Day Two

A Full Day of CKU!!

Apparently yesterday was only a trial run for a day at CKU. Today was the first full round of classes and events and crops and pictures and goodies and and and. I can see y’all now covering up your eyes so you don’t have to read any more! But I am going to torture you. MWAHAHAHAH.

Not really. I thought this over and decided not to take pictures of all the projects and cards and classes and stuff. Part of the fun of CKU is oohing and aahing over all the cool papers and acrylics and sketches. Right?

But I will tell you how the day progressed. I can tell you that I started at 6 AM blogging about the first day. I couldn’t sleep and hadn’t had a chance to blog at all. So I got the writing done. I didn’t post it until later when I could catch a break for 20 mins and post. Sorry for making you wait so long.

On to the good stuff. Meg and I started out with a Venti Vanilla Latte each and trotted off to our Homeroom. A little explanation is needed here. Each person selected their homeroom assignments when they registered. The choices ran from A-G. Meg and I chose G for “Georgia”! Then we settled into this one room to spend the entire day creating an album of our experiences here at CKU. All of our materials were in the tote that we received on registration (YAY ME, I called it yesterday). So the instructors didn’t have to drag around all of these boxes of materials with them. They did however bring all of their own favorite tools for each of us to use. The teachers in charge of the first and last pages of the album start off with Homeroom A. Second page in B and so on. We were in G, so we started with our last two page spread for the album.

It was taught by Margie Romney-Aslett, the longest name in scrapbooking. She had this cute journaling idea where the page folded over for a flap element. She also had us tying ribbons onto big conchos. Of course I poke myself within five seconds of the class. You would think after four years of scrapping I would know better. I don’t. Ouch.

The second class of the day was given by Brandon from Piggy Tales. She was showing off her new product called Barn Doors. Really cute idea for an interactive element on your layouts.

Then came ALI!! Of course I was out blogging with y’all. Which made me late to class. You would not believe the look I caught from the teacher. OOOOH, I was in trouble. HA. Ali was more like, “Where have you been, Mister?” Ali’s layout had us making this cool journaling block.

Tim followed right behind her dragging all of his really cool tools with him. I have a shot of how a working station would look like. I have to explain all of these cool tools so I can put them on my wish list. He started off giving out these craft mats that were like Silpat mats. You can ink, stamp, glue, adhesive, emboss, and heat on them with craft irons. Those are like $20 for one. I wonder if the $6 Silpats will work as well? Of course he had his Ranger inks, but he came with a blending tool where you had to pat onto the ink pad. Start in a circular motion and work onto the paper to blend in the ink. It was so awesome to watch how the more you rubbed the darker the ink would blend onto the edges. As you worked further into the paper, the effects became more subtle. Ultra cool! That tool is $6, but you have to buy extra pads for it. I hope I am not boring you. Here’s one more and then I will move on. Tim has this little round tool with notches into it. Set inside each notch is a titanium blade. You use it to distress the edges of papers or ribbons, or chipboard. These are like $5.99.

One of the funniest moments of the day came when I went to hunt down DiAnn and Dave to give them their name badge holders. I found them in their homeroom and didn’t notice what Dave’s hat said right away. As I got closer it dawned on me. It read “I’m not GARY!” That is awesome! See, the thing is, with all of my swaps and stuff with the Yahoo group any male scrapper at CKU this time was mobbed with tons of questions. There were four other men scrappers here at Houston so the ladies had a lot to chose from. Poor Dave and ‘the other’ Gary had to suffer through constant streams of people coming up to them saying, “Can I give you my cards now?” “Did I already pay you for the badge holders?” “Are you Gary?” So naturally Dave needed to wear a sign that said, “I’m not Gary.” And wear it he did, all day.

Here I have to stop and discuss the lunch. CKU provides lunch for us each day of the event. I wasn’t expecting much, having been at a lot of school conventions. But let me tell ya! The sandwich was a ham and cheese on croissant. Really good. They served ice cold lemonade. The usual chips and banana was included. What won my heart though were the TWO large chocolate chip cookies that had been dipped in chocolate. GAAAH!

After lunch we had Lisa Bearnson come in and help us put together a two pager that uses a fun stamp. It was shaped like the female character on the restroom. I was able to turn it into the male by skipping the edges of the skirt. Hey, it worked!

Our final class of the day was actually our first cover page for the album. This was taught by Stephanie Kropp from Little Yellow Bicycle. Better known as Deja Views. Well, LRB is a division of DV that markets to the independent stores. She was showing off her new product line with this cool metallic accented paper.

By this time it is 3:45 and we’d been going for six hours. I had to nap because of all the tossing and turning I did last night. I went upstairs and left Meg to roam around in the mall. I had to break the news to her after she returned with gifts for her kids that she had a present in the room. Her hubby sent her a special bouquet full of Peruvian Lillies. Did I mention that he already stuffed her suitcase with a daily note of inspiration for his wife? Oh, and hid a pack of rainbow twizzlers and skittles in her craft case. I officially hate him. I need to have him write out a primer for some people.

