Starting a new album

Gosh, I didn't think I'd be done with Joe's Second Year album so quickly, but I am! And I even made a video of the results (that some of you have seen already, so bear with me for the repetition). Daddy loved it especially. ;)



I had to leave out a few pics to be able to fit the timing on the music, but I think it turned out cute anyway. And I was still surprised to see how much difference there was between my scrapping at the beginning of the book and scrapping at the end. I guess that means I'm improving! :P Thank goodness. lol

And in all that, I've started Joe's Third Year Album. Woah! My plan is to catch up with the Third Year album, and while I keep up with it, I can play with my other projects, like my wedding album. I haven't given it any time lately, and I really want to finish that one up sometime soon. And now that I'm learning more about photo editing, I can start using pics other than the professional ones in this album. :)

As for the Third Year album, I've made several pages already, including these:



This one was a lot of fun. Joe was so good while we were ornament shopping! And he got a really big kick out of picking out his special ornament, the one with Mickey Mouse on it. Yeah, he's going through a Mickey phase right now. :P



It's so rare that I get a sad or mad picture of Joe. For one thing, he's a ham. For another, he never seems to stay sad or mad long (unless he's sick, and then I'm not a camera hog). So I thought it was fun to see him in this one. It's a lot like another layout I did of him, but I just love the sunny colors with that sad face. Makes me smile. :)



Daniel worked so hard on getting this extra special present ready for Joe, I couldn't help be feel like this deserved its own layout. We were together until around 11 pm on Christmas Eve wrapping gifts, but he was the one who stuck it out until the wee hours of the morning. We really thought it was more put together than that! Daddy's rock. :P



Of course, we didn't just stay home on Christmas Day... the grandparents would have been upset! We went to Daniel's dad's house first, since he always wants the morning. Joe had a wonderful time! Great company, fun food, and wonderful gifts. A great time for all.



And, last but not least, I had to go back to pick up this event at Granny's house. She has a Christmas party annually where everyone who's ever been a part of it is invited. This was Joe's second time to attend the party (and Daniel's first). He had even more fun this year than he did last year. It was almost impossible to get him to sit still for a photo, but I got plenty of sweet photos of the other kids. :) The pics were really overexposed, so I'm kind of proud of all the work I put in to process the pics so they would look nice.

As always, I have all my designer info on these in my Flickr album, so be sure to visit it and see where all the talent came from. ;)

I'm still going strong in the Journal in Weight Loss journaling class. This last prompt was pretty tough, but I think I finally slugged it out. I'm looking forward to seeing what the other ladies have to say. And I really need to make another layout for all this! I'll bet I could do something about my new goals...

Until next time, j'éspere que vous êtes très heureux et sûr, mes amis!

Woah... end of the book!

So, I have several pics to show you. Yes, all at once. Believe it or not, I've had a layout spurt. Yes, I've been procrastinating about some other things, namely my prompt on our board. But yeah, I finished my book! This first one, I went for a retro look because the pictures were pretty overexposed. Plus, I always think old timey when I hear a calliope. :)



This one is just another example of why I like Fa Maura. Perfect kit for going to the park layouts! Aren't the colors sweet? Besides the pictures, I like the little squirrel the best. :D



You know, this one is one of my favs in the whole album, and I'm not sure why. I usually hate this palette for a kit, and I love it here. And Joe is so cute! Maybe that's why. :D



We had a fantastic time on Joe's birthday. I'm glad I got so many pictures of him having fun! It worked out perfectly.



And the final page for the whole shebang... I was surprised I found so many fantastic face shots of Joe that I didn't use in any other layouts. It worked out so well. :) But how can you go wrong with such a wonderful little face? He just makes it happen!

Of course, if you want to know more about whose works I used here, please click the pics to see my Flickr page... all my designer info is there! And keep your eyes open here... I'll be making this into a video soon, if I can make my choices a little better this time. lol Until then, take care, my friends.

Monday post for Deeds

I'm not much of an activist. Heck, I'm just not very active, period. lol But I have a cyber friend who is. Her nest of monsters is a groovin' place to be, and she always keeps her eyes open for injustices and people needing help. So if you're like me and want to know more about what's going on in the world of special needs, you should visit her anyway. And if you want to know more about Deeds and his amazing family, please visit today. He's an amazing little boy! And if we can, as a caring world, help him get the autism dog he needs, it will be worth every bit of effort.

