear that I absolutely cannot live without learning more about Illustrator. :-)

And in my last non sequitur of the day, organic coconut oil really does rock for dry skin. My friend Jeanne mentioned it a few weeks ago so I grabbed some while we were in Kansas city. My feets and hands are very happy. It's not greasy, and the coconut smell is very light. So, thank you Jeanne!

White Christmas?

2009-12-22T16:05:00.002-06:00

It's possible! Right now it's 51, cloudy and rain predicted. Thursday night, though, it's supposed to turn cold and there is a 50% chance of snow. I don't want much, just a pretty dusting on the ground.

oh my gosh

2009-12-20T16:28:00.004-06:00

I'm done shopping. wrapping. shipping. I think this is a FIRST!
Now, the tree is still nekkid,and the cards are not done......but the tree won't take long and I don't have all that many cards. :-) YAY
And, the commissary had a tri-tip, so we're going to have that Christmas day-it'll be just the three of us this year, which is REALLY WEIRD, but just the way things worked out. We're heading to MIL's on the 26th.

I blog??

2009-12-14T13:27:00.003-06:00

only sometimes!
I think I want to live in Florida. Dave suggested that if we got a condo in Orlando, he bets our children would come visit. hehe I told him the only problem with Orlando, is you don't get those lovely ocean breezes that help with the humidity. I'll bet if we got a place anywhere in FL they'd come visit.
We had a wonderful time at Disney World, but oh my gosh is that place H U G E. I thought we'd get through it all in 5 days-nope. I suppose we'll have to go back--sigh--
One thing I noticed-I always wake up with a headache here in MO. In FL, no headache! No stress? Different stuff in the air? I wish I knew.
I am all of a sudden behind in Christmas preparations-no tree up yet, no cards done. Some presents have been bought and distributed, some just bought. I still have a few more to buy. :-)
I'm thankful for vacations and getting away from responsibility, but I'm also thankful for being able to relax at home and put my feet up. That's what I've been doing so far today-catching up on emails, blogs, facebooks, and laundry.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2009-08-06T00:53:00.009-05:00

July blew by, with some absolutely gorgeous weather to go outside and play in. yay!!! We got to go see Tim graduate from Air Force Basic training, and spend a little bit of time with his family. This was the first time all the grandchildren have been together, and the girlies got on famously!
There was a lot of hand holding and hugging, and cute getting to know each other playing.
Tim looked wonderful, if quite a bit THINNER. It was beastly hot in Texas, but everyone held up well. I got to meet a fellow AOL scrap buddy, Tinka! She's was a lotta fun, and took me to a crop with her. We took the obligatory foot photos, as well as a photo of us together. Tinka is an AMAZING scrapbooker. She 'threw together' several layouts, and each of them was gorgeous. I plugged along on a project I'd brought along, which was very basic while she was using all sorts of fun stuff. She teaches a heritage class, and made me wish I lived there just so I could go to her classees and hang out with her.

When you have children you are aware that they grow up, but it seems like you're always so busy with just the daily things you don't notice the changes going on in them. I find myself wishing for time to stand still; they're so cute right now that I want to prolong it so I can really savor the changes going on. Benji (20mos) has conversations with himself all the time, but yesterday I understood him saying: 'What's that? I don't know' A lot of his words are mimicking Anna, but he can make himself understood much of the time. When he wants more to eat or drink, he says 'more please'. He LOVES to jump off things, which sometimes makes my heart stop, and is an adorable little monster when he acts like Godzilla. RAWR! Anna is learning to write her name-a month ago she wouldn't have the patience to try and make the letters, she just wanted you to do it. She can say all the letters of the alphabet, and very neatly rolls up ribbon (when she wants to). She's working on numbers, but often reminds me of King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail "1, 2, 5" (three, sir) 3! She loves to draw, and is good at pointing out facial features.

