Happy New Year Everyone

I've had quite a year! I was just taking stock of everything and so much has happened. Courntey started high school, and Autumn started kindergarten. Casey came into our life and stole our hearts, but we lost our both our dear Guinea Pigs in 2009. (Cocoa in Jan 2009 and Snowball almost a year later at the end of Dec.)

My digital scrapbooking has come a long way too. In Jan Sande Kreiger (then at 2peas now at Basic Gray) asked if I would like to be on her CT. (OH yeah!) and then later that spring I asked Kate Teague if she would be interested in having me on her CT. Then in August I applied for MaryAnn Wise's CT and ended up on her team as well as Jen Alysson and Carina Gardner. I left Carina and Jen's team to take up my position at two peas with their digital CT. I also had several layouts published. The first. One was even in Becky Higgens column which I had dreamed of for years. I created 130 new Layouts and even started this Blog! I also took some baby steps towards designing my own products.

Whohooo! I feel so happy today! It's the end of a year and everything has been tied up and neatened up. All loose strings are tied and I am ready for a productive and exciting 2010. There will certainly be some adventures ahead. I hope you will join me here from time to time to see what exciting things are in store.

Here are two Layouts I created for 2peas. The first uses the fabulous Erica Hernandez's So Happy Together Mini Kit.

The second features Jen Martakis' Simple Starts Template #10. Whohoo, gotta love a template that cuts your completion time down to half!

Well have a Happy New Year and here's to a fantabulous 2010!

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. I've spent the last few days visiting with family and enjoying my kids. Autumn was rather over excited on Christmas Eve and by the time we made it to bed she was sobbing inconsolably. She insisted that Santa wasn't going to come because she had just been too naughty this year. It was a tough moment but I gave her a big hug and told her that I didn't think Santa would think she was too naughty to stop at our home.

I have a few more Layouts to share that I created for my 2peas assignments. The first is called Have Santa Hat. I used Holly Brooke Jones Snowfall Mini Kit. I loved the Gray and White Pattens and the pops of red. She also includes these super cute stickers like the little bird and a snowman. It's a great kit.

Here is the second: Big Girl Earrings. I used Erica Hernandez's template #27. Templates are a great way to speed up your scrapping and they are very easy to customize. In this case the template was in an 81/2 by 11 format and I adapted it for a 8x8 format.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

Full Credit List:
Have Santa Hat: Snowfall Mini Kit by Holly Brooke Jones @2peasinabucket.com, Word Doublets by MaryAnn Wise @2peasinabucket.com, Grunge Neutral Papers by Mary Ann Wise @2peasinabucket.com, Twine from Punky Monkey by Brandy Buffington @2peasinabucket

Big Girl Earrings: Template 27 by Erica Hernandez @2peasinabucket.com, Background PP from Urban Chic Solids by Jen Alysson @2peasinabucket.com, Coloured PP Button Border Solid Paper by MaryAnn Wise @2peasinabucket.com, Button Border Embellishment Pack by MaryAnn Wise @2peasinabucket.com

Drive by Posting

Just a quick post today. My 2peas CT assignment for this week I chose a super cute quickpage On TV by Chelsea Parson. Seriously I love anything that Chelsea does so I was so happy to work with her design this week.

The design itself is super easy to work with, you could easily just throw a photo underneath, add a title and some journaling and you would be good to go. I of course have to make things more complicated for myself and I add to the page a bit. I also converted my photo to black and white and added some grain to it so that it added to the retro feel. The other thing I love about this quick page is that it only cost 99 cents. How crazy is that!

Our Must See Holiday Movie List:

And then things got buuuuussssyyyy!

So the Holiday Season began and things got crazy busy. This creating a magical Christmas can keep a girl busy. I'm having a great time though so I am not regretting this decision to focus on making this the best Christmas ever.

I haven't posted any of the LO's I created for the 2peas CT Team.

Last week I created 2LO's both from two of Betsy Tuma's new releases. The first is So Flakey and the second Charmed Christmas. Betsy's kits are always really cool and she is a genius at creating very life like metal embellishments.

