Lesson 2 Layout

Okay. Here is my lesson 2 layout. This one really frustrated me. Some of the parts were apparently easy...but I had difficulty. And a couple of times she seemed to jump ahead as if we already knew that step, then would backtrack to explain it...and I had already paused the video trying to figure out how she did what she did. Ugh.

So this layout came with the frame already established, as well as the date mumbo jumbo at the bottom. The blue flourishes and the bottom orange one were already there. I added both photos, the green circles for the date info, the bulleted paragraph, and the orange flourish on the top left. Oh, and the title, which was pieced together with an alphabet that was included. That was HARD. For some reason, my PSE just didn't want to do that one! It took me forever. I was getting really frustrated. I finally just closed everything, opened it back up, and it was fine. I guess that is PSE's version of control-alt-delete. :)

So in Lesson 2 we learned how to do bullets, which are more involved than you would think. Also just silly things, like changing the font to make words stand out. We also learned how to choose two layers (in this case, the two pictures) and "combine" them so any changes you make will change both of them. In this case, it made getting them to be even a lot easier. We did the same type of situation with the bullets and with Cameron's name. Essentially the Microsoft Office version of "merge". We also learned how to do the swirly flourish in the top left, which was a "brush". That is the fancy way of saying STAMP. Really involved. Right now it seems too difficult for me to do on my own (you can create your own brushes...eeek!) so I don't think I'll do many of those until I've taken more in depth classes that have more details.

So I have no idea what the homework assignment is. I had this issue with the first lesson too: for some reason, the info just doesn't show up when I get to that screen. Its as if there is a huge paragraph missing or something. Very frustrating! I can get to the bonus materials, but can't see the actual assignment for lesson 2. So I'm frustrated. With the lesson 1 assignment, I just kept clicking and going back, then clicking again...and suddenly the info appeared. Weird. So I might have something else to post...or I might not. Who knows!

Page from Lesson 1 Freebies

Okay.



I don't even want to admit how long it has taken me to get this posted. Seriously. I have had the darndest time! I was convinced that it was Blogger's fault. Blogger was creating the problem. Blogger was hiccuping and wouldn't let me post the picture. Its' always BLOGGER'S fault.










Ummm.........not exactly.

It really does help when you're trying to upload a PICTURE if you save the stupid document as a picture, and not as a Photoshop Elements document. DUH!!! So it kept saying, "Internet Explorer cannot display". And I kept getting more and more irate at Blogger. WTF, Blogger?!?! Its YOU! Its always YOU!

Nope. Its me. I'm stupid. There you have it.

So anyway, this digi page was created using elements in the "freebies" of the "bonus lesson" from lesson 1 with Jessica Sprague. Golly, that's a mouthful.
Each lesson comes with a lesson, bonus lesson (essentially a homework assignment) and then freebies you can mess around with. So I've already posted my original lesson page, as well as the bonus lesson page, so the page above is the page that I created from scratch using the freebies. It wasn't too hard, but then again, I didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. I'm still needing to learn how to do things like use a corner rounder on pictures or elements, and I want to find out if there's a way to create punched borders out of elements as well. I did figure out how to cut out what looks like strips of paper (the two on the left) out of paper she included in the freebies. I also created a layer for the picture of Cameron, and added the gems from another kit I have (and I totally don't know who I got it from...bad scrapper for not giving props to whoever created that! Bad scrapper!).

I'm now halfway through Lesson 2. I've had some issues with the class being geared towards Photoshop Elements 5 and 6, whereas I have version 8. And sometimes Jessica makes things seem really easy, when they aren't. Right now we're learning how to cut letters out of an alphabet...and my PSE was giving me fits over it! Took me forever to get it all cut out...and it took her about 20 seconds. :) Oh well. Live and learn.

Hopefully I'll post that later tonight. My son is having a hell of a week, and is definitely showing signs of the power struggles we are going to have with him as he hits full swing in toddlerhood. His two new problem areas are bedtime and mealtime. Kinda important things, don't you think?? He fights bedtime every night now, which is so not typical for him! We're not sure if he's just fighting it because he's still not used to the change of my husband being home again, or if this is just how things are going to be from now on. But it can take us anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes to get him settled down...when it used to take me NO TIME AT ALL. Seriously, I would put him in his crib, say goodnight, and he would go to sleep. So battling for an hour is really stressing us out.

