"Everyday Adventures at BPS"

I have no followers but I have an overwhelming desire to share my story or my art or my photography or my something.  Well, not my something!  I don't understand it.  I just want to be heard, I guess.  It thrills me to know that someone out there cares.  But on the other hand I am in the process of simplifying my own blog reader.  I have created a new category called "Inactive Scrapbooking" for blogs that I used to read. Now I only "Mark as Read" them every once in a while.  I can't bear to part with them . . . yet!  I skim through the posts I like to look at and I am trying to limit my online time to less "searching for my muse" and more "putting my muse to work."  It's way too easy to get distracted from what I really love to do.  I have been in such a funky place lately.  Taking pics, sorting, editing, but not scrapping hardly anything.  I keep having the urge to work with paper.  Today I finally did after signing up for this 4-week workshop at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

I worked on my assignments for the BPS class, "Everyday Adventures."  I am hoping I can learn something to use in school for "Our Backyard" studies.  It seems to fit in with the nature journals.  We'll see.  I had the most fun putting together this field journal.  I found papers in my stash that I had gotten from someone in an exchange at Paperclipping.com.  There were so many pretty papers.  I used my Big Bite and old cardboard, lots of cardstock and some patterned papers.  I tied ribbons and other fibers to the binder clips and ended up with a nifty little book.

These are my nifty little "Goggles of Enhanced Perception."  I repurposed a pair of doll glasses that have been in my sewing kit for nearly twenty years.  The class is based on this book by Keri Smith called "How to Be and Explorer of the World."  It's going to be interesting and fun.

Brett says women should not wear a hat titled "Bone Collector."  I was cold!!

Paperclipping.com March Monthly Challenge Layout

This is what I submitted:


I am submitting this layout for Challenge 2. Here are the tips from Paperclipping Tutorial #136 that I utilized to help me tell this story.
-Multiple photos are helped by the grid layout-helps to keep the layout from being chaotic
-Spread the photos with like colors across the layout so not all the greens were next to each other
-Chose a green background (not sure if that's in the tutorial but definitely from the newsletter tip about backgrounds!) to emphasize the lushness of the woods.
-Embellishments are similar in color and theme and form a visual triangle around the focal point photo
-The swirl brushes on the edges of the pages and by the title are intended to soften the hard lines of the grid
-Lastly, the journaling is subdued even though it's a lot the color kind of "hides" it in plain view.

(Paper and Elements, Vera Lim, Memories Makers No. 4)

The journaling: Norwich, VT (March 21, 2010)- Off Kerwin Hill Road is this piece of land on which the owners have several trails cut and blazed. We needed a hike with gradual inclines and dry ground to keep the girls motivated. I was just so happy. What more could I ask for? Walking through this beautiful, peaceful property on a sun-warmed March day with some of my favorite people in the world has got to be in my top ten things to do in life. As we walked we talked about not much of anything. We admired Mother Nature’s handiwork in the form of mushrooms and fungi feasting on decaying trees. We pointed out twisted and windblown trees whose desire for life outsmarted the winds that knocked them over. We marveled at the fairy glens of intensely green lichens and mosses reclaiming the fallen trunks to the moist boggy underground. The greens, the silvers, the almost-blue stones stacked into walls created a stunning canvas from which our imaginations extracted stories of what the land may have looked like a hundred years ago when 70% of Vermont was deforested. Human presence could be found amongst the handmade hunting stands, the abandoned barbed-wire roll, and the stone turned to fashion a chair upon which some long-ago hunter sat. Nature has been working hard to reclaim herself. It's the never-ending story, so beautifully crafted. I am blessed to have been there.

Design Your Life Starts Today

Before I continue reading the rest of Week 1's material I want to take a moment to reflect on what I already know about design. These things I've learned from Noell Hyman, Cathy Zielske, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, and by studying the elements of design some for my Math and Art class I took last summer.

This layout uses some of those things I've learned. I wanted to keep the focus on the idea of five so the choice to layer solid paper over patterned paper creates a central place for the eye to rest. The patterned paper frames the subject. The grouping of 3 squares creates movement simply by sliding it up into the frame area at the top of the page. The larger rectangle at the bottom balances the upper square as does the title. They work together to draw the eye to the center of the page. The color red is repeated throughout the layout in the "5", the title, and the 3 photos. There is a triangle formed with the title, the bottom photo, and the "5" that draws the eye toward the focal point-the tree photo.

("Every Life Has a Story" kit, The DigiChick Team)

Despite all that, I feel that I could improve this layout. I think the 5 needs to stand out a little more. Perhaps I should stroke it with the yellow to provide more contrast against the leaf photo.

I do really like this template though. We'll see if I learn how to make it work even better.

"I Love Your Smile" Contest at Ella Publishing

I have been wanting to do something with this photo of Sydney for a long time. This challenge at Ella Publishing was perfect.

I used Morning Sun kit JM Designs for Little Dreamer Designs and the fram.e is from Anna Aspnes' ArtPlay No5B kit.

From Idea to Print-My Workflow Steps

I have been busy catching up on my printing. I think I printed 25 or more layouts Friday and Saturday. I had only two problems. On one layout Brett somehow hit the cord to the printer and the layout was almost all printed but the bottom inch. (I didn't reprint it.)