Brrrr : Using Betsy Tuma's So Flakey Kit. I also just love these photos of my dd. They are from last winter when we got a whole ton of snow but she just looks so darned cute.

This second LO is for my JYC Album and it uses Betsy Tuma's super cool Charmed Christmas Digital Kit. It was a perfect way to spice up a page of journaling.

I promise to post more often. I hope to have some more freebies soon.

And the Holiday Season Begins!

Yeah I'm so excited. The Holiday Season is here. I have so many ideas about how to make it a fun and happy season. I hope you will check in on me from time to time to see what I'm up to. I of course have my Holiday December Daily that I will be sharing and other tidbits. (like Holiday Freebies)

In Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas she suggested that your first page be like your Holiday Manifesto or some sort of declaration to explain what you are planning with your album. Here is the first page for Dec first.

December Goals

With December fast approaching it's time to shift my goals from my previous blogging goals to scrapping goals. Don't worry though I still plan on blogging frequently and offering freebies like I have over the last month. As I mentioned before I have joined Shimelle's Journal your Christmas and I would like to do a digital scrapbook page for each day during this holiday season. The goals above are to accomplish this LARGE task. Plus I just want to be able to recapture some of the magic of the holidays. The last 4 years have been really tough for me so instead of just allowing the holidays to run me over, I want to slow down and take steps to celebrate me, my family and everything that Christmas means to us.

Here's to a fun and festive Holiday Season.

Credits: Bella Bella Overlays by Carina Gardner, PP for the card Holiday Magic2 Papers by Carina Gardner, Flourish under photo Urban Chic Boutique Overlays by Jen Alysson, Ornament-Ornament Stickers by Jen Alysson (To be released this Tues.)

Betsy Tuma's Sweater Weather Papers-His

My first assignment with the 2peas Creative Team was to create two Layouts using Betsy Tuma's New Sweater Weather Papers and Alphas. They were really neat to use. The papers were full of texture and the patterns reminded me of retro Christmas Sweaters. (I'm sure my Dad had one or two.) The alphas were really cool too and not only is there a set of patterned alphas that cooridinate with the papers there is also a set of solid alphas.

Here are the two kits that I used in my projects. She also has a Sweater Weather Solids and extras kit that all co ordinate. Not to mention that last week she released Sweater Weather-Hers. You can check them out at 2peas in a bucket or just click the preview.

The first Layout is of our beloved Casey. I love how when I'm busy working on something at the computer he lays nearby all curled up. The photo had a lot of texture and warmth so I wanted to make sure that I captured that in my layout and the sweater weather papers really helped me do that.

This is an older photo of my youngest dd. It's always been one of my favourite photos and I love how she looks so bundled up. Once again the sweater weather papers seemed perfect for the feeling I wanted to convey.

Credits for Cozy: Sweater Weather His papers and alphas Betsy Tuma, Film strip by Carina Garder, Stitching Basic Stitches and antique stitching by MaryAnn Wise.

Credits for Sweater: Sweater Weater His papers and alphas by Betsy Tuma, Background pp Grunge Neutral Patterned Paper by MaryAnn Wise, Antique Pins by MaryAnn Wise.

All products can be found at the 2peas in a bucket Digital Store.

Freebie Friday

I so like the sound of that... I wonder if I should make that a regular thing. I've been so busy this week I wasn't sure if I would even be able to finish the design I was working on but I did find time to get it done. So without further ado here is my next design:




Click on the preview to download.


There are 6 3.5x 5.5 and 2 11x11 Christmas Word Overlays/Frames. They could be used on a digital scrapbook page to pretty up a page or a photo. They could also be used to frame up your journeling. I should do some hybrid projects with some of these, so that any of you traditional scrappers could see how easy it is to add a few digital items to your page.

Extraction Tips & Tricks

There are one or two things that you can do in digi that you simply are unable to duplicate in traditional scrapbooking. One of my favourite digi techniques is extractions. I don't use extractions on every Lay out but every now and then a Layout seems to call to me to be extracted. There are many ways to approach extractions but which ever way you choose, it takes practise and patience to get the look you want.

