Softball Team

Trent's softball team for 2008:


Supplies: Night Graph, Lazy Blue, and Cocoa Board papers from After Midnight kit; Starbright paper (green) from Twinkle Toes kit; and Star Stamp 3 from Wild Weekend kit at Peppermint Creative; fonts: Brush Script, Eurostile, and Antique Type. Inspired by my friend, Monica's, layout Wonder and by June 11th of dw2008.

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Weekend In Review

This weekend didn't turn out exactly as planned. Not that we had many set plans- mostly just "would like" to's:

1. Clear weeds and re-mulch landscape bed along south side of house
2. Sort through master closet removing old & unwanted clothing
3. Take box(es) of donations to Goodwill
4. Attend USA Baseball game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Saturday
5. Dog sit for neighbor
6. Grocery shopping
7. New cell phones

Most were completed. The yardwork, we'll hopefully complete tomorrow. I still have a little more sorting to do in the closet. Trent hasn't started yet (he was outside working on the weeds while I was doing mine on Friday). And while I picked up a new phone from Verizon today - Trent ordered his online after we came home since it was almost 90% less on their website.

Looking over the list now, we accomplished more than I thought. And a very good amount considering I had a migraine almost the entire time - from a mild headache Friday evening to a raging migraine by 3:30am Saturday to mild pain during the day to an even worse (I didn't think that was possible) migraine last night to mild pain this morning. I'm guessing it was caused by the heat. Who knows. It was about noon today before I felt like myself (ie, no pain and not groggy from meds) . And it is nice to feel normal again. :)

One of the highlight's last night - a rainbow just outside of the stadium:

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Organizing the Closet (again)

Trent & I spent last Saturday shopping at the outlets in Myrtle Beach since it was overcast and rainy most of the day. We both needed some new clothes and found many good deals. However, fitting the new stuff into the closet once home was going to be challenging as it was overflowing. I decided to set aside time this weekend to go through my clothes.

Before I started:
The shirts stacked above the drawers and those hanging on the bottom are mine. What a mess! Between those 2 spots and the bottom 2 drawers, I managed to clear out enough to fill one big box to donate.

Here's the same area after:
The space is small so it's awkward trying to get a good shot. I have some other shelves to sort through to the left of the drawers. Hopefully I'll get to them tomorrow. It is nice to have some breathing space in there again.

While sorting through my clothes, I came across a cute striped tank top I bought about 4 years ago and had never worn. Oops. It sat too low on me so I had planned to take up the straps. Instead, it disappeared into the closet until I came across it yesterday.

And, as you can probably guess from the photo, it took on a new life last night as a bag. Totally adorable.

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California T-Shirt Bag

I found this fun, summery t-shirt on sale at Old Navy last weekend and knew it would make a fun bag. Such a great size for shopping or a beach trip. Perfect print for the latter as well. :)

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Pink & Black card

Simple card I created for a friend using the Fiskars Threading Water punch:


Supplies: Making Memories patterned paper & metal rimmed tag; Fiskars Threading Water punch; black ribbon from my stash; Michael's epoxy sticker.

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Taffy

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Seafood, Shopping & Skeeball

Trent & I spent the weekend through yesterday at his parents' beach house near Myrtle Beach, SC. Beautiful weekend. A bit of rain, but mostly clear with temps in the 80s.

We spent time on the beach, went shopping, visited Warbird Park on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, played skeeball in the arcade at Broadway at the Beach, and ate at my favorite Grand Strand restaurant - Sea Captain's House.


When we came home, both cats meowed loudly at their displeasure that we had been gone. They quickly got over it after some yummy canned food. Cali enjoyed a special birthday treat - two Goldfish crackers. :) And soon found a comfy spot to hang out on top of our suitcase. Or perhaps it was her way of telling us to stay put for a bit?


Off we went again though - this time for just a few hours. Trent's softball team had a double header in the playoffs. They won the first. Lost the second. Putting another season behind us.

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8th Birthday

Happy 8th birthday to my sweet tortie, Cali! :)

Here's a photo of Cali a few days after I adopted her in the fall of 2000:

The pink ribbon she's playing with in the photo was a favorite toy. When it became too tattered to safely play with any more, I added it to our scrapbook: Cali's Pink Ribbon.

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Free Starbucks Coffee

Did you know signing up for the Starbucks Card Rewards program can get you a free coffee? I was oblivious until I saw signs at one of their stores 2 weeks ago. All you have to do is pick-up a Starbucks giftcard on your next visit and then register it online at Starbucks Card Rewards.

If you do this before July 14th, Starbucks will mail you a coupon for one free beverage. There are also some other perks [pun intended ;) ]. Check out their website for more details.

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Digital Template Tutorial

If you are interested in using digital templates for scrapbooking, but haven't been so sure how to go about doing it - keep reading. Following are steps for using the free template I shared yesterday. There are probably a variety of different ways to do this, but this is mine:

STEP 1
Open the template. Rename using "save as" to prevent overwriting the template.