Andrew turned 16 a few days ago-my baby. He has his drivers permit, and has driven several times already. So far he has been very conscientious, and anxious to do well. Missouri requires teens to have their permit for 6 months, and he plans to have a lot of practice under his belt in those 6 months.
It is time to be planning for the new school year, and I find myself feeling behind the power curve. I know generally what Andrew will be studying, but haven't made a schedule yet. I have some books to find, and some to reshelve from last year. It seems like I've not hardly sat down for the last 3 weeks-always something else to DO. I signed up for Jessica Sprague's class on Brushes..and oh my such great STUFF she includes in her classes! I like that the daily lesson is fairly short, because right now anything with great detail would not get done. I'm having trouble keeping up as it is. So Jeanne and Kel, feel free to IM me and drag me into doing what I love to do-play with digital photos and scrap them! :-) Hopefully soon I will feel sort of caught up on life so I can sit down and relax and scrap!

I found the cure for insomnia!

2009-06-03T12:51:00.002-05:00

Toddlers! I'm so tired at the end of the day that I've not been having any trouble sleeping for 6 or 7 hrs straight.
Plus they're fun!!!

I must be super talented...

2009-05-17T20:29:00.002-05:00

I can have insomnia in ANY time zone. yay me!
I'm here in Germany, enjoying my time with Katie and her family, but man o man! J E T L A G!
And of course, it doesn't help that I had my Sunday nap...only about 4 times as long as a 'normal' Sunday nap!
But it was a gorgeous day, and I did play outside with the kids for awhile. Yu'd think I'd be darn worn out, but no. I should have taken my camera, but I was too busy actually playing to get to take pictures. I hope we have more nice weather, so we can all go out again. Anna and Ben are just too darn cute sometimes (and other times typical siblings...MINE! No, MINE! HEYYYYYY! MOMMYYYYYYYY!!!!) but they are usually cooperative and get along well. Anna loves pink, which makes me giggle since mommy is not a pink lover. I keep telling her to embrace the pink, and Anna certainly has a fair number of pink outfits. Yesterday at supper, Katie gave them their food-one was a yellow plate, one a pink. She set the yellow one in front of Anna who calmly said "No...that one's Bens!" and waited nicely for mom to switch them. I told Katie she needs to keep a mommy journal, because this is the age of those verbal gems that crack you up (even when you're not supposed to laugh!) but fade so swiftly. I am looking forward to having them come for an extended visit. Just a few more weeks!

Where did April go?

2009-05-04T02:06:00.003-05:00

I lost April. I blinked and it whizzed by. How is it that life, which seems so plain and every day can whiz by? Was I busy? Too busy? *sigh* I feel like there is never enough time in the day-especially those days I get lost on the computer. What did I do before I had a computer? Ahh I read. A lot. But wait..I STILL read a lot. Oh. Clean house? I'm supposed to cook supper? Those things can wait because I have to decide what I want to plant out front. How is it that I've been looking at flowers for five hours?? And did you know that just reading updates on facebook can take an hour? I don't even want to talk about email...and then there are the blogs, I must check those and see who has written something new...
But back to April. Maybe I just blocked it out because I had to pay taxes. I know I took a lot of pictures, because I've spent a lot of time editing them. (I obsess a little over the pictures. Should I go with the auto white balance? Should I tweak this juuuuuuust a little more? Is this how I saw it, or was it different? Do I want it to look realistic or...? When will I remember to put the wrist strap on when I use the point and shoot so I don't have to clone it out?)
And now it is May. May, the month of birthdays. Daughter, sister, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, multiple friends. They remind me to spend time thinking of someone other than myself, and be part of the world once again. Maybe May will be the month that lazily drifts by, with plenty of time to do all I want to do. A girl can dream.

playin it cool...ha, what's that??