Mealtime, his new thing is to take a mouthful of something, chew it half up, then spit it out on the tray. Then he grabs it and throws it. Yep, fun fun fun! The amusing thing is, he doesn't do it with items he doesn't like. He does it with the stuff he likes. Its such a game!! We're having a really hard time doing what we SHOULD be doing, which is just not giving in to him. But when you've had a child basically fuss all day, you're much more likely to pop the damn waffle in the toaster that you know he'll eat rather than listen to him cry for another 3 hours. Ugh. I'm exhausted just thinking about this. Needless to say, I'm NOT looking forward to when Cameron actually turns two.

Lesson 1 in Photoshop plus "homework"

Oy.

I've been fiddling with this lesson for 2 hours now!

I told you recently that I was going to take a class from Jessica Sprague called "Up and Running with Photoshop". Photoshop is DEFINITELY not a program where you can just wing it. Its not even a program where you can fiddle and figure it out on your own! Especially considering with every new update Adobe makes, new things are added and slight changes wreak havoc on a class where you are supposed to follow explicit directions.

Case and point. During the lesson, we are taught how to change the font color. In PSE 5 and 6, you can just be in the color wheel, drag your mouse over your page, and pick the color on your page that you want your font to be (in the example below, see the striped piece of paper with some brown splotches? We were supposed to just "click" on the brown and it would match the color). My version of PSE, Version 8, doesn't do that. I just had to pick something in this weird spectrum to try and match. A lot of other times things weren't where they were supposed to be, according to the tutorial.

Halfway through the lesson (which is supposed to take 50-60 minutes, by the way), Adobe just decided it wasn't working and shut down. Wonderful! Thank goodness I had just saved the project or I would have been PISSED! Anyway, it took awhile to get it back up and running, find my place, and move on.

So, here's my conundrum. In this lesson, she teaches you how to save your project three ways:
1. As a PSE document
2. As a JPEG (for printing purposes)
3. As a "web friendly" document for adding to galleries and blogs.

The web-friendly document is a lot smaller, but really involved with saving in this format. My version of PSE didn't like her directions. Following her directions somehow changed my document from 12 inches wide to 50 inches wide. Can you imagine printing that sucker?!?! So I decided a slight experiment. I uploaded both the JPeg and the web-friendly versions onto here. See any difference? I really can't.




I was slightly bummed when I bought the course (for 45 bucks) and realized this is pretty much a template. All we did was add the photo, the "grunge frame", as she called it, the text box, date, and the star at the top. That's it. While it was still engaging and interesting to learn how to do all of that, I had really hoped to learn how to cut out specific bits of paper to really "accessorize" my pages. After cutting out the star, I **think** I know how it will be done...but maybe in future lessons she's more specific about it.


So, after you complete a lesson, you get a bonus lesson (aka: homework) and I'm guessing each bonus lesson has some freebies like this one did. Took me forever to find it: for some reason, I kept clicking and the link to download the freebies never showed up. I don't know how I did it, but here it is. Again, a template. BUT, she did include the paper and some other embellishments should I decide to try my luck at creating something unique later on. I'm just about Photo-shopped out tonight, so maybe tomorrow. :)



On this one we were taught how to change a photo to black and white (really weird: you get to mess around with everything! I could have made Cameron out to be a freakin' ghost if I wanted to!!). Then we were supposed to use the things we were taught in the first lesson to add a text box and make sure it was spaced correctly on the lines that were already provided. I added a date on the bottom, just like what we did on the other page...but I have to admit, I think its too big and I'll probably go back and change it.

So there you have it. Two more digi pages. I'm on a roll. :)

First "real" digi layout

Okay, I don't think this is half bad for my first layout without any lessons or anything! Thank goodness my friend Michelle has some great links on her website at Scrappy Towne (and yay for her, she just became a designer and has some really cute things I'll probably be buying!!) for freebies. She linked this wonderful site called Lori's Freebie List, which is where I found this wonderful animal freebie kit by a woman named Tami.