I know some people like the magic eraser tool but I rarely use it because I find it either erasers parts of my image that I want to keep or leaves too sharp an edge. I do sometimes use the quick selection tool but only when the contrast between the part I want to extract from the background is high. Otherwise I use the marquee tools to create a selection around the image I want to extract. When I first started it took me a very long time but now I can extract an image quite quickly.

Another real key for me has been making sure that I put a small feather on my selections. (around 3-5 px) I find that the feather makes it look more real when you place it on a different background especially hair. Once I have finished the selection I click Ctrl J then I use a soft round brush with a lowered opacity to clean up any rough edges.

One neat trick I learned recently from the Pen Scrappers Site was to use the pen tool to pull some hair out along the edge. There is a cool tutorial on the site called the pulled hair technique. I won't get into a ton of detail but if you think it sounds like something you'd like to try you can check out the tutorial by Margie Lundy here.

If you are new to the technique I suggest you try something simple like an object. Humans can be tricky because of hair and I still find hands and feet tricky a bit tricky too. I hope you will give it a try. I've included a recent LO that shows a number of extractions. Fun hey!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Yesterday I was very pleasantly surprised to read in my comments that Jo from curlyscrapbooker had nominated me for this Kreative Blogger award. It's a pretty cool award. The expectations upon receiving the award are as follows:

• Thank the sender for nominating you.


• make sure you link to the person who nominated you.


• Copy the logo onto your blog


• List seven interesting things about yourself.


• Nominate Seven Kreative Bloggers


• Post links to their Blog


• Leave a comment for each letting them know of their nomination.

So seven interesting things about myself...are you sure you really want to know? Okay here goes Seven Things you may not already know about me

1. I worked as a Manager for Starbucks for 10 years! Now I'm a total coffee snob.


2. I participated in an Aquathon a couple years ago (a 1k swim followed by a 10 k run.)


3. I have three children ranging in age from highschooler to primary school.


4. My Grannie was awarded Guinness World Record for being the oldest female waterskier. (She was 86 at the time. She is now 90.


5. I am Canadian and proud of it!


6. I've only travelled to a handful of places- Hawaii, Las Vegas, Mexico, Bahamas.


7. Someday I want to travel to all sorts of amazing places.

Now the hard part to nominate 7 bloggers. It 's not that I can't find 7 bloggers, it's that I need to narrow it down to seven because I know some really amazing Kreativ Bloggers.

1. Heather at Scrapping Along
2. Mary at Just Us Photography and Digi Stuff
3. Jill at Clickclickcreate
4. Janelle at Picnic Hill
5. Jillian at Welcome to Jillville
6. Debi at Debi's Dabblings
7. Kim at Inside my Head (Kimosabe Scraps)

So thanks again Jo for the award and I hope you will all head over some of these lovely blogs.

My Son

Although you might not know it from the number of photos or scrapbook pages I have, (or lack of) I really do have a son. It's tough for him, because not only is he the middle child, he is also the quietest and the most reserved. How do you make yourself noticed when your older sister is outgoing and talkative and your younger sister is gregarious and silly.



Although I am of course proud of all my children, J is the sweetest. He is the first one to say Mom, sit down and relax. When I was sick he told me he wouldn't allow me to make dinner and made me lie down while he made dinner. I am not the only one that J takes the time to help. He is like that with all those around him, both friends and family. If he thinks you're sad, he'll come sit with you, when a neighbour had to go to the hospital, he offered to take care of their cat. Yes my J is a bit of an unsung hero.


I always say thank you when he helps me out but if anyone tries to go beyond a simple understated thank you, J gets very uncomfortable. I don't know if he realizes how unusual he is especially for a boy. He reminds me a lot of my dad who is also very caring. I wish I could show him how much I appreciate his very special personality, which brings me back to the beginning of this post. How do you celebrate and document the life of someone who doesn't really like to be in the lime light. I guess I'm going to have to get better at doing journal focused pages.


Not that long ago I created a page explaining to J why his sisters have double the scrapbook pages to his. It actually has helped a bit and now he is a little bit better about letting me take his photo. Truth be told though, I think he is only doing it because he knows it makes me happy. I love you son.

