Simply Me

Christmas: Another layout

This was a "nail biter" year for me as far as whether I had figured out a gift that Casey would be over the moon about.  How does one top last year's Xbox 360 console?  While he had given me ideas for more minor gifts, I was not sure what his big gift should be.

Then the Kindle Fire was announced. As I read about its various features, I got more and more excited that this might be the answer to my dilemma. I received it in mid-November and couldn't help but try it out. I had to make sure it worked, right?  Added some apps I knew he'd like? Download some stuff like books and a movie or two? I quickly came enamored with it myself! Hmmm...would it be wrong of me to have a small bit of hope he wouldn't like it and darn the luck! I'd have to keep it for myself!?

It was with mixed emotions that I came to realize that he was really happy with a gift he didn't even know he wanted.   It's hardly been out of his hands. The bombardment of emails from Amazon regarding the purchase of zero dollar apps was another clue. 

And Sarah?  What nearly 18 year old wouldn't drool over having her own iPhone?  Not that Sarah drools. She's too cool, sophisticated and grownup to do something as droll as to drool.

No, Sarah, I'm not removing that little gem above. Genius shouldn't be stifled.

The papers and elements are from Dianne Rigdon's "Be Merry" kit that I received as part of The Daily Digi monthly package in November 2011. It can also be purchased at Two Peas. I also used a Christmas template designed by Janet Phillips (Oh Christmas Tree 1-1).  

2011 Xmas Card Photo - Layout

I love how this year's card photo came out. I was inspired by this snapshot I took on Christmas Eve last year: 

The biggest difference between this year and last?  About 6-7" that Casey grew in the 12 months between these two pictures!  He was the one leaning down this year.

And here's the layout I made today:

All paper and elements are from the kit is "Joy to the World" by Kristin Cronin-Barrow at Sweet Shoppe Designs.  This is one of my favorite kits ever. 

Summer Bounty

Every weekend, I tell myself that *this* is the weekend I'm going to sit down and actually work on a scrapbook layout.  The lack of layouts posted here should be your first clue that this goal rarely happens. It is a shame too.  I have tons of great pictures and even more digital scrapping supplies than any one person could ever use, yet there are no new layouts created.

Except for today that is!! I give to you "Hello Sunshine" a layout about the garden we planted this past summer.

The papers and elements came from The Daily Digi's  monthly kit #30 (June 2011). The kit name is "Sandbox Summer" by Fayette Terlouw at Pickle Berry Pop / the Ettes digital scrapbooking site. You can see what others did with the same kit over at The Daily Digi by clicking HERE.  The layout is courtesy of a template from the "Stuffy Collection" by Simply Tiffiany Studios at Design House Digital.

Springtime Smiles

Look at this! A second layout and it's only March!  
(click on image to view in a larger size).

:::: smirking grin inserted here ::::

Credits:

Papers: Sweet Memories (Vera Lim Designs - TDD #27)

Elements:  All from "Everyday Life"
(Gina Marie Huff--Weeds & Wildflowers Design / TDD#27)

Word Art -"springtime smiles" (Krisis Kreations - ScrapMatters / TDD #27)

Photo Frame (Rhonna Farrer - 2Peas) 

 

This layout was inspired by TaraMcK's layout on The Daily Digi's Flickr pages. Click on over to see the amazing layout she made that got my juices flowing. Tara is one of the team over at The Daily Digi.

 

A new month brings a new banner

This month's banner comes from this kit:

This can be found here:  Two Little Pixels

Yeah me! A new blog banner

All materials courtesy of The Daily Digi from the December's Digi Files (#24). The kit is called "I Love Cocoa". Here's a preview of the whole kit:

The kit is no longer available from The Daily Digi. You'll have to go to Sweet Shoppe Designs directly to pick up this great kit from Kristin Cronin-Barrow.

Digital Scrapping Supplies: Are you as overhwelmed as I am?

I used to hear people joke about their scrapbooking hobby actually being a hoarding problem. They would buy papers and embellishments like crazy thereby creating a virtual stash of products in their homes and then find they rarely touched even 1/4 of the items they purchased.

I never had that problem because I would become overwhelmed by the variety of products available that I didn't have any clue as to what I would do with them once I had them home. Don't get me wrong, I had a definitely had a stash of products. I just didn't have anything close to the level that most scrapbookers I knew had.