2009-04-18T23:09:00.006-05:00

Jeanne introduced me to the wonders of textures on photos, and to a group who do a challenge every couple of weeks. I'm so psyched about this that I already did the photo sent out today... lol
I'm afraid if I sit and think about it I will totally forget to send it in. It's sooooooo much fun to play with making a photo into a whole different work of art than how it started.
I'll have to find where I downloaded some textures, since there was no name associated with them in the file. (OOPS) I know where I found the link to them, though, so it shouldn't be too difficult. (I hope!)
And for Katie, here is a picture of a jack-in-the-pulpit; she's been having to listen to me wonder when they were going to show up at Maramec for 3 weeks. lol

and one more of the dogwood, which I have to say I didn't notice any perfume from the flowers either pleasant or unpleasant.

masking fun

2009-04-15T01:41:00.006-05:00

Hanging out at jessicasprague.com, you see many different styles of layouts and scrapping. One of the gals that hangs out there, Anke, uses page masks to get an ethereal style of scrapping that is just beautiful. This is my first attempt at doing a page mask, and it was a lot of fun figuring it out. I figured out *a* way to do them, but I don't know if it is the best way. I'll find a tutorial sometime, I guess. I masked the background paper over the photo, and did a layer mask to lightly erase over the photo.

Paper and flowers: Kaye Winiecki
brushes: Liv Esteban, Anna Aspnes
Fonts: Scriptina, CK cursive

more Maramec

2009-04-10T21:25:00.008-05:00

I am really enjoying going to Maramec Spring every week, but today was chilly and wet and I sooooooo didn't want to go!
We did anyway, and I was pleased-dogwood! For me, that's the sure sign of spring, the first blossoms tinged with green and changing to snowy white when in full bloom.

We've had a lot of rain this week, and the water was even a little higher than last week, but fairly clear. I got a nice picture of the falls just below the spring since it was a cloudy day. The first week we went this year, the water was low enough that it was possible to walk across the falls on the rocks. No more, unless you have a desire for a battered body as the water sweeps you down the river.

The spring on average puts out 100,000 gallons of water a day I think, and I suspect today was well over average. It is mesmerizing to stand and watch the water boil out of the underground spring and flow on downstream. The sound of the falls blocks out all conversation and other sounds. It is a peaceful place to be, to absorb the wonder of God's creation. Each time we go there is something new-new life, to be sure, but also the circle of life. Flowers grow and die, fish get released to nourish some lucky persons body...all things that remind us we are a small cog in God's creation, and it is humbling. The bounty of beauty in the springtime is a joy to watch unfold, and I feel blessed to witness it.
Although, my daughter tells me you don't want to take time to smell the dogwood, only admire it. Apparently it isn't a particularly pleasing fragrance. :-) I'll have to go smell for myself next week, and report back, since I've never smelled dogwood.

of course we have to look towards the spring-just look how nice and lush it is getting!

A close up of the redbud. It got hit pretty hard by the cold snap, but it is still quite lovely.
I can't wait to see what next week brings!

Hybrid scrapping

2009-04-09T03:09:00.003-05:00

I've been taking a new class at JessicaSprague.com called Scrapbook Alchemy. In this class, we made a photo block with a title on it and did the journaling on the computer. Then we printed it out (on the same page to save paper!), cut it apart and used regular supplies to finish the layout. I really enjoyed it, and I will do the second 'episode' as well. It was nice to use some of the supplies I've had laying around, and I went to the local scrapbook store today to pet some new paper. I didn't buy anything, I was just looking to see what's new. Since I decided to start digi scrapping, I haven't really been scrap shopping, except for a few hundred megabytes of downloads. (Boy do they add up quickly!)
So, this is the first layout. My granddaughter Eliza just turned three, and I loved these pictures that were sent to me. She looks so happy and excited with everything! She was still talking about Lightning McQueen a few days later-so she really was thrilled with the whole deal.
Larisa Jensen, photos, K&Co papers, Marcel script and swish fonts, Georgia font, Jessica Sprague paper, prima flowers, daisy d die cut.