Supplies: Background PP-DigiKit - Paris & Co-French Solid 1 Paper Pack by Carina Gardner, Accent Paper @2peasinabucket.com- DigiKit - Watercolor Beach Papers by MaryAnn Wise @ 2peasinabucket.com, Card- DigiKit - Study Hall - School Cards by Jen Alysson @2peasinabucket.com.

Exciting News

Recently 2peas in a bucket put out an announcement, looking for digital scrapbookers to join their first ever digital creative team. The call ended on Fri November 13th and the team was revealed on Thursday Night in the Digital Newsletter. I am so thrilled to tell you that I am a part of the inaugural digital creative team for 2peas. It will be so much fun. The other talented ladies who I will be working with are:


Alice Wertz : Alice W
Audrey Neal : aneal
Barb Hogan : Barb Hogan
Christie Jurgens : chrispy_314
Christina Smith : soaring2him
Jennifer Hignite : mom2dylanNdrew
Holly Koenigsfeld : Holly Koenigsfeld
Iara Gomes-Bae : baersgarten
Janelle Miller : janellemllr
Karen Cole : coley k
Kathy Racoosin : kathyrac
Kerry Stewart : Busy.Butterfly (This is me)
Lucy Abrams : Lucy Abrams
Mary Jo Arthur : mj.johnston
Mary Rogers : SuperiorPea
Cheryl Manz Ametewee : Cheryl Manz Ametewee
Nicole LeBlanc : NicoleLeBlanc
Raven Edwards : flossiemae
Vanessa Matthyssen : Maithe
Wilna Furstenberg : Wilna

As I made my way to each new members blog I can't help but feel a bit awed and humbled by the amount of talent on this team and that I get to be a part of it.

It has been quite a process from when I first started digital scrapping two years ago until now. I find it so interesting looking through my gallery at 2peas. I can pinpoint exactly when I took a class or stumbled across a new inspiration. I thought you might find it interesting seeing my first layout posted at 2peas and a recent Layout.

Here is my first Layout posted at 2peas. Not too bad I guess, especially for a newbie. I created it for a challenge at 2peas. It's still an okay Lo but if I did it today I would probably tackle it differently especially the photo processing.

I created this Layout a couple of weeks ago. Today I love the photo processing. I love the colors and the design. I wonder where I'll be in another two years.

Credits for Baby Mine: Brown PP a freebie at Designer Digitals and the pink overlay a freebie from 2peas. Brush Work from Design Fruit.

Credits for Trick or Treat: PP from Spider's Web Papers 1,2, and 3. by Carina Gardner @ 2peas in a bucket. Flourishes from Always Corner Brush Set by MaryAnn Wise @ 2peas in a bucket.

A Little About My Creative Past

I had a big long post prepared today describing my life long love of art, drawing, and photography. I read it through and even I felt bored to tears. Yikes I can't have that.



I'll try to touch on a few of the interesting things. I have always loved drawing since I was very little. Over the years my creativity has led me down many paths and sometimes life has pulled me off those paths. Some of my favourite creative pursuits have been drawing/sketching, water colour painting, calligraphy, photography, (are you really surprised?) sewing, home decor, and of course scrapbooking. I started with paper scrapbooking and I think that is reflected in my digi scrapbooking even now. I have been digi scrapbooking for two years and I have ended up loving it even more than paper scrapbooking. I'm not sure why because sometimes I do miss the feel of the paper and the full textures. I don't miss the supplies covering my living room table though. I do intend to do a bit more hybrid scrapping in the new year but for now I'm very content with what I'm doing.



Over the last year I found myself often creating items for my pages. At first I did it to say that I could. Then when I knew I could, I would only create my own things if I couldn't find what I had in my mind in any of the digi stores. Then a month ago I began to think, maybe others would like what I make too, hmmmm I think I'd like to take this designing a little more seriously. This month has been like a month of rediscovery for me. I haven't drawn in ages. I had wondered if my drawing ability disappeared with the birth of my first child but apparently it was only lying dormant. I had totally forgotten how much I love drawing. Who knows where things will go from here but I'm glad that I've been able to create some cool things that people are enjoying.