I am toodling along in the scrapping. I guess it's because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this task. I'm almost done with this book! :D And because I know dh, aka Football Fiend Daddy, will love this, here is another pic to share with you all.



I'll have you know, I thought I was done with this layout yesterday evening. Then I showed it to dh, aka Football Fiend Daddy, and he said that he was disappointed that I didn't include that cute pic of Joe "helping" the cheerleader. After all, cheerleaders are a part of football, too. (As if I were arguing that.) And he thought it should be there. Yeah, right about... there. (giggle) Since this is the first time he's taken an interest in editing any of my layouts, how could I refuse? So in she goes. Hope she doesn't mind. :P

The Journey in Weight Loss is going along quite well. I've had some setbacks with an infection that is making me *not* lose weight right now, but I am not discouraged. Check with me later on that one. lol For now, though, I'm just glad that I'm making so many positive changes in my life. Oh, and I've even stopped a couple of times just to say wow to myself. That's pretty amazing in itself. Dh also says that these last two days have been more high energy and feel good for me than he remembers in a long time. That is definitely telling. :)

Keep the faith, my friends! (((hugs)))

Getting so close...

I finally finished the cover for Joe's second year album. It was probably the most intricate layout I've ever made, and it certainly took longer than any other layout I've ever done. It was actually more like two big layouts in one. But it was worth the work. I'm so thrilled with it! And I'll definitely have to do something similar another time. I think the best part was picking out the particular magazine I wanted to make. It wasn't easy! There are many more cute kids magazines around today than I ever remember seeing when I was younger. I'll have to remember to maybe ask for this one for a gift for Joe next year; it's really more for the 3-5 year old crowd. ;)

There's really only about 3 or 4 layouts I want to add towards the end, and after that, the album will be complete. :) And since that is the case, I'll be looking around again for options for making this into a movie. It might fall through again; the hard part wasn't the programming but the right music. lol But regardless, I know that I will be prepared for the family reunion this year with just the right thing to give folks.

Hope everyone is doing well! (((hugs)))

Finding new inspiration

You know, sometimes I have to remind myself that the word "inspiration" has a technical meaning of breathing in. If I am around things that are inspiring, they tend to take my breath away and make me want to take them into myself and create. So if I put myself where they are, I will inevitably begin that joyful process.

One of the cool things that I found recently (thanks to my awesome friend Linda!) is the digi designer Fa Maura. If you are afraid to use designers who are not native English speakers, you're going to have to let loose of that worry for a bit and check her out. Her store is in English, and she has both page kits and designer resources. And when I say I love her designs, let me tell you, I REALLY love them. I got several items at her store, and you know I don't just go and get myself digi items. I haven't gotten so much stuff since I won a coupon to Studio Ztampf! a few months ago. :D



As per usual, I have all my credits on my Flickr page, but I want to say how much I enjoy this mix of realistic, drawn, and scribbled items in this birthday kit. But even better than that is the color scheme. I normally enjoy natural colors for my normal layouts, but I really wanted some more bright and colorful ones for my special pages with Joe. Fa Maura really does it, and beautifully.

Ok, I'm really not on her CT, honest! lol I've done several more pages lately, but I have not loaded them onto Flickr because I've mainly been putting them in my gallery at The Digi Scrappers. A lot of them have to do with the Journey in Weight Loss group I am taking part in. It is really going so well. I am so excited with the progress we have all been making. I'm being a bit premature, but I think that this is going to the be time I really start turning around my health. I am having such a good time facing what I need to face, and I'm getting so much accomplished on the inside, it seems obvious that the outside will continue to follow. I'll keep you all updated on how it goes. In the meantime, if you want to join, please do! We have a nice, tight-knit group that is very supportive and loving, and we would enjoy helping you along, as well!

Alright, time to move back into work mode. I need to get some more recipes downloaded for my healthier meal plans. :) Until next time, here's to hoping you are all making your new year's ambitions into realities. Je vous aime, mes chers!

Happy New Year's Eve!