Pokey pokey pokey

2009-04-09T02:47:00.005-05:00

I really don't know where the time flies! We went to Maramec last friday, and I've had all the photos edited for a few days, just haven't taken the time to write a post.
There wasn't much growth, since we've had a cold snap. A few things looked kind of wilty, but for the most part everything survived. This Friday will be another interesting one, because we've had below freezing temps for 4 nights.
There had also been a lot of rain, so the water was very murky instead of clear and sparkly. It was higher, as well, which made for prettier
waterfalls. :-)

Higher, murky water

rushing water

More rushing water. :-)
And for the first time EVER, in all the times I've been there:

He was catching fish to release them into the river. I learned that the fish take about 7 months to get big enough to be released. These fish, of course, are so trained to jump at everything thinking that it's a morsel of food that I'm sure most of them end up in a frying pan. We watched him do his work for a few minutes, and he kindly answered any questions that we had.

Maramec Week 2

2009-03-27T23:12:00.007-05:00

Andrew and I went out to Maramec and took pictures again this week. It is fun to see the changes just one short week makes!

a bit greener

I did less editing on this view this week. Lots more green and some trees are budding out.

Spring Beauties (and some violets)

Dutchmans britches
Instead of one or two violets, here and there , there were many blooming now.
One more:

Redbud peeking out. :-)
We're supposed to get snow tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how much survives and if there are big changes next week.

more playing

2009-03-19T22:24:00.006-05:00

Since I am supposed to be making an album for my digi: in deep, I've been playing with overlays instead.
This is from Maramec Spring:

and this is after playing with it:

Such fun. Textures from ghostbones.

one of my favorite places on Earth

2009-03-19T19:12:00.007-05:00

When I was little, my mom discovered Maramec Springs, and took us there often. I have pictures from decades of visiting Maramec but I haven't been there since my mom died 4 years ago. The homeschool group here was looking for field trip, and I suggested Maramec. It's a little early in the year for much to be blooming/budding, but there were some trees greening up and some tiny flowers here and there. Everyone who went on the field trip really enjoyed it, and want to return. What a great feeling to share one of my beloved spots and have others enjoy it as well!
Here are a few pictures from the day:

the kids :-)

The spring

a violet

hints of green.
Andrew and I decided to go back every week for 6 weeks and document the progress of spring. He's going to keep track of temperatures and rainfall. It should be a lot of fun, and we'll make a scrapbook of all the pictures.
And yes, I used my newly learned skills from the photo-editing class at Jessica Sprague. :-)

just because I can

2009-03-14T23:59:00.004-05:00

wait..I guess the rest of that is "doesn't mean I should" lol
but just because I can, I desaturated the ubiquitous picture of Eliza at the piano, and made only her color.
Now, I see there is an action to do this, but I don't know anything about actions. I don't know if I could easily select what I want color and what I don't, but it's easy enough to do manually.
Don't zoom in. I was sloppy. lol (guaranteed to make ya'll look, isn't it!)
She's cute. I think it's time to focus on something else though lol

after Neat Image

2009-03-13T00:26:00.003-05:00

And the one edited only in photoshop:

What do you think? Very soft focus, since there was a LOT of noise.

Trying again

2009-03-12T23:50:00.003-05:00

This picture is gonna kill me. LOL Katie says it was blue. OK, so I was pretty tired..with a combo of Camera RAW and Photoshop editing, I THINK this is better. In camera RAW I was able to get rid of the harsh blown highlights in the photo from the other post and that helped quite a bit, but I couldn't edit the already edited in PS picture without making it look harsh.
So now. Tell me true. Better? Suggestions on improvements?

RAW(r)!

2009-03-12T01:13:00.004-05:00

I've been distracted from my goal of doing the photo editing class in conjunction with Digi:in deep, so I just finished lesson 2! RAW RAWKS haha
Here is the same photo edited in Photoshop earlier, edited in Adobe Camera RAW. It's NOT a great photo, but it's so. much. better.