I really am truly overwhelmed with the response and support of my design work thus far. Thank you everyone so much for taking the time to visit me, comment and download my designs. Please do drop in and let me know if you create anything with my designs, I'd love to see.

December Daily Freebies

I have been so excited and inspired by the idea of documenting my holidays day by day that I created some dated chipboard pieces. I think they're pretty cool and decided I'd like to share them. They could be used for any digi project whether a Dec Daily album or just individual pages over the holidays. They could also be printed out and then you could use a round punch and then use them on a hybrid or paper page. Either way I hope everyone enjoys creating over the holidays.


Hi again just editing this to let any of you who downloaded my Chipboard pieces this morning (Nov 18) that I had to replace the file because the PNG had a white background instead of a transparent background. I fixed it all up now! Sorry about that to many LATE nights! I'm still paying for it.

Burning the Midnight Oil

Do you ever have one of those nights when you go to bed and an idea for a project jumps in your head. That is what happened to me last night. Usually I roll over and go to sleep hoping desperately to remember the epiphany. Occasionally I decide it's such a worthy idea that I jot or sketch it down in my notepad. However, last night the idea was so strong I could visualize the project from start to end. I kept thinking about it and then couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up getting up with the thought that I'd just "start" the project. Ya right. Once I started I couldn't stop. Next thing I know it's 2:30 in the morning and it dawns on me that I am REALLY going to pay for this late night creativity the next day.

And yes I am tired today but I have a finished layout to show for it! Hehe. Sometimes you just need to do what you gotta do.

Supplies: PP from my Winter Wonderland Collection: Snow Day and Nordic paper packs, Round Alphas are my Mini Round Alphas (available free here on my Blog). Stitching Basic Stitches no1 by MaryAnn Wise @2peasinabucket.com.

December Daily

It's only mid November but the shopping malls are already beginning to sport Christmas garlands and lights. In the last few years this is about the time I would begin to feel very anxious. I don't have a large income and at times it's hard enough to make ends meet at normal times never mind the extra expenses that Christmas time brings. I think this is why in the last few years I haven't documented my Christmas at all, I was simply too tired and too stressed.



This year circumstances in the income department, are not really much better. In fact with the economic downturn things are worse. However, I refuse to let a small bank account ruin my Christmas and more importantly my children's Christmas. In the end our memories are about the small things, not the big gifts.



When I was young, my parents could generally afford to give us really nice gifts but that is not what I remember. The memories that stand out the most are the year my Mom and Dad made me a barbie house themselves. I remember the huge family dinners we had at each of my Grandparents place. Another favourite was watching the holiday specials on TV.



My commitment this year is to connect with those small special things that make Christmas so magical. Not just on Christmas Day but all those days leading up to it. Cool no!



And as an avid scrapper I can't let these moments simply slip into oblivion, I want to document them and enjoy that process as well. Many scrapbookers have been involved in a Dec Daily the last few years and some tackle it on their own and others tackle the process with the support of a class. When I decided I wanted to do this I was surprised by the number of classes there are, but I have narrowed it down to two. The first is Shimelle Laine's class Journal your Christmas and the second is Jessica Sprague's class Stories in hand. There are many wonderful classes and I encourage you to shop around.



I was so excited about my decision that I created a Christmas Layout. (Eeeeckkkk did I admit that out loud!) Okay the picture is actually from last holiday season. I know there has been lots of buzz about these classes....is anyone else doing a project like this?

Credits: PP-Holly Joly Mini Kit by Jen Alysson at 2peasinabucket, Swirl Brush- Flourish Borders by MaryAnn Wise at 2peasinabucket, Ornament embellishment by Carina Gardner at 2peasinabucket. The quote is from the Holiday Movie "Elf"

When Things get Tough....

When you find yourself getting stressed out, tired out or just taking yourself a little too seriously. Maybe it's time to take a break, chill out and hang out with friends

or maybe just take a few moments to be silly.
Have an excellent weekend everyone and stay tuned for another freebie soon...

