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

Embroidered Alphas

I think it's time to share a new tutorial. Whaddya say?

Here goes:

I found this one off of another site (http://www.dwphotoshop.com/photoshop/embroidery.php) but didn't quite like the striations it created so I played around and found a twist to it. Plus they were making monograms and that wasn't my purpose either.

Let's start with a new document set for 4x4 inches (1200x1200pixels) at 300dpi. This will give us a good size if anyone should want to increase the letter later.

1. Pick the main color of your alpha for the foreground. Then pick a shade that is darker of lighter depending on your first color. Darker color should be set for background choice. I usually eyeball it and go directly below my color choice.

2. Click Ctrl + Backspace to flood fill with your darker color.

3. Click on your text tool (T) and select an alpha with large open areas so that you can see the effect more clearly. I am using Broadway at the moment. Type your letter and resize as necessary. I have this one at 180 pt.

4. Create a new layer above your text. Click on Alt + Backspace to flood fill with your foreground lighter color.

[IMG]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/frynsg/PSE%20Tutorial%20Screen%20Shots/EmbroidLayers.jpg[/IMG]

5. Go to Filter > Render > Fibers. Set it for Variance 14.0, Strength 50.0. But feel free to play around with these until you get a setting you like.
*Note: Don't worry about the pattern going vertical right now. We're going to alter that.

6. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set it for Angle 0, Distance 5.

7. Go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CW. (For PSE users it would be Image > Rotate)

8. Ctrl Click on the alpha layer while keeping the top layer activated. This will highlight your letter shape onto your top layer.

9. Click Ctrl + Shift + I (letter i) to select the inverse and then hit the Backspace key to delete everything except inside the letter shape. I like to click on Ctrl + Shift + I again to reselect the letter shape.

10. Click Ctrl + Shift + E (letter e) to merge all layers. Your letter will still have the marching ants around it. Don't deselect.

11. Click Ctrl + C, then Ctrl + N (new document in the exact size of your letter), and Ctrl + V. Now you have your embroidered letter on a transparent background to save as an individual png file.

Now you are ready to add your favorite bevelling and drop shadows. Have fun!

Action, Action, Who's Got the Action

So I tried to 'save' my action that I used to create an embroidered alpha. Figured it would save me all of the clicking and typing stuff. Unfortunately I had NO idea what I was doing. I tried looking at the steps that Atomic Cupcake uses for their chipboard action. Might as well print it in Greek, I can't read that either!!

If there ever was a kind soul in this world, they would contact me and try patiently to explain how to create an action...

Anyone? Anyone???

Simple Scrapbook Quiz #06

1. If you were lonely, whom would you call?
Lisa. She knows all the good gossip in the family.

2. Who in your family do you really admire?
It would be a tie between Lisa and Paul. Both took in children
that were not their own and did a durn fine job of it!

3. Who is your most interesting family member?
Aunt Kate wins hands down. As the matriarch of the Linton clan
she holds a lot of keys to our past. I would love to just sit down
and ask her a bunch of questions.

4. What's one of your mom’s greatest strengths?
Calmness. That woman had the ability to remain calm while
raising five headstrong children.

5. What one quality of your dad’s would you like to have?
Funny, but I would like to do a jack knife off the diving board
like he could. It was amazing to watch!

6. Who's the funniest person in your family?
Lisa, she’s the original Wild and Crazy Sister. I can’t tell you
how often I fell victim to her antics, but I love her dearly.

7. Who's the best cook in your family?
That would be me. I have learned some skills over the years
and can create a sumptuous meal for about twenty people.
Just ask my volleyball team!

8. Which family member would you turn to first if you were in
trouble?
Lisa would get that late night phone call to come bail me out.
Not that I would ever need it....

9. Who wrote or phoned you last?
Jennifer, Darrin’s wife sent pictures of Lowell Fryns.

10. Who in your family are you most like?
I am most like my mother. Her and I are more kindred spirit
than even I probably know. We have the same taste in movies.
Both avid readers and total extroverts. We can cut loose if we
want. And we share a love for travel.

My newest Craze

I am in love with the Simple Scrapbooks Shortcuts -Quizzes book. So much in fact that I actually emailed them to see if they would grant me permission to use some of the quizzes in my digital challenges at Scrapbook.com [http://www.scrapbook.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/1379051/]. So far no response yet. I did use one of the quizzes they had posted on their website. Hopefully they won't come hunting me down for that!

I plan on using these a lot this year. They are so fun and quick it would be great to hear some of the responses my students will come up with. Then I can use them in my digital year in review album I am creating (or thinking about creating). Wish me luck!

Where have you been?

I have only one excuse for not being around lately. And it's spelled S-C-H-O-O-L!! Mansakes alive! This year has been a trial already. Usually there is a honeymoon period for teachers. The students don't know you yet and you aren't bothered by their little quirks yet. So everything goes smoothly. Well not this year. A lot of the teachers are saying they started the year off with issues. Lovely!
It's doubly hard on me because I lost some of my best friends to graduate school this year. Christine is off at Duke having the time of her life becoming a little lush in the process! Christina is only around three days a week and then stuck in an office on the other side of the building so I rarely bump into her. No one to just hang with and vent this year. Although Alia is quickly becoming a sounding board for all my gripes. Jennifer is also a kindred spirit in that department too, so it may just work out after all. Gotta have faith!