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Bamboo Fun

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Tabletw

For my birthday last May, Tracy gave me a Bamboo Fun pen tablet from Wacom. I opened it up, looked through the printed literature, and put it all back in the box. It really look intimidating. So when I heard Jessica Sprague was running a class on pen tablets, I signed right up. I took the photo on Monday, and you can see that the mouse was still sitting on the tablet. I've since put both my original mouse and this mouse in a drawer. It really hasn't taken me long to figure out how to use it. Tonight Tracy and I customized the buttons on the tablet and on the pen. I'll be anxious to see how that all works out.

I also finally made a watermark (see above). I thought I wanted one with a flourish or some decorative design, but in my typical style, I ended up with "clean and simple." I got the idea for it from a stamp Jennifer McGuire showed on her blog. I tried a couple different fonts, but I'm pretty happy with this one. I made both a black and a white version. Tracy bought me a set of actions from the CoffeeShop blog which apply the watermark as well as sharpen the photo. There are four versions of the action. The one here adds a drop shadow. It all happens like magic!

Papertrey Ink Anniversary Party

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Papertrey Ink is celebrating it's third anniversary. Today each of the designers provided an image for a birthday card you could download. There were lots I will eventually play with, but I only had time for one card today.

PTIBirthdayWishes
This also gave me a chance to break open last month's patterned paper pad called Pretty Pastels, and to use some Copic glitter pens as well. This is a decidedly more feminine card than I usually make.

Last Week’s Layout

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I'm late in posting this, but I did get another layout done last week. Sometimes I think there are no "daily moments" around this house with three adults, but that's because I'm just not paying good attention. Matt has spent most of January holed up in his room studying for the Graduate Record Exam. It's become clear that finding even an entry level job in a plant breeding and genetics lab is going to require more lab experience than he has. He has always known a master's degree would be important, but it looks as if graduate school might be sooner rather than later. He's hoping to get take the GRE sometime this month. On Friday, I wandered into his room and asked if I could take some photos. He's gotten pretty used to this, and is generally very cooperative. The little photo session produced this layout. I used a digital template from Cathy Zielske from Designer Digitals, mounted it on textured cardstock, and added a real brad to the date tag.

Matt GREL0

Project 365

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Here's my layout summary for January. I used the color picker in PSE to color the text squares, and didn't realize quite how bright it was until I printed it. I was unwilling to use the ink it would take to redo it, so went through my stash and found this equally bright graph paper from Paper Loft. The photo template is one of Cathy Z's from Designer Digitals. It's definitely not me, but done. I do like the format, though, mostly photos but a bit of journaling about our month.

JanuaryLO 

I played around with some textures and blending modes this weekend, so for this week, I'm sharing the original and the altered photo. For the first one I used an Antique Paper action and then a black and white tint. I rather like it.

CardBox

 

For the second one I used the pencil sketch action in PSE and adjusted the contrast. It turned the photo into a drawing. I think it's a technique I could use for a transfer or maybe for a card.

Starbucks 

At any rate, it was fun to play around.

Weekly Gratitude

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I've said it so many times this week, there really wasn't any other choice:

Gratitude1.30w

Project 365

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SLRw

I know some of you are working on Project 365. Yesterday I came across two articles that I thought were interesting and had some helpful hints.

Eleven Tips to Succeed with Project 365 and Carry Your Camera Around. In the photo you can see a bit of my colorful new camera strap Matt gave me for Christmas. He had it lined with Minky, and it is super comfortable. It's so much more fun than the original.

CPS 151 & 2S4Y 44

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One of my unstated intentions is to complete two card challenges each week, and complete one layout. So far, so good. A friend and I went to lunch today and spent some time crafting together. The result:  two cards for challenges. The first is for CPS 151.

CPS151 

Here's my card. I've been wanting to make some of these paper flowers but needed a slightly smaller scalloped punch which I picked up at 40% off this week.

CPS151 

Patterned paper (Basic Grey, Jenni Bowlin), cardstock & ribbon from stash, buttons & twine (Papertrey Ink)

The second challenge was posted at 2Sketches4You. It's been awhile since I played along there, but I always love their sketches and keep a folder of them on my iBook. 

Sketch44

I needed a masculine birthday card so it was a perfect time to pull out my new Through the Trees stamps from Papertrey Ink. I know this set is going to get a lot of use.

WishingYou2s4Y44

Cardstock from stash, white embossing powder, sentiment (Impress Rubber Stamps), image stamp (Papertrey Ink), ribbon (Ribbon Expressions)

Develop on Fridays: 75 Shots

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The first Develop on Fridays assignment was to take 75 shots of the same thing. Choosing a subject was easy since I was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers that very night, and had just purchased a new pitcher from Antropologie. I took well over 75 shots, deleted many of them right out of the camera, and then chose 13 to process. I narrowed them down to eight, and Matt helped me choose the top five. Here they are in the order I like them best. I'd love to have your opinion, too.

FlowersLightw 

Berriesw

Budw

Bouquet2w

 Bouquet1w

 

Tips for Reading More

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Booksw

Gretchen Rubin posted Twelve Tips for Reading More on her Happiness Project Blog. Interestingly, I have already adopted nearly all her tips. Since reading more is one of my Intentions this year, I was happy to see that I am already doing some things that will help me read more. Another tip I've learned as well, is to set aside some time during the day or early evening to read, especially if I am reading nonfiction and want to remember what I'm reading. If I wait until bedtime, it's too late for that kind of concentration.

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop & Start to Finish

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Bloghoplogo

It's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop night. Here's the challenge:

1.10BlogHopChallenge 

And as it happens, this card fits the Moxie Fab Challenge that's due tonight as well!