Contrarily, instead of making the clarity sharp, I softened it-it took the weird pixelations out of the picture. Obviously, now it's not clear, but I think it looks more natural than it did the other way. And the color...so much more natural! yay! I can't say enough about how exciting it is to learn all these nifty tricks. I feel so edumacated! :-)

hard work!

2009-03-09T02:42:00.003-05:00

Week one of Digi: in deep is OVER. I didn't do any of the 'extra' stuff, just the basic assignments. This is the layout I did to practice the techniques that we learned over the week. My my, was it ever a LOT! I highly recommend Jessica's classes. She explains things very well, and says each step she is doing. Anyway, here is the layout:

Credits: Papers, ribbon, accent heart: Dianne Rigdon Made in the Shade
Hemp tie: Katie Pertiet
Font: One Fell Swoop, Trebuchet MS
Scroll brush: Mary Ann Wise

Editing

2009-03-08T01:37:00.004-06:00

I was reading other blogs, and looked at a tutorial for textures on Summer Driggs blog, in which she added texture to a photo and then erased it where she didn't want it. LIGHTBULB MOMENT!!! The other day when I used a texture on a photo of Eliza to cover up the background, I didn't like that it made her darker as well. So I went back and erased the texture over her and plopped it in the layout. Posted it below, in the original post, 'On a roll'.
I don't know what I'd do without all these people to hold my hand and teach me things! Just keep using short words and talk slowly. I'll get it. Eventually.

Confession

2009-03-05T11:30:00.003-06:00

I really would prefer to stay home and play at the Spraground than take Andrew to the once-weekly home school co-op. Tempting...but the guilt...

Photo Editing

2009-03-03T01:02:00.005-06:00

So, I've signed myself up for two classes at Jessica Sprague--one, Digi in Deep that I've been so excited about, and the other is Photo Editing: Good-to-great workflow. I'm doing lesson one on both, and I looooove them! I've already learned so much, including I always do things the hard way (aka the not quite right way!lol)
After doing the photo editing, I picked a photo that I really like, but is SERIOUSLY dark. This is the starting point:
I couldn't get her to let me take pictures with the flash, she would cover her eyes and not look at me. So I took them without a flash, knowing they wouldn't be great, but wanting some of her playing around on the piano. This is what I ended up with:
The photo is still not the best, but sooooo much better. This isn't in Adobe Camera Raw, I will try that tomorrow and see if that turns out better.

confused weather

2009-02-28T00:02:00.002-06:00

Yesterday: 65
Tomorrow: 30 with 3-4 inches of snow.

yeah. What season is it again?

woohoo!

2009-02-26T17:00:00.002-06:00

My Photoshop upgrade is here! ::Jumping up and down in excitement::

part two

2009-02-25T22:10:00.005-06:00

The reaaaaaaal story is that Anna thought she would be in trouble for unfolding the map, and was ready to turn on the waterworks. But when Mommy thought it was funny, she was all smiles. So this picture was actually the first taken, and yesterdays the second. But I like my story better, and I'm stickin to it!

Credits:
Katie Hursh, photo. Jessica Sprague, papers; Home away from Home collection. Brushes, Anna Aspenes; HP korners and edges. Carrie Stephens, buttons; Spontaneous Delight collection. CK Mindi font.

I must be getting caught up, right?

2009-02-25T01:52:00.003-06:00

I did another layout today, even though I was thinking I would take the day off. I can't wait for the digi in deep class next week, because I feel my Photoshop knowledge is so limited. I'm sure there is more I can do, but how? I scrap digi the same way I scrap with paper and embellies. It seems like I should push the envelope a little and discover exactly what I can do digitally.
That being said, I do like this layout of my dgd Anna.