We discussed dinner for a bit and decided to find a Tex Mex restaurant. The concierge recommended this place called Escalantes about a mile away. Meg warned me about the Texas heat, so we cabbed it over. The food was really good. They will come and make fresh guacamole tableside. Some of the plate combinations were interesting. BBQ ribs and enchiladas. Hmm? I ordered an empanada, enchilada with Chihuahuan cheese and bacon wrapped shrimp. The bacon had this amazing grilled crust on it. Oh, forgot to tell you about the Pomegranate Margaritas. It was a great meal.

We cabbed back and rushed upstairs since it was already 6:30. I had to grab all of the gift boxes for the instructors, plus the boxes of Christmas card swaps, my supply case and my camera. Then we got to hang out in the hallway waiting for the elevators. Ugh, definitely something to put on the worst part of the trip. We squeezed in at the Rhinestone Crop Girls’ table right before the speeches started. Meg and I grabbed our camera and went to sit up front on the floor for better angles.
They started the festivities off with the Dorm Contests. We were treated to a rounding rendition of ‘We are the Scrappers’ by the Isle of Scrappers. And then came a skit by the SPAGA group (Super Paper Artists Galactic Alliance). They were being harassed by that evil, naughty, awful Ms. Purrfectionist. We had to decide through the Clap-O-Meter which group would take home the grand prize. The Isle won by a slim margin so everyone got a goodie prize.

Next Tim came up and introduced Ali (as if we didn’t know HER). It was sweet though. Ali talked to the whole group detailing what she has come to realize about her reasons for scrapping. Part of her slideshow included a shout out to all of the instructors. What she did was really cute. She put up a baby picture alongside the instructor. I am definitely going to have to do that with the Peaches!! It was a touching moment for all of us as we shared in her personal memories and learned more about why we scrap as we made connections to what we were seeing on the slideshow. All of us scrap for different reasons, but we all scrap to celebrate life.

Then Lisa came on stage to walk us through this album that focuses only on us. What are our stories, what are our favorites, what are the memories we don’t want to forget. I ran into a problem here mainly because the album and papers were mostly done in pinks and oranges with flowers everywhere. If I am really going to make an album to showcase me I am going to have to wait and work on this at home. I think I’ll cover the album and pick a different paper line, but use the sketches because the idea is well done.

Right about now it is 8:30 and the Yahoo group had planned to do their group photo together at that time. I went up front and asked if we could use the stage for this purpose. It took a bit of doing, but we got about 50 people up there. Problem. We are all scrappers and we all came armed with our cameras. I promised to create a Snapfish account and upload these pictures to there for the group to access. I am writing this to remind myself of this one last responsibility. ***THING TO DO***

The last Bonus workshop of the day was given by Stacy Croniger from Paper Crafts. She of course had us working on a card pack. I am currently trying to make up my own collection of card ideas because I am always making cards for some reason or other. I pulled apart all my old CK mags looking for card ideas and by the end I had a huge stack. These card ideas tonight were really great and can be adapted for almost any occasion.

Right now it is 12:18. Meg is still working on finishing up her Lisa Bearnson album. Remember she has small children and actually completing this when she gets home is probably slim to none. The gal from CKU events team is up on stage calling out names for door prizes. Apparently we have to scream really loudly if she calls our name in order to claim our prize. I have not won ….yet.

CKU!!!!!!

It is 6:30 A.M. on Thursday. Meg is still asleep, so I won’t tell you where I am blogging from.

I have spent an entire day getting here to Houston in order to Meet and Mingle with some of my favorite people from the scrapbooking world (Sorry Peaches, y’all know you’re still Number One!).

I got up at 9 yesterday and did some yoga and exercised because I knew I’d probably get no where near a gym for the rest of the week. Before I knew it, 10:30 rolls around and I have to leave if I was going to make it to Meg’s by 11:30.
Made the required stop at Starbucks for an iced Vanilla Latte and then hit the road.
Meg was hugging and kissing on her kids and mom as I pulled up. We loaded all of her stuff in the back of my Jeep, took one look at each other, giggled, and drove away!

We had some lunch and spent some time just hanging out trying to decompress from the real world. We chatted over chicken ceasars and contemplated ordering hard cider. We passed on the latter, but the conversation was great. I can’t remember when I’ve had a long conversation with an adult.

Anyway, I am keeping you from the stuff you really care about! The plane ride was uneventful except for the fact on this really tine airplane two people also going to CKU sit right in front of us. Marie and Michelle were so funny and we bantered back and forth quite a bit on the ride. During the hour and 38 mins in the air, Meg watched two episodes of Weeds. I couldn’t hear the dialog, but I could see the monitor screen. That show is risqué! She was giggling away though. We landed in 30 mph crosswinds so it was kinda bumpy.

