I'm a Survivor!

I won!

I couldn't believe it because truly ~Kim~ and SandraK were both so very good. We were the last 3 "survivors" on All Moments Remembered message board contest. What fun! And, I got a kit to boot. Can't wait to get it because, their kits are totally awesome!! Oh, not only are the kits totally awesome, but they have a super talented design team and also get guest designers, which this weekend (NSD) is Christine Middlecamp... and I'm so bummed that I'll be missing her chat, because she's like my idol! But, can't be bummed for too long, since I'll be doing my own scrappy thing with a bunch of fun gals in Lancaster at a Creating Keepsakes MB meetup all day crop. That is going to be fun. Got my hotel booked, and gonna rent a car, since my car is in dire need of new tires, plus it's small, so I got a bigger model. And YIKES with the price of gas, I'm sure as heck not takin' the expedition.

Here's my "winning" layout. :-) I'm like a proud mama!


Here's a close up of the details... I sanded the little birdie:


And, my little felt flowers, cause I love felt.


Have a happy day.

My Acrylic Album

I made this album back in February... there are so many pictures, I put it in a slide show. I had fun doing this album, and plan to do another acrylic one soon. If I look funny, it's because it was 1991 when we went to Cancun. A long time ago!!

It's also posted over at 2 Peas here.

More Photoshop Fun

I was on a blog today where she bought some actions for photoshop. Again, if you have photoshop CS, you really don't need actions. If you have a good eye for color, you don't need them. Actions are simply this - a series of steps taken to produce a certain look. Some actions are only 2 or 3 steps.... so if you can click a mouse and pull a slider, you can make some neat changes to your photos, and save TONS of money.

Here are my "homemade" actions!

On the photo below, I took simply used the shadow/highlight adjustment, very subtle. Next I did a brightness and contrast, 10 of each.
Next, using the same settings as above, I played with the saturation, and got the lilac buds to look more of a reddish purple, and the green is more vibrant.

On the photo below, I simply desaturated the color, giving it a washed out or "vintage" look:

On this photo below, I used the adjustment Hue/Saturation, and then I chose the colorization button and came up with this fake sepia look:
And then on this one, just for fun, I kept the color on the lilacs in front, but left everything else black and white. I did this by layering a black and white image over a colored one, then I erased the top layers buds by using the brush tool (not the square) to reveal the colored photo underneath.
Have fun and play with photoshop today!!

Photoshop Filters

I've noticed that there is a lot of talk about "actions" lately, and frankly, I'm baffled why you'd buy one. It's so easy with the tools at hand to do anything that those actions can do... after all the actions were made in photoshop. If you have elements, you do need to buy actions... I don't think you can make them yourself, but if you have Photoshop CS, you can make your own actions... it's pretty easy.

I don't bother to make actions, because, no two photos are alike. Here's a sample of a photo that I did some enhancements on, using the filters in photoshop.

This is the original photo, but I did use the adjustment shadow/highlight to lighten it a bit, then I further adjusted it by doing some brightness and contrast:


Here's the same photo with a lens flair filter added to it... pretty neat, huh?


Here's the same photo, but this time I added a lighting effect filter to it, pretty dramatic:


And this by far is the coolest... I added the lighting effect filter and the lens flair to produce this:

So, if you have photoshop CS, you don't need to purchase pricey actions, just play and learn photoshop and you can do tons of effects.

Hope you have a happy day.

Still on the Island!

I’m so excited!! I made it to the final round of the Survivor challenge on the All Moments Remembered scrap message board challenge.

The challenge was to make your own embellishments. I loved this challenge. The only thing on this layout that is store bought is the paper background, the tag for journaling and the chipboard letters.... other than that, it truly was just pieces of my DS... all "real" scraps. ~Kim~ asked me if that was a real pocket, and yep, it’s real - from an old pair of his jeans.

Here’s my entry:






Hope you had a scrappy day! ; )

Super Score at Big Lots!

We had dinner yesterday with the in-laws in a different town. We drove by a Big Lots, and there's been a lot of buzz over at CKMB about the scrap goodies to be had at Big Lots. Well, I looked at our local Big Lots and they had nothing... so I persuaded my husband to stop, and he indulged me. I found all these goodies:





Fun stuff!! I love American Crafts! ;-)

Then, when I came home, I had scrap mail! Woo-hoo... these are from my scrap pal Patti - aka obxpatti... she is too generous!



I also did a layout for my DT, Crystal's Digital Template Shope. She has 2 Free Digi Templates there, if you go to the site. I used Crystal's Mint Chocolate Chip digi kit. The hearts are so cute.



Have a good day!!