I still have lots to learn, trust me! I couldn't figure out how to essentially "cut" a paper piece to make layers, nor could I figure out how to get layers for under the photos. I also want to find out if there is a way to add photos in different shapes. I was pretty pumped to figure out (by myself, yay me!) how to turn the photos so they had a cuter look, as well as correctly downloading and "installing" the free fonts I've added, which were courtesy of Free Scrapbook Fonts.

I'm very excited to spend some more time surfing the net and finding some freebies, as well as learning more of Photoshop. I'm having loads of fun!!!

Finally did a digi page!

My wonderful husband got me Photoshop Elements for Christmas. After getting it all set up on my computer...I was essentially clueless as to how I was supposed to use it! The program comes with virtually no user guide, and I was told by friends that I should "youtube" it to find some videos on how to use it. I love that "youtube" has become a verb, by the way. :)

In any case, I found Jessica Sprague's blog through another blog that I follow, and she has some great classes I intend on taking to help get me into the digi-world. She offered a free class to introduce some concepts, then encourages people to take her "Up and Running" class which offers a variety of lessons and goes into in-depth discussions/lessons on how to use Photoshop. Apparently there is also "homework". That is a 4-letter word, in my opinion. :)

So here is my finished page. Her free class essentially teaches you how to get your picture on the page, get it layered under other materials, and how to add text. Everything else was already on there, included (and unmoveable, so I couldn't "steal" some embellishment to use on another page...boohoo). But considering I have NO experience in Photoshop, this was still fun and educational for me.

I will say her video must have been done with Windows XP, because my setup is completely different from hers! It took me awhile to figure out how to save the files because her examples were different from mine. I'm almost scared what is going to happen when I upgrade to Windows 7...her classes probably aren't setup for that yet, so I might be way off with what I'm doing. :)

Please excuse the SIZE of me. Frustrating! To get the picture to "fit" in there, I had to stretch it...which meant stretching me. And it had to be stretched to ensure my son's face wasn't covered by the red bars with text on the right. So I look enormous. Yep, that is a real confidence booster right there. :)

This photo was taken the day before my husband left for deployment last August. My son wasn't quite yet 11 months old...and he turns 18 months on Friday. EEEK! How did he get that old?!?! Wasn't I just finding out I was pregnant???? Anyway, my husband returned last week, after exactly 7 months in the desert. We're hopeful he will be home for at least a year before going again, but anything can happen with the military. :(

I hope to take Jessica's "Up and Running" class soon, so hopefully I'll have more to post. Plus I've actually started REAL scrapbooking again, and am currently working on two layouts. Its amazing what you can do with another adult in the house!!!!!!!!!

Project Life

I love blogs. I love roaming around the various blogs I either have bookmarked in my "favorites" or ones that I follow through Blogger. I love how all these wonderful crafty people enable me to buy things. I love that I went to someone's blog, that linked to Ali Edwards' blog, which linked to Becky Higgins' blog...which lead me to the wonder that is Project Life.


Project Life is a wonderful way to organize the multiple photos you have, or a way to chronicle a daily picture. I knew that I would seriously NEVER remember to take a daily photo, and that I love how I can show multiple photos of the same day. Sometimes your kid does random things in the same day...why not be able to show them? So my Project Life is basically whatever I want to showcase. :) Pictures may have been taken throughout the week, or it may be a day's worth of pictures used that week. It is what I make it, which is what I like. No Project Life will be exactly the same!

The kit comes with wonderful cards to make things easy. The first page could have been different, I could have included photos. I might down the road, but for now I just love how it looks.

I decided to start my book at Christmas. Even though I didn't receive it until the beginning of February (courtesy of my husband for Valentine's Day...he took the very subtle email from me that said, "here, get this for me!". I'm all about making holidays easy for him. hee hee), I had so many photos that I wanted to have in a book. The kit also includes journaling cards, so it was very easy to write down everything that happened.