As we got off the plane, I called Michelle A who was already at baggage claim for Southwest. We were going to meet up with her and share a taxi ride to the hotel. Well, Michelle and Marie came through as our cruise directors and spotted two other people who also needed a ride. Little beknownst to us but one of them was Michelle Van Etten! The designer for Prima and one of our instructors this week! How cool is that? Being the Beta Boy that I am, I swooped in and saved the day by securing an entire van from Super shuttle for $15 a person.

45 mins later we arrived at the Westin Galleria. We all check in and promise to catch up with each other later. Meg and I lug our stuff up to the ninth floor and dump it all into our rooms. The rooms are pretty nice. The beds have those thick crisp sheets and loads of pillows. There’s plenty of room to move around in and a nice long wide desk for us to organize stuff for the day. I overheard someone say that the rooms are usually $300 a night (EEK!) so the price we paid for them being at CKU is a steal!

Both of starving since it is now 6 o’clock our time. We head down to the mall. Right outside the entrance we spot a Starbucks and a Godiva Chocolatier. Could this be heaven? We were drooling over the smooth coconut truffles as the counter girl, Lola (love her!) started asking us what we wanted. We shyly respond that we probably needed to put some food in our stomach first, but that we’d be back for dessert. She highly recommended the Kona Grill for its great sushi. Plus they are right in their middle of their happy hour pricings!

We quickly ordered margaritas and a plate of the most yummiest pot stickers. Do you know when you bite into food and you can taste all of the ingredients in it? These were beyond great! We debated over which kind of sushi rolls to order and just decided to get one of each. I would have taken a photo of the California, Atlantic, Spicy Tuna and the shrimp but we were so hungry.

Then it was time to run back to the room and get ready for the Meet and Mingle. We briefly stopped at Lola’s spot and ordered truffles to go. I had to pull all of the name badges and the card swaps and grab my binder with the lists of orders together. Snatch my camera and we were off. GUESS who we saw in the elevator??? Tells me how this entire weekend is going to go, but we step on and there is LISA BEARNSON just hanging out. Both Meg and I are tongue tied and barely got two sentences out to her. We saw her later and had a more intelligent convo so it was much better.

We had to go to the usual A-C, D-H, M-S lines to get our registration packets and then head upstairs for our goodie totes. I will let the pictures stand for themselves. But let’s just say it was chock full o’ stuff! I believe all of it is going to be used tomorrow in our Inspiration stations to create the CKU album. I could be wrong.

Meg and I plopped ourselves down at one of the available tables and just waited. I told everyone on the Yahoo board that I would be around to pass out the name badges. Stand there and they will come. Mob City! Thank goodness I had Meg there. I pressed her into servitude when folks started throwing money and Christmas cards and gifts my way. It was bedlam, I tell ya! When it finally calmed down a bit I managed to take a peek around.

GUESS who was at the table behind us about 50 feet away? *Drumroll please* JESSICA SPRAGUE!!! She was looking great, I think she chose to wear green in honor of her new site rolling out today. Isn’t she amazing that she can roll out a new website AND be at this event on the same day? Meg and I had to wait a very long time before the crowds dispersed around her before we could approach and be accepted into her court (HA!). Here are two shots of us together. One, I am doing the Beta Boy ‘save’ pose. The other was more sedate.

I am so ashamed of how star struck I was when I first went over to talk to her. But she immediately put me at ease with this super huge smile. she gave me a big hug and told me how great it was to meet me. HUH? Here I am falling over my own shoes, and Jessica Sprague is glad to meet me. Will wonders never cease? I have to say that Jessica is such a great personality to meet. Someone who is really friendly and down to earth. She even did a little dance to show how excited she was to be at CKU. She and I chatted back and forth about the new site. That girl will not give up the goods on where those fantastic flower backgrounds came from. After coming down from cloud 9 of having met my own personal Super Hero, it was awesome to meet and have a conversation in real life with Ms. Jessica Sprague.

More and more people began to file out and head down to dinner, or to the cropping area. So Meg and I took this opportunity to meet the other GREATS! Here we are with Ali Edwards who was so sweet to remember me from Atlanta. And there we are with Tim Holtz who told me I was too popular because everyone signed my bag. Well, ya know. When you got it, you got it!

The rest of the night was spent cutting, taping, stuffing, and wrapping the gift boxes. These are to be Thank You gifts for the instructors from the Yahoo group. It was amazing how quickly people pulled together and organized this stuff to go in there.

Then I had to go to bed. It was midnight my time and I was ready to crash! After all, tomorrow is another day!

TWO DAYS til CKU!!