Credits: Frame: Vintage Frames by Rhonna Farrer @2peasinabucket

Lest We Forget

Click on the preview to download the papers and click here for the extras

When I was a little girl we loved to here stories about my Grandad's experiences serving as a pilot in World War Two. The one often retold was his final flight in S for Sugar and how it was shot down over occupied France. While he was thankful to survive, I know it always bothered him that he was the sole survivor. He was able to parachute out of the disintegrating plane and somehow made it safely down in the middle of a potato field. (We often teased him later that this is why he loved potatoes so much.) My Grandfather spoke very little french, but with the little bit that he had learned in high school he was able to communicate with the Farmer. They courageously kept him hidden at their farm for several months until they were able to acquire some forged documents to smuggle him back out of the area. My Grandfather was one of the lucky ones, he came home, married had children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He lived a long productive life and passed a few years ago.

It wasn't until I grew up that I realized that it was never my Grandfather that told this harrowing story, it was always recounted by my Gran or my Dad. Even my Mom could tell the story. I of course have told my own children about my Grandfather and the men that sacrificed their lives so that we could have a better present. In fact my daughter told the story of my Grandad (her Great Grandfather of course) for an important school speech competition. Not only did my Grandfather not retell this story, he hardly talked about the war at all. He would sometimes reluctanly talk about his plane S for Sugar and the men that were with him that fateful day.

The one thing that seemed most important to my Grandad is that no one forget the men who had fallen or the sacrifices so many made. Every year my Grandad dressed in his uniform and attended the city's Remembrance Day services. He never missed a year, even the year that he was diagnosed with cancer and he was thin as a rail from the chemo treatments. I admire my Grandad's steadfastness in keeping the memory alive and I feel that I need to do my part in keeping his story alive for my children. I want them to know how lucky we are to live in a Country where we can have our own opinion and that we can feel safe from violence. I miss my Grandad terribly and it is at this time of year that I think of him the most.

Above I have posted a Freebie mini kit that I created in honour of my Grandfather and to all veterans all over the world.

Mid Class Check in

It has now been about a week and a bit since I started Shimelles' Blogging for Scrappers Class and I thought that it would be a good time to do a little check in to make sure I'm on track for completing all my goals. So far so good. In some cases I've even done more than what I had planned. For the remainder of the class though I would like to spend a bit more time connecting and supporting my fellow blogging classmates.

Credits: Card- Spot Color Journal Stamps by Jen Alysson @2peasinabucket.com

Relax

'Nuff Said!

What's for Lunch?

This is a common refrain in our house. With three children the three sentences I hear the most are; What's for lunch, What's for Dinner, and Mooooommmmm she/he's bugging me. Yesterday was just like any other, and like any other day my little girl walks through the door and asks the key phrase, What's for Lunch?

I answered "I'm not sure baby, What would you like for lunch?"

She declares "Kraft Dinner"! and although she asks for it quite frequently that is indeed what we had for lunch.

Except it got me to reminiscing about all the times I've eaten Kraft Dinner. When I was growing up we often ate Kraft Dinner whether it was for lunch or on an evening when my Dad has a late meeting or my favourite when we were camping. Of course it has been a staple around here since I've had kids. And then it dawned on me I do "heart" Kraft Dinner and just like Macdonalds, where you know it's not that great for you but you have it any way. It's cheap, it's easy and it tastes pretty good. (for something processed anyway.)

All this thinking about Kraft dinner made me think of my Economics Prof from University. Basic Economics always covers the law of supply and demand. The lesson I am thinking of though referred to inferior goods. (Giffen Goods or Staple Goods) Most people when the price of a good rises will stop purchasing a good or find a substitute. Staples goods are generally those things that you purchase even (or especially) when we have less income. All my Economics Profs sited potatoes (maybe they have a side deal or something) as a staple good. Staple goods unlike Giffen Goods will be something that as we have more income we purchase less. So with the example of potatoes, if you had an increase in your income like a raise or new job you would purchase less potatoes and more fillet Mignon. (okay maybe more chicken or roast beef but you get my point right.)

Well this one Prof instead of potatoes talked about Kraft Dinner being a staple good. Many people turn to Kraft Dinner as a cheap fill you up option right. But then he went on to say unless you are like the "Bare Naked Ladies" who sing the song if I had a million dollars..."we wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner But we would eat Kraft Dinner! Of course we would, we'd just eat more. And buy expensive Ketchups with it." In that case Kraft Dinner is then a Giffen Good.

