Happy Christmas

Credits:
Lime Green Paper: My Little Heart by Sausan Designs @ CatScrap
Red Spotted Paper & Felt Leaves with Red Heart: Joyful by Rachel Young @ ScrapArtist
Brown Kraft Paper: Michelle Modi
Scalloped Overlay: Tattered Overlays 2 by Lynne-Marie @ CatScrap
Red Trees: Rachel Young, Home for the Holidays @ Scrap Artist
Stripey Ribbon: Weeds & Wildflowers, Jolly Holidays
Paper SnowFlakes: Jing-a-Ling Snowflakes by Sausan Designs @ CatScrap
Bubble Wrap Stamp: Brush it up by Sausan Designs @ CatScrap
Doodle Star: Karl & Karla by Sausan Designs @ CatScrap
Kraft Paper Arrows: Kate Hadfield Blog Freebie
Blue Felt Flower: Sparkly Delight by Birgit Kerr @ ScrapbookGraphics
Red Stitches: Home for the Holidays by Kate Hadfield at The LilyPad
Red Stamp Font: Valentina/Valentino by Sausan Designs @ CatScrap
Black Fatty Alpha: Rachel Young @ ScrapArtist

Sausan Designs

Yay! I'm so happy, I can finally let it out - I'm on the creative team for Sausan Designs! I applied not really thinking I'd get anywhere being a scrapping newby, but Sylvie and her team have given me a chance and let me on the team!

There are some fantastic scrappers on the team so I really am honoured to be there. Sylvie announced it today at CatScrap, DST and MSA.

I LOVE her designs - layouts with Sylvie's stuff looks like I've got sticky, inky fingers putting a layout together when we all know I've just been sitting at the pc clicking away.

So anyway, now I feel I have to work REALLY hard and make some beautiful layouts for Sylvie.

Here's one of my first using several of her kits.

Credits:
All By Sausan Designs @ CatScrap
iRobot
My Little Monster
My Little Heart
Fairy Tales Colab with Jackie Eckles
Jing-a-Ling

Except:
Alpha: Stripey & Scruffy by Kate Hadfield @ The LilyPad
Alpha: Baby Bead by Daniella @ CatScrap
Font: 1942 Type

Inspired by: Colleen's 'Imagine'

Gift Tags

Do you like my gift tags? Isn't the deer cute? He's from the Karl & Karla kit available at Sausan Designs and CatScrap. Now all I have to do is finish off the gingerbread to go in the gift bags.

TFL!

News

Ooo - I have some exciting scrap news to share, but I can't say anything just yet. Soon tho - very soon - I hope.

Kx

More Catherine Paturet

Yesterday I managed to get her Pele Mele kit for $1.00! I've been trying to scrap a photo of Joshua from new year's eve 2007 without any luck. Hopefully, this will be just the kit I need!

And today the vintage Pele Mele kit is on sale for one dollar too! Yay! I'm off to download...

BTW, I have no idea why the post below is in microscopic font! And no idea how to fix it - all the usual stuff just doesn't work...

Catherine Paturet

I have a new scrapbooking idol - Catherine Paturet. Check out her blog here with links to her amazing gallery and designs. Oh how I want my gallery to look like hers!

BTW, Catherine even left a little comment on this blog, but I actually have deleted my original post so the comment totally doesn't make any sense, but I wanted to delete the layout I posted and keep her comment as I'm so thrilled she passed by - so that's the reason why it doesn't make any sense (not because she's some mad, crazy woman! lol)

Why I Love PhotoShop

I have a ton of photos like this -

Not very interesting - taken just coz I've got the camera in hand and Joshua is in front of me. They're all lying around at the bottom of the computer files collecting virtual dust.

Then yesterday I was searching for photo of Joshua that I could use for a Christmas layout. I couldn't find anything suitable. So I decided to try erasing the background and extracting Joshua's face. The result was okay - nothing special. So then I took a look around the Oscraps shop and decided to buy 'Brighten Up' a PhotoShop action by Nina Scraps.