STEP 2
Open the photo you want to use. Select the move tool. Then drop and drag your photo to the template.

STEP 3
Make sure the new layer with your photo sits directly above the "Photo" layer in the template. If not, grab the layer and move it down.

STEP 4
Use the Transform tools to edit your photo placement. I selected rotate to adjust the photo rotation to the template.

STEP 5
While the Transform tools are active, the image will be outlined. Grab any of the nodes to adjust. Move your mouse onto the image to grab and move it into place. Hit enter to accept the changes once you have it where you want it.

STEP 6
Mask the "Photo" layer by holding down the control key and typing G. Now only the image directly over the mask is visible. If the photo doesn't exactly align where you want it, use the move tool to shift it around. Or return to the Transform tools to rotate, stretch, etc.

STEP 7
Repeat these steps for the other layers. Play around with shadows to give depth to the page.

RESULT

Remember you can always make a template your "own." I didn't want to fully recreate my You Spin Me layout which inspired the template. To switch thing up for the Borg Assimilator layout, I used 1 large photo instead of 2 smaller ones and replaced the lower left circle with a grouping of word stickers. Finally, I added journaling using the same technique I explained in my Shaped Text post.

Supplies: Grass Stain patterned paper and word stickers from Wild Weekend kit at Peppermint Creative; scan of Carowinds map; Bajoran and Come Unto Me fonts; my You Spin Me template

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Friday Freebie - You Spin Me template

Today's digital freebie is an 8x8 template inspired by my You Spin Me layout.

Click here to download the You Spin Me template

If you're uncertain about how to use a template, check back tomorrow for my tutorial. :)

Enjoy!


Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

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Daily Grind

A follow-up yesterday's Traffic Jam post - fortunately that is unusual for my commute as I travel opposite most of the traffic. The only slow times are when, as Monday, there is an accident. Really doesn't matter where it occurs because people will slow down to look regardless. And while this one was on the far right in my lanes (completely closed down the right lane for that matter), even the oncoming traffic was slowed so folks could glance over.

I passed by the wreck and began moving back to normal speed about 10 minutes after I took the photo. And Mr. Traffic Guy then came back on the radio stating there was an accident and it appeared the right lane was closed. I flipped the station to some music and cruised on in.

Now off this machine so I can enjoy the Thursday version of the commute. ;)

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Traffic Jam

What my Monday morning commute was like:


And this was right about when the traffic guy said the interstate was moving smoothly. Uh huh. Not exactly how I would describe it.

An almost

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I'm Lovin' It

I left home a bit early this morning to detour and pick up one of these:


a mocha espresso from the McCafé. Yum. :)

Supplies: K&C and Chatterbox patterned papers; Font: mistral; QuicKutz Sunshine font; misc. cardstock; altered the photo in Photoshop CS. Inspired by Oct 3 of dw2006.

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Weekend in Review

The weekend went by in a blur. Hard to believe it is already Monday morning. Now I'm trying to remember where all the time went...


Friday evening, Trent's softball team was scheduled for a double header. The first team forfeited and his team won the second game 7-2.

Saturday we spent the entire day traveling and visiting family. We saw my dad, his wife & my sister as well as their dogs & Mary's siamese, Sinatra. [Who is also a fan of my Cat Squares. ;) ] Then off to Trent's grandparents and a final stop at his parents' house. His parents' dog had a litter of puppies 4 weeks ago so, of course, we spent some time doting on them. By the time we returned home, it was almost midnight.

Yesterday we caught up on a little bit of rest. Managed to get the laundry done and put away. Trent mowed the front lawn. And I made 30 more Cat Squares for a custom order.

Today we're back to work as usual and tonight off to the ballfield for another softball game. :)

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Happy Father's Day!

Here's the card I made for our fathers:


Supplies: American Crafts patterned paper; Autumn Leaves journaling stamp; black stamp ink pad; Die Cuts with a View adhesive backed cardstock; QuicKutz Studio classic font. Inspired by June 19th of dw2008.

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conGRADulations

Trent's cousin had her high school graduation yesterday. Here's the card I created for her:


Supplies: Amanda Blu patterned paper; Die Cuts with a View adhesive backed cardstock; QuicKutz Studio classic font; Making Memories TinyAlpha stickers & bling. Inspired by June 20 of dw2008.

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Cat Squares

The fancy name for my newest creation ->

I made 6 cat squares last night. Only 1 is truly finished. I wanted to see what reaction my cats had to it. They are my product testers. ;)

Here's the line-up so far. Aren't they adorable?


And Chester enjoying the square. Cali managed to get a sniff and then he was all over it. Rubbing, licking and rolling.


If that wasn't enough proof he loved their his new toy, he is currently laying ON it while taking a nap. I can't even see it anymore. Guess it's comfy too. ;)

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Fun Fabrics

I went fabric shopping after work yesterday. I needed (wanted) some fun new fabrics to make items for my Etsy shop.