I will leave you with this thought....In your house is Kraft Dinner a Staple Good or a Giffen Good?

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day

Hip Hip Hooray! It's Inter-national Digital Scrap booking Day. To celebrate I have another freebie for you. Click the preview to download.

5 Woman

The prompt from my blogging for Scrapbookers class today was to list your 5 favorite somethings. I decided that I would like to blog today about 5 woman on the net that have inspired and shaped me as a scrapper and photographer. I have not met any one of these ladies in person and in fact I have not had any personal contact with the first 3 of the ladies on my list but somehow their writing, their creativity, their passion has touched my life and helped me to strive further.

1. The first on my list is Ree Drummond the pioneer woman. I first stopped at her blog because someone mentioned that she has some great photo actions. Of course they were right, she does have awesome actions available for FREE. That isn't what kept me coming back. For one her photography is A-MAZ-ING,and her photo editing is even more fabulous. Furthermore, she has some really cool tutorials and suggestions on how to make your photos better. The real reason I go back time and time again is that she cracks me up. I love the way she writes about even the most mundane of things. I love that she can laugh at herself and that she is just so passionate about her life. I often stop by and read about her cooking, or home schooling or just her regualr observations about life. When I grow up I want to be Ree Drummond. Okay maybe not but could I live on a farm and take cool photos just like that.
   
2. The second lady on my list is Rita at coffeetea photography (Coffee shop Free Actions). Even though I rarely use actions I love to stop by and see what she's added. I think what I like the most is the fact that not only does she offer these wonderful actions but she often post the actions deconstructed. I've learned so much by reading through these. It has really helped me to process my photos in different ways to create unique and emotional looking photos.
   
3. Kim Boustany at Kimi Kreations is another inspiring photographer. I love the color rich and subtly textured portraits that she post on her blog. It was particularly her post that started me into the wonderful world of textures.

Now I've saved the best for last! These last two ladies are woman that I have known online for about a year and a half. I have never met them in person. (But if I had the chance I would take it in a heart beat.) They are both amazing artists and truly caring people.

4. One of the two is Heather T from Ooh la la Artsy! Not!. I remember when I first met Heather online. She was just beginning to design her own digital kits. I love Heather's kits and especially her scrapbooking pages. Heather usually posts pages about 3 of her loves; her son, her DH, and the ocean. All her pages are brilliantly designed but the ones I admire the most are her ocean layouts. She combines stunning photography, her own poetry or quotes and soft beautifully blended papers. I adore her work, I have tried to emulate it in the past and failed miserably. Heather also posts tutorials on her blog and she is quick to help out if you have a question

5. Last but not least is Stefani at StefStyle. I first met Stef online at two peas a year and a half ago. She is a toy designer, an illustrator and a rockin digi scrapper. One of the things that I admire about Stef is that she creates everything on her page, from paper to textures. Her style is graphic and clean. When you see her work in the gallery it's hard not to be awed. Her extractions are seamless perfection. Over the time that I've known her I'm not sure how many times I've seen her answer the message board post "How can I extract and image from it's background." (I was one of those eager scrappers at one time too.) She is so generous with her knowledge. The other super interesting thing about Stef is she loves and often collects old things. I've seen gorgeous LO's and photographs of old buildings, post cards, antiques, heritage photos. Her work has definitely influenced my own, especially when it comes to extractions, shadow work, and graphic work.

I don't often think about the ways in which my own work has been influenced and inspired by others. If you have never thought about it I invite you to do so. Not only has it made me appreciate other artists that have touched and guided my art but it has also helped me appreciate my own work. The above is certainly not an exhaustive list of all the wonderful artists that have crossed my path, there are so many people that would be worth mentioning but it just leaves more for me to post another day....

Bittersweet Memory

Tonight I wanted to share a Layout with you. I shared this layout and story over in the 2peas gallery a week or two ago but it just fits the prompt for Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class so well that I decided to repeat it again here. Besides it is such a bittersweet memory for me and such a part of both me and my dd's story that it is worth repeating.