I was a bit nervous at running it as I've never used an action before. I needn't have been tho, it was easy to install and use (go to Windows and chose Actions, then click on the little arrow button to the right of the box. Click on 'Load' and then navigate to where you have saved your actions. Once you have found them click on 'Load' and PhotoShop will load the Actions into the menu for you to start using). The result is fantastic! I'm so pleased with it. The drab little photo at the top of this post has been transformed! I love how the photo now looks.

Take a look - I've used it below in a layout for the list challenge over at CatScrap.


Now I can't wait to get home and dust off some old photos and see how they brush up!

Bookmarks...

...for Sue and Barbie using some of Joshua's artwork made into a tag with a circular punch and all tied together with ribbon.

Christina Aguilera - SCRAPBOOKS!!!

She said it live on KiiSS FM today with Ryan Seacrest!!!!!

How cool is that!!!???

On Father Christmas

Joshua after meeting Father Christmas:
Father Christmas likes me
He gave me candy
How will he know how to find me?
Why is he wearing Jack Sparrow's boots?

A Layout - A Winter Memory

Credits:
Red Pattern Papers: Katie Pertiet, La Cremerie, Designer Digitals
Frame: Card Stacked Frames, Katie Pertiet, Designer Digitals
Tattered Paper Overlays: Lynne-Marie, CatScrap
All Other Elements: Shabby Miss Jenn, Grandma's Christmas

Shabby Miss Jenn

Yay! Shabby Miss Jenn has her new Chrsitmas kits out and I couldn't wait to grab myself a black Friday bargain!

I'll post a layout shortly.

Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

A Layout

Credits:
Paper & Staples: Vinnie Pearce Blog Freebie
Doodle: Creshens Bye-Bye Birdie at Catscrap
Worn Photo Frame: Daniella at Catscrap
Tattered Paper Overlay: Lynne-Marie at Catscrap
Sand Dollar: Made into an element using PhotoShop
Font: Lainie Days

Vinnie Pearce & CatScrap

Oh wow - have you heard? Vinnie Pearce is now a designer at Catscrap! I LOVE Vinnie's style. Check out her blog here - Right Now.

Dream About Christmas, by Natali

Everytime I tell myself no more spending, no more new scrapbooking kits I make the mistake of visiting http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/

Natali has a new Christmas kit out 'Dream About Christmas'. I dare ya to take a peak at it without HAVING to have it!

Living in California means we don't get to take many photos of cold crisp winter mornings and wooly sweaters, but I'd still like to create some festive layouts. I think this is the kit to do it with.

I can't wait to get my hands on that paper, shabby it up and sprinkle it with glitter!

Stories in Hand

I'm so excited to have signed up for Jessica Sprague's online class 'Stories in Hand'. Today is the first day and started with some great downloadable freebies to create a binder.

Here's a peak of what we get to make.




And did I mention the class is FREE!? How cool is that? It may be too late to sign up now but I'd definitely keep Jessica's blog in your favourites for more exciting online stuff.

A Layout

Credits:

Kraft Paper: Creshens with Daniella's worn photo overlay
Bubble Wrap Stamp: Creshens at Catscrap
Red Spotted Paper: Creshens with Lynee-Marie's tattered overlay 2
Red Heart Stamp: Creshens
Blue Note Paper: Shabby Miss Jenn, Posies with MMD's Crunchtime Template from Oscraps Coupon: Traci Simms at ScrapbookGraphics Worn photo overlay by Daniella at Catscrap
Green Flowers: Creshens, Bye-Bye Birdy
Gems: Natali, Freshness
Staples: Flegs, Strawberry Delight at ScrapbookGraphics
Pin Pokes: Rachel Young at ScrapbookGraphics

I Wonder...