Then came the discovery of digital scrapbooking. Boy howdy! I initially stumbled upon the phenomenon when working on our Christmas card in 2004.

 I started coming across all this cool digital stuff and much of it was FREE!!!!  I became a digital scrapping supply downloading fool! Even when the stores started popping up, I would find kits that I would instantly fall in love with and HAD TO HAVE! And if a store had a big sale? I seriously couldn't contain myself. Do you know how much you can buy with only $20 during a good sale? LOTS AND LOTS.

 

At last look, on my EHD alone, I have 40 GB of digital scrapping supplies. The total number of pages I've scrapbooked in the 6+ years since I switched from "paper' scrapping?  Barely 50.

Yes, I agree. That's crazy!

The worst part?  I have so many files that, even when I block out some time to actually scrapbook, I don't know where to begin. I've tried many times to organize things. Doing so in PSE's organizer was a huge waste of time (did that at least 3 times).  I started again with ACDsee. A great tool (much better than PSE from my experience), but still way too complicated for my obsessive brain. And what work I had done in it was lost when I had a system failure and hadn't backed up the database. Duh.

Now, the time has come. I need something productive to do while I'm stuck inside during these cold and dark winter months. I am bound and determined to get down to brass tacks once and for all. I've researched and found a dozen different ways to go about it. I've narrowed it down to some of the key things that I think will work for me.

And I'm seriously considering purging like crazy. Like my photos, I'll never use all these kits I've gathered along the way. It's time to get this catalog of mine down to a usable size so I can actually USE IT!

Wish me luck!

Pick a color...any color

So, some of you who stop by on occasion are scrapbookers. I call myself a scrapbooker but everytime I sit down to do some scrapbooking of some sort, I freeze up. I can't figure out where to start. And even when I do know, say, what picture or pictures I want to use, I then can't decide which of the thousands of digi-scrapping files in my possession to use. 

I had an idea this morning that I thought I try here and see what happens.  I'll post a photo or two (or more) and ask YOU to give me some color ideas. With your recommended color ideas in mind, my thinking is that I can then narrow down my digi supply options. 

Wanna play?

A blessed Christmas Day...

Every Christmas is a blessed day. This year, it's no different. I am so beyond blessed. I have amazing children, a great husband, a nice house, wonderful pets, amazing family and friends. 

Here's a first glimpse at our Christmas day. Sarah with her two favorite gifts:  a netbook and a snuggie.

She liked it! She really does!

As I shared with you last week, I had tons of pictures from the "White Christmas" show. I wanted to share them as a gift with Sarah's drama teacher and was initially considering doing a photo book. Unfortunately, I wasn't happy with any of the pre-made templates and was giving myself hives thinking about doing something from scratch.

Still, I decided to forge ahead and sat down to begin work while I watched the Ravens-Texans game a couple of Sundays ago. One idea that I had was to find a set of templates to help make the whole design process a little faster. For those of you who don't do digital scrapbooking, a template is a layout/page with the photo areas preset. You add your photos and embellishments and you're done. Here's an example of a template:

 

Template by JennCk Designs at ScrapbookBytes

This template shows you were to place the photo(s) and potential areas for embellishments (papers, buttons, bows, flowers, titles, etc.).  You can customize it in whatever way suits you.

Anyway, I went in search of templates and came across a multi-photo template meant to be used as part of a 365 Picture-A-Day project. The template was meant to be used as a collage of a month's worth of photos.

As soon as I stumbled across it, I was hit with an idea. What about a poster instead of a photo book? It would force me to focus on using only the best of the photos, would take far less time and would definitely cost less. A mere 90 minutes later and I was done! Poster created, uploaded and ordered!

Having used Poster Dog before, I knew their products were definitely the quality that would suit me. I wasn't wrong in that assessment. The poster came on Saturday, a short 6 days after I had placed the order. Not bad since it was coming from California. And the poster looks *fabulous*. I couldn't be happier. And apparently, neither could the teacher. Sarah took it in with her this morning and I got a thank you email shortly afterwards. There is something special about getting just the right gift figured out.

Without further adieu, I give you the poster! (click on the image to see a larger version)

I know it's too late for you to do this for someone for Christmas this year, but keep it in mind the next time you have a photo project gift you're contemplating!