On this layout

(Journaling: These are the spontaneous kinds of hugs that fill your heart and make you laugh out loud. These girls are very affectionate and loving children. So blessed. (June 09))

[Deanna Jones, Flower Scraps, Summer Afternoon]

I somehow messed up the font on the top of the photo. I had to fix it and resave it, but I wasn't going to reprint it. I figure I really should figure out how much it costs to print my layouts. I am thinking that although the papers and embellishments are significantly less when comparing digital to paper, I probably spend an equivalent amount in papers and inks. I will have to do a cost chart, especially now that I have caught up.

My workflow goes something like this:

1. Get an idea (photo or a challenge)
2. Open the pieces I want to use -photo from PSE Organizer; supplies from Picasa (or PSE if I am opening a lot)
3. Edit photos-convert to BW or Sepia, run actions, Auto SmartFix etc., Crop Last
4. Open my blank letter-size document
5. Sometimes, if my layout is complicated, I will do a template first to speed up the process.
6. Save as a PSD, High Res. Jpeg for print, Low Res. Jpeg for posting (Wondering if it's necessary to save the PSD after I have printed. In the printing process you see things-like that font change-that you might not notice on the screen.)
7. Save all files to a folder called 2009 Pages, with subfolders by title. Sometimes save photos that have been altered for a layout in the same folder as well.
8. On to the next project!!

Happy Scrapping. Will post some of my layouts to my flickr account and link them here.

Thank You Notes

I just finished this layout called "Thank You Notes." I just love the expression on Whitney's face when she opened this card from her preschool teacher Mrs. Joanie (Bjorkman).

I used a mini kit called "Sent with Love" by Vicki over at A Work In Progress. I think the theme of the kit fits perfect with the tone of the photos. I was able to work in a design triangle with the title, the corner elements and the envelope. The brown mat also leads the eye to the focal point photo.

The curled paper is a technique that I have wanted to try out but until I found this freebie from Gunhild, I was stumped how to do so. This layered psd file works very easily so I could get the perfect paper combination. I like how it looks. I also used stroke outlines on the photos to make them look matted. This is a new technique that I have only recently figured out how to do.

I have also figured out a way to create titles that makes the process of using alphas a little easier. I actually create a separate file roughly the size of the title space with a transparent background and then drag my letters to that. This works well, especially when you are trying to layer alphas with text as I did here. After you've put it together, you can rearrange and align without having to worry about clicking on other layers in your layout. Merge the layers and voila! you can drag the whole title to your page and resize as necessary. Sweet!

Finally_a focus

I have been digiscrapping all summer long and I have been learning some amazing stuff. I was sitting here this morning and I was downloading from the Summer Camp Blog Train at Stuff to Scrap when I realized that designers need to be consistent in how they name their files so it's easy to find their stuff. I noticed that a lot of the designers at STS use their initials then either the initials or the name of the kit-like MGD_Summer_Camp. I now recognize MGD as Mad Genius Designs. That's important because when I unzip my files I keep them in a folder for STS designers. That way if I am doing a challenge for that site, I can easily find my STS kits.

As I was thinking about this, I thought about what I would call my stuff (if I ever started designing) and my initials are ATL. So I came up with All Those Layouts! It's perfect because now I can use this blog to post my layouts and can direct friends and family to my blog as well. I sort of use facebook for this but it doesn't work so well. I can use facebook to link to here, right? I can update friends when I have posted new layouts. This should be fun.

So here's my initial post for All Those Layouts and I hope to keep them coming, especially as the school year gets underway. I love taking pictures and I love scrapping them. I also love sharing them and hearing what people have to say. Hopefully you (anonymous reader) will find something here you like and will be able to use in your own work!

Here's what I was working on last night. I am experimenting with holes in the paper because I saw a layout at Stephanie Howell's blog where she had used a punch of a butterfly to reveal the paper underneath. I liked it and thought I would try it for this PageMaps Apron Strings challenge.

Here's the pagemap.

Here's my take:

Blogs and Scrapbooking

I am trying to figure out how to use my blog and my facebook to inspire me to scrapbook. I have been reading lots of blogs from people directly related to the business of scrapbooking, designers in particular, but how does just a hobbyist use a blog for scrapbooking purposes. The big question is why have a blog in the first place? Who would read it? Do I have anything to say that anyone would be interested in anyway? How do I develop my own unique style scrapbooking? These are the questions that are going around as I pursue this blog thing.I am also wondering how to make my blog all fancy. And if I am spending time building my blog, when am I scrapbooking, because there is not unlimited time for these things. Dilemma.

Breakfast with Santa, 2008

Hartland, Vermont - As in year's past the girls wanted very little to do with Santa despite being excited to see him. Even though I sat down on the couch they would barely interact with him. I had to play let me guess what you want for Christmas to get them to tell him what they wanted. Finally, Whitney whispered, "Hannah Montana stuff." And shortly after, Sydney uttered, "A doggie. A little pug." Do you think she really thinks she's going to get another pug??

We spent the rest of the day spending money on various crafty things. They each bought a door knob hanger decorated by kids for the Hartland Rec Department. Then they liked the crafts from the Sock Puppet lady (Amy Raymond's sister). Sydney bought matchbook note paper and Whitney bought a sparkly flower ring. I picked up three flower magnets for the refrigerator. They also liked the water balloon yoyos the Amy was selling. I also bought maple candy, rice krispie treats, maple pops, and maple peanut butter from Amy. Can't wait to try all that!!!

Claire McFeeley arrived just about the time all the money had run out. We spent the last half hour coloring and getting balloon hats from Clover the Clown. The final act was riding the horse drawn wagon-always my favorite. The weather had warmed up from about 20 degrees to make just about freezing and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful ride.