I wonder if Joshua will remember sitting on the sofa in PJs, eating clementines the day Obama got elected as President of the USA?
:-)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Halloween Cookies

Two posts in one day - this one is to show you why I can't move in the kitchen - Halloween cookies!

Fresh out the oven...

The fun begins...

There's some very cute little white ghosts too, but I didn't get a photo of them and now it's too dark, but at least they are all decorated now. Just the packaging left to do. I've made some very cute gift tags for them. I'll post photos later in the week.

Joshua's First Haircut

I finally finished them! You can see from the photos these were long overdue. Joshua's first haircut was almost exactly a year ago!

This is actually my second attempt at the cards. I made some others a few weeks ago hoping to give them to Lynn before she left but I didn't get them finished in time and while they were hanging around waiting to be posted I decided I didn't like them and started again. I'm pleased I did redo them as these ones are much nicer.

The cards (which come with matching envelopes) and blue and brown ribbon are by Martha Stewart and the little silver hearts and the velum envelopes (which hold the lock of hair) are by Making Memories and the font is 1942 Type

I had a lovely surprise when I logged onto my www.scrapinstyletv.com account - I'd been freatured on Gallery Standouts!

http://www.gallerystandouts.com/view.php/area/1/standouts

I'm amazed! :-)

After the Pancakes...

What do you do when the pancakes are all gone?

Suck on the lemons of course! :-)

Do Snails like Carrots?

Do snails like carrots? They do if they are LazyTown carrots!

Yesterday when we stepped outside the house there was a beautiful big snail racing across the path (well, in snail terms it was pretty speedy). Joshua was concerned that it needed something to eat and thought a carrot would be a good idea, so I promised him we'd go to the shop and buy carrots for him that afternoon.

In the grocery store I pick up a bag of ready washed and peeled carrots.

'NO, not those!' He insisted. 'LAZYTOWN carrots, mom!'

'What are LazyTown carrots?' I ask.

'BIG ones, mom!' He says holding out his arms.

He LOVES watching LazyTown on Noggin and they had been eating carrots on the show that day.

So we buy a pack of big carrots but when we get home the snail has gone. He's probably sleeping I explain.

'Right,' says Joshua nodding his head thoughtfully. 'When the sun comes up we'll feed the snail LazyTown carrots.'

'Sure,' I say and we both go in the house and Joshua sits on the side of the sink while I wash the LazyTown carrots...

Update

It's been ten days since I last posted and so much has happened.

Here it is in bullet form -
Sept 19: I make hummingbird cake for my birthday cake
Sept 20: My birthday and a trip to Paradise Cove in Malibu
Sept 21: I finish icing the cake before Zoe and Stephen visit for cake and a game of Vegas Monopoly
Sept 22: Back to work for me
Sept 23: A trip to Disneyland - Joshua was VERY excited to see Octopus Man (his name for Davey Jones) and Jack Sparrow. Unfortunately, my photos are not that great as someone put little, sticky finger marks all over my camera lense on the Sunday after he helped me ice the birthday cake!
Sept 24: We take Nanou to LAX for her return flight home.
Sept 25: I make two mini hummingbird cakes for a baby and wedding shower at work - unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures this time :-(
Sept 27: All that cake going on - I start a diet! Yep, Sue has booked her flight and will be here in about eight weeks, so I'll be doing those exciting posts about calories and steps and gym sessions missed! Ha! :-)

Back from the Desert

We're back after a long, hot weekend in Palm Desert. I took my laptop with me and actaully managed to scrap some pages while there. It's amazing what happens when you don't have internet connection to waste away the time casually blog-hopping. It was also thanks to templates by Janet at Scrapbookgraphics that helped speed up the scrapping. I want to finish up all of September before I post tho.

In the meantime, here's some photos of Joshua enjoying the pool...

Freebie

More freebie templates from around the web.

The first is from More Originals. I like the simplicity of it.