Doesn't she look so pleased with herself? Off on an adventure in the living room! I love how 2 year olds can find entertainment with things we'd consider pretty ho-hum.
Credits:
Katie Hursh, photo. Jessica Sprague, papers; Home away from Home collection. Brushes, Anna Aspenes; HP korners and edges. Carrie Stephens, buttons; Spontaneous Delight collection. CK Mindi font.

on a roll

2009-02-23T21:40:00.005-06:00

Thanks to Jeanne, with links to tons of textures, I was inspired to do another layout-this time of my other dgd, Eliza.
And in email, a reminder that registration for Digi in Deep at JessicaSprague.com is open! So I'm signed up and ready to go. I even ordered the upgrade for PS2. What a day!
Back to the layout-I used a texture downloaded from ghostbones @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/telzey/sets/72157611268347999/ to cover up the background and focus attention on Eliza.
I am still just amazed at how freakin easy it is to use textures! Basically a couple of clicks and you've totally changed the look of your photo!

Credits: Andrea Jones, Photo. Carrie Stephens, Spontaneous Delight papers and flowers. Dianne Rigdon, small green buttons. Font, Curlz. Brushes, Anna Aspenes HP korners and edges.
Texture on photo ghostbones.

I copy Jeanne

2009-02-23T03:54:00.005-06:00

So, in my conversation with Jeanne about all things digi, she asks me 'have you played with textures??' My answer..well, no, not really, just a little while in class. But what *I* was thinking of as textures was nothing like what Jeanne was thinking of as textures. So, I knew, because I stalk Jeanne, that she has a friend who posted a tutorial and because I can't sleep I went and did that tutorial. WHAT FUN! Of course, my results are no where as way cool as Jeanne and Veev's but I am still way jazzed at how fun this was.
Here is my start photo:

and here is my end photo:

I don't know if a person is allowed to have this much fun in a day. :-)

Finally! :-)

2009-02-23T00:54:00.004-06:00

I originally started this blog as a place to show my digital layouts and photos, and this is the FIRST layout I've done since I started! This is my dgd Anna, who can cop quite a 'tude when she wants to. Thanks Jeanne, for the nudge to use brushes! I tested quite a few on there before I decided that I liked the overlay the best. I just got a Wacom Bamboo tablet to help with editing photos (although I didn't edit this one) and played with it quite awhile this evening. I was surprised at how easy it was to get used to using. I kinda feel like I'm waving a magic wand in the air! lol Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I'm inspired to do more. I love this particular photo, so I may do several layouts with it, just for fun. Credits for papers and elements: Paper: Summer Driggs, A Year to Shine. Swirly Overlay: LivEdesigns SSun_fun pack, http//:livestories.wordpress.com
Murano Corners-puddle: LivEdesigns SSun_fun pack, http//:livestorie.wordpress.com, Font: Vivaldi; Font: Ruritania by Paul Lloyd (downloaded at www.dafont.com) Photo: Katie Hursh

adventure!