Oh the sweet agony. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas to arrive. I have packed and repacked all of my stuff. Gone through the checklist so many times to make sure that I have everything I need. Finished all three of my card swaps and ATC swap. I even organized a collection of items to put in a gift basket for the instructors. Made sure that I had the name badge holders and the card swap materials. I can just imagine the angry mob surrounding me with paper trimmers and tape runners if I forgot those things.
I am going to print out my flight reservations right now. So really all I have to do is sit back and WAIT!!
If you know me at all, you are aware of how much I hate to wait, especially for the FUN. I mean I am so anxious that I mowed the backyard. THREE times - Aside: we have an electric lawn mower that can't cut through thick grass. So I have to cut it down in stages. Not fun, but at least I don't have to worry about gas and pulling that starter any more.
I'm not meeting at Meg's house until 11:30 on Wednesday. This is still too far away, people!

Raven's Cliff Falls

When we went into the visitor's center at Anna Ruby, they gave us a map of all the other area waterfalls. One was the Raven's Cliff Falls. It was a 2.5 mile walk into the falls, so that would be good exercise right?

Oy, what a walk that was. It was a very rustic trail with only a few bridges made up of split logs.

There was one spot off of the trail that was beneath one of the smaller falls. So I manuevered my way down to it to take some pictures. Gordon decides to follow. As he is almost down, his foot slips, water bottle goes flying, and he does a pirouette in the air. Landing...on his FEET! Thanks be to the WII Fit, eh? All that yoga was good for something.

After this, I asked him to take some pictures of me down by the falls. Here's a shot he took. That, if you agree with me, definitely makes up for those earlier shots from the Battlegrounds (see earlier post):

One of the funniest moments from the whole day came right after the slip up. We were walking the trial and then one of the branches on the path decides to move. Gordon had almost stepped right on it. It was this arm long gray SNAKE! You should have heard the boy scream. It wasn't exactly like one of those high pitched things, but more like a WHAAAAOH OH OH. Imagine the sound getting weaker as it continues because Gordon raced down the trail about 500 yards! hee hee

The falls at the end of the trail were actually quite pretty. Worth the trek in, sweat and all. Who knew such vistas were tucked in the woods of North Georgia? Well, other than the guidebook writers.

Anna Ruby Falls

I'm on a mission to hunt down all of the great hikes within a 60 mile radius of my house. Who knew that someone already beat me to the punch? There's a book out there called 60 Hikes in 60 miles from Atlanata. And with me being so close to that, I am in heaven!

I've already done several of the hikes listed in the book (Cloudland Canyon, Amicolola, Tallulah Gorge) and recently did one at Kennesaw Battlegrounds because of their suggestions.

Today I needed to break in some new hiking shoes I bought for Hawaii. Hiking the Volcano National Park is quite an ordeal, so I hear. Pulled up the website for that book I mentioned earlier and found a hike listed for Anna Ruby Falls. It is located up above Helen, Ga. Hmm, never been there!

It took almost two hours thanks to construction on 85. But we arrived and found the spot in Unicoi State Park with little trouble. The hike was almost non-existent, since it took less than a mile to reach the falls. But MY GOODNESS! Talk about being worthwhile. Here's a shot:

That's Gordon at the bottom of one side of the falls. There were two cascading spectacles. It was really quite beautiful.

Here's a shot of the other side :

Okay, one more picture of the whole reason we traveled two hours ($35 worth of gas!).

It's late. I'm tired. I promise more tomorrow!

How easy is it to forget.

School has been out for an entire week. Do I miss it?

Umm, no.

How easy it was to completely lose all of the stress, frustration and paperwork.

Now I sit around all day and wonder, "What should I do today? Do I have anything I need to get done? How long til lunch?" Then I get out of bed.

I have time to read now (two books). Time to go through all of my old Creating Keepsakes magazines and tear out what I want (three hours). Attend lunches that last two hours. Watch old dvd's I haven't seen for a while. Oh, and teach myself how to use Adobe Illustrator.

One of my biggest problems is staying on my diet. With more free time, I am uncovering those deep seated desires for CHOCOLATE! I had to stop myself physically from going into the Coldstone Creamery. Oy. I think I need a sponsor to help me over the withdrawals.

Okay, I'm gonna stop rambling now and watch Last Comic Standing.

My Story

I wrote this out over on the Spraground. Thought I'd throw it in here.