I bought these bright cotton prints for cat toys:


And some flannel for eye pillows - a floral print & this green dot print:

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First Bloom

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Mission: SPACE

Trent standing in front of the Mission: SPACE ride at Epcot:


Supplies: Archiver's cardstock; Creative Imaginations patterned paper; Studio G stamps; black stamp ink; BasicGrey chipboard; Making Memories noteworthy paper; Times New Roman & Arial fonts. Inspired by June 7/8 of dw2008.

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Staying Cool

Ah yes, the joy of triple digit weather. We had tickets for Sunday evening to go to the Durham Bulls baseball game. Yup, sit there and swelter for 3 hours. Hmm...well, with my asthma acting up and Trent overcoming a cold - that just didn't sound very appealing.

Instead, we picked a cooler option and went to see You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Very funny movie. Adam Sandler is a riot as always.

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Digital Scrapbook Prints

We ventured out into the heat briefly today to make a trip to the grocery store and the Post Office. I recently placed an order with ScrapbookPictures.com for prints of 13 of my digital scrapbook pages. I had the order shipped to our PO box versus home in case they arrived on a weekday in this heat. And, sure enough, they were there and waiting for us.


This was my first order from ScrapbookPictures.com and I am very pleased. I chose to order from them due to cost and positive comments on the message boards at Two Peas. Altogether, I ordered (2) 12x12 pages, (2) 8.5x11 pages, and (9) 8x8 pages all with a matte finish plus shipping for under $23. Definitely an excellent bargain.

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More Organization Ideas

I'm on a cleaning kick today. Straightening up and rearranging some of the items in my scrap room. It started off as a small project - working in room for a new album in my Crop In Style unit. Then exploded into "well, if I move this here...and that there..." I think you get the picture. ;) They aren't major changes, but hopefully will help me tidy up a bit and rework my expanding collection of pages & supplies.

If you're feeling in the mood to do a little reorganizing as well and need some inspiration, take a look at these fun blogs that share ideas from other scrappers: Crafty Storage & ScrapScene (I was included in the most recent post on ribbon storage HERE).

Or maybe browse the Craft Rooms group at Flickr.

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Updating Folder Pictures

As with my digital photos, I keep my digital scrapbooking kits in a folder in My Pictures. I'll use my DigiKits album when trying to come up with an idea, but sometimes I know exactly what I want - I just need to get my mouse on it. ;) That's where having them all in one folder with the view set to thumbnail helps.

A few weeks ago while scanning my eyes over that folder in search of a kit, I realized some had large photos which made them easier to read while others had 1-4 smaller photos. Surely there was a way to edit this. And, as I am not the type to read a manual, I set out to figure it out.

Here is how I updated the photo for the haPEA birthday kit:

STEP 1
Go to the folder where your files are. Set the view to thumbnail. Now find the folder you wish to change. Right click to bring up the pulldown menu and click Properties.

STEP 2
In the folder Properties window, select the Customize tab. Then click Choose Picture...

STEP 3
Select the image you would like to use as your folder's picture and click Open.
This will return you to the Properties window. Click OK. Now your folder has a single large image that will help you identify it more easily.

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Friday Freebie - discover template

I've created another digital template to share based on a traditional layout I created last year for Trent's childhood album:


The template contains 10 layers so you can easily customize it. Use 2 photos and 2 patterned papers as I did or try a completely new mix.

Click here to download the discover 8.5x11 template

Enjoy!


Supplies: Making Memories "discover" rub-on, brads, date stamp and leopard print patterned paper; Me & My Big Ideas zebra sticker; QuicKutz Sunshine font; Pebbles Inc. patterned paper and "zoo" sticker.

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Giveaway at An Unpink Life

Check out the giveaway at an unpink life. It includes several great finds from Etsy including one of my cards. :) Thanks, Gina!

giveaway ends Friday, June 13th at 11:59 PM

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Happy Birthday...

to my sweet husband! :) I love this fun zoo wrapping paper and decided to make a coordinating card:


Supplies: Die Cuts with a View card; Autumn Leaves Foliage sticker; Pebbles Inc giraffe sticker; American Crafts 'b' letter sticker; Making Memories TinyAlphas and rub-ons. Inspired by June 20 of dw2008.

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Cali Becomes LOL Cat

moar funny pictures

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(more) T-Shirt Bags

Today passed by in a blur. From Sunday School to the service. To a small shopping trip. To lunch. To the grocery store. And home by 3. I was worn out from the activity and heat! Horribly hot and humid here.

I managed to squeeze in a little creative time though to work on some new t-shirt bags from 3 shirts I bought at Goodwill yesterday. I managed to complete all 3 and add them to my Etsy store. They are so cute. I just love the patterns.

The one thing I haven't found time to do all weekend is scrapbook. Perhaps tomorrow after the gym - if I still have energy.

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