Has it been a week.....

already??? This week went so fast. I was so busy with work projects. I'm still not caught up. But, that's OK, we need to have a constant flow of work, seeing that we have a constant flow of bills! Always something.

We are always baking in this house. Today Emma and I baked some chocolate cookies with chocolate chips in them. Emma decided that my recipes are very messy and that we should make a nice recipe book. I agreed, and have been wanting to do that. I'm thinking maybe doing an 8x8 album... put a recipe a page, just do our family favorites... and try to write those ones down that are in my head, like the halupkis (cabbage rolls). I tried to write down the peirogi recipe... it's hard when you just dump some flour onto the table, make a well, add a couple of eggs and oil... no measuring. I remember watching my grandmother do this, and my mother. It was always a treat to have those... and still is.

I've made it to round 3 of the Survivor Challenge over on the All Moments Remembered scrap chat board. They have great monthly kits... been thinking about getting the next one. This week the challenge was to make your own embellishments. I totally love how mine turned out. I can't share that just yet, after Monday I can... however, below is last weeks challenge layout. The challenge was to use teal, orange and tan, any shade of those colors, and do something tranquil... this is what I came up with....and I machine stitched for the first time... on a layout, I sew cloth stuff all the time:

Some Cards

I was in a crafty card mood yesterday, and I had to make my inlaws an anniversary card. I played on the Silhouette and made the edge look like the Fiskars Treading Water punch. Then I used my Autumn leaves stamps and clear embossed on it... also used the Silhouette to cut out the words. The font is Pharmacy, and it's free on Dafont.com




And, here's the other card I made, it's a sunflower card. I used stickles on the ladybug, and I embossed on the sunflower and the words smile.







Yesterday, my DH decided to make monkey bread. The recipe he used was rather vague, it said to use a bundt pan, and to use a double batch of your favorite bread recipe. So, after making his double batch of bread, he assembled the monkey bread.

Well, look what was in the oven! Monkeybread gone wild!!



Have a great day!!

Time for a blog update

I’ve been so busy... working, taxes... all that “fun” stuff. But, finally have a few minutes to show you some scrappy stuff I’ve been working on...

First we have my kitty LO that I did for the challenge for an online crop:



The challenge was to make a frame using embellishments. I used a ton... chipboard, some jewels, lacy ribbon, felt flowers, ribbon, felt bracket and the little epoxy button, which looks yellow, but it's green.

Here's the LO I did for the spring challenge:


And, here's a LO of the Survivors challenge, which got me to round #2:


The challenge here was to use the lyrics to a song... I had at least 3 picked out... there are so many great songs. I whipped this one out just to enter....there are sooo many things that I'd change.

And, just wanted to share my “spring” photos... I’m so excited that it is finally spring.

Stickle Goodness!!

I'm over at AMR (All Moments Remembered) doing their online crop, and one challenge was the Spring Sparkle challenge. So, I stickled up my letters, and while doing so, found a really easy, not so messy way to stickle your letters.

I used my Silhouette and a sheet of self-adhesive cardstock. You could use regular cardstock, too, just don't peel your letters off right away, leave them adhered to the mat and leave them surrounded by the cardstock. Don't peel the letters or the background off. You don't want stickles on your cutting mat. You can use any die cutting machine for this.

Once I cut out my letters, I left them intact on the cardstock. I took my bottle of stickles and generously applied to my letters, using the tip to spread it around. I let it dry thoroughly.

Once dry, I removed my letters from the backing... no messy Stickles all over the place. The excess stayed on the cardstock that I'll be throwing away, and the result is a perfectly coated letter.



Have a “sparkley” day!

I'm A Fruit!

As if I didn't know that already, although I think of myself more as a nut.

Got this quiz link what flavor gum are you from Sandra's blog, she's a member over at the All Moments Remembered message board. It's a cute little quiz. ;-)

You Are Fruit Flavored Gum

You are quirky and independent. You don't tend to follow any one style or rule book. You are a mix and match type of person, and you draw inspiration from many sources. While you're definitely a bit unusual, you get along well with other people. You're eager to welcome anyone into your world. You are not judgmental at all. You form close bonds with your friends, and your relationships tend to be very secure. You hold firm to your beliefs and values, and you don't let anyone talk you into compromising them.

What Flavor Gum Are You?

Spring Has Sprung!

Finally, we're seeing signs of spring here in Western Pennsylvania. My crocuses have bloomed, the lilac bushes are filled with big juicy leaf buds. My maple tree has some red buds.... my daffodils look like they'll be bloomed by Saturday... I'm so excited. The winter felt extra long this year.

In honor of spring, here are some pictures of my crocuses, some cards that I made and a couple of Easter pictures. (If you click on the card pictures, they will enlarge for you to see the detail.)

Have a great day!