My story?But why?It's boring and lame-O.Not inspiring at all.But I am proud of my scrappin' journey!!Hmm, where to begin? I have always tried different crafting hobbies as a means to express my creativity. Nothing seemed to fit perfectly. I couldn't play a musical instrument, painting came to stick figures for me, can't sew a straight line, quilt quickly, or even design my own cross stitch. I fell into scrapbooking quite accidently. I hosted a Murder Mystery Party with a 50's soda shop theme in October of 2004. Everyone came decked out in poodleskirts, leather jackets, ponytails, and slicked back hair. It was so great. The pictures were even better. I knew I couldn't just stick these into a magnetic album. I googled 'scrapbook' and found sb.com, and then started to talking to like minded individuals. Before long I had an entire group of people in my area who wanted to hang out and crop together (we just celebrated our third year of meeting once a month!). I was hooked. I think the missing link to my creativity was having a supportive group of friends to encourage and inspire me. I turned to digi in Feb of 2005 because I was teaching technology at an elementary school. They had a business version of Elements loaded and I started poking around. I immediately fell in love with the freedom it offered me. With paper I would look at the layouts and want that EXACT paper, the perfect embellishment, that color ribbon, etc. It was very stressful and within 3 months I spent $4000 on tools and supplies. OY!It was much easier to collect what I needed with digi without poking holes in my pocket. I could also recolor and resize to my liking. Pretty soon my brain started asking, "I wonder how they made that brad." I googled 'digital scrapbook tutorials' and was amazed at how much was available to me. I studied one tut after the other and pretty soon became pretty adept at creating my own stuff. It was so freeing!I joined another message board and was asked to become one of their design team members. Not long after I was selling kits and stuff at their store. It became difficult to juggle both my creative side and my career. I had to choose one or the other. Sigh... I chose teaching because it paid the bills. I didn't give up my digi scrapping though. Next, I stumbled onto the Spraground right about the time Jessica offered her Now We're Rocking class, so I jumped at the chance to learn more. Her teaching style is so encouraging and easy that I was hooked. I stood in the long line all day to sign up for her beta class of Digi in Deep. LOVED that class too. But I felt like something was still missing. I didn't have a perfect set yet. With CKU-Houston looming (21 days!!) Jessica, being the awesome person she is, offered her digi album participants a free U&R membership. Now how could I pass that up??That's the story of my journey. King of convuluted and backwards, I know. But one that makes me supremely happy. Happy that is until Jessica offers her next class!!Thanks for listening.

Two Weeks til CKU

School is out. Yes, you heard correctly. I am officially done with the school year with students!

Now all of my thoughts can turn to something fun. Something I've been waiting for some time now.

CREATING KEEPSAKES UNIVERSITY!!!!!

I am headed to Houston, TX for five full days of digital scrapbooking with Jessica Sprague. This is the first year CK is offering a digital album track. And of course I had to take it!

I begged and pleaded and begged some more and finally convinced my Peachy friend, Meg, to come with me.

I am so excited about this. These thoughts of an interactive time with my favorite digi goddess instructor is pretty much what got me through the last sixty days of a rough year. The amount of interaction I threw myself into with CKU shows insight into my frame of mind. Actually how much I wanted to escape the humdrum of my daily job.

I'm in charge of collecting the money and passing out namebadge holders. I am in charge of collecting and then redistributing not one, but two Christmas Card swaps. I joined an Anything Goes card swap and an ATC (artist trading cards) swap. So much to do I will have to carry an itinerary!

Right now I am waiting for my tshirts (three of which I designed) from CafePress. I must be weird to be waiting at the door watching for the UPS man. Who knows.

My homework for class is all complete and burned on CD's awaiting the plane ride. I haven't exactly started packing, but I have definitely started thinking about packing. ScrappyNan showed off all of her goodies from CKU-Chicago. I just KNOW I will need a whole other suitcase to bring it all back home with me.

I definitely have to remember to pack the 100 namebadges for the yahoo group (hi you guys!!). Here's a shot of what they look like:

We did a whole vote for the color choices. The design is something I cooked up. It's a little small and not placed where I would put it. But the name badge holders are going to be much cooler than those plastic doohickeys they usually give out.

If I forget these, I will have some very unhappy individuals circling around me!

So, in only two short weeks I will be boarding a Delta airplane next to Meg and flying to Houston to enjoy myself!

I've been SACKED

Jessica Sprague is such a fount of inspiration. She sent us over to the AIGA design gallery (http://designarchives.aiga.org/) to check out all the really cool idea generators. I found this paper sack at #49 and thought it would make a fun embellishment on a layout.

So, while I was playing I made four sacks just for you! One is blank and the other three have barcodes.

Hope you enjoy!

[url=http://www.4shared.com/file/47084385/15f0ae49/SG_Sackedzip.html] SG_Sacked [/url]

I belong in the ZOO!

The Atlanta Zoo offered a Free Educator Day. I haven't been to the zoo in so long that I thought it would be a perfect way to spend a lazy Saturday.

And it WAS! The weather channel promised rain, but in the early morning it was bright and warm.


We had to stand in a long line to prove that we were actually teachers and then we could go inside. It was very busy today. Seemingly everyone getting the same idea at the same time.