The second is by Penny. I really love the blocks of colour and bright shapes. Go to her blog to see her coordinating kit.

I love this third template with the great big circle just off to the side of the page. See what Neta has done with the template here.

Nanou's First Day of Visit

Can you tell Joshua is enjoying having his Nanou around? The first day she arrived we collected Joshua early from school and went for a walk on the pier at Hermosa Beach. Joshua loved peaking into the fisherman's buckets to see the fish flipping about. Then we went and had tapas at Medetterano, our favourite place. Joshua ate his usual - bread dipped in balsamic vinegar and olive oil!

Freebie

If you've read my last few posts you'll probably know I'm a fan of templates so I decided to go freebie template hunting around the net.

Here's what I found...

The first template is part of a September challenge which can be found at Designs by Dani here. I love the super cute flowers, the date and the white space for journaling.

The second at web challenge from DesignerDigitals and inspired by The Paisley Famhouse.

I love the vintage photo frames and retro paper.

Here's a simple and stylish template by Lien. This girl really has a style that's working for her.

Finally, here's a link to a sweet template by Emily Howard at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

A Golden Wonder Moment

When I saw Natali's new kit 'Goodbye Summer' I just knew I had to scrap this photo with it. I love the little daisys and the word art with the splatter and diamond. Everything is from 'Goodbye Summer' except the kraft paper which is by Michelle Godi at ScrapbookGraphics and the overlay is by Daniella at CatScrap. The red zig-zag border stitching is from Natali's 'Freshness' kit. Just a tiny bit of journaling in the bottom right hand corner which reads, 'Sue and Mum sharing a Golden Wonder moment on a beach, probably Hastings around 1970.' If you are wondering Golden Wonder are the brand of crisps/chips that mum is sneaking from the packet while Sue looks the other way.

I really would have loved to have used some more elements. Maybe layered some ribbons to peak out from under the photo, but I was against the clock last night. I needed to get it finished as Lyn arrives this evening and I doubt I'll have much time to sit on the laptop while she's here. Hopefully, we'll be out and about making some more memories to scrap after her visit.

Thanks for looking.

Diamonds!

Yay! I made diamonds! They are up there on the title bar... like 'em?

Once I get myself sorted out I'd like to offer them as freebies. That will probably be in October after Lyn's visit.

Three Things

So I'm loving Janet's Summer 2008 mini album. I still have a few pages to go until it's finished tho. In the meantime I've been browsing ScrapbookGraphics.com and I've got another three things on my wish list.

First is this BEAUTIFUL kit called Goodbye Summer by Natali Designs. I just can't resist those ittie-bittie diamond elements - put them with some craft paper and I'm hooked! Her CT really have done some beautiful work with this kit.

Second are these torn templates again by Natali Designs. These have got to be a 'must-have' item. In fact, I'd been trying to create something like this for myself. Others I've seen have been too big and ugly but these curly, tears are just right!

And the third is the black and silver glitter that coordinates with Flerg and MGL's Squeee kit.

Oh, I could just go on and on about Flergs stuff, including the new Black Magic alpha, but then I'd have to rename this post Four Things or Five Things or Six Things... and I have to end it somewhere, right?

Labor Day

I can't believe Labor Day has come and gone already and we're into September. This time I did get a US flag photo to post. Nothing grand but a flag anyway - yay!

Three Things

I've been avoiding visiting the ScrapbookGraphics website just because I'm trying to curb my spending at the moment, but I found myself having withdrawal symptoms yesterday and just HAD to pay a visit, so here are the three things that just slipped onto my wishlist...

I just LOVE lined notebook paper and scollopped edges. In fact, just the day before I spent over two hours (I kid you not) trying to create a notebook paper with scollopped edges so this paper by Traci Simms appeals to me in everyway. I can't believe I didn't see it in the store before now.

Along a similar line this paper collection by Michelle Godin appealed to me - I can't resist all those lovely lined papers with the coordinating funky colours.