Hello, lovely people! I hope you all have some fun plans for ringing in 2011. I have to admit, I really don't have anything particular planned. Generally, if I'm going to do something, I go out with friends. Well, for the last couple of years, I've had a compelling reason to stay home. :P And while there was some talk about getting together tonight with Jo and James, I'm not sure we'll be able to do it because Daniel has to work tomorrow at an ungodly early hour. So, we might be homebound. But that's ok... we'll have fun no matter what.

I have another layout that I finished a couple days ago.



Joe is rarely sick, so having a sick day layout is a different thing. Sure, he had lots of bumps and bruises from learning to walk, but fever and stuff? Not so much. (Thank goodness!) So I had to take the opportunity and run with it.

Ok, no other big news to report... other than that I am *so* excited to start the Journey for Weight Loss tomorrow! I can't wait to see who are our fellow journeymen and women are. It's going to get exciting! :D

Have a safe New Year celebration, everyone!

Accomplishment

I don't know if I had mentioned this before, but I was lucky enough to lay my greedy little mitts on a copy of CS5 this holiday season, and I'm loving it! I finally feel like I'm starting to get the basics firmly under my belt, so here shortly, I'm going to have to start learning to get past the basics. The fun thing about this, is the basics I am learning are really the nadir of what I had learned to accomplish already in GIMP, so that means I'll be able to take my scrapping to a whole new level... in less than a month's time! Since I spent an entire *year* initially learning all this, I find this incredibly exciting. I know that it's because of the similarities between the programs, but that doesn't make me any less happy about it.

So, this is my latest creation du jour:



I am almost halfway through catching up with myself in Joe's 2nd year album, so I'm feeling good about that. I know I didn't finish it for the holidays, but at least I'll have it ready for the family reunion. :)

I am taking part in a great program this year, and I am really excited about it. Linda and Carolyn have done it again and come up with another cool idea. This time, it's an art journaling program called "A Journey in Weight Loss."

I have seen some of the material, and I think everyone is going to be really impressed with how well this is made. If you want a few more details, be sure to check out the store! If you want some awesome support on your weight loss journey, I think you'll be glad you did.

Ok, I've gotta hop back into things. I've accomplished so many things today, I'm pretty impressed with myself, but that's no reason to rest on my laurels! Until next time, my dears.

Happy Holidays!

I hope this post finds you all well and happy. I've been lazing around today after going out to get Daddy (my husband Daniel) his big Christmas present; a new netbook. We really lucked out... the only one left of the one he wanted was a floor model, so we got a great discount on it. We didn't think that we would be able to afford to do that; he had already gotten some really nice work boots and a couple other little things, so he wasn't neglected. But that was partly because we had really thought there was no way to get him this. He's really sick, so he's been having a hard time getting all excited. But I can tell that he's really thrilled. So add him to the list of happy campers! Joe has been having so much fun. He was exhausted after that long day yesterday; he went from about 8 am to about 10 pm with only a 30 minute nap in the car between houses. Even so, he's still really excited and happy, which is a miracle when he's that tired. I'm proud of my munchkin; he was such a good boy all day yesterday and today. And I'm soooo glad he had so much fun for Christmas. Score!

In celebration, I decided to finally finish *last* Christmas' layout. So, here it is!



I hope everyone is still having a fantastic holiday season! Much love to you all. :)

Boy's Picnic freebie

You know, I don't know how on earth I would have the chutzpah to do this, but I'm going to anyway. I have so many people that I've come to admire for their creativity and experience, but I've also just wanted to put my hand in for the fun of it all. So, I finally gave in to the craze. I made a freebie kit for scrapping!



(I'm having issues with feeling pretentious now, so bear with me. lol)
Download elements at 4-shared
Download papers at 4-shared

Download elements at Mediafire
Download papers at Mediafire

Wow, I keep having to pinch myself. lol I had so much fun putting this together, that it felt like I was getting away with something. Besides that, it happened so much faster than I had anticipated! Don't worry, I didn't rush. I was especially careful with it.