Even though there were tons of people with their children, I was much more impressed with the manners shown here. Nothing like the Aquarium where people just knock your camera out of your hands and don't even stop. I actually experienced one woman moving her child so I could get a shot. Wow!

I was playing with my aperature mode and thought there would be plenty of light since we were outside so I left the iso on 200. Every picture I was snapping was horribly blurred. Remember my complaints about Gordon's picture taking skill? Well, it seems it may NOT have been his fault after all.

I switched to auto and got the shots. Once I checked the Metadata I noticed that the iso was all over 500. Hmm? Thank goodness. I thought I would have to send in my camera to be fixed. It would take six weeks to get it back. Umm, that's not good since I am flying to San Francisco on Friday.

Overall, we had an awesome day at the zoo. These free educator days at Atlanta attractions are indeed a benefit of teaching!

Should I be mad?

I planned an outing with Gordon and told him I wanted to use this time to get some shots for my Jessica Sprague class and maybe some candid and portrait shots.
I took some shots of him, here's one I thought turned out pretty well:

Then I gave him the camera and told him I wanted some portrait shots. Now, I've seen him take some amazing shots of landscapes and other things so thought this would be a no brainer.

Here are the results:

I'm not sure if I'm being nitpickey here, but my feet are cut off. The focus is too far away, the background is entirely cluttered and they are BLURRY! Plus, I don't even know what is going on with my face...

Should I be mad?

Got the Shot!

I saw this really cool idea in a UK magazine and have been wanting to try it since I bought my Jeep back in May.

I finally convinced Gordon to come out with me and set up the tripod. Eventhough the weather was not as warm as once promised he braved the elements to humor me. He reluctantly stood around while I repositioned myself through six shots. He grumbled and groaned about the remote shutter release doo-hickey.

But, I got the shot! Here's how:

I brought a tripod and a remote control shutter release. Set the camera up on the tripod and angled it where I had the car in full 3/4 profile. I took a test shot and made sure everything was fine. I planned out the five different spots so they don't overlap each other.

At home I opened all six shots in Photoshop CS3. I dragged them all onto one document. Gave each a layer mask and filled it with black at the beginning. Then at the top of all this, I added a levels layer that brought the light up and added a little punch to the darks. Next was a hue/ saturation adjustment layer that brought out the greens more.

Then I clicked on the brush palette, made sure the first layer mask was clicked and NOT the picture box. I knew I had the right one because the brush colors changed to black and white. I changed the white to the foreground and with a feathered brush I started painting in my first 'self' onto the original Jeep shot.

I continued to brush on a new 'self' until each one was uncovered and made to look like it was all one shot.

Fun, eh?

TIM HOLTZ RULZ!!

OMIGOSH! So Freakin' Awesome! Tim Holtz got the go ahead from CKU to offer a FREE TUITION to someone who posts on his blog (timholtz.typepad.com) about why the want to go to CKU. The only catch? It has to be in 25 words or less. Ugh

Here's my entry:

Sadness = digital scrapper assisting Ali Edwards at CKU07 just to meet his heroes. Happiness = CKU08 including entire digital album track. I wanna go!

Think it will fly?

Am I CKU Obsessed?

I am not saying this is a bad condition to have in any shape or form, but I am starting to worry myself.

If you don't know yet, my bestest friend, Meg and I are going to our first Creating Keepsakes University event. I have booked the flight to Houston, Texas on June 4th. I have started my homework for all of the classes. And I've even created a packing list. Also, I am posting like crazy on the yahoo group (love you guys!).

But the issue is I don't know when to stop.

Not only am I heading up one Christmas Card Swap. I have opened up a second one because of all the great response. I agreed to join in the ATC swap and think I just signed up for the 'Anything Goes' card swap. Now I've decided the yahoo group should have customized name badge holders!

They will look like this (we haven't voted on the color choice yet. I wanted Orange and Blue, but Meg balked at that choice):



I got the idea for this from a terrific blogger ( ScrappyNan ) who headed this up in Chicago. She even gave some of these as prizes to the instructors. Cool idea. I needed to get at least 100 orders to get a good price. After two days I have 32 orders. Isn't that awesome!

Spurned on by that many requests, I came up with a little logo for the top flap.





Whaddya think?


My whole problem with this is that I have to make myself available to over 100 people now. I have to be in one place to give out, receive and redistribute TONS of materials that first night. When am I going to have time to enjoy myself?


Don't even get me started on whether or not I'm joining the M.A.N. frat at CKU. That is a whole other story!


I can't imagine anything else that I can volunteer for, but ya never know!

Green Gables Update

I couldn't spend $14 on a book I wasn't even sure I was going to like. So I ordered it from the public library. It came so quickly...not a good omen. I started reading it with trepidition and by page 2 I was already offended. I don't want to ruin it, but Bertha Shirley should NOT be discussing personal information like that with her neighbor!!!
I've read up to the part where Bertha and Walter die and Anne is taken in by a woman with good intentions. I am going to continue because I haven't decided conclusively how I feel about it yet.
Stay tuned!