2008-11-23T20:00:00.006-06:00

Sometimes adventure finds you quite unexpectedly! As I get older, spontaneity has seemed to decline. I remember hopping in the car in my 20's, with kids, and just going for a drive! What fun we always had, either finding a park or a fun little store to explore. As the kids got older, school and life intruded, and those little adventures ceased.
Enter my daughter, traveling space available on military flights with her two small children. WOW, I admire that! Such bravery! Such intrepid-ness! Such ADVENTURE! She flew from Germany, with two car seats, a double stroller, two small children (aged 2.5 and 1) one suitcase. Amazing!
And best of all, she was doing all this to come see meeeeeeee! I miss my girl and her kids. Soon, they'll be back in the US and we can visit more often.
So, my dear daughter, flying space available with her two children, included us in her traveling adventure! There are rules to space available travel, and open to interpretation. Well, we interpreted them incorrectly. @@ We both thought, after reading several things, that as long as her ultimate destination was overseas that she would be able to fly out of Scott AFB (midwest) to the east coast and catch an overseas flight. Not so! So, after driving her there, we were kinda stuck on what to do. I'd checked out flight prices one-way to the DC area, but that was quite expensive and only part of the trip. So......
I offered to take her. To Dover, Delaware. 13 hours of driving from where we were. I called my dad to see if he could feed the cats, and Andrew's guitar teacher to cancel his lesson, anda friend of mine in DC to see if we could stay with her and off we went.
As an aside, the AF Sgt. manning the Space available counter was really pretty nice. He knew we were distressed, and when I told him what I had read that gave me the impression she could fly out of there he went right then to try and find it. It wasn't going to change his mind about letting her fly, but at least he was trying to understand. And he offered to print out driving directions to Dover for us. He also said it would probably be cheaper for her to fly, and I said I'd checked out that option, and we'd previously looked into a one-way rental for another situation and it was even more expensive than flying or driving. I appreciated him trying to help.
So, we get some money, fill up the car and buy a couple of toothbrushes and some other necessities and hop on the road.
After a couple of hours, I called Marsha. After telling me I'm nuts she said...Hey, I think you'll pass right by my hood! She was right! It was a total treat to meet her and Em at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We had a great time! Sadly, she pointed out that we still had around 8 hrs to go, so we got back on the road.
One of the drawbacks to spontaneity in traveling, is you don't exactly prepare. I didn't have a computer (or a change of clothes) or anything..so I had to stop and buy an atlas. I have a GPS-in the car we weren't driving. We took turns driving the next 8 or so hours and arrived in DC around 6:30 am. We visited with our friends for a little while and dropped into bed. I slept for about 3 hrs and woke up feeling pretty darn good! We showered and dressed and felt relatively human. Fortunately, Andrew had slept a lot in the car, so he could play with the kids and we could sleep. Without him, I don't know what we would have done!
We loaded up and left my friends around 6 pm. The report time for the flight was 10 pm, and it was estimated to take about 2.5 hrs to get to Dover. We encountered a little bit of traffic, but got to Dover and found the AFB around 9 pm. Katie went in to see if she could sign in, and they told her then-the flight is full. But, there was another leaving in the morning and she could try for that. I told her I really hated to leave her, but we HAD to head home on Thursday. So, we checked her into a hotel and said our good-byes; Andrew and I drove back to my friends in DC.
:-(
The next morning, Andrew and I got on the road after rush hour settled down. My friend told us that it was supposed to snow in Ohio and Pennsylvania that evening, but since we weren't going north I didn't really worry about that. I called Marsha, and told her that we were going to try and make it in one day, but Andrew talked me out of it. After we got out of West Virginia and into Kentucky, it started to snow! I told Andrew he must have ESP or something. Marsha talked us to her house and we went to WALMART right away to get Andrew something to sleep in. (yes, we're rednecks. Gotta check out all them wal-marts!) Then we picked up some dinner and hung out at Marsha's for the evening. I hadda great time! We just sat and talked for awhile, then I crashed in bed. (a very comfy bed!) I planned on leavin early, but of course, didn't. Sat and talked some more, hoping to get to see Marsha's new couch. We finally got on the road, and got home around 7 pm. :-) (and her couch got there 5 minutes after we left. OF COURSE!)
Part of the fun of traveling is playing games in the car. Andrew and I had a good time with word games and various silliness. He was my designated texter, as well, and would answer my text messages for me. My sis and I planned our Thanksgiving dinner via text! lol One of the things I always enjoyed when my kids were little and we had our little driving adventures was the discovery of new places. We saw a lot of places we thought would be fun on our trip home, and decided that we had to go back to DC in the spring; take our time getting there and see some of the fun things on the way. It's nice to have children who enjoy traveling and don't mind a little craziness in their lives!

Missing what you can't do

2008-09-30T11:37:00.002-05:00

I guess it is just human nature to want what we can't have. I want to scrap digitally, but all my pictures are gone, and I haven't yet found the Photoshop software to reinstall it anyway. So naturally, that is the desire of my days, to create something! Jeanne is doing, or just finished doing, a class that looks so neat and I'd love to do that as well. And this wanting has led to a very frustrating search for the power adapter for the external hard drive, because I KNOW the majority of the pictures are there. I'm about to just take that in as well, and have them take the stuff off of it and put it on my computer. Argh! This whole move has been one frustration after another, with the movers doing stupid stuff.