One slight pet peeve I have with the kit is that there are no ways to house 4x6 pictures that are vertical and horizontal on the same page. So instead of cutting these photos down to try and fit in the middle slots (which are only 2.75 x 3.75), I just decided to let them go sideways.

A huge winter storm hit the third week of January, at the same time that I had a horrible stomach bug. It was seriously the worst week ever (I should also mention my husband is deployed, so I had to tackle everything by myself!).

I do love that you can add things in the slots that aren't journaling or pictures. Here I have the Valentines Cameron received at a party. I've also seen some people who have added 8.5 x 11 page protectors in the weeks to house things that might be work that comes home from school, or other important things. I think you could also add extra photo holders if you have lots of photos you want to add.

Another thing that is great about this kit is the double jouraling cards (see the far right one with the tab) that you can write more info on and it pulls out to be read. Again, one issue with those is that you really can only do it on the right side of these pages. The left page only has the opening on the back...so a card with a tab wouldn't be accessible. Not sure if that makes sense or not. :)

As another illness hit this week, I added the various cold medications I took. Seriously, I have been sick five times since New Years. I recently came down with tonsillitis. I will be soooo glad when winter is completely over!

This type of scrapbook/photobook has allowed me to keep track of pictures/experiences and activities. I have finished up through March 6th...which is pretty good! My plan is to print off pictures once per month. Depending on what online sales I can find, I will most likely just upload them to CVS and pick them up. Sometimes I can find Shutterfly or Snapfish deals, and at that point I will use those.

On another note, my husband has been deployed for almost 7 months. He actually left July 11th for almost five weeks, then was home for about 10 days before leaving for his "real" deployment. He **should** be home this week, so I'm very excited! Its been a long road. No clue when he'll deploy again (my guess is sometime in the first half of 2011), but we'll enjoy having him home. In fact, he hasn't even lived in our new home, which we built in 2009 and I closed on it 3 days after he left for his deployment. So YAY! :)

I'm BAAAAACCCKKKK!

Ahhh, its been a long time, creativity. You went away. You circled the block, then teased me by reappearing for short waves of time. You would wink, giggle, then go away again. But you've come back, and I've USED you!!!! Ahhhh. I feel so much better now. :)

At Christmas, I promised I would make a calendar for my mom. I made one last year, after making one for myself the year before that when I had an opportunity to take the Calendar workshop class at Archiver's. So I actually called an Archiver's in Kansas City (they don't have one in the entire STATE of Oklahoma...ugh!!!) and ordered the materials over the phone. Sure would be nice if they entered the 21st Century and allowed online ordering!!

So....at Christmas, I made this promise. Upon returning from a 2-week holiday vacation visiting family, I came down with a wicked stomach virus. A week later, my son got a cold. The following week, I came down with my son's cold. Needless to say, I finally finished the calendar in the first week of Feburary. I didn't even bother to put pictures on the January or February pages!

The heart was cut out, and then I put all sorts of different Valentine-themed ribbon on the heart. I love how it turned out!

These are pictures of Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs.


My nephew and niece.



My mom with my son when he was only a few weeks old. Awww!

My husband, son and I before my husband deployed to Iraq.

Another picture of Colorado. I created the faux firework with sticker gems and just made it look like a purty firework.

At the airport before my husband deployed, my son stole his hat. :)

My son, niece and nephew. They are certainly teaching him educational things!

I had intentions of doing something completely different for this page; hence the Halloween theme. But then I just decided to throw on the pictures of my son right after he was born and a week or so later. He was born in October, so its slightly correct. :)

My sister and her family.

My son on Christmas morning, opening his first Christmas present. :)

All month names were used with either chipboard pieces (May, August) or the Cricut cartidge George. Most of the paper is what was included in the Archiver's 8x8 calendar packet from last year. Any other paper I used would have been a montage of whatever I had on hand, plus mostly Stampin' Up cardstock.

I've also done some cards I need to post, as well as getting into the Project Life project from Becky Higgins, which is freakin' awesome! I can't wait to get more weeks completed and start putting my own little spin on it. :)

So! Finally, some creativity! Yay! Now if only I can continue.....