Chalky Numbers

I saw this concept on a flyer this morning. It looked perfect for a school kit.


Let me know if there are any issues with it.
http://www.4shared.com/file/40916211/872c7e92/SG_ChalkyNumberszip.html


here's how I did it:
I clicked on my text tool and chose an Eras Bold ITC font set at 282%.

Next came the Control Click trick on the text layer. This created a marching ant border. Create a new layer on top of the text.

I went to Edit > Stroke and set it to 20 pts and chose a simple white color.
Click on the eye icon next to your text to hide it.

A new layer was needed underneath the outlined number. Here's where the brush comes in. I chose the Chalk 44 pixels brush in the default brush palette, and opened up the brush manipulator. I moved the spacing on the brush to 60% to spread it out for a nicer chalkier look.

Then I did nice even strokes back and forth underneath the letter outline trying to get it to look as if a student held the chalk sideways and ran it across the board.

You can see the final results.

Before Anne of Green Gables

Has anyone else seen this?
Umm, say what? I saw this at Costco and almost fell over. My first thought was why are they messing with such a classic? Haven't they learned anything from the GWTW remakes?
Apparently Budge Wilson was asked to help honor the 100th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery's favorite heroine. Budge is going to tell "in my own voice" the prequel of Anne's life before she arrives in Avonlea.
I think it's positively 'providential' that I just finished the entire Anne series for the first time in February. I tried before long time ago after first seeing the PBS show. I never got past book five because it got too lovely dovey for me. After going through the books again, I found that book five was actually my favorite. Who knew?
Okay, I digress. I'm still really upset that they are trying to mess with a perfectly good original.
If anyone reads this, PLEASE comment and let me know if I should attempt it.

Just cuz I love the ladies

over at the SPRAGROUND!!!

Here's a freebie just for y'all.

It's the grungy and glittery picture overlay featured in my "Ouchies" layout. Thanks for asking. Makes me want to start designing again!
http://www.4shared.com/file/40300924/69ae6335/SG_030308_GrungeFramezip.html]

JS Week 4- Digi Lesson Results

Here it is, my final class assignment:


There were tons of great techniques for this one. I love all of the elements that Jessica chose to use. The colors and the frostiness of the grunge made me think of Christmas. Since I had these shots already begging for a layout I married the two together. How'd it come out?
The journaling on here doesn't give half of the scope necessary for this past holiday. Christmas was a major one for the Fryns Family in '07. It was the first time in fifteen years that almost the entire clan was together again. Karen was the only element sorely missed. Everyone gathered at Paul and Cindy's Christmas night for a feast of goodies and present swapping.
It brought back so many memories of growing up with these people. I must confess, even I got a little teary eyed! Although the surprise gift that Lisa gave to Darrin and I brought back the laughter. Can you imagine waiting 32 years for a practical joke?
Here's the back story for future generations: When my family moved into the house some still live in today, we left behind some good friends. Barbara Nichols was just one of my mom's confidants. She happened to take a liking to me especially. I think someone told me that she had lost a baby around the time that I was born. Anyway, the first Christmas after the move I was 6 and my brother 4. Barbara came to visit with gifts. I got this SUPER COOL 6 Million Dollar Man action figure....my brother? A funpad. If you are not familiar with these petite packages of fun, they are like coloring books with some puzzle pages thrown in. Needless to say, my younger brother pitched a fit for all to see. Embarrassed, Barbara left and came back from the Toys 'R Us down the street. Unceremoniously she presented my brother with a Rescuers Down Under Board Game. He was finally placated. And I got to seeth over his behavior. Hmph!

Now fast forward 32 years later. My sister kept hinting about this 'special present' she had for Darrin and I and that we had to be together when she gave it. On Christmas night with the entire family gathered around, she consented to hand over the contraband. Darrin opened his first and found a 6 Million Dollar Man action figure in an original space rocket. Me? What do you think I got for my troubles? A funpad.

As the disappointment was about to set in, Lisa whips out a second action figure all for me! She managed to track down two pristine dolls on ebay of all places and snagged them for less than $30. And another chapter of our family history is brought to light for the next generation. Everyone had a good laugh over this. Personally I am still a little mad.

Frosty Dreams

Here it is! My results from Jessica Sprague's week 3 class. I've been wanting to scrap these shots of that BLIZZARD we had in Georgia recently. It was such a fun day taking shots of the snow, even though I had to carry my umbrella around so the lens didn't get wet.
I played around with the color scheme, took out the hearts from the grunge frames and replaced them with snowflakes (from adobe.exchange). I also torn the edge of the dot paper and put a paper core tear edge. I used lessons from Tandika Starr. Still love here. The font is from dafont called Frosty's Winter Land.
What do you think?