And then if I was wondering what to do with all that paper I stumbled across this template by Janet Phillips.

OMG, I just love her sample layouts shown with this template. This is now my new project. I can't wait to get home, download and start playing. So if I don't post for a while hopefully it's because I'm busy with my mini summer layouts!

What's on my Desktop?

The photos are from July - how quickly our everyday moments become our memories...

Where's Mommy?

I get home around 9.15am, and Joshua is in his room but still awake.

Carl said he wouldn't play and then wouldn't drink his milk and kept asking 'Where's mommy? Is mommy in England?'

He's a little boy who's out of his routine and missing his mommy.

Of course, I go up and see him when I hear this. And he's like 'Ah my mommy. My mommy came back for her Joshee!!!' And I'm thinking 'Oh I'll never leave you again, my Joshee!!!'

Then he had to tell me exactly what books daddy had read - Curious George, Stinky Face and Twinkle Twinkle and then he showed me exactly how he'd eaten his tea and exactly how he had put his noodles in his mouth… then he rolled over and went to sleep…

Golf Clubs

We brought Joshua his first set of golf clubs on Sunday. I don't know who was more excited Joshua or his dad! I have some very cute photos of them both on the putting green to post when I get time.

My First Element

I spent most of yesterday feeling overwhelmed and wondering if this whole scrapbooking and photoshop thing was too much for me. Even tho I spend most of my day at work on a pc I feel it's a huge learning curve. I guess, I'm just too impatient but yesterday I was thinking am I ever gonna get the hang of this. And then guess what? I went home turned on the laptop, opened up PhotoShop and managed to make my very first element! See the little butterfly made from notebook paper with the drop shadow up there on my title bar? Well, that's it! I was very pleased with myself. I'd like to offer it up here as a freebie, but that's another step on the learning curve.

Thanks for reading,

Karen

First PhotoShop Layouts

I'm a complete PhotoShop newby. I wouldn't have even been able to open a new document if it wasn't for Amanda Taylor's beginner's tutorial, so a big thank you to Amanda. You can find her blog here. If you're a beginner like me I urge you to take a look, I'm sure you'll find some interesting and helpful stuff.

The title and photo image I managed to do using the tutorial from August/September's Digital Scrapbooking magazine which you can find here.

The fonts are Impact and Lainie Day and the background paper is Taylormade's Casually Blending in paper kit. As a first attempt I couldn't be happier with them.

I'm convinced, if I can do it anyone can do it. Let me know if you give it a try.

Now I've found myself with several files for one layout - a psd file, a high res jpeg file, a low res jpeg file and a jpeg in 4x6 borderless photo format coz that's the only photo paper I had to hand and just couldn't wait to print it out - Eeekkk, that's FOUR files for one layout???

How am I gonna keep track of all this stuff? I'm off to try and find some info on file organization.

Thanks for reading,

Kx

Home Can Be More Than One Place

Today while on Amazon I came across 'Things I have learnt in my life so far' by Stefan Sagmeister. There's an interactive website you can get to by clicking here.

I really like the entry called 'Home can be more than one Place'.






It struck me as being very true. I love my life in California, who wouldn't with sunshine and beaches, but I struggle with homesickness. My heart is also in London where I spent almost fourty years! And then I realised I'm so lucky - I have not one but TWO homes...

Up and Running - Kinda!

Finally I have my laptop up and running and PhotoShop installed! There's gonna be no housework done in this house this weekend! I'm very lucky that Carl can cook and fend for himself.

I've updated the blog header using Jofia's Accidently Fallen kit. Do you like the shadows on the text? They make all the difference, don't they? I managed to add those with a little help from Flergs blog.

I have some very cute water play photos that I'm just itching to scrap with Jofia Designs, Need Water kit, but while I try and be patient and learn to walk before I run here's a photo...

Now back to the PhotoShop...