My, how it grows

2008-09-29T13:48:00.001-05:00

The scrapbooking stuff, that is! In unpacking, I am discovering just how much I had stuck 'here and there' in the other house. OY. I need an intervention!

Back on the home school track

2008-09-19T19:27:00.002-05:00

I never really thought that Andrew would want to return to home schooling, but here we are. This area has a really NICE group that does field trips and tries to get together once a week. We've been to the park the last couple of weeks, and it was a lot of fun.
I was concerned that Andrew would think that just because he was home again, he wouldn't have to work as hard. So far, he seems very motivated and gets everything I set for him to do (7 subjects/day!) done in about 5 hours of steady work. No goofing off, no piddling around-just gets to it and gets it done. I'm really pleased with his effort and his output so far. (ok, so it's been 3 weeks, but still!) He is pleased to not get up and jump on a bus, and fight the crowds at school. I needed a break from things myself, when Dave went to Iraq, and now I'm really glad to get back to it. There are only 3 more years and he's off to college, where ever that may be. We'll enjoy these 3 years, maybe doing more fun things and checking out more colleges than we would have if he'd only had spring break to do it.

Now if only I knew if my laptop was recoverable, I would be a TOTALLY happy camper! :-) Of course I meant to call today, but I got interested in a book and forgot until it was too late. oops!

Gustav

2008-09-04T16:06:00.002-05:00

Well, fortunately, Gustav wasn't 'as bad' as feared, although he did do a lot of damage. He's still a big system, and dumping rain in my hood yesterday and today. It's kind of amazing to think about, considering I am so far inland, that he could affect us so much! It's been steady, sometimes very heavy rain, but no wind or storms to go along with yet. Yesterday we had to drive to Rolla, and on the way home we saw a lot of waterfalls on the cuts in the rocks along the interstate. That was pretty cool, but also an indication of just how Gustav is dumping on us.

My friend Jeanne sent me a link to some new cool digi scrapping stuff, and it motivated me to find someone to fix my laptop so I can plaaaaaayyy! :-)

playing taps for the laptop

2008-09-03T17:27:00.002-05:00

I can't believe my laptop up and DIED! It's my lifeline, my repository for all my creative things, and my digital companion. Everything I've ever created digitally is on that computer. *sigh* I have to find a nerd to pull all the data off and transfer it to my external hard drive, and then cross my fingers that it can be reformatted.
I don't want a new computer, I like my Windows XP pro, with all the little bells and whistles. I like my PS CS2, which I am sure requires multiple downloads to make it Vista compatible. I don't want to downgrade to PS Elements, or upgrade to CS3 (although CS3 does make me drool!!!)
Fortunately, we have a plethora of computers here so I am not without mah fraends. :-)
And a minor complaint-just when things seem to be in hand financially-something like this always happens! @@ I feel like hard luck Harry or something.

She's got the accessories down..

2008-08-30T17:37:00.000-05:00

Now for a cute outfit and she's outta here!

where to start?

2008-08-29T18:46:00.000-05:00

Boxes intimidate me. Moving intimidates me. Next move, I think I'll hire someone, or bribe someone, to bully the movers into packing the way I want them to, not the way THEY want to. We've been here 2 months and I still can't find the curtains. Wouldn't you, if you put all the curtains in a single box, mark that box 'curtains'? Seems intuitively obvious to me.
There are a lot of things that still need fixed, and probably about 1/3 of the boxes still to unpack. I've several boxes of things for good will, which makes me very happy.
I still have only peeked in all the craft boxes. (no curtains! lol) My project this weekend is to get the basement arranged the way I want it, and unpack the crafts. THEN, I will have time to scrap!
I turned in our forms for damage claims, and now have to find people to give me estimates on repairs. Progress, slow though it is, is finally being made and this is starting to look and feel like a home.