GA Peach Greet - Archiver's

Today was officially the wackiest Peach Greet ever! Who knew that the Archiver’s Make and Take weekends would be so popular? Who knew they would open their doors an entire HOUR before regular times? Apparently not the customer who called in yesterday and was told 9:30 and then showed up to have the room completely packed and not a seat to be found anywhere. Boy, was she livid!

Yep, it was crazy. I was up and putzing around and could have gone in earlier to reserve the five seats we would need. Unfortunately I was unaware of the time change and the well-liked weekend response. I got up there at 9:35 and was halted in the aisle by Jenn. She asked, “Umm, you’re here to crop? You’re people are probably already here, right?” Don’t you love how she knows us!! Come to find out only my friend, Carrie that I invited had managed to sneak into a seat. Sharon came up out of the stacks to introduce herself after having arrived at 9. She hadn’t gotten herself a seat, though. Jenn explained that they were trying to set up a small table for us in the back workroom.

I immediately call Courtney and Martina to fill them in. Their advice was to hang out until we were all there together. While we waited Carrie suggested we move the party to her house since she had a large dining room table that could easily accommodate all of us. The staff at Archiver’s managed to shuffle things around and find us three empty seats. Since Carrie had one, we were still one seat down. So I asked if it was okay to grab me a stool and I could prop myself in a corner near the back counter. They got it approved, but then turned around and gave my seat to someone else standing there at the counter. GAH!

Pretty soon all of us were assembled and decided that with the bleak fate of having to sit scattered around the room we would take Carrie up on her offer. We decided to shop and then grab a lunch to take with us before we left. I snagged a great pink baby album for my sister-in-law and thought about a doodle design book. Soon we were all piled into Courtney’s van and headed to Carrie’s.

She was right. Her table was more than adequate to fit us all. We ate and got settled into scrapping. Carrie was so ecstatic to have found other scrappers in her area and eagerly shared her previous albums with us. It was fun to watch her progression as a scrapper emerge. Reminds me of myself as a newbie. Can you believe it’s been four years? Oooh, that’s the first time I’ve said it myself. It just seems like yesterday that I discovered how to rip and ink papers!

We loved meeting Sharon and having her share her Disney album. The story about her 13 year old daughter realizing that the family trip was to be her first adventure with the Mouse was so great. Sharon also showed us how she was going to incorporate all of those character autographs into her album. I took a shot of it and will post it on the wink account.

Courtney was a whirlwind of activity with her college day pages. I think CCA was a good influence on her because she flew through FIVE pages. Martina was doing her thang with her LO about her daughter’s first scrap page. It was adorable! I was making some more pages for my digital school year in review. Carrie was finishing up some pages from her London trip where she got to go to a real live ball, gown and all. She needs to finish soon to get ready for that first grand baby on they way!

Sadly, the time to go came all too quickly. After dropping us all off back at Archiver’s we hit the road. Oh, except Martina who went back in to make good use of her 30% coupon. The mall was incredibly busy which made traffic just drag along. Another Peachy Day has come to a close.

Thanks to Courtney for this awesome blinkie!!!

GAH! I was tagged

These are the rules…. each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. My facts are:

1. I am currently on hold for my bank and have been for ten minutes. They suck.
2. I was all set to see a outdoor showing of ET when it got rained out. V. disappointed.
3. I got my first issue of Photoshop User and made my first payment on my Jeep on the same day. My anniversary. Whee
4. My dog follows me everywhere. I don't think it is out of love or anything, it's more out of "will he spontanesously drop food?"
5. I have been to every Peach Greets for the past two and a half years.
6. I just put all of my digi kits on sale at 37% off.
7. I am still on hold. Yep, they suck.

Seven taggees:
Courtney, Nicole, Jenn,

Scalloped Edges?

Someone had a question over at SB.com and I threw this out there for them to try.
Thought some of y'all might need this too.

You could try and create one using a hard round edge brush.

Click on the brush and then go to your brush palette (Window > Brushes). Click on the 19 inch round edged brush. To the left of your brush selections you'll see Brush Presets and under that is Brush Tip Shape. At the bottom of this screen you'll see a Spacing slider. Slide it to the right until the circles are just touching. I did mine at 95%

Then go to your paper that you want to scallop. Create a new layer on top of that. Zoom out until you get some gray area around your document. Click once just outside the left edge of your paper and proably about a half inch down from the top (you'll want some space at the top for later) then Shift and click on the right end of the paper. This will create a row of brush circles across the top.

Control Click (Command Click) on the brush layer to get the marching ants selection. Highlight your paper layer. Control + Shift + Letter I to invert the selection. Grab your eraser tool and erase the paper along the top edge of the brush circles. This should work.

You can then just rotate the brush layer 90 CW to erase the sides and bottom.

HTH