Here's the front of my card:

SendingYou
I decided to use the message as the inspiration for the inside of the card. As soon as I saw "with a fold in the middle," I knew I wanted an origami heart for the inside.

SendingYouinside 

Cardstock (Pure Poppy & Select White), patterned paper (Simple Valentine), stamps (Big & Bold Wishes), ribbon (Pure Poppy), ink (Pure Poppy) All Papertrey Ink; chipboard heart from stash, Marvy Uchida punches, Spellbinders Label 8 Nestabilities, chalk ink (Rouge by Color Box)

Project 365

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Here are my three favorite shots from this week. The last one I took yesterday. It was one of over 75 shots of the same object. The paislee press blog is sponsoring a "Develop on Friday" series of posts. The first one was on developing your voice as a photographer. I've pulled 12 of the shots into a folder in iPhoto and I don't know yet if this shot will end up being my overall favorite, but it's my favorite of the whole bouquet which my friend brought me yesterday. I'm really interested in this series, and haven't given a lot of thought to my voice as a photographer. I'm not sure I have one yet!

1.17GlassesBokehframew
I bought six of these glasses at the new Anthropologie store that just opened here. I really like the bokeh through my kitchen curtain. The curtains are red plaid, but you don't see any color, just the weave.

1.21MorningSkyFramew
Another shot out our bedroom window first thing in the morning.

1.23BouquetFramew
My pretty flowers. I decided yesterday the living room needed a "new" look. I bought some primroses for the coffee table, and took down the evergreen wreath and the evergreens on the mantle. I rehung our quilt, added some candles, and a vase, and it just seemed too bare. This pitcher of flowers was the answer! I'm much happier now. (In this shot the pitcher is on the dining room floor to catch the sunlight coming in the patio door.)

The Happiness Project & Weekly Gratitude

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HappinessProjectw

I loved this book. I've been following Gretchen's blog of the same name for over a year. I thought, perhaps, the book would be a repeat of what I've been reading over the year, but after reading an online review of the book, I decided to check it out. I'm so glad I did.

Gretchen decided to spend one year studying happiness and trying to apply what she learned to her own life. Her reading covered genres from children's literature to philosophy to biography to research studies in positive psychology. I saw myself  (sometimes to my chagrin) so often as I was reading. I laughed; I put lots of post-it tabs on pages, I typed up notes. I loved her voice, her self-deprecating humor, and her unfailing honesty. So many of her resolutions, goals, and ideas resonated with me. It was a great read and very thought-pr0voking. In the few days since I finished the book, her ideas have come back to me time and again as I listen to conversations, read, and go about my everyday life.

This week for my Weekly Gratitude page, I used one of the pages from the original journal.

Gratitude1.23_1 

Gratitude1.23_2

Two Parties

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I subbed for my friend today in her special needs first grade. I volunteer there every week, so the kids are very comfortable with me. I love the time I spend there. They are the kindest group of children you could ask to have in a classroom, and my friend is a fantastic teacher so they are making such good progress. One reason I don't miss teaching is that each week I get my "kid fix" and "colleague fix." And then I get to go home without the paperwork, political hassles, and worries of a full-time job.

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on the computer trying to learn some more features in Photoshop Elements 8. I made some progress, and spent a good amount of time working on a watermark for my photographs. Tracy gave me a set of actions for Christmas that will resize, sharpen, and add a watermark to your photographs before you upload them to the web. I've yet to come up with a watermark I really like, so it's a work in progress.

I do have two layouts to share.The first one is from my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party in June. As I was going through some papers recently I found a Doodlebug paper with pennants, and it seemed the perfect embellishment for the photograph that had been in the "to scrap" pile for several months.

80YearsYoung 

Basic Grey and Doodlebug papers, tag and ribbon from stash, American Craft "Jewelry Box" chipboard alphas 

The second layout I did for a sketch that will be posted at Scrap-Mart tomorrow morning. It's another party layout from this summer.

1-22-10

It'sAPartyLO1.22Sketch
Scenic Route, Sassafrass Lass, &  Collage Press papers, title cut from Making Memories Slice "Calendar," Sassafrass Lass border "Gum Drop Garden," circle cut from Nestabilities die, Papertrey cardstock, buttons from stash, Jolee's sticker (I think.)

CPS 150 & Cards Challenge

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My brother-in-law's upcoming birthday was the motivation for creating a card for both the CPS 150 challenge as well as the Cards Blog challenge. It was also an excuse to get out my new Memory Box "Bare Oak" stamp. The challenge on the Cards Blog was to use a tree in your project. Here's the sketch for CPS:

CPS150 

Here's my take on it:

Happyhappy 

And the inside message:

HappyhappyInside
Cardstock (Bazzill & Papertrey Dark Chocolate), patterned paper (Basic Grey "Granola"), stamps (Memory Box, Crate Paper, Papertrey "Blooming Button Bits" & "Father Knows Best"), Amuse Creative Candy, Doodlebug Paper Frills, white embossing powder, Copic marker R29

Project 365 Week 2

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Here are three of my favorite images from this week. (Actually I'm saving my two favorites for a scrapbook page which will show up here eventually.) The first two photos in this triptych are the reason for the third photo. I had finally had it with the cold, gray weather and treated us to some Gerber daisies since we had company both Friday night and again at noon today for lunch. The icicles were hanging from our garage door, and the pretty mittens were my Christmas gift from Sarah. I love them, and especially love that turn into gloves if you flip over the tops of them.

Week2_1.10w