The story that I included in my Lo are the details of how when I was pregnant, we (My DD's daddy and I) had thought we would name her Noah whether we had a boy or a girl. Of course this persisted throughout my pregnancy until close to my due date. Then I started to have misgivings about the name Noah for a girl, and it didn't take long for both her Dad and I to come up with the name Autumn.


My dd loves this story she makes me tell it to her over and over again. I think it's so cute that kids like to hear about their early years. So even though she could probably tell the story herself, I always give in and retell the story again.


I knew this story was something that I needed to get down for her but since these memories have been coloured with a tinge of sorrow for me it can be so hard. You see around the time of my pregnancy my husband began to struggle with depression and a mental illness. Rather than address it directly, he chose to self-medicate. Eventually it spiralled completely out of control and when my dd was about one I was forced with a very heavy heart to make him leave. I wish it had been different, I wish that he could have sought out help but there is only so much one can do when the other is unwilling. I feel sad that my dd has never had the chance to know the man that I originally fell in love with. He really dropped out of our lives after that day. He phones me from time to time but my dd hasn't had any contact with him for a long time. Maybe one day I will share more with her but I want her to be able to enjoy her early stories because although her Father has disappeared it does not diminish the joy I had at the time of her birth.

Credit for the above LO: Urban Chic Boutique Wrap Around Ribbon, Study Hall Blank Cards, Fall Jamboree Festive Borders, Fall Jamoboree Solid Papers, Fall Jamboree Owl Papers all by Jen Allyson at 2peasinabucket.com, Great Outdoors Glitter Leaves and Word Lines Brush Set by MaryAnn Wise at 2peasinabucket.com

Celebrating with a Freebie

Wow the last few days have been a whirlwind for me. I have been overloaded with this crazy learning process. Html codes, interfaces, zipping, pdf's, and uploading are just to name a few of the things that I never really thought I'd need or even want to know.

It has been very exciting and at times frustrating. Should I even mention the fact that the one thing that I think will take me 5 minutes to finish has ended up taking the better part of my morning. Now I'm set, I know more today than I did yesterday.

As I've mentioned before I've been dabbling around with my own personal designs for digital scrapbooking. Last night after spending my evening watching my dd at soccer practise I felt inspired to create some sport overlays. Originally I had planned to include a digi scrapbook page with them but I was so excited about how they turned out I just want to share them right away. So in honour of my new journeys and projects I want to make them available to you. If you wish to download them for your own personal crafting/digi project just click the preview for the download. I hope you enjoy them and if you use them in a project let me know, I'd love to see it.

Start with the End in Mind

That's what my children have been learning at their school. The principle has set one of their goals as increasing the emotional-socio growth of the students and they are using Sean Covey's book Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens to give everyone a common language.

It seemed fitting for this post to mention these habits because for one I just think they are totally cool and one of the habits happens to be, begin with the end in mind. I am at the beginning: the beginning of my blogging journey and (drum roll please) the beginning of a new class called Blogging for Scrapbookers by Shimelle Laine. One of our first tasks is to set some goals for what we will accomplish for the next 3 weeks.

Here are my goals for the next 3 weeks.

• Set up/create a blog.
• Develop and add to that blog a bit everyday so that in 3 weeks I have an interesting, pertinent and visually stimulating blog.
• Blog 3-4 times a week.
• Share some awesome free digital scrapbooking goodies. 1 per week.
• Share at least one LO per week.
• Interact and participate with the class and their blogs everyday.

This goal starts November 3 2009 and will be completed Nov 22, 2009.

Do What You Love & Love What You Do

I have resisted the blogging phenomenon for a long time! I guess I felt that since the web is already filled with many musings and meanderings why add any more to that unless I had something worthy to share.

Now I have something that I want to share. I hope to be able to share my knowlege, my passion and my designs with you in the coming months ahead. I have scrapped for over seven years. The first few years were grounded in paper scrapbooking and then two years ago I began digital scrapbooking. In that two years I have served on several creative design teams and have now begun creating my own designs. I hope you love them as much as I do. Very soon I will set it up so that I can share some digi freebies with you.
Cheers Kerry