Hope you like! :)

I love my dog!

iluvmydog
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

Ok, so I couldn't make a layout with Ike yet. It's gonna take me some time to get there. But I did have this excellent picture from a few days ago when the dog, the baby and I were out playing outside, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I think it turned out pretty cute. :) The kit is Karmatic Impact by RebeccaPSP Designs, and the lovely word art is by Jacquie. :) I think it turned out pretty well. I've been playing with the colors lately for photos to see what sort of new looks I can come up with, so I'm pleased to see that this one worked out okay.

Things are going okay. Slowly but surely, life is evening out again. There's just really too much going on generally. It felt odd and calming to just sit down and do a quick layout again. I've missed it. I've even considered just forgetting about doing the music for Joe's first year album video and just leaving it as is so I can get rid of this sword of Damocles over my head, cuz I just have so many other projects I would rather start scrapping rather than worrying over it. Maybe I should just leave it as is. I don't know. But knowing me, I don't generally like leaving things as is. ;) I've got some new ideas about the music now, so I'm going to try to track them down. Hopefully, something will work well.

Have a lovely evening, everyone!

RAK for Neissa

RAK for Neissa

So, the last challenge I participated in for the MLAS Birthday challenges was the RAK exchange! :)  My original partner apparently had RL intervene in her plans, so the head of the challenge, Neissa, offered to exchange with me. Isn't her son cute? It's actually the coolest story. His kindergarten teacher had them dress as though they were 100 years old on their 100th day of school. I know my kindergarten teacher was cool, but that's just really an awesome idea! :)  He looks so cute in his little overalls, doesn't he?

I was amazed I was able to have time to do much of anything this weekend, really. With my father-in-law's wedding on Saturday, our weekend was filled with family obligations. Joe and I got to see lots of people and play a lot. Cathy's little Joe had a lot of fun helping out my little Joe, even up to helping him on the couch, stopping him from falling backward, and keeping him from heading out the door. It was really cute watching the 3 year old guard the 15 month old. :) After they left, Josh spent lots of time following in Joe's footsteps. I was almost superfluous! Just kidding; it was nice to know that my little guy was safe in all the hubbub. I was probably more comfortable at this family gathering than I have been in a while. Just watch out, family reunion.... here we come! :D

I did offer to make a scrapbook of my father-in-law's wedding. Not to him, of course, but to his new wife, Judy. She seemed really excited. I am now the depository of most of the family's wedding shots, or, at least, the Creekmore family's shots. After looking at them, I'm sure they'll be enough. There are several hundred, after all. lol  I'll be posting those on Facebook as soon as I start getting them organized.

Wow, lots to do! :) Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Learnin' learnin' learnin'...

Man, am I having fun with GIMP right now. I just found out something really cool... you can use .abr (Photoshop brushes) files in GIMP, if you know where to put them. Rock on! I did my first layout with some little droplets all over it. So fun! I'm gonna have to look at a lot of layouts and papers to see what works in designs and what doesn't before I feel comfortable with it (I'm not exactly God's gift to the designing world), but I can do it now! Yay! I also have to come up with a system to organize those brushes. Not to fear; I've got something figured out. Should be a breeze. (Famous last words, right? lol)

Last night was really nice at home. Daniel and Joe both went to bed early, so I stayed up and had some me time with the computer. Nice hot shower, no television, no noise, no stress. Ah!!! I think I like this new habit that's forming. An evening ritual to enjoy. Hope it lasts a little while at least.

I've also been having fun with Trillian lately. I finally figured out how to find the emoticons (yes, sometimes I'm slow). My new favorite is the (woot), which makes a cute woohoo noise. Trillian noises make my day. Now, if only I could find that desktop pet I had ten years ago that made the moop sound...

Rock and roll!

Giving in

Yeah, I'm giving in. I've been needing to make a blog for, well, eons now. And I need to make one where I'm not afraid to put up my picture and say, yeah. I wrote that. I did that picture. Whatcha gonna do about it? Perhaps it will take me a little while to get comfortable with it, but I need to do it. So there.

So, what am I gonna do here? Well, it'll mostly be scrapbook and photo editing stuff, with some personal life bits thrown in. Don't worry, I won't gripe and complain (too much!). But it is nice to have a place where I can do whatever I want. Isn't that what most folks want? Um, yeah. Anyway.

Let the parties begin! :)